I Became The Administrator of A Sacred Ground

"Well, that was easy."

Euri pulled back his metal bat, pulling a tissue out of his pocket to wipe his hands. The man lying at his feet was already unconscious from the beating, and the man tied up on the chair ten meters away looked like his soul had flown away. 

It had turned out to be a fairly simple task to fool the thug's partner in crime into rushing over to this deserted area. Euri had just relied on the comcell to send him a flurry of texts, making up a story about how the thug had been attacked by another group interested in the same thing he had been commissioned for. He had then taken the boy hostage and escaped towards the hills.

Trusting the texts, his partner in crime had arrived in this building, and the next thing he knew was the pain and surprise of having a rod hit the back of his head from a dark corner. 

"Look, kid, it was just a simple attempted robbery, okay?" The man on the chair pleaded desperately.

"You don't need to go this far, kid. He might already be dead, or dying. It's not worth it to mess with our people over a small issue like this, trust me! They'll come for you!"

"You weren't acting under Bennet's father's orders when you came over to my house today. Do you think I don't realize that? I read your messages. This robbery was a private commission by an anonymous party. Even your stupid friend here doesn't seem to know much except that he has to interrogate me about... unusual incidents that I may have experienced recently, or any strange device I may have found somewhere."

Euri's expression couldn't help but turn strange. This just reaffirmed his suspicion about the source of the game in his miniscreen. Some hidden faction out there already knew about its existence, and they knew that it had landed in Euri's hands after his encounter with the girl in the alley. 

To erase this threat for good, he had to cut off the source of all information that could be traced back to him. If the pursuers of his secret had even the most basic understanding of its worth, they'd never give up! 

While the rest of the population has to bet on their life to dive into dimensional gateways and face hordes of dangerous creatures to gather resources to develop themselves and contribute to the civilization's overall growth, anyone who possessed the game in Euri's miniscreen could lie idle in their home and become stronger than most of them by clicking a few buttons and watching cute animations.

How could anyone knowing such a shortcut be willing to give up chasing after it? Euri was a nobody! Killing him and taking away this opportunity would be so easy! So convenient!

After wiping off all traces of blood from his skin and clothing, Euri left the building in a hurry. 

"Hey! At least untie me, man!" The thug's scream echoed behind him. Under the frustration, Euri could hear his glee and relief. He was more than happy at being left alone. The fact that he hadn't been given the 'metal bat treatment' like his friend was a miracle!

Thirty minutes later, while the thug was busy tearing off his bindings using the edge of an unfinished wall, he heard Euri's footsteps returning. The expression that twisted his face at that moment was really interesting, Euri felt.

Like a man who believed that he had overcome an addiction, only for the strongest withdrawal seizures in his life to follow right after. 

Despair clouded his countenance as Euri pulled out a fruit knife from a pocket. However...

"Still stuck here? Take it and get the fuck out with your friend. Never let me see you two again." 

Euri tossed the knife to the dumbfounded man's lap, and the fire of hope was lit once more in the thug's heart when he saw Euri pass by him and disappear in another section of the housing project. Confused, he hurried to tear off the rest of the ropes binding his limbs to the chair.

A minute later, just as he had finished freeing himself, he heard another series of footsteps near the staircase, this time far louder and heavier. Clutching the knife, he nervously watched the floor welcome half a dozen men who seemed to be in the same line of work as him.

Several of them wore clothes soaked in blood, and their heavy breathing, soaked foreheads gleaming under moonlight were clear signs. 

The leader of the group, holding a stack of online currency cards that they must have just snatched from someone, scanned him up and down and stared for a moment at the knife in his hand. A terrible idea took form in the thug's mind at that very moment.

The boy hadn't given him this knife to allow him to escape! This knife was to give him just enough time to cut the ropes and then face these pursuers as an armed foe!

Who were these people? That was not hard to answer. These men were just another group of thugs who had come to the hillside for unsavory purposes. As for the reason why they were all chasing after the boy, anyone wouldn't want a witness of their crime to escape, right?

"Helping that little rabbit buy time? Very brave!" the leader said, sneering. "But if you think the knife is gonna scare my men off, you're in trouble!"

"Wait, I don't- I can explain-"

He wasn't given the chance to speak further. Punches, kicks, and flying bricks came at him from three directions. Adrenaline kicked in from pain, and his explanation was lost in frenzied attempts to protect his vitals.

Two floors on the other end of the square-shaped housing project, Euri watched the shadows converge on the lone thug as his blood and screams hit empty walls. He looked down and swung his metal bat with a sigh.

"Should've done it myself..."