George

> *"Nothing gets past the shield of the Commonwealth!"*
>
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George is a Bystander Survivor and STR type Tank, who has the potential to be promoted to Mythical Grade.

## Background

As soon as he set foot in an alley, he saw some officers aggressively roughing up a young man. He then saw a dead body covered with a cloth in front of a bar. Looking at the scene, George approached the officers and showed them his pistol, asking what had happened. Realizing George was their superior, they saluted him and answered.
“He's a murder suspect. We found him in front of the body with the murder weapon.”
Sensing that something was off from their explanation, George gazed at the suspect. He looked desperate, with his distressed face full of tears. This brought back a memory from long ago.
On a normal day years ago, George had headed over to the bar where his friend worked as a bartender after his night shift had ended. Yellow police tape cordoned off the bar’s entrance from the alley. Next to the tape, he saw his friend getting arrested. His tearful friend had a face with an expression of somebody falsely accused of a crime. Considering his friend's good nature and reserved personality, his expression seemed out of place. Despite the distress on his friend’s face, the friend didn’t say anything to George when their eyes met. Convinced that his friend wasn't guilty, he wanted to get to the bottom of this. He approached one of the police officers and lied, introducing himself as his friend’s brother. When he asked about what had happened, the officer answered nonchalantly without any suspicion in his voice. He gained some details from the officer — the initial crime had occurred at roughly 9:30, with the victim being confirmed dead at 9:35. The incident had happened in the staff room where the victim would take her last breath. The woman was in her late 20s and what remained of the back of her head showed signs of blunt trauma. The bar’s manager had been away closing a deal with the client, giving the manager an alibi. The bar was usually patronized by the same small group of regulars, partially due to its outoftheway location. A nearby shop owner testified that no one except two customers and the bartender had entered the bar. The officer continued, pointing at one of the customers at the bar.
“He was the only witness there when the crime happened. The problem is he's too drunk to answer our questions. We're bringing him to the station and questioning him tomorrow. We might send him home after questioning as long as we don't find anything suspicious.”
After the explanation, the officer went over to the manager for a statement, but his attitude came off as oddly deferential. As George approached the drunk witness, he caught a glimpse of his friend’s face ahead of him turning grey as he was led past his manager. Soon, his friend walked past George, who had a notebook in his hand, but still, no words came out of his mouth. Despite his friend’s silence, George knew that his friend wouldn’t have killed someone — he was a big softie who couldn’t even sit through a gory movie. He knew him that well. It was the first time he saw his friend cry, and from his face, George could tell he wasn’t the killer. George’s instincts told him to talk to the drunk witness first to get closer to the truth. George scribbled a note for the drunk witness into his notebook. He wrote that he was the suspect’s brother and that he wished to talk to the man the next day when he was done talking to the officers so that he could help prove his brother's innocence. He also jotted down details like time and place, then ripped the note out and tucked it into the man’s pocket.
The following day, George arrived at the bar at the time he had written on the paper. Contrary to his expectation, he found the bar manager sitting there instead of the witness. Steeling himself, George sat across from the manager and asked.
“Why are you here?”
After his question, the manager started speaking, handing George the note that he had given to the drunk man.
“What’s with the tone? Come on. I thought we were friends. I'm a victim, too, if you think about it. After all, I need to close the bar for a while because of what happened.”
“That’s not important. Could you explain how you got the note?”
“I saw you tucked the note into my customer’s pocket. I also saw him read it and throw it on the ground. I just picked it up and came here to deliver a message from your friend.”
George was suspicious of the manager’s explanation. He didn’t understand why the manager hadn’t told him about the message yesterday. George sat silently as the manager continued.
“Your friend told me to tell you to go to the place where you guys first met. He said he left key evidence pointing to the culprit.”
George’s suspicion grew. A series of questions went through his head — why didn't he mention this important matter yesterday, and why didn't his friend ask the manager if he could look for the evidence on his behalf? Despite these questions, George didn’t have many options left. Whatever intentions the manager had by telling George this nonsense, George had no choice but to go there himself. Reluctantly, George nodded and left the cafe for the place his friend had allegedly told him to go to. As he considered taking preventative measures just in case, he arrived in front of the abandoned storage facility where he had met his friend for the first time. Before stepping into the building, he checked his surroundings and made a phone call. The building was more desolate than ever. This was where he had found his friend getting beat up by a group of bullies. The bullies had later explained that they wanted to punish his friend for harassing one of their girlfriends, which turned out to be a lie. It was purely because they wanted to pick on an easy pushover like him. If George hadn’t passed by the storage facility, they would have beaten him to death. When he saw the thugs, he engaged in a fight, knocking a few of them out. That was enough to make them run away. Thinking of those lousy bullies, he scoffed to himself. He had been looking for the evidence when suddenly he stood still. The memory reminded George of his friend’s face when he had first met him. Even covered in blood, he was smiling. Even after being beaten without reason by a group of thugs, he kept that happygolucky demeanor. The face that George had seen back then was different from what he saw yesterday. That made him wonder why his friend had such a tearful expression. While thinking about what could have made him so emotional at the time, he suddenly felt something strike him in the back. With warm blood dripping down his back, accompanied by sharp pain, he started to feel dizzy. The sound of a familiar voice followed the sudden attack.
“You asked for it. You shouldn’t have looked into what happened. Don’t take it personally.”
It was the bar manager. After the manager’s remark, George fell to the ground. He lost consciousness as he heard the faint sound of the wailing siren of a police car.
When George opened his eyes and regained consciousness, he was in the hospital. He then saw his friend staring down at him with a look of concern. Struggling, George asked,
“What happened? Is everything okay? I saw your face when you were arrested. I knew something was up. I've never seen you look like that, even on the day we first met.”
After pondering for a moment, his friend smiled awkwardly and said,
“This is different. I was framed for murder. I could have been sentenced to death or given a life sentence at least.”
“Stop the bullshit. I can tell when you lie. You were this close to death even back then. It was just as dangerous as this time, and yet you managed to keep calm.”
Hesitantly, his friend started to explain the truth.
“Well, I owe you the truth since you saved my ass. I’ve been a fool. I knew there was some dirty relationship going on between my manager and the police. Still, I turned a blind eye to keep my job. Apparently, the lady that the manager had an affair with found out about that relationship. She demanded money in exchange for her silence. That’s what led the manager to kill her. In the meantime, the corrupt police framed me to continue getting the dirty money. What could I possibly say? After all, I knew about the corruption. How could I ask for help when I felt guilty for at least part of it?”
The explanation helped George understand the expression he had seen on his friend’s face. It was not just the framing that had caused this reserved man’s face to display so much emotion. It was a mix of guilt, distress from being used, and hatred for himself, topped with his inability to do anything about the situation. When he saw his friend beating himself up for what he hadn’t done, George made a promise to himself. He pledged that he would remember that face forever, and when he saw the same look on someone else, he would help them.
Recalling that memory, George found himself analyzing the young man’s frustrated look. It was the same face that he had promised to remember. Shoving the soldiers aside, he said.
“Let me give you a hand. I made a promise to myself to help someone like you a long time ago.”

## Skills

 61 | Suppress | Knocks back an enemy in the front 4 times. This skill consists of 4 attacks, each dealing 60% ATK as damage.

## Recommended Gear

George is a decent Survivor for Alignment Defense. It's recommended to get his Personal Gear to level 20 and give him the Asyl's Best Helmet as Special Gear.