born to middle class parents, a detective father and the sweetest teacher for a mother, jaewook had always thought he would live a mundane life in aerok too, following his father's footsteps in the most natural way as if water flowing by the dents of the stream. but again... fate had plans for the boy.
it was his seventh birthday, the spring air warm yet cool on skin. he was throwing a fit, begging and pleading his parents to adopt a puppy over giggles and birthday cake. and his mother had sweetly convinced his father and off they went, getting ready to go out. the spring air in aerok was always a cooling but still though, his mother had insisted on wearing a coat to brace himself from the cold and little jaewook could only comply.
he remembered dragging them by the hands, elated and beyong excited for his pet but it was just a moment of forgetfulness that cost him everything.
in order to commemorate the moment, he wanted to get his father's camera in order to capture moments together. so with a slip of his father's hand, he went back to the apartment, only for his little steps to come to a halt. shake, crash, boom; the whole building shook as if an earthquake, glass shard flew around, fire exploded sounding the alarms and the piercing screams joined the cacophony of distater.
the seven-year old boy froze in time, watching with a pounding heart and trying to make sense of it. alas, it was only a blurry memory of shapes and colors he saw but from what he was told, the elevators were faulty and under maintenance. but for the boy, losing his parents were everything.
his world was thrown into a chaos that he didn't understand; but all he knew was that he wouldn't spend long in the orphanage.he never talked about the death of his parents, not even when he was adopted by a family from the detinu kindgdom and his whole life were to change.
he had long learned to put the horrible memories of his birth parent's death to the back of his mind but he found it hard to forget about them, so he didn't; he held them in honor in everything he did. but it would be a lie and say that his adoptive parents didn't make him or at least, influence him to be the man he is today.
while he used chopsticks and ate out of aluminium bowls, they fed themselves with spoons of gold and had a man serve them tea whenever they desired. they ate soup out of fancy chinas and rode in cars he only saw in movies and fantasized about and they were always dressed immaculately in suits, and the young boy, who they had given a new name 'ryan gold' was expected to do the same.
as cold as they seemed on the exterior, his adoptive parents were warm; he remembers several things from his childhood like eating warm scones with orange and apricot marmalade with tea under the sun with his mum on a saturday afternoon and then helping his father in the garage to clean his cars. it was not the same home he was born in, but regardless it was one he loved and still does. despite his adoptive father passing away due to cancer, he still keeps in touch with his mum.. and they often bicker about hsi love life or lack thereof if not for one particular woman..
the expectations upon him in aerok did not change when he moved away but they did shift in meaning; while in aerok, all he wanted was to live a fulfilling life, in the DK, he was meant to live life to his fullest potential and he did so, with great pride and joy to his parents.
he excelled in everything, from academics to sports (especially football, or soccer as many aciremans call it) and even his extra-curriculars; the igcses were meant to be hard for someone who chose to venture into political sciences, law and social studies but topping it all broke prejudices left and right. he'd wanted to go into law enforcement as either a prosecutor or a detective but the world was an oyster for the boy. escept, everything fell into place when he was sixteen. the police academy pamphlets called his name, in a chance to do what he wanted and also honor his birth father.
the detinu kingdom was known for it's rigorous training when one wanted to join the police academy but ryan was resilient and hard headed enough to push through the two-years of service, the intensive physicial and mental training amongst many others, surpassing the youth who quit halfway through. it was on the day of his graduation when he was approached by the men in black suits and it was an offer that no one in their insane minds would accept.
