The room was quieter than before.
Kangwoo sat exactly where he'd been left, wrists bound behind him, ankles locked to the wall. Dried blood darkened the concrete near where Taeyang had fallen earlier. The single bulb overhead hummed faintly, steady and indifferent.
Jaewon was the only one still there.
He stood a few steps away, hands loose at his sides, gaze unfocused, like he hadn't quite decided where to look. The gun was gone. Whatever authority he'd held moments ago had been packed up and taken with the others.
"Why did you choose me?" Jaewon said.
Kangwoo didn't lift his head.
"I just thought," he said quietly, "you were the strongest one."
Jaewon exhaled.
It wasn't a laugh, it was something hollow, scraped out of his chest.
"…I'm sorry."
That made Kangwoo look up.
Jaewon's shoulders sagged slightly, as if the weight of the room had finally found him.
"I'm really not," he continued. His voice was steady, but there was something rotten underneath it. "Strong, I mean."
He stared at the floor.
"I'm a weak bastard."
The words didn't sound self-pitying. They sounded rehearsed. Like a conclusion he'd reached long ago and never bothered to argue with again.
"I hesitate," Jaewon said. "Every time it matters, I hesitate."
He clenched his jaw.
"I take risks I shouldn't. I step forward when I'm not ready. And when it's time to follow through…" His fingers curled slowly into fists. "I freeze."
The bulb buzzed.
"That pause," he went on, quieter now, "has killed people."
He didn't look at Kangwoo when he said it.
"People who trusted me. Who followed me because they thought I knew what I was doing."
A muscle jumped in his cheek.
"...I disgust myself."
Silence settled between them, heavy but unforced.
Jaewon finally turned, meeting Kangwoo's eyes for the first time since the others had left.
"You've picked the wrong person to follow," he said.
Kangwoo didn't answer right away.
The chains rattled softly as he shifted, the sound sharp in the stillness. He lifted his head fully now, gaze steady despite the restraints, despite the room.
"No," he said. "Looks like I've made the right decision."