CRASH!
"I think that's the fifth one today."
A man sighed, clearly frustrated with the breaking of glass. He wore an apron that would make people's eyes cringe instantly. It was pink all over, with some fake fur on the sides and a Hello Kitty picture on the front.
It was suicide to even look at it.
Obviously unbothered by his lack of fashion sense, he picked up some gloves and a trash can and began gathering the glass shards.
This was not the way Adam had expected his day to go.
He had finally left that dumpster fire of an orphanage and used all his savings to buy a coffee shop, only for him to be scammed on the first day in the capital.
"Scrummy bastard," he mumbled under his breath, muttering curses that would make a grown man shiver with fear.
The shop had cost him one silver, and for a shop in the capital that was actually cheap, so like a gullible idiot, he had paid for the shop without even going to check it out.
He should have seen the signs. Which fucking idiot wore an oversized coat in the day when it was close to 70 degrees? Even if he hadn't questioned that, when the man had taken the silver and given a smile so sinister that even the Joker would be impressed, he should have asked for his money.
But he didn't.
He had finally gotten a shop he had always wanted, so he hadn't even thought too much about it.
And when he got there?
The difference between the shop and what the man had told him was comparable to night and day.
The sign outside, which was supposed to spell 'Bradick Coffee', had the first 3 letters of 'Bradick' removed, and no one would go to a coffee shop with that hanging in front of the shop.
Including the abysmal sign, the outside was awful. The walls looked like they were malnourished, if that was even possible. The door was barely hanging on its hinges, and the painting looked like a child had done it. Overall, it wasn't the coffee shop you would go to for a coffee
Now, if someone managed to bypass all that in the name of coffee, then the inside was likely to send them running.
The tables that were supposed to hold coffee and snacks had holes, and the chairs were so worn out they'd probably give customers back pain instead of comfort.
The counter was non-existent. Where was the coffee supposed to be sold from?
The kitchen, or what was supposed to be the kitchen, was empty of things needed in a kitchen but filled with dust thick enough to choke on.
And in a dust-filled corner sat the apron he was wearing.
His eyes looked over the fashion abomination he was wearing, and he let out a sigh.
"Maybe I should have stayed in the orphanage."
Sure, he would have been kicked out when he was 18, but that was still 2 years away. He could have relaxed for two more years before being sent to the capital to fend for himself, and who knows? Maybe that bastard would be dead by then.
He shook his head, chasing away the mindless thoughts, then glanced at the glass shards on the floor with an annoyed expression.
There was a tiny storeroom at the back of the store, and he had thought it held the things he would need to make coffee, but all it had was glass. A lot of glass. Cups, plates, and other cutlery.
It looked like the former owner had been obsessed with glass and then just left it here.
Yeah, he didn't understand either.
At first, he'd been angry about all the glass, but decided to use it to decorate the tables — he was broke, after all.
No money was coming out of his empty pockets to maintain this place.
So he decided to make them look fancy on the aging tables, but the tables were so bad that they couldn't even hold a single glass cup, and collapsed the moment he put it on the table.
This led to the glass breaking, and he kept trying but kept getting the same result.
Adam laid on the floor, bringing his hand to his face.
"I'm fucked aren't I?"
Every single citizen of Euphoria had to pay a certain amount of money to live in the kingdom. It was another way the so-called 'nobles' stayed ahead of the commoners.
It was really nothing new, as corruption was a daily occurrence in the kingdom, and it would never change if the royal family stayed in power.
The orphanage had already paid this month's tax for him, and since he had spent 2 days moving from his tier 3 hometown to the tier 1 capital, he only had 28 days remaining.
And with the shop as it is right now, he wouldn't even be able to pay 10% of the tax.
He was truly and utterly fucked.
Should he run away?
No way. The Awakeners would catch him long before he got far — and torture wasn't beneath them.
Before he could think of more ways to escape his bleak situation, the door to the shop was kicked open, and it smashed into pieces, demolishing a wall. His heart almost followed it, too.
Can't believe someone bought this dump,' a voice boomed, loud enough to make Adam's ears ring.
"Time to pay up. It's your debt now."
Adam stood there, frozen and wide-eyed. He could see the glowing mark on the man's neck, and even though it was very dim, it shone bright in his eyes.
'He's an awakener, isn't he?