ENG - Fractured Fates ʰʸᵘⁿˡᶦˣ

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This is the english version of my story with the same name.Please note that english is not my native language and there may be grammatical errors or other.

Otherwise have fun reading ♥

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It was the middle of the night when I strolled through downtown Seoul, which was glowing in the brightest of colors. The restaurants were filled to capacity and the smell of food made my hungry stomach growl.
The neon lights on the high-rise billboards bathed the dark streets in a bright light that almost turned night into day. For me, this vibrant backdrop was a stark contrast to my bleak neighborhood, where gloom and gray set the tone. Poverty and crime seemed to be omnipresent and intact streetlights were a rarity. However, I didn't care much about that. The rent was cheap and as long as my electricity still worked, I was happy.

As I strolled through the busy streets, my eyes searched for potential buyers for my stuff. I didn't have a decent job to earn honest money, and that was out of the question for me. I preferred the simplicity and straightforwardness of dealing and the bustling atmosphere of the city center offered me ideal conditions. The feeling was sweeter than anything an ordinary job could ever offer. It was a game I had mastered perfectly and it felt like stealing a lollipop from an unsuspecting child.

The streets I traveled every day reflected the deepest depths of the human psyche - both radiant and dark.
The people I served were trapped in their own demons.
The rich and successful people, with their shiny luxury cars, luxurious homes and tailored suits, were often the easiest prey for me. The rich, who at first glance seemed to have it all, were plagued by an emptiness that no material goods could fill.
After a night of excessive partying in expensive restaurants and bars, they were prepared to pay huge sums for this thrill in their routine and privileged lives. For me, it was like a feast for the eyes. Nevertheless, I envied them a little for the money they had.

But I didn't limit myself to the upper classes. My services also resonated with the office workers who gave up their dreams to be trapped in the endless hamster wheel of the daily grind and were on the verge of collapse. They seemed like slaves to their own ambitions as they longed for a way out of their gray routine and endless overtime.
Their eyes reflected a longing for a single moment of oblivion to escape the dreary reality. I was able to skillfully sell this to them.Their faces betrayed exhaustion and despair.They continued to work undeterred, under the weight of the endless responsibility they carried daily to achieve a seemingly unattainable goal. It was further confirmation to me that honest work was out of the question - I didn't want to end up like this poor working class.

The desperate women who had been abandoned by their unfaithful husbands or were single parents found comfort and love in the substances I offered them. I promised them temporary relief from their painful grief, and they eagerly took it.
Those who were on the fringes of society, such as sluts, hustlers and the homeless, were among the most desperate. They had lost faith in themselves and society and were willing to do anything to escape their misery. In my offers they found a glimpse of hope, a temporary escape from their bleak existence and they paid the price in the form of money or valuable items.
I didn't even feel any moral qualms about selling drugs illegally to minors and potentially destroying their lives. The darkness in my soul had long since suffocated any shred of compassion.
The stories they told were of infinite sadness and despair, ideal for building my business on their vulnerability. I didn't care that they were suffering and that I was possibly making their miserable lives worse, because I just wanted to make easy money.
They were just easy prey for me.

I was caught once in the past and spent a year behind bars. But back then I was still a minor myself, so the sentence was comparatively lenient. In my eyes, I had nothing to lose anyway.
Nine years have passed since I was released from prison and my criminal business has intensified in that time. I learned to hide from the law more cleverly, built up my regular customers and they trusted me more than ever before. My customers trusted me blindly because I had built up a reputation as a reliable expert.
But despite my apparent success, my life was sporadic because I didn't get rich from dealing, it just kept me afloat. I lived in a run-down apartment that was almost falling apart and every night I indulged in alcohol.
Nevertheless, I was doing well and I was happy.

I didn't have a family that could have kept me from this path in life. My so-called parents were strong believers, and when I first came home with a boy, all hell broke loose for them. The atmosphere in our home became stifling as their deeply held beliefs clashed with my own way of life. For them, their beliefs seemed like an insurmountable wall between them and me. The estrangement between us was agonizing and I could feel them gradually pushing me away.
In a desperate attempt to bring me back to the supposedly "right" path of faith, they sent me to a monastery for re-education. But I broke out of this environment and began a life underground. The time in the monastery was a turning point for me, but not in the way my parents had hoped. This was the moment when I took control of my own life, which ultimately led me into crime.
Even the fact that I ended up in prison didn't seem to interest my parents. They hadn't even visited me, and after my escape from the monastery they hadn't even looked for me.
At just 16, I was disowned and abandoned by my own parents.

After I'd finished my round and swapped the stuff for cash, I made my way back. But instead of going home, I headed for my favorite club.
When I reached the busy club, I settled down on one of the worn bar stools without hesitation to watch the hustle and bustle of people partying. Various figures, from young women in miniskirts and high heels who were more than willing, to the young men in their casual sportswear looking for fun.
A tantalizing voice reached my ear from behind. "I was hoping to see you here again. You disappeared so quickly last time." I turned my head towards the woman who had addressed me, her lips graced with a seductive smile.
"Drink's on me," she breathed, placing a bright red drink in front of my nose.
I was aware of my charisma and good looks and was used to being approached by attractive strangers and invited for drinks. I turned to the bartender, raised the glass with an equally charming smile on my lips and sampled the drink.
She laughed softly, tilted her head and leaned tantalizingly closer to me. "I really wanted to see you again," the blonde-haired woman confessed, intrusively showing me her cleavage.
I didn't need to answer because she continued."I get off work at two o'clock today."

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