The van rolled to a stop with a low screech.
Taejin didn't move. He could feel the engine's heartbeat die out, replaced by a heavy silence that pressed against his ears.
Then—SLAM. The back doors burst open.
"Out."
The voice was bored, mechanical like it was used to saying this way to often that it became irritating.
Chains clinked as Taejin stepped down onto the cracked pavement. The cuffs around his ankles dug into his skin, every step echoing like a countdown.
He looked up.
Barbed wire coiled like vipers above rusted fences. Cameras swivelled lazily overhead whether they worked or not Taejin couldnt tell. The sky was a dull grey — not stormy, just... empty. As if even the clouds didn't want to look down on this place.
Around him, there were other teens.Some were massive, built like they'd bench press the guards if given a chance.Others looked broken, like ghosts wearing skin.
Some eyes burned with rage.Others were hollow.But they all had one thing in common.
They were going in.
Whether it was their first time or their third — it didn't matter.They were about to be swallowed whole by what society called the pits of the legal system — a modern-day "No Man's Land."
Taejin exhaled slowly. "Welcome to hell." the guard grinned.
The large colourless gates opened with a hiss and a metallic grind, parting like the jaws of a beast ready to swallow its prey a whole.
Inside, the air changed.
It was colder. Sterile. Too clean in that way where you knew something horrific had been scrubbed away recently—blood, vomit, or maybe just the last trace of someone's body. The kind of clean that smelled like bleach, metal and misery.
The walls were lined with faded paint, like the colour had given up trying to exist. Buzzing half functioning lights flickered above, casting long, broken shadows and the occasional dim of light.
CLANG CLANG
His shackles scraped with each step. He tried not to flinch.
Every noise echoed too loudly, like the building wanted to memorize the rhythm of his arrival.
A guard led the way. Another walked behind him, baton tapping lightly against his palm.
They passed a long hallway, each door they passed thicker than the last. Some had small glass panels with metal mesh. Behind one, Taejin caught the stare of another inmate—young, maybe thirteen, face bruised and bloody an unfortunate piece of the place's hierarchy.
Then came the intake room.
The intake room was colder than the rest of the building.
Not in temperature—something else something less human. A kind of cold that wrapped around your spine and settled in your gut. The air smelled like rust and disinfectant, masking something far older beneath. The fluorescent half working lights hummed overhead, flickering in and out like they were trying to blink away the things they'd seen.
A line of metal benches ran along the wall, bolted to the floor like everything else in this place. Taejin stood in front of one, still cuffed, waiting as two guards leafed through paperwork behind a scratched glass counter.
To his left, another teen—no older than fifteen—sat with his head down, lip swollen, shirt stained with something dark and dried. He didn't say much. Just breathed slowly, and an occasional, "oh that motherfucking bastard who thinks he's king."
A buzzer sounded. A door creaked open on the far end.
"Next."
Taejin was pushed forward.
A heavy-set guard motioned toward the center of the room. "Clothes off."
Taejin blinked. "What?"
The man didn't answer. He just tapped the baton against his thigh, slow and deliberate.
"Strip," another guard repeated, voice devoid of emotion.
Taejin's fingers hesitated at the hem of his shirt but complied he couldn't be asked to get on the guards bad side on day one.
They didn't care. He could feel it—not hatred, not cruelty—just that it was their duty. Like he was another irritating bug that was making annoying sounds.
He peeled off his shirt his skinny bony body shivering from the cold. Then his shoes. Pants. Socks. The cold tile kissed his bare feet like ice. The metal cuffs stayed on.
A nurse came in next, wheeling over a tray of tools. She seemed very professional Taejin had noted that much.
She sprayed him with something bitter and freezing. It stung instantly crawling its way through his entire body. He flinched. The guards didn't blink just a little smirk between them.
Then came the inspection.
Gloved hands checking for contraband or weapons he could have snuck in. A flashlight in his mouth. Underarms. Behind ears. Even between his toes. It wasn't invasive—it was mechanical. Robotic.
The Guards sent Taejin on his way after throwing a small white towel, a white toothbrush. Followed by a neatly folded pile of orange.
Uniform. Number. Socks. Worn white shoes with no laces.
His name was gone. In its place: "972-A."
Taejin stared at the number stitched on the shirt like it meant something.
A door hissed open again.
"Move." one of the guards voice's echoed.
The hallway ahead was dimmer than the rest.
And colder.
He dressed without speaking, the fabric scratchy against his skin, the shirt was way to big for him same with the pants but he had to deal with it now. Taejin stepped forward to the gate.
The hall swallowed him whole.
Each step echoed off the concrete like a slow, steady drum. The flickering overhead lights created long, crooked shadows on the floor. Taejin walked in silence, flanked by two guards who didn't bother speaking.They had entered the East Wing of the Juvenile Centre.
On the walls, peeling paint curled like dead skin. Numbers marked every steel door they passed: D3. D4. D5. D6 A few had the small slits on the bottom open — food trays slid halfway out, they looked ravaged. Muffled voices echoed through the vents. Some laughing. Some crying. Some where loud violent noises that Taejin could only guess where fights that the guard's couldn't give two shits about.
Block D," one guard muttered. "Your new Home for however long your godforsaken sentence is."
They turned a corner and stopped at a large reinforced door with a grated window. Another guard sat behind a console beside it, half-asleep, spinning a pen between his fingers.
He tapped a button. With a loud hiss, the door unlocked and groaned open.
The block was stacked — two floors of cells lined the walls like cages in a zoo. Teens of every size and age leaned against bars, eyes tracking the new arrival like animals sniffing fresh blood.
Some whistled. Others grinned. A few just stared, dead-eyed.
"My my theirs a new catalogue of bastards coming in" a voice echoed through the block.
Taejin's ears where eviscerated by the loud whistling and shouting of the inmates.
"His new family." Taejin thought.
Cell D18.
The door was already open, waiting for him like a mouth with iron teeth.
He stepped in.
A metal bunk. A stained sink. A toilet that might've once been silver but now looked bruised. The entire space couldn't have been more than six feet wide.
"Get comfy," one guard said, smirking. "Lights out in twenty."
Then the door slammed shut.
CLANG.
"h-hello... who are you." a small voice squeaked. Taejin looked at the person and realised it was his cellmate, the guy was definitely about 15 or 16 if not a bit younger he was very skinny and small as well with a couple of bruises across his young face covered by black bangs.
"uh my name is Jae Taejin."
"Oh alright i see nice to meet you my name is Seongwoo."
Taejin found it oddly weird, Seongwoo felt way to out of place to be in a shithole like here.
"Why are you in here?" Taejin asked.
"uh well i actually didn't do anything that bad i promise i just got caught stealing some food from a shop." Seongwoo said sheepishly
Taejin nodded "i see that's pretty unfair."
It reminded him off his time early into Jeuryongi orphanage, he had arrived there about 6 years ago. He was a right prick when he first arrived he had been through 2 other orphanages before that but with Mother Minjoo was where he actually felt the most at home, even though he did get expelled from 2 schools already and his last strike was Geumryong High and now he had ended up in juvie, his early times with Mother Minjoo he had almost gotten caught shoplifting numerous times before Mother Minjoo had forced that habit out of him.
"So what are you in here for?" Seongwoo squeaked.
Taejin sighed, "I'm in here for aggravated assault to Leo D'Amore."
Seongwoo looked shocked.
"Wait D'Amore as in Francesco D'Amore?"
"Yeah i guess it was his no good fucker of a son."
Seongwoo looked a bit scared at Taejin as if Taejin was going to jump up and fight him right there.
"LIGHTS OUT" the guards barked.
[The Next Morning]
"Erm Taejin."
Taejin felt a hand shake him violently. "i'm up i'm up" he groaned.
"What is it?" Taejin asked Seongwoo.
"We have to go get our breakfast from the cafeteria." Seongwoo spoke.
"Oh alright."
Taejin quickly brushed and spat out before heading out with Seongwoo. He saw hundreds of inmates leave their cells crowding the stairs as they all headed down and took a sharp right.
"This is where all the Blocks from A-D meet regularly especially the Kings of each block" Seongwoo spoke knowledgeably.
"Kings? the fuck is that?" Taejin asked.
"Kings are the 4 commanders of the strongest guy in this place's gang."
"Whose the strongest guy?"
"Well he goes by the name of Kang Daeho."
As they headed in to the cafeteria Taejin saw countless muscular looking guys that could not have been young offenders he refused to believe it. They got their scrub from the cooks and searched for a table when Seongwoo accidentally crashed into a hulking figure.
"Oi fuckbrain who do you think you are." The huge brute grabbed Seongwoo up with ease.
"I'm sorry very sorry King Maelin" Seongwoo squeaked.
"Let him go." Taejin spoke
"And who the fuck are you bastard." Maelin's voice echoed.
"Dont you realise i'm the King of Block D you insolent retard!"
He slapped Taejins tray away and pushed him before pinning Seongwoo down onto one of the metal tables and glared at him ready to attack him. Taejin gritted his teeth remembering Leo D'Amore and bullies just like him.Taejin saw his plate and the sharp corner of it gave him an idea, with a sudden burst of rage he grabbed his tray and ran forward to that fucker Maelin who was turned behind and with all his might he jumped and slammed the sharp end of the tray onto Maelin's back of his head with all the strength he had.
CLANG