Wasn't I Supposed To Be The Side Character?

E was doing his best performing at a tour guide. Despite his protest that a senior gang member shouldn't have to bow his head to a new junior, the aura that seeped out of the initially innocent looking kid was horrifying enough to stop him from voicing his thoughts. He felt that if he was confrontational then getting his foot broken like a Brann would probably be a blessing.

"In the Brokers gang we specialise in specifically the underground gambling with sports and racing. Otherwise on the side we perform duties of loans and collections from our clients" E narrated as he introduced the workings of the gang. Normally he wouldn't have to spell this out as often the gang members would know this when they started since they would be doing the hard work from the start. E felt that if he gave these duties to this walking disaster he wouldn't have many clients left and the boss would be beyond furious. 

Of course the big boss wouldn't blame this wild tiger, a mixture of fear towards the child and that the boss knew E was more than knowledgeable about this. E let out a sigh after they finished the tour and were quiet walking back to the boss' office.

"Three years" Will spoke aloud as they continued walking, passing by the occasional gang member who stated strangely at E having such a young tag along.

"Come again?" E asked in confusion. Anyone wouldn't get the context of you spit out random words. Will stopped and E halted as well, Will put up his hands leaving three fingers up.

"This gang will last three years before it will be crushed. Between the police and rival gangs this place will be choked alive before anything can be done" Will spoke, but after maintains the serious facade he dropped it and sighed. "And after I went through the trouble to join this place" Will muttered but it was still audible to E. To say E was furious was beyond an understatement, his face was blushing a bright red in anger and a vein popped on his head.

"And a brat like you obviously knows better?" E said restraining his anger. If he wasn't held back by his fear, he would've happily beaten this petulant child on the spot. Will sneered at E and could easily tell what the latter was thinking.

"Haven't you ever wondered why is it that when the bigger gangs could get away with many things you attempt and the cops spring on you immediately?" Will lectured E on the going ons of the gang. E was definitely shocked at the young child's accurate guess and that only made him a little suspicious. It couldn't be that it was a rival gang that joined under his nose. He only that he could keep the suspicion to himself in case the wild tiger decided he was an early threat.

"It's obvious we need to expand our network as we barely have any dirt on those higher up" E threw back his words, covering up the wounded pride of the gang. Will shook his head in disagreement and decided to let up on his need to lecture this man who was young and new in his eyes.

"It's your money and how it's earned. It may be a huge earner for the gang but it generates too much heat for what you get out of it."  Will continued with his small verbal class. E perked up as he could nod in agreement as it has been harder and harder these days to keep daily operations going which meant they had to resort to more drastic actions. This inturn meant that the police were on high alert more often. But if they kept quiet they could only wait as the gang dried up like a husk since their money was being squeezed so tightly.

"It isn't the businesses themselves but the way you've gone about it" Will said hoping the hint was enough. Unfortunately E was perplexed as his face was filled with confusion.

"How does that change anything? You aren't pulling my leg are you Will?" E already became angry once again, being played around with a young brat easily set him off. Will shook his head at how hot headed E was despite the early impression he gave that he was cold and an aloof character. Obviously his early impressions were not a curate enough, he would have to watch them closely. Though he wasn't a good people person even in his last life he wasn't going to let it continue if it meant danger for him.

"No business is ever clean but think, why would the government pursue criminals so badly while many other normal businesses that commit evil are happily left on the sidelines" Will kept hinting and was waiting for E to answer. Will could tell E was more of the scheming type as Will himself was brought into the gang and already had done them a massive favour for little reward. Will was confident with some guidance that E could be a powerful thinker and strategist behind the scenes. E pondered for a while and stroked his chin while his mind shirred away at the problem, but it didn't take too long before E's eyes lit up.

"Taxes" E said confidently. Will smiled, he felt just like a parent watching their child trying to learn some complex homework problems.

"Correct. The main issue on why we are pursued so often is that we don't pay any taxes at all. You know what we would be called if we did though and followed the rules but done our way?" Will said as he became excited at teaching an old gangster some new tricks.

"I'm not too familiar with it" As E changed his attitude towards Will instantly upon hearing the potential money making they could be having.

"If it's legal but is conflicted with common sense or morals we would be a grey market. It's very common in betting, casinos, loans, banks and more. The best thing would be to change how we earn our money and ensure that it comes out clean. From there it would be simple to just continually earn money and spend freely" Will finished his mini lecture and felt satisfied at how E was eyeing him with a hunger for knowledge.

Will could only smile at seeing E's sudden change from a cold gangater to a hot headed and interested student. Will's initial guess was definitely right, it wasn't that the man wasn't smart enough he just never had a chance to study business and capitalise on his abilities.

"It'd be worth it to bring up with the boss. If you don't have any assignments for me I'll be going now" Will said and walked away, having memorised the route in the hideout he had already walked out of the building. E however didn't care as his eyes lit up in excitement. He walked back through the corridors and slammed open the door to the boss' office. The boss nearly fell off his chair at the intrusion.

"F.u.c.k E, you almost made me shit myself. I almost thought the kid came back after having his fun." The boss said as he retreated back to his usual calm persona. E however didn't care and was just excited.

"I've had a couple ideas boss on what we can do to fix our problems" E said with a smile, long gone was his cold and cool demeanor as he was so happy he was almost bouncing around. For a child it was adorable, but for a gangster it was definitely too much of a gap to enjoy.

The boss smiled at seeing the strange change in his subordinates. In less than an hour of having the wild tiger join people were caught as if there pants were on fire. Either fear, excitement or interest had gone through his underlings like a wave. He hadn't seen the gang like this since his early days.

"Alright I'm interested" the boss replied as he listened intently on E repeating his earlier learned lecture from Will, but this then expanded as they discussed more and more over their current workings of the gang and they both had long forgetten the earlier incident the wild tiger caused within the gang.