The wooden building was big, but the right half of its section had collapsed on itself, leaving only its left half intact, and even that was covered with green moss.
Leon saw a group of blurry men sitting in front of them. They reminded him of gangsters back on Earth — each one carrying a sharp blade like a sword, a cleaver, or even an axe. They were laughing loudly among themselves.
As the group got closer to these mobsters, Leon saw Lisa and the others behaving strangely. Their eyes were glued to the ground, nobody made a sound, and they even held their breath. To Leon, it seemed like they were trying not to be noticed by those mobsters. But unfortunately, they did get noticed.
Leon saw one of the gangsters gesture for them to come closer. He had black hair and an overgrown beard. A huge axe was strapped to his back. He spoke in a very rough, loud voice:
"You little shits are early today, huh?"
His voice made the whole group of children tremble — except for Leon, who didn't know what was going on.
Little Roan was especially scared; his whole body was trembling. Generally, a child his age would cry when scared, but Roan's actions surprised him. Even though Roan was scared to the point that his body trembled, he didn't even let out a squeak and hid behind Mathew's legs.
Mathew, on the other hand, tried to remain calm, but Leon — who was holding Mathew's hand — noticed how Mathew's hands were shaking ever so slightly.
"Actually… big brother Dan," Mathew began, "you see, Leon got into an accident today, so we brought him back early to rest."
Dan looked at Leon with a scrutinizing gaze.
"He looks fine to me," Dan said.
Mathew walked closer to Dan and pointed toward Leon's head.
"As we were doing our work, Leon got separated, and when we found him, his head was hurting, and he had lost all of his memories."
As Mathew said that, all of the gangsters burst into laughter. Especially Dan — he was laughing so loudly that it hurt Leon's ears.
"Huaaa hahaha! I thought this only happened in stories! Haha, so this is real, huh? Let me see!"
Whaaack!
Leon was startled at the sudden noise. He saw Mathew's head jerk back violently as he fell to the ground.
He stood there shocked as Mathew got back on his feet. The right half of his face was red, with clear finger imprints etched on his face. He was even bleeding from his lips.
Dan, his hands still up in the air as if waiting to deliver another slap, grabbed Mathew by the collar with his other hand.
Whaaack!
"Have you lost your memories too, you shit?"
Whaaack!
"How dare you come here without completing your quota!"
Whaaack!
"I don't care even if someone dies out there. If you wanna live, complete your fucking quota!"
Whaaack!
"You have just one job, you piece of shit. Just one!"
Whaaack!
Dan was screaming as he slapped Mathew with all his force. Mathew's face had already swollen purple.
Throughout this ordeal, Mathew didn't offer even the slightest bit of resistance, as if knowing that putting up a fight would only make it worse. Neither did he cry or beg for mercy — he just took the beating.
Even though Leon was 28 mentally and had seen several fights happen back on Earth, they were mostly verbal spats or pushing each other — maybe a punch or two — between men of similar age. He had never seen a grown adult man slapping a child with such force. The scene in front of him made his blood boil.
His mouth opened on its own, as if on instinct.
"You fucker…" Leon screamed with all his might.
"You bastard, don't you have any shame? Why are you picking on a child? Fight me if you dare!"
Everyone present looked at his outburst with shock.
Lisa was first to react. She blocked Leon's mouth with her trembling hand.
"He… he doesn't know what he's saying," Lisa said, her voice trembling with fear. The skinny boy Bear moved in front of Leon, blocking him from Dan and the other gangsters' view.
Dan let go of Mathew, who fell to the ground like a rag doll.
All of the gangsters looked at the scene in front of them with amused smiles on their faces.
Dan grabbed Bear by the neck and threw him so hard that he tumbled and skidded a few meters.
Lisa was still holding Leon's mouth. She was slowly walking backward, dragging Leon with her.
Dan reached them in a single leap. He grabbed Lisa by her hair and threw her to the side just like Bear.
In his earlier outburst, Leon had forgotten that now he was in the body of a five- or six-year-old child. And now Dan was towering above him like a beast. Dan lifted him by the scruff of his shirt with a single hand.
Leon saw that just as Dan was about to slap him, Mathew — with his swollen face — grabbed Dan's hand from behind.
"Dan, please let him go. He's just five. Beat me if you want, just let him go," Mathew said as he gripped Dan's bulky hand with both hands.
Bear also limped forward. He grabbed Dan's hand that was holding Leon by the scruff of his shirt. Though he didn't say anything, Bear put all his strength into pulling Dan's hand away from Leon.
Seeing them struggle, Lisa also joined them. Her face was filled with snot and tears as she grabbed Leon by his waist and tried to pull him away from Dan's hand.
"Let go, please let go of him. He's just a child," Lisa said between her sobs.
Roan and Mira were both shaking all over. Mira tried to go forward and join the others, but her legs had gone limp from fear.
Roan's situation was even worse — he was huddled on the ground, trembling from time to time.