The First Button
Most people—ordinary folk and criminals alike—had no idea how much money could be wrung from Hevilly Academy. In this cradle of learning, academic achievement was for sale to anyone with deep enough pockets. The method was simple. A bachelor's degree cost a mere 2,500 pounds. Law or medical degrees ran steeper at 3,100. Every coin paid flowed straight into the pockets of the academy's professors, staff, and our mafia family.
The whole criminal enterprise that now stretched its fingers across the entire institution had begun with something trivial. A handful of students had once bribed professors to pass their exams. Then one of them came to us asking for a different favor: threaten the professor into awarding a fake degree. It would be cheaper than paying the bribe, he figured. Or maybe the professor still had a shred of conscience left and wouldn't issue the diploma even after taking the money.
"...This could actually make us money."
The thought sparked a flood of business ideas. My men and I moved immediately. We recruited collaborators among the professors, staff, and students without discrimination. The result? We brought in a modest quantity of drugs under the pretext of using them for the pharmacology lab, then sold them directly to the students. After that, everything snowballed. Gambling and betting services. Illegal arms deals and black-market goods. Investment scams and blackmail targeting parents and students. Human trafficking. Forced labor. In the world I'd come from, people talked about transit hubs or prestigious school districts. Here, the academy district was king.
Ah. Before I go any further, I should explain things properly so you understand what I'm talking about. In my previous world, I wasn't some orphan. I grew up in a normal family. I was free to pursue what I wanted. In a way, I was a lucky bastard.
But of course, on my very first day at the new job, I got into a traffic accident. A septic tank truck—the so-called shit truck—slammed right into me. It all happened in an instant. The impact knocked me unconscious... and I was drenched in the load of human waste the truck was carrying.
They say life is a tragedy in close-up but a comedy from afar. The countless strangers who saw the news through their screens must have laughed until they cried.
....
How much time had passed? The moment I regained consciousness, an intense light flooded over me. It felt like stepping out of darkness into brightness. My eyes refused to open properly, but I could feel someone's hands on me.
"Waaaaah!"
What the hell? What is this now?
The life I thought had ended wasn't finished after all. An unfamiliar sky. Unfamiliar buildings. My tiny body squirming helplessly, a knife-like wind cutting into my skin.
"Waah! Waaaaah!"
Despite the whirlwind of thoughts, the desperate will to survive burned strongest.
Is anyone there?! Somebody save me!
....
I heard footsteps approaching from the end of the alley. Had someone answered the pitiful cries of a newborn?
"Waaaaah!"
By the time they entered my vision, the two figures looked extremely suspicious. They radiated an intimidating presence from the moment they appeared. A man with sharp eyes and long, pointed ears lifted both me and the cloth I was swaddled in.
Not human?
"Boss, what are you planning to do with the kid?"
"Looks like his mother abandoned him."
The other man gave a look that said the observation was painfully obvious.
"...This must be fate. We'll take him."
I didn't have the strength to resist. I had no idea where they were taking me or what their purpose was. What I understood even less was how the clouds floating in my vision suddenly rearranged themselves into letters.
When the Lord closes a silver door, He opens a golden one.
Who the hell is He trying to fool?
No matter how I looked at it, wasn't it the complete opposite? That so-called god had slammed my golden door shut and thrown open a door made of shit instead.
At the time, I didn't know who the man who picked me up was. And he had no idea what kind of monster I would become.