I've been kidnapped for ten years. When I finally get to go home, I find out that my parents have adopted a new son.

In order to prevent me from bullying the adopted heir, Jake Ewing, my parents decide to enroll me in a popular transformation reality show.

Every day, I have to compete with the pigs for food and a spot to sleep. Before I go to bed, an instructor will make me recite a hundred times how good my parents and Jake are.

If I ever make a mistake, I'll face harsh public punishment in front of the camera. I also have to apologize repeatedly until the director is satisfied with me.

Once the reality show is over, I finally transform into the perfect son and brother my family prefers.

But on the day the reality show is set to air, I choose to jump off the TV station's rooftop, killing myself once and for all. That's when my parents lose their minds.

"Mom, Dad, I'm sorry."

I kneeled in front of my parents at the doorstep, mechanically repeating the vows I had practiced countless times.

"I've realized my mistakes. I swear from now on, I will treat Jake well. Everything will be about him first. He's the best. He comes first. His life is more important than mine."

As soon as I finished speaking, the director Arthur Black's voice rang out, "Cut!"

This transformation reality show had finally wrapped up.

Arthur said it was over, but I remained kneeling without getting up.

Mom and Dad, on the other hand, were beaming as they shook Arthur's hand, thanking him.

"Thank you for teaching Logan so well. Once the show airs, we'll definitely have all our relatives and friends watch."

Arthur smiled and turned to me. "Logan, remember to get along well with your family from now on."

As he spoke, he came over to help me stand up, but I flinched at the sight of his hand and instinctively backed away.

His hand froze in midair. Seeing that, Dad immediately scolded me, "What kind of attitude is that?"

When I remained silent, Arthur draped his arm around my shoulder and laughed it off. "It's fine. He probably just doesn't want to leave us."

After saying that, he gave me two hearty pats on the back and stared at me. "Just remember how good we've been to you."

I couldn't help but tremble and nod weakly.

After the crew left, Mom and Dad led me inside the house.

As soon as we entered, I noticed my younger brother, Jake Ewing, secretly rolling his eyes when he saw me.

But as soon as Mom and Dad looked at him, he immediately plastered a cheerful smile on his face and rushed over. "Logan! I really missed you! You've been gone so long. Let me show you your room!"

Without waiting for my answer, he grabbed my arm and pulled me toward my room.

As soon as the door closed behind us, his true colors emerged.

He sneered with pure malice. "Why did you come back? It would have been so much better if you'd just died out there."

I looked at him, unfazed. I was accustomed to this by now.

A few years ago, when the police first brought me back from the village where I had been trafficked, he had been just as nasty behind Mom and Dad's back, telling me to get out of the house.

However, I was their biological son. He wasn't.

Noticing I didn't react at all, Jake sneered.

In the next second, he hurt himself on the face and collapsed to the floor.

The room was soon filled with his cries. "Dad! Mom! Help!"

Mom and Dad rushed in quickly. Seeing the slap mark on Jake's face, Dad grew furious and shoved me roughly to the ground. "What have you learned? How dare you bully Jake? We shouldn't have brought you back here!"

Mom held Jake in her arms and looked at me with disappointment. "Jake treats you so well, and this is what you do to him?"

Dad pulled out his phone in front of me. "I'm calling your instructor right now to see if we can send you back!"

His words hit me like a loud buzz in my head.

It was Jake's recommendation that got me sent to participate in this transformation reality show in the first place.

During the filming, I was treated extremely harshly.

The production team made me sleep in a pigpen and made me compete with the pigs for food, claiming it was to teach me how to endure hardship. At night, I had to sleep in the corner of the pigpen.

Before sleeping, I had to listen to the instructor talk about how kind they were.

I couldn't fight back, or I would face severe punishment—being restrained and given harsh physical discipline.

Afterward, I had to hurt myself and apologize in front of the camera until Arthur nodded in approval.

Remembering those past events, I immediately knelt and started banging my head against the floor in desperation. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have bullied Jake. It's my fault. I deserve to die!"

I kept banging my head and didn't dare stop, even as my forehead bled.

Seeing me continuing, Mom and Dad stood frozen.

It was Mom who couldn't bear it any longer and walked over to try to help me up.

But Jake suddenly started sobbing and said, "Mom, Dad, don't blame Logan. It's all my fault for making him hate me so much that he could even hurt himself."

Dad's face instantly turned dark with anger. "You did nothing wrong. He was the one who bullied you first!"

He came over and pulled me up from the floor. "Stop wasting time here. We have an appointment to pick out clothes. Hurry up."

…

In the mall, I carefully glanced at the clothes in the store, not even daring to touch them.

Dad shot me a look of disdain at my shabby appearance. While pointing at me, he said to the shop assistant, "Pick him out something nice. This is so embarrassing."

The shop assistant held up the size chart and asked, "What size does your son usually wear?"

Mom and Dad simultaneously turned their heads, looking awkward.

They had sent me to the transformation show soon after I was brought back, and I was still wearing the torn clothes from that time.

They had no idea what my size was.

In the end, the shop assistant approached me with a measuring tape. Meanwhile, Jake raised his phone.

In that instant, the scene in front of me shifted.

I was back in that hellish village. My foster father from the show was walking toward me with a cattle prod in his hand, smiling wickedly.

"Don't come near me!" I pushed the shop assistant away in panic.

Everything in my sight blurred, and I ran wildly.

The mannequins in the store now resembled the people who had hunted me down in the village. Each of them glared with malicious intent, holding weapons to torture me.

Mom and Dad were startled by my sudden outburst and moved toward me to grab me.

But in my eyes, these people were demons. To avoid being beaten, I could only run as fast as I could.

Most of the clothes in the store were knocked off the racks, becoming dirty as I trampled them.

Seeing this, the store manager was about to call the police.

Finally, everyone cornered me in the fitting room, and the madness ended.

Dad slapped me across the face with a hard swing. "What's wrong with you?"

My head tilted to one side, and half of my face went numb with pain.

I slowly turned back and looked at Mom's and Dad's faces, which were filled with extreme disgust.

Outside, a crowd of onlookers gathered.

"Which psych ward let this one out?"

"That's so scary. If he's sick, he should stay in the psych ward. Why come out and cause trouble?"

As the criticisms from the crowd grew louder, Mom and Dad hurriedly dragged me out of the store.

…

Back at home, Dad threw me into my room. "You bastard! You did this on purpose to embarrass us, didn't you? Was that your revenge on us? Kneel in your room and reflect!"

I kneeled down smoothly, slightly bowing my waist.

They didn't know that in the show, kneeling was the most basic thing. It wasn't even considered punishment.

I didn't know how much time had passed, but then I heard Jake's voice from outside the door. "Why send him food? He's embarrassed our whole family. Why should he eat? Don't even give him water. He won't starve to death in one night."

I curled up, feeling miserable.

I hadn't eaten for two days since returning from the show.

My stomach was in pain, and I needed to eat something.

I looked around the room and finally found a notebook on the shelf.

Without thinking, I tore out the pages, crumpled them up, and shoved them into my mouth.

My throat scraped painfully, but I was too hungry to care.

The next day, I was woken up by the smell of food outside my door.

Mom and Dad were chatting with someone.

The person asked, "Isn't Logan back home? Why isn't he coming out to eat?"

Mom sighed helplessly. "He must still be in bed. He really has no sense of propriety. I'll go call him out right now."

The door to my room soon opened.

"Logan, breakfast is ready."

I dragged myself out of the room on my trembling legs. The dining table was covered with all sorts of dishes, and the guests had already sat down.

I looked at Mom. "Can I eat now?"

Mom seemed confused. "Of course. You're making it sound like we didn't let you eat."

As soon as she finished speaking, I rushed into the kitchen and started devouring from the trash can. But all I found in there was kitchen scraps.

Everyone stared in disbelief as I stuffed fish scales, rotten vegetable leaves, and eggshells into my mouth. Their faces were filled with disgust.

A hand grabbed my collar and yanked me up.

I looked up to see Dad's face turning an angry shade of blue. "Who taught you to eat this stuff?"

He slapped me hard across the face and roared, "Are you trying to embarrass me on purpose?"

I didn't react, just numbly swallowed the "food" in my mouth.

Mom tried to get closer, but the fishy smell clinging to me made her stop in her tracks.

Noticing something was off, she looked at me with concern. "Logan, what's wrong with you?"

Then, one of our relatives asked, "Is that Logan? How did he turn out like this? He's actually eating trash? Those human traffickers are worse than animals!"

Mom and Dad froze when they heard that.

They'd always avoided talking about the time I was kidnapped.

After all, it was because of their argument and their threat to abandon me that they left me at the trash station in the neighborhood.

As a result, I was really taken by human traffickers.

They never wanted to admit their mistake, so they quickly adopted Jake and acted like nothing ever happened.

Now, they were starting to realize the consequences.

Dad released me, and I fell back to the ground.

But I still felt hungry, so I crawled over to pick up the leftovers I hadn't finished.

Mom tried to stop me, but I thought it was another member of the production team, so I bit down on her hand.

Mom screamed and covered her bloodied hand in shock. "You bit me?"

Jake rushed to shield her, glaring at me in disgust. "How could you do that to Mom?"

The relative who had spoken up earlier fell silent and looked at me as if I were some kind of monster.

Losing control of his anger, Dad walked over and kicked me aside.

He pointed down at me and shouted, "How dare you hurt your mom? I don't have a son like you!"

My throat went dry, and I couldn't say a word. I wanted to apologize, but the words stayed stuck in my chest.

The gathering ended on a sour note. To make me reflect on my actions, Dad locked me in the utility room.

In the dark, narrow space, I instinctively curled up against the wall.

Then, my foot hit a box, and I fell hard, knocking the box over and spilling its contents everywhere.

Panic set in.

If Mom and Dad found out I'd made another mistake, they might never want me again.

Suppressing the fear, I slowly crawled to the door and turned on the light.

As the room lit up, I saw the scattered items on the floor. There were old toys and clothes from my childhood.

At the bottom of the box was a family photo—Mom, Dad, and me, all smiling happily.

On the back of the photo, Mom had written, "I'll always love you, my dear Logan."

Tears started to fall uncontrollably as I clutched the photo tightly.

I thought they'd thrown it away a long time ago. It turned out that Mom and Dad hadn't given up on me. They still loved me.

A tiny spark of hope flickered in my chest.

What if I told them the truth? If they knew what I'd gone through on that show, would they understand my actions?

Just then, I overheard Mom and Dad talking outside the door.

Dad's voice was filled with frustration. "I just can't handle him anymore. How did we end up with a menace like this? It'd be better if he never came back!"

"Don't say that. He's still our son."

My gaze flickered when I heard Mom's voice.