Ken gasped awake.
Stone. Bars. Silence.
No...
No no no no—
He was still in the prison.
Still in the same cold cell.
Still alone.
His breathing turned sharp, panicked. He looked around — no guards, no food, no change. Everything was exactly the same.
His eyes flared with rage.
He let out a raw scream and slammed his fist against the wall.
Once.
Twice.
Over and over until blood ran down his knuckles.
"LET ME OUT!"
But the stone didn't crack.
Nothing changed.
He turned to the corner where the knife still lay.
Without hesitation, Ken picked it up and dragged it across his throat.
The pain was sharp, but he felt nothing inside.
Just fury.
Darkness swallowed him again.
You have died.
He woke up.
Same cell.
Same silence.
His vision blurred from tears and rage.
This time, he grabbed the knife and stabbed himself — again and again.
Chest. Neck. Side.
"DIE—JUST LET ME DIE!"
Blood pooled on the floor.
But it meant nothing.
He woke up.
Again.
The pain didn't even register anymore.
Ken stumbled to the wall and bashed his head into it.
Again.
Again.
Until his skull cracked and the light left his eyes.
He woke up.
Still in the cell.
Still in the silence.
He lost count of how many times he'd killed himself.
Ten?
Fifty?
A hundred?
A thousand?
More?
It didn't matter.
Nothing mattered.
He sat in the corner, holding the knife in trembling hands.
Stared at it.
"This is the last time," he whispered.
No anger this time.
Just exhaustion.
He closed his eyes.
And slowly, quietly, pushed the knife into his heart.
You have died.
Ken opened his eyes.
The cold stone was gone.
The prison was gone.
He lay on a wooden bench, beneath the soft shade of a tree.
Sunlight filtered gently through the leaves above him.
A breeze rolled by — warm, but not burning. Calm. Quiet.
He sat up slowly.
A paved street stretched before him. Empty. Peaceful.
Stone houses lined both sides, flowers blooming in window boxes.
Birds chirped in the distance.
It was a quiet neighborhood. Somewhere in the capital.
But no one was around.
No shouting. No footsteps. No guards.
Just silence.
A different kind of silence.
Not the kind that crushed him.
The kind that… gave him space to breathe.
Ken's eyes widened. His throat tightened.
"I'm free…"
He didn't know what this place was.
He didn't care.
For the first time in what felt like forever, he wasn't trapped.
He was somewhere new.
And that was enough.