“You were at the entrance ceremony earlier, and you were kind of pretty?”
A man with bad breath said to me, draping his arm over my shoulder.
His name was definitely Kang Dongwoo, the “Missile Punch of Seocho-gu.”
A 3rd-year student from Sebit Middle School. He seemed like the strongest guy here.
But from the energy I felt, he didn’t seem impressive at all.
He looked strong, but his movements were clumsy.
He was lacking a lot if he had really learned assassination techniques.
Above all, using such a tacky name like ‘Seocho-gu Missile Punch’…
A nickname should be something concise and striking, like ‘Nameless’.
But, well, he’s still young.
I was lacking a lot at that age too.
But that doesn’t mean I’ll let him have his way easily.
The world of assassins is brutal, and if you don’t know your skills and still rush in, death is inevitable.
“Jiyoung, Chaeyoung. Stay back.”
Jiyoung and Chaeyoung stepped back from me.
The guys who had been hovering around them followed suit.
I should be able to handle this. They’ve been with me this long.
“Hey, Kim Siyeon! You can’t kill him!”
Chaeyoung shouted from between the men.
She said the same thing back in elementary school.
It seems like in this world’s schools, you can’t kill someone directly.
For sure, the security here is good, so murders like that are easily detected.
And dealing with their corpses without making it obvious would be a hassle in the body of a middle school girl.
It’s a world that has softened. But there’s nothing I can do about it.
“I’ll spare your life.”
“What?”
I lightly pushed and knocked the arm of Seocho-gu Missile Punch Kang Dongwoo off my shoulder.
He looked dumbfounded for a moment, then burst into laughter.
“Ha, hahaha! Ah, this is fun.”
He said it was fun. Seems like he enjoys fighting.
What a perverted guy. But, I can’t say I’m not the same.
“You’re so prickly, it’s even more fun, huh? Are you a difficult girl?”
“…? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Look at that sharp tongue. Ah, you’re so cute, hehe. How about a room cafe later? There’s a good place nearby.”
“Let’s end this here.”
“Here? Wahahaha! You’re hotter than I thought… Gweeehhh!?”
I lightly punched him in the stomach.
He made a disgusting sound, clutching his stomach and bent over.
He even vomited on the ground.
I avoided stepping on the vomit and looked at the rest of the enemies.
‘There are about 15 of them.’
Including the ones by Chaeyoung and Jiyoung, that’s about the number.
Chaeyoung and Jiyoung weren’t doing anything.
I thought they could handle at least this much after all this time with me. What a disappointment.
They seemed completely uninterested in assassination.
I shook my head and clicked my tongue.
“Ahhhhhh!”
“Gweeeeeh!”
“Ugghhh!”
4.71 seconds.
That’s exactly how long it took me to take them down.
The ones who fell with a single strike were now rolling on the ground, blending with the vomit and cigarette butts.
A ragtag group.
Their skills were so poor that they weren’t even worth facing.
“Ah, ah… Ugh…”
Women with terrible makeup watched from the side, trembling in fear.
Pathetic. They weren’t even worth fighting.
To think they tried to take me on with such skills.
Seems like they were a group of pathetic guys making their own little force.
“Hu, hua… As expected, Siyeon.”
“Let’s go. It stinks here.”
Chaeyoung and Jiyoung rushed over to my sides.
You two are out as my team members.
Just as I was about to leave,
“Oh, ooooh… Oook…”
In the corner, I saw that chubby, short guy with glasses, whom I’d seen before, sitting on the ground and groaning.
“Ugh, it’s that pervert!”
That guy who had given me a creepy look on my way to school.
Is he with them?
But his condition was far from being okay.
He had bruises and cuts all over his face, and his clothes were filthy, torn apart from rolling on the ground.
Looks like he lost to them.
But I don’t care about weaklings.
“He looks like he was bullied.”
“Forget it, let’s go. He’ll leave on his own.”
Jiyoung looked at him with pity, and Chaeyoung, with the same disgusted expression, tugged at my arm.
“Let’s go.”
I couldn’t do anything for him.
Besides, in a past life, if you didn’t have power, it was natural to be oppressed.
Of course, not all people from the underworld engage in such disgusting acts.
I’ve always earned money through legitimate means.
But that doesn’t mean I’d help people like that. I had no reason to.
But then,
“Ugh… Siyeon, he’s still following us?”
“Hmm.”
On our way home, that guy was trailing behind us, stumbling along.
Whenever I looked back, he quickly hid behind a pole.
Of course, he wasn’t actually hiding.
“Why is he following us? Should we kill him?”
“Even Jiyoung is saying this, huh.”
For me, an obvious chase like this was uncomfortable too.
I ran up to him, grabbed his bag, and lifted it.
He flailed in the air like a rabbit caught by the neck.
“U, uo, uoooo…!”
“Why are you following us?”
“Th, th, th, th-thank you…”
“Are you trying to say thank you for helping?”
Jiyoung, who had caught up, said.
Chaeyoung stepped back a little, looking uncomfortable.
“U, uhm. But…”
“If you have something to say, say it. Don’t follow us in a creepy way.”
“Y, y, you’re Kim Siyeon, right?”
“…How do you know my name?”
He knew my name.
Could it be that he was some incredible expert?
To think he was stealing my information without me knowing.
I had thought he was just a nobody, but I revised my evaluation a bit.
“W, we’re in the same class…”
“Same class?”
“Eh?”
“You were in my class?”
Same class?
Even though it was the first day and the class had ended quickly,
How could I not remember someone from the same class?
How skilled was he at hiding his presence?
“N, no one ever talked to me in class… that’s, that’s not it…”
Our conversation with him continued for a long time.
His name was Choi Dongsoo.
He said he had been caught by the bullies earlier just because he was on his way home.
He hadn’t been noticed in class because he had no presence at all.
If I couldn’t even detect him, he certainly had good hiding skills.
He stammered, making the conversation difficult.
But when I set him down on the ground, it was easier to talk.
He didn’t seem to have any combat skills.
“Well, I have a request.”
“A request? For me?”
Dongsoo said he was following us because he had a request.
And that request was…
“Be, be the model for my game!”
For some reason, it felt really uncomfortable.
No, maybe it’s just that Dongsoo was the one making it uncomfortable.
“Ugh… Seems like he’s a nerd. Just ignore him, Siyeon. Or just kill him. You could kill him, right?”
“Hi, hiick!”
It was uncomfortable, but should I just kill him?
I didn’t like how he kept glancing at my legs.
“Th, that’s not it! I want to make a game with an assassin as the protagonist, but it’s hard to cut the motion. P, please, just for a moment, I can show you what I’ve made so far if you want.”
“Ugh… I really don’t want to.”
Eventually, Chaeyoung couldn’t hold back and walked away.
But I was intrigued by Dongsoo’s story.
A game with an assassin as the protagonist?
It must be a computer game.
I don’t really play games, but I know enough about them in this world.
“Siyeon, let’s go.”
“Show me that game tomorrow.”
“S, Siyeon?”
A model means showing movements.
It was easy to show a few motions.
I also wanted to learn more about what an assassin is in this world.
In this world, people from the shadows don’t often show themselves in the light.
Movies are often made based on the imaginations of people in the light, but the assassins in this world are very different from those in the world I came from.
So, as part of my quest for information, I liked learning about assassins hidden in the culture of the light.
Eventually, I would become an assassin and enter the shadows of this world.
“U, uh! Got it!”
Ignoring Jiyoung’s attempts to stop me, I turned back.
Dongsoo didn’t follow anymore.
We’d probably see him again at school.
“Siyeon, is middle school okay?”
“Yeah. It’s the same.”
The next morning, at breakfast time before school.
It was important to eat breakfast.
And my mom’s cooking was delicious.
White rice, Spam, and eggs fried together.
Also, side dishes like jangjorim and salted fish.
The food in this world is excellent.
Especially kimchi and samgyeopsal; we almost eat them every day.
“If someone bullies you, you shouldn’t hit them or anything like that, okay?”
“U, yeah. I understand.”
I hesitated at my mom’s words but quickly hid my expression.
The truth is, I had to admit it now.
The schools in the light that ordinary people attend are different from assassin schools.
And I’d probably have to attend one of those ordinary schools until I become an adult.
Since I was still living with my mom and dad.
I was certain the shadows existed, and assassin schools would exist too.
But the reality is, I couldn’t leave without repaying my parents’ kindness.
I might end up being in the light for a much longer time.
And the light in this world is very different from the light in my previous life.
Celebrities… no, people called entertainers are welcomed in this world.
The quality of life is much higher, and everyone can easily enjoy comfort.
Most places are guaranteed safety under the framework of the country.
People in the light in this world are different from those in my previous life, who struggled to survive.
In my previous life, I had to enter the shadows to make money and survive.
But in this world, the light is so vast.
‘Of course, I’m still Nameless.’
In the end, I will repay all my debts in this world and move into the shadows.
Because that place is more comfortable for me.
Of course, the shadows definitely seem to exist in this world as well.
But the shadows in this world seem to be cleverly intertwined with the light.
People from the shadows live as people of the light, hiding their identities.
This is what I understood from the movie I watched before.
Maybe it’s safer than living completely in darkness.
The brighter the light, the more the shadows can hide.
“Mom, are you still in touch with Jiyoung or Chaeyoung’s mom?”
“Of course! You two are always together. Why?”
“Just asking.”
At that moment, I clearly remembered Jihyun and Hyewon recommending that I become an actress.
Actors, like entertainers, are the brightest profession in the light.
And their fans give them unconditional love.
If someone from the shadows were to hide their identity and pretend to be an entertainer, I thought they wouldn’t be noticed.
This made me reconsider my thoughts on becoming an entertainer.
What if I became someone with the brightest profession in the light?
In that case, it might be easier to hide my shadow identity.
It was worth thinking about.
In this world, I had to follow the rules of this world.
By shining in the light, I could also hide my shadow identity.
As someone who once ruled the darkness of the continent, as Nameless, it was only natural to prepare the best conditions to become the king of the shadows.
I would conquer the shadows of this world as well.
“Thank you for the meal. I’ll be back.”
“Have a good day~ Be careful on the road!”
First, there was work to do today.
I finished a satisfying meal and went to school.
Then, during lunchtime at school.
It was time for Dongsoo to show me that assassin game.
“Q…?”
But there, Dongsoo showed me something completely unexpected and amazing.