“What happened to this world that even a brat like you can so easily figure out the reason behind the rent increase.” Morten shook his head. “You’re correct. After what happened recently, those parasites have been patrolling the area… so now that they’re actually doing the job we’ve already been paying them to do, they suddenly demanded more. It’s not just me either, all the landlords will have to pay higher fees in this area.
“Unfortunately, I’m not as wealthy as my residents believe me to be. Although I own this place, I never once made a profit. There are countless repairs that need to be done everywhere, and everything I get is just enough to allow me to live by myself while improving the area and place. Do you know how many things get broken in an area like this? Especially after what happened with that attack.
“I wanted to make a change, give people another chance, but because of my already low prices… Since the Underdogs ask for more, I have no choice but to increase rent… it’s the first time in ten years I had to make a decision that I was uncomfortable with.”
Adam Morten was a good man. Gary knew that his mother had been late paying bills a few times, yet he had never pressured her into paying immediately or anything like that. Now, hearing the regret in the old man’s voice, the high schooler was even more assured that their landlord was a decent man.
He couldn’t believe just moments ago he had met a drunk scumbag who would pester a normal worker because he was frustrated with his job, when there were people like Mr Morten in the world.
“I’m getting old and tired, Gary.” Morten sighed. “If things continue like this, I might have to sell this place. The only thing holding me back are people like you. If I sell this place… what are the chances that the next landlord will keep the rent the same?”
The answer to that question was obvious.
“I’m sorry, Gary. I didn’t want to burden you with all of this. Just take it as the ramblings of an old man. Say, now that you’re here, I haven’t seen your mother much lately. Is everything alright?”
Gary stood up from the bench and looked at his fist, more than ever he felt useless, the question was could he do something to help these people. The fist he was looking at now, it was the only thing he had. He wasn’t good academically at school, nor was he strong before, but he was strong now.
‘Some people say violence isn’t the answer, but in the world we live in at the moment I can’t agree. The Underdogs are the problem, and they are still after me… if only I had power like Jayden. How great would it be, if I could change things around…’ Gary thought, before he shook his head to wake himself up from his daydream.
“Thanks for asking. Mum is doing fine, she’s just a little unwell from all the overtime she put in. You must have just missed her. And Mr Morten, I’m sure things will look up at some point.” Gary smiled back, heading to his apartment block.
Seeing a young teenager like Gary still believe in the good of mankind, Mr Morten stood up from the bench himself.
“He’s right. It’s too early to give up. Maybe I should have a talk with Damion.”
——
Finally, back home, Gary made sure that Amy was okay. Ironically, it was his sister who had a million questions ready for her brother, about what happened at his school, since it had been all over the news.
With the whole school having been involved in the red colour gang attack, it had been impossible to cover up the entire incident. Gary didn’t want Amy to worry too much about him, so he lied about how John’s call to arms had been successful, and that the red colour gang had quickly fled the school soon after.
The brother made them both a meal for dinner, and then headed to the toilet. He placed both packs of dye he had purchased on the sink. One black and the other gold.
‘I guess if I’m starting to take this gang stuff seriously, I might as well use our gang colours.’ Gary grinned at the thought.
Originally, Kai had told him that it would be fine for him to keep his hair green. At the time, the Underdogs had lacked any real information for finding Gary, so doing the ‘stupid’ thing of not changing his hair colour was supposed to throw them off.
Unfortunately, they had somehow discovered what school he went to, changing the entire situation. As such, Gary chose to dye his hair black, which was a common hair colour amongst his classmates.
A hairdresser had dyed his hair last time, but he was too paranoid that he might be spotted by a gang member in the middle of changing it, so he had opted for the DIY version. The teenager carefully read the instructions and went through the process step by step. When he was finally done, he washed the dye out a couple of times, and lifted his head looking in the mirror.
Now staring back at him, he could see a full head of black coloured hair.
‘… I’ll have to get used to this new look. Hope Xin wasn’t too fond of my green hair.’ Gary thought.
The high schooler went to pick up the other hair dye. The ‘gold’, which was technically just a variation of blonde. It was just to add a few nice touches since he was curious how it would look. If he didn’t like it, he planned to change his hair back with black after…
However, before he had a chance, a system message sprung up.
[Your hair has been damaged]
[Energy points will be used to perform emergency healing]
[Emergency healing will be used to restore the user to its original self]
‘HUH!’
It only took a few seconds, but Gary witnessed live how his black hair was starting to turn back to green. Each string changed until it was back to what it was once before.
‘WHAT THE HELL?!’