Here's How

When Mayr walked out of Mika's club, the exhaustion built up from the events of the day suddenly hit him all at once. He needed some time to relax, so, he walked to a nearby 24-hour cafe that was relatively empty and quiet.

Once Mayr walked in, he sat at a table near the window. He ordered a black coffee and stared into the bustling streets of Trenton City. Mayr spent a long time in the cafe. During this time, he looked at the people walking through the streets with smiles on their faces. He was a bit envious of the fact that they could live peaceful lives and spend time with their loved ones without having to worry about things such as gang wars or being assassinated. Mayr couldn't understand why, but seeing these people troubled him. He tried to pinpoint why but wasn't able to.

After thinking hard about what was troubling him, he gave up and chalked it up to him being tired. Mayr left payment for the coffee along with a tip on the table and walked out of the cafe. Mayr didn't think about this troublesome emotion much after he left the cafe. At this point, the only thought that crossed Mayr's mind was to get home and rest.

-

After another long journey, Mayr made it home. It was 6am, and although the sun hadn't risen, the sky had begun to light up. Mayr slowly opened the front door so as to not wake anyone up, but when he peered inside after opening the door, he saw the mother's worried face.

She instantly shifted her gaze from the floor to the front door when she heard it open. Her eyebrows were raised with concern and eyes wide with worry. As soon as she saw her son, she tried to put on a more happy expression.

"Welcome home, Soju!" she said warmly. Mayr replied with a smile. "Sorry for being late," said Mayr, "I got caught up at work."

"Kris told me." The mother replied with the same caring expression on her face. She began walking towards Mayr, and as she got closer, her expression became sadder. Once she got close enough, she gave Mayr a warm hug.

"You've been working very hard, Soju." She said gently, "You've helped this family get back on its feet, but seeing the tiredness in your eyes upsets me. Your father has done very well with his restaurant. You don't need to overwork yourself anymore."

She separated from him and had a dull smile on her face. "We recently found a place in the Trenton Suburbs" she continued, "Your father even has a place there where he will open another branch for his restaurant and the Sous Chef will run the current restaurant. There's even a renowned art school in the area. I know how much you love drawing. You can work on your art. I know how much it brings you joy, so me and your father will do whatever it takes to ensure that you can make your dream of becoming an artist a reality. We were planning to move after you graduate. How does that sound?"

When Mayr heard this, he was hit with a realization. He finally understood the bothersome emotion he was feeling in the cafe. He remembered looking at his hands after waking up in the hospital and realizing that they were not his.

That was it all along. The boy whose body Mayr had overtaken wasn't meant to live like him. He was meant to be like the people walking through the streets of Trenton City. He was meant to be a normal person, but Mayr didn't even consider that. He was too caught up in living as he wanted and didn't even acknowledge the changes that would occur in this boy's life as a consequence of his actions.

Due to a lapse in judgement, Mayr had made this boy a target, but instead of grieving and feeling guilty, Mayr became determined. In Mayr's mind, it was his duty as a man to neutralize any threats to this boy and his family.

Mayr looked at the mother with a warm smile. "Thank you for thinking of me." Mayr said lovingly, "Unfortunately, I can't leave the job out of the blue. As a courtesy, I should leave them a notice. So give me two more weeks, and I'll be done with the job."

This made the mother visibly happy. She quickly jumped into Mayr's arms and gave him a tight hug. "I'm so proud of you!" She said cheerfully, clinging onto her son.

"Alright, I'm gonna get some sleep now." Mayr said with a smile once they separated, "Thankfully, it's a Saturday."

Mayr walked to his room and the mother began making breakfast for the father and Kris. As Mayr was walking to the room, for a few moments, his body did not even remember the exhaustion it was feeling a few minutes ago. The only thing that plagued his mind was his new goal, to eliminate any threats to this family.

Mayr walked into his room, laid on his bed, and almost instantaneously fell asleep

-

Mayr slept most of the day away. The exhaustion had really built up, but it was nothing that Mayr hadn't felt before and nothing a good sleep couldn't fix.

When Mayr woke up, the sun had begun to set. Mayr walked out of his room and saw Kris sitting on the couch, watching TV in the living room.

"Hey, Kris." Mayr said as he walked out of the room. Kris shifted his gaze towards Mayr and put on a friendly smile. "Oh hey, Soju." Kris replied. "Just to let you know, since we were busy yesterday, Nesh made all of the collections. He said he knows where your stash is so he will place all the money there."

"Ok. Thanks for letting me know." Mayr replied as if he barely cared about this news. "By the way, Kris," Mayr continued, "let everyone know that Kashi has been put in charge until further notice."

Kris slanted his eyebrows curiously. "What about you?" he asked. "I'll be busy for a while." Mayr replied, "I need to take care of some business."

"Is it about yesterday?" Kashi asked with a hint of concern in his voice. "It is, but there's nothing you need to worry about." Mayr replied, "It isn't anything dangerous."

Kris was reluctant to believe anything Mayr said, but knowing him, there was nothing Kris could do to get himself more involved. "Alright," Kris replied hesitantly, "but be careful". Mayr nodded and walked into the bathroom.

Once Mayr washed up, he exited the house and headed towards Trenton City once again to meet with Mika.

-

By the time Mayr made it to Trenton City it had gotten dark. Mayr walked to Mika's club and went straight up to the bouncers. "I'm here to see Mika again." Mayr informed the bouncers. This time, the bouncers did not put up any resistance and allowed him to walk in.

Mayr walked through the club and made it to Mika's office. Mayr knocked on the office door to make his presence known. "Come in" Mika's muffled voice uttered from the other side of the door.

Mayr walked in and saw Mika sitting at his desk with a laptop in front of him. "Oh, it's you again." Mika said with disinterest. Mayr walked up to the desk and sat in one of the chairs in front of Mika's desk.

"How's the investigation going?" Mayr asked as if in a business meeting. "I've been working on it," Mika replied, "but Anthony's not the only guy I've been investigating. I looked into your history a little bit as well, kid". This caught Mayr's attention.

"Until last year you were a nobody." Mika continued, "Poverty class family living in a shack. Constant reports of you being picked on in school. Hospital reports indicating illnesses from Malnourishment. And the icing on the cake was a hospital report of an attempted suicide. That was your entire life, but suddenly, this year you create a gang and take over another. Create revenue operations within these gangs, and financially help your parents in renovating their house and expanding your father's business. That much of a sudden change? You are one of the most curious cases I've ever encountered, and I'm an expert in my field."

In Mika's mind, he was just repeating this boy's history back to him, but for Mayr, this was completely different. For the first time, he got a true look into who the boy whose body he had taken over was.

Finally knowing the troubles of this boy and his family, and knowing that he had alleviated a lot of these problems brought Mayr a hint of happiness. At least Mayr's actions had resulted in something positive for the boy.

"If I'm completely honest with you," Mayr replied, "even I can't explain what happened, so you never will be able to figure it out. Don't you think that instead of wasting time on something that's impossible to crack, you should focus on the main task at hand?"

Mika chuckled softly when Mayr said this. "You sound a lot like someone I know." Mika said jokingly, "Maybe you met that man and he's rubbed off on you a bit."

"Perhaps." Mayr replied, "So, about the plan…"

"You don't need to worry about that kid." Mika said, "This is my job. I'll take care of it."

"I have full confidence in your abilities," Mayr replied strongly, "but I need to be sure that this will be dealt with within 2 weeks. My family is at risk, and if your plan doesn't involve getting rid of Anthony soon, then I'll be forced to take action myself."

Mika let out a deep sigh. "Listen, kid," Mika said exhaustedly, "These things take time. Getting rid of a boss…"

"Disrupts balance, I know." Mayr interjected. This caught Mika severely off guard. "I know that the way you maintain control is by giving gangs territory and overseeing their operations." Mayr continued, "This way, You control the people who control territories. This makes it easier for you to run operations all over the country. I'm familiar with your entire model, almost as if I made it myself."

Mika was baffled by this kid's access to information. Even other big-time gang enterprises couldn't figure out Mayr's business model. Mika no longer looked down on this 17-year-old as a child. In his eyes, he was now a capable man.

"What do you suggest we do then?" Mika asked Mayr, "We can't just get rid of Anthony based on a hunch."

"Anthony is cunning, but also conniving." Mayr answered, "Keeping him around can do you more harm than good, and If he actually is the person behind Mayr's assassination attempt, then this just confirms everything that I'm saying."

"How do you suggest we get some cold hard evidence that proves your theory in such a short span of time?" Mika further inquired, "Because, as I said, I can't move against a boss without certainty that he committed an egregious act."

Mayr leaned over the table and peered into Mika's eyes intently. "Here's how."