BOOK 2 of 'Bubblegum Gucci Punk & Gangster Model Hunk'
•Be it night or be it day, the voices in his head, always mange to stay•
Ex-underground fighter and overnight sensational idol Park Dae Ho, dropped out of sight, making the people of South Korea...
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"What am I supposed to do now?" Dae Ho asks as he settles on the hospital bed after his physiotherapy session.
"Just rest for now. You'll be discharged in a few days."
"No, that's not what I mean..." The fighter shakes his head and leans back. "I don't have a job nor will I go back to the underworld obviously. I feel lost, there's no direction. My life in the last five years has been hunting down Vee. To make him pay for what he did. But now...I feel purposeless, there's no meaning in life."
Haneul sucks in a breath and licks his lips. "Your life doesn't define into revenge, Dae. There's so much more out there for you."
"You don't understand, Haneul. Yes, I chose to walk down the path myself but I was forced to. My sister was killed in front of my eyes and I had to sacrifice my career when I was at my peak and cut off relationships because they threatened that you would be next along with the others. I was scared." Dae Ho gulps on his spit and focuses his gaze on his thighs. "I left you when the one person that I needed the most was you," he whispers, scraping his nails against the inside of his palm.
"I understand." Haneul's eyes soften at admission, his hand reaching for the younger's wrist and lightly squeezing it in reassurance. "But you could've reached out to the police."
Dae Ho snorts, scoffing at the ridiculousness of the doctor's words. "Sometimes you forget the difference between the classes you and me belong to. I'm someone that would be called, a rat that grew up on the streets. And people like me don't believe in the law and its judicial system. All we have is to rely on ourselves."
"You weren't just a nobody, Dae Ho. You were a rising idol."
"The first ever memory that I remember is not the smiling faces of my parents but waking up in a cold basement, half-naked, with bandages wrapped around my body. Alone and scared." Dae Ho sighs, a ghost of a sad smile touching his lips. "So, even if my life turned around in my adulthood, you can't change the earlier years that shaped my personality and beliefs. I am what I am because of all my experiences."
Haneul stands up and wraps his arms around Dae Ho in a comforting embrace, providing him a safe haven that he always is ready with. "It's okay. There's nothing wrong with being how you are. You're perfectly fine. I just want you to be happy with yourself."
"And how do I do that?"
"Do you really want my opinion on this?" Haneul breaks away from the hug and moves back to sit on the stool.
"Yes."
"I want you to go to rehab."
"What...?"
"The first step to start anew should be you going to rehab for your alcohol addiction. The programs also have therapy. I think that'll do you good."
"I can handle myself, I don't need some stranger to make me talk and sugarcoat things." Dae Ho's previously aloofness is replaced with a stern expression, not open for further debate.
