“No one’s born ready to betray their neighbour,” Gi-hun snapped, glaring at him now, as if he had finally caught his attention. There was a fire behind his eyes, fierce and unflinching. It suited him, made him look like the man he was always supposed to be.
It stirred something inside In-ho.
He was faintly reminded of how Gi-hun’s friend had turned on him in the final stretch of the Game, ready to take Gi-hun’s life if it meant victory. Just as Gi-hun, in his own way, had betrayed Oh Il-nam. No one was different when faced with devastation, when cornered by fear.
“But they’re born with the capacity to choose themselves,” In-ho countered. “All it takes is the right excuse.”
Gi-hun met his gaze, and for a moment, it wasn’t anger that burned behind his eyes. It was something closer to grief. “Or the wrong kind of silence. When you stop seeing people as worth saving. That’s what breaks the world.”