That night, Ji Hwan stood on the hospital balcony, his body still weak, but his mind was a storm of thoughts. The cold wind bit at his skin, carrying faint whispers that almost sounded like echoes from the game he had just escaped. He gazed at the dark, starless sky, as if the universe refused to offer him even a sliver of hope.
Looking down at the bustling street below, shadows of the game haunted his mind once again. The faces of the other players who had perished came flooding back to him. They had fought so hard, clinging to life with every ounce of strength, yet now they were truly gone. Their deaths were not just a nightmare, but a grim reality he could not erase.
One question continued to gnaw at him: who or what was behind all of this? Who had orchestrated the deadly game? And why was he the only one left?
In the distance, the wail of an ambulance broke the silence of the night. Ji Hwan took a deep breath, trying to push away the suffocating fear that gripped his chest. But as he turned to go back to his room, he saw something that made his blood run cold.
On the small table near his hospital bed, there was a single UNO card that hadn't been there before. A red card with the number "1" printed boldly in the center.
Ji Hwan approached the card with hesitant steps, his heart pounding louder with every move. He picked it up and flipped it over. On the back, scrawled in strange, almost inhuman handwriting, was a message:
"The game never ends."
Ji Hwan collapsed into the nearby chair, the card slipping from his trembling hands. The sun was beginning to rise in the distance, but for him, the world felt darker than ever. What he had endured wasn't the end—it was only the beginning of something far larger and far more terrifying.
And outside, amidst the city's morning hustle, someone stood motionless, looking up at Ji Hwan's window. The figure held a deck of UNO cards in their hand, a faint smile curling on their lips before they turned and disappeared into the shadows of the dawn.