Killer Addiction - (Squid Game)

Chapter 25 - The Cost

(A/N: Before the chapter starts, I'd just like to take a moment to thank everyone who has come this far, and for all the reads, follows and love this story has recieved. Truly, from the bottom of my heart, I love ya'll.)

...

Dae-eun looked at the card in her hand as she walked, her eyes scanning the details.
454 people died for two pieces of laminated plastic...
Such a waste.

Pocketing it, she turned the corner, looking up at the neon sign of her grandfather's shop.
I never thought I'd see this place again...
White hair turning grey in the downpour, she entered the shop, the bell tinkling pitifully against the roar of falling water.

Her clothing dripped as she walked over the tiled floor, passing into the back and ascending the stairs.
She came to the door of the apartment, hearing shuffling footsteps inside.
Checking her pockets, she found everything was present, except for her keys.

Of course.
Of course the only thing missing is my damn keys.
Fuck.

The girl raised her hand to the door, making a fist, she knocked twice.
"Just a moment..." she heard the old voice behind the door.
There was the sound of the door unlocking and the chain being removed.

Finally... the door was pulled open tentatively, by a man who had significantly diminished since she had last seen him.
His hair had receded further, his wrinkles deepened, and his eyes carrying deep bags and red with recent tears.
"My ingredients are not due for another..." His breath hitched in his throat when he saw who it was. "Dae-eun? Is that you, girl?"

The girl with white hair didn't respond.
Instead, she approached her grandfather, head hung low, and rested her face on his shoulder.
She began to cry quietly. "I'm sorry." She sobbed. "I'm so...so sorry, grandpa..."

Her grandfather paused for a moment before she felt his arms encircle her back.
He said nothing, instead letting her cry on his shoulder in the doorway.
"Are you...mad at me?" Dae-eun asked. "You're not-not saying anything...I feel like you're mad at me."

Her grandfather still didn't respond, only tightening his hug.
"Say something, anything. Shout at me...tell me how stupid I am...tell me I shouldn't have gone. Tell me it wasn't worth it."
"What wasn't worth what?" He finally spoke, confused.

Dae-eun broke away, drawing out the gold card and holding it towards him.
"This." She sniffed. "This is why I left. To find a way to repay you, to make it right."
Her grandfather took the card.

Well- tried to.
Dae-eun's fingers tightened on the gold plastic. "I did it for you. So you could see how grateful I am. How much you mean to me. But now I-I don't think it was worth it."
Her grandfather paused, "What have you done, silly girl?"

"My hands are bloody, my hair is white, there's people dead because of me. I made so many sacrifices so I could be here, now, with the money that they gave me for winning a fucking children's game!" She shouted, the tears in her eyes burst anew.
Her grandfather looked at the card for a moment, unfazed by her shouting.

"This is blood money, Dae-eun? This is money earned from death? Deaths you knowingly took part in, so you could get this money?" He asked.
Dae-eun dropped her head, nodding once, tears now dripping to the floor.
Her grandfather took the card away from her.

"And you say you risked your own life to get this, for me?"
The white haired girl nodded again, afraid if she spoke she would sound weak and childish, with a cracked voice.
"And you regret what you have done? If you could take it back, you would?"

"...yes." She managed to spit out. "In a heartbeat..."
Her grandfather was silent a moment more before putting a hand on Dae-eun's shoulder.
She looked up to see him holding the card towards her.

"I don't need this to know how much you care for me." He said.
He put the card back in the girl's pocket, patting it twice.
Dae-eun looked up, confused. "No- no. I got this for you, I did everything I did- for you!" She said, trying to give it back.

Her grandfather seized her wrist.
"The only thing I needed when I took you in, was your company, your help, and your love. Nothing more or less." He said.
He hugged her again.

"Knowing that you're safe now is all I need, my girl."
Dae-eun hugged him back as she felt the rumble of a content chuckle from him.
Her tears came from a place of joy, now.

She took solace that she was safe, that she had a second chance after the Hell she'd just escaped.
And that she was truly...

Home.