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Hello Army 💜

The alarm buzzed quietly on Taehyung’s old phone, vibrating against the floor beside his thin mattress. His hand reached out automatically, silencing it before it got too loud. The room remained dim, lit only by the early blue glow of the city seeping through the small window.

Taehyung sat up slowly. His back ached from sleeping on the floor—again. The mattress was cheap, just like the apartment, but it was all he could afford to accept with gratitude. He had been living here for over a year and nine months now. A small, two-bedroom unit tucked behind a noisy alleyway in northern Seoul, far enough from campus to be inconvenient, but cheap enough .

The apartment was lifeless. Cold, lifeless ,silent. Functional. The kind of place that didn’t feel like home—just somewhere to pass through.

He moved quietly through his morning routine the bathroom doesn't have a geyser and it's winter the water is cold as ice but Taehyung manages .

At the kitchen he boiled water for Instant coffee. A half-piece of toast . He didn’t make much noise—didn’t want to wake the person behind the other bedroom door.

His roommate, Joonho, was someone he still didn’t know, even after more than a year of sharing a roof. They weren’t friends. Not even civil.

The landlord of this apartment cheat with him and his family the landlord show some better apartment but after taehyung shift landlord send him here for tell he have live here for few months before the apartment ready but it's never get ready and taehyung try to talk landlord but the landlord say he can leave tha apartment . It's not like taehyung try to find new apartment but other are very expensive and cheap are more worth then this one he can't tell his parents because he don't want stress them or burden them more for his expensive he eventually accept it

Joonho was loud, unpredictable, and careless. He came home late, often reeking of alcohol or worse. He trashed the kitchen, blasted music at night,used taehyung vegetables, and breads but he didn't pay him back and ignored every shared responsibility.

Taehyung had tried once—just once—to talk to him. The look he got in return was so cold, so threatening, yelling and some beating that why he never brought it up again.

Still, he stayed. Because what choice did he have?

What his father didn’t know was that the apartment was falling apart. The heater barely worked in winter. The water pressure in the shower came and went. Some nights, Joonho’s friends crashed in the living room, laughing loudly while Taehyung tried to study with earplugs in after joonho friend left and he cleaned the whole apartment but he couldn't even complain

His father could afford better. That was the worst part.

Kim Hyungwoo worked twelve-hour shifts at the construction company in Suncheon, and everyone in town said he was one of the highest-paid team leads. Their middle-class life was hard, but not hopeless. He could have easily sent Taehyung a little more money. Enough for a cleaner place. A real bed. A hot meal once a day.

But Taehyung never asked.

He couldn’t.

Flashback – One Year Ago

“Don’t expect luxury just because you’re in Seoul,” his father had snapped over the phone.

“I know, Appa,” Taehyung had said quietly, already standing in a cold, empty apartment with no curtains and peeling wallpaper.

“I’m not paying for you to live like a king. You want comfort, earn it. Until then, study harder.”

Click.

Taehyung had stared at the screen for a long time after the call ended. He could’ve told him. Could’ve said, “Appa, the heater’s broken. There’s mold in the kitchen. My roommate is dangerous.”

But he didn’t.

Because in Hyungwoo’s eyes, taehyung is asking for money for a false reason . He thinks Taehyung wants money because to enjoy life in seoul not for apartment and money was earned by worth and he doesn't know that the landlord cheated on them and taehyung never told them because he doesn't want to put more burden on his parents. And hyungwoo thinks Taehyung hadn’t proven his worth yet and he didn't even score good in the test

Back in the present, the apartment was quiet—too quiet. He sipped bitter coffee and checked his phone.

Appa: Did you check your last score? I want proof. Don’t lie to me again.

He didn’t reply.

Because last time he lied that he scored good in the summer semester so his dad can't scold him or threaten him to bring him back to home don't let him study

Taehyung father got know that he scored low in summer semester and lie to him so when he went home for summer break taehyung dad yell at him for lying to him and his dad give him last chance to prove he can do better get good score in winter semester and that time he show disappointment and betrayal in his parents eyes and siblings eyes

There was a noise that brought him back from his thought—the click of a door opening. The bedroom light turned on  and came out of the room

Joonho

Taehyung stilled, waiting for the door to shut again. There was no greeting. There never was. Just the sound of him spitting into the sink, and then slamming the door closed.

Their silence wasn’t peaceful. It was suffocating.

He tightened the strap on his backpack. Inside were books for Business Administration, his major—something his father had chosen for him. “It will make money, taehyung nodded silently agrees with his dad  

Taehyung once loved drawing. Music. Photography. But none of those fit the future his father demanded. So, he studied business. Because surviving meant obeying.

Outside, Seoul had started to stir. Cold air bit at his face as he stepped out into the street, blending into the crowd of workers and students, all rushing somewhere.

Nobody knew his story. Nobody asked. And maybe that was a blessing.

But as he boarded the subway toward campus, the same thoughts haunted him.

“What if I never make it? What if I’m wasting everything?”

He clutched the strap of his bag tighter.

No.

He couldn’t afford to think like that.

Because back in Suncheon, a quiet city a couple hours from Busan, his family was waiting. His mother, Kim Minaya, who always smiled gently but whose eyes held worry. His sister Hana, now finishing her last year of high school. His brother Minjae, barely sixteen, already expected to follow in his footsteps.

And his father, who beat him with words and hands, but still paid the bills.

Taehyung took a deep breath as the subway sped toward his university.

One more day. One more chance. For them. For himself.

💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

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