𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐃

JOOYEON L.

"didn't i tell you not to tell mom?" a punch. "i told you, prick!" another punch.

jooyeon was cowering on the floor, writhing in pain. he wasn't even safe in his own room anymore.

his weak pleas of mercy didn't reach his brother, who just laughed. "you had plenty of time to think about it before you told mom about saera."

saera was his brother's fuck buddy. it turned out that she was pregnant, which was a pure accident.

jooyeon accidentally heard when his brother, jaeyeon, was on a phone call with her, talking about the pregnancy.

it slipped jooyeon's mouth one evening, when they were eating dinner with the whole family.

he asked his brother if saera wanted to keep it. then the whole situation escalated.

his mother started screaming at his brother once jooyeon went to his room due to her request.

words like "irresponsible" and "reputation" fell, jooyeon actually felt bad for his brother. all this escalated because of him.

then when the situation de-escalated, jaeyeon entered jooyeon's room, closing the door behind him.

that's how jooyeon ended up on the floor, jaeyeon on top of him as he kept punching him over and over again.

"stupid bastard" the elder groaned, standing up again and spitting down on his brother. "if you tell mom about the drugs, too, i swear i'll kill you."

one final kick in his stomach and jaeyeon left the room. and jooyeon started crying on the spot.

he was so exhausted by this. it was not the first time interactions like these happened between the two brothers.

in contrary, it became quite frequent that his brother started to get abusive when jooyeon did something he did not approve.

it started to take over jooyeon's life, not feeling safe at home. so he entered as many extracurricular activities as he could.

just so he wouldn't have to go home. which was weird, as jooyeon's schedule was already packed before. now it was close to causing him a burn-out.

but if that's what would prevent him from being in the same space as jaeyeon. that's what jooyeon thought at first.

jooyeon quickly noticed that a full schedule was also projecting on his marks, his gpa dropping tremendously.

his parents were disappointed in him, shouting at him to do better. jooyeon couldn't take it anymore.

just that day he received a D- in a maths exam, despite maths using to be his best subject. even his teacher told him "i'm disappointed. what's gotten into you?".

jooyeon knew what it was. but he couldn't tell anyone.

sitting up, he stared at his bloody nose and his busted lip. and now he had to make sure that he looked normal, before his mother would see him.

or else jaewan would really kill him.

walking towards the bathroom, jooyeon started rethinking everything. was it really worth it?

if all his days looked like this and he was unsatisfied with them, why doesn't he change something then?

a change like not living at all.

doing a 180, he turned around towards his room, putting on his shoes and simply wiping the loose blood away with some napkins he kept in his bedside drawer.

and he also took out a lighter, putting it into his jeans pocket.

"i'm taking a walk!" he shouted into the house, hoping that someone heard. or not. it didn't matter, as jooyeon wasn't planning on returning anyway.

there was one place he knew where his brother and his friends kept their drugs. and before jooyeon wanted to continue what he planned, he made sure to make his brother suffer through a huge amount of debt.

entering the abandoned TV tower, he grabbed into the darkness behind the stairs that led up, and was surprised to actually grab something - a zip bag filled with said drugs.

jooyeon used the lighter he packed to set the bag on fire, letting it drop on the cold stone as he watched it burn. then he continued doing the same with the other three packets.

he heard some voices upstairs, seems like he wasn't alone.