A Book Can't Be Judged By The Cover Chapter 2: The Debt Collectors

Haji knew he couldn’t outrun all of them, nor could he fend them off since there were three against one. Instead, he opted to climb the adjacent house over and do so house-hopping in the anti.

It was still early in the morning anyway, and Haji could tell that the people in their neighborhood were still asleep. That’s why he didn’t think twice about climbing their roofs and running on top of them. He just hoped that no one would suspect him as a cat-burglar or sothing of the sort.

After running toward the fence of his neighbor, Haji cleared it by doing a vault and landing on the neighbor’s lawn. He lurched forward due to the montum but he soon picked himself up, accelerated, and jumped upward, grabbing the edge of the roof and prompting himself upon it so he could comnce his escape.

Whack!

An object hit him squarely on the jaws, sothing cold and hard. He could’ve sworn one of his teeth was cracked but it was just the pain shooting up his brain. His gums started bleeding though, but he paid it no mind. ’What was that?’ He questioned in utter confusion.

By the ti he got back to his senses, the debt collectors were already upon him. They didn’t have any difficulty clearing the fence where Haji jumped over a few seconds ago.

That’s when Haji realized what hit him. A few feet from where he fell was one of the red high heels that the lady wore. Before he could pick himself back up, though, another object hit him squarely on the diaphragm, causing him to wheeze in pain. Disoriented, he staggered backward, but the man wearing the tuxedo finally caught up to him, brusquely squeezing him by the shoulders and pulling him up. He then locked his arms behind Haji. "I got the little brat." He announced while trying to catch his breath, much to the other debt collectors’ relief. "You’re quite the coward, huh. It’s impressive how you’ve gotten better at escaping though. There’s still no chance you can escape though."

The third muscular man wore a smile on his face while crossing his arms. He then swiveled his head towards the lady wearing her flashy dress. "Nice throw, Shelly-san. We finally caught the dirty little bastard" Haji found his accent a bit weird since he didn’t grow up living in Japan.

"Hah~ how was that? Now, where’s the money? I hope you’ll pay us right now or it won’t end well with you." Shelly twirled her thumb as she softly threatened Haji. Her voice didn’t co out as strong though. Haji guessed she still harbor pity towards him despite their desperation of extorting money from him.

"Three things," Haji pointed out, staring at the muscular man with the weird foreign accent. "First of all, I’m not dirty and in terms of physical appearance, I’m not little. I am a bastard by definition though. Second, I owe you nothing. My parents were the ones who borrowed money from you, not . You can’t ask to pay all that since I didn’t personally borrow money from you. Third, why don’t you collect your debts from their graves, huh? You’ll have a better chance at getting your money from them."

And that’s when Haji received a full-on slap on the face from none other than the muscular man himself. He was livid, to say the least, and veins started appearing on his temples as he growled like a rabid dog. It was obvious he was burning with anger. Honestly, his expression frightened Haji a little bit. Just a little bit.

"Well kid, let explain. The money that your parents owe us falls on you since you’re their son. If you can’t understand that, then you’re dumb." The muscular man continued after giving Haji his just desserts in the form of a face slap.

"Were you drunk when you read the law? Whatever it is that you were drinking, it must’ve been good." Haji curtly responded while wearing a condescending smirk on his face.

The man was quite annoyed by now. Turning around and letting his anger get the better of him, he prepared to hit Haji, this ti on the face.

However, Haji already expected this to happen. With a quick bow, the blow aid at his head missed him by a hair’s breadth, and instead, it landed on the man wearing the tuxedo who pinned him down. The man holding Haji back was thrown off because of the punch, and his grip loosened.

Seizing his chance, Haji quickly hopped off the fence and ran through the streets. ’Phew, good thing I didn’t lose my composure back there.’ He complinted himself while shortly glancing behind him. There were no signs of the debt collectors resuming their pursuit.

"They’ll be back tomorrow... sigh, hopefully not."

As much as Haji hated to admit it, he knew that there was nothing he could do about the group of loan sharks harassing him. After all, money’s on their side and well, it’s not on his. Second, compared to him, the group has more connections so reporting them to the police would just be a waste of ti. And last but not the least, he was undoubtedly poor. And one can’t do anything when they’re poor.

This was how Haji had been surviving for the past year. And although his current life was far from the norm, he was used to it. That’s all there is to it.

.....

Due to the redevelopnt in the area, much of the neighborhood’s properties started skyrocketing in terms of price and many building constructions started taking place. While many complained since so were basically being forced to sell their property, the overall redevelopnt was well received since it would greatly boost the land’s value.

As such, construction sites beca common and workers had been in demand lately.

A certain construction site could easily be noticed due to how huge the building was being constructed. This construction site had an estimated area of two hundred fifty-thousand square feet. The land’s owner thought it right to build an apartnt complex on this land since the redevelopnt is bound to attract more people soon. After receiving the blueprints from his hired architects, he finally assigned a certain construction company to work on the project. Little by little, his dream started turning into reality. Currently, the complex was about twenty-five percent complete.

anwhile, a familiar young man entered the premises, grabbing a hard hat by the entrance and greeting the others who were clocking in for the day. "Good morning," Haji repeatedly said.

Haji arrived a little earlier than usual but instead of taking so ti to relax, he proceeded to work straight away. More work ti ans more wages after all and right now, he needed all the money he could get. ’Of course, even bastards like us understand these things. It’s just a simple rule in any line of work. I can even say that it’s a law.’ He said to himself, ducking just in ti as a man carrying so beams passed by.

"Good morning there, mate! Seems like you’ve decided to work earlier than usual, huh."

"No, I just ca here without knowing the ti so I decided to work earlier rather than just waiting for my usual ti-in. And as they said, more labor ans more wages, right?"

"You got that right!"

After removing his jacket, Haji approached one of the half-built apartnts where the lockers for construction workers are located. This place serves as the resting place/ the cafeteria for construction workers during their breaks. Following that, Haji proceeded to his station and started bending so steel using plastic pipes set aside for that specific task. These bent steel fras would later be used for the pillars of the apartnt complex. A couple of buckets of cent poured over them after they’ve been set up would finish the job.

With beads of sweat flowing all over his face, Haji picked up the pace. Their employer is very particular with workers who slack on their job. Besides, there are a lot of things to be done. As soon as Haji’s task is finished, he planned to help the others so the construction would flow more seamlessly and much faster than normal. ’This is all for the money! This is all for the money! Tomorrow’s my payday so I need to work as hard as I can’ Haji reminded himself multiple tis.

At one point, Haji looked up to wipe so sweat trickling from his forehead and that’s when he noticed their employer walking toward him. He gulped, then looked down and increased his pace even more. ’He’s looking! He’s looking! He’s coming over here.’ It was an understatent to say that Haji was slightly panicked when their gazes t.

"Working hard as always, huh, Sasajima Haji." He complinted as soon as he was within Haji’s arms reach. "You’ve proven yourself to be a hard-working employee as soon as you started working here. Your work ethics are enough to cover for two employees at once, that’s why you’re the only one assigned in your station."

"T-thank you, sir!" Haji stiffly responded. "It is a real pleasure working here on your site and I’ll do my best to work more efficiently, sir!"

"Don’t force yourself, Haji. You’re quite a diligent young man. Here, take this." He said, handing him an envelope. "It’s a little bonus before your pay-day tomorrow. Just keep it to yourself, okay?" He whispered while checking the surroundings. Apparently, no one saw what he handed Haji.

"T-thank you very much, sir." Haji bead, gratefully accepting the envelope. "I’ll work harder from now on," He promised.

"Good job as always, young man. I could tell that one day, you’ll be really successful. Just keep working harder and you’ll be able to succeed." After patting Haji on the back, their employer then turned around and headed back.

’Phew, that was so nerve-wracking!’ Haji inwardly said, heaving a sigh of relief. Their employer was a kind man— he never fails to give bonuses to his employees from ti to ti. Sure, he’s more strict compared to Haji’s previous employers, but he’s strict in a good way. For a mont back there though, Haji thought that he was about to get fired since their employer walked toward him without warning. He was literally shaking in his boots at the re thought of getting fired from the spot. Fortunately, such wasn’t the case and he even received a bonus to boot.

’All’s well that ends well. Besides I got a bonus.’