It had been the very first stage of the games, the survivors either found sleep easy or hard. But eventually everyone had drifted off. Everyone except one.
Player number 067, a young woman named Sae-byeok tossed and turned until finally kicking off the blanket in defeat.
It wasn't the blood and gore that had her stuck for sleeping. No, it was the fact that her family was so separated from each other. She'd worked tirelessly to get her mother out of the North, having gone through the ordeal herself with her brother. Her father had died trying to escape that dreaded place and the fact that she was in this place now destressed her even more.
All the kills today just brought back memories of her father. Turning on her side, she desperately tried to hold back the tears, but it was all in vain. She cursed herself for being weak, reminding herself why she'd put herself in here in the first place, when a sniffle caused her to quickly wipe away the tears.
It was useless to see in the dark, plus there was far too many people to tell who the noise was coming from, but just the thought of someone else's suffering seemed to harden her and she laid her head against the pillow again with a smile before sleeping the night away.
oOo
Groans filled the room once the lights came back on, which meant only one thing. It was time for the next game, but breakfast was served up first.
Heading to the front, she accidently bumped into the old gang member, who pushed her aside roughly. Her shoulder then slamming into a shorter girl, having her drop her breakfast upon the floor.
"Watch where you're going next time," he grunted at her as she just glared daggers at him before turning around to find the girl just collecting the last of her things to go take a seat by herself.
Sae-byeok paid no mind, instead just collecting her breakfast to go find somewhere on her own. That's when it hit her, was she the one that had been crying softly that night? It was possible, seen as the woman who'd taken a fancy to the gang member didn't seem too fazed to be here. Admitted there were other women here too, but for some reason she just thought it may be the girl.
But she wasn't here for anyone else, only one person was going home with that money and it was her.
"Get ready!" the guard announced. "Today you'll be in teams of ten."
"Great," Sae-byeok groaned, throwing her rubbish upon the floor.
Team work wasn't her strongest point, she hated working with others and would do anything she could to just ignore those around her.
"We need men."
She'd almost laughed at that as she looked around. Why should she bring back some beefy man to the team when there was her.
Glancing up at the stairs found the girl again, she'd not been invited into any group possibly due to her size. She didn't seem interested either, but...
"Hey."
The girl looked up, surprised to see someone actually talking to her.
"Hey," she repeated back to her.
"You wanna join our team?" it was a brief question.
The girl stood to give a nod. "Alright."
Sae-byeok lead her back to the group, much to their 'leaders' dismay.
"I said men," he complained.
Sae-byeok said nothing, as didn't the girl. She just felt so out of place and she could tell the other was too.
"Times up!" the guard announced.
oOo
The game had been tough, but they'd managed to pull it off together and again people were getting more and more worked up. Especially when it came to sleeping.
Once again she could hear the same muffled cries, but this time she couldn't stop herself. Her body seemed to be working on autopilot, forcing her to climb out of bed as stealthily as a ninja as she dropped from one bunk to the next. She felt like she was sleepwalking, her mind having given her a task to find the source of the crying.
A memory flashed in her mind, she was back in her home. Soft sobs were heard coming from her brothers room, and as she would, she'd climb out of bed and go to his room. Only this wasn't her brother, but still the need to help the one crying overpowered her.
Climbing another bunk or two, she found the crying to get a little louder. Slowly she eased herself up and onto the bed of the one crying and just by luck managed to cover the ones mouth before leaning down to shush her.
Once she knew the other would be quiet, she pulled back the cover to just make out the face of the shorter girl she'd asked to be on the team.
"Sorry," the shorter girl sniffled.
Sae-byeok raised her hand to the others face to wipe away the tears for her.
"Can't sleep?" she asked softly while laying down next to her.
The other girl shook her head.
"I keep having the same nightmare," she tells her as Sae-byeok just looks up at the bunk above them.
"What's it about?" she asks.
The girl sniffles again, but turns on her back too.
"I'm holding a knife," she goes on as Sae-byeok listens. "There's blood all over it and my hands too. My mother's laying in a pool of blood on the floor."
"Did you kill her?" Sae-byeok asks, turning her head.
The girl shakes her head. "No, my father did."
Sae-byeok turns back, she's heard all she needs to hear.
"It's understandable," she tells her.
The girl eases a little at this.
"My names Ji-yeong just in case you wanted to know," the girl smiles.
No. No, she didn't want to know. She doesn't want to know anyone's name, she really didn't want to know anything about her and right now her brain was overthrowing her.
"Sae-byeok," she tells her.
"Cute," Ji-yeong smiles again before turning onto her side. "Hm, how'd you know it was me that was crying?"
Sae-byeok shrugged. "I had an idea."
Ji-yeong nodded in understanding before asking. "Does this mean we're now friends?"
The question hit harder than any hit could.
'No!' "Yes!" 'Fuck!'
"Thank you, Sae-byeok. I hope we go far, right?"
Sae-byeok turned over, leaving Ji-yeong to look at her back. Once again she couldn't stop the tears, leaving Ji-yeong to feel as if her new friend didn't want anything to do with her.
"Goodnight," Sae-byeok said as calm as she could bringing back a smile to Ji-yeong's face again.
"Goodnight," she repeated to turn to have her back rest up against Sae-byeok's.
She cursed herself once again for letting her damned emotions get the better of her, especially seen as Ji-yeong seemed so sweet and innocent like her brother.
'I can't go through with this,' she thought. 'Just forget her! Just forget Her! JUST FORGET HER! just...forget...
oOo
"Morning," Ji-yeong greeted warmly the following morning, making Sae-byeok feel a whole lot of guilt wash over her. She knew she'd be forced to have to watch her new friend die or worse end up killing her herself.
"Listen..." she started before Ji-yeong threw herself at her.
"I want to thank you again for last night. I'm so happy I manged to get a great nights sleep all thanks to you."
Sae-byeok grit her teeth, she pushed herself so hard to try and push the young woman off her. So hard, that her nails dug into her palm, and yet she couldn't stop her arms from wrapping around the smaller woman.
"Ji-yeong, please." She begged into the others shoulder, tears clouding her vision.
A sniffle was heard from Ji-yeong as she hugged her more tightly. "Thank you for making me want to live again."
Sae-byeok gasped slightly before returning the embrace. "Ji-yeong, I need to tell you something. It's about my family..."
Ji-yeong listened to her every word before embracing her once again.
"I'll help you succeed, okay? Just think if we're the last remaining two," she laughed. "I'd gladly let you take the money."
"But, you know what that entails?"
Ji-yeong nodded. "You're the only one to care about me. I'm honoured to have met you, Sae-byeok."
Sae-byeok placed a hand on the back of the younger woman's head, pulling her closer as the two shared a moment together before the next game.
