𝕴 𝕷𝖔𝖛𝖊 𝖄𝖔𝖚 𝕾𝖔 (𝕾𝖆𝖊-𝖇𝖞𝖊𝖔𝖐 𝖝 𝕱𝖊𝖒!𝕽𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗)

𝕿𝖗𝖚𝖘𝖙

As the rumbling of the elevator began, it was the signal we passed the game with a weight off our chest but cut hands from the rope. All of our hands were shaking, though no blood dripped from the wounds. As Sae-byeok stood next to me, she carefully took my hands in hers and examined them. She tried to carefully soothe the cuts while I admired her. Even though she looked tired and worn out from pulling on the rope, she still looked beautiful.

The elevator was almost completely silent, except for the one man mumbling under his breath. He was praying and everyone was too worn out to stop him, that is until Ji-yeong finally got fed up with his mumbling.

"Hey. Who are you praying to right now?" The man continued praying but that didn't stop her from speaking to him. "To God? Do you think you're alive because of God?" She has a point. If it weren't for the old man or Sang-woo we would all be dead.

"If anyone you should thank the old man or Sang-woo for your life, they're the reason you're alive." I mutter under my breath quietly but not quite enough. His head snaps up towards me and side-eyes me, making me uncomfortable.

"You poor lost sheep. Can't you hear the cries of those who were nailed to the cross today." He looks in between me and Ji-yeong, "We lived to see another day thanks to their blood and sacrifice." His whole body is shaking at this point but he begins to speak to everyone else. "On behalf of all the sinners. I gave thanks to the Lord's decision of their sacrifice." Everyone ignores the man's speech and minds their own business.

After a few moments, Ji-yeong starts getting annoyed and begins praying. She starts making stuff up. At this point, both the man and Ji-yeong start saying prayers. I can feel Sae-byeoks grip on my hand tighten showing that she's getting annoyed with them. "Be quiet!" Sae-byeok finally lets her anger out and shouts at them so they can hear her, causing the man to glance at her quickly but catches Ji-yeong's attention.

"Me? Or that guy?"

"Both of you." I speak, getting annoyed more and more, not in the mood to hear anyone else argue.

The elevator stops after what it feels like years and we are finally able to exit and leave the cage we were confined in. I'm one of the last people out since I don't feel like being near the man at the moment. "You alright?" Nico puts his hand on my shoulder, looking at me with concern.

"Yeah it's just... what happens if we don't make it out of here?" Looking down

 I started realizing that we are playing games and killing people off. There will most likely be only one winner of the game.

"We will, I'm going to protect you, remember?" He pulls me in for a hug, trying to reassure me but I don't feel much better.

What if someone dies? What if I die..?

Snapping myself out of thought, I catch up with the rest of the team, pushing down the negative thoughts. Once I reach them, Sae-byeok grabs my arm. "Stay with me, understand?" She keeps her gaze forwards towards the main door. I simply nod before entering the room, Nico on our trail

In the room, Deok-su and his team are laughing and having a good time as if they didn't just see even more people die. As bad as it is to say, you get used to all the killing. 

When we walk in, the group stares us down as we walk by. They look furious that we made it but we all worry about just trying to get to the beds as far away from them as possible.

*****

It was later and we finally received dinner without anyone missing any but to our luck, it was corn. A simple piece of corn on the cob which tasted hard and didn't seem cooked. At this point, food was food.