Lucky Number 067 (Kang Sae-Byeok/You (Fem) )

-Chapter 5: Dalgona-

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We wake up to the annoying speaker lady again. "It is now time for breakfast. Please line up in the centre of the room" I feel a weight at the foot of my bed and see Sae-Byeok there. "Have you been watching me sleep?" I ask. She smirks and replies. "So what if I have?" She asks. I shrug. "I dunno." I say back, smiling. She chuckles and shakes her head. "Come on, breakfast time." She says, holding out her hand. I take it and allow her to pull me up from the bed before the one and only, 212 returns. "Hey, what did you see? Tell me now." She tries. "It's morning, you said you'd tell me." She continues as we walk down to breakfast. "You were in there for a while, so go on." She adds. We stop and Sae-Byeok turns around. "Masked guys with pots. They were melting a liquid there." She says. "What was it?" 212 asks. "I couldn't tell what." She answers. "We put on a whole show and saved your life and you couldn't tell?" She says. "I smelled it though." She adds. "What did it smell like?" 212 asks, interested again. "Sugar or something." Sae-Byeok answers. "Are you kidding me? You're saying they were melting sugar in there?" She says. "I think they were." Sae-Byeok answers. 212 sighs and looks her straight in the eye. "Girl, if you aren't telling me everything, I'll burn your eyes out with cigarettes." She threatens. I glare at her and she looks at me before backing off. "I guess I'm hungry. I'm craving something sweet." 212 says while leaving.

We stay there for a bit more before going for breakfast. We get handed milk and some kind of bread before getting ushered off. Sae-Byeok and I sat at the staircase, eating our food and watching people. I see 456's group eating together and sharing food. "You think we should join a team?" I suggest. Sae-Byeok eyes 456's group. "Maybe when we need to. For now, you and I, we're unstoppable." She notes.

Classical music plays and we all immediately stand up. "Attention players, the second game will begin shortly. Please follow staff instructions and make your way swiftly to the game hall." The announcing lady says. "I will repeat the instructions"

We file out, one by one to the game hall through the pastel coloured staircases. I hear someone speak to Sae-Byeok but I tune it out as we arrive. Soon, we arrive at a room which resembles a children's playground...except the slides and other things are much bigger. The speaker lady speaks up. "Players. Before the game begins, please choose one of four available shapes you see on the wall." I see a circle, a triangle, a star and an umbrella. "Once you have chosen, please stand in front of the shape."

I hear 456's group speak to each other. They talk about splitting up in case it was something bad in one. The others agree and 218, the guy who spoke to Sae-Byeok went to triangle. "Hey, what do you think we should do?" I ask her. She turns to me and smirks. "Triangle." She says. She drags me to the line, not explaining. After a few more seconds, there were four lines. One in front of each shape. The speaker crackles to life again. "The time to select a shape has ended. I will now explain the rules of the next game." The shapes open into doors as we see guards inside with trays of little metal tins. "Players, please take one case each from the trays in front of your line. Please take a moment to open the case and check the contents." I open my case to see a yellow circle with a triangle carved into it. Sae-Byeok had the same thing. "The second game is sugar honeycomb or Dalgona. The shape you have chosen is the shape you must remove from the honeycomb." It dawned on me what it meant and I immediately looked at 456, who had chosen the umbrella to see him staring at his case in fear. "The time limit is 10 minutes. You will pass if you are able to trim out your shape without breaking or cracking it within the time limit. With that, let the game begin." Sae-Byeok and I sit down near one of the playground equipment as we open the cases properly to take a look at it. She takes the needle and starts carving down one of the sides of the triangle. I do the same, trying to keep it light so I don't crack it majorly. Sae-byeok does it fast and cracks around it a lot.

A few minutes in, I hear someone begging. I look up from my spot to see a guy on top of the slide begging a guard. He must have cracked his because the guard lifts his gun and shoots him in the middle of his forehead, making him jerk back and slide down the slide. Dead. He leaves a trail of blood going down the slide. After that, a woman starts panicking and also gets shot. The sounds seem to make people jerk and break their shapes because around 7 people get shot. I close my eyes at the sight and sound. I hated this. I hate every moment of this. Y/B/N. You're doing this for him. I remind myself as I feel someone hold my hand. I open my eyes and look to see Sae-Byeok looking at me worriedly. "You're okay." she says. I nod and take a deep breath, looking at my own shape. I had one side left. It takes a while for me because, knowing me and my shaky hands, if I didn't I would crack it. Hear a ding and the speaker speaks. "Player 111, pass" I see a guy with glasses stand and walk out of the room with guards. I look at Sae-Byeok's shape to see it is already done and out. "You're done. You can go." I say, looking at her. She shakes her head. "No. I'm waiting for you." She replies. I nod and continue working on the shape. She stays by me the whole time. Once I finished, she pulled me to stand with her and we both showed our shapes to the guard near us. "Player 307 pass. Player 067 pass"

As we walk back, I nudge her with my arm. "You didn't have to wait for me. What if I didn't finish in time?" I ask. She looks at me. "Then I'd wait until the last second...." She replies before turning away as we arrive back at the bunk room. We sit there, waiting as we slowly see people file in. We talk about everything and nothing. She tells me about her brother, Cheol and I tell her about Y/B/N. "We were from the north..." She says "We defected, hoping to start a better life here. But our parents aren't here." She says. I look at her with concern. "Where are they?" I ask. She leans her head on my shoulder, making butterflies erupt in my stomach. "My father....he died on the way. Shot and drowned." She says. I take her hand in mine and use my thumb to rub the back of her hand. "My mother got found out when she escaped to China. She got sent back." She finishes. We stay silent for a little bit before she speaks up. "What about you?" She asks. I sigh, making her look up at me. "You don't have to. I know we've only met each other a few days ago." She adds. I shake my head. "No, it's fine. My mother died when my brother was little. She was mixed up with some thugs like 101 to get money. My father was sick and all the money we earned went to his treatment..." I say. "He died from it 2 years ago." I finished. We stayed silent for a while before everyone finally finished the game and arrived back.

"Attention players. I will now announce the results of the second game. Out of 187 players, 79 players were eliminated." We all look at the board as the number of players go down and the money goes up. "The prize money accumulated this round is 7.9 billion dollars. Bringing the total money accumulated overall to 34.8 billion dollars."

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Word Count: 1400