Ever since Sae-byeok's won the 33rd Squid Games, life's been sort of okay. She got her brother home with her, got her mom out of North Korea, brought a cozy house for all of them and provided an education for her little sibling and so on. But one little aspect always lingers in the back of her mind, similar to some sort of parasite gnawing at her slowly. The constant reminder of the ruthless bloodshed she witnessed from the other players for a filthy amount of cash, only for their attempts to be in vain.
It disgusted her to no end.
Today was no different, she sat at the balcony, looking out into the nice neighborhood. Does she even belong here? Ah, well. She's here anyway. Sae-byeok's mind wandered miles a minute as she let her thoughts run loose, wind making her hair get in her mouth a little.
"Ew.." Sae-byeok scowled as she got the hair out her mouth, taking her hairtie and putting her jet-black hair into a ponytail as she continued admiring the view.... Sae-byeok? Kang Sae-byeok! Huh?-
"Sis!" Her brother's voice finally managed to snap her out of her trance as Sae-byeok turned around, curious. "What is it?" She inquired. "Look at this!" Cheol showed her a worksheet of his maths, the teacher gave a smiley face sticker on it along with a 'good job!' written in green ink. Ever since he got in school, it took Cheol a while but eventually he grew more confident and more social. She was glad he was enjoying himself. "That's impressive, Cheol. You're a smart guy for somebody your age, you know?" The woman praised.
"Hey, have you shown mom yet? I think she'll be delighted." Cheol's face lit up as she mentioned their mother. He nodded rapidly, grabbed his worksheet and scurried off to ramble to their mom. "... Energy to no end." She murmured. Time passed by quite quickly, before she knew it, lt was most definetely midnight. Sae-byeok lay in her bed, tossing and turning with a frown evident.
"Just- just think of something nice..." She whispered before she slowly dozed off.
She was now sitting in a white void, looking around, she saw nothing. She looked down and her breath hitched. The same suit from the final game, just as bloody and dirty as she remembered. Reading the number just made it worse. Sae-byeok began running in a straight line, finding nothing, seeing nothing, hearing nothing, feeling nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing-
"Hey, over here!" She heard a familiar voice, coming to an abrupt halt, she turned around. Seeing a silhouette, she immidiately ran towards it.
A small staircase. A staircase in the white void, an old staircase in the otherwise pristine, eerie atmosphere that envelopes the two. An old staircase with a woman sitting on it in the void.. An old.. Staircase.. Ji-yeong.
Ji-yeong on an old staircase. Ji-yeong? Her mind processed it. "Kang Sae-byeok," The familiar girl began, playing with a marble in one hand, patting the spot near hers in the other, "take a seat." Sae-byeok reluctantly sat next to the shorter one, looking down into het eyes awkwardly. "..."
"So, how is everything?"
"Huh?"
"After the game. You won, right?"
"I mean.. Yeah. I did win.. Everything's fine. I got my mom here and my brother.." Sae-byeok talked, her voice awfully loud in the silent light. "You went anywhere cool? Ji-yeong seemed interested as Sae-byeok continued chatting about her life after the games. No, she did not go 'anywhere cool', if you're wondering.
".. So no Jeju island? Man." Ji-yeong put on a mock pout. "You should totally go, yeah? And have two mojitos; one for me, and one for you." Ji-yeong suggested. Sae-byeok sighed. "Yeah, sure whatever..."
"I missed you."
"Alot?"
"Yes. Too much."... Awh.
Ji-yeont just stared into her eyes as Ji-yeong spoke, seeing the honest gratefulness for her words, her eyes darting across her face as if trying to remember every detail she could as to not forget her face again. Sae-byeok noticed her look too, her lips were curved upwards into a tiny smile and her eyes half-lidded, enjoying her presence. Their eyes spoke so much more than their lips could whisper, yet they kept looking away when it was clear. And with a singular bullet, she had nothing worth admiring again.
Her hands felt a bit cold. Ji-yeong's smile faltered slightly as she picked up on that and handed her the teal tracksuit's jacket. As Sae-byeok tried to delcine, her Freudic mistake realy caught up to her as Ji-yeong eventually forced the jacket onto her. Sae-byeok has to admit, it's quite warm.
"Kang Sae-byeok.." Ji-yeong grabbed the taller girl's hand, standing her up along with her. "Let's play a game." Sae-byeok raised a brow.
"What is it? Does it involve an all-or-nothing system?"
"Trust fall." As Ji-yeong nodded, Sae-byeok hummed as the brunette went atop the stairs, her back facing Sae-byeok,
"Don't let me turn into a human pancake, okay?" Ji-yeong joked. Sae-byeok rolled her eyes and Held her arms out, waiting. "I'm waiting."
Three..
Two..
One..
Sae-byeok caught her. Ji-yeong let out a laugh and smiled. "Your turn, Sae-byeok." Sae-byeok was a bit hesitant and went to the top, taking deep breaths. She looked back down at Ji-yeong giving a thumbs-up.
"You better catch me." She shut her eyes and took a step back, falling. Ji-yeong let the woman fall into her arms. Staring deep into her eyes, she cracked a smile. "Take care."
...
"..!" Sae-byeok jolted awake, looking around. She placed a cold hand on her cheek only to feel there were a few tears. She was crying?