Chapter 13 - Wake Up As Mafia Boss

Hermes huffed with his mind concentrated in one point - to escape. Countless of dodge and duck from the incoming bullets who in luck back there, he survived at most, gave him a heart attack. The most difficult and altered encounter was the unpredictable appearance of the old woman in that scene. To whom he thought a weak and pathetic girl but a powerful mage. He was unaware of her true identity at first because he was too focused on scamming the thugs for information.

Now that he thought about it. He recalled the message he had read from the newspaper. [Don't get too close to the enemies and also to the old lady.]

He placed his palm on his face after he realized his mistake. He forgot that he shouldn't stay there and continued his bluffing act for too long. He admitted that he should just move away before it would happen. Even he looked angry at the situation, his heart was crazily beating up so fast like it was greatly excited about the situation.

He hadn't noticed but his face was grinning. Something on his side, something hit his half-side of his face. He grabbed it with irritation, he saw a new newspaper again and opened it to read the content.

[Objective Complete: Saving the 'Fake' old lady. Success!]

[Trophy Reward: Savior is still in progress.]

[New Objective: Save yourself. Escape if you can. Good luck.]

His veins from his head showed up before he tore the paper into two with anger, "Screw you!"

The gun on his waist was slightly dropping from his pocket so he quickly picked it before he lost it. His face covered with his sweat but his body was not feeling exhausted from running. He, himself, had no idea why he was still running without taking a break.

He was almost at the gate of District 4. But he saw two trucks arrived at the place and twenty-four men in black jacket suit men dropped down and formed a barricade beforehand. The young Don quickly dashed towards the bushes between the two huge trees next to the abandoned house to hide after he sensed a powerful presence. His intuition forced him to jump in like a dog and dropped to the surface before a scout saw him. A red-haired man sitting next to the driver wore sunglasses, picked out one stick from his pack of cigarettes and ignited it before he moved out from the truck. Hermes clenched his fist with agitation as another trouble came out. The man there was a dangerous person and must be one of the higher-ranking members of the thugs according to his observation. Therefore, he must not go near their position.

"Sir," one of the henchmen saluted and spoke, "the perimeter is secured. No hostile has been detected right now."

"Oh," the red-haired man blew a smoke before reply with a deep voice, "How unfortunate. We arrive in this place so quick or the enemy has already breached this place before we reach it? I can't imagine the trouble will come if the boss doesn't hear a good report."

The henchmen hanged his head down as he didn't know either. The red-haired man sighed and swayed him away from his sight thereafter.

Behind the bushes, the young Don lay down his body while peeking at the movements of the arrived troops. They were wearing a mafia suit that opposed to their current status as bandits. Just what was happening right now was one of the several questions pondering inside his mind.

The group divided themselves into four squads where two of them began a scout mission to find their prey. He had no idea why they were all well-organized. This placed him in a difficult situation to achieve his objective.

Three men came from the left corner, approaching his position. Afraid of being caught by their gaze, he slowly crouched behind them through the trees and hailed away from the location. He luckily escaped without alarming them his presence.

Now, how could someone like him escape? He took refuge inside the abandoned shop of beverages and walked around in a circle while thinking about a plausible route for his alternative option. The location was perfect because it was out of their radar. The place was rigid and full of wrecked woods and a lot of spider web on the ceilings.

He removed his mask and gulped some air before he exhaled. He pulled out his handkerchief and wiped out the sweat from his face. From the corner, he moved his b.u.t.t next to the three-legged chair and sat down.

He leaned his head on the table and sobbed.

"I want to go home. I want to eat more finest food in this world."

The world of the Otome game was tough for a villain like him. His character had already characterized as a weak and pathetic wise guy. That only used his money for his scheme and glory. That only used his glory for his own satisfaction for more infamous achievements.

However, the assaulters reloaded their rifles and continued to shower him with bullets. His shield table was starting to lose its form and multiple small holes kept appearing. It wouldn't take any minute before the bullets destroyed it. His eyes narrowed around the place to find an escape route. A rectangular window with broken glasses caught his interest. He clicked his tongue because he had no other option but to jump out through it.

As the man outside reloaded, Hermes ran towards the window attempting to jump but his body suddenly forced him to duck after he saw three familiar men, who were already waiting there, fired their guns at the window. With his face slid down to the floor like a mop, the glasses of the window had disappeared as bullets slowly deformed it.

He quickly got up and searched for another escape route. But he had nowhere to go. The whole place was already surrounded. There's no way to go but to surrender.

He clenched his teeth and lifted his gun while pointing at the door. "You won't take me alive. If you want me then say hello to my little fri⸺" The floor he was standing collapse as he stomped once while waiting for the assaulters to break in. He fell down, eight feet high, to the surface and it took him for a second to get his upper body up.

"Argh, my back. What? No pain?" Hermes quickly picked up his pistol upon hearing the sound of the footsteps coming inside the shop. "Shit, I need to go now."

The group arrived and noticed strangely. The man they were hunting had vanished before their sight. Rag and his four men broke in without a sweat but only the wrecked environment was there. The three men on the other side jumped inside through the window and lifted their guns, searching for Hermes.

"Where is he?" Rag muttered while looking for the young Don. "Where the f.u.c.k is he?"

"Sir, we don't know too." the blonded man replied.

"He's not here." the one replied pointed the table.

"I don't care what you will do against him or what the intention of our boss. But, no matter what happens, don't let him escape from our hands!"

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"Follow him!" Rag ordered with a terrifying voice and anger.

The young Don continued to run away from the site through the secret tunnel. He was lucky to fall down to this place. But another trouble came in front of his view after he took an hour to arrive. He arrived at a dead end. There's a door above him. There's no ladder nor any secret door at the edge of this tunnel, however. He wandered his eyes to look for the alternative items to climb up.

"Damn it," he clicked his tongue, "Is there a way to escape this mess? F.u.c.kin' ridiculous. You gotta f.u.c.kin' kidding me!" His gaze turned at the other side as a sound of footsteps were coming in. "C'mon, there's no way it is just a simple dough tunnel. There's a high possibility that there's a ⸺ oh..." His eyes caught something interested and grinned.

"Where the f.u.c.k is he now?" Rag's face trembled in anger. "Where the f.u.c.k is Hermes Archnemesis? Goddamn it!"

"Sir, there's a door above us. He might be…. You know what I meant right?" the blonde-haired man agitated after his leader showed him a terrifying gaze. "You do know what? Why don't you climb up there and use your brain? How can possibly a teenager like him could climb up that f.u.c.kin' door without any items to use here. There's no way he used a ladder nor a rope to get there. Did we miss a point here, huh?" Rag exclaimed as he pointed his index at the door while stomping the surface. "But, sir. There's no way he can escape without it? He's a weak and magicless child according to the records. Also, the boss told us that his acquaintance had already grasped and predicted he won't be able to find this place and escape. But is it possible?" The bald man sniffed the rock beside him and said with a grave tone, "He might use his body to climb up by stretching his legs and arms from the opposite side to elevate himself. There's a high chance he uses it. Looking at narrowed and the small size of this place, it is the plausible option to do so."

The whole crew gulped after he said it.

"Then, what are you fools waiting for? Get a rope and get your asses up there and chase him down!"

Several minutes later, one of the henchmen arrived with a tangled rope. The bald man volunteered to climb up first and used his body to climb up like the method he assumed the young Don used before. He opened the door after he arrived at the top and he noticed the place seemed familiar. However, he ignored this thought and moved around to tie the rope which had at the pole with a strong physique and body.

"Sir, it's done. You can climb up now!"

Rag and his henchmen nodded at one another. One by one, the group climbed up via rope. A few minutes later, Rag who had his hands grabbed the rope so tight felt something behind but he ignored it. He continued to climb with no worries.

"Sir, we check the whole area but no one is here." the bald man reported with his head down after he arrived. "Is that so? What the? We went back to where we started, huh?" Rag's eyes turned dismayed as he saw the familiar ceiling and walls around them. It was the old warehouse where they fought the young Don.

"Sir, what should we do now?" the others looked annoyed after they noticed their failure to capture the kid.

"I don't know either," Rag leaned his back against the wall and lifted down his gun, "You guys check the other place."

The henchmen saluted and moved out away from his position.

"Oh…., Does anyone of you have some cigarettes, huh? Ah, shit. They're gone."

"Here, " a young voice gave something, "Thanks, wait a minute," his eyes turned pale after he saw a small bullet from his palm. He quickly diverted his gaze at his right side by attempting to pull up his gun, however, he was too late. The pistol barrel had already pressed to his forehead and the bullet on his palm dropped to the floor after he saw the young Don face to face again.

"You brat," Rag clenched his teeth and dropped down the gun before he raised his hands. "You won't escape from here. We already surrounded the place so there's no way in hell you can." But his words didn't flatter and frightened the young Don and he just put his pinky finger to his ears to clean it. "Yeah, yeah, everyone knows that. Anyways, I have a question for you before your henchmen discover us." Rag slowly tilted his head with confusion. "What do you want from me?" Hermes slowly walked to the right side while his gun still pressed to the opponent's forehead. "Who is the one you are mentioning earlier? Don't play dumb. I'm not even surprised in the first place anyway. I want to know who is the person who can predict my movements and whereabouts. Is she a witch or something? Answer these questions. I want to know the person who predicted my position before you guys arrived. If you don't answer this simple test then, don't expect me to show any mercy. We both know I'm not the kind of person who bluffs my action. Right?"

"R-r-right. Please show mercy on me, sir." Rag clicked his tongue as he said it. The young Don smirk behind his mask and instructed him to lay his whole body down the surface thereafter. Next, he asked him to place both of his arms behind his head. "Now, you won't do any harm from me so speak up. If your henchmen arrive here before you answer it. You'll a dead man. You have a few minutes or seconds to answer anyway."

'You won't get away from this, brat.' The expression of Rag upon hearing his warning made the young Don pleased to continue harassing him with sarcastic words. But he needed to get some intel before the henchmen arrived. Of course, he was just bluffing to kill him but he was not lying to shoot him from any nonvital parts, however.

"I don't know who she is but I heard from the rumors that she indeed has an ability to foresee future events before it could happen. I don't know if she has a blood of a witch but from the perceptions of our boss, she is a powerful being that you won't be able to escape, brat."

Hermes smugged after hearing his confession. A witch in this world was very rare and no one had seen one before. In his previous knowledge about this game, one of his co-workers added some background stories about the game world. But today, he was unamused about the intel he gathered. A powerful being who had always predicted his movements was indeed a dangerous person to face on. If she could find him via her powers then he won't be able to escape his death.

"So, can you give me some details about the person? A specific description?" asked Hermes, slowly stepped away from Rag. "Anything you still know about that person?"

"She is a girl who always wore her blue cloak. She has a crescent moon necklace around her neck. That's all." Rag replied in a low tone. "That's all I know. If you want to know more, just ask our Underboss."

"That's new. I never heard someone who wears a necklace like that." Hermes placed his left hand on his chin while thinking about it. "Oh, anyways. I don't care about her anymore. If she wants to fight me, then fine with me. But I have another question, Mr. Rag."

"What the f.u.c.k? How many questions do you want to know, brat?" His face turned blue after the pistol placed it to his mouth. "Ib... sobby" Rag couldn't finish his words for saying "I'm sorry."

Rag screamed inside his mind with cold sweat. From his viewpoint, the young Don was a monster in the form of a teenager. Did the information about him was true? He questioned the competency of their comrades who gathered intel about him.

"So, are you still willing to cooperate with me, Mr. Rag?" The eyes of the young Don made him agreed with a nod. Rag obsequious replied, "Y-y-yes, Mr. Archnemesis. I don't mind to answer it with p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e."

"Anyways, if you guys knew all about me then you did know I have a servant with me, right? So, I want you to answer it straight to the point. Did you guys catch my servant?" Hermes's face turned black with his scarlet eyes shone after the moonlight illuminated their place. Rag gulped and replied, "We do know about your servant but I don't know where he is right now. Our only objective was to capture you alive before your servant arrives to save you."

The young Don sat down in a duck sit while his head leaned on his left palm. He tilted his neck while his gun was still pointed at Rag's forehead.

"Seriously, so that moron was still around somewhere."He said with an annoying tone. " Good thing, he is not yet being caught by you morons. Crap, your men are coming back."

The young Don quickly dashed away from his position through the shadows. Upon hearing that, Rag closed his eyes and screamed with forgiveness.

"Sir, the place is already secured. The brat is not here. And ― why are you screaming and laying down there, sir?" The bald man tilted his head with confusion. Rag blinked his eyes, coughed once and stood up quickly, "Wa- the f.u.c.k are you doing here? That brat is going in that direction. Call everyone, ASAP. Chase him down!"