(POV Gi-hun)

He looked peaceful, just like he was sleeping: In-ho lay on a hospital bed, looking pretty normal, despite of all the little tubes coming out of his body. His face was pale and his maroon hair was like a halo on the pillow – even now he was insanely beautiful. I saw his chest moving up and down and realized he was breathing, every breath meaning hope for life.

"In-ho", I whispered and carefully took his hand, the vein on its back pierced by a needle. "In-ho, do you hear me? You're not going to die here, is that understood? You're the Frontman, for God's sake, surviving 2 riots and an explosion. It takes more than a bullet to kill the Frontman, do you understand me? Don't you dare give up." My voice sounded firm and determined and I sincerely hoped that he could hear me. "Seriously I'll kill you if you give up. You need to wake up."

Jun-ho walked up to me putting his hand on my shoulder as the door opened and Mi-na came in with a doctor. "Mr Hwang, we have your brother's results. I very much regret to tell you that his liver is incurably damaged, so he'll need either a transplant or a partial liver donation. If he doesn't get one he has 2-3 days left to live. At least I can assure you that it's just the liver; no other organs have been affected. I'll give you a moment to process everything, then you'll tell me your decision." The doctor left the room and none of us said a word until I heard someone sobbing: it was Mi-na, tears running from her eyes. "Not, again", she whispered through the tears, "Nine years ago Min-jung died exactly because of this, because she didn't get a liver transplant and there was no possible candidate for a partial liver donation. First I lost my sister and now I'll lose my brother-in-law as well." I suddenly felt anger –I wouldn't let them give up on In-ho.

"No, Mi-na, not this time.", I said resolutely. "We'll find a transplant liver. Think of the illegal organ trades during the games, there must be something!" This one time I was actually relieved that the guards had taken the organs of the dead players –there had to be something, it was out of question that In-ho could die.

"You're right", Mi-na said, wiping away her tears, "I'll try to contact someone immediately – I'll find out where they brought the organs." "I'll go with you", I said and followed her through the door, "I can't stay here doing nothing, I owe it to him." Mi-na nodded and we left the hospital in silence.



(POV In-ho/Frontman)

"In-ho, do you hear me? You're not going to die here, is that understood? You're the Frontman, for God's sake, surviving 2 riots and an explosion. It takes more than a bullet to kill the Frontman, do you understand me? Don't you dare give up. Seriously I'll kill you if you give up. You need to wake up."

It was the one voice I would have recognized among a thousand that pulled me out of the darkness.

'Of course I won't give up. I'll come back to you!', I wanted to shout, but I didn't seem to have any control over my body. I couldn't talk, move or open my eyes, my whole body felt incredibly heavy, it was even hard to breathe. I heard other voices, Jun-ho and Mi-na seemed to be there and then another voice I didn't know – and that voice didn't have good news: my liver was so damaged that it couldn't possibly recover. It felt like a ghost from my past had resurrected as I remembered the day when my wife Min-jung got her diagnosis. It felt like bad karma that I would die the same way my wife did, but maybe I deserved it after all. Min-jung for sure didn't deserve it and I had tried everything in my power to save her, but it had been to late. And now Gi-hun and Mi-na were on their way to get a new liver...

'No, don't go, stay with me, Gi-hun!' Again no words left my mouth and I felt how I grew more and more tired and however much I tried to fight it, I was pulled back into the darkness.

In my dreams I felt pain, extreme heat and cold, I was burning alive in a fire and at the same time freezing in ice. Pictures were flooding my mind, various moments from my life: Jun-ho's birth when I was around 10 years old, standing at the altar with Min-jung, her pregnancy and the diagnosis, me and Mi-na standing at her grave in tears, the Squid Games, all the dead bodies, Mi-na finding me and staying with me, Jun-ho breaking into the games...and Gi-hun. His innocent smile when he first was in the games, him blindfolded sitting next to me in the limousine, the cold expression on his face when he came back, our first kiss during the night watch, the passionate, intimate moments we had shared, him saying that he forgave me and the last time I kissed him before I saved his life evacuating him from the island. All those beautiful moments were once again showed to my inner eye as I suddenly broke through the surface, hearing someone shout:

"WE'RE LOSING HIM! DOCTOR! CALL HIS FAMILY!"