· 。ﾟ☆: *.☽
▎A F T E R D A R K ▎

· 。ﾟ୧ ⋆. 𝗦𝗨𝗚𝗔𝗥 𝗛𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗬𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗕. ₊˚.༄
ACT ONE ━━━ CHAPTER SIX,
❝ why didn't you tell him? ❞

𝓣he next morning at breakfast, Sang-woo kept on staring at both Ji-Yoo and Sae-byeok like he knew something they didn't. It was weird, really.

Sae-byeok was staring at the food in her hands blankly when she felt eyes on her. She looked up and saw player 218 staring at her and Ji-Yoo.

"Hey. Why is your cousin staring at us like that?"

Ji-Yoo turned her head and saw Sang-woo looking at the two of them, making her roll her eyes. She turned back around to Sae-byeok, "Don't mind him, he's weird."

Just then, a classical tune played on the speakers, followed by the familiar voice of the woman on the PA.

"Attention. The second game will begin shortly. Please follow the staff's instructions and swiftly make your way towards the game hall."

Ji-Yoo stood behind Sae-byeok, the two of them were quiet until Sang-woo cut through the line to get to them.

He stood behind his cousin, "You two saw something, right?"

The two girls turned their heads, Ji-Yoo raised her eyebrow at him, wondering how he knew.

"I happen to overhear your discussion last night. So tell me, what did you see?" He looked directly at Ji-Yoo, "Ji-Yoo, I'm your cousin. Tell me."

Of course he would try to get something out of her with the whole 'I'm your cousin' thing. Ji-Yoo only scoffed at him, shaking her head.

"Why would I do that?"

"Why would I?"

Ji-Yoo and Sae-byeok said at the same time.

"Well, Ji-Yoo, I don't think you want your closest cousin to die." Ji-Yoo only shrugged, thinking he had a pretty good point.

Sang-woo and Ji-Yoo have always been close ever since they were kids. They even went to the same university, but ever since the death of Ji-Yoo's mother, the two of them have been distant ever since.

But that didn't mean that Ji-Yoo didn't care or love Sang-woo anymore — no, it's just that they haven't been talking for almost three years. And to find out that her cousin had gained such a large amount of debt in the last few years from stealing money from his clients really hit a nerve in Ji-Yoo's head.

"Ji-Yoo," Sae-byeok called out with a look of disbelief, "Are you seriously going to tell him?" She looked at Sang-woo, "And besides, it's not like I care if you or die."

"You're a defector, right?" Sang-woo asked, receiving a slap on the back of his head from Ji-Yoo for asking Sae-byeok such a question.

He placed his hand on where Ji-Yoo slapped him and gave her a glare. Ji-Yoo just returned the glare and looked ahead as they kept walking.

"All the games they made us play in here are games I have known since I was a young boy. The next game will be too, I'm willing to bet. You tell me what you saw, I might guess what it is."

Sae-byeok let out a snort, "I don't need you to tell me what it is, I have Ji-Yoo."

"Ah, Ji-Yoo," Sang-woo glanced at his cousin who didn't make eye contact with him and instead, looked down at the ground. "Well, she's no use in that department, I'm afraid."

Sae-byeok turned her head back and furrowed her eyebrows, looking at Ji-Yoo who hasn't spoken a word. "What do you mean?"

A mischievous smirk made its way onto Sang-woo's lips and Ji-Yoo's jaw clenched, knowing what he was going to say.

"Shall I tell her, sachon, or shall you?" [Translation: cousin]

Ji-Yoo sighed and ran her hand through her hair, making eye contact with Sae-byeok who was greatly confused. "When I was a young girl, my mother barely allowed me to play with the other kids, saying I 'didn't understand the dangers of the real world'. So I don't really know much about the games that Sang-woo played growing up."

Sae-byeok's facial expression didn't change for a moment, she only turned to the front once again after a few moments of staring at Ji-Yoo with an unreadable look on her face.

After a moment of silence, Sae-byeok reluctantly told Sang-woo what she saw, the same thing she told Ji-Yoo.

𝓙i-Yoo entered the room where the second game would be, she was quick to notice the rather large playground.

"Why the hell is this playground so huge?" She heard Gi-hun exclaim from beside her cousin. "What's the game here?"

"Players, welcome to the second game. We will begin shortly."

Sae-byeok looked at Ji-Yoo who nodded, signaling that the two of them should just follow Sang-woo because he was most likely going to find out what game it is before it's announced.

"Players, before the second game begins, choose one of the four available shapes you see on the wall. Once you've chosen your shape, please stand infront of it."

Ji-Yoo looked at the wall before them to see four shapes — a circle, a triangle, a star, and an umbrella.

"Do you have any idea what it is?" Sae-byeok asked, hoping that Ji-Yoo knew a little bit of the few games she was able to play.

Ji-Yoo shook her head, "No . . . but there's a big chance that my cousin does." She nodded to Sang-woo who looked like he was realizing something in his head.

"Choose a shape and stand infront of it immediately."

The two girls listened in Sang-woo's conversation with Gi-hun and their team. Sang-woo was about to stop Gi-hun from picking the umbrella but decided not to tell him anything.

Ji-Yoo appeared beside her cousin, making Sang-woo glance at her. "Why didn't you tell him?"

"I-" Sang-woo cut himself off before he could even get a word in. He sighed, "I tried to."

She raised her eyebrow, "You 'tried' to?"

"Just leave me alone, Ji-Yoo, okay?" Sang-woo spat, getting annoyed at being tormented by his cousin this whole time.

He walked away, going towards the triangle section. Ji-Yoo and Sae-byeok shared a look before the two of them followed after him.

"The time to select your shape has ended. I will now explain the rules of the next game." The doors opened and a table filled with a bunch of cylinder containers was set before them. "All players, please take one case each from the table at the front of your line."

Ji-Yoo took the silver container and sat down beside Sae-byeok on the sand. "Please take a moment to open the case and check the continents." She opened the lid and the familiar sight and smell of the Dalgona Candy waved over her.

The shape of a triangle was sculptured into the candy, making it so that she would carve it out with the needle that was provided.

"The second game is sugar honeycombs. The shape you have chosen is the shape you must remove from the honeycomb. The time limit is ten minutes. You will pass if you trim out the shape without it breaking or crackling within the time limit. With that, let the game begin."

Ji-Yoo swallowed nervously, she's never been good at this particular game. Whether it was because of how she was too impatient or how nervous she would always be, it didn't matter because she absolutely sucked at it.

Trying to ignore her past with this game, Ji-Yoo began to carve the triangle.

She let out a shaky breath every time she took a risky move of removing the outer triangle, not knowing if the impact would crack it or not. It was harder to concentrate with all the constant gunshots and the dead bodies surrounding her.

But with every success, she happily ate the candy. If she were to die, atleast the last thing she tasted would be the sweet treat.

After a few minutes, Ji-Yoo was stuck with one last portion to carve out. She gently took it off, a big grin making its way on her lips when it didn't crack.

Ji-Yoo stood up at the same time as Sae-byeok, she was so focused on not cracking her shape to the point where she didn't even glance at Sae-byeok or Sang-woo the whole time to see how they were doing.

The two girls held their triangles up to the masked guard.

"Player 60 and player 67, pass."

word count: 1468

kara speaking . . .
sixth chapter, done! short chapter, this isn't so fun tbh, maybe just the sang-woo encounter bc u get a glimpse of what ji-yoo's relationship with her mother was really like

sad to say that joon-ho hasn't appeared or has been mentioned in the last two chapters but he'll definitely be in the next one (chapter seven)!!

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© -𝙶𝙾𝙳𝙳𝙴𝚂𝚂𝙾𝙵𝙻𝙾𝚅𝙴, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟷