-
-
1 Year Later
Sunlight shined on my face which told me it was morning. I groaned and tried to rub my eyes, but it was held down by a weight. I look to see Sae-Byeok cuddled against my side, still sleep as my body was blocking the light from her eyes. She was so peaceful. It was hard to imagine that I almost lost her a year ago. My mind wanders back to the time in her brother's orphanage where I admitted I loved her. She said it back and it was the best day of my life. If I didn't have the weight of over 400 people's deaths on my back. Wow. Didn't have to ruin my own morning mood.
"What're you thinking about?" I hear Sae-Byeok say from beside me. I look back at her to see her awake and staring at me from her position with her head on my shoulder. "Nothing." I say. "Don't lie to me, Princess." She says. I sigh "you're thinking about the games. Aren't you" She asks. When I don't answer, she takes it as a yes and leans up to kiss my jaw. "There's nothing we can do." She mumbles against my skin. "We survived. We have to move on." She says, "I still have nightmares about it too, but I've learnt to move past it. Our brothers need us, I need you." She says, looking at me now. As if in cue, we hear yells. "Y/N! Sae-Byeok! Are you two up yet?" Cheol shouts. "Or are you two making out?" Y/B/N shouts. He learnt these terms from a kid called Alicia at school.
Sae-Byeok grumbles as I stand up. We lived together now. We used the money we got and got an apartment, split between us. It was modern and clean and if we didn't have the money, it would have taken us both years to save up. We freshen up and walk downstairs, hand in hand to see Cheol and Y/B/N at the table eating cereal. "Are you guys driving us today?" Cheol asks. Sae-Byeok shakes her head. "Sorry Cheol, Y/B/N. I got Jae-Su's mom to bring you guys. She'll be here in...." Sae-Byeok says, pulling her phone out. "3 minute." She finishes. The kids inhale their breakfast and speed to the door. "Okay. We're gonna go then. Bye Sis, Bye Prisa!" Cheol says. Sae-Byeok always calls me Princess. Cheol wanted to as well but Sae-Byeok wouldn't let him. So he settled on the nickname Prisa. (Which means princess for the people who've seen The 100.)
Once we were alone, Sae-Byeok and I pack up and went to the car. We were going to drive to Ssangmun-Dong to see Sang-Woo's mother and visit Gi-Hun's mother's grave. As we got to the car, I called Sang-Woo's mother. "Hello Y/N! I'm not at the stall today. I'm visiting family so you don't need to come by." She says. "Alright Ms Cho. Bye!" I say. I look at the car to see a card where police usually put a parking ticket. "What's that?" Sae-Byeok asks. I shrug and pick it up to see the horrible shapes on it. "What the...." I say before Sae-Byeok pulls it out of my hands. "December 24, 11:30pm, sky building, 7th floor. From your old teammate." Sae-Byeok read. We look at each other, silently agreeing to go before getting into the car with Sae-Byeok driving and speeding off.
We arrive at the building and look at it from below. "A year later and we're still sucked into the game." I mutter. Sae-Byeok was standing with me with our hands intertwined. She smirks and chuckles. "Stop putting it off." She says before pulling me to the doors. We enter and go to the 7th floor. The lift goes up and we stand there, waiting. "Who do you think it is?" I ask. Sae-Byeok thinks. "Probably some random guy. Who knows." She says. She's been hiding her grief and sadness with a fake plastered smile. I knew she was upset as I would hear her sniffling whenever we talk about Ji-Yeong or Gi-Hun. It got to her but she didn't want to show it.
The doors open and we step into an almost empty room. There was only a bed in the corner of the room at a corner window. As Sae-Byeok and I approach, I notice a familiar face. "W-What?" I say. "Could you pour some water?" He says. I do as he asks as Sae-Byeok sits down across from him. "Ill-Nam. How?" She asks. He then proceeds to explain how he survived. Or more like, why he made the games. "How could you do that?" I ask. "Let's make a bet. You see that man there?" He asks. We see a drunk man sitting on the side of the street. "If someone helps him before midnight, you win. If not, I win." He says. "How can you bet at a time like this?" Sae-Byeok asks. "How could you do that?" She asks again. She doesn't hide anymore. The built up anger and guilt bursting.
"How could you allow great, kind people like Ali or Gi-Hun to die?" She says, tears forming. "Ji-Yeong, Seo-Jun." She lists. "God, I even cried for you!" She shouts. "Did you not feel anything for them? No friendship?" She whispers. Ill-Nam shakes his head. "Do you know....what the difference is....between a poor person and a rich one?" He asks. I shake my head, waiting for an answer. "Life isn't happy for both of them." He answers. The poor....spend all they have to get rid of the feeling that they have nothing rather than work on it." He adds. "The rich....have so much money that they have no use for it. There is nothing left to do with it." He says. "So I created the games to give people....poor people.....people like who you two were....a chance." He says, his voice weaker. "A chance? One or two people at most get a chance. The other hundreds of people lost their life!" Sae-Byeok shouts.
"Seems like no one cares for that bastard." Ill-Nam says, looking at our bet man. "After you see that, do either of you have faith in humanity anymore?" He asks. "Yes. Ali died because he didn't want to kill Sang-Woo. Gi-Hun died because he felt as if we needed the money more. Ji-Yeong and Seo-Jun died because....they thought we deserved a life more than themselves." I finished. "I believe someone will come." I say, looking out the window. A while passes before I hear him speak. When he does, it's slow, weak and coarse. "When you leave, pay my respects to player 456's mother." He says, more time passes as Sae-Byeok shifts around. She goes from resting her eyes, to watching the bet man, to leaning on me or silently crying. Soon, I see someone come back for the man with a cop. She saves the man. "Did you see that!" I say, turning. "Please tell me you saw that." But the heart monitor was flat and Ill-Nam was gone. I stare at his body. This is his real death. Yet I felt sadder during the fake one.
Sae-Byeok stands and holds my hand. "Let's go." She says. I stare at his body more. The amount of tears I shed for him before. The amount of tears and guilt Gi-Hun had. If only Gi-Hun knew. If only we could tell him what really happened. Sae-Byeok tugs at my hand, I hear her sniffle which tells me that being with 001 was giving her memories, making her upset. "Y/N?" She asks. I nod and walk as we leave the body of 001 behind.
—————————
A/N: I feel like my writing for the alternate ending is a little messy. I will try to fix it up. Mostly because I want to write so much more than I did, but I set a word limit per chapter for myself as 1300 words (which I passed many times. Especially during the original ending)
Word Count: 1342
YOU ARE READING
Lucky Number 067 (Kang Sae-Byeok/You (Fem) )
FanfictionYou're deep in debt after spending almost all your money on your father's medical treatment....in which he died anyway. Now, in debt to your brother's school, your apartment's rent and a whole lot more, You turn to suspicious methods. Needing to sup...
