Easy On Me || Kang Sae-byeok ✓

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Mari could feel her body shaking as she was led into the room where they slept, her best friend was dead. Mari sniffed as she thought of Ji-yeong's face floating in her mind, she was remembering all the hours of talking after the lights went out in the prison, she remembers only feeling connected to Ji-yeong and that's all gone, all because Sae-byeok let her die. She was supposed to protect her instead she let her die, and now Mari has no one.

She walked over to a free bed and felt like curling into a ball and sobbing but she didn't, she rubbed a hand across her face and watched as Sae-byeok took the bed next to her, Mari needed an explanation, Sae-byeok told her that she would have Ji-yeong's back, Sae-byeok was Mari's friend. How could she do this to her? "Why did you let her die?" Mari's voice was hoarse from her tears.

"She wanted to, we just talked the whole time and in the end, she practically gave me her marbles," Sae-byeok says not even looking at Mari. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, you killed my best friend, do you understand that?" Mari knew she was sounding harsh but she wasn't thinking clearly.

Sae-byeok let out a sniff before she looked at Mari, Sae-byeok had tears running down her face and her lips were pressed together, she wasn't making a sound. Mari's lip wobbled before she folded herself over the legs and pressed her face into the blanket that was across the bed. "I fucking hate this," Mari says muffled by the blanket, she heard footsteps next to her and could feel the dip in her bed from the weight of someone sitting down. "Me too." Sae-byeok gulped as she held out her hand, Mari looked at her confused for a second before she grasped her hand and squeezed it comfortingly. "I loved her you know, but I never told her." Mari blurted out at Sae-byeok, she doesn't know why she told Sae-byeok about her feelings regarding Ji-yeong but she felt safe enough to admit it to her.

"I'm sorry you never got to tell her," Sae-byeok says sincerely, she doesn't let go of the hand she squeezes tighter before loosening slightly, it was a way for Sae-byeok to tell Mari that she's there for her and Mari appreciates that. "I'm sorry that I blame you," Mari admits, she looks up to look at Sae-byeok expecting to see hurt in her eyes but sees understanding instead. "You don't have to apologize, I don't blame you for that. I could've done more to stop her, I could've tried instead of listening to her talk."

Mari quickly shook her head and grabbed Sae-byeok's other hand and enclosed it with hers. "No no, when Ji-yeong sets her mind to something. You can't stop her, in fact, I wanted to partner with her but she didn't want to risk it just in case the challenge wasn't a team challenge and it wasn't. I think that deep down she knew something bad was going to happen or else she would've been fine teaming with me, she knew I couldn't live with myself if I was the cause of her death." Sae-byeok nodded and squeezed her hands, they both turned towards the door when they heard the sound of the big door opening. They watched as the guards placed tables and stood in front of them.

"Do you want me to bring you food?" Mari asks coughing so she can get the lump out of her throat, instead of responding Sae-byeok nodded so Mari let go of her hands and placed her feet on the stairs, and walked down to grab them food. Mari kept her head down as she grabbed two lukewarm potatoes and water. "Here," Mari said to Sae-byeok who had moved so she was sitting in her bed, Sae-byeok nodded her thanks as she grabbed the potato and water before she started to peel it and take small bites.

Mari sighed as she sat cross-legged and uncapped her water to take a swig, she didn't know how to feel. She felt broken inside but she knew that now Ji-yeong would want her to win even if Mari didn't feel like she deserved to because she had nothing left to live for, she had no one anymore. Her eyes moved over to the man who was sitting off to himself, he knew that he was playing with his wife so Mari's loss had nothing on what he was feeling. She watched as he stood up from his bed and made his way down the stairs and into the middle. "Let's end this, I can't do this anymore." He bowed his head and Mari could see that he was fighting back tears. "We can stop if the majority just agrees. If nine of us agree, we can get out of here. Doesn't anyone want to leave? If you wish to leave with me, please stand up." Mari gulped as no one stood up, she glanced beside her to Sae-byeok who was just staring at her half-eaten potato in her hands.

"How could you call yourselves human? Do you really want to continue with this insanity? Because of that money! You just killed the person you were closest to in this place because of that money." The man shouted causing Mari to have to blink the tears that were building away. She knew that if she left now it would all be for nothing, everything that Mari has lived through would be for nothing if she walked away.

"And if you leave?" Sang-woo said as he walked toward the crying man. "You think your wife will come back to life? Do you think you'll be forgiven for killing her? If this is so painful, why did you come back alive? You should've died instead of her." Sang-woo grabbed the man's collar and squeezed. "That's not just the cost of your wife. It's the cost of everyone who died here. Do you want to just leave that behind? Do you want to leave and start from rock bottom? Only to live a shitty life, with all this shitty guilt in our hearts?" Sang-woo dropped the man and looked at everyone.

"Are you all ready to live like that? If you can't, then go ahead and stand up! Get up and leave this place!" Sang-woo's words rang into Mari's head long after the lights shut off and the contestants were surrounded by darkness, as much as Mari hated to admit it, Sang-woo was right. They had their chance to back out and they didn't take it now it would be a waste if they backed out now.