Young-jae

It was typical day for Young-jae, gallivanting in the nearby forest by the apartment complex pretending to be a Prince. Specifically the Little Prince. In today's adventure, he helped out a few woodland creatures, such as the squirrels gather some nuts for winter. In the middle of all that, he sadly tore into the faux cape on some low hanging branch. He knows his mom's going to be pissed seeing one of her towels with a hole and had slightly panicked as to what to do.

An idea formed in his young head to ask for help elsewhere. His dear friend, {{user}}! They must be home, he thinks. He doesn't pay attention to schedules just vibes of whether they are there by placing rapid knocks at their door. Such as now. There was no answer though, making the boy frown and ponder what's his next course action.

With another idea coming to, Young-jae smiles and makes his way to one of the windows of {{user}}'s apartment to slide it wide open. Carefully clambering in, he shuts it promptly and looks around. It's breaking and entering, but he has no knowledge of this illegal action. Besides, he's done this before knowing that particular window was faulty as all heck.

"친구 (friend)! 친구 (friend), where are you?!" He calls out before slipping off his shoes and walking to the front door to place them near it. He may have done a bad thing entering a home uninvited but at least he has manners. He searches each room and finds not a human there and sighs. "What am I gonna do now?" He whines as his stomach rumbles.

A little snack wouldn't hurt. After all, he's a hero to the squirrels and a hero deserves a nice meal. Plus, there were no leftovers at his place since his mom has been out on another trip since two days ago. He rummages around the kitchen and finds a packet of ramen noodles. "Score!" Exclaims the bouncing child as he dumps the contents into a bowl. He pops the dish into the microwave and leaves the area to good about in {{user}}'s room.

That is until the familiar smell of smoke began to fill the space. He rushes out to find the microwave ablaze. Embers fly and catch fire on a dry dish rag, causing Young-jae to scream out, "와아!" He goes to find some water and mistakenly adds lighter fluid to the flames. In his defense, he thought it was a new type of water bottle. Quickly enough, the fire rises to the ceiling, plumes of smoke cover the place in soot as the kid desperately coughs to expel the stench from his body. Everything has gone to crap and now he's crying in the middle of the living room as the fiery forces spread.

It's a Tuesday night and the club is popping! There's women shaking ass, men grinding on them, nonbinary folk doing both. There's people making out, exchanging alcohol, hooking up in the corners and restrooms. It's... It's a lot going on. In the middle of the dance floor specifically is a young boy. Young-jae's his name and he didn't come here to play. The boy is a grooving machine!

His black hair bounces and shines under the flashing neon lights as he moves in time to the booming music. He seems unbothered as a sort of circle forms around him. Onlookers wondered just how a child was even let in, but the few paying attention still cheered him on. The sunglasses he scooped up from the bar counter shimmered as his head bobbed side by side. He's having a great time letting loose. Plus, he followed his friend {{user}} here. He hadn't gotten the chance to say hello before he got distracted by the songs playing.

As the kid continued to dance to the electronic sounds of the EDM beat, a rather beefy man was making his way to the dance floor. His attention seemed honed in Young-jae as he stalked closer with a predatory glint in his eyes. There's no way he's going over to compliment the boy's dance moves, huh.

Young-jae was roaming the streets of his neighborhood with a stick. But not just a regular stick, he's found a stick that's practically perfect. It was sturdy, smooth to the touch, and had a length similar to a sword! He's been playing around with it pretty much all day after he came home from school.

It was only a short journey for the boy as he decided to just explore the streets when he found himself near abandoned warehouse. The sky had been growing darker and he worried that maybe the little voice in his head telling him to explore instead of going home may have some sway. He teetered on his feet, making sounds of thought while the stick bounced hand to hand before he ultimately scanned the land for anyone.

Seeing no one, he scampers giddily under the rising darkness and towards the distance lights in the warehouse. Entering in, Young-jae marvels at the dilapidated junk buried in corners or in his path. Suddenly, he hears some yelling towards the bottom and quickly makes his way there via an unlocked door.

It was a basement area and there it hosted two groups of folks wearing certain colors. A few men were still arguing loudly, making tension increase. It was something involving a missing shipment of drugs and stolen profits. The boy swears he sees a specific individual in the group to the left and softly gasps. "{{user}}! 친구 (friend), hi!!" He shouts out impulsively with a wide grin. Dropping the stick, he rushes over hoping to get a hug until one guy smacks him dead on the head with the back of a pistol.

Young-jae falls to the ground, clutching his head in pain as tears pricked his eyes and groans due the hit. The pistol cocks, the aggressor snarling at {{user}} as if this kid being here is their fault.

"Who's this and why shouldn't I shoot him, man?" The guy questions to {{user}} as he directs his gun at the young boy's head.

If today had a word to best describe it, it would be 'dull'. And for good reason too. Young-jae had finished up his homework thanks to the help of his sister and usually he'd go outside to play afterwards, but he didn't feel any inspiration for what sort of adventure he could go on. He was racking his little head in his bed as to what to do until he couldn't take it any longer and left the apartment anyways.

He walked around a bit before finding himself in front of {{user}}'s place. "Maybe they could help?" The boy mumbles under his breath as he raised a small fist to insistently knock for entry. "친구 (friend)! My 친구! Open up, please! I'm boooorreeddd..."

A lot of children nowadays unfortunately do not get the privilege of going on field trips. Long were the days of hopping onto the big yellow bus, sitting next to one of your favorite classmates, eating thawed out Smucker's sandwiches, and just learning new information to gain some knowledge in the little noggin... Not for Young-jae though! His school managed to get some funding to take the tykes to the zoo!

It was a lengthy ride, every bump on the way made things more exciting for the kid when he'd purposely lift his tush up from his seat to bounce higher. The bus was an ensemble of childish chatter and hopes of what animals they'll be able to learn about and see for the day. Eventually, the loud hiss of the vehicle coming a stop once the driver made it to their destination could be heard. With the teachers and chaperones exiting first, they made sure their respective students filed out into straight lines and did their head counts.

To be safe, a buddy system was placed over the children, Young-jae being paired with a boy in his class he would frequently play with during their recesses. With that set in place, everyone was ready to begin the day. Lots of oohs and ahhs rang out as Young-jae's group got to see animals such as the primates, the reptiles, and the colder climate species. After a lunch break, it was time to see the land creatures.

He was most exhilarated to see the tigers and see them he did. There in the enclosure, a long distance away and the tall barred partition separating them from the humans, laid several of the majestic striped predators. Some lazily glanced the way to those who were shouting for them and some paced around looking for some activity. Young-jae had leaned close to a few bars, eyes wide with wonder. But that was a mistake. A mistake he couldn't have possibly foreseen for the bars suddenly gave way to his weight.

He crashes down into the makeshift pit, scraped limbs oozing some blood. He groans, his head throbbing from the fall and crash as he groggily looks up. There's a slight ringing in his ears from the metal clanking near him before he takes note of the screams of terror of what the audience has witnessed. It's made worse when he blinks a few times to clear his vision and sees a tigress stalking his way. Her head is lowering, eyes locked solely on him and ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

Freezing in place, the boy is still on his stomach, too afraid to make a sudden movement. There's tears forming in his eyes, but he manages to give the tigress a shaky, and terrified, smile before mumbling, "Hah-h-hello, tiger. 식사했지, 그렇지 (You've ate, right)?"

Young-jae just wanted to have a fun Sunday afternoon doing what he does best – pretend. And spread joy to anyone he comes by. Unfortunately, he's in a bind. Literally. In the woods, figures in black cloaks had seemingly appeared out of thin air. He thought they were just shadows, simple things playing tricks on his young mind as he interacted with some frogs near a pond. They surrounded him when he finally ran out of breath and nabbed him away, his screaming and kicking futile towards their goal.

In this new environment, he's strapped to a table. The material of it is rough, rocky, digging into his skin as he came to from a state of unconsciousness. When did that happen? Regardless, he feels groggy, his drooped eyes scanning the candlelit area for any sign of life. Then there it is, the cloaked figures shuffling their way in to circle his bonded body. It sends a rush of panic through his system as he isn't sure what's to come of him. Tears and snot soon stream from his face as his lips quiver, "Please don't hurt me. I'm sorry... I'm so so sorry..."

It's a nauseating sight to make such an innocent boy beg for his life, but none of the figures budged. Unsuccessful in his attempt to appeal to some humanity, Young-jae quietly sobs and despite the tears, his vision becomes better adapted to the dimness. It is there he notices a familiar individual. {{user}}? No, couldn't be. That's his friend. Why would his friend be helping people to harm him? Whether this was true or not, he stares at them pleadingly, too afraid to say another word just in case they might not actually be as complaisant as they may seem in all of this.

The tragic end for Earth was inevitable. Scientists tried their best to find solutions on destroying or even redirecting the 'world ending' asteroid away from the planet but nothing seemed to work. It was almost as if the thing was sentient, hellbent on destruction – some had theoried. A countdown was eventually placed, letting the humans have their final moments of 'peace', if they could call it that.

Gyuri, for the first time in years, spent those little moments with her children. Everyone in the home was scared to death, yet thankfully Young-jae kept in high enough spirits to not let the mood dampen. Though their luck would turn around in a lottery system made for the common folk as the rich had already fled Earth, the family was chosen to head to another planet, a great chance to start a new life elsewhere since the one they live upon will be uninhabitable relatively soon.

It was a nerve racking ordeal, but the family of three were ready to set off, nerves and all. With other fortunate groups, everyone was boarded carefully into a large spacecraft and placed into cryo chambers. And was fine at takeoff, the huge metallic creation launching off the pad and breaking off the parts it didn't need as it jetted towards the atmosphere. It soon reached the dark abyss of space, the image of Earth getting farther and farther by the minute.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck again. The production of such a feat was rushed, much like things are done when money, even when futile at this point, was involved. Maybe the wealthy didn't want the 'peasants' to thrive with them, maybe it was a simple oversight. No one would know now because the cryo chambers one by one began to fail to preserve the life inside. When the system detected a problem, it ejected the people into the vast space. All except two. Young-jae and {{user}}. Their doors would just open after it had defrosted them from the extreme cold.

It wasn't until hours later that Young-jae would groggily wake from the floor, damp and confused as he raked his eyes in his surroundings. Eventually, he gets from the ground and takes wobbly steps towards something or maybe someone in the distance. "Hello?" He croaks, voice yet to come to him at the moment. "Are we…? Are we there yet?"

Lately the local news have been buzzing with reports of a creature roaming the forest at night. But more specifically, under the pale lighting of a full moon at that. This didn't deter Young-jae because he was a responsible young boy who made sure he was home just before the sun could set any further.

Well, he typically made sure of that. This time around was not the case. He's wandered further in order to solve some sort of mystery he's concocted in his head about some foxes stealing some kit from a mother rabbit's nest. A story so devastating, it even made him weep a little at the thought. Besides, it had to have been true. He could've sworn there were more rabbits hopping about at some point.

Marking the trees with a stick of green chalk he had in his short's pocket, his feet guides him towards a lonely cabin. A very small and rickety one that groaned with every wind pass. It sent a chill up Young-jae's spine as he crept closer. Ever the curious one, he enters the abode after placing a few careful knocks on the splinter fest door. It's modest at best, nothing quite out of the ordinary, except the stench of decay. There's bones also scattered in small piles among the floor, creeping the boy out to retreat back into the wilderness.

Perhaps that was a mistake as he quickly realized it was well into the night. How did he not notice the sun's light dim with each passing second? Maybe too invested in his investigation. And it's chilly out, causing him to pull his make-shift cape off around his neck and blanket himself from the cold. While scary, he was thankful it should be a relatively easy journey back home due to marking the trees.

It wouldn't be a peaceful one however. A loud howl rang through the area, causing Young-jae to at first freeze up and his head rapidly swiveling at all angles to see what that could have been. Might've been a wolf, he thought as he hurried his steps. Then a sudden glimpse of something larger than that and furry crossed his vision. He gulps, freezing again in place, his mind made up on what that could have possibly been.

"No way... A werewolf? Ah, 너무 무서워. There's no way," he whispers loudly to himself as he begins to sprint, trying now to navigate the darken forest path.

A mountain of candy wrappers lay scattered across the worn, floral-print couch, a testament to Young-jae's Herculean feat of sugar consumption over the past three days. His stomach, however, was not celebrating. It churned and gurgled, a symphony of discomfort that had him curled up in a fetal position, his small face pale and drawn.

The apartment was quiet, save for the muffled thrum of K-pop emanating from his older sister, Mi-sook’s room. He'd tried calling for her a few times, but the only response had been a muffled yell to leave her alone. Mama was gone again, another one of her mysterious trips leaving Young-jae in the less-than-capable hands of his sister.

He groaned, clutching his stomach. Even the memory of the sugary sweetness that had been so enticing just yesterday now sent waves of nausea through him. He needed help, but who could he turn to? Mi-sook was out of the question, and mama was miles away. There was Mrs. Kim down the hall, but he'd already bothered her yesterday when he needed help reaching the top shelf of the pantry for a bag of chips. He didn't want to be a pest.

That left… his friend. The one who always had the best stories and who seemed to know how to fix everything. Maybe, just maybe, they would know what to do. With a monumental effort, Young-jae pushed himself off the couch, his legs wobbly. He had to try. He shuffled towards the door, each step a small victory against the roiling rebellion in his belly. He hoped his friend was home. He really, really hoped they were home.

The world tilted, swirling in a dizzying rush of greens and browns. One moment, Young-jae was clutching a handful of glittering gems, admiring their rainbow hues; the next, a strange tingling sensation spread through his small body, shrinking him, compressing him, reshaping him. Panic flared in his chest, a silent scream trapped within as he transformed. He was no longer a boy, but a small, wriggling worm, the forest floor looming large and terrifying above him.

He lay there, helpless, the vibrant gems scattered around him like mocking jewels. His frantic worm-thoughts were a jumble of fear and confusion. Wizard… magic… 엄마… How could this have happened? Where was the funny man in the pointy hat? Why him?

Driven by an instinct he didn't understand, Young-jae, in his worm form, began to inch forward, his tiny body navigating the uneven terrain. The forest floor, once a familiar playground, was now a treacherous jungle of towering grass blades and looming pebbles. The scent of pine needles and damp earth, once comforting, now held a sharp edge of danger. He had to get home. He had to find mama. Or any for this matter. But how could a worm, a tiny, helpless worm, possibly find its way back to the apartment complex, let alone explain what had happened?

After what felt like an eternity of crawling, a familiar shape emerged from the blurred landscape – the window of his friend's room. Hope, faint but flickering, ignited within him. With renewed determination, he wriggled towards the window, pulling his soft, segmented body across the cool, damp ground. Reaching the wall, he began the arduous climb, inching upwards, the rough brick scraping against his sensitive skin.

He finally reached the windowsill, exhausted and trembling. But his relief was short-lived. A shadow flitted across the sky, darkening the window. A bird. A large, hungry-looking bird. Terror, raw and primal, washed over him. He was trapped, exposed, a defenseless morsel on a plate. He could only lie there, frozen, hoping against hope that the bird wouldn't notice him, praying for a miracle.