✨ The Devil's Darling ✨

3

“Do it,” Joon-seok’s voice cut like a blade. “If you hesitate, you’re still a boy. If you shoot, you’re a man.”

The Choice

Taehyung raised the gun. His heartbeat pounded in his ears. The man’s eyes locked on his, desperate, pleading.

“Please…” the man mumbled through the gag, tears running down his face.

For a moment, Tae faltered. His hands shook. His vision blurred.
I can’t… I can’t…

Then he heard his father’s voice in his head, drunken and cruel:
“You’re useless. You’re low class. You’ll never be anything.”

He heard the neighbors spitting insults:
“Idiot. Beggar. Trash.”

And then, like a flame, he saw his mother—coughing, thin, eyes filled with love but weighed by suffering.

Tears burned in his eyes. His jaw clenched.

BANG!

The shot echoed in the room. The man’s body slumped lifelessly to the floor.

***

Aftermath

The gun fell heavy in Tae’s hand. His chest heaved, sweat dripping down his temple. His ears rang with the echo of the shot.

Joon-seok smiled, slow and cold. He clapped once.
“Well done, Taehyung. The boy is gone. Now… you’re a wolf.”

The room erupted in applause from the gang members. But Tae didn’t hear it. He stood frozen, staring at the lifeless body on the floor.

His stomach twisted. He wanted to vomit, to scream—but instead, he bit his tongue until blood filled his mouth.

When the men cheered his name—“Taehyung! Kim Taehyung!”—he stood tall, his face unreadable.
But deep inside, a small piece of him cracked forever.

---

That Night

Alone in his room, he washed his hands over and over, scrubbing until his skin was raw.
The man’s eyes wouldn’t leave his mind. The sound of the gunshot replayed endlessly.

But then, he whispered to himself in the dark:
“This is for you, Mom. I’ll climb so high… no one will ever hurt us again.”

And for the first time, he believed it.

***
The Return