Kim's vision blurred.
His knees gave way, and the world began to fade into a deep, endless black. The last thing he saw was Jet holding Roger, her voice breaking as she shouted his name.
Then — nothing.
No sound.
No pain.
Just stillness.
For a long moment, it felt like he was floating through emptiness, weightless and calm. Then light began to flicker — faint, like fireflies in darkness. The air changed, warmer now, carrying the smell of dust and sunlight.
When Kim opened his eyes, he was no longer in the black palace.
He was standing in an open field behind an old school building. The air was sharp with the sound of shouting — laughter mixed with anger. He turned and froze.
A group of kids surrounded two others in the middle — one small, scared boy, and another who stood in front of him, fists raised.
It was him.
A younger version of himself.
Kim took a step closer, disbelief in his eyes. "That's… me."
The younger Kim was fighting off a bunch of kids trying to hit another boy — the smaller one, with messy hair and bruises on his arm. Kim recognized him too.
"Tony…" he whispered.
He watched as his younger self struggled. The bullies were older, stronger. The little boy behind him cried quietly, holding his arm. Kim's younger self threw a punch, then another, but he was losing ground fast.
One of the bullies picked up a piece of broken glass from the ground and raised it high.
Kim shouted, "No!" — but his voice didn't exist here.
Then, before the blow could fall, a loud crack echoed through the air.
Someone had grabbed the bully's arm from behind.
Roger.
Young Roger stood there, her eyes full of fury. She twisted the bully's wrist, and the glass fell to the ground, shattering into pieces — exactly like that moment in the haunted house, when she had broken the ghost's knife.
For a second, everything went silent. The bullies stepped back, frightened not by her strength, but by the strange, cold calm in her face.
One of them whispered, "She's crazy," and they all ran.
Roger turned back toward them.
"Are you both okay?" she asked, brushing dust off her hands.
"You okay?" Kim's younger self asked back, noticing a small cut on her palm.
Roger looked at her hand and smiled faintly. "It's nothing."
Tony, still trembling, nodded. "Thanks… both of you."
And that was it. That was the moment everything changed. The day they became friends. The day Kim saw something in Roger — courage, warmth, a light he never forgot.
The scene began to fade into a swirl of color and sound. Thousands of images flashed before Kim's eyes — fragments of memories, laughter, arguments, battles, pain, and fear. Every moment they had shared played like a storm around him.
Then, one memory stood out clearer than all the rest.
It was raining.
A bridge loomed over a dark, wild river.
He knew this one. He could feel his heart pound just remembering.
Three years ago.
His younger self was hanging from the edge of that bridge, his hands slipping, the cold water roaring below. And there — holding his wrist, refusing to let go — was Roger. Her face was soaked, her eyes filled with tears and anger.
"Let me go!" he had shouted back then. "It's over! I can't—"
"Shut up!" Roger had screamed, her voice breaking. "You have to live! You hear me? You have to live!"
The memory hit him like lightning. He could feel the pain again, the fear, the hopelessness. But this time, he saw it from outside — saw the strength in her eyes, the way her fingers refused to loosen even when her skin tore.
And in that frozen second, he understood something he had never realized before:
Roger had saved him not once, but every single time he was about to fall — even when he didn't see it.
The scene flickered. The world started breaking apart, turning back into black smoke.
Kim reached out, trying to hold the vision — to hold her — but his hand went through the air.
He shouted, "Roger!"
Her voice echoed faintly through the fading dream, soft and distant:
"Live… even if I don't."
A blinding flash of white swallowed everything.
Then — silence.
When Kim opened his eyes again, he was lying on the cold floor of the palace. The walls still pulsed faintly, and his body felt weak and heavy.
He turned his head and saw Jet, Samy, Tin, and Tony around him — their faces pale and frightened — but one face was missing.
Roger wasn't there.
Kim's heart sank. "Where… where's Roger?"
No one answered.
The only sound left was the whispering wind moving through the cracks of the dying palace.