James was inside an alley. In front of him lay a corpse still bleeding from its chest. James wiped the blood off his longsword and dialed his boss number.
The phone rang twice before someone picked it up. "Yo, James, is your job finished?". "Yes, master," James replied in a voice less colder than usual.
"Good. Good. I have your next job ready in a day. Take a rest," he said before hanging up, leaving James alone in the alley.
James put his phone back in his pocket and approached the corpse. "Don't blame me," James uttered, but no one answered.
Then he headed out of the alley and went home. James arrived at his house, a small apartment where he hid his identity as an assassin.
He had been trained to be an assassin since he was five years old. He passed the tests his master put him through and became a full-fledged assassin in just one year of training. Since then, he had taken assassination jobs for his master and become the top assassin in the Blood Hand in just five years.
An orphan taken in by his master, James only knew of cold efficiency in killing, and his past was a mystery he desperately wanted to uncover. All he had was a pendant around his neck, a reminder of his unknown origins.
"Just who am I?" James asked himself, but only silence replied. He took a bath and whipped up some dinner, a skill he had learned from living alone.
After dinner, a simple sandwich that was filling but not particularly tasty. James headed to his secret room, where he kept his weapons on standby, waiting for the next victim to be slaughtered.
James started sharpening his array of blades as he quietly enjoyed the process. If he weren't an assassin, James would want to be a farmer. Not farming human life but growing plants—a simple job where all this killing and bloodshed wouldn't burden his heart.
But he couldn't because he was indebted to his master for raising him. All he could do was work as an assassin to repay his master. Soon he finished sharpening his blades when his phone started to ring.
James picked it up and waited until a voice could be heard. "Yo, I have your next job ready, James."
"Sure, what is it?"
"Head to Exa Town and kill this man." Then a hologram appeared from James's phone showing the target's appearance and information.
"I will do it, master."
"Yes, very good, James. Once you're done with your job, let's have dinner together."
"Yes." James smiled a little; a dinner with his master was something he hadn't had in over four years, and he kind of looked forward to it.
The call ended as James continued studying his target, a man who had been bothering the Blood Hand for a while. Origin unknown, but presumably, he had a grudge against the Blood Hand—reason unknown. Mastery over guns and explosives made him extremely dangerous.
It wasn't uncommon for people to seek revenge against the Blood Hand; it wasn't a righteous organization, after all. Kidnapping, murder, arson, and all kinds of crimes had been committed.
Alas, he was also one of them; he couldn't count how much blood had stained his hands over the years.
James slept that night, and as morning came, he headed to Exa where his target was waiting. Bringing a simple longsword, his favorite tool, he took a train toward there.
James sat on the train seat as he looked out of the window as the sceneries flashed by. Ten hours later, he arrived at the town and entered.
After paying an entrance fee to the guard, he walked to the target's location, where he was last sighted.
It was a small house at the edge of the town where barely anyone was around. Seemed too convenient of a place to assassinate?
Is it a trap? James wondered until the door of the house opened remotely, revealing the inside of the house.
James reflexively put his hand on the longsword at his waist as he waited.
The target appeared, wearing a white coat with a simple red logo on the chest.
He spoke slowly, "You're here."
James spoke coldly, "Dina, a 37-year-old man, has been killing members of the Blood Hand over a span of 7 years."
"The organization finds you troubling, so they sent me."
James paused before continuing, "Prepare yourself." He unsheathed his longsword and pointed it at the man two meters away from him.
Dina looked at James with reminiscence as he spoke softly, "You were just a baby when our village was destroyed. Now you've become an assassin, a blade for our enemy, not knowing the real truth."
James's eyes flickered. What was this man saying?