Where Do I Go 🥀 All × Mingi [⏹]

1

The noisy sound produced by the swaying plastic bag made Mingi pay more attention to the object in his hand. Sometimes, he didn't understand how the brain worked; sometimes, such small sounds were incredibly annoying. But occasionally, those small sounds provided focus, and focus brought him calmness.

Well, a bit calmer. After all, it was already night.

It was ten at night, and the streets were no longer as noisy as a few hours before. No matter how faint a sound was, it was likely to be heard by a few people. And Mingi didn't want that. Upon second thought, maybe he should try to ensure that his plastic bag wouldn't make any noise at all.

His worn-out gray clothes flapped in the wind, contrasting with him running, making his slender figure noticeable. Working day and night without much food at the right time had caused him to lose a lot of body mass, equivalent to the time he lost for relaxation.

The dropping temperature made Mingi accelerate his pace, not wanting to compromise his health just to enjoy a bit of restful walking after a day of hard work for meager earnings. However, it seemed that his desire for a quick rest would be fulfilled sooner tonight, as the tall buildings didn't seem to pass by so easily.

A simple alley with graffiti on every empty wall welcomed Mingi's return. Just a few hundred meters more before Mingi could finally stretch his legs on a plastic mat while having a cheap meal he bought for tonight's dinner. Unfortunately, for that night, Mingi had to face something else before reaching the decaying wooden door of his home.

Some young men blocked his way, putting terrifying gazes from faces Mingi didn't recognize. Intimidating. Mingi thought they were robbers, intending to take the money he earned from his hard work today. Turns out, they weren't interested in money. They didn't even seem to care, even though Mingi kept it in his pocket, some torn threads revealing the banknotes inside.

To be honest, they would be lousy robbers if they preferred robbing Mingi, who clearly looked destitute. But they paid no attention to the money, but rather to its owner, Mingi himself. At one point, Mingi considered running in a different direction, ignoring his grumbling stomach and his aching, tired legs. Sometimes, some criminals just wanted to kill, and Mingi had no aspirations to be an additional name in the list of street crimes scattered like dandruff in this dark city.

But it was too late when Mingi realized he was forcibly pulled while all the food he brought scattered on the ground. Not just the food, but even Mingi himself, along with all the clothes forcefully stripped from his body.

That night, Mingi returned well past midnight, with disheveled clothes, messy hair, and eyes swollen with bruises all over his body. Forget about the food or his money. Mingi could barely think of anything else when he pushed the door of his house. His gaze was vacant, and he only cried again while beating his head when he reached his room. Frustrated, angry, sad, disappointed. Shattered, to be precise.

Mingi repeatedly hugged his frail body, trying to convince himself that what happened was just a consequence of his exhaustion. That he was just hallucinating. However, the pain all over his body, especially in the lower part, forced him to dismiss all his assumptions. Making him admit that what happened was real. He had just been raped.

As if it happened yesterday, Mingi no longer had the courage to pass through the same street every time he returned from work. Although it had been over five months since the terrible incident happened. He chose to let his legs walk a bit farther, trying to resist sleep and hunger rather than taking the risk of the same thing happening again.

Five months. Time enough for Mingi—should have been—to improve his future by trying to be selfish and stop the growing of another human being inside him. However, Mingi was ineffective when it came to selfishness. He didn't do it, although he thought about it many times. The reason was simple. He didn't want to become an evil person who killed innocent unborn babies.