SCARRED | TK

Chapter Ten

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"Here stands a man
At the bottom of a hole he's made
Still sweating from the rush
His body tense
His hands, they shake
Oh this, this is a mad boy."

Kim Taehyung, before all the fame and success, used to be just like any other teenager; full of hopes and the desire to do something, anything, but not knowing how or where to start. As a child, he was bright, outgoing and maybe too kind for his own good, for too much kindness could always overflow into one's own downfall. His heart was filled with love—he loved everything and anything that existed in that world. The nature, the animals, the few songs he had managed to save—even the humans. Kim Taehyung did not know then that humans, despite their warmth and kindness, were the most cruel.

Growing up in a family of famous surgeons, Taehyung had always loved science, had always wished to become just like his parents—a savior. His passion and desire to do so had helped him earn the title of prodigy and, with that, a place in one of the most successful medical schools from a young age.

Taehyung had been overjoyed but, as it always happened, those emotions silently fell into a pit of darkness, turning into despair and wrath instead. Taehyung was a savior—he could save people with his skilled hands but that wasn't quite enough. He wanted to save the world, save them all from the Virus that had turned their reality into a painful nightmare they couldn't escape, but he couldn't.

The realization that he could not made his joy turn into wrath—both at himself and the world. He was mad because, even if he was praised all over the world for his skills and ingenious mind, he was still unable to help those who had been infected. He was so skilled but still useless in front of that illness.

So Taehyung used that wrath to his benefit.

He started researching the Virus, its effects on the environment and those same effects shown in people.

From his wrath and despair, from his desire to create a future for them, SCAR had been created, the work that had earned him the title of Leader of the Medical Congress. From his wrath and despair, Taehyung had, not only created history, but lit a spark of hope in everyone's hearts.

Ironically, he had joked about the Virus during his younger years, saying it was humanity's scar and that it would keep bleeding until there was no more blood to shed. He had joked then, saying that maybe, there was a chance humanity deserved that scar—deserved a reminder for all the cruelty they've caused. He used to say that scars, no matter how small or big they were, how visible or hidden, should act like a reminder for the memories before it. And so, the Virus should act like a reminder to people—a reminder for all the cruelty that laid in their hearts. He used to believe that someone would put a stop to that bleeding at one point, but he didn't know then that closing up a wound that large was almost impossible.

Humanity had already lost too much blood and it was now slowly withering away.

Taehyung never intended to name that Virus after his hypocritical joke but fate seem to hold a grudge against him.

SCAR, Syndrome of Cardiopulmonary Arterial Radiation, was the illness imposed by the Virus and the name of it made Taehyung ironically laugh each time he read it.

He had named it so because of its initial starting points and, coincidentally, those letters had formerly created the word he dreaded. SCAR was a syndrome in which the thoracic area was the only part directly affected by the virus and, after analyzing it for years, Taehyung had been able to pinpoint the 4 main phases of the Virus.