There he was, laying on the pavement, bruised and bleeding from yet another beating. His heart was beating fast and he was out of breath. He looked down at his knuckles which had blood emitting from them; a result of trying to fight back. He returned his gaze to the sky asking himself why? Why are people so cruel? Why do people find joy in others pain? But most importantly, he asked himself when? When will this end? He had been beaten too many times to count. He no longer shed tears and just focused on the fact that soon, the pain would end. He forced his trembling body off the cold concrete and took a deep breath, hoping to calm his racing heart. He ignored the evident taste of blood in his mouth and walked towards his house as if nothing ever happened.

Wonwoo lived with his grandmother in a small apartment. He never new his father and his mother left him when he was 10; she said she was starting a new life. One that didn't involve him. He didn't understand it. He didn't understand why the person he loved had left him; now, 8 years later, he stopped trying to understand it and just accepted it. He still had his grandmother, she was the most important person in the world to Wonwoo, but she was aging and sick. Wonwoo happily took care of her, he made her smile, he joked with her, he comforted her, he gave her medicine, but his grandmother knew that the boy was lonely. She knew that an old lady was no friend to a 18 year old boy, but she only had him and he only had her.

He walked through the doors of his apartment to smell the familiar fragrance of dust slightly masked by his grandmothers perfume; this was a smell he had known for years. The apartment was dim, the only light in the room was the sun shining softly through the sheer curtains. They lived off of his grandmothers savings so they spent no money on things like lighting when they could just use the sun. The furniture was old and the paint on the walls chipping, these things drive Wonwoo mad, but nothing could be done about it. He walked over to his grandmother who was sleeping next to the window in a chair that she had sat in for as long as Wonwoo could remember. He softly his grandma's hand coaxing her to wake up. Once she did, he questioned softly, "have you eaten yet?"

His grandmother spoke in the sweet voice that he had become so familiar with, "I haven't."

Wonwoo immediately arose and walked to the refrigerator where he took out leftover soup from the night before. He walked over to the stove top and warmed the food before feeding it to his grandmother.

"I may be old, but I can feed myself," Wonwoo's grandmother said with a giggle. Even in her age she still kept a smile on her face.

"You say that you can do everything yourself," Wonwoo replied while continuing to feed his only family member. "I need to do something for you or else I'd be useless."

"You're far from useless sweetheart."

Wonwoo didn't reply. He got beat up every day, got poor grades, and had no job; it sounded pretty useless to him. The only thing of any importance that Wonwoo did was take care of his grandmother; a task he had done for years. Wonwoo loved his grandmother, but despised the life he was living. He had no friends, dreams, ambitions, and hope? He had lost hope a long time ago. He told himself that there was no changing his life and he would remain like this until he died; this idea came with a bitter taste that his heart rejected but his mind had no choice but to accept.

"Grandma," Wonwoo said while feeding her the last spoonfuls of soup, "when you were my age, what was your dreams like?"

Wonwoo's grandma was taken back by the question; Wonwoo was a very practical thinker and never talked about things such as dreams. "Do you mean like actual dreams? The ones you have while you're asleep," she questioned not knowing what to think about her grandsons strange question. Wonwoo simply nodded as a reply.

"Well, I don't quite remember; it was a very long time ago. But dear, why do you ask?"

"When I was younger I didn't dream, or maybe I just didn't remember them, but now I dream every night and sometimes they seem so real I wonder if I'm actually dreaming. Sometimes I dream that I have friends; when I'm with them I smile and laugh like I do when I'm with you."

"That sounds lovely. But, why are you suddenly talking about dreams?"

"I just like what happens in my dreams......I wish it were true."

Wonwoo's grandmother ran her fingers through his hair with a sigh. "I'm so sorry Wonwoo; that you're stuck with an old lady like me," she said in an apologetic voice, "if it weren't for me, you would have friends."

"Don't be sorry," Wonwoo said in a defensive tone, "I love you, you're the only person I have; I'm thankful for you. It's you and me, forever and always."

"Wonwoo.....you know I won't be around forever right?"

"Don't talk like that."

"When I go away-"

"Grandma stop this right now," Wonwoo demanded while standing up and taking the empty dish to the kitchen. "I don't want to hear you speak like that. It's bad for your health to think bad thoughts."

"It's not bad; its life."

"Well life is bad. Maybe if you focused on your dreams instead of life they'll come true instead," Wonwoo stood in front of his grandmother and put his hands on his hips with a stern look on his face.

"As your caretaker I demand that your dreams come true instead of this bad life thing."

"Sweetheart I don't even dream anymore."

"Maybe that's your problem. You've stopped dreaming and that's why life is coming true. That's why people die. Now I command that you start dreaming; they have to be good dreams too."

"Well aren't you being bossy today," his grandmother said with a snicker.

Wonwoo simply walked back to the kitchen and washed the dishes. He didn't believe a single word he had said. He didn't believe in dreams and he knew that his grandma would not be with him forever, but anything he could do to put a smile on her face and keep her happy, he would.

"Wonwoo darling," his grandmother called from across the room, "I know it's still early, but I'm not feeling too well; I'm going to go to bed for the night."

Wonwoo quickly walked over to his grandmother and helped her get out of the chair. Holding her hand he walked her to her room where he helped her get in to bed and covered her up.

"I think I'm going to go out for a walk," Wonwoo said while tucking her in.

"Be careful please," she said with great concern. "It's dangerous out there; don't think I don't notice those bruises of yours and the blood on your clothes. Stay out of trouble."

"I will. I promise."

Wonwoo leaned down and kissed his grandmothers forehead, whispering a gentle 'goodnight' before walking out of the old apartment. He didn't know where he was going. He didn't care.

The air was cold and he could see his own breath. He was still near his apartment in an old broken down neighbor hood. There was trash littering the streets, stray animals running around, and buildings decaying. Wonwoo hated how people let things go to waste and threw things away; he hated the entire town he lived in. The people in his town let everything rot, they didn't take care of anything, not even themselves. The neighborhood was filled with elderly folks who never left the house and good-for-nothing teenagers. If there were good people in Wonwoo's town, they were no where to be seen.

He wasn't paying attention to where he was walking and let his feet carry him as they pleased. He had ended up near his school, a result of muscle memory, he walked there everyday so it was natural his body took him there out of habit.

His school was near the woods; a place he had always been scared of. He didn't really know why he was scared of them, he just was. He turned around to walk elsewhere when a cat ran up to him; he squatted down to pet the cat when he felt a rock hit the back of his head and the feline quickly ran away.

"HEY THERE FRIEND," he heard a voice yell from somewhere near. He knew the voice; it wasn't one he was happy to hear. He stood up while rubbing the spot the rock had hit; he then saw the body the voice belonged to coming from behind his school along with 4 other people he knew all too well.

"What are you doing here Wonwoo", Suncheol asked while making his way towards the boy he had just hit with the stone, "it's getting late. Shouldn't you be with your grandma? Or did she go cold already?"

"What's that supposed to mean," Wonwoo said in a quite voice, avoiding eye contact. He hated confrontation; the thing Sungcheol loved the most.

"I mean has she died already? I wouldn't be surprised if she did; there's no way an old hag like herself would last long. Especially with such a lousy caretaker such as yourself."

"You don't know me or my family Suncheol......stop pretending that you do."

"What was that," Jihoon asked while gripping the back of Wonwoo's hair, "if you have something to say you should say it a little louder. Whispers aren't gonna get you anywhere."

Wonwoo was shaking and obviously nervous. He knew what was about to happen, so he figured he might as well speak his mind if there is no changing the events that are about to unfold.

"I said you don't know me," he stated trying his best to sound stern and hide his shaking voice. "You don't know me or my grandmother so don't act like you do."

Jihoon jerked his head back and pulled him to the ground; Wonwoo tried to get away, but Soonyoung and Hansol quickly grabbed his legs while Jihoon pinned down his arms.

"When did you get so mouthy pretty boy," Sungcheol asked while standing over Wonwoo.

"The same time you got so ugly," Wonwoo replied. His snarky remark resulted in kick to the face from Sungcheol.

"Jisoo, stand guard and make sure nobody sees", Sungcheol commanded.

"We're at a school, after hours, nobody is gonna see", Jisoo responded with a matter-of-fact tone.

"Just do as I say!"

Jisoo simply rolled his eyes; unlike the rest of the boys he wasn't a fighter, but he still made trouble with the 4 others.

Sungcheol proceeded to kick and punch Wonwoo with all the power he possessed; Jihoon, Soonyoung, and Hansol getting in occasional hits as well. Wonwoo just lay there, being beaten as he had been beaten earlier that day and multiple days before. He closed his eyes trying to ignore the pain being inflicted on him and told himself that they would soon leave.

"Ow what was that," Hansol exclaimed. Wonwoo opened his eyes to see him holding the back of his head.

"OW! That hurt what the heck," Jihoon said while standing up. "Who did that?"

Wonwoo then saw a rock fly straight into Soonyoung's head. "WHO'S THERE," Soonyoung yelled while letting go of Wonwoo. Even Suncheol had stopped the attack due to the confusion of the rest of the boys. Rocks continued flying towards the crew of boys from the woods. Wonwoo didn't have the courage to run away and was stunned by the situation.

Suddenly a tall body ran out of the woods and jumped onto Suncheol's back, dragging him to the floor. More bodies continued to come out of the woods and take down the 4 other boys. There seemed to be an even number of people, 5 against 5, but then Wonwoo saw another two boys running out of the woods. Who were they going to fight, Wonwoo thought. Then he realized that they were running strait for him. He covered face with both of his arms, expecting the two to finish what the other boys had started. Instead, in one swift motion, they each grabbed one of Wonwoo's arms, hoisted him to his feet, and ran towards to woods; dragging Wonwoo with them.

Once Wonwoo realized that they were trying to help him rather than harm him, he ran with them. He didn't know why he trusted these guys or why he decided to follow them, but he did. After a couple minutes the three young men found their way to a small cabin decorated with flowers and paintings on the sides.

"Stay here," the taller of the two boys that had helped Wonwoo said, "I'll go and get something to wash you off."

The boy ran inside the cabin and Wonwoo realized that he had two large cuts on his lip and eyebrow which were bleeding. The boy that Wonwoo was left with turned and gave him a big smile.

"Hi," he said, "I'm Junhui. And you?"

"Oh I'm um," Wonwoo was still in shock from the current situation and was fumbling with his words, "I'm Wonwoo."

"Nice to meet you Wonwoo! That fellow who went inside is Minghao; the other boys should be back here soon and then they can introduce themselves."

The boy named Minghao came from out of the cabin with a wet cloth in hand; he told Wonwoo to sit down and he gently started wiping the blood off of his face. Just moments later he saw 4 boys running towards the cabin; it was the boys from before.

"Gosh they're tough," one of them laughed while walking towards Wonwoo, "you must be a pretty strong guy to take a beating from those men. I'm Seokmin by the way."

"He-hello Seokmin," Wonwoo said shyly.

"Don't be shy; we're friendly I swear. We did help you back there didn't we?"

"Yeah you did....b-but why? I mean you don't know me and you could have gotten hurt...."

"We don't have to know somebody to help them; it wasn't fair what they were doing to you so we decided to even out the numbers a bit. A 'thank you' is in order if I do say so myself."

"Oh, you're right, sorry. Thank you. Thank you so much, oh and I'm Wonwoo."

"Boys why don't you introduce yourselfs to Wonwoo," Seokmin said gesturing to the other 3 boys who had not spoken yet. They're names were Seungkwan, Chan and Jeonghan. They all seemed very friendly but Wonwoo still had one more question.

"Wait," Wonwoo said after doing a head count, "there were 5 of you back there; where's the other one?"

"Are you guys talking about me," a voice was heard coming from behind the cabin, "I always knew I was popular, but all this attention is gonna make me blush." The boy that appeared from behind the cabin was tall with gentle eyes and messy brown hair; he walked right up to Wonwoo and gave him a dazzling smile.

"Hello, I'm Mingyu."