Upon their way, Travis drove the car slowly and with care this time. Earlier when he had driven the car, causing his students to feel unsafe and anxious, that technique is strictly forbidden but it was his way of cheering up his students on their journey to the restaurant.
The atmosphere now, however...
As silent as the sinister darkness, no one dared to talk as Samantha and Emily's minds had been preoccupied with unending concerns about what their parents do to them proceeding home in this condition might. Both had always been partying together in random clubs, so this might not be their first time arriving late at home. But this could be the first time they had become nervous and skittish, couldn't stop thinking about how would it be after showing up at midnight without giving notice to any of their parents. Kenneth, on the other hand, was worried about the reward he was about to obtain earlier. Moreover, now that it was pretty late, maybe some other guys had now gotten the money before him.
They had known as robbers, which efficiently tell people who existed desperate for money, and then there should be a possibility that they had the money on their hands now. That money was supposed to be for Kenneth's college tuition; that money was supposed to be for his preparation in case he might be booted out of their house. But Then again, he just could not jump to conclusions that easily. The money might be in good use now, whether they had the money to pay for electric bills, for a family's medication, for food to feed the hungry, for clothes to cloth the naked, or for drinks to provide for the thirsty. Kenneth had no idea that his customers had deceived him, but he had thought of this way since he understood those people according to how he viewed society.
"Listen to me, my dear girls, Samantha and Emily," Travis had broken the silence, his face concerned but still with a smile, "It's your choice to make, okay?" While driving and talking at the same time, he had also opened the glove compartment with his right hand to get two sets of thick cash, and his left hand maneuvering the steering wheel. "I will give each of you a sum amount of money and—"
"Money?"
Emily and Samantha's nerves were all jangly at hearing the word emphasized in their heads as if their problems had vanished before their teacher could totally utter the words completely. When they realized they had hooked up with it, they turned their heads and peered at each other, then returned to Travis with perturbed gestures. Kenneth was glued to the window, as well as interested in the matter, so he glanced at them.
"Listen, my dear students," continued their teacher, only he meant his two female students, "I will hand you some cash and then you go to that address stipulated piece of paper at the top of it."
Girls, after receiving their shares, Travis went back from focusing on the road. It appeared to be urgent since Travis had not even made completely his smile. With the cash in his right hand after grabbing them from the glove compartment, he gave those to each of his students by reaching them on his behind. Appalled, the girls had received the money but with concerned faces, since it was their first time holding this thick money. The fistfuls of cash were like the thick of the thickest encyclopedia book, and the cash had secured with a tiny piece of paper wrapped on it with a short note placed at the top, which was the address of a certain place. Not to mention, Travis was half grinning as if bitter and anxious, which his expression meant they had to face consequences if they will not use the money or something like that.
"What should we do with this? And besides, the money's so huge." Emily had received her share and felt a little bit delighted about it. She could not believe she had this for free.
All of them in the class were desperate for money as well since the school, for over two years imprisoning them in that class, took advantage of them. Even before Algos and Woohyun became the heads of the Bihira International High School, the school was completely a disaster. Several years ago, the school was supposed to be an institution for special learners, and that could be why the school had always been too huge since a lot of faculties were established for the learners. They once used to accept students relying on a scholarship, even without money, to survive the high school years. But now that a lot had changed, they wiped out those students they had thought were poor and criminals, including the scholar learners without having to pay for anything with money.
Students who had been labeled as poor were powerless to fight against the students who had been known as rich. The rich side went on a rampage all over the school, such as bullying the poor or shaming them. And when Algos and Woohyun had become the heads, the rich were elated and had finally achieved what they had wanted, which was to get rid of the poor ones by sending them to the Class 11-5 and detain them by the school's newly established law. The students in that class had been so hopeless. There weren't times when some of them had wished to die even if their death won't be justifiable. So then, ever since they felt abandoned by their school, the society, and by the world, they were left with no choice but to at least survive in their own ways.
"Yes, exactly, sweetheart. Because you will use that money to go to that address. Both of you will be safe in there. I'm going to congratulate you for making it there."
They had the same cited address, and that address they were told to was a site of a villa owned by Calix, Travis' nephew. At such a young age, Calix stood out as a famous model. He also underwent certain projects related to his career and at the same time, studied as the heir of the company owned by his father. He wanted to try spending at least a little time in a villa but since he was busy with his early profession, he kept receiving new projects in the company he had been working for that he hadn't tried consuming a little time in any of his established villas. He argued with Travis the moment he had known his uncle would use one of his villas. But in the end, Travis earned his permission and successfully made Calix agree with him, but with a condition— a condition which Travis had strongly agreed with. And thus, Calix gave him the villa.
Calix had never stayed for so long in any of his villas (he owned a lot of them in certain locations), the villa was still alive and had been taken care of by the servants living in there. And since Travis wished to use it for his students, then for sure his connections would also make sure to tighten up the security, so that his students and the servants would all be safe.
"How would we know if this place is safe for us?" asked Samantha, grabbing the piece of paper on top of it which contained the address of the place.
"Well, you will see once you'll get there." Back with his usual grin, Travis resumed, "Once you'll set your foot there, you will be protected... forever."
Staring at each other, Emily and Samantha seemed so confused while clenching the money in their hands. Money with this large amount— do they deserve having this?
Observing the three of them, Kenneth was appalled upon glimpsing the cash his classmates were holding. He examined the thickness of the money to assume the total amount of it. By its thickness, Kenneth had remembered his Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories Volume One and Two books. And the money Samantha and Emily were holding had the same thickness as the volume one book he had, which was thicker than the volume 2 book. That Sherlock Holmes volume one book had approximately one thousand pages. And, if Kenneth were to half the implied pages by two, then there are more or less five hundred as a result. And since the money they had received were all a one thousand per line, then one thousand multiplied by five hundred would be five hundred thousand— which means Samantha and Emily had five hundred thousand more or less cash in their palms.
ROUGHLY FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND?!!! That's the amount of money he requested as payment from his thief customers.
He just couldn't hold it in any longer. Kenneth saw his two female classmates being all happy as they received the money for free. And him? How about Kenneth? That's why he planned to go to that abandoned-looking store for him to obtain his money. Kenneth rarely goes outside, and if ever he had to, it's for some serious business like obtaining his payment. He earned that money! And now it all went into ashes as he agreed to come along with Travis for some dinner at the restaurant. He had absolutely forsaken getting his own income! If only he had known this would happen, he might presumably not sitting in this car with them. And by that, he might have had his money on his palm now!
Furious by the thought, Kenneth just kept his head down and forgot it all happened. If only he didn't trust Travis, maybe it wouldn't have come to this. He needed money so much that he currently loathed his teacher as much as he loathed his father.
With clenched fists, Kenneth's eyebrows met as if frowned. The car tires screeched as if the car had stopped, but Kenneth punched the window beside him with all his strength. While before he uttered a word, Travis told everyone, "We're here in my dear Emily's residence!" And with that, no one had noticed Kenneth pounding the window nor did anyone notice a thud of a sound. He was completely embarrassed.
"D-Damn, what am I doing?" Kenneth thought, his face redden in feeling shame. As his cheeks flushed so hard that he felt his heart hadn't skipped a beat, he checked the three of them again and again if they really did notice him. Fortunately, it absolutely seemed like no one did.