Killer Addiction - (Squid Game)

Chapter 34 - 'Huge Tiger'

(A/N: I know ya'll have been waiting for In-ho and Dae-ho, WELL THEY'RE HERE, ENJOY)

Dae-eun got her food, whatever it was.
A gold tin and a bottle of water- though, five seconds worth of remembering made the familiarity surface.
Popping open the case after sitting down only confirmed her theory.

Same meal as last time.
A boxed lunch, rice with an egg, meat and various banchan.
"Nice!" Dae-eun looked up when she heard Jung-bae, Gi-hun sitting just beside him was staring off at nothing in particular.

"...what's wrong?" Jung-bae prompted him, "Not hungry?"
Doubt he could be after the vote...
The girl's eyes drifted down to her chest where the blue 'O' patch lay, a fierce reminder of her 'betrayal'.

Even when Jung-bae tried to literally feed him, Gi-hun regarded the spoon with a look of distain, tightening his lips.
"Alright fine, whatever." The stout man conceded, stuffing the rice and egg into his own mouth. "Y'know maybe this is gonna work itself out..."
Gi-hun glanced up at that, attempting to meet Dae-eun's gaze, only for the girl to avoid it and turn back to her food.

Despite how fucking cold it is... ugh.
"Jung-bae..." Gi-hun went for his friend instead, "When I was first in here three years ago, I heard a player say something just like that. And by the end...? They were dead like everyone else."
Dae-eun worked her own jaw, shaking her head in silent thought.

You were just as optimistic three years ago...
"Then why don't you help us, sir?"
The white-haired girl perked up at the new voice, turning to see that man approaching Gi-hun and Jung-bae, along with a slew of other 'O's.

001, the man who decided the vote.
"You said that you'd been here before."
Dae-eun processed his voice, it had a deeper, smoother cadence than what she'd heard before, like rich melted chocolate.

Funnily enough, it fit him very well.
"You're the reason I ended up voting to stay."
What.

001's response made Dae-eun's head snap up.
How? He literally tried to convince all you morons to vote to LEAVE.
Gi-hun obviously had the same thought when he his brow quirked up.

"It's true. After the first game, I thought I was gonna quit. And then I saw you... and I thought to myself, 'One more, then I can go.'"
The 'O's behind him rose their voices in polite agreement, a number of 'mhm's and 'I thought so too's.
"Gi-hun." Dae-eun decided to speak up, putting aside her food.

She wasn't quite prepared for the number of eyes to fix on her, including 001's, who seemed to narrow ever so slightly to focus.
"The next game...?" She left the question open, simple. Easily read as 'what is it' as well as 'tell them what it is'.
"Oh, yeah!" Jung-bae perked up, "You won this whole thing before so you know what the next game is. So- what are we playing?"

Dae-eun felt her heartrate pick up.
If it's the same as last time... it's Dalgona. And I only survived Dalgona last time because of Jin-sun.
"The second game was Dalgona."

"Dalgona-?" Another new voice, Dae-eun looked up on the bed above Gi-hun, seeing a young man with his hair tied up into a half bun and a mouth full of food. "Like- the honeycomb you carve the shape out of?"
"Yeah... we had to pick one out of the four shapes they showed us."
The players around looked contemplative, glancing at each other thoughtfully.