The socially awkward villain's furry superpower

Harald is a simple-minded guy.

He gets up in the morning, eats some Owen Lake cereal with a little milk, and then takes a shower like everyone else.

His place was nothing out of the ordinary. It was a small suite on the top floor of a low-rent apartment building.

This place is quite nice. Since we changed the water heater, the water temperature has been consistently warm, and it keeps the water very warm in winter, effectively blocking out the cold snow and snow.

He even has a parking space in the back of the house for his Iveco car.

If anyone asks, he will say that he works the night shift at a grocery store, and sometimes the morning shift.

This job is respectable and prestigious, but it's a bit tedious. If someone were to check, they could even find his name on the payslip.

Of course, all of this was a lie.

This was a carefully designed scam by his boss.

He wasn't the kind of grocery store employee who would spend the whole night neatly arranging cans, only to have them wrecked by some nitpicking customer an hour after opening the store—though he had indeed done that kind of work in his past life.

Not at all.

Harald is a leader. He's a formidable character, a playboy.

Although he wasn't the top leader, he still held a high position of power.

He was always pursued by many girls, and he often went to bars at night to relax.

It was a small place hidden in one of the most interesting parts of the city.

There, music can be played at a deafening volume without disturbing others.

However, it wasn't all just for fun.

Of course, he also had to find a way to keep his subordinates, who were eager to show off, in check.

There will be cash transactions, and some items of questionable legality will be passed around, consumed by those lovely female college students who are tired of their fathers interfering in their lives. Occasionally, they also have to figure out where to leave the coolest graffiti marks.

Everything was going quite well until the boss called.

The last time was two days ago. The boss told him to go to a hidden bar in some back alley and cause trouble for someone.

He led a few of his henchmen in, gave the man a good beating, and then, as instructed by their boss, took a computer from him.

At that moment, the computer was right in front of him.

That bar has a pretty nice basement.

The walls were bare concrete on all four sides, with pipes crisscrossing the area, but it was quite clean.

His office is right here, with just a table, a chair, and a computer buzzing in the corner.

Sometimes, people just need a quiet place away from loud music and noisy people.

He's the kind of person who can't sit still; he doesn't like to sit still. Instead, he walks around the room.

The shelf held some stationery, a printer, and a few small gadgets.

He paced back and forth, picking up each item and putting it back.

There's a stack of papers here, a book there, and a stapler next to it.

This is how he relieves stress while waiting for his boss to call.

Just the day before, one of his men had suffered a major setback, one that made the evening news.

That "oily-faced" guy got a good beating from a damned bear.

Harald had high hopes for that kid! He had hoped he could add some legitimacy to their entire operation.

"Oily face" can't be locked up forever.

Oh, of course, that kid may be a bit cunning, but he's still a decent person.

His most serious disciplinary violation was just messing around a few times in high school.

But now he's ruined. He'll be watched, and people will know his name and address.

If someone appears suspicious or unkempt, you can immediately recognize them.

Harald continued fiddling with the things in the room. He had a small cloth in his back pocket to wipe the dust off the objects.

Dust always bothered him because no matter what he did, he could always clearly see where the dust was.

He turned to face his desk, just then the phone rang.

Harald reached out and grabbed the cordless phone, which slid across the room and landed securely in his hand. At the same time, the call connected. "Yo."

The voice on the other end of the phone was muffled and shrill, making it difficult to understand.

But there was no doubt that Harald knew who was calling. "Hello, boss."

"How have you been lately?" Harald asked.

However, when speaking with his boss, he referred to himself as "Homie" instead of Harald.

He frowned slightly when he heard the crunching sound of cement grinding on the other end of the phone.

"Let's take it one step at a time. You still have that hard drive, right?" the boss asked.

"Dude" looked at the desk, where the computer he had stolen was placed.

The hard drive is inside the computer. Although I have some computer knowledge that I've learned through observation and experience.

He knew where the hard drive was, but he didn't want to risk taking it out; it would be terrible if he damaged it.

“Very good.” The boss continued without waiting for his reply, “Then we can move on to the next step.”

Tonight you need to send the hard drive to a specific address. You'll meet one of my contacts there.

If it's the right person, I'll send you a text message to confirm.

“Sure, sure, I can do it,” the buddy said.

"So far, you've been quite reliable," the boss said approvingly. "If this succeeds, we'll have the upper hand over the 'conspiracy group.'"

The "buddy" nodded, and the boss naturally noticed as well.

"Great. The address will be sent to your disposable phone. You know what to do."

"Yeah, don't worry."

A sound of movement came from the other end of the phone.

"By the way, what's the deal with your new subordinate? If you know more than what's reported in the news, tell me about it."

"Dude" frowned.

"I'm really not sure. Well, or rather, I can guess."

'Oily Face' was caught after he went out. But I don't know how they tracked him down.

He probably gave himself away while showing off to the girls here. You know what women are like.”

A frustrated sigh came from the other end of the phone. "Too amateurish."

"He's a newbie after all. He has a lot of potential, but he's a bit easy to bully."

That's not entirely a bad thing, but... well, his superpowers aren't that great, so the loss isn't too significant.

“I’ve never heard of a superpower that’s completely useless,” the boss said. “This was indeed a missed opportunity, but there are plenty of others now. We can make up for the loss.”

"Do you think this was done by a 'conspiracy group'?" the buddy asked.

He wanted his boss to clearly say no.

Surprisingly, the boss turned out to be a very honest person.

If he says it wasn't those mysterious guys who did it, then it's probably just an accident.

“I can’t say for sure,” the boss said. “Get me the hard drive, and then we’ll know for sure.”

"Dude," he nodded again. "Got it, I can do it."

And also, do you have any news about that woman Sienna?

I checked her Isabelle social media account, but there wasn't much useful information on it.

If she comes knocking on my door, I want to be prepared in advance.

"I will send you the information I have."

"But probably not much," the boss said. "And I know even less about the two people with her."

"They look like lackeys or something," the guy said. "Nothing to worry about, right?"

"I think so. Good evening, be careful, and stay tuned for my next message."

"I will definitely comply."

The phone call ended. A moment later, a vibration came from the desk drawer.

The guy stared blankly, silently read the contents of the text message a few times, wrote down the address, and then flicked his finger, tossing the phone into the charging dock.

The drawer popped open, and the cell phone inside flew out and landed in his back pocket. At the same time, he picked up the laptop containing the hard drive and stuffed it into a handbag.

He first took care of the tasks assigned by his boss, so that he could temporarily put those trivial worries behind him.