Set Me Free-Pt.2

(CW: This chapter contains references to child abuse, animal abuse, descriptions of violence, and mentions of death.)

Jimin could not rescue his mother from his father, Baek Kyung-jae, who paid no mind as he took away what Jimin had cherished the most in his life.

Although he was young, he knew the kind of monster his father was. Kyung-jae was a member of the gang called 'Lancehead Vipers,' which consisted of 50 members overall, all with the intention to kill in the name of living.

Jimin's mother was only 17 when she met his father, and unknowing of his gang involvement, she fell in love with him. Kyung-jae had that charm about him, to lure people out in the open before he sunk his poisonous fangs into them.

He was passionate about his work and was obsessive about everything he owned, including Jimin and his mother. Jimin was trapped learning what Kyung-jae called 'survival skills,' in the face of brutally punishing the people who dared to cross him.

Jimin's little fingers would ache from trying to strangle a wooden dummy with a rough rope, his first lesson.

The next morning, he would wake up with a happy smile, bouncing on his feet on the way to school with the same little fingers fastened in his mother's grip.

Jimin was a giddy child, or a happy goofball as his mother would call him sometimes because he laughed so easily at everything.

He would get attached to any living creature. That was why he had 3 stray cats lined up in his backyard every afternoon, demanding food. His mother, Park Ji-ae, would scold him for bringing those cats inside with him, but she loved them just the same.

On Jimin's 7th birthday, Ji-ae gifted him an oversized blue cardigan which she had knitted herself. Jimin was the happiest child on that day, bundled up in blue as he fussed about the cardigan to all his friends, explaining how his mother made it, wailing his tiny-sleeve-covered hands and making grand gestures as if his mother was a hero who defeated a dragon.

Maybe she had, or maybe she was always a hero for him regardless.

Jimin was all rosy cheeks and crescent eyes, heaving from laughter and glee by the time he returned home that day. The day his father decided he was old enough to take a life, but still young to kill a human.

Jimin sang word-to-word the praises he earned for his Japanese test to his mother, jumping on the mattress while Ji-ae proudly checked the stars he received in his notebook from his Japanese teacher, but that was the moment Jimin realized nothing lasts forever, not even happiness.

He stopped jumping and climbed down the bed, noticing the eerie silence surrounding the house. All he had to do was pull Ji-ae's sleeve in concern for her to notice the same thing as he did. "Mom, why is it so quiet? Where are Bambi, Gee, and Ferra?

Those were the names of his stray cats.

His mother was not able to reassure him as the main door to his house flew open with a loud thud. "Jimin, my son. Come out, we are going to play a game," his father called out.

His mother's grip had tightened on his shoulder, pulling him behind herself as they walked to the living room. The meowing of his cats suddenly was brought back into existence, but it was a strange strangled sound, like a cry for help.

The game his father made him play was to choose which cat he liked the least and pull the trigger of his gun into its small furry head. Jimin cried and screamed, but all the noises in him suddenly came to a halt when his father pressed a similar-looking brown-skinned gun into his mother's forehead.

It was a flash of something that blinded him at that moment, something like the shattering of the imaginary safe world he had built around him. He felt broken and empty, his chest struggling to gasp the air inside. "I will not choose. Let mom go," he said in a weak, raspy voice from all the crying.

All the sounds in the living room were canceled by the thundering of gunfire, one after another. Jimin closed his eyes in panic and his knees buckled, causing him to land on the floor. In his little brain, all he could muster was that he could not open his eyes.

"Jimin, I'm fine. Open you're eyes, love," his mother called out calmly despite the horrifying situation.

"Mom, I'm scared."

However, he did open his eyes to find Bambi and Ferra lifeless on the ground.

"Mom! Mom, I'm scared. I'm scared."

That's all he remembered saying while sobbing out in fear as his father yanked him close to him and made him hold the gun pointed at poor Gee, who was tied from her neck to the table's foot.

"Mom, I'm scared. Mom-"

"Shh! Do you want to see your mom become like them?" his dad hissed. "C'com, pull the trigger!.

Jimin couldn't control his sobs. He hiccupped while his hands trembled. He wanted to run. He wanted to hide. He wanted his mother-

"Jimin! I said pull the trigger!" His father shouted.

"Mom-"

"I swear I will kill your mother! Pull the damn trigger!"

So he did.

He lost everything he was supposed to have to remain the happy child he was. That was the day he stopped laughing wholeheartedly and played around like the children his age did.

That was the end of Jimin's world, his hopes, and his childhood, all snatched away from him in a rapid breeze.

Park Ji-ae, had done everything in her power to save Jimin from Kyung-jae's madness, but she was only a woman with a very visible weakness: Jimin. Kyung-jae had threatened her that if she ever came between him and his son, he would not spare a single thought before lodging a bullet inside the said son's head.

She knew the kind of man Kyung-jae was, ever true to his threats, so there was only so much she could do as her son was made to learn how to punch and break jaws. However, Jimin's mother was very persistent in her efforts to remind Jimin that he was his own human and that he did not have to bend and bow to his father's way of life.

Despite whatever he was being taught, his mother reminded him to never lose his heart in that process.

Jimin had cried over his loss for weeks and then he had sworn to himself that he would never disappoint her, that he would never become like his father.

Therefore, once Jimin turned 18, he established a plan to take his mother and fly away from Busan. He didn't know how to escape his father's clutches and webs until he forged his own way into the underworld, and learned about the people who shared the same animosity for his father as he did.

Only a single trade as revealing the location of Lancehead Vipers' (Kyung-jae's gang) den to their enemies was enough to get him promised safety and an anonymous life with his mother in Japan.

Everything was settled. He had acquired the key to his dream of a happy and peaceful life with his mother, and he even promised her the same, happily bouncing on his feet. "Mom, this is your last day in this hellish house, I promise."

"You think your dad's boring music blasting through the radio in my kitchen will finally kill me?"

"That's not- Mom, I'm serious. We are getting out of here. I will give you everything you ever dreamed of-"

"All I ever dreamed of is having a lovely son, which I already do, but maybe that son should learn how to tie a tie." She laughed, her lovely voice ringing over his dad's radio.

Jimin pulled his lips in an annoyed pout. "I can tie my tie. Hoseokie hyung taught me."

"Then what is this?" She reached out to fix the messy knots he had done. "Maybe your Hoseok hyung should also learn how to tie a tie."

Little did Jimin know that that was the last time he heard her lovely voice.

He went to The Rodents's (Kyung-jae's enemy's) base to deliver the promise he had made to reveal his father's gang address as he led the way into his father's den. The Rodents were not stronger than Lancehead Vipers, but they could surely keep his father distracted in an attempt to take their revenge, and in the meantime, Jimin could flee with his mother.

The Rodents also kept their word and gave him forged passports and assigned armed men to safely escort him out of his father's den. All that was left, was for his mother to arrive at the Busan Station, so they could catch the train to Japan.

Jimin had assigned someone he trusted more than himself to get his mother to the station an hour before as there was little time left before Kyung-jae could learn of his betrayal.

He paced back and forth, back and forth, by the tracks, looking over his shoulders every now and then, for 15 minutes, give and take, and then he broke into a sprint.

All sweaty and heaving by the time he got close to his house.

Something is wrong. Terribly wrong. Hoseokie hyung was supposed to get Mom to the station well over an hour ago.

Hoseokie hyung was-

He abruptly halted in the doorway. Once again, his house was eerie silent, bringing flashbacks to his brain. Red. Blue. Red. Bue. It was like his eyes were glitching, malfunctioning. His heartbeat was in his eardrums, lub-dub lub-lud.

An overwhelming pressure was beating against his temples as he managed to drag his shivering lower limbs inside the house, further and further.

Further and further.

He stopped. His world stopped.

His dry, trembling lips opened to call her name, but all that came out was a heartwrenching scream.

His legs gave out upon seeing his world lying on the floor of his living room, bleeding out from her head.

He couldn't stop the painful scream that left his body, stemming from the deepest and rawest part of his soul.

He dragged and dragged his legs until he was crawling to her, eyes blurred of anything but red.

Red. Red. Red.

She was everything he had.

She was gone. She was dead.

He held her cold, lifeless hand in his warm ones, clutching them to his heart. He tried to call out to her 'Mom, please open your eyes,' but no sound escaped his lips. He buried his head in the crook of her neck.

All he heard was his own pulse, overwhelming his senses, louder and louder. Louder. Pulsating in his ears. His breath staggered. The lights died in his eyes.

He breathed in and breathed out. Black, everything went black. He passed out.

Jimin opened his eyes to the present, the ghost of his erratic heartbeat lingering inside him. It was Seokjin's concerned face that rained relief somewhere inside his heart.

"Jimin. Jimin. Hey, you're alright. Just breathe." Seokjin's voice guided him out of his mind while his hand caressed his back.

He let out a soft exhale. Closing his eyes once more. The only name ringing in his head was 'Jung Hoseok.'

AN: Hello, everyone! I was very excited for you all to read this chapter. My eyes were a little sweaty writing this. I hope you all made it through just fine.

Thank you for reading. See you again very soon!