Jena opened her mouth, then found herself at a loss for how to explain it. She said, "Mr. Principal resents being suppressed. No matter whom he talks to, he has to take the dominant position. Any threats, judgments, or attempts to look down on him as an object will severely trigger his stress response."
"I suggest Principal Shivan contact Chick's mother," Schiller continued.
"Oh, God." Victor seemed to realize something.
Just as Schiller had said, Chick's emotional outbursts might have been imitations of his mother. In other words, his mother was even worse at crying, making scenes, and threatening suicide.
Victor knew a little about Shivan as well. This Mr. Principal was extremely tough. No matter who you were, if you wanted to communicate with him, you had to go along with what he said. If you showed even the slightest intention of stepping on his head, then there was nothing to discuss.
Moreover, he was the kind of person who was highly emotional. If you made him unhappy, he would take a dislike to you and find every possible way to screw you over. He would never handle things objectively or consider the bigger picture.
Logically speaking, someone like that was not suited to be a leader. But Gotham was a special place. On the contrary, tough and petty people like him tended to thrive there. The magical world was even worse. Its way of generating income was settling old scores, and the smaller your mind, the greater your harvest.
When those two kinds of people collided, wouldn't it be like a needle against an awl?
But clearly, that sort of emotional blackmail—crying, making scenes, and threatening suicide—only worked on opponents of equal status. Even taking a step back, it could only blackmail people who needed to consider the