Zero only has one goal, to be human. Escaping from the cell that once contained her, the outside world, which she longed to see for so long, is filled with more darkness than she expected.
She is faced with a world that is determined to label her a...
Jimin stared at the gold-rimmed family portrait as he sat in the plush seats of his Father's office. His father's crinkled eyes in the portrait seemed to be staring back at him. He didn't want to acknowledge his fake smile in the picture. All of it was fake. It felt like he was destined to be trapped in that portrait forever. It portrayed the perfect Park family, but they were far from perfect.
His father didn't love anyone but himself. He was only loved if he was in the box of the perfect son. Jimin had never liked boxes. He didn't want to spend his life in a cage, no matter how golden it looked.
He adjusted the red tie around in annoyance for the nth time that morning. He had been woken up by a flurry of soft knocks on his door. He almost wished he never opened it. Mr Smith came in and transformed him into a mini version of his father.
He had to hold up his end of the bargain by watching as his father worked.
One of his father's assistants led him to the conference room through the lavish room. Jimin paid no mind to the grand building because he had seen it a million times. Mr Smith swatted his coat from time to time, to make sure that there was not a dust particle in sight.
All heads turned to him when the doors of the room were held open by two assistants.
He felt small under the gazes of all the powerful middle-aged men in the room. He had no time to show his inner discomfort. He had been trained to handle such situations since he was a child.
His lips stretched to a small smile. A smile that was too big would make them mistake him for an idiot.
He stretched his hand and gave each of them a firm handshake. It was important to make every person in the room feel important and put the spotlight on them instead of himself and a weak handshake would make them look down on him.
He made sure to make small talk about details of their lives and remember them. He had spent the drive reading over the background information that his Dad had sent over to him.
He knew by deduction who he needed to be to be closer with and who was not important to the plan.
'Thank you, Governor Kang, I'll be sure to pay your new park a visit shortly', he said as he sat down at the head of the table. His Father was on the opposite side.
'President Park, I must admit, You have done a wonderful job raising your son', the man smiled as he gestured towards Jimin.
'If he were to run for President, he would have my vote'.
The room erupted into laughter of agreement.
Jimin felt like he was suffocating. He gestured to his butler, Mr Smith, to get him a bottle of sparkling water.
'Thank you for that Kang. Now shall we get down to business?' his Father asked.
The men all nodded in unison.
The assistant that had been Jimin's guide switched on the projector and all heads turned to the right side of the room.
'This is the new Emerald City that I have been planning to construct for quite a while', President Park's voice was loud as he gestured towards the slideshow.
It displayed a city that was built right next to the Golden City.
The room erupted in awe at the scale and size of the city. If that was to be built then all of them would add to their already immense wealth.
'Sir', Assemblyman Lee said, 'Isn't that where the Mines are located? Where will we relocate that large population of people?'
His father's smile dimmed slightly. Like his mask was slipping slightly. The assemblyman recoiled before apologising.
Jimin's fingers began to scratch at the wood on the table. He was resisting the urge to run a hand through his gelled black hair. He needed to look perfect at all times, especially in front of other people. He sat up straighter in his black seat.
'That should be the least of your concerns unless you would be nice enough to let those rats live in one of your thirty homes', he joked.
'No sir, I would never want that to happen'.
Jimin chugged the whole bottle of water in seconds before his butler could pour it into a glass for him. He never liked being around these people.
'Then all you need to do is focus on funding this project'.
That was a veiled threat to the man.
The bodyguards pushed his chair back when he snapped his fingers.
'This will be another addition to the Park family legacy', he said as he stretched his arms.
He turned to look at Jimin.
'A legacy that my son will carry on'.
They all began to applaud.
Jimin looked down at the table that had visible scratch marks. His fingernails had begun to bleed.
He placed his hands on his lap and gave his Father a slight smile that didn't reach his eyes.
He needed to get out of the room as soon as possible. Unless he wanted to lose all his fingernails like last time.
So he excused himself from the room.
He ripped the tie and dishevelled his hair as he walked out.
The last thing he wanted was to end up like one of those monsters in that room. He was not going to follow whatever golden path his Father was preparing for him if it meant ending up like that.
A/N
Vote and comment or else🙂
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
