3 December 2008

Yoongi wasn't usually at home those days. After his older brother moved out and left him alone with their dysfunctional parents, he began spending more time with his friends. He made money by putting on small shows for their underground rap group and trying to sell his songs on the street.

Before Joongi left, the younger had pulled away from his group of friends. His brother insisted that they were a bad influence and would only get him into trouble. He loved his brother and accepted this without hesitation. But then Yoongi woke up one day and he was gone. No note, no warning. He had just up and left.

It broke Yoongi's heart.

It also meant he had nobody to protect him anymore. Not just from the shady happenings that went on after sunset, but also from his parents. He had to learn to protect himself and he knew the only people who could help him learn were his friends. Most of them had run away from home or didn't have any family. They only had each other.

Yoongi was the only one who still had a "family" but it sure as hell didn't feel like it. He would've rather been hanging around his friend Woojae while he was doing a drug deal than go home to his drunken asshole of a father and weak mother who never stood up for herself or her sons. Joongi was the one who stood up for them and had been in countless physical encounters with the man they called "father".

It was the night of one of their shows where they only charged a few thousand won for entry. It was enough to break even—but just barely. Yoongi was having a beer with his bandmates behind the venue after the show. Sumin was a master thief—she could steal anything and not get caught. That included alcohol, cigarettes, lamps. Literally anything.

He was alternating between the burning liquid and an equally hot cigarette he was teasing between his long fingers. That's when he realized that he needed his debit card to put the money on, but he had forgotten it at home the previous day when he snuck out in the early morning to go to The Tenements for practice and solace. He rarely went to school.

The Tenements was an abandoned building in the ghetto of Daegu turned into small shitty apartments. His friends all rented one section and split payments. Yoongi had been staying there more and more, eventually deciding that he would stay there once he moved out.

He informed his friends that he would be back in an hour or two because he left something at home. They wished him luck grimly, as they knew what would await him. Yoongi thought he knew, too, but nothing would prepare him for the scene he walked in on. Even a few houses down he could hear the screaming and shouting coming from the small house.

The teenager pushed the door open apprehensively, his stomach dropping and body freezing in fear at what he was subjected to look at. Broken beer bottles on the floor, furniture strewn all over the place, and his father in a drunken rage. He was holding Yoongi's mother against the wall by her neck and spitting harsh words into her ear.

She was beaten badly. Her nose and mouth were bloody, body riddled with bruises. Her eyes darted to the boy and seemed to scream "help me" just with her gaze. It was the first time he had seen this kind of behavior from his father. Maybe Joongi was the only thing holding him back in the past. Either way, it pissed Yoongi off.

Now he was mad.

He shouted at the man who was more like a stranger and gripped the back of his shirt to rip him off of her. The man's eyes landed on him and he almost smiled—but it wasn't a nice smile. It was the kind of smile that a predator gave to its prey. Yoongi was ready to fight him, but he didn't even think about how it would go. Yoongi was small and skinny for his age, while his father was tall and built. Joongi had taken on his father's build as well, making him the better candidate to go up against him.

While his mother slid to the floor, gasping for air and grabbing at her already bruising neck, the man grabbed Yoongi and threw him against the wall. Before he had time to react or plan an attack, he was already being beaten within an inch of his life. The fist wouldn't stop delivering blows and Yoongi had no fighting experience or strength. He was a scrawny nobody. And it showed.

After what seemed like a lifetime, his body was finally given some relief. The hits had stopped, but almost as soon as they had ceased, he was met with a shoe to the stomach. Then to the face. If his nose wasn't broken before, he was sure it was then. He screamed and writhed in pain on the floor, tears mixed with blood streaming down his face to the blue carpet he always thought was tacky.

His father spoke, but he couldn't understand anything but the last two words.

"Get out."

Yoongi didn't need to be told twice. He tried to get up, but collapsed, shrieking once more in pain as his injuries collided with the floor. He decided to crawl, no matter how much it hurt. He had to get out of there. Any thoughts of the debit card were long gone. He just wanted his father to either finish the job or let him get away. He honestly didn't know which one he preferred.

As soon as he dragged himself through the door and to the cold asphalt outside, he pulled his tiny cell phone out of his pocket, hoping that it wasn't broken. Luckily, it was only cracked but still functional. It wasn't expensive to have and probably wouldn't be to fix. But he couldn't think about expenses then. He flipped it up and tried blinking away the blood and tears so he could find his friend's contact.

Everything was blurry and he didn't know if it was from the number of times he'd been hit in the eyes or just the amount of red liquid blocking his vision. Eventually, the writing looked somewhat familiar, though smudged, and he hit 'call'.

It rang. And rang and rang. Nothing, but it hadn't been declined. It was still ringing. "Goddammit," he swore, trying to drag himself further with only one arm. It occurred to him that it was almost one am, but he was convinced that if he didn't call someone to help him, he would surely die from loss of blood or something else he couldn't think of. He never showed up to science classes, let alone pay attention when he did.

"Hyung?"

The boy's groggy and sleepy voice was like music to his ears. He sobbed harder at the sound of him. Coincidentally his best friend was not involved with his group and Yoongi wanted to keep it that way. Jungkook was a nice good boy with a happy family and a bright future. He didn't want to ruin that for him. But he also needed him.

When there was no response from Yoongi, only the quiet sounds of his sobs, the younger became more anxious. "Yoongi-hyung? Are you okay? Why are you calling me this late?"

It then occurred to Yoongi that if he dragged Jungkook into this, his parents would get involved and so would the police once they found out what happened. He had to keep the younger in the dark for his own good.

"Hyung is fine, Jungkook," he started, trying his best not to sound out-of-breath from the amount of blood he was losing. "I'm sorry for waking you up so late. I just..." He didn't know what kind of excuse to make up, so he only sighed. "Go back to bed. I'll call you tomorrow."

He hung up before Jungkook could say anything and dialed his friend Shiyoon. He was the oldest one in his group and Yoongi had no doubt that he'd know what to do. It didn't take too long for his friends to find him, but he was fading fast by the time they did. All Yoongi could remember was panicked whispering and careful hands carrying him somewhere.

They took him back to The Tenements where he woke up without any serious injuries. Shiyoon told him upon waking that he didn't think anything was broken, but that he would have to rest for at least a week. No shows, no cigarettes, no alcohol. And all Yoongi could do was smile and say, "Yes, Hyung." Because he knew that somebody cared about him and that's all he needed.

Things seemed fine for a while. He stopped going to school altogether, leaving Jungkook even more confused and worried. But Yoongi was going in a different direction. He refused to drag the younger with him.

Of course, things weren't good for very long. Sumin was arrested for petty theft and alcohol possession. Woojae was murdered during a drug deal gone wrong. One by one, their group dwindled until it was just Yoongi and Shiyoon. Shiyoon pretended that he wasn't afraid, but only for Yoongi's sake. The younger knew that he was just as terrified. Either of them could be arrested or killed or kidnapped at any time.

The turning point came when Shiyoon was shot by the same guys who killed Woojae. Yoongi knew they'd come for him next and didn't have much time to grieve because they began calling him and sending him death threats over text. They had evidently tapped it as well, somehow tracking him through the metal device. He had to leave Daegu as quickly as possible and never return. He collected money he found in his dead and gone friends backpacks. It was just enough to buy him a train ride to Seoul, which was on the other side of the country.

He figured he could start over there.

He thought he would be safe.

The day he left, he snuck onto school grounds to visit Jungkook during lunch. He told him that he was leaving. When the younger protested, Yoongi brought up the fact that he would be killed if he didn't leave. Jungkook knew very little about his other life, but that was enough to clue him in on how dangerous it was.

Yoongi had already committed the younger's address to memory and promised that he would send him a letter when he got a new phone. Jungkook was terrified for him, but he knew there was nothing he could do. They destroyed the phone together before he took off.

He left that day on the one forty-five pm train to Seoul and never looked back.

Hopefully, he could leave the past behind.

If only it were that easy.