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Chapter 64 - Chapter 64: This Boss Really Knows How to Sell Dreams!

The third day.

Roger kept his word and went to see Levi, but this time was different: he brought no one—he went alone.

He returned to the same streets, to the area near Levi's home. At the corner by the road, he stopped before a man who had frozen to death, and looked at him.

The Underground didn't have rain or snow to threaten you, true—but life for the homeless was hardly easier.

At night the temperature down here dropped low, especially in autumn and winter. With rags for clothes on the streets, freezing to death came easy. And most who ended up in the Underground were poor to begin with.

Looking at the corpse before him, Roger caught the stink of rot.

He didn't play the saint and shower the dead with pity—after all, the man was already gone.

If he weren't dead, Roger might've tossed him some coins to get him through the week's nights.

But he was dead.

Death left nothing.

Roger only paused because the sight stirred old memories.

The corpse was a cripple.

His leg was eaten by the same disease that struck many in the Underground—festering to ruin.

Roger used to limp too. He thought, if he had never gained a Titan's power, maybe he would've ended up like this man—full of ideals and dying quietly of cold on some street.

While he was caught in those thoughts, a voice sounded beside him.

"Been waiting for you."

Levi, like Roger, was staring at the vagrant who'd died of the leg disease.

Hearing the voice, Roger turned.

"Can you tell me your name now?" Roger asked, meeting Levi's gaze as if he could see through everything.

Levi held his eyes for two seconds.

He knew: the man in front of him was sharp—and in every way, not inferior to himself.

He had met someone like this once before—a man with the exact same name as his own. But the man before him bore the surname "Braun," and that surprised him.

"Ackerman."

After a moment's hesitation, Levi still spoke the name that sounded, to some, like "devil."

He hadn't understood what that name meant—until his mother died. When traffickers pawed and priced him, he learned what the name meant.

It meant the Ackerman people. It meant a higher price.

Why a higher price? He didn't know—until a man named "Kenny" found him and drew out his potential. Then the reasons began to dawn.

When Levi said his family name was "Ackerman," Roger wasn't shocked—he'd suspected as much—but he was still a little startled, and pleased.

In Marley, even the textbooks had a page about this clan that once served the kings within the Walls. Most importantly, though Eldian, they had a special combat inheritance: each generation compiled its battle memory into their blood and passed it down, and they were unaffected by the "Kiseki (Coordinate)," their memories immune to alteration by the "Shiso no Kyojin (Founding Titan)."

In other words, they were the only people besides the Eldian royal bloodline who could hold the "truth."

By common sense, they should have held high status. How had one fallen to the Underground?

Was Levi a bastard child?

Roger couldn't know—and it didn't matter.

"Come with me. At least, we can cooperate and meet each other's needs."

Roger said it and held out his hand.

Levi looked at him, emotions flickering in his eyes.

It was the first time someone had been willing to shake hands with him—a man from the Underground.

Slowly, Levi lifted his hand and shook.

"No need for empty words. Remember your promise. Not just me—my companions get the same terms I do."

"I remember," Roger nodded. "All of that's fine."

They reached an understanding.

That very afternoon, Roger's man Nelly got surface residency approved for all of them. It cost a fortune shuttling back and forth, of course.

Every time Nelly watched the organization's funds pour out in great streams, his heart bled. But Roger didn't mind.

To gain a fighter like Levi—that made him happy.

Nelly, though, had it rough: tallying accounts past midnight, doing anything to save a coin here, earn a coin there.

It had to be said—Nelly was a genius at making money. Every time, Roger found himself shocked at his skill—amazed that he could staunch the organization's huge deficits and end a week, even a month, in the black.

But Nelly knew that doing the usual jobs a gang did would topple them sooner or later.

So one morning, when everyone else was out, Nelly came to Roger to talk.

Same as ever, he argued they should sell drugs.

Robbery brought fast cash, yes—but drug-running was a business.

And a business meant loopholes to work—ways to keep the profits moving in perpetuity.

Robbery didn't allow that. Once they were caught, the whole group could be ripped out by the roots.

Roger thought long on the advice—but he still refused to push drugs.

"Let's build other lines," Roger said. "There's always other money to make."

Nelly shook his head. "There are other lines, sure, but honestly—not much to choose from. We're underworld, Boss. We can't do 'clean' work. Without drugs, the money won't flow, the group won't grow, and nothing else is as lucrative. What do you say?"

"There's really no other way?"

"None."

"Then we clean our name."

"???"

Nelly wondered if his ears had failed him.

"Uh—Boss, you mean 'play both sides of the fence'? With a crew like ours, unless we've got people inside the Gendarmerie or among officials, we can't wash clean. Even the Kamen gang isn't clean—they just scraped a 'civic organization' label from the Gendarmerie."

"'Civic organization' is enough. As long as it eases pressure from the Gendarmerie, it matters."

"But… will the Gendarmerie listen? Will they even take us seriously?" Nelly asked, doubtful.

"They won't—for now. But once we scale up, whether they agree or not, they'll have to. Because for them, it's the best option."

After hearing that, Nelly felt like his mouth was stuffed with hot air.

This boss could spin a dream!

How did he dare talk it up like that?

The group was only at the sprouting stage! Not even a sapling yet. If the Gendarmerie looked their way, they'd yank them out by the roots in a heartbeat!

//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810

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