Chapter 01: The Busy Street

"How many boots did you polish today?" a dirty old man in rags asked.

"Only a few. At this rate, I would not be able to feed my family and we would die of starvation," another old man answered with a sad face, looking down into his tin can which contained a few coins only.

Things had not been well lately for the boot polishers of Kanugo city. While they worked their ass off for the entire day, every day, they barely earned enough to let their ends meet. They waited for customers everyday so that they could earn some pennies, but someone hardly stopped by them to get their shoes polished.

The first old man tried to console his partner. "Do not worry. Everything will be okay." He put aside his tin can and mentioned. "Your daughter is late today."

The second old man turned his head to the left to look at the far end of the street. "She will arrive shortly. She works too hard at her job. That is why she gets late sometimes." His eyes searched for his lovely daughter, who worked hard to support her family.

"At least you have someone to share your earnings. If only I had someone like that. At least, if only I had someone to care for." The first old man stared at the sky while he spoke.

"You are lucky you do not have an extra member to feed, or it would have been harder to survive every day," a third boot polisher who sat beside them commented after listening to the conversation.

"You are right, hahaha." The first old man laughed at his words. "I do not even know what a family is like." His face turned gloomy after he uttered the latter sentence.

It went silent suddenly. These old men had a harsh life, so much that it had become a joke for them. The second old man sensed the gloomy environment around him and tried to divert the topic.

"By the way, where is Kenny? He should have arrived by now."

"He must be on his way. He never failed to bring food for us," the first old man replied. "He will arrive shortly."

"I wonder what is his motivation for this kind of noble work," the second old man said. "I have tried to ask him many times, but he never answered it."

"Who cares what his motivation is? As long as we are getting food daily, I do not care."

"You old man sure are ungrateful for what he does for us," the third old man interrupted and side-eyed him with a dis-amused look on his face.

"Shut up, we are not ungrateful," the first old man countered. "I always give him my blessings. They say that the blessings of a poor old man guarantees you to succeed in life. Besides, you are the one to call me an old man. You are as old as I am, you dastard."

"I am younger than you, and I have never heard of anything like that. You only want him to succeed so that he could feed you even more." the third old man smirked at his own clever remark.

The first old man frowned at those words. "You are pissing me off."

The third old man looked at the second old man. "I know your daughter is interested in him. Why do not you talk to him about their wedding? She is about the right age now."

"I would not ask him until my daughter tells me to do so. She does not even know how he feels for her," said the second old man.

While they talked, a shiny black car stopped in front of them. A man in a black suit stepped down from the front door and rushed to open the back door. When he opened it, a middle-aged man wearing all white - a fedora hat, a white suit, and white boots, stepped outside.

He had a cigar in his mouth and wore sunglasses. He was a man of medium stature, brown skin, hairless face with no eyebrows and beard, and thick brown lips.

The old men stopped talking and stared at the rich-looking man, wondering if he wanted his boots polished. If yes, which old man would he give this chance to? They were desperate to earn some pennies.

The rich-looking man walked up to the second old man and placed his right foot ahead. "It should look like a mirror. I have a meeting to attend," he said.

"Lucky dastard," the first old man mouthed as his partner got the chance to earn a bit more.

"Sure, sir. I would make it even shinier than a mirror," the second old man said, picking up the piece of cloth he used to clean the shoes. He rubbed the boots.

The third old man just stared at the side of the rich man's neck. Actually, he stared at the skull-shaped tattoo on his neck.

"Sir, do you know I am known as 'The King of Boot Polishers' around this area? It would be better if you let me polish your shoes instead of this stinky old man," the first old man made it up to try his luck.

"You are even more stinky as I am," the second old man replied in a teasing manner. "Better luck next time, False King of Boot Polishers."

"You dastard." The first old man frowned at him.

"Shut up, you two, or I will kick your dirty asses," the rich man's driver in the black suit said in a rowdy tone and glared down at the old man with his murderous eyes.

The first old man got intimidated and turned his face away. He did not want to anger a Skultar, or he would lose something precious to him - his life.

While this all was going on, someone walked down the footpath at a distance towards the boot polishers. He had a polythene bag hanging on his fingers.

He was a young man with messy black hair, droopy eyes, yellow skin, a long nose, unshaven prickly beard, and a lean body.

He wore a sleeveless white t-shirt with multiple holes in it, blue briefs, and brown slippers. He had a lit cigarette in his mouth.

"What an uneasy day it has been," He said after he exhaled the smoke. Suddenly, his tummy made a gurgling noise.

"Ah, my stomach is not well today. I have to rush home after I feed these leftovers to those old men. Oh, wait, do I have a home?" He stared at the sky and scratched his head.

This young man was Kenny, who worked at a roadside restaurant. He fed the leftovers to those poor old men every day. But today, he did not feel well. His stomach gurgled and ached since the morning. Only he knew how he survived the day and his work.

He planned to empty his stomach after finishing his last job of the day. When he took a step ahead, something brushed his bum.

"What the hell?" He got startled and turned to see what it was. He had not realized that there was a stray dog following him.

It stared at the polythene bag with its tongue hung outside the mouth. Kenny realized the dog had an empty stomach, and it wanted some of the food from him.

"Oh, do you want some food?"

"Woof!"

"Alright." He took out a bun and placed it on the ground. "Here you go."

***

The rich man turned and walked away after the old man finished polishing his boots. The old man was afraid to ask for the money from a skultar, as he knew he might face unpleasant consequences. But he had not earned enough today as he made most of the days.

"Umm…" He was about to stop the man, but the third old man stopped him.

"Try nothing ridiculous, or you would be in serious trouble."

"But…" The second old man looked into his tin can and knew the coins were not enough to sustain for even a day. He turned to the third old man. "I have heard some skultars are nice enough to listen to our lowlife problems."

After he said it, he stood up and addressed the skultar in all white, "Sir, you have not paid for the polish. I think you forgot because of your busy schedule… Dear sir..." He tried to sound as polite as ever.

The rich man's steps halted mid way after he heard him. "What did you say? I forgot to pay?" He said without turning around.

The old man gulped when the rich man said his words. He felt a deadly aura from him, but he was not ready to back off. "Yes, sir. I think so."

The white booted man turned and took off his sunglasses to have a clear look at the old man's face. He handed the sunglasses to his driver. "Sure, I will pay you. It must have slipped my mind."

The third old man tried to pull the second old man down as he had sensed something terrible was about to happen. "Oye, just apologize and sit down."

***

"Good boy," Kenny said as he patted the dog on the head. "Do you want some more?" He asked the dog after it ate the entire piece of bread.

On the footpath parallel to him, a girl in a cheap creamy gown with patches on it waited for the street to clear so that she could cross it, but the street was exceptionally busy today.

She was a young girl with a pretty face. Her hair was black with the length up to her shoulders. She had white skin originally, but it was tanned for now because of her harsh work as a female laborer.

Her eyes settled on Kenny when he tried to make the dog smoke his cigarette, but the dog only focused on eating the bread.

"Do you want to smoke, buddy? It is a limited time offer. You would not get another chance if you refuse. You should know I do not offer this to everyone," he said.

The dog did not respond and finished eating another loaf of bread.

"Alright. Your loss, buddy."

"As weird as ever," the girl uttered. "But nice too." She smiled and crossed the street. She headed towards the old boot polishers as one of those old men was her father.

"Ah!" the second old man cried in pain as the rich man kicked him in the chest. He collapsed to the ground and moaned in pain while holding his chest.

"You lowlife dirty scumbag! How dare you ask for money from me?" The white booted man spat in fury.

"Sir, it was a mistake. Forgive him, he would not do it again." The third old man pleaded for mercy on his partner. But the rich man pushed him aside and kicked in the gut of the second old man. He howled in pain.

"Father? Father!" The girl looked at her father getting beaten up. She ran towards the white suited man to stop him but his driver stopped her way and clasped her arm.

"Where are you heading off to, girl?"

"Leave my hand!" She battled to free her arm, but the skultar in the black suit refused to leave it.

Kenny picked up the cries of the old man and the voice of his daughter. "What the hell is happening?" He rose, turned, and faced the drastic scene.

The girl bit the black suited man to free her arm. He moaned in pain and now got angry. 

"You…" He whacked her and shoved her on the street. She tripped and fell in the middle of the busy road.

"No," the first old man uttered in shock when he discovered a truck approaching her.

"Oh, shit!" Kenny reacted with a disturbed face and dropped his polythene bag. He rushed to save her even though he knew he could not reach in time.

His stomach gurgled at the same moment he made his run. The truck almost reached her and everyone, including the old men and the girl herself, froze in despair. Everyone believed she was done for.

But...

A miracle happened. Suddenly, a gust of wind passed by her and carried her away. It happened so fast that no one could figure out what actually happened.

The black suited man, the first and the third old man, were bewildered to witness the scene after the truck crossed away.

Kenny and the girl both were lying down on the other side of the street. He seized her in his arms tightly.

"What did just happen?" The black suited man muttered with a hint of disbelief on his face.

"You dastard, you wasted my time." The white suited man kicked the old man one last time and turned to move towards his car. "Start the car. I am late for the meeting," he ordered the driver.

"Ah, yes, sir." The driver hurried to open the back door of the car for his boss to enter.

"What happened to them? Why are they embracing each other on the floor?" The white suited man inquired after he sat in the car and saw Kenny and the girl embracing each other at the corner of the street.

"Ah, nothing, sir," the driver responded and started the car. "They must be warming each other. You know the weather is cold lately. They do not look like they have a home."

"Haha, poor filthy creatures. These lowlifes never fail to make me hate them more than before whenever I come into contact with them."

The driver drove the car away, leaving the old boot polisher unconscious on the footpath.

"Hey, are you asleep?" Kenny mentioned as the girl clutched him tightly and was not ready to leave him. Her eyes were shut closed.

The remaining two old men stared at each other. 

"Did you see what happened just now?" the first old man asked.

"It happened so quick I was unable to comprehend it," the third old man responded. "But now that I think about it, it seemed like it almost looked like…"

"A skultar ability," the first old man completed the sentence. "This is strange. Very strange."