| prologue |

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"Food, please. We have no food," a child pleaded continuously with his eyes full of innocence.

The child's clothes were rags, which consisted of a sleeveless shirt and shorts that barely reached their knees. Various scars were imprinted all over the small frame, with dirt and dust decorated on his tanned skin. Behind him laid two younger children, who seemed equally as weak and helpless as he was.

However, no one had bothered to help. In a kingdom such as Pledic, morals like kindness and sympathy had long extinct after the reign of the rank system was introduced. This was a world where every man was for himself, even children were on their own once their parents couldn't find any use of them.

Bonds were easily broken off, like a small twig off an old tree, with trust here as thin as a spider web's tread. You would rarely see groups, as siblings were the only group trends found roaming together until their early teen years. After they turn into teenagers, they'd most likely go solo and abandon one another.

This was how life worked in the end, a wise person would take the rough with the smooth. People must learn to cope such with life on their own, whether it was through manipulation or crime.

There were many businesses in this profit-motivated kingdom, all of the successful ones were strongly secured and paid quite a large sum of money if you play your cards well. By playing your cards well, dirty play must be done.

Despite the corruption for the hunger of power and wealth, there would always be a small ray of utter fondness in at least one person. Not everyone was born a rotten apple.

Cling.

That was the sound of a miracle that had fallen into the children's empty bowl. The child who was previously begging had lost his voice, the sight of the miracle was disbelieving to his eyes. His two siblings, too, were quite bewildered by it.

The child slowly retrieved the precious miracle into his palms, shielding it from any potential thieves. Although, he was not alone as his siblings scanned the area for any peculiar lookers. Instead of cheering out their new found fortune, he ushered his siblings to pack up and leave in a rush.

In a small alley nearby, two figures had watched the children disappear.

"Who knew the top wanted informant that had taken down multiple gangs single-handed was actually a rare kind soul? That diamond was worth $5k and you just tossed it away to those fakes," the taller figure stated, shaking his head as if the thought of charity was wicked.

The man was quite chubby in size compared to the other folks, providing an obvious statement for his high wealth and status. His skin was much fair-skinned than the folks in this town, but it was more peachy white instead of a pearly white. He straightened his black tailored suit and loosened navy necktie around his plump neck.

"That tiny diamond was old and worn out anyway," the other figure shot back in a dull tone and shrugged, perfectly knowing that the children weren't faking.

He leaned against the wall, with his gloved hands placed on the opposite arms that were crossed. All of his features were hidden; face hooded, hands gloved and body fully clothed. Although, the only characteristics about this person shown was how short and petite he was. Not even his gender could be predicted by a brief glance.

He was much skinner than the poor themselves, yet his clothing symbolised extreme wealth and status compared to the rich. He was an unreadable one, as his appearance was the only exception when it comes to status labels. It was a contradiction look overall.

He then continued, "Let's go back to business now, shall we, Chester?"

"Goodness me, why of course, I don't have all day so to speak," the chubby man gleefully uttered, clapping his hands. Suddenly, he turned much more serious and leaned his face closer to the other's, "Now tell me, how's my enemy doing?"

"Without my pay, I beg to differ," the shorter scoffed. He stretched out his hand, asking for it right at that moment.

A chuckle escaped Chester's lips and took out a small, yet heavy sack from his trousers. "Such feisty partner you are. Maybe that's why I find you intriguing," he declared, with unreasonable pride.

Once the other felt the weight on his hand, he hummed in satisfaction. He explained simply, "Derek's 'grand move' has a major flaw that will soon face its consequences in time. He will overpower you in your sales for a few months, however, the man's success will be short-lived. He won't be a threat for years to come. I suggest you lower your output production for next month until let's say... three months from now, to prevent any large wastage. When Derek's plan fails, your demand for your product will rise incredibly high. Then, raise your prices higher than the original price after that. With that, you could possibly earn more than one million by the end of the year."

"Fantastic news, what about Ollie's?" Chester questioned, a grin slowly sketching onto his face.

"Contain your excitement, it has made you forgotten something," the other reminded with a sigh. After receiving another sack from the man, he went on, "Ollie isn't planning on doing anything drastic this year. With him being gravely in debt and his aggregate demand plummeted, he was forced to lower down his supply to a rather subtle amount and his profits decreased miraculously once his prices were down. He cannot do much investment as he's trying to pay off his debt first. At this rate, he'd be clean only in seven years."

"Amazing data, as always. I'll call you again once I require you and your skills once more. It was a pleasure doing business with you again," the man commented and grabbed the other's tremendously smaller hand to shake. He patted the other's back and bid him farewell, "Until then, try not to get caught, Red Hood."

"As if I ever got caught before, Chester," Red Hood huffed and pulled his red hood further down his face. Brushing off the nonexistent dust from his shoulder, he swiftly turned around the opposite direction. He headed down the alley, not even sparing a glance at the chubby man that was walking away and repeatedly looking back to him.

Red Hood wasn't born poor, but he had rarunway from his rich and extremely high-ranked family due to personal reasons. Chester was a man, who had taken Red Hood under his wing when the latter was quite young. Chester had given him the job as the man's personal informant.

One thing for certain, Chester plucked him off from the streets for the man's own business at first. The said business was in a dangerous state when he first started out. In spite so, it seemed the man had made a spot in that stubborn heart for him after spending time together and of course, saving the man's almost bankrupted business.

Despite he had identified the chubby man as his guardian and ex-boss, he took off to continue his life alone as soon as he acquired enough skill to do so. His career as an informant had expanded not long after. Chester occasionally calls him over for his services, yet he knew the chubby man was also concerned for his current well being.

Once he was sure Chester was gone, he grabbed itan em that hung loosely on his belt behind his hood. He twirled the small object in his hand with his fingers curling around the trigger. With the SIG PRO pistol out in plain sight, all the folks in the thick crowd backed off when he submerged from the crowd.

However he didn't need the pistol to actually scare them off, his silk hood was already flashing warnings in their heads. Even if no one knew the boy's face, the hood was enough to identify him. His gender remained unknown to the folks, but there had been numerous rumours about it.

Posters with Red Hood's figure were pasted onto the walls of the streets, caption 'WANTED- DEAD OR ALIVE' written in alarming fonts. The bounty over his head was about five billion if he was captured dead, and eight billion if alive. Although it was unspoken, it was a death wish to attempt to assault, or if daring enough, to catch this boy.

Red Hood wasn't an easy person to mess with, after all.

"Red Hood, this time, we'll definitely kill you!"

It didn't keep the greedy bastards from trying though, not with that sort of bounty on his head. Despite so, all of their efforts shall be a fruitless in end.

The aforementioned boy only scoffed, as a large group of men appeared in front of them. They were armed with sharp weapons in their hands, to which he took note of instantly. In the corner of his eye, the normal folks immediately scattered away for shelter. His fights were known to had always ended up being messy with the blood showers, so these folks knew better not to get involved. With a sinister chuckle, he pulled on the trigger of his pistol.

"Let's see if you can then," he challenged with a smirk hidden under his hood.

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In the forest of the mountains, a group of furry creatures watched over the town. Their eyes were trained on the sole red hooded figure, who was a battle against the armed men. Sharp fang-like teeth poked out of their mouths, the sound of snarls escaping along with them. A similar thought ran in their minds, with their inner beast hungry.

It was feeding time, and Red Hood was their ticket to do so.

These furry creatures were mutant wolves. They were civilized creatures, to an extend. In comparison to humans, they were alike; talking like a human, walking like a human, socializing like a human. Although, wolves like them would rip out the humans and munch on their organs.

Covered in messy dark blue or grey fur, these creatures were obsessed to make a dessert out of the human race. Even though they didn't had claws, they had brains. Secretly, they were in the process of stealing Pledic's finest weapons.

While the entire pack had to do so, only one of them was needed to grab hold of their precious ticket. Appearing in groups would be more effective, yet they acknowledged what Red Hood was capable of. Their chances would increase if they had a more intellectual approach.

Thus, one of them had been chosen to plan out this approach and put it into action.

In spite so, the chosen wolf stood alone and away from the pack as they took a look at Red Hood amongst the crowd. While he acted like one of them, his true intentions were not seen. He had his fluffy arms crossed as he leaned against the tree beside him.

A few moments later, his ears on top of his head stood up. The footsteps grew louder and louder, before they became completely silent. He spun his head around to see another one of them staring right at him.

The other uttered behind him,"That's one tough lady. Are you can handle her?" That was certainly an attempt to mock him.

"She does looks imitating and skillful, but I'm sure she's just a sweet young girl," he replied after a long pause. It sounded like a joke despite the earnestness in his tone.

The other let out a fake cough and patted his shoulder. He spat, "Don't fail us. Your honour and dignity are stake."

"It's more than my honour and dignity at stake," he answered. Brushing off the other's touch, he left the pack to get ready. On his way through the forest, he muttered under his breath, "Don't worry. I won't let them lay a finger on you."

Unbeknownst, a set of eyes were spying on the creatures. The small animal was observing them all from above the trees, with its eyes wide and open. Although most of them had already spotted the animal in their vision, they paid no mind to the unsuspecting animal. It seemed too normal, and that was a horrible slip for their plan. The animal wasted no time before raising its tucked wings.

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