I was once again awoken by the same music as ever as i quietly lifted my head off the bed.

I saw the guards walk in to hand out breakfast...

I groaned wanting to doze of for just a few more minutes...

But i still got up since i was hungry and needed something to eat...

I stood in line, it seemed to be some kind of cookie and milk...

I just swiftly took it from the guard and sat down next to the people i met the day before...

I quietly ate the food... i never really got to drink much milk and i was almost never allowed pastries...

Gi-hun and Sang-woo both gave some of their food to 199... honestly i tought it was really admirable how thankfull he always was...

I heard the classical music play again right as i finished my food...

"Attention, the second game will begin shortly"

"Please follow the instructions from our staff"

After a while we werenbrought back to the weird staircases and halls again, honestly i was growing more and more nervous on what the second game might be...

We were brought to a playground-like scenery... it honestly creeped me out a bit

"Players, welcome to our second game, we will begin shortly."

I stood close to gi-hun and sang-woo... in case they knew anything...

"Hey, what do you think this is?" He asked sang-woo

"Holding out on a roundabout?"

"Pushing people off of the jungle gym?"

"Before we start the second game, choose from one if the four shapes and stand in front of it"

I looked foward, in front of us where pictures, one of a circle, one of a triangle, a star and an umbrella.

"They seem very familiar" 001 said

"Sang-woo, got anything?" Gi-hun asked

"...im not sure"

"Choose a shape and stand in front of it immediately" the speaker said

The first people started to walk forward to choose which one they wanted, i was still standing still...

"Should we move as a team?" Gi-hun asked us.

"That might be dangerous"

"We dont even know what the game is"

"If we all pick the same shape, we might get in trouble"

"You think?"

Gi-hun started to ramble about how amazing sang-woo was... i couldnt really focus on it tough, i was too worried about what we should do...

"Lets all split up then and take a different shape!"

"But... we are five people"

He paused.

"Y/n, pick whatever shape you like. We will split up"

I hesitantly nodded and looked back at the shapes there were.

'Well.... i suppose ill go with the star then...'

I stood in line behind the others, glancing back at the others every once in a while...

The doors opened and everyone was handed a small box...

I swiftly took mine and sat down somewhere random...

We were then advised to open them, it... looked like a cookie of some sort... there was a small needle in there and the star shape i choose...

"Attention players, the second game is sugar honeycombs"

"The shape you have chosen is the shape you must extract"

I gulped... 'gi-hun... didnt he choose the... umbrella..?'

"The time limit is 10 minutes, if your manage to extract the shape in that window of time, you pass. If the shape cracks or breaks, you will be eliminated."

"With that, let the game begin"

A timer appeared and i looked down at my shape...

I took the needle in my hand and started carefully carving out the shape...

The room was dead quiet, everyone carefully carving out their shape...

The guards were patrolling but for some reason i always felt like they were escpecially close to me..

The star wasnt easy either... i did my best trying not to break it...

I suddendly heard a loud gunshot, completely catching me off guard...

I looked up to see some guy, he was sliding down the slide... with a hole in his head.

I heard loud shrieks and ghasps...

I looked to my right... a woman she... she had broken her circle...

A guard walked up to her as she started to beg for her life but without mercy she was shot aswell.

I heard more and more gunshots coming from all directions, and people falling dead to the ground...

My eyes almost teare dup a bit as i tried focusing on my shape...

Suddendly... my heart stopped as i heard a deadly *crack*...

My star... i had broken off an edge...

My heart started to pound out of my chest as i heard footsteps behind me.

The guard glanced over my shoulder at my ruined shape.

I gulped as i started to accept my fate...

I squeezed my eyes shut and was awaiting a gunshot followed by death...

But after a few seconds of nothing happening i squinted my eyes open just a little bit.

The guard was still standing over me as i held my cracked shape.

He glanced around the room for a second before leaning down to me.

He suddendly grabbed my hand that i held the honeycomb in, and... placed another box on my hand, quickly grabbing the other one...

I hesitantly opened it and i saw... a perfectly carved out star...

I lifted my head up a bit to look at him... i searched for a scratch mark on his mask but i didnt see anything meaning this was a random guard...

"...thank you sir..."

"No need to worry, your safe" he quickly patted my head a few times before walking away.

"Player 304, pass"

I was... safe..?

I stood up a bit scatter brained...

"Player 199, pass"

I looked over to him... he did it...!

We made eye contact as i gave him a encouraging smile.

"Player 210, pass"

Along with the others who passed the round, i left the playgroud shooting the guard who saved my life one more glance...

"Player 224, pass"

I heard a last gunshot before i left...

I walked back down with the others who passed the round.

We were brought into the 'dormitory' and after a while we saw more players walk in

I saw the old man and... Gi-hun! He was actually still alive! He made it!

"Sirs you made it!"

"Your still alive!" I smiled.

"Im glad you made it, i was really worried" 199 said.

"Yeah me too! I was so scared you were gonna die!" I exclaimed happily.

"Did you think i would die that easily?"

"Im seong gi-hun of Ssangmun-dong!"

"Old sir, are you all right?"

"Yes, im fine, its all thanks to him"

"Im sorry..." sang-woo suddendly blurted out...

"i shouldnt have said we should split up"

"Dont say that"

"Its not like you knew" gi-hun reassured him

"Yeah sang-woo! Dont beat yourself up over it, were all alive! Thats what matters!"

"Yeah! Besides, i choose the umbrella! Its okay"

"Yeah. Im glad everyone is fine"

Suddendly the voice called trough the speakers again...

"We will now announce the results of the second game."

The count of players went down as the money count shot up...

"Out of 187 players, 79 have been eliminated"

The piggy bank started getting filled with more money again...

"7.9 billion won has been accumulated in this round."

"The total prize money accumulated so far is 34.8 billion won"

'Wow... i did it but... why..? Why was i still alive?'

After a while, mealtime started.

I waited in line patiently to get my food...

But honestly it was a little dissapointing.

I sighed as i grabbed the small ration.

I still had the apple tough...

"Uh.. I didnt get anything!" I suddendly heard someone say from the opposite side of the line.

I turned my head a bit confused, "wheres the rest?!"

"Hey we didnt get anything either" a woman behind him said.

"One, two, three, four, five. Five missing meals sir!"

One of the square guys started to talk, "we prepared food for the exact number of players"

"Then where is ours. Give me my food!-"

He swiftly got a gun pointed to his head as i gulped a bit...

"We prepared the exact amount of food for each player"

"Excuse me" another woman called out

"Those people... they took the foor twice. I saw them"

I raised an eyebrow...

"Damn it, this is fucking annoying" that was the guy i saw beating up the girl when i first came here...

"You never seen a person eat before?"

The guy from the front of the line started walking up to him.

"Who do you think you are?! Stealing other peoples food?"

I set my food down for a moment as i watched the situtation unfold.

After a bit more screaming the bigger guy started attacking the guy that wanted his food back... and he wasnt holding back either...

The room exchanged helpless looks.

I suddendly shrieked a bit as i felt a hand on my shoulder pulling me somewhere.

"Gh?!"

"Number 304, please follow behind with no objections"

I moved my eyes to the person... it was one of the guards, he was wearing a square mask...

Behind me were two people with triangle masks, since they were both armed i decided to follow behind and obey as best as i could...

I was brought to another room and sat down somewhere...

It kind of reminded me of an interrogation room...

"Uhm... did i do something wrong sir..?" I muttered.

He shook his head before turning to the two triangle-guys still standing there.

"Both of you, leave"

They quickly exited the room, so now i was stuck there all alone, tough the fact there werent any guns pointed at me calmed me down a bit...

"304, you cant tell me you didnt notice by now, did you?"

I paused, "sir... im sorry to ask this but... why exactly am i still alive?"