THRONE WITHOUT FATE | VKOOK ✓

TWENTY-TWO | KIDS

"Yul, stay close." A girl with a red scarf around her neck warned, dressed in a dirty pink dress, and clutching her brother as tightly as she could.

It was lunchtime, and they were all lined up. It wasn't the best food they'd ever tasted, but they couldn't stay hungry any longer.

It was crowded in there, with children of various ages occupying every available space. Half of them were giving them a dangerous glare, mostly at the sister, who was only concerned that her brother not let go of her hand.

Their turn had come, and the sister had taken the two dishes for them. The lady, who was far too old to spend her time in such a place, rudely splashed their food in their dishes.

"Seol-ah, not tasty." The younger boy whimpered, clutching her dress.

"Kid, eat your fucking food. Otherwise, you'll be hungry." The same lady said before Seol could. She looked at her in disgust, but she knew that if she said anything rude towards her again, they would be homeless this time.

She sighed, took their plates, and told her brother not to let go of her dress. Her eyes darted around the dining hall, hoping to find a free table for them to eat, but there was none. If there were, they were rusted, dusty, and hadn't been cleaned in months.

''Corner?'' He asked with doe eyes, and she sadly smiled as the two of them sat in the farthest corner of the room.

"Yul, the lady is a jerk.''

"What do we do with bad people?" she asked, letting her brother sit in her lap as they began eating.

"No talking, yes ignoring," he said now, his mouth full, taking his biggest gulp.

"Seol do not ignore," he said, pouting. She chuckled as she listened to her brother speak. They couldn't afford the best education, and no one was willing to help them.

"Seol should start doing it,' she suggested. /Otherwise, we'd be homeless again./

She looked around again, noticing that she had her gaze back on her. She couldn't take those stares or the altitude people had on them every day. They were having a difficult time, and no one seemed to care. This is why she despised everyone in this filthy place.

In this orphanage.

A swarm of the younger kids approached them out of nowhere. She hoped they were just going to throw their trash away because the trash can was right around the corner.

"Yul, please put your hands on your ears, okay baby?" She said sweetly as he chewed and closed his eyes.

"Oi oi, the prick is still in here," says the narrator. The tallest of them spoke up. They did not dispose of their garbage. "Pathetic eating in a corner." So why not eat in the trash can? The view will not disgust everyone." Behind them, the other boys continued to mutter.

"No one wants to cause trouble here, Seojun," she said.

"Who asked?''

They got rain from all the trash from the trash can, just as she had predicted. All over them, their clothes, and food that they were no longer going to eat. So that she hugged her brother in order to protect him.

It was too exhausting.

"Look here, someone had fun with scissors, no?" one of the whined. He grabbed her wrist firmly, picking her up in the air with one hand. She hissed in pain and embarrassment as they looked at her wrist cuts, which she was concealing with a bracelet.

''Unnie.'' The younger boy cried.

"Do you need something to put a stop to this little mouth of yours, kid?" The person who started the bullying knelt down to the boy, who was staring at him innocently with those doe eyes.