Finally leaving that clustered space, he deeply inhaled, experiencing the free fresh air outside that was much more refreshing. He glanced at his surroundings and for some reason, it was suddenly filled with stalls and booths. They were all advertising some kind of organization that they were a part of.
“Did I take a wrong turn or something?” Arin tried to trace back his steps in his head but as much as he checked, he was sure that he didn’t deviate from his initial steps.
Seeing that it wasn’t as much of a problem, he looked around for a bit, seeing some of the organizations that Seal Academy had to offer. From his casual observations, these organizations could be put into two categories, official and unofficial.
Official organizations were termed as clubs, they were school-sanctioned organizations that had one clear purpose, benefitting the school these clubs sent on to either join competitions or improve the school’s reputation as a whole. The Student Body Committee was a part of this.
The unofficial organizations were being advertised as syndicates, a group of people trying to find their own backing but not wanting to join clubs for this sole reason. They seem to pile on each of their backing to form a group that would support each other’s back. By meshing together numerous small backings, they would be able to at least find their foothold in the school.
Arin saw through the entire farce of this entire situation and it bored him to death, “Just a bunch of cowards huddling together for safety.”
He continued looking around to see what kind of other clubs or syndicates were in the area. As he was making his way, a notably cute girl with a flirtatious look on her face suddenly called out to Arin, “Hey, cutie! Do you mind coming over?” She reached out her finger seemingly tempting Arin to come rush her.
Arin immediately felt his instincts tell him it was a trap, he looked around and saw that there were two figures by the side, glancing in his direction. His outer appearance showed a calm smile and tempted gaze but his inner thoughts portrayed something completely cruel.
You want to make fun of me? Hahaha! Let’s see you try. Arin played along.
Arin walked over to the girl to seemingly fully lay down his guard in front of her. He went up and started his conversation with the girl in front of her.
“What did you need?” Arin’s delighted face showed that he was completely smitten by her. She would know, she had seen this face numerous times already. She then feigned a troubled look on her face.
“Would you mind signing this form? I’m afraid that our syndicate would disband if it didn’t have enough people. If you do, I’ll be so grateful,” The cute girl rushed over to Arin’s side, hugging his arm as she brushed her entire body against his.
Arin immediately signed the paper, “Arin Theo.” He wasn’t afraid of the consequences, not at all if it served to somehow relieve him of his boredom then he wouldn’t mind getting in trouble.
After the girl saw Arin write down a name, she gave a hand gesture to the two figures by the side. They immediately came up right behind Arin without hesitation after seeing that their plan was already finished. They were all happily gloating that they found a sucker so easily.
“Hey friend, stop bothering her.” A man bigger than Arin came up right behind him and grabbed his shoulder. Arin’s entire right shoulder was covered by the man’s gigantic hand.
“Bothering her? What are you talking about?” Arin feigned a confused look on his face as he was curious as to how this show was going to play out. This was the first interesting thing he saw ever since Fiona so he had no other choice but to let them do what they wanted.
“That’s my girlfriend, if you don’t want to get beaten up then I suggest you leave,” The man tried threatening Arin, the psychopath. “But before you do, cough up 1,000 Federation coins. Entering the Flower Syndicate costs a pretty penny after all.”
The cute girl immediately came to this man’s arms and started hugging him instead. She immediately started flirting with the man instead, entering his personal space quite easily.
The man carefully hugged the girl, “Rose, what did he do to you?”
“He’s such a brute! He touched me inappropriately!” Rose immediately put out her red tongue at Arin. She acted extremely scared and afraid of Arin.
“He did?! That’s it, your fee just increased by ten times! If you don’t pay us 10,000 Federation coins by the end of the month then we have no choice but to forcefully take it from you!”
That’s it…?
Arin’s mood immediately worsened. This was the entire play? He was immediately annoyed at how much time he wasted playing along with these fools. To put it in perspective, 10,000 Federation coins were an extremely hefty sum, it was enough to let a family live quite comfortably for a while. For other students, it was an astronomically large amount but for Arin, it was a drop in the bucket.
Misinterpreting Arin’s change in expression as depression and helplessness, he started gloating, “Don’t worry, buddy…” He looked at the signed name on the paper, “Arin. You’re in good hands, as long as you keep paying your protection fees then no one will bother you. It’s actually a pretty good deal, don’t you think?”
“Boss Carson, I don’t think he understood just how lucky he is!” Another man right behind this towering figure started spouting nonsense.
“Well then, Crocus, I think you should show our little friend here what he’s not understanding right now. A High-born doesn’t understand how the world works so consider it a free lesson from your seniors.”
Before Crocus could come up to deal with Arin, Rose pointed her finger at Arin’s chest, smugly enjoying the feeling of superiority while repeatedly tapping on his chest, “You should learn your-”
Arin’s temper couldn’t handle it anymore, he pinched Rose’s finger that kept on repeatedly tapping his chest. Before anyone could react, Arin pulled her finger, ripping her index finger away from the rest of her hand.
Rose’s blood-curdling scream sounded throughout the entire area. Carson immediately reacted, he pulled Rose away as he engaged in a frontal battle against Arin. He quickly tried to strike Arin in the face yet he lazily dodged, making it seem effortless.
Crocus saw Arin dodge his leader’s attack and immediately went in for another attack. He jumped in, going for a tackle, hoping to catch Arin off balance so that he could be savagely beaten down by his leader.
“Crocus, no!” Carson tried to warn his subordinates about just how threatening the person they were dealing with was but was a step too late.
Crocus managed to grab a hold of Arin’s stomach yet when he tried to move him, he found something odd. No matter how much he moved, Arin stayed stationary, like a mountain, unmovable.
“Ah?” Crocus felt something odd as Arin grabbed his hair. Right after, Arin raised his knee, striking Crocus in the stomach numerous times without stopping. Thuds of flesh beating beaten down could be heard as Crocus lost consciousness mid-way, blood was flowing down his mouth the entire time.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Carson tried to punch Arin one more time, only to fail once more. Another punch, then another right after. Stream of strikes and jabs tried to connect with Arin’s body yet couldn’t, they were all dodged by the tiniest margins every single time. With every strike he missed, one painful grunt could be heard from his subordinate’s unconscious body.
Realizing that he wouldn’t be able to hit Arin at all, he gave up on that and grabbed a hold of his subordinate’s body, pulling him away as hard as he could. Although it caused Crocus to lose quite a bit of hair on the back of his head, he should be able to live on.
“Rose, bring Crocus to the clinic! Hurry!” Carson ordered Rose who was still gazing at her missing finger. She was currently in shock as this was the first time someone actually committed this kind of violence on her, ripping her finger off. As she received Crocus’ brutally beaten body, she came to her senses and ran away, carrying Crocus on her back.
“You psychopath!” Carson tried to aim at Arin’s chest trying to release the burning anger within him. The expected dodge didn’t come, instead, Arin grabbed Carson’s strike. This took Carson off-guard so he tried to pull back his fist to no avail.
Arin twisted Carson’s hand open as he kicked Carson’s lower leg, forcing him to kneel down in front of him. Arin was in complete control now, he had been bored ever since he beat up Patrick and Robert, the two bullies. Now that another fool decided to deliver himself to him, there was no reason to refuse.
“W-What do you want? If it’s about that contract then forget about it! If it’s about money then we’ll pay you! If it’s-”
From Carson’s open hand, Arin plucked off Carson’s pinky finger, “Flower Syndicate, right?”
“Gah!” Carson screamed out at the top of his lungs, verbally expressing just how much agony he was in.
For some reason, Carson felt extremely terrified of what was about to occur. He already saw the surrounding clubs and syndicates run away after witnessing Arin take down the Flower Syndicate, one of the middle-ranked syndicates, by himself with extreme ease. This left him and this monster alone.
“You know, I’ve always thought about that little flower game. You know what I’m talking about, right?”
Carson immediately realized what Arin was doing, he was plucking his fingers for each of his decisions.
Arin was employing the same tactic, to make the person in front of him completely and utterly fear him beyond reasonable doubt, “Since I plucked off your lover’s finger, it’s only fair that I add it in, right? Well, then let’s continue.” Arin hovered his fingers over Carson’s ring finger and unhesitatingly pulled.
Another pained cry escaped his lips, blood was flowing down his hand yet there was nothing he could do but take it all in.
“Let’s see, so far it’s, I’ll let you go… I won’t let you go… I’ll let you go… I wonder what it’ll end off on? I’m very curious.” A finger signified a choice, with Rose’s index finger, Carson’s pinky finger, and ring finger, there were now three remaining “petals” left.
Carson knew that Arin knew where it would end off, even a child would easily figure it out. At this point, having a figure like Arin not let them off would be essentially killing them off. Such a terrifyingly brutal choice finally came to Carson’s mind.
I need to cut off my finger... This psychopath wants me to cut off my own finger!
“I won’t let you go,” Arin casually plucked off another ‘petal,’ two remained. He took even less time this time, forcing Carson to make a choice even sooner than he anticipated. He tragically got used to the pain of having his fingers ripped off, letting him focus on what was important.
Feeling his waist, he could feel the dagger that he kept on his person for self-defense. He now had a choice, to either try and stab Arin or to use this to cut off his finger.
The choice is-
“I’ll let you go,” Arin took and ripped off Carson’s index finger interrupting his train of thought. Arin slowly reached out to Carson’s thumb to finally finish his little game when Carson’s determined eyes finally shone and he took out the dagger from his waist and accurately cut off his thumb.
Arin let go of Carson’s hand, “That was fun.” Arin immediately left right after, he used Carson’s clothes to wipe off the blood from his hands. After seeing that the blood wouldn’t stick to Carson’s clothes, he found a nearby sink and cleansed his hands.
Carson was left there, kneeling with all his fingers on one hand ripped off. Yet despite this, he had never felt so relieved that something was over. He slowly made his way up, nearly falling over as he was staggering from the blood loss. He grabbed on the table to support himself up only to see 634 Federation coins on the table, something that Arin left behind. There was also a small note by the contract that said, “I’ll pay you by tomorrow the full 10,000 Federation coins..” Carson weakly reached out to the contract with his fully intact hand and crunched this piece of paper as he teared up, “Please, don’t come back…”
As Carson was in mental anguish, Arin carefully made his way to the other clubs and syndicates. Fortunately for them, they all realized how much of a bomb Arin was so they all decided to not make a move that could possibly anger him. This further made Arin bored, and with no one striking up trouble he decided to wait for the rest of the students to finish their tests.
As the artificial sun hovered above him, he felt slightly sleepy. Arin yawned out loud and laid his back on the bench under the sunny sky. His instincts felt that there weren’t any real threats around him so he slowly drifted off to sleep.
This made everyone in the surrounding area feel relieved as a monster like that was finally out of their mind for now. As long as they didn’t provoke him then they should be safe for the time being. Soon enough, all their preparations were finally finished as an incoming surge of new students came out all over the place.
They all seemed to have been sorted randomly as they explored the numerous clubs and syndicates that opened their organizations for them. One male student got tired of looking around and saw Arin sleeping soundly, he decided to come up to ask Arin to make some space for him. When one of the neighboring syndicates saw this person walk up to Arin he immediately blocked the way.
“What gives?” The new male student was caught off-guard that someone actually stopped him. “Why are you stopping me?”
“Don’t go near him,” The syndicate’s representative warned him. “It’s better if he stays asleep for the rest of the day.”
“What? Why?”
“He’s a dangerous person, now stop asking questions and leave. Look, even a club’s representative blocked someone else.” The syndicate’s representative pointed at another person being told off. There seemed to have been a tacit agreement that they shouldn’t wake up Arin under any circumstances. Who knows what would happen if he suddenly decided to go on a rampage?
From the distance, Elliot felt a little uncertain about his results since he only had half the time of everyone else to answer his papers. Guiding both Patrick and Robert to the clinic when he didn’t know the layout of the school made it difficult for him to make it in time. Despite this, he still was confident about his results.
He could still recall when Fiona gave her ending speech, although he missed out on her initial speech, she glanced at him and at a few tardy students and repeated what she said. This small gesture made him realize that there were still people in this twisted city who were still pure.
After enduring so much bullying and encountering a monster like Arin, he wanted to see a world that Fiona envisioned, one where everyone would help out each other instead of ruthlessly beating each other senselessly. As for Arin’s offer, he had already ignored it, sticking with someone so cruel wouldn’t give him a bright future. He knew that Arin was bound to make enemies and eventually, he’d provoke someone that he wouldn’t be able to handle and die.
Composing himself, he tried to find the Student Body Committee club, to join in a volunteer in case he failed due to his tardiness. He started asking around him and finally got a direction, he thanked them and left immediately. At the corner of his eye, he saw a few clubs and syndicates, blocking off an area so he got curious.
Elliot came closer to see someone he wished he wouldn’t see in the future, Arin. He immediately received shivers down his spine as he calmly walked away, hoping that Arin wouldn’t wake up. He prayed that those clubs and syndicates do their job properly so that there wouldn’t be any issues that day.
Putting the matter at the back of his mind, Elliot looked around to find the Student Body Committee’s booth. It had a very noticeable booth since it had the Seal Academy logo on it. This made it easy for Elliot to identify whether it was the place he wanted to be.
Following the directions even further, he finally found it, Seal Academy’s logo. He ran to it in a frenzy, only to realize that there weren’t a lot of people surrounding it. This made him question why there were barely any people there. He moved in closer and saw that there was a nearby syndicate right beside the Student Body Committee’s booth, there were a lot of unsavory characters right beside it.
As a young female girl came up to the Student Body Committee’s booth, one of the people from the syndicate left their station and came up to her. She seemed quite terrified at the man that came up to her. He leaned in closer, cutting in on this nonexistent line, blocking her from joining.
The man just seemed to have dragged it on and on for an extremely long time until the man behind the booth sighed, “Miss, I’m sorry but you can leave your contact-”
The man from the syndicate grinned and blocked the man from the booth’s words, “That’s unfortunate, isn’t it? Well, you can come to our syndicate instead, it’s free and you’ll have all the protection you’ll ever need.”
“N-No thanks… I’ll stick with the Student Body Committee.” She trembled in front of the very threatening man in front of her. “Please leave me alone.”
“Is this how your Rising Syndicate operates? You can ruin people joining us but you can’t force people to join you! That’s beyond the rules! Fiona was already kind enough to let most of this pass but this is too far! Extortion is beyond the rules!” Mason, the man who was in charge of letting people sign up finally spoke out.