Angus 'Goat' McGregor and Lester 'Turtle' Finch entered the house of Rex 'Rocket' Ryan and found him on the ground with several beer bottles next to him. They rushed right away, pulling him to a chair, and Angus splashed water on Rex's face.

"Ugh, what the—" Lester slapped him.

"What the hell, Turtle!?"

"My apologies, it appears I hit a bit too hard," Lester said.

Rex groaned. "What are you two dipsticks doing here?"

"To see how you're doing," Angus said.

Rex turned to Lester. "How did you lose to that pale biscuit cunt?"

Lester paused before he spoke. "Oh, you mean Julian. He was incredible."

"Tch, that bastard. How could he have won? You played the best snooker in your life. Someone must've put something in your tea."

"Now that you mention it, I did feel fuzzy and suddenly tired. My tea did not taste good. But, ah well. It's definitely nothing. Anyway, would you mind if I used your bathroom for a bit?"

"Go ahead," Rex said.

Lester went to the bathroom while Angus brought cans of beer and tea. Rex was about to take a beer can, but Angus slapped his hand. "I think you've had enough, son."

As Lester was washing his hands in the bathroom, he discovered something weird. "Rex... why do you have a towel with Julian's face on it?"

"...Oh, I use it to wipe my ass."

The three of them ate a piece of cake that Lester's wife had made. Rex spoke, "Lester, I honestly don't know how you can take losing so well."

Lester slowly shrugged. "It makes no difference. Losing is a simple reminder that you must be better next time."

Rex didn't believe him. "Was there any match that you got upset over losing?"

"No."

Angus was tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for Lester to finish sipping his tea. "Come on, man. I can't leave my pub unattended for too long. Come on, let's go."

Lester finished his tea, and they began to head to the pub. Rex was nervous about showing his face there. He knew everyone would make fun of him for losing his place on tour, but with his friends there, he was more relaxed. Once he entered the pub and smelled the alcohol and cigarettes, all his worries disappeared.

At the pub, Angus smoked his pipe, Rex had sparkling water (as drinking alcohol would make him sick), while Lester had tea.

"Dammit, Turtle, why are you obsessed with tea?"

Lester slowly sipped his tea and said, "To me, it is liquid gold. It is what oxygen is to others," Lester said it nonchalantly as if it were a completely normal thing to say.

Angus said, "I only ever drink tea when I'm ill."

Then, screams were heard as children played around. This annoyed Rex. "God, how much I hate kids."

Angus was upset; he loved kids. "How can you hate kids? You were a kid once too, Rex."

Rex scoffed at this. "I was a great kid. You could bring me to the ends of the earth, and I wouldn't say a word!"

Angus couldn't believe it. "Lester, mate, what do you think?"

Lester couldn't say anything as then Julian, Mickey, and Cornelius walked into the pub. Mickey laughed and put his arm over Rex. "Oi, how are you, mate? Did you have a nice viewing of the World Championships, or did you muster any courage to even watch?" he grinned as Rex started to sweat. The whole pub went silent. Julian looked at everyone as if they were ants. He held his recently won trophy and came with a new expensive car. Mickey had new, more expensive jewelry on his hands while Cornelius began to speak.

"Out," Cornelius said, looking at Angus.

"E-excuse me, sir?"

"You heard me, old man. This is not your place anymore; it is mine." Cornelius put papers on the counter. Angus was horrified.

"B-but sir—"

"No buts. Get out!"

Rex had to stand up like everyone else. He was utterly shocked. "What is going on here?"

Cornelius chuckled. "It's simple. The old man isn't qualified to run this place. He got it by bribing the landlord with free alcohol. He turned what used to be the number one pub in the country into a pigsty. But I will change it. It will be cleaned, the walls repainted, and the prices will go up. There will be no more hustling, and as for the main snooker tour, players that lost their tour card won't be able to go to Q School to regain their tour card for 20 months. Oh, and you're forever banned from my pub."

Rex gulped. "How the hell do you expect us to make ends meet!?"

"Not my problem, Rocket."

Lester slowly sipped his tea and spoke. "Honestly, Cornelius, this is unfair. The only difference you need to make is to raise the prize money. At this rate, only Julian will ever get any decent money, and that's because he constantly gets promoted. Even winning all tournaments may not be enough to sustain living decently for anyone who isn't Julian."

Cornelius laughed. "Oh, Turtle, even if you never missed a shot in your entire life, no one would ever watch you. The only matches you've ever won were by putting your opponent to sleep while you decide which simple red you'll pot."

Angus stepped in, limping. "You can't insult people like that, and you can't just fire me even with this paperwork."

"Oh, and why is that?" Cornelius sneered.

"Because I'm a goat."

Cornelius burst out laughing.

"I-I mean greatest of all time."

"At what?"

"Er..."

Then Mickey jumped in. "At having a goat-like beard, hahaha."

Lester slammed his hand on the counter, shattering his tea cup, and stood up. Mickey hid behind Julian, who was almost surprised at this, but Cornelius didn't move a muscle. Then, a tall, robust policeman entered.

"Any problems?"

Some of the tavern patrons ignored the situation going on, but the few that did turned their heads right away once they saw the nearly 2-meter tall policeman. His name was George Steele, a mean-looking man who was 50 years old, had been on the force for over 20 years, and had a scorpion tattoo on his left forearm and the head of a lion on his right forearm. The pub used to be notorious for its fights and loud music playing at 2 a.m. when it should've been closed at 11 p.m. No police officer wanted to deal with the pub, but Steele did, and he knocked out anyone who was drunk. He especially gave Rex several beatings. He looked at Rex and George was almost shaking with rage. He looked like he wanted to strangle him.

Cornelius spoke."No trouble. These three gentlemen were just leaving right now."

Lester, Angus, and Rex were outside, looking at the pub as Cornelius barked orders inside, with the policeman by his side. No one would dare say anything to Cornelius now.