Bad, bad news
One of us is gonna lose

I'm the powder, you're the fuse

Just add some friction

You are my strange addiction

-Strange addiction
-Billie Eilish

The cold material lay under your fingertips, as you made small circles with your hand, provoking a small aspirale into the yellowish liquid full of bubbles.

Your back was resting lightly on the back of the red fabric chair, while you kept your eyes fixed on that screen.

By now, since you had played red light green light, some time had passed.

You had found a way to leave without raising suspicions, and without staging dramatic deaths or getting any Oscars for best acting death.

A player began begging the guards to let them go, and the vote was successful.

After the vote, the other players went home in debt again, and most of them returned to the program.

Yet despite your absence, Sae-byeok, she didn't even seem to remember you. You had never heard your name escape her lips, perhaps as a sign of your absence, but not even once.

Ah, come on.

Bo-kyeong POV:

God, how cute is she? But he doesn't even remember me.

Oh well. I've already bought it anyway.

But gods, how much did I spend on that damn girl?

And not even a little gratitude?

The image of the short-haired girl was plastered on the screen.

There was blood.

Lots of blood.

You watched in silence, the smirk was gone.

The girl was holding a piece of cloth tightly on her side, to stop a bleeding, which perhaps would not have been necessary.

If only those fucking glass hadn't exploded.

She was sobbing and moaning in pain, her breathing was labored, and she was putting all her weight on the sink.

Small drops of dark red blood hit the cold pavement, while the sight of the girl in that state hurt.

A guard in all red (maybe I'm color blind, but I'm sure it's not pink lol) silently placed a box with a pink bow on it on the nearest sink.

The girl noticed the box, her skeletal hands reached for the lid, inside she found an unusual thing.

A suit was folded inside the square box, while the girl looked at it with a tired but also surprised look.

The wound from the glass looked deep, but she would survive the night. and maybe it would have lasted for the last game too.

Then you remembered.

The knives.

fuck.

The three subjects looked at each other intensely, the table was large but not enough to avoid the others' gazes.

Sae-byeok didn't eat, and when she took small bites she looked as if she immediately regretted it.

You knew she was in pain. But you wouldn't lose your money that way.

You could feel the tension through the screen in the quiet room, and you could feel the same common thought, almost a premonitory thought, always popping up in the heads of the three players.

'one of us will die tonight'

Because after all, finals never take place with three players.

It takes two.
___________________________________________

The air was dark and substantial, three guards were bent over the body, while you stood behind them with dull eyes.

'I want to see those eyes open within half an hour. Do everything you can to wake her up.'
___________________________________________

Flashback

The tall man entered the house with a determined and constant madness, placed the umbrella on the wooden floor, and gave the jacket to your mother.

without speaking.

The three of you sat on the rotten wooden table, the cheap soup in front of each of you with a not very inviting smoke.

Silently, you all ate, without glances or words, then, the man got up, left some banknotes on the table and came out the door with his umbrella and that long blue coat, which he wore every time you met.