In this chapter, the protagonist is introduced as "Cornelian" . He is the boss of a machine shop in a small town in South Africa. He greets his customers with an air of superiority, claiming that he is the leader of the machine shop and that he can kill anyone without a scratch. He tells the protagonist that he has come to South Africa to "cause trouble" and to "experience it for yourselves" , but that if the protagonist does not experience it for himself, he will not be able to kill anyone.