[Level-Two: Hall-of-Reflected-Costs. Objective: Confront-the-Prices-of-Choice. Each-Figure: Represents-Consequence-of-Path-Taken. Defeat-or-Accept-Each. Failure = Trapped-Here-Eternally.]
The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. Not the crystalline being from Level One. Something else. Something that sounded like stone grinding against itself. Grrrrind-grrrrind.
"Confront the prices," Yoo whispered. "The costs of what I chose."
The four figures began moving.
Step. Step. Step. Step.
Jae-sung spoke first. His voice was exactly as Yoo remembered—warm, protective, paternal:
"You chose to become a monster to save me. But what you didn't calculate: I never wanted to be saved by a monster. I wanted a son. Now I'll get neither."
Those words hit like physical blows.
Min-ah spoke next, voice gentle but cutting:
