While Kim's last words were still echoing in the air, Rose stood behind the door, unnoticed.
She didn't intend to listen, but she heard his sentence, which struck her heart like an arrow:
"He wanted nothing from her—neither beauty nor money... he just wanted to be with the one he loved."
Her eyes widened slightly, and her face turned a dark pink color.
She felt something like a gentle stab in her chest, something that made her feet tremble for no apparent reason.
She quickly placed her hand on her chest, then turned her face away, and fled with light steps before they noticed her presence.
Meanwhile, inside...
Amon was looking at Kim with a different silence this time.
No laughter... no sarcasm... no annoying comments.
Kim said to Amon, after summoning a physical body for his follower from the darkness:
"If you have a skill that can bring this body to life, then possess it."
Amon was surprised, then proceeded to possess the body.
When the possession was complete, the body became like a complete human body, with eyes, hair, skin, and blood.
It was no longer a mere structure, but in reality... it was a soul linked to an empty vessel.
Then Amon suddenly said, in a calm voice for the first time:
"I... I never wanted you to forget her.
I only wanted you... to just live."
Kim paused for a moment.
This was the first time he heard Amon speak without his words being wrapped in jest.
He looked at him slowly, as if trying to understand whether what he was hearing was a dream or reality.
Then Kim said, in a very low voice, closer to a whisper:
"Amon... I'm afraid."
Amon raised his eyebrow and said:
"Afraid? Of what?"
Kim answered, looking at the floor:
"Afraid... of the future.
Afraid I'll return to the person I used to be...
And afraid I'll forget myself and become attached to someone again... and collapse once more."
This was the first time Kim confessed his real fear...
Not of the enemy, nor of death... but of the heart itself.
Amon did not comment.
He merely stood beside him in silence.
A heavy... yet comforting silence,
Like the shoulder of a friend who knows that words won't always fix you,
and that sometimes, just being there... is all you need.