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At the tender age of nine, Seo Yebin had embraced her first modeling gig for a small children's clothing store with large, wonder-filled eyes that took in everything with excitement. It had been at the corner of the street next to a bigger brand's location, which had gathered her quite the traction from casting agents who had passed by the street in hopes of finding young students interested in a contract.
And so the once well-off family of three, then two── Yebin and her mother dived right into the world where beauty and work stood proudly together. Seeing the success and attention her daughter received over the many shoots throughout her early teenage years, Hyerim decided to pull her out of her after her second year in middle school, opting to have her strictly homeschooled instead.
For the next years of her life, she was pulled left and right to all sorts of different sets and countries through countless flights and appointments, schedules jam-packed and steps in a hurry. Yebin was nine years old when she had accepted the quiet, innocent offer that her mother had provided her with— she never meant for it to go this far.
She was thirteen years old when she had to bid goodbye to her best friends at school and move away, fourteen when she had started being judged for her body, fifteen when she had succumbed to the industry's wishes, sixteen when she slowly started to realise that she, Seo Yebin, greatly disliked living the way she did.
Her name and face had been everywhere- on magazine covers like Vogue Teen, on posters and billboards larger than life, she was the rising sensation. Yebin had fame, money, and glory all before she was even of age.
Yebin was seventeen when her agency had pulled her aside to have a conversation with her that should have been had years ago: "Do you want to prioritize your education or work?"
For the first time in seven years since she had given up her life to her mother's hands had she been given the opportunity to speak for herself, to make her own decisions. And so for the first time in what felt like forever, she smiled. Yebin had the most beautiful smile one could ever have the chance of seeing, a shame that it was a rarity to witness.
"I want to go to school."
"Absolutely not."
Seo Hyerim had finally gotten everything she had ever dreamt of as a little girl through her daughter, she was adamant on not letting her slip away from her clutches— Yebin had turned into an obsession of hers and she was too far in to go back now.
Her daughter sighs, tired of being constantly on edge with the woman she was supposed to be calling her mother, "I am not going to work anymore."
"Your father would be rolling in his grave from the way his daughter is speaking in such manner." The older woman remarks icily, backing the younger to a wall.
Yebin frowns, "I could not care less what that old guy is doing in his grave right now. Frankly, he should rot in hell for the things he did to you and me."
Hyerim takes an intimidating stand forward, her tall figure casting a short shadow from the bright chandelier hanging on the ceiling of the lounge, "Do not speak of him that way. He loved you and he loved me."
"You're delusional. Love? My goodness, I can't believe you keep denying that he used to beat you up every time he came home angry and how I always had to explain my homeroom teacher where the bruises on my arms had come from. He was vile and I am glad he is dead."
"Silence!" her mother roars, losing her composure, "He was a loving husband and a caring father. I don't know who fed those lies into your brain, Yebin, but you must rid yourself of them this instance. You are not going back to Korea."
The brunette steels herself, "I don't want to model anymore. I am sick and tired of this, you can't forcibly make me continue. My contract is ending in exactly five days and I will not sign a paper like that ever again. You have a job of yourself, don't you? You can live off of your own money from now on."
Hyerim tugs her harshly by her forearms, leading Yebin to let out a hiss of pain as her mother's nails dig into a few of some very specific areas that throb, "Fine, you want to ruin your future with your own two hands? Go ahead.
Take the soonest flight to Korea you find and leave. I am locking all of your deals tomorrow, so you won't have any money to live by when you're there. Let's see how long you can manage, Yebin."
She rips her arm out of Hyerim's hold and hides a slight wince, "I'm going to study there, not work, mother. You're being completely unreasonable as always."
Her mother smiles gleefully, "Too late for second guesses, Yebin. Go to your precious school and run along with your friends. As soon as I see you slipping in your grades, know that I will be pulling you right back out of your fantasy world and the agency will welcome you with open arms, dear."
"Are you serious?" A part of her is appalled by the rigid and cutthroat behaviour her guardian was putting up, but another part is absolutely rejoiced and burning with a newly lit flame that only rose higher the more she thinks about proving her mother wrong.
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