CHAPTER 40: THERE’S A CREW IN WEST HIGH?

The hallway outside the restroom was empty now—just a faint humming of the chatter coming from the arena.

Daniel walked ahead, his hands buried deep in his pants pockets, shoulders relaxed as if handling stuff like this was very normal for him. Behind him, Ryan followed, still rubbing his arm bruise, which he got while fighting with those kids.

They turned a corner and stopped near the back exit of the gym—a quiet spot behind the stairs, half-lit by the sunlight that poured through the dusty glass, dirt particles visible. The air in that area smelled faintly of chalk.

Daniel leaned against the wall as he crossed his arms next to his chest. His playful smile was gone now, replaced by something calmer—sharper. "Are you okay now, Ryan? That’s your name, right?"

Ryan gave a soft nod as he muttered. "Yeah... I think so. My ribs still hurt a bit, though. And yeah, my name is Ryan West."

Daniel let out a small, yet soft, chuckle. "That’s what happens when you get into unnecessary trouble."

He slowly glanced towards the empty wall as his voice lowered a bit. "Those guys, they’re not just bullies or school thugs, Ryan. They’re all part of something bigger."

Ryan frowned as he lifted one of his eyebrows up, confused. "Part of wh—what?"

Daniel’s expression shifted—a bit serious now, eyes narrowing slightly. "They are part of a gang, more like a crew."

Ryan’s eyes widened as he heard him. "A—what? A gang?" His voice came out a bit louder than before—unintentional.

Daniel’s hand instantly went up, pressing his finger to his lips. "Shh. Keep your voice down; someone might hear us."

He scanned the hallway once again before continuing. "Yeah, you heard me right. A crew, inside of our school."

Ryan blinked as his mind tried to comprehend the current situation. "What do you mean, inside our school? Students of our school have their own crew?"

Daniel nodded as he said. "Exactly, it’s not some random street gang outside. This one runs through our West High, well organized. Real tight."

The words of his sank in like stones dropped in water. Ryan’s brain scrambled up when it tried to digest all of this info at once—the fight, the packets. "Wait... those packets which they were talking about earlier were—"

Daniel gave a soft smile to Ryan as his voice came, deep. "You catch on quick. Yeah, that’s their crew’s main source of income. They deal in stuff that they shouldn’t touch as high schoolers—drugs, stolen goods, and much more. And those little packets?"

He let out a small sigh as he continued. "That’s probably cocaine. Real, high-grade quality stuff. They sell it off-campus and use the money to run their crew."

Ryan’s stomach twisted. "They sell it in our school and outside too?"

Daniel nodded slowly as he continued. "In ours, West High’s been like this for years now. Most people just look away from this; some pretend they didn’t see anything or it doesn’t even exist."

He paused as his tone dropped even lower. "But people like Arthur, they know. They’ve fought them before."

Ryan’s head snapped up. "Arthur—what? Arthur knows about it all?" he questioned.

Daniel gave a faint grin as he said. "Of course he does. You think Arthur Kane’s just a guy who loves punching bags? No. He’s been part of this mess long before you joined the Boxing Club."

Ryan stared at the ground; thousands of questions started appearing in his mind. "Then why hasn’t anyone done anything about this? You, Arthur, Maya, Aiden, and some more might have defeated them long ago." Ryan said with a curious look in his eyes.

Daniel looked at him for a good second, then he said softly. "Because these guys aren’t weak. They’ve got muscle, money, and people in the right places. You take one down, three more pop up. And more importantly, I, Arthur, Aiden, Maya, and others are not friends and can’t cooperate without a leader." He said with a bright smile on his face.

Ryan’s hands clenched unconsciously as his jaw tightened up. "So they just get to do whatever they want, just like that?"

Daniel shrugged. "Pretty much, yeah." Then he tilted his head a bit, eyeing Ryan curiously. "But here’s what I don’t get... why are you getting so worked up about this?"

Ryan looked up, caught off guard by that question. "What?"

"You barely know what’s going on," Daniel continued with a blank expression on his face. "You could’ve walked away right after you got to know about it, but you didn’t. Instead, you’re standing here looking like you’ve already picked a fight with them. So tell me."

He leaned forward a bit, a small smile curled up on his lips, eyes glinting. "Why do you care a lot about this, Ryan West?"

Ryan hesitated a bit; he could feel the sweat rolling down the side of his temple. His heart started hammering inside of his chest with the speed of a bullet train.

The truth was—he didn’t care at all, but the system just had shown him something that changed him and his mind.

He was staring at the glowing blue screen window hovering in the air next to Daniel’s shoulder.

[Main Quest Unlocked: Take down the West High Crew.]

[Objective: Dismantle the crew’s structure and claim control of West High.]

[Reward: ???]

His lips slowly parted. ’Take down the crew? Claim the school? What the actual fuck.’ His face completely got covered with sweat as his skin started turning pale; he was visibly scared.

He swallowed hard and looked away, trying to mask his shock, not wanting to get caught by Daniel once again. "I... have my own reasons." He muttered under his breath.

Daniel raised an eyebrow, a soft smile still maintained on his lips. "Oh, is that so?"

Ryan nodded. "Yeah. I can’t just ignore this and let them do what they want."

For a moment, Daniel studied him—quiet, thoughtful. Then that familiar bright smile of his returned, softening his expression. "Well," he said, clapping his hands together lightly. "Suit yourself, hero. I told you what I know; the rest is up to you."

Ryan blinked as he said. "Wait, that’s it? You’re not going to help in taking them down?"

Daniel grinned. "I just helped you, didn’t I? I gave you information about them; that’s more than most people in this school would." He stretched lazily as his tone became casual again. "Besides, I’ve got my own club to handle; Taekwondo won’t work without me."

He turned back to leave, waving over his shoulder. "See you around sometime, Ryan. Try not to get your ass kicked like today again."

Ryan opened his mouth to protest, but Daniel was already gone—disappearing around the corner, humming a tune under his breath as if the whole conversation had been about lunch plans.

Ryan stood there for a few more seconds; the echo of Daniel’s footsteps slowly started fading away. Ryan’s thoughts swirled.

’Arthur knows about this? Why did he never tell me before then? A crew. Drugs.’ It was too much for him, too sudden.

But then his eyes flickered to the corner of the hallway—where the restroom was. He slowly made his way to the restroom again as he saw the packets, which were lying on the floor, half crushed from earlier.

He crouched down and picked it up. The small white powder inside of it glimmered faintly under the light; his fingers started to tremble.

’System, is this actually cocaine?’

[Scanning item...]

[Confirmed. Substance identified: Cocaine (High Purity).

Ryan stared at the glowing text in disbelief. "So, Daniel was right about this."

[Affirmative. This aligns with the gang’s rumored trade operations. Recommend caution, Host.]

Ryan frowned, then looked down at the cocaine packet again. His reflection wavered faintly in the glossy plastic. The other packets were still there, scattered where the fight had broken out.

He slowly gathered them all in one place—they were six in total. Ryan slowly hid them carefully behind a loose tile near the sink.

"Guess I’m in this now," he muttered under his breath.