《Tahneen》 The Prologue Bam! .Bam! ..Bam! ...Bam! A large thunderous amount of banging could be heard in a small room within the four story dark apartment complex. Most people had grown use to it for the many years it had been happening, even the people who dared to call the cops would quickly learn from the cops themselves that they could do nothing to the man who is causing that savagery. In the dimly lit room, the man had a pattern for the repetition of his strikes, he would hit the punching bag at perfectly timed intervals from a quarter of a second to a half a second interval to three quarters to a full second which was then repeated for a full half an hour. Muscles stretching and contracting displaying his insane body that would make any MMA fighter jealous due to the muscles developed at the perfect locations allowing for power and elasticity. His most shocking feature was not the 20 pound weights on each of his limbs or his well-toned body but what laid on his back, the mythical crystal dragon. With wings outstretched to nearly the edge of his shoulders the crystal dragon looked as if it wanted to soar into the sky. Yet the face of the dragon glared as if was daring the beholder to look into its eyes. A quick light outage and the dragon disappears as if it never existed. After the loud explosions would end at 5:30 on the dot the man would put an additional 20 pounds of weight on each of the limbs and wear baggy clothing and a hoodie and exit the house. Any neighbor who would glance at him during his morning run would feel the sadness that would surround the man and feel pity for him even those who would curse at him for the insufferable noise he caused earlier. Few would ask the older residents of what brought about the deep despair that could be seen in the young man. They would reply he wasn''t always this sad in fact he was the sunny scrawny and happy go lucky kid of this quaint area who would always make whoever his company was happy. In fact he lived with his grandmother and mother, his father passed away when he was much younger due to circumstances. His mother was a divine cook that probably came from the heavens herself with those amazing white macadamian cookies, man what I would give to taste one of those again said one of the story tellers with a hint of drool while recounting the story. In fact his family were owners of a small bakery near a car manufacturing factory in which thousands of lucky workers would be able to buy the heavenly baked goods. Some of the faster understanding people asked what the point of this story was and why couldn''t they in fact go try out the food. The reply was the store was no more and that was because of the attention they attracted from the gangs. The older residents then remind the people what type of area they live in Detroit, Farmington Hills. Especially the time during the mid-2000s, in the beginning business for them was exceptionally good and they in fact had protection from one of the gangs. Now listeners you might think that gangs are bad but almost all of them in the beginning were created to protect something however many have gone astray (example of a good gang: Scooby Doo, jokes aside Guardian Angels is a well-known one, along with many gangs created solely for the protection of ethnicities such as African American from violent groups)(example of a good gang going rouge or to the dark side: Many of the Mexican cartels were formed from Special Operation members, Crips are another great example and the last example are reformed prison members who gain power and have a relapse)(example of violent purposed gangs: most prison groups were formed solely to control the inside of prisons, they are extremely powerful after the privatization of prisons and there are millions of people in jail in the USA considering there are almost 370 million Americans, in the 1820s there were many gangs created in NYC to control regions by force for certain ethnicities for example the Irish gang was extremely powerful that it would control the owners of factories and last but not least are the new immigrants after WW2 from the oriental part of Asia which brought in organized drug crime syndicates such as the triad and the yakuza.) Now as the story tellers would mention this, the listeners would again ask what''s the point of knowing this information and they would say you have to know the gangs if you want to live here in one piece so you don''t disrespect the wrong people. These people live in Farmington Hills one of the most run down dangerous parts of Detroit, the reason why people choose to live here despite knowing that there is no active police station in the near vicinity is due to the protection of a certain gang. Once the listeners were reminded of this simple fact they immediately realized that the man must definitely be part of this gang and a high ranking member if the police wouldn''t dare do anything. The elders then mentioned that in fact he was the head of the gang and that like all of the people still living in this ghost town of a suburb he has a reason why. Many of the new residents were intrigued of their protector and how such a young man could become such a strong figure that he had sectioned off an entire area. (The more powerful a gang is the more area is under their power or it could be concentrated into smaller areas like the gangs of metropolitan cities.) The reason why most of the people lived in this apartment area was that it was protected from the strongest protective gang in the entire Detroit and that it was basically the safe haven for all the people in the ghetto. All of them were intrigued why such a gang would protect this financially ruined area when they were in fact much more powerful than any district of the police or maybe the entire police force in Detroit and could get paid much more if they protected those that lived in New Detroit (Basically where the super-rich and powerful lived.). The older residents immediately believed it to be because his family used to live here that he wants it to return the area back into a corridor that helps the poor but truthfully they in the end said they have no ideas of what is the reason. The only things they knew was that his father, mother, sister, and brother were in an explosion near the bakery. The only survivor was his mother who has never woken up from the coma after the accident which happened nearly 6 years ago. Afterwards he had to close the bakery due to no professional baker would be willing to work there and then sold the house he used to live nearby in to rent that room. It was such a sad moment that along with his families¡¯ catastrophe he decided not to go to college even though he graduated high school at the age of twelve and instead decided to join the gang his father had a relationship with. For some reason this area had a massive revival after he joined, we didn''t know he was the one who resulted in the new policies until much later when he finally became one of the higher ups in the group. When he finally became the head, all the territories were redefined where he protected all the schools in his territory and the ones that were on the border. Nevertheless be careful around him you know what happens to those who are closely related to those who are higher up on the ladder. Most of them satisfied with what they heard and making a mental note to respect him and not to get too near him. Yet there were a few who were youths that were inspired and tried to get close to him, most of them wondered how he rose so fast within the gang and what he had to do while others were jealous because of his success and were trying to replicate it, and a very select few remembered that despite his family''s ordeal why was he still so sad because it was over six years ago so what was causing him to be so sad now. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report itinterval to three quarters to a full second which was then repeated for a full half an hour. Muscles stretching and contracting displaying his insane body that would make any MMA fighter jealous due to the muscles developed at the perfect locations allowing for power and elasticity. His most shocking feature was not the 20 pound weights on each of his limbs or his well-toned body but what laid on his back, the mythical crimson dragon. With wings outstretched to nearly the edge of his shoulders the crimson dragon looked as if it wanted to soar into the sky. Yet the face of the dragon glared as if was daring to look into its eyes. A quick light outage and the dragon disappears as if it never existed. After the loud explosions would end at 5:30 on the dot the man would put an additional 20 pounds of weight on each of the limbs and wear baggy clothing and a hoodie and exit the house. Any neighbor who would glance at him during his morning run would feel the sadness that would surround the man and feel pity for him even those who would cursed at him for the insufferable noise he caused earlier. Few would ask the older residents of what brought about the deep despair that could be seen in the young man. They would reply he wasn''t always this sad in fact he was the sunny scrawny and happy go lucky kid of this quaint area who would always make whoever his company was happy. In fact he lived with his grandmother and mother, his father passed away when he was much younger due to circumstances. His mother was a divine cook that probably came from the heavens herself with those amazing white macadamian cookies, man what I would give to taste one of those again said one of the story tellers with a hint of drool while recounting the story. In fact his family were owners of a small bakery near a car manufacturing factory in which thousands of lucky workers would be able to buy the heavenly baked goods. Some of the faster understanding people asked what the point of this story was and why couldn''t they in fact go try out the food. The reply was the store was no more and that was because of the attention they attracted from the gangs. The older residents then remind the people what type of area they live in Detroit, Farmington Hills. Especially the time during the mid-2000s, in the beginning business for them was exceptionally good and they in fact had protection from one of the gangs. Now listeners you might think that gangs are bad but almost all of them in the beginning were created to protect something however many have gone astray (example of a good gang: Scooby Doo, jokes aside Guardian Angels is a well-known one, along with many gangs created solely for the protection of ethnicities such as African American from violent groups)(example of a good gang going rouge or to the dark side: Many of the Mexican cartels were formed from Special Operation members, Crips are another great example and the last example are reformed prison members who gain power and have a relapse)(example of violent purposed gangs: most prison groups were formed solely to control the inside of prisons, they are extremely powerful after the privatization of prisons and there are millions of people in jail in the USA considering there are almost 370 million Americans, in the 1820s there were many gangs created in NYC to control regions by force for certain ethnicities for example the Irish gang was extremely powerful that it would control the owners of factories and last but not least are the new immigrants after WW2 from the oriental part of Asia which brought in organized drug crime syndicates such as the triad and the yakuza.) Now as the story tellers would mention this, the listeners would again ask what''s the point of knowing this information and they would say you have to know the gangs if you want to live here in one piece so you don''t disrespect the wrong people. These people live in Farmington Hills one of the most run down dangerous parts of Detroit, the reason why people choose to live here despite knowing that there is no active police station in the near vicinity is due to the protection of a certain gang. Once the listeners were reminded of this simple fact they immediately realized that the man must definitely be part of this gang and a high ranking member if the police wouldn''t dare do anything. The elders then mentioned that in fact he was the head of the gang and that like all of the people still living in this ghost town of a suburb he has a reason why. Many of the new residents were intrigued of their protector and how such a young man could become such a strong figure that he had sectioned off an entire area. (The more powerful a gang is the more area is under their power or it could be concentrated into smaller areas like the gangs of metropolitan cities.) The reason why most of the people lived in this apartment area was that it was protected from the strongest protective gang in the entire Detroit and that it was basically the safe haven for all the people in the ghetto. All of them were intrigued why such a gang would protect this financially ruined area when they were in fact much more powerful than any district of the police or maybe the entire police force in Detroit and could get paid much more if they protected those that lived in New Detroit (Basically where the super-rich and powerful lived.). The older residents immediately believed it to be because his family used to live here that he wants it to return the area back into a corridor that helps the poor but truthfully they in the end said they have no ideas of what is the reason. The only things they knew was that his father, mother, sister, and brother were in an explosion near the bakery. The only survivor was his mother who has never woken up from the coma after the accident which happened nearly 6 years ago. Afterwards he had to close the bakery due to no professional baker would be willing to work there and then sold the house he use to live nearby in to rent that room. It was such a sad moment that along with his families catastrophe he decided not to go to college even though he graduated high school at the age of twelve and instead decided to join the gang his father had a relationship with. For some reason this area had a massive revival after he joined, we didn''t know he was the one who resulted in the new policies until much later when he finally became one of the higher ups in the group. When he finally became the head, all the territories were redefined where he protected all the schools in his territory and the ones that were on the border. Nevertheless be careful around him you know what happens to those who are closely related to those who are higher up on the ladder. Most of them satisfied with what they heard and making a mental note to respect him and not to get too near him. Yet there were a few who were youths that were inspired and tried to get close to him, most of them wondered how he rose so fast within the gang and what he had to do while others were jealous because of his success and were trying to replicate it, and a very select few remembered that despite his family''s ordeal why was he still so sad because it was over six years ago so what was causing him to be so sad now. Chapter 1. Diary I usually don''t do this but I feel if I don''t write this down I myself wouldn''t remember who I am and what happened to me, maybe someone else is reading this I don''t really care I just need to do this to keep my thoughts in order for now. Let''s start with an introduction, my name is Hyun-su Drake most people can''t pronounce my first name so even though Hyun-su is my real name everyone calls me by my last name, Drake. I''m not exactly a good guy, I''ve done some things that would definitely result in heavy duty jail time an probably permanent incarceration at least in the US prisons and some might even call me the scum of society if you believed the news and the government but I believe I''m one of the good guys in the end. If I would have to describe what I do, my role is the head of a vigilante group but to the media I''m considered as a gang leader. Of course I have my reasons for becoming rooted in this part of the underworld and why I''m not exactly a normal gang leader. I really don''t think it matters if I write this down since this book will never leave my possession until possibly way into the future where most of this information doesn''t matter anymore. I live in Farmington Hills one of the oldest suburbs near Detroit, it is probably the biggest ghetto area near the West side of Detroit and has been for a quarter of a century. It also holds the biggest immigrant population in the Detroit area due to the super cheap property and that''s probably the reason my parents moved here. I can''t personally ask them why they moved here because my dad died a long time ago and moms been in a coma for just as long. Some things you just have to accept and since I made a certain promise that I would protect the place I call home, I have protected this place. I never break my promises. My dad being half Yemeni and half Indian actually met my mother whose full Korean in London, UK as tourists. The more I think about it the more crazy it seems the chance they met each other and how they live in this super poor of an area. They explained it as if it was love at first sight back then, I call it horse crap because I''ve had that feeling and it never worked out ever for me, despite my now known feelings on the subject it somehow worked for my parents or that''s how it seemed to appear when they were both healthy. Apparently my father was an orphan so he never knew his family while my mother¡¯s family had died during a North Korean bomb assault. When they met in London they decided to have a brand new life where they weren''t reminded of their sad pasts and decided to move all the way to the USA to have a fresh start. Since they decided to move all the way across from their respective parts of the world my dad still wanted to go to a college that was affordable along with buying a property for their hopeful children. Dad got accepted to many places but decided to go to Wayne State University where he could actually afford it as an international student for the first few years. Meanwhile my mom opened up a bakery near the manufacturing sector and after a few years of settling down in Farmington Hills, I and my little brother and little sister were born. Now I know I''m skipping out on all the Visa stuff and everything my parents had to go through to move to the US, don''t expect me to know too much since I haven''t had a proper conversation with my parents since I was twelve. Anyway back to my life story, my life wasn''t too different from other kids because most of the other kid¡¯s families were just as poor as our family. It was actually a really nice neighborhood where all the kids could play at each other¡¯s houses or get yelled at by Mr. Old Yeller or watch the older kids play hockey on skates. Things didn''t change too much even after 9-11 happened, at first there was some conflict and fear because of the light brown skin we inherited from our dad in which we were shunned a bit but after a while the whole neighborhood realized we were the same old Drakes they''ve known for the last decade. Nevertheless it was a great neighborhood and hope it recovers back into its former glory where I don''t have to worry for kids to literally cross the street. I have a motto when things are too good, look at it again and make sure you see some bad or else it¡¯s too good to be true. Of course it¡¯s a new motto I personally use so it doesn''t apply to the story because it didn''t exist at the time. Even though we lived in one of the relatively safer areas of Farmington, gang wars escalated in the mid-2000s especially with a lot of layoffs in the manufacturing sector for the car industry, it also didn''t help too much with Eminem going mainstream and displaying the worst of Detroit. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Things still never got too bad since we were being protected by one of the best good gangs, however like I said in my motto these things always have a bad side, we found out in early 2006 that the gang lost a sizable chunk of their territory. They asked if anyone could donate and help for the cause and we did because we needed the protection since mom''s bakery was near the edge of the territory now. Somehow it got leaked that our family was about to donate a large amount and next thing I knew when I returned from school there was an explosion at the bakery and that my mom was in a coma and that they identified the other remains as my little brother, little sister and my dad. I wasn''t exactly the same after that... I was a twelve year old even if I was graduating high school at that age, I took it very bad. I almost dropped out of high school right when graduation was around the corner however in the end I still graduated. I lost almost all my rights for my family''s property until I was 18, it was supposed to be for my college fund and my mom''s medical bills, however most of the money just disappeared and whatever was left was enough to treat my mother at a hospital in Livonia for the next few years. I was then put into an orphanage near my old house and found out most of the kids I thought that disappeared were in fact living there too since they lost their relatives in the recent gang wars. Most of the other kids accepted their fates as livestock for their foster parents to take their inheritance. I was the exact opposite I felt like I needed vengeance for what happened to my family, then I remembered of a comic book character who had to deal with very similar issues, Batman. The big difference I quickly realized between me and him was that he had a support group, someone who he could always rely on Alfred, obviously there is the whole money discrepancy but it doesn''t matter compared to when you own certain territories here since they pay fees. Going through my head I tried to imagine all the different support groups that could help me if I became their foster child. I was in pretty big demand due to me being able to graduate at the age of twelve years old and with my pretty large at the time inheritance. I went through almost every single type of group as potential foster parents that would help me achieve my goals, the police, the gangs, some college professors from some very esteemed colleges, in the end I somehow managed to attract the gaze of a certain retired underworld fighter once he heard of a certain half Korean genius. I''m not going into detail but for four years I trained, traveling to and from many different countries and participating in underworld fights. At the anniversary of the 4th year of most of my families death (my mother never woke up from her coma) my teacher (I consider him as my second father for if he hadn''t appeared I''m pretty sure I would have been buried way under the cement in Detroit) let me return home permanently. When I came back I knew Detroit was in dire straits because of the big recession of 2007 but still I never imagined it would be that bad. It was a ghost town where almost all the houses were empty and abandoned and at night all you would hear is gunshots and other dreary noises that would give you the cold tingle down your spine. Since I was sixteen years old I decided to rent an apartment in one of the areas protected by the good gang Heavenly Wings. It took me a while because I was very meticulous in the research of which gang I wanted to join so I could establish a gang that could be unshakable. Why didn''t I join the police or SWAT team? Easy because some people simply had to disappear if I wanted to succeed in restoring my old home back to a viable living space. I started off as a grunt but when they realized I was a gifted fighter, I quickly rose in ranks, after a few ingenious ideas for the gang and certain tasks a lot of people supported me to be the next head of the gang, by the time I was 18 I was the new gang leader. Okay now for the main reason why I''m writing this stupid diary and why I need this to know who I am. *Deep Breath* I''m going to college. Ya whoever the wise guy was in the gang that told my teacher of this "great idea", I''m going to repay you a hundred times over. Count on it. Chapter 2. First Day of School It was quite a sunny day despite the chilling wind that swept through the dew filled campus. Piles of leaves were scattered everywhere with large bare trees next to them. It was a standard ritual that happened yearly where the grounds keepers would start sweeping at 7 AM to 9 AM either collecting the leaves in certain areas or keep them lying about for students to have fun. As the sun started to rise the sound of cars could be heard in the faint background along with loud heaving noises coming from the trucks and buses that enter the campus. Footsteps soon echoed everywhere trampling the concrete and dew filled grass and leaves. Professors, students, and other campus personals alike soon covered the entire campus with unceasing noise. Most were students returning from previous years and didn''t feel even a touch of discomfort, the rest were nervous, tense, and excited for the new year. Very few were there in dreadful spirits mostly returning staff and the occasional student. This particular occasional student didn''t in fact scowl like those with similar attitudes instead he purposely acted as if he was a returning student to blend into the crowd. Dressed in faded fitted jeans and an oversized red hoodie synonymous with a person trying to just blend in the crowd. He had his hoodie down, headphone plug in his right ear, and a second-hand backpack slinged across his left shoulder. Quietly he would slip through the crowd as if he was another cold breeze of the morning. He headed towards a large tan brick building which had hundreds of students milling about, chattering, sitting and of course running around. Entering the building the man quickly went to the floor above and soundlessly entered the classroom he was supposed to be in 10 minutes earlier. Trying to close the door as silently as possible, the man glanced towards the front noticing the professor had his back towards class, releasing a small sigh the man was about to jump to his seat. "Name, year, major, and reason for your tardiness?" Pausing mid step the student muttered something silently under his breath, and then slowly straightened up. "Hyun-su Drake, First year, Mechanical Engineering, and late due to work." "Well Mr. Drake do you expect to be late every single day? If you will be please leave the room and don''t come again." Taking a few seconds to think, he replied "No sir, it was a very important last second meeting that would''ve had me fired and then afterwards I told them that I won''t ever be able to attend work at these timings." "...Hmmm. You may sit down for now, I will talk to you at the end of class. Oh and how would you like to be addressed Mr. Drake?" "Drake is fine." In a very quick fashion Drake sat down in a seat near the back. Shifting and rearranging himself over in a few seconds he uncomfortably sat down in the chairs. As he took out his notebook, he found out to his surprise the professor hadn''t even took a single glance at him because he had written two lines of information on the board after he had entered the room. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Reading the information on the board, Drake quickly copied it down wondering who this Professor Lance was since he had noticed him without even looking at him or hearing him. "As I was saying before the small interruption this class has a monthly exam that reviews everything you have learned for that month worth 15% each along with a final exam that covers 20% and covers the entire course. Class projects and attendance is the last 20% and both of these are mandatory since class will be twice every week..." Deciding for himself the first 5 minutes of class wasn''t anything special, Drake repositioned himself again, this time to meditate in a seating posture. This special trance allowed to properly multitask where it allowed the person to focus on two or more subjects simultaneously. The first task he had decided to focus on was the lecture while the other task was a much more private affair which he was listening in to in his one sided ear piece. Listening quite carefully to the lecture, he learned that the professor in front of him discussed philosophy, in his words he said I do not teach but merely explain the general information related to the subject this does not mean it is accurate at all and that each person has their own ideas on the subject. He then began asking the class about what exactly is philosophy and how did it come about. Multiple students replied with different answers, in the end most of them concluded that philosophy is the thought process of ideas, facts, and cultural stigma. Staying true to his words he then says you are all correct and incorrect because my idea of what philosophy is somewhat the same but it is not completely the same because we have different views upon it. He then whisks up to his podium and says let¡¯s see what the all mighty internet defines it as. Quickly he turns on the screen projector and has the website Dictionary.com page open with the word philosophy being defined. He then briskly says, "The rational investigations of truth and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct. Now class do you think this is the correct answer to the question and if you do or don''t agree please explain. " Most students replied instantly that they agree and disagree with the statement because we have different views about the definition. This reply seemed correct to most of the students because they were just taught this as a solution to a very similar problem. Eventually almost the whole room said the same thing except 3 or 4 people who sat in the very front. It seemed strange for most students now after some time had passed and that the professor was still asking for the solution since he''d gone through nearly everyone. This led to students near the end of the room start to deviate little by little their answers. Eventually this led to Drake being called upon. Chapter 3. Questions It was quite an interesting question thought the young man named Drake. However what truly amazed him was how the teacher without any effort had managed to ensnare the entire class onto the topic. For a class of 200 he had not only made all the students learn his first lesson but he had even made the students who sat in the back manage to further think about the subject matter. Somehow he went through the entire room and had managed to make Drake the last student to be called on. Drake stood up ready to talk about his thought process behind what he thought philosophy meant only to hear the professor say I think we have the general gist of what philosophy is. It wasn''t only Drake who had expected that he would be next but the entire class expected him to be next. This led to some students snickering at his misfortune and the obvious attempt by the professor to snuff him do to his tardiness. Instantly it clicked for Drake of what the professor had done, this whole charade of interacting with the students on the first day was done in order to send a message that students who show up late will be ill-treated. Quite affective, he thought, I''ll have to use this method in the future. He began to smirk thinking, this might not be so bad, I just hope the rest of the professors will be this interesting. The professor then began explaining of what exactly philosophy in his words was and how it did not just come about in one place and it is similar to how the Neolithic movement occurred in which there were multiple different regions that were completely separated from each other had their own development of philosophy and how it impacted their regions. ¡°Now we aren¡¯t exactly in a class for world history however it is still an important topic because certain philosophy ideas had much larger affects due to cultural influence. For example during the pre-colonial time for what we consider as Latin America, they actually had a similar exploration of questions relating to the core ideas of philosophy however as a result of Spanish and Portuguese conquerors their ideas were deeply influenced resulting in a very European idea of philosophy. The original pre-colonial ideas were vastly different and were impacted by the largest civilizations of Latin America at the time such as the Mayans and Aztecs, unfortunately due to heavy enslavement of the indigenous people most of their ideas were forcefully suppressed and desecrated by the new rulers. What¡¯s left are the ancient temples and the occasional backwater villages that were not completely destroyed or stripped of all their history¡­¡± He then began explaining the sphere of influence of certain philosophy ideas and how certain regions were influenced by other regions. The most interesting information for me was the impact of the three religions that came about from the Middle East and how it nearly affected nearly all parts of the world. He then ended the lecture saying to read the designated chapters listed in the syllabus for the next class since we will have an open discussion pertaining to that information. Most of the students immediately got up and left the room while others either lingered around for a bit more or had a discussion with the professor. In the meantime Drake took out his phone and made a call, all you could hear if anyone was playing close attention were some random words that didn¡¯t even sound like a conversation was taking place. Eventually new students started streaming into the room while all the ones talking to professor began leaving, then motioning to Drake to follow him out obviously signifying he wanted to talk somewhere else. Stolen story; please report. On the way out the professor asked, ¡°Was that phone call your ¡®work¡¯?¡± ¡°Yes it was.¡± ¡°You were talking in code specified by the company you work in, I presume? Don¡¯t answer that. We aren¡¯t here to talk about that.¡± ¡°What exactly are we here to talk about, professor¡­?¡± Immediately the professor started snickering, ¡°Kid you¡¯re definitely interesting, you speak in codes, show up late without even making a sound, and don¡¯t even know what the name of your professor is even though your signed up for his class.¡± Drake replied, ¡°You¡¯re just as interesting, you actually noticed my presence, have supernatural hearing, and actually managed to pay back a grudge.¡± Musing quietly in his head, I can¡¯t even remember the last time that it¡¯s happened besides when my family was still alive. Nonchalantly he replies, ¡°Ah, you noticed? Well don¡¯t be too shocked that happens every single time I teach a new class. If there isn¡¯t any kid late for the first class, I do it for whoever is the first student that shows up late for my class, its actually really quite fun and has unintendedly become a habit after all these years. Oh¡­ Yes, my name is Thomas Smyth, you can call me Smyth. Well your definitely one of the students I¡¯ll be keeping an eye on, you have such an interesting character, it¡¯s just too good to pass up on you. Now Mr. Drake, what exactly is your answer to the question I presented to the class earlier?¡± ¡°If I remember correctly the question you proposed to us was, what exactly is philosophy and how did it come about? Well the answer to the first part of the question is, in my words, the exploration of the fundamental truths of the world and to comprehend them. As for the second part of the question I don¡¯t have an answer because I have almost next to no knowledge about philosophy hence why I¡¯m taking this class.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Quite a smart young lad too aren¡¯t you? Actually realizing that there¡¯s two questions and understanding the depth of difficulty to answer the second part. Now I have a question personally just for you. Why are you here?¡± Drake paused mid step realizing he was standing in the middle of a parking lot near a very nice car that was definitely a classic with a logo he didn¡¯t realize. He then also realized that he was caught yet again by the words of the mysterious Mr. Smyth as if he was a small fly caught in a very large spider web. Thinking to himself, just who is this guy, not once or twice but three times I¡¯ve been enamored by this man and the question he asked this time also has a double meaning. Taking a few seconds to mull over what just happened to himself, he then answered, ¡°Well in regards to why I¡¯m in the parking lot is because you sir are just as interesting of a specimen while the other part of this question is simply because I didn¡¯t have a choice and was forced to attend college.¡± ¡°Well, I expected that since you used work as an excuse for your first day of college. Now I have one more question for you at the moment but this one is special, you will answer this the last time you have class with me, you see to have the proper answers you must first know the proper question. Now this is not the question but if I tell you it, you must attend class.¡± ¡°Okay, I accept. I was going to attend your class anyway it¡¯s just too interesting. Now what¡¯s the question?¡± Looking at the young man he nodded at himself and asked, ¡°What are you?¡± Chapter 4. The Other Classes What the hell, thought Drake, it had been nearly an hour after his brief talk with the mysterious Mr. Smyth and his thoughts would always stray back to the question the man proposed. Every time he would go back and ask himself why didn¡¯t the old man ask him, who are you? Instead he asked such a vague question, what are you, as if he was questioning whether I was a human or not. Maybe this is another double meaning question or does it have a multitude of questions as if it is an onion of a question. ¡°Brrbrrbrr¡­¡± Unconsciously he made the noise that happens when your lips rapidly hit each other like the sound of a horse neighing. It was an old habit that occurred every time he was completely stumped. Choosing to put it off until he had more free time, he headed off to his next class which was an introduction to the Greek language. This time he purposely showed up late to hopefully incite another interesting response from this new professor unfortunately the lady didn''t even notice him slipping into class. Though the class did teach him some interesting information that if he simply learned the main roots of a word he would be able to understand most of the archiac European languages. Deciding it would be very useful he promised to himself to buy in-depth books about the different roots of European languages. The next class he decided to blatantly show up to the class late and made sure the professor took note of him. This professor merely just told him to not do it again or else he will start taking points off on his tests for disrupting his lecture. Even though most of the professors weren''t as interesting as Mr. Smyth, each of them taught something relatively interesting, the most recent one taught a class on how to draw, it was never a subject he took an interest in before since art wasn''t needed in the credits to graduate from high school. What he learned was quite shocking, this professor draws cars and other images for the big manufacturing companies. Apparently the old fashion method of drawing was simply much more appealing since he could instantly draw out new ideas and schemes within minutes compared to photoshop renderings and other similar drawings. He even displayed a wide variety of his older portfolio which had car models from the 90s to covers of cereal boxes to some of the newest gadgets that would fill the classic magazines like MAD. Then he began with the basic materials we would be required to bring from next week onwards and ended the lecture. Putting on the other earphone plug Drake walked towards the bus stop he had been dropped off from earlier this day. Standing there for nearly half an hour let him process all the things he had gone through thus realizing who the hell chose all my random classes and do I even have a major? Picking up his private phone he first called his teacher, the man just told him that he sent him off to college for fun and hadn''t choose any of his classes or professors. He then called some of the people from the gang if they knew who chose his classes and yet again he got the same answer, that none of them had done it. The only thing he could do now to figure out who had chosen his classes was by talking to the admissions office so instead of boarding the bus he headed off towards the admissions building. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. A red brick building that should¡¯ve been in reconstruction long ago was what he found, going to the third floor which listed the category of an undecided major, he waited another half an hour in line before reaching the front desk. The response to his question, ¡°Who has access to choose my classes if I have an undecided major?¡± by the female lady was, ¡°Did you not read any of the documents that were signed by you when you paid for tuition or applied for this college?¡± ¡°No I didn¡¯t read any of the fine print since I was really busy at work.¡± However that was just his excuse since his former legal guardian had forged his signature so he was forced to go to college since the man had paid his tuition in full. She gave him the dirty eye which said who doesn¡¯t read their own signed documents, ¡°Well since you claim to have signed it without reading any of the fine print, let¡¯s pull up your student records and those very signed documents.¡± A few minutes later, she returns with a file that has an assortment of documents and then opens up her computer to his digital file. She looks at it, then glances back at Drake, and then reads the documents on his file. ¡°Well kid you definitely have an interesting background and before you ask what I mean by that, let me explain. You see in the files we have, you are listed as an independent with no active family members, now this may not seem important at the moment but keep listening. In the files you claimed to have signed, there list a few agreements that new students had a choice to choose, one of them is to allow parents to access their children¡¯s data which includes your GPA, financial records, and classes you have chosen for yourself, you in this case had allowed it. Now you see you don¡¯t have any family members that can access it besides a legal guardian but the thing is someone left some sort of documents that listed the classes you would take if said person wasn¡¯t alive and you had an undecided major.¡± ¡°Wait you mean to tell me that dead dad or my mom who hasn¡¯t woken up for a long time managed to actually assign my classes? How would that even get approved?¡± ¡°Well there¡¯s only a few people who could do something like this but in the end it still has to go through the dean to get approved. If you would like I can set an appointment it won¡¯t take long at all since usually he deals with special cases like yours the first two weeks of the semester. Just sign your name here and the reason why you need to meet with the dean. Thank you, he will be meeting you in 15 minutes.¡± Instead of just sitting around Drake decided to look at the portraits lined up in the hall of all the deans, not recognizing even one of them he wondered how the current dean knew his parents, since there was no way other than them knowing his parents well enough that the dean would approve of such a weird situation where his parents would leave a will in the classes he had for college. Chapter 5. The Dean The room he entered was quite large for an office containing large portraits on the wall which were even larger than the ones in the hallway finished up with small pedestals containing small trophies located under certain designated people. The wall located the furthest from the front door had rows of shelves lined with books of all different sizes with the occasional figurine located in between sections of books. The table the man called the dean sat at was like something that came out of the white house, with a vibrant rich red-brown hue and an elaborately carved fa?ade of an animals onto the face of the wood. Having the back of the seat faced towards the front the young man wasn¡¯t able to discern who this dean was. ¡°You are Hyun-Su Drake I presume? You¡¯re quite a quick lad at realizing your weird predicament.¡± ¡°Yes I am. Just a question though, how do you know my parents? There were very few people that were close to my parents and I thought I knew everyone who was.¡± ¡°Straight to the point so I¡¯m guessing no fun banter? You¡¯re quite different from what Thomas said but it may be because of the interesting situations he loves putting his new kids in.¡± Quite surprised, Drake almost revealed his surprise that the professor had already talked about him to his peers instead he kept a stoic face since he knew what type of mind games these type of people play. ¡°Oh and you managed to keep a straight face despite some obvious goading too, almost all of the fun ones fall for it without realizing or knowingly fall for it to try to get onto my good side since I do have some sway here. Seems like you are purposely trying to keep a fair distance from getting too involved in college. I wonder why you¡¯re trying to attempt this but maybe I shouldn¡¯t give you so many hints to the question my friend gave to you.¡± Keeping the stoic face Drake¡¯s mind was in a blur analyzing all the new information piece by piece. When the older man stopped talking he glanced down noticing the young man was still keeping his face expressionless yet obvious to almost everyone else if other people had seen him that he was deeply thinking about this new information. ¡°Well let¡¯s just get to the question you asked me. I don¡¯t know your father in fact, he apparently was a very close friend to a former dean, and unfortunately the man has passed away quite a long time ago. Even though he passed away he agreed to a promise by your father that if his son were to attend here which he said was very likely since you as a child said that I¡¯m going to the same college like father when I get older, and if he didn¡¯t have any particular major please choose the most diverse and interesting professors possible for him and if he did have a major please him get the best education regarding that major. He also said it can¡¯t be any very easy classes either since those tend to bore him very quickly. The former dean then entrusted this promise onto each future dean since it¡¯s quite a common occurrence for a promise to be passed on to the future dean unless it¡¯s something quite ridiculous. Now you may wonder why your father did that but I don¡¯t have an answer for that since I never knew the man. Instead I can tell you some of the information I pulled up on his files if you want?¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°That would be very helpful, thank you.¡± ¡°Luckily I had someone pull out his file earlier since you were coming to meet me.¡± The dean said with a twinkle in his eyes. Drake had no idea what that twinkle was for but he knew that the Dean definitely loved learning about mysterious people since he seems infatuated with his father ever since he mentioned him. Drake said, ¡°Well I would like to look at these files privately if possible?¡± Once Drake said this the dean looked at him with cold eyes and replied, ¡°Yes I can however I do have more information related to the older dean that may become related to your father once I read about it." "Fine but just let me look over my father''s files by myself first and then you can read it." "That''s alright with me." Turning around in a perfect 180* with a very natural half step, he plucked a very impressive looking leather bounded file that was lying on the shelf that was directly at his shoulder height. No wonder this dean is so interested about the files, there''s definitely some very important information in a file like this, and it''s doubly more credible since even the dean couldn''t access this type of file, thought Drake. Putting the file down on a small table right next to one of the large windows. He said, "You can sit on the chairs near the tables it will definitely take some time to process all the information in this file." Agreeing Drake sat down and pulled open the red string that binded the leather, slowly taking the first page lying on top of the stack. Chapter 6. Night to Remember (P1) It was an eerie empty night, so empty that one could see the stars at night which was quite a remarkable miracle since most Detroit residents had rarely seen due to the thinly layered smog that wrapped the entire city. The roads were mostly empty with the occasional delivery truck passing by. The wind was a slight breeze carrying a hint of the cold that most would consider as the sign for Autumn to really begin. The animals that lived in the concrete jungle were silent this night too, from the dogs that would howl to their neighbors, the crickets that would chirp from the disappearance of humans, to the bats whose wings would create a small audible noise. Any normal person would simply discern it as an amazing night to barbecue but those who weren''t normal knew there was something quite different happening tonight. To them it felt as if the world was holding its breath and waiting for something to occur. It had been a family night for the family where the oldest child had the choice of where to go for this night. He had the choice of going to Chuck E Cheese (the kids diner where the children played games while waiting for pizza) , Pizza Hut (the family diner where you sit in an old fashion table with a group), to watching Cars again. The child decided to go with Pizza Hut since he would get to see a classic fantasy movie that he probably hadn''t seen before. Along with the fact his younger siblings would be distracted and kept busy with the coloring packets that was a staple product of the diner. Having thus decided, their family contacted their cousins family, they weren''t blood related however both dads were best friends and considered each other as true brothers ever since they had lived in the same apartments, since they attended college. Their family consisted of four people, the oldest child being a girl of eleven years while the other being an almost ten year old boy, and the parents being almost the exact same age as the other parents. They too were immigrants that had come to America similar to the boy''s family who had chosen for tonight''s event. Both of the families had arrived at 7 P.M. and enjoyed each others company while waiting for the servers. They didn''t really care about the ominous air that was looming there the whole night. This night had a special visitor who was viewing them with his mouth wide open in shock. * * * Drake was in utter shock, even the years of grueling physical and mental pain when training, couldn''t prepare him for what he was watching. He had actually hoped to dream this night again for the past six years trying to remember the last night of his family. Unfortunately for some reason that night had become mentally blocked according to his teacher and a psychologist that dealt with people who had gone through similar events such as Drake. After a solid half an hour of disbelief while watching the two families interact when waiting for the pizza, Drake finally regained his wits, wondering how did this all come about? He could only think of two things that he had done from out of the normal, one is that he started school while the other was reading the documents of his father. Out of the both of them, the more likely one is the restarting of school reasoning to himself that since he stopped going to school it stopped himself from moving on. Meanwhile he listened to the banterous mood between the family. His uncle the super generous man he was, was trying to pay for the bill which was clearly not his since it was the Drakes turn to pay for it. My father a being of the exact same sort was vehemently turning down his offers. While the two mothers were talking about the new things they were doing. My aunt was talking about this new scarf she had made for the upcoming winter while my mother talked about an interesting customer of hers that had a high chance to make it on an Olympic team. Smiling wryly with tears in his eyes, he simply wanted to go up to them and say, "Mom... Dad... Look at your son all grown up..." instead he whispered it to himself causing himself to softly cry. Then he looked at his past self with his two younger siblings, one trying to color within the lines on the traced figure given to him while the other younger girl bossing around what to color next. He himself was actually sat on the opposite side of his siblings with his cousins who were watching him intensely playing his Gameboy SP. It was one of the few things he still had from back then. Looking at his younger sister who was still bossing around her younger twin, he whispered to himself "Hana, I had thought that I would always be able to see you happy...(almost chocking himself when he started crying again) Even though I can''t see you be happy anymore, I have one last gift to give you as an older brother." Taking out a small pouch from a hidden pocket sleeve, he took out a small gold ring that had a gem of a light pink shade with a hint of blue at the core. He then stood up and purposely bumped into the waiter that was bringing a tray full of glasses of water to his families table dropping it into a red cup which only his sister would argue for. Knowing that his sister would never see the ring or use it he still had to send it to its rightful owner, though he wouldn''t dare change his memories in risk of not seeing his family die. He wanted to know the truth of what really happened. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. He then looked at his youngest sibling and asked in a voice only he could hear, "Gun, I know you really enjoyed drawing even when your sister forced you to draw a new pony that she could put on her wall. I made a full ride scholarship that would help any type of artist. Unfortunately the other gift I have for you is at a certain location and I would have to bring you to see it." He looked at himself, noticing he was shaking, he forced himself to calm down. While doing so, the pizza had finally came, one extra large cheese pizza while the other was filled with vegetables. He glanced at his uncle who was still bickering about the bill with his dad as a result both men were assaulted by their wives by stuffing both of their open mouths with pizza. Watching this scene, Drake couldn''t help but laugh, he had needed that since all he could think of was the sad aftermath after tonight. If he was to never have this dream again he should remember them like this, a happy family. Resolving his inner ordeals he looked at his uncle and aunt, one laughing while the other gulping down large amounts of water for the scolding hot pizza that had been stuffed in his mouth. This time Drake had done something different for them, he took out a small white crumbled note from the same small pouch from earlier. He took a deep breath and said, "For you are my uncle who has always made me chuckle, instead now I buckle before you in order to stumble and say goodbye. I know you love rhymes hence the short chime as a farewell gift. For my aunt who loves to stitch, I have spread your stitches far and wide as a logo for hope to help those poor and in need of help." Wiping his tears, he crumbled the piece of a paper back into a ball and just left it on the table he was sitting at. "Ahh short stuff, you''re next on the list of goodbyes? You know people always called me a genius through out my life however the true prodigies were people like you. At your age you knew most of the material that could cause you to graduate instead you chose to go through the grades normally so you could have close friends of the same age. That is especially worthwhile, to have a true friend similar to how our dads are. So Mustafa please take care of our family over where ever you are, I''ll take care of them on this side." "Last but not least Fatema. You know I thought I didn''t like you at all and thought of you as one of my best friends. It wasn''t until you disappeared that I realized I had fallen for you just like every other guy of my class." Drake''s lips naturally curved into a smile thinking about all those guys. "You never know what you have until you lose it. The worst part is I couldn''t even say I liked you more than a friend until you were gone and then me realizing how much I liked you. Well..." Drake starts snickering, "... Even now I can''t say it..." Taking a deep sigh and looking at the younger girl seated besides his younger self, "After all these years I still remember your smile the most vividly. Unfortunately time has moved on and I can''t be forever chained to my past, its probably the biggest lesson I''ve learned over all these years. Since you were a younger sister for me, I have left some gifts for you too. I know you wanted to be a teacher and that was your life goal, even though I can''t be a teacher, I decided to completely protect the schools of the district we use to live in to help those teachers not worry about the gang violence like we had to. The other gift I had for you was this." He had taken out the third and last item from the small pouch, a small cube like box that was nearly 4 centimeters in every dimension. "I can''t give it to you right now instead I''ll leave it at your grave since this one I personally need to give." Drake had said all he wanted to say, now he just wanted to see the last hour of his happy family before the tragedy and engrave every detail to memory this time.