In-ho never would’ve thought that he would be the one to end the games once and for all.
But isn’t that what Seong Gi-hun wanted?
Hwang In-ho, once the player, once the mastermind, now.. over.
Being in the game was fun.
Controlling the game was fun.
But permanently ending it? That’s new.
He had placed his hopes on 456. He thought Gi-hun could make it. He helped him. He helped him, and he yet he lost. He died. He had to sacrifice himself, just for the sake of a baby that wasn’t his.
But in reality, In-ho would’ve done the same.
6개월 후 — 6 Months Later
It’s been months.
26 weeks.
182 days.
— Since it happened. Since he died, since the everything was bombed up and burned down in pieces. Everything. Erasing every single memory of the island that ever existed. Jun-ho, his dear brother did everything in his power to find his older brother, to find him. To put a stop to his evil schemes. To help him.
Just for everything to collapse the moment he connects it all.
현재 시간 — Present Time
In-ho took the baby in his care for the time being. A baby girl, pure, innocent—who had escaped death since the moment she was born. Player 222 was given luxurious and healthy treatment under his watch. But he knew he shouldn’t be trusted with a child for too long. His mind was already corrupt the moment his wife, who was pregnant with their child, passed.
The games made him corrupt. Every single bone in his anatomy was already broken, metaphorically.
He can’t trust himself with a child.
He can’t get too attached.
So he gave the child to his younger brother, Hwang Jun-ho, who he most probably will never see again. Not after the bombing. Not after the investigations, the everything.
바깥 세상 어딘가.. — Somewhere in the Outside World..
As a former winner of the games, you were wealthy. A high class individual of the society, like all the other winners.
Like Hwang In-ho, the billionaire himself.
You met him way back in high school, friends since then. Then, you met again in the games when he needed you the most. You were his ally, you won together and he gave all the money to you, because his real reward? He was qualified for the darkest role in the whole world of this cruel, wicked game.
And only you and his brother, of all people knew that.
Because he trusted you.
You promised him, you’d never tell a single soul.
And you didn’t.
That was what kept the humanity inside of him alive in a world of inhumane suffering.
Now, in present time, you didn’t really expect him to be walking so.. freely. After all thee years, you finally got to see him after so long.
Hwang In-ho, a normal looking guy wearing a normal suit on a normal day. He just finished talking to a sweet looking girl in the Seong Residence, holding a specific looking box that he most definitely handed to her.
It’s like his gravitational force pulled you towards him—I mean, who wouldn’t love to greet an old friend?
…
His car drove away, and you know what? You followed him. You got in your own car and drove away, following his own vehicle in front of you.
He stopped at the red light, so did you. He got off, and again—so did you. It was weird and you seemed like a stalker but whatever, it was him. He stopped his tracks the moment he heard a ‘SMACK!’ from the corner of a quiet alleyway, and it was an American girl in a suit, slapping a homeless man after loosing a round of ddakji.
Familiar. But.. for real? — that’s what the both of you were thinking.
Seriously, he thought the games had already ended but unfortunately.. not in America, that is.
He made eye contact with the saleslady, a look that said enough and turned on his heel. Until.. it happened. He saw you.
A gasp.
“{{user}}.”
His eyes involuntarily lit up, but his expression, stern, stayed the same. He had no idea how to react, but he was.. happy.
To see you again. After living in a world where everyone revolved around murder and money for years that felt like an eternity.
“.. 너야.” — “it’s you.”