The Favorite- Front Man x Reader- Squid Game

Part 21:

(⚠️TW⚠️ EXTREME HALLUCINATIONS, Grief, PTSD, depression symptoms, etc)

(Y/N's POV)

    The frontman hadn't answered my question. I honestly didn't know if he was okay... maybe it was an episode like the one when I first got here? I didn't really know him well enough to be able to tell if that was the cause, but I could tell it was bothering him more recently. Whether it had to do with a restart of the games or my sudden job, I have no clue.

    Looking through my glasses, I could see that Number 1 was finally looking like he was going to move. Only after some... friendly encouragement from 101 of course.

   Without much warning, he jumped to the left. This made everyone behind him let out frightened noises. He braced himself with nothing but his weight distribution, and earned some kind words from his peers. With his move, the masked manager moved what looked like a knight chess piece with a number on it that was on the mini bridge. I heard the noise of glass on glass ring out.

    I heard Number 1's heavy, amplified breathing right before he stayed on his course left. He took a literally leap of faith, and one second after his feet were placed on the glass pane, it shattered underneath him. I gasped and flinched as I heard him scream and fall down below. Oh. My. God.

   The VIP's made mocking comments about his death, which stirred up even more anger inside of me. They didn't understand. They never would. They had never felt the desperation of being there, the atmosphere of competition and urgency laying thick on everybody's back. They couldn't know our struggles. Most people in the other room didn't even have homes, I could bet.

   The men then made comments about the Panther mask having some fun with the worker next to him. By the time I looked, he was grabbing his chin and trying to make the other face him. He then said something about his eyes. Weird.

   (Frontman's POV)

   "What pretty eyes you have..."

I went back to that night. Immediately.

When I opened my eyes, Y/N was not there. The room was different. The jungle print was gone, and it was replaced with a comfortable, neutral, luxurious room. Each of the VIP's sat on soft white couches. And there... there was my brother sitting next to one.

He was exactly where the other had been.

I walked towards him, but he didn't move. In fact... nothing moved. Not at all. Everyone was still, so still I could've thought they were wax figures. I navigated my way to the somewhat far corner of the room.

Still, nothing moved.

I even took a look back and gasped.

I was there. I was still there... yet I was here.

I looked so... stiff. Was that how I appeared to others? Unapproachable, business-minded, cold? Is that who I turned into? The games. They had taken so much from me, yet they had given me so much.

I turned around and went to approach Jun-Ho.

He was right there. He was staring at the VIP, whose unwavering hand was still resting below his jawline. He sat completely still, face frozen in what I could imagine was confusion under the mask. Under the mask...

Before I could truly realize it, I reached out my hand. It automatically touched the hard material of his face-covering. When I applied some force to lift it, Jun-Ho's head snapped towards me and he had an iron grip on my wrist. He stared at me. Stared. His eyes were like dark pits.

Brother...

My breath hitched. Why... why did he have to call me brother? The constant reminder of our shared blood only made it harder to face everything I'd done. I wanted to take it back. I wanted to take what I'd done back more than anything.

I looked down just a bit, and I took a double take. I was holding a gun.

In-Ho... why?

Then, no matter how loudly my mind screamed to not do it, no matter how much energy I was wasting on something useless, no matter how much I wanted to not do what I knew I was going to do, I pulled the trigger.

I heard the shot, and moments later, a wet sound. A bloody sound.

Jun-Ho jerked back, and he stared. Stared at me. I stared back with tears in my eyes. Inside, I was crying. Outside, I showed nothing. The person I am is cruel. Heartless. Uncaring. Incapable.

Jun-Ho then fell backwards. He fell through the couch and I watched as the floor parted and swallowed him up. It was gone.

I did not shudder. I had no remorse. But, my mind... my mind felt broken. I felt broken.

I, more like the person I was trapped inside of, turned. And I was face to face with my brother.

Before I could even process what the hell was happening, he grabbed me with supernatural force. I was immediately thrown back towards the statue of myself. I saw the perfectly-postured man coming closer. I feared what would happen when I ran into him. But as soon as we even touched slightly...

I was back.

I was finally back in the room. The room was now a jungle, the VIP's were containing their amusement at the game in front of them, and, most importantly, Y/N was by my side.

I noticed that nothing had changed since I was here. The Panther mask was still holding the unfortunate worker.

I shook it off. I shook everything off, like I always do. Either shake it off or drown it with alcohol.

(Y/N's POV)

I felt so much sympathy for the woman up next. I knew she must be terrified. She was mumbling to herself, and she was also angling herself to the left tile. I knew it was her fatal mistake. Come on. Left, right, left? No. That would never happen at the very beginning. It was clearly going to still be right.

The lady somehow went ass-first down to the ground. I didn't know how that was physically possible, but apparently it was. She eventually straightened out her back, which probably made it hurt so much more when she finally met the ground.

I heard the sickening glass sound again as she fell. This was really going to be a long and terrible night.

      Original Publish Date: February 6, 2023