Chapter 10: Conflict

On Wednesday morning, 2 days before the meeting with the boss of The Rampers, Mayr met up with Kashi, Jun, Ken, and Rayu, at the cubby. The four faced Mayr. Kashi stood with 2 papers in his hand and the other three stood behind Kashi.

"Here's the list you asked for, Soju," Kashi said while handing the papers to Mayr, " the names of the people who have a gambling debt with us. I've put a mark next to the men who look tough. There was a total of 15 of them, which was most of the list."

"That makes sense," Mayr replied, "generally, delinquents would be the ones that go gambling after school."

"I still don't know why you wanted the list." said Kashi, "If you wanted to make collections on the gambling, you could've let me know. We didn't make collections last week either."

"I have something different planned." replied Mayr, "Money isn't our main concern right now, its dealing with the Rampers. Tell everyone on this list with a mark next to their name to meet me at the soccer field at 6pm. Ken, Jun, and Rayu, I want you guys to meet with everyone without a mark next to their name and inform them about our normal payment policies. You've been shadowing Kashi for the past week and a half, so you should be familiar with what to do."

"Understood!" The three exclaimed. "Oh, and Kashi, I want you to be there at 6 as well," Mayr added, "I heard that you have a bit of a reputation. That might help."

Kashi was confused as to what Mayr meant by this, but he agreed nonetheless.

-

The day passed by and it was now 6pm. Most people that went to school, students and staff alike, had usually left the school premises by this time.

On the soccer field in front of the bleachers stood the 15 guys that Kashi had mentioned. They stood there confused as to why they were all called there together. As they whispered amongst themselves trying to figure out what was going on, Mayr made his way to his spot on the top bleacher with Kashi following behind.

As soon as they noticed Mayr and Kashi, the murmur of the crowd turned into silence.

"All of you have been called here because you have a debt with us." Mayr began to announce, "But you men have been carefully selected."

The group of 15 stared at Mayr with confusion, but they were excited to know that they were among a group of special, selected people.

"Recently, we have been involved in a conflict." Mayr continued, "A gang from a different school attacked one of us. I am not accustomed to having my men pushed around, so I found out who did it and paid them back in full, and that is why we are in conflict with this gang now."

The crowd grew interested in the speech and was pulled in by Mayr's charisma.

"Kashi," Mayr said while pointing towards Kashi, "picked you men because you looked capable, and that's what I need right now, capable men. Help me fight against this gang that thinks that they can push people from our school around! If you help us fight, all of your gambling debts will be forgiven! Anyone who does not want to stand by us is free to leave now. Those of you who stay, Kashi here will explain the plan to all of you."

Mayr stood around for about another 2 minutes to see if anyone would leave. No one left, in fact, the looks of confusion on the faces of the men changed to expressions of valor.

Mayr's plan worked perfectly. His plan was simple. First, he wanted to earn the respect of these men off the bat, and the perfect way to do that was by showing that someone like Kashi, who everyone in the school recognized as one of the toughest people in the school, was one of Mayr's subordinates.

The second step was to create a sense of unity and belongingness. Mayr did this by associating the conflict with their identity in relation to the school. This made them feel that they had something to fight for.

Thirdly, for those who didn't associate their identity with the school, Mayr gave them a personal incentive, that he would forgive their debt.

You are reading story DON at novel35.com

And finally, by addressing them as strong and capable men, he fortified their egos. After that, if anyone left, it would be at the risk of fighting their own pride. In their mind, they felt that the other 'strong men' may think less of them if they backed out of a fight.

Now, just for 1 battle, Mayr had a numbers advantage on The Rampers.

-

It was now Friday, the day of the meeting. The two boys at the fountain, the head of The Rampers, walked into the bottom floor of the abandoned subway. It was dark and damp with only one light that worked. This light was in the center of the floor and brightened about a 3-meter radius. In that radius sat Mayr with Kashi behind him and another chair in front of him, about 2 arm lengths away.

The dark-haired boy walked towards Mayr with his hands in his pockets and the tall boy followed him. Shadi stood up to greet him. The dark-haired boy extended his hand towards Mayr. "Hey, my name's Byron," he said with an arrogant smirk on his face, "and the guy behind me is my friend, Jay. I'm the Boss of The Rampers."

"I'm Soju," Mayr replied with an expressionless face, "Thanks for coming". The two shook hands and sat on the chairs while Kashi and Jay stood behind their respective boss, staring sternly at each other without a word. The 4 men were in the light surrounded by darkness. They could only see each other.

"I must say, I'm impressed by your confidence." Byron began to speak in a slightly condescending tone, "Since I've entered high school, no one has challenged The Rampers. We're an established gang. The Rampers have been around before I even got into high school, and now, I'm in my final year. I've worked my way up from recruit all the way to the boss, and this is the first time anyone has had the nerve to challenge the gang's authority."

Mayr looked emotionlessly at Byron as he was speaking. "Just to remind you," Mayr began to reply, "all of this started when you attacked my men. A simple notice about us selling on your territory would have saved us both a lot of trouble."

Byron looked straight at Mayr with a stone-faced, serious expression and said "I don't see any trouble."

Mayr saw this and understood that this person's ego would not let Mayr dictate the terms of the negotiation.

"Here are my terms," Mayr began to speak, "We will continue to sell at your territory. We will give you 10% of the earnings from our sales there, However, you have some outstanding debt with us."

Byron became perplexed by Mayr's blatant disregard for the danger that he posed. "Your men took $1000 cash and around 20 packs of cigarettes," Mayr continued, "each pack worth $16 of profit. That's a total of $1320. We will deduct this amount from your tribute until it is all paid off. We already paid your people back for the physical damage caused to my men, so I won't charge you for that. This is a one-time offer. Do we have a deal?"

Byron was frozen in shock for a moment, but soon he started to laugh uncontrollably. "Hahahaha! You really have some balls!" Byron replied while cackling, "You really think that you're in a position to make demands!?"

Byron regained his composure and told Jay to "do it". Jay acknowledged this command and whistled loudly. Right after Jay whistled, a big group of men emerged from the shadows behind Byron and Jay. It was 19 people, with Byron and Jay, it was 21, the entirety of The Rampers.

Byron looked coldly at Mayr and said "How about we break every bone in your and your buddy's body, and then I go to your school, find the rats who attacked my men, drag them out from their collars, and break every bone in their body? Sounds like a better deal, no?"

Byron looked at Mayr for a while, waiting for an answer, or at least a look of distress or anxiety, but he was taken aback by what he saw. Neither Mayr nor Kashi seemed worried in the slightest. They wore the same stoic expressions on their faces that they had the whole time.

"I guess that expecting a spoiled brat like you to have some sense was too optimistic." Mayr said in a disappointed tone. Kashi clapped twice and put his hands in his pockets. Right after he did, The Rampers were surrounded by an even bigger crowd than theirs.

As Mayr's men surrounded Byron and his men, fear began brewing in him. "My morals tell me to always seek the peaceful solution first," Mayr said as he got up from his chair. He then looked at Byron with a furious look, "but I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't looking forward to beating the crap out of a vain piece of shit like you!"

You can find story with these keywords: DON, Read DON, DON novel, DON book, DON story, DON full, DON Latest Chapter