Two years quickly went by since that day.
Damien was legally an adult now. If he wasn't expelled that day 2 years ago, he would probably be attending a university as a sophomore by this time.
Currently, he stood in front of a small studio apartment in a distant city of northern Arkansas, an accomplished smile hanging on his face.
"That stupid saying really wasn't lying. Crime really does pay!"
This studio apartment was his new house, one that he personally paid for with his own earnings from the last two years of his activities.
Granted that those earnings didn't necessarily come from 'clean' or 'honest' sources, but all the money in his wallet was still the same money in the end.
It didn't matter to him in the slightest that the money had come from hurting and devastating others' lives. He was never into acting like a kind saint anyway.
"....Just wait for a few years. I'll definitely turn you into a huge mansion!"
Resting his palm on the cheaply painted walls of the house, he promised this to himself. After getting to know this unrestrained way of living his life, the flames of his ambition burned brighter than ever.
This house was nothing but a small stepping stone in his life. With his two years of experience in managing quite a few illegal operations of the corporate giant Xavier Group, only the skies were his limit!
"...Right, there was also an invitation for a night party at Ricky's place. Did they say an important guest was going to come?"
The gang he was currently a part of mainly dealt with drug trafficking, thanks to the ample support and experimental drugs they received from the Xaviers, while also running a few nightclubs and gambling dens on the side.
Currently, the Xaviers needed a way to safely bypass the law and perfect their illegal drug recipe through direct human trials, and the gang that Damien was a part of had finally won the deal of trafficking those drugs throughout the state, after living through a fierce and bloody showdown with their competitors.
But despite the heavy losses they suffered, it was a win-win deal for both sides.
The Xaviers got to test their experimental drug's effects on a huge number of people without getting their hands dirty, and their gang also earned tons of profits while immensely improving their reputation as a powerful gang, vastly improving the state of their side businesses.
Of course, Damien also made some contributions to achieving those accomplishments. It was also for this reason that he was invited to the nightclub party tonight, allowing him the chance to make a good impression on the higher-ups who ran this entire illegal business.
'It's the survival of the fittest. Those who cannot adapt will all be rooted out...'
Even though a long time had passed since his high school days, he still lived by this motto.
At the end of the day, it was neither the strongest nor the smartest ones who got to live. It was the most adaptable one who did.
Weren't there other gangs competing with them to secure the deal with the Xaviers? Then why couldn't they win that deal?
Did they not have strong members? Or did they lack smart people to plan for them...?
No, they had both of them. They just could not adapt quickly enough.
...And that was why they lost.
After coming to this unknown city located in a different corner of the country, Damien wouldn't have been able to thrive like he was thriving now if he hadn't adapted to his new environment quickly enough.
'Don't pick a fight with the strong. Don't be intimidated by the weak. If you're going to make an enemy, be as vicious as you can to reduce the chances of an avenger rising up.'
To thrive in such an environment, you had to know when to abide by the unwritten rules of back-alleys and when to break them.
After all, rules were meant to be used when needed and then broken when necessary. Exploiting them to the limit was the key to success as a professional criminal.
"Heh. Important guest? Just what I needed."
Thinking about the upcoming nightclub party, Damien showed a confident smirk on his face.
"...Tonight's the night I get my due promotion."
****
It was slightly late in the evening when Damien reached the night party venue.
– ♫♪♫♪♫♪
Colorful lights that shined brightly from every direction blinded his eyes as the loud sound of hip-hop music filled his ears. Men and women of varying ages filled the dancing area, moving their sweaty bodies to the beats of the ongoing music.
Even though he had previously been to this place many times, Damien still felt a little alienated when he stepped foot in here.
Everyone in here just seemed so dazzling. It was as if they belonged to a completely different world, like extraterrestrial aliens...
'I can't even properly tell that it's all faked.'
Unlike his hometown high school, the people who visited this place were elites of the adult society. And as a result, they could also fake themselves far more convincingly than those pretentious high school teens.
Of course, Damien didn't come here without his own shiny armor.
His poorly bleached white hair was far more luscious now, taking on a slight silvery sheen. The cheap piercings on his ears were all replaced by gleaming accessories made from precious metals.
Quite a few intimidating-looking tattoos coiled around his thick, muscular arms. When coupled with his strikingly good-looking face, as well as his unusual ruby-red eyes and tall stature, he naturally radiated an intense 'bad-boy' vibe that attracted tons of interested gazes from nearby women.
"—Hey, handsome. Wanna join in for a dance?"
"...Not interested."
Without paying any attention to the heated gazes of all the women around him, he walked over to a corner seating area of the venue, meeting and shaking hands with the other gang members as well as his fellow 'logistics managers'.
"Hey, we're here today to enjoy ourselves and celebrate today! What are you doing, roaming around without a chick? No one here caught your fancy, or what?"
"...No, the chicks aren't a problem. I just don't feel like it today."
Damien shook his head at his fellow gang member's words. The others might enjoy these women's company because of how little they got to 'enjoy' themselves outside of such events, but he certainly didn't.
As long as he was willing, there wouldn't be any shortage of eager girls and older women trying to throw themselves at him. It almost felt boring for him at this point.
...Almost.
"Well, suit yourself, then. I'm not going to bother you anymore. Go and enjoy yourself however you want to. Boss is busy talking with the 'guests' upstairs, so we'll probably get to see them later in the night."
Damien nodded, leaving the corner that was quickly becoming crowded with wildly dancing girls and taking a seat on an empty couch near the drink bar.
"—Hey, how are you doing, hottie?"
"Not interested."
"—Aren't you lonely, boy? Want this mommy to keep you company?"
"Not interested."
"—Heya! I saw you sitting here alone for a while, wanna hook up?"
"...Not interested."
Damien sighed a little, growing a little tired of rejecting a new woman every few minutes.
It wasn't that he didn't want to let out a little bit of steam here, he just didn't want to hook up with a random bitch here and dull his sharpened mind.
The opportunity to meet and make an impression on the Xavier Group's higher up was a rare chance for him to soar into the skies like a dragon. He couldn't mess up his cool and pristine image for some cheap pleasure.
"Hey, you. Is this seat here empty?"
Absentmindedly looking at the dense mass of humans meshing together on the dance floor while leisurely sipping on a glass of lime juice, Damien reflexively repeated the same thing he had been repeating for the last half an hour.
"Sorry, not interested."
"—Huh? Is this guy high or something...?"
Damien's eyes regained focus at those unexpected words. Turning his head to the side, he saw a thin and frail-looking girl with purplish hair staring at him with a sassy look on her face.
'...Who is this?'
He first tried to remember if he had ever seen this girl before, but then quickly shook his head mentally. He had never seen such a girl in his life.
Her dead-looking eyes and full-black attire somehow reminded him of the emo-kids he had seen on the internet. Even her nails were painted black!
"...Whatever."
While Damien was looking at her with a puzzled face, the girl sat down on the seat beside him with an exaggerated sigh and silently joined him in observing the sweaty crowd of dancing humans.
Minutes passed, and one or two new girls approached him to ask him for a dance. Damien kept nonchalantly rejecting them though, occasionally checking the time on his wristwatch.
"...Oh, so that's what it was. You thought I was hitting on you before, didn't you?"
The emo-looking girl suddenly spoke up from the side, her voice filled with a surprised understanding. She then scanned him head to toe for the next few moments, before speaking again.
"...But why didn't you agree? Are you gay?"
Damien had intended to ignore this girl's words earlier, but at this moment, a small vein bulge appeared on his forehead.
"I didn't agree because I'm not interested, just like I'm not interested in talking with you. If you're going to keep sitting here, then shut up."
"Oh, so you weren't interested in them. So, are you interested in men, after all?"
"...This bitch."
Damien clenched his fist, feeling frustrated because of this emo-girl's strange fixation on trying to label him as homosexual.
At first, he wanted to slap some sense into her for trying to slander him like that. But then he remembered where he was and what kind of disturbance it might cause.
Thinking about the problems it might cause, he quickly suppressed his violent thoughts. Instead, he gave her a 'meaningful' smile as his response.
"Then, why don't you get us a room in the back if you're so curious? Do that, and I'll directly show you whether I'm gay or not."
The emo-girl's dead-looking eyes widened, revealing her sparkly purple-colored eyes, before covering her mouth with a hand as she exclaimed in apparent shock.
"Eh? So you were interested in me? Is that a confession...?!"
Damien almost splashed his drink on her face, barely able to contain himself when a deep, raspy voice called out from his blind spot.
"...Myra, so you were here. And who is this person you are talking to?"
It was a man with mixed Western and Asian features, his age somewhere around five or six years older than Damien.
His natural black hair was neatly done in a professional way. Wearing a classy white suit and expensive-looking accessories, his appearance practically screamed that he was the young master of a corporate millionaire, or maybe even a billionaire.
"Callion Xavier..."
Damien's pupils suddenly dilated in recognition when he turned around to face the rich young master, as the latter scrutinized him with his slightly narrowed eyes.
"Uhh..."
The suddenness of the situation left him wordless for a few moments, blankly staring at the man as he furiously tried to come up with a way to politely break the ice.
"Brother, you're already finished with your work? Damn it, just when this guy was about to take me to the back rooms!"
Hearing what Myra had just blurted out in an innocent tone, Damien's contemplating face immediately went pale.
By now, he clearly understood who this Myra girl was after hearing her call this man her brother. And exactly because he understood this, he was sweating bullets at the moment.
If it was a normal person or even a normal environment, he could've been able to pass it off as a joke. But in the underworld business, your life and death could easily be determined by a random higher-up's whims.
...Not to mention, this girl was the sister of a higher-up who was so high up that he'd break his neck just by looking up!
"N-No, I was just trying to—!"
"Okay, okay. You don't have to explain it to me. She has a very bad habit of messing around with people. Don't pay her any mind."
After dumbfoundedly staring at Callion Xavier's exasperated face for a few moments, Damien heaved a relieved sigh. He felt like his life had been 'this' close to ending abruptly.
"Tch. But I wasn't messing around this time, though..."
"...And I really believe you. Look, if you're going to cause trouble for me here, I'll be forced to send you home earlier. So tell me, are you going to behave or not?"
Myra stood up from her seat, shooting her brother a dissatisfied look. She then walked up to Damien and intimately linked their arms together, showing a cocky smirk to her brother.
"...I'll be with him if you need to find me. Does that answer your question, brother?"
"..."
Damien was once again sweating bullets, while Callion Xavier only raised an eyebrow seeing his problematic sister act so familiar with a stranger.
"...Well, as long as you don't create trouble for me. But I'll definitely be telling Father about this."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just get going now, will you?"
"...What a disrespectful little sister."
After giving Damien a last cursory glance, Callion Xavier turned around and left, leaving him alone with his mischievous little sister.
All this time, Damien just stood there in silence, feeling powerless as the eldest daughter of the Xavier family playfully poked his cheek with a mysterious smile.
"Hehehe, you really should've seen how the color drained from your face earlier. So cute! Ahh, your reaction really made this shitty trip worth it!"
"You....planned this from the start."
When Damien turned to look at her, he could no longer find those dead-looking eyes she had before.
"Wow, you're really a smart one! How did you know?"
...Instead, there was now a purplish sparkle glowing within them, growing brighter as time passed.
****
Originally, he came to this night party in order to turn his life around.
....And to his horror, his wish was indeed fulfilled.
But it wasn't in a way he ever could've expected it to be.