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FOURTEEN | FAILURE IS NOT
AN OPTION

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IT RAINED, IT poured.

Soo-Jin and Sang-Woo had just returned to Ssangmun-dong to visit their families and have a break from their academic stress. A month had passed already ever since the crime in SNU and the two brilliant freshmen were very happy to return home. The three friends decided to bond together at the restaurant they frequented when they were in primary school.

Soo-Jin was still buying her friends some snacks when it rained. Thick sheets of icy water pummeled the dark road, rushing forth in a mob-like roar. She turned her head to see both of her friends getting soaked in the rain and pulled out her large umbrella for them. Jogging towards them, she held it up.

"Just as I expected, the two of you didn't bring any umbrella." she tsked, squeezing herself between them. They both had their hands above their heads as if it would do anything to stop the rainwater to soak them.

"I lost my umbrella -- "

"You always lose your umbrella, Gi-Hun. What's new?" she shook her head. "And you, Sang-Woo?"

"I didn't bring mine. I didn't expect it would rain."

The brunette sighed, rolling her eyes. "I'll just get those snacks for us later. The vendor is still cooking it anyway. Let's share this umbrella. I'll get you both to the restaurant and come back to grab our snacks." She grabbed Gi-Hun's arm to pull him closer to her since he was farther from the shade.

"Forget it. We're okay, Soo-Jin."

She stepped closer to Sang-Woo. "No, it's okay. I'll feel bad since the two of you will be drenched."

The man wearing a formal attire lightly pushed her toward Gi-Hun. "Share it with Gi-Hun."

"Ya, Gi-Hun, Sang-Woo's -- "

"Aish, Soo-Jin, share your umbrella with Sang-Woo. Look at his attire. He's not used to getting wet."

Soo-Jin was pushed back to Sang-Woo again.

"No, it's okay. Gi-Hun needs it more than me."

Soo-Jin was then shoved to Gi-Hun.

At that point, she was just getting pissed by the constant shoving around she was experiencing that she just dropped her umbrella and let herself get drenched by the rain as well.

"You know what, fuck this shit," she put her hands in her hips, her lips contorted into a frown. She had been lately feeling this slight aggression with the two of them like they were pulling her in a tug of war, but they were pushing her instead. "No one will use this damn umbrella! If you two won't share it with me, then I'm just getting soaked here. You both want that?"

"Ya," Gi-Hun pointed to her, clicking his tongue. "Why would you waste the umbrella?"

Sang-Woo shook his head and approached her just as her bestfriend did too. He picked up the umbrella on the ground and held it above her head. "The owner should use it."

"You two idiots know I don't like people getting wet in the rain." Soo-Jin rolled her eyes, jabbing a finger at them. "Especially you two. You're my friends!"

The two men only stared at the ground like they have been scolded by their mothers. Soo-Jin continued ranting. "I feel like I did something wrong! Ya, what is it with you two? Is it because of me? Did I do something wrong?"

"No." Her friends simultaneously answered then glancing at each other.

Soo-Jin, still pissed off by their behavior, tugged both of her friends' close to her by their clothes. "Let's share the fucking umbrella. It's enough for us three. If you two won't share this with me, I swear I will punch you both in your faces."

Sang-Woo and Gi-Hun shared a glance and a second later, they both sighed and moved beside her, sandwiching her between them. She pulled Sang-Woo closer since he was still making an attempt to get out. "Squeeze up, idiot. You'll get wet."

"Aish..."

"Are you happy now?"

"There!" she remarked at Gi-Hun, giving him a glare. "Was it too hard? No, right? Now, let's fucking go."

And the three friends advanced forward, sharing the shade Soo-Jin's umbrella gave. There was this tension between them that she couldn't exactly decipher and she just internally blamed the testosterone coursing through them. Men and their fucking hormones. She thought.

"Are we almost there yet?" Sang-Woo asked as he removed his glasses and dry his lenses.

"We're almost there."

"Do they now serve good food? I will not be getting those snacks anymore if -- "

But, Soo-Jin was cut off by a loud thunder and in shock, she jumped to Sang-Woo's side to shield herself. She then shut her eyes and pressed herself to his body when lightning flashed from the sky, startling her. "Omo!"

It was then that she felt Sang-Woo's arm on her shoulder and she slowly backed away, looking up to him. She also realized that she grabbed his coat in her shock. Drops of water were dripping from his hair, and his always strong eyes softened when their gazes met. Her breath hitched in her throat as his lips grazed her temple.

It was as if the world stopped moving and time slowed down. She was so caught in his piercing stare that all she could think about at that moment was: when the fuck did Cho Sang-Woo become so attractive?

THE LIGHTS WENT back on.

Soo-Jin jumped up from her sleeping position, alarmed, but then realized there was no danger. This place was going to be the death of her. She could only imagine how she would function outside when she wins. The sleepless nights, the nightmares, the trauma... she'll have to live with it all. Carry all that guilt inside until the day she dies. Every time she will look at that money, she will be reminded how many people died for her to win it.

"Ya, old man." Gi-Hun shook the elderly's shoulder. "Did you stay up all night?"

001 chuckled. "I thought they would attack again or something."

"Old man, but you must be so exhausted already."

"It’s all right. You don’t really need that much sleep when you’re old. And I didn’t help when they went after everyone but keeping night watch, well, I can do that. Plus, Soo-Jin and Ali stayed up with me for as long as they could."

The familiar classical music blared once again through the speakers and Soo-Jin instantly knew the third game was about to begin.

"Attention, players. The third game will begin momentarily. Please follow the staff’s instructions and swiftly make your way towards the game hall. Let me repeat the instructions. The third game will begin momentarily." the woman on the speakers proclaimed as the guards woke them all up to move.

Soo-Jin then gave a cold glare at the watcher that shook Minjun harshly awake. She cocked an eyebrow when he immediately backed away without saying another word.

The young woman had noticed lately that the watchers were strict with the other players, but they were a bit lenient to her. It was as if they were giving her some special treatment. She wondered why.

They were then led to a room with white walls, and Soo-Jin momentarily narrowed her eyes at how clean and pure the color was. There was something so eerie about it. "Players, welcome to the third game. For this game, you will play in teams. All players, please divide yourselves into teams of ten people. Your time limit will be ten minutes. Ten minutes."

The fair brunette pursed her lips in thought as the clock started its countdown. Which games consisted of ten players? What kind of skill-related components would they need to exert? Power? Agility? Balance?

"Something that has teams of ten players." voiced out Gi-Hun as they gathered around. "So, maybe it’s Tail Tag or Why Did You Come to My House?"

This time, Minjun spoke up, his finger on his lips. Soo-Jin was so proud of him since he was beginning to warm up to them and speaking his mind and ideas. "Well, if it's Tail Tag, that means running is involved. It could even be Maldukbakki which would be really painful for our backs, by the way. Maybe it's Capture the Flag or..." He then paused in his rambling. "Or it might just end up being simply based on luck."

Soo-Jin massaged her temples. She had been trying to figure out what game was going to be next since they came. She really should've asked Jun-Ho if he knew anything. It really would've helped them. "What do you think, Sang-Woo?" She exhaled, giving up.

"Our team already has a girl and an older guy. I’m thinking we better get more men first."

"What if they make us play Gonggi or Elastics? Then, what do we do? Girls are usually the good ones at that."

"That’s true," agreed Sang-Woo. "but when it really comes down to it, usually -- "

Soo-Jin rolled her eyes, raising her finger to interject for she knew what he was going to say. "Okay, I'm going to stop you right there because if you say, men are better, I will hurl something at your head and you know I will."

Her former lover tilted his head to her, his expression fixed. "It’s our lives we’re betting on right now... and we gotta win."

Soo-Jin knew he was right because that's what she also believed in. They had to do everything to win. She has to stick to her winning mindset if she wants to get out alive.

"We need three more people. Let's go by pairs and bring one guy to join us. Okay?"

At this, the woman huffed and pinched her nose. "Ali, you go with Gi-Hun. Minjun, you go with Sae-Byeok." She then inclined her head to the old man and reached out to hold his hand. "And you, sir, you stay here, okay? You rest first."

And with that, Sae-Byeok and Minjun left first, setting out to seek a strong male player. Just as Gi-Hun spun around on his heel to find one as well, Sang-Woo grabbed Ali's wrist and eyed his hand. Soo-Jin's eyes darted down and she noticed that his ring and pinky finger were severed.

"What happened?" softly inquired the concerned brunette.

"Workplace accident."

Soo-Jin screwed her eyes shut, pained by this revelation. At her side, Sang-Woo advised him, "Don’t let them see. You’ll seem weaker."

And just like the others, Ali accompanied Gi-Hun in finding a teammate. Sang-Woo and Soo-Jin exchanged worried glances as they witnessed the strong male players join either Deok-Su's group or the others. They were really determined not to lose and die and that was making the woman slightly nervous. If they do not get any more men to join them, then out of all the groups, they will be the weakest.

"Sir?" Her attention was then anchored to the man and woman Sang-Woo went to. "Got a team yet? Are you taken?"

The man hummed then shook his head. "Uh, no."

"Come join ours then, sir. We have a team."

The player nervously chuckled, looking at the woman to his right. "Well, the thing is, though, so I can’t join unless she does, too. Would you let her?"

"Is she your wife, sir? If you don't mind me asking?" Soo-Jin stepped forward, her lips pursed tight.

"Yes. I'll only join if she will."

At that, the woman turned around and patted her ex on the shoulder. She couldn't do it, rejecting them, but she knew Sang-Woo could. She didn't want to, but in order to win, they need more men. He nodded. "I’m sorry, sir, but our team already has too many girls."

Eight minutes later, and the former couple came back with no one. They didn't find any more available men that could join their side. They were all taken already. She already theorized that the game will require brute strength and voiced out this thought of hers. "Sang-Woo, I think the game is about strength. We need to plan ahead if ever the game will be -- "

"What is it, 321? Can't find anyone to join your weak team?" taunted Deok-Su, barking with derision.

"If you want your balls to be intact, don't provoke me, you asshole." threatened Soo-Jin, gritting her teeth. She was already exhausted, and really stressed out that they lacked enough male players.

"I can't wait to kill you in this game."

Sang-Woo gently tugged her wrist. "Come on, Soo-Jin, let it go."

"You really think you'd win this games?" 101 derided. "You can't even kill. You're all just talk, but you can't do it."

At this, something in Soo-Jin just clicked and she shook her hand away from her ex's grasp. "I'm not afraid to do whatever it takes to win." The brunette stepped up, determined. "Remember this, I never and will never lose."

"We'll see about that."

Her companion took her hand and dragged her away, leaning close to her ear. "Stop getting yourself into trouble. He just wants to get into your nerves."

Soo-Jin huffed, rubbing her face in frustration. They returned to their meeting area and she swore she wanted to smash her fist in the wall for failing to get a male player. She was fuming since she hated failing. She didn't like it.

Because for her, failure is not an option.

From across them, the woman heard Deok-Su humiliate player 212 and she shook her head. Of course, he was just going to abandon her after using her.

The rest of their team went back, bringing players along with them. Sitting down, the woman clenched her fist and just tried to focus on the matter at hand. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine?" counted off Gi-Hun, cocking an eyebrow. "Um… wait, did someone not bring anyone?"

"It was us." vocalized Soo-Jin, crossing her arms. "We didn’t."

"What about you? Who brought you here?"

The female newcomer tilted her head to Minjun and Sae-Byeok. "Them."

"We said to bring only men back here, didn’t we?"

"This doesn’t sound good." carelessly countered the new player who had the number 240 in her chest. "You want me to go? I’ll go now."

"No, wait. Hold on." objected Gi-Hun. "It’s okay. Stay where you are. We don’t even know what we’re doing yet, and the time’s almost over. At this point, let’s just find one more teammate and be done."

"We put together a weak team, who would want to join it? That means that once the timer’s done, we’ll end up with anyone that got kicked out."

As soon as Sang-Woo said this, player 212 made her presence known to them by gesticulating her arms wildly and raising her voice. "Well, nobody kicked me out, huh! I’ll play with you as a special deal here, okay?" She then pushed Gi-Hun and player 212 aside to create some space for her.

"Man, you guys lucked out today. Yikes! I’ll be way more help than either of these wimpy little girls -- well, not you, you bold woman. Both of us are strong." She winked at Soo-Jin. "Plus, I’m good at everything except the things that I can’t do."

The female achiever wanted to correct her that Deok-Su kicked her out because she was no longer of use to him, but then she didn't have enough heart to actually do it. So, she let her be.

The timer struck zero and the woman's voice returned to the speakers. "The time for forming your teams is over. All players, please line up with your teammates at the entrance to the game hall."

"Hold on. We’re not gonna stay in here, though?"

The former couple exhaled. Even though, they won't say it, they were nervous as hell. Soo-Jin could feel her heart beating a thousand miles per minute and her palms were beginning to sweat. She cannot afford to lose now. Not now, not yet. Not while her sister still needed her.

Music played in their background as they were led to another game hall. This time, when they entered, there weren't any playground equipment or sand around, there were only elevated platforms erected on towers high above the ground. There was also a device hanging in the middle. An upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. It reminded the woman of a guillotine.

"I would now like to welcome you all to the third game." the masked manager announced. "Today’s game is Tug-of-War. In order to win, you must pull the rope towards your platform in an attempt to drop your opponents down below."

The brunette bent her head down, leaning against Sang-Woo's back. "We're royally fucked."