Gild Tesoro was born into a poor family. He did not know why his parents had married, but ever since he could remember, his father had been an avid gambler.
All that talk about small bets being harmless was nonsense. Once someone got addicted to it, their family was bound to be ruined.
While his father gambled as if his life depended on it, Tesoro's mother was also addicted to alcohol.
It was only natural for such a family to be poor. If they had not been poor, that would have been strange. Even a fortune could not withstand gambling if one lacked self-control.
Tesoro, who lived in that family, had dreams too. He loved singing.
During his joyless, impoverished childhood, Tesoro had once come across a traveling opera troupe. Though he could not afford a ticket, he endured the cold night wind outside and listened through the entire performance.
Being able to buy a ticket and watch a performance openly became Tesoro's goal. He did not merely want to listen; he wanted to perform on that stage himself.
Rather than living a life of being ostracized because of poverty, he wanted the life those stars lived.
He wanted to stand onstage and bask in the cheers of the entire audience.
Fate did not favor Tesoro. When he was twelve, his father died.
That made his family's circumstances even more difficult. Although his father had been a gambling addict, he still brought something home every now and then, keeping the family from falling apart entirely.
Tesoro's father's death did not make his mother sad. She remained the same as before.
But afterward, his mother began to loathe Tesoro's singing. She forbade him from singing, and in the end, Tesoro chose to run away from home.
But at only twelve years