Triangle guard!Hyun-ju x Circle guard!Gyeong-seok AU headcanons:
They both got in for the exact same reasons that they got in as players in canon. Hyun-ju to afford her transition (and pay her debts) and Gyeong-seok to pay for his daughter’s treatment.
Hyun-ju hates herself a lot in this AU, she doesn’t like what she’s doing at all and she feels guilty about it every second. She’s saving to go to Thailand and hopefully forget about everything.
She tried many times to get a job elsewhere but no one wanted to hire her. Frontman also does the bare minimum of addressing her properly and not letting other guards harass her (physically, otherwise they still treat her awful). After all, he considers her very valuable, so she's relatively okay.
Gyeong-seok doesn’t like what he’s doing either but at least he doesn’t partake in the killing, on a good day (where he only has to cook and clean) he can almost forget that people are dying. He still feels hesitant to hug or even touch Na-yeon, he feels undeserving of such a sweet child.
He plans to leave as soon as he has enough money.
They technically were around each other sometimes, but they had never really talked.
They actually properly meet up when they both sneak out at night to get some fresh air and try to escape the hellscape that they're working at.
Gyeong-seok is terrified when he sees her, assuming he’s dead, but Hyun-ju promises him that she won’t say anything. So they sit together and talk for a while. They both have their masks on and don’t see each other until later on.
They keep seeing each other like that, sharing more of their lives with each other. Eventually they take their masks off (they find each other very attractive).
They also eventually kiss “on accident” (they both knew exactly what they were doing). Gyeong-seok insists on them meeting outside the games, but Hyun-ju is hesitant, since she feels that he deserves someone better.
Hyun-ju thinks Gyeong-seok’s motive for working at the games is a lot more noble than hers, she admires that a bit and it also makes her feel even worse about herself for being in it for such a “selfish” reason (as if it wasn't the only thing keeping her alive).
Gyeong-seok tells her that she deserves to be happy. He’s very much her emotional support in this AU.
Hyun-ju would worry about Gyeong-seok a lot, given his lower status and the fact that he doesn’t have a weapon.
Things get complicated when the Frontman offers Hyun-ju to become a square guard instead. That would mean she’d be paid a lot more (thus reach her goal quicker), and less harassment by other guards, but also that she’d be more watched and probably wouldn’t be able to sneak out as much, if at all. She tells him she’ll think about it.
In this AU I’d draw Hyun-ju as a wolf and Gyeong-seok as an otter ^^
This is pretty much what I’ve thought so far. I might turn it into a fanfic (no promises tho, I'm already so busy). Also I’d like to have No-eul be a part of the plot somehow and I’m not sure how I’d end it (I’d like to give them a happy ending at least).
