SCARRED | TK

Chapter Two

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"Driving a nightmare I can't escape from
Helplessly praying, the light isn't fading."

Jeon Jeongguk had long forgotten what the outside world looked like.

He couldn't remember how it felt to run barefoot on fresh grass, how it felt to touch a flower's petals or how the night sky looked like as he stared at it from a hill.

Jeongguk did not understand why they kept him locked inside but he could not complain about it because he was aware he had no rights over his own decisions — over his own life — anymore.

He could only crouch in the corner of his large, yet cold and empty room, and try to remember something — anything — about his past, but the more he tried, the more the headaches he seemed unable to cope with intensified.

He had no memories.

Jeongguk only knew his name and age, not even completely sure about the two since sometimes, in his darkest nightmares, it seemed like he was older than 18, his body no longer looking like a teenager's.

However, there was one thing he knew for sure.

Once every 4 months, two people walked past the door to that room and forced him to go with them regardless of his silent protests and panicked cries.

At first he had refused to do whatever they wanted because something in his foggy mind — even without memories, he seemed to still have a conscience — told him they were bad people.  When he started acting up and refusing to go with them, those men used force, violence, and even if Jeongguk was fed up with that treatment, their blows, and those cold looks in their eyes, he complied in the end.

Acting up and refusing to go with them only brought him more pain so, after a few months of such treatment, Jeongguk lost his fighting spirit and soon, the light that used to glitter in his eyes faded along with all the happiness and hope he used to be recognized for.

Just like it happened every day, the door ahead of him opened and the same man Jeongguk had been seeing everyday for several years entered through it, holding a well-known tray in his hands.

Jeongguk had always been — at least ever since he's been there, because he didn't have any memories of his past — attracted by the light that seemed to call to him from outside that room. He had tried to run away a few times but the building he was caged in was a maze filled with unknown halls and rooms so his attempts at fleeing never succeeded. Jeongguk gave up after the third attempt, just like he gave up on most of his insignificant desires and wishes.

"Is it just me or do you look a little less paler than usual?" That man asked, his lips raised in a smile.

No matter how many smiles he put on his face, Jeongguk would never trust that man because, every time he looked into his dark eyes, he would remember that every scar on his body was his doing.

Jeongguk didn't know his name, had never asked for it because, ever since he's been there, he had never uttered a word. However, he had heard his name being called by other people several times in the past.

That was Jin, a man who took advantage of every opportunity he had in order to drag the poor teenager into that dark room where he was put to sleep only to wake up in pain and with more scars on his body.

Jeongguk didn't like him so he chose not to answer his question, only taking the tray offered to him in his arms. Jin let out a sigh then turned on his heel but, surprisingly for the starving boy on the bed, he turned his gaze back to him, wearing the smile Jeongguk despised because it only predicted bad things.