The next day, I woke up early and looked at the coat that was still hanging in my living room ever since I got kicked out of Iron Nest Office, staring at the sigil on its back. I removed the sigil from it and put it on, heading out with Enenra and wearing casual clothes underneath the coat. Enenra was on my back strapped to a baldric facing the left side.
The buildings near Dan-Oh's area are built differently, they're on the older side of this Nest, but are still maintained and are as strong as my neighborhood buildings. I saw stone walls with blue curved tiled roofs. As I continued walking down and past some groups of pedestrians, I saw a two-story Hanok with a sign saying Stillharvest, with its sigil being a single stalk of grain with roots under it.
I went through the building's doors and saw a few Stillharvest fixers running around holding stacks of paperwork, I appraised their weapons. Most of them having Hwandos, while one of them caught my attention, a Stillharvest fixer with two sickles at his sides. They all wore a dark green collared shirt with a dark coat over it that reached their knees. The collared shirt was fitted, worn over black trousers, and I could hear their boots hitting the wooden floor.
"Hey." I got the attention of one of the Fixers, their ID card saying "Hyun-Soo".
"Take me to Dan-Oh, he'll know who I am." he reluctantly agreed... the Fixer with dual sickles glaring at me with his brows furrowed.
I was led upstairs to where Dan-Oh was.
He was sitting down in his office chair, I felt an opposing presence, I remember the first time we met during a contract, eyeing his scythe mounted on a wall behind him. How easily heads flew around him, it was like a farmer harvesting stalks of grain but instead they flew up with a bloody trail.
It's been 3 years since we last met, I was a grade 8 Fixer.
His hair was short but with white streaks in it, his complexion had a slight tan to it and there were small cuts near his cheeks and neck. He kept good care of his mustache and goatee, but while I was taking in his features again, he also assessed me with his chilling blue eyes.
He stood up, he was tall but not as tall as me. His uniform was the same as those downstairs but a bit more modified, his coat was longer, reaching his calf. His collar and coat edges were a subtle gold, and a black sash was cinching it. He also had the office's sigil over his left breast but other than that the color palette was mainly the same.
I can now understand the clear difference between a grade 3 and grade 2 Fixer... I couldn't sense his aura back then... was he hiding it this whole time?
"This is the contract; grain can't get harvested too early. It'd only go to waste."
He slid over an envelope to me, and I started going through its contents, my eyes widening at its grade, Urban Legend. I crinkled the envelope with my grip and my body tightened.
Is this an insult?
"You're... giving me an Urban Legend contract?"
I looked back at him and his expression didn't change.
"The yield will perish in a harsh field," he said in a calm voice.
I understand that accent clearly... I know what he's saying but—
My face scrunched up but I loosened my expression and looked back down at the contract.
"I understand, Dan-Oh, you accepted my offer after all."
I read through it and the contract is for me to cull a small syndicate in the Backstreets of District 19's south area. It's a small residential area. The reward is 300,000 Ahn. I took out another paper and left my signature on it; the commissioner's signature was above mine.
The syndicate is a minor ring subsidiary and there were multiple images of people with bruises and a single video recorded from a distance of a group of white clothed individuals forcing someone to slam a hammer down on their elbow.
I'm up against a bunch of wackos...?
I left the older themed area of S Corp's Nest and took a train up north, I saw a few eyes on me in the train, some people were looking at their phones and pointing at me, but I just ignored them.
I got off the train and left the exit of the checkpoint leading into the Nest. It didn't take me long to find the small residential area of my contract; I heard shouts and went to investigate it.
I turned a corner, past an aged wall and saw a young man getting dragged out of his house, the man was getting stomped on and protecting his head. I saw two of their weapons, one was a Mace and the other a Club.
"I'M SORRY! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME ACK!! I'LL GIVE YOU THE AHN!!"
I looked at the burly men who were stomping him, they were weirdly quiet. The group of assailants wore white shirts with purple suspenders with bruise markings printed on different areas of the shirt; they were tattooed on. They had long black slacks with white accent marks on them. I started approaching them with my left hand grabbing Enenra's handle.
These eyes are a curse.
I noticed one of them pulled out a hammer and was about to slam it down on the victim's back.
"!"
I pulled Enenra off the baldric and appeared to his side and slashed both of his forearms while moving the blade in a horizontal motion, blood sprayed in the air and got on my back as I twisted my body and kicked the thug away from me, I pointed Enenra at the other two hooligans who brandished their weapons.
I cut through that guy's arm freakishly smooth...
I heard rapid footsteps behind me and leaned back hard my locks flailing in my periphery as I saw a baton coming down onto my throat, I did a flip out of their attack and felt a pain in my side. I looked at the person who attacked me and this dude was sickeningly pale, with short spiky hair and sharp eyes, he wore a tailored fit that was dyed purple and shared the same pants as the group, the collar buttons weren't fastened. He hit me in my side while I twisted my body out of that uncomfortable position.
A dual wielder...
I noticed dot-shaped bruises that were tattooed around his neck and his hands. He had a smile on his face, and the two hooligans started to surround me. He held the twin batons at his side and started speaking "Aww... you could've had a beautiful mark on your neck like mine!"
He charged at me and the other two started closing in, I dashed over to the left trying to incapacitate the mace wielder, but the pale man was quick on his feet, I deflected the mace coming from my left and winced because of my wounded left arm, I blocked the dual baton wielder with my right arm but then felt a jarring hit on my right leg from the club wielder, I gritted my teeth, but my right leg staggered a bit and then I felt a heavy impact that stopped my breathing. "Kngh!"
I closed my eyes longer than I usually do as I stumbled back against a wall, preparing for their next blows. But then, I noticed that they weren't continuing their attack, they had satisfied looks on their faces.
What are they doing...?
"Hohh~! I can't wait to unwrap your clothes to see our art... Fixer. You were confident thinking you can come here by yourself!" He spun the batons and charged at me.
They're... calling me art? This is a Ring Subsidiary right... but they didn't go in for the kill and are treating me like a canvas! You think you can climb up the grades and bite back at Nana if you can't even beat these people, Rxbot!
I mimicked a drawing stance and sliced in front of me multiple times, I didn't unsheathe Enenra but I treated it like I did.
You were trained in the art of blade, Rxbot.
The batons suddenly dropped into multiple pieces, he looked down at the ground and then back up at me, but I was already past him, as his head rolled from his shoulders, blood gushed from the wound. There were six more hooligans around and one of them was holding a chain, he wore a purple vest with a collared shirt, though half of his face was bruised... this time it wasn't a tattoo or marking.
They all rushed at me as I started dancing through them, with each person I passed blood flew into the air and weapons fell onto the ground, I jumped up as I saw a chain wrap around three falling hooligans near me. It tightened and split them in half, I was jumping towards the leader, he was bringing the chain back towards him, aiming at my back. I spun around and stuck Enenra through a chain loop, bringing it onto the ground with a loud clanging noise as the chains stopped violently, I balanced my hands on the kashira of Enenra and kicked the side of his head with my boot, he fell down onto the ground.
I was already upon him holding the blunt part of Enenra's scabbard in my left hand, he looked up at me with a fearful expression, as I cut his neck cleanly off the rest of his body.
"Demoted to grade 5... it doesn't matter."
I'm still the Fixer I was a day or week ago, Rxbot. The man who will bring Iron Nest Office down.