As I have nothing to give you, I give you my heart (IU Verse Book#1)

Chapter 1

Sadness. Pain. Neglected. Abandoned. These are the only emotions that Lee Jihyuk has felt throughout his entire life. From his childhood up until his adulthood of 27 years old, He has never felt a glimpse of any positive emotions. Heck, it was not his fault; he was an obedient child to his parents; well, he would have still been if he still had one; if they had not abandoned him when he was merely a child. His father was a lowly farmer and he was addicted to drugs and had died due to drug overdose shortly after Jiyhuk was born. As for his mother, instead of becoming stronger and taking it upon herself to raise her son on her own, she fell into drinking and became addicted to alcohol; and had come home and beaten him on more than one occasion. One evening, their neighbors had called the Child Protective Services because they had had enough of the little boy's screams echoing the walls. The social workers who arrived at the house took Jihyuk away despite his mother's protests.

They took him to an orphanage where he was raised until his teenage years; that's when his mother came back barging into his life and demanded that he goes with her. He complied, because well, he truly missed his mother. He thought she had sobered up and got rid of anything alcohol related, but he was wrong. His mother returned to the routine of beating him up whenever the alcohol gets into her system. He was forced to find a part time job to pay for her alcohol and eating expenses, but it wasn't enough for her. When he fell ill one day due to stress and overwork and wasn't able to buy her more alcohol, she had beaten him and kicked him out. Hence, he was back at the orphanage. Since then his mother had not tried to bring him back, and he was for once glad that she didn't.

Once he reached eighteen, he left the orphanage and began scouting for any jobs that he could find with the little knowledge that he had. Because he was raised in an orphanage, he did not get a chance to attend school and was taught by the caretakers. He was shy and introverted, and had a stutter since birth, so he was bullied and made fun of by other orphans. He did not have friends; and he often found himself alone in his room reading books from the orphanage; anything related to the subjects taught in schools. He started learning on his own and with the help from the caretakers, he was able to speak coherently at times and did not stutter as much. He stuttered occasionally when he got nervous or scared. The one thing that seemed to trigger his stutter was the bullying from the other orphans, which makes him easier to pick on. The caretakers decided to turn a blind eye, because well, they weren't paid enough to deal with this.

He did not find any jobs that would accept him with the knowledge that he had. He could not find a place to sleep nor a roof on top of his head, so he was often found on the streets. He was taught not to beg others for money, or to steal, so he did none of those things and remained hungry for many days. One evening, someone had found him and changed his life forever. This person, a mysterious man, helped him back on his feet, gave him a place to stay and trained him to be strong. This person taught him the very martial skills that he obtained today; and allowed him to stay until he was independent enough to stand on his own feet. It was evident to the mysterious man that Jihyuk was interested in law and the crime field, given that he had always seemed to borrow those kinds of books whenever he made a trip to the public library. So he made some calls to his old friend who works for the National Police Agency to ask for a favor. Not long Jihyuk was appointed as an intern in the Violent Crimes Unit; and because of his dedication and hard work, he soon began to climb up the ladder and became one of the agency's top agents.

Flashforward to the present; he is now standing in front of The National Police Agency of Korea, his hands on his sides with a folder tucked in his right hand. He took a deep breath before entering the building. People were moving to and fro; no one had noticed him slipped into the elevator to the 14th floor, looking weary and extremely agitated. He got off the elevator, ignoring the glances people through at him as he passed them in the hallway. He took a sharp turn on the right and stopped in front of the only office on this floor. He cautiously knocked on the door and went in after he heard a muffled, "come in" from inside.