Ch#222
'Waaah, bro! Don't go! Let's just live here together!'
'Oppa, do you really have to go?'
The voices of his siblings clinging to him as he left his hometown came to mind.
'......Do you think I wanted to leave?'
Utterly sickening poverty.
Sold to his parents at age two, Veil had worked in the coal mines since his earliest memories.
That's where he met his siblings.
The overseer was the worst of the worst.
For the slightest sign of defiance, he would shove Veil into narrow, dangerous tunnels.
'If it weren't for the kids, I would've bolted long ago.'
Veil's eyes darkened.
The overseer quickly noticed how Veil cherished the other children in the dorm like siblings.
So he began using them as a leash around Veil's neck.
'What's this? Why so little?! How are we supposed to survive the week?!'
'Blame yourself for not meeting quota, kid.'
'Me not meet quota?! Yesterday my cart was the fullest! Fuller than anyone else's......!'
'What're you yapping about? They only need to do their share, but you don't.'
'What?'
'You think anyone treats slaves like me kindly?! Protecting Ibondo, Rozak—they'll all grow up to work the mines someday.'
'......'
'Listen up, Veil. Either do their shares too. Or stop protecting those brats from the start.'
'......'
'Got it? Huh? Got it?!'
The hand tapping his cheek disgustingly.
But that was more bearable.
Better than watching his emaciated siblings starve.
Better than seeing them cough up blood near the mines.
Veil worked like a dog.
Using his body until nothing was left, then using it more.
Crawling low tunnels all day, seeking out even more dangerous spots on purpose.
He nearly died several times when paths collapsed.
Then the burly workers eyed the high-quality, rare ores Veil brought.
At first, he handed them over.
He had no strength left to fight after exiting the tunnels.
But once, twice.
Soon he reached a point where he couldn't give more.
All that was left was to fight.
It wasn't easy.
Unlike the huge, ferocious men, Veil was the smallest and youngest.
Beaten to near death, dragging his throbbing body to the tunnels the next day, he studied.
How to attack them more efficiently.
What to yield, which vitals to take.
Days piled up, and the situation changed.
From the one beaten to death's door, to the one who could kill them at will.
'Wh-what the hell, you punk. Who do you think you are?!'
When he pressed a sharp stone shard under the jaw of the worst worker.
The mine's atmosphere shifted.
'Crazy bastard......! Your eyes are fuckin' insane!'
'Took you this long? Still yapping even knowing?'
Veil smirked, one eye swollen shut.
'Don't touch me. Touch me and I'll really kill you.'
After that, no one touched his cart.
Then new ones approached.
'Heard the rumors, kid. You nearly slit Dilten's throat.'
'Piss off. Can't you see I'm busy?'
'Hear me out first, then you won't say that. You're responsible for the mine's kid slaves, right? Even pulled some sick ones from the tunnels.'
'......Who the hell are you?'
'But kid. Have you checked on them properly?'
It felt like a hammer to the head.
Whether his siblings were okay, recovering, improving.
He hadn't checked.
Because he ended too late to return to the dorm most days.
That's why.
When he snuck out of the tunnels to the dorm, bypassing the overseer.
He realized the overseer had been intercepting all the food and money midway.
The youngest, always frail, who smiled brightly and ran to him crying 'Bro Veil!' whenever she saw him.
'Bro, h-hic. Why so late. I told them to give it to you, h-hic. I even went to the tunnel entrance begging to see you just once......'
Had become a star in the sky without him knowing.
'Isha was looking for you, bro. When she was sick, that day too, she said she missed you so much, how mu-huch, sob......'
The world spun.
His vision so red, Veil felt like he was inside a blazing fire.
'Think seriously about my offer.'
It was clearly a poisoned apple.
'You have talent. This job pays way better than scraping by in the mines, and your siblings could live comfortably in a good place......'
Yet so red and tempting.
'The world's full of dogshit. At least we're on the less rotten side.'
'......'
'Doing the least dirty among dirty jobs—and getting paid for it. How great is that?'
He'd refused at first.
But seeing Isha's grave changed his mind.
A small, low mound he could barely cover with one arm.
A dry dirt pile without a single blade of grass, clumsily topped with a few wildflowers.
'What kind of grave is this. Why...... why is Isha's grave like......'
Kneeling before it, Veil repeated to himself over and over.
As if it would bring back the dead youngest, stupidly.
'I'll do it.'
Unbearable loss pushed him into the shadows.
The desire to protect taught him only how to destroy in the end.
'Your name suits you well. You're born for this line of work.'
Veil became an assassin.
Starting with revenge on the mine overseer, staining his hands with blood grew familiar.
'Veil! Why the long face? We're not killing innocent civilians. There's necessary evil in the world. We're just dirtying our hands for them.'
'......Who said anything?'
He acted nonchalant.
Convinced himself it didn't matter.
Yet he couldn't tell his siblings.
'Bro Veil! Come see the stew.'
'......Ibondo, you cook now? You never did.'
'What? I love cooking! Just didn't have proper ingredients before.'
'......'
'You know, ever since you got the new job, we have some spare time. It's so nice. I'll grow up quick and help out. Seen Rozak's cheeks? All chubby from eating well lately.'
'Waaah, brooo! Jeanne hit me!'
'I didn't! Bro, no! I didn't do it!'
Yeah, so what if his hands got dirtier.
As long as the kids smiled in the sunlight.
But the world never flowed as he wished.
'......Tell me. Is it true?'
Ibondo's tomato stew soaked the floor long.
It looked like blood from a severed carotid, throat burning.
'You really did it?! For us, bro really?!'
The cramped house filled only with children's sobs.
For the first time since joining the assassin guild, terror gripped him.
'I.'
He wanted to run.
But wasn't sure if running was okay.
Something told him the siblings would run first.
But nothing he expected happened.
'......It's okay. We can fix it.'
Time seemed to stop.
Ibondo didn't scream monster at him.
Didn't run screaming with the siblings.
Instead, quietly approached and hugged him tight.
'Nothing changes for our family.'
'......'
'That's why you had scars every day. That's why, h-hic, sob......'
Invisible, but he knew.
Ibondo patted his back while sobbing herself.
Then the other siblings approached.
'Bro, we didn't spend all the money you gave. Sis Ibondo saved a lot!'
'Oppa, it hurt a lot, right?'
'Making you do dangerous stuff every day, h-hic. Sorry, bro......'
Breathless.
A feeling he'd never known before.
Later, he felt it once more.
Caldewein Ridge.
'Did it hurt a lot? Sorry, Tie came late to save you even as leader......'
Tie crying seeing his bandaged hand.
When he saw Astie, resembling departed Isha, tending to him first with her small body.
"Bro Veil. So you're calling your siblings? Right?"
Veil snapped from his thoughts.
Tie in his arms blinked with a smiling face.
Veil released the gold coins in his other hand.
"......Yeah."
He ruffled Tie's hair, smiling.
"Can't go myself for a while anyway."
In his pocket.
Tucked among the gold coins was a crumpled letter from endless readings.
The letter began with a warm, friendly greeting.
[Oppa, we're doing great. You too, right?]