Chapter 27: Hypocrite

  A corpse y in the middle of the most elegantly decorated room, where luxurious furniture adorned each er. It was Harley Juliet, once feared as one of the most formidable gang bosses in Prismara. He had maintained retionships with many high-position members not only in Prismara but from businessmen to political leaders in both the Teo Society and General Public Affairs cil throughout Aurelias. He was now dead, killed by an unknown young man who had no background.

  Neo didn't move from his por did he call out for help. Kalifa was on the ground weeping, her emotions overwhelming her, her heart hollow at seeing the man who had takehing from her now dead. She had been only twe when her husband, Harley's brother, was killed by Harley's own hand. She became Harley's personal pything. As time progressed, she lost her reasoning and sloted her cruel fate as her will started to slip from her grasp. Sometimes she found hope, but Harley always crushed it before her eyes. This time, however, her gamble paid off. She hadn't knowher this young man could free her from her curse, but she had mustered the ce, and it succeeded.

  "Neo, do you know why I didn't kill you back then?" rad stood up, having already trolled his emotions after several minutes of vomiting. His mind remained hazed, but he decided to move forward for now.

  Before Neo could reply, rad turned and said, "I am not some cold-blooded murderer. I knew from the beginning there was a bigger fish behind you. I knew evehat if I did not kill the root of the problem, my family would not survive. After all, as a citizen of Prismara, I am quite clear on how much power you people hold, evehe gover." After a brief pause, rad looked at Harley's corpse.

  "Also, I didn't want my sisters to see me like this."

  rad started walking toward Neo. Seeing this blue-eyed young man, the blood in Neo's veins turned cold.

  "You have two choices here," rad began. "One, work with me—trust me, I will treat you better—or two, turn against me, in which case you know the ending quite well."

  I have a keen judgment of character. I know these goons are bad, and I despised what he did to Cra, but they are, after all, just cogs in a mae. To bee strong and powerful, I hese kinds of men under my trol. I o think about the future and pn accly.

  Neo was a man who had lived a simple life. Born poor like many citizens of Aurealis, he never received the opportunity to grow. Without money, he had to earn from childhood. In a natiohe gover was built on qualifications, people like Neo never got the ce to bee something; without education, he became one of many who lived uhe shadow of crime. In his heart, his greatest wish was to have a normal family—a wife and some kids, that's all he ever wanted. But with each passing decade, he had also transformed into those scumbags as he desded into drinking and frequentiablishments of ill repute.

  After witnessing ge after so many years, something inside Neo sparked a dedication, a will to transform his life. He asked, "If I work for you, will my life improve?"

  Kalifa, still on the ground, heard their versation. She turo look at Neo, whom she had known from the beginning. Neo was the fht hand of her husband and ter came under Harley. She anticipated what this young man, who had just ged the course of her destiny, would say.

  rad smiled and replied, "You will not be men under me but partners from now on. I will ensure equal treatment. I am just a young man who knows nothing of this business or politics. I need your support to ge the situation. I ot guarantee your life will improve, but I ensure you will make that decision yourself—not anyone else for you. So tell me, will you work with me?"

  Neo instantly k before rad and said, "Yes, boss."

  "I know I was Harley's assistant for many years. I am not asking for your trust, but you give me a ce to be by your side? I promise I will be helpful," Kalifa said from behind as she stood up to face rad.

  Do not worry, I do not trust people easily. I will always be on my guard—the moment you turn against me, you will die by my hand.

  rad's eyes narrowed. "You two will be the leaders of this pce from now on. Today we have already aplished much. Let me give you your first task: dispose of this body and make it appear as an act. Take trol of the business. You two are most familiar with the ins and outs of this pce. I want the details of the business and partners within three days. I will return. Show me your worth. I have pns of my own, but those I will discuss ter."

  rad took steps toward the door but suddenly stopped. "Remember, I am always watg."

  Neo and Kalifa exged brief gnces before their attention turoward the lying corpse.

  Was I too reckless? But what choice did I have? The moment I took down Neo, I knew I had to act, or the Valor family might not survive the gang assault. Even though Leona is part of the National Civil Guard, they are powerless against gang violence when all the bigshots are bag them.

  rad let out a long sigh.

  "Maybe I should have sulted with Anira on this matter first. No matter the world i will always be impulsive"

  Oher hand, if those two prove trustworthy, then I have gained what I wanted—power. I need people under me who help when I am in danger, but it's too early to say that. I have already pnned what I want those two to do, but let's not focus on that too much.

  "Cra's csses have just started. It will be lunchtime before her csses end. What should I do until then?" rad walked through the streets of Prismara. It was easy to spend some sili to travel using various transportation options, but to rad, the act of walking allowed him to observe many things, so he sometimes chose to just walk around to study this new world.

  The bustling blend of Victoriay and modern industrialization always fasated rad. In his mind, somethi off about this world that he couldn't quite identify. Even after so much time here, teology never advao puters or sophisticated eleic devices. Sometimes things were very simir to Earth, but other times they took ued turns. To find his answers, rad observed the world around him meticulously, abs every detail.

  People bustled about, discussing matters from politics to new policies to events in other nations, such as a delegation to Sternfall or new industry in Intellex. Horse-drawn carriages cttered alongside cars from newly developed dealerships. Students on their breaks and workers, exhausted from endless hours, each clutched a potato in their hands. Most of these men had no family, being byproducts of some cruel fate. Pickpockets and thieves prowled the streets even in daylight, but it was the flourishing prostitution that filled the city streets with women of all ages and status on every er.

  rad's eyes drifted toward the cluster of people on the sidewalk—hollow eyes, patched clothes, and yellow skin marked by hunger. In his mind, you could only find a nation's true colors not ihe grand structures but in the people living outside them. Silk-oble women ughed and eheir tea serenely inside cafes.

  In the distance, a protest unfolded with people holding pcards with Heraphant writing, which rad quickly read: 'We Matter.'

  A diamond-shaped device called a Blid, which took photos simir to a camera but with more faded colors, captured the se. Photographers, both journalists and amateurs, stood beside the protesting people with those modern Blids in their hands.

  rad stopped some distance from the protest, not wanting to bee entangled in the crowd.

  There are so many people with their own lives. Eae is here because of luck, fate. Does anybody have the right to take ive life or to dictate these people's futures? I had just killed a person. Did I really have no choi I seeing this world as nothing but an illusion—but this is real, they are real. When I came to this world, did I ge? What if I have already bee somebody who shouldn't return to his own world? I might have done something from which I could never return.

  Guilt ainess filled rad's mind with questions and doubts. In his thoughts, he was ging slowly but surely, being something else.

  I am an outsider who will not die of old age unless killed directly by other means. What is life's value to a person like me who doesn't even know whether time is passing or not?

  A poignant feeling swept across his mind as he started to miss his old life and family oh. Suddenly, he noticed an older erhaps in her forties, being pushed by an old man.

  "How many times have I told you, you are worthless now!" The man shouted before leaving the older woman ireet.

  Cough cough

  "Are you alright, ma'am?" rad came to her side, extending his hand to help her.

  The older woman looked up to see a young man. "Do you want to have some fun, young man?"

  Growl

  As she asked rad, a sound from her stomach could be heard even in the bustling streets. rad smiled at the woman and said, "Shall we go to that nearby shop first?"

  After some food for the woman and himself, rad said gently, "It seems you haveen for a while. Please eat slowly."

  The woman didn't reply; she just nodded slightly and begaing slowly. It didn't seem like she was starving for some time.

  "Sir, when we start?" The woman looked at the young man, half her age. She had knowy of young men who had weird tastes, so she was quite aced to it.

  "I already have a girlfriend, and I am not someone who would cheat, even with a prostitute," rad took a sip of his tea.

  "Sir, I ot pay for the meal," the woman said while l her head in shame.

  " I hear your story? I am a college student looking for stories for my assigs. sider this as my payment. Don't worry—if I find your story useful, I will pay you 500 sili."

  "That much..." the woman's eyes widened in shock at the amount. She thought rad might be from some rich family, but in actuality, he was just from a middle-css family. Five hundred sili was a lot for him too, but he decided to help heless.

  "My story isn't much, but if it's helpful, I share it with you, good sir. My name is Merry Rekha. I was once a very popur prostitute in this area of town. I remium girl on everyone's list. But as I got older, I had this desire to start a family, so one day I decided to get pregnant with one of my ers. He promised to take me away from this business, to make me his wife. He kept his promise to marry me, but after my child was born... One day he brought me to his boss, saying I had to eain them. I refused them forcefully—anyway, after that, I decided to leave that man with my child, but as fate had it, I was jobless and couldn't find any work in the try as unemployment was rising by then. One day, while I was searg for food, my child got into an act and—"

  Tears fell from Merry's eyes; she wiped them away with her old handkerchief. "After my child's death, I wandered aimlessly. But eventually, I regained trol and accepted the reality of the situation. I tried to return to my old business, but they wouldn't let me in now."

  rad listened carefully as he pulled out five 100-sili notes. "Take this for now. Meet me at 12th Street in front of the Church building in three days."

  Merry's eyes studied the young man with questions and doubts. To her, her beautiful figure had been the only thing of value she possessed, but this young man showed no desire for that—why he was helping her was beyond her uanding.

  rad stood up. "Hope to see you in three days, Merry." He left before the woman after paying the bill for both meals.

  I am such a hypocrite. I am helping someone just because I want to cope with my deeds. Maybe by helping others, my heart will at least be at ease and feel human. Otherwise, I will go ihe further I walk this path. I don't know when I will return to my world, but I don't want to return as something pletely different from a human.