Hustlers || Taekook

Chapter 31

Notes:

DAMN ITS REALLY BEEN OVER A MONTH WOW LAST TIME I UPDATED IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY LMAO I am so sorry for letting you guys hang here for so long (all the time) but I'm trying my best :') Long chapter to make up for it?? (I just checked and its 15.5k holy shit)

I have a loooot of things to say, so much that I had to put it in two author's notes, sorry if it's annoying but please scroll past to get to the story if you don't wanna waste time here!!

First of all thank you guys for the birthday wishes! <3 I always read each and every one of your comments very happily even if I don't reply to them like for the last chapter <3

Now, this is going to be an extremely long and sorta heavy author's note where I'll discuss abuse and my thoughts about its role in this fic and the implications for the characters and my own views, so don't read anymore if you don't wanna hear me get deep and serious nd all that x

So I always read your comments very carefully when y'all get deep and analytical and philosophical about morals nd shit (AH I LOVE IT <3) and SO! In the last chapter (and ones before) quite a few people had mentioned abuse and you generally all agree that it is inexcusable but there are vastly different opinions on who you support and who is "worse". I love that!!!!! I am honestly thrilled that you readers that are all reading the same story I wrote have such strong/well thought out/different/opposing opinions and conclusions formed about it, it means I did my job, because I aim to keep things open to interpretation :) In saying that though, I thought I'd just say a few things about abuse, and its place in this fic. And also say a little bit about my opinions on the characters, although I do hope it doesn't tell you guys what to think, but rather give a little bit of insight into how I've thought things out as I was writing! These are my own thoughts, I am not attacking anyone, and I don't wish to argue.

So first of all abuse. Whether it's sexual, physical, mental, emotional or anything else, yes, you guys are quite right, it is always inexcusable no matter what. It is not the victim's fault. The abuser should never get away with it with a simple sorry. But here's where the line starts to blur, unfortunately. Should they be given a second chance? In my personal opinion just based on the morality of the situation, they shouldn't. A lot of you will agree I think, and that is based on our generally similar morals and ethics. We say this either from strength in experiencing and overcoming a situation involving abuse, or more commonly, from strength in never having it happen to us, and believing with no doubt that we would never fall victim and never do something so unfathomable like forgiving the very person that scarred us mentally or physically. But would that truly be the case if we ever did happen to be faced with an abusive situation? Every abuse case is different. Only the victim knows exactly how they feel or felt about their abuser and the situation. The relationship between the victim and abuser, in the case where the victim is forgiving, accepting or excusing the abuser's actions, can never be defined by outside judgment. Just how deeply infatuated, obsessed, terrified or in love etc the victim could be with their abuser could never be defined, labelled, felt or rationalised by anyone else. In some cases the victims' minds are literally broken, and they can't cope without their abuser, or whatever abusive routine they have gotten used to, whether they are aware of it or not. Other times the victims feel so deeply about their abusers they say to themselves that they are willing to endure the bad just so they can have the good. This is roughly the idea I have tried expressing about Taehyung in this story, but I'll expand on that later.

So then if the abuser realises their mistakes and truly regrets and repents and wishes to stop their abusive actions and work to mend the damage they've caused... should their victims then forgive and forget? Forget: never. Absolutely not. But to forgive and give a second chance... this is something that can't be answered so easily. It really, really depends on the people involved. Nobody else can tell someone they're right or wrong for wanting to forgive their abuser and start over with a healthy relationship, /unless/ that relationship would continue to be dangerous or harmful. The victim needs to understand that what their abuser did is not acceptable and they shouldn't tolerate it, and understand that they have the right to choose to walk away from that relationship. Then as long as they communicate their thoughts fully, and are on the same page and equal terms with the person that abused them from then on, then whatever they decide to do is entirely up to them. SO! Preachy bs over - I'll talk about abuse in this fic in the notes at the end of the chapter.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)