Gort Fairbang.
The name rang a bell to many in the local area.
No matter where the young man went, someone there recognized him.
He was a strange blend between genius, insanity, and toughness.
Typically, parents would tell their children to emulate the smartest kid in the class or in the village.
But in Gort Fairbang's case, they dared not.
Have you ever seen a Genius who also had a group of hoodlums he controls running amok the place with authority?
Well, let's be honest.
Although Gort and his crew never actually never did anything bad, parents still didn't like their overly tough attitudes.
His crew were a mix of boys of both genders.
You can call them Gort Fairbang's little henchmen, who obeyed Gort's every command— though it never directed towards harming others.
Wait? Don't you recall them saying he was a GENIUS?
Yes… that's right.
For every mad scientist, there are obedient assistants who aid in making their experiments become a reality.
Again, all this was just hypothesis and guess work.
For it was a fact that Gort Fairbang and his group always stayed together… but no one knew just what they did to make them so notoriously known.
Perhaps it was because all of them looked odd and unique together as a group. That made many feel they were up to no good.
Individually, no one can pinpoint what made each of them odd. However, when in a group, it just didn't add up.
Why would such a cute, tiny girl always hang around their group?
Why would that burly teenager who looked like his one punch could kill a full grown man be out there obeying the slender boy's every command?
They didn't like it… Many parents didn't like it one bit. The most intriguing part of it all was that everyone in this group had good grades, making it hard for anyone to also pinpoint what made them particularly bad.
These days, several villagers and locals had been gathering to gossip about this notorious group who seem to be returning one by one.
4 weeks ago, the first 2 returned, and were instantly chased around by their father with an ax.
"Why the hell have you returned? ANSWER ME GODDAMMIT!"
"Why? WHY? Why have you returned?"
Those were the words that echoed around the village on that day.
The 2 sons of Old Hendo, had returned without notice— and without any explanation whatsoever.
You have to know that most people send their children to school in the County.
Although based in the village, most people here have distant family and relatives in the County. So they send their children there for school.
For those who don't have relatives in the County, the schools also offer dormitories too.
.
Tch–
Many gloated and teased, already guessing that their school should have already been kicked out of school, not knowing that some of them would soon see the return of their children too.
WHAT?
One by one, many people's hairs stood at attention when seeing their children return.
"You little Imp! If I don't kill you today, then my name isn't Barth Middleford!"
"Bastard! Stand still if you know you are a man! You think just because your wings have grown hard, I can't cut them off?"
"Okay, okay… run, run, run, all you like! In the end, won't you come back to rest for the night in MY House? Hmph! This day will be waiting for you then!"
Day after day, these teens who weren't even older than 15, were coming in without warning.
A total of 5 people stormed back one after another, causing an unprecedented wave of panic to flood into the village's already heavy atmosphere.
What's going on? Is there something they don't know happening in the County or in the Schools?
Some secretly called the school and their relatives, in hopes of sending a message across.
"Hello? Yes, yes, yes… eh? So there's no problem in schools or the county?"
"Ah! No problems? Good, good, good, good."
"Hmph! Son, if you dare show up home, then expect to leave the village after your village as a cripple, a blind man or a lunatic!"
In short, don't return, unless you want to be smacked so hard you forget how to spell your name.
…
Uncomfortable… Very uncomfortable.
Village chief Park Fairbang sat outside his simple home, smoking his pipe with a deep frown.
"Something's not right," he muttered to himself with a heavy expression.
His left eye has been twitching for several days now. In addition to this, he always stubbed his toe here and there on furniture too.
Clare Rei—Park Fairbang's wife—stepped out with a warm cup of tea, shaking her head sideways.
"What's the matter with you? Why have you been so unedge recently? Haven't I told you not to smoke that pipe more than once every 2 weeks?"
In ordinary times, Park Fairbang would have already rushed to blow it out and plead guilty with his wife, Mrs. Cheng. But today, his head seemed to be somewhere else.
It was almost as though he couldn't hear anyone or any sounds from nature fluttering around him.
"Old man, can you hear me?" Clare Rei placed the cup beside him and gently nudged his arm in worry.
Ah–
Park Fairbang blinked severally, taken aback by Clare Rei's sudden appearance beside him. To him, she appeared beside him like a ghostly spirit. But in truth, she has been calling out to him for sometime and he didn't answer.
Caressing his head, she smiled warmly. "What's wrong?"
Park Fairbang had a helpless look.
"... (sigh–)... Tell me, how can I not worry when those brats have been returning one by one?"
The more Park Fairbang spoke, the more excited he became. "It's not like you don't know that son of ours… I suspect that the return of those brats has something to do with him!"
Who is their son?
The 5 returnees, those brats, respect and follow their son's wishes with no questions asked.
If their son says go left, those brats follow his orders like troops on a battlefield.
And now, seeing them return one by one, day after day… Park Fairbang could bet on ALL the wealth he had, that their stubborn, troublemaker—the true ring leader, would soon return just like the rest.
So how could he not feel worried?