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Sang-Woo wandered through the fake alleyways of the game. He and Ali had split up to look for teams that hadn't finished yet. But all he found were corpses and bloody bullets scattered about. He quickened his pace until he was running; he needed to find at least one group that hadn't finished, or he would die. The ticking of the clock on the wall only made him more desperate; he felt his stomach churn with fear.
He had to lean against one of the fake houses to try to calm himself and avoid vomiting. He slumped down completely, holding his head and pulling at his hair. God, how pathetic he felt now, his eyes filled with tears and his stomach churning. He should have taken Ali's bag of marbles; that way, he'd be safe, with another day of life guaranteed, without having to carry the extra weight Ali is.
"Hyung!!! Where are you?!" All of Sang-Woo's thoughts were interrupted by the shout of a familiar voice searching for him.
"Ali?! Where are you?" Sang-Woo stood up and ran toward the shout, continuing until he bumped into Ali. Before the Korean could even say anything, the Pakistani grabbed his wrist and dragged him to another alley, one where a couple, seemingly married, were whining and yelling at the guard that they didn't want to kill their partners.
Sang-Woo ignored them and ran toward the guard in the triangle who was supervising the couple, standing right in front of him. Ali stayed behind him, holding him by the shoulders.
"If two teams don't finish before time runs out, both members of each team will have to compete against the other team?" the Korean man asked breathlessly, turning his head to face the couple staring at him. The guard remained silent, as if hesitating.
"Yes," the guard replied in a deep, monotone voice. Sang-Woo exhaled a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. The couple embraced, weeping. The Korean man turned and hugged the Pakistani, burying his face in Ali's shoulder.
"I swear we'll get through this together and alive, Ali," Sang-Woo murmured. Ali returned the hug and shyly stroked the other man's back. They just had to wait for time to run out, and then they would have to face the couple.
Barely two minutes had passed when the voice announced that time was up, and some guards from the circle entered to clean.
"Hurry up, you have five minutes," the triangle said to the couple and the duo. Both groups looked at each other. It was obvious Ali and Sang-woo would win, but they still had to try.
(Time skip, the couple loses)
Ali finished counting the marbles he and Sang-woo had. He didn't even need to check, since it was obvious the couple had lost. The duo stood up and handed the marbles to the guard, while the couple wept behind them.
"Player 199, player 218. You advance to the next round," a cold voice said from one of the loudspeakers.
Two simultaneous gunshots rang out behind them, accompanied by the sound of lifeless bodies hitting the sandy floor.
Both were led by a circle guard to the large bunk room. Everything was in absolute silence, broken only by Ali's sobs. The Pakistani man felt terrible for having ended the lives of that couple, even though technically it wasn't his fault. Sang-Woo approached him and placed a hand on the other man's shoulder.
"You did the right thing, Ali. It was their lives or ours," Sang-Woo whispered, stroking his shoulder. Ali barely raised his gaze to stare at Sang-Woo; the Pakistani man's usually bright eyes now looked so dark.
"It's not just that..." Ali replied softly, forcing Sang-Woo to release his grip on his shoulder and stopping in the hallway. Before Sang-Woo could even ask what he was doing, he felt the floor beneath his feet disappear and he fell.
Sang-Woo sat bolt upright in his bunk bed, sweating profusely. He looked around desperately, searching for even the slightest trace that Ali was still there, that they had both made it out alive, but there was nothing. The bed where Ali had slept was still completely made. It took Sang-Woo a moment to remember, but when he did, he felt like he couldn't breathe. The truth hit him suddenly: he had betrayed Ali, lied to him, and condemned him to death. All because he wanted to live one more day, but now all he wanted was to turn back time and let Ali win.
His body trembled with fear and self-loathing. He remembered the trust Ali had shown him, the weight of the pebbles he had given him, lying that they were marbles, the gunshot that echoed through the room as he left.
He lay back down on his bunk, trying not to cry, but it was impossible to stop him; it was impossible to forget what he had done to the Pakistani man. He hugged himself, clumsily imitating the way Ali had done in that dream. He wept silently until the sobs turned into small spasms, continuing until he fell asleep again.