DESTINED

THREE

(Beware of the switch in Pov's)

Family gatherings are not really Taehyung's favorite place to pass time. Having to deal with his overbearing father is another perk Taehyung began avoiding going to such auspicious moments.

Kim Taewoo, somehow becomes a complete prick on such occasions. Not that Taehyung expected anything less from him. It would kill his dear father to act courteously to him, more so if there's an audience to watch their family drama. Regardless of the number of times Dami had reprimanded her husband, Taewoo gives a damn. Who but his son is the perfect choice to push around?

Taehyung had resented his father for years, thinking the mighty Kim was being a jerk to him because of something he did. Even after years of reflecting on his past, rewinding and going through the pieces of his memories, Taehyung still can't understand what he did wrong to get on Taewoo's bad side.

He had been obediently fulfilling his role as the son of an abominable oligarch, though Taewoo was the last person on the earth who should be respected as a father.

There is no telling the horrors Taewoo subjected his younger son to.

As a teen, Taehyung had to sit through countless illicit trading because his grandfather, as well as his father, had the notion that men should grow up tough if they wish to rule the world.

In his early thirties, Taewoo was the biggest drug dealer in Seoul, his connections running deep to most of the notorious gangs, who supplied couriers (most of which were school going teens) to smuggle them out of the country. Still now his grandfather is unaware of his son's official trading in the black market. There's not much info about what goods were bartered -it could be automobiles or weapons. An unknown source reported the rise in trafficking of human organs during 2005-06, and Taehyung wouldn't put it past his father to purchase a life at will.

And Taewoo made him closely watch these exchanges, as he played his cards well, bribed police officers and neutralized the forces who caught a whiff of his transactions. The terror of his childhood haunted him in the nights, nightmares, and insomnia eating away his health and mental state. Taehyung woke up screaming, his lungs suffocating him as he cried, huddled in the corner of his spacious room, which seemed to be caving in on him. All because he neither wished to be trained as the rightful heir of Kim Taewoo nor he wanted to be a ruler like his forefathers wanted.

He was a youthful spirit who daydreamed of superpowers and got excited about upbeat, sunny days. There was so much about this world that intrigued a young Taehyung at the time, so many things to discover and experience. His curiosity wasn't the sort to die easily. He cherished his school years, had been the life of the class, a favorite of his teachers and the world was almost his safe place. Taehyung had a safe person of his own, a bubbly cherubic soul who he knew will be the light that will guide him home oneday.

Taehyung didn't know his naivety would be the cause of his undoing.

The world Taehyung knew would shelter him crumbled at his feet into a handful of dirt that he couldn't hold on to.

Taewoo had begun to be an ignorant father because he couldn't 'Man up ' his ten-year-old son, turning his back on him, the derisive look in his father's eyes burning Taehyung down to the core.

There was a time he had to face his father's wrath-endless nights of physical torture at the hands of Kim Taewoo's lackeys, who would dirty their hands for his father.

They had their fun with him-used him as their personal punching bags, made him starve and sought joy in his helpless cries. And all his father did was watch his men unleash their anger on him. All to make him a man.