Thug and Idol: 10X Rewards Second Identity System

One and a half years earlier.

Evelyn was running down the narrow street, cursing her life and her high heels. Her pursuer was only a few meters behind her, quickly diminishing the distance between them.

Usually, Evelyn was the one who lured people into narrow alleyways with her alluring looks so Mark could beat them up and rob them. But this time, she was the one being attacked in the broad daylight!

"Stop running, babe! Just relax and I will make it nice for you!" her pursuer shouted, grinning lecherously.

The few people hanging on the street pretended they didn't see or hear a thing. In this place, people knew that poking into other people's problems was a good way to get problems of their own.

'Fucking bastard… Just a little more!' Evelyn thought desperately.

Mark was waiting for her nearby—he would protect her. If she could get there.

Evelyn's pursuer got closer, close enough that she heard him panting behind her.

Neither of the two people paid attention to a man in a man with a face covered by the hood of his jacket, who was sitting near a wall.

But when the pair ran past him, he stood up and tackled Evelyn's pursuer to the ground.

"Agh! What—Get off me, man! I'm gonna—Ugh!"

Hearing this, Evelyn turned around to see the homeless man scuffle with her pursuer. Although the homeless man was on top, she wasn't sure he would win the fight.

Especially when she saw a glint of a knife in her pursuer's hand.

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She turned away and kept running toward Mark, too focused on her own well-being to say even a "thank you".

Evelyn didn't look back and didn't see the man cut Tristan's shoulder.

She didn't see Tristan then wrench the knife out of the man's hands and kick his head until he stopped resisting.

She didn't see Tristan checking the man's pockets for valuables, either.

Five minutes later, Evelyn met with Mark at the old playground they usually hanged out at, and told him about this story.

Mark was angry, of course, and Evelyn basked in his protective rage.

She loved having such a devoted and strong protector like him—with Mark, Evelyn didn't have to sleep with people for money and favors anymore, or fear beatings.

Even if Evelyn thought that Mark himself was boring and his jokes were the stupidest thing ever, she still laughed at them every time.

Fifteen minutes later, their idyll was interrupted when a man walked into the old playground and approached the pair.

Mark immediately tensed.

"Hey, this is our hangout! Hear that, man? Get out!"

Evelyn looked at the man closely, and her eyes widened. It was the same man who saved her. However, back then, Evelyn didn't notice the terrible scars that covered Tristan's hooded face.

"I don't want to intrude. I just saw that your lady was in trouble, so I followed to check if she was alright."

Tristan's manner of speech was withdrawn, but polite and non-provoking.

Evelyn smiled gratefully at him.

"Thank you, I'm fine thanks to you. Few people nowadays will actually help a lady in trouble."

Mark, realizing who Tristan was, immediately relaxed and grinned at him.

"Oh, you are the guy who saved my babe! Alright, you can sit with us here."

Tristan moved toward Mark, but then winced and held on his shoulder. Some blood was visible there through the cut in his jacket.

"Maybe next time. That guy cut my shoulder… I hope I won't need stitches, because the best I can afford is a band-aid." Tristan chuckled, as if that was a joke.

However, he knew the cut was actually just a scratch. The real reason he was there, talking with these people, was that he hoped they would feel pity and give him some more cash.

Evelyn frowned. She made it look like pity, but her thoughts were far from pity.

That damn ugly beggar was indirectly asking for THEIR (her) money, while THEY (she) already didn't have enough of them!

Mark frowned, out of actual pity toward the wretch. However, he was much more grateful toward Evelyn's savior than Evelyn herself.

"Hey, baby…" he turned toward Evelyn. "Your savior took on someone with a knife. That takes some balls, eh? I think a person like that would be very helpful in our hustle. And being just two people on these streets is barely better than being one person."

"You want to have him join us, love?" Evelyn asked, looking at Tristan. "You look pretty strong, that's true. Like some grizzled warrior."

She smiled at Tristan, putting more of her charm into it. More protectors were good in her book, as long as she didn't have to sleep with him.

However, Tristan met her smile with a cold, distrustful look.

These days, Tristan wasn't trusting people's smiles. Especially since he remembered Evelyn running away earlier without a second glance.

Realizing this, Evelyn tensed inwardly. Any person who won't be controlled by her charms was a threat in her book.

However, she already dug her grave there, because Mark took her words as an agreement.

"That's right! My name's Mark. What's yours?"

"Tristan. So you want me with you?.."

"Yeah. Come on, I can check on your wound and you won't need any doctors. There's a first aid kit in our flat."

Evelyn kept smiling and nodding to Mark's words, but inwardly…

Inwardly, she knew that if she can't make Tristan obey, she will have to get rid of him somehow.

***

Present day.

Looking into Tristan's new face, Evelyn knew she had been right all along.

That guy was a danger.

Too bad for him, he decided that boldness was all it took to win a fight!

"After what you did to me, you think you can say stuff like that, Scarface?" Evelyn spat out, standing up.

Mark stood up too and cracked his knuckles. Ricky followed their example, as always.

"The one who will be fucked up is you, shithead!"

He charged at Tristan, throwing the first punch.