Chapter 43: Conflicts within the academy [1]   -Pak! -Pak! -Pak!

Inside of a large spacious room, a lone figure bounced around a punching bag. His figure seemed to melt with the shadows around the room, appearing and disappearing constantly.

Each time his figure emerged from the shadows his fist would instantly connect with the punching bag resulting in a small indentation appearing on the bag.

The force of each punch was so strong that small shockwaves were released every time he hit the punching bag.

If not for the fact that the material used for making the punching bag was unique, it would've already been broken a dozen times over.

"Huff, huff, huff"

Stopping, the figure's body which seemed to be sculpted to perfection, heavily gulped for air.

Droplets of sweat dripped all over his shirtless figure, giving him a wild and manly aura.

Taking a water bottle from the ground, the handsome figure took big gulps of water. Soon he exhaled in satisfaction. After drinking his fill, the figure dropped to the ground exhausted and leaned on the wall.

-Knock! -Knock!

Hearing the sound of someone knocking, the figure indifferently spoke

"…Come in"

Soon the door opened, revealing the features of a burly individual whose hair was cut in a buzzcut. His towering figure that looked to be nearing 2 meters made him look intimidating.

"Young master Jin, I heard you called me"

Apatethically nodding his head, Jin slowly stood up and grabbed a towel from a nearby table.

Drying his wet hair, he slowly approached Arnold who stood with his back straight and breathing lightly, not daring to even make a sound.

-Bam!

Arriving beside Arnold, Jin punched his stomach with all his might, causing Arnold's body to bend over as his eyes shot wide open.

"Guuuaah…ghhh…khhh"

"To actually be unable to deal with a mere bug"

Disdainfully looking at Arnold, Jin threw the towel that was drenched in his sweat at his face.

"Stand up"

"khh"

Holding his stomach, Arnold slowly stood up as Jin ordered.

"…To think you would resort to such stupid tricks to harass someone that isn't even worth my notice"

"B-but!"

"Shut up"

Jin's mood was terrible.

Recalling the lone figure sitting on the right side of the classroom, Jin's teeth clenched.

Ren. Ren Dover.

That was the name of the student that fouled his mood.

Previously, he didn't really put Ren in his sight. He only knew that Arnold had a slight grudge against him…But just recently he received a certain piece of news that irked him.

It told him that Melissa had granted Ren a meeting with her, and moreover, it seemed that they talked for over ten minutes.

Not even he could talk to Melissa for that long despite the fact that they were living in the same dorm.

With a dark face, Jin said

"I'll ask Troy to deal with him…at least he can finish the job"

Hearing Troy's name being mention, Arnold immediately protested

"Please let me!"

"…oh?"

Seeing Arnold's determination, Jin couldn't help but glance at him.

"What makes you think you can do it after failing already?"

"Because Kevin was the one that prevented me from finishing the mission"

"…hm I guess you're right"

Patting Arnold in the shoulder, Jin gloomily said

"Make sure you make his life is miserable…"

"Yes"

Nodding solemnly, Arnold left the training room.

-Baaam!

-Tsshhhhh

Soon after Arnold left the room, Jin walked back to the punching machine and punched it with all his might. A large shockwave swept the room and fine granules of sand started falling from the sack as a tear appeared on it.

"…How dare you approach Melissa!"

…

"Whew, I thought I was lost."

After switching buses four times, I finally arrived at the appointed location. A large fancy board with the words ] imprinted on it immediately caught my attention.

Entering the cafe, instantly the heavy scent of coffee hit my nostrils. Wooden chairs and tables spread all over the cafe. A relaxed and tranquil atmosphere enveloped the place promoting me to relax along with the atmosphere.

Looking around I soon found smallsnake

Wearing a black baseball cap and a mask, smallsnake sat in the corner of the café. I was easily able to find him because he was wearing exactly what he used to wear whenever he would meet Kevin.

Taking note of that, I went and ordered an iced latté

After paying and receiving my latté I headed to where smallsnake was.

We had agreed beforehand that we both must order a latté beforehand in order to make sure we got the right person. Since our faces were covered, we had no idea how we looked like so this was the easiest method.

"Yooo"

Comfortably sitting on the green sofa in front of smallsnake I placed my latté down and hung my arm on the side of the sofa.

Seeing me sit down, smallsnake placed his drink down and looked at me strangely

"…are you wearing a face mask?"

"Nope"

Hearing my straightforward response, smallsnake sighed and shook his head.

"Aren't you afraid I will rat you out and keep all the money you made?"

"Nope, I have a good eye for people and my instincts are telling me that you're not a person that would rat me out for small gains"

Well, I wasn't lying when I said I had a good eye for people. Knowing my novel very well I knew exactly what kind of person he was…it's just that he didn't need to know this part.

"I wouldn't really call those small gains though…you're weird"

Laughing lightly, smallsnake shook his head and slowly took off his hat and mask.

"If you're willing to trust me that much, I might as well reciprocate"

Soon his face was revealed. He had short black hair, deep green eyes, and a childish-looking face. However, despite his childish features, his demeanor was nothing but childish. He felt like someone who had gone through many ups and downs in his life. Someone that had survived many years in the most unimaginable places on earth…

"I'm glad I've gained your trust…so what did you call me here for?"

Taking a sip of my latté I went straight to the point.

Looking around, smallsnake leaned forward and whispered

"…A third party is looking for my traces"

"The authorities?"

"No, I've been very careful and though the authorities are indeed trying to trace me they are not doing it as aggressively as the other party"

"hmmm"

Leaning back on my sofa, I contemplated for a bit before saying

"It should be W.V. Pharmaceuticals"

"I also thought the same but I don't have concrete proof"

"No, it's them"

"…what makes you so sure about that?"

"Well, it's because they were the ones that ordered for Thobias Church's death"

"What!?"

Abruptly standing up, smallsnake raised his voice and looked at me in disbelief

"oy, calm down"

Seeing everyone staring in our direction, I lightly sighed and urged him to sit down.

"…you, how do you know?"

"Relax, I am not part of them if that's what your thinking"

Taking a sip of my latté I stared at smallsnake who was sitting up straight and eagerly waiting for me to continue speaking.

"If you wanna know how I got the information I'm sorry but that's confidential"

Even if I wanted to tell him who told me, I couldn't. It's not like I could explain to him that he was merely a side character of a world that I had created.

Lightly disappointed, smallsnake said

"No I get it, but is what you said real?"

"100%"

Since I was the one who wrote about the event I obviously knew who did it. W.V the second largest company hired silent creeper to kill Thobias Church. The reason why he was able to kill him without any trace was because they had planted a mole inside of C.B and made use of the mole to help silent creeper kill Thobias church.

The reason why they got rid of him was obvious…they wanted to be the number one. Having been overshadowed ever since opening, the higherups had decided they had enough. Since they couldn't defeat them legally, they resorted to killing their best researcher.

"…what are you planning on doing with this information?"

"Nothing"

"eh?"

Raising his voice, smallsnake looked at me as if he was looking at an idiot.

I mean who wouldn't want to capitalize on this piece of news to make even more money? If I could prove that W.V was behind Thobias Church's death then the stock of W.V would plummet. Moreover, with my newly acquired funds, the amount of money I would make would be frightening.

"…first off and more importantly, I don't have any proof. Even if I know that W.V is behind it, I can't do anything about it since I can't prove my claim"

"That's true"

"Secondly, if we do release the news about what had happened then the pharmaceutical market will completely crash resulting in prices for potions to increase drastically"

Nodding, smallsnake thought for a bit and agreed with what I had said.

Even if we did manage to release the news and prove that W.V pharmaceuticals were guilty it would cause total chaos in the industry resulting in prices for potions inflating drastically. Simply put, no one wanted that. I would gain nothing from it, and quite possibly, the thought of interacting with Melissa once again to renegotiate the prices of potions sent shivers down my spine.

"…okay, then I better leave now. Since I know who the party is I no longer need to worry about being discovered"

"Alright"

Standing up, I took my half-empty latté and left the café with smallsnake. Soon we split up.

Checking my watch and seeing that I still had quite a bit of free time I decided to roam around and see if there was anything that could catch my interest.

Though the streets weren't busy, I could see people going in and out of shops everywhere. There was a single road where cars passed and on the right and left side of the road shops filled the streets.

Large billboards with beautiful ladies and handsome men could be seen everywhere as they each advertised different products. Perfume, toys, clothing, you name it, they had it all.

"…hm?"

Stopping, I looked at a large fluorescent sign.

]

"Antique shop? I wonder if they have anything interesting here."

-Dling! -Dling!

Opening the door, the bells on the door lightly tolled. Instantly a heavy scent of wood hit my nostrils reminding me of my grandparent's house back in my previous world. It smelled funky.

"Welcome"

Greeting me was an old man with a large grey beard and a set of white hair. Nodding in his direction I looked around.

Instantly my interest was piqued. Everything in here were things that I used to use back on earth.

Since this was the year 2055, everything was far more advanced to the things I was used to back on earth, meaning that what I used to use was considered ancient in this day and age. In the corner of the room, I could see magazines and newspapers, consoles, and other things that I used to use.

Seeing all of these things around the room caused me to feel a bit of nostalgia.

"Oh!"

As I was looking around a certain item instantly caught my attention. Picking it up a wide smile appeared on my face

"Great choice! one of my personal favorites"

Appearing behind me the shopowner stroked his beard a couple of times as he looked at the item in my hand.

"How much is this?"

"Mhh…considering that the company that makes that device is no longer around I would say 500U"

"500U?"

Looking at the Mp3 in my hand, a conflicted look appeared on my face. I mean paying 500U for an Mp3 in this day and age wasn't something that any sane person would do…but I couldn't help but be tempted.

This was especially so when I noticed that it came with its own wired earphones.

You heard me right. wired earphones.

Before I reincarnated, my world was already starting to transition from wired earphones to wireless earbuds. To be honest I tried wireless earbuds before but they weren't my thing.

As I loved listening to music to pass time, I bought myself some wireless earbuds in this world but it just wasn't the same…

"Alright, I'll buy it"

"Great choice"

Smiling from ear to ear, the shopkeeper immediately went to the register and swiped my card.

Soon after the transaction ended, I left the shop. Opening my new mp3, I was surprised with the fact that it already had its own playlist on it.

Scrolling through the numerous songs, I stopped on one and put on my earbuds.

=====================

Seven nation army

The white stripes

:00 ?----------------------- 3:52

+ Volume -

=====================

Ignoring the weird stares coming in my direction, I happily went back to the academy listening to my new mp3.