Published: January 4, 2026
"Zoe."
"Yes."
"Take the beggar to a safe place. They're just exhausted, so let them rest and give them something good to eat."
"Understood."
Zoe nodded, helped the collapsed beggar up, and supported him as they exited the alley.
The remaining assassin man, Kate, and I were left behind.
Immediately after, throwing knives stabbed into the man's back, who was lying face down.
"Ah!"
Kate screamed.
"M-Master! Knives!"
"Yeah."
"...Huh?"
Because I remained composed, Kate calmed down as well.
"You're not surprised...?"
"I expected the opponent to have insurance. A silencing of the silencer. Whoever did that is probably closer to the mastermind, so I let it happen."
"Is that so!?"
"Yeah."
I nodded and began walking.
I headed toward the direction where the throwing knives came from, walking for just under a minute.
Deeper into the alley, a man lay collapsed.
He wore black clothes with only his eyes visible—an obvious disguise.
He trembled slightly, struggling to escape.
"See?"
"Did you do this, Master?"
"Yeah. The moment the knives flew, I located the launch point and took him down."
"That's amazing, Master! How did you do it? It looked like you did nothing."
"I'll tell you someday."
I said that and approached the man in black.
He tried to turn around, but his body was so immobilized he couldn't even move his neck.
I lightly kicked him, rolling him from face down to face up.
"Now, talk. Who gave the order?"
"K-Kill me..."
"If you speak now, you won't be harmed."
"..."
The man didn't answer but swallowed something.
He then closed his eyes.
I waited silently without doing anything.
Nothing happened.
Because nothing happened, the man opened his eyes again, staring at me in shock.
"Wh-why...?"
"These people would go that far. It's no surprise they'd expect failure and would commit suicide. I prepared for it."
"Wha—"
"Master is amazing..."
"You won't get the right to commit suicide. Now, talk."
"..."
"What's wrong? Not going to talk?"
"Kill me... please kill me."
"Hm?"
I furrowed my brows, tilting my head.
This reaction was unexpected.
I could have predicted "kill me," but "please kill me" was completely unforeseen.
Looking at the man's face, there was genuine pleading in his eyes.
"What do you mean? Please kill me?"
"If I don't die quickly when I fail, my family... my daughter—"
"...I see."
I understood.
It was a sickeningly clear story.
His daughter was taken hostage, leaving him no choice.
And if he failed, he had to die—seriously committed villains.
"...Hah."
Sighing, I waved my hand.
From the bracelet, a purple liquid oozed out and shot forward like an arrow.
The poisoned arrow struck the man’s body in a straight line.
"Th-thank you..."
Rolling his eyes back and foaming at the mouth, the man said that with his last strength before collapsing.
Meanwhile, Kate looked on with a mixture of surprise and fear.
"Did he... die?"
"You can check."
Kate nodded and cautiously approached the fallen man, placing her hands on his neck and nose.
"He's dead..."
she muttered.
☆
"Ugh..."
Inside a room with the windows tightly shut, the man moaned and woke up on the bed.
"You've regained consciousness."
"Huh? ...Wh-where is this!?"
The man jumped up and looked around the room.
"Relax, this is not the afterlife."
"You are—I'm... alive!?"
"Yes."
"You didn't kill me!?"
The man shouted at me, almost grabbing me.
"Don't worry about that either. You're considered dead."
"Huh?"
I held out my hand and extended my index finger.
A drop of purple liquid dripped from my fingertip onto the floor.
It was the poison I had injected into the man's body earlier.
"It's a poison that induces a temporary death-like state. Someone has confirmed your death as well."
"A temporary death-like state... T-that's impossible..."
"Want to try it again? It's still quite toxic to the body, so I don't recommend it."
"..."
Despite my words, the man still looked unbelieving.
"Look around your body instead."
"My body... What's this burnt skin thing?"
The man picked up a piece of what looked like burnt skin on the bed.
The skin was shaped like a human figure, as if he had molted.