Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A dark blue sky stretched over the cemetery, where the night chill still prevailed.
A gust of wind swayed the countless candles left on the graves, sending fiery waves up the hill.

A figure stood near by the gate, his hair slicked by the wind, watching the scenery.

As the man slowly breathed out, he entered the cemetery, clutching the bouquet of flowers, letting his mind wander endlessly on in the silence of the night, not allowing himself to look up at the graves he passed by.

The air was chilly, and the pebbles rustled under his shoes like waves on the shore, but Junho could barely hear them; his head was filled with memories flashing though his mind.

,,Im so sorry" Junho mumbled, not having a courage to even look his brother in the eyes "I really wish we could help"

In ho looked at him with defeat, he clearly haven't got any sleep since they've got the news "it's okay" his voice was barley above a whisper "I'll get the money somehow"

No matter how hard he tried to resist it, Junho's eyes slowly started to water up, still not beging able to look up; Their mother sat next to them, crying her heart out and sending prayers for In ho's wife and their unborn child.

"Maybe we'll find a donor in time" he said quietly, but deep down, he knew that even if they did, it'd be already too late

"hope dies last"

The thoughts whirled in the man's head, sharp and hurtful like thorns of roses he squeezed in his hand. Pain after In ho's disappearance was still there, but it had since lost its meaning and Junho wanted nothing more than to scream from the top of his lungs, to spit the ridiculous idea of missing his brother, the front man, the killer.

And yet, no matter how much he tried to forget, to suppress his feelings, he couldn't - He couldn't forget the world crushing betrayal, the scar on his shoulder beging a constant reminder. He experienced so much blood, pain, and tears, only to find out that In ho - his own brother, the brother he'd do anything for, was the ring master of the games. But what if- Stop.

Junho made it to an empty path, only steps away from the grave, clutching the bouquet like there were the last flowers on earth, and wishing more than ever to just disappear.

He ignored the thorns of roses (and the guilt) stabbing him and drawing blood, as he unceremoniously put the bouquet in the vase, disregarding the blood from the cuts starting to drip onto the ground.

The picture of a smiling woman printed on the tombstone, seemed to mock Junho's sadness. In ho's wife, once so full of life, was now buried 6 feet under the dirt, forever.

The longer Junho stood there, freezing, the more he asked himself: would he rather In ho to turn out to be dead and buried somewhere, without Junho ever knowing, or be the front man, but at least alive? Such a stupid question, and yet, he didn't know the answer.

He stood for a little longer, feeling the tiredness cathing up to him; The tiniest specks of rain started to fall, reminding Junho what time it was. His mother would start getting worried soon; That's enough for today.

The sky painted itself a pinkish colour, while the sun lazily looked up from the morning dew, but the air still had the night times cold. But then, as he closed the creaking gates of the cemetery, he heard something. A song.

"Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars.."

Junho quickly followed the source of the noise, but didn't even know why; He felt like it was something important, almost like if it was luring him.

"Let me see what the spring is like on Jupiter and Mars"

To his surprise, the song song was slowly getting quieter.

Junho's breath quickened as he felt an ominous shiver down his spine and fastened his pace. Before he even realized, he started to run. His lungs were begging him to slow down and eyes started to tear up, but Junho didn't stop. He couldn't loose it, like he lost his brother.

The noise led him to the nearby subway station.

"In other words, hold my hand. In other words, baby, kiss me"

The man run down the stairs skipping few steps, almost tripping.

"Fill my heart with song, and let me sing for ever more"

His head spun,. With this many noises around, he couldn't catch where the source is. Junho looked around, his heart starting to race faster.

"You are all I long for, all I worship and adore. In other words, please be true.. "

As Junho entered some depopulated area, the song got louder.

"In other words.. I love yo-"

Silence.

"..."

Junho spun his head around, hoping he'll find anything, but no. He was all alone. His lungs were on fire screaming for air making the man pant loudly, trying to catch breath.

After a minute of fighting for air, a train came by, big crowds coming out of it. People were staring at him, some discretely, some others looked at him like he was a lunatic. And maybe he was? Who runs around the station like a madman trying to find a song?! Ridiculous!

Tired, he sat down on a nearby bench, ignoring his messy hair - he looked like he's run a marathon. Looking at the already healing cuts on his palms, he sighed in relief; At least the bleeding stopped.

SLAP

What was that?!

Chapter Text

The sounds of slaps were loud enough to echo in Junho's ears.

Then another.

And another one.

Junho quickly stood up from his seat, feeling a new sense of purpose. He couldn't just sit around and feel sorry for himself, the duty called!

Someone was clearly getting harassed, and one thing Junho knew for sure, was that drowning yourself in work always makes you forget all the your problems (at least for a little while); He discovered it out soon after waking up from the coma, while desperately trying to get his mind off of the fact that his broth- Stop.

The man fixed his shirt (which didn't help anything, he still looked rough) and squeezed himself trough the crowd once again looking for a noise (but this time he had an actual reason), bumping into people and throwing quick ,,pardon" and ,,sorry" at them.

Soon enough he realised the source of noise was coming from another platform, and as the train left, it gave Junho clearer view of what was happening on the other side.

And what he saw was.. something.

On the other side, there were 2 men, one wore a bucket hat covering most of his face (was he trying to not get recognised? Suspicious to say the least) while the other wore a full suit, holding something red in hand (he was also freakishly tall, but Junho kept it to himself)

Junho's first instinct was to help the fancy suited man, maybe the red paper thing he held was a some kind of flier, or maybe a document?

Maybe he came to tell the other man that he forgot to pay his taxes? Or that his job fired him?
It would've explain the aggression.

Junho's breath stabilized a little as he slowly pushed trough the sea of people; Right now, getting himself at peace was the key.

He had his everyday outfit on, giving him an advantage to blend in without raising any suspicions - if he just run up in their direction, the man could become a serious danger to everyone around, himself included.

Deep breaths Junho, deep breaths.

His eyelids were getting heavier and his steps sloppier, but this time he actually had a reason to follow a noise. He had to save that poor man from getting further hurt, God knows what that aggressor could have in mind?

Who goes around hurting people who just do their job?!

(The answer: a lot.)

Junho was very well aware of what nut cases walk around the town everyday, just waiting for somebody to yell at. Personally he's never seen anyone get slapped (that's a new one) but countless people already tried to use violence against him before, so nothing surprised him at this point.

As Junho repeated the typical police lines in his head over and over again while finally walking out of the crowd. As he got a clearer view of the scene, he felt his jaw drop.

To his surprise, the businessman watched with a smile, while the other one wiped blood off of his nose, his face red and full of bruises (How long has it been going for?!)

Confusion made his thoughts swirl, making a literal tornado in his mind, causing him forget all his lines. T̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ His mother always told him to never judge a book by it's cover, but this just seemed weird.

A salesman slapping someone on a subway in the crack of dawn was the last thing he expected to see today.

As it turned out, the big red paper thing was.. dakjii??

The guy in a jacket also held one, but his was blue; only creating more questions. Junho heard stories about airports beging a weird place, where people slept on the ground, or took showers in a bathroom sink.. but a subway?

That weird exchange between both men grabbed the attention of everyone passing by; A random guy on a phone struggled to finish sentences when he caught the glance of them, and a teenager even took some photos before being dragged away by their friend - Because of the amount of bystanders, Junho staring at them in a shocked expression wasn't out of place, and none of the men acknowledged him.

After a solid minute of standing there like a statue, he remembered he has a tongue "Sir, this- "

But he didn't dare to finish.

Junho felt like the time had stopped, as the tall man took out a business card; A brownish little rectangle with 3 symbols, and he knew these symbols very well. A bit too well.

The wind was pushed out of his lungs. It was like the floor had been snatched out of the soles of his feet, but he managed to catch himself in time.

After all these years, the games had found him again.

Have they even left him in the first place?

The S̶a̶l̶e̶s̶m̶a̶n̶ Recruiter seemed to notice his shock, sending a knowing smile in his direction. One of his eyes seemed to be smaller than the other, which made his smile a bit unsettling (not that is wasn't before), causing Junho's blood to run cold.

Was it possible he recognized him from the island? Did In ho send him to finish him off?!

But after a second he realized that it's just probably because he was the only one staring at the man like he's seen a ghost, while everyone else already left. Funny how fast you can go from fitting right into the crowd, to beging the odd one out.

Rage flooded through Junho, swallowing the unease that sat heavy in his chest. He stormed in the tall man's direction ignoring the bruised guy counting his prize money, (also, some girl had called him but he immediately hung up, rude) feeling more confident each step.

The recruiter was about to pick up his suitcase and go, but Junho was faster, reaching for the man's forearm. He grabbed it as tight as he could (God, his arms were beefy), to ensure that he wouldn't escape.

The captured man's face for a slip second showed a genuine surprise, but in a blink of an eye it changed back to it's standard smug "May I help you, officer?" (Of course his voice matched the face - It was like velvet.)

Junho's eyes widened. He didn't have his work clothes on, how could he know he's a police officer? This could only mean that the man did in fact recognize him! Did I̶n̶ ̶h̶o̶ the Frontman tell him about Junho?

He hesitated for a moment but then nodded and as they stood there facing each other, Junho started, not really knowing what to say "Who are you?" He began "How do you know who I am??"

The man truly locked in, focusing his attention only on the recruiter, in case he'll try to do anything. He was aware of everything, from the number of times the strange man has blinked (not a lot) to the ragged breaths he was taking, his lungs still tired after the chase of the source of song. (3 years of just standing in one place watching cars pass by and eating trash food every other day, really did ruin his condition)

He also noticed that

● The man's body language was very open and welcoming, even though he literally just assaulted someone
● Despite having a big smile on, his muscles were very tense, almost like if he was getting ready to fight
● On his smaller eye's side, his lips seemed to minimally curve down unlike on the other side, it kinda looked like only a half of his face was smiling. Weird.

Even trough the smile, there was a flick of a dangerous glint in the recruiter's eye that sent a chill down Junho’s spine. He hated that he couldn't read the man's emotions.

"Oh, but officer," recruiter never dropped his smile, voice smooth like honey "we've already met!"

"What are you talking about, it's the first time I'm seeing you," Junho clenched his jaw "When?"

"Once upon a dream" He said peacefully, clearly enjoying the shorter man's frustration painting all across his face; Clearly he just wanted to waste time.

He hated how effortlessly he stripped away any seriousness from the conversation, leaving him dumbfounded (No wonder why they made him a recruiter for the games, maybe I̶n̶ ̶h̶o̶ the Frontman sent him off of the island so he wouldn't have to look at this stupid smirk ever again.)

"Answer my question"

"You see, I would love to" He began "but you see, I still have so much work to do! How about we'll meet up when I'm off the clock, my treat"

Junho raised an eyebrow, unamused.

"Your job can wait" As if he'd ever want to meet this guy ever again.

"But can yours?"

He tilted his head with confusion, few strands of hair fell onto his forehead. The recruiter mockingly copied him, and then he pointed somewhere behind both of them with his free hand.

At first, he didn't wanna look. Obviously the man wanted Junho to take his eyes off of him so he could escape, but a small portion of him wanted to turn around. ' "but can yours?" ' what did he mean by that?

He decided to take the risk and look. To his surprise, the recruiter didn't even try to run and just stood there patiently.
It took him a while to see where the man had pointed, but when he did, his heart skipped a beat once again.

The hat guy that just received the invitation to the games, slowly started to mix with the crowd.

The realization hit him like a brick; He couldn't just let that poor guy join the games, just like Gi-hun... Oh God, he completely forgot about Gi-hun. That poor man probably died in a game soon after junho got shot, maybe sooner. His mind flooded with guilt.

No. He couldn't let another person join those deadly games, he owed it to Mr. Seong. Nobody believed him at the police station, making him join again out of desperation, leading him to a very possible death. I̶f̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶,̶ ̶j̶u̶n̶h̶o̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶b̶r̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶.

Policeman turned back to the taller man, heart pounding. He was very aware of how big his must've eyes got, but he didn't care. He had to think fast. Does he let go of the recruiter loosing all the answers forever, or be an indirect reason of the unsuspecting man's death?

"I can do both" Junho hissed under his breath, more to himself than to the man standing next to him, and dove into the crowd once again.

He'll catch him first, and then quickly go after the recruiter. How far away could the tall man go anyway? It's literally impossible to miss him!

It was risky, but again, Junho is a literal detective, H̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶h̶o̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶w̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶f̶a̶r̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶l̶a̶n̶d̶, so finding the recruiter would be easy. What could go wrong?

"Hey! Hey you, stop!" Junho yelled, but quickly realised that maybe it wasn't the best idea. That guy was still within earshot when the Recruiter revealed his identity, so he most definitely heard who Junho is, and a cop chasing after you, yelling for you to stop is not really that encouraging.

As expected, he didn't stop, in fact, he started to run faster. The man felt like his legs were made out of cotton, tripping here and there, but always catching himself before the fall. He couldn't keep up.

The chased man must've realised it too, quickly jumping into open doors of a train that was just about to departure, and quickly closed the doors behind him. Junho banged of the door, begging them to open.

"No! Please don't call that number!"

But no matter what he said, the train had already left, with the man already reading the invitation number in it.

Junho swallowed hard and looked around his shoulder to meet a piercing gaze from the recruiter across the station. The expression was indecipherable, a mix of amusement, triumph and a little bit of frustration? Junho wondered how his own face looked at the moment.

Wait, was this guy just standing there this whole time instead of running free?

But then, in a blink of an eye the man was gone, almost like a ghost; Junho felt his stomach tie in a knot, nausea filling him from head to toes.

He's lost both of the men.

---------------------------------------------

The bus ride home was quiet. Some lady sat next to him with crossed arms, elbows digging into the man's sides, but Junho didn't dare to say say anything. The view outside the window blurred, as the man fought his tiredness.

When the bus stopped near outside his home, He did no waiting around, hopping on to his feet like if he was sitting on lava, and jumped out of the bus. The sky outside was now pale blue, but the sun still hung low, it was probably around 5, maybe 6 A.M.

A small drizzle outside helped him to rally a bit, making him finally feel alive again. The crisp air felt really refreshing in his lungs after spending God knows how long in a crowdy subway, his legs on the other hand, felt terrible, constantly walking into puddles.

Even though tons of people surrounded him, he's never felt so alone; Every single person reminded him of the Recruiter, but maybe it was just his wishful thinking? Every time he saw someone tall, (or let alone someone dressed black) his heart almost jumped out of his chest.

He lost his chance for the answers, forever.

---------------------------------------------

Junho had planned to be in bed by midnight, but between spontaneously visiting In ho's wife and the double chase of the night (none of them which succeeded), he found himself still awake, in the middle of a hallway with a key in hand, eyes flitting at his phone, clock marking 5:57 A.M.

The silence of the building was deafening, but luckily, he only had to walk half the distance before he found himself right Infront of his door.

Then just as he was about to unlock the door, to his surprise the door had already been unlocked and left slightly open, shedding the light of the corridor into the dark apartment.

At first, he thought (or more like wished) that maybe his mother forgot to close them again, but after a quick inspection he realised, that the locks were broken.

Someone had broken in.

Chapter Text

Junho felt his body hair stand up, each second dragging like an eternity.

He slowly reached for.. fuck, he left his gun inside. Out off all the days to leave his weapon behind, why today?!

' "You don't have to take your gun everywhere like a phone" ' they said, ' "it'll be fine!" 'they said.

It's not fine.

Luckily, he always carried a small pepper spray, which wasn't ideal, but still better than nothing. Junho took out the metal can and shook it quietly, not wanting the intruder to know he's home.

As he opened the door as secretly as he could, he begged silently that his mother was fine, that she's in a grocery store right now, or went on a walk, or was simply anywhere but home. He couldn't handle the thought of finding her beaten up, or dead on the floor. She's all he had.

Junho positioned his only defence source right Infront of him, hands straight, kinda the same way he'd hold a gun.. if he had it.

All the blinds in the house were closed and the lights turned off, making it hard to see anything at all. Only yesterday, that was his childhood house, every single corner and curve was known by him, but now, it was nothing but a scare house.

The walls that once made him feel safe, now felt like a cage.

And it suffocated him

Junho took a deep breath, swallowing the fear; He couldn't afford be scared right now. He stopped every few steps to not only get his eyes used to the darkness, but also to listen for any signs of life, other than himself.
Any unknown noise made his heart jump, many times almost spraying at the shadows.

His steps echoed against hard wooden floor; scent of his mom's cooking slowly faded, replaced with a smell of an expensive cologne the further he went. The dining room was just around the corner, when he noticed a faint light coming from it; Bracing himself, Junho placed the index finger on the actuator, counting backwards in his head to calm down a little.

The dark home could be used to his advantage, shadows swallowing his every move. Blood pounding in his ears, Junho lunged forward, skirting the edge of the dim light and praying the darkness would obscure his approach.

5.

The smell of fresh clothes filled Junho's nose, almost luring a sneeze out of him. Everything around was surrounded in darkness, the only light source beging a tiny gap between open doors.

4.

"I know you're somewhere in here, so you might as well come out!"

Junho felt his heart jump. He pressed harder against the back of the closet he hid in, barely daring to breathe.

"Are you still looking for him? Its been almost 2 hours!" his moms voice came somewhere out of his sight with a slight note of concern.

A man, big like a bear, slowly crept in closer his hiding spot, looking directly into the gape. Junho held his breath, trying to be as still as a statue.

"Yeah, the kid's a legend," In-ho's voice was right outside the closet door. Junho accidentally slipped out a giggle, diving even deeper into the clothes "But i think i have an idea where he might be"

3.

"Are you in here right now?" he felt his heart drop, reaching for the gun "You're good, but you made one mistake."

2.

"I always put the receiver down the other way"

1.

 "FREEZE!"

His yell echoed trough the room. Beside the table sat a slender figure, barley noticeable in the dim light of the only curtain just barley open.

Junho was lost for a moment, just watching at the way the early sun reflected on the man's neatly put dark hair, casting a shadow hiding most of his face. But when the policeman stopped mid-yell, the Recruiter was eye-to-eye with his worried wide-eyed stare, smiling welcomely.

Junho stared dumbly at the man, foolishly awaiting an explanation that wouldn’t come because Of course there’s a stranger sitting in his dining room in the crack of dawn, and of course it had to be the recruiter form earlier.

The sun started to slowly dull out swallowed whole by the dark clouds, as he came closer to the man, pepper spray still in hand. Sleep blackened the edge of his vision, but he needed to stay awake, needed to figure it all out

"Where is she," Junho asked, his voice cooler than ice "What did you do to my mother?"

The question was met with an uncomfortably long silence, the man never dropping his eyes off of Junho, like if he was already diving deep into his mind.

After a while of just staring at each other, recruiter shifted his posture and with almost cat like movements, he gestured to the seat on the opposite of him "Don't worry about it, she's fine"

Junho didn't buy that, not even one bit, "Tell me where she is first"

"In her bedroom"

His mind started to race, thousands of scenarios flooding his head. Was she laying there bleeding out, too weak to yell for help? Did he shot her? drugged? Worse?

"So that's what you think of me?" The man chuckled looking him up and down, almost like if he read his thoughts "Junho, I'm hurt"

Hearing this man say his name with such playfulness in tone while he was worrying sick about his mother, felt really uncomfortable, unreal even.

"I just helped her go to sleep, that's all. Poor woman haven't slept in days, I didn't even have to do much! And now, seeing you up close like that, I think it might run in your genes. How cute."

Junho sat down slowly, trying to look as tough as he could. He pressed his lips together, forcing his breath to stay even, but the trembling hands betrayed him. The drizzle outside from earlier took an unexpected turn, heavy rain drops now hitting the windows loudly, almost like even the nature knew it was a bad idea and tried to stop him.

"You told me you'll answer my questions. Is that why you're here?"

"You're asking a lot, but I can't just give the answers to anyone" The recruiter then took out a gun, and as he slowly put it on the table between them, he looked deeply into Junho's eyes "I hope you're aware that once I answer all of your questions, only one of us can get out of here alive?"

Junho's jaw clenched. He inhaled though his nose-sharp, controlled "I am"

"Alright then. " The man grabbed the revolver off the table causing Junho to flinch; But to both, his relief and surprise, he casually dumped a buch of bullets on the ground, letting them fall freely onto the carpet. After closing the almost empty by now cylinder, he put the gun back on the table, his expression now unreadable.

"Lets play a game"

"Excuse me?"

"Questions, questions, you sure have a lot of them.. But so do I" The man giggled, his face doing that creepy half smile "With one bullet in, each one of us has six in one chance to live, but I'm sure you already know how that works."

"Go on"

"I propose we'll take turns, player holding the gun gets to ask one question per turn" the man leaned forward, sending a warm smile "if they don't blow their brains out first, of course."

"But how can I trust you? A man like you can't have morals, not after sending all these people for certain death."

" 'A man like me?' I see you already have an established image of me, don't you?" He finally tore his eyes off of Junho and looked around the apartment "You see, catching a killer is always a challenge" he begun, his fingers tracing the lines of the gun "but it's nearly impossible when the killer is yourself."

"What?"

"You're not so innocent yourself, officer. " He put emphasis on the last word "Murdering guards, threatening one of the VIP's and shooting the Frontman himself, all in the span of few days? You're a savage, I must admit, big topic of discussion between the guards to this day." His gaze landed on Junho again "The only difference between us, is that I do it, because that means all those people could have a chance at life again, while you did all for what? 'Justice'? Same justice that wanted to fire you as soon you woke up from coma, after you risked your life for them? I don't know how about you, but it doesn't sound justly to me"

---

The rain grew heavier, drumming loudly as the recruiter spinned the gun. The weapon spun around for a while, each second feeling like an hour.

"You know that once my mother wakes up, she'll get me my gun and call the cops, right?"

The gun still haven't stopped.

"You're adorable, really" the man blinked, never getting his eyes off of him "Do you really think I'd let her stay here if I wasn't sure how hard she'll sleep? Trust me, if she had to wake up, she would've already done so, especially after you just yelled for the entire neighborhood to hear."

Yeah, he definitely drugged her. (Still better than killing her)

Junho's heart stopped, as he helplessly watched the revolver slowing down to point at him.

In that second, taking the gun felt like putting the mask on again, the black, suffocating mask he'll remember till death. The scared expression of the players begging for mercy, the sound of gun shots and smell of blood.. it felt like reliving those moments all over again.

Junho.

It was too late to back down wasn't it? Wait, what would he even ask? It had to be something important,

Junho.

something smart, detailed.. He's risking his life for god's sake, and he sure as hell ain't wasting it on something unimportant.

Junho.

But what if the recruiter lies? He's okay with killing himself playing a game, what stops him from straight up lying?

"Junho." He was startled out of the cycle of thoughts to find the the man's gaze filled with a questioning look.

“You forgot to turn the safety off" He chuckled while leaning even closer (too close for his liking), the smell of of smoke and cologne filling Junho's senses, the men were face to face now "you must be tired to forget yourself like that, officer.”

"Oh yeah, right"

But before he could do anything, the recruiter had already reached out his hand, quickly turning the man's safety off for him, his fingers brushing Junho’s hand. It was a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, but the way he handled the gun with such delicate and slick movements, really threw Junho off guard.

He put the gun to his temple once again, quietly cursing himself for doing this. He wanted to turn the tables and shoot the man, after all he was the one holding the gun, but that wouldn't resolve anything, would it?

One in six chance. He can do it. He has to.

Click.

Nothing.

Junho sighed in relief, lowering the gun. He was safe.. for now.

"So?" The recruiter asked, waiting for Junho's question. He panicked. He was so focused on the gun itself, that he forgot to think of a good question. Where's the island, w̶h̶y̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶ ̶I̶n̶ ̶H̶o̶ ̶j̶o̶i̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶?

"What's your name?" he asked after a long wait, but then quickly corrected "What's your full identity, I mean"

"Ah, smart choice. Can't go around wasting your life just to know only my name. " His smug grew wider "And to think that out of everything, I was the first thing that popped into your mind? I'm touched, really."

"I just want to know who's blood I'll be cleaning up."

...

"Name: Gong Yoo, age 45, born and raised in Busan. I joined the games as a guard as a teenager and have gone through all the ranks untill they promoted me to this position." Junho's eyes widened, as he didn't expect to get such a detailed answer. He took a mental note of it, trying to remember as much as he could as he gave the gun back to the man. "Is there anything else you like to know about me, officer? Where I live, what I ate today.. how big is it?"

Ew.

T̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶c̶r̶u̶i̶t̶e̶r̶ Gong Yoo winked at him and leaned back on the chair making a creaking noise, his finger rested on the trigger. He spun the barrel, reseting the odds, and pulled.

Click.

Empty.

"You know, I always wondered" he begun "How did you even find out about us?" There wasn't any mockery in his tone this time, only genuine curiosity.

"One day, at the police station appeared a terrified man with a weird story about people getting killed while playing kids games and.. I happen to know somebody with the same invitation card he had."

"Ah, Gi-Hun. He's a great guy, had lots of fun recruiting him"

'He's?' As in he is?! As in, still alive? He felt a warm light of hope spreading inside of him. If Mr.Seong was long gone then he wouldn't have used the term is, right? And if he's still alive, that means he could find him and work together.

Gong Yoo let out a bark of laughter at this, like he’d finally put two and two together in a particularly complex puzzle (though Junho, for the life of him, could not figure out what was so puzzling here, except of course, the mystery of why the man still hadn't blew Junho's brains out yet) and said with a smile and a shake of his head, "Oh you didn't hear, did you? He won!"

The words echoed in Junho's head, filling him with relief, but also surprise " I know right? Who would've guessed that the sweet old Gi-hun would turn out to be the single winner " The man added, noticing his mixed expression "Personally, I've bet on player 067, but she died right before the last game, how unlucky."

Jun-Ho raised the gun to his head, closing his eyes and pulled the trigger.

Nothing.

Relief flooded through him, but it was short-lived. He couldn't keep doing this untill one of them dies, he had to think fast. If both of them survived, Junho could use him as a map to the island, and with Gi-hun's determination to stop the games (that hopefully didn't disappear over the years) they'd be unstoppable.

"Where's Gi-hun. Give me his exact location."

"I wish I could tell you, but he got rid of his tracker about a year after leaving the games, so he might as well be dead now, who knows?"

"Tracker??" Junho's eyes widened "You put trackers on people?! Do you have tracker? ... Do I?" It was a stupid question, but who knows? Maybe they put something under his skin while asleep on the island? He honestly wouldn't be surprised at this point.

"I think you're getting ahead of yourself" Gong Yoo laughed, wiggling the gun in his hand.

"Wait but that's not fair, you couldn't even answer my question, why would I answer yours? Literally the whole motto of the games is to be (somewhat) fair! "

The recruiter let out some air out of his nose, sitting quietly for a bit. Finally after a while, he broke the silence like a glass barrier "No, but also yes. "

"What? It's a simple yes or no question for god's sake, do I have it or not??"

"Not in a way you think"

--

They exchanged questions back to back few more times, one time which Gong Yoo decided to turn into a sex joke, asking if he likes to be tied up (obviously, the answer was no) and another where Junho had finally (kind of) gotten the coordinates to that damn island (what the hell does ,,Near the Dokodo Island" mean?? Would beging more specific kill him?) and now the gun was once again in Junho's hand.

He tried to think of a plan how to save both of them, but with constant drumming of the rain, not enough sleep in the past week and the recruiter's annoying smile, his brain couldn't focus.

His fingers drummed a steady beat against the wooden table as he tried to stabilize the gun on his temple. His hands trembled, maybe from the amount of the caffeine he's consumed in the past few days, or maybe because he could get shot any second. Maybe both?

As he finally managed to hold the weapon somewhat straight, he felt his mind wander under the never ending gaze of Gong Yoo.

Once again, one in six chance of death. Five chambers empty, one full. He hated it. Not the odds, but the fact that he couldn't predict what'll happen next. The feeling of helplessness was killing him, will the gun go off killing him, or once again do a deaf click, and the game will just go on? How long will they have to play like that?

"What is it?" Recruiter asked unexpectedly "Doubting your luck?"

Junho ignored the mocking remark and took a deep breath. One in a six chance. He felt his hands trembling again, but ignored it as well, pulling the trigger.

Click.

BAM!

A wave of pain shot trough his entire head as he fell down on the floor. A tugging sensation flooded his brain, gasping for air like a fish out of the water, the crimson liquid quickly staining the carpet beneath him. Junho wanted to stop the bleeding, but couldn't even lift his hand off of the ground, almost like if he was trapped inside of his own body. In the corner of his eye, he noticed Gong Yoo slowly stand up from his chair and move in his direction, steps heavy and certain.

"Brother"

The man crouched next to him and picked his chin up, making Junho look up at him "What a shame," he whispered, pouting "And to think I actually started to like you."

"In Ho, why?"

Everything around started to fade, Gong Yoo beging the last thing he saw. And then, the darkness came.

Chapter Text

Classical music flooded the small room, causing Junho to almost fall out of bed.

"The next game will begin momentarily. " A feminine voice came out of the speakers "Managers, soldiers and workers, please move to your designated locations."

He quickly put on his suit (which technically wasn't his, you stole it, remember? You t̶h̶r̶e̶a̶t̶e̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶,̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶g̶g̶e̶d̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶k̶n̶e̶e̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶m̶e̶r̶c̶y̶,̶ ̶r̶e̶m̶e̶m̶b̶e̶r̶?̶ ̶Y̶o̶u̶'̶r̶e̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶b̶a̶d̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶,̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶d̶e̶s̶e̶r̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶w̶e̶a̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶s̶u̶i̶t̶-) while looking at the camera on the celling. Were they watching ALL the time? How could anyone ever live like this??

The corridors smelled metallic from blood, mixed with stench of sweat and smoke. (I guess the murderers just don't care about basic hygiene anymore, but then w̶h̶y̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶ ̶G̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶Y̶o̶o̶ ̶s̶m̶e̶l̶l̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶g̶o̶o̶d̶-)

The pistol felt heavy like a boulder, and as he walked through the endless stairs, his migraine became stronger and stronger. God, why did it hurt so bad? He didn't remember hitting himself in the head.

Then, the guard before him stopped all of the sudden, turning around to face him.

"Hello, officer." The modified voice rang in Junho's ears, causing his heart to almost jump out of ribcage. Was his cover blown already?! The voice, cold and mechanical, sent a cold shiver down his spine. He dared to look up, meeting the lifeless gaze of a black mask. Before he could speak, the unmistakable click of a cocked gun froze him in place.

The world around him faded, leaving only the deafening thud of his heartbeat in his ears.

Then, the guard took the headwear off, exposing his face. It wasn't just any guard, it was.. Gong Yoo? The man looked at him with a fake pout, but deeply in his eyes hid victory

"What a shame" he said, coming even closer "And to think I actually started to like you"

BAM

Junho woke up with a gasp. His head felt like it was about to explode, and the high beeps of all the machines around him didn't help.

It took him a while to realize what's going on, the odour of a hospital filling his nose.

Death and disinfectant.

He hated that damn smell, (it always brang back the unwanted memories from around three years ago-) but if he wanted to fully wake up he had to exercise his brain a little.

He took a deep breath,trying to catch as many scents as he could.

● Elderly patients are usually incontinent of urine, they often have infections which make the urine smell more.

● Homeless patients don’t have the ability to wash often, they sometimes have a distinctive odour.

● Infection can smell - a strangely sweet odour which clinged to the nose.

● The products they use to clean also have a very strong scent.

He could tell that someone around him had experienced a big trauma, because the the smell of blood was very strong - somewhat akin to the smell of a butcher’s shop where sometimes you can almost taste the iron.

His mother slept right beside his bed on a chair, poor woman looked like she's been crying all night. After a second, almost like if she sensed his revival, she quickly opened her eyes and hugged him so tight he could barley breathe.

"Oh in so sorry Junho, I promise I'll be better!!" His mother's yells were heart breaking "If only I knew, Junho I'm so sorry!"

"What happened..?" His body was shaking from the shock, a ringing sound in his ears appearing as he reached a hand to his temple; Touching the wet bandaids quickly restored his memory. The games, Gong Yoo sitting at his table, russian roulette.. The bang. He lost the round.

"You tried to kill yourself!" she put an emphasis on the last two words "Oh Junho, this is all my fault!! " Her voice trembled with dread, eyes pleading; While she kept on crying her heart out, the staff had run in, checking the monitors.

A chill coursed through Junho's body, his sweat-soaked shirt clinging uncomfortably to his skin as dread swallowed him whole. He felt like if someone hit him with a baseball bat. Of course she thought he tried to commit suicide, why else would her son had a fired gun in his hand? She must've woken up to a gunshot.. And then had to see the bloody mess in the dining room.

My God, he completely didn't think about the consequences of the game. He knew that loosing meant death and that all his hard work would've gone to shit, but he completely forgot to think about his mother!
Now, she thinks that t̶h̶e̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶s̶o̶n̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶l̶e̶f̶t̶ Junho tried to kill himself, and the worst part is that she thinks it's entirely her fault.

He wanted to yell, to hug her back even tighter and tell her that she's enough, always had been, and that it was all a simple misunderstanding. But how was he supposed to explain it?
Telling his mom that someone had drugged her, and then made Junho play russian roulette while she was sleeping in the next room was off limits.

But was it better than her thinking that he- Stop.

"Don't apologize for anything" his voice was stable, but the tears gathering in the corners of his eyes exposed him. She finally ended the hug and looked at him with glassy eyes, pain and regret painting across them "It's not your fault, mom."

--

The noodles warmth was as comforting as a kiss. Spending one more week in the hospital (to make sure he's fully recovered) was exhausting, but at least he got some of his questions answered:

1. With some serious luck, his shaky hands saved him. Turns out that as he pulled the trigger, his hand slipped and fired at the non fatal area.

2. He had a surgery to remove the bullet from his head while in a coma, leaving a deep wound across his temple (luckily, it's covered by most of his hair, so he didn't have to worry about getting weird looks; he has to take a good care for it till it fully scars though) (Great, another scar on his body.. Why is he collecting them like Pokémons??)

3. His gun got confiscated... Amazing

Junho and his mother now sat at the dining table... The same table he shot himself. The bloodied carpet was gone, leaving a sad reminder of what happened. None of them dared to say anything, so they just ate in silence.

Junho had stopped eating after the first few bites, letting his mind wander endlessly in the silence of the room, not allowing himself to look up at his mother sitting across from him.

In the hospital , she never left his side, not even when he had to go to the bathroom (especially when he had to go to the bathroom, but luckily she left him some privacy and stood outside the door) to make sure a̶t̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ her sons̶ would be safe. Since her last awkward conversation starter she also had lost appetite, avoiding her son's gaze uncomfortably.

Ever since they came back, his mom cooked only his favourite meals, spending hours in the kitchen humming quietly.

Maybe Gong Yoo wasn't so wrong after all, maybe he and his mother really were more similar than he thought. (Except, she escapes her thoughts by cooking, while he drowns himself in work and plays russian roulette with strangers)- Stop.

It's been around a month since the recruiter had gave them a visit, his face still haunting Junho.
That never ending smile, the undecipherable gaze, the smell of his cologne.. Junho remembered it all like if it was yesterday. Where was he now?

"Mom.." he begun not really knowing what to say, a hollow ache consuming him. "..I'm sorry"

"Oh don't be stupid, I should be the one to-"

"No" he cut her off quickly "You don't understand."

She glanced at him from her soup. After an uncomfortably long silence she sighed "I wasn't exactly telling the truth about how I found you." Her gaze quickly went back, like if she was embarrassed. Junho took his eyes off of food and stared at her, waiting for a follow up. What did she mean by that?

"...To be honest, I didn't hear the gunshot, I must've slept really strong."

"Then.. How did you call the ambulance in time?"

"..."

His mother looked around the room, like if she was looking for something. Her gaze stopped on the part of the floor where Junho bled out, the wooden planks still red from the dried up blood. It seemed like she couldn't find the words.

"I know it might sound a little silly, but.. that day, I felt like if someone had woken me up so I could find you"

Junho stiffened, now his attention now fully on the woman infront of him "I felt someone shaking me gently and even talking a little, but I couldn't recognize the voice"

"...Someone woke you up?"

"Yes.. They told me to go to the dining room, but didn't say why." She looked back at her son, eyes wide "Junho, I know I'm not that religious, but I think it was your guardian angel."

He choked of the air, feeling like time had stopped, everything around felt unreal. Could it be- No.

"Trust me I know it sounds stupid, but the police looked trough the entire place, and they couldn't find any traces of anyone else, just you!"

"But the gun, it wasn't even mine!"

"What are you talking about, of course it was!"

...

That piece of shit.

It all made sense now, in the rush of emotions, Junho didn't even realize that the gun Gong Yoo took out to play with, was his own. He planned it all out.

"You know that once my mother wakes up, she'll get me my gun and call the cops, right?"

"You're adorable, really"

He knew his mom wouldn't bring him his gun, because the gun was already in his hands. He wanted people to think it was just a suicide.

Amidst all the pain he felt rushing through his body, a pang of anger appeared. This anger overtook his whole body and became a searing hot rage.

"You poor thing, you're shaking!"

"Mom."

"Go to bed, I'll make you some tea,"

"Mom."

"We can watch some movies instead if you want to. I think-"

"MOM." The woman became completely silent, sending a wide-eyed stare in his direction.

"I'm sorry." He apologized once again, feeling bad for yelling "But.. oh God, how I put this.. Do you remember that.. man.. who shot me 3 years ago?"

"Oh no, did he come back for you?! Do I need to call the police?" She gasped, jumping out of her seat.

"No, but.. I think I know how to find him."

"Why would you ever wanna go back there?? Junho for the love of god, I almost lost you three times already, I can't deal with this type of pain again!"

"This time I won't be alone."

Chapter Text

The thick walls loomed ominously around Gi-Hun, windows reflecting the faint light from the street lamp across from his motel. Fear seeped through them like a damp chill of the day, causing his body hair to stand up.

The recruiter stood in his very own room, sipping on milk trough a straw like if he didn't just break in.

"It's been a long time, Mister Seong Gi-Hun." He exclaimed, sipping on his drink, slowly turning around.

There was blood on his face.

Gi-Hun, without saying anything, ignored him and washed his face with a damp wash cloth "You should've gotten on that plane that day."

"I changed my mind when I saw you."

"It looks like you've been trying hard to find me" the man added, pointing his gun at the calendar, full of red circles and exes on the dates.

"I wanted to thank you."

"Thank me?" His voice had a bit of surprise in it as he sat down the pink couch.

"For inviting me to the game. I won, and made it out with a fortune. The decent thing to do would be to thank you for it." Gi-Hun's voice dripped with sarcasm as he also sat down facing the man, still keeping the composure.

"I'm just a messenger who delivers invitations."

"Who had you deliver those invitations?" He asked, annoyed by the cracked smile of the man Infront of him "Let me meet him. I have something to say."

"Give me the message and I'll pass it along."

After a short back and forth between the two, where Gi-Hun learned some of the recruiter's backstory against his will, the man in a suit finally said, never taking his gaze off of him "let's play a game"

Gi-Hun stiffened, his eyes wandering to the gun in the man's hand (God knows what these people have in mind) but to his surprise, he quickly took out a phone and put on 'Time to say goodbye'.

"I'm sure you've seen this in movies" he begun "It's called russian roulette."

Of course it's another death game.

"Usually, you place one bullet in the gun, spin the cylinder and pull the trigger." Unnamed man looked at him again, studying him like an unsolved puzzle "And before the next round, you spin the cylinder again. It resets the odds back to 1 in 6" His smile got bigger before saying the next sentence, like if he just remembered something funny "meaning you don't know what'll happen next."

But then, something else appeared in his eyes, something small and almost not noticeable, but is was indeed there. But what was it? Hard to tell.

"But I'd like to make this game a little more serious. Because you're special, Mr. Seong."

Gi-hun stares, unconvinced "Cut to the chase."

"We'll take the turns pulling the trigger without spinning the cylinder again. The bullet will be fired within six attempts, and the game will be over. What do you say?" He asked, smiling excitingly like a little kid.

*******

"Stop pulling, you'll break the string!"

The sun was already setting, it's rays painting the sky scarlet as the Capitan Park's yell has spread; The slowly disappearing light hit on Junho's skin, sending a nice warm sensations throughout his body. His hair was nothing like they used to be a while ago, now completely ruined and messy, lazily falling onto his face.

"I'm trying!"

The sea waters were churning, the endless blue seemed to swallow the bait fully, not wanting to give it up.

Then, the fishing line came out of the water with a slimy squid attached to it. He quickly grabbed the animal and pulled it onto the boat, making it roll and squirm on the hard surface, and as Junho tried to take a few steps back to admire it, the slippery floor sent him flying.

"Atta boy, this one's a monster! If I didn't know you, I'd think you've been catching squids since birth! You sure you've never done this before?" Asked the capitan, reaching his hand to help the younger man stand up.

"Nope, first time! I just happen to have a good mentor" He smiled back, getting back on legs.

As Junho dusted himself off, his eyes wandered to the islands near them. They were surrounded on all sides by pine forests, so that even the roads that led in different directions from it, rather resembled ravines carved out of the green thicket. You could also see a few oak trees, but they were small and weak; it was obvious that the pines were in charge.

'I wonder wich one is the game one' he asked himself, now watching the clouds above. They were slowly getting darker, and the air started to feel heavier, with a distinct, earthy smell. A storm was coming.

"Still thinking about the island?" Capitan Park bursted into a wheeze laughter "And here I thought you finally gave up!"

"Yeah" Junho whispered, so quietly that the capitan didn't even seem to hear it trough all that laughing "I did too"

He suddenly felt something wet on the cheek, but he immediately wiped it off with his sleeve and looked up. As if on command, a wall of rain began to fall from the sky. Both men put on their hoods and ran looking for the nearest shelter, quickly hiding under the first roof they found.

The wind had set multiple leaves to spiral in the air, slowly fall down and then spiralling again, almost like if it wanted to torture them, as the men sat down.

Junho took his hood off and sighed, watching the weather get more and more brutal, water droplets hitting the surface of the boat, hard like a wash of stones.

Was it raining at the game island too?

"You hungry?" Asked the capitan, taking something wrapped in the tin foil out of his jacket and passed it to the younger man "Here, I saved some for you"

As Junho tore it open, Samgyeopsal wrapped in lettuce appeared before his eyes.

the dish was already cold, but the smell was strong as ever, hints of red pepper paste and grilled meat tingling his nose.

Junho hadn't thought about food since morning; between the cyclone of emotions swirling in his chest and the close brush with death few weeks ago, hunger wasn't really a priority (his diet mostly based on instant noodles and coffee)

It wasn't until he inhaled the warm smell of it that his stomach came alive, growling like a beast. The last time he'd eaten something decent was yesterday evening, when his mom forcefully shoved some of Gimbap in his face before he left. Now, something edible was within the reach and all he had to do was take it it.

"How's your head by the way?" The question sent a shiver down Junho's spine, getting him out of the mood; he forgot that the old man knew about it.

"It's fine."

Quickly fixing his hair to cover up the wound, he took the meat wrap and bit right into it, only to discover how spicy it was; He practically gasped in delight as he swallowed the bite.

"Not bad, huh?" Capitan Park looked pleased, but Junho couldn't muster the courage to bother, instead deciding to take another big bite of the meat goodness, much to the old man's amusement.

In between bites, he caught sight of the previously caught squid struggling to find water, wiggling around the boat. He felt a lump in a throat, as if barb wires had wrapped themselves around his neck and were squeezing tighter and tighter. The squirming animal reminded Junho of himself, bleeding out in an empty, dark room, quietly in his mind begging to someone help.

But it was too late to do anything was it?

The hook has already ripped through the animal's flesh, even if he threw it back the squid would've died sooner or later.

Wouldn't it?

"I never got to ask but, what happened?" Mr. Park asked as he shifted to sit cross-legged "Because knowing you, the last thing I'll believe is that you actually wanted to die. I swear, kid, you're build of something else."

More than anything, Junho wanted to let out a frustrated groan - he had a tiring few weeks, and the wound was making itself more and more known with every passing second, sending waves of pain. Lying about how he got it was the last thing he wanted to do right now.

His tiredness flared up again, like if the memory of the events had the flammability of hay, the mantra got reborn, restarting with newfound energy.

The old man seemed to sense the awkward silence forming between them, scratching the back of his head uncomfortably.

"Capitan," he began. The man sitting next to him, got visibly surprised (maybe even slightly offended), and interrupted "Please, just call me Park. 'Capitan' is too formal" he smiled sheepishly, putting his hand on Junho's shoulder "After all, we know eachother three years now. That's longer than I've been married for!"

"So.. Park. I don't exactly know how to say this, but-" then, the waves became stronger, hitting the deck and spreading thousands of droplets around the boat, while the trees on nearby islands waved around like big green flags.

"What ever that is, the sea is clearly not happy about it" C̶a̶p̶i̶t̶a̶n̶ Park chuckled, watching the unfolding storm. Junho took a deep breath and was met by a humid, pine scent, as he shifted his weight a little.

"The man from those games broke into my house."

"..."

"..."

"What?" Park looked at him dumbfounded stopping everything he was doing, his attention fully on the younger man "What do you mean by that..?"

"I told you they were dangerous" Junho sighed, the squid getting his attention once again. It tried to jump back into the sea, but was clearly too weak to fully lift itself up.

"But I don't understand," Park murmured staring at his feet, looking now like some Greek philosopher "You stopped looking for the island long time ago- Hell, I personally made sure you did! Why would they come back to kill you, just like that?"

Junho swallows dryly before putting down the rest of his food, looking down like a scolded child; his face burned red from shame.

"I don't know"

But that was a lie.

It wasn't Gong Yoo who put the bullet in his head.

He willingly did it himself, and now, didn't even have the courage to say it out loud. What would Park think of him? O̶r̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶m̶o̶m̶?̶

*********

There were six rounds,

Then five,

Four,

And then three.

The gun once again landed in Gi-Hun's hands, ready to fire in any second. There were only two rounds left, 50/50 chance of death. Those weren't good odds.

If you told someone that they had a 50/50 chance to win the lottery, they'd buy the scratcher immediately. 'I have a 50% chance to win!' they'd say, but what they don't see is that they also have just as many percent to loose. Except, if the lost they could've just buy another lotto, but Gi-Hun couldn't buy another life.

He looked at the man before him. Recruiter's smile was as big as a Cheshire cat's, eyes lighting up slightly.

He's so full of himself

"What is it?" The unnamed man asked, leaning forward "Is your mind starting to race?"

Gi-Hun held the gun up to his temple. He didn't want to do it. But he had to.

F̶o̶r̶ ̶S̶a̶n̶g̶w̶o̶o̶,̶ ̶S̶a̶e̶-̶b̶y̶e̶o̶k̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶s̶e̶ ̶w̶h̶o̶ ̶d̶i̶e̶d̶.̶

...

But did he really..?

"Now your odds of death are one in two. That's pretty high indeed." The man on the opposite side of the table pouted theatrically, his dark eyes piercing Gi-hun like an arrow.

"I'm sure you're afraid, lots going through your mind. Let me guess what you're thinking right now." He shifted his pose back to how he sat before " 'The gun is in my hands. Screw the rules, pull the trigger once or twice, and blow this guy's face off!' " Recruiter smiled "isn't that right?"

Gi-Hun's hand trembled slightly, the movement was small, almost unnoticeable. And yet, it caught the man's attention. The air was thick with expectation, his breath mingled with the smells of smoke and cologne.

He had to do this.

Had to.. O̶r̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶?̶

"If you want to meet the person you mentioned earlier, the key is in my pocket." He put a hand on the front pocket of his suit "You can simply shoot me with that gun and take it. But you'll have to admit one thing"

The weapon shined in the faint street lamp light, as the recruiter tilted his head and leaned in closer again (would it kill him to sit still for five minutes?) and smiled. It wasn't just a simple, award-winning smile he always did, no, this one was unnaturally wide, which made Gi-Hun realize why there's a saying ,,smiling from ear to ear,,.

"That you're just a piece of trash, just like everyone else. A piece of trash who got lucky and made it out of the dumpster."

His daughter once got scared by a creepy pasta guy called Jeff the killer, and now, seeing the man Infront of him do the same, wicked, big smile (if not even bigger) he understood why she got so scared. That shit's creepy.

Gi-Hun positioned the gun at his temple once again, looking directly into the recruiter's eyes. As he was about to pull the trigger, his body started shaking uncontrollably, like if someone dumped him into the pool of cold water. The unnamed man watched him with a light, almost amused expression, never losing his composure.

3.

2.

1.

"You know, your little friend wasn't so lucky. What makes you think that you're any different?"

Click.

Empty.

The man in a suit sent him a wide-eyed stare, looking back to back at the gun and then Gi-Hun again. He knew he lost.

The corners of his lips no longer curled in a mockery smile, instead, they fell down to a frown. There was a flicker of surprise in his eyes, but it quickly turned into defeat as he slumped his shoulders down and reached his hand, waiting for the inevitable.

But as Gi-Hun passed the gun, an idea appeared inside of his head. The recruiter (no matter how annoying) could still be used to his advantage; after all, he knows the island better than anyone else.

Without any more thinking, he reacted impulsively, pushing the coffee table aside and shooting at the man's right leg with the last bullet. The recruiter scowled, curling his body like a shrimp and trying to stop the bleeding with his hand, but before he got a word edgewise, his face was met by the force of a clenched fist shattering through the air like lightning; The hit was so strong it knocked him unconscious.

Gi-hun wanted to keep punching, to knock his teeth out, snap bones or to break his neck and make him feel what he felt during the games, but took deep breaths instead, eyes getting more and more watery each second.

No matter how much he hated him, the man was an important key on how to find the island.

He needed him alive, whether he wanted or not.

**********

"Would you look at that, the storm ended!" Park noticed, pointing at the clouds slowly getting paler and paler. The smell of rain was now much more stronger than before, sharp but fresh air filling Junho's lungs.

The moon lazily loomed over the pine trees, sending a silvery carpet throughout the entire sea as both men left their temporary roof. It's silver halo spread the frosty glow throughout the endless sea, highlighting every ripple and wave.

"We should go back now" Junho looked over the edge watching the water get peaceful afer the storm.

"Already?" The capitan asked, voice full of surprise "But fish always catch best after the rain!"

"I know, and again, thank you for inviting me today but it's night already, my mom's gonna start to get worried soon, and there's no signal."

"Oh yeah, we don't want to stress this poor woman more than we already did"

"Yeah, and you know, I also have a lot of work in the morning" he added, avoiding Park's look, full of suspicion. He knew the man was staring at him, drilling a hole trough his head with only his look, so he kept glancing at the sea.

"I know that phrase" Capitan begun, stopping mid opening door to the steering room. "You always use it when you want to spend your whole night researching about the island, don't you?"

Junho breathed in, sharp but controlled. After a while, a heavy hand landed on his shoulder so he turned around, only to discover the old man's worried face. There wasn't any disapproval nor anger, just.. disappointment.

Not even a bullet trough his skull hurt as much as this moment.

After a painfully long second capitan looked away and turned on heels "Some people never change" he chuckled, disappearing into the darkness of the cabin.

Defeated, Junho took some steps in the direction of sleeping cabins, but as he got closer to opening them, something in the corner of the eye caught his attention.

The squid had hanged from the railing, only centimeters from water.

It was dead.

Chapter Text

Junho's eyes snapped open, body seized in place as he choked on his own breath; The pain was everywhere, from the top of his head to the tips of toes, the agony swallowing his brain. He was surrounded by darkness, but somehow managed to crawl out of the couch; he must've accidentally fallen asleep on it.

Feeling something wet dripping onto his clothes, Junho quickly sprinted to the bathroom, shutting the doors urgently and hoping it didn't wake his mom up.

As he looked in the mirror, a terrified gasp escaped him.

Blood was dribbling out of the wound all over his shirt and the floor, the stitches hidden deeply under the red waterfall. The moment he acknowledged the wound, pain shot up trough his entire head, and then moved to the chest and wouldn't let go.

And to think it was already scarring! I mean yeah, sometimes he unconsciously picks on it from stress, but he didn't expect it to open all over again.

Another reminder of his careless actions.

Junho pressed a wet washcloth gently against it and immediately recoiled from the pain, the tenderness almost causing him to hiss.

Don't be a baby, you did it to yourself. Y̶o̶u̶ ̶d̶e̶s̶e̶r̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶p̶a̶i̶n̶.̶

Bracing himself, he touched it again, as the piercing, penetrative pain in his chest and head jagged him mercilessly, pressing his lips together to muffle any noises.

"I came in as fast as I could!" Junho gasped, running into one of the hospital rooms revealing a weak woman laying in bed "How are you feeling?"

After a second of staring at him expectedly, she sighed with defeat "He's still gone, isn't he?"

Junho's stomach flipped upside down from the mention of his brother but decided to ignore it, swallowing the uncomfortable feeling like an old, stale bread. He hesitated, his mind racing to come up with a suitable explanation, even though he knew that both of them were aware of the truth.

"You know how he is," he begun, not beging sure what to say "he would never leave you just like that. Trust me, he'd rather die than let you rot in here."

Soon-Yi didn't say anything, instead she lifted her hand and put it onto Junho's, caressing it weakly "I know, Junho. I know."

With trembling hands, Junho tore open a few packets of disinfectant wipes, the plastic drumming loudly in the deep silence. He gritted his teeth as he pressed the itchy, chemical-soaked fabric against the wound, quickly revising everything that his doctor told him to do.

Junho felt his eyes get watery, but didn't dare to show it; his gaze quickly shot up, refusing to look at her. He had to get his mind off of it all, otherwise, he was afraid he might scream.

He looked at the flowers next to her bed, slowly withering away, just like the person they were gifted to.

It was uncomfortable how sterile the hospital room felt; Even the posters on the wall were more clinical than comforting. The desk was white. The chairs were white. The bed - you guessed it. It was less a room and more a doctor’s office with a bed.

The woman must've noticed Junho's failed attempts to calm himself down "I'll be okay." She said, in the most nurturing tone possible, her expression softened ever so slightly, causing a deep despair running over Junho as the guilt crept in, looming over him at every thought of his brother "I'm sure of it. Hope dies last, doesn't it?"

The touch of disinfectant wipes hurt, but leaving the scar to get infected would be much worse. The cold bathroom floor tiles froze his feet, stinging them like an invisible army of ants; the pack of band-aids opened with a loud crack, as the smaller brown rectangles fell down somewhere onto the floor.

Junho looked up at her, forcing a smile at Soon-Yi's attempt at cheerfulness, finding comfort in her touch; It reminded him of childhood, when she and In Ho would tuck him to sleep while their mom was as work. Oh, to be able to go back.

He wished he could say something, anything, but his jaw clenched shut, as if somebody had sealed it with bolts; Still, he hadn't stop trying to think of any words as the vision blurred with unwanted tears.

Please say something.

"Go," Soon-Yi squeezed his hand and looked away "your mom must be getting worried. I don't want her to get any more gray hair because of me." She chuckled, dry as a bone "I'll be fine, really."

Say something, anything.

Junho nodded and silently turned back, ready to leave. Tears sprang to his eyes so he clenched his jaw, refusing to let them fall. The neat, wooden door creaked open revealing the lifeless hallway, but as he was about to step out without saying word, Soon-Yi quickly added

"Do me a favor and go find your brother, will you?" Junho didn't even look at her, his back facing the woman, and yet he knew exactly what her expression was: Smiling from ear to ear, despite the light in her eyes slowly dying "And when you do, grab him by the ear and drag him to finally visit his wife!"

Junho, say something.

Open your fucking mouth and at least say goodbye.

But he didn't. All he could do was to walk out of the room without saying anything, quietly humming through his clenched teeth, hoping that it ends. Hoping that-

He never saw Soon-Yi again.

"SONOFABITCH!" He screamed, a raw, primal sound ripped from the depths of his soul. Tears that he fought so hard to resist streamed down his face as agony exploded through his whole head.

Junho could feel himself shivering, trembling like a leaf ready to fly off with the wind. But other than that, his entire body is locked and frozen, surrounded by darkness. Just staring at his reflection.

"Junho?"

He grabbed tissue paper, and wadded it to his face, ignoring his mom's calls of concern from outside of the bathroom.

After a couple of minutes, he walked out of the bathroom, band-aids haphazardly tossed on the wound on his head, and looked around.

After another terrible memory, the man's mind was tired and restless at the same time. He was convinced that he would not sleep tonight, so lying in bed would be pointless.

His whole body demanded movement, but circling around the room would only wake the downstairs neighbor up.

Slowly, almost silently, Junho approached the window and looked out. The early sun was already setting outside, surrounding the entire neighborhood with its orange light, the cars on the road quietly played their mechanical melody as people went to their jobs. Junho never even noticed how quiet it was here.

Junho's heart skipped a beat as he read the clock: 6:48 a.m.

He's late for work.

The closet door swung open as he grabbed a clean work shirt and some pants, his eyes scanning trough the endless pile of clothes looking for a tie.

However, the flashback did not disappear from his memory unlike all the others. It sat in his head as stubbornly as if it wanted him to think about it. But why? - maybe it really meant something? - this thought made Junho's muscles stiffen as he quickly put on the socks. Why did everything have to be so difficult?

A sound outside his mom's bedroom tore him from his thoughts "Where are you going?" Her voice raspy from sleep "What could you possibly do this early on a Saturday!"

Oh yeah, it's Saturday.

He's not working today.

Junho stopped brushing his hair and took a deep breath, letting all of the stress out. He then grabbed the leftover from yesterday food, (He couldn't even tell what it was, something edible, and that's all what mattered) and walked towards the couch he accidentally fell asleep on yesterday, pointedly looking away from the dark ominous mold making its home on the walls. They really need to get out of this apartment.

As he unlocked the laptop and put in on his - you guessed it again- lap, a short figure materialized itself Infront of him.

"You barley woke up and you're already glued to the screen?" His mom sighed with defeat, taking a seat next to him " I feel like nowadays you're only in the house!"

"That's because I am" Junho shifted his pose a little, never looking away from the laptop "For these past few weeks I had to work from home, remember? This Monday I finally get to go back to my regular shifts."

"It only further proves my point, you need to get some sunlight!" She replied, half joking half serious "How about you'll take that laptop, and go get your whatever you're doing done in a park or a cafe. Sounds good?"

At first, Junho wanted to decline, his eyes drifting to the window again, but the yellowish rays of the sun and peaceful bird chirping changed his mind. I mean, he's already dressed up anyway, and maybe talking to someone else that isn't his mom or Park could freshen his mind a little bit.

-----------

Fog hung low around the streets, the sun peaked over the horizon turning the cloudy gray mist into swirling smoke. A few early birds had already filled the sidewalk, some eating quick breakfast in nearby cafes while some other walked peacefully without a rush.

Junho's lungs filled with the fresh morning breeze, the cold but refreshing air mixed with the warm sunlight felt incredible against his skin. He really needed this.

In the corner of his eye, he spotted a pastry shop. Eating sweet junk before breakfast is bad for health, but if there's anything in the world that Junho couldn't resist, it was his massive sweet tooth.

The doorbell rang as he walked in, sending a warm smile to the old lady behind the register. There were only two other people inside, chatting quietly in the corner of the shop while sharing a piece of pie.

"Good day officer, how can I help you?" Her voice was raspy and a little shaky, probably because of her age, but Junho didn't even register that, feeling his feet sink to the ground. The last time somebody has recognized his identity, was on that subway station when he met Gong Yoo for the first time.

But after a quick look at his reflection in the glass, Junho realized that he forgot to change into his regular clothes while getting kicked out of the apartment by his mom, the work outfit sticking out in a crowd like a sore thumb. Silly him.

"Morning" he begun, looking at the countless sweet goodnesses on the display. His gaze quickly stopped on a bunch of small, colorful macaroons. "I'd like some of these, please."

"Great choice, they're really popular!" The woman's smile was contagious, to the point where Junho couldn't help it but to smile widely too.

"I know, I always get them" he admitted, watching her grab the cookies and putting them in a paper bag "They're my favorite"

"A man loyal to both, the law and his favourite sweets, that's what I like to see."

The tension seemed to have eased up and out of the conversation little by little at last; Junho could feel the familiarity trickle back in with its familiar rhythm. It was nice to have a conversation with someone, who for a change didn't constantly ask about his health. Here, nobody knew what happened few weeks ago, and it was freeing.

As he sat down in a random free seat and opened the laptop, his mind quickly became flooded with the tiredness again. Popping some macaroons into his mouth he, once again, begun his searching for Gi-hun. With that amount of money the man could be anywhere, from the other side of the country to the other side of the world!

He decided to search the name first, few results showing but only one interested him. It was a Facebook account, last active three years ago. The smiling picture of Gi-hun set up as the profile picture sent an uncomfortable shiver down his spine. Poor guy didn't know yet what horrors would await him.

As he dug deeper (aka. checked his friends list) he realized that the task will be more annoying than he first thought, because for some unknown reason, Gi-hun had a little more than four thousand friends added. Did he know he didn't have to add everyone on the planet?

Scrolling through them all felt like a torture, checking carefully every single profile, so that maybe, one of them would have some useful information. Junho's attention caught the three last profiles on the list, the first ever people he added. Cho Sangwoo, Oh Mal-soon and Seong Ga-yeong.

The first two also became inactive exactly three ears ago, one belonged to a man who from the previous post's Junho could've deducted that he went to a very good school and finished as one of the best students (there were at least 20 comments from Gi-hun alone under those posts, congratulating him) and the other one belonged to possibly Gi-hun's mother; under her last post everyone commented '[*]', you don't have to be a detective to know that she's most likely passed.

But then there was the third one, little Ga-yeong. Their last names matched, so Junho assumed they were related, possibly his daughter. She was very active on her account, often posting pictures from.. America.

If she's really his daughter, then he's probably there with her.

Shit.

The macaroons gritted under his teeth as he desperately tried to find any more information about the man, but couldn't. There wasn't anything about ,,a strange man with 456billion prize money" nor any info about his passing. Nothing. As if he had vanished into thin air.

The feeling of helplessness washed over him. The morning melted into afternoon, the world outside finally waking up and crowding the streets. Still, it was though time had frozen, minutes slowed down by the fruitless stalking. Junho felt himself freeze a little bit. His heart throb in his chest, an uncomfortable burning blooming from within.

Maybe the recruiter was lying all along?

Maybe Gi-hun never won?

He didn't even realize when his fingers started to type out the name ,,Gong Yoo" into the search engine; About to press the last button his impulsivity paused for a brief moment, finger twitching in nervous hesitation, afraid what he might find. Junho never thought of himself as a particularly nervous man; He took a big breath and did it anyway, pulse quickening as the countless results popped up.

Many of them were just about some popular actor with the same name (it was scary how similar those two people looked alike)

,,Train to Busan ", ,, Coffee prince", ,, Squidgame ".... Oh wait, he's found something.

A poster, and a big red ,,MISSING" smeared across it. In the middle there was a picture of a kid, no older than 16, smiling happily. He'll recognize that smirk anywhere.

,,Gong Yoo, age 15, height 5'5, last seen on a subway Sunday March 19, 1995. " He read, stuffing more and more pastry into his mouth, as if he's watching an exciting football match.

At least the man didn't lie about becoming a guard early, it seemed. Junho couldn't help but to let out a small chuckle while staring at the picture of young Gong Yoo; He looked so jolly.. before becoming a psychopath.

He’d reread it approximately 20 times over, and by the time he remembered to breathe, Junho tried to find any other information about that strange man, but couldn't find anything. Once again, he's left with nothing.

He looked the the bottom part of the announcement, staring at the phone number written on it, eyes spinning over the curves and bends of them one by one.

Could it be his parents number? Junho's curiosity only grew bigger each second but he knew that even if they answered, what would he even tell them? That their son shot him?(Technically it wasn't him, y̶o̶u̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶s̶e̶l̶f̶,̶ ̶J̶u̶n̶h̶o̶) That he's utterly insane? Weird? Gay?

"I'm sorry mister, but are you leaving anytime soon?"

Junho's eyes landed on a woman probably in her mid thirties standing by his table. Next to her was a small child who couldn't keep her hands to herself, playing with a napkin.

His macaroons were long gone, he didn't even realize when they disappeared from the bag, only few crumbs left. After noticing that the whole shop was drowning in customers, people waiting impatiently for an available seat, Junho quickly stood up and apologized, nodding his head goodbye to the old lady.

He spent way too long in there, and yet, he didn't find anything useful.

Great.

--------

As he slowly paced trough the streets, a newfound mantra found it's place in his mouth, sticky and bitter. He still couldn't find any information about Mr.Seong, and the clock was ticking. He needed to find him.

Luckily, there's more than one different ways to find someone, one of them is simply just asking the people around; He quickly opened his phone and displayed Gi-hun's old profile picture, hoping for the best.

"Hello ma'am, have you seen this man?"

"No, sorry."

-----

"Sorry to interrupt, but have you seen this guy?"

"No."

------

"Good afternoon mister, do you know a man named Seong Gi-hun?"

"Never seen him."

------

After an hour of shoving his phone into random passers by faces, he always got the same answer. People looked at him weirdly, some even taking a different route to not become a victim of Junho's questioning.

But no matter how hopeless he felt at the moment, there was a small light inside of him that never went out. Even after Soon-Yi died, o̶r̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶I̶n̶ ̶H̶o̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶t̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶, it was always there. A faint hope, so small it probably looks like an atom, but it's there. And that's more than enough for Junho to keep going.

He can't stop.

As he got ready to go up to a random woman sitting on a bench, someone had bumped onto him, suspiciously big stacks of money falling onto the ground. Junho quickly grabbed them off of the ground and gave them back to the owner, a middle aged man with long-ish black hair and a jacket.

"I'm so sorry, thank you so much." The man exclaimed, his eyes widening as he noticed Junho's work clothes, which made him even more suspicious. Was the money illegal, is that why he's so frightened? Something's fishy.

"No problem Mister, happens to the best of us" Junho answered, unlocking his phone "Do you know this man? His name is Seong Gi-hun."

The stranger leaned back and forth on his heels, hands in pockets, with his smirk reduced to a scared grin once more, like a child who just got caught stealing. But there was more to his eyes than just fear, a slight surprise hid in there too. He knew something .

"Well, I wouldn't say that I know him," The stranger looked away "He just paid me to do a medical procedure, that's all."

Junho's heart started to race, the light of hope now as bright as the milion suns, burning in his chest.

"So you know where he is?"

"I don't know, no, no i don't.."

The man quickly turned back and started to walk away, his whole body was tense; But Junho couldn't let him go. Not now, not when when he's so close. He soon caught up to the man, and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"This is a matter of life and death," The man's eyes widened once more as Junho took out his police badge "For any kind of insubordination, you'll be facing the law."

...

"Fine."

-------

The gravel rustled under his feet, as Junho jumped out of his taxi. The stranger didn't tell him much, but as far as he understood, Gi-hun lived alone in a motel and paid him a ton of money to do an illegal medical procedure containing tearing out a healthy tooth and replacing it with a tracker (normally, Junho would've intervene but decided to turn a blind eye on it instead; The man redeemed himself by telling the truth about Mr.Seong anyways)

Afer checking the address again to make sure he's in the right place, he looked up; a big, pink motel stood right infront of him. All the curtains were closed, blocking the view to see the inside. Junho felt his breath tremble as the intercom rang once, and then twice.

Did he leave?

There was an active camera in one of the corners, so Junho decided to take his badge and show it, hoping that maybe this would make him come out.

Wait, maybe that was a bad idea. The man could think that he's in trouble with the law after paying for pulling his tooth out, or-

The entry door creaked open, a tall man walking out.

There's no way this is Gi-hun.

"May I help you, officer?"

Shoot, it is Gi-hun!

But he's changed. His wavy, long hair got completely chopped off, bags under his eyes signifying that just like Junho, Gi-hun also hadn't sleep well, if he even slept at all. He looked like a shell of a man he used to be.

"Mr.Seong," he took a deep breath, realizing that the man didn't seem to recognize him "we've already met before, remember?"

Gi-hun stared at him for a while, his tired eyes tracing all over Junho's face, hair and clothes. Junho started to panic a little. Maybe something happened to the man's memory??

"We've met twice. Once in front of your house, and again.." He took a peak over Mr.Seong's shoulder to see the inside "on that island."

The taller man tensed his shoulders, eyes widening as if he's seen a ghost.

"Do you remember? The night of the ruckus in the dorm. The masked men went in to stop it."

In a blink of an eye, Gi-Hun held him at a gunpoint "Were you one of them?"

Junho stiffened, instinctively wanting to grab a gun, but then he remembered. (Damn it, Gong Yoo!) He felt vulnerable without it, but still, kept his composure "I snuck in there in disguise to find my brother."

"How can I believe you?"

"One of the masked men asked you about someone named Hwang In Ho."

"Player 456. Is there a man named Hwang In Ho here?"
"We.. do not know each other's names."

"That was me. Hwang In Ho is my brother."

Gi-Hun stared at him for a bit, before finally lowering his gun.

"Ah, detective Hwang Junho. Now I remember."

---------

The pink wallpaper surrounded Junho as he strolled through the endless corridors. Gi-Hun walked right beside him, mumbling something about it being a bad time for reconnections.

As they finally reached one of the doors, the older man hesitated before opening them wide; Inside, he noticed a tall figure sitting in the corner, hidden by the shadows.
Right next to it stood a man around Junho's age, maybe older.

"Gi-Hun, there's a cop behind you!" The man hissed, half whisper half yell, as soon as he noticed Junho's uniform.

"I know, I let him in." After Gi-Hun's peaceful answer, the stranger jumped from his place, now facing Junho and greeting with a fake smile "Ah, hello sir, what can we help you with?" while gesturing something to Gi-Hun, sending him eye signals and stuff.

Does he really think Junho's blind?

"It's okay, Woo-Seok, he knows."

Woo-Seok's eyes widened as he heard that, looking once at Gi-Hun and then at Junho again. Then, he took Gi-Hun's forearm and dragged him aside, whispering something loudly.

Junho couldn't make out exactly what they were talking about, but he got to hear the most important parts of it:

With all due respect, but are you crazy sir?!" Cops can't be trusted!"

"Woo-Seok-"

"No! He'll put us behind bars and everything we worked for so hard, including Mr. Kim's sacrifice, will go to shit!"

But there was one voice that stood out.

"Mama’s Boy, you're alive!" Junho's body hair stood up immediately from the sound of the familiar voice, as delicate and smooth as velvet. Only one person could talk like this.

"How's your head?" The man asked, his sharp grin now fully visible in the light.

Oh God, he's here .

Chapter Text

There he was, the recruiter himself. His hair perfectly arranged to give the image of windblown and the outfit carefully coordinated. A professional through and through.

He was sitting on the floor, one of his hands got handcuffed to a radiator. An ominous red liquid leaked from under one of his legs but Junho couldn't see clearly what it was with the recruiter's leg on leg sitting, covering a possible wound.

Junho stood there for a while, frozen in place with a wide-eyed stare (which clearly pleased him)

"It's fine," he answered harshly after remembering he has a tongue, sending a murderous look "no thanks to you."

Woo-Seok and Gi-Hun stopped arguing and slowly looked in their direction surprised, but both men ignored it ",,No thanks to me"? Junho, I'm hurt" he pouted.

"How does he know your name?" Woo-Seok asked, suspicion in his voice growing bigger each second "Do you guys know eachother?"

Those words activated something defensive in Gi-Hun, causing him to slowly dive a hand deep into his pocket grabbing something (probably a gun) but didn't take it out, waiting for explanation.

Junho immediately realized how weird it must've looked - a recruiter from those deadly games and him, talking like they've met before - so he lifted his hand up and revealed the nasty wound on the side of his head, causing Woo-Seok to hiss a little ,,ouch" of sympathy.

"He made me play and I.. lost." Junho explained, ignoring Gong Yoo's protests "But luckily, I managed to survive."

"I didn't force you to anything" The chained man replied peacefully with a hint of mockery "You pulled the trigger yourself."

Gi-Hun sent a surprised look; no words had to be said to know what his question was.

"I had my reasons."

---------

"So you agreed to play too?" Junho asked, pointing at the smiling man in the corner; The three men now sat at a small coffee table "Why did you shoot him then?"

Gi-Hun sighed deeply but didn't look away from the invitation card given by the recruiter, rereading the date written on it over and over "He would've killed himself if I didn't intervene."

"So why didn't you let him?"

"Because I need him."

Both men ignored the prisoner's affectionate ,,aww", but Woo-Seok didn't; He stared deeply into Gong Yoo's soul, as if he expected him to break free any second.

"After shooting him, I found Woo-Seok in one of the rooms and-"

"God knows what this pervert would've done to me if he wasn't here for Mr. Seong." Woo-Seok cut him off hatefully, his eyes drilling into the recruiter "I got drugged, stripped from all clothes and put on a bed, while I couldn't do anything about it, just watch and wait." The man shivered slightly, like if the memory physically burned him.

But Junho knew exactly how it felt. A bit too well.

"You have five minutes to satisf-" Stop.

"Don't be so negative, I'm sure you'd like what I have to offer" all three men at the table became grave silent, an uncomfortable feeling looming over the walls "You know, I'm touched by your affection, really, but don't you think I need to be alive to be able to help?"

They threw him a confused look, but after a second the man finally put his leg away and revealed a fully blood-soaked gauze on his right thigh, the blood slowly coming out of it as the time passed.

"Shit." Gi-Hun cursed under his breath after finally looking up from the black square; He quickly stood up with a creek of the chair and walked towards the man, fists clenched.

"Am I gonna get hit again?" Gong Yoo's voice dripped with boredom.

"We'll have to get you unconscious one way or another."

"Why?" The man asked, tilting his head a little; a small twinkle appearing in his eye "Mr. Seong, are you afraid of me?"

"..."

After a while that felt like an eternity, Gi-Hun answered "You're unpredictable." neither confirming it or denying, but everybody in that room already knew the answer.

"Maybe we could just hold him at a gunpoint?" Junho asked, whipping his head back to the table where two black guns shined in the faint light of the room.

"Junho, I don't think that threatening me with a gun is a good idea, especially if you'll be the one doing it" the recruiter giggled in a flirtatious tone, sending a small wink towards him.

Junho's grip on the table tightened, his nails digging into dark wood "That's Mr. Hwang to you."

Gong Yoo's pants wetly stuck to his thigh in a way that made Junho feel sick to look at; the red stain became larger as the grave silence grew even bigger.

"Doesn't matter how we do it, but we need to be fast before he bleeds out." Gi-Hun cleared his throat pointedly, but Gong Yoo ignored it.

"Or, we could talk the day away till I do, at least that would save me the trouble of confronting my boss about this little slip up"

"How about he just does it himself?" Woo-Seok's eyes burned with hatred "Maybe then he'll know what it's like to be humiliated."

"Maybe, but I think you're forgetting about the main issue here" the recruiter waved his cuffed hand "I only have one hand available"

There was a brief silence between them, the only sound being the muffled car sounds from the outside and the flickering light. You could practically see Mr. Seong weighing the options in his mind, nervously clenching and unclenching his fists.

"I can take care of him." Junho's exclamation echoed on the concrete, reverberating in the room. The men fell silent as it settled in the cracks in the walls. Both Woo-Seok and Gi-Hun looked at him surprised, Gong Yoo on the other hand, seemed intrigued "I have an experience with treating bullet wounds and have gone through the full military training, he won't be a threat to me."

Woo-Seok yawned widely and stretched "Well if you say so" he said as he stood up ungracefully from his chair "I'll be in the room 303. If that fucker does anything slightly suspicious, call me and i'll break his neck!"

That earned a sheepish grin from the prisoner.

It was like being shot all over again when those eyes flickered to him. It was hard to tell in the dark corner, but Junho managed to make out deep dark irises that glowed against his skin, and the heat behind his stare made him feel utterly disarmed.

"You two can go to the bathroom then, I'll clean this mess up" Gi-Hun said after noticing the two men just staring at each other "If anything happens, I'll be right outside the door."

-------

Junho glared at the taller man sitting on the floor right next to the bathtub; His head tilted, now looking at Junho through a new angle. He wasn't chained to anything now, but both his legs and hands got handcuffed to prevent any attempts to break free.

Junho looked around the bathroom to find anything to wash the wound with, but it seemed like everything that was suitable for that task decided to play hide and seek with him at that moment.

As he turned around defeated, ready to call for Gi-Hun for some help, Gong Yoo was already holding a small white towel and held it up for Junho to take, which looked a bit hilarious with his chained hands.

Junho hesitated for a moment; He was unpredictable — that man looked like he stepped out of a magazine, and yet kills people without any remorse. What other secrets he could be hiding?

Still, the blood on his leg begun to dry in itchy, uncomfortable patches, so Junho took the towel with a nod.

“Thanks” he muttered, wetting it under some running water in the sink. Gong Yoo didn’t take his eyes off him, making it impossible to focus on anything else; Every movement he made felt magnified under that gaze.

He sat down and slowly started to unwrap the fully drenched bandages; The action wasn't delicate by any means - Junho just wanted to be done with it and go.

The wound was really nasty - the bullet got taken out unprofessionally, beging the possible reason for further bleeding. The crimson bandages made a wet sound while getting thrown out, splashing a red liquid inside of the metal trash can. (How did this guy not bleed out yet??)

He quickly pressed the wet towel against his leg to stop the bleeding (which at this point was almost nonexistent, but any bleeding is dangerous if left for long enough) which caused the recruiter to make a weird whimpering sound.

Caught off guard, Junho sent him a wide-eyed look, lightening the pressure.

The recruiter huffed out a small giggle "That tickles"

"Be silent. I need to concentrate."

"Why are you mad at me?" The man laughed, his stare piercing Junho trough "I didn't do anything"

Junho watched as that shit-eating grin grew, and he wanted nothing more than to punch it off his face. His eyelid twitched a little, which Gong Yoo didn't seem to notice; Or at least he didn't show it.

"You're interrupting my work."

"But officer, I can't control it!" He pouted and shrugged shoulders.

Junho rolled his eyes and was about to continue, but then a question sprouted in his mind, annoying and hard to get rid of like a weed.

"Why did you wake my mother up?"

"Hm?"

"That day. You could've just leave me to bleed out and die, but you didn't. Why?"

"Well, it wasn't my intention, at least at first." He replied, now staring somewhere distant "But seeing you but a bullet trough your own skull so dedicated to the game, all while looking me directly into eyes, really did send some hot waves down my spine, and not a lot of men are able to do that. It would truly be a shame to let you go to waste just like that."

So that was it? All the pain and close with death experience was just a fucking sex joke to him?? Did his life really mean nothing to him, besides beging treated like an object of some fucked up desires?! Does this man have any shame?

"I see." Junho replied coldly and continued the action, trying his best to ignore the man's erotic-like sounds growing in volume "So what, if you lost, you would've really just shoot yourself, just like that?"

"Of course, that's the rules. One thing I hate is cheating, and blowing your brains out to save myself wouldn't exactly be fair, would it?" Junho didn't look up, but from the corner of his eye he could tell that the man's gaze moved somewhere down "But if you wish, I could give you a different kind of blowing"

He's really got some nerve.

When he finally cleaned up the dried blood flaking off of his skin, a terrifying realization occurred.

Gi-Hun, probably in the rush of emotions, shot the man very high up the thigh.. really high; no matter how much Junho tried to roll up the trouser leg up, it couldn't reach that high, stopping somewhere around the knee.

This has to be a joke.

"Gi-Hun, can I lend some scissors?" Junho yelled for the older man to hear; cutting off the fabric seemed to be a much more rational and sane option than-

"I don't think I have any, why?"

Of course.

Of course the man who could have anything in the world, just so happens to just not own a pair of scissors.

Gong Yoo stared at him with a playful stare, his grin getting wider "It looks like you'll have to take my pants off"

Junho almost choked on the air, avoiding the man's pleased gaze. The air became still; For a few seconds, neither said anything. There had to be a different way.

"Wait here."

He run out of the bathroom and scanned the room. Gi-Hun was already gone, which only made it even more uncomfortable to be left alone with the cuffed man. On a bed layed a small, neatly put blanket. Junho snatched it and threw it into the the recruiter's face when he came back.

"Here" he said harshly "put it on for some coverage."

"Aww you care about my comfort this much?" His tone grew even more tender as he tilted his head a little.

"No, it's for my own." The last thing he wanted to see was that man's exposed lower body.

Junho sucked his breath as he crouched next to the smiling man, getting ready both physically and mentally.

"You know, not a lot of people get to undress me" Gong Yoo explained, way too exited for any straight explanation "it'll be an honour to have you beging one of them Mr.Hwang, too bad the circumstances aren't a bit different."

Junho ignored the double meaning of his words and slowly started to unbuckle the man's belt, chewing his pride like and old gum.

"When I pull, you cover your self, alright?" He ordered, but it came out sounding more like a beg than anything else. Gong Yoo didn't respond which made Junho even more nervous, but he eased up a bit when the man nodded slightly.

1.

Why why why why

2.

Please Gi-Hun don't enter the room now; How could anyone explain that!?

3.

Junho made short work of pulling the pants down, muttering an apology when Yoo let out a hiss at the way the fabric ripped at the gash. As the pants swooshed as they flew down Junho closed his eyes shut, scared of what he might see. Luckily Gong Yoo obeyed, the blanket now covering most of his upper down part of the body except for the wound.

Junho sighed with relief, feeling the crushing weight slowly lift up from his chest. The recruiter (surprisingly) didn't comment, but his eyes said more than words could ever express; The man was clearly enjoying every second of it.

A few fibers and pieces of lint were left behind in the drying wound at the center of the sticky mess; It was bigger than Junho had anticipated, but shallower than he’d hoped.

A sanitary liquid opened with a loud pop and had dipped a cotton ball it it, the artificial smell stinging his nose.

He tried his best to not look up from the gash, methodically wiping away at the edges bit by bit. Gong Yoo whined again with each dab of the cotton, causing Junho's stomach to twist.

He cleared his throat (like it would do anything), but the man couldn’t care less; quite the opposite actually, the sounds gaining on loudness each second.

Junho tried his best to not look annoyed to the core (and embarrassed), but likely failed.

"You're red." Gong Yoo grunted with a playful edge to it, clearly proud of himself. What a tease. He knows how to get responses from Junho, and at this point he isn't even trying to hide that fact.

"You're seeing things" Junho once again ignored the man's teasing; he just wanted to make him mad, but he won't get that satisfaction.

Distracted, Junho accidentally dabbed the cotton ball a bit harder than usual onto the man's skin, causing him to jerk his body and quite literally moan loudly.

“Oh fuck—officer” he scoffed out, chest shaking "Junho-!"

Hearing his name said in such an intimate way sent a shiver down Junho's spine but he pushed that feeling deep down. When voice finally escaped his brambled lungs, it was no longer his own; it came out as an angry snarl, and before he realized what his hands were doing, it was far too late "SHUT UP"

One of his hands landed onto Gong Yoo's mouth, muffling whatever sounds the man made in that moment, while the other pressed the cotton ball harder against the gash; legs on either side of his. Junho could feel his face getting hotter from the man's yelp, the embarrassment now filling his mind.

…H̶e̶ ̶f̶e̶l̶t̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶w̶a̶r̶m̶.̶

Even though the man's mouth was covered, another grin forming under it was unmistakable. Junho's face was uncomfortably close to his, their eyes meeting once again. The man's gaze seemed to soften a little; he didn't even try to say anything anymore, just.. watched.

Junho quickly avoided those dark eyes and looked down, throwing the cotton away. He reached for a fresh gauze, but while at it, he felt something wet on the palm of his hand.

Did he just fucking lick him.

Tune it out Junho, he just wants to get on your nerves.

He managed to roll the gause somewhat straight onto the gash with only one hand, tying it ungracefully when finished. (Would you look at that, turns out the recruiter could just do this himself after all!)

Ignoring the wetness of his hand he whipped it back from the man's mouth, finally letting him speak again "That was hot"

You know what, maybe shutting him up just for a bit longer wouldn't hurt.

After rubbing the man's saliva back onto his suit, (which seemed to just turn him on even more) Junho took the bloody pants still laying on the floor and pulled them for the man to reach.

"Put it on, I'm done." Before Gong Yoo had a chance to argue back, Junho snapped "I know you can do it yourself, don't play dumb."

Still feeling the hotness spreading across his cheeks, he stormed out of the bathroom only to find Gi-Hun already waiting there. (How long did he sit here?!)

"We need to talk." The older man said, his brows narrowing as he looked trough the glass where the prisoner sat "Alone."

Turns out that ,,alone" meant just simply going to the other side of the room, as far as they could from the recruiter but still close enough to see clearly what the man was up to.

"You said you've been on that island." He begun "The overseer of it all, he's one that took over after Oh Il nam died. Do you know who he is?"

"The masked men call him The Frontman." Junho answered, the memories from three years ago flooding his mind.

"Did you see his face?"

"Come with me"

The wind was pushed out of his lungs yet again. Junho's throat tightened as he watched In Ho, his own brother, take off the black mask and reach his hand out. ??????????
?????????????????
????No. It couldn't be. ?????
?????????????????????
Why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why?????????

Junho shook his head slightly, still not believing his eyes. It must be a dream, Junho, you're dreaming. You must be.

In ho's eyes stared to shine a bit, almost like if there were tears gathering in them, almost like if he regretted everything. Almost. Someone in his position wouldn't feel remorse, not after seeing all those people die, I̶n̶ ̶H̶o̶,̶ ̶w̶h̶y̶?̶?̶

The man's arm slowly went back down and grabbed the gun again, pointing it right at Junho.

In Ho, you know you're better than this.

Do something.

Anything.

The real In Ho would've already shot all those masked men behind them, no, the real him wouldn't even be on this island to begin with.

"Brother.." Junho's eyes stared to burn, every breath was shallower than the last. He stared with defeat as his own brother pulled the trigger, waiting for the inevitable.

He didn't even hear when the shot was fired, the sharp pain pulsing trough his entire body now. He wanted to scream, cry, break his neck , h̶u̶g̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ all at once, but he was frozen in place, only a few words daring to come out before he felt the floor had been snatched out of the soles of his feet, both physically and metaphorically.

"In Ho, why?"

"No."

Gi-hun nodded with a visible disappointment on his face, his shoulders slumping a little.

"So, what's your plan?" Junho asked, trying to get his mind off of the events "Earlier you've said you need the recruiter, for what?"

"The Frontman invited me to meet up, my first plan was for me and my men to kidnap him-"

"To kill him?" The words came out piercing and heavy as they escaped Junho's mouth, before he even realised he's said something. He could feel his stomach turn upside down as the realisation hit him like a bat - Helping Gi-Hun could contribute to In Ho getting into grave danger, m̶a̶y̶b̶e̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶d̶e̶a̶t̶h̶.̶

"You guys know I can still hear you, right?" Gong Yoo's voice rang from afar, but none of the men acknowledged it.

"No, that wouldn't stop the games." Junho felt like he could breathe again "Its the VIP's we should blame. While playing russian roulette, I got a new idea - they know what my intentions are, or at least expect them." Gi-Hun took a deep breath, looking at the bathroom glass to check the prisoner inside "They could be ready for anything, especially when it comes the The Frontman, he's the most important member afer all."

"It could be a trap." Junho agreed "What do you propose then?"

"I'm not going. We'll get to the island ourself and destroy them from the inside."

"But that could be dangerous."

"We have all our answers right at out fingertips." Gi-Hun gestured to the handcuffed man who still stared at them; a new emotion appearing on his face, unrecognisable for Junho "He knows the island better than anyone else."

Junho immediately remembered that Gong Yoo was a guard for most of his adult life (and even before becoming an adult!) so it would've make a good use to use him as a map of some kind. He looked at the calendar next to them, the date now marking October 30. A day before the planned meet up.

He took a deep breath. Luckily it's not In Ho he's after. He'll be fine.

He'll get to see his brother again.

"I know a man. He's a captain, with his help we could get through the sea."

Gi-Hun's eyes lit up, a relief painting across his face.

"Tell him we're coming tomorrow."

*******

Gong Yoo couldn't help but smile.

How pathetic of them, thinking they can trick the system.

In the end, it will all play out just like The Frontman wanted, and no amount of planning will change that.

He'll make sure of it.

Chapter Text

"Are you sure? It could be dangerous leaving you alone with him"

"There's no need for two people to keep an eye on him trough the night; Go rest Mr. Seong, I'll be fine"

Junho now sat on a couch scrolling through his phone, while Gong Yoo sat comfortably right next to the radiator he got handcuffed to again.

What a fool he was, thinking that the recruiter would just go to sleep like a normal person. Instead, he stared only at Junho, talking the night away; from joking remarks

"Such an interesting gaze officer, but why so cold? Your eyes might make me freeze right where I sit, and I'm next to the radiator!"

to flirty subtexts,

“Oh, if I knew you'd be here I would’ve dressed up much better”

and then back to jokes when met with the lack of engagement.

Junho just ,,Mhm"-ed trough it all, occasionally looking down from his phone to sip on already cold coffee. Tiredness blackened his vision, but he couldn't risk falling asleep, not when he's here.

"I must admit, i thought I was good with my hands, but with the way you managed to treat my leg with one hand while silencing me with the other, I thought I wouldn't be able to contain myself!" The recruiter quirked an eyebrow while looking him up and down "I wonder what else these hands can do"

This is gonna be a long night.

-----------
The silvery waves hit the boat like boulders, tiny droplets splashing onto the deck. Sun's rays slowly faded away, replaced by the bright moonlight, occasionally hidden by a cloud.

October 31, the day I̶n̶ ̶H̶o̶ The Frontman is somewhere in town, waiting for Gi-hun. Pointlessly.

Gi-hun and Woo-Seok were busy with changing the prisoner's bandages (Mostly Gi-hun, Woo-Seok would've just rub the salt in the wound if he had the chance) while Gi-hun's men prepared the firearm. Park just walked along and watched them all, occasionally slipping a joke or two to brighten up the mood.

"Junho, can you finally tell me what's it all about?" Capitan's voice rang from behind, meeting his confused face as Junho turned around "Who are all these people? And why did you call so late at night, do you even know what sleep is??"

"I already told you, they're Gi-Hun's men" Junho scratched the back of his head trying to find good words "They'll help us infiltrate the island-"

Park almost choked on the air as he heard that "The island? Junho, please don't tell me it's the same one you've wasted a whole year trying to find!"

"Capitan, I promise that this time it's worth it"

"Don't you 'capitan' me, you couldn't find it in a year, what makes you think that you'll find it now?"

But before Junho could answer, the boat swayed a bit as a few shadowy figures stepped onto it.

The first thing he noticed was that dumb smirk.

Gi-Hun lead handcuffed Gong Yoo by holding his shoulder as they walked together, Woo-Seok behind them, his eyes drilling in the back of the man's head. The scent of gunpowder and faint cologne hung in the air– A harsh contrast to the vaguely fishy stench of the boat.

As they slowly came closer, Capitan Park's eyes widened; His look rested on the recruiter's face, mixed emotions flashing trough his eyes.

"Who's that?" He asked after a short while, his gaze coming back to Junho.

"He recruits the people for those games I told you about. Gi-Hun managed to seize him, he'll be our map."

"I have a name, you know"

Park's eyes opened so wide they could almost fall out of the sockets, his head shaking in disbelief "Those games are real?"

"Of course they are!" Junho's eyes narrowed, feeling a little betrayed that the man didn't believe him this whole time.

"Mr.Seong apparently won these games a few years ago" Woo-Seok came in closer and pointed at Gi-Hun, ,,accidentally" hitting Gong Yoo with his elbow while at it.

"Really? But then why would he ever want to come back?"

"He wants to get back at the folks running it," Woo-Seok opened his mouth and excitedly gestured at the teeth "so he hid this tracker thing in a molar!"

"Shut up!" Junho hissed under his breath and lightly kicked the man to announce that he's said too much, annoyed by his straightforwardness. Capitan doesn't need to know everything, and so does Gong Yoo.

"Ah" Park muttered understandingly, looking again at the handcuffed man "Is he dangerous?"

"No, he's harmless" Junho answered quickly, knowing damn well that both him and Gi-Hun knew the truth "..while handcuffed."

Woo-Seok leaned closer and hit him playfully, with the biggest smile on face "Let's hope your investigation skills aren't as bad as your lying!"

Junho bore his teeth in a genuine smile "Is that so?"

Woo-Seok was like a breath of fresh air with his positivity. (when he wasn't out for blood on the recruiter) Gi-hun also seemed amused with the joke, while Gong Yoo on the other hand, even though the nonchalant grin, looked a bit jealous that the attention wasn't on him anymore. "Go undercover for a week, then we'll talk"

Park's expression looked soft, despite the worried crease between his brows "I suppose I don't have any saying in this?"

"I promise, I'll repay you somehow" Junho rested his hand on the old man's shoulder before leaving "Tell you what, we're gonna catch so many squids while at the sea that this boat's gonna drown under their weight, eh?"

"Alright, fine" Park laughed loudly, but the smile didn't reach his eyes "You just know me too well!"

-----------

Junho closed the cabin door and turned to Gong Yoo; He already sat by a small table with the map on it, waiting.

The room was deafeningly quiet, so quiet you could almost hear their heart beats. Junho sat down on the opposite side of the man, the scene reminding him of their russian roulette game. (Except the table was way too small for Junho's liking, under it was no free space so their legs awkwardly brushed; it didn't seem to bother the man infront of him though)

"Talk." Junho straightened his pose to appear more threatening, squeezing a gun in hand "Or else things are gonna get ugly. Maybe that'll make you serious."

"Why must you be so cruel to me?" Gong Yoo asked in mock disappointment, putting a hand on his chest "Mr. Seong had already put me in my place, I'm as serious as a man can get!"

"I can see that" Junho answered in the same, sarcastic tone.

The map made a quiet shuffling sound as it got shoved in the recruiter's way, Junho now pointing at the islands that didn't previously get crossed out "If you're so obeying, I'm sure you'll show us the correct island then."

"And I'd love to do that," he held his hands up defensively "But I already did!"

"No, you didn't." Junho tried his best to keep up his calm "While playing russian roulette, you thought one of us would die anyway so you've shamelessly lied to me about the coordinates. You broke your own rules."

"Your accusations hurt me, officer" the recruiter put a hand on his chest "You already know what my stance is on cheating"

"I've done a research." Junho took out a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket with all the information he's managed to gather about the island while stuck at home and started reading it out loud "You told me it's ,,Near the Dokodo Island", but there's no other islands even remote to it. Nothing. It's the loneliest island in our country."

"You're so confidently wrong" The man huffed out a small giggle "It's adorable"

This isn't going anywhere.

Junho sighed in defeat as he put elbows onto the table and buried his face in hands "What is it, what do you want, money? Gi-Hun has tons of it, just say the price"

"I don't need it, my job pays me very well"

"Then what do you want?"

"You."

Junho revealed his face again, making a quick frustrated laugh "What?"

Gong Yoo tilted his head a little as he looked him up and down; a knowing smile spread trough his face, one of his eyes shrinking a little.

Junho thought his heart's gonna jump out of his chest as soon as he felt the recruiter's leg touch his. The warmth radiating from it felt like a campfire, and he winced a bit as their limbs touched unexpectedly; But the man's eager move was met with Junho's stone expression, focused only on the man infront and not on the fact that Gong Yoo just violated his personal space by an inch.

His eyes run down Junho's outfit (or maybe his body in general), before trailing back up to his face. Junho could swear he saw something intimate in Gong Yoo’s look, but pretended he didn’t.

He just wants to take your mind off of the interrogation.

Stay focused.

Without any verbal response, the recruiter finally ripped his icy gaze away and grabbed the map (his cuffed hands made i nearly impossible, and yet somehow he did it so gracefully and quick like if the handcuffs weren't there), his eyes scanning trough every single island, fingers tightening around the parchment.

"You spent a long time looking for us, didn't you?"

Junho huffed out air out of his nose. He hated it. He hated how easly this man could strip away any little control Junho had. It was all just a game to him.

"As much as it saddens me to tell you, you've wasted your time."

Their legs still touched.

"And why is that?"

"Because you won't ever find it." It seemed that the recruiter purposely avoided Junho's stabbing look, his eyes circling around all the red exes on the map.

"I've done it before and I'll do it again."

"You just don't know when to quit, do you?"

"Do you?" Whatever patience was in Junho’s voice before had been already washed out and as he spoke again, his cracked voice stung like venom "Gi-hun was right.

You're nothing more than just their dog."

The words didn’t even echo; They were quiet enough to sink to the floor like a bag of stones in the lake.

Gong Yoo looked back at him insulted, the bright smile on his face finally falling, revealing an emotionless, blank stare.

"Officer," The recruiter said again, but this time there was no playful edge to it; it was low and raspy, almost like a growl.

This whole time Junho couldn't believe that such an easy-going guy could have anything to do with the games, but now, he genuinely looked like a threat "I think you're forgetting yourself."

He did it - he finally found the man's weakness.

"Your twisted take on destiny and the value of life made you the perfect man for the job." Junho didn't back down - if anything, he added to the fire "You had the chance to shoot Gi-Hun and put an end to it all, and yet continued to play the game down to the last round just to prove a point. How else would you name it?"

"Those games give trash like you a chance for better life." He managed a smile again, but there was nothing friendly about it, his eyes dead and cold "Is it a crime to show them a little gratitude?" Emotions filled the recruiter's voice as he spoke, but Junho couldn't identify any of them. Upset, anger, denial, covered with a forced, sickeningly sweet voice.

"Of course not, but for an organization that seems take so much care to mask the identifies of those operating the games, it seems odd that one singular person, who has more individual personal contact with the contestants than any of the people in the games, is so easily identifiable. It it because you're so good at not beging caught, or are you just that easy to replace?"

"You really think you're special?" Gong Yoo's brows furrowed, a deep crease cutting trough his forehead. His eyes radiated with hatred, eyelids under the smaller eye twitching repeatedly, but still keeping his façade "You get an ooze of luck while living so recklessly, and you think you're some kind of God?"

"No, but you do."

The recruiter's eyes widened, clearly didn't expecting such audacity.

"And yet" Junho leaned forward looking the man up and down, his smile getting wider as triumph took over him "You're no more than your masters allow you to be."

That was his final straw.

The enraged man reached forward so fast Junho could barley register it, grabbing his forearm with an animalistic strength, their faces now only inches apart. The already forgotten map fell somewhere on the floor with a loud ping.

The gun swooshed in the air as Junho whipped it out, resting it between the man's eyes. His eyes burned with emotions that Junho couldn't read, his face wrinkling in a grimace. Strands of his neatly put hair fell messily onto his forehead; all his muscles were tense, like if the man strongly considered lunging right at him.

It wasn't a man sitting infront of him anymore, but a rabid animal.

The click of a cocked gun rang across the stiff aired room. Junho clenched his jaw as he lifted chin up while looking down at the man; the message was clear - 'I won't hesitate'.

Gong Yoo was clearly weighing his options, inspecting every inch of Junho's face. Junho could feel the circulation in his arm get cut off, the man's nails digging deep into his skin. Both men didn't dare to move as the air slowly became more and more thick, filled with expectation.

Gong Yoo then sighed never breaking the eye contact, his face betraying a slight sense of regret.

Then, unexpectedly, in the literal fraction of a second, his gaze softened. As the man weakened the grip and retrieved back his hand, he announced calmly "Tag, you're it."

Junho finally felt he could breathe again, quick and shallow breaths escaping him (when did he even hold his breath?)

The man sat back down on his seat and fixed his hair, calm and smiley as if nothing had happened just now. Before Junho had a chance of denying participation in any more games, Capitan Park bursted into the room, ringing phone in hand.

"Junho, your mother has been calling you for the past 10 minutes, I tried to tell her you're busy but I think she wants to hear it from you!"

The recruiter stopped everything he was doing and winked at Junho provocatively "Yes Mr.Hwang, I'm sure she'll be very disappointed if you don't answer"

Sigh.

"I'll get it" Normally, he would've try to make up an excuse and say he needs more time, but right now, Junho felt nothing but relief. Finally, an excuse to get away from this deranged man "While I'm gone, could you monitor him?"

Park looked at the cuffed man with a doubt, but nodded after a short second "Sure. Tell your mom I said hi"

As Junho was about to close the cabin door, he quickly came back inside and took out his gun "Here, just in case"

"Are you sure?" Capitan asked, uncertain "You said he's not dangerous"

'I was wrong' he wanted to respond, but swallowed it deep down. Gong Yoo doesn't need his ego boosted.

He doesn't need to know he's afraid of him.

"Just take it. You never know" Before the older man could say anything back, Junho forcefully shoved the weapon in his hands and left the room.

"Junho, finally!" His mom's worried voice echoed trough the boat when he finally clicked the green icon "Are you okay? Where have you been?"

"I already told you via messages, remember? I'm out with... Some friends, fishing."

God, he hates lying to her.

"On a Monday??" She sounded more confused than worried now "Kim has been calling me whole day asking where are you, why didn't you tell me you're skipping work today?"

Junho sighed and lowered the phone, his mom's loud voice hurting his ears a bit "And since when you're such a fisherman?" Her voice lowered, barley above whisper "I knew that guy Park wasn't a good influence"

"Hey!" Junho hissed under his breath, not wanting to hear any more of her opinions about the old man. She doesn't like him only because he's a stranger to her, surely she'd enjoy his company once she got to know him more.

"I'm sorry, but I stand by it."

"Great. Oh and about Chief Kim.." he took a deep breath, debating if he should say it "Tell him I quit."

The other side of the line went silent, neither him or his mom wanting to break it. Even through no words were spoken, he could feel the woman's disappointment radiating trough the phone. Junho wanted to add something, but she was faster

"Do you need a break?" Junho felt his stomach turn upside down at the raw vulnerability in her voice "Is that why you've been so distant lately?"

Junho looked at his arm, an ugly bruise forming under the skin. She'll understand one day.

"You'll be surprised to see what I'll come home with once I get back" she probably thought he meant fish, but Junho had something much more significant in mind. His brother.

He'll take him back home.

He has to.

They talked for another 20 minutes or so about everything and nothing at the same time, his mom doing most of the conversation while Junho tried to nicely signalize that he has to go. She's a lovely woman, but once she starts talking it's hard for anyone to stop her.

After finally putting the phone away, a bloodcurdling scream ripped through the night. Capitan Park.

Junho quickly ran to the source of it, mentally kicking himself for not having a gun. All sorts of scenarios went through his mind and none of them were good; that psychopath was dangerous, what was he thinking leaving Park alone with him??

It seemed like Gi-Hun had the same idea, already opening the cabin door. Inside was only one person - Park, sitting in the corner with terrified expression. Junho crouched infront of him, scanning for any visible injuries. (Thankfully there weren't any)

"He-" Park couldn't spit out a meaningful sentence, his trembling hands pointing somewhere out of sight "He took my gun- He told me he'd kill me if I wouldn't let him go"

Junho's heart almost jumped out of his chest, a cold shiver running down his spine. Oh God.

Gi-Hun's knuckles turned white as he squeezed the door knob harder, his voice became empty upon the realisation "He's gonna rat us out to The Frontman."

SHIT.

Needless to add anything more, Gi-Hun disappeared into the darkness of the night. Junho wanted to follow in his tracks, but Park quickly pulled him back by his sleeve "Don't. This is Gi-Hun's battle"

Before he could ask what that meant, a pang of anger hit him. This is T̶h̶e̶ ̶F̶r̶o̶n̶t̶m̶a̶n̶ In Ho we're talking about, this is just as much of his battle as Gi-Hun's! He has to see him.

He pulled out of the man's grab and dashed out of the boat, the old wood creaking under the soles of his feet. He tried to justify himself for leaving the old man behind - Park needed a medical help, Junho wouldn't be any good use anyway while Gi-Hun needed as much help with catching Gong Yoo as he could.

But deep down he felt terrible.

"Go check on the capitan! He might need help" his yell spread trough the air hoping at least one of Gi-Hun's men heard it as he run out of the harbour into the city, a crushing feeling poisoning his mind.

********

Gong Yoo stood alone in the dark void, surrounded by a thick black emptiness that seemed to stretch on forever. His features were obscured by the shadows, his presence only hinted at by a faint outline in the darkness.

He watched as Gi-Hun darted into a back alley, desperately looking around for the right address. People pushed him around, but he bravely managed to push through them.

He let out a small chuckle, too quiet for Gi-Hun to hear, but still loud enough to disturb the peace.

Once again, another helpless attempt to hunt him down.

Little did they know that right now, they're the prey.

Player 456 has no idea what he's gotten himself in. Gong Yoo had to admit, he's stubborn; even after winning a life changing fortune and getting a chance to fix everything, he still chose revenge - the lottery. Once a gambler, always a gambler.

A trash that got lucky and made it out of the dumpster.

And as Gi-Hun walked slow but determined into the noisy nightclub, new footsteps came from afar. Junho.

Oh Junho.

So smart, yet so gullible.

What a surprise he's going to get.

Chapter Text

Gi-Hun's heart banged against his ribcage, a numbing feeling looming over him. He couldn't let that rat ruin all the hard work he's put his heart and life into.

What was Junho even thinking?! Leaving that psychopath with an old fisherman! Gi-Hun thought that the younger man was smarter than this, but it seems not.

He angrily pushed himself through the ocean of people in colorful costumes and finally found himself infront of a loud club. Gi-Hun took his mind to when he read the invitation for the last time. 'CLUB HDH' - He's at the right place.

The hair on his neck stood up as he felt someone's eyes preying on him. The stare was so intense it could burn a hole straight trough him, but when Gi-Hun whipped his head around, no one was there.

In the corner of his eye, he noticed Junho. Good, he isn't alone.

With a bit more confidence now, Gi-Hun stepped into the flashy club.

The entire place was seemingly swollen with drunk teenagers and divorced dads, and the music that Gi-hun tried to ignore so hard was causing an echo hitting all around the walls.

His eyes scanned carefully for any signs of the suited man or the pink guards, his heart jumping every time he saw someone with even the tiniest bit of pink on them; It’s just the lighting - Gi-hun tried to convince himself, reconciling with his need to stare at the random people dancing sluggishly across the club.

The party lights were casting an unfortunate eerie reddish glow on everyone, and Gi-Hun honestly felt like he was going insane.

Then he saw him.

A man stood in the middle of the dance floor surrounded by a crowd, just standing there menacingly. Gi-hun's heart stopped, every single muscle in his body tensing.

As he came closer, he felt the scent of alcohol clinging to the masked man, mixing with the thick atmosphere and sweat of the club; he was facing back, but Gi-Hun gathered the courage and came up to him anyway, even though his every sense screamed not to - like he was being pushed by invisible hands.

Without any more thinking, he grabbed the guy's shoulder, ready to pull his gun out in any second. It felt like eternity as he turned the man around, every second stretching longer than the other.

When he finally got a glance of his mask, both relief and surprise flooded him.

"Do I know you?"

It wasn't The Frontman.

Gi-hun (probably from the amount of shock he just endured) didn't apologize to the annoyed stranger, who seemed to have had a good fun with his friends before Gi-hun interrupted, and instead just waddled away tensely.

Junho didn't seem to be anywhere which didn't help clear Gi-Hun's mind. Did he even go into the club?

His mind wandered for a bit, pushing trough drunk people not caring about their dirty looks, untill his heart stopped.

A triangle marked, lifeless mask he's grown so fearful of, was right infront of him.

It felt like the time had stopped.

The music in a fraction of a second became just a whisper and people around seemed to disappear into thin air, the only thing that Gi-Hun cared about was the person (if you can even call them that) in the pink suit staring at him.

Gi-Hun's first instinct was to pull out his gun, but he couldn't. Not because there were people around (even though that's a good starting point), but because it was physically impossible for him move any muscle at all; it was like having feet glued to the ground with cement.

Then, just like that, the guard slipped into the crowd, swallowed by the flashing lights and pounding music.

Gi-Hun took a deep breath and followed him.

*******

Junho began to look around.

Cautiously at first, and then frantically, as panic began to overtake his mind. Nobody of was here. The crowd, kids running around, even cars - they had all seemingly disappeared into thin air. More than that, there was no sign that anyone had been there at all; even a cemetery seemed to be more alive than the dark alley he's found himself in.

He could only look around in horror; He's lost Gi-Hun.

Internal panic seized him.

A while ago Gi-Hun went into some club, if In Ho and the recruiter are really in there, he needs to catch up, fast.

"Officer,"

That voice.

"Glad you came along"

Junho backed off in surprise, before leaning back forward with narrow eyes. The man stood under a street lamp, shadows dancing menacingly around his face

"You." Junho hissed.

His hands rested hidden behind his back, posture straight as always.. and that smile. That predatory, rottingly-sweet smile.

For a long minute, neither of them spoke. Junho dragged a hand through his sweat-matted hair and took a deep breath in a vain attempt to stop the hammering rhythm of his heart "It's over. You've got nowhere to run."

Gong Yoo, instead of responding verbally, kept his eyes fixed on him. Unblinking. For the first time he's known the man, a silence came.

No mocking remarks, no joking around, no playing dumb. It was like a completely different person standing infront of him - cold and calculated, instead of flirty and annoying. Is that what he's really like? Was everything else he's known about him just an act?

Junho fought the instinctive urge to lean back or to try and evade his gaze but he didn’t have to endure it for long however, as the man soon enough retracted his stare and took a slow but menacing pace towards him.

Junho whipped out his emergency can of pepper spray and pointed it at the deranged man, which didn't even seem to cause a surprise.

Gong Yoo's gaze, icy for eyes so dark of a colour, was fixed on Junho as he came in closer. Forcing his own fear down, Junho remembered every time he thought he's going to die; He stared death in the face more than once - The island, russian roulette, kidney failure.

That attempt at intimidation wasn't going to break him now. Junho stiffened his stance, stood his ground and stared right back at him, daringly.

The recruiter was now standing only inches away from Junho's pepper spray pointed right at him. He didn't seem to care, not even flinching when Junho put his index finger onto the actuator, ready to click any second.

"Am I trapped," Their gazes held, so deep it felt almost intimate "or are you?"

At first, Junho felt a little confused, but as the realisation hit him, he felt cold sweat pouring over him.

Oh no.

"You didn't run away to see the frontman," The recruiter's face looked amused, like if he wanted to say 'You finally get it.' "You just wanted to separate us."

"I always knew you were too smart for the Korean police"

Junho looked behind the man's shoulder, looking right at the entrance of a club. Gi-Hun must be in there.

"He was always meant to go in there" Gong Yoo answered, like he could read his mind "Alone."

He lowered Junho's only source of defence with a finger, coming an inch closer "You really thought you could outsmart The Frontman?"

His heart dropped at the mention of his brother "Don't you da-"

"Player 456." His brother's modified voice rang in Junho's earbud - It was like a record scratch. "Do you remember? We once spoke in this car."

His heart beat faster, both from the sound of the familiar voice and a bone chilling realisation.

They caught Gi-Hun.

In Ho caught Gi-Hun.

Junho couldn’t deal with Gong Yoo right now. (not that he wanted deal with him at all)

He lunged forward wanting to go after Mr. Seong but the recruiter was faster, grabbing him by the arm and pinning to the nearest wall, his leg shoved between his, and as Junho lifted his hands to tear off his, Gong Yoo only pushed him against the wall tighter, causing the air from his lungs to briefly cut off for a second.

"You have beautiful eyes" Stop stop STOP.

"What are you doing?!" Junho spat again trying to break free but failing, taken aback by how small his voice sounded "Let me go!"

It was like beging shot all over again. He didn't have a gun to fight back, and it turns out the recruiter had way more strength than he's given him credit for. He felt agonizingly weak and defencless at that moment; It was like hopelessly watching a car crash and wanting to look away but not beging able to. It was dread and it was confusion and-

"But after you leave, they'll kill me."

"If you dont do what I say.. I will kill you before I leave."

"I can't let you ruin our plans again" the man drew in closer with a snarl, their faces now beging only inches apart "you were never meant to meet Gi-Hun in the first place."

-it was like waking up from the year long coma again, gasping awake in an empty room with creaky floors and flickering lights, with a headache so painful and sweat so cold that made him feel like he was dying again.

"What are you talking about?!"

"And here I thought you finally understood."

Junho turned and stared at the man whose sneer had only grown (because of course it had, of course he wanted him to suffer and question everything he's ever known)

"Do you really not get it? He doesn't want you there!" Gong Yoo's hand reached for something in his pocket, still pinning Junho with the other "But I guess that's just how younger siblings are, huh?"

Junho's eyes widened, but before he could ask how he knew about their blood relation, Gi-Hun spoke inside the earbud again breaking Junho out of his train of thoughts, so he managed to form only one sentence from the depths of his heart "Go to hell."

It was like an activation code for the deranged man, pulling even closer and putting his lips inches away from Junho's ear, finally taking out something out his pocket and oh my God, he has a gun

"Then better bury me deep, Officer. Because if I ever crawl back out..." His hot breath hit against Junho's skin "I’ll drag you down with me."

"If you can satisfy me in five minutes... I'll change your life" SHUT UP

Junho felt an agonising fear freezing his entire body refusing to let him move, his breath trembling. That man was so close, way too close, he has a gun and Junho doesn't, he cant break free like the time with the VIP, he cant defend himself, of God, what if all those sexual jokes weren't just jokes, w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶h̶e̶'̶s̶ ̶g̶o̶n̶n̶a̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶c̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶n̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶'t̶ ̶r̶u̶n̶ ̶a̶w̶a̶y̶, oh God In Ho where are you?!

"They were all just losers of the game." The robotic voice spoke again "Trash eliminated from the competition."

He felt delirious. He felt nauseous. He felt like screaming, but couldn't.

He wanted to yell for his brother to hear, to announce that he's listening to their conversation and that he hears how In Ho is defending the games and the system that almost got him r̶a̶p̶e̶d̶ killed, but he knows he's lying, In Ho would never willingly say that, he just knows it. And that idea alone made Junho uncomfortable, in more ways than one.

Junho turned away from the voice, keeping Gong Yoo completely out of his sight - But he was there. For whatever joke the universe was playing, he was there, next to the ice cold wall he was pinned to on t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶s̶t̶ one of the worst nights of Junho’s life, smiling like he always did.

Gong Yoo thinks he can win over Junho.

But that's not going to happen. He won't let him.

In a blink of an eye, Junho felt his blood boil. His past cant cant overshadow the present; He had to help Gi-Hun, and thats all that mattered.

Ignoring his ragged breaths and unwanted memories swirling in his head he kicked the man off of him with every last drop of his muscle power and then gripped one of his arms drawing him in closer again, stealing his gun back with the other.

Junho (forcing himself not to puke) harshly grabbed the old man's dick and twisted it with every inch of hatered he had towards that pervert.

As he twisted his arm in an with a newfound energy, Gong Yoo let out a yelp; Not a whine, not a moan, but a genuine, full of pain yelp. He could swear he heard a small pop in the man's bone but ignored it.

The VIP scowled in pain with gritted teeth, hissing loud curses under his breath. Junho, with a ton of relief, looked back up at him and took out his gun. "Satisfied?"

Junho finally let go of The recruiter's arm and watched him break eye contact while slowly backing away caressing it. Without warning, Junho pulled him forward by his tie, their faces uncomfortably close.

"Menacing a police officer is a class D felony, the maximum possible sentence is 7 years in prison," He whispered into his ear "But after I come back from that island, I'll make sure you'll never see the light of day ever again."

He wanted to shoot him right here and there, to get his control back, to show him who's in charge now, but it wouldn't solve the issue. Junho did not fire, even though his finger rested ready on the trigger, with furrowed brows, gritted teeth and heart beating like there's no tomorrow.

"You won't do it" Gong Yoo muttered, mocked, even, staring at the gun and then at Junho again with the faintest smile there was. But he was right. He didn't deserve to be pardoned of all his wrongdoings this easily. To be saved from facing the consequences. So instead, he picked his pepper spray up from the ground and finally used it on the man, and Gong Yoo's surprised yell was like a five star restaurant meal in that moment for Junho.

"SHIT!"

Ignoring Gong Yoo's desperate attempts to clean out his eyes, Junho turned back and quickly checked his phone. Gi-Hun's tracker moved constantly (which wasn't a surprise obviously, they're in a car after all) which sent chills downwards his spine. For a second, he wondered if he really should leave the recruiter alone, but Mr. Seong's next words made the choice obvious

"Put me back in the games."

Junho only glanced back for a second before seeing the glint of Gong Yoo's wide grin, and even through he felt his legs tremble like they were made out of cotton, he found himself running harder than he’d ever did before. Faster than outrunning In Ho in the race when he was a kid. Faster than he run from the teachers after skipping class for the first (and the last) time ever. Faster than when he heard that god forsaken song that lead him to the subway on that rainy morning, the same subway where he first met the recruiter, the same recruiter that almost killed him and his mom thought it was all her falut-

"I'll show you that the world is not always going to work as you think it should." Gi-hun declared before Junho heard the hiss of some kind of gas getting released inside the limousine.

After that, it was dead silent.

Junho looked back at his phone, but the connection with the tracker had been lost.

So he just stood there in the middle of a crowdy street, constantly getting pushed by people, but he could not bring himself to care. In Ho is gonna kill Gi-Hun. Or maybe Gi-Hun is gonna kill In Ho?

He felt sick. He felt tired.

He just wanted to wake up from this nightmare already.

Then, he felt a strong hand squeezing onto his shoulder, so he reacted quickly, taking his gun out and pointing it right at.. Woo-Seok.

The man looked at him like he's seen a ghost, but from the earbud sitting in his ear Junho guessed he also listened to that conversation; The man flinched when the gun was pointing right at his face and put his hands up defensively

"What happened here?"

Junho just looked at him defeated.

Chapter Text

Junho stared at Woo-Seok, gun heavy in his (barley) stable hands. His head was a whirlwind of fragmented thoughts – the hissing of gas, Gong Yoo’s mocking grin, the crushing weight of their failure.

Woo-Seok’s usually bright eyes shot wide open with concern, a stark contrast to the dull ache in his own.

Junho slowly lowered his gun, hiding it before anyone saw.

"We need to find that limousine," he said, calming his voice down as much as he could, not wanting Woo-seok to ask for any more details of this already terrible night "Before it's too late."

"Okay then," The man nodded, putting his hands down "what was the last location the tracker gave you?"

"Near the docks, the industrial district south of the city. It was moving fast, but that was the general direction."

"Why the hell would they drive off into a harbour??" Woo-seok asked with genuine confusion, scratching his chin and looking away like he was solving the world's hardest puzzle.(The real question is why was Junho still talking to him)

Junho stared at him blankly, waiting for a punchline.

"Aah, it's because the game island is on an island!" Woo-Seok finally got it "smart!" (Are you serious??)

His mind still haven't stopped racing, but it did managed to calm down enough to replay the events of the past few days, searching for a clue or a missed detail, anything that could help find Gi-Hun.

'You weren't supposed to meet him in the first place'

He remembered Gong Yoo’s words, his concerning amount of strength, the way he seemed to relish the control he held over him. He's probably still in that alley, washing his eyes out like a pathetic man he is.

He clenched his fists, his expression hardening.

"Jeez, you look terrible" Woo-seok looked at him again with worry on his face, scanning all the small bruises and scratches Gong Yoo left after pinning him to the wall so hard.

"Thanks." He answered dryly.

After Junho turned around, ready to go back to the ship, he heard Woo-seok's yell "Where are you going? They went that way!"

"We won't ever catch up to them by running. I'm guessing they're already getting onto their transporter boat as we speak" the gun felt cold against his hand, but still hidden in a pocket "And also," he hesitated, looking at the dark alley he just got assaulted in "I have one more thing left to do."

--

"Are you sure this is the right alley? They all look the same to me"

"I'm sure" Junho took a deep breath and cocked his gun "before we enter it, arm yourself too"

"No need to say twice" Woo-seok's eyes burned with hatred while looking into the darkness of the street "for his own sake, he better already lay dead there"

Junho didn't tell the man all the details about his encounter with the recruiter, just the basics, but that was already enough to fully enrage Woo-seok (Which was a huge relief, it was already embarrassing enough to say the most surface stuff, the last thing he wanted was to explain all the details too)

He sneaked in as quietly as possible, not sure what to expect. Will Gong Yoo be already waiting him there?

"FREEZE!" his yell echoed trough the thick walls, but no answer came. The same lamp from earlier still flickered ominously, but there was no trace of the deranged man.

Junho rested his finger on the trigger, carefully inspecting every inch, but the alley was completely empty.

Empty, except for slight droplets of blood.

Before he could inspect them any further, Woo-seok (not watching where he's going) bumped into him, almost causing Junho to trip onto the cold ground.

It seemed that the loan sharks weren't ever taught a proper politeness, because instead of apologizing, the man just backed off and looked around "He's not here"

"You think?"

Woo-seok didn't seem to catch the sarcastic undertone and continued "Man, that alley is sneaky! I beat up a guy once in a place like this"

Junho ignored the very obviously law breaking act the man just admitted to and crouched next to the brownish- red blood stains.

They were small, way too small to come from any major wounds (like the one from Gi-Hun's bullet), there were also too little of them - best guess would be either a nose bleed or a broken skin barrier, generally caused by teeth, animal claws or nails, digging too deep into the skin.

"Do you think he'll come back?" Woo-seok's question caused Junho to loose track of his own thoughts and as he looked up from the bio evidence, he noticed the man now stood right next to him.

"What?"

"I don't know man," Woo-seok scratched the back of his head and sighed "he just kinda seems like the kind of guy who sticks around"

BEEP

Both men jumped and looked at Junho's phone.

The tracker signal was back.

---------------

The salty water stung Junho's face as he gripped his phone tighter, the map glowing an eerie light; Each rise and fall of the small fishing boat sent fresh waves of the sea spray into their eyes and clothes, which seemed to annoy everyone. (Except Capitan Park of course, he loved the freshness of it all, or at least he seemed to)

"Relax!" Park boomed, his loud voice a stark contrast to the burning unease in Junho’s stomach. The Captain, a man whose laughter lines were as deep as the sea itself, clapped him on the shoulder with a force that nearly made him drop his device into the water "We’re making good time. That little gadget of yours," he gestured towards the map on Junho's phone showing a tracker signal "is leading us right where we need to be"

Junho forced a tight smile. He appreciated the old man’s optimism, but his own mind was a relentless torrent of worst case scenarios - It's already been a whole day of a fruitless search, and the tracker kept moving in unexpected directions.

The games could begin any second.

What if it's too late?

"He’s right," Woo-Seok chimed in, emerging from below deck with some snacks they've packed for later; He clutched a half-eaten bread stick, scattering crumbs across his perpetually stained shirt (I guess we all handle stress differently?) "Think of it this way, this time tomorrow we'll kill all those bastards there!"

"..."

"I really hope that the smug guy will be there too, i have something.. to say to him"

Junho, without a word, looked down at the phone again.

"Anything new on the map?" Park asked, his tone becoming serious, sensing the awkward silence.

Junho zoomed in on the digital map, his finger tracing the red glowing dot that represented Gi-Hun's tracker "It seems to have stopped." He paused, swallowing hard "If im not wrong, it's on the Hongdo-ri island. We're getting closer."

So it wasn't a Dokodo Island after all, the recruiter did lie.

It made Junho feel something. It wasn't a surprise, no, more like a.. disappointment. He almost died for a lie.

The Captain’s brows furrowed, but then in the blink if an eye risen again "See? If we speed up just a bit, we'll be there before the night!" He adjusted his worn fisherman's cap "Woo-Seok, get everyone ready."

Maybe it wasn't even almost death that disappointed him, maybe it was just the sole fact that he genuinely thought the recruiter had some morals. Like an idiot.

The light hearted atmosphere dissipated as fast as it appeared, replaced by a tense silence.

The crew (which was nothing more than a bunch of criminals that Gi-Hun had paid to help, because of course he did, go to Alcatraz and get some men from there too while you're at it!) moved with practiced efficiency, checking equipment and securing lines.

Junho watched them, feeling his mantra growing.

This is it.

He'll meet his brother again. Today.

"By the way, what happened to that guy in a suit?" Park asked suddenly, breaking the silence, but keeping his eyes fixed on the water.

Junho looked up at him surprised "What?"

"The one with a staring problem" The old man smiled light heartedly.

"Oh yeah, that guy" Junho took a deep breath, remembering every single thought and feeling that happened yesterday "He run away."

"Man, that's unlucky. I'm sorry for letting him flee, but he was just so fast!"

Junho just looked back at his device in silence. Another person h̶e̶ ̶l̶o̶v̶e̶s̶ blames themselves for his stupidity, his carelessness, his fast forwardness, j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶l̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶u̶t̶ ̶d̶o̶w̶n̶ ̶F̶r̶o̶n̶t̶m̶a̶n̶'̶s̶ ̶r̶e̶c̶e̶i̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶r̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶w̶a̶y̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶g̶o̶t̶ ̶c̶a̶u̶g̶h̶t̶-̶

Captain Park nodded slowly, his gaze fixed on the horizon "We'll find Gi-Hun" He clapped Junho on the shoulder again, this time with a gentler touch "You keep your eyes on that map. We'll handle the rest."

The sunset deepened as the boat sliced through the waves like a knife; Junho clung to the Captain's words - it was a comforting spark of hope flickering in the darkness.

He had to trust Park, Woo-Seok, and all those random criminals - he had no choice after all. He had to believe that they could save Gi-Hun, because if they didn’t, Junho wasn’t sure what would happen then.

Would he come back home, and explain to his mother that he has failed? Never see his brother again, and the island will become just a memory? - The weight of responsibility still pressed down on him, but now, it was mixed with a fierce determination.

He'll do anything to prove that dakjii son if a bitch wrong.

Hours bled into each other as they meticulously combed the sea. They pushed through dark waves, navigated rocky inclines, and peered into the shadows beneath the cliffs (The only inhabitants they encountered were skittish seabirds that scattered at their approach, their cries echoing in the otherwise silent landscape)

And then, they found it.

Hongdo-ri island was infront of them.

Their boat hit the shore, hard, making Junho reconcider if that old fishing boat was a good choice for such a harsh mission (it looked like it could fall apart any second, with them on it)

The pebbles made a crunching sound under Junho's worn boots as he stepped onto the shore, the sound swallowed by the vast expanse of the island. The air hung thick with the salty tang of the sea and a strong pine scent of the forest that dominated the island.

It was a desolate place, a jumble of jagged rocks and unruly vegetation, yet it held a grim promise - the potential location of I̶n̶ ̶H̶o̶ Gi-Hun.

The crew fanned out, their faces grim. They moved with practiced efficiency, their eyes scanning the landscape for any sign of any life - Soon enough they spotted a random man. And the tracker was pointing directly at him.

Turns out, it wasn't some sophisticated piece of technology malfunctioning; it was far more embarrassing than that.

As Junho threatened the frightened man with a gun, Woo-seok dug deep into the bucket with wriggling worms inside.

After a second, he took out a tracker.. their tracker. That fisherman had unknowingly led them on this fool's errand.

They were led astray.

"GodDAMN IT!" Junho kicked at a loose stone sending it flying across the beach, his voice tight with frustration.

He ran a hand through his hair, the weight of their failure pressing down on him. He had over thought every possibility, considered every angle, yet he had missed the most obvious flaw in their plan.

'they know what my intentions are, or at least expect them'

Junho massaged his temples, feeling the wounded (scarring slow, but steady!) side hurt more and more from distress.

They're fucked.

-----

As the sun began to dip below the horizon, painting the sky in even deeper hues of orange and purple, the grim truth began to dawn on them. They had nothing.

A chill wind swept in from the sea, sending shivers down Junho's spine. Captain Park ordered the crew to set up camp and soon enough, a small fire appeared, its flickering flames casting dancing shadows on the tired faces gathered around it.

As the aroma of cooking rice and canned fish filled the air, an uneasy silence descended; Junho sat apart from the others, leaning against a gnarled tree.

Even though the fire infront, he felt a cold dread wash over him - this entire time, they had been chasing a false lead, wasting precious hours on a desolate island.

Captain Park joined him, his face illuminated by the firelight. He carried a small flask with a strong, spicy smell

"You want some?"

"What's that?"

"Vodka"

Junho reluctantly accepted it, taking a long swig. The cold liquid burned its way down his throat, momentarily clearing the fog in his mind.

"We'll regroup in the morning" Park announced, his voice rough but reassuring "We'll study the charts again, talk to the locals. We'll find another lead."

"Maybe if someone didn't scare that fisherman off, we could investigate him!" a voice from the group arose, but he couldn't find who said it.

"Are you kidding me?!" Junho tried to defend himself "How was I supposed to know?"

"It's not the time for accusations!" Park got clearly annoyed, his voice booming across the quiet shore "We are a team, we work together. We can check the shipping manifests, see if any boats left port around the time Gi-Hun disappeared. It's a long shot, but it's all we have."

He then launched into a story about a time he got lost in the mountains during a hiking trip, somehow managing to stumble upon a hidden hot spring.

Junho listened with half an ear, his attention fixed on the sound of flames. He watched as Woo-seok and Captain discussed their next course of action and soon, their voices became only a comforting murmur against the backdrop of the crashing waves.

But he couldn't shake the feeling of impending doom. They were running out of luck, out of resources, and most importantly, out of time.

'Because you won't ever find it.'

His leg started to bounce, lightly at first,-

He knew Woo-seok and Park were trying to stay positive and keep the hope alive, but the truth was, they're lost; adrift in a sea of uncertainty, with no clear path forward.

-But then momentarily got faster and faster, as the voices got louder.

The fire crackled, spitting sparks into the night sky. The sound seemed to mock him, reminding him of the time that was slipping away- how could he be so careless? So easily misled?

'I can't let you ruin our plans again'

He also started to play with his finger tips.

He shouldn't have answered that phone, he should've stayed with the recruiter, press him harder, maybe even hurt a little in the worst case scenario, but the last thing he should've done was to answer that damn phone and leave him alone with Park.

He silently berated himself. He was supposed to be the expert, the one who saw the details that others missed.

'He doesn't want you there!'

He fidgeted with his whole hands aggressively now, to the point he looked like a cartoon mad scientist planning his next big experiment. The crew was giving him looks, he knew that, but he didn't pay them any mind.

Junho looked at his nails, just now noticing how dirty they were - When he took self defense classes, one of the most important things he learned there was to always scratch the skin of the assaulter, especially when loosing the fight. That way, you sample some bio evidence.

After all these years of working at the police it came to Junho naturally, it was like an instinct for him at that point.

He felt a spark of hope, but it got put down as soon as it appeared. He hated to agree with that psycho, but he was right about one thing - Korean police was never fast to react, even his brother said it many times while he still served the law.

It would take at least 2-3 weeks (for a highly payed case, for Junho I'd take even longer) to verify the DNA, and then even longer to find Gong Yoo's location, by then Gi-Hun would for sure be dead so in the end, the bio evidence gives them absolutely nothing.

The weight of responsibility pressed down on him, suffocating. He felt a knot tighten in his stomach, his anxiety reaching a fever pitch.

He felt alone, even in the midst of company.

One more chance, that's all he asks for, only one and that's it. If he only could meet face to face with that man again, oh, that would be better than great, he would not let that chance slip out anymore, he wouldn't waste it again-

Woo-seok, noticing Junho's detached demeanor, nudged him with his elbow "Hey, you okay?"

Junho forced a weak smile "Yeah, just... thinking."

"Well then, stop thinking too much," Woo-seok chuckled "It'll give you wrinkles. Besides, we need you sharp"

Junho took another swig from the flask, the alcohol doing little to ease his thoughts. He stared into the flames, watching as they danced and flickered consuming everything in their path.

'But I guess that's just how younger siblings are, huh?'

Junho had to pull himself together. He owed it to Gi-Hun, his team, In ho himself, to keep fighting. But as he looked around at the weary faces of his crew, he couldn't shake the feeling that they were facing impossible odds.

Could it really be the Dokodo Island after all?

He had two voices inside of his head, one of them kept suggesting they should risk everything and go to the Dokodo Island(what did they have to loose?), the second one on the other hand, yelled to not do this - it would waste them a whole few days (if not more), and they didn't even know for certain if the recruiter was telling the truth.

He took a sharp breath. He didn't trust Gong Yoo, not even a little. He didn't want to. But what other choice he had?

He looked up at the star filled sky, searching for a sign or a glimmer of hope. But all he saw was the vast emptiness of the universe, a cold reminder of the insignificance of their struggle.

Please. Just one more chance. God, Allah, fuck it, even Zeus, whoever is up there, please send him any sign.

He sighed and looked at the sea.

Gi-Hun is so unbelievably fucked.

Chapter Text

"Frontman speaking."

Warmth of the sun's last rays before setting felt pleasant against the man's skin as he stood infront of his wide windows, watching the lively town slowly fall asleep. One of his hands held a cold glass of whiskey, while the other one - a phone.

"Recruiter Gong Yoo, at your service."

"What is it you wanted to speak to me about?"

"It's about that police officer." He stopped for a second, waiting for a response but when it didn't came, he added "Hwang Junho?"

"What is it?" despite a voice changer, The Frontman's tone implied a tiny speck of worry.

"Despite leading them in the dark, his determination seems to be growing," as Gong Yoo spoke, his brows risen up at the sudden shift in his supervisor's character. All those years he's known the man, not once was he ever this close to hearing something remotely human in his voice, but still continued with his report anyway "Him and his crew seem to be working on a new plan at this moment."

Silence.

"Would you like me to do something about it?"

"You've already done enough" The Frontman said blankly, finally breaking the silence "Your job here is done."

???

***************

Junho faded in and out of consciousness, hoping for a blissful sleep that wasn’t going to arrive.

After coming to a realization that he, in fact, would not fall sleep tonight, Junho just turned to lay on his back and stared at the ceiling.

Without a word, Gi-Hun passed a silver reserve key (or at least he guessed it was supposed to be silver; under all the rust covering the key, it was hard to see it's true colours) into his hands "If anything happens to me, all the weapons and documents are here in this motel."

'If anything happens to me'

Junho looked at the key and squeezed it firmly in his hand, responding half jokingly, half serious "We'll make sure I won't ever need to use it"

And there he was.

Gi-Hun's motel was the closest (and free) shelter for the night that he and the rest of the crew could find this late without a reservation, but the thought of sleeping in one of Gi-Hun's beds, as he was probably still unconscious somewhere on that boat (or even worse, already on the island) ate him alive.

The whole crew counted on him.

Anything he says could either lead to their success or doom. He's in charge now, he is responsible for everything, and if anything goes south it's going to be his fault, and they don't even know where to go next- Stop thinking about it Junho, tomorrow is another day. Find something to occupy your mind.

The white ceiling had a weird texture - it was rugged and messy, followed by random swirly brush strokes made by a clumsy painter.

It was ugly, so ugly that it actually took Junho's mind off of everything that had happened just to think about that ceiling (really, Gi-Hun? You couldn't buy something that wasn't a blasphemy for interior designers who actually knew what they're doing?)

But maybe that's good. Not the design of the motel, God no, but the fact that it let his mind wander a little; No dark thoughts could even get a chance to slip into his brain over the nasty comments he secretly made about the ceiling, and loud rumbles of cars passing by, and strong gusts of wind swaying the trees outside, and a window somewhere in the room opening and the— A WINDOW OPENING?!

He turned his whole body back to the side again to have a better look of the bedroom - seemingly nobody was in there, but it didn't feel like it. Junho felt a surge of adrenaline, remembering the time when —Stop.— broke into his and his mother's apartment.

His hands clenched into fists, nails digging deep into the palms of his hands as he swiftly jumped back on his legs.

The motel room wasn't as dark as the apartment on that unforgettable morning, but still shady enough to cause discomfort. Junho didn't know the room as well as his own home, so getting close to any shadow or curtain felt like a death sentence. One of the windows was wide open and blew the wind in, causing Junho's hair to dance in the air but he didn't pay it any mind, his hand straightened and gun ready to fire.

The room was empty, but Junho couldn't shake off a feeling that someone was watching him. He walked to the window and carefully inspected it, but to his surprise, he couldn't find any fingerprints on the glass.

thump.

The sound of a closing door was so gentle it was almost impossible to hear. Junho's mild panic turned into terror as he realized that someone, was in fact, still in the room with him (or at least used to be a second ago).

He ran up to the closed doors and swung them open, but as he looked outside of the room, he noticed the corridor was completely empty too.

Junho sighed in defeat and looked around carefully.

His money, phone and personal documents, all seemed to be untouched, heck, the whole room stayed the same as it did before.. except for a small coffee table in the corner. The piles of maps and documents laid neatly organized on it, even though they were a one big mess right before Junho went to bed.

On top of them sat a small, yellow sticky note.

Junho picked it up, his gun still in the other hand as he carefully investigated the paper, examining every curve and bend of the letters written on it.

An address.

He turned the note around - 'Come alone, and you'll get what you want.' and a tiny heart next to it.

Junho cursed under his breath in annoyance; it's from Gong Yoo isn't it?

Except, it wasn't anything like him. The recruiter was neat, organised. He was a professional who always took care of even the most insignificant things like leaving a scent of his cologne, or a neat little company card behind.

This one in the other hand, had none of those.

But whoever left the message, must've been in a hurry; the said note was crumpled and even a little thorn in the corners, like if it got taken it out of a pocket right before having the message quickly written on it.

Junho looked out of the window again, looking around for any suspicious activity; but as soon as he did that, his heart jumped when he heard someone say

"Everything's okay in here?" Woo Seok.

Startled, he hit his head on a window frame with a loud thud and looked inside the hotel room again.

Junho squinted his eyes to get his vision used to the dark, shadows slowly forming a figure sticking his head out trough the doorway "I heard someone walking around in here, and your door is unlocked" his voice groggy from sleep, he yawned widely "you okay?"

Woo Seok could be truly surprising at times - most of the time he sleeps like a bear in the middle of winter, but as soon as you don't want him to wake up, magically, he becomes the lightest sleeper Junho has ever known.

He squeezed the piece of paper tightly in his hand hoping the other man won't notice it, weighting his options.

Should he- No, it's too much of a risk to trust this note. He already heard enough in his teenage years from Inho, about teens and even adults trusting some stranger and then never beging found alive soon after. He'll get either abducted or killed if he goes; Only a crazy person would even consider it!

But then suddenly, before he could even form an answer, memories started flashing before his eyes; a memory of the dying squid resurfaced into his mind. Junho hadn't thought about it in months, not since the day it happened.

He saw it again, vividly: the once vibrant flesh, now dull and wet from rain, the frantic pulsing of its mantle, the desperate, unwavering eye staring blankly at the stormy sky.

He didn't save it. He already expected it's fate.

He felt something warm in his chest, something small - hope, which had burned so fiercely at the start, was now merely flickering; but still alive - just like the squid.

Did Park just sat down and watched Junho slowly bleed out because he had already expected a fate for him? That there's no point? No, he did everything he could, even if when it was risky.

His hope might be dying, just like the squid. But it wasn't dead yet. He didn't save it, but he could damn well honor its fight. And in that moment, Junho understood.

"I just needed some fresh air"

In reality it's been only few seconds, but for Junho, it felt like a century.

Junho's voice was uncertain and weak, but it didn't seem to alarm the other, who once again yawned, even deeper than before "Alright then, just checking" he looked around the room and spotted the coffee table "that explains the noises" (wait, he heard someone moving around his room but Junho didn't?? Man, ugly ceilings and crippling fear of failure sure do distract you from the reality, don't they?)

After Woo Seok's now third yawn, both men silently came to the conclusion he'll soon fall asleep right where he stands if he won't go back to his room, so Woo Seok just nodded goodbye and closed the doors again.

Junho stopped clenching his fists and looked at the note again - he shouldn't have lied to Woo Seok. Especially when it comes to Gi-hun's possible whereabouts.

But what if it really was from Gong Yoo? What then? What will he have to do to get the needed information?

Not even few hours ago he bitched and whined how he wouldn't let the recruiter go if he had another chance. And here it is. Another chance.

As Park liked to always say: It's not about the fight, it's about the outcome.

And the best possible outcome would be finding Gi-hun.

No matter what it took.

Realizing how desperate he was to do what ever it takes, and the trust he's about to put in that note made him feel a little embarrassed, but he shook that feeling away.

It could be a mistake, and the note was not related to the games, nor the recruiter - But there was also a possibility that it would in fact be everything he needed.

He pulled out the map app on his phone, his tired eyes screaming in protest from the sudden artificial light that the phone emitted.

He'll keep searching, for as long as he possibly can. Because even in the face of inevitable danger, there was still a point. The point was to live, to fight, to hope, until there was nothing left to give.

The address pointed to an abandoned house, not that far away from the motel. Who could be waiting for him there?

Guess there's only one way to find out.

For Gi-hun, Inho, and Soon-Yi.

------

What a dump.

● The place had three doors, not a single one of which worked (he had to jump in trough the window)

● Some drunk guy snoring inside of the garage next to the said abandoned house

● The grass and vines broke free trough the man-made construction, filling the entire place in a pleasant to the eye greenery

● There was a flight of stairs that seemed to lead into nothingness, most of its steps broken or non-existent

The entire place was filled with rubble and trash. Random graffitis decorated the crumbling walls (some even looked less than a month old), and the floor crackled and screeched every step the man took. The windows cracked unevenly in many places, some not even having any glass on them to begin with, just empty window frames - every step Junho took, broken glass crunched under his feet.

How could anyone actually enjoy going into places like this? - he kept asking himself, seeing countless beer bottles and cigarette butts on the ground.

Midway through the main room, the scent of damp air hit him full force, mold appearing every few steps.

Everywhere you looked was a strong stench of rotten wood, but to his surprise, not that much of the wood in the house was actually rotten and could still be salvaged if taken good care of- wait, what's that squeaking??

BAM

A stiff rats body, (that he didn't even notice, but maybe that's good, he hates rats anyway) laid right next to his feet, fresh blood pouring out of its tiny (for a rat) body.

Panic twisted his mind; not because of the rat, obviously. He's seen a dead animal before, hell, he's seen a dead person! But because of the reason that rat just died.

Whoever the author of the note is, they're armed and ready to harm.

After he spent few seconds spinning his head around, he heard a chuckle - a figure then appeared from the shadow.

It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dark, but when they did.. he huffed some air out of his nostrils, not phased, not even a little bit. Of course.

There he was, limping from the wounded leg (but not much less intimidating), still smiling all the same, Gong Yoo.

"I told you to come alone," the man chuckled while pointing at the rat, clearly amused by his own joke.

Junho looked between him and the small corpse, unsure which should he lock his eyes on. Eventually, he settled on the killer, eyes narrowing in annoyance.

The recruiter was dressed in a freshly pressed suit (the same one he always wore) with a neat tie to put the look together.

"Were you born in that suit?" Junho asked sarcastically, quirking his eyebrow.

"Do you like it?"

"No."

The man in front of him pouted, before shoving his weapon back in a pocket.

He looked fresh, like if he desperately wanted his appearance to outshine his face.. the eye area to be precise - the whole area was red and irritated, deep, deep nail marks (not older than few hours) stretching throughout his whole face, like if the man tried to claw his own eyes out in some kind of fury attack.

There were also leftovers of messily put on foundation onto the said marks, meaning Gong Yoo tried to cover them, but failed miserably (which almost made Junho laugh).

"Hope I didn't wake you up with my little visit, officer"

"What do you want," his voice cold; Junho could feel sweat beading on his forehead despite the chill of the night. An internal voice screamed at him to flee, but his hand had already reached for the gun "You're in for a rematch?"

"Why so tense?" His voice smooth like honey, v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶d̶i̶f̶f̶e̶r̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶e̶y̶ "Its you who came to me, after all"

No response.

"Well come on now," The way he spoke was just a little too eager, teasing even "You've been such a surprise up until this point, don't disappoint me now"

Junho didn't know what that meant, and maybe he didn't want to know.

"Well, it's hard not to be annoyed when we're meeting for the third time now." He chuckled, laughing at the stupidity of the situation he's found himself in. Again. "Don't you ever watch movies? I thought it was already a pretty much known fact that reheating the plottwist more than twice gets old quickly"

The recruiter's head tilted owlishly "What does that supposed to mean?"

"You've grown predictable."

For a good moment, Gong Yoo's face went blank. Junho for a second got scared the man would take out his firearm again, but instead, he brought his face dangerously close to Junho's. Junho could feel the man's warmth radiating from his skin but didn't budge, he stood his ground like he always did, staring the deranged man straight in the eyes.

"You've got a Pistol CZ Tactical with collimator 9x19 in your right pocket which just so happens to be illegal in 13 countries, South Korea included, 3 bullets in, one blank - Pistols with optics provide an advantage, allowing for faster target acquisition and better accuracy, especially at different distances. This time, you also don't have your lucky little pepper spray can, you've emptied the entire thing on me, and didn't have time to buy a new one." He looked Junho up and down "Was that predictable?"

"You have no idea." Junho smiled again and copied the recruiter's move, their noses practically touching now.

They both stood for a moment in tense silence.

"So?" Junho finally asked again "what do you want?"

"I'm going to help you find the island."

Junho almost choked on air, his eyes widening again as he backed away "Excuse me?"

"Why so surprised? I thought you wanted to find it" He looked at Junho with triumph in his eyes, he finally got the reaction he wanted.

Junho stood shocked, staring at the man like he's just seen a ghost "So.. you'll just let me take you onto the ship and help us, just like that?" His voice full of skepticism, not believing a word the man was saying "With no funny business?"

"Exactly" Gong Yoo agreed cheerfully.

"..Why?" Junho narrowed his eyes even more (if so possible), his tone dripped with untrust, but also confusion.

"Well, just seeing you loose that lovely spark of yours in the matter of what? hours? was so pathetic to look at, heartbreaking even!"

"And since when did you start caring about me so much?" The curtness and abruptness of Junho’s anger surprised both of them, and he felt his shoulders quake. With an exhale, he tried to salvage the atmosphere with a softer, but still accusing tone "When you almost killed me during the Russian roulette, or after assaulting me in that alley?"

" 'Assaulting?' " the man laughed, but his eyes betrayed.. something; he couldn't decipher what it was "Gee officer, get your mind out of the gutter! You were so eager to help your friend, what else was i supposed to do? I needed you to stay where you were, and I don't belive you'd just listen if i asked nicely" But when that didn't seem to convince Junho, he added "Look, you're definitely one of the good looking ones, can't deny that, but acts like that are far beneath me! Besides, chase is the most fun part"

"Oh wow, what a great, law-abiding citizen you are"

"Don't flatter yourself too much! Getting to be this close to you is already a great deal, but I have much many more reasons that are far greater than your itty bitty cop brain could ever understand"

"I'm not a cop anymore"

His eyebrows flew up in a positive surprise "Well well, would you look at that! See, I knew you could still surprise me!"

So It seems he doesn't doesn't know everything about Junho after all. Huh.

"Why should I trust you anyway?"

"Third time's a charm, am I right?" Gong Yoo wrapped his hand around Junho's shoulder, doing a semi side hug.

Junho's entire body flinched when he did that, but didn't even try to free himself "I never gave you any chances to begin with."

"Even better! This is going to be my first one then, and if I screw up, I'll still have two more"

His arms shook against his chest as he snorted.

"No worries officer, I'm going to use this one very wisely"

A weird silence came, which for him, was a determinant that its time to go back to the motel; But before he took a step towards an exit, the recruiter stopped him suddenly, sealing his 'hug' tighter.

"But of course, nothing in this world is free. I suppose you don't have any cash on you, am I correct?"

Surprised, Junho looked away from Gong Yoo's pinning gaze for a second and dove into his pockets looking for a wallet (A guy like him asking for money? And here Junho thought the recruiter finally stopped beging a mystery!).

But as it turned out, except for his gun, both of his pockets were empty (because why would he bring anything else?? He already expected to get mugged anyway, it'd be stupid to bring money into a place like this).

"It's okay, it's not the money I want," Gong Yoo's smirk grew bigger as he winked "there are other ways to pay"

Huh

His mind raced through the implications, through the possibilities, through the look that flitted across the recruiter’s eyes as he stared into him, his gaze on Junho's skin feeling like an impalement trough the stomach. Whatever sarcastic response Junho lined up, had already curled up and died in his throat as the man stared at him expectedly "..Like what?"

He let his eyes glance around, before they landed on the corpse of the rat again and had to force himself to look at Gong Yoo again. His stomach was tied in knots.

"Awh, I love when you do that face!" he moved even closer "Im asking for nothing much, you know, just.. Admit that you need me."

"What?"

"Without me you won't ever find that island, so say it." He glanced up at Junho with a raised eyebrow and a toothy grin, his teeth glaring like pearls "Gi-hun has said it to me multiple times already, but it'll never be as sweet as you saying it, even if it's just once."

"Really?"

A groan had started to formulate on his lips, but seeing the recruiter let go of him and turn back, slowly heading out towards the exit, caused the groan to die before it could even enter the damp-choked air "Do you want me to go away? I can go"

"Wait." Even though the tall man was facing him backwards, Junho could still feel his shit eating smirk reappearing. He took a deep breath, forcing himself not to groan and "We need you." He couldn't muster up the whole sentence, muttering halfway through it.

"I didn't quite catch that!" The recruiter looked back at Junho, the look in his eye content "Would you mind repeating?"

"We need you."

" 'We'? That's a little stretch, don't you think?"

"You said 'you'. 'You' is also plural"

"Come on now, I know there's one particular person that needs me the most"

'I'. He wants Junho to say 'I'.

He cleared his throat and held his hands in pockets, hating everything about this situation and wondering what was he even going to say right as the words flew out of his mouth "Gi-Hun needs you"

Should've have specify who.

The recruiter stared him down, but after musing over the thought for a moment he looked away, nodding "Close enough"

Spinning on his heels towards a brick wall, Junho looked for the (safest) exit from the building. As said before, all the doors either didn't work or got locked up tightly, while most of the windows were nothing more than broken glass shards all around the place - getting out of them would be like practically begging for an injury, followed by an infection from the germs. He looked around and searched for the window he entered trough, but to his surprise, the recruiter had already pointed to a black wood rectangle directly to their right - the only non-broken window.

Gong Yoo held the window open for the younger man, smirking expectantly "Am I at least going to get rewarded for neutralizing that rat?" Junho just followed silently.

"Come on, soon enough somebody will notice my absence," he ungracefully jumped through the window and looked in the direction of where the motel should be "and I'd rather die than admit to anyone that I snuck out to meet you"

Chapter Text

The harbour was a hive of activity as Junho stepped onto the boat, the awfully loud noises of creaking old wood, shouting men, and yells of seagulls ringing in his ears. He pulled his coat tighter, the collar scratching against his jaw; The air was ice cold, but today, it that wasn't the only reason of his worries.

How is he gonna tell them?

Suddenly, Woo Seok appeared seemingly out of nowhere, his face revealing a sense of relief "There you are!" Junho flinched, forcing a tight smile "Where have you been?? I looked whole morning for you!"

"Something came up" He dodged Woo Seok’s concerned gaze, his eyes flickering nervously towards the hatch leading to the lower deck "Errands.. and stuff like that, you know"

"Errands? At this hour? What kind of errands keep you from answering my calls anyway?" The man infront of him raised a skeptical eyebrow.

Junho felt hotter each second passing, but he knew he couldn't tell anyone about Gong Yoo. Not yet "Look, it's complicated. Just trust me, okay?"

"Fine, fine, it's not really any of my business" yes it is "You know, for a second I got paranoid that maybe that crazy guy had to do something with your disappearance!" He laughed "Don't scare me like that again!"

The tension hung thick in the air, the only sound was the rhythmic clang of countless boats moored to the gangplank. Before Woo Seok could press further, a smooth, almost melodic voice cut through the silence.

"Looking for me?"

Gong Yoo emerged from the hatch with his hands cuffed, and a slow, deliberate smile spreading across his face.

Junho loudly let out his breath, closing his eyes and shoulder slumping in defeat. That was NOT how he wanted to break the news, especially to Woo Seok.

Woo Seok’s face contorted in rage "YOU!"

He lunged forward, but Junho quickly managed to grab his arm in time, holding him back. A bunch of Gihun's men stopped in their place and all took out their weapons, ready to attack the intruder.

"Woah, woah, calm down!" Junho hissed, his grip tight.

Gong Yoo chuckled, a low, rumbling sound "Such a warm welcome, I’m touched" He surveyed the scene with his big dark eyes, looking at every single man around "It’s like a reunion of old friends!"

" 'Friends?!' " Woo Seok spat, his eyes now fixed on Junho "Do you have something to do with this??"

He needed to get this situation under control before it could escalate. Fast. "He’s.. helping us" he announced, his voice tight "..To find Gihun" (God, it sounded more pathetic than he thought)

A collective gasp rippled through the crew, murmurs of disbelief and suspicion filled the air.

" 'Helping us?' " Woo Seok repeated and stared at Junho with disbelief, like he just murdered his entire family "He’s the one who took him!"

"Now, now, let’s not live in the past" Gong Yoo said, his voice still smooth and unruffled "I assure you, i purely wish only for.." He paused, his gaze locking with Junho’s "..an exchange."

Woo Seok curled his lips like he just touched something dirty - Junho wanted to do that too, but if he wanted to see Gihun again, he had no choice but to play along.

A low voice from somewhere afar, cut the air like a thunder "What's happening here?"

"Park!" his heart stopped as he heard the familiar voice.

Park didn't seem to notice the suited man until the very last second, his eyes widening to the point he almost resembled an owl. Both men stared at eachother without any word, but soon enough, Park was the first one to break the silence "What is he doing here?"

"I caught him-"

"I wouldn't say 'caught'," his eyes moved over from Junho's to Parks again, as his (small, but still noticeable) grin grew lightly "I came here by my own will."

Parks mouth opened and closed rapidly, like he tried to form a sentence but couldn't find any fitting words. The atmosphere grew even heavier as the recruiter came up a bit closer to the capitan and showed him his cuffed hands "Why the long face? I thought you guys wanted to find that island?"

Silence.

A very uncomfortable silence.

Captain Park listened intently, his brow furrowed in concern.

"Alright," he said finally, his voice firm "He stays, but he’s under my watch. One wrong move, and he’s overboard." He turned to Gong Yoo, his gaze unwavering "Understood?"

Gong Yoo simply smiled, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes "Perfectly."

The tension on deck remained palpable throughout the morning. As everyone got ready to sail, the crew cast wary glances at Gong Yoo, who seemed unfazed by their unwelcomeness.

------------

As the day wore on, all of the the boats had finally launched, sailing into the deep sea; The salt spray stung Junho's face as he adjusted his coat. He glanced at Gong Yoo who sat silently on a crate. His fresh suit was a stark contrast to the weathered planks of the fishing boat, while the shine of the steel cuffs reflected brightly in the sun.

"You're quiet today" Junho murmured quietly, more to himself than the man. Park stood next to them busy untangling a net, his movements deliberate despite the subtle tremor in his hands.

"The boys are having lunch" Park begun suddenly "Don't you want to join them?"

Junho shook his head "I'm fine here. Someone needs to keep an eye on our 'map'."

"He's not going anywhere, Junho. I'll watch him." Junho couldn't help but to widen his eyes in surprise "Besides, your eyes must be tired, you've been staring at him like he's a rare fish all morning!"

"I like to think of myself as a White Marlin" Gong Yoo added, clearly pleased to show off his knowledge.

"Don't tell me you fish" Junho looked back and the man with scepticism.

"And what do you think i do for the rest of the year?"

"..."

"..."

"To be fair, i stopped precieving you as a normal person a long time ago"

"Go on, eat something. You haven't touched your breakfast" Park still pushed.

"I'm not hungry." he mumbled, though his stomach almost betrayed him with a low growl. He already trusted Gong Yoo around Park once, and look what happened!

The old man chuckled again, but it sounded forced this time "I promise, I'll keep him from jumping overboard!"

"Awh, worried about me?" Gong Yoo tilted his head, a faint smile playing on his lips.

Junho glared at him, ignoring Park's joke "Quite the opposite, actually"

Park's weathered face tightened almost imperceptibly "Nonsense! Now please, go eat. I'll call you if anything happens." His voice was firm, but Junho could detect a subtle urgency beneath the surface.

He remained unconvinced, his gaze darting between both men - He couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something crucial. It seemed like there was a silent conversation happening between them, he saw glances he couldn't decipher.

"Look, Junho," Parks voice softened "I really appreciate it, but you work too hard. Trust me, I can handle things here" He placed a hand on Junho's shoulder, his grip was surprisingly strong.

After a long silence, Junho finally relented; Park sure does know how to convince people (Besides, he was starving) "Fine" he sighed in defeat "But if he even twitches, you yell."

"He won't," Park reassured him, his smile returning, though it seemed a little too bright, a little too forced "Go on now. Shoo!"

Junho hesitated for a moment longer, then turned and headed towards the hatch leading to the lower deck. With a final worried glance at both men, he headed below.

------------

Junho peeled the lid off of his instant noodle cup, the strong smell of spicy ramen momentarily cutting through the room. He found an empty space in a corner of the floor, surrounded by criminals shoveling down their own lunch. He was looking forward to a few moments of peace to eat.

"So," Woo Seok plopped down next to him, Gimbap in his hand "Is that a good time to explain yourself?"

But of course, peace was a luxury he couldn't afford.

Junho sighed, already regretting his decision to eat "Can I eat first?" he grunted, pointedly slurping a strand of noodle.

He wanted more than anything to let out a frustrated whine - but he didn’t really have a right to be angry, did he? Not at Woo Seok, at least.

Woo Seok leaned onto the wall, but the anger he had earlier that day disappeared, only leaving genuine confusion in his voice "Yesterday, you didn't even want to hear that guy's name" his voice got quieter as he took his first bite into a green roll "And now you're working with him?"

He chuckled and smiled at the man with a quirked eyebrow "Did you and Park plan this? To corner me up when I'm trying to eat so you can get an interview?"

"What does Park has to do with this?"

...

Then why did Park want him to leave that badly?

He locked his eyes onto the noodles, trying to think of a believable excuse.

He couldn't tell Woo Seok about the last night, or anyone for that matter.

Wait, why couldn't he? he didnt do anything wrong after all!

It wasnt him who wanted to meet that stuck up prick, he did it all for a good cause, b̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶w̶h̶y̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶e̶e̶l̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶t̶r̶a̶i̶t̶o̶r̶?̶

Maybe its because you knew very well who - Stop - waited in that house, Junho? But you kept it all a secret and went anyway, ready to do whatever it takes? What if Gong Yoo wasn't so nice, what if he killed you right where you stood, and the crew would be left in the dark?

He's the only one who knows his way around the island after all, hell, he's the only one who even knows how it looks like!- Stop.- Even if they didn't have one of their workers, they still had a chance, but without Junho, Gihun would die there for sure, while the crew sailed aimlessly troght the sea, not even knowing what they're looking for. - Stop, he's looking at you - That was stupid, Junho, you should've known better, you should've told ANYONE, - he's still waiting at a response and you freeze up like an idiot - so that at least if you disappeared, they knew where you were? How is gonna Woo Seok feel,- Stop- when you tell him that you've lied, and that someone was, in fact, in your room last night, but you didn't tell him? For fucks sake, Junho, why do you always work alone, why do you never think before doing something stupid you selfish fuck, everyone counts on you and you were ready to just leave them, just like that,ẖ̴̢̛̪̮̫̝̏͐͋̓͂e̶̡̛̼̩̳͙̋̂͆͗͝͝ ̸̧̞͖̫̖̹̪̩͛̅́̍̌̊͑̾̕l̵̥̟͖͇̞̈̈́́̎̌̓i̷̧̧̢̮̫̞̥͇̾̌̋͐̀̌̑͜ę̵̧̩̫̦̭̽̈͆d̷̠̭̪̦̠̝̆͐̒̋,̷̺͖̙̬̭̯͚̠̂̄͗͊͛͊͠ ̴̻̺̪̰͕̭͚͉̋͒͋̈́́̎͘a̵̢͍̳͎͖͑̿̽̐͌͐͗̇̚n̴̗̔̿̊̓̀̂̀̀d̸̳̙͎͕̰͆̓̋ ̸̢̗͈͙͌͛̈͘͜t̴͍̩̺̺̽̔͂̉̑́͌͝h̵̩̤̻͎̻̔͋̽́͂̈͜ą̵̡̛̭̖̩̼͉̾́͂̀t̴̨̧̛̰̣͙̮̫͓̙̃͋̈́̃͐̈́̀͂ͅ ̵͍̦̫͉͛̂̔͂̓͝š̷̛͍̝̞͕̻̬͇̂̾͐̐̏͗͘̚͜ͅơ̸̮͈̠̘̟̻͛̑͆̉͐̀̈́̌͜ḿ̸̦̗͇̥̋͑ȩ̶̨̪͉͕̮̹̲̤̌̓̽̐̀̊̊̄̈́̇o̸̧͚̍͊͗ń̵̯̍̂̐̏̂͝͠e̶̪̤̱̠͙̮̣̱̰͑̀̐̃̒͊̒̕̕͝ ̸̨̼͖̞̬̲̹͓͈̊͐͌͠ẉ̴̓͂͋̃̄͗̾̂͠a̷̧̗͚̹̥̠̣̟͂̔̅͊͠s̷̥̺͖̙̩͓͈̰̯̲̃͐,̴̡̮͇̱̹̪̻̕ͅ ̶̯̬͎͎̹͍͇̠̱͇͆̋̒̄͒͒̚͠i̶̲̘͎͖̲͑̈͘n̴̡̢͖̪̥̺̱̣̲̍͊̃͋̉͝͠ ̸̨͈̫́̌͗̓̓̓́̕̚f̸̰̄a̵͎͂͊̈́̉̅͝c̸̝̙͍̼̻̼͚̱͗t̸̖̣̱́ͅ,̸̙̬̰͙̅ ̶̩̟̹͈̙̌̀͂̄̅̀̚͘i̸̠̮̋̀͋͛̃̂͝n̷̙̥̱̳͕̹̽̐̈́̾͊̇͒ ̷̮̰̹̫̞̃́̎̏͠h̷̺͖̜̺͖̦͙̗̼͑̐̀̓͆̈͜͝ǐ̴̡̭̟̰̼̩̥̭s̶͇͖̖̭̣̟͖̳͓̑̇̒̈́ ̵̹͌̈͊̾́r̵͓͔̦͖̳̗̻̲̥͉̈́̄̑̌̉ȯ̵̧͔͉̫̫̀o̸̖̝͇͙̞̔̈́̚m̶̡̢͔̞̱̫̜̪͉̪̒̈́ SHUT UP ̶̧̨̘͖̫̼̤͂l̶̢͉̦̝͇̟̫̋̃̀̃͒̐̚͜͝ͅͅa̶̡͓̦̻͈̲̯͛̋̀̑̚͜͜s̵̠̱̪͇͑̿̀̋̔̆̒̚̚t̵̡̪̮̼͎̼̭̙̋̐͌̾̃̂͗̄͘͘ ̴̨͔̗͓̥̗͎͉̬͙̈́̓̽̈́̃ņ̷̲̥̖͎̟͙̖̑̽͊̑̍͝ǐ̶̛̹̫͈̠̫̤̼̯̀͋̂̑g̴̥̪̖͖͆͐͒̓h̵̡̡͇̳͚̺̎̀̄͒̾͛̚t̸̩͍̅̔̈,̷͈̳͕͈̲̈̊ ̷̤̗̣̱̻̃͋̏̓̀ͅͅb̸̝͔̣̯͕̠̂ư̴̢̧͍̝̳̥̘͙̳̳̌͂́͐͋̓́̒ẗ̶̢̨̫͓͚́̆́̀̎͝͝ ̷͖̪̜̦̱̏̔̉̒͝h̴̡̫̭̭̥̖̜̆͂ę̶̰͓̤̠̯̀͆͆͐ ̸̛̣̪̿̽̋d̴̠͙̪͕̊̌̂̊́i̵̤̟̺͓̮͛͜d̵̥̦̳̫̰̙̕ͅn̷͖̉͜ͅt̵͙̬̼̖͗ ̸̨̡͔͕̜̟̓̕̚̚͠ͅt̵͙̺̺̳̖̻̰͔̓͒͐̊̔̀̋̌̚͝ë̴̟͙͉̒͗͘l̴̛͙͖̘̤̩̀͋̇͛̾̋͝͝l̶̢̜̃͌̉ ̷̛͈̹͈̙̩̟̖̋́̑̽h̶̫͈̙͓̝͕̍̀̈̅í̸̠͙̘̺̟̜̰̙͎̥̆̓͑͐́̐̂͘m̷͉̗̰̺̩̺͖̳̮͘͜?̷̲̉̌͐͝͝ ̴̫̬̩̩̺͈͖̆̌͆̆F̶̡̙̰̣͙̏ȏ̶̘̣̖̝̠͉̣̱̙ͅŗ̸̼̩̮̐̾̅̽̍̿͑͝ ̶̡̧͍͇̳̼̀̈̐̇͊̎̚f̴̞̫̭͔̠͇̙̩̏̔͜͝ų̵̮͈̺͎̭̮͙͍̄̀̆̃̈́̅́͜͝c̴̬͋́̌̆ķ̴̛̭͎̝̹̗̠̏́̿̀͐̈́̉̀̍s̴̘̥͕͈̏͛̋̽̾̋͋͒̚ ̶̮̾̈́̔̒̌͌͜͠ş̴̮̱̞͖͔̪̪͊̓̑̈̈́̕a̵̳̼̮͚̮͐̿̀͐̊̋̌͂͝k̵̰͐e̶͍̼͗͑̌͊̈́̔̕,̸̥̩̗̼̟͚͈̼̬̓̇̐̊ ̷̡̳̘͗̉J̶̣̪̜͙͖̟̝̼̬͑̑u̴̧̇̔́͘ń̵̡̤͇̌͒̚h̶̖̫͚̫̾̀̽̈͋̍͋͋͘͠ͅỏ̶̮͍̬̏,̸̧̱̱͗͆̈́͑͒̑̋̅̓ ̴̡͈̼̣̻̮̓͂̑̀̿̌̃̌́̓ͅw̴̺͙̞͂̒̾͝ḩ̸́͒y̵͎̰͙̩̫̑̐̓͛̽̈̓̚̕ ̶̨͈̮̟̼̬̞̅̿d̷͕̩͊͊͝o̵̰̪̝̻͓̜̰̒̄͗̿͐̀̕̚̚͠ ̷̲̝̣̪̼̥̥͓̙͒͊͛͐y̶̳̋̑͒̾̐o̸͈̱̣̳̩̐̿͗̽ù̴͎͕͓̮͆͂ ̷̢̼͉̱́ă̵̝͙̪̱t̸̩͚̠̻̦̃̽̚-̷̧̹̯̯̓͛͑̊͐̉-̵̣̹͖̱̦͚̠̿̍̐͛͐́̄̚͜͝-̶̢̝̲͙̣̖͇͉̜́̔͋͗̄̈́́̆͐̽-̷͙͚̀̀̌̉-----

"Helloooo?" Woo Seok's concerned wave infront of his face woke Junho up from his trance, and laughed as soon as he noticed Junho untense "Is anybody home?"

"Yeah," Junho blinked countless times to fully come back to consciousness "sorry"

"So?" he felt a hollow ache consuming him when he heard Woo Seok pushing on.

"He just randomly knocked on my window and offered his help" Liar. (At least its only half of a lie, that's better, right?)

Woo Seok stopped chewing "Junho, you slept on a third floor"

"That man is capable of kidnapping and murder, it it really that surprising to you he was crazy enough to climb up all the way to me?" Junho tried to make it sound like a joke, but quickly realised his mistake when he saw color disappearing from Woo Seok's face as he unwillingly remembered Mr. Kim's sacrifice.

"Look," Junho said finally, swallowing hard "I just want to find Gihun, and Gong Yoo says he wants to help. I don’t care why, as long as it gets us to that island."

Woo Seok studied Junho's face, his appetite fading slightly "You trust him?"

Junho hesitated "No," he admitted "of course not. But I don't have a choice."

Woo Seok stared at him for a long moment, as if trying to decipher the truth hidden behind Junho's stoic facade. Finally, he sighed and ate the last bite of his food "Fine," he said, the fight leaving him and smiled "After all, you're in the lead for a reason"

He stood up, leaving Junho to his lukewarm noodles and a growing sense of dread. The hot, sweaty air felt heavy, thick with secrets. He took another bite of his noodles, the spicy flavor doing little to chase away the growing knot in his stomach. He might not trust Gong Yoo, but he trusted Woo Seok even less to keep a secret. He was all on his own.

When he finally emerged back on deck, the sight that greeted him made his blood run cold - Gong Yoo and Captain Park stood in a far corner, their heads close together, engaged in an intense conversation. The wind carried their voices away, making it impossible for Junho to hear what they were saying.

As Junho approached, he saw a flicker of something akin to terror in Captain Park’s eyes. Gong Yoo on the other hand, looked completely composed, proud even.

"What’s going on?!" He asked, his voice sharper than he intended it to "Is he bothering you?"

Park jumped, clearly startled by his presence. His eyes were huge, leaving only a blank stare drilling into something behind Junho, like if Junho wasn't even there. He has never seen him in a state like this, which only worsened his belief that something was wrong.

Park looked at the recruiter, who only winked at him discreetly, and then at Junho again; He looked like he wanted to say something, but within a few (excruciatingly long) seconds, he quickly composed himself (but the smile didn't return, like it got drowned somewhere deep into his thoughts) "Nothing, buddy, we were just discussing the navigation charts"

'Buddy'?

Junho didn’t believe anything he said for even a second. He could see the (fear? Surprise?) still lingering in the old man’s eyes so he pressed further "What did he say to you?"

Captain Park shook his head, his gaze sliding away "It’s nothing, really. Just old man worries." He clapped Junho on the shoulder, a little too forcefully. "Don’t worry your head about it - once you get to my age, you'll be worried all the time too." He turned and walked away, leaving Junho standing dumbfounded in his wake.

"I don't think he needs to live that long for that," the recruiter loudly teased, but Junho wasn't exactly sure who was it addressed to "He's already a knot of worries!"

"What did you say to him?" Junho demanded, his confusion turning to suspicion.

"Just like he said, don’t worry your sweet head about it!"

------------

The sun lazily reached it's peak, casting nicely warm rays across the deck. Junho leaned against the railing, staring out at the endless expanse of the sea. But even the beautiful landscape couldn't shake Junho's worries off of his shoulders - He felt a growing unease, a feeling of something terrible to come.

Soon enough, he noticed Captain Park approaching.

"Junho," He begun, his voice low and urgent "We need to talk."

"Hm?" He turned his head, eyes wide with surprise at the sudden request. The older man also leaned against the railing, avoiding Junho's stare, while staring at the islands afar.

“We need to get rid of that recruiter.”

"What?"

"He’s dangerous, Junho." Park nodded, his face grim "..More than you can imagine."

"I know"

"No, you don't know," Park responded quickly, his voice pleading "You don't know nothin' !"

Junho tightened his grip on the railing.

Should he?

His hand slowly reached out to reveal the scar on his temple, wanting to tell Park about their previous encounter on that rainy morning, when all of a sudden, something stopped him - some secrets shouldn't be shared, even if they eat you alive.

He couldn't tell him anything, for everyone's peace.

He just couldn't.

Another uncomfortable silence came, neither of the men knowing what to say.

Park then finally announced under his breath, his voice cold and hard "Keeping that man on board is a mistake. A terrible mistake."

He turned and walked away, leaving Junho alone with his confusion and growing sense of dread. He didn't know what Gong Yoo had told Captain Park, but he had a feeling that nothing would ever be the same again.

The only thing he knew was that he had to find Gihun, even if it meant making a deal with the devil.

But what if the devil already had other plans?

Chapter Text

"Frontman speaking."

Warmth of the sun's last rays before setting felt pleasant against the man's skin as he stood infront of his wide windows, watching the lively town slowly fall asleep. One of his hands held a cold glass of whiskey, while the other one - a phone.

"Recruiter Gong Yoo, at your service."

"What is it you wanted to speak to me about?"

"It's about that police officer." He stopped for a second, waiting for a response but when it didn't came, he added "Hwang Junho?"

"What is it?" despite a voice changer, The Frontman's tone implied a tiny speck of worry.

"Despite leading them in the dark, his determination seems to be growing," as Gong Yoo spoke, his brows risen up at the sudden shift in his supervisor's character. All those years he's known the man, not once was he ever this close to hearing something remotely human in his voice, but still continued with his report anyway "Him and his crew seem to be working on a new plan at this moment."

Silence.

"Would you like me to do something about it?"

"You've already done enough" The Frontman said blankly, finally breaking the silence "Your job here is done."

"Same time next year?" He asked jokingly - but to his surprise, his boss just quickly ended the call.

How rude.

Without giving it much of a second thought, he finished his drink in silence. As he poured himself a new one, a ring of the doorbell shattered the quiet. Gong Yoo’s brow flew up ever so slightly, he wasn’t expecting anyone.

It rang again, insistently. He slowly reached the door and peered through the fisheye lens.

A man stood on the other side, dressed fully in black. His outfit felt oddly familiar, and there was an urgency in the man’s posture that only spiked Gong Yoo’s curiousity. He quickly straightened his white button-down while disengaging the security locks, a barely audible hum in the quiet apartment, and slowly pulled the door open.

The man didn't waste any time, his eyes already looking past Gong Yoo into the apartment "May I come in?"

"For what reason, may I ask?" He replied, his voice sweet, masking a suddenly heightened awareness.

Instead of answering verbally, the man suddenly produced a card from one of his pockets - the same card he recruits people with.

Ah, how he remembered - Every manager must wear the same designated black uniform under the pink suit, which also happened to be the same thing the man infront of him was wearing.

His eyes flickered, not to the man, but subtly past him. Left, then right, down the deserted corridor.

No one.

Not a shadow.

He registered the slight tremor in the man’s hand, the tension in his jaw. The pieces didn’t quite fit the picture of a routine visit.

He stepped back, allowing the man entry, then closed the door with a deliberate slowness. As the latch clicked, an icy tendril of instinct snaked through him. Something wasn't right.

Something deep in his bones told him to lock the door shut.

With a movement so fluid it was almost unnoticeable, he reached back, his thumb finding the recessed deadbolt release, pushing it silently home.

The man turned, facing Gong Yoo now, his eyes finally meeting his. They were cold, devoid of emotion, and when he finally spoke again, his voice got monotone, like he was reading an invisible script

"I came here to inform you that your employment with our company is ending today, this decision is not reversible. You're fired."

"..."

"..."

"Excuse me?"

"..."

Before any other syllable could fully leave either of their mouths, a knife materialised in the man's hand, arcing towards Gong Yoo’s chest with brutal force. It was too fast for any ordinary man, designed to catch by surprise, to end things swiftly,

His left hand shot out, not blocking the blade, but snaking around the attacker’s wrist.

but he's no ordinary man.

He felt the sharp edge of the blade brush his shirt; His fingers closed around the attacker’s wrist, twisting it in a precise, unnatural direction. A sickening pop, followed by a strangled cry from the man and the knife clattered to the cold floor, spinning away.

The attacker, driven by desperation, clenched his fists. He aimed for vital points like the face and throat, trying to overpower him. Gong Yoo however, moved swiftly; He parried a jab with an open palm, then pivoted, delivering a short, brutal elbow strike to the man’s ribs that sent a grunt of pain escaping him.

Using the fraction of a second the man wasn't looking to his own advantage, Gong Yoo reached for the attackers knife; The guard tried to quickly punch him right in the face, his fist missing by only a few inches.

But before Gong Yoo could properly hold the weapon, countless waves of pain were suddenly pulsing trough one of his legs - He got kicked right in the freshly stitched bullet wound with a man's hard boot. (How did they know that he got shot in the leg? He never mentioned it in any of his reports!)

The amount of pain caught him off guard; Without even realising, his hand immediately reached for the wound instead of attacking the man, which gave him some time to flee. He pushed Gong Yoo out of his way, but as he yanked the handle, the door remained stubbornly shut. His eyes widened in horror, realising theres not way out.

Before the shocked man could even react, Gong Yoo quickly came back to his senses, his pain turning into anger (if not fury); His left hand got a strong grip on the man's shoulder pushing him deeper into the door steadying him, as the sharp blade pierced his back, just below the shoulder.

A satisfying gasp of pain tore from his throat.

Gong Yoo in no time tightened the grip on his shoulder even more, yanking him onto the floor. He placed a foot directly onto the man's face, pressing down just enough to keep him pinned, to emphasize the absolute control (It probably would've been much more menacing if he wore shoes, but even he's not crazy enough to wear them inside of the house!).

The man was in a lost position but still tried to press the attack, which, must admit, impressed him a little.

"Trying to get up already?" He knelt, leaning over the man, his free hand still pressing the man’s face firmly into the cold floor. With his other hand, he slowly stabbed the same place again, deepening the wound. The man hissed, but clearly, he has been trough worse.

The blood slowly stained the attackers already dark clothes.

Gong Yoo kept the blade firmly lodged, the tip biting against something vital within. He pressed harder on the man’s face "Now, tell me" his voice silky as always, but with a hint of threat "What is the meaning of all this?"

The man spat while trying to catch breath, his voice full of hatred "You.. you got caught by Seong Gihun,.. Breaking the first rule of the games.. by revealing your identity."

"So you came all this way, just to kill me in my own house?"

"Im just.. doing the orders."

He wiggled the knife, twisting it within the man’s flesh. A fresh scream tore from the man’s throat, higher pitched this time, but he almost didn't hear it - a cold lump formed inside his throat, making it impossible for him to talk for few seconds, but when he finally did, his voice changed

"Oh really?" all of the carefully crafted charm in his voice had long gone disappeared, leaving only a low growl, his tone almost as hateful as the attacker's "And may I ask, who's bright idea was it?"

"The Frontman's."

His eyes widened a little, his grin disappearing.

He plunged the knife even deeper and deeper, but it didn't feel the same anymore; his hands trembled slightly.

The blade grated against bone. The man arched his back, a desperate tremor running through him.

"Well then, if that's the case" Gong Yoo quickly pulled himself together and cleared his throat, his eyes burning into the man "go back there.." blood kept leaking onto the floor "..and deliver a message for me, will you?"

"You really think im that stupid?" The guard scoffed, even though his eyes were already getting glassy "If you don't kill me, they will"

"Of course they will, I don't deny that" he yanked the man's hair so their eyes met "But I assure you that if you stay here, death by a bullet won't seem so bad anymore"

After a short wait, his hateful tone quickly sharpened into something pleading "Fine, I'll do it"

"See?" Gong Yoo finally let go of the man's hair and pat his head "It wasn't so hard, was it?"

He then slowly and deliberately pulled the knife free. The sudden gush of warmth against his fingers made him pause for a fraction of a second, a flicker of something dark and satisfied in his eyes. He rose up to his full height, uncaringly dropping the knife at his feet and went to unlock the door, while discreetly snatching his gun off of a table.

The man didn’t waste a second. He quickly scrambled to get his knife back, and then arose to his feet, clutching his bloody weapon. He stumbled towards Gong Yoo, who had already disengaged the deadbolt, ready to attack again.

Gong Yoo, even though facing the door and not the man, sensed his intentions "Let me guess. You're thorn between dying here with honour, just trying to complete another task given by someone with a much higher status than you could ever be, or coming back all the way to the island with a tail between your legs, and dozens of eyes staring at you." He stopped in his place, still staying turned back to the man "Did i guess it correctly?"

He couldn't see the man's face, but he knew exactly what expression he had. They always do the same one.

"You know that once you come back, you'll be seen as nothing more but a disappointment, a failure who couldn't even finish the job. They'll give you a quick shot or two to the head, and and find someone better for your position, someone younger, more capable. On the other hand, im right here, just within your reach. Im injured, knifeless and facing you back, just waiting to get stabbed. One swift motion and im gone." He finally turned around and suddenly took his gun out, aiming it at the surprised man "But im giving you my word, if you decide to pursue your mission anyway, Ill send you on that island myself." He stared at the man daringly "But your corpse will be too mangled to even be recognised."

The attacker looked flabbergasted, his eyes darting between the gun and the one holding it, and then at the open door. He looked lost, not knowing what to do next; and honestly, who could blame him?

Decision didn't take him long hoever. With a desperate shove, the man burst out of the apartment, leaving a faint trail of crimson dots on the floor.

But before he could fully run away, Gong Yoo grabbed his arm "And my message?" The man looked at him with hatred, but stayed silent.

He couldn't help but smile, feeling his charm coming back. He pulled the man closer and whispered into his ear "This was Frontman's biggest mistake. And now, I'll make sure he regrets it for the rest of his life."

The guard finally freed himself from his grip and disappeared into the silent corridor. Gong Yoo now stood amidst the disarray of his living room, the quiet hum of the building returning. He glanced down at the small, crimson stain smeared on his floor, where the man used to lay just few minutes ago.

Fired.

He run a hand through his hair. The apartment was excruciatingly quiet in the dead of the night. From an open curtain, a small glimpse of moonlight fell into the room. The only light source there was.

He's fired.

He looked at his own reflection; his once snow white button-down was now a red mess, carefully ironed fabric, now wrinkled and even a little thorn in some places. He let some air out and picked his glass up again, already halfway filled, and drank it slowly, chuckling softly to himself.

Fired. After all these years, the dedication, the countless hours poured into the games, all it took was mere a slip up, and it was all gone.

Even the once soothing liquid tasted now like nothing more but ash once it reached his lips.

He wasn't supposed to make it this far.

He was supposed to die in that motel.

He could still feel the sting of the managers words, the cold dismissal.

He was supposed to die by his own rules, not by another man.

'You're nothing more than just their dog.'

His skin felt hot. So hot he was unable to breathe all of a sudden, but didn't pay it any mind, and laughed at himself in disbelief.

Seong Gihun from Ssangmun-dong.

You ruined.. everything.

He run a hand through his hair again in order to calm down a bit; And when that didn't help, he used both hands.

But then, all of a sudden, he was ripping the strands off of his own scalp with full strength without even realising. A sharp pain shot through his head (w̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶J̶u̶n̶h̶o̶ ̶f̶e̶l̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶n̶i̶n̶g̶?̶), a momentary distraction that quickly dissolved into a fresh wave of fury. He screamed and yelled from the depth of his lungs while bumping blindly around the room, and soon enough, his back hit one of the walls.

(You're nothing more than just their dog.You're nothing more than just their dog.You're nothing more than just their dog.You're nothing more than just their dog.You're nothing more than just their dog.You're nothing more than just their dog.You're nothing more than just their dog.You're nothing more than just their dog.You're nothing more than just their do-)

HE GAVE THEM EVERYTHING!

He squeezed his eyes shut, begging, chanting almost, under his breath that its all just a bad dream, but the image of Frontman's mask burned behind his eyelids.

'You had the chance to shoot Gi-Hun and put an end to it all, and yet continued to play the game down to the last round just to prove a point. How else would you name it?'

(How else would you name it.How else would you name it.How else would you name it.How else would you na)

He thought Inho, out of all people, understood him best. That they had a quiet understanding of eachother-

'it seems odd that one singular person, who has more individual personal contact with the contestants than any of the people in the games, is so easily identifiable' Stopstopstopstopstopstoppleasestop

-But turns out he was just waiting to stab him in the back when he's most vulnerable.

They always do.

 'It it because you're so good at not beging caught, or are you just that easy to replace?'

Frustration welled in him. A guttural growl escaped his throat. He clawed at his face, nails digging into the skin around his eyes. He wanted to rip them out, to erase the image of that man from his memory.

The pain was intense, but not enough. Not enough to silence the screaming in his head.

(easy to replace easy to replace easy to replace easy to replace)

He stumbled towards the liquor cabinet, his movements big and uncoordinated. Grabbing a bottle of expensive scotch, he wrenched the top off and took a long, burning swig. The alcohol did little to soothe his raw nerves.

It only fueled the fire, turning his rage into a roaring inferno.

Inho will pay for this.

He'll pay for ruining his life.

He slammed the bottle down on the counter, the glass rattling ominously.

'You're nothing more than just their dog'

Everyone will.

His heart pounded in his chest, a frantic drumbeat against the silence of the apartment. He could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins, sharpening his senses, focusing his resolve.

Gong Yoo felt a sudden rush of blood in his head. He wondered if his veins had been at a standstill ever since that guard left, because this rush was sudden and dizzying and he walked up to the mirror and here he saw it again. Infront of him stood a weak, pathetic man, with a bleeding leg out of his fresh-not-so-fresh open stitches and a ruffled shirt and irritated face with nail marks and messy, sweaty hair and oh God, he looked like his father when—

BAM!

A sudden gunshot ripped trough the air.

The mirror was now shattered, only few pieces staying intact on the wall. In their reflection, a man stood infront of it. A man with a gun.

It wasn't the same pathetic guy as before, but a powerful one.

The one with a gun.

The same one who shot his father in the face.

His mind raced, trying to latch onto something, anything that could alleviate the suffocating pressure in his chest. He remembered the phone call earlier that day.

Inho sounded weird when he mentioned Junho. The concern had been subtle, almost imperceptible, and yet it was there.

A chilling calm began to settle over him, a stark contrast to the chaotic storm that had been raging moments before.

Junho.

Oh, Junho..

Such a pretty face

He was a weakness, a crack in his supervisor's mask.

And Gong Yoo had always been keen on exploiting other's weaknesses.

Inho took everything from him. He stripped him of his purpose, his identity.

Now, it's his turn.

His lips curled into a cold, predatory smile.

Inho will see his own brother get killed right infront of him, and he won't be able to do anything but watch.

An eye for an eye.

A life for a life.

The idea solidified in his mind, a perfect, crystal structure forming amidst the wreckage of his emotions. He'll make him feel the same gut wrenching sense of loss, the same crushing weight of betrayal.

As he fixed his appearance, he paused, a flicker of something akin to doubt crossing his mind, but he quickly brushed it off.

The air was cold and sharp against his skin, but Gong Yoo felt nothing. He was numb, driven only by the burning desire for revenge.

And Junho was about to pay the ultimate price.

He'll show Inho that he's not someone you can discard this easily.

Chapter Text

Junho offered a quick, apologetic smile to Park and a less certain, almost wary glance at Gong Yoo before disappearing under the lower deck.

Gong Yoo watched him go, a faint, almost imperceptible curve playing on his lips. Then he turned his attention to Park; his usually softened gaze was now as sharp and cold as a harpoon tip.

As soon as Junho disappeared from the range of hearing, Park turned his head by an inch, still looking at the entrance to the lower deck. His jaw tightened "What do you want from him?"

"And what happened to that sweet old man from a minute ago?" The younger man chuckled.

"Don’t play coy." Park's voice now even colder "You didn’t just come back out of the goodness of your heart. What do you want from Junho?"

Gong Yoo met Park’s furious stare. He let the silence hang, letting Park stew in his own suspicion, before offering a slow, disarming smile "Junho? Why, nothing more than a shared goal, Captain"

"I’ve seen the way you look at him" When the old man finally answered, his voice was hoarse with suppressed rage "Woo Seok told me you two seemed to know each other very well, long before player 456 captured you"

"What are you suggesting?"

An uncomfortable silence stopped their conversation for a few seconds.

"I know what you are." Park recoiled slightly, his face flushing with a mixture of anger and genuine discomfort.

Gong Yoo threw his head back and laughed loudlly - It was genuine, but also held a sharp, almost cruel edge "Oh, you old romantic!" He wiped away a non-existent tear of laughter, his eyes still sparkling with amusement "Maybe we've met before, maybe we haven't, what’s it to you?"

He straightened up, a glint of challenge in his eyes, daring Park to push the issue "Does it make you uncomfortable, Captain?" his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, though his eyes were full of amusement "The thought of someone else occupying Junho’s attention?"

Then, his smile slowly, chillingly, faded from his face; The light in his eyes dulled, replaced by an unsettling coldness. He leaned in closer to the old man closing the already small distance between them, his eyes narrowed into small slits "Is that why you ratted me out, Yeong-gil?"

The man stared at him for a second with a stone expression "I was just fulfilling my duty."

"And how does snitching on me apply to that duty?"

"My job is to be a rat of the crew, and as far as I'm aware, you're apart of it now too." He said, not a single bit of regret in his voice "If I didn't report that you got caught, somebody else would. You were a lost cause either way, so don't blame me for doing my job, blame yourself for letting that happen in the first place"

"Your words wound me, capitan" his voice lost its playful lilt and became sharp "And to think that such an old man could still be capable of betraying his own friend!" The last word was spat out like a curse "But you know, betrayal can go both ways"

"So you came here to kill me? I was supposed to die a long time ago anyway, so if anything, you'd only do me a favour"

"You're right, something as meaningless as your death wouldn't affect either you nor The Frontman" Gong Yoo slowly looked at the entrance to the lower deck where Junho disappeared. He paused dramatically, letting the expectancy set in the air "But there is a man who's death would"

The words, though quietly spoken, hit Yeong-gil like a physical blow. His eyes widened for a moment as he looked at the entrance too, quickly realizing what the man meant "You wouldn’t." Even though his tone was cold, it sounded more like an uncertain reassurance than anything else.

"I guess we'll both find out then," his voice was flat and devoid of any emotion now - like he was stating a fact "Because this time, nobody will be there so save him"

"And why is that?"

Gong Yoo’s gaze sharpened, his eyes locking onto Yeong-gil’s with an intensity that seemed to peel back layers of the old man’s skin. He took a slow, deliberate breath

"Because you're helpless about it anyway"

"As soon as Junho comes back-"

"You will do no such thing, Captain." He shook his head slowly, a faint smirk touched the corner of his mouth "If you breathe even a single word of this to Junho, I'll reveal to him that you work for the games too."

He stepped even closer, invading Yeong-gil’s personal space completely, forcing the older man to instinctively lean back. Park’s eyes narrowed, a flicker of fear crossing his face "He won't believe you, he knows me. He trusts me."

"You're right, he won't." Gong Yoo conceded with a chilling agreement in his tone "Not at first. He’ll dismiss it as a desperate lie from a man trying to save his own skin.. But consider this, Yeong-gil. Woo Seok already suspects you of something; He's been watching you for a long time, did you know that? He just hasn't put all the pieces together yet."

Gong Yoo paused, letting the implication hang heavy in the air; The sea breeze ruffled his hair, but his gaze remained steady, unblinking "If I were to drop even the slightest hint, a casual mention of something from your past that no one else knows, a detail that.. only a a member of those games could possess.. his suspicion of you would only strengthen. And then, he'll dig deeper. And he’d find it. He’d find everything. The screwed up drones, firearm, walkie talkie.." Yeong-gil's face went white; all the bluster and anger drained from him, leaving behind only a stark, disbelieving horror "This ship is full of evidence.. if you know what you're looking for, of course"

The man got quiet; He knew it was true.

"This is an easy deal, it really can't get any simpler than that" There was no teasing now, only a raw, cutting edge to his words "You keep my secret, and I keep yours"

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because seeing you so powerless about Junho's doom will be a great entertainment!" They both heard footsteps "I mean, do you really want him to know that you helped me escape this boat that fateful night?"

Down the companionway, the sound of footsteps grew louder. Junho’s head appeared and then his shoulders as he ascended the steps. He quickly noticed capitan's wide, fearful eyes, and Gong Yoo’s calm, almost serene expression.

"What’s going on?!" He asked, his brows furrowed in concern and his gaze flicking between the two men. His voice got sharp, betraying a suddenly heightened worry "Is he bothering you?"

Yeong-gil jumped, clearly startled by his presence; His shoulders sagged, the relief of Junho’s presence warring with the crushing weight of the threat.

Gong Yoo’s lips curved into that familiar, charming smile; He met his terrified gaze, and then slowly, deliberately, winked towards the old man - A subtle, triumphant blink that seemed to say more than any threat ever could.

Yeong-gil forced a strained, brittle laugh "Nothing, buddy, we were just discussing the navigation charts" He avoided Junho’s eyes, fixed his own gaze on the distant horizon.

Good.

********

Gong Yoo offered a serene smile.

"We’re going to do this again, you know the drill" Junho began, his voice low, betraying nothing of the irritation simmering beneath his composed facade "The island. Where is it?"

His award-winning smile widened "But I’ve already told you, Officer. It’s fairly close to the Dokodo Island!"

Junho’s jaw tightened imperceptibly. That damn Dokodo Island over and over again - This exact answer was fed to anyone who bothered to ask.

He took a slow, deliberate breath, letting the salty air fill his lungs to find his peace. He prided himself with his ability to keep calm even in the worst scenarios, but Gong Yoo with that infuriatingly teasing demeanour was really testing his limits every time he opened his mouth.

"Dokodo Island," he repeated, voice flat "How incredibly specific. Perhaps you could narrow it down? Are we talking about the east coast? The west? Or perhaps just a deep-sea trench somewhere in its vicinity?" he then offered a small, humourless smile after seeing the recruiter's jolly expression "Or are you here just to enjoy a free cruise ship ride?"

Gong Yoo only chuckled - a rich, warm sound that grated on Junho’s nerves "Oh, I sure am enjoying it. But I must admit, your hospitality is.. unique" He leaned forward, his gaze locking onto Junho’s "And as for narrowing it down, I’m afraid I’ve already given you the key. The rest of the directions will come when the time is right. Trust me, you’ll know"

"Trust you?"

"I’m an honest man, Officer, when I want to of course" the recruiter leaned in, their bodies uncomfortably close "And right now, I really want to"

"..."

"Mr. Hwang! We’ve got a problem!"

Junho let out his breath that he didn't even know he was holding. He put some distance between them again, his eyes briefly flicking away from Gong Yoo, looking for someone else to babysit their prisoner.

"Kim!" Junho was never this thankful to see the mercenary "Guard him while I'm gone"

Kim gave a curt nod, his hand already resting on his gun. After Junho left both men alone, he rounded the corner to find absolute chaos. Two crewmen were wrestling with something submerged just beneath the water, their faces red; Another one was barking orders, pointing frantically towards the propeller shaft.

"What is it?" He demanded, his voice cutting sharply through the air.

"Net!" one of the men yelled back, his voice strained "Some old fishing net got tangled good in the prop. Engine’s dying down."

Junho quietly swore under his breath; A broken propeller was the last thing they needed, especially out here. He knelt on the wet deck, peeking into the murky greenish water - Sure enough, a thick, barnacle filled net appeared, wrapped around the shaft. It looked like it had been lost at sea for years, if not decades. (maybe it's even older than him? Who knows!)

"Alright, out of the way" Junho commanded, grabbing a long handled cutter from a nearby rack "Give me some room" He plunged the heavy tool into the water, coldness of it seeping through his sleeves. The net was incredibly thick and resilient, probably hardened by years of exposure; He gritted his teeth, his muscles straining as he tried to snip through the main lines. One of the men managed to get a smaller knife in there, sawing away at the thinner strands. The work was slow and mind numbingly frustrating - Every time he thought he had severed a piece, another section would snag, pulling tighter around the shaft.

He was deep in the throes of this grimy battle, when a shadow fell over him. He didn’t need to look up to know who it was.

"Trouble?" Park’s voice floated down to him.

Junho grunted, not bothering to lift his head from the task "Just a minor inconvenience, nothing we can’t handle" He gave another heave on the cutter, finally severing a particularly thick strand with a satisfying snap.

Park remained silent for a moment. Then, his voice dropped "And uh.. Where's our guest?"

"I let someone else babysit for a while"

"Was it Woo Seok??" He asked suddenly. Junho couldn't say for sure, but it sounded like the old man held his breath, like he was anxiously waiting for an answer.

"No, with mercenary Kim. I don't trust Woo Seok around that guy, he's still salty about his own mr. Kim. Can't say I blame him"

"Good, we need to talk."

"Is this about Gong Yoo again?" Junho paused, the cutter midway through another cut. He didn’t look up, his eyes still fixed on the submerged net, but his shoulders tensed "Can't it wait? We’ve got a more pressing issue here"

"It's important!" he still insisted

"Park." Junho's voice got softer, almost reflective, as he resumed his cutting "You know I trust you the most here. Hell, I owe you my life!" snap, snap "But I got it, seriously.-why won't you cut?!- Nothing that man says or does will surprise me at this point"

The silence from above was immediate. It wasn't the old man’s usual thoughtful pause, but something else entirely - a sudden, almost stunned quiet. Junho (still focused on the tangled net) barely registered it and just chuckled "What? Did I say something?"

Park cleared his throat "No, no, of course not!" He almost mumbled the last part, which was highly unlike him "I only just wanted to check on the progress anyway. You guys've got it under control!"

"Always" Junho muttered, finally pulling away a large section of the net.

He finally looked up just as Park turned to walk away "By the way, are we docking any time soon? The weather's looking rough tonight, and i heard there's a small harbour nearby"

Park stopped, his back to Junho; for a long moment, he didn’t answer. He could almost feel the old man’s hesitation.

"No."

********

"I know what you're trying to say, Mr. 456," The air in the cavernous room was thick, not with dust, but with the suffocating weight of fear and barely contained exhaustion of all the players "What that money represents."

Gihun looked at him with a surprised gaze "But I really need that money," Each bed around felt like a coffin, just waiting to be filled "Even if it's blood money. I need that money.." A piggy bank in the middle of the room pulsed with a soft, dreamlike light, casting long, distorted shadows that danced with every shift of a sleeper "..To save my wife and our child"

Those words so unbelievably hurt.

After a long, uncomfortabe silence, Inho quickly cleared his throat as soon as he felt his eyes watering up and looked at Gihun again "So, what's your plan now?" he began "Those people don't seem interested in leaving willingly"

Gihun turned his head slightly, just enough for Inho to see the subtle shift of his jawline in the faint golden light. Finally, he spoke "That's okay, I still have a plan B"

"You're only on B? Because to me it seemed like you were already past Plan E at this point" He let out a short, hollow laugh that died quickly as soon as he was Gihun's death stare.

A silence appeared between them again, so Inho tried to investigate further "May I ask what is it?"

Gihun's gaze flicked towards a one of the corners of the room, where a small, almost imperceptible red light pulsed steadily - A camera.

"They're listening"

Inho followed his gaze. The cameras were everywhere, peering into their very souls. He understood the other man's hesitation, but he needed to know, so he pressed " 'They'? "

"People behind this game" Gihun answered with tension in his voice.

"They can’t hear everything" Inho whispered back, leaning further forward "Not if you’re quiet"

Gihun hesitated, his eyes scanning the sleeping players around them, then lingering on the camera in the corner. He sighed and lowered his voice further, leaning in as much as he could from his position.

"I have a team coming" He murmured, the words barely escaping his lips "They'll be here within a day, maybe two"

Inho stared, his breath hitched in his throat.

"A team?" he managed, his own voice sounding thin and reedy; A cold dread seeped into his bones, colder even than the stairs beneath him "What kind of team?" He pushed, trying to keep his voice casual.

Few days ago, Yeong-gil reported that Junho and Gihun united their strenghts, trying to find the island together - that information made his heart drop as soon as he heard it; Even though he knew very well how Junho is, he still always had a small hope that his brother would finally move on and not be implicated in this nightmare any further.. And now he's coming here. Again.

Gihun shrugged dismissively "Just.. people. Friends on the outside" He didn’t elaborate, didn’t offer names, didn’t meet Inho’s intense gaze. He just brushed off the question like it was irrelevant.

There was no point in pushing further; He already knew Junho was on it, and hearing Gihun confirm it would only twist the knife more.

"Well then," Inho finally broke the silence "let's just hope they come in time"

Gihun was quiet for a moment, his gaze still fixed on some distant, unseen point. Then, slowly, a small, almost imperceptible upturn of the corners of his lips began to form - a small reminder of what he used to be in the past "They will"

********

The ocean was a beast tonight, its dark waters churning under a bruised sky.

Rain, thick and relentless, lashed down blurring the line between the deck and the waves - amidst the chaos of the storm, in one of the cabins, a figure knelt over a drone in the flickering light of a flashlight, and another one, standing unnoticed right outside, watching.

After spying for a bit, the man hidden in the shadows suddenly knocked on the cabin wall, loud enough to be heard over the sound of the rain, but not too loud, to not wake anyone else.

The sudden sound made Young-gil jump in his seat, quickly turning around to see Gong Yoo standing in the wide open doorway with a sneering smile "Knock, knock"

"It's just you" the old man shakily let his breath out "Why are you still up at this hour?"

"It's hard to sleep with those things on!" He chuckled, the metal handcuffs clinking softly "Junho sure did squeeze them tightly"

"What do you want"

"Nothing, just.. 'wanted to check on the progress' " Gong Yoo repeated the other man's words from earlier that day and peeked behind his shoulder "That's a nice drone you've got there, it'd would've been a shame if someone tweaked it"

Young-gil's eyes rolled in irritation as he covered up the drone with a random piece of fabric "So you just came here to spy on me?"

"I like to think of it as 'colletcing information' "

"To blackmail me?"

"Something like that" He shrugged and looked around the cabin, ignoring the older man's furious gaze "I saw you talking to Junho about me earlier today"

"You're bluffin' "

"I see everything, you know. That's why I was so good at my job"

They both walked out of the cabin and Young-gil closed the door shut to make it seem like no one was inside it tonight "Don't get yourself worked up, I didn't tell that boy nothin' "

"But I know you want to. I can see you cracking up already"

"Do you really think that being on his every command for all those years has been a bed of roses for me?!" Yeong-gil clearly began to lose his patience "I have to make sure that Junho won't lose even a single strand of hair from his head, I don't care if you like it or not"

"Well if that's the case, then you're not doing a very good job" Gong Yoo tilted his head owlishly with a faint smile "That man is walking around with a gash the size of a wallnut on his temple and you didn't even notice it?"

"I did," the old man's brow furrowed "But what I don't see, is how this is any of your business"

"Have you ever wondered who did this to him?"

The old man remained silent for a moment, his expression inscrutable as he finally looked at Gong Yoo, the realisation slowly hitting him "What is wrong with you?!" he hissed quietly, his face was a study in profound disgust.

The last vestige of Yeong-gil’s patience had finally snapped; He pulled a worn, rusty knife from beneath his coat and rested the tip of it on Gong Yoo's neck "Can you even comprehend what The Frontman’d do to you if he ever found out?!"

"Worse than sending someone to kill me in my own house?" Gong Yoo didn't even flinch, letting the blade slowly sink into his skin; one swift movement would've been enough to kill if you knew all the vital points, and the old man clearly possessed that knowledge.

He slowly leaned in, his voice dropping to a cold whisper "Go on, finish the job. Stab me, and let my yell wake everyone up to see the bloody mess you made" He sneered "Imagine the look on Junho’s face when he finally sees what you truly are"

The chilling realization flashed trough the old man's face just as his gaze locked onto him again. They stood like that for a good few seconds, Yeong-gil clearly rethinking everything; But before any other words could even form in Gong Yoo's throat, the man suddenly lunged forward - surprisingly not to stab, but to grab. His hands roughly clamped onto Gong Yoo’s clothes, interlocking with the fabric on his chest.

Yeong-gil then leaned into him, putting all his weight behind the push.

Gong Yoo stumbled backward, his cuffed hands useless for balance and feet slipping on the slick, rain-swept deck; The cold railings slammed into his back with crushing force, the sudden impact stealing his breath. He looked behind him - the miles of dark sea churned unforgivingly, each wave bigger than the previous.

He looked back again, only to see the coldness in Yeong-gil's eyes as he pushed him straight into the water "You should've died in that motel"

He struggled and held onto the attacker's clothes at all cost trying to gain balance, but it was too late.

The scream snagged in his throat as he plunged downward into the churning chaos. The ice cold black water swallowed him instantly, a shock so profound it stole his breath entirely.

He instinctively gasped, causing the bitter, salty ocean to quickly rush into his lungs, burning, suffocating. He thrashed, desperate to keep his head above the waves that leaned over him, each one acting like a heavy, icy hand pushing him even deeper.

His eyes were clamped shut, stinging from the salt. His cuffed together hands were absolutely useless, taking the ability to swim away from him, dragging him down.

He couldn’t swim, couldn’t fight, couldn’t even push himself towards the surface.

For the first time in a very long time, he felt fear. But not of dying - of failure.

He couldn't care less whether he'd die in that damn motel or Junho's apartment, but he couldn't die now.

Not like that.

Not now.

Not he's found a reason to live.

He had to complete his mission, and he most defenietly couldn't let Yeong-gil win. He couldn’t throw his entire purpose into the dark depths, just like the games once had thrown him.

His lungs screamed, a fire in his chest that mirrored the cold that pierced his very bones; A bitter wave of regret washed over him - Death by a bullet, swift and clean, had always seemed preferable. But a slow, agonizing suffocation, an impossible battle against the unstoppable force was a pure torture.

He always expected his life to end not by any man but by himself, managing to go out with a style. But the thought of something as simple as water ending up to be the cause of his death was just straight up embarrasing! It can't be how he dies, he didn't live on the edge all his life just to die like some drunk fisherman, he's deserves a better death than this, he's special!

... Right?

He felt the last reserves of oxygen draining from his body, the world dimming around the edges, his limbs slowly growing heavy and unresponsive - He was going to drown.

The frustration filled him; Is this really the punishment for everything he's done? If anything, he should've been awarded for that! He broke his back for so many years for Inho, and this is his reward?? Thrown away to just be forgotten, just like a trash, like all those bodies of the losers in the crematorium, like the bread he stomped on, like the-

Then, a sudden, powerful grip closed around his arm. Water still filled his lungs, but now he felt himself being dragged through the churning blackness. A heartbeat later, he felt his body get thrown unceremoniously onto something solid.

Landing with a sickening thud sent him into a violent coughing spree, spewing all the remaining water from his lungs. Gasping, he instinctively tried to open his eyes, but the brutal sting of the salty water still remaining on his eyelids discorauged him from doing so.

Through the haze of pain and blurry vision, he heard a voice cutting through the storm "I need someone to come here!"

Junho.

Gong Yoo coughed again while blinking rapidly, trying to clear the salt from his eyes.

And then he saw him.

Junho hauled himself over the railing, his clothes soaking wet, hair plastered to the face, his body dripping water onto the deck. He had just climbed out of the sea himself.

Then, he heard another noise - Park appeared seemingly out of nowhere, fake surprise painting across his face "Junho?! What happened? What’s going on??" His voice was laced with an almost convincing distress. Almost.

Gong Yoo, still gasping, crawled blindly towards the nearest roof, seeking any kind of shelter to properly clear his eyes. He sat down as soon as he reached it, smearing a cold, slightly trembling hand across his face, trying to rub the salt from his vision. He heard footsteps approach - But it wasn't Park’s heavy tread, it was lighter, more urgent one.

When he opened his eyes back up again he got a glimpse of Junho's shadow falling over him. Without paying attention he resumed his cleaning, hoever, Junho did not go away as he expected, but instead crouched directly in front of him.

Lifting his gaze, Gong Yoo met Junho’s worried wide-eyed stare; his face twisted in annoyment, despite his his —big doe eyes— betraying something opposite. Something akin to worry.

"Are you okay?" Junho's voice was still shaky, his eyes carefully scanning the man looking for any injuries.

'It was like someone had finally aknowledged my existence for the first time'

Junho stared at Gong Yoo's face for a moment waiting for a response, when a small, unfamiliar warmth bloomed inside his chest - a strange sensation he hadn’t felt in years; And even after Junho had already moved his gaze away, the warmth stayed.

Gong Yoo (still processing the near-drowning, the rescue, and now Junho’s unexpected care) could only nod, and for the first time in his life, he couldn't think of any sarcastic remark "I'm fine"

Junho must've noticed his dazed expression, his hand already reaching out and placing the back of his fingers (surprisingly gently) against the other man's forehead.

The sudden, unexpected touch was like a gasoline that only increased the fire, causing the small warmth inside of his chest to explode uncontrolably spreading through his entire body, chasing away the bone-deep coldness of the ocean; It was an overwhelming sensation, dizzying almost - At that moment, he felt as if pure lava was flowing through his veins.

"You’re burning up" Junho sighed while quickly pulling his hand away, and Gong Yoo leaned in an inch closer, not wanting to lose his touch, but backed away as soon as he realized what he was doing.

He couldn’t form a reply even if he wanted to; He just stared at the man infront of him, a whirlwind of emotions swirling trough his mind. Gong Yoo forgot how to speak. He forgot how to breathe.

He then heard Junho sharply suck his breath in, so he looked down, and soon enough, a large, dark red stain appeared, blooming on the thigh of Gong Yoo’s soaked pants. It was too big to be just water, and the dark fabric made it starkly visible - His bullet wound re-opened and now bled. Hard.

As soon as he acknowledged the bleeding he immediately felt the stabbing pain coming from it, as if the wound had only been waiting for him to notice it.

Junho’s eyes widened in realization, his mouth twisting into a grim line "Oh yeah, I forgot about that.. I honestly expected you'd have it stitched up by now"

Despite the tiredness in his glare, Junho didn’t sound angry anymore. He spun around, his voice rising to a shout that cut through the storm "Park, get the med kit!"

But Gong Yoo didn't even hear it.

The only thing he could think of, was how somehow, even though he was soaked to the dry bone with ice cold water, he felt so incredibly, undeniably hot.