Work Text:
Inho stood up on the edge of the rooftop, tears blurring his vision, distorting the city skyline into a bright, blurry mess. His feet teetered on the ledge as he thought about the past few months, the hell he had gone through. Experiencing the horrors of humanity, watching people die day after day right in front of his eyes. He thought he would be able to handle it, he had been a cop for most of his life until he was fired. He had witnessed terrible things, people dying in his arms, even watching his own wife slowly decay. But truly seeing the evil, disgusting side of human beings in his own eyes, while people stood by and did absolutely nothing broke him entirely. And he won by stooping down to their level. He cheated his way to victory with the help of that mysterious man in the gold animal mask.
He could still feel that dagger in his hands, he could feel the warm blood of his victims splashing his face. He knew he was disgusting, tainted. He knew he was no better then the rest of the vile players that killed without thinking twice, even if he only did it to save his wife and unborn child. And in the end, it didn’t even matter. It didn’t matter that he had won. It didn’t matter that he went through all that trauma trying to get the money to save her life. The lives he stole in exchange for another, were now worthless. It wouldn’t have even mattered if he had died there. Because when he ran into the hospital, it was too late. She’d been dead for days, the whole time he was in those games fighting for her, she was already gone, and their child died with her. He should have died their, should’ve taken the blade he was given and slit his own throat instead of the other players.
He didn’t remember much from that night, basically every moment after he heard the news was a complete blur. He recalled being let into the morgue where her body was kept, it wasn’t like a funeral where the body is prepared and presented nicely, where they face is touched up to look lively. She just laid on a metal bed, a white sheet draped over her. She almost looked inhuman,her cold skin pale as paper. Inho crumpled over her choking through tears as he said a thousand apologies to her, for leaving, for what he’d done in the games, for not finding a better way, for being too late to be with her in death and for failing to save her. He didn’t believe in heaven or hell all that much, god knows he’d end up there if it was real, but he hoped that she could somehow see him still. That she knew that he didn’t just abandon her, that he was trying so hard to save her. After that, the next thing he remembered eas sitting in the sterile family room in the hospital. The metal chair hard and unwelcoming, he looked across the room at Junho’s concerned and disappointed face when he asked him where he’d been for all this time, why he left, why he hadn’t answered anybodys phone calls or messages. Inho just stared at him, tears soaking his face unable to muster up a reply. He should have comforted his brother more that night, it wasn’t any easier for him. He was so young when they get married, she was basically as much of a sibling to him as Inho was.
And now he stood on the edge of his decrepit apartment building, What was he waiting for? What reason did he have left to stay? He was miserable. He could barely sleep, and when he did his mind was tormented with nightmares of what he’d witnessed, haunted by his own actions. He was treating himself like shit, surviving off whiskey and the cheapest noodles he could find. He was ignoring his family, he couldn’t face either of them. He didn’t deserve them. They’d both treated him so well after his wife passed, his step mother preparing food for him every day, and junho insisting that he lived with him for a few weeks. It was all too much, if they knew what he’d done, they’d both disown him on the spot. He deserved this life, to just punish himself until his organs gave in from alcohol poisoning and malnutrition.
As he felt the cold evening air brush past his tear soaked cheeks, ready to step off the edge, he sensed someone’s presence behind him.
“Please just go away, whoever you are. You won’t convince me to come down, but I don’t want anyone else to witness this. Please just leave me be.” His voice shook, barely getting above a whisper.
“Player 132, it would be best for you to get down.”
That “name”, that voice shot his his heart out of his chest, he turned his head slightly, barely seeing that familiar bright pink figure in his peripheral vision.
“What do you want? H-how did you find me?” The voice didn’t answer. Inho sighed, he slowly sat on the ledge, holding his hands in his lap. “Please just let me die.”
Inho looked down at the street, at what awaited him. He was about to push himself off towards it, he didn’t care if this person watched him kill himself because he knew they’d be accustomed to death, but the worker finally answered him.
“He wants to speak with you.”
“Who..and why? Haven’t you people already ruined my life enough? Just let me go in peace, just leave me alone. Let me die.”
“That isn’t an option, 132.” They were closer now, close enough that Inho could feel their stare on the back of his head.
“What? What do you-” Before he could even finish his sentence, he was yanked back onto the rooftop, and immediately knocked out.
He woke up blindfolded, sat on a leather car seat. His head was killing him..
“Hello player 132.” That voice, cold and vile. He knew who this was, it was that man in the animal mask who shattered whatever ounce of humanity Inho had left in him when he handed him that knife. He snatched the blindfold off, looking towards the man, his eyes full of fear, realising he was sat in the man’s limo. “I’ve been trying to have a chat with you for a while Inho. I was so interested with you the whole game, you were my favourite player, a worthy bet.” He removed his mask, carelessly swirling around a champagne glass, before taking a sip. Inho sat in shock, staring at him, legs shaking as he sat.
“A worthy bet? Who are you anyway? What’s your name?” He repeated the man’s words, disgusted at what he parroted back.
“My name?” He chuckled slightly “Oh Il nam, and yes a bet. It’s what funds these games. People betting millions on their favourite players, the ones they think will win.” He answered, gesturing towards Inho with his glass as he spoke.
“Like we’re just horses at a racetrack.” Inho looked towards the floor of the limo, defeated.
“I suppose that’s one way to put it.” He had another sip of champagne, before pouring a second glass.
“Why did you bring me here?” Inho asked.
“I have an offer for you.” Il nam said, offering the glass to Inho. He looked down at the glass, shaking his head.
“What do you mean by that, what do you mean when you say you an “offer”?”
“Well Inho, at my age it’s getting harder and harder to be in charge of those games, plus i’m bound to pass sooner or later. And I can’t just let them die with me, can I?” He finished off his glass, Inho’s still untouched.
“What are you saying?”
“I want to give you a job, helping me. I’m offering you… an apprenticeship of sorts. Ultimately I am still the host, still in charge of everything, still dealing with the guests, the bets. But you, will be the one really running the show. And in a few years, you could even take my place.” He seemed to smile while laying this out for Inho, like it was just a normal job interview to work at a supermarket or something.
“Y-you want me to help you run that place?!”
Il nam nodded. “Why the fuck would I ever go back there? Why do you think I would help you put people through the same tourture I went through?” Inho raised his voice.
“Because, I know what you truly need, what you want. A sense of purpose. A new direction in life. You have nobody to take care of anymore, no reason to keep going.” Inho stayed silent, looking away. “Just think about it, what do you even have to loose anymore? You have nothing. No family, no friends, no job, and there’s nothing left to tether you to this earth, you don’t have to associate yourself with the other trash that roams this world.You’re better then them Inho.” Neither of them spoke for a moment, Inho sat with his hands in his lap, his breathing unstable. The masked man just stared at him.
He finally spoke up, “Why do you want me there anyway? Why am I so special?” His voice cracked slightly.
“Because, like I said you impressed me in your games. Acting meek and kind, and then heartlessly killing your fellow man the moment I gave you that knife.” Inho jolted, looking directly at Il nam.
“I..I only did that because I thought I had to! If I knew she was dead I wouldn’t have even tried! I didn’t..I just…” His voice shook.
“Lie all you want, deep down, you know you would have done it just to save yourself. That’s why your better inho, you don’t let subjective morality get in the way of what you want, that’s why you rose above the trash.” Inho’s breathing quickened, no…it wasn’t true Inho wasn’t trying to impress this monster, he was only trying to survive! “So, what do you think?” He continued. Inho stared at the floor for a moment, gripping his pants fabric.
“No, I won’t take up your offer. I can’t just be in charge of subjecting people to so much cruelty! I’m not like you.”
“You and I are far more alike then you would like to think Inho. You think you’re better then me, but your not. You’re a cold blooded killer, you’re rich to an extent nobody could ever earn in their own lifetime, and you are nothing like the rest of humanity because like me, you are above them.”
“Well I know that i’m not ‘better’ then anyone else, if anything i’m worse! I’m a murderer, how can that make me above anyone? Why do you seem to think being a peice of shit makes you better then normal people?”
“Because the rest of humanity is no better, they’re trash but they don’t even recognise it. They’re greedy, cruel, disgusting people, and they don’t even admit it. You saw it during that week, you should know what i’m talking about.”
“Oh my god, obviously some people are like that, i’ve seen it with my own eyes! When I was a cop I saw how vile people could be, the people I worked alongside and the people I arrested. But that’s not all that humanity is, most people aren’t greedy, they’re just desperate. And the fact that you can’t see that proves that i’m nothing like you!”
The man refilled his champagne glass, breathing out slowly and steadily.“Hmm..well even if that’s true Inho, what would they say about you? Your brother, your step mother? Honestly just, any regular person. Just think, would they think your the victim? An innocent lamb left to its own devices? Desperate and pushed to the edge, forced to kill? Simply taking the life of another human being for the sake of another? Or would they see you for what you really are? The wolf heartlessly killing its prey? A monster?” Inho closed his eyes, hands shaking in his lap.
“They’d see me as…a monster. They probably wouldn’t even believe me.” He choked out through tears.
“Exactly, they would hate for it, judge you, cut you out of their lives entirely, lock you up. But me? I could never, because I know how much better you really are then everyone else.”
“Why didn’t you just let me kill myself? Aren’t they a million members of your staff that have done something worse then i have?”
“Well, yes but they don’t have the same potential as you, I couldn’t just let that go to waste!”
“I still don’t want to take up your offer, it doesn’t matter if they hate me, I deserve it. I don’t talk them anymore anyways, they don’t need me in their lives. And besides, even if they found out what I did and threw me in prison on the spot, I wouldn’t care. I probably deserve to rot in jail for the rest of my life.”
“So you thought it was wrong to kill those men, even if it was to save your wife and unborn child? Why would you do it then? You said it was just to save them, but if you care so much about doing the right thing why wouldn’t you just win fairly?”
“You just don’t understand what it’s like to be in a position like that..to have to make a decision like that! Of course I didn’t want to kill anybody! But I couldn’t die in that place! I had to do what I could to guarantee that i’d survive, to give her a chance...I just can’t put anyone else through that,how could I when I know what it’s like?”
“That’s why you’re perfect, you, a person from both sides, would add so much value. I don’t just want you to join me because you’re determination to get what you want impressed me, I think you would have some great ideas Inho.”
“Ideas?”
“Yes, things you think would make the experience more…humane, things you think would have helped push you even further. I didn’t just make these games to tourture the trash of humanity you know. It’s entertainment, and watching a sick and injured horse race isn’t all that interesting. Obviously my main goal is to keep the games engaging for it’s audience, but if added stuff to improve the players time in the games will help with that, i’m all for it.” He took a sip of champagne.
“I can see why you’d say that..but I won’t accept it. Find someone else, surely there’s a different winner who’s impressed you?”
“No, not in the way you did. Sure there’s been people who ruthlessly attacked their fellow man, who barley even played by the rules and just killed their competition until they were victorious, and maybe some of them would agree with how I view humanity. But you are still special because unlike them, you are better then the rest of mankind. You are special.”
“What are you going to do if I refuse? Kill me? Hurt my family?”
“No, ultimately it’s your choice. I won’t harm them, but..I could tell them where you really were, what you did, when your wife slowly died.” Inho went to interrupt him, “and I know you’ll say you don’t care, that they hate you already, but clearly you don’t actually believe that. Because if you did, you would have already come clean to them, instead you’ve just ignored them for months. Your still holding out hope that you can move on from all this, because you know that if they find out, there’s no going back. They’ll hate you forever, that’s why you need me Inho. Because I won’t judge you for your past, because what they would consider a vile act, I see as an achievement.”
“Maybe you’re right, I am a coward. They can’t know, even if i deserve it…I don’t want them to despise me, to see me for who I really am.”
“So, what will it be? A life of misery, regret, beating yourself up and drinking yourself to death to drown your guilt. Hiding such a deep secret from everyone you know..” he held out a geometric black mask “or, join me, give yourself a purpose and have someone who will never make you feel shame for your past by your side?”
Inho looked down at the mask, sighing.
“If you really want what’s best for future players, at least if you truly think you’re a good person.”
“I’m not a good person.”
“Well if you think your not on my level of cruelty, if your not like me. Wouldn’t it be better if you were around? I’m not letting these games die with me, I can find somebody else. But maybe they’d implement worse things then I have, no food maybe, let them starve for a week and see if that makes them more desperate, more entertaining. No beds, let them sleep on the concrete and get even less rest. Don’t even ask people if they want to join, just force random people in debt into a van! I’m not opposed to any of these ideas Inho, but i’d imagine you are?” Inho nodded, turning his gaze away from Il nam. “So if you really care about humanity, take my offer. Make sure the role doesn’t fall into someone else’s hands.” Inho looked down at the mask he was still holding out,
slowly reaching out and taking it from Il nam, tears rolling down his cheeks.
“You made the right choice.”
He couldn’t help but doubt that, but it didn’t matter. Il nam was right. He was no better then him.