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Namgyu sat up, a high-pitched ringing noise blaring in his ears as he looked around the room he was in. Hundreds of bunk beds lined the walls of the white room and people poured out of the bunks and into the middle of the room, Namgyu looked out across the crowd from his bunk, there was a screen above what seemed to be the entrance of the room that said ‘456 PLAYERS’ and as he scanned the room for any more clues as to wherever they had taken him a loud mechanical whirring sound started from the front of the room, a large door opening to reveal a dozen people dressed in pink jumpsuits with - masks?Namgyu made his way out from the bunks and further into the middle of the room to see what was going on and as he neared the centre of the room the person with a square mask spoke up. Namgyu didn’t catch much of what he had said but the screen that was previously displaying the number of players lit up to a montage of other players, the square guy narrating who they were and what their debts were as they cycled through. Namgyu dismissed majority of the people around him, making his way further to the front of the room so he had a better view but as he looked up to the screen again the face he saw struck him with a sense of familiarity he couldn’t quite wrap his head around. He looked around the room, scanning the crowd for the same purple hair that had just been on the screen and he caught a glimpse of it just two rows in front of him.He pushed his way to the purple haired man, he has a patch with the number 230 stitched into it on his back, identical, apart form the number, to Namgyu’s own on his chest which displayed a ‘124’. Namgyu stood behind him trying to find out where he could possibly know him from. The man in front of him made a face at the people around him who were still staring before he turned back to the front of the room and Namgyu took a step up to put a hand on his shoulder.The other man turned around to see who had grabbed him and gave Namgyu a dirty look, and then it hit Namgyu. It was Thanos. He had been a regular at club pentagon for a while before one day he stopped showing up, ‘what was he doing in a place like this? Well, actually, considering the narration of debts earlier the why was obvious’ Namgyu thought to himself. “Thanos?” Namgyu questioned, hand still on his shoulder as he looked up to make eye contact with the man.“Do I know you?” The other replied, shrugging Namgyu’s hand off of his shoulder and turning to face him fully, giving him a skeptical look. “Yeah man, I used to work at club pentagon? Namgyu?” Namgyu said back, cringing at how juvenile it sounded, obviously the man wouldn’t automatically know him just because he had been to the club Namgyu used to work at.“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Thanos snapped at the other in broken english, his face falling for a second before he began turning back to the front of the room. “Yeah, anyway, do you know what this is all about?” Namgyu asked him, ‘better to walk out of this interaction with an ally than empty-handed, right?’ he told himself, looking at the other curiously.“No clue, all I know is I called that number and I woke up here.” Thanos said, he sounded fed up with the questions so Namgyu removed his hand from the other’s shoulder, choosing to just stand nearby to him instead.As the ‘Guards’ -as they called themselves- continued their explanation of whatever these ‘games’ were, Namgyu turned and surveyed the room for any other familiar faces. No one stood out and he resigned himself to the fact that of all the people that could’ve been stuck in here that he knew, there could have been far worse than Thanos.The guards exited the room again through the large door, telling the players that the first game was to start shortly. Taking the opportunity to look around again Namgyu retreated to his bunk and sat on the edge of it, looking out across the room again. On the bunk below him sat Thanos, with his back pressed up against the headboard and his knees curled up to his chest. Namgyu ignored the man below him in favour of scanning the players for anyone else who looks like they could be of use to him and Thanos.His eyes caught on a woman walking back to the bunks on the other side of the room, the number ‘120’ displayed on her back, he watched her settle into one of the bunks and though he couldn’t make out much of her face without his glasses he decided it could be worth it ot go and talk to her.Muttering a quick “I’ll be back.” to Thanos, Namgyu set off in the direction of player 120, stopping at the foot of her bed and looking down at her, she makes an attempt to ignore him, turning away slightly and dangling her feet off the edge of the bed.“If you wanted to stare you could’ve continued doing so from your bunk.” She spoke up, not looking to face Namgyu. “What?” He questioned, shifting his weight to the other foot. “I don’t.. know what you’re talking about.” He says, looking at her quizzically. She huffs under her breath and straightens up so that she’s sitting with her back against the headboard of the bunk“Is there a reason you came over here?” Player 120 asks, looking unimpressed with the whole interaction and Namgyu squints, trying to get a better look at her -’seriously where are his glasses?’- he thinks to himself. “Can I sit?” He asks, already moving to sit on the end of the bed so he can face her.“You didn’t answer my question.” She states, moving back as much as she can to make room for the other to sit. “Oh, right, I came to ask if you had any idea what the game would be? I did intend to ask others too after this if you don’t know either, but, it’s the thought that counts?” He says in one breath, cursing inwardly at himself, he could really use a hit of literally anything right now. It had been too long since his last fix, ‘being broke doesn’t exactly allow for careless expenses like that’ he thought as he absently scratched at the track marks nestled in his elbow through the green jacket they had him in.“Oh.” She answers, looking surprised at his words. “I thought you might’ve come over for something else.” at that Namgyu gives her an odd look and tilts his head. “No? What else would I have to come over here for? Anyway, you got any ideas? Because I don’t really want to walk into this blind.” He says, looking around at the others in the room, to no avail because without his glasses a lot of what he can make out is just groups of green and white.“So, any ideas?” Namgyu questions again, looking at her somewhat hopefully. “No, sorry.” She says looking around at the others, trying to figure out what the other had been looking at. “My name’s Hyun-ju by the way.” She says, looking at the other expectantly. “Namgyu.” He says and goes to stand again. “My bunk is on the other side of the room, by the guy with the purple hair.” He says, pointing to Thanos and the looking back to Hyun-ju. “Incase you need anything.” He says, and bows before walking back to Thanos.
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Standing at the foot of Thanos’ bed, Namgyu looked around the room again. There didn’t seem to be much else aside from two doors, the first being the one the guards had come through earlier and another smaller one off to the side. “Hey Thanos, you think you know what we’re gonna play?” Namgyu asked the other. “Does it look like I know?” He huffs in response, staring out across the room before he abruptly stood up and walked away.Namgyu watched as he crossed the room and to another player, her hair was up and had blue braids weaved in, he tried to get a closer look at the patch on the front of her jacket but she was too far away for him to see properly. Namgyu moved into the centre of the room to try and get closer to the two, looking closer at the patch on the back of her jacket he could read it now, ‘196’. He didn’t get too close, he wasn’t going to piss Thanos off and ruin what was already a frail alliance -considering the guy couldn’t even remember him- besides, by the sound of it Thanos was just trying to flirt with her.Namgyu was going to move forward and ask Thanos about who the girl was but he was distracted by someone out of the corner of his eye, the number ‘333’ stitched into the patch on the back of his jacket. Namgyu turned and followed him further into the crowd, watching as he stopped to try and look for someone in the crowd and when he turned fully Namgyu saw his face, Myung-gi? bile rose in Namgyu’s throat, this was the fucker that cost him everything, he was the reason Namgyu was in this place at all, well, that was probably partly the drugs too.Namgyu got closer to him, placing a hand on the other’s shoulder and spinning him to face him again, disgust coiled in his gut when he looked at Myung-gi, the man cost people millions and he still had no shame about it. He dragged Myung-gi to a more discreet area in the room and let go of him. “What the fuck man?” The other pressed, giving Namgyu a foul look. “I want my money back, ‘man.’” Namgyu mocked the other, grabbing his collar and pulling him closer again, “You took a lot of money from a lot of people you know. You don’t feel a little shame in that” He sneered, tightening his hold on the other’s clothes.“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” Player 333 spat, looking down on Namgyu. “No? Don’t you?” Namgyu cocked a brow at the other, “I’m sure I could remind you.” Namgyu pushed him but before he could take another step forward he heard a voice from behind him.“Yo, Nam-su. That you my boy?” Thanos called out, weaving between bunks to get to the others. Thanos stopped near the two and took place behind Namgyu. “You bullying people already?” Thanos asked Namgyu, though it sounded more condescending than genuine. Before Namgyu could respond player 333 spoke up, taking a step forward again and into Namgyu’s space. “Yeah, bullying people already?” He tried to mock but it must’ve been that moment that Thanos recognised him and pounced on him himself.“You fucker!” Thanos spat at the man, grappling at his clothes with one hand and pushing his face into the floor with the other. “You took all my money and then you have the balls to show up here?” He snarls through gritted teeth, yanking his hair to make him look him in the eyes. “You’re fucking disgusting.” He grunts with force as he shoves the other down, getting off of him and backing up.“Come on Nam-su-” “Namgyu” He interjects quickly “ yeah. That’s what I said. Probably best we don’t rough anyone up too bad. Don’t want to be disqualified from the money.” Thanos mutters, a mix of english slipping in and Namgyu chooses to ignore what he says, just following him away from the scene and back into the middle of the room instead. “Speaking of the money,” Namgyu pipes up “How much do we win?”Before Thanos can think to respond the doors at the front of the room open and a dozen guards walk out onto the platform, the last few are rolling in what looks to be tables. The square guard speaks up, and Namgyu, admittedly, didn’t pay enough attention as he should have, seeing as now he’s at the back the line he’s waiting in. He doesn’t even know what he’s waiting for. In fact, looking up for the first time, he now notices a giant piggy bank emitting a soft glow in the middle of the roof.The lines slowly start moving, each person who has done their bit at the tables goes to a respective bunk. Namgyu reaches the front of the line and looks down at the table, a piece of paper and a pen lay there, and, Namgyu would love to see he read over very carefully what he was signing his name to, but, without his glasses.. in his defence, they took his glasses! If they wanted him to read, they wouldn’t have done that. That probably wasn’t sound logic, nonetheless, Namgyu signed the paper and made his way back to Thanos’ bunk.“What’s with the piggy bank?” Namgyu asks the other, leaning against the foot of his bed. “You didn’t listen? Man they’re giving us 45.6 billion won for this!” Thanos looks at the other quizzically and Namgyu blanches at the sheer amount of money. “45.6 *billion?”* Namgyu asks and the other just nods slowly at him while giving him an odd look. “Nam-su you need to start paying attention, hm?” Thanos laughed to himself at whatever he’d said, Namgyu hadn’t caught the english he’d been mumbling to himself. Namgyu opened his mouth to speak again but was cut off by the guy in the square mask telling everyone to line up and begin exiting the room.Namgyu made his way over to the doors, quickly taking his place in line and looking behind him for thanos. They made their way out of the room into a maze of colourful architecture. Pink stair cases climbed the walls all around them, snaking in odd patterns all the way to the roof of the place, blue and green walls were plotted randomly and they accented the pink oddly well.A set of five lines in front of them started forming and Namgyu took his place in the second line, he looked around again for Thanos who had lined up in the first line. In front of him there was players getting pictures taken as the guards stood nearby, directing them to head up the stair once done with their pictures.“Yo is that the rapper?” Namgyu heard from behind him before someone pushed past in an excited flurry to get to the first line. Odd. Namgyu thought, before he was shoved again by three more people moving over to whoever was in the photo booth, then he saw the purple hair. Ah, of course, Thanos. The famous rapper.Namgyu watched for a few seconds as each and every one of the fans begged Thanos for a photo before walking over there himself and grabbing the other by the shoulders. “How about we all make this easier on Thanos and get one big group picture?” Namgyu spoke to the group of people forming before leaning closer to Thanos’ ear “That’s okay right?” He whispered and the other nodded minutely before exaggerating he action and waving the group over for a big photo.Namgyu couldn’t move before he was trapped up against Thanos’ back, holding onto this shoulders so he wouldn’t get shoved out of the way by the fans. ‘Jesus, you’d think they’d be less pushy.’ Namgyu was pushed into Thanos again when a voice came from just off to the right. “Group photos are not permitted.” The guard spoke firmly, making an ‘X’ above his head with his hands and shaking his head at the group of people. Loud protests came from the group but Namgyu stepped in again before they got much worse. “I’m sure Thanos can get photos with you all once we get out of here, right?” He said, praying the other would just play along with it. “Yeah, when we get out of here I’ll get a photo with each of you.” Thanos smiled and shooed the others back to their respective lines.Namgyu stepped out of the photo booth and onto one of the staircases, following the path the guards were laying out. He caught up with Thanos rather quickly, who pushed past him again to try and get back to that girl from before, ‘196?’, Namgyu wasn’t sure, but, whatever floats his boat he mused to himself, following the other players into what looked to be a huge dirt arena with just a doll and a tree at the other end.The roof of the place began opening to let in genuine sunshine and a voice blared over the speakers, asking the players to remain behind the marked line on the floor in front of them. What the fuck was this place?
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Namgyu watched Thanos walk through the doors into the arena and straight over to player 196. Thanos stood in front of the girl—by the looks of it, rapping to her?—The girl just laughed t him before stepping up to the line marked out.Namgyu ignored the two once he realised Thanos was just following her to keep talking to her. He trudged past a few players who were still standing and looking at the end of the field, taking his place on the far left side where he saw Hyun-ju nearby.The crackling of speakers coming to life caught everyones attention as they looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. “The first game is Red Light, Green Light.” The voice told the players, Namgyu heard a few murmurs of confusion from the other people. “We’re playing Red Light, Green Light?” “Isn’t that for kids?” Namgyu largely ignored them, tuning back in to the voice over the speakers. “Cross the finish line without getting caught in five minutes. If you do, you pass—” The woman’s voice was cut off by a man running out onto the field.The man—456, according to the patch on his chest—”Everyone!” The man started shouting to the players, garnering their attention one by one before continuing. “These aren’t just games. If you fail them you die!” He shouted over the crowd. Namgyu stomach dropped, what the fuck was this guy talking about? Why would they kill them?Namgyu’s thoughts were cut short by the doll at the end of the field whirring before the song started playing over the speakers. No-one moved, not a single person moved off of the line.Just before the doll finished it song, player 456 brought his hands to his mouth and screamed, “Relax! Don’t move!” What the fuck was this guys issue?A voice blared over the speaker again, repeating the rules of the game to the players before the doll turned back to the tree and the man in front of them yelled for them to go. Namgyu took a few steps forward from the line, following suit with the other players and again, just before the end of the dolls song, 456 yelled for them all to stop moving. “The dolls eyes are motion sensors! They can tell when you’re moving!” He called to the group, back still turned to the doll. The next round started, Namgyu made his way further into the middle of the field, hiding behind any players taller than him.“Freeze!” 456 had fallen to the back of the group, still facing the entrance to the arena. “Green Light!” The dolls head whirled back to its original position and the crowd of players began to move again, Namgyu stayed behind the player in front of him and to his right he could see Thanos, still talking to player 196 from earlier. The two were talking in hushed voices, too quite for any of the other players to hear before the girl suddenly freaked out, eyes wide as she clawed at her neck before turning to face Thanos and muttering a simple “Oh crap, I just moved, didn’t I?” Before anyone could react a sickening crack sounded from somewhere above them, blood from the wound in the girls head was sprayed onto Thanos’ face and the girl dropped, lifeless.Another crack sounded throughout the arena and another player fell, then another, and another. A chain reaction set out, shit, they must have shot at least 12 of them, blood pooled on the floor around Namgyu’s feet and he grimaced at the sight of it. “Green light” Before anyone moved 456 called out to the group again, he told the players to form lines behind anyone taller than them and so they did, Namgyu ended up behind Hyun-ju and to his right behind him Thanos was in the other line.“Red Light” Everyone stopped in the tracks, silence overtaking the arena as the doll scanned all of the players. “Green light.” Namgyu looked back over to Thanos, the other was almost being dragged by the player in front of him to keep up. The rounds went by slower than Namgyu wished they would’ve, the occasional gunshot pierced the silence, followed by the subsequent sound of a body hitting the floor. At some point during the round Namgyu had managed to switch lines, he now stood behind Thanos. Thanos’ breaths were heavy and he didn’t look up from the floor once.The doll called green light again, they were getting closer to the end of the field but judging by the red clock glaring down at them it wasn’t soon enough, the screen displayed 2:50 seconds remaining and the players had made it just under half the length of the field. just as the doll called red light Namgyu felt the player behind him step on the back of his shoe, Namgyu started falling forward, he was so fucked, so so fucked, this was it. He spent all his money on that stupid coin to end up here and now this was how he was going to die. To a children’s game. Namgyu braced himself, expecting the bullet to crash through his skull and put him out for good, but a hand grabbed the collar of his jacket, his feet slid a little as he tried to gain footing, the collar of his shirt dug into his throat, cutting out any oxygen he tried to breath in.“Green light” The person behind him dropped him and he fell to the floor, clutching his neck for a moment before scrambling to his feet and turning to see who had grabbed him. The man was taller than Namgyu, hair pulled back into a small bun at the back of his head and the number 388 stitched into the jacket he was wearing. “Thank you.” Namgyu rasped out quietly, moving to follow Thanos and catch up with the rest of his line. “Sorry for stepping on your shoe.” The man behind him whispered sheepishly, the doll calling out red light and the players all freezing again. A few shots rang out and a man in front of them fell to the floor. He was breathing, they got him through the calf.Namgyu looked up at the clock again, they had 40 seconds. The doll called out green light again and Namgyu rushed forward, they were almost at the finish line when something grappled onto his leg. “Red Light.” Namgyu was looking down at the man holding his ankle, the others leg was torn up from the bullet, blood stained his tracksuit and the sand he was laying in. “Help.” The man rasped out gripping tighter to Namgyu’s ankle.“Green Light.” Namgyu tried to kick the man’s hand off of his foot but he wouldn’t let go. He looked up to the time again, 20 second, Jesus fucking—he doesn’t have the time for this, he needs to run, the man wont let go of him, he can’t move. “Red Light.” Namgyu is frozen, watching the clock tick down, 11 seconds, “Green Light.”Before he can think Namgyu is hoisting the other man up as much as possible, pulling him towards the end with him, he’s not going to make it, he’s out of time, he looks back at the clock. 8 seconds, 8 seconds and he’s wasting them dragging this player to safety. What the fuck is he doing.Another player grabs the injured man, hoisting him up between them and Namgyu, it’s Hyun-ju, she smiles at Namgyu, pulling the man forward. Namgyu looks up at the clock one last time, and then he looks at the crowd of players on the other side of line staring at the three of them, he has two seconds to hurl himself and two other players over the line a few metres in front of him.Without a second thought Namgyu is shoving all of his body weight into the man on his shoulder, pushing him over the line and following suit himself, he hears the whirring of the doll’s head turning as he lands on the ground behind the line, his shoulder aches from the movement and his neck is still sore from being saved earlier but he made it. He made it across the line. He’s going to take his prize money and get the fuck out of here.He looks around at the players surrounding him, some are celebrating with the players next to them and others are looking at the the massacre on the arena floor but the noise is silenced by the sound of one final shot breaking through the crowd and Namgyu has to stop himself from flinching too hard when the bullet lodges itself into the spine of the player next to him. The player he just saved.He doesn’t remember a lot after that. He remembers the staircases and getting back to the room with their beds and sitting down but he can’t remember when he must’ve gone to Thanos or when he checked in with him. He’s looking at Thanos now, the other is sitting at the head of the bed hands in his lap and staring out at the other players in the room.The players around them are sitting in their respective groups, Namgyu spots Hyun-ju sitting by herself at one of the beds and he chooses to make his way over to her saying a quick “I’ll be back” to Thanos.When he makes it to Hyun-ju’s bed he taps her on the shoulder “Thanks for helping me earlier.” He says to her, squeezing her shoulder and taking a seat in front of her. “I wouldn’t have made it over the line if you hadn’t.” He says a little quieter, the reality of hit hitting him square in the chest. “I wouldn’t have left anyone out there to die.” Hyun-ju smiles at him, the reassurance does more than he thought it would to calm whatever he was feeling. Namgyu opened his mouth to speak again but was cut off by the sound of the door opening, the guards making their way in.Stood at the front of the room was a square guard, behind him 6 triangle guards, guns anchored cross their chests. “Congratulations on completing the first game.” Namgyu picked himself up off of the bed, moving with Hyun-ju to the centre of the room where he found Thanos. Before the guard could get through his next sentence people began piling into the middle of the room, begging for their lives, begging to get out. Namgyu scoffed under his breath, these men just slaughtered what has to have been a hundred of them, they weren’t going to care for people begging.Just as Namgyu predicted the guards dismissed the people begging, spouting some shit about not wanting to hurt them and had they wished not to play they shouldn’t have signed the consent forms at the start of the game. A man spoke up from the back of the room, “Clause 3, should players wish to terminate the games they can vote to do so. Correct?” It was 456, stood on one of the beds at the back of the room, staring straight at the guard ahead of him.“That is correct.” The guard answered after a beat of silence. “But first, as promised, this is the prize money you have accumulated after the first game.” The masked man raised what looked to be a remote and pressed a button, a panel opened in the ceiling and a large piggy bank descended into the room, emitting a yellow glow. The bank stopped moving and wads of cash started piling into it. “9.1 billion won has been accumulated into the prize money.” The masked man spoke up, “This makes each players share a total of 24.93 million won each.” An uproar of people crowded further into the room, shouting that they were promised 45.6 billion won.Namgyu stared at the prize money in the centre of the roof, he’d almost died for what wouldn’t cover a fraction of his debts. He turned and looked at Hyun-ju and then to Thanos, both with the same looks on their faces. He nudged Thanos’ shoulder but the other just gave him a lost look before staring back at the guard at the front of the room and just like that the guards were leaving the room with promise of mealtime being held soon.
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this is actually just me asking a question.. sorry chat.. but like also i kind of want to do a spiderman au so if anyone would actually read that pls comment 😔🙏 also !! lowkey who woulf i make spiderman?? because like obviously we've all seen the ones where Thanos is spiderman but also.. im thinking namgyu is more peter parker-ish™ so... let me know if you guys would actually enjoy that !!signing off, giga_balls (short for gargantua_ball) 😸💞