LET THE GAMES BEGIN • squid game

( 13 ) kiss of death

N A R I

It is now the morning
I slept for like four hours😭
But I'm stalling on getting ready for school so have this
This ones rough put your seatbelts on

The walk back from the game hall was dreary, and uncomfortable. While Gi-hun, Sangwoo and Sae-byeok walked at a normal pace, Nari lugged behind, arms wrapped around herself. A trail of blood was left behind her as it dripped from under her jacket.

When they arrived at the bedroom, it seemed so much bigger. Only 4 beds sat in the room now, two on one side, one at the far end, and one on the other side of the room.

Nari breathed shakily as she stepped into the room,
lugging herself over to her bed to lay down. She sat down carefully, slouching a bit as not to hurt herself, and put her blanket over her, ignoring Gi-hun and Sangwoo arguing.

Sae-byeok came and sat on the edge of her bed, brows furrowing at her state. Having already fallen asleep, Nari no longer held a expression of fear. Sae-byeok liked this one much better.

She brushed her sweaty hair away from her forehead before moving to sit in her own bed.

The doors buzzed not long after that, and 5 guards walked in, four of them holding black boxes with hot pink ribbons.

" Players, we sincerely congratulate and commend you all for successfully making it through the first five games. The four of you are now the finalists and as such, we have prepared a special gift for each of you. Before we reveal the gifts, please take a moment to change into the outfits we have brought." Sae-byeok sighed and woke Nari before they made their way over to collect the boxes.

In the bathroom, Sae-byeok went into a stall to change, giving Nari sometime to fix herself up.

She turned the tap on at the sink to add some noise for effect and placed the box down before taking her shirt off.

She looked down at her lower stomach, panting heavier at the sight.

A long and thick shard of glass was embedded into her skin, going in deep and spilling blood all over her pants.

She got a tight grip on the shard and started to pull, face going red from holding her breath. Once it was out, she breathed slowly, before tying her shirt around her stomach to slow down the bleeding.

Then, she changed into the suit and shoes that were gifted to her, and headed out the door.

||

Nari didn't listen to a word the guards said. Her head was throbbing from the sheer amount of blood she'd lost, and the food in front of her no longer seemed appealing.

When she glanced down, a red patch stuck out on her otherwise white shirt.

But, she didn't want the others to know. So, she forced herself to pick up her fork and her knife, cutting into the meat maybe twice before giving up and just eating those two pieces.

She could feel eyes on her, and she looked over to see Sae-byeok quickly look away, as if she wasn't looking.

The silence was oh so loud, and she was thankful when the guards came to collect their plates, providing at least a small amount of noise.

They took away all of her cutlery, except for a single knife in front of her. She reached out slowly and slid it into her pocket, as did the others.

||

Sae-Byeok didn't trust Sangwoo. Not one bit. So, that's why she was sat in Nari's bed, knife in hand, watching the girl as she dozed sleepily.

She could tell that something was wrong as soon as they'd finished the glass tiles. Something in the way Nari stood wasn't right.