City S, a luxurious paradise for the wealthy, where glittering casinos, bustling bars, and luxurious hotels jostle for space. Here, life is expensive, but also full of temptations. The towering skyscrapers, magnificent villas, and gleaming luxury cars under the lights all create a dazzling scene, making many people dream.
However, hidden behind this glamorous facade is a dark world. City S is a hub for many social evils: gambling, drugs, prostitution, and even murder. Although everyone knows this, people still flock here every day, as if drawn in by the twinkling lights, the lively music, and the promises of a wealthy life.
Alongside the luxurious neighborhoods are the impoverished slums, where unfortunate people, those rejected by society, gather. The wealthy often call this place "the area for the poor" because they only see poverty, misfortune, misguided people, thieves, addicts, and even prostitutes.
He, a young man, once lived in that slum. His life was a string of misfortunes. His mother, a woman abandoned by her husband, had to work as a prostitute to support her two children. He witnessed his mother's devastation, her fatigue, her pain, and the cruel scolding she received. Then his mother died of a deadly disease, a common illness among those who do her kind of work.
His sister, wanting to support her brother, also had to become a prostitute. Once, she was attacked by the legitimate wife of a boss, and both were raped and infected. His sister had to continue her misguided life, working from morning till night, to make a living. The slum was full of thugs, people who took advantage of his sister's weakness.
When he was 12 years old, a group of young men waited for his sister to come home, and he, who was home alone at the time, was attacked by them. He didn't fight back, letting them do the worst. The few bruises on his body shocked them because they thought he was a girl. They scorned him, mocked him, because they knew his sister had AIDS, and they assumed he was infected too.
He didn't say anything, just endured it silently. His mother and sister's deaths, the bruises on his body, all were painful, haunting memories that he couldn't forget. He hated this life, hated the slum, hated the wealthy, those who looked down on people like him.
He wished he had been born into a happy family, lived in a comfortable house, received a proper education, and lived a normal life like everyone else. But fate had thrust him into a life full of misfortune and suffering.
