As Never Was

Chapter 12

It was the number of events that had him defeat an 'opponent'. Not in a fist fight, not in court, but in business. It got to the point where he reached a three digit number before he thought that it was sort of childish and maybe a little petty for him to care so much about who he beat up, because by then, he was already a famed and feared businessman who people would think three to five times before considering to attack. Of course, he had his reasons why he started the scoreboard in the first place. For each and every 'opponent' he had, Shao Long never allowed himself to let them go so easily. The lot of them, all 113 recorded people had suffered tremendously from his wrath that at that point, it seemed as though his reputation and wealth stemmed mainly from the horrors they told other people about it. 

This strategy that Shao Long pulled off was one he had created back when he was 27-ish or maybe he had already thought of it long before but just started using it then. There was always some ways he'd think of from time to time on how to handle those pests, some of which were done with seething hatred and anger, others were for his own amusement. This one though, the one he applied in monopoly, was one he had thought of with great hatred, a flashback of humiliation and betrayal and absolute waste of chance that happened back when he was 16 with no one by his side (since he should have realized from the start that there was no one on Earth he could truly trust). It was a little different doing this in the real world. On the game board though, it was so easy and plain to every eyes around them. It takes lesser time too. 

This strategy of his was one he was actually quite proud of. It could be really tricky at the start, but once you were done with the first part of the game, the rest would come to him so normally that it'd be just for stress relief by then, watching the people around him tearing up and discussing incessantly on how to combat the attack, as if they of all people could think of one. Shao Long had some hopes for Gion and maybe Shintarou. Charles too, because in no timeline would Shao Long ever dare to underestimate the guy. 

That being said, Shao Long couldn't help but feel cautious. 

Charles hadn't done anything remotely alarming in the next few rounds, not when Shao Long was lazily on his way to dominate the board yet again, with no pressure or even competition now that the rest of the princes were otherwise debating on when and how they should conceded defeat before one of them ended up losing their rights to study here. Not that Shao Long particularly cared. In hindsight, he did feel a little guilty, the same way adults feel when kicking down a child, because while these princes were annoying, they just...didn't grow up yet. Didn't mature into the kings they were yet. Didn't have that nudge to really work out something with their brains yet. They were still children, so was he back when he first played this fucked up game. 

Shao Long may not have the best morale out there, but there were times when even he knows who deserved his wrath and who doesn't. After his father's death, Shao Long was so driven by vengeance that nothing other than gaining stability and inconveniences everyone who messed with him ever crossed his thoughts, much less picking on people who stayed fairly clear off his path. The number of times he failed at the two objectives above also made him painfully aware of his every single move and prevented him from doing more than he really needed to. 

And traumatizing these children was absolutely something he didn't need to do. 

As much as he'd say that these fuckers messed up his teenage years, Shao Long didn't have it in his heart to hate someone more than he hates himself, not even Charles.