Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story - Part 2

Vol.12 Ch.16: Vincent's Regrets

"It's a story about a boy in grade school," Vincent began his tale. "A quiet, nice boy who never hurt a fly. Unfortunately, being quiet meant he had trouble making any friends. Bullies often leeched off opportunities like that. And so, the boy found himself bullied."

At first, nobody in class noticed that something was wrong, not even Vincent. The bullies just casually started hanging around the shy boy, acting overly familiar with him.

"Hey, I forgot my lunch money. Can you lend me some?" It all started with indirect requests like this. The bullies must've been testing this boy, to see how gullible he was. They probably wanted to see how easy it was to exploit him and get away scot-free.

It was unclear what the boy himself thought of these suspicious approaches. Perhaps, he saw it as an opportunity to make friends. After all, these kids were reaching out to him, asking for his "help". Perhaps he thought that, by playing along, they could start something going.

So, the boy happily lent his money, probably thinking it was an early investment for developing friendship. Unfortunately, it didn't lead to the kind of relationship he was hoping for.

On the surface, the gang of bullies acted as if they became the boy's friends. However, it soon became apparent that their relationship was nothing like true friendship.

The boy merely became the bullies' plaything. They asked him to lend them money, to run errands for them, and even to pull pranks on other people in their stead and take the blame for it.

Their demands escalated further and further. It's like they got their hands on a brand new toy and wanted to stretch it to its limits. And so, they continued making the boy commit all sorts of evils. Before long, the boy became known as a "delinquent" in the class even though none of it was his own will.

That's when Vincent started following the story more closely. His journalism senses tingled, he felt something was wrong.

"I wasn't particularly close to the boy," Vincent admitted. "But, as an avid pursuer of the world's truths, I made it a point to learn as much as possible about my classmates. You may call it Journalist's Unstoppable Curiosity, a personal skill I inherited from my dear father."

This guy is a natural-born stalker. Yuel made a face. But, he means no ill so it's fine.

"Anyway," Vincent continued. "Even though I didn't have a close relationship with the boy in question, I knew enough to tell that his behavior didn't match his personality."

He knew the boy was the quiet type who wouldn't hurt a fly. Yet, after the boy started hanging out with his "friends", things took a turn for the worse. These rascals clearly had a bad influence on such a good kid.

"I-I don't want to do this..." Every now and then, the boy gathered the courage to resist the bullies' demands. He clearly didn't want to do bad things but his resistance was too weak.

"What the heck, man? You not gonna do me this favor? I thought we were friends." The bullies ganged up on the poor boy whenever he dared to utter a single word of objection. They overwhelmed him through peer pressure, forcing him to submit.

Sometimes, they even got physical with him. They shoved him, threw his things around, verbally assaulted him, and so forth. They did many things to keep their little toy under their thumbs.

"Honestly, it was sickening," Vincent said. "I couldn't believe that such injustice could be happening in our modern times, right in my own class."

Worst of all, everybody pretended like nothing was wrong. Everybody averted their eyes whenever the bullying was taking place. They protected themselves by avoiding eye contact.