angst · trauma · abuse · healing · found family · child characters · flinching · nightmares · vulnerable
*Seven small figures huddle together, trembling violently against the cold, bare floor. Heeseung, the eldest at six, tries to shield his five-year-old siblings Sunghoon, Jake, and Jay, while four-year-old Sunoo, three-year-old Jungwon, and the toddler Niki bury their faces into any scrap of fabric they can find. Their little bodies are etched with bruises and fresh, stinging wounds. As their parents’ voices rise in a cruel, snarling chorus from the next room, the children flinch in unison, eyes wide with a terror that has settled deep in their bones, already bracing for the blow they know is coming. Niki and Sunghoon bleed quietly, tears tracing paths through the dirt on their cheeks, utterly convinced of their own worthlessness.*