Rise of the Darkness Tycoon

Chapter 25- Crossing the Line

After the auction, which ended with Calvin purchasing 2 more D-Rank Darkness Elemental Beast Cores, the two of them wandered through the market for a while before heading to a nearby restaurant for lunch.

Not long after they finished their meal, Ashley’s phone rang, and Calvin glanced over to see the word [Dad] lighting up the screen.

“Um, I have to take this.”

After saying that, she slid her finger across the screen to answer the call, placed the phone against her ear, and walked toward the restaurant balcony, leaving Calvin alone at the table.

As Calvin looked away from Ashley, he frowned slightly, recalling the last time they had gone out together and she had left midway through.

‘Why do I feel like I’m about to run into a very annoying group of people again?’

Unfortunately, his bad premonition turned out to be correct, because barely a minute later, a duo of teenagers came up the stairs to his floor and immediately noticed him.

“Huh? Wait a sec.... Isn’t that Isaac’s gofer? That poor kid?”

The moment he heard those words, Calvin sighed and pressed his fingers against his temple before raising his head toward the source of the voice.

The person who had spoken had called him ‘Isaac’s gofer’, which meant they were probably friends or classmates of Isaac Fry, the boyfriend of Calvin Carter’s cousin, Florence.

Calvin stared at him for several seconds before he finally managed to remember his name.

‘Mark, was it?’

He was the son of the owner of a well-known real estate corporation whose net worth was close to a hundred million dollars. His family’s corporation had close ties with the company Isaac’s father worked for, and the two of them had met while their parents were attending a joint company event, which eventually led to them becoming good friends.

Florence, being Isaac’s girlfriend, was also fairly close to Mark.

‘I really want to just ignore him, but...’

Calvin knew better than to expect that Mark and his friends would simply ignore him.

As far as they were concerned, Calvin was an introverted kid they constantly mocked and ridiculed, and they didn't think he had the courage to speak back to them.

On top of that, they were in a restaurant near the market district. It catered to elementalists and other wealthy individuals who came to the market, so the prices were quite high.

It would've been strange if they hadn't said anything after seeing Calvin here.

As soon as he came to that conclusion, Mark walked over to him with an eyebrow raised. Slipping his hands into his pockets, he spoke.

“Look at this. He cut his hair and got some new glasses.”

“Maybe he wants to impress some chick?” Mark’s friend said with a laugh.

“He might actually succeed. Hide your girlfriend, or he might impress her too,” Mark replied sarcastically.

The two laughed as they arrived at the table, and Mark placed a hand on it before shoving Calvin’s bag aside as he asked,

“What gave you the gall to enter this place? You picked up some money on the road?”

Calvin and Ashley had already finished their meal, and the plates had been cleared, and since Ashley had her own bag with her, there was little left on the table that suggested Calvin had come here with anyone.

Mark’s friend, after sitting across from Calvin, leaned back and spoke. “Why don’t you use some of that money on us too?”

“Yeah, bro. Kindly order a couple of dishes for us,” Mark added with a laugh.

Calvin didn’t respond to any of them. He simply stayed silent, thinking about how best to handle them without causing too much of a fuss, when the waiter came over with his bill.

At first, the man looked confused seeing the new people at the table, but then he noticed Calvin and closed the distance, handing the bill over to him.

Mark tried to take it, but Calvin was faster, taking the bill from the waiter and dismissing him immediately.

“Huh?” Mark blinked in surprise, not expecting Calvin to move that quickly.

However, he quickly shook his head and reached for the bill again.

“Let’s see what you got,” he said. “Who knows, maybe we’ve got the same taste?”

He reached out once more for the bill, but Calvin moved his hand away slightly, making Mark catch nothing but air.

Mark frowned, then tried again to take the bill, but Calvin avoided him once more with ease.

“You…! Give it here!”

Now irritated, Mark raised his voice and reached for Calvin’s hand, but Calvin avoided it again and slapped his hand back, leaving Mark and his friend stunned.

“And why should I give this to you?” Calvin asked, finally speaking to Mark.

Mark’s shout just now had drawn the attention of a few people from nearby tables, but Mark didn’t notice it since he was still caught off guard by Calvin’s ‘defiance’.

For someone who believed their word was absolute and that he could bully Calvin whenever and wherever he wanted, it felt impossible for their target to even talk back to them.

And for someone like Mark, who was quick to anger, the response to what he saw as ‘defiance’ turned violent.

Mark slammed his hand on the table, grabbed Calvin’s shoulder with one hand and reached for the hand holding the bill as he shouted.

“Give it here, you fatherless bastard!”

The instant those words left Mark’s mouth, the hand he had been reaching for came toward him, except with a clenched fist moving at a speed he couldn’t track.

*BAM!

Calvin’s fist crashed into the side of Mark’s face with enough force that the teenager stumbled backwards.

Mark stood there in shock, not even knowing how to react. It was beyond anything he had expected that Calvin would dare hit him.

As for his friend seated opposite Calvin, he tried to get up and shout, but his body refused to respond.

On top of that, it felt as if someone had covered his mouth with a hand, stopping him from speaking.

Those whose attention had been drawn by Mark’s earlier shout all reacted in shock at the sudden punch, with a few narrowing their eyes in silence when they noticed Mark’s friend frozen awkwardly between standing and sitting.

“HOW DARE YOU!?” Mark snapped and roared loudly, raising his hand to punch Calvin back.

However, Calvin easily caught the punch with an open palm and began squeezing his fist, a faint cracking sound ringing out as Mark immediately winced in pain.

He tried to pull away, but he couldn’t break free from Calvin’s grip, his expression changing right away as the pain grew worse.