Flaming Glow (Sang Woo x Fem!OC)

Chapter 3

The bathroom was as clinical as the warehouse itself. Y/N splashed water on her face, hoping it would cool her off, slow her heart rate. She couldn't be sure she wasn't going into shock. The walk back to the bunks was a complete blur to her, even the talk of the money and the eliminated players washed over her coldly.

Fingers gripping the porcelain sink, she looked in the mirror. Dots of blood marred the white of the 217 on her breast. The water trailing down her face turned pink as it washed away the blood sprayed over her left cheek.

In a few moments, they were going to vote about whether or not to leave. It was in the contract they signed--if a majority of players chose to stop playing, the games would end. They may have lost basically half the players but the ones left were survivors. And money could make people do crazy things.

Cho Sang-Woo stood two sinks over from her, also staring intently at the grime on his tracksuit. He was the one who brought up the contract, the vote. She admired him for it, though the darker side of her couldn't ignore the amount of won each player was apparently worth. But his expression had changed when won flooded the piggy bank--Y/N saw the same hunger in his eyes that she felt. She wanted to be disappointed that he wasn't as noble as he seemed but she couldn't help liking him more, knowing he was just like everyone else.

He bent over the sink, head down. Light caressed the smooth skin of his throat, the line of his jaw. He was lovely.

She had to be in shock because why did that matter? People were dead, more people might die. She might be dead, if Sang-Woo hadn't pulled her back.

"Thank you," she said and her words echoed in the tiled room, so loud she was embarrassed.

Sang-Woo looked over as if he hadn't realized anyone else was there. Maybe he hadn't. People sometimes forgot Y/N and she'd learned to forgive them for it. "For what?"

"You stopped me from doing something stupid. I think you saved my life."

He shook his head. "There's no need to thank me."

"So you're the famous Cho Sang-Woo, graduated SNU, pride of the neighborhood?" she asked.

"And you are the famous Y/N, with a gift for picking the fastest horses," he replied. The corner of her lips tugged upwards. There were worse things to be known as.

"Not the greatest gift or I wouldn't be here."

"What will you vote?" he asked suddenly. His fingers traced the edge of the sink, long, tapered fingers that had pulled her back and saved her.

She was scared of his judgment, of the heavy weight of his gaze, of disappointment pulling the lines of his mouth down. But she remembered meeting his eyes on that sandy field--they weren't a stranger's anymore. Maybe they were a friend's.

"I need that money," she admitted. "But I've still got a small bit of integrity left and I've got a weak stomach. That's why I bet on horses, not fights. I'll vote to stop the games."

He nodded and she got the sense that he wouldn't have been bothered if she voted to continue. She wondered if he wanted someone to talk him out of it, nobility, integrity, humanity. She knew he'd looked at the won the same way she had; a way out of all their problems. She could pay her mother back for all the times she helped her. She'd have no need to find a real job if she had that money. Even with her debts paid, it was enough to live on.

"What do you think the odds are? Will everyone vote to go... or to stay?" His gaze slid to her again. The line of his shoulders seemed to curl in, as if weighed down by the thought of the right thing.

"If I were a betting girl, and I am, I'd say it's 50/50. Some of us got by on luck but more than a few will have enjoyed it. I don't need to tell you the lure of the cash prize," she said. It was honest and must have been what he was searching for. "What are you going to vote?"

He gave her a look of confusion. He brought up the contract rules in the first place. But Y/N had seen the hunger in his eyes and it was something she understood--backed into a corner, nothing else to lose, it was appealing.

"I'm going to do the right thing."

"There's a right thing for everyone and a right thing for you personally," she said. "No judgment."

He paused, looking at her as if really seeing her for the first time. She'd seen the expression before on other gamblers. Sometimes, luck wasn't on their side but they'd keep tempting it, again and again until the loss was too great. It was a dangerous thing to be desperate. She knew that. It caused you to act in ways you normally wouldn't, ways you might regret. She knew the expression because she lived there, in that state. Some things outweighed morality or virtue, some things you needed to do.

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Voting happened in reverse numerical order so Y/N followed Sang-Woo. She tried not to observe how his hand hovered over the buttons before voting to continue playing. He moved to the other side of the line, casting a single look backwards at her.

She moved up to the board. The red and green buttons taunted her. She thought of Gi-Hun tripping, the other player grabbing his neckline. She thought of Sang-Woo's smooth skin and stiff mouth. The money meant something, there was no need to pretend otherwise, but there were good people here. People just as desperate as she was.

She'd been right. Up to this point, voting was evenly split. She pushed down the red button and watched the screen tick up in favor of stopping the game.

"I didn't know what you'd pick," said Sang-Woo as she moved to stand with him and Gi-Hun.

"You don't think Y/N would want to stay!" exclaimed Gi-Hun. "She can barely watch a horse throw a shoe."

Color crept up her collar. The last thing she wanted was for Sang-Woo to think her weak. "I told you what I'd vote," she said.

Sang-Woo nodded in concession but Y/N understood he'd seen through her. She believed she had him figured, thought she could see the push and pull going on within, but he was the one who'd unraveled her. She swallowed, once again feeling like an object he was determining the value of.