* Featured Character ( A section at the beginning of each chapter to remind readers of who characters are and which characters will be featured in the chapter )
Haphuco ♂ - The main character
Bodias ♂ - Boss of Hakyo Agency where Haphuco is working for
Biudo ♂ - Owner of where Haphuco is living
Jowi ♂ - Manager of the Orphanage where Haphuco used to live
Cha ♂ - Owner of the Restaurant where Haphuco is working for
Biani ♀ - Haphuco's younger sister who is living with him
New Character
Dorin ♂ - ?
Kevin ♂ - ?
Floret ♀ - ?
Hanami ♀ - ?
Momo ♀ - ?
Mya ♀ - ?
Hakyo - The name of the city where Haphuco is living in, a city of Mantevis, one of the six countries in the world.
Suddenly, Haphuco finds himself in a strange place where everything around him is just a pitch black. He is actually dreaming but he is not aware of that. While wondering, a voice from behind Haphuco made him turn around.
"Is every Assassin CRAZY like you ?"
A terrifying scene appears in front of Haphuco's eyes. The scene immediately changed into a room which for some reason is entirely painted with a red color, the color of BLOOD.
In front of Haphuco is a young man who he does not recognize. He was leaning helplessly against the wall, covered in blood. One of his eyes was seen to be gouged out and seemed unlikely to recover.
"No...Maybe just you..." The man then said.
"..." The man took a brief breath before asking Haphuco.
"Why are you smiling ?"
"Smiling ? I am not..." Haphuco thought.
But then he saw his reflection in a big mirror behind the man.
He is smiling...
A wide smile...
A smile of Demon.
"Let me just turn this way..."
Another voice from the right of Haphuco. When he turned his head, he found himself holding a gun to the head of another, older man.
"Alright !" The man was sitting on a chair placed in front of a table. Instead of sitting normally, the man turned his body 90 degrees to the right.
"If we go this way, my work will not get the BLOOD."
The man then closed his eyes.
"It's a shame..." The man spoke while his eyes closed.
"There won't be any sequel to the work..."
"I have already had some ideas for it."
...
Suddenly the man glared at Haphuco, his face breaking into a twisted smile.
"WHaT ARe YOU waiTInG foR ?!"
"SHOOT !!!"
"shOOT LiKE wHAt YOU DID !"
Bang !!!
A sound of the gun firing and that's when Haphuco woke up. He just had a nightmare.
The nature of a person's dreams comes from his desires or regrets.
In Haphuco's case, it's clearly comes from the latter.
Since that day, not a day has passed without him waking up gasping for breath. Not a day has passed without him having nightmares.
But...
What is that nightmare ?
Everytime he sleeps, the same nightmare happens.
But when he wakes up, the nightmare just escapes from his memory...
Making sure his experience stays FRESH !
He could not remember or he has unconsciously not letting himself remember about it.
Which is...actually good for his mental health as at least he won't be aware that he is being tortured by the same nightmare day by day.
He has been awake anyway...
He looked at the clock next to the TV, it was 5am.
Since young, he and everyone else had been Jowi, the Manager of the Orphanage where he used to live put into discipline by "kicking" everyone else at this time of the day so waking up at 5 a.m. to Haphuco has been simply the force of habit.
After waking up, Haphuco goes to the bathroom and does everything that anyone would do in the bathroom every morning.
Brushing his teeth, washing his face, taking a sh*t, all normal activities.
He then uses a pair of tweezers to pluck whiskers on his beard because he feels they make him look old like Jowi.
After that, it's time for his daily exercises.
100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100 squats and finally 10 km run.
I know what you guys are thinking.
Is this the exercises that make a bald guy in whatever manga become so freaking strong ?!
If that's your thought, then you are absolutely right !
However, as an obvious fact, that bald guy does not exist in this world and Haphuco in fact learned these exercises from Jowi and he is not BALD.
Since young, Haphuco has been introduced and put into training to complete these exercises everyday. Of course, at the beginning, he could not complete them so as a matter of being reasonable, he started from doing each exercise 10 times, started from 1 km run and then gradually increased the workload to 100 times and 10 km like now.
The most difficult part of training is never starting it but keeping pushing yourself until you feel "comfortable" with it which you never know when will it be. It is an exhausting mental battle but the result at the end will be worth it. It feels like Level Up, when every stats of your become superior than before, making you feel like a completely different person.
Haphuco clearly felt it. The training was "deadly" exhausting at the beginning but now it is just like health-preserving exercises that a bunch of old people do every early morning that he sees during his running, no longer difficult, even relaxing.
Today he starts earlier than other days, probably because his younger sister Biani is not at home today. She will be home tonight after her "business trip", fulfilling an Order as an Assassin. It seems like since Biani left the Orphanage, she has no longer did these exercises. Can not blame her but as a her older brother, Haphuco has the responsibility to put her back into discipline so he has been asking Biani to wake up and do the exercises everyday since they lived together.
After all, it's more fun to exercise together than training alone.
Haphuco then executed each exercise. It's an important thing to do the exercise right to ensure the effectiveness and also prevent potential injury. Have yourself a few minutes break between each exercise and drink water to stay hydrated.
"96, 97..."
"98...99..."
"..."
"100 !!!"
And that's done. Relax a little bit, Haphuco then stepped out of his apartment. You have to assume that everyone is still sleeping so better walk quietly. Having stepped outside the house, the weather is clear and the winds are cool, it's an ideal time for the sprint.
And then Haphuco started running. Just mere running is a bit boring so I shall tell you guys a story about what happened after Haphuco's first-ever Order.
After Haphuco's first-ever and hope to be the last Order, he graduated from School. Not knowing what to do next, he returned to the Orphanage where he used to live. In a surprise fortune, Jowi, the Orphanage's Manager did not blame Haphuco for his decision, and was even understanding and let him stay at the Orphanage as long as he needed.
The short time staying at Orphanage was not too bad. The new batch of kids sent to the Orphanage are quite adorable and the atmosphere is peaceful, as typical of a mountainous area. But Haphuco then felt something not right, as if this kind of "quite" life is not for him. That's when Biani came back. Biani was only the second person to return to the Orphanage after the promise of everyone to come back after graduating from School but at that time, no one knew a fact that not everyone can return at the same time, leading to this situation.
Haphuco was very happy to reunite with Biani. Biani said that she has got accepted into a Facility in Hakyo City. Coincidentally, Hakyo is where Jowi had an old friend who is living there. That person is Bodias, the Boss of Hakyo Agency featured in the first chapter. It was unclear what their relationship was, but Jowi later wrote for Haphuco a letter of introduction if he wanted to get a job there.
An Assassin working for Bodyguard, sounds wrong but doesn't Haphuco no longer want to be an Assassin anymore ? Jowi and Biani both understand and respect Haphuco's decision so it does not matter even if Haphuco become a Bodyguard or not.
It was then decided that Haphuco will live with Biani in Hakyo. Hakyo is one of the biggest cities located on the eastern part of Mantevis, one of the six countries around the world. And so Haphuco started living in an apartment inside Buido's house which Biani has successfully hired beforehand. He also managed to get a job in Hakyo Agency and then Cha Restaurant. That's the story until now.
Back to the training, Haphuco maintained a comfortable running speed of 10 km/hour so the run normally takes about one hour to complete. Nothing impressive but it's not like he needs to exert himself or anything. Although he has grown accustomed to the training but one thing never changes is his excessive sweating. He sweats so much that it's like a rain has just fallen only into his own head.
It's 7 a.m and Haphuco's daily exercise is over.
"I must smell really stinky now." Haphuco thought. He should take a bath right away.
"Good morning, Haphuco." As Haphuco was about to enter the house, a woman appeared from there. Her name Floret ♀, the tenant of Room Number 1.
"Oh, hi, Sister Floret, are you going to water the flowers ?"
Floret is a florist and she owns a store in the city center. It is told that since Floret moved here,
Buido has let her plant flowers in the surroundings of the house, so now we can see all kinds of flowers growing around here, creating a beautiful scenery that people tend to admire when passing by.
"I wish I could wake up earlier to water the plants when they can absorb the most moisture." It depends but it's often the best time to water the plants in early morning, when the sun just goes up.
"But because today is Sunday so it just feels way more difficult." I would feel that too.
"So I'm impressed that you can not only wake up early but also work out to sweat like this, Haphuco." Floret praised Haphuco.
"Haha, it's nothing special, Sister Floret. Now I should go taking a bath, see you at the breakfast, Sis." Haphuco then entered the house. It's around 7 a.m. now so he had 30 minutes left before the breakfast.
One special thing about renting an apartment in Biudo's house is that the breakfast is included in the rent fee and Biudo will make the breakfast for anyone living there. The breakfast is set to take place at 7:30 every day which can be a bit too early for a Sunday morning but maybe that's his way of saying you should not wake up late in the morning.
He stepped down the stairs leading to the house's basement which has been rebuilt into a corridor with six separate apartments. The apartment of Haphuco and Biani is located at the end on the right, the Room Number 6. Biani was the one who rented the last available room in Buido's house.
Unlike Biani who likes to take long baths and showers in the bathtub, Haphuco just wants to take a quick shower so he finished in no time. The feeling of taking a shower after finishing his morning exercises was very refreshing.
It's time for the breakfast, when Haphuco stepped into the dinning room, he saw Buido and Dorin ♂.
"Oh, good morning, Haphuco, come on in." Budio, the house's owner, is preparing the rest of the breakfast.
"Take a seat, the breakfast will be done soon."
"Good morning, Brother Haphuco." Dorin is the tenant of Room Number 5. He is an university student on his last year.
"Are you helping Mr. Buido with the breakfast ?" Haphuco asked.
"Yeah, he cooks all the food for us everyday so I think I should help him a bit." Dorin replied.
"GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE !!!"
A lovely voice erupted and that came from Hanami ♀, the only cute girl inside the house. Going along with her father Kevin ♂, who is yawning in and out.
"Good morning, sweerheart. It's always good for my health to see you being so energetic in the morning." Buido spoke with a deliberately sweet voice.
"You sound sleepy, Brother Cavin." Dorin asked.
"To be honest, I want to sleep more but this rascal kept waking me up to eat the breakfast." Kavin explained.
"What's for today, Uncle Buido ?" Hanami asked.
"It's bacon and egg, Hanami." Budio replied.
Bacon and egg, a food originating from UEI, another country aside from Mantevis, with milk to drink and some fruits to eat for deserts. The breakfast is done and it's time to eat.
"Sorry, I am a bit late." Floret entered the room after finishing her caring for the plants.
"No worry, Floret. You are actually right on time for the breakfast, unlike that girl Momo ♀." Buido said.
Momo is the tenant of the Room Number 3, between Floret and Dorin's apartment.
"Maybe she is still sleeping." Dorin guessed.
"Sigh, she is always like that." Budio shook his head.
If you guys are wondering who is the tenant of the Room Number 2, that guy, for some reasons, tend to go away for a few weeks so he is currently not here.
"Well, let's just eat first, shall we." Buido then said.
Around 15 minutes passed, Momo then appeared.
People says don't judge people by their appearance but man, she is not looking like someone who is a teacher of a famed school in the city.
Her appearance is a bit...revealing.
Dorin tried to look away out of embarrassment while Biudo was clearly unpleased with how Momo looks.
"How's the going, everyone." Momo nonchalantly spoke while scratching her body behind her clothes.
"You are late again, Momo. And once again, wear something more appropriately. You are supposed to set an example to Hanami, aren't you ?" Buido showed his dissatisfaction but...
"I think you are really cool, Sis Momo !" Hana seems to like how Momo looks.
"See, Mr. Biudo. Hana-chan said that I am cool. So there's no problem here, right ?"
"Ugr !!!"
...
During the breakfast, everyone ate the food, shared about the stories they have, it was a pleasing time for Haphuco and it feels great to see people around him happy. The breakfast eventually ended and each person has a different plan of the day for themselves.
"I am going to the store for some business." Floret said.
"I am having a job today." Dorin said.
"I am going to sleep more." Momo said.
"I am going to take this rascal to the shopping mall today to prepare for her first school day tomorrow." Cavin said.
About Haphuco, he plans to visit the supermarket so he can buy ingredients for the dinner tonight, to greet Biani back home.
Time passed and it's night time, the ingredients have been prepared and tonight Haphuco will make a dish that he learned from Cha.
Someone is opening the door, it must be Biani.
Thinking like that, Haphuco looks towards the opening door, ready to greet Biani.
"Welcome back, Bia..."
"Eh ?!"
"You thought I was Biani."
"But it was me, Mya ♀ !"
A girl named Mya suddenly appeared in front of Haphuco but his confusion did not last long as from behind, Biani showed up and said :
"Hi, Haphuco..."
"This is Mya, she is a friend of mine and also my co-worker."
It seems like one more mouth is needed to be fed for the dinner today.
End of Chapter 2 - Sunday
Next Chapter 3 - TBE ( To Be Updated )