Not Knowing

The three-day deadline had arrived. Please welcome the Dragon King back to his throne!

Oh no, he's going to do the crooked-mouth grin. Hurry, tear his mouth apart! Wait, that's getting off track. Way off track.

The three-day agreement was up. And why three days? Because the deadline was tight, the task was urgent, and the goods had to move fast!

Beihai didn't believe the school would fail to notice the boss making a fortune in points. It was lucky this school didn't have a Western Depot, or they wouldn't even need to follow procedure.

Lost in his thoughts, Beihai walked into the audio-visual store. Compared to before, there were very few appliances here. Most of them were just for show.

The shelves used to be lined with photography equipment, but now there was only a lonely sample sitting there. Who knew whether it was a model or a real camera?

Photography equipment was incredibly expensive. Buy it at half price with points, then sell it for cash afterward—now that was a sweet deal!

Beihai could tell that when he entered and approached the middle-aged man, the man looked awful.

His lips were dry, dark circles ringed his eyes, and even his face had gone pale.

"Where's the stuff? Transfer all the points to this number."

Beihai got straight to the point, taking out a card covered in a long string of digits and handing it over.

The other man had already prepared his Terminal, but panicked when he saw that Beihai hadn't taken out his own.

"How can I trust you? And how can you guarantee Shizuku—"

He spoke in a rush, eager to throw the question back at Beihai right away. He couldn't guarantee his own safety, and the two of them had completely different leverage. But Beihai seized on his anxious words and cut him off.

The more frantic the other man got, the more urgent Beihai had to seem. He couldn't let him think. If he cut off the man's ability to reason, then under pressure, he wouldn't be able to look back and make all sorts of guesses.

He could only panic and act on instinct. That was why people said one should remain calm even when Mount Tai collapsed before them.

Beihai had always held the upper hand, but sometimes it was better to be safe than sorry—especially now, at this crucial moment.

"You never had the right to negotiate with me. You don't have a chance, either. Not now that there's no turning back."

That was right. There was no turning back. He'd always thought he was doing it for Shizuku, and had walked right into the trap, step by step.

It was as if all his strength and means had deserted him. All he could do was transfer the points obediently.

All the while, Beihai had been holding back his laughter. He couldn't laugh at the man or even mock him; all he could do was wait quietly. He had to be especially careful at the very last moment.

When the successful transfer notification sounded and the points on the man's Terminal hit zero, Beihai couldn't hold back the smile tugging at his lips.

"Heh. Hahaha! Hahahahaha!"

The sudden laughter startled the middle-aged man. When he came to his senses, a chill ran down his back, and he broke out in a cold sweat.

"Hey! What are you laughing at? What's so funny? Our deal is over. You have to bring Shizuku over."

Hearing the man's delusional conclusion, as if he really thought he'd been one of the parties to a deal—or that Beihai was some kind of villain—

Beihai figured the man must see him as a scumbag: some guy who played with people's feelings and was about to hand off a girl he'd trained to someone else in exchange for money. What kind of stuff had this guy been watching?

Was he a sasaeng fan or some hopeless shut-in? How could he bring that sort of fantasy into real life?

"What? What are you even talking about? What right do I have to restrict anyone's freedom?

"Being a fan is fine, but if you hadn't made things up in your own head, how would it have come to this?"

Beihai's taunt struck the middle-aged man like a bolt from the blue. He went completely blank, his expression freezing for an instant before twisting into a snarl.

"You dared to deceive me! We had a deal!"

"What are you talking about? The most I'd agreed to was staying away from your Shizuku. So what were you imagining?

"What, are you planning to start something here?"

The anger that had just flared up caught in the man's throat.

That was right. If he started a fight here, he'd get nothing out of it.

There were plenty of nearby shops and students coming and going. Any disturbance would attract attention in an instant.

His face flushed with rage. His head spun, and he nearly fell over.

"Then thanks for the points. Maybe we won't see each other again."

Beihai saw that the middle-aged man had been burned out. He sat in his chair, and Beihai left him alone, taking out his Terminal to split the points with Honami Ichinose.

He'd said he would deal with that guy, but only if the man showed murderous intent toward him. Otherwise, if Beihai didn't act first, sooner or later the guy would come right up and elbow him in the face.

But Beihai had used the innocent Airisu Sakura in all this, so naturally she deserved half of the points he'd squeezed out of the man.

The plan was for Honami Ichinose to draw the fire after receiving the points, then give half to Airisu Sakura once everything was over.

As for why Beihai was so sure the man would make a move, it was simply because three days had been enough time for the organization to get up and running.

Beihai had barely left when the other man's phone rang.

He answered with a blank expression. The call was from a creditor, demanding payment.

"Hey, you borrowed over two million points from me. You need to pay me back!

"You bastard, they caught you selling school property without permission. Pay me back right now. You're finished!"

Finished.

The word kept echoing in his mind. That was right. He was finished!

He'd sold school property and bought up other people's points in bulk at rock-bottom prices. Converted to cash, he was buried in debt.

The Terminal slipped from his hand and hit the floor. He didn't pick it up, or even listen to the other man's curses over the phone. He just felt that everything was over. He had nothing left.

"No, wait. I still have Shizuku. That's right, everything I did was for her! I sacrificed so much for her."

Just like that, he seemed to find his purpose again.

That's right. He'd sacrificed so much for her. He deserved to get something in return. He had to protect her. Yes, he was protecting her. He was fighting for her!

He struggled up from the floor and rushed out of the store. When he saw that demon beside Shizuku, the last thread in his mind snapped.

His last shred of reason burned away. He charged forward like a beast. The last thing he saw was a hand clamping over his mouth.

In the moments before he blacked out, he vaguely saw several figures running toward him. Then someone seized his wrist in a tight grip.

Behind his concealed lenses, Beihai watched in silence. Just as he'd expected.

When the man saw Beihai and Sakura walking together like an innocent little kitten, he couldn't keep his composure at all.