The weekend passed and Monday came around. As Mayr walked through the halls of the school he noticed the candid whispers and shy stares the other students were giving him. Because of his exploits, he had developed a bit of a reputation. This was nothing new to Mayr. He knew how to handle the extra attention that came along with being the boss of a gang.

Mayr was always cordial when interacting with people who were not involved with his business. He always tried to help his peers and was respectful to his seniors. Because of these traits, people were inclined to have a positive opinion of him.

The clock hit 3pm and the final bell rang. The students collected their things and began exiting the school. Mayr started making his way to the cubby. This was where he planned to meet his captains.

When Mayr reached the hallways outside the cubby, he heard noises from inside the cubby. "Please, Kashi!" said an upset woman's voice, "At least hear me out!"

"I've got nothing to talk to you about," Kashi's voice replied, "you were the one that dumped me in the first place, remember? You were only with me because of my reputation and me buying you gifts regularly. As soon as you thought that I couldn't do that anymore, you left. Now that rumours are out about me and my crew, suddenly you want to put the past behind us."

"No, that's not how it is!" said the woman's voice, "You were number 1 in the school. I just didn't feel like I deserved you. Compared to you, everyone was a loser. Now, I hear that you're following one of those losers. I was heartbroken when hearing this. I just want to help you be number 1 again."

"Don't talk about Soju like you know him!" Kashi replied angrily, "You couldn't even comprehend the things he's done for us. I'd never wanna be that pathetic idiot who extorted my fellow peers ever again. I've grown thanks to him!"

The conversation paused momentarily. After the short pause, Mayr heard Kashi speak in a gentler voice. "You should leave, Soju is gonna be here soon and I doubt he wants to see you here."

"Whatever!" the woman's voice replied in a rage, "I was wrong to want to get together with an underling like you!"

Mayr began to hear heels stomping towards him after this sentence. Mayr waited for the woman to leave before entering the cubby.

As Mayr waited, he saw a pretty girl exit the hallway. It was the same girl who had insulted Soju's mother. Mayr simply stared at the ground and waited for her to leave, but he noticed that she had stopped.

Mayr slowly moved his gaze upwards. He first saw her 2-inch heels, and as his eyes moved up, he saw her jean shorts, and then her black t-shirt with a gold necklace. Once his eyes reached her face, he saw a friendly smile on it.

"Hi!" the girl said in a friendly tone, "We've never introduced ourselves to each other. I'm Juna!"

She put her hand out as a signal that she wanted to shake hands. As she was waiting for Mayr to reply and shake her hand, all she saw was him staring back at her coldly.

Without saying a word, Mayr walked around her and made his way to the cubby. The girl's friendly expression turned to an embarrassed one and she walked away

Mayr entered the cubby and saw Kashi standing there looking a bit upset. Mayr simply walked up to him, put his hand on his shoulder, and said "I'm proud of you". Kashi simply replied with a smile and a nod towards Mayr.

"Where's everyone else?" Mayr inquired. "I asked them to wait outside the main entrance." Kashi replied, "They should all be there waiting for us."

-

Kashi and Mayr exited the school and found Nesh and the captains standing together.

"Alright, guys," said Mayr, "Let's get going."

The crew acknowledged the instruction and started following Kris.

"I'd like to keep this pretty lowkey," said Kris, "so, once we get there, quietly follow me straight into my room."

"Got it." The crew replied.

After a 15-minute walk, the crew entered a lower-middle-class neighborhood. All of the houses in the neighborhood were lined up side by side and had roughly the same design. Each house had two floors and 4 windows facing outwards, 2 on the bottom floor and 2 on the top floor. In front of each house was a small white fence gate. This was the entrance to the front yard.

Kris' house was more or less the same. Along with the features that each of the houses shared, Kris' house had a white painted front door and yellow outer walls.

Kris led the boys to the front door and inserted his key. He very slowly opened the door so as to not make too much noise and gestured for the boys to walk in.

Upon entering the house, one would see a wooden staircase, about 4 feet wide on the left side of the hall. It was around 3 and a half meters away from the entrance. On the left and right sides, there were wide entrances to the guest room and the living room, respectively. On the right side of the hall, past the stairs, there was a narrower entrance without a door to what seemed to be the kitchen.

The boys slowly walked in and began taking off their shoes at the entrance. As they were walking towards the stairs, a woman peeked her head out of the entrance to the kitchen. She had dark hair and was around Soju's mother's age.

When she saw the boys a smile came on her face and she began to walk out. She was wearing house clothes and a t-shirt with pajamas. She was short, around 5 feet 3, so the clothes looked large on her.

"Hi!" She said cheerfully, "It's been a while since Kris has brought friends over. How are you guys?"

"We're good. Thanks for asking!" each one of the boys replied.

"I'm Kris's mother, nice to meet you all!" She said as she extended out her hand and shook every boy's hand one by one. "I was just in the kitchen making food for Kris," She added, "I can make you guys some as well if you like."

Each of the boys kindly declined and lied about already eating. They didn't want to make her work extra hard. As the boys were talking to Kris' mother, Mayr noticed that a bruise was peeking out from under the sleeve of her t-shirt. It was shaped like a finger. It concerned Mayr but he chose to ignore it.

"We're just going into my room for a while," said Kris to his mother, "We'll be gone in an hour or two."

"No problem!" She replied, "Let me know if you guys need anything". The boys nodded in agreement and made their way to Kris' room.

As Mayr was following Kris up the stairs, he began looking around and inspecting the house. It was an average house with white walls and generic lights and builds, nothing too fancy. But as Mayr's eyes wandered, he noticed that there were a few holes in the walls. He understood that this house had problems, but so did every house. It was not his business to stick his nose where it didn't belong.

It didn't take long before the boys made it to Kris' room. In the center of the room was a bed in disarray, a closet in the back, and in front of the bed, on the opposite side of the room, there was a desk.

The boys looked around for a bit and began looking for places to sit down. Some sat on the bed and some on the floor. Mayr sat on the wooden desk chair.

Before speaking, Mayr looked at the items on top of the desk. There was a small lamp, an empty glass soda bottle, and a picture of Kris' mom in her younger days with a man next to her and a young child in her arms. All of them had bright smiles on their faces in the picture.

Kris noticed Mayr looking at the picture and became a little embarrassed. "That's just a picture of me and my parents." a red-faced Kris explained, "The only reason I have it is because my mom always wants me and her to keep a copy of this picture."

Mayr smiled and informed Kris that this was nothing to be embarrassed about. The other boys bantered with Kris a little bit about the picture, but it was all taken in good fun.

"Alright, guys," said Mayr, "time to get to business."

The crew put on serious faces and became attentive. "First, we have to place each member under one of the captains." Mayr explained, "I will only have 4-5 members under Ken, Jun, and Kayu because of their lack of experience in leadership. The rest of the members will be divided amongst the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd sect."

After finishing the first bit of business, which was dividing the members into sects, Mayr pulled out a map of the city from his backpack. "Now, on to the second item on the agenda." said Mayr as he unfolded the map and placed it on the desk, "We need to divide the members in pairs and assign locations."

Mayr began marking locations on the map and explaining to the captains how members will be assigned to each location. After marking enough locations for almost all of the members, Mayr asked his crew if they had any questions. No questions arose.

"Kashi," Mayr said as he looked at Kashi, "We're going to start another gambling operation near Parkside high, our new territory. I want you to assign ex-Rampers to that area, preferably ones with decent reputations."

"Understood." Kashi replied.

"Finally," Mayr said with a smile as he picked up the empty glass soda bottle in his hand, "we have one last item on the agenda. We need to come up with a name for our crew."

The crew's eyes lit up when they heard this. A name would be a sign that they were part of an established gang. The crew was about to turn into a family, and this fact excited each and every person in that room.

The boys thought to themselves for a second. After a few seconds, each person's expression changed, indicating that they had a possible name in mind, but just as they were about to discuss this, the boys heard the main entrance door open and slam shut.

Mayr looked at Kris, expecting an explanation, but that wasn't what he got. All Mayr saw was a horrified look on Kris' face.