Chapter Text
Se-mi remains sat on one of the beds, having just recovered from the chaos of the night. The rebellion has been underway for ages, but the guards storming into the dormitory signified that it was nearly over.
Now it's just silent, the rebellion failed. Player 456 has made no return, so it's highly likely that he's been killed.
But that's not on the top of her mind. The thing that's on her mind is Min-su's death. How she witnessed Nam-gyu brutally stab him to death, all because he was a pathetic bully who saw Min-su as inferior.
She tried to help, she really did, but she was in the wrong place at the right time - on top of the bunks, and only armed with a glass bottle.
She'd tossed it down, but she missed Nam-gyu, and despite the fact that Min-su briefly had the advantage...
He'd failed. Nam-gyu ended up stabbing him to death, and Se-mi was unable to do anything.
And she couldn't jump down. She was too high up to do that. Falling from that height would've gotten her injured, or even killed.
She knew he wanted to make amends somehow, but he wasn't able to, and now he's dead.
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A buzzing is heard, and then the masked men come in holding a coffin. All of the dead players have already been removed, so what could this possibly mean?
As they place the coffin down on the ground and them leave, most people - including Se-mi - get up and approach it. Again, she can't help but wonder what on earth this means.
They all stop around it, with some of them closer than the rest.
One of them opens it, and it's.... Player 456, the man who led the rebellion! He appears to be either unconscious, or dead.
"Is he dead?" Geum-ja asks in worry, unsure on what to make of the situation.
Hyun-ju checks for a pulse.
"He's alive." She says. This fact comes as a relief to the closest players.
"Help me get him on the bed, quickly."
"Okay."
Se-mi says nothing as she watches in complete confusion. Why was he the only one who was brought back? And how is he alive when the rest appear to have been killed? To her, that's definitely strange and a little bit suspicious. Is there something going on behind the scenes in regards to him?
She doesn't know what the answers to any of these questions. No matter how many questions show up in her mind, no answers are coming.
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After a while, the masked men return. This is definitely going to be an update on the number of players left, the prize money, and how much each individual person would get.
This time, nothing is said as the masked manager raises a small device, and then the lights dim.
On the board, the player number decreases. At the same time, more money drops into the piggy bank.
"A total of 35 players were eliminated last night, and 60 players remain in the game. The prize money accumulated up to this point is 39.6 billion won, and each person's share is 660 million won."
That's a lot of money, but Se-mi fears that they're not leaving now, not after the ruckus last night, including the failed rebellion in which more players were killed.
"You will now take a vote to decide whether to continue the games or not."
All of a sudden, Gi-hun appears, walking from where he was sat.
"Why did you keep me alive? Why didn't you kill me?"
The masked soldiers begin to approach.
"Answer me! Tell me why!"
"Why did you let me live?! Why?!"
"Shoot me, you bastards! Yes, shoot me! Kill me too!"
The soldiers drag him away, and to the ground.
All anyone can do is watch as this goes down, with absolutely nothing to say.
As the man continues to shout, question why he is still alive, and why he wasn't killed, the room remains in absolute silence aside from his shouting.
Se-mi doesn't know what to think of this, any of it. Her mind is a mess of thoughts at the moment, and she's honestly overwhelmed by it all.
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"The vote will again be held in reverse order of your player numbers. Player 456, please cast your vote."
Nothing. A few people glance in the man's direction, and he just looks... So out of it, like his mind is separate from his body.
"If you don't show an intent to vote by the count of three, your vote will be considered an abstention."
Still, nothing.
"One."
"Two."
"Three."
And for the third time... Nothing. Again.
"Player 456 has forfeited his vote, so it will be considered as an abstention."
Well, this voting session is off to a bad start, isn't it?
"Next, Player 448. Please cast your vote."
Player 448 begins to walk down the middle of the room. The energy in the room is intense, and it makes everyone unsettled. Well, to those who have voted X, that is.
When 448 comes to a stop, she stares down at the two buttons, X and O.
"We're not going to hurt you, so vote freely."
"Yeah, do whatever you want."
"Don't mind us, feel free to vote however you want."
She ends up pressing O.
That's a bad start. Up until now, the first vote was always X, so if the number of players left after the midnight riot wasn't a big enough indicator that the games were going to continue, then this most definitely is.
The games have an extremely low chance of ending here and now.
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18 X, 41 O.
Even though the votes played heavily against team X this time, Se-mi still decided to vote X. She doesn't know why, though a tiny chance of the games ending sounded better than no chance at all.
Hopefully after the next game - whatever it may turn out to be - everyone will come to their senses and want to leave. The chances of that are basically zero, since greed has took rational thinking's place on the podium in the span of one night.
As Se-mi sits down and eats what little food the players have been given - which is just two sweet potatoes - she stares at one person in particular: Nam-gyu. He's just sitting there, acting like he didn't kill anyone that night, when he did.
There was certainly a few other deaths he caused in the fight, but one that sticks out the most in her mind is Min-su.
He's dead, all because Nam-gyu wanted to feel superior by killing someone who he saw as weaker. He wanted to feel strong.
But he isn't. He only gets that confidence of his from those drugs. He needed them for the second game because he was scared as hell.
And he still is now. That's why he killed Min-su. He won't get away with it forever, though.
Sooner or later, he's going to face the consequences, and Se-mi will make sure it's by her own hand.