(POV In-ho/Young-il)

"Ring-a-ring-a-riiiiiing a-ring-a-ring-a-riiiiiing, Ring-a-ring-a -ring-a-ring-a-riiing. Sone soneul japgo modu da hamkke, Jeulgeoupge ttwieo bopsidaaa"

The platform was rotating one last time, one final round and we'd be through it. Unless...

"I wonder what the last number might be" Tae-ho spoke his thought out loud and I suppressed a sigh – of course I knew the last number. My genius plan to reduce the number of players to 100.

"Two" I spit it out like a curse. "We're still 126 people left but there are only 50 rooms, which means there are not enough for everyone." 'Well done, In-ho, hope you're proud of yourself.', I thought. It would be typical for Gi-hun to sacrifice himself to save others. 'When he dies I hope you're happy knowing that it's all your fault.', the voice in my head scolded me. No. It was out of the question that Gi-hun could die. For a second I imagined what my life would be like if I saw him getting shot with my own eyes and I knew that I'd never be able to find peace ever again.

"2 Players"

Panic broke out but to my great relief I saw Dae-ho grabbing Gi-hun's arm and pulling him towards a free room, so I paired up with Jung-bae and we hectically looked around for another vacant room. Just as we thought we found one two other men approached the same door as us. I grabbed one of them and held him in an iron grip while I shouted at Jung-bae to get in for heck's sake. As we entered we realized that there was another player inside – and only 10 seconds left. I knew I had to do something and while Jung-bae blocked the door so so one else could get in I seized the man and cracked his neck. I felt nothing taking another man's life – kill or be killed had always been the motto of those games. But I knew I couldn't tell Gi-hun because he'd clearly think otherwise.



(POV Gi-hun)

All of us were silent when we were escorted back to the dormitory, leaving behind another hundred of bodies. So many people just died for nothing, so many lives lost, so many souls who should never see their home again. And a hundred other people who survived three of the games – but would they be stupid enough to risk a fourth? Or could they be convinced that we needed to leave this dreadful place once and for all? Suddenly something came to my mind.

"We should count the remaining players with O and with X, so we can get a prediction on how the next vote will be."

"Well, we should hope that more people with O have died then.", I heard Young-il's voice behind me speaking in a sarcastic tone, probably aiming at Jung-bae who had voted O last time. I didn't answer but all in all he was right.

Back in the dormitory it turned out to be 44 X to 56 O, so we needed 6 people to change their mind to get a tie and 7 people to win the vote.

"We should try to talk to them", I announced and was about to get up when Young-il stopped me. "Don't" he looked at me urgently, "it's too dangerous.", his voice sounding worried and determined at the same time – but it was the exact opposite of what I wanted to hear. "So you suggest to do nothing? To just wait until the Os win again? Don't you want to get out of here anymore?", I raged, making some steps towards him until we stood pretty close, facing each other. Even though Young-il was shorter than me he didn't let himself get intimidated. He was withstanding my gaze and made one more step towards me.

"Gi-hun, you know very well that I want to get out of here. But those people are all crazy, they've already proven that they have no scruples whenit comes down to money. We would only risk a fight before even having the opportunity to vote. Is that what you want, Gi-hun?" His voice was raised and he sounded angry but in his face I saw honest worries and doubts. Our eyes locked and we were staring at each other intensely; being so close to him brought up again the moments we shared last night.

Jung-bae clearing his throat made me snap out of my thoughts. "Young-il is right. We shouldn't risk it right now." I admitted defeat and nodded, now avoiding to look at Young-il. The tension between us was as obvious as the nose in my face and I hated the effect this guy had on me. A moment later the guards were back, announcing the previous game's results and called me, No 456, to begin the vote. It looked like we were on a good way, a few people had changed their mind and our hopes were already rising. Only 006 and 001 were left to vote as suddenly Jung-bae told me something weird.

"Gi-hun...I need to tell you something. Concerning Young-il. I know that the two of you... get along well", he paused and I raised my eyebrow, "but sometimes he seems scary to me. Maybe you should be... careful how much you want to trust him." Again he gave me a meaningful look and I started to suspect that he had seen us together last night. "During the last game, when I paired up with him and we ran into a room, he..."

But Jung-bae couldn't finish his story because of the loud cheering around us. As the last one to vote, Young-il had pressed the X and got us a tie, 50:50. Still standing in front of the buttons he looked back at us smiling and showed us a thumbs-up. I exhaled in relief while the guards announced that the next morning we'd get to vote anew.