*Burrr… Brrr…*

All of a sudden, a notification sound rang from Ray's watch, when he looked at the person, it was Moby who had been trying to contact him all day.

"It seems like you really are important to him! You really are a great find and would make a great hostage if it comes to it! I don't know why the boss is so dead set on inviting this Moby Kane into the gang, and at 3rd seat from the start. They must see some sort of potential in him that not even I see. I would be lying if I said that I am not jealous. But, it's not my place to decide," The red-haired boy said with a playful laugh.

Then suddenly, the cyan haired student who was lying down on the top bunk with a bored look in his eyes, staring at the white ceiling, jumped up in surprise, his once bored, bland eyes growing wider as a smirk suddenly appeared on his face, followed up by a maniacal chuckle.

"Jason, I have big news…" The cyan haired student said, now sitting cross-legged on the bed.

"What is it Nags? Do you have any important information?" Jason replied with a skeptical look in his eyes.

"He rejected the invitation… We are now authorized to go into plan B…" Nags said with a creepy smile on his face.

"WHATT! He rejected 3rd seat!? This is outrageous! Truly fucking outrageous! Our great gang has never suffered such humiliation! How dare he!? Rejecting such an honour!" Jason roared, unable to believe his ears.

"Calm down Jason… This only means that we can now force him to join along with teaching him a lesson right? It's not so bad after all… It's been a while since I actually had someone worthy to fight against…" Nags said, his smile growing even wider than before.

"I'll tear him limb from limb mark my words! I can't let you have all the fun!" Jason immediately retorted, smashing his own fists against each other in anger.

Ray listened to the two boys' conversation with a scared yet worried look in his eyes, sweat running down his face as he knew exactly what they were talking about…

In his heart, he knew that this time would come but he wished that it would have come much later than sooner…

"Hey! Kid! Did you hear that? Your friend also fucked up just like you! Now we also have to teach him a lesson and show him who he is messing with! You can finally make yourself more useful to us! Who knows, maybe if you do well you might get promoted from slave to member!" Jayson said with an eerie yet bright smile, putting his hands on Ray's shoulder, making him shudder as goosebumps ravaged throughout his entire body.

"Plan A, which was just to ask him to join failed miserably. So, we are switching over to plan B, teaching him a lesson and forcing him into submission. Now, listen carefully and don't make me repeat myself…" Jayson said, his bright smile turning more disturbing the more he talked…

For the next few minutes, Jayson sat down beside Ray as he explained to him exactly what was about to go down and his role in all of it. The more he listened the more and more his expression twisted into immense fear.

"So, you got all of that kid? Failure is not an option!" Jayson said, finishing his explanation to Ray.

"N-no! I refuse! I won't do it! Do whatever you want to me but leave my friends out of it!" Ray said, starting out nervous but ending with clear resolve.

"Wait what? Sorry I didn't hear what you said… WOULD YOU LIKE TO REPEAT THAT ONE MORE TIME!?" Jayson said, his smile turning into an ugly, demonic frown, punching Ray in the stomach so hard, knocking the wind out of him before holding him up with one hand, his hands tightly around his throat.

"Did you not learn your lesson the first time? Do you want me to remind you? You are under the Zexis gang! We will ruin your life beyond anything in your wildest dreams if you reject! Also, even if you do reject, we will find another way to get our plans done! We could always just use you as a hostage! How does that sound instead? You are being given true mercy! One option would leave you as a hollow body without life and the other would leave you as a better, more respected member of the gang! Both options would lead to the same end for your friend! The answer is clear so don't be stupid and make the only right decision!" Jayson said, his hands still grasping tightly on Ray's neck, making it extremely hard for him to breathe.

Ray began to squirm around, tapping frantically onto Jayson's large, muscular, hairy hand as he was starting to lose consciousness.

"Jayson! Let him go! Are you trying to kill him? We still need this kid! He can't talk with your hand around your neck!" Nags, who was standing right behind him ordered with clear authority and a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Okay, okay, fine! I just got a little carried away…" Jason replied, dropping Ray's body on the ground, causing him to cough like a mad man, his hands around his neck where Jason's hands once were.

"So? Have you thought it over? What will it be kid?" Jayson said with a devilish grin from ear to ear, crouching down to meet Ray at eye level.

"F-fine… I'll do it… J-just spare me… I'll do anything…" Ray muttered with true fear in his eyes, his teeth shaking like crazy.

From the look in his eyes, Nags could understand the weight of Ray's words and that what he said took a lot out of him, it was not at all what he wanted to do… He seemed like a true, honest friend... But in his predicament, he did not really have any other choice…

That sight made him smile as he approached Ray to even further add on to his despair…

"Oh, one more thing… Take this, you will need it!" Nags said with a smile, installing something on to Ray's undershirt of his school uniform.

It was a little, transparent, high-tech looking sticker that seemed almost invisible to the naked eye.

"That's just in case you want to be sneaky and betray us, going back on your words… It may look stupid but it was more expensive than you can even fathom. The school used to use something similar before the important families started complaining about the military spying on them. With this, we will be able to monitor your every move in real-time as your body will show up as a hologram for us to inspect. It can also pick up on any sounds and video the area around as well. Someone from the gang will be monitoring your movements at all time…"

"The instant you are even suspected of revealing the plan or doing anything suspicious that might compromise anything, you will be teleported straight to where either I am, or another member is where you will be tortured and taken hostage to teach you a lesson. I know that you wanted to tell your friend and beg for protection from him or something but now you know that it is not possible… You got that?" Nags explained with a confident, wide, friendly smile on his face, putting his hands on the now even more frightened and hopeless Ray who was still coughing on the ground.

"All I need now is your fingerprint on this tablet and we are good to go! So… What will it be?" Nags continued, his smile growing even further as he brought out a tablet where there was a clear marker where he was supposed to provide his fingerprint, a similar-looking sticker on top of the area.

Ray stopped coughing as he looked at the fingerprint with depressed, shaky, nervous eyes. He wiped the sweat off his forehead before taking a big gulp of saliva as he slowly reached out his trembling arms towards the tablet in Nags's hand, authenticating his fingerprints with his eyes closed like he was disgusted with himself for what he had just done…

"You have made the right choice my friend... For your sake… I hope you don't disappoint…"