"Big secrets revealed: The back story and secrets about the Prince of Death retirement… Read all inside and more!"
A hooded young man wearing blue jeans and a grey sweater stopped in front of a stall for newspapers and magazines. His eyes stopped over the glaring red big letters which he read in mockery.
He was Hao, and he arrived at his destination, New York city.
"I'll take this one," he paid the price of that magazine before turning around, and started to walk away. Dragging a silver trolley spinner suitcase with his right hand, he walked in one of the most bustling streets in New York city, holding the magazine while carelessly waving it with his other hand.
"One Pina Colada please," reaching a small cafe on the side of this big plaza in Manhattan, he ordered his favoured drink and sat all alone to check the content of that magazine.
The front of the paper showed an image from a court where a young man was there, wearing a medical mask to hide his face. It was a photo taken of Hao during one of his two suit days.
"Funny how they managed to get access to all this and missed the one who did that to me!" Just after passing through half of the article, he couldn't help but raise his hand and throw the magazine carelessly over the table.
Then he was lost in thoughts for a few minutes, reminding himself that he still had a chance… A chance to get what he lost so far.
"Even in such a place and moment, your face is still able to bring me calmness and warmth," his eyes got attracted to the back cover of that magazine on the table. It was a familiar angelic face of someone he truly treasured and highly valued.
She was his girl, Nora.
"I hope your father is happy about what he achieved," his tone carried all the reluctance he held deep in his heart towards all this.
He kept looking at her pure face that could rival any of the famous actresses of any country at any time.
Long black eyelashes, elliptical blue eyes with a small face that gave anyone the impression of her coming from an asian country… small red lips and ocean wave-like thick silver white hair with blue endings.
She was posing to advertise one of the most famous brands in the world.
As for Hao, he wasn't that bad compared to her. His face was like any of the top asian superstars, with an oval-shaped face, small brown eyes, and thick and slightly long black hair that would reach his shoulders.
Hao looked at Nora's picture and couldn't help but take a deep breath, feeling conflicted deep down in his heart.
"At least you are doing great," he read the advertisement on the back of the magazine and knew this photo was recently taken.
Since that case six months ago, her father did a great job in hiding her. She stopped texting him, and even her number went out of service.
Hao lost any means of contact with her. Even when he asked old Xie to investigate her place in the states, he knew she had stopped living there for months already.
He tried to find her but all in vain. But Hao knew no matter how hard that old fox tried to do, he couldn't hide Nora from him for so long.
After all she was a gamer, just like him. If he couldn't meet her in the real world, then he would make sure to do that in the upcoming game.
Thinking about this, Hao took out a small piece of paper from his pocket. He kept this message all by his side all the time, to remind him he had a debt he should repay in folds to that old man.
"I did all this to you. I'm sending this paper over so you'll know who was behind all this. Now bad boy, what are you gonna do?"
Hao read the message that he already memorised by heart. A song came to his mind at this moment while he crushed that paper slowly with his fingers, returning it back into his pocket.
"Bad boy bad boy… Whatcha you gonna do… Whatcha gonna do when I come for you?" he started murmuring the lyrics while dragging his suitcase and leaving the cafe.
As he reached a bustling street nearby, he called a cap and went to the address he memorised by heart.
He didn't worry about Xie ro anyone else discovering his lie so soon. After all, he already enrolled himself in MIT university to buy time for himself.
The place he was going to was a private academy in the outskirts of New York city. It wasn't that big or well known place, but he selected it for specific reasons.
Spending the last few months in preparations, he studied this place thoroughly and knew lots about its secrets and people.
"We arrived sir," the middle aged man said before opening the back trunk and giving the luggage case to Hao.
"Thanks," Hao said while giving ten dollars as a tip to the driver, "keep the change," he said while looking at the fancy looking gate just ahead of him. The name, Elite Academy, was written on top of the gate in big lettres.
"Balloons?" Just as he passed through the main gate, he found arcs of red and golden balloons welcoming him.
The academy wasn't big. In fact he knew it was considered a private academy where only three colleges were there. They added two other colleges just in name to get the fancy name of being an academy with the promise of finishing their buildings in a couple of years.
But something told him the managers here were just screwing up and wouldn't do any of that.
"I told you, we have no such name in our student list!"
Just as he took a turn inside that wide space of trees and open gardens, he heard a loud shout coming from someone being nervous and agitated.
"But sir, I'm just a poor delivery guy," as Hao reached that spot, he found a big old looking building standing and blocking his sight. It reminded him of a mediaeval castle and not a teaching place.
And in front of that strange grey, old looking building, a youth stood in a red and yellow uniform, arguing in an intense discussion with an express delivery company guy.
"I don't care about that!" that youth was three years younger than Hao, but his body built gave him a frightening look. "You came asking for a student called Hao, and I told you… no one in the entire college has such a name!"
"Sorry, I'm late," before things would go overboard, Hao raised his hand in a naive way while acting all innocent.
"Excuse me, this is private land for our college," the youth turned sharply to Hao and exploded in his face.
"I'm Hao," Hao said in a calm tone, "and this package is for me."
"Dude…" the student of the college got startled, especially when Hao totally ignored him and went to the delivery boy and started signing a few papers.
"Thanks for that," Hao said while giving the boy a paper of a hundred dollars as a tip, "please can you wait for me until I choose a room?"
"What do you think this place is? This isn't a f*cking hotel!!!" Just as the delivery boy was already jumping in happiness from this generous tip, that student jumped off his feet in rage.
"I'm Hao," Hao turned to him while giving him a calm smile that was enough to lose anyone his mind.
"What the f*ck is wrong with you?!!!" The student screamed in rage, but Hao simply ignored him as he patted over the delivery boy's shoulder and motioned for him to go back.
And the boy nodded while the student watched Hao walking calmly past him, pulling his luggage through the rocky stairs that were filled with green moult and dirt. "This must be the dean's office, right?" Hao pushed the door open and entered without adding another word.
The poor student froze in his place for a moment before he regained his consciousness. "Hey! Hey! You! I'm talking to you! Stop right there!!" and as he snapped out of it, he jumped after Hao and forcibly tried to stop him.
But what welcomed him wasn't weakness, yet a strong resistance coming from Hao. The student who got his muscles bulging to some degree was shocked to feel that force coming from Hao's slim body.
"You…" lost in his shock, he stopped just a metre away from Hao, blocking his pass.
"Step aside please," but Hao was trying to act as calm as ever, yet he pushed the kid's arm away from his, and then continued to walk as if nothing just happened.
"Hey! Hey!" again the kid was lost in his shock while Hao already walked all the way towards the end of the main entrance.
And there he found three different doors and two curved corridors waiting for him.
"Ah," just as the kid reached him, Hao pointed towards the middle door as if he realised something, "is the dean here?" he asked and the kid had his face all red out of anger.
"No he isn't!" the kid shouted but Hao simply nodded as he said in return.
"Thanks, I'll let myself in then," and without any warning, Hao simply pushed the kid to the side as if he was pushing a sack of meat before opening the door without even knocking.
"Hey! Hey!" the kid's panicked shouts rang inside the vast office of the dean. The dean himself got jolted up when he heard that, looking at the direction of the door and over Hao's shoulders to the one screaming from behind.
"Pillard… What is wrong with you?!" The dean was an old man who had all his hair white but still kept his sharp eyes and smooth skin on his face. From just one look, one would feel this dean was twenty years younger than his real age.
"S… Sorry Mr. Dean," the kid named Pillard nervously apologised and this time his tone was low and filled with deep respect and immense fear. "But he…" before he could say anything, Hao turned to Pillard, threw his trolley suitcase to him while saying:
"Make sure my things will wait until I finish my meeting with the dean."
"You…" Pillard glared at Hao, gritted his teeth while resisting the urge to shout again.
"Do you have a meeting with me?" the dean stepped in and asked and Hao responded with a simple wave to Pillard to leave the room.
"I'm sorry Mr. Dean, I didn't introduce myself properly first," Hao didn't answer the dean's question and instead walked towards the two rows of comfortable leather seats in front of the desk.
Then he simply placed his hand inside his sweater pocket, took an envelope and gave it to the dean while adding, "this is me, Hao."
The dean looked in a weird way towards Hao who was still wearing his hood and sunglasses before turning to Pillard who simply pointed to his head in a motion that Hao was a lunatic or something.
"Oh," the dean said in a realisation before he opened the envelope and then the smile on his face froze.
He checked the content of the envelope a couple of times before looking in doubt towards Hao as if he was asking him what it meant.
"A token of appreciation," Hao calmly sat down without even waiting for the dean to sit, "something I prepared to support my future academy."
"Ah… sure, sure," the dean snapped out of it as he dug the envelope deep into his pocket. "Have you applied yet?" he asked and Hao didn't answer directly. Instead he turned to look at the all speechless Pillard as he said:
"He can go and take care of my things outside."
"Sure, Pillard…" the dean's voice changed as he showed a strong presence, "go and make sure everything is settled for our new student."
"But Mr. dean… We are in late August and the admission is…"
"Just go!"
Pillard withdrew against his will while his head kept spinning about what just happened inside the dean's office.
"He is a good kid, just he gets lost sometimes," the dean said with a big smile that Hao knew the reason for.
That envelope contained a small piece of paper inside; a check! One million dollars check! Almost half of what Hao owned at the moment.
His research was quite deep. He didn't want to leave anything for coincidence, not when his future and entire life hung with a thread on everything he would do here.
So he learnt that the academy used to accept two kinds of students, two opposite faces of the same coin. One was the rich kids, and the other was the poor kids with specific talent.
He also knew that the academy was running short on funds. Despite depending on the rich kids' payments, they still struggled for no specific reason.
Hao thought about it for a long time before deciding to use this method. He knew he couldn't leave his country without getting his release papers, which would come too late than the official admission date here.
Using what this old dean desired most was the most perfect strategy to secure his win here.
"So, Hao, isn't it? Have you applied for the transfer yet or…" the dean asked and Hao didn't know if the dean's mouth would crack open from such a big smile or something.
"I'm a fresh student," Hao said before opening his sweater and taking a passport, his Visa to stay as a student, and his ID out, "here are my papers. I want to register for the new semester."
"Sure…" the dean accepted the papers, before frowning when he checked them. The first page contained Hao's picture, yet with a different name.
"Tobe Hao Reward?!!" the dean asked in doubt as he looked in a serious way towards Hao. The passport had the old picture of Hao, but that wasn't the issue here. "You know that official papers must be correct."
"I was born in the states," Hao shrugged, "and this is the name I got on my birth certificate. Everything is mentioned in the email I sent a couple of days ago to your office."
Everything was arranged by the old Xie. These papers cost Hao a good deal of his fortune, but it was worth it.
"An email is it? Let me check…" the dean took out his phone, clicked a few times on his touch screen before finally finding the email Hao mentioned.
"Everything looks legit," the wide smile reappeared again over the dean's face, "everything is great. Don't worry Tobe," the dean closed his phone as he turned to face Hao, "the next semester will have your name enrolled in it for sure."
"That's great," Hao said but he didn't show any signs of leaving, "but I don't have a place to stay. You see, I just came from a long trip."
"You plan to stay indoors then?" The dean didn't hesitate for a second as he pressed a calling button on the side of his desk. Then in the next few moments, that Pillard guy came again through the door.
The look Hao saw on Pillard's face told him the latter dreamt of kicking him out. But unlike what Pillard expected, what came next from the mouth of the dean was something different.
"Take our new student, Tobe, and show him a room in our VIP dorm."
"But sir…" Pillard stood in daze for a few seconds before his mind worked again, "our VIP dorms are all full."
"How come?" the dean's tone changed, "what about the other rooms? The special ones?"
"All are taken," for a reason Hao doubted that Pillard was doing this to pay back what he did to him earlier. But Hao didn't mind that at all. After all, he wanted to stay at a certain place.
"Then…"
"That leaves only the slum dorm available," Pillard said in a tone that drooled with evilness.
"That…" the dean's face darkened, yet he didn't notice the brightness that flashed over Hao's face.
"It's ok," Hao stood up as if he was putting an end to this weird meeting, "I can settle anywhere. But I'll ask for a spacious solo room there, better to be double and not just a single one."
"Are you sure?" the dean looked in hesitation towards Hao, and the latter shrugged.
"It's just temporary, won't I get a VIP room next semester?"
"Yes, indeed that will happen," the dean promised as if he was putting his life on the line, "just hang on there for the first term. I'll do everything to find you a special room as compensation."
"Sure," Hao wouldn't refuse such a promise. Even if he didn't intend to push for it, the dean just volunteered and offered him such a nice thing.
"Lead the way then," he excused himself while saying this in low tone as he passed by Pillard.
"Let's see how you'll survive through that sh*t," yet the evil tone that came in response was clear that Hao was going to be in big trouble.
But was he really going to be in such a situation? Really?