1 1. Give me hope

The night is dark but beautiful. The night sky was covered in stars and the moon was fully showing it's magnificent form to everyone who dared to look at it. The town was very quiet at night. Only a few people were working at night to pay for their debts. Their job was not pleasant, in fact, it was hell. Every poor person had to work hard every day to earn money for food and other needs. Money was a must. If you didn't have any, you were going to die with a chance of 100%.

No one cared about anyone. It was a world where you had to survive on your own, or you would die. And death was permanate. There was no way you could reverse time when someone died, to have them alive again. There was no such power in this current world. At least the normal poor people didn't have that power.

Of course there were some rare humans that were born with amazing powers, but those with powers were not born into a poor family. Never. If your family was poor, you were poor. If your family was rich, you were rich. You can not be rich if your family is poor.

Jungkook was born into a very poor family. His family consisted of his little brother, who was five years old at the moment, him and his mother and father who were never home. And when they were home, his mother would scold him and his little brother, his father would punch and abuse them all the time because he needed money.

His little brother was very under-fed and death was getting closer and closer. Jungkook earned some money every day from his job. His job, on the other hand, was not pleasant at all, in fact, it was disgusting. His purity was taken away when he was 12 by a random old man, who wanted nothing but pleasure from him. He was even ready to pay for everything, and that is what started everything. Jungkook's parents realized that they could get money from Jungkook's job and then they could buy some food for themselves.

Jungkook has been doing this for six years. Six years of his life was consumed by this disgusting job that he oh so much hated from the bottom of his heart. His life was so miserable, that he has though about suicide several times, but he knows that he can't leave his five-year-old brother to the claws of their parents. He doesn't want his little brother to be depressed like he has been for so many years.

This night was different. Jungkook had no customers, so he didn't earn any money. He was anxious about meeting his parents, because they were definitely waiting for him and his money at home. Jungkook wished he could just run away from home and live in a small farm or something, away from all his problems. But he couldn't. For some odd reason, he couldn't leave his parents alone, even though he knew they were nothing but evil. He couln't leave them to die. It would be his fault, right?

Jungkook was walking through a forest. It was the only ath to his home, which he hated a lot. The forest was the perfect hiding place when it was bright outside. But when you were walking through the forest at night, it was not that perfect anymore. The forest became a scary place where you would get killed by some thugs that needed money. That's why Jungkook was always scared to walk in the forest all alone after work. Except, he wasn't coming home from work. He had been avoiding his parents for the whole day, because he didn't want to get beaten by his father again.

His little brother was at home with his parents, which was bad. That's why Jungkook though it would be better to run for the rest of the walk. He started to run faster and faster until he saw the dim lights coming from the tiny wooden house they were living in. It was always awful to return home, but he needed to endure it for a little longer.

Now he was standing in front of the front door, hoping that his parents weren't at home yet. They would always come home late at night but it was pretty late right now. It was already 1 AM. He slowly opened the door, hoping that the door wouldn't creak that much as he opened it. Well, it did creak, a lot. Actually it made a huge noice which sent shivers down Jungkook's spine. He quickly closed the door and sprinted to his little brothers room to check on him.

The small boy was on his bed, reading a small book that he had ridden at least a hunder times already. The book was about a small boy, a prince. He lived in a huge castle with his parents and lived happily. Every day was fun for the little prince and he had no worries. It was a completely different concept compared to Jungkook's situation. It was funny how his little brother loved the book so much.

"Hey," Jungkook greeted his little brother. The boy had not noticed his big brother entering the room, so he flinched a little when he heard his voice. Fortunately, it was just his kind brother who came to greet him.

"Hyung!" the boy beamed when he saw his brother approach his bed with a smile.

"What's my favourite boy doing?" Jungkook asked his brother, though, he already knew that he was reading the book.

"I'm reading a book," the small boy smiled and patted the spot next to him so Jungkook would sit next to him.

"Again?" Jungkook chuckled and sat next to his brother, hugging him tightly in the process.

"Mhmm! It's a good bwook!" The boy giggled and showed the book to Jungkook, who had seen the book for hundreds of times already.

"I believe you," Jungkook smiled and took the book in his hands. "Youngsoo, have you seen our parents?" He asked with a more serious tone now.

"No... they said that they had to go somewhere." His brother frowned at the mention of his parents. "They said that I shouldn't tell you twat though..." Youngsoo looked at the floor for a moment.

"It's okay, they won't find out." Jungkook ruffled his brothers hair to make him feel better. "I know you're scared of them, Youngsoo, so am I." Jungkook smiled and looked at the book in his other hand.

"Can you read the book for me?" Youngsoo requested, to which Jungkook nodded his head and sat more comfortably next to the smaller one.

"Sure! From the beginning or..?" Jugnkook asked.

"Yeah!" Youngsoo beamed and sat on Jungkook's lap so he could look at the small pictures that were in the book.

"Alright!" Jungkook started. "Once upon a time, a small boy, a prince, lived in a big castle with his parents, the king and the queen. Their life was perfect from every aspect. They had a big castle to live in, so much food, that they could feed the entire kingdom for a month and they had many good friends. The small prince loved his life in the castle and he would never trade his life for anything." Jungkook glanced at the boy who was now asleep on his lap, making cute sounds.

"Well, I don't think I need to continue the story, right?" Jungkook said to himself as he took Youngsoo in his arms and placed him under his covers. He kissed his forehead and whispered a 'good night' to him before leaving his room.

When he reached his room's door, the front door made a sound, indicating that his parents had most likely returned from their trip. Jungkook was nervous as he didn't want to speak with them about the money he didn't have today. He heard as his parents roamed around downstairs and talked about something, sadly Jungkook couldn't hear them.

The sudden noice coming from creaking steps made Jungkook flinch. They were coming for him now. They probably knew that Jungkook was avoiding them. They were probably furious and angry and needed the money right now. Jungkook cursed under his breath as he saw his mother who was now standing next to the stairs, staring at him with blank eyes.

"Jungkook. What are you doing up so late?" His mother asked with a cold voice.

"I- Uh, I was just getting some water for Youngsoo..." Jungkook scratched his neck anxiously.

"I see. Now that you're awake, I have something to talk about with you. Your father is waiting for you downstairs." His mother grabbed Jungkook's wrist and dragged him downstairs where his father was already waiting for him.

"Good, Jungkook, we have something to talk about, right?" His father gave him another blank expression ans approached him with slow steps.

"We know you've been avoiding us today. Why is that?" His father took another step forward.

"I- Uh..." Jungkook stuttered.

"You know we don't like it when you lie to us, right? Don't you remember what happened the last time?" His father smirked now and took another step forward.