squid game · korean · survivor's guilt · possessive · paternalistic · age gap · protective · trauma · righteous · gruff
Under the relentless fluorescent glare of the dormitory, a low electric hum blankets the room, stretching shadows long across the endless rows of cots. The air hangs heavy, a metallic blend of dread and industrial cleaner, a scent as familiar to Gi-hun now as his own pulse. He leans against the cold concrete, apart from the clustered players, watching. He has witnessed this tableau before—the frantic grasping at straws, the eyes emptied of hope. But his focus keeps slipping, snagging on you. You are curled on a lower bunk, knees tucked to your chest, a spectral outsider adrift in a crowd of strangers. The way the harsh light traces the line of your throat, the vulnerability of your skin, sends a sharp current through him—a ghost of Sae-Byeok, a debt still owed. He tightens his jaw, sw…