CHAPTER 79: GANGSTER?

He only noticed it because of the loud shouts coming from the alleyway. Not just that but some people actually stopped for a moment but then hurried away, like they had seen something threatening or dangerous to say anything or stop it... so, of course, he immediately rushed over to see what was happening, and it was absolutely thrilling.

It was an alley straight out of a movie, dark even in daylight, the kind where you just know something bad could happen if you walk there at night. But what he saw was the exciting part.

A huge plastic bag lay on the ground, and he instantly recognized what was inside... weed. A lot of it, while three people were beating up someone who wasn’t even resisting, hitting him, then pushing him against the wall, shouting at him...

"We shouldn’t get in trouble." Hana said immediately, noticing the smrik on Joseph’s face. "We’re in the middle of the—"

"Trouble?" he asked, looking at her. "We’re just a bunch of law-abiding citizens trying to help someone." He said it with still that smirk on his face, but Hana already knew how this was going to go... especially when he chuckled and started walking into the alleyway.

Yeah... the calm atmosphere of the day... the thought that nothing big was going to happen... just vanished... as he made the decision to intervene.

But at least they didn’t notice him, not at first, because they were too busy slapping that boy’s face and shouting at him. Meanwhile, Joseph calmly walked right up, just watching.

The boy didn’t even fight back... it was sad to see.

"Hey, don’t hurt others." He said it very... lightly like it was not even a warning or anything.

They immediately turned toward him... with a bit of attitude to say the least.

"Who the fuck are you?!" One of the guys shouted and all three of them positioned themselves like they were going to beat him up too.

"I’m a citizen who’s obligated to stop y’all beating up another one." Joseph said, though behind him Hana and Amine weren’t that calm like him.

No, they had already grabbed their bags to be ready if something happened... but on the other side they didn’t want to do anything because of morality...

These three guys in front of them were kids... like teenagers, their faces were like babies, they were dressed like teenagers and killing them wouldn’t be... them.

"Get the fuck out of here before I slice you up!" Now the middle one spoke as he flipped open a knife, and he seemed to be the leader among them.

"Oh, butterfly knife." Joseph said as he eyed it. "You know that type of knife’s not the best to use in a situation like this... it’s better to use one that is—"

"Shut the fuck up!" He made a step toward him, positioning the knife in a way that he could poke Joseph, slightly reaching it out.

The perfect example of a kid who took the wrong path in life, now just acting like some bad boy, trying to be tough, trying to look like a street gangster, but he’s nothing more than a little angry kid wanting to live, wanting a good life... how sad.

But of course, Joseph didn’t give a damn about that, sad life or not, teenager or not. No, he wasn’t there for anyone’s life lesson. He was there for one thing that grabbed his attention more than anything else... the weed.

So he didn’t give a single fuck about the knife or anything else, just leaned down and grabbed the pack of weed. Not only that, he even opened it up and took a deep sniff... and immediately, he was caught off guard by the smell. Another disappointment of the day... the biggest so far.

"Fuck, y’all sprayed something on this weed? It smells like shit." He said, taking another sniff... the same fucking smell. There wasn’t even a hint of weed, just a strange, irritating stench, like it had been sprayed with some chemical... or laced. "This shit won’t sell... not in my city." He said as he calmly dumped it all on the ground... and stepped on it, stomping it..

It hit the spot... all three of them froze for a second, not even believing what had just happened... that all of the weed... that whole kilo had just been destroyed. All of it.

"R-run..." Came the hollow, faint voice of the teenager who had been getting beaten, the one collapsed on the ground. He just looked at Joseph with eyes full of worry and fear, but not about the situation no... those eyes were like telling something bigger is on the way... behind these fuckers.

And that only made Joseph more excited. He began piecing together what was going on, why this kid was being beaten. The boy had tried to buy the weed, but got beaten when he pointed out that the stuff was spiked with something.

Yeah, Joseph just accidentally stumbled upon a drug deal that went wrong... on the street... with teenagers in it... fucking teenagers dealing a kilo of spiked weed... what life turned out to be, what the system turned out to be...

"Why would I run?" He asked, still calm, as he looked back at the teenager with the knife. "Are y’all a gang, a street gang, or what?"

"6th Street." Yeah, Joseph really hit the spot with what he did to the weed. The boy’s voice was deep, shaking with frustration and anger, his hands trembling as he gripped the knife.

6th Street... they named themselves from a street... that’s lame.He thought about it, but then the boy with the knife kept getting closer and closer with each step. Joseph knew exactly what his anger was about... the consequences of losing the weed.

Yeah, gangs have rules even worse than the mafia, almost like a cartel. Fuck up, lose product, and you get beaten, killed, drive-by’d, or some other bullshit. And yeah, well, Joseph just "killed" them by destroying spiked-up weed. But it just shows how low-life gangs are.

Losing one kilo of drugs and suddenly acting like the whole world is ending... what the fuck is one kilo? He’d seen people dealing tons of it when he was young, tons of weed, tons of cocaine... he’d even heard about shipments worth millions getting lost, and nobody died.

And now, seeing these guys freak out over just one kilo, it was astonishing... one fucking kilo that is not even real weed just some bullshit.

"Wait..." Joseph held out his hand, then clenched it up. "Do you know what it is?" He asked.

The boy stopped for a bit, maybe because of surprise, that Joseph was kind of in a defensive position against a knife... he liked it. "Huh... a fist, you think you’re going to stop a knife, stop three of us?" He asked.

"No, I’m going to... push my fist up your ass and then open my palm... like puhh." He gestured it. "And your ass is going to explode, and you will die of internal bleeding." He smiled. "And then I’m going to do the same thing with your mother, your sister, your father, your dog, your bird, everything in your life... because one small mistake can fuck up everything, boy."

Silence, silence because of the absurdity he just said, something they never heard in their life, and never even expected to hear even once... even Hana and Amine got a little... confused and surprised by what he just said, and they... imagined it, and it wasn’t the best thing to do... like Joseph stuffing his fist up in... well, yeah.

"Are you crazy?" The guy asked as he lowered the knife... and even started laughing, and so did his friends.

This whole situation was just a fucking hallucination, this motherfucker in a suit with two baddies walks up, destroys their weed, and then threatens them by fisting them... what the fuck is this.

"Crazy?" Joseph asked back, but something was different about his voice now, it was lower than ever, as he slightly shook his head, and even the smirk disappeared from his face... and that was the first moment they realized that this man... might not just be an ordinary person.

"Exactly... crazy." The boy said again, but now he gripped the knife tighter, feeling it in his hand, feeling the shift, a strange, suffocating sensation.

Even though he had the knife, somehow... he felt that he was the one in danger.

"Huh... indeed, I am crazy... with a gun." He said, and suddenly he did it, precisely pulled out the gun, and aimed it at the boy’s head... it was something casual, something that people with experience do... and he did it pretty at the first time trying. "Ohh... what now, is that fear in your eyes?" He chuckled up and yeah it was fear.

The boy just froze as he stared at the barrel of the gun and even dropped the knife.

"You know, boy, real gangsters are precise people, people who don’t show who they are, people who don’t deal in fucking alleyways, and most importantly, people who don’t use little kids to scam and rob others," he said with a smile. "A real gangster... is someone like me."