EGOIST (Sang Woo x Fem!OC) [COMPLETED]

20

Sang-woo wakes up, alert and confused when the first thing he realizes is that he had fallen asleep. Panic sets in until he realizes that the rest of his team were huddled together eating the first meal of the day. He looks down on the jacket he used as a pillow in confusion, turning it to see the patch on its chest. 099.

He walks to them in reluctance, climbing down the platforms as each and every person greets him, Mi-nyeo most especially.

"You were deep in sleep weren't you." Gi-hun greets him, eating his ration of boiled egg for the day. Sang-woo acknowledges him with a tight-lipped smile before walking down to Hae Young. He hands her her jacket.

"Thanks." He murmurs, which she took with a nod.

"Here." She says, handing him a bottle of water and a boiled egg saved just for him. "I took your ration for you while you were asleep."

He takes it, murmuring another thanks. The meal is then silent, everyone finishes off the rest of their ration in the comfortable silence of the morning before the alarm buzzes to start their day. The doors open. Pink soldiers return to the room, waking all the rest of the sleeping players.

"What's happening?" Gi-Hun asks in confusion. "Are we playing already?"

They all see a pink guard approaching their barricade, pulling it apart beam by beam as they walk past the group. Hastily, they approach the sleeping 001. "Wake up." He orders, though 001 remains senile and slow. He does not get up from his bed.

"I said wake up!" He orders. Hae Young immediately runs up to them. They pull off his sheets from his body, revealing a shivering 001 with a wet spot on his pants and bed. 001 looks down in shame.

"Get up, I said." The guard repeats, now threatening him with a gun. In panic, Hae Young sets herself between them.

"I-I'll help him up." She stammers. "It's fine, he will get up. Just be patient with him." She reasons, and the pink guard seems to follow through as he puts his gun down with reluctance.

"Come on, sir. We have to play again today." She says, turning to help him up.

"Today?" He asks.

"Yes sir."

She finally gets him to stand up, with the pink guard finally leaving them alone. Hae Young helps him down the platform steps, the rest of the players moving to the front of the rooms just as they were ordered. To her surprise, Sae-byeok stayed behind and waited for the two.

"Here." Sae-byeok says coldly, who was now stripped off of her jacket. She hands it to Hae Young with a straight face. "Wrap it around his waist." She says.

"But--"

"Just do it." Sae-byeok presses, though her tone remains devoid of any emotion.

Hae Young gladly takes the jacket, wrapping it around 001's waist and hiding the wet spot. He gives her a grateful smile in return. "Thank you." he says, and she just nods at him as they proceed to the rest of the team.

**********

The soldiers inspected them one by one, walking down each line menacingly. Strange stares with questionable motives. They wonder if they were checking for a weapon or anything they'd sneak past their radar. Though, when they were cleared, they were led back to the winding corridor with Strauss still echoing through the walls. Although this time, something had stopped them from continuing further. Hae Young nearly gagged.

111, who most people now realized had been missing the whole time, hung from the ceiling of the winding corridor along with four other pink guards. Arms and neck hung by a rope that seemingly stretched their bodies uncomfortably. But they couldn't feel the discomfort any longer. All those men hung up there dead. It was like a scene straight out from a horror movie that made Hae Young's stomach tumble and her eyes grow wide. No one was mentally prepared for the extremity of the sight. Behind her, she hears Sae-byeok gasp in fear. Her and Hae Young exchange horrified looks.

"You are witnessing the fates of those who broke the rules of this world for their own benefit." The announcer blares over the classical music.

"And furthermore tainted the pure ideology of this world. Here you are all equal, with equal opportunity and no discrimination. We promise to prevent such misfortune from happening again. We truly apologize for this tragedy."

The announcer fades as the music grows louder, everything about this place grows even more sinister.

A/N: Yes, this is just a filler chapter for the sake of pacing out the chapters and giving you more updates. But now that we're approaching *that* episode, I wanna hear your thoughts and theories. Hint: partners will be changed! Can you guess who gets paired with who?