Who are you?

4. After 7 years...

"What nonsense is that! So, where is he now?"

Hoseok didn't know what to do and went back and forth repeatedly. About two hours ago, he went to the Sapphire Hotel to pick up V, and when he couldn't find V anywhere, he panicked and reported it to the office. He had already called the office several times, but no one was explaining to him where V had gone or why. 

"He was supposed to meet me in front of the Sapphire Hotel!"

'J-Hope, how many times do I have to say it? Just forget him. He no longer belongs to us.'

"Cut the bullshit!"

'Why are you so obsessed with him? Well... he had a charm to make anyone want to fuck him. Besides, it would have been easier for you, right?'

Hoseok couldn't take his anger any longer and hung up the phone. It wasn't worth listening to any more. He looked down at Yeontan who was whining while licking his feet.

"I understand you, Tan. I'm worried about your dad too..."

As he lifted up Yeontan and muttered, the puppy licked his chin, as if knowing his concerns. Hoseok smiled for a moment and rubbed his nose against the soft fur of Yeontan, but soon sighed again with a worried face.

"You don't know anyone, and even if you have someone, you wouldn't even recognize them... Where the hell did you disappear..."

As far as he knew, there was nowhere in the world where V could go. That was certain. From the time we first met 7 years ago until now, the only person V could rely on was Hoseok. Because of that certain fact, Hoseok was unbearably worried about V, who disappeared without a trace.

Hoseok met V seven years ago.

His father used to be violent towards his family when he was drunk. Unbearable, his mother fled, and after her disappearance, his father's violence intensified against him and his younger brother. In a small village in the countryside who knew each other's circumstances, they couldn't even ask for help from those around them.

However, he hated it but started to resemble him, ironically as he grew up, he hung out with thugs and beat up people just like his father. As a high school student, he was not physically weak against his father, but he could not easily overcome the fear of his father, which had been imprinted on him for a long time. 

Then, one day, seeing that his younger brother was being beaten badly by his father, he beat his father as if he had gone crazy and left the house with his younger brother. He couldn't stay in a place where even a thread of hope could not be expected. So he came to Seoul with his younger brother, and he had to do anything to survive. He worked on construction sites, convenience stores, deliveries... and everything else at random. He wanted to save money quickly so that his younger brother could go back to school and live a decent life.

However, from one day on, his brother changed. He was a year younger than him, and he wore expensive clothes and carried the latest mobile phone. And by the time Hoseok thought something was wrong, it was already too late. His younger brother, who sold himself to customers in a brothel and easily got a lot of money, no longer listened to him. And not long after, his younger brother, who even got involved with drugs, eventually died of drug addiction.

Hoseok despised them. Useless people who sell their bodies to get money easily and use the money they have in a worthless way. But, ironically, he ended up working in such a place. It seemed that nothing in his life was going according to his plan. 

Then he met V.

A 16-year-old boy, who was still in middle school, was dragged by men several times his size and thrown mercilessly. Hoseok didn't pay any attention at first to him, who was terrified and trembling. Most of the boys there tried to become prostitutes on their own to make easy money, and even if they were a little scared at first, they quickly got used to such a life. There were no restrictions on those who came there with their free will, but as they became more luxurious and became addicted to drugs, they became indebted, and most of them ended up being tied to a brothel.