Ten-Battle Assassin No. 50 Chapter 18

Episode 18: A Trainee Killed That Bastard?

The day I was headed to Instructor Jang's office, I left a bottle of liquor in the snack room. I always thought it would be great if he died, and then he just died that day.

In a way, I felt proud. I made it to kill Instructor Jang, but it ended up killing Instructor Agu.

'Master Gong killed Instructor Jang, and I killed Instructor Agu. The Sea Mist Sect is truly impressive.'

Eventually, the inspector entered. With a cold gaze, he scrutinized Won Seung thoroughly, as if he knew everything.

"How many people in this mountain can access a deadly poison that can kill with just a few sips?"

When the inspector asked with a sharp glint in his eyes, Won Seung thought for a mont before responding.

"Just ."

The poison apprentice, who served the Poison Master, admitted it readily, causing the inspector's eyes to shine.

"Are you confessing that you did it?"

"Of course not. I barely exchanged a few words and left the office. He was still alive when I left."

"Why did you visit Instructor Agu that day?"

"I went to tell him that I've learned all I can about poison techniques and that I wanted to quit."

"Do you expect to believe that's all there is to it?"

The inspector had already made up his mind. He needed to pin the cri on soone and extract a confession.

'Given the circumstances, this guy is the only one who fits as the culprit.'

Whether he was the real culprit or not didn't matter. Catching a trainee was no big deal.

The inspector chuckled darkly.

"I don't know many torture thods. Just ten. But so far, I've only used three. They confessed before I could use the fourth. I think you'll confess by the second thod."

A chill ran down Won Seung's spine.

He'd rather die quickly than be tortured and left in tatters. On the other hand, he trusted the poison needle hidden behind his ear. If push ca to shove, he planned to stab the inspector with it.

'Will he really torture ? Should I kill him now and escape?'

Interrogating a trainee wasn't considered a big deal, so his hands weren't tied, and the guard was lax.

With forty years of internal energy and his ridians unblocked, Won Seung feared no one in this mountain. Even if the instructors sward him, he was confident he could escape at least once. However, doing so would ruin his plans for revenge against the Red Blood Mountain.

'I have to avenge Master Gong...'

Won Seung believed that the Poison Master also died because of the Red Blood Mountain. If he fled like this, when would he ever get his revenge?

He didn't even know where the Red Blood Mountain was.

As Won Seung pondered, the inspector, unaware that death was looming over him, felt satisfied. Seeing the young man's eyes darting around made him seem like the real culprit. Moreover, his anxious expression suggested he might confess without torture.

While the two were lost in their own thoughts, soone knocked on the door.

"What is it? Don't you know I'm interrogating soone right now?"

"Yes, I know, but... Elder Bi from the main sect has arrived."

"What?"

"He demands your imdiate presence."

*

In Instructor Agu's office.

Elder Bi threw down the trainee evaluation report he was reading and erupted in anger.

"That bastard should have died by my hand."

According to the evaluation report reconstructed by Instructor Agu, thirty-three out of thirty-eight were deed to have the potential of first-class assassins. So many first-class assassins... It was clearly exaggerated.

Moreover, without detailed classification, it was impossible to tell who was special-grade or Ten Absolute Killers.

Instructor Agu, threatened by Elder Bi, had generously evaluated everyone except the children who were fed fake pills. The deceased Instructor Agu had planned to report vaguely and observe the children for a year to classify them. But now that he was dead, that was impossible.

Unaware of Instructor Agu's intentions, Elder Bi's face turned red with anger, and he was visibly furious. If he could, he would have tortured Instructor Agu's corpse.

'Why am I even here...?'

The inspector felt a sense of self-loathing as he endured the wrath of Elder Bi, known for his terrible temper even in the main sect.

In truth, there was no reason for him, who ca to investigate a murder case, to suffer under Elder Bi. However, Elder Bi had summoned him while he was interrogating the suspect and made him sit and watch as he read the trainee evaluation report for over an hour, then raged like a madman.

Still, he couldn't voice any objections. Saying a word now might get him beaten to death.

Being powerless was a cri.

After a while, Elder Bi cald down and asked.

"A trainee killed that bastard?"

"He is a pri suspect."

"A trainee poisoned an instructor? How did he do it?"

"......"

That was sothing he still needed to find out. As the inspector was about to respond.

Slap!

Elder Bi's palm struck the inspector's cheek, knocking him sideways from his seat.

Thud!

Elder Bi stomped on the inspector.

"You bastard! If you're lacking in skill, admit it... Say you couldn't catch the real culprit. Were you planning to fra an easy trainee and kill him?"

"N-no, sir!"

The inspector shouted, standing at attention to avoid Elder Bi's foot.

"Number Fifty is the pri suspect who t Instructor Agu on the day of the incident! That day, he..."

As the inspector raised his voice and listed Won Seung's suspicions, Elder Bi showed interest.

"He was the Poison Master's apprentice? Find Number Fifty's evaluation report."

The inspector hurriedly searched through the scattered reports and handed over Number Fifty's evaluation. Elder Bi mumbled as he read through it.

"Surprising... He served that ill-tempered Poison Master for four years... Isn't it remarkable for a trainee to kill an instructor? This has never happened before. What do you think?"

"Honestly, we haven't yet determined how he killed Instructor Agu."

The quick-witted inspector gave the most appropriate answer. Elder Bi's lips curled into a smile.

"Hmm... He killed him, but we don't know how? At the very least, he's a definite first-class assassin, isn't he? At his age, isn't he a candidate for the Ten Absolute Killers?"

"That... that could be true."

The inspector stamred in response.

Elder Bi paced the room, deep in thought, before speaking.

"Release him. And classify Instructor Agu's death as a suicide."

Instructor Agu's death was concluded as a suicide due to depression from long years in the mountains.

*

Instructor Sa took over as Instructor Agu's successor.

Instructor Sa had previously managed the second assassin training center.

On the day of his appointnt, when Instructor Sa stepped onto the platform, Won Seung was astounded. Why are all the people from the Red Blood Mountain like this? With his bulging eyes and chubby cheeks, Instructor Sa looked like the reincarnation of Zhu Bajie. Moreover, the way he looked at the female trainees, filled with lust, was disgusting.

"Because of you brats, I had to return to this mountain. I trust you'll behave."

The assassin training center is a dreadful place for both instructors and trainees. Perhaps even more so. Trainees, dragged here at a young age, live in constant tension, not knowing when or how they might die.

But for adults who know all the pleasures of the world, enduring ten years of hardship in the mountains is, in so ways, even more challenging.

Instructor Sa had completed his dreadful ten years in the mountains and was promoted to a branch manager in a comfortable city, enjoying a life of indulgence. But being suddenly reassigned to the mountains was torture.

Before coming, Instructor Sa received a stern warning from Elder Bi.

'This ti, there are many talents. Identify the four special-grade and Ten Absolute Killers, and your contributions will be recognized, allowing you to spend your remaining years as a branch manager in a major city. Especially keep an eye on Number Fifty...'

With the promise of a comfortable future, he decided to endure the remaining period with his eyes closed. But once he arrived in the mountain, surrounded by nothing but green trees, he was filled with rage.

'Damn it... Stuck in the mountains again! I need a drink.'

Instructor Sa showed his face briefly on the first day and then locked himself in his office, drinking.

Thanks to this, Won Seung and the trainees enjoyed peaceful days.

*

As they entered their ninth year, the training process beca simpler. In the morning, they attended assassin strategy classes, and in the afternoon, they focused on mastering their primary martial arts.

The assassin strategy classes were, as the na suggests, about learning the skills needed for assassination. Active assassins from the main sect taught them how to gather information on targets, approach, infiltrate and escape, disguise and hide, and various other tactics.

Won Seung paid particular attention to the success stories and failure cases. The success stories and failure cases used aliases for both the assassins and their targets, but sotis the capital city appeared in the background.

Every ti that happened, it brought back mories.

'It's already been nine years. The capital must have changed a lot.'

Struggling to survive, nine years had passed in the blink of an eye. Won Seung had grown into a slender and agile fifteen-year-old.

"Lady Ju, you really went too far."

After much contemplation, Won Seung concluded that it was his aunt, Lady Ju, who sold him to the Red Blood Mountain.

Though Won Sochu was mischievous, he wasn't the type to cut his hair, change his clothes, and sell him in a remote village far from the capital. Moreover, he wasn't old enough to plan sothing so ticulously.

Thinking this, he wondered if returning to the Won family mansion in the capital was the right decision.

Lady Ju was the beloved sister of the powerful King Seong. If Won Seung returned alive, she might send assassins to kill him this ti.

"But I have to see my mother."

His father, Won Seongji, was a strong man, so there was no need to worry about him. But his mother was different. She might be bedridden, having lost her son.

He wanted to escape and run to the capital imdiately. But he couldn't act recklessly without knowing what kind of surveillance was in place outside.

No, more than that, he had no intention of simply running away.

He had spent his precious childhood in a remote mountain, enduring harsh training and the fear of death. Moreover, many of the children he was with had died. If he didn't take revenge on the Red Blood Mountain for this, the deep-seated resentnt in his heart would weigh him down for the rest of his life.

The greatest revenge Won Seung envisioned was for all the assassins to escape just before they were about to be dispatched.

'They'll see the tower they've built over ten years crumble.'

The instructors and trainers couldn't be left alone either. The trainers, trapped in the remote mountains, treated the trainees like animals. The children pretended not to know, but so of the girls were abused at night and then reported as having died during training.

This thought wasn't unique to Won Seung. As the children grew older, they no longer feared the trainers. Outwardly, they pretended to obey, but behind their backs, they glared at them with eyes that seed ready to slit their throats at any mont.

'The Red Blood Mountain even calculated this.'

The main sect anticipated that the children would beco a threat as they grew and included Blood Drying Powder in the fake pills they administered.

The children didn't know, but in the spring of their sixteenth year, they would feel the effects of the Blood Drying Powder's poison.

The Red Blood Mountain presented the carrot before the stick. Even now, it was the sa. The active assassin from the main sect said.

"When you beco a first-class assassin, you'll be given a house and ten silver coins a month. Plus, every ti you successfully complete an assignnt, you'll receive one-tenth of the commission fee."