the door mechanically opened, all the players were scattered around taking a look at who was entering. kyung and myung-gi walked in side by side, many coming up with their own imaginations of what had occurred

some gasped with others gossiping to each other in their ears not even trying to make it look like they weren't talking about the two.

some men looked at kyung with a smirk, whistling could be heard. kyung ignored them folding with her fingers nervously, "those two together?" nam-gyu suddenly asked catching thanos off guard

he looked at him with a frown, then looked at who he was staring at. myung-gi leaned down whispering something in kyung's ear, whatever he said clearly calmed her down. she looked up at him with those puppy dog eyes, myung-gi stepped in front of her placing his hands onto her shoulders

thanos tightly clenched his jaw, "that son of a bitch." he fumed balling his fists up, his voice deepening in anger

nam-gyu saw that his fists were turning pale white, "bro chill, she isn't even worth it." he prattled with ease not understanding why thanos still was choosing to show the slightest bit of interest in the girl

you'd think her slapping the shit out of him would make thanos stop trying but it only made him more attracted to her. a feisty girl such as kyung could be good for thanos while in here, both of them on the same team... they'd be unstoppable

myung-gi massaged her shoulders, "why don't we join a team together?" he suggested

"attention! you have five more minutes to form a group for the next game." the PA announced

kyung awkwardly let out a cough nervously biting her lip, she was appreciative of his offer. "i would but i'm already on a team."

myung-gi stood there gasping almost forgetting about her four protectors, "of course, well it was worth a shot." he playfully smiled

kyung chuckled letting loose, "well good luck—"

"hey! we need a fifth player, come on! guys i found a fifth person!!" a man yelled grabbing myung-gi by the hem of his jacket dragging him away in the crowd, kyung stood there nodding

she whistled about to go find her crew but bumped into what felt like a brick wall, she groaned backing up seeing none other than thanos, the sight of his flashing purple hair made her grow nauseous

kyung couldn't do anything but let out a tiring sigh, "good morning señorita." he seriously stated with charm

"it was a good morning until now." kyung mumbled, thanos clearly hearing the sarcasm in her voice. nam-gyu and gyeong-su stood behind him laughing

even though nam-gyu isn't fond of her, there was no denying that she was funny. thanos smirked nodding his head to the side, "i'd be incredibly honored if you play this game with me."

nam-gyu spoke up immediately, "dude— wait! you want a girl on our team, her of all people?" he asked sounding repulsive

kyung laughed, "don't worry. i don't want to join you idiots, no offense to you." kyung said looking at gyeong-su who faintly smiled

thanos fixed his mouth to speak again, "where the hell have you been kid?! we've been looking all over for you—-" jung-bae started fussing until his eyes met upon the rapper

he exhaled deeply, a look of distaste slowly appeared on his face, "why are you talking to him?" he asked with a raised brow, kyung rolled her eyes

jung-bae grabbed her wrist getting her far away from the crazed maniac. "stop chit chatting with him, he clearly is not right in the head." thanos heard him warn her but it didn't affect him at all, he looked around seeing mi-na standing all by her lonesome

a smirk crept up on his face, that endless amount of bravery still in him. he strutted his way over to her starting to work his magic on her but another girl walked up convincing her to join their team.

her bright red hair was exquisite along with her beautiful features, thanos felt like it was love at first sight. the girl eyed him up and down then flirtatiously winked at him before walking away coming off as mysterious.

thanos watched her for some seconds smiling like a idiot, nam-gyu scoffed. "dude why do you keep trying to add a girl to our team, it'd be best if we got two other men to join us." he declared with annoyance

thanos looked at him goofily, "there's no fun in this without a woman's touch." he said smacking his forehead then making his way to another poor contestant

kyung and jung-bae walked over to their team, them all sighing feeling relief. "damn it, kyung!" gi-hun scolded her not even giving her a chance to speak

"where'd you go?" dae-ho asked happy to see her, kyung ignored him scowling at gi-hun

she kept her eyes on him, "i went to the bathroom." she announced dryly

"you could have told one of us! i was worried sick about you!!" gi-hun fumed doing a horrible job at containing the anger he was feeling, he hung his head lowly shaking his head

"everyone was literally yelling at you, crowding you pissed off about this game not being dalgona. if i had stood there and waited to tell you then i would have peed myself." kyung pointed out sounding defiant

gi-hun sighed, "alright, kyung. whatever, i'm not about to let you rattle my nerves before this game."

"oh c'mon, give her a break. she is okay, that's all that matters." player 001 said trying to ease the tension, he playfully patted gi-hun on the shoulder

kyung scoffed not happy with his tone, "excuse me—-" a soft voice arrived nearby, the five of them turned to see a girl standing amongst them

her hair barley touching her shoulders, her ends were dyed the color blonde. a eyebrow piercing embedded in one of her eyebrows, she was a beaut. "can i join your guys team?" she asked softly, she looked lost... scared even

"um—-" jung-bae looked at everyone crossing his arms, "we're sorry but we already have a full team." he kindly issued

"please help me." she begged with desperation, her eyes were crying out for help

her hand touched the lower part of her stomach, "i'm pregnant." she revealed, everyone felt their faces drop as their eyes redirected to her big belly

"oh, shit." kyung muttered, she couldn't help herself. she wondered how and why the hell would the guards even allow a woman in this kind of condition be allowed in this hellhole

each of their eyes were judgemental but in a worrisome kind of way, "oh your belly...." dae-ho muttered

kyung spoke up quickly, "yeah. you join them."

they all were dumbfounded by the words that fell from her mouth, "kyung—-" dae-ho challenged but kyung didn't let him finish speaking his opinion

"it's fine—-" her angry eyes gazed over at gi-hun, "i don't want to stress you guys out or rattle your nerves before the game starts." kyung shot bitterly making sure to look at him, gi-hun was silent

they all looked at each other not knowing what they could do or say to make her stay, her voice was cold. assuring of what she just did, no amount of regret was beneath her

kyung looked at them one final time then stormed away angrily. she started to scope around seeing that pretty much everyone was already settled into groups of five.

she stood there turning around in a circle, looping her body around eager to find a group. she didn't even care who she was about to be paired with at this point, it was already too late to be picky.

considering she was offered to be in two teams and declined... there was no more room for options. "fuck...." she mumbled

"the great kyung-jun lee—-" someone clamored, kyung frowned hearing a girls voice, "it has been too long....."

kyung turned around facing the red-haired girl. her eyes were familiar, kyung's chest tightened knowing who she was. she cleared her throat, "mangyeon." she announced with a shaky voice

mi-na stood beside her pointing at kyung who looked like she was about to melt into the floor, "wait you know kyung?" she asked sounding excited, the two really hadn't spoke to each other after the first game

mangyeon smacked her teeth examining kyung and her body language, "i do. we grew up together, we share a lot of memories!"

kyung looked at the ceiling, her shoes, the floor.. anywhere but into those fuming eyes.

"you being here makes so much sense." mangyeon snarkily commented

mi-na and the other three girls exchanged looks not really understanding what all the hostility was about.

any type of nervousness that ran through kyung's blood vanished hearing those words, "yet you're in the same position as me." kyung said fixing her posture standing up straight

"come again?" mangyeon asked stepping up

both girls were inches away from each others faces, "you heard me."

mangyeon snickered, "you've grown some balls since i've last seen you. i hope you know that i haven't forgot about what you did to me."

kyung smirked scoffing at her remark, "you're still going on about that?" she asked in a silly tone, it was hilarious to see that mangyeon was still bothered about something that happened a long time ago

"you're just gonna have to eat that one and let it go—-" mangyeon clenched her jaw backing up starting to roll her shoulders back like she was getting ready to do something

kyung wasn't scared, "that happened two years ago—-" mangyeon charged at her yelling loudly, "I DON'T GIVE A FUCK IF IT WAS TEN YEARS AGO!!!!!" she exploded, her voice rang through all the players ears

the room got quiet, players turning their heads and moving in closer to get a listen in on the altercation. "you better watch your back." mangyeon smirked wickedly, her voice lowering to where only kyung could hear her

not a care in the world, mangyeon tuned out all the eyes that were staring at the front, sides and back of her head. "is that a threat?" kyung questioned calmly

"that is a fucking promise." mangyeon growled hitting her shoulder softly, kyung reacted speedily slapping her hand away from her

"don't fucking trough me—-"

mangyeon slightly pushed her, "or what?"

kyung kept her hands down by her side, "i'm not playing with you, don't put your damn hands on me." she warned her

"you have all this amped up big ballsy energy suddenly. slapping people, getting involved in fights but now you want to act like a pussy when it comes down to me?" mangyeon cackled

kyung sighed, "i don't have time for this." she said walking off, mangyeon purposefully stuck her foot in front of kyung's making her eat the floor. everyone moved quickly, kyung fell face first on her nose

gasps emerged into the room. mi-na's mouth hit the floor seeing how hard mangyeon tripped the poor girl

two women ran to her aid helping her stand up, blood starting to fall out of her nostrils. "here c'mon honey, we got you." each of them had ahold of both sides of her arms

kyung glared at mangyeon who bent down to wipe the sand off her shoe, "my bad." she winked

"what the hell is wrong with you?" player 120 asked angrily giving mangyeon a dirty look

player 149 berated the girl, "how dare you be this disrespectful and ugly to this girl? you should be ashamed of yourself!!" she yelled looking at kyung who just watched droplets of blood plummet onto the floor

"are you okay sweetheart?" player 149 directed her attention back to kyung who started seeing clearly again, a few seconds ago she swore she was seeing stars

"i'm okay." kyung assured as blood kept coming

mangyeon spoke viciously at the two players, "shut up old lady—-" people gasped at her blatant ignorance, player 149 was about to charge at her but her son quickly intervened holding her back

"what did you just say?! say it again! come say it a little closer to my face so i can slap some sense into you!!" she raged out doing her best to get to the girl, her son refused to let that happen. mangyeon and her team began laughing at how worked up the old woman was getting

"watch your blood pressure grandma. i'd hate to see you have a stroke in here."

while she was a tiny old lady, she had the strength of a sumo wrestler. player 007 dragged his mother away assuring her that everything was okay but she still was angry wanting to get one good lick in on the fake red headed girl

mangyeon was far from done looking over at player 120 with disgust. her eyes narrowed at her body then at her face, "what even are you?" she asked, her words lingered throughout the room

many people snickered and giggled, mostly the men within the room. player 120 looked hurt by her choice of words, kyung tugged on her arm, "okay, c'mon. c'mon let's go." she advised

the two walked off, "i mean seriously she looks like a creature!!!" mangyeon called out earning more laughter to erupt in the room

"that's enough." player 001 appeared in front of the girl who's smile disappeared

mangyeon smirked, "for an old man, you're kind of cute." she playfully hit his arm then walked away confidently, everyone made sure to get out of her way. all of her team members lined up behind her

"the time for team selection is up." the woman on the PA announced, seriousness started to kick in for everyone knowing that death could sneak up on any of them at any given moment when the games starts..

when i first started this book, i was very scared because it started off really slow when it came down to the reads. of course i write because it is fun and helps free my mind, i can escape reality at times when i am on here. i told my dearest friend lagooncaramel_ about how scared i was. she encouraged me and still does when it comes down to this book. always listening to my ideas, giving me feedback and just being the most supportive friend. i love you with all my heart lagooncaramel_ 💖 and i love and appreciate all of you who are reading and supporting. thank you guys !!