The Despicable Beggar

Section 1: Eighteen Years Old

It was another summer afternoon in Local Alley.

Lawson sat by the side of the street, wearing an old railroad worker’s uniform. His clothes were faded and worn, and deep wrinkles covered his old face. A chipped ceramic bowl sat on the ground in front of him.

One of his legs bounced lazily as he sat there, looking completely at ease.

“Spare a little rice money… kind folks…”

His leg kept bouncing.

“Spare a little rice money… kind folks…”

Lawson continued begging, but whenever a young woman walked by, his attention immediately shifted to her.

A woman in a short skirt passed first.

Lawson stared openly, turning his head as she walked past and continuing to follow her with his eyes until she disappeared down the street. There was no attempt to hide what he was doing. Even when women noticed him staring and looked back, he simply kept watching.

Then another young woman walked by, her breasts bouncing slightly with each step.

Lawson’s eyes immediately locked onto her chest, and his head slowly turned as he followed her down the street.

“Boobage Calculation…” he muttered, studying her for a moment. “C cup. Yep. No mistake. I’m always right about the size.”

He gave himself a satisfied nod, turned back toward the street, and resumed bouncing his leg as if nothing had happened.

“Spare a little rice money… kind folks…”

A young woman in a low-cut top came walking down the street.

When she noticed Lawson sitting there with his old clothes and chipped bowl, she slowed down.

Lawson looked up at her.

“Oh, young lady. Spare me some money?”

The woman stopped and gave him a sympathetic smile.

“Sure.”

She opened her purse and began searching through it.

“It must be hard for someone like you, in your seventies, sitting out here asking people for money. I feel bad for you.”

Lawson’s expression changed.

“What? I’m not even seventy.”

“Oh, sorry.”

The woman finally found a five-dollar bill and looked at his wrinkled face again.

“Yeah, you must be in your eighties. That’s even worse. It can’t be easy at your age.”

“Hey, I’m only eighteen.”

“What? You’re two years younger than me?”

“Oh yeah. Of course.”

Lawson grinned.

“And I look damn good for my age.”

She shook her head and laughed.

“Oh, you old folks really love joking around.”

She bent down to place the five-dollar bill into his bowl.

The moment she leaned forward, Lawson quickly shifted his position, lifting himself slightly and craning his neck until his face was almost directly beneath her neckline.

His eyes widened.

“Oh, wow. Nice view.”

He grinned.

“Best view of the day.”

The woman immediately straightened up and covered her chest with one hand.

“You creep! You’re disgusting!”

She turned and stormed away.

Lawson dropped back into his seat as if nothing unusual had happened.

“Hey! You’re the one dressing all sexy!” he shouted after her. “You don’t want people looking, wear something that covers more!”

Then his leg started bouncing again.

Lawson stayed where he was, one leg bouncing lazily as he looked at his phone. Every now and then, someone passing by dropped a few coins or a dollar into his bowl.

Lawson never looked up or said thank you.

He just kept scrolling.

One passerby even left a small pack of crackers beside his bowl.

Lawson waited until the person had walked away, then picked it up and casually tossed it onto the ground behind him without taking his eyes off his phone.

His leg never stopped bouncing.

Section 2: The Golden Bowl

It was around noon when Sean showed up.

He came strolling down the alley, blowing a cloud of vapor from his mouth.

Lawson barely looked up.

Still sitting there with one leg bouncing, he lifted the chipped ceramic bowl and gave it a little shake.

“Spare a little fortune money, boss.”

Sean slowed down and looked at him. His eyes moved over Lawson’s worn railroad worker’s uniform and wrinkled face.

Then something inside the bowl caught his attention.

A faint golden light had begun to glow between the coins.

Sean stopped.

The golden light slowly grew brighter, shining up from inside the chipped bowl.

Sean stared into it.

Suddenly, a story began to form in his mind.

He saw Lawson as an old father who had spent his whole life struggling through poverty. Even in his seventies, he was still sitting on the street begging, all because he wanted to put his twenty-year-old son through college.

The more Sean looked at him, the more tragic the story became.

Lawson lowered his voice.

“Please… help me send my son to college. You’d be doing a truly good deed, kind sir.”

Sean’s expression slowly changed.

He wiped the corner of his eye with his wrist.

“Man… in your seventies, still out here grinding just to put your twenty-year-old son through college.”

He shook his head.

“That’s real. That’s deep.”

Without another word, Sean reached into his pocket and pulled out all the cash he had—a folded stack of ones and fives.

He dropped the whole thing into Lawson’s bowl without counting it.

As soon as the last bill landed, the golden glow began to fade.

Then it disappeared completely.

Lawson looked down at the money in his bowl, then back at Sean.

“Who said I’m in my seventies? I’m eighteen.”

Sean paused.

He took another look at Lawson’s deeply wrinkled face.

“Eighteen?”

“Yeah.”

Sean thought about it for a moment.

“An eighteen-year-old with a twenty-year-old son… and you’re still out here putting him through college.”

He slowly nodded.

“Damn. That’s even more inspiring.”

He took another puff from his vape, looking genuinely satisfied with what he had done, then turned and walked away.

Sean didn’t get scammed.

He got moved.

And for the rest of the day, he truly believed he had done something good.

Lawson picked up the folded stack of ones and fives and flipped through the bills.

“Wow. Not bad.”

Sean had only taken a few steps when Lawson added, almost casually,

“Not bad for a guy who just got outta jail. Looks like being a hero pays pretty damn well.”

Sean stopped.

He slowly turned around, a cloud of vapor drifting from his mouth.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey! What the hell are you talking about?”

He quickly walked back toward Lawson.

“Who told you that? I’m telling you, none of that’s true. It’s all fake. All nonsense.”

Lawson looked up at him, still holding the money, and gave a small shrug.

“My bad. I shouldn’t have brought up your… history. That was rude.”

Sean stared at him for a moment, then pulled the vape from his mouth.

“Watch your mouth, you crusty old fossil.”

Section 3: The Old Fossil

Lawson’s expression changed instantly.

He shot to his feet and pointed straight at Sean.

“Crusty? Old?! You’re the one who went to jail, and you’re calling me old? Look at me! Do I look old to you?”

Sean didn’t answer right away.

He leaned forward slightly and studied Lawson’s deeply wrinkled face for a good few seconds, seriously taking in every detail.

Then he nodded.

“Yep. You’re old. Very old. In your seventies, maybe eighties.”

He pointed at the chipped ceramic bowl on the ground.

“If you ain’t at least seventy, I’ll eat that damn bowl.”

Lawson’s face twisted with anger.

“Did prison mess up your brain or something? Listen to yourself! The second you open your mouth, anybody can tell you spent years behind bars!”

Sean’s face went dark.

He yanked the vape from his mouth, threw it hard onto the pavement, and crushed it under his shoe.

“That’s it. You crossed the line.”

Sean stepped toward him.

“I don’t care how great a father you are. I don’t care if you’re out here begging every day just to put your twenty-year-old son through college. I respected that. I really did.”

Sean cracked his knuckles.

“But I can’t just let this one slide.”

His eyes narrowed.

“I’m gonna have to beat you up and fuck you good.”

Before Lawson could answer, Sean stepped forward and punched him square in the face.

The hit snapped Lawson’s head back and sent him stumbling several steps, his arms flailing as he struggled to keep his balance.

Before he could recover, Sean rushed in, wrapped both arms around his waist, and lifted him clean off the ground.

“Let me show you what old school really looks like.”

Sean slammed him onto the pavement with a hard waist-lock takedown.

WHAM!

Lawson’s back and head hit the ground, and blood immediately appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Sean stepped forward and raised his foot, aiming straight for Lawson’s face, but Lawson rolled aside just before the stomp came down.

He scrambled backward on his hands and knees, coughing and wiping the blood from his mouth.

Sean was bigger, stronger, and clearly knew how to fight.

After only a punch and a takedown, Lawson already knew he was completely outmatched.

Sean started toward him again.

Lawson immediately dropped to all fours.

“Please…”

His voice shook.

“Spare me. Don’t kill me.”

He lowered his head until his forehead touched the pavement.

At the exact moment it made contact—

a faint golden light flashed from his forehead.

Section 4: The Golden Bow

Sean stopped.

The anger in his face faded, and his eyes slowly lost focus.

Suddenly, he saw Lawson as a little boy standing alone in a school courtyard.

Several older students surrounded him, shoving him back and forth before knocking him to the ground.

One of them grabbed a martial arts book from his hands and ripped it apart, scattering the pages across the pavement.

The image changed.

Lawson was lying in a hospital bed, his face bruised and swollen, dried blood still beneath his nose.

He could barely open his eyes.

Sean stood motionless as the images flashed through his mind.

His clenched fists slowly loosened.

“Damn…”

He looked down at Lawson.

“This dude’s had a rough life.”

Sean had no idea that the memories flooding his mind were part of a technique.

It was an old and subtle golden art known as the Golden Bow.

The Golden Bow didn’t hypnotize its target or take control of the mind.

Instead, it reached directly into a person’s emotions, flooding them with sympathy for the one performing the bow. The stronger that sympathy became, the harder it was to see that person as an enemy.

And Sean had completely fallen for it.

He looked down at Lawson, still kneeling with his forehead near the pavement.

The anger from moments ago was gone.

Sean sighed and reached out his hand.

“Hey, man. Get up.”

His voice had softened.

“Sorry about earlier. I got carried away.”

Lawson slowly raised his head and looked at the hand in front of him.

After a brief hesitation, he reached up and took it.

Sean pulled him to his feet while Lawson deliberately let his shoulders sag, leaning into Sean’s help as though he could barely stand on his own.

As soon as he was upright, his free hand slipped quietly into his coat pocket.

Click.

Sean heard it.

But before he could react, Lawson pulled out a spring-loaded knife and drove it deep into his side, just above the hip.

Sean’s eyes went wide.

Lawson twisted the blade.

“AAARGH!”

Sean kicked him away and stumbled backward, one hand clamping over his bleeding side.

“Why… why would you do that?”

There was more confusion than anger in his voice.

Even after being stabbed, the sympathy from the Golden Bow was still lingering in his mind.

“I really meant it…”

Sean stared at Lawson in disbelief.

“I really felt bad for you.”

Blood began soaking through the side of his shirt.

The blade had gone deep enough to tear through one of his kidneys, leaving him badly wounded.

But Sean didn’t fall.

He gritted his teeth, planted his feet, and forced himself back into a fighting stance.

Whatever the Golden Bow had done to his heart—

Sean’s body was still ready to fight.

Section 5: One Tough Bastard

Sean charged.

Lawson barely got his arms up before Sean’s fist smashed into them, knocking him backward.

Sean followed with another punch, then a kick that sent Lawson stumbling across the pavement.

For the next few minutes, Lawson did little more than retreat and defend himself.

The knife wound had slowed Sean down, but it hadn’t changed the difference between them.

Every time Sean got close, Lawson was forced back again.

But Sean was bleeding heavily now.

His breathing grew rough.

His movements slowed.

More blood soaked through the side of his shirt with every step.

Sean suddenly rushed forward one last time.

He knocked Lawson’s guard aside and sent him crashing onto his back.

Before Lawson could move, Sean was already standing over him.

Sean raised his leg and brought his foot down toward Lawson’s head.

Lawson froze.

The kick came so close that he felt the rush of air across his face.

Then—

it stopped.

Sean’s leg trembled in midair.

His face went pale, and his whole body seemed to lock up for a second before the last of his strength finally gave out.

His foot dropped beside Lawson instead of onto him.

Then Sean fell to both knees.

He stayed there for a moment, struggling to hold himself up.

His upper body slowly tipped forward.

Then he collapsed onto the pavement.

His face hit the ground first, leaving him unconscious on his knees with his ass sticking up in the air.

Lawson didn’t move.

His face had gone completely pale.

Cold sweat covered his forehead as he stared at Sean’s motionless body.

“Oh, God… that was close.”

Lawson wiped the sweat from his face.

“So close. I almost fucking died.”

He looked at the blood soaking Sean’s shirt, then at the foot that had almost come down on his head.

“This guy’s one tough bastard. Got a knife buried in his kidney and still wouldn’t go down.”

Lawson swallowed.

Then he took another look at Sean’s raised ass.

His expression slowly changed.

Lawson stared at Sean’s awkward position for a few seconds.

Then a wicked little idea came to him.

Section 6: Local Hero on Display

Lawson walked over, grabbed the back of Sean’s pants, and slowly pulled them down to his knees, leaving his bare backside sticking up toward the street.

He admired his work for a moment.

Then, without saying a word, he quietly walked back to his usual spot.

Lawson squatted beside his chipped ceramic bowl, pulled out his phone, and started bouncing one leg again as though none of this had anything to do with him.

It didn’t take long for people passing through Local Alley to notice.

One man slowed down and stared.

“Oh my God. Isn’t that the Local Hero, Sean?”

Another passerby looked over.

“Wow. Why is he lying on the ground like that?”

A few more people stopped, staring at Sean’s ridiculous position in the middle of the street.

“Oh my God. That’s so disturbing.”

Lawson kept his eyes on his phone.

His leg continued bouncing.

A mother and her young son came walking down the street.

The boy spotted Sean immediately and pointed excitedly.

“Oh! That’s Sean! Mom, that’s really Sean!”

Before the boy could get a better look, his mother slapped a hand over his eyes.

“Don’t look.”

She quickly guided him past Sean without removing her hand from his face.

Lawson glanced up from his phone for just a second.

Then he looked back down and continued scrolling.

His leg was still bouncing.