CHAPTER 5: CONFLICT

Finn watched as the target, Niam, approached with a cold expression.

Finn felt a little scared in his heart, but he found himself unable to hide.

He had to win the target's heart, so he had to make the target happy.

Hiding from the target would only make the target unhappy.

Finn didn't want to make the target unhappy.

He blinked rapidly as Niam got closer to him, and his neck was suddenly grabbed.

Finn's eyes widened.

He hadn't expected this.

He held Niam's hand and looked into his eyes, trying to speak, but the fingers only tightened around his neck.

Finn struggled.

What was going on?

The system also flickered with a blue light, unable to understand what was happening.

Finn's legs dangled in the air as tears pooled in his eyes.

Niam's eyes only darkened even more. "If you guys want to ruin my dad, you should target him directly."

"Why do you keep disrupting my life?!" He yelled.

His anger was palpable in his voice.

Finn had a question mark in his head.

Tears rolled down his face as he felt his throat being constricted. He really found it hard to breathe.

But Niam didn't seem to care.

His eyes kept flickering with emotions Finn couldn't understand, but one emotion hit Finn's heart directly:_ disappointment.

Finn felt his heart ache slightly.

He hadn't done anything to disappoint the target.

He had even volunteered to be bullied. Why would the target still feel disappointed at him?

"Niam, stop right now!"

Finn's eyes darted to the person only to see the teacher sweating hard as he tried to convince Niam.

The teacher grabbed Niam's arm, his voice trembling. "You'll kill him!"

Niam snorted. "Kill him?"

"If I do, then the bastards behind him will know I'm not someone they can easily target."

"I might be young, but I'm not a pushover." He said grimly, but his eyes flickered with fear.

His hold loosened, and he abruptly pushed Finn away.

Finn slumped in his seat.

Tears rolled down his cheeks as he coughed miserably.

He rubbed his neck, gasping for breath. "Bad. Niam is so bad." He said with difficulty as he almost choked on his tears.

"I didn't even do anything to him."

"He's so bad."

Finn cried pitifully.

Niam's eyes twitched.

The coldness in his eyes dissipated slightly, and he reached out as if he wanted to hold Finn but stopped when his fingers were only a few inches away from Finn's head.

He ran his fingers through his hair and cursed under his breath.

Finn's lips pursed.

Disappointment flooded his heart when he saw Niam pulling back.

His heart ached even more.

"He wouldn't even apologize."

"He hurt me so much, and he still wouldn't apologize."

Finn found it hard to believe that someone could be so cruel.

He glared at Niam, his green eyes etched with redness, and his face flushed with pain. "You are a bad person."

He murmured and ran out of the class.

"Finn!"

He heard the teacher's call, but Finn didn't want to stop.

His heart ached so much.

He had no idea why Niam would treat him this way.

All he wanted was to do his mission so he wouldn't die, so why would Niam want to kill him?

Finn ran without direction and only stopped when he got under a thick tree.

He sat on the root of the tree and hugged his knees, crying hard.

The system appeared before him.

"Sorry..."

Even the system seemed to feel bad for him.

Finn raised his swollen eyes to look at the system. "I don't want to do this anymore." He mumbled.

"Can I not go near Niam anymore? I don't want him as a target again."

His fingers rubbed his hot neck, and he could feel the marks on it even without checking with a mirror.

"He tried to hurt me. He wanted to beat me up."

He wiped his tears with the back of his hand.

"I hate people who are violent." Finn almost choked on his tears.

The system flickered and disappeared into Finn's mind. "You asked him to bully you." It mentioned.

Finn's brows furrowed. "Hm." He mumbled.

"Then, why are you crying?"

"This is the best way to bully someone. He's only doing as you said."

Finn froze.

Was the target bullying him?

Choking his neck... was that also bullying?

Then... the target wasn't wrong?

Finn hiccuped. "But it's so painful."

"I don't want this kind of bullying."

"It's so scary."

He lowered his head as he cried painfully.

He really didn't like such bullying.

The system went quiet.

It really had no knowledge of comforting someone.

It silently hoped that the target would come to his mind sooner and console the host...

******************

Niam stared at the lonely back of the pretty boy as he ran out of class, and he felt a sharp pang in his heart.

His fingers clenched into a fist. "Damn it." He cursed under his breath.

The enemies really knew how to catch him this time around, sending someone so good at pretending to be him.

They were throwing all their cards to ruin him.

But why?

The whole world knew he was a useless young master who only knew how to trouble others for a bit of joy.

Why would his father's enemies continue attacking him?

Niam sighed as he lowered his eyes to his phone's screen again.

The same message from his father's secretary that informed him of a young boy enrolling in his school still played on his screen.

But at that moment, another entered___

*The boy should resume tomorrow. Be careful, young master.*

Niam froze in place.