novelnext Chapter 58 : Chapter 58
Chapter 58 : Chapter 58
Chapter 58
The ceiling lights of the Hall lobby emitted a stinging light like a mirror reflecting sunlight.
Below that, twenty-four survivors stood scattered around circular tables.
Each was spending more energy searching the expressions and eyes of others than the food.
On the buffet tables, smells of food in exotic combinations were layered.
Smoked salmon, pizza slices with a strong garlic scent, blanched chicken breast, warm soup, and even the sweet smell of cheap fresh fruit juice.
Someone scooped up food frantically like a person encountering food for the first time in a long time, while someone else stood with their back against the wall without even picking up a plate, observing the situation.
I, Lee Ju-seong, entered the Hall last among the survivors.
“Did you sleep well yesterday?”
Park So-yul, who had arrived first, approached me and asked.
Even though it was early morning, calmness was evident in her expression.
In particular, the ponytail neatly tied without a single stray hair was impressive.
It was obvious that she had put much more effort into grooming her hair than yesterday.
The fact that the time she spent on herself had increased meant that she had that much more peace of mind.
It meant that as time passed, she had finally adapted to the atmosphere of the Game Zone, which had completely changed from the beginning of the game.
I, Lee Ju-seong, tossed a joke.
“I slept so well that I even missed the hotel breakfast.”
Park So-yul smiled with only the corners of her eyes slightly folded.
However, that smile was soon buried in the atmosphere that had hardened like the surrounding air.
Kim Ju-han’s group was gathered on the opposite side of the table.
After glaring at me, he turned his head to the side when our eyes met.
He seemed to have no intention of even hiding his feeling that he did not want to clash with me for now.
Behind him stood three comrades who had become much quieter than yesterday.
Their eyes were not blatant anger, but closer to a calculated silence shown by those who had been broken once.
I could imagine the gym during the night through the behavior of Kim Ju-han’s group.
“It seems nothing much happened inside the gym.”
“It was just as you said, Ju-seong. The Taepyeong-gyo people stayed quietly, occupying a corner of the gym among themselves.”
“Because I hold Kim Ju-han’s weakness.”
“Somehow, while I haven't seen you, your personality has... uh, what should I call this...”
“Become vicious?”
“That’s going a bit too far. I do get the feeling you’ve become more unhesitating than before.”
Inside the Hall, many survivors other than Kim Ju-han’s group were bustling around.
Among them, a high school student couple in the right corner of the lobby was particularly noticeable.
Among them, the female student was sitting with her shoulders hunched, wrapping her stomach with both hands.
The slightly protruding belly informed that the female student was not alone.
“Oppa, you should eat some food now too. You should rest too when it's not during a game.”
“Uh, yeah. I’m going to eat soon. Ah, should I get you some dakgangjeong(deep-fried, bite-sized chicken chunks)? You said you wanted to eat chicken yesterday. If you want to eat it, I’ll scoop some up while I’m getting my second plate.”
“Then... just a little.”
Besides them, other survivors were gathered in small groups.
A woman with bandages wrapped around her arm, a middle-aged man who kept fiddling with his pocket, a well-built youth with dark circles under his eyes.
Most of these people seemed not to know each other well, but traces of thin information being exchanged were felt between the moments they exchanged glances.
Someone already knew the opponent,
someone was afraid that the opponent might know them,
and someone was struggling to feign being strong or weak.
Park So-yul picked up a buffet plate and whispered low to me.
“They said we're playing Round 5 tomorrow, right? Only Round 4 has ended, but the number of people has decreased a lot.”
I, Lee Ju-seong, answered after taking a wide look around the Hall.
“Since we've recorded a survival rate of 50 percent every time, it's not surprising that there are few people.”
At that moment, a dry announcement flowed from the speakers.
[Survivors, we announce once again. You must form a 4-person group during this exchange time.]
[Players who fail to form a team will be fined 100 million won and will be disqualified from participating in Round 5.]
[Those who have finished team formation, please convey the member composition to the organization members inside the Hall.]
The air in the room stopped once more.
The movements of putting food on plates that had existed until now ceased, and the spot was filled with silent conversations where eyes and schemes crossed.
Round 5 had already begun, effectively.
Since it wasn't the main game, the only difference was that they were holding plates instead of weapons.
Park So-yul filled her plate high with food and headed toward a multi-person wooden chair in a corner of the Hall.
“I’ll go and grab a seat first. Take your time picking and come.”
I, Lee Ju-seong, stared intently at the state of the plate reflecting Park So-yul’s choices.
“You’re going to set up a ranch at this rate.”
Park So-yul’s plate was entirely full of meat.
Dakgangjeong, beef bulgogi, grilled pork belly, pork cutlet, sausage... and a little bit of garlic.
She had scooped up only meat with the momentum to be listed on a vegan organization's blacklist.
Park So-yul took my point with wit.
“Protein supplementation is always important.”
“The amount is large, will you be able to eat it all?”
“I’ll eat it all even out of spite. Besides, isn't there a saying that what you eat remains? You have to eat when you can.”
“That’s true, so there’s no room for rebuttal.”
Unlike Park So-yul, I, Lee Ju-seong, composed my meal with a balanced(?) combination.
Stir-fried seaweed stems, seasoned eggplant, boiled pork slices, soybean paste soup, cabbage wraps... and bean rice.
Taking the tray, I approached the place where Park So-yul had grabbed a seat first and sat next to her.
Crunch crunch!
Park So-yul, who was combatively chewing a sausage, looked at my plate and was horrified.
“My goodness. You’re still playing Cops and Robbers that you did in Round 1.”
I, Lee Ju-seong, replied while picking up a seaweed stem with chopsticks.
“What Cops and Robbers?”
“There’s only one boiled pork slice that could be called a rice thief... even that will be caught soon because it’s surrounded by rice police.”
“But the body will be happy.”
“Haa, the person who marries Ju-seong will have a lot of worries every time they set the table.”
As if imitating Park So-yul, I, Lee Ju-seong, chewed the seaweed stem combatively and only opened my mouth after my Adam's apple bobbed from swallowing.
“At that time, I should eat whatever is prepared.”
“Or you can prepare it yourself.”
“If I prepare it myself, I’m going to stir-fry seaweed stems, will you be able to eat them?”
“I’m also the type to eat whatever is prepared, but... ah, but why is the conversation proceeding on the premise that we are getting married?”
“I wonder.”
While a leisurely conversation was going back and forth between me and Park So-yul.
A sound of laughter bursting out was heard from beyond a cylindrical pillar.
“Pfft!”
We tilted our upper bodies forward at the same time and checked beyond the pillar.
The female student I had discovered earlier was laughing while covering her mouth with her hand while eating.
The female student sensed the gaze and hurriedly explained the reason she burst into laughter.
“Ah, I’m sorry. It was such a peaceful conversation that doesn't suit this game that I did it without knowing...”
I, Lee Ju-seong, raised my right arm and shook it lightly left and right to mean it was okay.
“It’s fine. More than that, how is your body?”
The student couple.
I had been keeping those two in mind ever since I participated in the Money Game.
In the drama, the female student was eliminated in the latter half of Season 2, and because of that, the male student who became fully blackened in Season 3 caused all sorts of nuisances like a colt off the leash.
Of course, now that the female student was safe, there were no players as harmless as this student couple.
The female student stroked her slightly swollen belly with her hand and then forced a smile.
“It's early stage, so I’m still okay.”
Since Park So-yul also remembered the student couple, she also showed great interest in the female student’s condition.
“If you’ve survived until Round 4, haven't you earned quite a bit? I guess you need more money than it looks?”
“Oppa said let's stop and leave now, but I stopped him. Since we need portions for three people, not two, I thought I should earn a bit more.”
“I won't interfere since it’s a decision you made, but still, aren't you worried the baby might go wrong with the environment in this shape?”
“It would be a lie to say I’m not worried. Still, more people than it looks are cooperating while considering my condition.”
The female student revealed their tracks candidly.
The intent was clear.
Inwardly, she was hoping to form a team with us.
“While playing games until now, we’ve hardly seen blood. Even if individual income becomes small, we move with survival as our top priority.”
It was an undeniable fact that this Money Game was peppered with betrayal and dark schemes, but other than the real villains, everyone possessed at least a minimum of humanity.
Because there was no one broken enough to betray students, let alone a pregnant person, the student couple had been able to survive until now.
Even if a player who tried to stab the student couple in the back appeared occasionally, it was said that players who were enraged at the violation of the unwritten rule defined them as a public enemy and beat them into elimination.
At that moment, the male student who had gone to scoop up food returned.
“Do you have business with us?”
There was no smoothness at the end of his words.
Did Park So-yul and I look like people who came to take something away?
The male student stood between us and the female student as if taking on the role of a barricade himself.
Like when a male deer is wary of a foreign male.
The female student hurriedly reached out and grabbed the male student’s arm.
“It’s okay, Oppa. I was having a conversation with these people.”
At her words, the male student’s shoulders heaved.
He closed his mouth for a moment, but his wariness did not go out.
“We can talk. But that person is... Lee Ju-seong.”
A cold sincerity was buried in his voice.
It was difficult to say it was the appearance of an adult on the surface, but he wasn't a complete child either.
The face of a mediator mixed with the instinct of one who would protect a child and endless suspicion.
Toward him, Park So-yul spoke first.
“Is the fact that it's Ju-seong a problem?”
“Are you asking because you really don't know?”
“Yes, I just returned after leaving once.”
“That person is the one who eliminated Yoon Ji-ho. He’s famous for the fact that there are few survivors in the games he participates in every time.”
Park So-yul tilted her head forward and looked up at my face.
A sense of inquiry toward me could be seen in the motion of looking closely.
“Is it true?”
I, Lee Ju-seong, shrugged my shoulders.
“It was a series of situations that were not much different from Round 1.”
“It seems the opponents all tried to play tricks and got caught in reverse.”
“Yoon Ji-ho was no exception.”
“That’s typical of Ju-seong. You there, male student. Do you have any intention of betraying Ju-seong?”
The male student spoke without a moment’s hesitation.
Strongly and clearly, as if vomiting a belief that would never be shaken.
“If the opponent acted like a human, I have always treated them as a human. Because I know that is the best means to protect my family.”
“That’s good. It’s the same for Ju-seong. He persuaded and accepted me, who held a knife from the start in Round 1.”
“I also roughly guessed what kind of person Ju-seong was. But since the survival principle of this game is that you have to tap a stone bridge before crossing, there’s nothing I could do.”
“I’m saying this because I feel more at ease having someone by my side who has something more precious than money. If we’re thinking the same thing, we’ll be able to pass Round 5 smoothly.”
Park So-yul’s words were firm but soft.
While wetting the ends of her words as if putting dew on a blade, she conveyed her intent clearly.
Only then did the female student step forward.
The sincerity contained in her small body dug into the stationary front created by the temperature difference.
It was a voice that wanted warm fair weather instead of soggy monsoon rain.
“Oppa, we have to form a team too. We can't go out with just the two of us anyway. We have to form one with someone eventually.”
“That’s true, but.”
“They aren't bad people. You’ll know if you listen to them.”
She moved her gaze to me.
It seemed she was asking me to coordinate this situation.
If it’s a maestro’s baton, I will gladly take it.
I, Lee Ju-seong, quietly put down my spoon and spoke.
“Now we are at a crossroads of choice.”
“...”
“In this game overflowing with deception disguised as cooperation, the fact that you survived is not simple luck but because you kept your standards.”
“Standards?”
“At least, the standard of not killing people to protect a child. That one is enough.”
I, Lee Ju-seong, stood up and stood in a position where I could have the three people other than myself—Park So-yul and the student couple—in front of me.
With the feeling of placing a sturdy bridge, not a wall, between the people in this spot.
“Because you left respect among people in whatever way, no one has removed you until now. Probably the same equation can be applied in Round 5. If we form a team, that is.”
The male student’s eyes shook.
I did not target that shaking and push.
Rather, I, Lee Ju-seong, added while leaning my back.
“Of course, you may refuse. We don't particularly lose anything either.”
Did the appropriate push and pull work?
The male student looked at the female student.
The female student nodded, and the male student, who received the signal, moved his lips.
“Okay. But there’s a condition.”
“Please speak.”
“If tomorrow’s game is a competitive format where teams face off against teams, please consider this friend first so she can stay out of the battle. Instead, I will do the work of two people.”
“Fine. Then let’s consider it an agreement and submit our four names to the organization member. Let’s decide on specific activity policies after encountering the game content.”
I, Lee Ju-seong, returned to my original seat, sat down, and picked up my spoon.
Park So-yul laughed a little, and the female student breathed a sigh of relief.
Only the male student did not show a smile until the very end.
The wariness he showed at first had subsided somewhat, but instead, a quiet determination had settled down.
Now, a team has been formed.
After finishing the meal, we approached the Copper Mask organization member and informed them that we had formed a team.
“Lee Ju-seong, Park So-yul, Sim Yong-hun, Seo So-hui. The four of us will form one team and participate in Round 5 tomorrow.”
The organization member wearing the Copper Mask wrote down our four names.
And they took out a transparent cube plastic box and held it out to me.
“These are the materials scheduled to be used in tomorrow’s game. Please complete the materials by referring to the instruction manual inside the box. If you lose it, we will reissue it, so please come here when you need a reissuance.”
It was a pattern that had never appeared in the drama.
As much as it was an unfamiliar pattern, careful observation was a necessity, not an option.
Inside the plastic box, there was paper folded into the shape of a flower bud through origami.
The appearance was identical to the paper model used during nostalgic play.
As expected, the name of the game to be played tomorrow was written on the surface of the box lid with an oil-based marker.
[East West South North Game]