[ Right... They're on this stupid trip and he's being tested between his hostage and someone he and his companions vowed to save. He looks at both of them, solemn and forlorn, while he gently caresses Mia's head and lets her take comfort in him being here.
Instinctively, he weighs choosing one over the other. He can't help it, not with so many years of having to make decisions to survive. Even with something like this, he thinks about it logically despite whatever his heart says.
... His sister, the very first Mia, she's happy in the first worldline where he left her to never return. And Mia now is also alive and well, outside of this trip. They can be happy despite the many times he has failed to save her, even sacrificed her. His thoughts rush through memories of her being left at his doorstep as a baby, how he had to navigate raising a baby when he was only a teenager himself—how they only had each other because their parents were nonexistent. They didn't exist, in the first place.
Kim Dokja is the reason at all that she's alive this long... He gave him a world where they didn't need to sacrifice, but now he's beyond reach. Joonghyuk and his companions have not saved Kim Dokja once, despite the multiple times he has saved them. For his sacrifices, Dokja gave him and his loved ones happiness.
... He has to repay that debt, doesn't he? Quietly, he goes to cook a simple meal and returns only to hold his sister longer. ]
I'll be returning home soon.
[ The plate he leaves not for her, but for Dokja instead. As he makes this decision, he remembers what Mia said to him before he arrived here...
“Orabeoni, you did your very best. No one can do more or better than what you have already done.” ]
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Instinctively, he weighs choosing one over the other. He can't help it, not with so many years of having to make decisions to survive. Even with something like this, he thinks about it logically despite whatever his heart says.
... His sister, the very first Mia, she's happy in the first worldline where he left her to never return. And Mia now is also alive and well, outside of this trip. They can be happy despite the many times he has failed to save her, even sacrificed her. His thoughts rush through memories of her being left at his doorstep as a baby, how he had to navigate raising a baby when he was only a teenager himself—how they only had each other because their parents were nonexistent. They didn't exist, in the first place.
Kim Dokja is the reason at all that she's alive this long... He gave him a world where they didn't need to sacrifice, but now he's beyond reach. Joonghyuk and his companions have not saved Kim Dokja once, despite the multiple times he has saved them. For his sacrifices, Dokja gave him and his loved ones happiness.
... He has to repay that debt, doesn't he? Quietly, he goes to cook a simple meal and returns only to hold his sister longer. ]
I'll be returning home soon.
[ The plate he leaves not for her, but for Dokja instead. As he makes this decision, he remembers what Mia said to him before he arrived here...
“Orabeoni, you did your very best. No one can do more or better than what you have already done.” ]