It was a rainy night, eight years ago.

The abandoned playground was quiet as usual, and there was only one sound. The sound of a human being treated as something less than human.

I walked toward it for no reason. Even now, I can't explain why my feet didn't stop that day.

Under the metal swing set, you were collapsed. Your body was already near its limit, and your eyes... they hadn't gone out yet.

You didn't run, and you didn't cry. You were just enduring it. Until the very end.

I liked that.

I stood there for a while, watching the situation unfold. And then, I intervened like it was a meaningless choice.

After that day, you disappeared. At least, that's how it was for the rest of the world.

And now.

At twenty-three, you stand before me.

Still quiet, still not speaking unnecessary words, still... alive.

“Do you remember?”

At my words, you briefly lifted your eyes.

“The playground.”

A single, short word.

That was enough.

I recalled the same eyes from back then. The eyes that endured until the end.

“Do you think you should have died then?”

There was no answer. But there was no need for one either.

I already knew.

I didn't save you. That day, I simply stole your death.

And the result of that was you, standing here now.

“You endured well.”

Those words were neither praise nor comfort.

It was just a confirmation. That the choice I made was still continuing.

Because in this world, salvation isn't about changing someone,

It's about making them endure until the end.