The Anatomy of Betrayal
"A recording...? A smartphone...? What on earth are those? I cannot comprehend this at all."
The King, utterly ignorant of Earth's civilization, frowned in deep confusion.
I stepped forward assertively and said, "On my very first day here, I surrendered all of my belongings to Your Majesty! Among them is a device called a smartphone. Please, return it to me."
"That is not true, Your Majesty!" Kim Hyungkeun hastily interjected. Beads of cold sweat were forming on his face. Serves you right, you bastard. Look at him squirming, terrified of getting fucked over. You're finished, asshole.
"Kim Youngho's words are nothing but absurd delusions, unworthy of a single moment's consideration. Please, execute him immediately!"
"Ha! It's truly a pleasure to watch a thief expose himself. Isn't it obvious who the liar is just by looking at Hyungkeun's pathetic anxiety? Your Majesty, what could be more vital than concrete evidence to bring the absolute truth to light? The only person who wouldn't want the evidence shown is the guilty party."
"Sophistry, Your Majesty! All the circumstances already point to Kim Youngho as the traitor. Why waste any more time? Especially Your Majesty's precious time."
The King stroked his beard, pondering the matter before speaking. "Hmm... You both make valid points. However, Porter. The reason I confiscated your belongings was to return them to you once you completed your quest and returned to your homeland. To demand that I retrieve them now is to ask me to break my own decree. Have you not considered that this might compromise my royal dignity?"
"Even if it does, I believe we must absolutely distinguish right from wrong in a matter of this gravity."
"...Even if it does? Hmm..." The King closed his eyes tightly in slight displeasure, then turned to give instructions to his daughter, who stood beside him. "Very well. Youngho's point is fair. Bring all of Kim Youngho's belongings at once. They should be stored in the royal vault, where only the royal family may enter. Isabella, run this errand for me."
"Yes, Father."
As Isabella hurried off to execute the royal command, Kim Hyungkeun's face grew incredibly dark. I whispered to the trembling traitor beside me.
"Nervous? You shouldn't have lied in the first place."
"Don't get ahead of yourself. You might be the one crying in the end, Kim Youngho."
"Why would I? I did nothing wrong."
At that moment, my confidence was sky-high. Even when Isabella returned, her arms full of my clothes and belongings, my victory seemed absolute.
"I have brought everything."
"Porter, retrieve this 'smartphone' and let us hear the recording."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Without a shred of hesitation, I began rummaging through the pile. My smartphone—a device I used to carry with me all day, every single day back on Earth. It was most likely in my pants pocket.
But it wasn't there.
What about the inner pocket of my shirt? Not there either.
My backpack, then? I unzipped it and turned it inside out, but the smartphone didn't fall out.
It was nowhere to be found.
"Huh...? This... this makes no sense."
"What is the matter, Porter? There are many people waiting here, all of them noble dignitaries from various nations. We cannot delay any longer. Is something not going according to your plan?"
"P-please, just a moment, Your Majesty. This is impossible...?"
I frantically tore through my clothes and bag, searching for the phone, but it was nowhere to be found.
"It's... it's not here. The smartphone is gone."
"What do you mean? Then what of the recording?"
How could there be a recording without the phone? It was saved on the device itself.
"How on earth did this happen...? P-Princess Isabella. Did you perhaps drop it on your way here?"
"No. Absolutely not," Isabella replied instantly. Her flat, definitive tone cut me like a knife.
"Please don't say that... You never know. Could you please go back and check one more time?"
"There is no need. I am certain I brought every single item."
"I'm asking you to just check one more time!"
In my mounting panic, I snapped, raising my voice at the princess. I knew I shouldn't have, but Isabella's expression was so uncharacteristically cold that an unspeakable dread seized my heart.
"Princess Isabella! Don't you understand?! My entire life... no, my very survival is on the line here! I told you yesterday! I told you this was my trump card!"
"Yesterday? A trump card? What are you talking about?"
"I mean... I told you I recorded my conversation with Kim Hyungkeun! That's what I'm looking for right now!"
"Excuse me? When did you ever say such a thing?"
"...What?"
What was happening? What was this twist? What did Princess Isabella just say?
Why... why was she tilting her head as if she had never heard of such a thing in her life? Why was the corner of her mouth twitching upward into a mocking smirk? Why was she looking at me with such freezing, lifeless eyes? Why?
"Stop... stop joking, Princess Isabella. There's no way you could have already forgotten what I told you yesterday. It's not as if you have early-onset dementia."
"I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Are you drunk? I have never heard a single word about any recording."
"..."
It felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck me. Even if a physical lightning bolt had pierced the crown of my head, it wouldn't have shattered me like this. Never... absolutely never.
My knees buckled, and I collapsed onto the floor.
Ah... I finally understood.
I had been betrayed. By the very people I trusted.
Thoroughly, brutally, viciously, miserably.
I had been betrayed.
So this was betrayal.
This... this was what betrayal felt like.
"Ha... haha... You bastards planned this together from the start to screw me over..."
"Shut your mouth, Porter! To utter such vulgarities in my presence—there is a limit to how much you can insult your King!"
The King roared in fury, but his voice no longer reached my ears. I knew my fate better than anyone. The events that would unfold next were as clear as day.
"Not only did you mock me and the noble guests of various nations with your lies, but you also slandered the Hero, the beacon of humanity's hope, and even attempted to deceive the Princess with fabricated evidence?! Your crimes are too numerous to count!"
"Hahaha! They say three people can invent a tiger out of thin air. How could a single man possibly stand against a crowd determined to make him look like a fool?"
"Now you babble nonsense! Guards! Throw this madman into the dungeon! He has lost his mind! His execution shall take place tomorrow!!"
And so, I was locked away in the dungeon beneath the royal palace. The world visible beyond the iron bars felt incredibly bleak and surreal.
Is this... my life?
Is this pathetic joke my destiny?
Was I born just to die in a place like this...?
My tall stature, my decent looks. Graduating from a top-tier university. Landing a job at a major conglomerate. The upcoming wedding with my beautiful girlfriend. The life journey I thought was sailing so smoothly... was it all just an illusion? My reality now was that of a condemned criminal with only a single day left to live.
How on earth did it come to this?
If only I hadn't trusted Kim Hyungkeun... If only I had doubted Isabella even a little... If only I had kept a closer eye on my smartphone... If only I hadn't been targeted by the Love Rune... If only I hadn't consumed the Rune of Sacrifice...
No, if I hadn't gone to Kim Hyungkeun's house that day to play that stupid game in the first place!!! None of this would have happened.
"Ha... haha..."
Mold was blooming on the damp stone walls of the cell, and the squeaking of rats echoed from the shadows. It was hardly a place conducive to finding peace of mind. I wanted to break out immediately, but the heavy iron lock made escape a distant dream.
"So this is what betrayal is. To be the one on the receiving end... it truly hurts beyond words."
Could I ever trust someone again? Could I ever love someone again? Could I ever call someone a friend again?
The answer to every question was a resounding no. My heart had shut down completely. I no longer had the confidence to form a deep bond with anyone ever again.
"Well... I suppose it doesn't matter. I'm going to die tomorrow anyway, fuck it... What use is skepticism about human relationships to a dead man?"
The sheer absurdity of dying like this wrung a hollow laugh from my throat. The injustice of it burned—what sin had I committed to deserve such an end? Why was Kim Hyungkeun doing something so horrific to me? I had thought of him as a friend. Why did he betray me? I had helped him so many times. Stabbing me in the back like this was subhuman behavior. A beast in human skin—that was the only description that fit Kim Hyungkeun.
"Subhuman piece of trash..."
"Who are you talking about?"
It was then. With the slow, deliberate sound of footsteps, the owner of a face more repulsive than any beast's stepped into the dungeon.
"Kim Hyungkeun... you son of a bitch!"
I grabbed a handful of the dirty straw scattered on the floor and hurled it at him to vent my rage. Naturally, it did nothing. Hyungkeun merely sneered in response.
"Hahaha! What a passionate greeting. And here I thought you'd be curled up in a corner, sobbing your eyes out."
"What the hell are you doing here, you bastard? Stick your neck through the bars so I can tear your throat out with my teeth."
"Why would I do that? You're the one who's dying, not me."
"You motherfucker!!!" I screamed, my voice thick with raw, agonizing injustice.
"Why are you doing this to me?! What did I ever do to you?! How could you do this to a friend? Are you even human, you fucking piece of shit?!"
"Friend?"
Hyungkeun's face instantly contorted into a hideous scowl. Grabbing the iron bars as if he meant to bend them with his bare hands, he spat out words from the very depths of his throat.
"Don't make me laugh, you bastard... I have never once considered you my friend."
"What?! After all the years we spent hanging out, you're singing a different tune now? You did nothing but follow me around like a shadow!"
"Don't flatter yourself. The one I was following wasn't you..."
Hyungkeun began to lay bare the dark truth he had kept hidden deep inside.
"It was Gaeun."
"...What?"