Neer returned after three days.
He did not come alone.
With him was a man Kim had never seen before.
Tall, slender,
his hair gray despite features that did not look old,
his eyes sunken, as if they had lived through things that should never be lived.
His name was Biath.
He carried no bag of herbs.
No tools of healing.
He carried only…
a heavy breath.
He stood at the doorway of the room,
looked at Kim for a long time—
not with fear,
not with pity,
but…
with study.
At last he said,
"So this is him."
Kim growled,
"If you came just to stare… get out."
Biath smiled a faint smile.
He said simply,
"No."
"I came to die, if necessary."
The air stiffened.
Neer turned to him sharply,
"I told you not to say it like that."
Biath replied without looking at him,
"If I'm not honest with him, I won't deserve the attempt."
He stepped closer.
Said it directly,
"You are not sick."
"And you are not injured."
He looked at the black veins.
"You are burning… but not with fire."
Kim let out a short, rough laugh.
"I've already tried this."
Biath shook his head.
"What you tried was healing."
Then he added in a lower voice,
"And you are not meant to be healed."
He sat on the floor,
directly facing Kim,
as if they were equals.
He said,
"What's inside you does not want to disappear."
"It wants to be understood."
He paused briefly.
Then continued,
"But understanding…
kills those who attempt it."
Kim clenched his fist.
He said,
"I didn't ask for this."
"And I didn't ask for your help."
Biath raised his gaze.
"I know."
Then he said with lethal calm,
"And that is why I will do it."
Neer shouted,
"Biath! This is madness!"
Biath pulled out a small dagger.
It was not a weapon.
It was a ritual.
"There is only one way,"
he said.
"To bind pain to another pain."
He moved closer to Kim.
"I will open myself…
and let what's inside you pass through me."
Kim froze.
"What?"
"If the pain remains in you alone, it will consume you,"
Biath said.
"If it is divided… it may slow."
Kim suddenly stood.
"Don't touch me."
Biath looked at him steadily.
"I am not touching the monster."
"I am speaking to the human."
Something…
broke.
Not the pain.
But the wall.
Kim shouted,
"Why?!"
His voice shook.
"Why are you doing this?!"
A heavy silence fell.
Then Biath said,
"Because my son died screaming."
He added calmly,
"And I couldn't save him."
Neer lowered his head.
"And when I look at you…"
Biath continued,
"I see someone living what he lived,
but with no one standing beside him."
He stepped closer.
"If I die,
then I am a failed man."
He gripped the dagger.
"And if I succeed…
you will not be alone anymore."
Kim felt something he had not felt in a long time.
Not hope.
But…
guilt.
He extended his hand.
Grasped Biath's wrist.
He said weakly,
"No."
"Don't do it."
Biath smiled.
"You're too late."
He cut his skin.
Blood flowed.
In the next instant—
he screamed.
Not a scream of physical pain,
but a scream of realization.
The black veins in Kim's body…
pulsed.
Moved.
Neer screamed.
Biath fell to his knees.
Darkness began to crawl up his arm.
But—
it stopped.
The veins halted halfway.
Biath coughed blood,
but remained alive.
Kim was shaking.
His eyes wide.
"What… did you do?"
Biath breathed with difficulty.
"I proved…"
he said,
"that the pain inside you is not a living being."
Kim collapsed.
He sat on the floor.
Covered his face with his hands.
And for the first time…
he cried.
Not for himself.
But for someone
who had been ready to die
for him.