EGOIST (Sang Woo x Fem!OC) [ONGOING]

We all sit in silence in the threshold of our survival—grim, heavy, and swallowed by darkness.

The stadium is full of beaten and battered people, bloodied and scratched from a previous horror that led us to where we are now—in a cave of darkness. A small light hints at a lesson looming over us, daring us to take it. And nothing speaks in this place but the silence of many, and the echoing screams of the fallen.

But I got lucky—if lucky is even the right word.

It's so odd that the whole day, I had felt nothing but fear course through my veins. Yet, I felt none of that childish feeling I had before; the one that brought me unimaginable luck—that brought me to him.

He, Cho Sang-woo, sits next to me with a distant gaze. He is exhausted, slumped over like a tired old man, drowning in thought. There is a softness to him—his vulnerability—subtly, fearfully, showing itself in the shifting of his feet, and the tension of his jaw, as he rests his chin on his interlocked hands. That, if I touch him now, he might just crumble into dust.

Only now I have patience with his distance as I, too, wish for space to grieve. But in this open hall, I am given none of that. The entourage that surrounds me is a diverse mix of optimism and dread.

"We're still alive...I can't believe it." Gi-hun, who sat on my other side, exasperated. "I'm still alive, and it's all because of—" He turns to the man next to him.

"—You!" Gi-hun points at him, 199, who seemed timid in our presence.

"Did you see what he did?" Gi-hun turns to Sang-woo and I, "He held me with one hand! You're so strong—"

"It's nothing really, sir." 199 says bashfully. "I am just glad you are alive."

"What's your name?" Gi-hun chimes.

"Ali." 199 says. "Ali Abdul."

"—Seong Gi-hun." He pats him on the shoulders. "You saved me back there, Ali. Thank you."

"No problem—"

"—Cho Sang-woo." Sang-woo finally chimes in beside me, his curious eyes hidden behind his glasses.

"—And this—" Gi-hun gives me a strong pat on the shoulder "is Moon Hae Young." He grins. "And this man—is so clever. He told us to stay behind so we would 't be detected. I never would have thought of that!"

Sang-woo only looks down, avoiding his gaze. Gi-hun continues,

"He's really smart, you see. This guy—" he then turns back to me. "These two? Both graduates from SNU! Smartest people I know."

"Gi-hun..." I say at last, but he waves my concern as embarrassment as he continues on.

"No, really—cleverest people I know!"

"Gi-hun, let's keep it down." Sang-woo interjects, voice low and cautious, before turning to me with a curious look that I know too well.

At last, the man next to me pipes down as both him and Ali sit humbly in silence. The tone of grief once again makes it back to our circle. Though I turn to Gi-hun with softness in my jaw, "Thank you." I finally let the words slip out of my mouth. "You also saved me back there."

Gi-hun, my old, dear friend, gives me the softest smile. And in this moment I see him bashful—just as he had seen me.

There is a lightness to him that I am deeply grateful for as I remember warmer days that filled my heart—of his kindness and selflessness. In this moment, he is the good man we have known; a fragment of him I fear we had lost in the mistakes he's made as a father, and as a man. Before the games, he was only familiar. But now, I finally recognise him as the friend I hadn't known I needed.