Alicia POV-

"On the count of three!" Sang-woo announced, all of them yelling.

"One!"

"Two!" Everyone braced themselves.

"Three!" We all stumble forward.

I think it seemed to work because the other team fell over. Along with that Gi-hun ended up slipping. But he manages on one leg. "PULL NOW!!"

We all pulled back quickly; the opposite team was trying hard to pull the rope to their side. We pulled and pulled in rhythm. And, eventually, they fell.

As they fell, we were also being pulled due to the heaviness. Finally, the blade chopped the rope leading us to fall back.

I was on the verge of passing out. I can feel my hands burning. I feel so guilty. I killed those 10 people.

I leaned against the wall of the elevator and sat on the floor. My legs gave up. I looked at the blisters that had formed on my hands. I closed my eyes and rested my head on the wall. My hair stuck to my neck due to the sweat. Almost my entire clothes are wet due to the sweat.

One man kneeled on the ground while mumbling prayers with his hands together. "Hey, dude, Who are you praying to?" 240 calls. The man ignores her and continues his prayers.

"Ah...To God? Do you think you made it because of God?" she sighs and bends closer to the man. "The reason you are still breathing and praying of yours is thanks to that old man there. And that guy over there who pulled that awesome trick last-minute. If you want to thank anyone, it's them, not god."

The man lifted his head, glaring at her. "You sad lost soul. What would you say about who was nailed to the cross for us today? They sacrificed themselves for us. Thanks to their blood." he looks around the team. "then you should have been on their team. And sacrificed your blood for us." I say. He glares at me and continues.

"I pray to the Lord on behalf of all us sinners. I gave thanks for their sacrifice, god helped our team to win." I just smirk, leaning my head back.

"Bullshit, but you killed them yourself." 240 says. He lowers his head and continues with his prayer. "Oh! So if we pray we will go to heaven?" she clasped her hands. "Then even I have to pray, it is really easy. God, we worked as a team today to send people to your side. We sent a bunch of them today. Please help us with a whole lot more to be with you. And I hope--"

"Be quiet!" Sae-byeok snaps. The woman drops her hands and gives Sae-byeok a blank stare. "Me? Or that guy?" "Both."

The elevator came to a stop. The doors slid open and Sang-woo was the first to exit. I exit after 212.

We enter the main room, we all start at the '101' gang before walking away. I could feel their glares. I sit down and release a deep sigh. I stretch my body. I still keep my eyes closed.

"you know what? I thought we were going to die there," '212' narrates her so-called story. "And then, as soon as we're all leaning back, I felt so powerful. Like, 'whoa! It works!' Hey old man, how do you know that?"

'001' chuckles before replying. "As a kid, I always--" '212' interrupts him. "You copied that one thing. From that movie. What's it called? The guys who dodge bullets like this." she begins moving her hand in a circular motion.

"The Matrix!" Ali answered, earning a stare from '212'. She placed her hands on her hips and leaned forward. "So, when you came to Korea, you just watched movies?" Ali frowns. Then she turns her attention to Sang-woo.

"And our man..." she smiled creepily. "'Everybody, take three steps forward!' Oh my God! I can't believe how cool that was. How did you come up with that pressure?" I look back at Sang-woo, he eats his corn with an annoyed expression.

"You were the one who said no," Ali says in false innocence. "you heard that?" '212' snickered. "You cried and said, 'But that's the edge. There's no way I'll go' like that" he mocked, I laughed a bit too loud.

"Hey you, you got a visa? I bet you don't. You are an illegal alien." '212'questions. "Why do you care?" I huff. "What about you? I bet you are from a garbage can." I say simply. She glares at me.

"Why keep a strange foreigner when we could just ditch them?" She points her corn at us.

"Who is the captain here? Mr Brains, you've been the captain, right?" She leans towards Sang-woo. "We are all equal here." "ah! Great! Building an egalitarian society!" then she just curses out those '101' gang. "Grandma, why did you get kicked out?" Gi-hun asks. "Grandma?" she places her hand on her chest, being dramatic. "Don't call me that ever! Han Mi-nyeo. Mi-nyeo is my name. And I didn't get kicked out. I just decided to leave."

Then the PA system chimes. 'Players, your bedtime will begin in 30 minutes.' "Another fight could break out. We should make a plan." Sang-woo suggests. "What can we do? We got four girls and an old man. And us. Our team is the weakest here." 196 scoffs.

We all decided to make a barrier to protect ourselves. As I was helping the others, I saw Gi-hun and '101' having a conversation. But '101' looks terrified.

"They'll shut off the lights soon," Gi-hun said. "They might not all come right away, so we better swap out who's gonna keep watch. Just to be safe, I think."

"No, two of us should watch, or more. Better than one." Sang-woo suggests. "A pair can keep each other awake. Just one person might go and betray our team," he sighed. Betray? Now he sounds as if we will.

'001' leaned forward. "I can... be the first watch then, You don't sleep a lot when you're old." he offered, "Excuse me, but are we just supposed to trust an old man like you to not sleep on the job all night?" '196' rudely interrupts.

"Then you go solo. You watch yourself. We'll watch the team." I snapped, I had enough. I look at '001' and he pats my back.

"Let me go first." Sang-woo offers. "I'll go with you," I say. "I don't feel sleepy." Ali raises his hand. "I'm not tired either, I'll join." Sang-woo and I nodded our heads to confirm.

"Then I'll be next," Gi-hun said. "You wake me up the second you get tired." I nod in agreement. "Then why don't I join you on the second watch? Assuming that's okay with you." '001' suggests.

Gi-hun nods his head up and down, "Yeah, that sounds good." The alarm buzzes. And the lights go off.

I sit beside Ali. I just zone out, but still, look around. Then I hear Ali's conversation with Sang-woo. "Have some of this." he offers his corn to Sang-woo. "I saved it when they gave it to us for lunch. So I could give it to you." "Give it to me? What would I do?" Sang-woo looks at him.

"Today, you saved my life. I wanted to thank you. Also, you gave me that money for the bus fare that day. I just wanted to return the fare." Ali smiled. Sang-woo takes the corn from Ali's hand and breaks it into 3 pieces, he keeps one to himself, another one to Ali and the other to me. "Your share" I shake my head 'no'. But he gives it to me anyway. I slowly take a bite of it.

"It's Ali and Alicia, right?" we look at him. "How old are you both?"

"Yes and I'm 19," I say. "I am Ali, and 33 years old sir." "Just call me Sang-woo, okay?" he looks at both of us. We nod our heads. "How did you get here?" "I came to Korea to make money, Sang-woo," Ali says. "I don't mean that. In here. The game."

"I needed money. I came for that." "Got a family?" "Pakistan. Got my dad and mother and siblings there. I still had to take the wife and baby with me here." he says. "aww... that's cute" I smiled at Ali. He returns the smile. "How old is your baby?" I ask him. "He's a year old boy," he replies with a smile.

"you're a father?" Sang-woo asked, shocked. "you miss them a lot?" "yes" I can see the sadness in Ali's eyes. I pat his back in comfort.

Then Sang-woo looks at me, "you? Tell us about yourself." "life outside is shit... and death is indirect, I mean if we don't pay, the loan sharks are gonna kill you. But here, it is better. just play, win and live. If lost, then die. simple and direct." I reply sarcastically. "seriously come on..." Ali says. 

"I'm Alicia Wag. 19. From Malaysia. Came here at the age of 15. my father was murdered by loan sharks. And now my mum abuses me and I have to pay the debts." I say. Ali closed his eyes when I said about my dad.

"What's your reason for being here?" Ali asks Sang-woo. He looks at us, then replies, "the same as you. For money."

I look at Sang-woo's actions. He said that he wanted to sleep. I see his hand reaching Gi-hun's neck. I was about to stand up and go there but Gi-hun woke up.

Gi-hun sits beside me. After a moment. I look at him, his eyes are shaking. "Gi-hun?" I shake him gently. But he doesn't move. I shake him several times but he doesn't budge. Then the old man sits beside him. "Hey" then Gi-hun comes back to his senses. "Are you okay?" I ask him. He nods his head in response, but I can see little fear in his eyes.

"I thought you were sleeping with your eyes open." the old man says. "um... thinking of the old days. I worked at this place once where we went on strike. I used to make parts of the car." he says. "used to?" I question him. "They fired a bunch of us all at once. I've been employed there for more than a decade." "I bet it wasn't easy." Gi-hun sighs deeply. "I had a kid on the way too. I couldn't afford to get fired like that. Our bosses said we couldn't stay. I had no other option. They ruined the company and held us responsible. It made me furious. And everyone was the same as now...all kept watching in pairs until morning. That way, no one could kick us all out. And we were all so scared. Police might come any second." he added.

"I heard about it. There was a huge strike. Some car company." '001' comments. "It even appeared on the TV," I added.

I zone out again. That day on the news, a huge strike, people were getting hit hard. And I think few died as well. Then I hear '001' grunting. I look to my side.

"Sir, what happened?" I ask him, holding his back. Then Gi-hun places his hand on his forehead. "you are burning up." "no, no, it's fine." the old man said. "no, you need rest," I say. I and Gi-hun bring him to his bed. "Lie down". "Quick Cover him up with the blanket and tear another one into a piece and wet it. And place it on the head." Gi-hun does what I say. He opens a bottle of water. But it is empty. "Wait, I have it." I go near my bed, I see my bottle half full. I take it and go. When I reach, I see the cloth on the elderly man's forehead. I look at Gi-hun. He pointed his finger at Sae-byeok. "You go and sit in the front. I'll sit here and look after the old man," I say. Gi-hun nods his head and goes to the front.

3rd person POV-

Jun-ho follows the other staff to the underground. When he was climbing down the stairs, he sees a bomb. "Don't touch it. It is a bomb. They made this passage so the VIPs could escape in an emergency. And once they're all out, they set off and blow the entire place." Number 28 says. "the VIPs? Who are they?" Jun-ho asks. "That's as much as I know." with that they continue.

As soon as they reach the ground, Number 28 points the knife at Jun-ho's neck. "Why do you wanna know about the VIPs?" he asks.

"I was just grateful for our diving equipment and this passage. They prepared it all for us." then number 28 threatens Jun-ho to remove his mask. Jun-ho removes his mask. "Who are you?" then Jun-ho points his gun at the other staff. "Now it is your turn to remove yours. Do you want to die?" number 28 does as he said so.

Number 28 kneels in front of Jun-ho with a gun pointing at him. "Now, what matters is the identity of the man that you murdered. The one you've been calling a zombie. With the one kidney, the one you put on the table who woke up. Do you know where that other kidney went? In here." he places his other hand where his kidneys are placed. Then he continues, "it's in here. He was my brother. He gave me that kidney. And my cru-best friend is also here!" he was about to pull the trigger. "No! Wait!" the person shouts. "It was a girl. Not a man. I'm not lying." "It sounds like bullshit."

"before we operated on her, we took turns having sex with the girl, okay? Would we do that to a man? Go check the list, if you still don't trust me." the man opens up. "the list?" "There's a list of all the players with all their info as well." "where?" Then the other man points at a ladder. "over the ladder-way in the room the ladder is in. you have seen him. His mask isn't the same." the other man shakes in fear. Jun-ho lowers his gun down.

"so, you and I will find your brother and your best friend, okay?" Jun-ho shoots him and he falls into the water.

Jun-ho enters the VIP room with his gun in his hand. He breathes heavily. He keeps his gun pointed. Then he enters a room through a black door. He sees a fancy mask on a mannequin. Then an emergency alarm goes off.

He closes the door behind him. He enters into an underground tunnel which leads to a room full of files.

With his torch on, he found a file that says 'players information'. Then he searches for another file. He sees a file 'List of players 1'. He opens it. He turns a few pages. He stops at Alicia's page. He runs his fingers on her photo.

-flashback #1 -

Jun-ho hears his doorbell. "JUN-HO! CAN YOU OPEN THE DOOR!" In-ho yells. He opened the door and he saw a pretty girl. He kept staring at her. "Um... hello! Is this In-ho's house?" she asks. He nods his head. "oh nice! I'm Alicia, In-Ho's friend." he opens the door wider. She enters the house.

She stands in front of the couch. Looking around. "Please sit." Jun-ho motions her to sit. "Oh okay." she sits.

After a few moments, In-ho comes. "Hey, Alicia!! Let's go to my room." he points to his room. Then they enter In-ho's room.

Little did Alicia know, Jun-ho kept staring at her the entire time.

It was the first time he met her.

-flash back end -

Then he finds a familiar box, he opens it. He sees a 'list of winners'. He finally spots his brother's number. 132, Hwang In-ho. He opens another file. '132' he finds it. "In-ho" he whispers to himself.

Alicia's POV-

I wake up quickly as I hear the emergency alarm. The staff members enter the room.

'All players, please make your way to the centre of the room.' one of the staff members pointed their gun at us.

"Get up" "Wait he is sick." I stopped the staff member. But I feel the gun pointing at me. Now I stand in such a way that my back is towards the old man and I can't see anything.

I hear blankets ruffling. I look at Gi-hun who is standing beside me. I move my head in such a way that I am asking him 'what's happening?'