A Prince

~CHAPTER ONE~

South Korea suffered from lots of disasters in the last dozens of years. Wars with North Korea, an epidemic that killed lots of citizens but South Korea survived. Season of prosperity begun, at least in Seoul and other big and rich cities. Only the rural areas became poorer than ever before, without money to rebuild what was ruined by the wars. While the people work on fields, citizens in Seoul are bored and look for some new fun.

The biggest hit of last years is getting a little. A little is someone who gets in little space which is headspace of a child or a baby. Littles have their caregivers who take care of them and pamper them. Therefore the richest people came with an idea - they created a day when they can legally adopt anyone they want. Every girl and boy in South Korea who is under 20 years old must gather on 7th July in one place in their city. Then people who want to adopt a little can choose between them and if they find a little who they like, they can easily take them home. No one cares if the future little wants to be adopted or not, they are ripped out of their old life and throw into a new family. Not everyone can get in little space straight away and it takes them some time to discover their little space. Some of them also need to be forced which isn't a nice part of this new tradition.

This brings us to Ten. Ten is an heir from a very rich family and he craves for a baby. He and his husband Johnny, who is, by the way, the only son of the president of South Korea, want a little. They haven't chosen one for the last four years and now another 7th July is near. Ten is walking around a store for littles. There are many sections, with clothes, toys, furniture but Ten is standing in a section with essentials for new littles. Ten is looking at the pacifiers with straps, crib restraints, padded mittens and a wide selection of medicine. A friendly looking shop assistant appeared with a wide smile plastered on her face.

"How can I help you?"

Of course, she recognized Ten. Ten's and Johnny's pictures are everywhere because they are the most perfect couple. Ten smiled at her and pointed at the new edition of medicine for defiant littles.

"I haven't seen these before, must be new."

She quickly nodded and her long hair is flying everywhere.

"Yes, this edition came straight from Japan. We can make a mix of hormones to make the littles oversensitive, then we have new muscle relaxants and this is complete hit - eye drops which turn vision blurry. Even real babies can't see clearly after being born."

Ten nodded and takes a small box with the eye drops and studies what is written on it. Blurry vision? This can make his future baby even more dependent.

This year is the last one for Taeyong who is going to be 20 years old in a few months. He has finished elementary school and now works in a supermarket. Fact that he works doesn't mean that he has enough money for proper food. Taeyong lives only with his mother who is unfortunately very sick so most of their money is spend on medicine for her. Taeyong doesn't mind it because he loves his mom, she sacrificed herself when he was a kid and now it is his time to help her. He got dressed in his best clothes which are black trousers, they are now a bit short for him but he can't afford a new one and a white shirt. His mom combed his hair and then smiled on her pretty son. She is always scared that someone will choose him but luckily this year is his last one. Moreover, she can't stop this tradition of taking teenagers to turn them into littles, no one can change it. Taeyong walks on the courtyard which is next to the town hall and got a number. This year he got number 257 and stands in line next to a girl who has number 256 and a boy who has number 258. They all look nervous and Taeyong feels that his knees are shaking a bit. After a while, many luxurious cars arrived and nicely dressed people got out of them. Taeyong turned his eyes to the concrete ground and started to count passing seconds in his head. Many people walked around him until a hand gently grabbed him under the chin. Taeyong froze and stopped counting on number 11 000. A man with sharp eyes is staring at him and then a smile slowly spreads on his lips.