Lying on his familiar bed, Alois kept thinking intently about how he could refuse his father’s offer. If he got involved in the drug business, he would be ruined. That man—Felix Faust—would come to kill him. He had to avoid that at all costs.　Alois was trying to recall how he had failed to refuse the offer in his first life. If he had failed, he just needed to devise a new strategy.“Ah. Back then…”Alois finally remembered.Back then, he had simply thrown a tantrum, insisting he didn’t want to get involved in the drug business.　But Alois’s father had retorted that it was thanks to drug money that he’d been able to pay for his tuition and provide Alois with a life of comfort. It was true that it was Alois’s father who had sent him to study at a prestigious university in the “National Union” and covered everything from his living expenses to his social life.Alois hadn’t known. He hadn’t known that the money he was using was stained with blood.　But that excuse came too late. So, Al

“Oh. There was one cartel I mustn’t forget. The Greif Cartel.”　Alois knew everything, but he pretended not to.“The Greif Cartel had its share of troubles, but those have been completely resolved now. I’m on friendly terms with Karl Kaltembrenner, who runs the Greif Cartel. Though he’s still the most dangerous man around.”Ah. That’s certainly true. Thanks to the schemes Karl had woven, the Wolf Cartel found itself surrounded by enemies. Karl the schemer. Karl the scoundrel. Karl the traitor.He’d failed in his first life, but in his second, he’d take care of him early on. Alois had made up his mind. Absolutely, whether Karl was Heinrich’s friend or not.“Mother won’t last much longer.”Heinrich said.“I did everything I could as a husband. But it wasn’t enough.”Alois wondered if his father was truly grieving his mother’s death.“At the funeral, the bosses from each cartel will be there. I’ll introduce you there. I’ll make it clear to the Wolf Cartel’s executives that there is a suc

The funeral felt stifling. Everyone had come to size up Alois. To see if he was fit to be the next boss of the Wolf Cartel. Alois is an ordinary young man.　He works out. His hobby is running, and he used to go to the gym. He figures he’s built up some muscle. Of course, he’s nowhere near as muscular as the men who guard the drug cartel bosses.But he doesn’t have any tattoos, and he doesn’t deck himself out in the tacky gold jewelry that drug cartel bosses love. Those guys even wear that stuff to funerals. It’s just in bad taste.　Alois doesn’t grow a beard either. The drug cartel bosses grow beards. They say it makes them look sexier. It just makes them look grimy.From his appearance, Alois probably doesn’t look like someone involved in the drug business. In fact, Alois isn’t involved in the drug business yet.But assuming he does get involved in the drug business, how would people see him?　A naive rich kid? A weak, unmanly man? A complete amateur who doesn’t even know how to

　My relationship with Maverick ended up lasting surprisingly long.　“Long” might be a stretch—it was only two weeks. But for Alois, that was more than long enough.“It might be dangerous to be with me.”“Because you’re selling drugs?”“Yeah. That’s exactly it.”In a room of the apartment they’d rented near the university, Alois said this while making coffee for a half-naked Maverick. He was about to head to school to study pharmacology again—and sell drugs.Neither Alois nor Maverick used drugs. They were satisfied with other things. Even without drugs, his days with Maverick were thrilling.“I like dangerous men. The hotter the risk, the more I get fired up.”“You’re a handful. I wonder what on earth you’re studying in the university’s literature department.”Alois handed Maverick the coffee she’d brewed Southern-style. She’d recently learned that Maverick was from the South and a member of the “National Union.”She harbors many secrets. Sometimes, even when Alois asks, she doesn’t a

　Alois never touches his own merchandise.　But the low-level dealers are different. They sell drugs to others so they can buy drugs for themselves. Drug dealers are drug addicts, too.　These drug addicts throw parties. Drug parties.　After using gateway drugs—like the dregs of Snow White that Alois sells—they drink, dance, sing, and make a huge racket.Alois knows all about these kinds of parties. Over the past ten years, he’s seen even the drug cartel bosses engage in such foolish behavior. Of course, the drug cartel bosses don’t use petty drugs like the dregs of Snow White. They use dangerous, refined drugs that get them higher.Alois hated those kinds of parties.Alois didn’t like drugs in the first place. Even though he held a high-ranking position in a drug cartel, he didn’t think highly of the drugs he dealt in.Drugs corrupt people. He had seen sharp-minded executives in the past get their hands on the product and go to the dogs. Drugs erode the brain. They corrupt the mind. Th