ALL BARK NO BITE | SADISTIC BEAUTY SPINOFF

Chapter 8

~ Walking home, 102-3, Yujin Apartments, Sanggye-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul

Minho hid his wristwatch in his inside jacket pocket, plunging his phone and wallet deeper for good measure. He had already lost some belongings and a couple thousand Won over incidental muggings. Needless to say, he was ashamed of the locale and couldn't bear to give Wookyung more derisive fuel towards his lower lifestyle. He kicked a small pebble along the way. He didn't even remember who she was...

It wasn't unexpected, in fact, it convinced him entirely that the man lost all love and respect for the person after he was done fucking them. But still... was he expecting otherwise after all these years? He thought about Chun Duna and the short time for which they knew each other in college. She was a lot of if not all the things he aspired to be. But that in the body of a woman so she was more or less perfect. She had it all.

Were all those things not enough for Wookyung? What more did he want... What would it take for him to care?

To begin with, she was a bold, expressive, domineering character with a short build and brown hair. She was two years his junior and was recognised for her literary work even before she entered college. The professors and Dean even knew her by name. They had formally met through the Literature Club. She came from a respectable home with working parents who earned a stable income. Minho was hyper aware of how talented she was.

And he thought more so about how nice it must have been to not suffer the pressure to write something award-winning right off the bat, to not be responsible for raising your other siblings, to not be forced to move out early and make money as soon as possible. Moreover, she had people to fall back on if she tripped. People who won't corner her or beat her down. No wonder she wrote so beautifully. Her mind was cleansed of self-doubt and internal pressures unlike his'.

That was one of the reasons why he struggled with a pen. He had invasive thoughts about his work getting mocked, set on fire, of him being the subject of absolute loathe once again. It felt awful to stand alone in a corner in shame. He remembered overhearing her talk about how she secured a position as a recipient of the reputed New Writer's Award. That it came as a surprise to her and she wasn't expecting it...

A surprise? Minho had thought back then. She could really do what she loved and then leave it to chance for her rewards. Minho, on the other hand, was shaken by the possibility of anything outside of success. He couldn't afford to be surprised because anything outside of success could mean he lost his stature, his house, his belongings, he could lose the favour of people he cared for, he could be out on the street, he could be beaten up and killed.

Beyond losing everything, he imagined his mother, the mild and silk rendered creature, tearing the flesh off her body and revealing a hive of mockery and cruel words. Her perfect self gone because of his failures. In those moments, he wished to not be. To undo the efforts of the fate that assembled him in the womb. He couldn't afford to not be.

****

7 YEARS AGO

~ Multipurpose Meeting Hall, Hanguk University, Daehak-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul

Minho sat tight on one of the quieter tables in the room. He observed everyone in the best of their college youth abandon in the common meeting hall for the Writers' Department. A stereo played in a corner as students mingled with the senior members, discussing art, drink and writing. What were they all so happy for??everyone here is awaiting a life full of debt, disease, despair and non-payment of dues.

"Oppa?" Minho heard someone call and he looked up from the top of his can of cola to see a bright-faced fresher smiling at him eagerly. "Yes?" he was dressed down for the fresher's welcome function held by the Writing Department and wasn't planning on staying around for long. He had a night shift for a new job he had taken up at a gas station. It paid decently, or as much as he would expect.