________ sat in the back of the police car and looked at the scene outside the visible window. Your parents are gone...they've been taken away from you because you're such a brat. Your grandmother stands above their body and glared back at you, she tells you its your fault for their deaths. You too, agree. If you were being a good girl and waited patiently for your parents to pick you up from my grandmother's house they wouldn't be on the cold pavement with blood splattered everywhere around them. Their car looked a mess, their window is in a million pieces, their dashboards doesn't even look like a dashboard anymore. The light pole they crashed in looks like a lifeless tree leaning to one side. You felt awful. The policeman talks to halmeoni and gives her a little nod as they come and open the door for you to get out. They kept you in the car so you won't have to hear the horrible conversations but you had a very good idea of what was being said. They led you to halmeoni; she took your hand and squeezed it then bent down so you two were eye to eye and hugged you.

"_______ -ah. I am so sorry you're parents had to leave you at such a young age. You're only 10 years old and already have to face such a hard life. But its okay. Halmeoni will take good care of you okay?" You looked at halmeoni and nodded. You were too young to understand that she was just acting. She took a hold of your hands and walked you back into the house, only three blocks away from the car crash your parents were in. Once they got into the house you didn't know what happened but in an instant, you heard a loud smack and your cheek was throbbing from pain. You held it with your hands and started to cry. 'Why did halmeoni hit me?'

**************************************

“You little brat! Murderer!” she screamed, she harshly pulled you by the arm, and threw you into a tiny storage room, that had only a pillow and a blanket on the floor. It looked like a place for a dog to sleep, not a human. “I expect you to know, you killed your own parents, you killed my daughter, my only daughter. *Slap* I have no other choice but to take care of you, since the cops will be coming to check on you." she hit your head and went away.
You were left alone, in a cold small place, after you lost everything you had; after you lost every single person that ever loved you, you were so stunned before, that you couldn’t even shed a tear, but now everything was sinking.
"My family…..i-is gone." you whispered and started sobbing, you brought your knees to your chest and hid your face in your knees sobbing, you cried for hours until you finally fell into an exhausted slumber.
You woke up with a bunch of slaps, you protected yourself and opened your eyes,
“Wake up brat, you think you’ll live here for free?" your grandmother screamed and slapped you to wake you up, tears threatened to fall, but you held them in and stood up.
“Now go cook for me, and leave to get a job, be sure to come back with a job, or I swear to god-” she said and left.
You changed your dirty clothes and went to cook, it was the first time you ever cooked so it was a little messy, but after a lot of hard work, you made her scrambled eggs and bacon, you started to wash the dishes. Lucky you, you loved to watch your mom cooking, so you knew a little about it all. Your grandmother came into the kitchen and sat down and bit the end of the fork, before even swallowing she spat it out.
“This tastes like !” she got up and slapped your head. “Useless kid, clean this crap and get out of my sight.” she said and left fuming.
Your eyes got teary, but held it in and started cleaning, you finished washing the dishes, and left. You walked a few blocks and stopped.
“Where can I find a job?” you asked yourself, you walked around a busy street and found a little paper glued on a window, 'Helper Needed'
“Maybe here!” you smiled and got inside. You were received by shocked gasps.

Everyone looked at you as if you were a three legged dog. You swallowed the lump in your throat and walked towards the desk, just a few feet away from the entrance. You looked up at the aunt who stood behind the wooden desk. She stared at you then opened to speak. "Why are you here?" She asked as she looked at you up and down. The emotions on her face was a look of disgust but you didn't care.
"I'm here to find a job. I saw that you needed help." You said without raising your head. You couldn't see what was happening but you did hear a little laughter and someone clicking their tongue.
"WHAT? Are you kidding me? How old are you 5? Haha, how can you work here?" The aunt chuckled while reaching for your face. She made you look at her as she lightly pinched your cheeks. You didn't dare pull away so just stood there as she looked at you.
"I- I- I need a job. Halmeoni is sick and...I need to work so I can take care of her." You lied. You looked at the aunt as her expression softened. She let go of your face and looked at you.
"Let me get the boss." The aunt walked towards the back of the shop and entered a door that lead to a room. You turned your head towards where the aunt went to, but quickly turned your head and looked at your feet as you heard footsteps coming towards you. "This is the girl you were telling me about?" A man's voice was being heard, his voice was deep and husky.
"Yeah she's the little girl whose looking for a job." The aunt said.
"Well take her in and make her clean this shop its so dirty. Make her clean EVERY corner of this shop. I don't want to see even one strand of hair in this salon. You heard the man so you bowed at him then bowed at the aunt.
"I will clean this whole shop if you'd let me." Your eyes were glued to the floor as you bowed. The next minute the man walked away as the aunt threw you a broom.
"Here, take this and sweep the floor. Once you've done that, clean and dust the shelves. Don't drop any of the hair products or you'll pay for them." You nodded and began to sweep the salon.
The salon wasn't big. It was quiet small, there were three mirrors with counters connected to it, and chairs that sat in front of it, on the right side of the shop. The other side had two mirrors and chairs. While by the entrance had ten chairs for the costumers to sit at. The staffs at the salon were cutting and washing people's hair so ever second you would have to sweep the hairs off the floor. The big ahjuhsii at the end was buzz cutting a man's hair as small hair flew to the floor. You picked up the broom and went towards them.
You began to sweep, the floor. The ahjushii didn't see you and tripped over the broom in your hands. He fell flat on his face. When he got up from the dirty floor his face was boiling red. His lips trembled from anger as he opened them, you hung your head low, scared of what he might do to you.
"YAH you stupid little girl. can't you see I am trying to work here? How am I going to work if your stupid broom stick is everywhere?" He snatched the broom from your hands and threw it at the wall. You wanted to cry but didn't dare to because you knew it was your fault.
You bowed 90 degrees and kept your head down, while receiving several slaps on the head, and hearing the man swear and scream at you, all you could do was repeatedly whisper,
"I’m sorry, I’m so sorry."
The aunt came and calmed the man down, “Chill will you? We pay her almost nothing, so shut up and go back to work." the aunt said, and gave the man a glare and looked at you. “You, do your job right, and don’t bother the customers." the aunt said and went back to her work.
You kept your head down the whole day, it was time to go, everyone was getting ready to leave, and you were too. Everyone left, when you were about to, the aunt stopped in front of you.
"Where do you think you’re going?" she asked smirking, you pointed to the door,
"Home." you said, as she laughed.
"Look back darling," she said you did as told, the salon was full of hair, you looked shocked, you had cleaned everything, just a second ago, it was clean and now, it was a total mess. "You didn’t do your job, if you want people to receive you better do it right, have a good night." the aunt said and left laughing hysterically, tears threatened to fall, but you sniffled them away and went to work, when you were done, it was 3am. You made sure the salon was closed and left, when you got home, you bumped into Halmeoni.
“You little , now you stay out all night"’ she slapped you, you kept your head down, you knew nothing you said would calm her down, and it would only make things worse, so you decided to let her hit you, and hopefully she would calm down and let you rest. Luckily that’s what happened, she slapped you one last time and went to bed, after she was gone, you dragged your tired body into you room, you fell flat on cover over the floor and cried yourself to sleep.

Everyday of your life was filled with suffering, and heartache. Your daily schedule was the same, you went to work at the salon and came home to serve Halmeoni. Your life never got any easier, everyday it will become harder. Everyday you went and came from the salon in tears; every night you slept in tears, your face was always stained with tears. No one cared for you and treated you like dirt. From years of enduring the hardship your feelings dried and you learned that crying changes nothing, so you stopped crying, it was as if your tears was a little pond in a desert, slowly evaporating in the air. Leaving a hard and solid ground. As you grew up, being a 20 year old you matured and learned how to avoid being hurt, you obeyed everyone and never spoke up, you never spoke out of turn nor stood up for yourself; thinking that if you did you will get beaten. You hung your head low knowing your position in this world, you were nothing but a small speck being blown, here and there. A speck no one wanted to look at or touch, every time you landed on someone they would brush you off as if you're nothing. Having lived this life for 20 years you knew your position.

"Yah _________. Come here. I need you to fix that for me." Halmeoni, shouted pointing to her tv. You walk to her room and fixed the signal on the tv, as you worked on the tv, you heard Halmeoni cough a nasty cough, you knew she was coughing blood again. She's getting old and her time is coming close, she is going to die soon. You stopped what you were doing and went to her; holding a fresh handkerchief, you held it out in front of you waiting for her to take it. After a long minute of standing, you felt the light handkerchief leave your hand and silently walked back to fix the tv. "Aiya, just leave the room you useless brat. You've been spending too much time trying to fix the tv. If you can't fix it just get out!" Your head hung low, as you began to leave the room. You silently closed the door behind you and walked towards the kitchen to prepare dinner. Once the dinner was ready, you placed all the fresh food on a large wooden platter and walked towards Halmeoni's room to serve her, her dinner. “Halmeoni, I'm coming in with your dinner.” You softly stated before opening the door. When you stepped inside you placed the food on the table next to the bed then walked away. You walked towards the kitchen to eat your own food then saw the glass cup filled with water. “Oh no I forgot to give Halmeoni her water.” You said to yourself. You grabbed the water off the counter and walked towards Halmeoni's room, hoping she wouldn't yell at you for forgetting her glass of water. You opened her door and saw that she hasn't touched her food. “Halmeoni, are you okay? Why aren't you eating?” You said softly followed by a soft tap. You tapped her wrinkly arm but she didn't move, by now she would've hit your head for touching her. “H- Halmeoni...Are you okay?” You looked at her but she didn't seem to wake up, you placed your hand on her stomach to see if she was breathing but your hand didn't move up and down like it should be. You reached up and placed your index and middle finger on her neck checking her pulse. But didn't feel anything, you knew from that moment that she was dead. Being quick you called 119 and waited for them to get her. After they left the house with her lifeless body you began to pack your belongings. You can't live here anymore, you can't live in the house which held so much bad memories, you can't continue to work at the hair salon across the street. You need to move quickly and start a new life.

You started walking aimlessly around Seoul’s busy streets, you had no idea where to go, you never felt so lost, even after your family’s death you didn’t feel like this because you had Halmeoni. Now you had no one, and nowhere to go, but one thing you knew for sure, you were finally free, that didn’t mean you were happy. You still live a life you’re forced to live, a lonely life, a life you see no meaning to, and every single day you still pray that god will take pity of you and take you away.
You knew your income wouldn’t be able to pay a well located place to live, so you made your way to the obscure part of town, a filthy place full of bad stuff and bad people. You weren’t scared, after all the thing you wanted the most was to be taken away, away from this life. Away from this world this cold heartless world, you lived carelessly with this one and only hope, after all you’ve been through, you just didn’t care anymore, you didn’t have the heart to anyway. You tried a few buildings, one worse then the other, by the last try, you finally found a little place with a room and a bathroom, you didn’t care as long as it had a floor to sleep on, and a roof over your head. It was fine with you, you unpacked and left to find a job.
While walking around the busy loud streets, of your new neighborhood, you saw people sleeping on the floor, drunk crazy guys/girls, people using drugs, people selling drugs, you sighed, this isn’t the environment you wanted, but after passing through so much in your life, you knew hoping for something wouldn’t make it come true, and what you get is what you deserve, for killing your family. For not taking care of your grandma, you stopped crying a long time ago, but today the tears just fell, you dried them up, when you saw a ‘wanted’ card on the window, you looked up at the neon sign, dejectedly sighed and got inside. There was loud music and people happily dancing and drinking, girls in short revealing clothes serving drinks. You met up with the club’s manager, he eyed you up and down smirked and hired you, he gave you the uniform, you looked at it, you didn’t like it, but you had to survive. So you got inside the bathroom and changed. The night was uncomfortable, guys messed with you, slapped your , pinched you everywhere and you can imagine the rest, it was the whole package, by the end of you shift, it was 5am, you changed into your clothes and left. When you got home, you went straight to the bathroom and took a long shower. You felt dirty, disgusted, you couldn’t help but cry, just the fact that you were impotent to stand up for yourself unable to do anything, made you even more dejected. After the shower you still felt dirty, but you knew, you had to get used to it. After all, that was the only place that accepted you, and without it you wouldn’t be able to survive. You were so tired that as soon as you hit the quilt on the floor you fell asleep.

Days went by, and as impossible as it sounds and as much as possible you got used to your work, but more than before you were like a zombie an empty shell, it looked like your soul wasn’t there anymore.

- - -

Yong Junhyung's POV

“Junhyung come here for a minute.” Mr. Yong's voice roared as it was being heard throughout the enormous house. A sigh escaped Junhuyng's lips before he stood up from the living room sofa.
“Yes?” Junhyung answer with a hint of irritation in his voice.
“What is this?” Mr. Yong threw the report card at Junhyung, Junhyung stared down at the report card before bending to retrieve the report from the floor. He looked at it, it said A, A, B, C.
“What's the matter? I don't see anything wrong with this.” He placed the report card on the wooden desk before his father.
“WHATS THE MATTER? Do you not see that C? How did you get a C in class? Are you stupid? Are you slacking off in class? How can a university student act like this? I did not raise you up to be a average person.” Mr. Yong screamed as blood rushed to his face, he was very angry, if steams could escape through his ears it would have.
“What do you expect from me? I'm not perfect dad. I can't be perfect, NO ONE can be perfect. So just step off.” Junyoung turned his back towards his dad as he walked away.
“YAH JUNHYUNG! IF YOU DON'T GET IN SHAPE I'LL KICK YOU OUT OF THE HOUSE AND FREEZE YOUR CREDIT CARDS!” Standing up Mr. Yong screamed, his fingers pointing at Junhyung. Junhyung stood dead still, he slowly turned around, inch by inch before facing his father.
“What do you see me as? Am I your robot to control? Do you think I need your stupid money? I, too am a man dad. I can live without you, I sure as hell can earn myself money. I don't need you in my life.” Junhyung reached inside his pocket, fishing out his wallet. Opening it he took out all the credit cards and threw them at his dad before walking out of the house. He got into his black Jaguar zooming off to an unknown destination. He stepped on the gas pedal harder than ever, the car zoomed past houses and cars making them blurry. Junhyung couldn't see anything but the empty street in front of him. It was 11, almost close to midnight so the streets were empty. His eyes soon began to blur from the tears welling in his eyes. These times were the times he missed his mother the most,
“AISH! I hate you so much! Am I not a person? What am I even doing on this earth? There's no reason for me to be alive....Mom, take me with you. I can't endure the pain anymore.” Clenching the steering wheel tighter and tighter he made a right turn and drove like a mad man. After 10 minutes of driving Junhyung reached a neighborhood he never knew existed. Slowing down, Junhyung stared out his black tinted window looking at guys who stood on the corners of the streets, they looked scary with their baggy clothes, their auras seemed bad. Junhyung looked at the guys he passed and noticed they were glaring at him, not at him but his car, they knew he was a rich guy who wanted nothing to do with the poor people. He was a rich person who only wanted to flaunt about his money and status. Junhyung drove slowly and cautiously trying to find a place to stop. Driving for three minutes or so he stopped in front of a small club secluded from other buildings. Junhyung parked his car putting the alarm on and locking the doors before he walked into the club. As he walked in the music boomed from every corner of the club, in the air the stench of cigarettes and alcohol lingered the air running full speed at him. Junhyung swatted the smell away from his nose while walking towards the bar ordering himself a glass of whiskey. He sat on the stool and drunk the glass all at once.

______'s POV

You walked and served a table their drinks, you tried hard to avoid any confrontations but they were unavoidable. You heard a man calling for you but you didn't care to turn back, you kept walking, hoping to lose him but suddenly you felt a strong grip around your free arm. You turned around to see the guy from earlier.

“What do you want?” You said as annoyance leaked from your words.
“Nothing baby girl. I just want to spend some time with you in a quiet place. So why not come with me out to my car?” His fingers traced your face as his other hand rested on your spine. You wanted to say something to that bastard but you couldn't bring yourself to do it. You stood there like an idiot as he touched you. You shook your head, and got out of his grip. You walked towards the bar to refill your tray. Once again you felt a grip on your hand but this time you didn't raise your head you knew it was the man from a minute ago.
“Yah you , didn't you hear me? Lets go to my car and have fun.” His grip got tighter, his face was closer than ever to your's. You can smell the strong alcohol coming from his mouth. You stood there looking down at your shoe. “Are you deaf?” His hand loosen their grip on you as he rose them ready to slap you in your face. Standing there you didn't blink you knew you offended him and he was going to punish you so you stood there, ready for the sting of his slap. You waited for it but nothing happened, your eyes looked up, seeing a guy holding the man's hand. The mysterious guy punched the man square in the face.
“Don't touch her like that. Are you even a man? What man puts their hands on women? You freakin dog. Get out!” Junhyung shouted pulling you behind him, as if he was protecting you. The man got angry so he lunged at Junhyung, with his fast reflexes he dodged it tackling the man to the ground, they rolled on the ground throwing punches left and right. You stared down at them before running to tell the manager. The manager came running stopping the fight from progressing. He threw the man who protected you out while keeping the man who hurted you in the club.

- - -

Junhyung sat on the cold cement and leaned his back on the club building, he didn't want to go home, he had no where to go so sitting out in the cold was the only place he can stay. He stared up at the dark sky, there were no stars in sight but there was never any in the first place. Junhyung leaned his head on the building and fell asleep.

- - -

You turned around and continued working, around 12:40 your shift was over, you went to the staff room changed, bowed to your boss and left, the freezing wind blew, you continued walking, like the wind didn’t bother you, you were walking looking down, when you accidentally bumped into someone, you didn’t look up,
“Sorry.” you bowed and continued walking.
“, where do you think you’re going, huh? You bump into someone and just go away?’’ the thug said angrily.
“I said I was sorry.’’ You said now looking at him
“Do you think that's enough?” he looked at you then noticed your pale face. “Oh, well what do we have here, you’re actually pretty, care to join us?’’ The guy asked as a smirked formed on his face.
“No thank you.” You said and started walking but he stopped you by holding onto your wrist, he made you turn around, and his friends surrounded you, preventing you from running away.
“Come on Oppa will forgive you if you come and play with us,” he said looking at you up and down his lips, like you were something he could eat.

Yong Junhyung's POV
I was asleep outside the club when she came out, she started walking, until she bumped into some guy.
“ this could turn bad” I said. I got up from my position and followed her, but also keeping my distance from her.