1 Missing
It was the year 2049, a calamity had struck planet Earth. It was the third world war after the first and second, and it was the most terrible war to occur in human history. A war that nearly wiped out the human race completely.
It was truly a dreadful war.
Almost a century had passed since then, and order was slowly being restored to the world. The war slowly faded in history as if it had never even existed.
An alliance was made by the surviving countries and they formed a single enormous country. That country was called Unity.
[22 January 2136. Mainland Unity, Dragon Den.]
Sounds of footsteps could be heard across the hallway along with occasional mumbling. Awaken by the noise, Ink slowly sat up on his bed. He checked his phone, it was still early morning.
He was about to lie back down to bed when suddenly he heard a familiar voice called out to him.
"Hei'er!" the voice cried. The steps drawing closer and closer.
As of now, Ink was no longer sitting on his bed but instead on his feet scratching his head. He let out a yawn, clearly somewhat woozy.
He knew who this voice belongs to so he wasn't bothered in the slightest. What surprised him, however, was that the person was looking for him specifically.
"Hei'er get up now!" the person cried out once more, now right outside his door.
Ink unhesitantly open it, wearing a stern look on his face.
Standing in front of him was a tall, handsome middle-aged man. The man wore a black tux suit and a red tie. On his head was a black hat that weirdly had a rose flower buttoned on the side.
When the man saw Ink's rugged hair and unkempt face, he gave a bashful smile.
"Oh... My bad, did I woke you up?" the man said sarcastically.
Ink's face grew unsightly. This man was none other than the Don of this estate. He was the boss and leader of the number one Mafia gang in the city Mainland Unity, Dragon Den. Ink himself was... the foster son of the Don of Dragon Den!
The Don himself never had children and had adopted Ink in one of his excursions. Ink was but a baby when he was adopted, but he knew from the beginning that he was not the Don's son.
That was because the Don never bothered to hide the fact that Ink was not truly his son. However, there was one thing he didn't disclose to his son about even if Ink asks him. That was the exact location of where he had found Ink during his mission, this left Ink extremely curious.
Ink had consulted his father on many occasions about his origins, but his foster father would always dodge the question, leaving him oblivious to the matter.
Regardless of his past, however, Ink will always be grateful to his foster father. But as of now, this foster father of his was really getting on his nerves.
"What do you want old man?" Ink retorted coldly, he was in no mood to chit-chat and if possible, he wanted to go back to bed as soon as possible.
"Ah, that's right!" His father replied. "Hei'er..."
"I told you to call me Ink!" Interrupted Ink, his face growing more unsightly. Although his official name was Xiao Hei, his nickname was Ink.
People of this generation seldom use their original name, instead, they use their official nickname. Nobody knew who started the fight for nicknames rights, but eventually, nicknames were made legal by the government in concurrent with the official given names.
Many preferred their nicknames as they were unique to a person and do not conform to the usual generic names people were given at birth.
"Hei'er, I will be going on a 'business trip' in a few hours," said Ink's father, ignoring his previous interruption. "I know this is sudden, but I'm not sure how long I will be away. So try not to cause 'too much' trouble when I'm away alright?"
As he said that, he winks playfully at Ink while also smiling somewhat pervertedly. Then he nudges Ink on the arm, at the same time jerking his eyebrows jokingly.
Ink was not amused by this as he glared at his foster father. This caused the man to slowly back off and cough lightly.
"It's just a joke... a joke...Um... Yeah..." Seeing his son like so had always given him chills.
He knew Ink's personality quite well. He knew that if Ink was not in such a bad mood, his personality, and temperament were somewhat like his own.
Seeing that Ink was clearly not in a good mood, he gave his son one final hug and left immediately.
Ink did not move, he waited until his foster father disappeared before he slowly turns around and closes the door behind him. He made his way back to bed and smile wryly.
He smiled because he found this whole scene amusing. He found it amusing because... he had already relived this very scene several times.
Rinnnng! Rinnnng! Rinnnng!
The sound of the alarm bell crashed in his head. He made groaning moans as he grabbed his pillow and swipes it across his side.
Crashing noise fills the room as the ringing slowly faded away. The sound finally stopped and once again it was peaceful.
However, Ink did not go back to sleep. He thought back to his dream, back to the scene with his foster father. The scene that transpired three years ago in this very room, before his foster father went missing thereafter!
Maybe it was because of guilt and perhaps regret. The regret of not doing anything to stop his father from leaving on that day. Even until now, it haunts him in his dreams, to the point of having to force it to numb in his heart.
The members of Dragon Den suggested that his father was in no apparent danger and that he will naturally return safely.
Trips as long as this was not the first time for the Don, and in fact, there were longer ones.
However, Ink felt like something was amiss. It's like a bad feeling that can't be resolved until you actually see the cause of the bad feeling, but since you have no idea what is, it lingers. Ink did not like this feeling. However, he had no way to resolve the feeling and could only once again numb it in his heart.
However, there was no time to contemplate such feelings today. As today is the day he will be turning eighteen and will inherently become the next acting Don of Dragon Den, giving that the real Don is not around.
As acting Don, he could take on 'business trips'. That's why today was quite an important day.
"Finally the time has come, to when I will finally go search for my father, " murmured Ink. "When I find him, I will ask him about the purpose of the entire trip...
"I've rummaged through several files in his private quarters and I managed to piece together some clues and leads of where he might be.
"According to my investigation, he'd gone to Central Unity, to another Mafia estate called the White Hand Gang. They are also the number one Mafia gang in their respective city..."
Soon it was night time, the streets of Mainland Unity was especially crowded. A young man in a dark trench coat stood next to a street lamp.
Occasionally there would be people walking back and forth around him, but that only serves as a cover for him. This man was none other than Ink, who was currently outside on his 'business trip'.
After his birthday celebration adjourns, he headed out immediately.
"According to my leads, " murmured Ink, he shook his head and waited for a moment, before calling a cab. "My father was last seen in Central unity...
"The only problem is that the place he was at is quite a troublesome place..."
He knew that looking for his father would not be easy and that it would be dangerous even. However, he simply couldn't ignore this matter.
Before he could even learn how to crawl, his foster father had been there for him, raised him and even cared for him. As his son, how could he not be worried!
"Luckily my dad had some really good connections with the people of Central Unity, " He thought. "Some of them even have connections with the White Hang Gang!
"Once I arrive at Central Unity, I should meet up with dad's most trusted client first before consulting with anyone else there."
Not so long after, a yellow cab parked right next to him. Ink stepped in and calmly told the driver where he wanted to go. The driver nodded, adjusted his mirrors and drove away.
