They rushed out.
They arrived at the first stage. Player 409 said to them, "Just spin at the same speed. No need to stop."
The two nodded.
Then, Jeong-hyuk and Il-hoon began spinning. 409 was already familiar with it and kept jumping skillfully until he finished ten jumps.
They quickly moved on to the second stage.
At that time, Team Four was still stuck at the first stage.
Jeong-hyuk picked up the basketballs and began shooting one after another. He quickly scored four, but for the last one, no matter how he tried, he couldn't get it in. With only 30 seconds left, he finally made the last shot.
When they arrived at the third stage, only 20 seconds remained. The masked man explained the rules: "Stand within the white line. Hit a bullseye with one arrow to succeed."
With 10 seconds left, Il-hoon urgently picked up the arrow, aimed, and released—"5…4…3…2…"
At the final second, Il-hoon hit the bullseye. The weight on their hearts finally lifted.
But another team wasn't so lucky. They were killed by the masked man on the spot.
They were brought back to the dorm. They were the first team to arrive. Once inside, 409 was shocked to see that Player 300 was still alive.
Player 300 was sitting on the floor chanting prayers with Player 13. Then, she looked at 409 and said:
"You really thought I'd die that easily? I told you, I have God's protection. I'm not dying that easily."
409 muttered under his breath, "Crazy b*tch."
Soon, more teams returned. Many were eliminated.
Back in the game area, Ki-hyun's team was the last to play. They were lucky—because of the odd number of players, they had no opponent this round.
Ki-hyun said to Player 94 and Player 369, "You better do well. Don't screw up."
Player 369 was confused. Why was he talking like that?
The game started soon. They cleared the first two stages without issue.
Ki-hyun took on the third stage. He picked up the bow with trembling hands, aimed, and shot. He only hit 5 points.
He picked up the second arrow, still shaking.
Player 369 punched him and said, "Stop shaking. If you keep that up, we're screwed."
Ki-hyun nodded fearfully.
Then he aimed and shot again—this time hitting 9 points.
Player 369 said, "Good, good, keep going."
With 30 seconds left, Ki-hyun picked up another arrow, aimed, and shot. This time—bullseye.
They hugged each other in excitement.
Then they returned to the dorm.
Il-hoon said to Jeong-hyuk and 409, "Let's get to know each other's names. I'll go first. I'm Il-hoon, Park Il-hoon."
409 said, "I'm Jung Yun-ho."
Il-hoon said, "Oh, that name's easy to remember. I have lots of friends named Yun-ho."
Then 409 asked, "357, what's your name?"
Jeong-hyuk replied, "Uh… I'm Jeong-hyuk, Lee Jeong-hyuk."
Right after he finished speaking, the broadcast started.
"Congratulations to all players for passing the second game. Now announcing the results of Game 2."
The piggy bank began filling with cash. On the screen, the number of players dropped rapidly.
Everyone stared greedily at the piggy bank.
The broadcast continued, "In Game 2, 57 players were eliminated. Total prize money is now 35.6 billion won. 100 players remain."
Jeong-hyuk was about to speak, but Il-hoon stopped him.
Il-hoon said, "It's useless. Even if we vote, we won't win. We've already played two games. No one will want to quit now. There's no turning back—don't waste your breath."
Jeong-hyuk said, "But you—"
Il-hoon cut him off, "It's fine. If I die, my parents will be happier."
Jeong-hyuk hugged him tightly, and for the first time, Il-hoon felt such warmth.
Outside, Il-hoon's mom had reported him missing the day before.
She asked the police, "Did you find my child?"
The officer said, "Not yet."
Il-hoon's mother couldn't take it anymore: "Did you even try? You f***ing cops! Korea is so small, and you can't even find one kid? Are you even human?!"
The officer snapped back, "You didn't even watch your own kid. Why blame us?"
Il-hoon's mother collapsed to the floor in despair.
Before long, the masked men began distributing food.
The meal was a bottle of drink and jjajangmyeon (black bean noodles).
While eating, Ki-hyun remembered how a girl punched him earlier. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He went to Player 369's bed and knocked over her drink.
Player 369 asked, confused, "What are you doing?"
Ki-hyun didn't answer. He dragged her to the center of the dorm and kicked her hard in front of everyone.
Il-hoon ran over and tackled Ki-hyun, then stood in front of 369.
Il-hoon said to Ki-hyun, "My mom was right. My dad's friends really are scum."
Ki-hyun raised his fist, ready to punch Il-hoon.
Il-hoon said, "Go ahead. A grown man hitting a kid—how f***ing proud you must be."
Ki-hyun looked at 369 and said, "This time I'll let you off. But next time—"
Il-hoon interrupted, "There won't be a next time, you piece of s**t."
Then he helped 369 back to his bed.
Ki-hyun cursed, "F***."
Back at their spot, Yun-ho asked, "Why'd they give us forks to eat jjajangmyeon, and not chopsticks?"
Before he finished, a masked man rolled something into the room.
"Sorry to disturb your meal," he said. "Now, everyone needs to come up and press this button once. When you do, 50 of you will get red, and 50 will get blue."
Someone asked, "What's this for?"
The masked man replied, "You'll find out after you complete the task. Now, we'll go by number. Player 13."
Player 13 pressed the button. The screen showed red.
"Red players stand to the right, blue to the left," said the masked man.
"Player 29."
Red.
More players were called.
"Player 94."
Blue.
"Player 123."
Red.
Soon, it was Il-hoon's turn.
"Player 201."
Blue.
Il-hoon looked at Jeong-hyuk.
"Player 300."
Red.
"Player 357."
Red.
Jeong-hyuk looked back at Il-hoon.
"Player 369."
Red.
Finally, "Player 409."
Blue.
After the task was complete, the masked man said, "The color you received is related to tomorrow's game. Those who drew blue—congratulations. You don't need to participate tomorrow. Red players, you will compete."
Ki-hyun said, "That's not fair. Why don't they have to play?"
The masked man replied, "Our games are always fair. Unless tomorrow's number drops to 60, only red players will play."
Then he turned and left.
Ki-hyun realized what the masked man meant.
Jeong-hyuk looked in shock at 369, Il-hoon, and Yun-ho.
The broadcast rang out: "Lights out in 30 minutes. All players return to the dorm."
They huddled together. Jeong-hyuk spoke first, "When the lights go out, don't sleep."
Yun-ho said, "Now I get why they gave us forks."
Il-hoon said, "We'll use them as weapons. After lights out, let's stick together."
Jeong-hyuk looked at 369. "You're a girl, and weaker. Stay behind us."
369 nodded.
Ki-hyun, from afar, stared at Il-hoon with a twisted smile.
Soon, the announcement came: "Lights out in 2 minutes."
Meanwhile, in the control room, an internal broadcast played: "Special event starting soon. Admins, guards, and workers move to your stations."
Inside the dorm: "Lights out in 30 seconds."
Everyone rushed to their beds.
"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1."
With a beep, all lights went out. The atmosphere turned eerily tense.
The Front Man watched everything through thermal imaging from headquarters.
Ki-hyun started moving. He quickly climbed onto a girl's bed. She screamed. Ki-hyun shouted:
"F***!"
He stabbed at her with a fork. The dorm erupted into chaos.
The Front Man told the masked man, "Begin."
The masked man pulled a lever.
The dorm lights began flashing.
Jeong-hyuk quickly found Yun-ho. "Where's Il-hoon?"
"No idea," Yun-ho replied.
Just then, Jeong-hyuk yanked him aside. "Watch out!"
Jeong-hyuk swung his fork at someone.
Meanwhile, Il-hoon and 369 were together. Ki-hyun appeared before them.
Ki-hyun said, "If you don't want to die, stay out of this."
Il-hoon replied, "Bring it on."
Ki-hyun smiled and swung a glass bottle.
Just before it hit Il-hoon, Jeong-hyuk tackled Ki-hyun. "You f***ing coward. Even kids?"
Before Ki-hyun could answer, someone else slammed into him.
Jeong-hyuk yelled, "Get under the bed, now!"
Outside, the dorm was pure hell. Battles broke out everywhere. Under the beds was the only safe haven.
The bloodbath lasted nearly two minutes. Then masked men stormed in and fired shots to regain control.
They started scanning ears.
"Player 366 eliminated. Player 147 eliminated..." The broadcast listed off the fallen.