Squid Game (Jikook)

╔ 6 ╝

"The third game will begin momentarily," Only a few minutes after the lights came on, it was announced. They didn't get a meal like the day before, they didn't even have the time to rub the drowsiness out of their eyes. "Follow the staff's instructions and proceed to the game hall."

Jimin sat up with a yawn. He had slept all through the night like a baby. Multiple hours of sweet, sweet darkness. No dreams, sure, but no nightmares either. He was content with it...all things considered.

That is until he remembered the man next to him.

"Wait, shit," He looks at him. "Did you stay up all night?"

"Ah, no," 097 scratches the back of his head, standing up. "I fell asleep after a while..."

"What?" Jimin follows him. "Then why didn't you wake me up? What if people attacked again!? I needed to be protecting us!"

"You were exhausted last night 136, it was an overwhelming day," 097 defended. "So many close calls, and I mean you killed a man..."

"Holy shit I killed a man," He repeated. "And I hated doing it. It ripped out what little of my soul I had left. But you know what..? I could be dead and broke and no one would ever know I died. So what the fuck." He laughed. He didn't know why, but he laughed. "What the fuck is this game, where I can feel at peace with my actions after killing a man!? You should've fucking woken me up. May as well suffer a few extra hours!"

"Calm down," 097's voice lowers. "You just woke up. Take a second to feel better. Take a deep breath."

Jimin rolled his eyes, thinking that was stupid and pointless. But he takes a deep breath anyways, and somehow...damn it, somehow he feels slightly more calm.

"I'm going crazy," He sighs, helpless.

"We were all a little crazy to blindly agree to something like this," 097 shrugs. "Nothing new."

Jimin huffs out a laugh, he can't help it. "Fuck we are crazy."

097 joins in. "We really are."

They walk down and get in line with the other 98 players, being led to the familiar pink-yellow room. Jimin's nerves have heightened, but not as violently as the day before. Was he truly becoming numb to this whole experience?

He really hoped not.

In they walked, to a completely white room. The door opened onto a raised platform, far from the ground. They go up a set of stairs, across a shorter platform, where at the corner of the room the stairs go back down, then turn a few times until they're on the bottom floor.

"Welcome to your third game," He heard on the intercom. "This game will be played as a team. All players please divide into teams of ten. You have ten minutes."

"Shit," Jimin was barely warming up to his friendly partner. Now he had to blindly trust eight other people. Eight random people held his life in their hands.

"Ten people..." 097 trails. "What will we be playing I wonder."

"I dunno, I can't think," He puts a hand to his head. "I thought we were doing solo games."

"Well, every game is different," The taller shrugs. "Expect the unexpected."

"Hey, you, 097," Jimin turns his head to see the buff man, the one that killed first. "Come join our team. We could use someone like you."

"If you take me, you gotta take my partner too," He puts his hands in his pockets, tattoos on display. His persona shifts completely; he's tense, threatening almost. His guard is definitely up. 097 doesn't trust these people, which assures Jimin in some weird way. His partner is truly on his side.