These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends

Chapter 19: I am not a woman, I'm a god

You sat in silence in the back of the car, In-ho still keeping his knife on Daniela's throat. The tension in the air felt like you were underwater. You cautiously glanced at In-ho, who was looking at you with concern.

You leaned forward, repeating what In-ho said earlier. "Who are you?"

"I'm just like you. A front woman. His assistant."

Your mind was swirling with confusion. "Why did you find us?"

Daniela pushed back on the seat in an attempt to back away from In-ho's knife, letting out a shaky breath. In-ho kept the knife pressed to her. "Don't fucking move."

Daniela sighed and pulled out a gun, instantly pointing it to you. "Drop the fucking knife."

In-ho looked at you in shock in fear, slowly removing the knife. Once he did so, Daniela turned in her seat to face the three of you, keeping her gun trained on one of you at all times.

"Listen. I said I'm just like you. I've heard about you for a while. How you had problems with your host, then almost killed the Overseer. I know what you're after. I'm after the same thing." She slowly dropped her gun, gauging your reactions.

You looked at In-ho, sensing his wariness about Daniela. You felt the same, but you also felt in your gut she was telling the truth, and you wanted to hear more. You reached your hand towards In-ho's, nodding in reassurance.

You turned back towards Daniela. "Why do you want to kill him?"

She visibly relaxed once she sensed neither of you would try anything. "I joined the games just like you did. And I worked for him for years. But... this year, my younger brother joined the games. I barely spoke to him," she sighed, "I didn't even know he was having problems."

She looked down in shame. "I tried to get him out, but the Overseer wouldn't let me. I even tried to sneak him out myself, but we were caught. And he... he tortured and killed him. Right in front of me. Just to teach me a lesson."

She was visibly upset now, holding back tears. You barely knew this woman, but your heart broke for her. In-ho observed you, slightly taken aback by your reaction. You were so easily trusting of this woman while he felt too protective of you and Jun-ho to believe her so quickly. Still, he trusted you, so he stayed silent.

You leaned forward, leaning on the back of the seat, wanting her to continue. Daniela noticed this and quickly drew her gun again, afraid you would try to hurt her. You gave her a concerned but confused look, raising your hands. "What's your plan then? Why.. us?"

She lowered her gun. "After he killed my brother, I resigned myself to the fact I was stuck with him, with all of this, forever. But when he returned after visiting you, he was almost dead, and I realized his power wasn't as formidable as I believed. I was trying to formulate a plan to take care of him myself when we found Gi-hun, and you." She looked at Jun-ho.

Jun-ho looked at her, eyebrows furrowed. "Why didn't you take me then?"

"He didn't care, he just wanted to use Gi-hun to find you two," she said, glancing at you and In-ho. "But he found you when you called them."

You sat still, realizing it was In-ho's calls to Jun-ho and Gi-hun that gave you away. In-ho scoffed, upset you were found so quickly. He should've known better.

Daniela continued. "He was going to confront you at the gala, and make a whole dramatic scene about it, but when I found out about everything I knew I had to take this opportunity. It might be our only chance at killing him."

You sat there processing her words for a minute. "So what do we do from here?"

"I'll take you to our headquarters and we'll kill him when he gets back. We'll destroy everything, even the servers that the rest of the games run on. We can end all of it for good."