Killer Addiction - (Squid Game)

Chapter 44 - Clever Girl

(A/N: I won't spoil much, but sh*t is about to hit the fan in this chapter)

Well, that bathroom break was a waste of time.
Sure, she'd relieved herself, but she was hoping that she'd run into Jin-sun.
After all, the last time she'd been here, he was almost always on duty guarding the bathroom.

Obviously, it was a stupidly long shot.
He could've been reassigned somewhere else - anywhere else - in the facility.
Or... there was the other option...

She shook her head, not even wanting to consider the possibility he was dead.
After all, if Jin-sun was dead, what the hell did she come back to this death trap for?
To throw her life away for these people? These people whose mistakes landed them in this hole?

These people were no better than I was.
Fools in over their heads.
I should've died during Dalgona.

After that particular self-deprecating thought, she'd crossed the floor back to where Gi-hun had been sitting.
Only to pause...
And see it was Young-il waiting for her instead.

He lifted his head, locking gazes with her before heaving a sigh.
"You're back." He greeted with little enthusiasm, "I told Gi-hun we should switch... I was about to wake Jung-bae up."
She couldn't hide the scowl anymore.

Sure you were about to wake Jung-bae up.
Even with a mental disorder, there's been too many things that don't add up.
And with him now awake after the conversation Gi-hun and I just had, being here right after I come back from the bathroom...

There's a decent chance he heard everything.
She nodded to herself after a moment.
Alright, cougar. I'll play.

"Oh, don't bother waking him up. I think I'll stay awake a while longer," She replied, sitting down beside him. "I'm not tired just yet."
Bold as brass, Young-il thought.
"I see... So, now that we're alone, hm?" He tilted his head, as if measuring how guarded she was.

"...now that we're alone?"
"There's something I'd like to discuss with you." Young-il said lowly, his eyes keeping contact with hers.
Dae-eun furrowed her brow, where's he going with this?

The older man looked around the room, scanning the beds and players with a thoughtful expression.
Assessment. No, discernment.
Would he be overheard during this conversation...?

That was his thought.
Privacy.
They'd spoken alone before, but now... there was an unspoken tension in the air.

He wanted this to be kept quiet.
If she had to describe it, it was as if two riled-up animals were placed in opposite cages, with only a mesh wall between them.
They'd picked and plucked at the wall for hours and hours, and the mesh had begun to fray.

Now, they were looking for an opportunity where one of them was unawares, uninterested.
So the other could tear the wall apart and strike.
"Do you trust me?"

Young-il's words broke her out of her metaphorical contextualisation.
"What?"
"Do. You. Trust. Me." He enunciated, pinching two fingers together as if he was trying to write the words in the air.

Do I?
It wasn't exactly an easy answer.
Do I trust him to not get us killed? Maybe. Do I trust him enough to tell him secrets? Absolutely not.

Maybe that's how I'll answer.
"Do you want the real answer, or the one you want to hear?"
He leaned back on his haunches, letting his shoulders fall as he exhaled.