Prologue
"Mom? Dad? What's going on?" A lanky teenager with bright orange hair looked around. He had heard loud noises downstairs in the middle of the night when usually there was nothing but silence. He squinted in the dark, and he took a sharp intake of air.
His father was sitting at the kitchen table, more than a dozen empty bottles on the floor. The air reeked of alcohol and there was a tangy iron taste to it. And then he noticed it.
His mother was in the corner, clutching her shoulder, red blood leaking through her fingers. She mouthed 'not now' at her son.
Ignoring his mother's warning, he rushed to her side.
"Mom, what happened? Who did this? Do we need t--" He was cut off by a blow to his head. His vision went blurry and purple spots clouded his eyes. When it cleared, he saw little, tiny pieces of green tinted glass and a dark red liquid dripping slowly down to the floor, splattering little red dots on the once-white carpet.
He turned to look up. His mother was clinging to his father's arm and the latter seemed to be trying to hit her. He reached out an arm,
"Mom . . . ."
And his vision faded.
He didn't know where he was, but it was pitch dark. There were sounds around him, but it was muffled and only snippets were clear.
" . . . sole survivor of the Jungs' murder case . . ."
Murder case? What murder case?
" . . . sure when he'll wake up. Miss, you have to understand that he may never . . . ."
Wake up?! Was all of this a dream?
" . . . don't care! This is my grandson we're talking about!"
Halmeoni . . . ?
" . . . please, he's the only one left . . ."
His grandmother's voice was fading. . . .
" . . . please, Hoseok . . ."
The darkness engulfed him until there was nothing left.
