Excuse me?

2 months later, Slums of Old Keer.

The people of the slums never stopped working, even though their living conditions are horrid, they knew that if they don't work, they don't get to eat. So most of them are laborers, janitors, sanitation workers, factory workers, all kind of low level jobs. The slums is still active and alive in any point of time. Even in this modern day and age where robots are getting more common, human workers are much cheaper.

In one of the rundown apartments, on an old bed, lay Adam, who had the left of his face bandaged, and several tubes going into his body with several medical equipment displaying his vitals nearby. And on the study table nearby, an old man was reading a book.

Clean shaven, short hair and face full with the scars of age. Decked in a doctor's coat, he was reading the book with full concentration using his reading glasses.

"Urgh.. Where.. am I?" Adam roused from his coma, and lay weakly on the bed.

"Well well well.. Look who decided to join the living today?" The old man put down the book and face Adam.

"You're in the Old Keer Slum, boy! Found you in the drains with half your face gone. Lucky I found you soon else you would have died in the next few minutes."

"... How long was I out? And how am I still alive? ... And who.. are you?"

"2 months, give or take. In normal circumstances when a person got shot in the head, that person would die. But luckily in your case, the one who shot you got terrible aim. He missed your brain by a couple of millimetres. Just call me Old Jack."

"... still.. wouldn't explain how I'm.. still alive."

"Oh, you were patched up by me. Only took out your left eye, repositioned and replaced some of your bones with soft alloy steel. Annoying, but simple to do."

"Fuck.. me.. My left eye.. is gone?"

"Pfft.. Nowadays you can replace your internals with cybernetic equivalent, there's no need for the drama. And you better go back to sleep, since you just woke up now, you need more rest to recuperate. I'd say about a week should do it."

The old man then proceeded to inject some sort of liquid into Adam. Which made him drowsy and out like a light in a few seconds.

"Humph.. Adam Fortuna. Surely this event is your fortune. Though in ways you don't know. And Howell Family had just a gun pointed at their backs."

Another 2 weeks.

"Old Jack, check my blood pressure will ya? I got a bit dizzy at work today!"

"Pipe down would ya! You come in here everyday asking me to check up on you. I told you time and time again you're fine! Now get out!"

"Fine fine! If I fell down the stairs and die, I know who to blame then!"

"How's that my fault then?"

At the ground level of the old apartment, Old Jack ran an illegal clinic. In this part of the town, the government won't care about it too much. The resident of the slum took care of their medication through this clinic. And it is the only reputable and decent clinic in whole of Old Keer Slums.

Adam Fortuna sat behind a desk, helping Old Jack run the clinic. His head is still bandaged, masking his identity by just a bit. After he woke up 2 weeks prior, Old Jack told him that he's been officially dead by the authorities. With a bunch of others he suspect was the guests in the Room Moon.

Howell Company isn't just a multi-billion credits company, it's actually the Howell Family. The number 1 underworld ruler of Old Keer City. Suffice to say, even the mayor of Old Keer City works under them. So manipulating and falsify some information is easy for them. That's why they can do what they do in Room Moon 2 months back.

Old Jack was actually 1 of their medical surgeons. The number 2 of their entire surgeon department of Howell Private Hospital. Because of a certain event, he fled and change his looks and identity, opting to stay in the slums, waiting for something.

"Closing time Adam. Help me put these bottles out the back and then head up as usual."

"Alright Old Jack."

Adam has almost recovered all his energy since he woke up, aside from his head, his conditions are fine. The bullet didn't manage to hit any of his nerves, by sheer dumb luck. It seems when Hikaru pulled the trigger, she closed her eyes, and the act of pulling the trigger it self moved her hand a bit, signs of an amateur.

For the last 2 weeks, Old Jack has been telling him about Howell Company, or should he say, Howell Family. Their hands extend to almost all businesses on Old Keer, whether legal, or illegal. With even Old Keer City government under them, they can get away with almost anything. Their wealth and power immeasurable, at least in Old Keer City.

"Old Jack, let's continue where we left off yesterday."

Now, Adam and Old Jack are sitting across each other on the dinner table in the old apartment, with cups of coffee.

"Right right.. Now, if my thoughts were right and they didn't change their methods, that Room Moon event is the recruitment program."

"Recruitment? You mean they were hiring?"

"Yes, if you think about it that way. But their way of recruiting is extreme. They only want the calmest and cold blooded people to join them. And the candidates requirements are mostly people who have less of a family left, and of no importance, like you."

"What for?"

"They wanted to expand. Either into more territory in Old Keer, or outside of it. They wanted people with a calm disposition and a cold heart to manage their underworld businesses. That act in the Room Moon triggered the natural instinct of people, so it's easier to know."

"But why? Old Keer City is essentially theirs already."

"Probably full and utter control. You may not know, but Old Keer City still has some other underworld parties out there, but with less influence as Howell Family of course, such as The Black Rat Gang, 3 Little Bombs, and Kiria Money Lenders. But let's put that aside for now, because we have a more pressing matter."

"And what would that be?"

"What do you want to do, Adam? As a presumably dead guy, you're practically free of your old life. You can find a new identity, like me, and do your own stuff. I know an old friend who can forge some documents, as long as you don't stand out too much, the goverment won't investigate."

Adam stared at his cup of coffee for a while, as the idea seem tempting to him. Start a new life, a new business, he could even get out of Old Keer City and try to find his luck elsewhere. Frankly, he got sick of Old Keer City already, and he doesn't have a family to begin with. This incident just gave him another push to just pack up and leave, like what he should have done ages ago.

"No. That old fool Horatio played with my life and blood must be repaid with blood." Adam spoke with his bandaged face shows a fearsome expression that he has never made his whole life. Horatio Howell treats life as his toys in Old Keer City, even the most patient man would have blown off his top by now. Adam Fortuna has never felt like strangling the life out of someone his whole life like he did now, not even his ex-fiancee and his ex-best friend made him feel like that.

Old Jack observed Adam's face for a while and grinned like he had just found his most beloved. "Excellent Adam. By the looks of your face, I can tell you would not stop at nothing to kill Horatio Howell. However, as tempting as that sounds, it's a bad idea to just waltz into his company and gun him down. His thousands of goons and defensive mechanism would make sure that his life is protected."

"I'm not that stupid, Old Jack. But what can I do with my current state?"

"Hohoho, thought you never asked, boy. It's easy. I want you to open up a bar."

"Excuse me...?"