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Mari never felt less safe than she did at this moment, It was 30 minutes until the lights went out and she was sitting next to Sae-byeok with her knees folded towards her chest. "Hey, pickpocket." A Man's voice broke them out of their thoughts, they both looked up to see 456 looking at Sae-byeok. "You sure you'll be okay? You don't seem to be on good terms with that thug over there." Mari stayed silent as she watched Sae-byeok open her mouth to speak. "So what?"
"If anything happens after lights go out, we're all meeting by my bed. You can even bring your friend." The man nods his head towards Mari who starts to twiddle her fingers. "I don't trust people. Especially people who crawled into a place like this." Mari tried to not let her words sting, she told herself that she was just putting up a wall so she didn't have to let anyone in. Like you have the right to say that. You don't trust people because they're trustworthy. You trust them because there's nothing else to lean on." The man explained before letting out a sigh and he started to walk back towards his bed.
"Do you think we should go to him?" Mari asked looking at Sae-byeok who shrugs. "I don't know, but you should get in bed. Lights out soon." It was as if she spoke it to be true because the electronic voice gave them their 2 minutes warning, Mari sighed as she stood up from the stairs and started to walk back towards her bunk, she looked behind her towards Sae-byeok sadly but she kept going with her head down. She wanted to find Ji-yeong but she knew that if she looked for her best friend right now she would get distracted and would still be out of her bed by the time the lights went out.
She walked towards her bed and climbed into her bed, she pulled the covers up to her chin. "Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six-" Every time the electronic voice counted down Mari flinched, she placed a hand over her mouth when she said two, and then once she hit one the lights cut off. She clasped her hands over her ears when she heard a scream. Mari's eyes went wide when a hand went over her mouth, Mari started to pry the hands off her mouth. She dug her fingernails into the hand that held her mouth.
When she got the hand off her mouth she started to kick, her foot collided with the stomach of her attacker, she quickly ran down the stairs and tried to make her way through the bloodshed. She ducked when she saw someone running towards her, when she made her way towards 456's bed, Mari pushed down the slight smile she had on her face when she saw that Sae-byeok was there with them. "Hey, Ssangmun-dong. Why are you butting in?" Player 101 said as he had his hands up surrounded by the group that he called his friends but Mari doubted they were actually his friends and more like another form of muscle so he can fight. "Fewer people are good for you too." He said chuckling.
"She's on our side too." 456 says as he pushes Sae-byeok behind him. "Damn it." They all paused when they heard an older man's voice. "Please stop, I'm scared." The voice shakily says, they all turn towards the voice to see 001 standing on top of a bed. "At this rate, we'll all die! Everyone is going to die! I'm so scared. Stop it! If you keep going like this everyone will die!" The old man yelled out, it was like it was magic. The lights turned on so quickly that Mari had to close her eyes a few times to get used to the light, she backed up until she bumped into Sae-byeok and put herself in front of her and number 101.
The doors opened and shots started to ring out, Mari grabbed Sae-byeok's hand and pulled her down from the raining bullets. The guards started to walk toward them and told them to put their hands up which Mari did without a fuss. She was patted down to make sure she didn't have any weapons on her before they were made to face the beds with their hands up.
Mari didn't know how long they were standing there before the guards cleared out and they were allowed to put their arms down, Mari let out a sigh as she sat next to Sae-byeok on the stairs who was sitting next to 456, and then 001 sat beside him, Mari noticed he hasn't said a word since he got down from the bed. "Are you all right?" Mari can't help but ask looking at 001. He looks at her confused. "What?" Mari didn't have to respond because 456 did it for her. "When did you climb all the way up there? It's not safe." 199 spoke up next. "We were worried because we couldn't find you."
Mari looked at Player 218 as he spoke next. "It's a relief none of us are badly hurt." Mari nodded as she glanced at Sae-byeok who hasn't spoken to her since the night. "Why don't we take this opportunity to exchange names? Come to think of it, we don't even know each other's names." 456 said gesturing between the whole group. "I know your name. Ssangmun-dong." A slight smile appeared across Mari's face.
"Ssangmun-dong is the town I live in. My name is Seong Gi-hun. Seong Gi-hun from Ssangmun-dong." Gi-hun said with a chuckle. "What's your name?" 218 says as he looks toward player 199. "Ali. Ali Abdul." Abdul says. "Which country are you from?" Gi-hun asks. "Pakistan."
Gi-hun looked at Abdul confused. "Pakistan? Where is that?" He asked but instead of Abdul answering 218 did. "Right above India." To Mari's surprise, Abdul nodded in agreement. "I'm Cho Sang-woo." Then they looked towards Mari and Sae-byeok, sensing that she didn't want to go first Mari did. "I'm Yi Mari, I'm not from anywhere." Mari gulped as she watched their reactions, Gi-hun frowned but turned his head towards Sae-byeok. "Do I have to say?" She said.
"We're on the same side now. We at least need to know each others' names to build a bit of trust." It was silent for a second before she replied. "Kang Sae-byeok."
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