Chapter Text
95
95 is the number that would haunt her forever when she -hopefully- gets out of these cruel games.
Youngmi was walking around the large room looking for 5 people
5 is all that she needed and yet
She couldn’t find anyone
Youngmi walked around the room to find a group that seemed nice enough to get through the games with.
She sees 3 men, 287, 173 and 416, and one girl, 411. They seem… nice? They don’t look threatening and seem to be open to letting girls join their team, so it’s worth a shot.
“Hello, I was wondering if I could-“ before she could even finish her sentence before someone interrupts.
“ We don’t need another woman on our team, “ 416 said while he flashed a glare at 411, who clearly seemed to be annoyed by the clear misogyny. “She’s only here because of the chance we play some girl games. “
The girl snaps back full force.
“Well, maybe if you learned some ‘ girl games ‘ “ 416 flared her hands up and did air quotes, “ You wouldn’t need me, huh? “
Others started chiming in.
“Well, maybe if he did, what would you do then, huh? Have no group whatsoever because your whore ass- “
Nope. That’s all she needed to hear.
That team is a self-destructing bomb that the next game is going to light, leading to their eventual demise if they don’t get along.
Youngmi slowly backed out of the argument that the four were having and wandered aimlessly for her next group while feeling guilty about leaving the poor girl to fight on her own against those men.
Another go, she was getting desperate at this point, with 2:40 seconds on the clock
Group of 4! Perfect. She walks up to them with a reminder to herself to leave a good first impression.
“Hello, I’d like to join your guys team… if that‘s ok? “She can feel herself cringing from the unnecessary last statement.
An older woman, 91, looked at her with pity as she turned around to reveal the previously covered short girl, 65.
“We already have 5, we’re sorry, “ a man, 327, stated with less pity than the older woman, but still pity nonetheless.
“Oh, it's alright, I’ll just look for another group, thank you though!” She turns around and makes a second glance at the old woman before heading the other direction.
She’s been walking aimlessly before she spots her.
In the corner of her eye, she sees her.
120, The fearless woman with barely visible earrings underneath a shoulder-length black bob who helped the man who was injured during red light green light with 456.
She couldn’t help but stare; all her mind could think about was how she thought it was crazy that no one decided that the girl who decided to help the wounded man, even in the last 10 seconds of the game, wasn’t chosen.
Well it wasn’t that crazy.
Bigotry, or more specifically, transphobia. Youngmi is almost certain that’s how a brave, wonderful woman like that got rejected probably more times than she did.
Maybe she’ll team up with her? She’d like to say she’s good with the childhood games they played in their hometown. But in reality, she never really played many games other than a few growing up.
It's worth a shot, though. With hesitation, Youngmi walks over, avoiding the groups of people until she was in front of her and stares for only a second before making her offer, “Do you think… we could make a team? “ she said with a newfound confidence, even when she blanked after the first few words
120 stands there with a mixture of confusion and surprise on her face for only a second before responding
“ I’d love to! Let’s go find some others and then we’d be able to introduce ourselves, no? “ 120 said with a bright smile.
She’d love that.
Miraculously, after walking around for only 26 seconds, 2 people approached them. The shorter one, an old lady with a pin in her white hair to make it stay up in a bun with the numbers 149 plastered on her tracksuit, stood in a somewhat worried manner as she mumbled something to the taller of the two. The taller one, 007, had curly upright hair with round glasses, a mustache and neck beard combo, who stood in a more cowardly manner while reassuring the other.
Then he spoke.
“Do you two think my Ma can join your team? “ 007 said with uncertainty.
They didn’t even have to glance at each other before they knew their answer
“Of course you can, me and… “
“ Youngmi, “ she interjects.
A quick smile of appreciation was given before continuing. “Youngmi and me would love to have you join us! But we do need one more person.“
And for the first time, the old woman speaks up. “Well, I bet we’ll find someone in no time, yeah? “ Everyone quickly agrees before going off to find someone by themselves.
Time was going down fast. Too fast.
Most people had already found their groups and were just waiting around in their respective groups until the timer struck zero.
30 seconds was displayed on the enormous timer that had been placed 15 feet above the ground, right over the vibrant painted rainbows and clouds
She was shaking. She put her hands further into her sleeves to make some sort of stress toy out of them. But then a reassuring hand was pressed into her shoulder.
“Don’t worry Youngmi, we’ll find someone eventually. “ 120 said with a reassuring tone and warm smile as if she’d known her for her whole life.
“Thank you…” she stopped mid-sentence. It felt awkward to call someone by a number on their jacket, especially if that person had already been so nice to her. So she decides on the next best option.
“ Unnie, “ she said cautiously to figure out if she was right about her suspicions about the taller girl being older.
She gave an even warmer smile than 120 did. 120 could only replicate with a bigger smile.
“Hey, I see someone over there. He looks alone. “ 007 gasped out in joy while pointing his finger over there to a man by himself facing the wall. He started tugging his mother into a one-armed hug for what seemed to be relief of finding a new person.
And so, they practically sprint over there, not wanting to waste any more precious time.
All behind him, they loomed over his blueish-green tracksuit, hoping that they would find their last partner.
120 walks closer to initiate the conversation
.
“Hello, sir! “
No response.
She tried again, with lightly tapping her hand on his shoulder, hoping to gather his attention
“ Hello, sir? “
This time, he turned around in a bubbly, jumpy manner. Automatically saying hello.
238
238 was the only thing she could process before her mind was a whirlpool of emotions.
Her brother.
Her brother was here with her in these death games, where if they lost, they got shot.
Her older brother could’ve been shot. Last round.
Seowan could be shot in the next hour.
Emotions in youngmi’s mind were going haywire while she just stood there blank-faced. God, he’s going to have to endure this, too? How? She was there when he got sent to the mental hospital. She was there for the delusions and… she can’t even think properly right now. If her hands were shaking badly before, then this is a whole new storm; her hands are shaking like a car engine, and she’s sweating bullets down her palms.
When Youngmi dares to look him in the face, He shares the same sentiment.
Eyes blank, a once bubbly jump while turning around layed still on the ground as he analyzed her. Seowan looks like he had got the life taken away from him. He’s slacked jawed as he looks at Youngmi.
Everyone was looking at them. Well, everyone in their team, nobody else has even seemed to notice the stare-off that they're having currently.
“ Youngmi..?” A quiet, almost hushed voice came out of the older of the two like he wasn’t supposed to talk right now. He was in shock from the sight of his sister being in the games with him, too.
“Oppa..” is all Youngmi had to say before a warm embrace of a hug smothered her.
“What are you doing here? “ Seowan asked, clearly starting to tear up from the interaction.
“ I could say the same for you, “ she said with a tremble in her voice as she hugged tighter.
If Seowan was already starting to tear up, then Youngmi was already in the process of crying with the way her eyes glossed over with tears as she hugged him.
She looked down to see the big X on his jacket, relieved was the only word she could call what she felt right now. Knowing that her brother also wanted to leave this god forsaken place.
Behind them, the other watched in confusion before 007 spoke up once more.
“Do you too… know each other? “
“ Of course they do! “ the mom interrupted, then sighed, “ ignore my stupid son, what are you two?” Pointing between the two as the warm embrace continued, “Dating? “ she said with a cheeky voice.
Both of them slowly ended the long-needed hug after that repulsive thought came into mind.
“No, this is my younger sister, Youngmi! And I’m Seowan, her older brother! “
Oh’s were made across the group before 007 continued is unfinished thoughts.
“So will you join us then? “ he glanced at the clock that showed 5 seconds left. Huh, we really were lucky.
“Of course! “ he practically yelled while pulling her in for a more side hug this time before the timer stopped and rang out.
6-legged pentathlon, huh? Youngmi wasn’t expecting this.
It was obvious that it was a team game from the start, no doubt. She just thought it wasn’t going to be like... together, no? A full-on collaboration where all the teams had to compete against each other. I guess not, she thinks as the rules are explained.
Ddakji, Flying Stone, Gong-gi, Spinning Top, and Jegi. Those were all the games in order. She was worried. The one she’s best at was definitely Ddakji, with her not playing or very rarely playing the other games besides spinning top, which both of her brothers were into, which sometimes got her to play that too.
They were instructed to sit down in the order they were playing in from left to right.
After the pause of silence, Seowan decided to speak first.
“ Oh, well, if spinning top is one of the opinions, I’ll beat it first try! I used to play it all the time when I was younger. If that’s alright with you all! “
Everyone nods in agreement
“ I can do Ddakji. I only had to play a couple of times before I won against the salesman, “ she said with an unfamiliar confidence.
“ I’ll play gong-gi, “ 149 said, “ I used to play gong-gi with bullets during the war, so I’ll be just fine. “
“ I’ll play Jegi. If that’s alright with you, 007 “
“Yeah, that’s good with me,” 007 said before continuing, “ and my name is Yongsik. What’s yours? “
“ I’m Hyunju, and can I ask for your name?” She turns her head to 149
“My name is Geumja, “ she said with a big smile as they started sitting down.
The order was me, Yongsik, Geumja, Seowan, and Hyunju. Youngmi thought as she tried to get herself comfortable by sitting criss-crossed.
While waiting, she remembered a simpler time.
Around 17 years ago, she can remember vividly how she’d play with her brothers.
The sun was blazing its heat in the vacant neighborhood. Cheap houses worn down by time and gravel roads that went on and on.
“Shibal! “ he screamed. “Why the hell is Ddakji so hard! “ an 11-year-old Namgyu yelled out while grabbing the folded tiles hastily as he threw his hands up to try again, before Seowan stopped him.
“You can’t throw twice in a row, you know this.“ an 11-year-old Seowan said as he refereed the game her and Namgyu were having.
Namgyu grunts as he hands the folded papers to her.
“Thank you!”
“ Whatever. “
She raised her right hand and looked closely at the blue paper to get her aim right. When she got it angled correctly, she threw it down full force.
POW!
As the red paper landed on its other side, Namgyu groaned while Seowan cheered and clapped for the victory.
She’d won.
The first two teams are up.
The group on the right side of the room, she can’t see well, but the right one she can see just fine.
That’s when she realizes who they were
It was the first group that Youngmi had walked up to. 287, 173, 416, 411 and new member 444.
Youngmi watched as their ankles got chained together with shackles right after they got into position.
Youngmi glanced over to Seowan. Who seems to be staring up at the painted sky. He’s scared; he’s always done this. When their parents would argue or when he couldn’t find the right answer to an assignment, He’d zone out and think.
She wonders what he thinks about half of the time, especially with the delusions.
Youngmi has a lot of questions about why seowan here. From what she remembers, he was still in the psychiatric ward. Did they release him without letting her know? It seems plausible sense given what she remembers, the only ones who would get notified of it were the parents. It was stupid that the siblings of the patient wouldn’t get informed, but there’s not much she can do about that right now, she supposes.
A gunshot rings through her ears and pierces her thoughts.
She almost instinctively snaps her head to the groups to see if they’ve somehow already been shot in the first few seconds
They’re moving.
Well, moving in frantic disorder as they all try to tug the left leg while someone else is going their right, making their walk all messy with the jangling of the excess scuffs hitting the ground with every move.
They had made it to Ddakji. Even with their past struggles with walking, the man playing it only took 2 attempts before completing it.
And they go again. It’s a little less messy this time. With them seeming to be more coordinated, and so they reach flying stone.
He brings his arm into an underthrow.
Miss.
They go to pick up the stranded stone with 2:20 seconds left. It took a painfully long time. For them to get there to pick it up and then go backwards.
God, how were they going to survive this?
Once their back, he throws overhand this time.
Miss.
Youngmi looks at Yongsik. He seems tense. Probably knowing how much valuable time would be lost if he missed even one throw.
She looks back. They’re on their way to going back behind the line.
He throws underhand again.
He hits it! This is great! They’ll be able to go to the next game. Youngmi’s hopes were shot rapidly after the guard made their hands into a big X, before pointing down.
What was he pointing at? Youngmi couldn’t see it well, even though her team was the closest to the rainbow circle when they started. They’re on her right now and she can’t see what they’re pointing at due to the vast amount of heads blocking her view.
All that she knew was that they were going back to picking up the stone again.
A loud buzz brings them to a halt. She hears pleading and people trying to run out of the chains that bind them before the gunshots ring out through the room.
Youngmi can’t help but revolt. To look at her teammates for reassurance or- anything really. The reactions vary from covering ears or looking down to holding on to someone.
She can’t help but focus on her brother.
The way he curled up into a ball, covering his ears and looking down. His face is scrunched up with his nose downwards as he tries to calm himself.
“Hey, hey, it will be ok, we’ll get through this.” She speaks up. Hoping to calm him ( and herself ) down.
“Yeah..” maybe she didn’t realize before, but Youngmi can hear sniffling being somewhat calmed down as he looks up at her. Seowan rubs his hand over his nose, then he goes to rub his eyes to conceal the crying. “We’ll make it through… yeah?” It pains her so much to see him like this.
“Yeah. “Youngmi says.
“Yeah, “Seonwan repeats. He cracks an unsure smile before they announce having to wait before the next groups begin as they clean up the bodies.
They were now getting escorted to the rainbow circle by the Guards.
Youngmi could feel her heartbeat getting faster by the minute as they put on the scuffs.
She’s seen the first groups. Everyone had seen the first groups. How none of them survived. Messing up more than twice overall would kill you and your peers.
It was frightening. What if she was the reason for not only random great people, but for her brother, who had been here all her life? The brother who was closest to her? How could she live with that in her last moments, knowing it could all be prevented if she just won her game or.. If anyone else lost. She had to convince the O’s to leave, somehow, someway. Will they take pity on the people with families? Or will their greed overcome them? They have families, too, no?
She can’t focus on that now, not that she can really focus on anything. She looks over at Seowan, and he’s already looking at her. She isn’t as confident right now as she was before hand when she was reassuring him. He gives her a smile before looking forward.
As the guards prepare the next team, she can see Hyunju tie her hair up with a hair tie that wasn’t visible til now. “We need to walk in unison. Let’s all say one, two. One means to move the left foot. Two means move the right foot. “Hyunju says. Everyone nods their heads rapidly.
A speaker announces once the other team is ready. “The next 2 teams shall begin in
3
2
1
A gunshot can be heard, and before Youngmi can even process it, their moving on instinct. “One! “ left foot. “Two!” Right foot. The rhythm of the words being yelled out by her teammates sticks in her mind, as it’s the only hope of survival
As she’s walking, she can see the Ddakji table on her left. It’s only a couple more steps before they get to the first stop. She wastes no time when she practically throws the folded red paper on the ground before raising her arm to throw the folded blue paper. She can hear one of her teammates, she can’t distinguish who, tell her to hit it hard. And so she did. To prevail.
“ Fail! “ a loud announcer stated before she picked up the folded paper and threw it with even greater force. “ Fail! “ she hears again.
She’s shaking. God. It feels like she can only control the upper half of her body as she goes in for another hit before a piercing voice comes.
“ Hey, Youngmi! Used to play this game a lot. Hit it with the other side, “Hyunju says with a stern tone. How was she so calm? Did she have that much faith in the team that she could stay calm? Youngmi hesitates before switching the sides. She raises her hand to hit again, as hard and accurately as she could. There’s a loud thwack on the ground before she sees the folded red paper turn to its back. “ Pass! “ she spares a glance at her team, cheering before they start matching to the next game.
Flying stone. She can only watch now. God, is this what they call pessimism? She wants to believe in her teammates, but the overwhelming looming of death is stopping and consuming her. Think positive. We can do this. It was the only thing Youngmi could think about as the stone was being passed to Youngsik by the guard. He had her full attention now that he had the stone. He bent down a little, getting the aim right, before throwing underhand. “ Fail! “The stone landed a little more to the right and farther than the target.
“ It’s fine, we still have time, everyone!
“Hyunju yells out. That’s right. We still have time. He could still win it. We could still win it! It wasn’t a challenge as much as the first time. He grabbed the stone until something dawned on her, that, quite frankly, she should’ve realized sooner. They’re walking backwards. Walking forward didn’t seem so hard after doing it in reverse. “One, two! One, two!” Everyone repeated those two words before they got back to the lines. She could hear him mumbling something before His mother, Guemja, speaks up.
“Imagine that’s the face of the crook who took all your money away! “She speaks in a shaky voice as she points over to the stone. “That asshole… he took all my money! “Youngsik yells as he throws a rage-filled overhand. It’s impressive and somewhat scary that he was able to channel all his anger into one throw, but it has us keep going so she can’t really complain.
They head to Gong-gi next. She worries about this one the most due to its difficulty. She’s placing trust that what the mom said was true, though, about the bullets and how she used to play gong-gi with them during war times. She sits down with the others as everyone watches.
Guemja messes up once in the 1st round. Yongsik reminds her about the bullets. Hell, she plays like the speed a bullet would be fired out of the guns they used in the war. She’s fast, like super fast, holy Youngmi thought as she watched Guamja speed through the first levels of gong-gi with ease.
It’s only until she has to balance all the stones in her hand. She actually has true hope for this round, as it was proven to her that her team-friends were great at these games.
“Ma, just remember the mistress that dad was cheating on you with? Ma, just imagine those stones are her face. “That had seemed to get something through her because in the next second she yelled, “ That rotten bitch! “ right before she landed the stones on the back of her hand. She looks up. “Pass! “ Rage seething through the pressure of death. Scary.. she helps up Yongsik while the crowds cheer them on.
The spinning top was next. Youngmi had the most confidence in this one. Mainly because her brother was playing. She hates to say that she didn’t really have as much confidence in the mother and son duo as she hoped… but that’s only because she’s never seen them play flying stone or gonggi. But with Seowan, she’s seen him play spinning top all the time with Namgyu. She’s confident that he’ll win.
He takes the spinning top slowly. Wrap it around without messing it up. With it prepped, all he needs to do now is throw. And he does. “Fail! “It’s fine. The top wasn’t so far away. We’ve done this before. Going to retrieve something before going backwards. We can do it. So they do. “One, two! One, two!” Everyone repeated those two words before they got to the top and went back in the same fashion. “One, two! One, two!”
His hands are shaking this time as he wraps up the top. And when he’s just about to get it all wound up, his hands fumble so badly it makes the whole thing disassemble. He tries again. This time, he almost drops it while wrapping it. She can hear him curse under his breath while he wraps it up for the third time. He’s done it. Now all he has to do is throw it.
But… he doesn’t. He’s standing there, not even trying to seem like he’s getting ready to throw. She can see his eyes glossing up. She should’ve seen this sooner. He freezes up in tight situations, so with death looming over him… she needs him to snap out of it.
“Hey, we can’t zone out right now, please oppa snap out of it! “She begs. He faces her. A newfound determination can be found on his face as he goes to throw. When he pulls his arms back and gets in a throwing position, he launches it across the rainbow concrete. It lands. It spins. “ Pass! “ he’s done it. She lets out a yelp of joy before they start moving again.
Jegi is the last one. They have exactly 50. Seconds left. Hyunju couldn’t mess up once.
“Could everyone look away while I do this? “She automatically whipped her head to the other direction the second the sentence was finished. She could hear Geumja yell to everyone watching to do it too. She decided to close her eyes when she heard the jegi getting kicked. This was it. The factor that determines if they live or not.
1 kick
2 kick
3 kick
4 kick
5 kick, followed by the yell of “ Pass! “
Cheers from both the group and watchers escaped as they heard the final kick. Time slowed down. They were going to make it. Not yet. They still need to pass the line. One. Two. One two. One.. two. The final step before reaching the line. 5 seconds remaining. They passed. It was euphoric. It terminated all the stress that was residing in her for the last 5 minutes. The buzzer yelled out that the five minutes were over. They made it across the yellow line. Hope. Hope for our team. Hope for everyone else in the room that they could make it too.
Gunshots had rung out, all that hope. The other team didn’t make it. A grim reminder of how there was still a chance of losing your life here.
Once the shackles were off. She went to Seowan immediately. “ Youngmi! We won! We did it! We did such an amazing job! “Seowan yelled out. He put his hands in the air and did some form of jazz hands before pulling her in a tight hug that she immediately embraced.
They glanced over to see that they were trying to get escorted by the guards into the main room.
“Let’s continue the hug once we get outta here, yeah? “Seowan said while letting go.
“Yeah!” She said as they rushed out of the room.
Back at the dormitory, they were the only ones there for a good while. They went to find beds that ‘ looked nice ‘ via Seowan’s suggestion.
“So we’re all voting X tomorrow, right? “ Youngmi exclaimed as they started sitting down in a corner area.
“Of course, “ Geumja said while glaring at her son’s O patch. “And you, “ she pointed at the O on Youngsik’s tracksuit. “Better choose X, or so help me. “
“Ma, I won’t do it again. I’m sorry.. It’s just that I had a lot of debt to “and Youngsik gets cut off before he could continue. “ Shut up! With our money combined from the first game, I bet we could’ve paid off all those crooks. I don’t wanna hear it! “
She can’t help but crack a smile as she looked at Seowan, who was doing the same. She looked at Hyunju to see her not engaged at all. Very silent.
“ Hyunju, are you ok? “ she looks up to meet her face to face. “Yeah, I'm just thinking of what will happen when we get out… “Hyunju said it with a sigh.
“Oh, I get it when I “Seowan blurted out before realizing he tapped something. “Oh, sorry, I- “ before she could speak up, Hyunju was already on it. “Don’t worry, you can continue. “ He looks a little confused before continuing. Maybe “Oh, that you! “A warm smile was given before continuing. “ I don’t know what I’m gonna do when I get out… with all this stress, I might start... “ he cuts himself off before going completely silent, staring at the floor. Everyone looks confused, except Youngmi. She already knows what he’s talking about.
“ I… don’t want to.. talk about it anymore… sorry, “ he said once he realized all eyes were on him.
“Is it about why you got here? “Youngsik asked. “If it is, I understand… I mean, it’s pretty embarrassing to admit that you got scammed…or something else. “ Yongsik clearly was uncomfortable with the memory that resurfaced when saying that.
“It’s not that I wasn’t scammed, it was just! “A pause was given to see if he wanted to tell the people he had just met his past. “ I need to study more, you know! It’s for an upcoming test next year.. I’ve failed four times and...” he trails off.
“ four? Geez, what test do they have you kids taking these days to make it into four…” Geumja says as she scoots over herself and Yongsik to make them all sit in a circle to face each other.
“Ah, yes, a very hard one indeed. It’s a top-level college. They only allow people who score 100% you know. “Seowan says. He almost animatedly uses his hands and arms to express himself.
“Well, you must be really smart then,” Hyunju mentions.
“ not smart enough…” Seowan replies swiftly.
“Hey, don’t say that. If I remember last year, you got only 2 questions out of 100 wrong! “ Youngmi counters with an upbeat attitude. She can’t believe the unbelievable high standards that her brother puts on himself. Even after having a mental breakdown in the process of trying to get it that collage, he still blames himself. She can’t stand it.
He only nods in agreement before the conversation shifts to a lighter topic of Guemja having to take care of Yongsik.
All of them were talking now. By now, every survivor from the last game was in the room, now waiting for the vote.
“ Hey, Youngmi? “Seowan turns to her body, completely stretched over the top stairs. “ You think we can walk around for a minute or two? Catch up, or I don’t know… just talk? My legs hurt from sitting down for so long. “ It’s always been baffling to Youngmi how he could sit down for long periods of time, or not be able to sit down at all until he got yelled at by someone else. She can only guess it’s the nerves of being stuck in a place like this.
“We’re going to walk around a little if that’s alright with you all. “ Youngmi stands up to also stretch. Seowan does the same as he pops his neck and knuckles. You’d think popping knuckles would be intimidating, like how the bad guys in movies pop all their fingers at once before they beat up someone mercilessly, but no. All Youngmi can see is a 27-year-old popping all his fingers individually before pulling them again to make sure they’re popped.
The group gave their OKs and see you later's before they headed off walking. Not many other people were walking like Youngmi would think they would. She could understand some. Most people in here were probably malnourished outside of the games, but she didn’t expect no one to be walking.
That doesn't matter though, Youngmi has many questions to ask her brother.
They were somewhat near the door they came in from. She can see another man, though, was he walking towards us? Youngmi didn’t want to think about it, but it creeped her out a little.
“ Wizards are the best role to pick in Lost Valhalla because- “ Seowan stops completely. His face has washed over with worry and confusion. What is he looking at? Youngmi gives her older brother a turn to the head, clearly confused about what’s going on. All he did was point behind her. Youngmi turns around hesitantly.
The man. The man she had seen earlier was behind them now. Around 6 feet away. But she can tell who it was now.
Namgyu.
124
As Namgyu started walking closer, all Youngmi could think was that both of her brothers were here. All of them, Youngmi, Seowan, and Namgyu, were in a death game together. She looks down to see an O patch on Namgyu’s tracksuit.
“ What the hell are you two doing here? “