Squid Game: A New game 6

**************** Ghost ***************

They say that when a person dies they may find their consciousness floating somewhere outside of their body (watching, observing…..like they've become witness to some kind of surreal movie).

Well Gi-hun wasn't dead, but he was having an experience like that right now (an out of body experience). Right at this moment he felt like he was outside of himself. Floating somewhere above.

He could see two people talking. Himself and Kang Sae-byeok. He could see their lips moving, but he could hear no sound. He was wandering what they were saying to one another. It was curious…but he didn't seem to care that he had somehow detached from reality. That he wasn't a part of the conversation going on. He was focused more on Sae-byeok. How could she be standing there right in front of him….she was dead!

In an instant he was back inside of himself.

"…and that's how I came to be here," Sae-byeok was saying.

Gi-hun just stood there a moment. He was trying to come to grips with what had just happened. He hadn't really heard anything that had been spoken. Well, except for that last part. Still, he had questions. He looked at her and then he asked….

"How….how are you here? I watched you….I watched you die!"

Sae-byeok just looked at him. She had just finished explaining everything. Hadn't he heard her? Looking into his eyes she could see that he was stunned. Maybe he hadn't. Maybe just the sight of her had dazed him. Caused him become numb. It seemed that she was going to have to repeat herself. Tell him all over again.

Gi-hun had focused in on her face. Her expression. He had seen that look before. He remembered it from "The Game"…..their game.

Sae-beyok had this way of looking at people. She had this blank, emotionless stare. Sometimes it seemed that she was looking at someone like they were stupid. Like they didn't have a clue in the world of what was going on. In reality this was her defense mechanism. It was her way of keeping people at arm's length. No friends and no one to care for her. And so in turn, she didn't have to care. Didn't have to care for anyone. Selfish but simple, stay detached….remain disconnected.

Sae had been hurt too many times. A life of misery will make someone turn cold like that. The only people that she kept close to her heart were her mother and her little brother. There was one other person she had let inside. Someone not that long ago. And it had been purely by accident. The ironic thing about it was….that she had barely known this person.

A year ago she had slipped. She had let a girl get close to her. It was during "The Games". For a moment she had allowed a person to come through that door. Breach her wall of security (maybe insecurity). Maybe it was because their life-stories had seemed so familiar. Maybe that was the reason. The tragedy that followed each of them had caused her to go soft. In Ji-yeong she had seen almost a mirror image of herself. And finding someone like that…she had let her guard down.

However, her heart had been ripped out again. The pain was still there. The pain of losing a friend, or the prospect of what could have been.

Now here she stood. Allowing someone to squeeze into her emotions again. Just a little. Gi-hun had been good to her towards the last part of the game. Well, what she could remember of it. He had tried to help her. Protect her. She knew. At that time….phasing in and out of consciousness she couldn't remember it all. Still, she knew that she could trust him. And trusting someone, at this juncture, meant that you had to let them inside. However this time things would be different. This time it meant the survival of others.

Sae-Byeok had a purpose. She was on a mission. Still, it was a mission that she could not complete alone.

********* Making Sense of Things *********

Seong Gi-hun….

The only way she could get him to cooperate with her was to let him in. Let him know a little of what she knew. She started to speak….and what she said was what she'd already told him before.

"What I said to you is that I'm on an operation. That I need your help so that we can stop this. Return things to the right path. Set things back to normal again."

She looked at Gi-hun. He was looking at her with big round eyes.

"You're dead," he said. "I watched them load you into a coffin and carry you out. It's a memory that is burned into my brain. You shouldn't be here."

This caused Sae-beyok to go silent for a second. But only briefly. She knew that she had to clue him in on things.

"Well as you can see I'm not." She began. "I can't tell you everything because some of it I don't know myself. However, what I can say is that the moment you're talking about, my death…. It never really happened. I may have been close, very close to death, but I didn't die. Someone saved me. I awoke in a room with someone standing over me. He saw my eyes open and he told me not to speak. Who it was…remains a mystery. Still, he informed me that he was part of a group of people trying to stop this. A group from the outside who'd found a way in. Individuals who consider the games as criminal. Yes, we may have all signed consent forms, but preying on the unfortunate and repressed…well they see that as cruel and inhumane. They recruited me, and after a time sent me to America. For the most part I still don't know who many of them are. However, one thing I can say is…..that you were recruited also. Maybe unknowingly but still you've been brought in. The waiter who handed you the menu with the message inside….the one at the Little Sea Restaurant. He works for us and that message was from "The Group". We had to get you to go along. We had to get you to order the "squid". We need someone in deeper, deeper inside the games. Someone who can discover who these people are. The main players. The "Big Fish". We could not risk you choosing not to participate. So we rigged it. We forced you to say yes."

"So you threatened my family?"

This did not sit well with Seong.

"Drastic circumstances call for drastic measures. People are dying, we had to make sure that you would help us. I am sorry if it frightened you. However, we had to make certain that you'd play your part. Even if you were unaware of it. At least until now."

Sae-beyok paused a moment. Then she continued….

"I'm also sorry for coming in and scaring you like this. With the red suit and all. But, I had to make certain that you were not being drawn into this. Enjoying the game like those sick bastards. Gambling on people's lives. It's perverse. And just because people are agreeing to participate doesn't make it right."

It was starting to make sense now. Gi-hun could see it. Did he like it? All the crap they had put him through? Hell no, his mind was about to explode. However, at least now he had a reason for all of the craziness.

"So you're wanting me to join you….join your group?"

She smiled. He had never seen her do that.

"Well, it isn't my group. However, yes, we are hoping."

Gi-hun paused a moment.

"And what if I choose not to?"

Sae-beyok stood silent a while. She had already considered that he may turn them down.

"Well then. You can go back to your regular life. You don't have to think of others. The poor souls being conned into a game that will cost them everything. The trickery. The chance of wealth if they play. Even if they know the outcome there are people desperate enough to risk it. Risk it all. That's what those filthy bastards are counting on."

Sae stopped here. She let him think about it.

"You can go and see your family. Spend your money. Forget about the forgotten. Toss them aside…..just as you were once considered yourself."

She paused.

"You know I came across a man once, lying in the street. He was cold, homeless and hungry. And I knew that he wouldn't make it through the night if I didn't help. I bent down and told him that I would get him assistance. That he should hold on and I would be back. And then I looked up and saw someone staring at us. Someone in a window high up in a hospital building. At that moment I thought to myself…Will that guy not help? Will he simply not pick up the phone and call someone?

I left and went down the street. I notified the authorities as soon as I was able and they sent a rescue unit."

Sae-Byeok fell silent again. But then she spoke.

"I found out later but I think you know who that person in the hospital window was. You have to help Gi-hun. We have to stop this. The next time I see my brother, and you see your daughter, I think it will make us both happy if we can do it knowing that we changed things."

END PART 6