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Chapter Text

POV: The Recruiter

While looking at the dead body of the person who might have been his savior, he thought to himself, "What a pity."

Gi-hun's death was not the first one he had encountered. He had seen lots of people dying in front of his eyes—most of them killed by his very bullet—but this time, he had kind of wished for something different. He knew it, a difference—you name it—a difference, like dying himself instead of watching someone else die. He had never been the type whose wishes were granted anyway; this was why he had stopped wishing a long time ago.

Yet today, he had done something foolish and wished for an end to his life. He had even walked to the so-called house of the one who was supposed to be his killer, all by himself—only to cause that man to die instead. Oh, really, a pity.

He could have simply killed himself, too, but without leaving someone behind who understood him, even a little, it would have been a waste. No, today was the day. Today was perfect for that. That man, Seong Gi-hun, had almost understood—almost made his death feel like a manifesto, like a monument. But by dying, he had destroyed everything. He had died for nothing, just like all the others. And so, the recruiter postponed his own death once again—until he could find someone else who understood him almost as much.

'Why didn't you just kill me?" he asked Gi-hun's body.

The head had fallen onto the little table between them. His eyes were closed. Blood was everywhere. Some of it was still dripping from the table to the floor. The recruiter's beautiful suit was also stained with Gi-hun's blood.

And somehow, the only thing he could think about now was going home to clean it. But he didn't know that he would never be able to achieve this. He would learn it in five seconds.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

A man with a gun rushed into the room. A somewhat crooked smile appeared on the recruiter’s face. Thought "Oh, hello." and hold his two hands up and really did that, as if surrendering was nothing but a formality.

-

POV: Hwang Jun-ho

When he rushed into the room, he wasn't sure what to expect, but he had expected the worst and had already pulled his gun's trigger. Yet, when he saw a smiling man in suit—and a suit in blood—standing there totally submissively with his hands up, he didn't feel the necessity to fire.

While his right hand was still carefully holding his gun, his other hand searched for the handcuffs he had been carrying. They would be needed.

In the meantime—yes—he saw the body, and he recognized the face of the head on the table. He was horrified by this fact, but his coping instincts were holding him back from grieving, forcing him to focus on the madness going on here.

"You will—" he said. "You are going to tell me everything."

The gun—which had probably killed Gi-hun—was on the floor. As Jun-ho stepped closer to the freak, he started noticing new details of the scene.

Someone screamed in the background.

Jun-ho knew it was the one he had just untied, that man who had been tied to a bed in a different room. He didn’t know his name.

"Mr. Seong Gi-hun! Mr. Seong Gi-hun!" he was calling the name, trying to come closer, maybe even to hold Gi-hun.

Jun-ho had to scold him without turning his back on the freak he was approaching.

"Shut the hell up and never touch Gi-hun! The scene must be investigated professionally! Keep your fingerprints away from here!"

The freak made an "Uhm." as if Jun-ho had been talking to him.

He somehow looked cute and innocent—for God's sake, there was some bloodstain on his angelic face—so much so that Jun-ho had to remind himself that this wasn't a five-year-old who had accidentally sat next to Seong Gi-hun while he was tragically—and possibly—murdered.

"Give me your hands." Jun-ho ordered coldly.

And then—even though the man was actually giving his hands to him quite willingly—Jun-ho grabbed his wrist harshly and pulled it forward to put on the handcuffs.

He was doing his job.

He might only be a traffic cop right now, but he was still doing his job.

So why the hell was this man looking at him like that? Like... He was not doing his job. Like... He was doing something completely different. The eyes were looking at him like "Since you put the handcuffs on me, we can do some fun things, just let me."

Was the man really meaning to say that, or was it something only Jun-ho imagining? He couldn't tell.

But in this situation, right now, it was quite inappropriate for him to be thinking such things.

What was this?

He shook his head, trying to shake off the freak’s aura.

The other guy was yelling at the freak. "You killed my brother! I will kill you!" and many other things like that.

Thanks to him.

That actually helped Jun-ho snap back to reality.

A lot.

Chapter Text

POV: Hwang Jun-ho

In a very short period of time, Jun-ho found himself defending the man he had just handcuffed from the man he had untied. The man—What the hell is his name?—was quite angry, bursting out in rage. He probably had the right to be this way, but in any case, Jun-ho had to stop him before he could do any damage to his suspect.
He played it easy, seeming considerate and understanding. There was a clear contrast with his previous self, who had scolded him without even looking at him—not just in his tone of voice, but also in his facial expression. “Brother, calm down!” he was trying to appease him. “We can't solve this with violence. He’s already handcuffed, stop!”
Previously, when he had first entered the room, Jun-ho had been a bit harsh with him, but after hearing that his brother had just been killed, he changed his attitude without even thinking about it.
The man seemed to calm down, which was both surprising and impressive. Jun-ho only had to hold him back and pull him—he didn’t have to slap or punch him. Quite an achievement. Quite civilized. Oh, look at us.
“There, there...” Jun-ho murmured. “Take a deep breath.”
He was speaking as if he really knew what to do next.
But no one really thinks he knows a thing, not even Gi-hun or the body he left behind.

Jun-ho, maybe just trying to take control again, wrapped himself in his cold demeanor and scolded the man once more, still with a friendly tone though. “Just stay away from him, alright? Stay away from both of them, actually.”
Jun-ho might have needed a little quiet time to process everything, yet the man was still loud and in a hurry, doing nothing to help and only making things worse in Jun-ho's head. The fact that the criminal sat there in silence made Jun-ho feel like an enemy to the only person on his side—just because he was so fucking noisy and somehow allied with the one who actually committed the crime. He couldn’t even catch the tangled words the man was saying; the plot was getting lost with every new sentence. Jun-ho finally gave up and asked, starting from scratch, "What’s your name?"
"Choi Woo-seok." the man said.
"Hwang Jun-ho," he introduced himself, even though he wasn't asked. "I'm a police officer. I'm calling my friends. You'll be speaking at the police station. Do not waste your energy here."
Choi Woo-seok didn’t seem to like the idea.
"No!" he yelled. "The police have nothing to do with this. I know the crime. I know the criminal."
"And are you the judge?" Jun-ho asked tiredly. "I think I need to put some handcuffs on you too, Woo-seok."

-

POV: The Recruiter

Sitting handcuffed in that single seat, watching two men fight over him: Absolute cinema. It could have been a little more tense, but he was okay with what he got: This was one of his best features, he was always okay with the things he got. And that, alone, made him superior to most people. He was a good boy, had never done anything other than what was considered good; he was a bad boy, had never done anything to stop when bad was considered good. And also, if it was time to admit things—this was less of an absolute cinema. Something was off. He couldn't name it.

He was looking at these two men. One was the man he had played rock-paper-scissors-minus-one with earlier, a terrible gamer and the other was newer, a more intriguing person. And the funny thing was, him being new there wasn’t even the first intriguing thing about him for the recruiter. He had a gun. A model-like frame. A knowledge of this place. A bravery for coming all by himself. A beautiful face. A strong frame that could push the other man away. A gentle soul—one that would defend a guy who might have killed one or two people just tonight. A pair of handcuffs. Ah. A gun—its trigger already pulled. An elegant hand holding that gun. A pair of elegant hands. —And those long fingers they had, ah.— A pair of beautiful eyes, a naive look in those eyes… Oh, the recruiter had spent his time generously—watching only him. So generous, as if none of what happened here was about him at all. As if he wasn’t even there.

For the recruiting business he always got some papers for people. A single paper for each person. CV like paper but got a little bit details like their family members, marital status, debts etc. For him, one of the most exciting parts of his job was studying those papers. Those people. He treated them like book characters—ones he could see in real life. And when he saw them, he could recite their details by heart. And this guy in front of him was really lacking one thing for him and it is the damn paper. Sweetheart, tell me when did you graduate highschool, I bet it is 2010 because you look no older than a '92 liner. Am I right? Oh, am I right?

He was still very silent, but his eyes might have been giving away some of his playful yet eerily perceptive thoughts—if only someone had been looking directly at him. But the gentlemen were too busy with their little fight.

He wasn’t paying them his full attention, but he caught their names, and learning this little piece of information made his eyes shine.

Hwang Jun-ho.

Hwang meant gold; Jun-ho meant handsome, talented, and great.

So you’ve been kneaded from this dough.

The recruiter’s fascination with people had long ago unlocked a name-meaning memorization hobby in him, and Jun-ho’s name was… satisfying. It was suiting him.

He also knew what Choi Woo-seok stood for, but he simply didn’t care about him. It was nothing as cool as Hwang Jun-ho anyway. (Choi Woo-seok roughly meant something like "a stable house on a high hill." The recruiter supposed the man had at least carried his name well—just by not dying when he was at his highest hill about an hour ago.)

And Jun-ho being a police officer—oh, the recruiter used to want to be a police officer too, when he was five years old. After that, he totally had forgotten about this dream, but his father never had. He always used to tell him, "With this height, you should have been a police officer. You used to want it too."

Yes, when I was five. At that age, I used to want to eat ice cream for all meals straight. For some reason, we don’t remember this request as much as the other one. Because it was silly, just as the other one might be.

He was used to speaking with his dead father between his thoughts. He might even fight with him, like he did right now, and these were nothing for him to stop and question why. He was really used to these—these were his normal. And for a real normal person, there might be nothing normal about him.

He was both thinking about what would happen if he was really sent to a police station—we would say nothing, of course, deny everything, give no hint, smile, and eat some free government food—and that he had actually spent more than one day eating only ice cream for all meals straight, fulfilling his childhood wish just to feel accomplished. Or not even accomplished—just to feel anything.

Just for this... so far, he had actually done more than just eating ice cream.

His eyes were shamelessly on Jun-ho, thinking about him by referring to him by his given name only, even though he hadn’t been introduced. It was okay; he used to think about Gi-hun as just "Gi-hun" too. No surnames. Oh, Gi-hun... His eyes slid next to the body sitting there. "You were hopeless and as suicidal as I am," he said to the body without talking out loud. "What made you think that everyone would rise up to defy the system? Why did you think that your living and my dying were the same as my living and your dying? I am better than many so-called humans, but you were right, I am just a dog. I am less than a human. Why didn't you just kill the dog? Why did you believe so badly that everybody can be a human?"

Chapter Text

POV: Choi Woo-seok

Going to a police station? Are you kidding me? I really, really wish Mr. Seong Gi-hun were alive right now because I know he would lead us better. I’ve never seen him until now—until it’s too late—but I know so much about him. I was sending him selfies for years, for god’s sake.

The young cop is relatively stupid. I’d like to knock him down right now, but ironically, he’s the only one I can work with. I’m trying to tell him everything. Once again. From the start. Just as he demanded. Slow and easy, but my words heat up with every new sentence, unintentionally.

“This. Seong Gi-hun. He was like our boss. It’s my first time seeing him in person.” I glance at his dead body as I say this. It’s heartbreaking—maybe not as much as seeing my best buddy’s body, but still... “He was a good man. He kept his promises. He used to owe a lot of money to my other boss, uh, I never call Mr. Seong Gi-hun boss actually, I don't know how to refer people now, I am talking about Mr. Seong Gi-hun owing money to my own boss, not other boss, but he eventually paid him back every single won."

“We don’t have all day,” the cop says.

Rude.

“This is the only way I can tell you things. Just listen.” I sound almost offended. You little bastard. I’m already tense from everything I’ve lived through today. “Anyways. He was searching for a guy.” I point my finger at the man sitting in the single seat. “This guy." He looks pretty comfortable there, and I absolutely hate it. "We didn’t have a picture of him, but we knew what we were looking for. A tall guy in a suit with a business bag. The kind that looks like a salesman or— you know, those guys who try to convince you to believe in Jesus. What are they called? Missionaries? Right? I don’t know.” I see the idgaf look on the cop’s face and keep going. “Anyway, someone like that. They said he’d be playing ddakji with people. Slapping them. Giving them money.”

“What?” The cop—he said his name was Kunho or something—looks confused.

“Maniac!" I clarify, my voice heated. “Today, my brother and I saw him crushing bread at the park. He was just casually jumping on them! A sociopath!”

The cop looks even more confused. The mentioned sociopath doesn't seem to mind. Totally unbothered, kind of creeps me out.

I keep going, practically shouting now. “If we turn him in, the cops will hundred percent send him straight to an insane asylum. He’ll never, ever be punished for his crimes! I guarantee it! And it is the best case scenario-"

"Please!" The boy almost cried. "Just stay on your first point. Do not jump between topics. Just tell me who is he? Why were you looking for him? What was Gi-hun's plan? Why did he need to find him?"

I don't know why it took this much time for me but I finally started hesitanting to talk with him. The way he calling Mr. Seong Gi-hun just Gi-hun alone gave me an odd feeling. "Wait a minute-" I say. "Do you know Mr. Seong Gi-hun? How do you know him? How could you even know this place? Who are you? Are you even a cop?" Am I even safe? Oh, hell no. "Where is my phone?" I am thinking out loud, I can't simply think my mouth close, ah, I am not always like this, but alright, I am most of the time like this and stress is making it even worse. I am not stupid. I am proudly average. Hell.
"I need to call my boss." I say when the boy was also asking me what the fuck I am doing, our sentences overlap. He does look more stressed than ever, I kind of feel released by this fact, I don't know why.
Where the hell is my phone? Ah. "Shibal!"
As I was looking for it desperately and realizing that I must have left it in the other room, the boy took out his police ID and showed it to me. As if it means something. As if I didn't know that these things are easy to fake. What does he think? Does he think he can play with me?

He starts speaking while I am still looking at his ID. "I know Gi-hun," he says. "I’ve known him since 2020."

He is a decent-type boy, hard not to believe in, and my instincts are constantly choosing to believe in him.

"2020?" I say like a detective, cold and demanding more details. My tone sounds different even to me. I am not a cold man; I am a very scared man who doesn't know what to do, yet my subconscious works for me—even in my tone.

He looks at me, looks directly in my eyes, he looks to me he is not sure sharing what he is about to say but he decides to share it in the end. He is like "What could happen anyway?" and he says "Yes. I've known him since 2020 and I know about the games too."

Oh, well.

Chapter Text

POV: Hwang Jun-ho

It was truly unbearable standing there listening to a man yapping continuously just to get one or two pieces of information and him threatening you despite the fact that he was barely clothed. He was hard to be taken seriously and, on the other hand, wildly serious. He was only in his underwear when Jun-ho first found him in a room before coming into this one. His hands and feet were tightly tied with a rope, and there was a sex toy (?) shoved into his mouth. There Jun-ho had helped him untie his mouth and hands and that was all. After that, he must have freed his feet by himself and thrown on the first piece of clothing he had found just before realizing there was no time for actually dressing up, and he must have run coming here without a shirt and shoes. Without a belt. Just with roughly worn trousers still waiting for him to zip them up and Jun-ho didn't want to be the one reminding him to do it. For a moment, while a sudden headache bothered him like hell, Jun-ho thought this evening was never going to end. He was also sick in the stomach, but he managed to ignore both of the pains. As a cop, he was kind of used to being in such scenes, but after not being believed in for more than three years, now being so close to what he looked for and all of them being as a result of coincidence (coming across Gi-hun's car on the street) were giving him an additional thrill. A pure surge of adrenaline.

"Yes. I've known him since 2020 and I know about the games too."

There were things he risked and not risked in this sentence. He risked leaking game information while he was still unsure whether the game was relevant to what was happening here; and he didn't risk telling he has known Gi-hun since 2020 but he hasn't seen him since 2020 either. "Or hadn't..." he thought since Gi-hun was no longer alive now.

Woo-seok seemed stiller. It took almost half a minute for him to respond an answer. "So, this is how he looks when he thinks without speaking..."

"What games?" he asked while he was trying to look somewhat tough. But Jun-ho didn't buy it. He had seen the light in his eyes at the first time he said "Games" like a minute ago. He didn't only see Woo-seok's reaction to the word, he saw the man-in-suit's (or the freak's) reaction too. Even if for some reason he was hesitant to look at him. Maybe for the reason he was constantly feeling his eyes on him and he didn't want to come eye to eye at a glance he would give to him. But since both of them reacted the word Jun-ho was glad risking things, glad coming here, glad witnessing crimes, glad catching one person and even glad having someone like Woo-seok to lead his way up.

"The games they kill people." he explained without a hesitation in his voice and watched the trusting look appearing in Woo-seok's eyes. He even looked relaxed. Looked happy?

"Yes!" he said quickly. His voice out of tough role now. He was back to his angry, overly excited self. "And this is the guy who hunts people for that games!" Woo-seok's finger was pointing directly the man on the single seat. "This is what Gi-hun told us. We were searching for him for years! I wasn't even believing that he was real but Gi-hun was paying us good!" Now he was literally crying. Jun-ho remembered he wasn't just an annoying yapper, he was a guy who has just lost his brother. This hardened his heart, made it almost too heavy to carry but, again, Jun-ho managed to go on.
Brother issue was just a soft spot for him, he would die for his brother, he would kill whoever would kill his brother, he would do everything and now, since he learnt the ugly truth about his brother, he admitted he would still do almost as much as before, still could die for him, still could kill for him, but to find and put him in a place where he no longer could harm anybody was his greater goal. He loved his brother. He loved justice. He hated how these two things came into the different sides of a scale. He would never imagine this. Woo-seok was keeping his speech as he crying and trying to stop his tears, "My wife used to say 'If you find that game hunter, you better join games yourself.' She used to believe the existence of this game hunter even less than I did."
Jun-ho was no longer listening to him.
He finally met eyes with the man in suit. The freak. The game hunter. The one who can solve everything.

Without a second thought he walked into him and tried to check his pockets. But as he came closer he reminded this still looking silent man's height and possibly strong structure. He asked help from Woo-seok, asked him just to hold him. Just in case.

-

POV: The Recruiter

Why did he simply let Jun-ho find the card he was hiding from Gi-hun and didn't let him reach it before playing with his life? Simple. For Gi-hun it was gold like, and for Jun-ho it is... One of all the other things he has to find out what.
"What is this?" he asked. His face was too close to him. The recruiter liked it. Smiled.
The card was a simple card which had circle, triangle and square on its one side and a little date and address on the other side.
Everything was like obvious.

"Is it where the island is? Is it when the game starts?" The recruiter looked at Jun-ho like "You are a clever man, you know it is not an island address."

"I don't know." he said. With a smile on his face. He couldn't stop smiling.

"You fucking know!" Jun-ho responded straight off, he was angry, he even straighten his gun to the recruiter's head. But the recruiter was still calm thinking he was not a guy to use that gun unless he had to defend himself and there was absolutely no reason for Jun-ho to defend himself. "I know this cards! I saw them before! This is the card took my brother from me! I can kill you right here. Believe me I do it. Tell me what it is or continue acting useless and I make you completely useless."

"Officer." The recruiter said. With a child like wonder. With completely unbothered tone. Like a gentleman. Extremely kind and sweet. "Isn't it against the law?" As he asked this he was expecting him to say "Fuck laws, there is no law here." He was betting on this, having a little fun in the situation he should never have had. But... All of a sudden he had that person who let him die in peace again. Maybe today was really the day.

Chapter Text

POV: THE RECRUITER

It was almost saddening how men these days were not gentlemen at all. He never expected anything from open zippers Woo-seok guy, but Jun-ho might have been different, as if Gi-hun could had been different. Yet no one was any different.

It was always "What are you?" and never "Who are you?"

It was alright for the recruiter, though. He has been feeling nameless for so long. But still, it was saddeningly mean. Why would they never ask him his name, while he overheard and learned all about them?

While Jun-ho was pointing his gun at him, he didn’t flinch. Woo-seok was rambling about the card—the card must have been the card that would lead them to the games, etc. While the truth was not that at all, only the recruiter knew this card was different from others and maybe clever-looking Jun-ho could also guess the difference, and then he would force him to speak and shove his gun in his mouth and the recruiter would willingly suck it. Oh, these were his initial thoughts. Did Jun-ho have any idea how he turned him on? Did he ever imagine someone would suck his gun just instinctively?

If Woo-seok wasn’t here, the recruiter thought, he and Jun-ho could have used this love hotel for its initial purpose. He would have made this boy relax so well. He felt like the boy needed it so badly. He could help. Really.

His bulky eyes were staring at Jun-ho regardless of how uncomfortable they might be for the point of the one who was starred at. He was sure the gun in his hand was for nothing but esthetics. It looked good on him though. The recruiter thought about his real gun for a second, when Jun-ho started saying completely unromantic things and creating glitches in the recruiter's delusional view, almost pulling him into the reality they were having at the moment. "Do not mention me about laws, I know you know nothing about them!" Jun-ho hissed with anger.

Wrong. The recruiter knew something about them. He was an extremely educated man who liked to read.
Yet he remained silent.

"Speak up." Jun-ho scolded him desperately.

"What do you want me to say, love?" the recruiter told him, looking deeply in his eyes, for a second, then he cracked a little smile. How couldn't he?
Jun-ho didn't answer, and he watched him as if he could see what was going on in his beautiful head just by watching it. "You can't go on without me." he said. "You need me."
So open. So direct. So showing he had absolutely no fear.

He had no fear indeed, and his power was completely pumped from this source. And this increased more and more each second he was sitting and thinking on that couch. If I die, I die. If I don't die, I can kill myself. That is a power.

The way Jun-ho couldn't even ask him why he couldn't go on without him or why he needed him gave the recruiter such joy. He kind of fixed his posture, and sat straighter, but his legs remained spread.

"You will not bring him to the police station!" Woo-seok cried. He looked like he was afraid of whatever Jun-ho might be thinking.
"We'll go to this address on this date," Jun-ho replied Woo-seok, by mentioning the things written on the card. "it looks like some kind of meet-up, I'll see about it."
"This gamer hunter will come with us?" Woo-seok asked him.

The gamer hunter? Alright, the recruiter thought, this is what I called then. Better than nothing.

"Yes." Jun-ho said, half unwillingness in his voice was almost touchable. The gamer hunter couldn't understand why he was so uncomfortable and when he tried to understand he thought Jun-ho might have feared him for some reason. "Oh."

"What do we do about Mr. Seong Gi-hun? And my friend, his body is in a room downstairs."

"Wasn't he your brother?" Jun-ho sounded more thoughtful than ever and him focusing on a detail like this seemed interesting to the gamer hunter.

"Oh, he was like my brother. He was my best friend." Woo-seok spoke roughly, not understanding shit as much as the gamer hunter does. Just explaining himself, never sensing shit. Gamer hunter believed his brain had no fold at all, just a smooth piece of meat.

POV: HWANG JUN-HO

When Woo-seok couldn't sense a thing, he could go on speaking as nothing important happened. He turned back to speaking about dead bodies, the bodies the gamer hunter turned dead. He looked at him as if he was looking at a monster, yet when his glance collided with his, he looked away from him immediately. Again. The way the game hunter looked at him completely weirded him out, but he had no exact words to describe this weird feeling. So, he avoided thinking about it.

Also, he knew the best option was still to call the police, his old coworkers, everyone who would finally believe in him. And the body issue was also handled this way, but he could never have the gamer hunter by his side again. Never. He would have to solve this puzzle by himself while the fucker was lying in the police station just to be sent to an insane asylum in the end, as Woo-seok rightfully mentioned. This was obvious. Unfortunately, too obvious. And what would matter? If he was sent to jail for his lifetime, but the game issue stayed unsolved. Jun-ho would hate it. Absolute hate.

He looked at the card again. The date was tomorrow. And this encouraged him for sure. Gave him a way to walk on.

"Tomorrow we'll go to the place and after that everything will be solved by itself anyway. I guess we just have to stay the night here together. Maybe in another room," He looked at Gi-hun while saying it. "we make a solid plan together. I should investigate what Gi-hun was on in this hotel too. Then, everything will be alright."

His speech was powerful. And not only for Woo-seok but for his own self too. He almost believed he was doing what meant to be done.

"We three should always stay in the same room. I can't risk this staying by himself."

Woo-seok approved his words. He was also more hyped and more encouraged than ever.

"I can't even sleep!" Woo-seok said. "I am with you till the end of this!"

Jun-ho shaked his head as he approved him, but he was looking more confused than faithful; more anxious than peaceful.

"Get up." he ordered the game hunter as if he was talking to his dog. And let Woo-seok run and handle him before he ran for it. "He is really tall." he thought, "And unnecessarily good-looking."

Chapter Text

POV: HWANG JUN-HO

Woo-seok fell asleep.

It'd been a few hours since they were settled in a cleaner room, however all the rooms in the hotel were dusty as a desert, sure thing Gi-hun never ever cleaned any of them. It was already obvious from the one he was using as a home, yet it was still observation-worthy. Of course, the only thing they observed wasn't the dust and dirt. There were many things to mention: Especially the room full of money and the rooms whose walls were demolished without touching the columns -thankfully- and they were turned into such a shooting range. There were also many guns there. So much stuff... Jun-ho's mind was completely busy with all of them. While he was sitting face to face with the so-called gamer hunter in a fucking love hotel room while Woo-seok was snoring in the background at two in the morning.

Jun-ho sat. Head full. Yet his eyelids were betraying him slowly. He looked at the gamer hunter, what kind of man he was, that he could still look wildly awake.

"Officer, don't you like to talk?" he asked. Almost politely. Jun-ho's eyebrows frowned.

The dim light of the room was merging with the silence and creating an odd aura which felt like summer to Jun-ho. As if he was in a summerhouse at the end of the summer when the weather is cooler and nights are longer. And nothing is too joyful, but there is peace lingering with a taste like summer. No way was he feeling it —that peace— in this fucking room, but he was. Maybe he was only tired and sleepy.

Also, they were never rich enough to have a spare house to stay in only in summers. While he was thinking about it, he was only thinking about his childhood house in the late summer. His father died when he was about two or three and left nothing but a brother. In-ho. In-ho was old enough to provide food on their table, yet he was still in police school and his mother had to stay at home looking after her toddler. Then In-ho got a part-time job and his mother started cleaning people's houses, carrying Jun-ho with her everywhere she went to work. Jun-ho was a silent boy, a clever boy who could play with his two little cars all day long, so it was never a problem for anybody that his mother brought him with her to their home. Some of them were kind towards him. He remembered he was happy when he was going to their home. Like he was going to his friend's home.

"I'm thirsty." the gamer hunter said.

Jun-ho looked nonchalant at first. But then he thought he had no right to punish anybody. He wasn't a judge, just a police officer. And even serial killers had the right to drink, eat, piss, shit and sleep. At this point, this man was no better than a serial killer for him. That is why he initially thought about serial killers when he needed somebody to compare him with. Eventually, he stood up, just to fill a glass with water for him.

During the evening and night they talked with Woo-seok about all the things they knew, what to do tomorrow, who to call for help etc. And meanwhile, Jun-ho asked this man questions, bombarded him with them and he answered none. And all of the sudden now he asks "Officer, don't you like to talk?" As if it was me who spoke nothing all the time.

Jun-ho shaked his head as he filled the glass. Tried not to think about what to do tomorrow for once and thought "Is he really a serial killer? If the player he hunted is actually choosing to join the games by their free will?" Then he thought, "Of course, he is a serial killer, he never let them know they would die in the games."

He handed the glass to him and asked "How old are you?"

"Me?" asked him, looking genuinely surprised. But he didn't answer that. He seemed like he didn't understand why important it was. Instead, he drank his water only a little and asked Jun-ho. "Were you and Gi-hun close?"

"Are you interested in?" Jun-ho quickly responded. "Are you and your boss close?"

"Which boss?" he said. Maybe he was only playing a game. Maybe he was serious, and he got too many bosses to confuse when someone asked him about a boss. Yet Jun-ho was only interested in In-ho right now, when Woo-seok was still sleeping. Thus he said "Black masked one. He also has a black custom."

"Uhm..." He said thinkfully.

His theatrical stupidity was making Jun-ho crazy.

"You know him." he said, forcingly looking patient.

"Is he important for you?" he asked.

"Just tell."

"Why am I doing it all for free?" The way he asked this was like a five year old but Jun-ho well knew he had an evil adult in him.

"You are doing it all for your life." Jun-ho answered. And the gamer hunter smiled. "We should play a game together." he said to Jun-ho. And Jun-ho, even if he sensed danger, he did not move.

Chapter Text

"Haven't you played enough games for one day?" said Jun-ho. He kept looking confident, and it wasn't so hard for him. He was a confident guy all along. His confidence was the reason he found himself in most impossible places. Such as a damn island, no need to mention it. He was looking into the gamer hunter's eyes. Directly.

"It's past twelve." he said, showing the clock on the wall, but it was obvious he was making some sort of joke. And being funny around an officer who was trying hard to remain serious was like swearing and Jun-ho of course, felt like being sworn at.

"Don't you have a name or something?" Jun-ho changed the dialogue for a moment, diminishly, just to turn back to it for the next moment when he learned his name. "Mun Ki-yong. Why are you doing this? Why are you pushing people to a death hole? I can't understand."

"Hwang Jun-ho." he said, with a tone imitating Jun-ho's tone. "They are all already on the edge of death. They are already dead."

POV: HWANG JUN-HO

His replies instantly threw him back to 2015. He thought about his brother and tried to convince himself Inho was not already dead. Yes, he needed money for sure. For his wife. To save his wife. The amount of money was too much for a casual police officer. It was almost shocking he didn't shoot the minister of health right after his wife's death, and he turned into a dead man. A zombie who was only walking around. Not keeping in touch with him and his mother if not necessary. Not working anymore. Closing himself in a coffin-like little dorm room with no window. As Jun-ho realized the gamer hunter was right, he became even more puzzled. Because thinking about his brother's pain could never give him any relief.

He wondered how they could even find people. Then he thought it was not as hard as it seemed.

There were so many things he would like to talk about. Too many questions. Too many details. But nothing that came out of his mouth felt trustworthy to him. Even his name... Mun Ki-yong. There were zero signs that this couldn't be something he made up. Even though it kind of suited him...

The reason he asked him for his name so diminishingly was because he looked so annoying before and this was one of the ways Jun-ho could attack. Yet, he didn't ask for his name for nothing. It was police instincts. To add something human in him, to humanize the inhuman, to pull some human answers if possible, and also because, he wondered.

He finally asked "What games are you talking about?"

Ki-yong smiled. "In order to talk about my boss?"

"Yes."

Ki-yong's smile widened with the satisfaction of having convinced Jun-ho.

And Junho felt something bad -so bad- about it.

POV: MUN KI-YONG

As a man of games, he was always ready for something, but right now he wasn't thinking of any traditional games. None of them.

"How can I play with my hands tied?" he asked, curling his lips down.

"You are forcing your chance." Jun-ho said.

Ki-yong noticed that Jun-ho used his name only once, right after asking it, and wondered if he would ever call him Ki-yong again. Well, he didn't need it. But he'd like to hear it from his mouth. Ki-yong. But not when he is attacking. But when he is being sweet. Even loving. He must have made it worth to learn his real name, after all these years no one ever could. Imagined him telling this name as he was coming and going like an ocean wave, hitting his walls hard. He smiled because he liked to force his chance.

Said "Sorry." and then he said, "If you die tomorrow at that address it wouldn't be so fun." he said. "We should play right away."

"Do you actually know anything about that black masked guy?" Jun-ho was utterly inpatient.

"Of course I do." said Ki-yong.

POV: HWANG JUN-HO

Jun-ho didn't mention it out loud but the way Ki-yong acted kind of reminded him of one VIP who forced him to satisfy himself. He was ready to hear this freak asking him to kiss himself and this triggered him more than he expected. It was kind of a trauma he had and never ever talked with anyone. A trauma, even though he handled the situation pretty well, he didn't need to do anything that requested from him. And now he was sure he would repeat that story and not let him use himself even if he had knowledge of Inho.

"Are we playing ddakji?" he asked. Playing dumb. "Or paper rock scissors? Or Russian roulette?"

Ki-yong appreciated how he followed everything and said "No." only.

"Then what?"

"Before coming here I had to call police." He said. "An anonymous call. I gave them my home address. And told them the man living there hadn't been seen for five days. There is no camera around my house or street. They can't prove the opposite. I told them there were some meowing voices coming from inside, and I felt hesitant for the cats inside. I said, "Please come and save them, or they will die." I believe now my door was broken, and my cats were rescued."

Jun-ho was contemplating the story and what the man might be saying.

"You create the game. And win." Ki-yong finished his lines. "I wasn't here to win anyway."

This was unexpected for Jun-ho.

He was relieved.

He was confused.

He got some sympathy towards him for not being a total pervert.

He got some empty why he might be feeling this way.

And it all happened in a few seconds. Not much.

"No one's going to die here." Jun-ho said when he understood the whole concept of him demanding a game.

"And will we live happily ever after?" Ki-yong asked, and this time there was no smile on his face. He was almost serious. No teasing. Jun-ho thought this style would be more likable, but he hated it even more. It awakened something in him. Some feeling he didn't know. He wasn't good with feelings anyway.

Also, the answer to the question... This, living happily ever after, was also impossible, but Jun-ho didn't understand why he wanted so badly to respond yes... Why did he take the question personally as if it was asked deliberating a life for them two? He wasn't even like boys. And beyond him not being a girl, he wasn't even a normal human being. He scolded himself for liking him even a little bit. He had never ever felt this way in his whole life.

"No." Junho said. "No happily ever after for you. That's the point. You will live in the sadness you deserve. I don't play games if they mean taking lives."