NO TIME TO DIE. Squid Game
╰┈➤ Unrecognizable ( Chapter Seven )

NARI SAT IN THE bed she'd woken up in earlier that morning. She held her legs close to her chest, chin resting upon her knees as she stared at the wall at the front of the room. Her eyes were heavy and exhausted, drifting mindlessly off into the distance ahead as she spaced out, the silence around her deafening.

She stared at nothing in particular. Her breathing was heavy and her chest heaved. Her heart pounded in her chest, the girl not moving. With the mattress below her, she grew mindless, reality fading away the longer she sat still, her surroundings growing into nothing more than a blur. She bit the inside of her cheek, the gesture hidden by her knee caps.

To the outside world, Nari seemed emotionless. It was as if her consciousness had left her. But in all reality she was terrified. Screams replayed in her mind, gunshots echoing beside her ear as if they were happening again. She could still feel the dried crimson blood across her face she was too scared to wipe off and could still hear the wet sound of bullets sinking into flesh.

The air around her was still and quiet. It was as if nobody else was around her. She was disengaged from the outside world, tears wanting to well in her eyes but she kept them back. Using her arms she hugged herself. She wanted to shake, but kept herself from doing so.

It was a skill she'd earned when she was young. Hiding emotions was something she'd been doing since she was young, putting on a show of mindless eyes and careless lips. Her face was always tired, but showed no signs of feeling. She'd consider it easier to be numb, the mindset being earned at the age of fifteen when she had very first got caught in addiction.

She sighed, swallowing the lump in her throat. It was dangerous for her to be alone with her thoughts, getting lost. The artificial lighting began to hum above her head again despite being off, the noise being the only sound in the room aside from her heart beat.

Sweat built on her forehead, the girl still unable to put her finger on why the silence always overwhelmed her. Everything seemed to overwhelm her anymore. Paranoia and fear was almost always something she was faced with as she was alone, even fifteen years of being clean. She didn't understand it.

"Excuse me?" A voice asked softly, the sound muffled and quiet. It was enough to grab her out of whatever was going on and pull her from her thoughts, but she ignored it. She tuned it out, staring mindlessly ahead and disregarding the noise. "Uhm. Nari was it?" The voice spoke again.

She blinked slowly, pursing her lips into a straight line. After a moment longer, she looked to the side and met the person's gaze, staring mindlessly at Gi-Hun. It's exactly who she expected, his voice familiar on her ears, but she still didn't greet him despite the fact she was glad he was alive.

However, while Nari didn't exactly blame him, the smile she was trying to protect was gone. She met his gaze, watching as swallowed the lump in his throat and rubbed the sweat from his palms and on his pants.

"That's me." She finally muttered, breaking the awkward silence. Her voice was dry and broken, her throat scratchy and her words almost inaudible and cracked as each was spoke. She blinked, waiting impatiently for the man to speak.

"I wanted to thank you." He said softly, glancing at the empty spot on the bed beside Nari and claiming it. Without a word as he sat, he leaned forward, resting his feet on the ground and his elbows on his knees, running a hand over his mouth silently.

Nari said nothing. She didn't follow him with her gaze and instead returned her sight to the wall up ahead.

"You helped me back there." He finally said after a long moment. His voice was soft and scared, the man still trembling. He stared at the wall Nari did for just a moment, then redirected his gaze to the girl beside him. "Thank you."

Nari sighed, dropping her arms from around her legs and to her side. She rests her hands on the mattress, leaning her weight against them as she slid her legs off the mattress and allowed her feet to rest against the ground. She still didn't speak.

"Why did you do it?" He asked. Nari said nothing.

The two seemed to be the only source of noise within the room, their soft whispers carrying surprisingly well across the room.

"I couldn't just leave you there." She said softly after a long while.

"But you could've." He protested.

Nari slowly shifted her gaze, her head turning until she was looking at the player beside her. He soon redirected his gaze and they locked eyes for a long moment. His expression was still filled with terror, his eyes scanned her gloomed face, frowning sympathetically at the sight.

Nari tore her gaze away and refocused on the wall. Gi-Hun's eyes linger on her, his eyes scanning her profile. Unknown to Nari, his gaze softened ever so slightly.

"I couldn't if I wanted to look at myself in the mirror." She muttered. "I already can't." She gritted the last words through her teeth, looking away and burying her face in her shoulder. "I couldn't just leave you there."

She couldn't explain why she wanted to help him, but she did it anyway. Sure, part of the reason she did it was because it was the right thing to do, but there was also something about the man beside her that she felt needed preserved. It was when she saw the smile on his lip as he spoke to Song-woo that she realized such.

The man stayed silent, Nari feeling his gaze on the back of her head. Her breath shook as she sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them and returning her gaze to Gi-hun. Her tired eyes met his, the man concerned as he saw the lack of emotion looming back at him.

"You helped me with fuck face over there." She said softly after a moment, gesturing toward 101 with her head. "Or tried to at least." She added a moment later, the man not being too successful at the gesture.

Her hands gripped the mattress below her, the hum of the lights overhead still getting to her. She let out another breath, silently begging for the man beside her to leave her alone. Her blinks slowed as she tried to get the screams so stop.

"It doesn't matter why I did it, what matters is that you're alive." She muttered, her voice faint.

"Well I just wanted to say that I appreciate it." He said softly, watching her and knowing very well something was wrong and it was his cue to leave. He slid off the mattress, his feet meeting his ground as he stood.

"Gi-Hun." She said softly, preventing him from beginning to walk away. She watched him as he spun back around, meeting her gaze once again, his eyebrows were lifted and, while his lips didn't smile, they seemed to curl ever so slightly. "Keep smiling."

Gi-Hun's eyebrows raise as she spoke but after a moment his expression fell and he nodded slightly. His lips curled into a sympathetic smile then he left her on the mattress as he walked away. Nari's eyes follow him until he finds a spot in the floor and rests against the side of his bed frame.

After a moment of him sitting down, the doors open and the lights flicker on, a buzzer sounding. The sudden brightness blinded her, the girl's eyes squinting and blinking rapidly until they adjusted. Everyone around her got to their feet, but Nari remained on the mattress, watching as several men in pink suits began to flood the room.

Their boots against the cold concrete floor echoed loudly, the sound of the door latching behind them soon joining. Silence settles in the room again, Nari finally getting to her feet and slowly making her way to the center of the room where everyone else stood. She kept the guards in her gaze, looking at their masks as she found a bed frame and leaned against it, wrapping her hand around the steel pole.

"You have made it through the first games," the guard said suddenly, breaking the silence as his muffled words filtered through his mask. "Congratulations."

Congratulations? Really? Nari's nose scrunched bitterly as he spoke. They had just watched mass murder, blood staining everywhere as hell unfolded around them and they get congratulated as if that wasn't a concern?

"We will now announce the results of the first game."

Soon, the screen that laid above his head on the wall began to adjust, the numbers dropping dramatically, scrolling for a long while until they stopped at 201. Nari gasps, her eyes widened as her hands slip off of the frame of the bunkbed. Her lips part in shock, disregarding what the guard spoke as her eyes scan the green numbers. Her eyebrows furrow as she did the math. 255 were eliminated, killed brutally for no other reason other than to entertain the men that stood before her.

Gasps echo around her, terror filling the room. Her heart begins to pound as she runs a hand down her face, her eyes scanning the room. She shook her head at herself, convincing her not to say anything, that it was out of her hands now, but the bitter feeling lingers. She furrowed her brows and clenched her fist, stepping forward. She ignored the fear that bubbled in her chest as she thought about the possibility of what happened to those 255 people happening to her, but she disregarded it.

Angrily she shoved past the players around her, making her way toward the center until she was visible. She tried not to look at the guns they held, her heart pounding as eyes rested on her and her mouth opened. "What in the actual fuck just happened?!" She shouted. She grit her teeth, furrowing her brows, her hands gesturing to nowhere in particular but still helping get her point across. "255 players dead for what? Why? What is wrong with you sick fucks?!"

She turns and looked to the players behind her, scanning with her eyes and using them to ask for assistance, but nobody moved. Her eyes linger on a young girl in the crowd, Nari's heart sinking. Even younger than player 67, the girl had to be around fifteen. She trembled, sobbing as she hugged herself. Tears streamed down her face as the used her fingers to dry them, shaking as the wept. As Nari's eyes scanned the crowd, gasps begin to echo out. Her shoulders slump as worry floods her, knowing very well the reactions meant nothing good.

She looked to Gi-Hun, the expression in his eyes worried and wide. Nari closed her eyes, letting out a shaky breath and preparing herself.

She got no answer from the guards, nor a clue as to why the reactions echoed out, so she opened her mouth to speak again and turned around. Nari cut her protest short as she turns back toward the men in pink, the barrel of a gun looking back toward her. She swallowed the lump in her throat, her face falling and heart sinking. She took a step back, locking eyes with the mask the man wore.

She continued her way backward until she merged back into the crowd, someone grabbing her arm and causing her to jump. Her heart skips and she spins quickly toward the player, eyes meeting Gi-Hun who pulled her into the group and further from the man who clutched to the gun. Nari breathed heavy and fast but slowed every so slightly at the sight of him. The player dropped his hands, offering her a worried expression as they both looked forward in time to see a woman run forward and fall to her knees.

"Please!" She begged, pressing her hands together and beginning to cry. "I'll pay what I owe! I'll pay it!" She began to sob, placing a hand against her heart as emotions began to get ugly. Nari cringed, closing her eyes as she recalled that's what she used to sound like daily as a child; broken and chaotic. Her parents called it pathetic, but she quite honestly admired anyone who was brave enough to show such emotion, especially in front of such a large audience.

It's the fifteen year old who joins next. She's on her knees beside the desprate woman, hands pressed together as she shook, tears flowing from her eyes. She wept, sobbing as she yelled and begged. "Please! I- I'm too young for this! I made a mistake coming here- I- I'm not even in debt! I promise! Just- just let me go!"

Nari's face falls, eyebrows knitting as she looked at the girl on the floor, her heart swelling. Why was someone so young desperate enough to join such a horror show even though she wasn't in debt. The girl shook in front of Nari.

Soon the entire two front rows aside from Nari and the men beside her were on their knees, begging and sobbing.

"There seems to be a misunderstanding." The guard spoke, his voice putting a silence to those who wept on the floor. "We are not trying to hurt you or collect your debts. Let me remind you that we are here to give you a chance."

"A chance?" A man scoffed from the side. "We played child games and you killed us? You want me to chose that? Some shit chance." He spat, his eyes narrowing in disgust as he spoke, his head bobbing with each word.

Another man beside him began to shake, his words high pitched and broken. He shook as he placed his hands together and began to weep, "Please sir," He begged, "We may be in debt but that doesn't justify killing us."

"This," the guard said calmly, his tone unchanged, "is just a game."

At that Nari laughed, shaking her head at the mockery before her, her eyes wide and her lips curling ever so slightly into a shocked smirk. She scoffed and adjusted her weight onto one leg, crossing her arms as she watched the man in pink, eyebrows knit.

"Killing everyone out there was just a game to you?" Someone shouted before Nari had the chance to, his voice shaking, Nari unable to determine whether it was because of fear or anger.

"They were simply eliminated for breaking the rules of them games. If you follow the rules-"

"Follow the rules?" Nari said aloud, her eyebrows knit and she stepped forward again, unknowingly earning a worried look from Gi-Hun behind her. "Yeah, like you're following the law." She said sarcastically.

The man's grip tightens to the weapon he held, "if you just follow the rules," he repeated, annoyance slowly becoming more audible in his tone with each word, sending Nari a warning she immediately ignored despite the fear in her pounding heart. "then you can leave this place safely with the prize money we promised."

"Money, is that what we're worth to you?!" Nari spat, anger suddenly washing over her. Fury dances in her eyes as she steps forward to the guard, earning a gun pressed against her stomach. "Just let us leave" she hissed through grit teeth, pressing her body closer against the weapon, testing his patience. She ignored the pound in her heart, disregarding the sweat that formed on her temples, sneering at the man before her. If you asked her, the show she put on was immaculate. If it was just her and the guard, she'd be trembling, lying on the floor and begging vulnerably just as everyone else here was doing moments ago. But she was taught that such a gesture was weak, especially in front of people, so instead she put on a mask of her own and put it to use, trying to get everyone the hell out of here.

"Consent form clause one." He said, leaning closer toward her. "A player is not allowed to stop playing." He paused for a moment, then lowered his voice to a low whisper. Nari imagines that behind his mask, his eyes narrowed. "Watch yourself Nari. Any other guard would've killed you by now."

Nari's eyes widen and her brows knit, the girl taking a micro step back. "who are you?" she choked, suddenly growing more nervous knowing her chances of dying were gone.

He laughed, the sound chilling as it reached her ears. He leaned even closer, shaking his head slightly. "You don't recognize your own brother?"

Nari's eyes widen and a gasp slips out of her lips before she can stop it. "Yu-Jun?" She choked.

Before she can question further, her brother reached in his pocket and grabbed a smaller gun, pointing the pistol at the ceiling and firing. Screams and shouts fill the room as the players behind her fall to the ground in fear. The guards behind Yu-Jun shift their weapons so they're ready to be fired, Nari watching but not moving, still too stunned to react.

"Consent form clause two," He said, speaking to the general audience of everyone within the room, but Nari couldn't help but feel he was looking to her in a warning manner as he spoke. "Any player who refuses to participate will be eliminated."

That had such a different meaning now that she new the context, now made aware of the fact elimination meant death. Still frozen in shock, Nari looked to her brother with her lips parted, only snapping out of it as the voice of Song-woo cuts through the silence.

"Consent form clause three." he said,  "If all players agree to stop playing, the games will be terminated." Nari finally turns away from her brother to look back at the man who spoke, "is that right?" he asked.

"Yes," Yu-Jun spoke, now from behind Nari "You are correct."

And with that, the voting began.

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Hey Lovelies! How are we feeling about this fic? I'm having so much fun with it and can't wait to write more! Be expecting more content with the fifteen year old and the brother because they're both huge parts of what I have planned for this fic!

Lots of Love,
Kaitlyn