They dashed forward.
They arrived at the first challenge. Player 409 said to them,
"Just spin at the same pace, you don't need to stop."
Both of them nodded.
Then, Lee Jung-Hyuk and Park Il-hoon began spinning. 409 jumped skillfully and kept going until he had completed ten jumps.
They quickly reached the second challenge.
At this moment, the fourth team was still stuck on the first one.
Jung-Hyuk picked up a basketball and threw it one after another. He quickly made four shots, but for the last one, no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn't go in. With only 30 seconds left, he finally made it.
When they reached the third challenge, there were only 20 seconds left. A masked man told them the rules:
"Stand inside the white line. If you shoot an arrow and hit the bull's-eye (10 points), you pass."
In the final 10 seconds, Il-hoon hurriedly picked up the arrow, aimed, and released.
"5… 4… 3… 2…"
In the last second, Il-hoon hit the bull's-eye. Their hearts, which had been hanging in suspense, finally relaxed.
Another team wasn't so lucky—they were killed on the spot by the masked men.
The three of them were taken back to the dorm. They were the first team to arrive. Once inside, 409 was surprised to see that Player 300 was still alive.
Player 300 and Player 13 were sitting on the ground chanting prayers. Then, 300 looked at 409 and said:
"You thought I'd die that easily? I told you, I have God's protection. I'm not going to die here so easily."
409 muttered under his breath, "Crazy woman."
Soon, more teams returned. Many people were also eliminated.
Back in the game arena, Wu Ji-Xian's team was the last one left. He was lucky—because of insufficient numbers, they had no opponent this round.
Ji-Xian told Player 94 and Player 369:
"You'd better perform well and don't make nervous mistakes."
Player 369 was puzzled as to why he spoke like that.
The game began, and they cleared the first two challenges smoothly.
The third challenge was for Ji-Xian to complete. His hands trembled as he picked up an arrow, aimed, and released—it only hit the 5-point ring.
He picked up a second arrow, but his hands were still shaking badly.
Player 369 punched him and said,
"Stop shaking. If you keep it up, we're going to lose."
Ji-Xian nodded fearfully.
Then he aimed and shot again—this time, it hit the 9-point ring.
From the side, Player 369 encouraged him:
"Good, good. Just like that."
With 30 seconds left, Ji-Xian picked up another arrow, aimed, and fired—this time, it hit the bull's-eye.
They hugged each other excitedly.
Then they returned to the dorm.
At that moment, Il-hoon, Jung-Hyuk, and 409 decided to exchange names.
Il-hoon said first, "My name's Il-hoon, Park Il-hoon."
409 replied, "I'm Jung Yun-Ho."
Il-hoon said, "Oh, that's easy to remember. I've got a lot of friends named Yun-Ho."
409 then asked, "Player 357, what's your name?"
Jung-Hyuk said, "Uh, my name's Jung-Hyuk, Lee Jung-Hyuk."
Just then, the loudspeaker came on:
"Congratulations to all players for completing the second game. Now, we will announce the results."
As it spoke, coins began pouring into the giant piggy bank, and the number on the screen dropped quickly.
Everyone stared greedily at the piggy bank.
The announcement continued:
"In the second game, 57 players were eliminated. The total prize money is now 35.6 billion won, with 100 players remaining."
Jung-Hyuk was about to stand up to speak, but Il-hoon stopped him.
Il-hoon said, "It's useless. Even if we vote, we can't win against them. We've already played two games. If we quit now, they'll feel unwilling to stop. There's no turning back—we can't make pointless struggles."
Jung-Hyuk said, "But you—"
Halfway through, Il-hoon interrupted:
"It's fine. If I die, my parents will be happier."
Jung-Hyuk hugged him sadly—it was the first time Il-hoon had ever felt such warmth.
Meanwhile, outside, Il-hoon's mother had reported him missing the day before.
Today, she went to ask, "Have you found my child?"
The police said, "Not yet."
Il-hoon's mother broke down:
"Did you even try looking? You useless cops—Korea is so small, yet you can't even find one child. Are you even human?"
The police shot back,
"You didn't take care of your own child. What's that got to do with us?"
Il-hoon's mother collapsed to the ground.
Soon after, the masked men began distributing food—a bottle of soda and jajangmyeon (black bean noodles).
When Ji-Xian received his food, he remembered being punched by a girl earlier. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He went to Player 369's bed and knocked over her drink.
Player 369 asked in confusion, "What are you doing?"
Ji-Xian didn't answer—he yanked her to the center of the dorm and began kicking her in front of everyone.
Il-hoon rushed over, shoved Ji-Xian down, and stood in front of 369.
Il-hoon said to Ji-Xian,
"Looks like my mom was right—my dad's friends are all scum."
Ji-Xian raised his fist, ready to punch Il-hoon.
Il-hoon said, "Go ahead. A grown man hitting a kid—you won't feel embarrassed at all, will you?"
Ji-Xian looked at Player 369 and said,
"This time I'll let you go. Next time—"
Il-hoon cut him off,
"There won't be a next time, you bastard."
Then Il-hoon helped Player 369 back to his bed.
Ji-Xian muttered, "Damn it."
Back at his bed, Yun-Ho asked,
"Why did they give us forks for jajangmyeon instead of chopsticks?"
Halfway through his sentence, a masked man came in pushing something.
"Sorry to interrupt, everyone," the masked man said. "Now, each of you must come forward and press this button. After pressing, 50 people will get red, and 50 will get blue."
Someone asked, "What's it for?"
"You'll know after you complete the task," the masked man replied. "Now, we'll begin in order of player numbers. Player 13."
Player 13 pressed the button—the screen showed red.
"All players with red stand to the right, blue to the left," the masked man said.
"Player 29."
Red.
The process continued.
"Player 94."
Blue.
"Player 123."
Red.
After a while, it was Il-hoon's turn.
"Player 201."
Blue.
Il-hoon looked at Jung-Hyuk.
"Player 300."
Red.
"Player 357."
Red.
Jung-Hyuk looked at Il-hoon.
"Player 369."
Red.
Finally, the masked man said,
"Last one, Player 409."
Blue.
Afterward, the masked man said,
"The color you received is related to tomorrow's game. Players with blue are lucky—you won't have to participate tomorrow. Players with red must compete in the game."
Ji-Xian shouted,
"That's unfair! Why do they get to skip?"
The masked man replied,
"Our games have always been fair. Unless the number drops to 60 players tomorrow, only the ones with red will play."
He turned and left.
Ji-Xian realized what the masked man meant.
Jung-Hyuk looked fearfully at Player 369, Il-hoon, and Yun-Ho.
The announcement came:
"Lights out in 30 minutes. All players, return to your dorm."
They huddled together. Jung-Hyuk spoke first:
"When the lights go out, do not fall asleep."
Yun-Ho said, "No wonder they gave us forks."
Il-hoon said, "We'll use these as weapons. Once it's dark, we stick together."
Jung-Hyuk told Player 369, "You're a girl, so you're physically weaker. Stay behind us."
She nodded.
From a distance, Ji-Xian gave Il-hoon a strange look.
Before long, the announcement said,
"Lights out in two minutes."
Inside the masked men's intercom system:
"The special game will begin shortly. Admins, guards, and workers, move to your positions."
In the dorm, the broadcast said again:
"Lights out in 30 seconds."
Everyone climbed into bed.
"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1—"
With a "beep," all the lights went out. The atmosphere turned eerily tense.
In headquarters, the Front Man watched everything through thermal imaging.
Ji-Xian began moving. He quickly climbed onto a girl's bed—she started screaming. Ji-Xian cursed,
"Damn it,"
and stabbed her with a fork. Chaos erupted in the dorm.
The Front Man told a masked man, "Begin."
The masked man pulled a lever.
The dorm's lights began flickering on and off.
Jung-Hyuk quickly found Yun-Ho.
"Where's Il-hoon?" he asked.
"Don't know," Yun-Ho replied.
Just then, Jung-Hyuk yanked him aside.
"Watch out!"
Jung-Hyuk swung a fork at someone.
Meanwhile, Il-hoon and Player 369 stood together. Ji-Xian approached them.
Ji-Xian said, "If you don't want to die, stay out of this."
Il-hoon replied, "Bring it on."
Ji-Xian smirked, then swung a glass bottle.
Before it hit Il-hoon, Jung-Hyuk slammed into Ji-Xian.
"You shameless bastard, attacking a kid!" he shouted.
Ji-Xian was about to reply but got shoved aside by someone else.
Jung-Hyuk told them, "Get under the bed! Quick!"
Outside, it was pure chaos—life-or-death fights everywhere. Only under the bed was safe.
The battle raged for nearly two minutes before the masked men stormed in with guns, forcing everyone under control.
They began scanning the ears of the dead.
"Player 366 eliminated, Player 147 eliminated…" the broadcast listed off the names of the eliminated players.