"It was said that the Honey Badger Gang have the backing of the mayor so they were more brazen in their actions and often got away from their crimes, the Morato Gang doesn't have any backing but their top brass were very capable individuals, even if they commit crime they wouldn't leave behind any evidence. Lastly, the Zesto Gang, this gang was born out of necessity, they were formed to resist the other gangs from harassing the towns people, they don't collect any fee or commit any crime, Lucas, the guy who step out earlier was part of the zesto gang.
"This three gang would consist the underworld powers of San Jose." Concluded the the lady.
"Are there only three?" Ken asked. Usually a town with almost 800,000 thousand resident would have more than just three gangs, so only mentioning three was quite odd.
"That's because there were no medium sized gang anymore, all the gangs who don't have any backing or incompetent would be eliminated from the competition." The lady said emotionlessly.
Ken nodded and continued eating his meal. After finishing, he stood up and paid his meal. Before leaving he asked the lady. "Where is the hardware store located?"
"It's on the other side of the market, just follow the road and you would see the signage."
Ken thanked the lady and headed to the hardware store. He plans to buy cement, nails and sand to construct his new house. After all he couldn't possibly just sleep outside even if he is completely capable surviving in the wild due to his power.
Ken arrived at the hardware store and saw the clerk manning the cashier. He had fair skin, slim build like a ladies, clear black eyes and raven colored hair.
When the young man heard the door opening he lifted his head and looked at Ken. "Hi, what can I do for you Sir?"
"I would like to order four sack of cement, five kilos of nail, sand and hollow blocks." He said to the clerk.
"Would you like it to be delivered?" the clerk asked with a smile.
Ken thought about it, he could bring the concret and nails in his truck but he couldn't bring the sand and concret with him. 'Since I couldn't bring the others then I might as well get it to delivered.' After coming to a decision Ken said.
"Yeah, I'll have it delivered," Ken paused before continuing, "do you deliver in the village though?"
"Where's the location?" asked the clerck.
"I'ts Ilaya village."
"Yes, we do deliver in that location." The clerck said with a smile.
"Great, when will the materials be delivered? I need to use it tomorrow morning." Ken asked. 'It would be great if the materials would arrive this afternoon so I can start working early.' He thought inwardly.
"It can be delivered as soon as you pay the amount needed since there's still one truck available for deliveries." The clerk said while taking out a calculator.
"That would be great, so how much?"
While the clerck was calculating the bill, the door suddenly swung open and a few youths with honey badger tattooed on their arms swaggered in. Derek looked around the shop before calling out the clerk.
"Hey Bill!" Derek waved his hand at Bill as if they knew each other since childhood.
Bill was about to greet the new customer but found that the gangs were the one who entered, Bill paled at the sight of the them but still forced a smile. "Hey Derek, I believe the shop already paid the protection fee this month." Bill said to Derek while his eyes darted around.
Derek chuckled at the sight of a terrified Bill. He entered behind the counter and raised his arm causing Bill to flinch, thinking he was going to be hit. Derek paused before hooking his arm at Bill saying. "No need to worry, we know you always pay on time after receiving the lessons we taught you." He said with a grin in his lips.
Upon being reminded of the so called 'lesson' bill couldn't help but shiver, he remained silent and didn't say anything.
Seeing Bill stayed silent Derek smirked, he enjoyed the feeling of others fearing him, not daring to even rebut him, the feeling of absolute power. 'Once I become one of the top brass no one would dare to disobey me, not even the police would be able to.' Dereks' eyes shined upon thinking of his bright future.
He looked at Bill before saying. "We want to order hollow blocks, concrete, sand and ply woods. I want them to be delivered at Ilaya, get it?" Derek chuckled and tap bill in the cheeks.
Bill huriedly wrote down what Derek said. "How many do you guys need?"
Derek raised a finger. "Five tons of sand, three tons of concrete and three hundred hollow blocks."
Although Bill wanted to ask what are they going to use the material, he didn't dare to ask, afraid that prying to their business would get him into trouble. "I would get it delivered immediately."
"That would be great, how much would that be?"
Bill heaved a sigh of relief when he heard Derek asked for the bill, he was afraid that they wouldn't pay, the entire material would cost about 50,000 PHP, not enough to put him out of business but isn't something he could shrug off too.
"The entire material would be 50,000 PHP."
Derek snapped his fingers and one of the youths walked out and slammed a paper bag on the counter. "50,000 cash, count it."
"No need, no need, I trust boss Derek won't cheat me." Bill said with a forced smile, although he really wanted to count the money, he just didn't have the guts to, in his mind he just wanted to get rid of this troublesome individuals.
Derek looked at Bill with squinted eyes, causing him to broke out in cold sweat, when Bill couldn't take it anymore and was about to ask what's wrong, Derek smiled. "Suit yourself." With that he waved his hand and was about to leave when he suddenly heard someone talk, causing him to halt.
"What about my orders?" Ken looked at Bill calmly. He was really starting to get annoyed, it seems that almost every person in this town is caplable of provoking him, he was about to pay and have the material delivered but it seems that would not be possible without getting in conflict with the local gangs.
Bill had an awkward smile on his face. "We could have it deliver to you after the delivery truck came back."
Although he would not use the material until tomorrow he still wanted his to be delivered first, after all who would like the feeling of someone cutting in line and even brazenly doing it on his face. 'I'm not really afraid of them, even if all of them comes after me, I could definitely beat them all up.' He thought inwardly.
"Well, I was here first so I think they should be the one to wait." Ken looked directly at Dereks' face. 'With his pale complexion, sunken cheek and red eyes he really look like a drug addict.' Ken mocked him in his mind.
Bill paled when he heard Ken's word. He looked pleadingly at Ken. 'If you wanted trouble don't involve me.' He thought inwardly, just when he opened his mouth he was suddenly interupted.
"Are you new here?"