Always? Always ▪︎ {Squid Game} Sae-byeok x OC

S1 E3 - The Man with the Umbrella {Part 4}

As everyone was working hard and concentrating as best they could, Ji-ah glanced up from her shape to look at the time. But instead got a faceful of Gi-hun's sandy trousered arse.

Ji-ah shook her head, thinking to herself.

Wow, he's got a big bunda.

She then got back to working and it was as if something was warning her because she lifted up her needle, just in time for the sound of gunshot to go off.

Everyone looked to the sound and saw a guy that was at the top of a slide get shot and then he slid down, leaving a thick trail of blood as he went down.

And someone wasn't as lucky as Ji-ah because a player had accidentally cracked her honeycomb when she looked at the man who got killed. Her eyes widened and she slowly looked up, breathing shakily. She then began to beg for her life.

"No, I'm sorry. Please, spare my life. Please-"

She got cut off by a bullet to the forehead, that made someone else mess up and got them killed. And another person, another, another and another.

Everyone had calmed down and went back to concentrating, more people were shot dead and Ji-ah almost broke her shape, but luckily, she didn't. Her heart was beating quite fast and she was beginning to sweat from the amount of concentration and strain that she was using.

With 7 minutes to spare, a few more were dead and now, Ji-ah just learned to ignore the shots and listen for the announcement of the player elimination, hoping to not hear Sae-byeok's.

"Player 67, pass."

Ji-ah's head shot up and she saw Sae-byeok standing in front of a guard, holding up a triangle. She glanced at Ji-ah before walking off.

▲

More players had been killed, and more had passed. 3 minutes was left on the clock and Ji-ah was almost there, she tried rushing at one point because she got anxious, but soon knew to slow down because she didn't want to die on the 2nd game.

"Player 212, pass."

Ji-ah looked up again and saw 212 walk out of the room, she then saw Gi-hun licking the back of his Dalgona to melt it and make it easier to carve the shape out. Some had also noticed and was looking at him weirdly, but when they saw how quicker and easier it was, they followed suit.

But Ji-ah had successfully carved her out at the same time as 001 and 101. And Gi-hun had done his as well, just in time for the time to run out.

"Players 456, 101, 069 and 001, pass."

Ji-ah let out a sqeal of relief and the announcer spoke again.

"The second game is now over. All successful players please leave the playground immediately."

Ji-ah groaned as she got up and cracked her back as she had been lying down in the same position for 10 minutes. She was about to leave when a player who had not succeeded, attacked a guard.

There was a whole lot of screaming, including Ji-ah's as a bullet had made her ear drum blow. There was some grunting and she looked up to see a player had a guard in a headlock with a gun pointed to his head.

Ji-ah's hand went to her ear as she winced in pain as there was an intense ringing noise. But her eyes widened when she saw that her hand was coated in blood. Her hearing had now gone muffled in one ear and she couldn't hear what the player was saying.

But it was like slow motion because when the guard who had got captured, took off his mask, Ji-ah's eyes widened more and her mouth dropped. It was the guy who had given her favourite meals to her, and the who told her to come down from the apparatus. His mask was square.

Tears began to build up and she screamed out.

"Ji-Hoon!"

Guards turned to Ji-ah and one grabbed her, she fidgeted in his hold and cried out as a figure in all black walked past her and shot the boy in the head.

"No, that's my brother! Let me go!"

As much as her ear was in pain, she still thrashed about and tried to get to her brother, but a sentence she had heard with her good ear, got her shocked.

"No, don't kill her. She's important."

The guard who was holding her, trailed off.

"But the rule.."

The man in black shook his head and his next words were muffled completely as Ji-ah had gotten dizzy and passed out from blood loss.

■

When Ji-ah had come to, she was back in her bed, but was met with a few worried people. Sae-byeok immediately asked when she saw Ji-ah open her eyes.

"Are you okay? What happened? The guards won't tell us anything."

Ji-ah grumbled and shakily sat up, she felt a bandage covering her ear and she sighed. Once she was sat up, she looked to see Sae-byeok, Gi-hun, 001 and 199 standing around her bed. The memories of earlier came back and she got tears in her eyes.

She wrapped her arms around her as her knees came up to her chin and she explained as Sae-byeok was worried.

"Well, when the time had run out, everyone who was successful, was leaving. But as I was about to leave too, a player that was not so successful, attacked a few of the guards. Gunshots went off and a bullet blew my eardrum out. As the guards was too focused on the player who had pointed a gun to a guard he was holding, they didn't notice me. And I was trying not to pass out from the intense ringing that was coming from my ear. But the guard who had the gun pointed at him by the player, he took his mask off and revealed himself. And to my surprise, the boy was my brother that had gone missing. I shouted his name in shock and a guard grabbed me. He was about to shoot me when a man dressed in black came in and shot my brother. My hearing was a little muffled in one ear, but I could hear the man and the guard talking. The guard wanted to kill me since I had seen one of the guards, but the man said "No, don't kill her. She's important", whatever that means. I couldn't hear what the next words were though because I went unconscious."

When she had finished explaining, they all looked shocked. And as Gi-hun was about to speak, the ringing came back in Ji-ah's ear and she hissed in pain. Sae-byeok shooed everyone away and climbed into Ji-ah's bed, sitting next to her and then comforted her.

Onlookers were shocked at the sight of Sae-byeok showing emotion other than frowning and speaking comforting words instead of her usual snark remarks.

But little did they know that the two had known each other for years and Sae-byeok only showed that kind of soft and sweet emotion to Ji-ah and Ji-ah only.