The Stars Shine Brighter [Ongoing]

Chapter 1: "A Pariah's Misery"

It was in the middle of winter, just 2 weeks before Christmas, I was only 8 years old, the day I first met him. The guy who changed my world, my best friend, my love.....

But he never knew.. I loved him... until it was too late.

-The Village of Busan, 1985-

"Chunji, give me my photo back!" Baekhyun demanded.

"No matter how many times you yell at me, you're still never gonna get it back!" Chunji replied with a huge smirk on his face.

"Not unless you stand on your feet and fight me! Oh, wait, you can't! Because youre a cripple!" He taunted.

"I'm not a cripple" Baekhyun replied trying to hold back the tears.

Chunji chuckled as he walked around the shorter boy who was sitting on a busted wheelchair which he had recently broken.

"Oh, really now? So you think you're normal? Heh, even if you weren't on a wheelchair right now you'd still be a pariah in the village!"

"W-why?" Baekhyun hesitantly asked.

Chunji grinned lightly before speaking.

"Because... You're the son of the village whore!" His words were spoken softly, but hit Baekhyun's heart and caused him to break into tears.

"*hic* Don't you dare c-call my-" Baekhyun was quickly cut off by Chunji.

"Shut up pig! Your mother's the lady in this photo, isn't she?"

Baekhyun was frozen solid, but was able to nod.

"...Please give it back." He said.

Chunji's reply was quick,

"No,"

"and what's so important about your disgrace of a mother anyway?"

"I love my mom, I dont give a dang about her past!!!" Baekhyun snapped.

"So this photo does mean a lot to you? Didn't she die of tubercolosis, 2 years ago?"

Baekhyun's tears fell even faster and harder like a waterfall, his mother was the only person who loved him, and remembering her death was just too much for him.

But Chunji was cold hearted and only laughed at the sight of him crying, he had finally found his breaking point .

"What? You want this photo of your mom back, right?"

Baekhyun nodded once more.

"Fine." He said as he kicked Baekhyun off his wheelchair, knocking him over onto the freezing ground, as he landed flat on his face.

"Aaaahhh!" was his immediate reaction.

"Why d-did you do that, Chunji?!" The impact of the fall caused his nose to break and bleed profusely. Baekhyun cautiously raised his shaking hands to his now broken nose trying to fix it, but to no avail.

"Awch! I-it hurts!"

"Hm..." Chunji began, "let's make this a bit more exciting, shall we?" He said as he narrowed his eyes on Baekhyun's shievering body.

He then threw the photo onto the ground, just a few feet away from Baekhyun's reach.

Baekhyun was puzzled, the sign of confusion was obviously showing on his face causing Chunji to smile.

"You said you weren't a cripple, right? Now go get your precious photo back!"

Baekhyun was held back by fear, he knew very well he couldn't reach it.

"..I can't."

"Then let me give you a little motivation..." Chunji said.

"If you can't retrieve the photo in less than 10 seconds..I will beat you up senseless!"

Baekhyun winced due to panic, he was already very weak and a good ol' beating could probably knock him out cold.

"I see you're scared.. just think of this as a game, which begins... NOW!" Chunji exclaimed while pointing to the direction of the photo.

Baekhyun started to move his arms under his chest, desperately clawing his way through, his nails sunk deep into the ground... Chunji counted fairly, yet each second seeped into Baekhyun's head causing him to claw even faster and faster.

Only 3 seconds were left, he was now dying , just dying to reach the photo, the last remembrance he had of his dear mother...

"Just... a bit further " He said to himself, reaching his hands out .

"ZERO!" And with that, he was unexpectedly greeted by a quick kick to the stomach. His vision was blurred by even more tears, everything was fading to black.

As Chunji continued to kick him mercilessly, he was now beginning to lose consciousness.

He felt like a pig, each kick was like a grim reminder of his social rank, he was nothing, just the son of a whore...

"The...world...is...cruel..."

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A/N: I'mma need to give you a cliffhanger.