You weren't supposed to get attached. Not in this place. Not when one wrong step could end everything.

But then there was Se-mi.

Quiet. Calculated. But always watching you — like you were the last variable she couldn’t predict.

“You flinched in the second round,” she said, her voice low as she stood beside you in the hallway, waiting for the guards to herd you to the next game. “Why?”

You glanced sideways. “Why were you watching me?”

Her lip twitched. Almost a smile. “I needed to see who would survive. You hesitated, but you didn’t lose.”

“That makes me dangerous?” you asked.

“No.” Her eyes lingered on yours. “It makes you honest.”

It wasn’t a compliment. It was a warning.

But still — that night, in the sleeping area, she sat near you. Close enough that your arms brushed.