Killer Addiction - (Squid Game)

Chapter 48 - To The Wire

(A/N: Just a quick thing before the chapter starts. I'm getting a little burnt out by doing this week after week, plus I'm starting my third year of Uni in September so updates will be infrequent again. But since I don't want it to seem like I'm abandoning this, I wanted to ask. Would you prefer a longer hiatus and a bunch of chapters one day after the other, or one chapter whenever I get the motivation to finish one? Just comment on this to lemme know, ty!)

"Once we get back, somebody should go around and do a head count." Gi-hun mused on their way back to the dormitory.
"Why?"
Dae-eun reluctantly had to agree with Young-il.

What was the point?
They'd tell us anyway how many people were eliminated.
"If we figure out what the X and O split is, then we know which of the two sides is gonna have a better shot at the next vote."

Gi-hun makes a valid point.
If it's an imbalanced split, we know how many more of the X's or O's were eliminated.
Young-il glanced back at her.

"Guess we have to hope more O's died than we did..."
She didn't miss the way his gaze darted down to the blue 'O' on her chest.
Not that it matters, I'm changing my vote now.

No doubt he knows that too.
He basically gave me the reason to changing my vote.
And one might think, what if he lied?

What if Jin-sun was alive?
What if they'd locked him up somewhere just to screw with me?
To that I counter, why would they go through all that trouble?

I know my place in this place, and I'm not that important.
They care about fair play between the players, the guards are replaceable.
Jin-sun was replaceable, to them anyway.

And what he gets out of this is making me doubt myself...
He'd already convinced Gi-hun to be on his side, or at least be easier to control.
Was this his way of trying to do the same to me?

Gi-hun thinks with his emotions, with his heart, so of course Young-il would attempt to win him over.
But me...? I came back here for selfish reasons, to find Jin-sun, someone only important to me.
I didn't come back here to save anybody but one person.

To Young-il, the best way to crush my hope, my fight, was to try to convince me that I'd wasted my time.
That my purpose for being here was worthless.
Because then, in his eyes, being purposeless makes me easier to deal with, because it'll make me predictable.

The white-haired girl scowled as her thoughts churned, her eyes burning holes into the back of Young-il's head.
Though, I doubt he was expecting me to outright attack him.
Especially after the threat he gave me.

The best I can do is to try get out of here, and throw as many wrenches as I can into this 'plan' of his.
Whatever it's leading up to...

...

"Hey, Gi-hun. There are still 55 O's here." Jung-bae announced as he made his way toward them, ducking under the bunks and prompting Gi-hun to look up.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I counted twice. A hundred people left, 55 O's."

"What about you and Dae-eun?" Dae-ho asked, pointing to Jung-bae's chest and then hers, "Did you count those?"
Jung-bae paused, looking at himself before adding: "Then there are 57..."
"Shit..." Dae-ho muttered, closing his eyes as he tried to do the math, "57 minus 43..."

"Fourteen more." Dae-eun's voice was clipped as she paced slowly back and forth, chewing one of her nails.
Jung-bae clenched his fists, heaving a breath that couldn't quite escape his lungs.
"It's gonna be hard for us to win the vote..."