☀︎︎𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 FIVE☀︎︎
"You two seem like those types of young people to have a past together."
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Ji-hye had woken up in the same place she did three days ago. She sat up and stayed in that position. Ji-hye looked around trying to see if she'd find someone familiar, well she did see the woman who claimed that she didn't name her child and wanted to go home so badly but when they voted she wanted to keep on playing. A bit hypocritical. She also saw that players were grouping with each other. She finally got out of bed and walked down the steps. She hadn't realized that there was a group of men hanging around on the steps. Player 101 was talking to Player 067, wanting her to join his team.

"Ah if you won't accept us I guess this wonderful fine lady will." Player 101 turned to Ji-hye, smirking "What do you say beautiful?"

"One ew, and I'll pass, I really wouldn't want to be in a group with all disgusting men."

"It'll be an advantage, you'll be in a group with strong man. We can help you win all games."

"No, you just seem like the type of person to be two-faced and abandon your teammates. I'd rather pass." Ji-hye walked off.

Music began to play throughout the room "Your mealtime begins now. All players, please like up in the center." A robot voice spoke from the speakers "Let me repeat. Your mealtime begins now."

After waiting in the line which felt like forever, Ji-hye finally grabbed a box of lunch and some water. She thanked the guard and began walking to her bed.

"Ji-hye!" Someone called out her name. She looked around and saw that Ali called her name. She looked at the group, seeing Gi-hun, Sang-woo, and The old man sitting around in a circle. "Come eat with us." Ji-hye nodded and sat in between the old man and Ali.

"The rice is cold, jeez." Gi-hun took a bite out of his rice. "We could've warmed it up if we had a stove in the middle. Do you remember?" He looked at Sang-woo "We had a coal stove in our elementary school classroom." His voice started to slowly fade as Ji-hye's mind focused on something else. She was daydreaming about random stuff she could think about. She was also thinking about what the next game would be.

"Ji-hye, hey, Ji-hye." Gi-hun said which made her return to the real world "Are you gonna eat? Your food is going to get colder if you don't eat."

"Yeah. I was just thinking." Ji-hye opened her lunch box and began to eat the rice. Sang-woo just looked at her confused

"Well, if I think about what we did so far, it's probably a children's game, from back in the day." The old man continued the conversation that they were having before Gi-hun was getting worried about Ji-hye.

"Yes, I think so too." Gi-hun looked at the old man "But there are too many games. There are Ddakji Game, Dabanggu. Hopscotch, Biseokchogi. Tag, Don Katsu, Freeze Tag. And for the girls, Gonggi, Elastics, and Cat's Cradle. What else is there?"

"I don't know how to play any of those." Ali said, everyone looked at him

"You didn't play those games with other kids in your country?" Ji-hye asked, Ali shook his head as in no.

"Don't worry. Children's games have simple rules. We'll help if you don't know." Sang-woo told him, Ali smiled

"Thank you."

-

The same music played as the morning arrived. Ji-hye stayed up most of the night, she had overheard two women talking that supposedly one of the women saw something that could give a hint to what the next game would be.

"It is now breakfast time. All players, please line up in the center." Ji-hye walked down the steps and lined up in the long line. She yawned, Sang-woo was lined up beside her and turned his head seeing Ji-hye. He grabbed his bread and milk waiting for Ji-hye to grab hers.

"You look tired." Sang-woo walked beside Ji-hye

"I couldn't sleep. Wasn't too tired." Ji-hye sat down where the old man and Ali were.

"Well you should've at least gotten some sleep. Who knows the next game needs all your energy." Sang-woo sat on the steps beside Ji-hye. Ji-hye just bit the inside of her cheek and opened the bag with bread in it.

"Did you two have a past?" The old man asked, looking at both of them, "You two seem like those types of young people to have a past together."

"Yes, they definitely did." Gi-hun walked in the middle of the conversation "It's a beautiful story." He smiled and sat down. Ji-hye just took a bite of her bread

"It was a very long time ago." Sang-woo just said and looked up.

The group of players ate their breakfast, Ji-hye really didn't function with plain milk that much, she preferred to drink milk with a flavor and not just with itself.

"Sir. Why aren't you eating that?" Ali pointed at Sang-woo's unopened bread

"You can have it." Sang-woo picked it up and handed it to him

"Really?"

"He usually doesn't eat breakfast." Ji-hye blurted out

"The smart ones never eat much, you know." Gi-hun finished his bread and looked at his milk. He gave his milk to Ali "I remember me and Ji-hye always had to convince Sang-woo to eat breakfast. He wouldn't eat breakfast if Ji-hye wasn't present."

"Ah, I remember that." Ji-hye's mood lightened up. "It was like trying to feed a kid vegetables." Sang-woo just put his head down with a small smile. That smile..

"And Mrs.Cho would give us money if we convinced Sang-woo to eat."

High classical music began to play "The second game will begin shortly. Please follow the instructions from our staff. Let me repeat. The second game will begin shortly. Please follow the instructions from our staff."

-

The players entered a bright children's room. The walls were blue with clouds on them, a fence surrounding the walls, and an adult sized playground. Everyone looked around the room with either a confused, scared, or determined look. When you looked in the front, there were four doors with a triangle, circle, star or an umbrella.

"Why the hell is the playground so big?" Ji-hye looked at the children's equipment "What are we even playing?"

"Welcome to your second game." The robot spoke

"Hey, what do you think this is?" Asked Gi-hun "Holding out on a roundabout? Pushing people out of the jungle gym?"

"If that was the game, I would be dead in the first round. I've gotten a little rusty in sports." Ji-hye turned over to Gi-hun

"Before the second game begins, choose from one of the four shapes and stand in front of it."

"What is that?" Ali pointed to the shapes

"Circle, triangle, star, umbrella." Gi-hun told him

"They seem very familiar." The old man said

"Sang-woo." Ji-hye tapped Sang-woo's shoulder since he was deep in thought. Sang-woo's attention landed on Ji-hye, looking down at her "What should we do?"

"I'm not sure." Sang-woo lied and Ji-hye caught that

"Choose a shape and stand in front of it immediately." The robot said "Choose a shape and stand in front of it immediately."

"Should we move as a team?" Gi-hun looked at Sang-woo

"That might be dangerous. We don't even know what the game is. If we all pick the same shape, we might get in trouble."

"You think?"

"There's this saying in investments: "Don't put all your-"

"eggs in one basket." Ji-hye finished his sentence. Gi-hun looked at Sang-woo and Ji-hye like a proud father.

"Sir, they both entered Seoul University as the top of their class. Sang-woo, he was a famous prodigy in our neighborhood." Sang-woo just turned around in embarrassment, Ji-hye just laughed a little

"Really? Goodness." The old man smiled at Sang-woo "Must be a great man."

"Of course, he is. He even got every girl's attention." Sang-woo just shook his head "Then let's split up as Sang-woo saie, and see how things go. Who should go where?"

"I'll take the triangle." Sang-woo said

"What about you?" Gi-hun pointed at Ali

"Dayira." He said and drew a circle in the air, Gi-hun followed his motion "Dayira."

"You mean, circle?"

"Yes. It looks like the moon from my hometown."

"Then we have the star and the umbrella left."

"You Can choose first." The old man told Gi-hun

"Should I?" The old man nodded, "Then I'll take the umbrella." Sang-woo quickly turned his head to Gi-hun

"Umbrella?" Sang-woo tried to hide his wordiness "Why?"

"My mom used to scold me for losing my umbrella all the time. In the end,merely only gave me broken ones. I always wanted a decent umbrella like the other kids.":

"I'll take the star." The old man looked upfront, "We rarely ever get to see stars in this day and age."

"Ji-hye, what will you choose?" Ali asked her

"I'll choose the star too, they do bring good memories." Ji-hye decided, Sang-woo looked down, debating if he should tell them.

"All right, let's get moving." Gi-hun said "Once we know what we're playing, we can come up with a plan together." Everyone began to walk forward except Sang-woo. Before Ji-hye could walk any more farther, Sang-woo grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to where he was standing.

"Uhhh." Ji-hye looked at Sang-woo nervously "Yeah?"

"Choose the triangle, it'll probably be easier."

"I said I was choosing the star, so I'm choosing the star." Sang-woo just sighed

"Ji-hye right now it isn't the time to be ignorant, just choose the triangle, please." Ji-hye looked at Sang-woo's face seeing that it's important that she chooses the Triangle

AUTHOR- HEY! I decided to cut the chapter short since I didn't want to overwhelm you guys with a lot of words and I felt like making a separate chapter for the second game. Also, thank you so much for 600+ reads, I am so thankful!!!!! <3333

Did you guys hear about that the director of Squid Game might make a season two? I'm so excited 😭