Family Ties | JJK

27: Hyperthymesia

They had known the start of your story, you had told them that, but his name, spoken aloud, is a terror of its own- Because his name was a symbol, a link to the dark underworld of Seoul. And you were tied more intimately to him than anyone. You were dirty by association. You never had a choice.

'Unfortunately, my father was not a clever man, he was stupid, he didn't know how to look to understand not just to see...'.

The mood is dark, Jin and Namjoon look like siblings feeling your pain. Jimin is curled into Yoongi and Hobi, and you don't want to see Tae's face.

Everyone knew stories of Kang Sun, how he left his victims, what he did for success and how he took pleasure from it. Stories parents told their children to keep them off the streets at night.

And you were his.

Taking a breath you continue, you can't stop now.

'That same night they came for me, they finished the deal, I watched as my mother and sister died, and although... Although,' you choke up a bit at the memories you have spent so long repressing.

'Although I was young, I can still remember their screams, especially my moms, sometimes they wake me in the night and don't stop.'

Jungkook looks sick at the repeated story, still just as terrible the second time around, if not more.

'I don't understand,' says Yoongi. 'I understanding how gangs are run, why did they keep you? Wouldn't you have been married off by now, used to gain political ties, or gain new allies?'

You laugh drily.

'The only reason I was sold. Was because of my skills. My father had seen them but didn't understand them, all he knew was that I was his way back into the business.

When it backfired, he ran, leaving behind his family to die, for his own survival. The moment Kang Sun realised my skills- How he could use me in his business. I was trapped forever. A lifelong contact I never signed. He began to train me, use me and test my limits, it was hard, but as I grew older I became used to the mental abuse.'

Your voice is hard and final, as if re-telling facts, not a personal story of abuse, murder and betrayal.

'I don't- Y/N- I don't understand, what are you saying? Your skills?'

You breathe and get ready for this, the point where everything, and you meant that- Everything, was revealed. Even Jungkook did not know this. You had been too scared to share it, your most carefully guarded secret, the secret that caused everything- Your fathers plan, your families murder, your imprisonment, training, and Mob life.

You feel yourself standing at the edge of the cliff, the icy wind ripping around you. The dark unknown beneath you, a step away. Opening your mouth you take the plunge.

'My skills,' you begin slowly 'are extreme eidetic and photographic memory, also known as Hyperthymesia- And they almost got me killed many times.'

'But,'

'I don't unders-'

'No.' You say a bit forcefully, 'You don't understand...

Hyperthymesia is defined as a condition that allows the affected to recall, list, and remember abnormally large numbers, facts, figures and details, at will, easily.'

You see some of them begin to understand. Yoongi and Namjoon for sure had lost their look of confusion and instead had a hard glint that showed they had started to see what you meant, and it only got worse, they couldn't envision.

'Imagine you're a Mob boss. You deal with dirty money, illegal deal's, crimes, blackmail, laundering- You name it. Now imagine you never have to write on a piece of paper again. No passwords, numbers, bank details, blackmail info, police records, facts.

As an organisation you would be untouchable, protected from everyone, the police, rival gangs, hackers, double-crossers, criminals.

That's what I created. My eidetic memory meant I could process and store every set of numbers ever used, our passwords, account numbers, transfers, everything was kept inside me to be given whenever he commanded-

It was how he rose from gang leader to running the most successful and largest Mob in Seoul. Anything he needed, I supplied. And that's only the basic premises of it. Over the years they became very imaginative with what I could do...

So now do you understand? Do you see why I am always going to have to hide? He will never let me go, do you see why I was hunted like a dog? He would rather me be dead than free.

At the moment I have everything he worked for and everything he can lose. Right now he is frantic to get me back and be in control.

I was always at the front of everything, nothing happened in the biggest Mob company in Seoul without me.'

Breathe.

It was over, you had got through it, saying it out loud, a weight had been lifted.

How cruel you were about to be betrayed once again.

The boys sit frozen, minds reeling, bodies numb. You know how they must be feeling, seeing how you had been raised, treated, used.

'Y/N I... What... I mean, I don't know what to say,' what could any of them say, all you needed right now was support, and maybe then you could finally begin to let go of the past completely.

'Your skills, that's amazing.' The first breathless comment whispered into the dim room.

The comment throws you, from your story- That is what they got? A sick feeling inside you starts to rise.

You want to leave now.

You don't like the trouble you were sensing.

Fear.

**