The rocky passage grew narrow.
Narrower.
Until it became like a crack in the body of the mountain.
Saō Hyun ran through it carrying Ara, his breath tearing apart, his heart beating like a small war drum inside a child's chest.
Behind them…
The man's footsteps did not stop.
He did not shout.
He did not threaten.
He walked calmly.
And that was worse.
Saō Hyun whispered,
"If we only run… he will catch us."
Ara was crying, shaking her head without understanding.
He stopped suddenly.
Set her down behind a large rock.
Put his finger to his lips.
"Stay here. Don't move. Don't even breathe."
His eyes were strangely steady for a child.
Then he stepped forward and deliberately crushed a stone.
Crack.
The pursuer stopped.
Turned toward the sound.
Took one step.
Two.
Saō Hyun climbed silently onto the rock, his trembling hand grasping a large stone.
His heart screamed:
He will hear me. He will see me. I will die.
But his body moved before he thought.
The man appeared directly beneath the rock.
Saō Hyun lifted the stone with all his strength.
And threw it.
The stone struck the man's head.
The sound of bone breaking.
The body fell without a sound.
It did not move.
It did not cry out.
It did not resist.
It simply… ended.
Saō Hyun stared at him.
One second.
Two.
Then his body began to shake violently.
He vomited.
Curled in on himself.
Ara slowly came out from behind the rock.
Looked at the body.
Then at Saō Hyun.
Then she began to cry quietly.
"You… you killed him?"
He did not answer.
He did not know what to say.
He took her hand.
"Come."
They ran.
They exited the passage.
The road suddenly widened.
Moonlight poured before them.
Then—
They stopped.
They froze.
The hut.
It was there.
Directly in front of them.
The same hut.
The same leaning tree.
The same pile of firewood.
The same place they had run from.
Ara gasped.
"This… this is our home…"
Saō Hyun felt something cold crawling up his back.
This was impossible.
They looked around.
The same forest.
The same air.
The same smell.
Even the blood that had been on his hand… was gone.
They heard slow clapping.
Tap… tap… tap…
The commander emerged from the shadow of a tree.
He was not hurried.
He was not angry.
He was tall, his body straight, his shoulders narrow but firm. His black hair was tied in a knot behind his head. His eyes were long and narrow, holding a cold intelligence — and something amused.
He smiled.
"Haha…"
He looked at Saō Hyun.
"Even though it was an illusion… your plan to kill that man was very good."
He stepped closer.
"Very good for a child."
Saō Hyun felt the ground was no longer real.
"Where… where is the man?"
The commander tilted his head slightly.
"He did not exist."
He paused.
"But your intention was real."
He looked at Ara.
Then returned his gaze to Saō Hyun.
"And I like to see intentions before they grow."
He bowed slightly.
"Your name?"
Saō Hyun did not answer.
The commander said calmly,
"That's fine."
He turned away.
"We will meet again."
He vanished into the shadows as he had come.
Without a trace.
Without a sound.
Without meaning.
Saō Hyun fell to his knees.
Ara held him.
"Are we… alive?"
He looked at his hands.
They were empty.
But his heart was not.
It was heavier than it had ever been.
He said softly,
"Yes…"
Then he whispered, as if not speaking to her but to the world:
"But this world… is playing with us."
—
And in a distant place,
A man was smiling.
Because a child had just begun to understand how people are killed.