Killer Addiction - (Squid Game)

Chapter 45 - Carousel

(A/N: It's MINGLE TIME, BABY)

"You're not going anywhere."
His hands were smothering, choking, as if she was drowning in smoke.
"See where struggling gets you."

Asphyxiation seemed like too light a word as the wispy fingers clenched her throat closed.
Her eyes were open, yet sightless and blind.
"You won't tell anyone who I am..."

She couldn't break free... no matter how hard she pulled.
Bound tight, shackled in place.
Inescapable.

"If you do... you can die like you were supposed to the first time around."
Her neck was bent, left, further left...
Dae-eun suddenly heard an awful crack as everything went black.

And with a heaving gasp, she was awake.

And then immediately slammed her head straight into the bottom of the bed.
"Fuck-!"
"Dae-eun...?" Gi-hun almost sounded gentle as she turned to see him holding out a helpful hand. "Come on, it's morning."

Trying to catch her breath, she wiped her forehead and carefully ducked out of her nook under the bed frame, squinting when the light hit her eyes.
"Your attention, please." The PA crackled to life.
"The third game will begin momentarily. All players, please wake up and prepare to move to the game hall."

"Dae-eun, hey!" Dae-ho sounded awfully chipper as he stood up, only to lose his smile when he saw her pallor.
"What is it...? Do I have something on my face?" She asked, wiping the sleep from her eyes.
Gritting his teeth, the man tilted his head back and forth, "Kinda... you're really pale. Bad dreams again?" He opened his arms, "Hug?"

Casting her eyes aglance, they ended up meeting with Young-il's.
Dae-eun couldn't help the pang of fear that ran up her spine.
Of course, the older man remained outwardly unperturbed, giving her an appraising glance before turning around and heading to join Gi-hun and Jung-bae.

The white-haired girl finally turned back to Dae-ho, shaking her head as she straightened her spine.
"...no. I'm fine. Thanks, though." She almost felt bad watching his arms drop back to his sides.
"Well, come on then. Let's go win the next game!"

As Dae-ho moved away, she felt her fear mutate into anger, the kind that turned her knuckles white.
Yeah, with one of the game designers...

...

They walked up the stairs in silence.
Now that her suspicions had been confirmed, there was no pool of uncertainty in her belly.
Instead, it had fallen through into a chasm, where only the threats whispered in her ear from last night echoed back.

She caught Young-il's cautious glance at her as they turned a corner on the stairs.
I feel like a bug on a windshield, helpless to do anything but wait for the wiper blades to put me out of my misery.
It didn't help that this place looked dream-like, that she couldn't wake up from this nightmare no matter what realm of consciousness she tried to escape to.

Bright colours and happy music...
A prelude to the end for many.
Is this the end for me, too?

Stop it.
The thoughts grew louder.
What if Ju-won was right? What if this was a stupid idea?

Who are you kidding, this was a stupid idea.
Risking your neck again in a death trap you only escaped last time because of pity?
How stupid are you?

STOP IT.
"Hey, lady. Move. You're blocking the line."
She was roughly snapped back to reality upon realising she'd stopped walking, the players behind her staring at her in a mixture of both distain and annoyance.