Truth (Minjoon) ✅

Seventeen

Third Person POV

Jimin eventually pulled away from the man, smiling slightly.

“Thank you for sharing.” He muttered shyly.

“Thank you for listening. May I ask something, now?”

“It’s only fair.”

“What of your childhood? I’ve heard a few things, but I don’t know the full extent.”

“Well...u-um…”

“Only if you’re comfortable, Minnie, I don’t want you to feel forced to tell me.”

“No, it’s fine. I-I...I’ve just never told a-anyone before.”

“What do you mean?” Jimin shrugged.

“Jungkook...was too young to really understand, a-and I’ve never really told him how bad it actually was. A-and nobody else knew except for father and mother.”

“What happened?”

“I presented when I was twelve.” Jimin said, sighing. “My father was immensely proud. You see, I have always been a bit small and feminine, which off put my father. He was always a little mean and would always tell me that I’d better have a strong gift, or there would be no purpose in having me as his son. He always scared me with things like that, saying that he’d throw me away like a mistake if I didn’t at least have a powerful gift to make up for my...physical attributes.

“I’m not very physically strong, I often get sick easily. I’m not really...manly, as my father wished. Jungkook fit that criteria a little better. He was taller than me at seven, and my father always favored him a bit more. Not that I would ever hold it against him, I love Jungkook with everything I have, and Jungkook never held the fact that father loved him more than me over me, so I’ve always been grateful for that.

“But when I presented, everything changed. I was suddenly the star child. The golden heir. Everybody loved me, all because I was powerful. People who had always been cruel to me growing up suddenly became my best friends. Old nobles who always looked down upon me suddenly bowed at my feet. I hated all of it.”

“Just because you could borrow someone else’s ability?” Namjoon asked. “Don’t get me wrong, it is a very strong gift, but—“

“It isn’t the only thing I can do.” Jimin whispered.

“It isn’t?” Namjoon sat up straighter. “What do you mean?”

“I can...steal someone ability, not just borrow it. I can rip it from them and never give it back, so that they no longer have an ability. And I’m also immune to the effects of someone else’s power.”

“Wh—“

“Like your fire. Or any other element. It can’t hurt me. Mind controlling abilities don’t work on me. I’m immune to all of it.”

“And you can do more than borrow...you can steal?”

“I would never do it though. That’s something worse than death. I never wanted to be so cruel as to rip something like that from someone. I’d basically be stealing their will to live.”

Namjoon nodded, now struck a little speechless.

“My father was overjoyed, as I said, but I’m sure you've already figured that out. He wanted to use me. I was thirteen the first time he took me down to the dungeons and shoved me in front of a cell.”

“What did he do?” Namjoon asked gently. Jimin bit his bottom lip, looking away.

“I didn’t want to do it.” He said quietly. “I really didn’t.”

“What did he make you do, Jimin?”

“H-he made me take his power...rip it from him. I-I didn’t want to. H-he...he made me u-use it on h-him and t...torture him w-with it.”

“He made you torture someone with their own ability?” Namjoon asked quietly. Jimin nodded, wiping the tears flowing from his eyes.

“I-I still haven’t forgiven myself f-for doing it. I still h-have nightmares. B-but father wanted m-me to do it again. And again. H-he wanted me to go to war with him a-and kill the whole a-army with just my power.”

“Which he knew you could do.”

“Y-Yeah.”

“So what happened?”

“I grew ill. It was bad, I had a horrible fever and everyone was afraid that I-I would die. My father brought in the best healers around to make sure that didn’t happen. B-but I saw an opportunity…”

“To fake loosing your ability.”

“Yeah…” Jimin looked away. “When I recovered...my father tried making me use my power again. But I...I told him I couldn’t.”

“He believed you?”

“H-he didn’t. T-that was the first time h...he whipped me.”

Namjoon frowned and grabbed Jimin's hand to hold it. To comfort him.

“My gift can’t be sensed. My father had a noble with the ability to read others power and tell what they were and how strong they were. But mine is...well it’s undetectable when not in use, since technically I am not using abilities of my own, but someone else’s.”

“So there was no way to tell if I was lying or not other than to beat it out of me.”

Jimin nodded.

“H-he tried for about three months before giving up. H-he locked me in the dungeon for…” Jimin stopped.

“How long, Jimin?” Namjoon gently prodded.

“A...a year.” Jimin whispered. “One day he came down, holding a dress. He made me put it on and dragged me upstairs. Without bathing me or anything he threw me into court and told everyone that I was his daughter. A princess he’d hidden away, ashamed of because she didn’t have any ability.” Jimin laughed quietly.

Sadly.

“I-I remember seeing Jungkook. His eyes wide and scared. He’d been made heir, and given Lisa as his fiancé. He was respected in court, for his ability. He’d been told that I’d died.

“H-he really thought that I was his sister. My father made me tell him so, that I couldn’t tell him otherwise. B-but he found out about two months later. I was whipped for it. I-I also had guards. And they’d find out eventually, too. They’d be killed, and I’d be whipped.”

Namjoon ground his jaw the more Jimin described it.

And never had he been more glad to kill Jimin's father.