EVIL SYSTEM

Viviana sat in her office with a perpetual frown on her face.

Looking at the papers on her desk only increased her annoyance and stress.

What had once been a source of joy for her family had now become a constant headache and source of stress.

The company's shareholders didn't accept her leadership and constantly seized every opportunity to sabotage her.

The employees of the company believed her incapable. She had even heard several rumors about herself and her family.

The productivity and morale of the company were declining.

As if that weren't enough, the competition had already noticed this situation and was actively attacking them.

She had discovered that many of them were looking for ways to bring her and the company down.

Even her properties weren't safe.

Without enough power, no one believed you were truly capable in this world. That's why the first decision she made upon inheriting the fortune was to buy three advancement serums.

It was a potion infused with powerful magic that granted a chance to break through from the elemental level to the intermediate level.

Unfortunately, neither Julius, Holgram, nor Jan had been able to reach the intermediate level.

Since that day, things had only gotten worse for them.

Holgram had been transferred to the capital by his police unit. Jan had turned to alcohol and parties.

Julius had begun suffering from an illness that still hadn't been diagnosed.

And Adela.

Oh, Adela had been the worst of all.

Along with her boyfriend, she had stolen a large amount of money and jewelry from Viviana's safe and fled.

What she thought was a romantic escape with the love of her life.

They were going to travel the world and live their love together.

At least, that's what she thought.

Just two days after running away, her boyfriend stole everything they had and left her stranded.

Apparently, he had another girlfriend whom he truly loved and had only been with Adela for the money.

Viviana rubbed her forehead, thinking about having to support a girl who had never cared about her studies or even her magic.

On top of all that, she had learned that some time ago, one of her nephews had mysteriously disappeared and was declared dead by his own parents just a few days later.

Viviana had strong suspicions about Ben's disappearance. She didn't think it was impossible that his own parents had made him disappear to take his property.

From James's own mouth, she had learned that Ben's grandfather had left him a property. Shamelessly, just one day after declaring his own son dead, James had tried to sell it to her.

Being in such a precarious situation, Viviana obviously couldn't buy the property and let him know.

Erwin didn't want to buy it either, and the last she heard, James had managed to sell it to a third party.

Viviana shook her head in disappointment.

The family!

They had all turned out to be more disappointing than she had once believed, even her own children.

She couldn't ask Erwin for help because she was too proud, and doing so would mean admitting she wasn't the right person to inherit her father's fortune.

James was useless and could even be a threat—if he had truly plotted against his own son, what might he do to her?

Ethan and she had never been close, and she seriously doubted he would be of any help.

Viviana opened the secret compartment in her desk, where she found a thick red notebook.

The notebook came with a written message:

[To the one who inherits my fortune. In this notebook, I leave an insurance policy to keep everyone in line.]

The first time Viviana opened this book, she couldn't believe what she was reading. But the notebook came with evidence included.

When she saw that even her own secrets were in there, she immediately closed it.

But now, she needed to make use of those secrets.

+++++

"Where's your little friend now?" Darnell grabbed Dilan's hair and forced him to look at his smiling face.

Dilan lowered his gaze without responding.

"I'll tell you where your little friend is." Darnell smiled proudly. "Your dear friend is now dead!"

Dilan trembled but didn't respond.

"But you and I don't have to be on bad terms." Darnell looked at Dilan, who was naked and hanging from the ceiling of the gym. "If you take me to your house and let me sleep with your little sister, we can be very good friends."

Dilan remained silent.

Darnell shook his head and continued beating Dilan as Friga and Mkdonal watched in horror.

"Darnell, are you sure Ben is dead?" Mkdonal couldn't shake the feeling of unease.

"Yes," Darnell said, kneeing Dilan in the stomach. "I've been working with my brother lately. I know very well that the people that guy takes never come back."

Even with his assurance, Mkdonal and Friga refused to participate in the beating of Dilan.

Through the gym doors walked Charly, who gave them only a brief glance before ignoring them and leaving.

"Damn show-off!" Darnell spat on the ground. "He thinks he's hot stuff just because he reached the intermediate level."

++++

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Ben asked as he helped Dante climb over the walls of North Raimon University.

"Yes," Dante said, leaning against the wall and peeking to see if anyone was watching them enter. "We can't go through the front gate because it's not visiting hours."

Dante climbed over and signaled for Ben to follow.

Ben climbed over the wall as if it were a small curb, with ease.

"Wow! You're really strong!" Dante was very impressed.

Ben shrugged it off.

"I'm an intermediate mage."

"WOW!"

"It's nothing, let's go." Ben urged him to keep moving. "Where is it?"

"I don't know," Dante shook his head.

Ben raised an eyebrow.

"Look, I don't know where their dorm is because I've never been to this university," Dante explained. "What we need to do is look for the fraternity's symbol on the dorms."

Dante crouched and began drawing a symbol on the ground. It looked like a fancy letter M intertwined with a sword.

"Easy, right?"

"Okay," Ben nodded, and together they began walking through the university.

They easily deduced which areas were the administrative offices, classrooms, and dorms.

The dorms were the largest area, with many old buildings spread out.

They split up to cover more ground, and within half an hour, Dante was calling him excitedly.

"Ben, I found it."

"Let's go," Ben said, also excited. It had been a long time since his last meal, and he had exerted a lot of energy in his fight.

He was really hungry.

Together, they ran excitedly to a five-story building that looked very old but was in good condition.

"Listen," Dante stopped him and pointed. "Let me handle everything. Don't say a word; I'll take care of it."

Ben nodded and urged him to knock on the door. He really couldn't handle the hunger anymore.

Dante rang the doorbell and, to be sure, knocked four times.

They waited patiently, hearing someone approaching quickly.

"Yes? How can I help you?" A young Asian man, no taller than 5'7", greeted them.

The guy was handsome, dressed in comfortable clothes, and holding what looked like a video game controller.

"Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Dante, and I'm a fraternity brother." The guy raised an eyebrow with a sly smile on his face. "We've come to ask for your help and a place to rest."

"Oh, really?" The guy laughed cheerfully and extended his hand to Dante.

Dante shook his hand, let go, bumped fists from the front, then up and down, side to side. They released their fists, grabbed each other's hands, danced a little, then bumped elbows and shouted loudly.

"Chanzio!! Chanzio!!"

The guy's eyes widened in disbelief.

"My name is Jiang Chen," he introduced himself and stepped aside. "You can come in."

Ben and Dante celebrated covertly by high-fiving behind their backs.

"I'm Ben," Ben introduced himself as Jiang Chen stared at him.

Together, they entered the building and were surprised by how nice the place looked.

"Come with me; I'll introduce you to everyone," Jiang Chen led them to one side of the building. "They're all having breakfast."

Jiang Chen had a strange smile on his face as he led them with particular enthusiasm.

The three entered the dining hall, and Jiang Chen spread his arms, calling for everyone's attention.

"Fellow Chanzio brothers, let's welcome our fraternity brothers, Dante and Ben."

Dante and Ben froze as they saw the large crowd of people staring at them.

They weren't surprised by the number of people or the many eyes on them.

They were surprised because every single person sitting in the dining hall had typical Asian features.

Everyone stared at them, all thinking the same question in their heads:

"Are you kidding me?"

Ben grabbed Dante by his shirt and pulled him close.

"Hey, idiot! Why didn't you tell me this fraternity only accepts Asians?"

"Because I didn't know," Dante panicked. "And what do you mean by Asians?"

Ben remembered that in this world, there was no Asian continent, so people with those features weren't called that.

"Never mind," Ben turned his head. "You'd better think of something to get us out of this mess."