Chapter 002.10: Twilight Rose Syndicate

"When it rains, it pours."

It really does huh.

I'm already soaked wet. The loud crashing wails brought by the rain clashing with the roofs and ground dominates the silence. I can barely hear the barking of these really patients dogs.

Won't you go home? I really wanted to go home now in my case so kindly leave me alone.

"Ba~by Mark~"

This voice calling me in an embarrassing nickname belongs to my birth mother. I turned to the source and saw a thick lady in office suit walking under the barrage of rain with a pink colored power puff girl umbrella as her only shield.

She's ‘Merlin G. Reverren’, 37 years old. She has a short and dark pink hair beautifully harmonizing with her purple bright eyes which Crystal inherited. She is also a tall woman but with right fat in right places which makes her rather sexy.

I call her ‘mom’ and if I am to describe her, she's a sweet, clingy, caring, and easygoing mother.

Oh, she noticed me and then walked towards this tree.

But....

"Wait mom! Don't come over, there are dogs around here."

"Ara~ You a~re re~ally there~"

"Mom!"

"It's fine baby. It's a~lright~"

No it's not alright. Look, they all turned their eyes to you observing and waiting to what you'll do.

Oh hell.

I took another pen from my backpack and prepared to leap forward.

"Were you sca~red by them~?"

Eh. That stopped me.

"No! I'm not scared."

"Oh I see~ You're just prote~cting yourself right~? Hehe~ Your blood is expensive after all."

With the way you speak, it sounds like you're being sarcastic even though you're actually supporting me.

"Anyway, it's dangerous for you mom."

*Arf!*Arf!*Arf!*Arf!*

The dogs barked and walked to mom.

I tightened my grip on the ballpoint pen.

"Ara, do you ha~te me now~?"

Mom squatted down and showed her face to the dogs. She's smiling gently without any trace of fear, sadness, or anger. It's just a genuine smile.

But that won't make the dogs kind to you mom.

*Swish*

*Thump!*

I jumped to the ground and ran to the dogs. They all turned towards me and growled. Then all of them prepared to confront me.

I readied a stabbing gesture waiting for the proper timing. The dogs then ran to me in an unusually aggressive manner.

*Arf!*Arf!*Arf!*

"Hey~!"

Mom shouted and I stopped. I didn't stop just because of her, but because the dogs halted as well.

Hmm...

"Wha~t are you all doing~? Why~ are you fighting~?"

Mom strode and went in between the dogs and I.

"Stop it okay."

She said to the dog then turned to me.

"You too baby. The~y won't hurt you so you shouldn't as well."

I don't think so.

"Yes mom. My bad."

"Hehe~ Good."

She squatted and tried to pat the white aspin but I held her hands.

"Wait mom. It's dangerous."

"It isn't."

I let go of mom but I readied myself.

Mom patted the dog. And the dog didn't show any hostility. But instead wagged it's tail.

*Arf!*

It barked and the other dogs followed.

*Arf!*Arf!*Arf!*

Their barks isn't as sharp filled with hostility as earlier. They're more soft and gentle.

Okay, I feel a sense of unfairness.

"Why are they so cold to me but so warm to you?"

"Because I'm fee~ding them so hehe, they lo~ve me~"

"I see. So it's because they're receiving benefits from you."

"Don't make it sou~nds so bad. It's because they saw that I~ am their friend. I showed them I am one by feeding them."

"I see."

"They're only hostile against you because they're uncertain if you're a threat or not so they rather be careful than not. You just need to remove that uncertainty."

"I get it. I'll make sure they recognize me surely as a threat now."

"Mou~! That wasn't wha~t I mean."

"Don't sulk mom. I was just kidding."

Mom stood up and waved at the dogs.

"I'll feed you a~ll tomorrow but for now, bye bye~"

*Arf!*

The white aspin barked and stole a glance at me before leading his fellows away.

Mom pulled me into her embrace to let me be covered from the rain by her umbrella.

"You're so~ wet. We need to go home fast and wa~rm yourself up or you'll get sick."

"Yes."

We rode the car and mom drove us home.

--A 180-or-something meters squared modern house with 2 floors is our home. Our household has a wide green lawn at the front and at back is a lush yard which mom used as her garden.

The lawn is big enough for cars to be parked in. And this is where we park our cars leaving the garage for bicycles and tools.

Our family has a total of 3 cars: a white sedan which we're currently riding on, one black MPV which is with father in Manila, and one white USV with anime designs.

The last one is what I like the most because most of the anime characters designed on it are basically my waifus.

"Wait here. I'll open the gate."

Mom tried to got off to unlock the gate.

We could just rang the doorbell and call Crystal to open it up for us though.

"Wait mom. I'll do it. I'm already wet anyway."

"Hmm? Are you sure~?"

"Yes mom fufufufu."

So I opened the gate and let mom drive the car in. After I locked and closed the gate, I went back in the car.

Few minutes later, I knocked on the front door. The door opened and a wild little sister appeared.

"Good evening... Mommy. Welcome home and oh well, to you as well my dear kuya Mark."

"Good evening Crystal."

"We're home sweetie. Please~ prepare a warm bath for your brother. He might get sick otherwise."

"Heh. Did something happen to you kuya?"

Crystal asked while helping mom take off her wet coat.

"What do you mean? Nothing happened."

"Heh. Let me guess."

"Go ahead."

"Did. You get surrounded by dogs that it scared your soul out of you or something?"

That's too accurate to be a guess li'l sis. Are you an Esper?

And...

"I wasn't scared!"

"Oh really now?"

"Sweetie, please hurry up or you're brother might really catch a cold."

"'kay~"

Crystal ran off to the bathroom but left words that for some reason gave me goosebumps.

"And if ever kuya Mark get sick, I could just take care of him."

Perhaps it was just because I'm soaked or perhaps it's completely something else.

Well whatever.

"Baby, you should ta~ke off your uniform and wrap yourself in a towel. And ma~ke sure not to let the electric fan blow wind on you as well okay~?"

"I got it mom."

I sat on a chair barechested and exhaled.

I'm finally home. And I want to sleep.

Oh right.

I turned my phone on and opened a website.

I might be taking Yellowhead lightly but I won't let myself be oblivious about them especially now that I got entangled with their life.

Besides, he and Al mentioned something about Viper gang which I only heard once. Now that I have the chance, I'll check up on it.

Hmm... fumufumu--

Arehh~

This is a surprise.

The ‘Boss Screw’ who is also Yellowhead's friend is actually one of my classmates.

Boss Screw is the younger brother of the Viper gang's leader known as ‘Sir Viper’. This guy is a brute who fought and conquered the gangs in the city few years ago. Now, they're the biggest gang in the city.

According to the data I have, they're the ruling gang in Naga City and had a total member of not less than a two hundred.

They're instated near the slums called ‘H-Haven’ where most criminals lives. This place is under the rule of Viper gang and the government never really care about them.

It is because there is no civilian that lives in there and the government couldn't care less about the lives of those criminals who lives there.

As long as their crimes are inside that slums, the government wouldn't care.

It would be just a waste of time and human resources to eradicate them.

This also gave those criminals a place for them to stay and to wreak havoc with.

Viper gang's revenue came from drug trade, prostitution, and racketeering.

Based on what I read, they doesn't seem to be a threat but they could be an annoyance.

But to my surprise, they're under the umbrella of ‘Twilight Rose Syndicate’.

Well this is getting interesting.

That explains the gun.

Twilight Rose Syndicate is ranked second to 'Shadenfreude' among the underworld society within the Philippines. They have powerful influence and support coming from some government officials and authorities. With a huge amount of assets and underlings, they are reigning for almost 15 years.

Now though, it is under the lead of a woman in her mid-20's who wreak havoc 3 years ago to take the throne from his father.

Twilight Rose Syndicate used to be called ‘Bulldoze’ but that woman who call herself Twilight Rose changed the name after taking over.

If I am not mistaken, at least 300 people died that time. Although most of them are just Criminals who lived in Lawful Town.

The government brush it off as simple as gang war and didn't dwell into details because civilians weren't affected anyway.

Well the war occured in ‘Lawful Town' after all and that is where Twilight Rose headquarters' currently resides today.

Surprisingly, they haven't shown any hostilities to Shadenfreude for this past years.

Do they want an alliance?

Hmm?

Wait, who would ally themselves to her?

Sure, they are powerful and deep-rooted to the country and also because it has a proper and strict management and leadership, they haven't overdid anything that would make the government eradicate them....but....

That woman is a fucking sadist!

I am uncertain of how many young men died in pain under her cruel BDSM play.

My crotch ached just thinking of it.

Anyway, now that Twilight Rose is involved, things have changed. This is worth to have fun with.

So I typed a short onion link for a forum and after a 2-way verifications, and inserting my crypto key, I opened my forum account and searched for any data regarding Twilight Rose Syndicate.

Twilight Rose father who ruled Bulldoze for many years is a brutal and aggressive tyrant that brought many troubles to the government and civilians.

The Bulldoze that time makes money through overly harmful means: Organ trafficking, Kidnap-for-ransom, Drug trade, Fraud, Theft, Racketeering, Murder, Sex trafficking, and many more.

And so, Bulldoze was put into constant war against the government because of this.

However, when Twilight Rose killed his father and took over Bulldoze, many changes had occured mostly beneficial to both the syndicate and civilians.

Twilight Rose Syndicate negotiated with the government and proposed to manage the underworld society in the Philippines.

They would try to lessen drug trade-- especially to youths, murders, force prostitution and so on.

Twilight Rose just asked to let her organization handle all gambling and prostitution businesses.

So, Twilight Rose made the management of the syndicate strict and hierarchical unlike Shadenfreude's functional organizational structure.

Although, this reduced the number of goons under their rule and caused for those who refused to be under their management to wage war against them, the pros overwhelm the cons given that they have the backing of the government in exchange.

However, even with the strict management, there's no way to completely remove drug trade, racketeering, and other white-collar crimes so Twilight Rose and the government just let them be as long as they don't overdo things.

Presently, Twilight Rose had most gangs and fraternities such as: ‘BLOODS’, ‘TBS’, and ‘Tao-Gama’, and black market businesses under their management.

With the Twilight Rose Syndicate managing the dark along with the government who handle things in the light, Philippines is pretty much peaceful compared to before.

Now, when a branch of Shadenfreude were formed in the Philippines, it eventually took over the number one position in the underworld society of the country.

Shadenfreude in the Philippines isn't as powerful as Twilight Rose Syndicate so they mostly are about gang hood, fraternity and delinquency.

But, Shadenfreude still took the top from them.

It is because Shadenfreude has a certain extent of freedom, gives social belonging, being a member isn't hard and complicated, members aren't force to do anything but could acquire money through the reward and quest system created by Shadenfreude.

In Twilight Rose Syndicate, there's a lot to do before becoming a member and the members have a lot of strict rules to follow.

Currently in the Philippines, the extent of what Shadenfreude could do is limited and could only have simple black market businesses.

But, because of its large quantity of members and easy membership registration, many youths and students joins thusly making it hard for the government to remove them.

Especially when the group haven't done anything excessive.

Besides, the main power of influence of Shadenfreude is coming from overseas-- specifically Russia.

Shadenfreude took control over ‘Bratva’ or also known as the ‘Russian Mob’ more than a year ago.

The Bratva-- or the Russian mob-- is the largest criminal organization in the world. Law enforcement officials estimate that the Bratva is active in most former Soviet Union countries, all over Europe and the United States.

One criminologist believes they are the best organized criminal organization in the world, with a quasi-military structure.

Their organization may stem from many of their leading members who were former Soviet officials.

However, the Bratva has origins in pre-Lenin Russia. The groups operated black market businesses in the Soviet Union until the nation’s collapse.

Today, the Bratva is considered to work closely with Russian government and they are very active in the New York City area and now, they are under the control of Shadenfreude.

And lately, Shadenfreude went to Sicily and waged war against ‘Cosa Nostra’ and successfully took ahold of them.

Plus, Shadenfreude also have some sort of positive connection with some of the powerful crime syndicates such as: ‘Yamaguchi Gumi’ (Yakuza) in Japan, ‘Triads’ in Hongkong, ‘Sinaloa Cartel’ in Mexico, and ‘'Ndrangheta’ in Calabria region in Italy.

Shadenfreude also have some connections with some large terrorists group which are mostly arabic.

Shadenfreude do illegal businesses with this well-known criminal organizations and their profit mostly came from drug trade, firearms, and human trafficking.

However in the Philippines, with the presence of Twilight Rose Gangs, it makes it hard to smuggle things in and out of the country.

Anyhow, presently, things are going well with Shadenfreude and this makes me wondering why.

I know that Shadenfreude haven't done anything excessive but Twilight Rose never had shown its stance about the syndicate.

I don't know whether they want to be enemies or allies.

Are they waiting for an opportunity to took control of the Shadenfreude branch in the Philippines?

But that would put them at risk so that's less likely.

So now, would the Viper Gang care for Yellowhead or not?

Perhaps they would because Yellowhead and company are most likely under the protection of the Viper Gang.

But how about Twilight Rose Syndicate?

Oh hell, I don't think so. But who knows. If they do, I'll have my fun but if they don't... Well it's fine as well.

Fufufufu~

I won't be bored for a while I guess.