115. No Second Chances. The Choice is Yours
Sa Gyo-du, having spotted No. 55, lumbered forward with his piggish maw gaping wide, drool spilling from his lips.
No. 55 kicked away an empty liquor bottle rolling underfoot. As the drunken Sa Gyo-du stumbled over it, she hurled herself out the window.
"That bitch?"
Though plastered, Sa Gyo-du was a Peak expert who had surpassed first-rate mastery.
Crack!
He smashed through the papered window frame in pursuit. No. 55 bolted toward the dormitories for dear life.
The commotion drew the instructors out from their dinner in the mess hall.
"What's going on?"
Spotting the intoxicated Sa Gyo-du and No. 55 fleeing toward the dorms in the distance, they quickly pieced it together.
The instructors moved to block Sa Gyo-du.
In the old days, an instructor raping a single female trainee wouldn't have been a big deal. Sure, getting caught by Bi Jangno meant death... but lust could drive a man to defy even that. Such incidents cropped up now and then.
But now, with Gi Jangno having collected the trainees' performance records, they had to deliver them safely to headquarters. Besides, No. 55's natural beauty had caught even Gi Jangno's eye. A beautiful assassin had all sorts of uses, so he'd specially noted her exceptional looks.
The mood was already tense after Gi Jangno's visit... If Sa Gyo-du botched raping No. 55, it would spell total disaster.
The instructors desperately held Sa Gyo-du back, and amid the scuffle, someone slyly jabbed an acupuncture point on his hand, sending the drunkard into a deep sleep.
No. 55 fled into the mess hall. The kids eating there caught her agitated state and sensed something was up.
"Bingseol, what happened?"
Since the field exercise, the kids had started calling each other by self-given names—all of them suitably grandiose.
No. 55 was a perfect fit for "Bingseol": a stunning beauty, icy and aloof.
"That pig bastard tried to rape me. He's coming after me now. I'm gonna gut him."
Bingseol's plump red lips quivered as she spat venom. She looked like a fragile, haughty ice queen on the surface, but raised in these rugged mountains, her tongue was as foul as they come.
"What? That pig Sa Gyo-du?"
The kids erupted in outrage. One hurled his eating tray aside. The guards watching them panicked, mouths agape.
Thirty-three killers-in-training packed into the mess hall... and only five of them.
At the peak of their youthful vigor, who knew what these fired-up kids might do? The guards just held their breath.
"I'll kill him for you!"
One grabbed a sword leaning against the wall. Fresh from training, they all had their weapons on them.
Plenty of boys had eyes for Bingseol; if she'd even kissed one, they'd charge off to disembowel that lecherous Sa Gyo-du without a second thought.
These were kids who'd already killed in the field exercise. Though bound by Swolhyeol San, unaware of it, they half-doubted the poison tale. Some figured their remaining days were numbered anyway and went all-in.
"No. That pig's been eyeing me with filthy looks forever. I'll kill him myself."
Bingseol snatched her own sword. As she headed out, several kids grabbed their weapons to follow. Dongho-gun (I-ho) blocked the door.
"Calm down! Not now!"
"Outta the way!"
Dongho-gun stood firm against the kids trying to leave, facing off.
Won Seung watched with an inward sigh.
Is there such a thing as a perfect plan in this world?
They'd been prepping step by step... That terrifying guy was about to move into action...
And now this sudden mess. The camp's atmosphere, on the cusp of release, had been powder-keg tense. It wouldn't end well.
"Sigh..."
Won Seung rose with a heavy breath. He shot a glare at the guards huddled near the kitchen.
His sharp gaze unnerved them.
The moment that kid yelled, "Over there—the ones worth killing!" the excited brats would swarm.
The guards bolted out the kitchen back door.
Won Seung locked it behind them and approached the group. Bingseol and her followers were still facing off against Dongho-gun, with a few kids siding with him now.
Won Seung slipped smoothly between the two groups.
"Bingseol, cool it a sec and hear Dongho-gun out."
He'd roomed with Bingseol in the barracks before the boys and girls split. They got along fine, so she hesitated.
Dongho-gun glanced at Won Seung's intervention in surprise, then addressed the kids.
"The instructors outrank us. And there are plenty of guards. Charge out like this, and you'll just die. Sure, you might take a couple down first. But is that why we gritted through ten years in these mountains?"
"Dongho-gun, you know damn well we got no future! Why do you think they raised us? We're gonna die on assassin jobs anyway. Better to live free for a few months and go out swinging!"
No. 13 scowled fiercely. Dongho-gun was I-ho's self-given name.
"Doesn't mean you gotta die today, right?"
"Hmph! Scared of dying?"
No. 13's eyes bulged red with bloodshot fury.
Then Won Seung spoke up.
"Hey, No. 13. If you're so eager to die, why not go alone?"
"What?"
"Don't drag the others into a mass suicide. Go solo."
"You little shit?"
No. 13 glared daggers, but Won Seung ignored him and turned to the kids.
"You're all waiting for antidotes, thinking you're poisoned with Swolhyeol San, right?"
The kids flinched. Won Seung shrugged.
"You're not poisoned by Swolhyeol San."
This body's already detoxed you all.
"What?"
The kids stared at Won Seung in shock. Even Dongho-gun gaped.
Won Seung had originally planned to dose them with Soul Oblivion Pills. But after talking with Dongho-gun, he'd changed his mind.
These kids deserved a say in their own lives. Dragged to the mountains and molded into assassins, sure—but some, like Dongho-gun, dreamed of escape.
That's when it hit him. These kids weren't idiots. They could think for themselves, claim their own paths.
Whether fleeing to assassinate or something else... that was their call. Forcing Soul Oblivion Pills and stripping their choices? No better than Jeokhyeolsan itself.
So Won Seung had decided to come clean.
"You know I apprenticed under Dok Sabu as a poison boy, right? Nearly died from that second Myeonggeon Dan. Dok Sabu saved me—and that's when I learned about the Swolhyeol San."
The kids fixated on his mouth.
"Begged him for the antidote. Lucky me, he showed mercy and detoxed me right away. Then I saw you lot suffering. Begged him again. He finally relented, gave me the antidote—and I slipped it into your..."
Won Seung pointed at the camp's water supply.
"...drinking water! So the Swolhyeol San in you is already neutralized."
"No. 50... You serious?"
Jang Chil asked.
"Yeah! Why would I lie to you?"
"Urgh!"
Jang Chil hugged him in tearful gratitude.
"You're my true friend!"
Save it, you killer. Hugging me with hands that've snuffed thirty-seven lives? Chills.
The other kids stared blankly, lost in thought. They'd figured poison-bound lives as Jeokhyeolsan's dogs... but now, freedom. A whirlwind of possibilities left them reeling.
"Why... tell us now? If you'd said before the field exercise, we could've bailed. And why'd you come back?"
Bingseol asked, face conflicted.
"Bail during the exercise? Think the undercover inspectors would've let that slide? These guys' backers are Jeokhyeolsan—a nationwide assassin network. Green as you are, you'd have been caught and killed quick."
"......"
"I came back to tell you this. Hoped you'd escape this mountain, seize your chance, and break free of their clutches."
Won Seung raised his voice suddenly.
"I've given you the chance to own your lives. You gonna throw those precious lives away with these scumbags?"
No! We can't!
The kids snapped to. The outside world they'd glimpsed was a revelation. With money, good food, fine homes. If only they could escape Jeokhyeolsan's grasp...
They couldn't die pointlessly like this.
But... would they just let them go?
As if reading their minds, Won Seung turned to Dongho-gun.
"You were planning an escape, right? Got a plan?"
"Pointless now."
Dongho-gun shook his head darkly. Erasing records and vanishing had fallen apart with Gi Jangno's surprise arrival. They'd pivoted to straight-up flight—then this flare-up.
Won Seung sighed.
"Yeah. Plans rarely go smooth. Lucky it blew up while we're all together. Hand it over to Dongho-gun and me now. Panic, and we're all dead. Let's get outta this hellhole alive—together."
"Hold up!"
The killer Jang Chil raised a hand.
"I'm killing one before I go."
Ah, revenge for No. 92...
"Me too..."
Plenty harbored grudges against instructors. This could end with no survivors.
Won Seung said,
"No second chances. Your call."
Then the chief instructor's voice boomed from outside.
"Drop your weapons and come out peacefully."
The kids startled, looking to Won Seung. Somehow, he'd become their leader.
Won Seung stayed cool, like it was no big deal.
"Can't let it slide, not after Bingseol. That pig dared eye our pretty girl? Grip your weapons tight. Tonight, we see blood."
At "pretty girl"—his old barracks nickname for her—he winked. Bingseol flushed and looked away.
He remembered that? Did he like me?
No. 50 was pretty handsome, after all.
Won Seung told Dongho-gun,
"I'll step out, pretend to negotiate, buy time. Whip up a plan."
Won Seung strode out. Instructors clustered on the small clearing before the mess hall, guards encircling it tightly.
Sword slung over his shoulder, he sauntered forward with deliberate swagger.
"Heard that pig bastard chased our pretty girl. Where's he hiding?"
The chief instructor was floored. The usually meek No. 50... total thug now.
"You lost your mind?"
"Mind? You lot lost yours. Locking kids in these mountains to turn 'em into killers? Who's sane here?"