Chapter 135
If you had to sum up the man that was Kang Taemin in a single word, that word would be "loyalty."
He had lived his whole life like an abandoned dog, desperate for someone to take up his leash.
Whether that desperate craving came from something innate or was a scar from a horrific childhood, no one could say.
Under the merciless violence of an ex-military father, young Kang Taemin had etched submission and obedience — and nothing else — into his bones from an early age.
Beating after beating, the boy's feelings and expressions were gradually washed away to nothing.
The blind obedience carved into his marrow didn't change when he grew to tower over his father, and it didn't change even after the tyrant who'd bound him died and was gone.
Still, he wandered on, hunting for a new master to take up his leash.
A friend who reached out a hand and asked, "You okay?" A teacher who kindly patted his shoulder. Anyone who seemed even a little better off than himself — it didn't matter who.
He would gladly throw himself at their feet and pour out everything he had.