Ellie had become a magnet for confrontation. Ironically, the player who tried the most to avoid it got into some of the trickiest fights. How many run ins had happened so far; three, four? She lost a finger in one and had all her food stolen in another. The physical toll of the game was greater than the emotional one for her. Hidden away in a bath house, Ellie listened to the morning announcements as the third day of hell on earth began. Mai’s voice sounded oddly unenergetic this time. It was 6:00 am but still; that woman lived for death.

“Let’s get the day started kids. Here is the list of your dead friends in the order they died;  Zico of Block B, Hyunseung of B2ST, CL of 2NE1, and Ailee. Talk later my good little idols and others.”

“This ...” sighed Ellie, running her hands down her wet hair.

Honestly, she’d been hoping everyone had miraculously killed each other off in the past 6 hours. How many were left? If her list was still accurate, no more than twenty, which for her meant only twenty more people to hide from. Ellie knew she was playing like a coward, lurking in the shadows and waiting for others to make the tough choices. Maybe this was a coward’s game though. Observing and analysing was just as important as running and slaughtering. The reality of the Battle Royale’s rules, however, wasn’t compatible with this current strategy, or lack of one. She’d been a good history student and knew how these games worked. You could actually take a course about everything Battle Royale at her university. Ellie knew that as the killing slowed and the days dragged on, a time limit would imposed just like every other game. A time limit would mean indefinite death by collar. Lazily, Ellie floated face up in the pool, occasionally kicking her feet. She was glad no one else was here. Often being alone is misunderstood as being lonely, but it was one of her favourite things. Solidarity is safety because the only person to trust, to rely on is yourself, and she knew herself well. Calmly, Ellie washed up herself and her clothes in the pool.

It made up slightly for her lack of food and fingers. To be able to totally submerge in clean water, and wash of the burnt and bloodied parts did wonders for the psyche.

Meanwhile, unaware of Ellie but equally in need of the bathhouse, Jay quietly entered through the rear change rooms. He passed the empty lockers and benches and reached the area with multiple pools. A pair of of small brown sandals froze him to the spot as he noticed the familiar duffel bag beside them. Sweat began to coat the insides of his palms as he peered past the door frame. The sound of splashing water was distant, but close enough to confirm that another person was here. Stealthily, Jay began to creep along the blue tile walls that separated the different pools of hot, cold, and salt water, the echoes of splashes becoming louder. It was at the third pool that he saw her, thinking to himself

“This can’t be real. “

Stark , an unknown young woman waded around the edge of the pool. The shallow area only came up to the middle of her thighs, showing off the tattoo on her right hip. There was only one place Jay had seen a tattoo like that before, and that was on himself. Whoever this was, was the matching number 21. His curiosity, however, had gradually drawn him far enough around the wall that she had noticed. A second was all it took for Ellie to catch Jay, a complete stranger to her, staring.  

“, , balls,” she swore, beginning to make long strides towards the stairs

“I’m not looking for a fight,” Jay stepped out fully from behind the wall before continuing, “I think I can help you actually.”

Ellie ignored whatever claims Jay made as she ascended the stairs out of the pool. On the step just above the water’s surface though, she lost her footing. Her knees and elbows slammed down automatically, taking the worst of the fall, but did not exempt her face from injury. Loudly breathing in and out of only, her nose was filled with blood and most likely broken. Ellie slowly pushed herself back up on to her knees using the railing, making sure she hadn’t knocked out any teeth or broken a finger. Tentatively, she patted her lip with her index finger to feel the area that she had bit through. and bleeding in front of this guy was not her idea of a good morning. As she remained bent over, half in the water and half out, she heard him call,

“You’re number 21, right?”

In the reflection on the disturbed surface of the pool was the image of a young man. He was in superb shape, with toned arms and legs along with a clean hair cut. Ellie remained a crunched over statue on the stairs out of pain and embarrassment, continuing to turn the water red. She searched his heavily tattooed left arm for a number, but nothing was there.

“And what are you,” Ellie yelled back, grabbing the towel she’d left at the top of the stairs.

Carefully the guy walked towards her from the other side of the room. This gave Ellie a moment to cover herself up, and calm down slightly. Maybe it was better when she was completely and embarrassed; it was a good distraction from her injuries. He rolled up his right sleeve to show the identical black 21 on his lower arm. In a non-negotiable tone, he ordered,

“Come with me”

As quickly as possible, Jay led Ellie back to the apartment. It was only five minutes away, but that was all it could take for someone else to wander by and attack. Before they left the bathhouse, she had stuffed her few belongings back into the duffel bag. Still wrapped in a towel that was now sufficiently red instead of white, Ellie flopped behind Jay as he dragged her along by the hand. Once they arrived outside the only apartment doorstep that showed signs of frequent entrance and exit, it was hard to tell what was next. Did he stay holed up here on his own, or were there others to see her in this lovely condition? A sad 206 hung crookedly on the door as Jay entered the security code on the keypad. With Ellie in tow, Jay strode into the living room to where his housemate sat. Seeing their guest, a disheveled looking Nichkhun swiped the axe sitting on the table as a defensive manouever, asking firmly,  

“Who is she? ”

With one hand on Ellie’s shoulder and the other motioning that it was safe to put down the weapon, Jay held back a slight smile. He spoke in a neutral tone to mask his extreme excitement and curiosity,

“Could you show him?”

Awkwardly, Ellie rolled back the towel in order to show the least amount of her body. Ellie waited three seconds before covering her right hip back up. With large bug eyes, he continued to gawk. In wonderment, he questioned,  

“How and where did you find her?”

Jay kicked the door shut, replying

“Coincidence. We just met minutes ago at the bathhouse. ”

The boy turned to Ellie, rapidly shooting questions and comments at her,

“Did anyone follow you here? Have you teamed up with anyone else? And whoa; that is a lot of blood. Who did that to you?”

It was oddly startling, having a semi-civilized conversation after all her unlucky encounters. Ellie felt a growing burn in her chest as her heartbeat quickened from anxiety. She hadn’t been followed, but the second question she didn’t understand perfectly, and then it was gibberish to her after that. Her Korean wasn’t as strong as it used to be, seeing as she stopped attending Saturday language school years ago. Also, her suburban hometown with a Korean population of maybe 50 didn’t exactly provide her ample opportunities to remain bilingual. With a sheepish lip bite, Ellie pointed out

“I speak English.”

Nichkhun quickly apologized,

“Oh; sorry. I thought you were Korean.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m only half,“ she clarified with a small upward curve to .

Immediately Jay showed Ellie to the bathroom, apologizing bashfully for her nose and lip. He said "sorry" for the blood, but it was more about dragging her off in only a towel. Alone again, Ellie changed into her damp but clean t-shirt and khakis slowly. The bleeding from her face had stopped, but the swelling was an even great problem. As if he felt the excruciating pain as well, Jay's hand poked from outside the bathroom, sitting a bottle of painkillers on the sink. It was admirable, his respect. He'd already seen her , so why not just walk in, but he didn't.

Once the medical emergencies were tended to as best as they could, Ellie reentered the living room and sat down across from Jay. The beep of a microwave to defused the death of the first conversation as Nichkhun went to retrieve whatever food was in it. Proudly he carried out two large bowls of noodles as if it was a three course, five star meal. In some respects, it was, considering the last thing Ellie ate was a stale Starbucks sandwich from the front display over a day ago. As if it knew how hungry she was, the scent of sustenance and high sodium wafted straight towards her from the taunting bowl. She swallowed hard as Nichkhun passed one serving to Jay and kept the other for himself. To save herself some torture, Ellie decided to stare at the dirty kitchen counter instead and run impossible scenarios through her mind. It wasn’t dirty in an unhygienic way, but it sure was stained.

“Do you like Korean food?”

“Hm? Sorry...” replied Ellie in a daze, still trying to use Jedi mind tricks to stop her stomach from eating itself.

With his chopsticks, Jay sifted through the noodles as Khun loudly devoured his, explaining,

“It’s a pretty standard dish; onions, pork, noodles, black bean paste... Want it?”

If she accepted his offer, Ellie knew that one bowl would be more of a taunt than satisfaction. Her hunger would only want and expect more the meals following it. Was she over thinking this simple thing? Totally. With narrowed eyes, she stared at the noodles as they continued to provoke her. Seeing her perplexed expression, Jay added,

“This was one of the first Korean foods I ate when I came here from America. It’s not weird tasting at all, jja-

“ -jangmyeon. My dad makes it once in awhile,” Ellie completed the word before returning to the original question, “No thank you; you should eat it.”

Casually Jay grabbed a third bowl bowl and brought it back to where Khun and Ellie sat. He wordlessly split his serving in half, pushing some noodles into the bowl that would soon be Ellie’s. There was always room for food, especially when Jay knew Ellie was lying through her teeth. You’d have to be a superhuman from the future to not be hungry after three days of Battle Royale. He smiled with just his lips as he pushed her half across the table. Jay saw the hesitation in her puckered lips and tense swallows, but he insisted, physically putting chopsticks a in her left hand. A tired grimace crept on to Ellie's face as she admitted defeat. Before her first bite of her first decent meal the entire game, she looked directly at Jay and Khun,

“My name is Ellie by the way.”

“Trainee?” asked Khun.

Holding back a cynical giggle, Ellie shook her head and corrected,

“No; lucky contest winner from Canada. You couldn’t pay me enough to do what you guys do.”

“Well, we’ve heard things about you. You seem very interesting.” commented Khun with a raise of one eyebrow.

Jay cracked his neck before slouching into the soft couch. He explained,

“Word on the blood stained street is that GD wants you dead. Or as an ally. We’re not sure yet.”

Uncomfortably Ellie cleared with an excessive amount of coughs and “ahems”, before replying,

“Why would you think that, and what?”

Khun grabbed a piece of cloth and handed it to Ellie, motioning to his own collar which was wrapped with a similar one. Quickly she stuffed a the cloth between the front of the collar and her neck, looping it around and tying it in a knot. Jay tightened the strip already around his as Khun explained,

“The collars have a microphone. Mai not only can track us and kill us whenever, but hear us.”

The ambient sounds of wind and the odd bird began to envelop the conversation. Ellie was busy musing over the idea of a flower boy popstar turned technology genius and how it sounded like a bad prompt for a fanfiction, and trying to breath as she inhaled her food.

“Oh; I’m Khun - Nichkhun - if you didn’t know.”

Pulled out of her wandering thoughts, Ellie stuck out her hand to Nichkhun. It took him by surprise, but nonetheless, he firmly shook it. Jay followed up, offering his hand to Ellie and introducing himself,

“And I’m Jay Park. I didn’t want to be obnoxious and assume you know who we are.”

There was a moment of doubt in Ellie’s mind when she reached for Jay’s hand. No more than a stranger he was, yet now could be her strongest potential ally. The need for a real strategy outweighed the want for solidarity, and perhaps it was the only way. In a blink of an eye Ellie debated and decided everything she could before accepting the handshake from her fellow number 21.

“I’m not trying to be an , but Ellie; how are you still alive?” asked Nichkhun.

Ellie shrugged and raised her eyebrows, answering honestly with a mouthful of noodles,

“I play defense, and get lucky. Really lucky.”

“It’s just that the other non-idols, like the trainees, seem to be all dead. You’re still alive though and not on the edge of death, “ Jay added, trying to make the question slightly less like an insult.

“Thanks,” she chuckled.

Time passed almost instantaneously with Ellie around, both parties being extremely curious about the other. Two hours later, Nichkhun excused himself to go out for the usual morning weaponry run. He told Ellie a different reason as to why he was leaving, seeing as looting bodies and former hideouts wasn’t the best ice breaker. Jay knew what he was doing though, passing him the axe just incase. Now just Ellie and Jay, they sat on the small balcony. Of course, on the ground behind the solid concrete railing, and armed with long range weapons.

“I was beginning to think the other 21 was dead, “ Jay stated, pushing up the sleeves of his shirt.

“Don’t say that, because tomorrow we both could be dead. Khun could kill us in our sleep, “ joked Ellie but being half serious.

For a second Jay considered the possibility. He quickly shook his head at the idea, replying,

“I doubt that. Just saying I’m glad you’re alive.”

Ellie smirked, remarking to mostly herself,

“Yeah; lucky you gets an shrimpy 18 year-old with a missing finger, broken nose, and bloody lip

“Sorry again about that. Hopefully Khun can find some more meds for you. I seriously think we have a chance though, to win this together.”

Firmly, Ellie clarified the obvious problem with his idea,

“Khun will have to die, you know that right?”

Blunt could only describe a fraction of her brutal honesty. It took Jay by surprise the lack of sugar coating and “we’re all in this together” attitude. She was a small, wholesome looking half Korean girl; the inevitable death statement didn’t match. Well, that’s what Jay thought after their few hours of chit chat. Later he would conclude if he really liked or disliked Ellie’s straightforwardness. Even her name - Ellie - he couldn’t decide whether it fit her perfectly or not at all. Then again, it was straight forward just like her personality. Jay took a long breath in, holding it for three seconds, before answering,

“We made a pact at the beginning of the game that if one of us found our partner, we’d let them win. He’ll follow through.”

Not wanting to linger on the topic, he swiftly changed the conversation's direction.

“So, who’d you leave back at home?” asked Jay.

“Family and friends; just like everyone else.” replied Ellie.

Jay leaned forward, his elbows pressing into his thighs. He pushed for information,

“Specifics though, like who are the people worrying about you right now.”

Ellie fiddled with the inside of her pants' pocket, shrugging,

“Well, everyone is under the ruse that I’m having a great time on an all expense paid trip compliments of Allkpop. If they had an idea what really was happening though, I’d think my parents would be and bratty little sister probably not. Hopefully my boyfriend. “

“Boyfriend? At your age?” he exclaimed as his voice climbed in pitch.

“Dude; I’m 18 turning 19. We’ve been dating for over two years,” defended Ellie.

Jay commented back,

“Good for you. I don’t remember having a relationship at your age that lasted more than two months.”

For some reason, nervousness began to set in on her voice and face. Ellie began to chew at the inside of her cheek, and her voice faltered as she tried to find words. Emotions, relationships, people that she sometimes worried herself sick over; it made her feel so vulnerable simply talking about them, especially to almost a complete stranger. For many young women, romantic relationships seem to prove something, to validate that they were worth the time and effort of another human being; that they are good enough. So, proudly, they would chatter away about the love of their adolescence. Ellie, however, gulped one last time before shyly speaking as Jay patiently waited with a curious gaze.  

“His name is Channing.”

Still looking attentively at Ellie, Jay nodded,

“... and?”

“Who are we; 13 year old at their first sleepover? Are you going to ask me if I like-like him?” remarked Ellie sarcastically.

“Don’t hate me for caring,” he disclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

Her hair blew into when she smiled. With a laugh, Ellie added,

“Well not to sound like a , but it’s kind of weird, you asking about me.”

“What do you mean? Don’t women love to talk about themselves?” wondered Jay.

Quickly she rebuttled,

“What about idols; isn’t that your job to talk about yourself?”

Impressed by her wit, Jay acknowledged her point with a “touche.” He wrung his hands before clarifying why he was interested in her life, in a matter-of-fact tone of voice,

“But you can find anything and everything about me online; I can’t do the same for you.”  

Jay then straightened up against the cement ledge, still wringing his hands as he began to ask questions at lightning speed. Just as fast as they came, Ellie tried to answer them.

“How tall are you exactly?”

“5’5, and on a good day 5’6.”

“ Damn, almost the same as me. What about your weight?”

“Uhm... 120 lbs? Maybe?”

“Birthday?”

“October 1st. ”

“I really want to know this one; what is Ellie short for?”

“It’s just Ellie.”

“Really? You sure?”

“Oh I’m sure. Well, you’re just Jay, so why can’t it be just Ellie?”

“Technically it’s Jaebeom.”

“Ok, whatever. My name is just Ellie, Ellie Leona Kirk.”

 A unique bond they now shared, Ellie and Jay, as they naturally laughed at each other's words and habits. Finding your partner in Battle Royale bestowed a weird, automatic trust system between strangers (or perhaps even enemies). Ellie was starting to find comfort in Jay’s oddly optimistic ways, while he found some in her extreme realist personality. For a long time, they sat on the concrete balcony, continuing to chat about the most mundane things they could think of. It brought back a small bit of humanity. It brought them both a flicker of hope, that they could use each other for more than survival.