My Mongrel (3)
The concrete ground was hot. The yelling crowd was loud. The light was bright.
Min Ho couldn't think straight, the world seemed to spin around him, he tried to resist but then he was struck with the whip again. CLANG, went the gates as the steel doors closed behind him and then the next second he was struck hard and flung into the cage walls.
The barbed wire bit at his flesh, clawing at his back as he was dragged across it. He cried out as thick burly fingers held onto his legs and swung him around. He was helpless as he was bashed against the wall again and again.
"Why me....Why is this happening to me?"
As he was pushed around Min Ho began to reflect on his life.
He had always been unlucky.
When he was young his parents got a divorce and he foolishly decided to stay with his Father while his Sister went with his Mother. He thought he was better off, but then his Dad lost his job and became a raging alcoholic.
Min Ho was often beaten black and blue, and he grew up fearing even the sound of his Father's breath. His Dad had seemed so big and scary but when he died that's when Min Ho saw how small he really was, a short, stout and sad man with thinning hair and a beer belly.
His father was killed in a hit and run. The owner of the car was the 17-year-old son of the Chief of Police, who had been drunk behind the wheel.
Despite it obviously being the fault of the driver, the court was corrupt, the case was twisted and they blamed the Victim for being an alcoholic and running into the road. Of course, Min Ho knew that wasn't the case, he had seen the incident happen. His Dad had been sober for the first time in months, he had waved at him from across the road. The light had turned green and just as he stepped on the tarmac that Sports Car had mowed him down like a blade of grass.
But no one listened to Min Ho.
The Perpetrator got off with a warning.
That was the day his hatred for the elite began to fester.
In the end, Min Ho dropped out of school to work. He was 18, at the time he was legally seen as an adult. He could only rely on himself. His life from then on took a downward spiral from one dead-end job to the next. Over the years no matter how much he saved he couldn't afford to go to college and his dream of becoming a paediatrician remained a dream.
During the day he worked as a cleaner, a waiter and a taxi driver. At night he was a chauffeur. In all his jobs he always had to kiss up and deal with all kinds of harassment from the rich and powerful just to keep his boxed-one-room apartment.
One day he met with his sister again.
He was sent to clean at the most luxurious mansion in the heart of Seoul, and it belonged to her. He recognised her while he dusted her photos, but she didn't recognise him. The more he cleaned there the more he learnt about his sister. It turned out that his mother had ended up meeting a wealthy oil tycoon and remarrying. She grew up with all kinds of riches, opportunities and high-class education. She married her equally rich childhood sweetheart and she seemed to be in love and living the ideal life.
Min Ho had been happy for her initially, but he eventually became bitter.
When he saw his half-siblings and his Mother at that Mansion, all happy and smiling while he mopped their floors, a weight pressed on his throat. Shame, jealousy, anger. It looked like his mother had never spared a thought on him.
Bitterness made him bite his tongue and he never ended up telling them who he really was.
Funny enough, from that cleaning job he was referred to the Kang Estate. What began as a temporary position became a permanent one. He slowly climbed up the ranks and after some years he was made a Head Butler and put in charge of Kang Joon-Ki's home. He finally thought he had made it. He was getting paid well, he was saving up money, his job was respectable and life was finally looking up for him.
But....now there was this...
The situation was ridiculous.
As he was yet again swung against the fence a tired smile broke out on Min Ho's face. At first, it was a slight chuckle but then his laughter grew louder and more hearty with each second. "What did I do to deserve this?" he said in-between his hysterical fits of laughter, "Why is my life like this....always dictated by rich monsters...I'm always trampled on...looked down on made a fool..."
Feral Dog grabbed Min Ho's head and smacked it into the ground. He did this continuously but it didn't stop Min Ho's laughter.
The crowd that was originally cheering with excitement died down slightly. There was something very disturbing about the sounds Min Ho made.
"Pathetic Bitch?" Someone loudly yelled, "More like Crazy Bitch." As people agreed with this comment, the fight took an unexpected turn.
Feral Dog was slamming Min Ho's head into the ground while panting over him, his thick saliva had dribbled onto Min Ho's face, when suddenly Min Ho's hand shot out like a viper. He punched his arm straight through Feral Dog's open mouth and down his throat.
Min Ho's laughter hadn't stopped, and he said with a wide smile "If I'm going to die I don't want your fucking saliva on my goddamn face!"
Feral Dog panicked, he clamped his jaw down on Min Ho's arm and bit him desperately. Even though his teeth had sunk into Min Ho's flesh, Min Ho didn't flinch, he seemed to be in a demented daze as he forced his arm further down Feral Dog's throat.
Feral Dog punched Min Ho's chest but it didn't stop him.
He forced his arm deeper into Feral Dog's mouth until he was stuck up to his shoulder. By that point, Feral Dog was very much dead. His jaw hung wide open and slack, blood seeped out from the corners of his mouth as his wet tongue loosely lay there. Despite him being dead Min Ho continued to reach deeper and deeper into his body until he pulled something out.
It was Feral Dog's large intestine.
As the organ flopped about and was pulled from the body Min Ho didn't stop laughing.
The audience had stopped, sounds of nervous gulps could be heard and a few gags, but otherwise it was silent.
As Min Ho deliriously looked at the intestine in his bloody hand, he stared at the crowd and waved at them. He then pranced across the stage, dancing and through his giggles, he yelled, "Are you not entertained!?" He laughed a bit more and then tears began to fall from his face.
"Oh God!" he screamed. He dropped the intestine and then slumped to the ground before passing out.
***
"Holy Shit!" Sang Min clapped.
I simply smiled... I hadn't been wrong, there was a monster in Min Ho, a monster that I was going to raise carefully.