Hunger | A Jikook Hunger Games AU

̶̶̶ «̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ «̶ ̶̶̶ Chapter One ̶ ̶ ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ »̶ ̶̶̶

Blood.

Blood everywhere was all he could see until the second he awoke. The dream was terrifying—so terrifying that Jimin woke up with tears in his eyes. Even after he awoke, the butterflies persisted, violent, and ugly, and nauseating. He was so incredibly nervous.

And he had every right to be.

Today was the reaping. What an odd word to use, wasn't it? A word to define the action of harvesting crops or gathering rewards. Jimin didn't fully understand why they chose to use the word.

Because in this circumstance, the term wasn't talking about wheat, or corn, or possessions of any kind...it was talking about children.

It was an inhumane word—a word that just further provided insight into what The Capital thought of the districts of Panem. They were products—their time, their labor, their people, were all products. The Capital was to reap the rewards (children—as in human beings that hadn't reached full development yet) they still so obviously deserved from the unruly districts.

After all, the districts disobeyed authority, revolting against The Capital. Sure, it was so many years ago that hardly anyone who went through those events was even still alive, but the districts still needed to suffer regardless. It was good for them! It boosted the economy, and provided hope to the districts in a time of hardship! Why wouldn't they want The Games to go on?

And so, The Hunger Games continued on. Not really to teach the districts a lesson anymore—like The Capital still seemed to desperately want the citizens of Panem to believe—but more because the residents of The Capital love it oh so much. As the name suggested, it was simply a game to them. They weren't in danger, they couldn't possibly know what it was like to see their loved ones, friends, even just people they saw in the halls at school, being ripped away from them.

The Hunger Games was an annual event, where the twelve districts of Panem send two tributes each—one boy and one girl—to the country's capital to fight to the death until a lone victor remains. Children as young as twelve get thrown into a warzone for The Capital's viewing pleasure. No one in The Capital ever bets on the young ones—they almost always die before they even get an idea of what is going on.

This was Jimin's last year in the reaping. He was eighteen years old, on his way to take his father's place running their livestock farm. Being from District 10 meant their main area of business was in livestock—providing meat and other animal-based resources for the entire rest of the country. Well—more like for The Capital. If it were up to District 10 to feed the country, they had more than enough resources to keep the entire country alive at least—not to mention a whole other district whose economy was fueled by their agriculture. But those in The Capital wanted to live a luxurious life, so feeding the districts simply wouldn't do.

Jimin's family was doing pretty well—all things considered. But Jimin still made sure to put his name in for tesserae—voluntary food rationing—for his father, his mother, and his little brother Jihyun, who was sixteen. If having his name float around a few more times within the thousands of paper slips meant his family could eat better, it was more than worth it to Jimin.

Jihyun insisted on doing the same, but Jimin scolded him. He shouldn't risk putting his name in anymore—Jimin was the soon-to-be head of this family, he alone was going to provide for them. But every year like clockwork, extra food shows up under Jimin's watchful eyes. His brother goes behind his back to make sure Jimin gets rations too. And the older hates it. He hates how his brother risks his life in order to show Jimin he loves him.

Jimin heaves himself out of bed, body feeling heavy. This Hunger Games will be different than any he had ever experienced, even before being in the age range of the reaping. For this year was the 100th Hunger Games, meaning this year was the Quarter Quell.