how does post-s5 tory view kim da-eun?
She’s absolutely terrified of her, even now. Kim broke her both physically and mentally. Silver often tried to get to her by appealing to her sense of ego or gassing her up, but Kim was always about tearing her down, and that got to her on a psychological level because it felt more real to her. She knew what Silver was, how he was dishonest, but Kim? All of her disdain was genuine. A lot of Tory’s anger towards Silver comes from what he did at the tournament and things he’s done to Daniel and Robby. But for Kim, it always felt like she constantly reminded Tory of her shortcomings. Being under Kim’s instruction made her feel suffocated, she wasn’t getting the praise she’d grown accustomed to from Kreese/Silver, and it made her feel neurotic and paranoid and like she wasn’t good enough despite all evidence to the contrary.
Kim broke her down and tried to convince her that it was what she deserved. That the pain was her reward for being herself, and like there was something wrong with her just for having feelings or any sort of perceived fragility. As if Tory deserved to hurt because she was too soft , and Kim was doing Tory a favor trying to “make her strong”. Tory still hasn’t gotten over all of that, and seeing Kim pop up again would definitely elicit a strong reaction from her.
