NOVEL WEB Chapter 24: Retirement home
In himea street, somewhere in an underground location one could see a teenage girl with jet black hair, strapped to a wooden chair. Her legs and hands cuffed, while her eyes were wrapped with a thin black cloth.
Besides her was a much younger teenage boy with brown hair, also strapped to a wooden chair with cuffs. Obviously, these two teenagers were kidnapped for some reason.
The sound of footsteps could be heard approaching the duo, causing them to cease their struggling looking ahead.
"Are these the two scapegoats?" A male with deep husky voice asked.
"Yes boss. we caught them snooping around the site, and apparently they're related to the fucking roach that killed kander." Another male voice responded.
"Tsk.. now now ron, there's no need for cursing. Infact, I think we should remove the blindfolds and formally introduce ourselves. don't you think?" Nodding, the other male known as Ron proceeded to move towards the hostages, removing the thin black cloth from their vision.
Opening their eyes, the two abducted teenagers view befell on the two men in front. To the right was a bit buffed dark haired man, who looked to be in his late 30's a deep scar running across his cheeks. He wore a formal black suit, pants, and shoes, topped with a red tie.
Besides him was a much younger man in his middle twenties with autumn colored hair, wearing the same attire as the one besides him. Seeing the two men in front, Layla's face turned pale because of two reasons.
First, was because she heard the one known as Ron say she was related to the one who killed kander. She wasn't for sure, but she had a bad feeling that roach might be her brother max, she's been searching for the past four days.
'H-he's still alive..' a glimmer of hope shone in her eyes, hearing her brother might still be alive. She couldn't feel her phone anymore, which meant lt must've been taken away by this gangsters.
Second was hearing the word scapegoat. and Judging by Ron's facial expression, Layla knew kander must've been part of their gang. And knowing a bit about gangsters, she knew they'd always get revenge for one of their own no matter the cost.
"Hmmm!! Hm-ph! Mm..."
"Huh? What's wrong with him." They could see Tom squirming on the chair, attempting to break free but it was all futile. The chains bounding him were very much strong, to be broken easily by just his frantic struggles.
Walking over, the bulky man then stopped directly in front of Tom, crouching down a bit to meet the latter eye level. Noticing a chilling presence in front made Tom stop his struggling, slowly raising his head.
"Mhm.." he gulped sharply, as his eyes met with that of the bulky man. He could see the deep slash mark running upwards on his right cheek, stopping just a bit from his eyes. An alarming smile was planted on the gangster face staring at Tom, which jolted the hairs on his arm.
"There there boy, we're not going to hurt you. We just need to keep you here until your brother arrives." He calmly spoke, taking off the cloth wrapped around Tom's mouth.
"Boss be careful he's-" before Ron could finish his warning, the bulky man could see a familiar yellow liquid gushing down from Tom's pant.
"Haha! you're a feisty one. I get it.. haha! there's nothing to be ashamed of, we all do it once in a while." Slightly shaking his head, he then went over to Layla. He could see her eyes were locked on him, from the moment her blindfold was removed to now.
"I can see you don't trust me girl, I understand.. but I assure you am not a monster you may think I am." He smiled, removing the piece of cloth from her mouth. He expected to hear her rain down a bunch of curses, but there was nothing as she still stared with a blank expression.
'Weird.. I knew my appearance wasn't that friendly, but I didn't expect her to be this traumatized by me." Sighing he then went back to where Ron stood, taking some items from him.
"Am sure you two are wondering why your here." He softly said staring at the two.
"W-we're so sorry.. we should've never spied on you nice gangster. W-we weren't even meant to be in that alley, it was so stupid of us. I-if you let us go I promise we won't tell anyone what happened, and you'll never see us again." Tom begged, tears already streaming down his eyes. He wasn't meant to be in that alley if not for his kindness, helping out the woman of his dreams find her brother.
"I believe you boy."
"Y-you do? Thank goodness! I promise I'll never interfere in any of your business again sir it's really-"
"But, it just so happens that your brother killed one of my students." The bulky man said, lifting up an item with the picture of a young dark haired teenager.
"Max.." Layla softly said, seeing the picture of the brother she'd been looking for. Her eyes became teary as her body felt heavy, a stinging pain struck her head as her stomach urched in pain.
She was happy to hear max was alive but she was also afraid, because he was now wanted by these psychopath gang members.
'Does that mean he really killed someone?' She didn't know if max really killed a gangster, as she couldn't imagine him doing sort. Knowing her brother and how often he got into trouble, the most likely explanation is he was been setup.
"T-that's max.." Tom muttered recognizing him. He was shocked to see max picture in their hands, but he was more scared of why they wanted him.
'Wait.. if that's max, t-then does that mean he's the roach that k-killed a gang member.' He inwardly thought with a shocked expression.
"From the looks on both your faces I can tell you know this roach. He's your brother isn't he?" The bulky man asked with an intimidating stare.
"He's bluffing." Layla knew the bulky man was trying to intimidate them into talking, but she wasn't going to give in.
"No! no! no.." glancing from the side, she could see Tom mumbling some words. He was fidgeting, and she knew he'd soon break.
"Don't do anything stupid tom, he's just trying to scare you." Layla boldly spoke, causing a grin to form on the gangster boss face.
"Haha! guilty as charged. I like you, you're funny girl." He smiled, wiping a single tear off his eyes. "Alright then I suppose we can make a deal. Tell me your relationship with him and I'll both of you go. Simple right?"
Hearing the offer, Tom's eye widened a bit seeing the chance at freedom. Though it seemed too good to be true, but he was going to jump at any chance of freedom he got.
"we're just friends, she's his sister. infact, I was just helping her find him when you mistook us for spies." Tom immediately blurted out.
"No! You fucking idiot. don't you get it? they were just bluffing. T-they weren't for sure, but now you've spilled the beans and doomed all of us!" Layla screamed, darting at Tom with murderous eyes.
"Kids.. so full of energy and life." He chuckled a bit. "It'll be a shame to see all that life go to waste now wouldn't it? So I'll ask just once. Where is he?"
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Back in takashi street, max and Yuna were now out of the lodge currently walking on the street. Max had refilled his soul by feeding off from Yuna, which she happily obliged to.
He didn't know one's soul could regenerate on it's own as yuna's did, but it seemed his forgetful syst- ehhm! Friend may have left that part out.
[Soul: 28/30]
"Are you okay master?" Yuna worriedly asked, seeing max steps were getting clumsy. She was worried when those bullets hit him, but fortunately he was fine. She was a bit surprised not seeing any blood stains or wounds on him, but she didn't bother much.
"Yeah.. am fine." Max softly said. They'd been walking for over ten minutes now, with no specific location. Luckily they found some old clothes at the lodge which they wore, disposing of the old.
'Aren't we there yet? We've been walking in circles now.' Max inwardly grumbled.
[Hey, am not your personal GPS okay!] Frail retorded insulted by max. [And besides your not a kid anymore, so stop whining like a bitch.]
'I swear to God if-'
[Haha! you can calm down 'master'.. we're there.] Looking, max could see they were in front of a four story building painted green. There was a bold sign on top, with red writings displaying the words retirement home.
'So this is your big idea.' Max rolled his eyes. At first frail had decided to generously help max, stating he had a big idea which he didn't disclose to max. The latter was weary at first, mostly because he didn't think his friendly system would help him out of the kindness of it's heart. But having no choice, and no reasonable course of plan to get stronger, he decided to follow frail's big idea.
[Now you're just being an ass.. don't you wanna fucking evolve more and get revenge on the bastards that took your sister?]
'I do..'
[Then this is the best first step in getting stronger, so stop complaining and get in there! ]