Ten minutes later, the lights in the dormitory went out.
Player 101 clutched the broken beer bottle in his hand and was the first to make a move.
He crept toward the bed of the female player who had reported him earlier—and with a vicious snarl, stabbed her repeatedly. The woman let out a brief, blood-curdling scream before falling silent.
Chaos erupted immediately. Screams, footsteps, and the sound of bodies slamming against metal bunks filled the dark room.
Seong Gi-hun and his group quickly gathered together.
Seong Gi-hun asked anxiously, "Where are Kai and the old man?"
Choi Sang-woo frowned. "Didn't see them."
Kang Sae-byeok said, "I'll go check Kai's bed. You guys look for the old man."
But Choi Sang-woo interjected coldly, "No. I'll go with you to Kai's bed. The others can find 001."
Seong Gi-hun nodded. "Alright. Be careful."
Kang Sae-byeok's heartbeat quickened.
She remembered Kai's calm voice from just minutes before the lights went out.
"If someone insists on going with you to find me—and that person is Choi Sang-woo—don't doubt it. He wants to kill me."
She had asked, "Are you sure?"
Kai had only smiled faintly.
"Because he and I are the same kind of person. The ones we fear most… are our own kind. If I could fight, I'd have killed Choi Sang-woo first."
The memory ended, and Kang Sae-byeok bit her lip.
She didn't refuse Choi Sang-woo's request. Instead, she led him toward Kai's bed.
As soon as Choi Sang-woo saw a bulky shape under the blanket, his expression hardened. Without hesitation, he tore a support rod from the bedframe and stabbed down again and again.
Kang Sae-byeok murmured under her breath, "He was right…"
"What are you doing?" she demanded aloud.
Choi Sang-woo ignored her and kept stabbing, panting with effort.
When he finally yanked the blanket away, he froze. There was no body beneath—just another blanket and a pillow stuffed together to look like one.
At the same moment, Seong Gi-hun's group discovered that 001's bed was also empty.
Before they could make sense of it, Seong Gi-hun was suddenly kicked to the floor.
He looked up to see the towering figure of Player 278—one of Player 101's muscle-bound followers. The man grabbed Gi-hun by the throat and began choking him.
Ali lunged forward and tackled Player 278, slamming him to the ground. Within seconds, Player 101 and his remaining teammates joined in, ready to wipe out Seong Gi-hun's group completely.
But just as the two strongest groups were about to clash, a frail voice shouted from above:
"Stop! Please, I'm so scared! If this continues, we'll all die!"
Everyone froze.
"That's 001's voice," Seong Gi-hun realized.
From his hiding spot under the bed, Kai looked toward the corner. On the upper bunk, the old man stood trembling—but somehow still alive and unharmed.
Kai blinked in disbelief. "How the hell did he get up there?"
He had been hiding under his bed the entire time, using Kang Sae-byeok's blanket to form a dummy on top.
When someone inevitably attacked it, they would assume he'd fled elsewhere. The most dangerous place was sometimes the safest.
He'd even asked Kang Sae-byeok to "accidentally" toss another blanket near his bed to hide his presence further.
Cowardly? Maybe. Effective? Definitely.
With his thin frame, Kai could squeeze under the bed easily—unlike Player 101, whose muscles would've made him a sitting target.
Still, he couldn't understand how the frail old man had managed to escape the chaos and climb to safety. Either 001 was the luckiest player alive… or he was far more dangerous than he appeared.
Before Kai could think further, a loudspeaker crackled overhead.
"Dormitory riot detected. Dispatching security immediately."
Moments later, thirty Triangle Guards stormed into the room with submachine guns. The lights blazed on. Gunfire ripped through the air—not aimed at players, but enough to silence the fighting instantly.
"STOP! From this moment, all violent behavior is forbidden!" a Square-masked overseer announced. "Violators will be eliminated. Prepare for the third game—team formation will begin in one hour. Ten players per team."
As silence fell again, Kai slipped out from under the bed and blended in with the crowd. Everyone's attention was fixed on the guards; no one noticed his return except Kang Sae-byeok.
She sidled up beside him and whispered, "You owe me. If I hadn't helped hide you, you'd be dead. Remember that—you'll repay me in the next game."
Kai chuckled. "Aren't you afraid I'll repay kindness with betrayal?"
Kang Sae-byeok's eyes narrowed. "You won't. Because if you do, I'll tell everyone where you hid. You're smart, Kai—but too many people already see you as a threat. The next time a fight breaks out, you'd be the first one they target."
Kai grinned. "Good. I like teammates who can think."
"So," Kang Sae-byeok said, "when they tell us to form ten-person teams… we're together?"
"Of course," he replied. "An enemy like you makes a powerful ally."
The two returned to Seong Gi-hun's group.
Choi Sang-woo forced a smile. "Kai, where were you? Sae-byeok and I were worried."
Kai nearly laughed aloud. Worried? You mean disappointed I wasn't dead.
Still, he played along, smiling back. "Thanks. I'm fine."
For now, he needed to stay in this team—at least until the next round.
An hour later, sixty remaining players were led into a stark white chamber.
"Players," the broadcast announced, "form teams freely. Each team must have ten members. The third game will now begin."
Choi Sang-woo spoke first. "Our team already has an old man and a woman. This time, we should recruit strong male players."
Seong Gi-hun frowned. "But what if it's a game of precision or agility? Maybe women will have an advantage."
Choi snapped, "Most games favor men. We can't take that risk."
Kai raised his hand. "How about this—aside from 001, who can't move much, the five of us each find one player. That'll fill the team quickly."
Seong Gi-hun nodded. "Sounds fair."
Kang Sae-byeok frowned. "Wait a second. There are already six of us. If we each find one person… that makes eleven."
Her voice trailed off as everyone turned to stare at each other.
Someone had just realized—this "simple" game of team formation might already be another trap.