Chapter 5: Growth

A month had passed since Mayr's first day at school. Since then, he started training in a Muay Thai gym. He would go for an hour every day after school. Since Nesh didn't have much to do, he started training alongside Mayr. Although nothing much changed for Nesh, Mayr felt a closer connection to Nesh. He found him trustworthy.

Mayr had told the mother that he had picked up a part-time job as a salesman when asked about why he was staying out longer than usual lately. This explained the money he was bringing in from collections and also gave him an excuse to stay out longer. Staying in the house, although endearing at first, quickly became boring.

Soon after Mayr's exchange with the 3 boys, rumours spread about him becoming their leader. At first, the students suspected that he might be just as terrible as them, but in every interaction, Mayr was kind and charming. What's more is that the students who had previously been terrorized by these boys found that they were no longer bothering them. They were grateful to Mayr for bringing this about.

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Since Mayr took over the cigarette sale operation, 3 more students had joined the operation. One was a long-haired boy with a slim build named Ken. The second was a boy who was a bit overweight and always had a baseball hat on backwards. His name was Jun. The third was a boy with a medium build and a fade with curly hair on top. His name was Rayu. All three were roughly the same height as Soju.

They weren't tough or trouble makers, nor were they squares who always stuck to the rules. They were just boys who went to school because they had to.

They saw that the boy who used to eat leftovers every day recently seemed to have money to eat out. They also heard the rumours about him becoming the leader of the boys who used to extort all the square kids.

2 weeks prior, during lunch, Mayr was sitting on the bleachers of the soccer field with Nesh. It was a sunny day with a light, cool breeze blowing. The 3 boys approached Mayr in a friendly manner asking him whether or not the rumours about him were true, and how he suddenly had money.

"I don't see how that would concern you guys." Mayr replied kindly but firmly.

"Come on man!" Ken said in a friendly tone, "We just wanna know how you're making money."

"You want to make money?" Mayr questioned rhetorically, "Meet me in the cubby of the back hallway after school."

The 3 accepted the offer. Once they arrived, Mayr explained the operation to them. He also told them that if they talked too much about the operation or the group, then they would face serious consequences. This frightened the boys a little bit, but they agreed to work for Mayr nonetheless.

Mayr put Ken under Kashi, Jun under Kris, and Rayu under Bray. He also got them duffle bags to hold the cigarette boxes and instructed them to hide the boxes under gym clothes. 

Mayr informed Ken, Jun, and Rayu that Kashi, Kris, and Bray would be their superiors and that they would each be paid $20 an hour. They were ecstatic when hearing this. This is because they would make almost twice the money working here than they would make in a part-time job working for the same amount of time.

Instead of Kashi, Kris, and Bray selling together, Mayr assigned each new pair to 3 separate locations. He told each group to have an inventory of 50 boxes with them. They would all go to their assigned locations and sell cigarettes for 2 hours a day. The amount they sold weekly had risen from 45 packs to 150 packs within a matter of 2 weeks.

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2 weeks had passed since Mayr hired Ken, Jun, and Rayu. Mayr and Nesh, once again, were sitting on the bleachers of the soccer field eating during lunch. They had bought fried chicken from a nearby chicken place.

As they were eating, Ken walked up to them with 6 guys. They all looked like average delinquent boys.

"Hey, Soju," Ken greeted, "I've been looking for trustworthy guys since you told me, Jun, and Rayu, that you wanted recruits. We've known these guys for years and I can personally vouch for them."

Mayr looked at the guys for a second as if he was trying to read them. After a short gaze, he turned to Ken and nodded.

"Alright. Go about business as usual for the next few days. Inform your superiors that there is a meeting set for 8pm on Friday evening at this soccer field. I expect all of you to be there."

"Cool, Thank you!" Ken said in a grateful tone and the 7 boys walked away.

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Once the boys left, Nesh looked at Mayr. "Hey, Soju, isn't it too risky to involve too many people?" He asked with a concerned undertone.

"It is." Mayr replied, "But it is necessary for growth. Don't worry, precautions will be taken."

"Alright. I trust your judgement." Nesh replied.

"By the way, Nesh," Mayr added, "I want you to come to the meeting as well." he said as he handed Nesh a flip phone. Nesh looked at Mayr a bit confused but agreed without any argument.

-

Friday night at 8pm, everyone arrived at the soccer field. Mayr and Nesh stood on the top bleachers, which were about 6 rows high, and the rest of the men stood infront of them.

"We have a few things to address tonight. "Mayr announced, "First of all, we have 6 new members. I have split them into two groups of three and stood them behind Kris and Bray. Kashi, Kris, and Bray are now the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd sect commanders. If you are standing behind them, this means you are under their authority and you belong to their sect."

Before continuing, Mayr pulled out a map of the city.

"I've marked 4 spots on this map and delegated 2 spots each to Kris' and Bray's Sect." Mayr continued, "Each of these locations is forecasted to sell 100 boxes each, selling a total of 400 per week. And remember, if questioned by the cops or anyone else, absolutely no talking. Pretend to be mute if you have to."

Following this, Mayr put his hand on Nesh's shoulder and continued, "Thirdly, this is Nesh, my right-hand man. From now on, I will only have direct contact with the captains. If the captains can't reach me, they will report to Nesh."

Nesh kept a confident face, but on the inside, he was about to crumble from anxiety.

"That's all," Mayr concluded, "Captains, hand in this week's owed earnings and you can be on your way."

After the speech, the captains lined up with the amounts that they owed in hand. First Kris handed what he owed, greeted Mayr, and moved on. Then Bray handed in what he owed, greeted Mayr and went over and stood next to Kris, waiting for Kashi to finish so they could leave the soccer field together.

Kashi walked up to Mayr with the amount he owed in hand.

"How did you recruit all these people?" He asked, "Whenever I recruited somebody they always ran away or never showed."

"That's because your main motivator was violence." Mayr educated Kashi, "Nobody wants to work under a tyrant. You have to care and look out for your people. If you do that, people will flock to you on their own. Sometimes you have to get physical with your men when they are out of line, but it's important that they understand why you're doing it, and what effect their behaviour had on the group."

Kashi put his head up as if he was in thought. A few seconds later, he looked at Mayr with a look that showed that he understood what he said.

"I guess you're right," Kashi responded, "I never took the time to think about it. I guess I was too used to violence getting me everything I wanted."

"And now you know better. By the way, you probably noticed that I haven't assigned any new locations to you for cigarette sales." Mayr informed Kashi.

"Yeah, I was wondering about that. But I didn't say anything because I'm sure you have some other plans for me." Kashi responded in an understanding tone.

"You're right about that. I'm going to put you in charge of a new operation." Said Mayr, "This operation will most likely be our most profitable operation, and you're the only person I can trust with this."

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