In the middle of a forest, a family car can be seen treading along a narrow path. In the car, a family of three can be seen: a father, a mother, and their only son.
The father and mother sat in the front; the father had an anxious and restless expression, while the mother casually glanced at the rearview mirror, looking at her son, who was sleeping peacefully.
She then turned to her husband and said, "Are you sure this is the right choice?"
"Of course! Where else would we sell him? No one's interested in an idiot and sickly kid like him!" the husband answered while keeping his eyes on the dark road of the forest.
"Sst! Keep your voice down! Better not wake him up!" the wife hissed while turning to check on her son.
"Don't worry, I've replaced his medicine and put enough sleeping drugs in his food and water," the husband said while still focusing on the road.
"How many did you put?" The wife asked.
"The whole bottle," The husband nonchalantly answered.
The wife just widened her eyes while looking at her husband and massaged her head; she then turned to her son and said, "At least he has a handsome face, not like yours."
The husband glanced briefly at the rearview mirror and chuckled, "Heh, What's the use of a handsome face if you're short-lived, and an idiot one at that?"
The wife smirked and said, "Where did he get the genes, anyway? I know it's not from my line."
"Hmm, it must be from my line. My mother once told me that her father, who is my grandfather, was breathtakingly handsome. Ashamed, though, he died in a war just after my mother turned five years old," The husband said with amusement on his face.
The wife sighed and turned towards the road. She then said, "Are you really sure you want to do this? I have a bad feeling about this place."
The husband glanced briefly at his wife and said, "What other choice do we have? We're in debt, and we need that money by the end of the month."
"Yeah, but... two hundred thousand dollars just for a sickly kid? It just seems... too good to be true, you know?" The wife said with concern in her voice.
"Don't worry, I have a friend who sold his daughter to this same person we're going to, and he received five hundred thousand dollars! Besides, I have my gun here in case anything happens," The husband said while gesturing inside his jacket.
After roughly two hours of driving through the forest, they finally reach their destination: an abandoned house in the middle of the woods.
The couple looked around, observing their surroundings. After they deemed it safe, they looked at each other before getting out of the car.
The father then went to wake up his son, but because of the amount of sleeping drugs he had put in his son's food, the son didn't respond to him.
Nearing his limit, the father decided to hit and slap his son's head pretty hard. After about five minutes of hitting and slapping, the son slowly opened his golden-colored eyes.
The kid looked around himself with lifeless eyes, and not a single expression could be seen on his face, as if he had no soul.
He then turned to his father and said, "Where are we?"
"That empty look again, tch. Follow me." The father didn't answer his question and just got in the car to catch up with his wife.
The kid just nodded, and then he picked up his sketchbook from the seat beside him and followed his parents.
"Hello!? We're here!" The father shouted at the abandoned house.
Before he could shout again, suddenly five people emerged from the shadows, wearing all black and covering their faces with masks.
The father looked at his wife and nodded. He then stepped forward and said, "I got the kid here; he turned fourteen years old last month, just what you need. We have his birth certificate here if you want to confirm it."
One of the five people who had just appeared stepped forward and threw a briefcase at the father.
The father then nodded to his wife; his wife nodded back at him and then turned to her son. She then said, "Mikael, your father and I have important business abroad, and we won't be coming back for a week."
Rain suddenly started pouring down, but the mother ignored it and continued, "Be a good boy and wait for us to come back, okay?"
The expressionless son could only nod at his mother's persuasion without doubting anything she had said.
The rain started to get heavy, and the mother said, "Now go to these good people; they will take care of you while we're gone, okay?"
"Make it quick! The rain is heavy now!" The father shouted at his wife.
The wife nodded at her husband and turned to her son again. "Now go; we won't be long, I promise."
The son nodded again and started walking towards the people who appeared before him while hugging his sketchbook. Meanwhile, the mother, her eyes not fixed on her son but instead on the briefcase, greed was visible in her eyes, and she smiled as she had never done before.
Suddenly, about halfway to his new "caretaker," the figure in black who had thrown the briefcase earlier, threw something at the father.
The wife, who noticed her husband suddenly become still and seemingly stiff, said with a confused tone, "H-Honey? What's wrong?"
The husband turned around, and when the wife saw him, she screamed. Her legs went weak, and she immediately collapsed on the floor from the horror she had just witnessed.
Three shuriken, two went into his head and the other on his forehead. The father then collapsed on the ground, lifeless and showing no sign of moving.
The son stopped, hearing his mother's scream and looked towards his parents with no expression whatsoever.
"Why... Why!!!" the mother screamed at the five people.
"He lied, he said the kid was healthy," the one who threw the briefcase said while looking at the son.
The mother went silent for a moment and stood up. She then looked towards the culprit of her husband's death and, without a thought, charged at the culprit.
"Arrrghhhh!!!"
The one who threw the briefcase calmly unsheathed his sword from his back and effortlessly slashed at her. The mother immediately fell to the ground but was still breathing. The man then delivered a killing blow by piercing her heart with his sword.
The son, watching the murder of his parents, didn't say anything. No words came out of his mouth. He remained as lifeless and expressionless as ever.