pretty flower | 강새벽

034

"Sae?" I mutter, grabbing at her shirt, still half asleep. 

"I'm here." She grabs my hand, squeezing it. 

"I missed you." my words started to become slurred as I pulled myself in closer to her, pushing my face into her side. She chuckles at my actions, looking down at me whilst tucking my hair behind my ear.

"I missed you too, baby," she responds even though she hadn't left me at all. 

My eyes flutter shut, the calming actions from Sae being enough to put me back to sleep. 

Before long, Sae shifted her weight, disturbing my sleep. I open my eyes just enough to find her adjusting herself so she was leaning against the bedframe. 

I give a slight hum, trying to get her attention, but she just sighs, pulling me closer to her once again. 

"Get comfortable," she says, spreading her legs and pulling me into the gap. I lay against her legs, my face buried into her side and arms wrapped around her waist. Although some people might not have enjoyed the position, we both embraced the contact as our bodies kept close. "and go back to sleep." 

"Only if you do," I whisper and she nods, rubbing circles onto my back. My eyes fell heavy again, putting me into a deep sleep as her warmth reminded me that I wasn't alone.

⎯⎯⎯⎯ 

The lights shone brightly, waking me up with the added sound of music and buzzers.

"What's happening?" I ask, looking up at Sae who was staring at the guards who were walking inside the bedroom, holding the familiar black and pink box. My eyes peeled off of Sae, watching the masked men carry it past the beds and towards the man who'd lost his wife. 

"69..." I mutter as I realize the new body. The man who fought with Sang-Woo was dangling from one of the stairs to the bedframes, a bedsheet wrapped around his neck. 

Player 069, eliminated. 

Everyone stared at him silently until the sound of money falling inside the piggy bank echoed through the room. Many people looked away from the sore sight of the man who had killed himself, whiles others such as Gi-Hun and myself, staring at the body, unable to take our eyes off.

The fifth game will begin momentarily. All players, follow the staff's instructions and proceed to the game hall.

And that's when it hit me. 16 players were left, all with different advantages and weaknesses. 16 people who were still fighting for the money that had been promised to us, as long as we won. But there was a slight speculation that everyone, including myself, missed. The part where they explained everyone who had died would be included in the final total. The final total of 45.7 billion won. But they never told us there could be more than one winner.

But then again... they never said there had to only be one winner. 

I stood up quickly, pushing Sae off me as I ran towards the masked men who were carrying out the body. "I want to talk to him!" I yell, causing the guards to turn towards me in confusion. 

"I want to talk to the frontman," I tell them confidently even though everything inside was terrified. 

"The fifth game will start momentarily." The guard repeated the announcement before tugging the box to drag the rest along with him.

"I know where you sleep," I say, crossing my arms as I faced him. "it's in the furthest room down the hall, right?"

"How did you-" he asks, stopping once again.

"I didn't. But I do now." I smirk, walking towards him. I stare at him, looking in the area where I suspected his eyes would be. "Now, take me to the frontman before I expose your sorry little ass to everyone here."

"You're not warranted to speak with him," he says, causing me to grab him by the collar of his suit. My sudden action caused the guards to drop the box and pull their guns out, pointing all the nuzzles towards me. 

"Do as you wish to me. But I need to speak with him." I beg, but the guard only growls, pushing me off of him and onto the ground. 

"You are not warranted to speak with him. He is too busy to deal with your childish games." He scoffs, signalling the other guards to pick up the box once more. 

I don't say anything further, watching them leave the room. I glare at the space they had stood, trying to think of some other way to make my plan work.

"What the hell were you thinking?" I hear Sae yell as she slaps me across the back of the head. "You could've gotten yourself killed!"

"One less person for you to beat." I roll my eyes, only resulting in another slap. 

"Stop messing around!" 

"Fine! But stop hitting me!" 

She shakes her head in annoyance, grabbing me by the arm and dragging me over to the rest of the group. 

"I swear Sun-Hi, you do anything that will endanger yourself again purposely, I will put you in danger myself by breaking your leg function."

"You're going to break my legs?" I ask and my eyes widen, clearly not fully awake yet. 

"You could say I'll be breaking something. But you're legs won't be it." 

I feel my face warm up as I nod my head, avoiding eye contact. She notices my state because she chuckles, wrapping her arm around my waist tightly as we make it to the line. 

"Hurry up." a guard snaps at us, pushing us towards the door where the stairs were. 

"Someone's pushy." I scoff as he pushes us. We keep walking, the guard pushing us every so often. 

We're halfway up the stairs when I feel a hand poke my ass. "What the fuck-" I start to yell, turning towards the guard who was behind us. When I turned around, he was no longer there, causing my confusion to grow more. 

"What's wrong?" Sae asked, smirking cheekily. I look at her glancing down her arm, which was resting on my lower back.

She shrugs and pulls me with her as we continue up the stairs. Soon enough, the hand repeated its actions, poking me once again.

"Sae-" I complain, but before I say anything else, she gives me a quick peck on the cheek before hurrying her pace. 

We were now right behind Gi-Hun, who was still silent, mourning the death of his dear friend, Il-Nam, still.

I watch as the man walks. As he drags his feet and keeps his head down to the ground. 

"I'll be okay, Gi-Hun." I pat his back, trying to console him. He just nods and continues walking, the same expression on his face as before. I sigh in defeat, knowing that the man wasn't going to let go of it that easily. 

He didn't have anyone here other than Sang-Woo, who was acting like a complete dumbass. The only people who had really been there for Gi-Hun throughout the whole game were both dead. Il-Nam and... 

I was using Sae as a distraction, trying to keep my mind away from the lingering thought about how we were missing the happy soul of our group. We were missing Ali. 

Gi-Hun didn't have anything to distract him. Sang-Woo was shying away from us more and more and acting more guilty and suspicious by the second. Sae clearly was using me as a distraction for herself as well, which I didn't mind since it was mutual. 

This game was messing with our heads, not only forcing us to make bonds with people but getting them killed in the process. Just for money.

Why the hell is money so important? 

⎯⎯⎯⎯

Another chapter... dun dun dun!

Throwback to the time when I started writing this (republished and edited included) when I was single asf.  

Also, I need suggestions for other books that you'd read, for I'm worried after Pretty Flower is over, I'll go invisible once again :(

Word Count:1295