TF Chapter 10 Human Nature

"What gives you the right...no no no no...the gull to speak to me like that? Last time, I let it go, but now..." He gestured towards the others, not to attack but, to show his might.

"Do you really want to get on my bad side, Everett Ross?"

I was stupified when the idiot backed away a step after the reveal of his name. Could it be that he was somehow related to Danny boy? Many questions were birthed in my mind at that.

"Ho-how do you know my name? I am very sure I don't know you!" Everett spoke with some fear in his voice. It was like he had never expected someone to know his name.

"I know that and a whole lot more. Would you like me to list them down? Even the unsavory things? Even the real reason why you are here?" With every question, Danny boy took a step forward while Everett a step back. His face was a storm of genuine fear.

Could it be that there was something heinous he had done to be cast out here? Could the big shots really be treating this as a penitentiary? How extravagant! I sighed at that realisation.

"Le-lets go!" Everett ran away with his tail between his legs. Wow! I had thought that Danny boy didn't know any one of the young masters here, but it seems I had been mistaken!

"It looks like there is more to you than meets the eye." Kim Bora commented, her gaze full of suspicion directed at Danny boy.

"My secrets are better left untouched, unrevealed, as things might spiral out of control." With his back to us, he spoke.

"Then, what's with that Everett? Surely you can tell us about him, right?" I decided to ask, this time with gravitas in my voice. What was the point of him having all the secrets to himself?

"...Everett comes from the Ross family. It owns one of the super large conglomerates-"

"The Ross Group!" Bora interrupted with visible shock on her face.

Ross Group...even though I didn't pay much attention to such things, I had heard of them as their business empire was really gigantic.

...it would have been nice if I had been born into such a family. I sighed at how unfair the world could be.

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We had already resumed our walk even as Danny boy filled us in on Everett.

"His crime was that he raped the beloved daughter of another group...only that he was saved from being killed due to the power held by his grandfather." Danny boy seemed especially enraged at that. Even I became a bit worked up at that. But I already knew that this world was never fair. Those who held power could do whatever they wanted as long as they didn't tarnish their reputation in the eyes of the public.

I had heard of many such incidents during my work, causing me to make sure that my cousin never visited me at the office no matter how urgent she needed me. I had even procured a second contact which was separate from that of my work. Humans were monsters in human skin. If you exposed even one weakness about yourself, they could devour you whole, leaving nothing behind.

"I heard the Ross family has four fully fledged forgers...could his grandfather be one of them?" Bora asked with a thoughtful expression.

"Yes...people like him don't deserve to walk the earth, but due to his grandfather's strength, he's here." Danny boy's tone contained frustration.

"So, he might be one of those people with authority Celeste reported to?" I phrased it as a question, but I had no doubt that it was the truth.

How was I supposed to trust those people if such a secret was exposed this fast and easily?

I looked to the skies, where the bubble shielding the continent was tinged with a warm orange as if it was sunset, the perpetual color it always spotted.

Was I going to have to shelve my dream and drop out of this place? With Celeste's report, there was no way they would allow me to...I sighed at my circumstances.

Why didn't I keep my mouth shut? If I had, maybe I wouldn't have gotten into this situation?

The dark orange walls loomed over us as we made it near the exit to the city.

"We are going to have to ask Celeste. That guy's reveal is going to paint a target in your back." Danny boy spoke in seriousness.

"What do you mean? Will someone try to kill me?" I asked with a quiver in my voice. Was I going to be exposed to danger even before I became a forger?

Danny boy gave me an expression that said that it was certain to happen, causing goosebumps to break out over my skin.

"Don't scare him. Only weaklings like us the students will try to kill you. The forgers will only have such means after these five years." Bora tried to reassure me, but I knew my limits. Could I really be able to combat a person especially chosen to assassinate me? That was a big NO!

"Why would they really want my death. What I got was just a vision. It should be beneficial to the city authority that I be kept alive?" I asked with some hope.

"Among us humans, there are those short sighted and jealous people. The vision doesn't matter to them. What really scares them is the fact that you will become a forger easily. Human nature is a dangerous thing." Danny boy sighed, as if he was truly exasperated with humans.

We reached the end of our stroll, the looming exit causing us to turn back the way we came. As we walked, I ruminated upon the various revelations that had just been revealed to me.

Imagine being told that you were now someone important enough to be assassinated, how would you feel? I felt it hard to breathe, as if a huge weight had been dropped upon my chest. What was I to do?