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

22

They found themselves in the white game room once again, its emptiness echoing the same ominosity as before. Mystery layered upon mystery; that is how this room works, then the speakers tell them that the game will be played in groups of two; the tension rises.

The group forms a circle, and there is this intense silence among the members, eyeing each other as if they're assessing their potential partner for the game. Strength, brains, or both in one person, anything it takes as long as they win; that is their strategy.

"What if it's a girl's game? You're going to want to team up with someone who's good at Elastics." Mi-nyeo was the first to offer, approaching Gi-Hun, though he hardly looked her in the eye.

"Or Cat's Cradle?" She adds. Sang-Woo just sighs.

"The game could be anything." He says. "And guys have a broader range of strengths. We can play Elastics, too."

"But, I'm good at everything except for everything I'm not." She says desperately. "What do you say?" She turns to every person in the team, though they all look downward, averting her gaze.

"Just stop that. You're embarrassing yourself." Sae-byeok says coldly. "No one's going to want to play with you."

Mi-nyeo opens her mouth to retort, but Sae-byeok beats her to it.

"No one will want to pair up with a girl." She says, string mostly at all the men in the group. "Or an old man. Am I right?" She gestures to the helpless 001 sitting by the corner. All the men looked down in shame because, well, it was true, anyway.

Sae-byeok sighs, standing up to leave.

"Where are you going?" Gi-Hun asks her. She just stops and stares at him coldly.

"Why? Do you want to partner up with me?"

Gi-Hun doesn't answer. She scoffs, walking away from the team. 240 stands up to follow her.

"Right." Mi-nyeo huffs. "Those girls have the right mind. And you--" She points to everyone else "can regret your decisions late once I beat your assess in this game." She scowls before leaving to desperately look for a partner in the crowd.

Hae Young turns to Sang-Woo with a scowl.

"Are you actually serious right now?" She hisses at him. "That was a dick move."

"Do you expect to win a battle of strength with a scrawny girl or an old man?" He says, though he sounded more realistic than cynical. Or maybe there was no clear difference between the two.

"To win these games, you're going to need a brain as much as you need brawns." She retorts. "And clearly, you're neither of those two.

"I was being realistic--"

"--You were being an asshole."

"Look, lady," 244 interrupts, to which Hae Young gives him a quick, sharp look. "You can preach all you want about equality, but as we already tried, inciting a feminist revolution wouldn't help you win."

Hae Young clicks her tongue, staring the man down with such ferocity and authority. She calms down and relaxes her tense shoulders.

"Clearly you missed the point here. You're overlooking qualities that will help you win just because you think some girl couldn't lift someone her own size." She turns back to Sang-woo. "I've seen her fight. Sae-byeok is nimble and quick on her feet."

"Then go ask her as your partner then." 244 spat. Hae Young glares at the men intensely.

"Alright," She says firmly. "Maybe I will."

"Wait, no--" Sang-woo stops her quickly, grabbing her wrists but quickly lets go as she glares at him too. He clears his throat.

"If you say the kid is good at what she's good at, then she can be of advantage to someone else." He tells her. "She doesn't need you."

"You're smart." Sang-woo adds. "And strong, Hae Young. You could lift a metal bar that he couldn't." He gestures to 244 behind him, who just scowls at the man's sudden betrayal.

"So play with me instead." Sang-Woo puts his hand out for her to shake. "Be my partner. We could win the game no matter what it is."

Hae Young stares down at the hand, seemingly contemplating whether she should take it or not, but the reality is that she had already made up her mind.

"You're only choosing me because I'm physically the strongest out of us three girls." She says. "And you know me through, and through." She looks at Sang-woo with his hand still raised, anticipating her to shake it. She frowns.

"But if I were any weaker, frailer, would you still have chosen me?"

Sang-woo just stares, unable to answer. Though that was more than enough for Hae Young. She scowls, slapping his arm away.

"You men can go fuck yourselves." She says before leaving.

Sang-Woo looks down, hiding his dejection. He turns to look at Gi-Hun though his arms were already linked with Ali's, and 244 and 276 have already made their pact in the split second he was negotiating with Hae Young. He sighs, looking around. This did not go as he had expected.

A/N:

Oh, look at that, we're getting there, but I decided to leave a little cliffhanger so you guys can really think about your theories. Is the suspense killing you yet? Also, more flashbacks to come, and I'm really pacing it out so the flashbacks and main plot has this flow that makes sense to the story. Anyway, that's all, I guess. Stay tuned for more updates? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯