Wick | 민윤기

Prologue

3 December 2008

Yoongi wasn't usually at home those days. After his older brother moved out and left him alone with their dysfunctional parents, he began spending more time with his friends. He made money by putting on small shows for their underground rap group and trying to sell his songs on the street.

Before Joongi left, the younger had pulled away from his group of friends. His brother insisted that they were a bad influence and would only get him into trouble. He loved his brother and accepted this without hesitation. But then Yoongi woke up one day and he was gone. No note, no warning. He had just up and left.

It broke Yoongi's heart.

It also meant he had nobody to protect him anymore. Not just from the shady happenings that went on after sunset, but also from his parents. He had to learn to protect himself and he knew the only people who could help him learn were his friends. Most of them had run away from home or didn't have any family. They only had each other.

Yoongi was the only one who still had a "family" but it sure as hell didn't feel like it. He would've rather been hanging around his friend Woojae while he was doing a drug deal than go home to his drunken asshole of a father and weak mother who never stood up for herself or her sons. Joongi was the one who stood up for them and had been in countless physical encounters with the man they called "father".

It was the night of one of their shows where they only charged a few thousand won for entry. It was enough to break even—but just barely. Yoongi was having a beer with his bandmates behind the venue after the show. Sumin was a master thief—she could steal anything and not get caught. That included alcohol, cigarettes, lamps. Literally anything.

He was alternating between the burning liquid and an equally hot cigarette he was teasing between his long fingers. That's when he realized that he needed his debit card to put the money on, but he had forgotten it at home the previous day when he snuck out in the early morning to go to The Tenements for practice and solace. He rarely went to school.

The Tenements was an abandoned building in the ghetto of Daegu turned into small shitty apartments. His friends all rented one section and split payments. Yoongi had been staying there more and more, eventually deciding that he would stay there once he moved out.

He informed his friends that he would be back in an hour or two because he left something at home. They wished him luck grimly, as they knew what would await him. Yoongi thought he knew, too, but nothing would prepare him for the scene he walked in on. Even a few houses down he could hear the screaming and shouting coming from the small house.

The teenager pushed the door open apprehensively, his stomach dropping and body freezing in fear at what he was subjected to look at. Broken beer bottles on the floor, furniture strewn all over the place, and his father in a drunken rage. He was holding Yoongi's mother against the wall by her neck and spitting harsh words into her ear.

She was beaten badly. Her nose and mouth were bloody, body riddled with bruises. Her eyes darted to the boy and seemed to scream "help me" just with her gaze. It was the first time he had seen this kind of behavior from his father. Maybe Joongi was the only thing holding him back in the past. Either way, it pissed Yoongi off.

Now he was mad.

He shouted at the man who was more like a stranger and gripped the back of his shirt to rip him off of her. The man's eyes landed on him and he almost smiled—but it wasn't a nice smile. It was the kind of smile that a predator gave to its prey. Yoongi was ready to fight him, but he didn't even think about how it would go. Yoongi was small and skinny for his age, while his father was tall and built. Joongi had taken on his father's build as well, making him the better candidate to go up against him.