Chapter 6: The Perfectionist

Enzo was too important to me to kill him yet.

Living as a mafia boss myself for twenty-seven years had taught me all about how valuable information was.

Every contact, every connection, every person placed in your orbit could prove to be an asset to you if you knew how to use them correctly.

Enzo Prank was a government spy, yes, but he was a window into how the World Government Intelligence operated, their thoughts, desires and fears.

Keeping him alive meant keeping that open.

So I decided to let him live. See if he could be useful to me later.

It was the calculation of a man who had already conquered an empire once.

My gaze fell upon the dust gathered on the sedan’s window.

Most people would have missed it. One tiny layer of particles which, when the light caught it just right, would catch the eye of anyone who gazed at it.

But my hand itched.

My fingers reached up and in a single movement, I cleared the dust from the window in one fluid movement.

’What the fuck?!’

I stared at my hand, dumbfounded.

What had prompted me to do that?!

There wasn’t even a logical reason behind it!

My body had moved without my conscious control, and it made no sense!

It was only when I remembered something that I understood what had prompted me to do that, and I was more than grateful it hadn’t happened yet.

Lorenzo Riina traits were ’Perfectionist.’

Attempting to view more details from the status window for his traits yielded no results.

Just the simple mention of the ’Perfectionist’ trait.

’Perfectionist...’

Or, to put it in layman’s terms, it could be treated as OCD; a mental disorder which always attempts to correct certain things in order to relieve certain anxieties or annoyances.

A common example of OCD was having a cleaning compulsion, but what triggered it for different people was different.

I needed to find what was the compulsion for Lorenzo’s.

Just looking at the Lorenzo in Personality and Obsessions in the game, it was apparent that his compulsion would not be anything good.

’In the game, Lorenzo’s character isn’t detailed enough to infer much from what I have known, so I can’t do anything based on it.’

So I started looking into Lorenzo’s memories.

And I found the trigger of the Perfectionist trait.

The moment he sensed something to not be symmetric, or if he thought something was not perfectly balanced, he couldn’t stand it.

His mind would fixate on it until it was corrected.

It was like an itch that needed to be scratched; a compulsion for him to overcome.

"... "

’Crazy bastard.’

I was enthralled by Lorenzo’s obsession and when I came to my senses, I was attempting to correct everything in the sedan;

the angle of the seat,

the position of the door handle,

the position of the sun visor.

This was too serious of a problem.

"I’m still at it," I muttered, forcing my hands to hold still.

This was a problem. A large one.

In the game, the trait of Lorenzo’s perfectionism was portrayed as a character flaw for why he was always agitated, irritable, and on edge.

The reason why he was so difficult to work with and why so many people actively disliked him despite his potential and talent.

But now, living in Lorenzo’s body and experiencing the compulsion first-hand, I understood what it was beyond a character flaw.

It was a curse.

The need for perfect symmetry and balance was consuming him; it took constant attention.

All of his moments of his day were consumed by it.

How had Lorenzo survived seventeen years with this?

’By surrounding himself with people who understood and accommodated it,’ I realized, accessing deeper memories.

’His father had made sure that his environment was well-controlled. Everything in his living space was symmetrical. Everything was balanced. Servants were trained to make specific arrangements.’

But now was when I was leaving that controlled environment.

’This is going to be a nightmare.’

I forced myself to look away from the interior of the sedan and the academy grounds ahead.

The gates were of great size -- iron and stone, adorned with carvings of awakened warriors -- but they weren’t symmetrical in any way.

My eyes twitched slightly.

I clenched my fists.

"Young Master?" Enzo’s voice came from the front seat. "Is something wrong?"

He was watching me in the rearview mirror.

A good spy never stopped observing.

"No," I said, my voice tight. "Just noticing the academy’s architecture."

"Impressive, isn’t it?" Enzo said carefully. "Built over two hundred years ago. They say the original architects spent decades perfecting the design."

I took a deep breath and forced myself to relax.

"It’s fine," I said, opening the car door. "Just a lot to take in."

I stepped out of the sedan, and my eyes fell on the asymmetry of the gates again. The way one pillar was slightly worn compared to the other. The way the decorative pattern didn’t quite repeat correctly on both sides.

My hands trembled slightly with the urge to touch them, to examine them, to understand what was wrong and how to fix it.

But I couldn’t. Not here.

Maybe later....No! I was in control!

With my mental will power I managed to control my trait and let out long breath.

Turning around, I looked at Enzo and said,

"Enzo, I have an assignment for you."

Time to use everything in my disposal to pass the entrance ceremony.