“Wow, this room is huge!” Gary exclaimed as his eyes scanned the VIP booth they were now in.
The VIP booths were large viewing areas stationed about two-thirds of the way down the stands. They weren’t directly on the floor level next to the AFC arena. Instead, it was a spacious glass booth that occupied a large section of the stands, made entirely of one-way viewing glass.
From inside, they could see out into the arena floor, but those in the stands had no idea who was inside the booth. If one were to look around the stadium, there were a total of twelve of these viewing booths, allowing the very important to watch the match in comfort.
The booths were special, equipped with their own bar filled with drinks and snacks, a lounging area with screens showing the televised version of the fight, and every luxury fitting of the name "VIP booth." Gary immediately gravitated toward the snack area, opening a cupboard and finding all sorts of treats. He quickly pulled out some beef jerky and started munching on it almost instantly.
“Thank you again, Apollo, for letting us use this room with you. You really didn’t have to,” Xin said, a little embarrassed by how relaxed Gary was, already making himself at home.
He couldn’t help himself—he was a little hungry.
“Nonsense, I see you as fellow classmates. We all entered the AFA around the same time, and since both of you are no longer in the AFA, it’s not a problem. Besides, Gary and I go quite a way back, both of us being part of the special lessons. I wanted to ask, did you ever take part in those lessons?”
Gary’s ears perked up when he heard this and looked over at Xin, who nodded as well. It wasn’t that the special lessons themselves were bad, but more so the fact that they had all signed a contract. When entering the special lessons, they had agreed to help NIRV in certain instances when called upon. Gary had discussed this with Kai.
The best guess was that they would be called to be retrievers when the time came, but now that Gary was one of the Kings, they wondered if NIRV would ever pull that card. According to Kai, he felt like they might, just to test their power and see who was loyal to them or not.
From the sound of things, they already had Harvor and others in their back pocket, and if Gary didn’t comply with the contract, they could send people like Xin and Apollo after him.
Thankfully, nothing had come of the situation yet.
“I see, I guess we really are allies more deeply rooted than we thought,” Apollo said as he grabbed a drink, twisted the cap off a bottle, and proceeded to sit down on the sofa.
He took a big swig and then placed the bottle on the table in front of him as he looked at the empty stands.
With them being VIP members, they were able to enter the stadium early. People were slowly filtering in and taking their time finding their seats. There were still a couple of hours before the event would even start, and that was just the start of the event, not the match between Jayden and Harvor.
“You know, I wanted to watch this match closely because of that special event. Do you remember, Gary? The one we had with Jayden. Ever since then, I’ve been quite a fan of his. I wanted to catch up and test my skills against him again.”
“With you, I’m wondering, do you feel the same way? Or now that you’re a King, do you think your power surpasses his?” Apollo asked.
Gary had grabbed a bunch of snacks and drinks and placed them on the table before sitting down on the sofa, not too far and not too close to Apollo.
“Honestly, in terms of raw power, I’m not sure. I might have the edge now. I’ve grown quite a lot, but in terms of fighting techniques, I think I would lose to Jayden 99 times out of 100.”
“Like you, I still remember that day he beat us pretty badly,” Gary casually replied.
It was something he had thought about a few times but never seriously, because Jayden wasn’t his enemy, so he never planned to have a fight to the death with him or anything like that.
“Which makes me want to ask you another question. You’re a King now, so why were you sneaking in with the other people?” Apollo asked.
“If you had called up and asked Harvor himself, I’m sure he would have handed you a VIP booth. It would have protected you guys.”
Gary wasn’t so sure about that. He was a new King, and calling up the other Kings like they were friends when they were really enemies—was that how others acted on the outside? He hadn’t even spoken to any of the others: the Dark Guild, the Bree Family, Lupis, or Harvor. Besides, he was here just in case something went wrong.
“I’m new to this... and I’m not cut out for it. I’m just here as a fan and a supporter,” Gary answered.
“Actually, I want to ask something as well,” Xin said. “Not that you aren’t a big deal, Apollo, but how did you get a VIP booth like this?”
“I tried asking my old teachers and a few friends in the AFC, and they couldn’t even get tickets.”
Now that Gary thought about it, it was strange. Even using AJ Entertainment, the most he could do was get tickets to the event, never mind a booth.
“Oh, that’s not too big of a mystery. It’s because I’m part of the One Gang,” Apollo answered.
Causing Gary to drop his packet of crisps onto the floor.