Chapter 1: The Hungry Demon

Early in the morning when the morning birds are still sleeping, I run 5 thousand steps of stairs bare foot for a light warm up. Since half a year ago, I’ve been running up these steps with blind folds. The stairs twirl around a mountain until about a thousand meters into the sky.  

I listen to the rustling trees and grass to guide me, one wrong step and it would be easy to fall off the mountain to my death. But, since this is a daily ritual for me I don’t worry and breeze up the stairs while enjoying the fresh air.

About thirty minutes into my jog, I slow down and listen to my surroundings. The air of the mountain feels strange; a faint smell of blood is drifting in the air. The metallic scent sticks out like a sore thumb and weighs on my mind. 

I concentrate my hearing toward the North West where the trees seem to rustle in an abnormally violent way. The sound wanders left and right in great speed as if something was being chased. 

I removed my blindfold and rearranged it to cover the lower half of my face. I steer off my usual path and sprint swiftly blending the sound of my footsteps with the rustling leaves to avoid detection.

I calm my thumping heart as the metallic scents grows thicker, although I am masking half my face the scent penetrates through the cloth like a knife cutting through cheese. 

As I hop between trees, I spot bodies of dead women strewn about. Their necks are slashed vertically through the carotid artery with precision so that their prey would die in an instant. 

This mountain belonged to the Choi family, so I took it upon myself to investigate. I was adopted, but this place is no different than my home. 

I perked my ears while chasing the sound within the shadows of the morning darkness. I perch onto a thick branch and peer down to a group of men who cornered a young boy. It was too dark to see what was happening, but the boy had blond hair and he wore an expensive royal red silk gown.

Five farmers surrounded the lone boy. This mountain was restricted to regular civilians. I doubt commoners would be able to purchase any land to farm in these areas. 

The five men inched closer to the young boy. I only had 3 throwing knives; although I had another dagger I carried it to chop branches and mark trees so I won’t get lost in this forest. It was a flimsy knife that would easily break if I were to battle with it. 

I didn’t have the luxury to make sense of this situation, the next second the five men raised their sword. The boy backed away getting into a defensive position, the boy’s body was dripping with blood and he didn’t look like he would be able to live through another attack.

I the throwing knives to the back of their skulls with a thud. 3 bodies flopped lifeless to the ground. The remaining two attackers jumped back a great distance and stood in a defensive position scanning the area for any movement.

 I sprinted forward, masking my presence behind the sudden confusion. I grabbed the boy and dashed toward the southern direction as fast as I could without looking back. 

I specialized in assassination, not combat. The art of stabbing someone in the back was extremely different to head to head combat, I didn’t want to risk finding out whether I was stronger or weaker.