FLASHBACK

Jaehwan had a pretty normal childhood. His family was what other people called a perfect family. His parents were both successful lawyers so money was never a problem at their home. He also had an older brother, Kibum, who he looked up to. The older one was amazing at everything that he did; sports, school… everything. He was his father’s pride and the man would always put Jaehwan under a lot of pressure to keep up with his brother’s success. However, Jaehwan didn’t really care about that and neither did his brother. They were really close as siblings and they rarely fought. Jaehwan learned a lot from Kibum and he idolized his hyung. The things in their family were going good until something happened that tore them apart and eventually destroyed their family.

 It happened on a warm, summer evening. Jaehwan and his brother were out, just walking around the city. His hyung didn’t really want to do, but Jaehwan managed to convince him otherwise. As they were walking, a drunk driver hit his hyung as they were crossing the street. What happened after that was a bit of a blur to the young boy and all that he remembered was him being covered in his brother’s blood, calling out for help while holding onto Kibum, whose eyes were tightly closed. When they finally arrived at the hospital, his father blamed him. And Jaehwan knew that it was his entire fault; if only he went on that walk alone. His brother’s heart stopped two times that night and in the end the doctors told them that even if he woke up from his comma, he wouldn’t be the same anymore. That was the first time that his father hit him and Jaehwan didn’t even fight back because he knew that he deserved all of it. His heart hurt knowing that he ruined his hyung’s hopes and dreams for the future.

Until one day, Jaehwan’s father came home early and he said that he had some exciting news. He told him and his mother that he found a way how to make his oldest son wake up without risking his life at the process. The man told his family that he met a man, who knew how to make cyborgs. The process was very expensive, but money wasn’t the problem at that point. In the end, Jaehwan’s brother returned home and Jaehwan remembered how he was happy about his brother’s return. But something seemed off about him the first time that he saw him, but he completely ignored it because all that mattered was the fact that his beloved hyung was alive. However, moments of happiness were soon replaced by horror. Not only Jaehwan, but all around him, noticed that Kibum was acting strangely. First it was just minor things, but then as the time went on, it was pretty easily to tell that he was slowly losing his human side.

When Jaehwan came home one day from school, he saw something that still haunted him until now. The carpet in the living room was soaked in blood and not too far from it, there was lying his mother’s body. Jaehwan could tell that she was dead and he felt sick down to his stomach. He ran into the bathroom, but nothing could prepare him for what was waiting him there. His father was lying in the bathtub, which was filled with water and his blood. The man’s face was filled with horror and his empty eyes were just staring up at the ceiling.

Jaehwan couldn’t understand who would do something like that to his parents and he didn’t even want to know… all that he wanted to do was to leave the house and run far away, because there was no way that what he saw was a reality.

“Jaehwan-ah, you are home finally,” said a voice coming from the door and Jaehwan, who was sitting down and crying lifted his face. When he saw Kibum, he was at first happy but his heart then filled with horror when he saw that his clothes were soaked with blood. It couldn’t be true… could it?

“W-who d-did t-this?” he managed to say in between his sobs. His whole body was shaking hard, because he already knew the answer.

“I did. They didn’t want to get upgraded like I am so I got rid of them. People like don’t deserve to live. But you’ll join me, won’t you?” asked Kibum and Jaehwan’s heart stopped beating when he saw the smile on his hyung’s lips. It wasn’t normal… He looked even barely human.

“Y-you are crazy,” yelled Jaehwan and got onto his legs. He ran out of the bathroom, but his brother followed him. Oh no… He is going to kill me, said Jaehwan to himself as he was trying to think about a way to free himself.