A Night in Seokyo

Warning: The Following Light Novel may contain some explicit and uncomfortable content for some viewers. Reader discretion is advised.

The nights in Seokyo are quiet. Street vendors close their shops, the midnight rush calms down, and vehicles on the road dwindle as people reach their final destinations. However, there is one thing that breaks the silence. A small, yet very dangerous, group that turned my whole life around.

Just as my thoughts started to wander, my team captain snapped me out of my trance.

"Yui! Quit dozing off! We have an important bounty on our hands!"

"Ah! Sorry! Sorry!"

I hurriedly gathered myself and rejoined my captain and other teammates to resume and complete our mission.

"Let's get this show on the road," I said.

We all put on our masks and slipped into the dark alleyway next to our target's home. The stench of trash buildup in the alley was nauseating and made my stomach turn, but this isn't as bad as what we are about to accomplish. Simply put, we're here to eliminate and collect our bounty. Why, do you ask? I am part of the Egotistics. From the outside, the Egotistics are killers who wreak havoc in the city of Seokyo, and leave nothing but corpses. But in reality, we're simply taking out the trash in this corrupted world. We collect bounties for our clients who just want to live peacefully. These bounties are not regular, law-abiding citizens, but people who have committed sins such as rape, murder, or other terrible acts on our clients. It is our job to rid them all of this world. So far, I'm the youngest in the group. Name's Yui Ito, and I too have a purpose in this world.

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We silently swept into the apartment complex building using the side door from the alley and quickly made our way to the second floor of the complex. Based on what our client reported, our target is a middle-aged male in his early 30s. From the reports, he raped and murdered the 12-year-old daughter of our client. A sin like that simply cannot be swept under the rug. Scumbags like him do not deserve to roam this Earth.

We reached the second floor of the complex and took a sharp left to head towards the target's apartment. Luckily enough, no surveillance cameras were pointing at the hallway we were in, so we waltzed in with ease. We reached the front door and I slowly tested the knob. To our surprise, it was unlocked. Before I opened the door, my teammate grabbed my shoulder–stopping me from rushing in. She held up her knife and I nodded. Readying our weapons, the three of us locked eyes in agreement. It was the moment of truth. This isn't my first mission, and it won't be my last, but for some reason, I felt a rush of blood surge through my body as if my body was itching to rush in and go for it.

With steady hands, I grabbed the doorknob once again, twisted it, and swiftly pushed the door open, making sure this was a quick but silent break-in.

The three of us burst in and instantly locked eyes with our target. By the look on his face, he was terrified and knew exactly who we were. Revolted, I watched him shiver in fear as the three of us stared at him down like a pack of wolves cornering their prey.

"N-NO...IT CAN'T BE!"

I sighed in frustration. His shouting could be a problem for us. Knowing the situation we were about to encounter, my teammate let go of my shoulder and closed the front door behind us; making sure to lock it. I nodded at her in thanks and quickly turned back to our target. He was kind of annoying.

"This one yells too much…"

"We should silence him before he alerts someone."

Wanting to finish quickly, I closed in on him. Fear filling his eyes, he retreated as I approached. I watched the cold sweat run down his face. The weak thing's eyes were so full of terror. I scoffed at him. I wonder how he felt when he raped that girl and saw the terror in her eyes.

"S-STEP BACK!"

The more I looked at him, the more disgusted I became. The more I think of his sins, the more enjoyable it was to kill a bastard like him.

With no hesitation, I unsheathe my katana. Showing him the blade that will soon spill his intestines on the grimy floor. However, as I was reaching for my blade, he took out a weapon of his own. He raised his arm and aimed a firearm straight at my head. I could hear his gun screaming in pain as his grip tightened; his knuckles turning white. His unsteady hand was shaking, but his eyes were steady and determined.

"I WON'T HESITATE TO SHOOT, YOU MURDEROUS FUCKS!!"

The atmosphere of the room changed. The tension and energy being emitted inside the room was thick enough to cut. Behind me, I heard my teammates take a couple steps back. This wasn't the first time we came across a firearms wielder during a mission, but we were still a little uneasy.

I looked at him and smirked under my mask murmuring,

"You calling us murderous? How pathetic."

His face distorted with anger in response to my snarky comment. Gritting his teeth together, he mumbled under his breath, "To hell with you," and fired the gun at me.

Right as his finger pressed down on the trigger, I ducked to evade the projectile and dashed in from the left to quickly close in with my blade. Tightly, but calmly, holding onto the handle of my blade, I sank my blade into his abdomen and twisted it in him like a drill. Before he could open his mouth to scream, I quickly took my hands off the grip of my sword, leaving the blade still embedded in him, and used the switchblade from my pocket to cleanly slit his vocal cords, allowing no room for his screams to project.

The gun slipped through his loosened fingers and dropped to the floor along with his limp corpse. The big thump from his body hitting the floor shook the apartment and must have upset the people downstairs. Oh well. I unsheathed my blade from his abdomen and flicked it to rid all blood on my blade. Looking behind me, my teammates' eyes were wide in astonishment at what they had just witnessed. I stared in mixed horror and relief at the bullet hole right next to Captain's head. Thank god the bullet did not hit any of them...

Just as I was about to speak, my voice was drowned out by a commotion outside the door. I looked at my companions in annoyance. I should've killed the guy before he could fire the gun. Now all the pedestrians and neighbors outside the door were yelling and talking about the gunshot they had heard just a second ago.

"Shit! We gotta go!"

"Don't have to tell me twice! Let's go, Yui!"

They both exclaimed to me. I kicked the lifeless body on the ground once again and mumbled under my breath,

"Serves you right."

Just as I was starting to get lost in thought, Captain shook me and whisper-yelled at me,

"Yui! Stop dozing off! We have to go!"

With my mind focused again, I looked up at my Captain and apologized, and sheathed my blade as we all ran towards the outer window that faced the dark alleyway we originally started from. The glimmering light of the moon radiated from above as sirens of police cars wailed in the distance.

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We ran in the shadows to avoid running into any passersby. After a few minutes of ducking and running between trash bins, we finally made it to the next alley over. Just in case we got caught lurking around the apartment complex. All of that running and sprinting made all of us tired and exhausted, so we took a little break in a dark alleyway to catch our breath. The glimmering moonlight was still shining down upon us and looking up into the sky almost made me believe that this world isn't so bad after all. Yet, it's impossible to forget these horrid memories.

"Alright, I think it's time to get back to Boss and inform him the job has been done."

The captain said to us. However, I barely heard him. I had found this adorable little alley mouse and its depthless black eyes had me captivated. It looked so pitiful I couldn't ignore it. I held my hand out, and it climbed onto my hand with no hesitation.

"Alright Yui let's get back to-"

I interrupted my teammate's train of thought as I stood back up with the little mouse in my hand and shoved it in her face.

"Isn't it cute?"

By the looks of it, it seemed like she didn't really like mice because she lost her composure and freaked out a bit when I scooted the mouse closer to her. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the disappointment on Captain's face, but I honestly did not care. I lowered the mouse down to the floor and let it scurry away into the dark alley once again. Then I helped my teammate recollect herself and we followed the captain's orders to return home.

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We were running out of moonlight, so we had to get back to base quickly, or things would get complicated. After all, the moon is what protects us from revealing the whereabouts of the whole crew to every living thing in the world.

According to my older teammates, the Egotistics were founded about 10 years ago, during the Raid of Seokyo Institute. That time was one of the bloodiest and terrifying civil conflicts in Seokyo. Many people rebelled against the government and raided the government funded Institute. However, those who partook in the raid were publicly executed with very torturous and shaming methods. After they were publicly set as examples of what would happen to those who defy the government, no one was willing to stand up against the government, which was why Boss created the Egotistics. If our government won't establish order in this world, we will.

Every second, every minute, every hour that passed, we lost more moonlight, but we managed to get back to base safely. Our organization's base isn't the most luxurious, but I wouldn't call it trashy either. It's right in the middle. It's very well hidden from people who don't know about it, that's for sure.

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We entered our base to see members playing poker, training in our dojo, or practicing stealth on the catwalk. Usually, this place would have a lot more people, but they're probably out for bounties and missions right now. Boss is either in his office or giving special orders to the Big Seven. They are the most elite members of the Egotistics after all. The best of the best. They alone have completed more bounties than any of us, and as a result, have been given one of the seven titles originating from the Seven Deadly Sins. Since I don't see them anywhere, they're probably out on a mission right now too.

My captain hurriedly scooted us towards the Boss's office to file the report from today's mission. We all went up the stairs to his office and knocked on the door. It's rude to just barge in, you know.

"Come in."

Captain took the big handle of the door and opened it slowly. We stepped into the room and my teammate closed the door behind us. Stepping forward, Captain informed the boss,

"Bounty has been collected. Threat didn't see it coming. Nothing unordinary to report."

"Ah, how wonderful. Great work as always. You never fail to impress me!"

Boss smiled with joy. Something seemed a bit off about Boss. He usually isn't this jolly or happy whenever any of us collect a bounty. He usually only says "good work" and dismisses us.

"We will take our leave now, sir," I said to him, but before we were able to walk off, he stopped us in our tracks.

"Wait! Before you guys leave, I would love to introduce you guys to a Mercenary who can greatly help us."

Hiring outside people? This is a first, but if Boss trusts them, I'll trust them too. Hopefully, they'll live up to his standards. Skeptical, my teammate asked for all of us,

"Where is this mercenary?"

At that moment, the chair next to Boss's desk swiveled around, revealing a quite intimidating female…with bubblegum in her mouth.

Popping a large bubble, she sneered at us.

"My, you seem to have quite the bunch, Mr. Boss-man."

Boss chuckled at her remark. He turned towards us.

"Everyone, this is Saki. From now on she will be working under you during missions. Please cooperate and don't leave her out during missions."

I'm still slightly skeptical though. She seems like the laid back type, and we- well, I am aggressive when it comes to eliminating targets so I don't know how this pairing will end up. Saki hopped out of her seat and walked towards us.

"Pleasure to work with you fellows," she said smiling and waving. Then she walked out of Boss's office. I take back what I said about trusting her if the Boss does. She's sending me uncomfortable vibes and it's starting to bother me. She has piercing eyes as sharp as knives and smiles like the devil. She seems too untrustworthy for me.

"Please cooperate with her. I don't want any conflicts between you guys, understand?"

"With all due respect, sir, why choose to let Saki in our group out of all the groups?"

I addressed him with respect. He chuckled under his breath and replied to my question.

"You guys happened to come into my office at a perfect time. Just a stroke of luck."

He chuckled once more and once again ordered us to cooperate with her as a new member of our group.

We all bowed and said "Yes Sir," as we were dismissed from his office.

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After leaving his office, we parted ways. No clue where they went, but as for me, I went to search around the base for Saki. It took me some time, but I eventually found her sitting on top of a barrel thinking about something. I approached her as calmly as possible and greeted her.

"Hello!"

She looked up at me but said nothing, and resubmerged into her thoughts. Of course, that bothered me, so I tried pestering her more.

"Why did you come here?"

She paused, and stood up. Looking me dead in the eyes.

"Do you remember the day we met?"

I was confused and shocked by what she said. Had I met her before? How do I not remember her face? The confusion must have been written all over my face, and I knew that she could tell because, with a follow-up response, she smiled, and asked,

"Welp, guess you'll remember eventually"