His words were laced with rage and pain.
Suddenly, Amon lunged forward, gripping Kim's neck with force:
"Tell the truth! Have you never changed with me? Is all of this because of what I said? If not… then what is it? Speak!"
Kim remained silent.
In a broken voice, Amon said:
"In your silence lies your strength… but why are you silent now? Why at this very moment?"
Finally, Kim spoke, his words intertwining:
"It is difficult… for you to understand me."
Amon looked at him in wonder, his grip beginning to loosen slightly:
"What do you mean?"
This time, Kim cried out in sorrow:
"How could you know that I have a happy persona on the outside, while inside dwells a grieving soul? I am brave on one hand, and shy on the other. A deeply closed-off person… yet, you could talk to me about anything. I used to motivate others, even though I was wounded inside."
Then Amon asked:
"Tell me, Kim… how?"
Kim replied with a deadly coldness:
"Yes, Amon. I was using you. I never considered you a friend. My thoughts do not kill me… but they drown me slowly."
Then he added without hesitation:
"If you want to kill me… make sure you finish the job. Because if I survive… I will never let you survive."
Amon looked at him with sadness. He could no longer distinguish between the true words and the false ones.
But he wanted an answer to only one question:
"Did you ever think of me… as a true friend? Someone you actually cared about?"
Kim looked at him and answered with dry words:
"You were merely a curse. In my eyes… you were an enemy. We were never friends, Amon. Have you not learned from your mistakes?"
Something went wrong. The body inhabited by Amon's soul… suffered a glitch.
His eyes began to weep. They wept like waterfalls.
Yet, Kim's gaze remained cold, indifferent.
Amon was bewildered. He let him go.
He tried to stop the tears… but he failed.
Kim's gaze was heartbreaking. Was he a monster?
It seems that words truly do kill. It is not the action… but a single sentence that can destroy a person, and another that can make them love and cherish you.
So why didn't Kim speak to Amon fully? And why wouldn't Amon's crying stop?
Was it because it was the second betrayal? But repetition teaches lessons.
Amon summoned a portal to travel to another world. On the edge of the gateway, he looked at Kim with eyes reddened from weeping.
Amon stood before the portal, his eyes heavy with a shock his heart had yet to process.
He said in a quiet voice—the quietness of someone broken from within:
"It didn't hurt me that you left… nor that you were harsh with me… but that I was merely a means to an end."
He took a deep breath, as if his chest were collapsing:
"I saw you as a refuge, while you saw me only as a ladder to climb."
He gave a faint, painful smile:
"I don't hate you, Kim… but I grieve for myself more."
Then he turned his back to the portal. His tears did not fall… they remained trapped in his eyes, hurting him even more.
Amon vanished.
And the truth remained behind:
That exploitation is crueler than betrayal