4 Prologue: Beat 3

The two kids hurriedly helped him up with Summer and George arrived at the scene too. They were worried, tears came out from their eyes as they looked at his back.

"St-stop please Mr. Ted…" one of the kids whom he shielded before said as he was trembling in fear, "pl-please… we are sorry..."

The kids were afraid, they were so scared that they would be beaten again, and their brother would probably be the one who got beaten the most. Since it was only him that would defend them.

"HUH?!" The man spitted on them as he angrily said. "I DON'T CARE. I'LL BEAT YOU GUYS AGAIN IF I WANT TO. NOW, I WANT THE MONEY BY TONIGHT! HIC!"

The two kids that just arrived were trembling in fear, they couldn't speak as they hung their heads. Summer and George were looking at them worriedly.

"Both of you don't have today's quota?" The boy said as he gritted his teeth because of the pain on his back.

"Ye-yes brother… we are sorry…" the kids were crying, they couldn't hold their tears anymore.

"ARGH F*CK! STOP CRYING YOU LITTLE SH*TS!" Ted shouted angrily as he stood up from his seat, he was walking toward them unstably and swung his hand.

"DON'T HIT THEM!" The boy tried to block it, but he was sent flying and crashed to the door.

"CRASH!"

"BROTHER!"

"THIS KID IS SO ANNOYING, YOU DARE TO GO AGAINST ME AGAIN?! LET ME… HIC! REMIND YOU, THEN!"

The four kids ran toward him, they were in tears, "STOP IT! WE WON'T LET YOU HIT MY BROTHER AGAIN!"

"ARGH, HIC! YOU GUYS ARE SO ANNOYING, I'LL MAKE YOU REMEMBER WHAT YOU GET FROM GOING AGAINST ME!"

Ted swung his arm. He slapped Summer on her face, kicked George on his shoulder, and hit the other two kids on their faces because they were trying to protect their brother.

"UGH!"

"KYA!"

The kids were lying on the floor, they were trying their hardest to stand up again. They saw that Ted was grabbing their brother as he readied himself to punch him, but the four of them hurriedly ran and held on his arm to prevent him from punching their brother.

"EVEN IF YOU BEAT US AGAIN, WE WON'T LET YOU HIT HIM AGAIN!"

"WE WON'T LET YOU!"

Summer shouted angrily, her voice brought spirit to the other kids, they began shouting in response following her lead.

"AGH, ANNOYING BRATS!" Ted released his hand from the boy and wanted to punch the other kid.

The boy finally opened his eyes, he saw that the other kids were trying to protect him, so he forced his body to stand up and grabbed Ted's hand as he said.

"STOP! I WILL GET THE MONEY BY TONIGHT!"

"Oh?! Hic!" said Ted, seems to be sobering up a little bit. "You will? Hic!"

"Yes," said the boy as he looked at the other kids. "I will bring the money. But don't do anything to the kids while I'm away."

The other kids released their grips, they ran toward the boy. Ted seemed to regain his sanity as he stood up and went back to his chair.

"Okay, get your ass going. If you don't come back with the money… hic! You know what would happen don't you?" asked Ted, as he rested his legs on the table. "Get them back to the room!"

"Let's go kids." The boy walked slowly as he gritted his teeth in pain. He guided the other kids who were still in tears, they quietly walked to the room.

After he closed the door, the boy sat down. The other kids also sat down beside him, except Summer. She ran to get a clean cloth again.

"Brother, I need to treat your wounds…" said Summer.

"I'll help you. I'll get clean water." George said after wiping his tears.

"Brother, we are sorry, you got hit because of us…" The two kids hung their heads, tears were still coming out, they couldn't just stop crying.

"Hey, it's okay. Rather than me, are you all okay? He hit you guys too, right?" said the boy as he looked at their faces carefully.

"It's okay brother… they were only bruised. But your wounds are bleeding, we need to tend to it so it won't get infected." Summer said and the other nodded their heads in agreement.

"But you guys need some medicine too. I'll try to get some when I get back, okay?" said the boy as he looked at the two kids that arrived late before.

These were Adle and Roxel. George, Adle, and Roxel were 6 years old, while Summer was 7 years old.

They were all orphans, they were born in the slums of Vrircaster City. Summer and George were abandoned by their parents. While Adle and Roxel were left by their dead parents that had debts with Ted's hoodlums gang. So Ted made them work to repay their parents' debt.

"It's alright brother, we will be okay." Summer said as she tended to the boy's wound above his right eye. "But how could you get the money by tonight?"

"It's okay. You can just treat your wounds first, leave this to me, okay?"

"HEY, WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?! GO GET THE MONEY!"

"I have to go now," said the boy as he took out all the food he gathered before." Here I almost forgot… some food I found. Eat them all, don't let them know about this."

"But brother… at least bring this with you, you haven't eaten too, right?" asked Adle as he put a half black bread into the boy's pocket.

Seeing their eyes on him, he realized that they were worried about him too, so he smiled and said, "Okay then. Be sure not to enrage them, okay?"

"Yes brother, no need to worry about us!" The kids gave him reassuring smiles.

He smiled and went outside to the room. "I'm going to leave."

"WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?! AH WHATEVER, GET THE F*CKING MONEY! IF NOT, THOSE KIDS WOULD BEAR THE CONSEQUENCES!"

The boy gritted his teeth and said coldly as he opened the door. "I'll get the money, don't do anything to them!"

———

The boy walked as fast as he could, because above his right eye was bleeding and bruised before, he had to close his right eye because if he opened it, it would be really hurt.

They didn't have any sort of bandage at their room, and it would be better to save the clean clothes for the other kids in case they need them.

With only his left eye to see, he was having difficulty seeing in the dark narrow street. He stumbled occasionally.

Because the only source of light was the moonlight, with only one eye to see, it was really hard to walk that night.

Since candles were expensive, only people with steady income could afford them, and only a few would do so. They would rather save the money for food or something more important.

Let alone people in the slums. They couldn't even be sure if they could eat tomorrow.

Because it was at the end of fall, it was close to winter, the temperature was quite low. Although the boy was shivering, when he remembered the other kids were still waiting for him. The boy tried his hardest to resist the cold temperature, resolve could be seen in his eye as he walked toward the market district again.

It was close to 7 PM. The boy walked carefully while trying to be as fast as he could but at the same time careful with his steps.

The crows were chirping, the wind blew quite hard as well. Dark clouds appeared along with the sound of thunder not so far from the city.

"I need to get there as soon as possible!" said the boy to himself. He looked very worried about the weather as he quickened his pace.

The road of the slums that the boy took was quiet, not at all rowdy and crowded like the other side of the slums where it was the exact opposite.

After awhile, the boy finally arrived at the marketplace. Although it wasn't as crowded as in the morning–afternoon time.

The evening market was quite lively. The shopkeepers all lit their candles or used lanterns to light their stands up. But they were already preparing to close early because of the weather. With how hard the wind blew, it would be raining anytime soon.

There might be no customer if it rained. Might as well go home, right?

"BAM!"

The sound of thunder rang loudly across the city, the moonlight could only reveal itself a little, peeking in between the gaps of the dark clouds. It started raining all of a sudden. Though it was still quite bearable.

The boy used his right hand to cover for the rain while he squinted his left eye to see clearer what's ahead.

He saw a woman was standing in front of a fish stand holding her pouch. She wore a brown robe, and a pair of grey leather shoes.

Beside her, a girl around 5-6 years old was there, holding her mother's hand. She wore a bright brown shirt, black pants, and a pair of tiny grey shoes.

Because of the sudden pour of rain, she was in a hurry as she put her pouch inside her robe's pocket and picked her daughter up.

"Aaaa! I'm drenccc…" the little girl said when she got drenched by the rain but couldn't say the last word correctly.

"Yes, yes, let's go back!"

"Ah! Customer, are you buying the fish or not?" The seller was asking in a panic manner.

"I'm not!" exclaimed her as she ran with her daughter in her arms.

"Agh! My money, my goods!" The shopkeeper held his head with both of his hands as he screamed in agony. Clearly, his business wasn't that good that day.

The boy looked to his surroundings and shifted back his gaze and followed the woman.

"I have to get the money now! Because of this rain, this might be my last chance to get some money by tonight!" The boy thought. He was in extreme anxiety.