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THE remaining players were stood in fear and uncertainty within the now silent dorm room, blood covered the walls and bed sheets. Nari sat between Thanos and Nam-gyu, the two men watching anxiously as the remaining blue patched moved to stand together, the large mass of them compared to the red patched players left them certain that any future vote would end with the continuation of the games. Hana and Semi sat just behind the three of them, their own hands interlocked tight as Min-su sat near them, his hands trembling from the potential punishment that may come with Gi-hun's plan to fight back.

Geum-ja, Yong-sik, Jun-hee and Myung-gi sat with Young-Mi and Hyun-ju waiting for the next actions of the guards, numbers of who were eliminated were announced through the room. They had lost a few players, only a few remained but the added loss of player 246 was one that impacted Hyun-ju and Young-Mi as he had saved them; even if they were unaware of the guard saving his life at that current moment. It wasn't long until the doors opened once again, circle guards carrying a large matte black box with the taunting pink bow. Nari gasped as the guards placed it down, stepping back before leaving the room.

It was Hyun-ju, Geum-ja, Jun-hee and Yong-sik that approached the box, Hyun-ju reached out and lifted the lid free revealing Gi-hun unconscious. "Is he dead?" Geum-ja asked as Nari, Thanos and Nam-gyu moved forward upon the reveal. Hyun-ju reached her fingers out and pressed them against Gi-hun's neck in search for a pulse, "He's alive." The friends of Gi-hun let out collect sighs of relief as Hyun-ju looked up at Thanos, "Help me get him on the bed." Thanos nodded at her immediately, the two worked to lift Gi-hun from the box and onto one of the clean beds. Dae-ho lurked in the background, his heart heavy with guilt, regret and disappointment towards himself.

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Nari knelt by Gi-hun, her hand holding his own as she watched the man she viewed as family slowly wake up. "Sir?" Geum-ja called out, her worried eyes focused on Gi-hun's dazed expression. "Gi-hun?" Nari spoke softly, tilting her head with a worried frown. "Thank God you're alive," Geum-ja said with a smile as Gi-hun took in the sight of his remaining teammates surrounding him exluding Dae-ho who kept his distance flooded with shame. "Are you all right?" Yong-sik asked however, he received no answer prompting him to look at the others. Nari squeezed his hand but he let go and slightly pulled back, no rush but no hesitation either.

Gi-hun sat up, Geum-ja and Nari moved to help him do so as he looked around, his gaze haunted and blank. He moved to stand at the edge of the bed, gripping the bunks pole to keep balance as he stood next to Hyun-ju who noticed the look on his face. Gi-hun took in the sight before him, only fifteen red players remained excluding his team and what looked to possibly be more than twenty blue players. "What about the others?" Gi-hun asked, the realisation that had they just voted again, they could've left sooner. "And Jung-bae?" Hyun-ju asked despite having heard his number called, the heartache in Gi-hun's eyes confirmed it.

The alarms buzzed alerting them that guards were entering, Nari let Thanos pull her back with him as other players stumbled back fearfully. The Manager pressed the button of his remote and immediately, money fell into the piggy back upping the money for 380 Million Won per person ─ 36.1 Billion Won to 39.6 Billion Won ─ to 660 Million Won per person which was under the amount Nari needed but still closer than most of the remaining players. It was sickening to know that the blue side would win in a vote as they held higher players than that of the red side.

"A total of 35 players were eliminated last night, and 60 players remain in the game. The prize money accumulated up to this point is 39.6 Billion Won, and each person's share is 660 Million Won," The Manager announced to the remaining players, Nari shared a glance with Nam-gyu; both of them terrified of what would happen next. "The formerly held days of peace have been revoked due to the actions of your rebellion," Nari whimpered under her breath, that took away the opportunity to rest between the games and something told her that she and Jun-hee would be at a disadvantage in their conditions; especially Jun-hee whose due date was closer than Nari's.

"You will now take a vote to decide whether to continue the games or not," The Manager announced causing the players to share looks among one another, the blue side smirking knowing that they had higher promise. Gi-hun stepped forward, "Why did you keep me alive?" He kept moving forward as the others watched him closely as he continued, "Why didn't you kill me? Answer me! Tell me why!" A Triangle guard moved forward, his gun held up pointed at Gi-hun's chest as the man continued, "Why did you let me live? Why?" Nari's lip quivered at the pain in Gi-hun's voice, she turned into Thanos' chest to avoid watching the painful show.

"Shoot me, you bastards!" Gi-hun shouted as he lifted the gun to point at his head, frantic and pained, he practically begged for his death now, "Yes, shoot me! Kill me too!" Thanos lightly rubbed Nari up and down her back, doing what he could to soothe her in this tense situation. Nam-gyu turned his head to Dae-ho, the man watching Gi-hun with guilt in his eyes causing Nam-gyu to sigh, he knew that Gi-hun would break; men like him typically do but he'd keep Nari far from that, no matter what it took. More guards moved forward to restrain Gi-hun, dropping him to the floor as he continued to cry out; pleading to be free of this curse.

Inside his office, In-ho watched Gi-hun break under the loss and pressure causing a subtle smirk to slip onto his face until his eyes landed on Nari crying in Thanos' arms. His heart plummeted at the sight of his daughter in so much pain, his mind in a constant battle of being the father he once wished he had been to Nari and the survivor in him that pushed through these games once upon a time and got trapped in that survival mode with no empathy left to feel. He wouldn't let his daughter die but removing her from the game would be no easy job, especially with her bonds. He had ordered the guards that should they have to eliminate her, she would escorted out.

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The podium stood before them, the players lined up ready to make their decision but the reds knew they wouldn't win this fight; they could feel it deep within their hearts. "You will now vote again to decide whether to continue the games or not," The Manager informed them, "The vote will again be held in reverse order of your player numbers. Player 456, please cast your vote." The guards had cuffed Gi-hun to a bunk, the man silent as he stared blankly in the distance with an almost dead look about him; it was clear that he wouldn't be voting anything anytime soon.

"If you don't show an intent to vote by the count of three, your vote will be considered an abstention," The Manager warned making Semi scoff before she whispered to Nari and Thanos, "They broke that man... he won't vote for anything. That's one less for us." Nari's frown deepened, she knew that Semi was right but it still hurt all the same. The Manager counted down from three before saying, "Player 456 forfeited his vote, so it will be counted as an abstention." Those who had stood with Gi-hun lowered their heads in a sense of mourning as the Manager called up the next number to vote.

The first to vote was a red patched player, Nari watched as blue players called out words of passive aggressive taunting prompting her to press blue, switching out her red patch for the blue one. "We stick together for the next game, no matter what," Thanos told Nari and their little team, the others nodded along to his stern words. The blue side went up quickly, only a few red patches remained leaving them with a disadvantage and fear pounding through their hearts. "In accordance with your free and democratic vote, we will proceed with the next game tomorrow," The Manager informed them as the numbers 41 for blue and 18 ─ 13 of them being the ones with Nari ─ for red.

Nari walked away from the others, making her way to a clear bed to just sit down crossed legged, her head in her hands as she processed everything that had happened in only a few hours. She felt the bed dip as Thanos sat with her, he didn't disturb her but ensured she understood that he was there with her. Nam-gyu, Min-su, Semi and Hana settled around her with their own concerns and fears bouncing within their minds. Hyun-ju sat with Young-Mi, Geum-ja, Jun-hee and Yong-sik not too far from them leaving Dae-ho and Myung-gi lurking on the outskirts of the group.

Their attention was taken by player 100 ─ Jeong-dae ─ who turned his gaze to Gi-hun, "Hey, 456. Tell me. Was this all just part of your plan? You staged a rebellion to lure people out and had them all killed at once, didn't you?" Player 203 laughed along as players lurked around player 100. "But he was all like, "Kill me!" Was that just for show?" One of the players with him asked further with amusement on his face. Nari looked up at them, her face dropped into a deep frown as Gi-hun just stared at the ground blankly. "Man, he creeps me out," Player 226 added before player 336 did, "That's right. Instead of killing him like the others, they brought him back here. There's definitely something going on."

"Anyway, thanks to you taking out the reds and getting them all killed, the money went up, and we won the vote by a landslide," Player 100 spoke before turning slightly to his comrades, "Everyone, let's thank him with a big round of applause." Nari gritted her teeth, her fists clenched as the blue team clapped and cheered tauntingly towards Gi-hun who barely reacted to them. "You fool," Seon-nyeo ─ player 044 ─ spoke as she stood in front of Gi-hun, "What did I tell you? You're not here of your own free will. Those vengeful souls hovering over your head brought you here." Her followers clasped their hands together in a praying motion, lowering their heads.

Seon-nyeo moved closer to Gi-hun and lowered herself to look into his eyes, "Do you hear them? Your friends screaming in your ears. You can cover them all you want, but it won't help. Those screams will only get louder. You will be hearing their screams until the moment you die." Seon-nyeo began laughing maliciously with wide eyes when Gi-hun reached out quickly and grasped her neck with his hand, squeezing tight as his dead eyes glared into her own causing fear to flood them. Players 006 and 306 moved forward to pull Seon-nyeo free from Gi-hun while Nari watched in shock with the others.

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Dinner time had come around, one line on each side for the players with their respective patches and standing in the middle of the room were four Triangle guards to ensure nothing like the mini battle would happen again; but it also meant that no one would be harming other players either which seemed to ease some of the worries. Nari had stepped forward, collecting her small tray with two sweet pototoes and a bottle of water however, she watched as the guard placed something else on the tray. "What is that?" Nari asked the guard, her head tilted and her voice low.

"Vitamins for the pregnancy," The circle worker replied quietly, "A gift from the Frontman." Nari furrowed her brows before looking towards Jun-hee, "And her?" The circle guard smiled under his mask, the Frontman had mentioned she would question that. "There are ones for her too," The circle worker assured her, she nodded and made her way out of the line and towards Geum-ja to ask her about the Vitamin tablets; she didn't like the idea of taking random medication from the man who ran these monstrous games. With her reassurance, Nari approached Jun-hee and handed her one of each with Geum-ja's extra reassurance.

Nari moved to settle onto the bed she claimed, it wasn't long until Thanos climbed up next to her, resting an arm around her as he placed his second sweet potato onto her own two. "Su-bong..." Nari sighed as she looked up at him, he simply winked before leaning in and kissing her softly. "You're eating for two, Jagi, you need it," Thanos replied as he pulled back and turned to his own remaining sweet potato. Nari sighed again knowing she wouldn't win in an argument, accepting her fate she watched as Geum-ja approached Gi-hun to give him a tray of food and a bottle of water though Nari wasn't sure he'd eat it.

Nam-gyu sat with Min-su, the two boys talking amongst themselves as Hana and Semi sat together trying to work out what the next game could possibly be. Nari was pulled from her focus on the food by Gi-hun's blank expression shifting into a dead glare, turning towards Dae-ho who sat alone munching onto his food trying to ignore the pain and guilt that flooded his entire system. It was obvious that Gi-hun's anger was now shifted and Nari knew that look in his eyes, it was the same she saw in the last moments of Sung-ja's life. Nari had no idea what was coming and she was scared of who they'll all become in the final fight of their lives.

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—͟͞͞ ✮❭❱ ROSE IS SPEAKING .ᐟ.ᐟ.ᐟ

And we are back!!

Oh man, Season Three was absolutely insane and heartbreaking. Please, remember, do not spoil unless its scene is in this chapter.

How do we feel about Gi-hun directing his anger towards Dae-ho? (Without spoilers).

How are we feeling about this first chapter?
Theories? Questions?

See you in the next chapter!

Unedited
Written via phone