DESTINED. wsn ✓

interlude: san's past

since this is a chapter about san's past, there will be mentions of: DEAD BODY / DEATH, BLOOD, INJURY AND SUICIDE. proceed with caution (i will put warnings before each individual part).

—

ELEVEN YEARS AGO. INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA.

SIX YEARS OLD.

"mom! dad! look what i got!" san grinned at his mother, showing the woman his recent maths test. perfect score. chunghee, san's mother, gasped and hugged her son.

"oh my gosh, my little genius! this is amazing! i'm so proud of you! oh my, hyunjae, look!" chunghee told her husband. hyunjae, who came out of the kitchen, went to where his wife and son were. he looked at the paper his son was holding and chuckled.

he leaned down slightly to ruffle the little guy's hair, "wow, look at my son being a little genius!"

san huffed quite adorably at his father's choice of words, "i'm no 'little genius', i'm a big genius!" san smiled proudly at himself. hyunjae laughed, his deep voice ringing throughout the small apartment they owned. he picked up his son and spun him around, "oh yeah? if you were big, i wouldn't be able to hoist you up like this!"

san chuckled vigorously at his father's spinning, his head started to spin as well but he was having fun. he was giggling and lifting his arms up in the air as his dad continued spin around. his mother, like usual, were looking at them with her hands ready to catch san when, no, if he falls, but the smile on her face was still beautiful and big.

eventually, hyunjae put his son down and the family of three went to the dining table to eat, discussing about at what happened at work today for the mr and mrs and gossiping about the little rumours going around in san's school.

they weren't rich. they lived in a small apartment in incheon which they still had to pay rent to stay there. and even though hyunjae and chunghee worked in the most famous company in the entirety of korea: KIM & CO., their combined wages were only enough to pay the rent and to pay san's school fees. they do anything they can to minimise their expenses and by the end of each month, they store the leftover money in a drawer in their bedroom just to make sure if they ever go bankrupt or lose their jobs, they'll still have a little spare money for san to at least go live his life.

EIGHT YEARS AGO. INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA.

NINE YEARS OLD.

a knock came on the door. chunghee glanced at her husband — and soulmate — and frowned. who would be looking for them at nine am on a sunday? nonetheless, hyunjae went to open the door and was greeted by none other than their company's CEO, accompanied by his secretary.

"m-mr kim. how delightful to see you on a sunday. good day, miss lee. please." hyunjae further opened the door and stepped back so the two higher status people could get into their cramped apartment.

mr kim, the CEO of KIM & CO., was wearing a pair of sunglasses and was very obviously hung over. miss lee, however, was very conscious and even scrunched her nose in disgust when san came out of his bedroom.

"ma...? who are these people?" san asked, still rubbing his eyes rid of sleep. chunghee, flushed at her son's directness, rushed to the boy and kissed his temple softly.

"these are our superiors, our bosses. we're going to have a conversation with them. how about you go back to sleep and i'll wake you up when we're done, hm? then we can go to that restaurant you really wanted to go." chunghee tried her best to persuade the sleepy boy, brushing san's overgrown fringes out of his eyes.