Chapter Text
He woke up disoriented, brain groggy and heavy. His skin was clammy and he could still feel the tremors in his entire body. A bitter, acrid taste lingered in the back of his throat and his head felt as though it had been split open. Which — hadn’t it? He could still remember the sound as he hit the floor, the agonizing pain that followed before nothing. He was dead. Or he was supposed to be.. but as Minsu opened his eyes, he was back in the dormitory, with the blaring overhead lights and players wearing green tracksuits all around him.
A hand nudged his shoulder, and he was face to face with her. Semi.. but how? Was it like before? He was just imagining her again, had to be.. but she didn’t have the blood splattered all over her this time, from the deadly wound in her neck and her eyes didn’t look so empty. Her face was crinkled in concern, and she was speaking to him. He blinked once or twice, hoping his brain would begin to comprehend what she was saying.
“Minsu? You okay? Snap out of it.” She nudged him once more, eyes searching his. He blinked again and averted his eyes, too reminded of how he had felt right before he plummeted to his death. Staring into her eyes, content with the fact she had forgiven him. Minsu nodded once and gave a meek reply, unsure how his voice would come out.
“I’m.. okay, Semi.” He was lying through his teeth and it pained him to have to lie to her of all people, but how would he explain anything he just experienced? It had felt so real he was sure it had happened. So how had he ended up back here? His mind felt so lost and exhausted. Taking a glance at his surroundings, he noticed Thanos, Namgyu and Gyeongsu sitting near them. The latter two were enraptured by whatever Thanos was saying and neither of them were paying much attention to Minsu or Semi. Minsu was grateful for that.
If his memory was correct, this was directly before the Mingle game. Before everything went so wrong. He could feel the tremors in his hands and clasped them together in hopes to stop it. The last thing he wanted was for Semi to catch on that something was seriously wrong (besides the fact that they were in a life or death game). He couldn’t face her questions right now, if he tried to explain anything he would just sound crazy.
Minsu sat quietly next to Semi and she didn’t press him for a conversation, just kept occasionally glancing at him as if she didn’t believe that he was alright. He really was never good at lying. The intercom soon crackled to life with the loud, commanding voice announcing another game would be beginning soon and the doors slowly opened. As everyone was forced to head up the colorful stairs into the next game room, Minsu’s dread had multiplied. He kept replaying what had happened last time. He wouldn’t make the wrong decision twice.
The players lined up around the platform and it was like clockwork. The song, Thanos and Namgyu dancing like psychos, and the immediate, final pause as the number of players was announced. At first, it was 6 and everything played out how it had before. Minsu and the group found a sixth and shuffled into a room. It began again. Then stopped.
“Four.” The monotone voice announced. As expected, Thanos’ head whipped back and forth between him and Gyeongsu, ultimately deciding on Minsu as the other guy flashed him a smile before realizing he was being left behind. Minsu felt sick. He didn’t want to leave Gyeongsu behind, but there was no time to do anything else. Even if he had tried to stop Thanos from kicking him, it’s very likely he would’ve been the one on the floor instead. Maybe it was selfish.. but he couldn’t save everyone.
“Gyeongsu, you out!” Thanos’ voice boomed and he took off with Namgyu towards a room. Everything happened insanely fast. Semi grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the room, he didn’t call out for Gyeongsu this time. The guilt was too much. Inside the room, he and Namgyu stood near the door, but all he wanted to do was get as far away from him as possible. Without thinking, he asked Namgyu the same question as last time. “Dude, can you see what happened to Gyeongsu?”
Almost instantly, Namgyu’s hand shot out to shove his chest. “Don’t call me ‘dude’. Act like we’re friends again and I’ll leave you out there next time.”
Minsu rolled his eyes. After seeing how Namgyu had become without those pills, it was almost funny he’d ever been intimidated by him in the first place. Namgyu scoffed, clearly directing his question towards the other two in the room, “Are you seeing this? Little shit just rolled his eyes at me.” Minsu knew what came next. Namgyu’s hand twisted into his jacket, pulling him closer in an attempt to scare him. His face was twisted into a grimace.
Minsu recoiled immediately, shoving his hand off much like he did during jump rope. “Get. Off.” He huffed, moving away from him as much as the small room allowed. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Namgyu glaring at him but he refused to look at him. Semi snickered beside him, clearly pleased with Namgyu’s humiliation. He felt a small sense of pride bloom in his chest at that.
Before anything else could be said or done, “You two, shut up. What did you guys do with my boy Gyeongsu?!” Minsu tuned the rest out, dropping his gaze to the floor and just staring. He forgot how annoying Thanos could be. He really wanted out of this room already.
He had zoned out so much that he didn’t even register getting back onto the circular platform. Shit. Was he still having some kind of withdrawals or was this something else? He had to stay focused.
As the game started up again, Minsu made sure to stay close to Semi. No way was he leaving her behind again. A few seconds ticked by before things stopped again and a number was announced.
“Three.”
His breath caught in his throat. Here goes nothing.
Things became tense, the air almost suffocating. “Rock, paper, scissors! Winner comes with us!” Thanos shouted over the noise.
Semi held out her hand to him, just like before. For a second, he was back there. When she was holding out her hand during the final game, telling him to come with her. He looked at her face, solemn and serious. Minsu blinked and he was in Mingle again, looking at the real Semi.
“Come with me.” She said, as her gaze flashed with slight panic.
He didn’t hesitate, didn’t even register the words ‘one, two, three’ in his ear. He just grabbed her hand and they ran.
“What the fuck?!” In the distance. Namgyu.
“You fuckers!” Thanos.
Minsu didn’t even look back.
“Hurry!” Semi’s voice right next to him, her hand squeezing tighter as they found another player with less than five seconds to spare - barely getting to another room before three other players.
Minsu pulled the door shut and the lock clicked, the three players banging on the door mixed with his labored breathing as he tried to calm down. For some reason, he was scared things were going to happen exactly like they did before and he would betray her all over again. Thought he wouldn’t be able to control it, as if it were doomed to happen no matter what.
“Minsu.” He heard her voice behind him. He turned to see her leaning against the wall with her eyes looking towards the ceiling. Then she turned her attention towards him. “Thank you.”
He nodded, expression uncertain. Then he spoke, “I wouldn’t do that to you. Leave you behind, I mean.”
Her lips turned up in a half smile, one that didn’t quite reach her eyes. Maybe she didn’t believe him. After all, he hadn’t grown much of a spine until lately. And that was only because of the shit he had experienced before he was brought back to life. If he ever even died in the first place. As if the thought alone was enough, his head began to pound and dark circles swam in his vision. He tried to bite back the pain, hold it together in front of Semi and the other player. Yeah, he definitely wasn’t okay.
“What are we gonna do now?” He muttered once he felt he could speak again, almost forgetting about the gunshots. They began and stopped as quick as they had started, screams mingling between them. That shut both of them up for a minute.
Then, “We’ll figure it out, Minsu-ya. Don’t worry.”
And despite knowing what was going to eventually happen to everyone on this island, he really believed her.