"...why exactly am i still alive?"

"..."

"304, you saw one of our soldiers faces, am i correct?"

"...yeah"

"304, you remember dont you?"

I tought for a second...

"You do not disclose the faces or personal information of your staff to any of the players, did i say it right?"

"..."

"Please dont kill me..."

"Idiot, why would i bring you here just to kill you? I couldve done that as soon as i saw your cracked shape in the second game"

I picked at my cuticles nervously, "Then...why am i here?"

"Your allowed to stay her for the night. Its for your own protection"

"My protection? Im sorry but-"

"The players were given less food today. Tonights gonna be a massacre..."

"S-so... your not gonna hurt me, right..?"

"As long as you dont try anything, im not planning on harming you"

I gulped and nodded a tiny bit.

"304, why would you come back to this game?"

I lifted my head up a bit.

I hesitated but decided there wasnt much harm in telling someone...

"...even if i die here, it wouldnt make much of a difference... id die outside too..."

"Do you mean loan sharks?"

"Mhm... they are after my dad... i promised them id get their money by next month... either ill be dead or ill be able to afford a better life for my family..." i stared against the wall.

"Sounds rough... your still pretty young, its sad you have to face the consequences of your parents actions..."

"Hmph... you dont need to pretend to sympathize with me..." i glared

"Im not. Im not required to talk to you, you know?"

I mean... fair enough, he wasnt even required to let me live... so it would be best if i dont show too much of an attitude...

"Hey, i was wondering... is there anything i can call you by?" I hesitantly asked.

"Hm? Why?"

"Well... it looks like ill be stuck here for a while anyways... id like to at leats know what to call you sir..."

He paused, "12, just call me 12"

'It seems guards have serial numbers too then...'

"Alright then, 12..." i mumbled

'Hm...'

I scribbled something down on my hand with my finger.

"What are you doing?"

"My dad always said if you want to remember a name you need to write it on your palm 3 times"

"I... never heard of that metaphor..."

"Hm... i dont know of its a saying in korea... its more widely known in europe i think..."

"Your from europe?"

"Yeah... ive spend most of my childhood there..."

"Do you like korea more than europe?"

"Yeah sure... i love being multiple million won in debt..."

I felt like i could almost heard him chuckle a bit...

I smiled just a bit

"And you? Where are you from?" I asked resting my head on my fist.

"...nothing i can tell you, sorry"

I sighed internally but just nodded in response...

I slowly let my head sink onto the table as i stared off into space...

After a while i closed my eyes unwillingly and before i knew it, i had fallen asleep.

The guard that stood at the side of the room glanced over at the peacefully sleeping player...

They were resting their head on their arms, dozing off as if they werent trapped in a random room with a sketchy person.

Originally he planned on just leaving them were they were and not answering any questions but unwillingly he ended up chatting with them more than he had with any other player before... most likely even more than with any of his coworkers...

He had already noticed how many guards took a liking to them, one giving them a brief explanation of the first game while another gave them a free pass on the honeycomb game...

After he figured out that the night was going to be such a huge massacre he decided to help them out too and give them a pass on it, simply as a gift for his favorite player.

But he also knew the next games werent going to be easy, they didnt look exeptionally strong which made him worry a bit about tug-of-war...

He examined their face a bit closer, slowly roaming over to them...

He leaned down a bit and delivactly brushed some hair out of their face...

Their hair had obviously not been washed in a while but it was still quite soft...

"Cute..." he acknowledged

He paused for a quick second.

But he was honestly okay with having said that, it wasnt like he was alone with that opinion...

He gently stroked trough their light/dark hair.

"Shame... your way to pretty to be here..."

"But i suppose that a win for me then..."

...