THAWING FIRE • VHOPE

Prologue

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"You never do anything right!"

A hard slap was what kissed Taehyung's already bruised cheek, blood instantly dripping down his jaw as it hit a cut. He felt even smaller as his mother's voice went higher.

She retracted her right hand immediately as soon as she saw her son whimper in pain yet again.

"What are you crying about?" his father who was sat on their velvet couch shouted from a corner, a bottle of whiskey in his hand. "You deserve that! Well, you deserve even more. You're a disgrace to the society."

The boy only sobbed louder and let his knees fall on the ground, eyes downcast.

He had never asked to be born this way. It wasn't his fault that he could have control over all things that were liquid, which eventually had caused him several mishaps.

But today's was bigger. And it was killing him inside.

"I'm— s-sorry, m-mother, father. It was... an accident!" Taehyung begged as he looked at his enraged parents who only shook their heads at him. His mother grabbed her phone from her pocket.

Truly, what had happened was an accident. Taehyung hadn't meant to let his strange ability take him over that time. He had convinced himself that their maid had just overreacted about what she had seen that she slipped on the stairs, fell down, and died.

"No. You are an accident!" his father roared and tipped the bottle to drink from it. "I can't believe I've been keeping an animal in my house for seventeen years now. Maybe it's time to let you out."

"What d-do you mean, father?"

His father only looked at him smugly. He turned to his mother who was wiping her tears and putting her phone back in her pocket.

"Mother, what is he sayin—"

"Don't call me that," his mother hissed which caused him to recoil on the carpeted floor.

After a few minutes, a series of knocks resonated throughout their house that jolted Taehyung up from the floor and he clutched his beating heart.

His mother immediately ran to the main door and opened it, revealing four men in white uniforms that made them look like nurses. They were wearing white masks, a stoic expression on their faces, eyes blank.

Taehyung didn't understand what was going on.

One of the men in white scanned the living room and set his eyes on the poor boy who was confused and devastated.

"Is it him?" the man asked, glancing slightly at Taehyung's mother, then back at him.

"Yes."

And before Taehyung knew it, he was already being dragged out of their house and was pushed inside the red van that he swore had "K.I." written on its sides. He tried to kick his legs up to get away from the men, only to end up being pulled back into the van. He was then forced to sit on a metal chair in the middle. One of the men pushed some buttons on the back of the chair that had Taehyung's eyes flying open as some robotic arms started pinning him onto the chair. He felt the van vibrate around him that had him kicking his legs even more. He saw the front view of their house for a second before the doors started closing.

"Quit moving around, child," the robot said through the speakers in all its authoritative voice, shaking its hands in the air. "We're just flying."

"Flying?? What is this?! Let me go!" the boy screamed loud, trying to slam his fists on the armrests where he was being pinned by the robot's arms.

The men – nurses – laughed at him.

"He really is an animal like what his mother has told us," one of the men commented, earning an angry look from Taehyung.

"I'm guessing he'll be a Hostile there. He's too aggressive to be a Troubled," one of the nurses said.

"No doubt he'll be one," agreed another. "He's a murderer."

Instead of fighting back his reasons, Taehyung thought better and just shook his ideas away.

Glancing around, he took notice of the white walls and the blue lights that were shining down on them from above. There were no windows inside but he swore he felt cold air cooling his skin. The men just leaned back on the chair and stared at him like they were examining him.

They're not gonna kill me, are they? he thought.

He felt intimidated at the stares and now he was annoyed. He slammed his arms again and fought with the metal limbs that were gripping him, but that only made him sweat even more.

"Where are you taking me?" he quietly asked them, puffing small breaths, already tired of fighting with the robot's arms.

The men only laughed. Their voices echoed inside Taehyung's head.

"Poor kid has no clue."

"Hey, kid. We're taking you to K.I."

His eyebrow arched upward.

"What's a K—"

But the robot's voice interrupted him.

"Welcome to Kim Institute – the school for delinquent, peculiar, and troubled juveniles."

Then he saw that the doors were already opened and the men got off the van immediately.

He gulped as he heard shrill noises outside.

One of the men hauled him out of the van and rolled him to a stop just in front of a stark high wall which he assumed was the gate because of its part in the middle. Letters K and I were written on each frame in red paint. Surrounding them was a forest and Taehyung swore he heard an owl hoot that had him cowering in fear.

"You won't kill me, right?" he asked the men in a low voice, suddenly aware of how weak he sounded. He sighed and closed his eyes. He was weak. And he knew that.

One of the men surprisingly chuckled and shook his head. "No."

Taehyung was quite relieved. But that was only for a moment because one of nurses patted his back and declared,

"Welcome to hell, kid."

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