Wearing her thick coat, Jasmine sat on the long sofa in the apartment living room, holding her phone to her ear. She looked annoyed. She had tried calling Magnus several times, but he still wasn't picking up."Come on, Magnus. I have to leave for work. And where are you anyway? Am I really supposed to leave Mom here alone?" Jasmine grumbled.She was starting the afternoon shift today, and ideally, because the coffee shop where she worked was quite far from the apartment, she needed to leave at least 40 minutes before her start time. She clicked her tongue in frustration. Magnus really shouldn't have gone anywhere today.What about Jonas? His school day was over, but he said he had to go to the Chinese restaurant where he worked part-time because there was something important he needed to take care of. This added to Jasmine's frustration. How could both of her brothers be absent from the apartment at the same time—when she urgently needed to leave?"Jasmine?""Yes, Mom?"Jasmine stoppe

Olive and Hoffmann looked at each other, shocked by what the restaurant manager had said. Just like them, the people on the restaurant balcony questioned the manager's strange request."You're asking us to leave? Are you mistaken? He is clearly the one who came and caused the mess. He should be the one you ask to leave!" Hoffmann protested, emotional.The restaurant manager stared sharply at Hoffmann, pulled out his phone, and showed it to him."You leave right now, or I'll call the hotel's head of security and ask him to send security guards here to drag you out. You choose," the restaurant manager said.Ignoring the confused stares of the people around him, the restaurant manager looked at Hoffmann without blinking. His body was slightly more muscular than Hoffmann's. This made him look dominant and superior."Tsk! What the hell is this?! How can a four-star hotel restaurant treat customers this badly!" Hoffmann grumbled. "You think I'll just stay silent after being treated like thi

Magnus and Clara brought Olive and Hoffmann to the forest where Magnus was once hunted by Julius and his friends. The jeep was parked on the shoulder of the road. Olive and Hoffmann were escorted into the forest."What are you going to do to us? Are you planning to kill us in this forest?"Olive threw out the question with a trembling voice. Her look at Magnus was pleading.Magnus did not answer. He didn't even seem to care the question was asked. He simply continued to lead Hoffmann. Olive was being led by Clara.Clara glanced at Magnus briefly. She honestly didn't know what was on Magnus's mind. Along the way, she once asked Magnus what he would do to Olive and Hoffmann once they arrived in the forest. Magnus only answered briefly: "You'll know later."Actually, Clara was a little worried. She had seen with her own eyes how brutal Magnus was in the fighting arena. Would he be that brutal to the two weak people they were escorting into this forest? She didn't know.'I hope not,' she

About half an hour later, a taxi entered Blackwood District. In the passenger seat, Magnus glanced right and left, vigilant against the possibility of a sudden attack. The taxi driver himself looked tense—tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. It was clear he wanted to drop Magnus off at his destination quickly and leave as soon as possible.Blackwood District was indeed a dangerous district. Due to its high crime rate, the district had been abandoned by most of its inhabitants. Now, those who still remained were either people too poor to get a new place to live, or local gangsters and mafias profiting from the dangerous situation in Blackwood by selling illegal drugs, firearms, and arranging illegal sex service transactions.In short, Blackwood was not a district someone would go to unless they were involved in trouble. If Magnus hadn't paid 100 thousand dollars upfront, the taxi driver would not have wanted to take Magnus there."There it is. Drop me off there," Magnus said, poi

Still on the same night, at the palatial Xavius family residence...“You lost contact with them?” asked a sturdy man with a broad chest and bulging biceps and triceps. He was Charles Xavius, the leader of the Xavius family.“That’s right, sir. They have been unreachable since an hour ago. It seems something has happened,” said a man in his 40s with a slight beard on his brown face. He was Evan, the head of the Xavius family bodyguards.Charles took a red apple from the fruit basket on his desk. He ate the apple without peeling it first. The sound of his chewing was the only noise audible in the Victorian-style room.“Send men there to check. Arm them with firearms, just in case someone is waiting for them there. Report their situation updates to me,” Charles said, then returned to chewing the apple.“Very well, sir,” Evan replied, bowing low before excusing himself.After Evan left his office, Charles stopped chewing the apple, placing the remainder of the apple on a small plate next t