Chapter Text
In-ho didn't feel anything when Recruiter's body fell back on the chair.
Nothing at all. Not happiness nor victory.
Only echo of gunshot piercing through thin air.
He didn't even feel guilty for breaking the game's rules. Why would he obey them? Recruiter probably thought that his barking about garbage would make him hesitate.
In-ho doesn't want to play their games. Not anymore. Because of that, when he received the gun in the last round he picked it up and feeling the weight of the iron, he shot Recruiter in the middle of his face - cutting off his monologue. His body jerked back, landing limply in the chair, his face forever frozen in that maniacal expression.
In-ho has been trying to find him for three years. Since he got out of that hellhole.
Game.
In-ho can't regard it as a dream. No matter what he said.
His gaze moved past the corpse, through the room lit by an intense, harsh red light, to the dresser in the farthest corner. To the framed photo of the most important person in his life.
At least she was.
Three years ago in a desperate attempt to save his wife and unborn child, he accepted the offer of a man now lying lifelessly in front of him. The worst decision in his life.
In-ho went through those - raised to deadly levels - childish games. He fought, kicked and stained his hands with blood of people as desperate as him. Blood he will never be able to wash out. He will never be able to forget.
And after all it was for nothing. When he came out of that hell it was already too late. She passed away in a hospital of cirrhosis of the liver along with their child while he was choking some guy - he doesn't even know his name, oh god - in the final round. When he broke his spine.
After getting out he doesn't really remember what was happening with him. But he remembers one thing - no, two.
First, in that god-forgotten car. He had eyes covered with blindfold and hands tightly tied behind him, but to this day he can clearly recall that voice as if it was yesterday. This elegant, honey-sweet, smooth voice. Voice belonging to the man in white, geometrical mask.
The Frontman.
Mastermind behind those bloody games. The one in control. The one who allowed this madness to continue.
_____________________________
"Why?"
Silence.
"Just tell me why?!" In-ho exploded tugging at his bound wrists on the seat. The darkness he's been seeing has been making his blood boil and his skin itching.
"You should forget about it" , he finally heard. Mechanical voice but with a certain human tone underneath . Rich and slow as he was talking to a child. It only made In-ho more furious. "Regard it as a dream. Move on and start life anew. That's the best you can do."
"Best?! You dare to tell me what's best for me?! " In-ho began to fight even more eagerly. "All these people, all of this suffering, their cries, their... deaths. What's about that?! There must be a reason so tell me!" he might've sounded desperate but he needed that answer. Anything to justify this tragedy. Anything to help him understand what he's done and who he's become.
Silence again has fallen upon them. In-ho felt as if that man - if he still could be called human - was lost in thoughts. Carefully contemplating his answer.
"They're just given a chance to change their life" he spoke again thoughtfully. " Maybe it would be easier to understand if you think about them as racing horses. The fastest, the most durable wins even though having the same starting line as others"
...What?
"That's it?" it couldn't be.
Sigh. "Hear me out. When you get out of this car you should use your reward to start a new life. Don't look back. Keep moving forward."
"Stop with this bullshit " In-ho couldn't believe what he was hearing. He rushed forward towards the voice he heard. "How do you expect me to just move on from it?!" He took slow, shaky breath. "You saw what I did to that man, didn't you? How I broke his spine? Even now, the only thing I want is to wrap my hands around your neck and do the same" and it was true, he was trembling out of want.
He wanted to make him pay. With his life.
The tension barely lasted a few minutes, but In-ho felt like hours had passed. Without a warning he heard the sound of gas being released, a loud unpleasant hiss. In-ho instantly started to lose control of his limbs,his eyelids became even heavier and he collapsed on the seat.
Last thing he heard before his head hit the leather seat was:
"You may not believe me but I really hope for you to have a good life."
In-ho isn't sure if it wasn't just his imagination.
_________________________________
But that was three years ago.
Once he regained consciousness he rushed with full speed to the hospital. He arrived too late. She was already dead. She died during his absence. In-ho can't stop thinking how lonely she must've felt. How she must've thought that he abandoned her. It haunts him in dreams and will do so forever.
After the funeral there's a blank space in In-ho's memory. He lived in a trance. He lost all his will to keep on living. He was sliding through life as a ghost who lost his purpose and doesn't know why he can't rest in peace. He almost fully cut off his leftover family. He often didn't respond to Jun-ho's calls and even when he did, he wouldn't say anything to calm his brother's worries. Same with his mother. In-ho was behaving like a coward - he knew it - but he couldn't act like nothing happened, like he didn't change. Because of that he could only feel guilty for worrying them. They just wanted to help, they thought he was mourning his wife - which is true - but they had no idea about the whole game. And that's for the better - the less they know the safer they are.
Sadly, Jun-ho was as stubborn as him. Since the end of games they've met only a few times and each time his brother was trying to get answers. In-ho won't make it easy for him. He shouldn't get engaged in that.
He lost his job as a police officer for simply not showing up. Not to mention the corruption charges. He accepted money from the wrong man whose conscience hurt. He was punished for grasping at anything that could help.
To the day he found himself at the metro station. In-ho can't remember what he wanted to do there. But it doesn't matter.
He met the Ddakji man again.
___________________________
This bastard was playing the same game he did with him with some poor, naive man. Firstly, he was too stunned to move an inch. He just stood and stared with pure disbelief. Somehow, he thought that it had been a one time game. That they were just unlucky. He never imagined it would happen again, maybe even regularly. Recruiter looked up as if he knew that he had been observed. Their gazes crossed. Recruiter's lips rose in some kind of sick amusement. In-ho almost could hear mocking 'want to play a game?~'
That scene woke something inside In-ho. Something he thought died with the love of his life or in that god-damned game.
Fire. Pure fire of hatred. Revenge.
In that moment In-ho's life turned upside down .
Before he could move Recruiter had already disappeared. In-ho rushed to that man, who was holding a familiar business card and he tore it away from him. Everything was happening too fast to follow. He ran away.
Without second thought he dialed a familiar number. After few signals In-ho heard voice:
"If you wish to participate, state your name and date of birth."
"Hwang In-ho, but you already know that, don't you?" he said with a mocking tone. Few seconds of silence. He felt as if everything around him had simply stopped. The only thing he could hear was the sound of his own irregular breathing.
"Player 132, what do you think you're doing?" ah, and there he is. Frontman.
"I'm not a racehorse and I won't pretend it was a dream. It was real. I won't forgive you." In-ho took a deep breath. "I'm gonna end those games. Better be prepared. I'm coming for your life."
" Just listen to me. Don't do anything stupid. It's not something you can mess with. Go back to your family and don't look back" it must've been his imagination but Frontman almost sounded... desperate, with care.
"Go to hell, you masked coward" he hung up.
Later he found himself in a public toilet with blood running through his chest. It couldn't be a coincidence. Look in Recruiter's eyes had told him it wasn't a coincidental meeting. He was followed and caught up in another sick plan of those murderers. Afterwards he checked his whole body and found a small bulge on his ear. He cut it out and discovered some kind of tracking chip.
In-ho can admit that he was maybe too reckless and he really scared that child but in the end he considered it worthy.
____________________________
After that, he finally came back to life. He withdrew all the money and bought an old, destroyed motel. His only mission became to hunt all responsible for the game. His only reason to keep on living. He won't stop till the Frontman's lifeless body falls to the ground, till the games won't stop. To avenge all the unfortunate souls consumed by this hell.
With that he began his search. The only way to get close to the master was to find the man responsible for recruiting players. Luckily In-ho was a man with determination and all the funds waiting to be used. He hired many shady people to search all subway stations in Seoul. Two years passed without any results. The men he hired were getting more and more impatient, but In-ho was persistent. No matter how long he was sure he'd find him. And he did - no maybe he was the one to be found.
That bastard knew he was followed and yet he decided to play with them. He got Kim Jeong-rae - boss of usurers. In-ho gave a clear order not to start a fight but it seems like he got ignored. When he found out, it was already too late, Recruiter was waiting for him in the main motel room with one of his sick games.
In-ho didn't really listen to his monologue about his trashy logic. Maybe he thought he would throw him off balance. Maybe he thought he would care. In-ho didn't. He would gladly be trash if that means crushing this system.
The familiar sound of dripping blood tore him from his reverie. He realized that he had been sitting for several minutes, staring at the corpse, completely lost in thought.
In-ho finally hid the gun in hidden inside pocket of his coat. He stood up and calmly walked to the body Infront of him. He ignored blood covering man's face and disbelief forever frozen on that face. He put his hands inside the man's jacket, searching it for anything that might be helpful. And finally he found a simple, inconspicuous card with familiar symbols. He flipped the card to find only two small details. Date and place.
October 31st. Club HDH.
After all these years he had some clues. He can move forward. When he was staring at the card with strange excitement he almost didn't hear fast steps on the hall outside the room. Before he could react the door opened with a bang and an unknown young woman ran in like a storm, aiming a gun at him.
What's the point in all those CCTV cameras if anyone can get in like it's nothing?!
What a scene it must be. Dark room, dead body with bloody hole in the forehead and him standing next to it. Woman froze for a second, taking in the view in front of her.
"Police! Hands above your head, now!" - she shouted, slowly getting closer, steadily holding the gun.
In-ho decided to play along and he carefully put his hands up, keeping eye contact with the intruder. She finally got close enough to violently push him against the wall. And shit. For someone so small she had a demon strength - he thought when his head hardly hit the concrete behind him. His vision spinned a little before he focused on her figure. In that position he had an opportunity to take a closer look at her appearance.
She was a petite, young woman, probably in her early twenties. With black, straight long hair tied in a ponytail and dark, furious eyes. Still holding the gun to his face, she began searching through his clothes, presumably for a weapon. After a few heartbeats she found his gun and keeping eye contact she threw it over her shoulder without even looking where it landed.
"Hwang In-ho, you are under arrest on suspicion of murder. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can-" she didn't finish.
There was a sickening crash in the room and her body fell forward, revealing a man standing behind her. A naked man with a fire extinguisher in his hands. He knocked her out with the extinguisher.
‘What happened to my life?’ - In-ho thought, looking with concern at a body laying on the floor.
He looked up at the young man breathing heavily and trembling .
"Who are you?" - In-ho asked already thinking how is he supposed to fight a man with a fucking extinguisher.
"Hey. Hwang In-ho. You’re him, aren’t you?" - man spoke with a shaky voice. "I work with Mr. Kim, okay? We tracked down your ddakji guy. My name’s Choi Woo-seok." seeing the lack of recognition on In-ho's face he quickly added. "I'm in all the photos with him, remember? We texted you from the subway every single day! Don’t you remember?" - he was talking so fast making it hard to follow. "Listen, okay? I know that we’ve never met, at least not in person, but the boss told me, uh, how much he trusted you and-" Woo-seok's gaze moved around the room, stopping on the corpse. His eyes widened comically.
Then he shakily pointed at the body and talked.
"Is he dead? Did you kill him , Mr. Hwang?" - he asked and out of nowhere he started crying. "You fucking son of a bitch! This motherfucker tied us up and killed the boss!" - he lifted the extinguisher as if he wanted to hit Recruiter. He must've changed his mind and after a second he put his 'weapon' down.
In-ho could only stand there with no idea what to say. He wasn't really close with Jeong-rae, but he was the only one who accepted In-ho's crazy work. He was hard-working and did his job well and conscientiously. In-ho decided to give Woo-seok a moment of privacy and leaned over the woman's body.
After a few seconds of reflection, he finally began to search through her jacket for any documents. Anything to confirm she's really from the police and not a sick continuation of Recruiter's game. And it came out she wasn't lying. In-ho found her ID. He straightened to his full height and focused on the photo of the woman. This time instead of an angry grimace she was smiling. The smile softened her face, made her look much softer and much younger. The expression suited her.
Seoul Main Police Station.
23 years old.
Seong Ga-yeong.