A Skilful Manipulation

Yeon-Jae was presently teetering on the brink of mortality, his very existence hanging in the balance. His hands and legs were thrashed and were hanging in the air as chains pierced his shoulder and supported him in the air. Half of his face was brutally messed up, and his right eye was plucked out of the socket.

"Am not going to tell you anything, you asshole", he said, enduring the pain he suffered from torture.

"Oh, that's totally acceptable," I replied.

"I am not pursuing answers through conventional means either. I have the capability to extract your memories, but that would provide a swift and painless end for your malevolent character"

"I don't know who you are, why do you have animosity towards me?" he asked in a timid voice, barely able to force the words out.

"If I told you, you wouldn't answer my questions, so what's the point?" I replied.

"Just tell me, let me at least know who's tormenting me," he said.

"Fine, so what do you know about Ruby Leplay?" I asked.

"Do you love her?" he asked in return.

"That's not what I was expecting to hear from you," I responded.

"It depends on your connection with her," he stated.

After a few seconds of contemplation, I replied, "Let's just say we're not lovers, but she's my date."

"Ha ha ha!" he laughed maniacally, despite the pain. "What can I say now? If I tell you the truth, you'll kill me either way."

"I suppose that means our interview has come to an end," I stated, as a black chain with a sharp end rose from the ground piercing his head from the front.

With my eyes closed, I was able to visualize every fragment of his memories.

--------[Start of Memory Fragments]

[Yeon-Jae's Pov]

From 20, February 1985 to 1993

At Mount Pelier Hill in Ireland, inside an ancient stone castle, I queried the masked figure before me who was on his knees, "Did we get any promising subjects this time?" The individual was clad in all black, with a hooded sweatshirt obscuring his face.

I asked him for a response to my question, but he remained silent. I prodded him just to play around, knowing full well that he was unable to speak aka he was mute.

"Fine, lead the way", I commanded.

The figure rose to his feet and guided me through a labyrinth of paths until we arrived at a spacious chamber where a group of children had congregated.

"I understand that you are all newcomers here, but have no fear," I reassured them.

"I am here to attend to your needs and to provide you with training so that you may eventually embark on exciting endeavours", I said with a devious smile on my face.

After formally introducing myself and giving a concise overview of the situation, I assigned sleeping quarters to each of the children, with five sharing a room.

As time passed, the children underwent extensive training. During this period, I took notice of a young girl with striking cobalt-red hair, remarkable intelligence, and formidable combat skills.

I ordered the assassins working under me to observe her more carefully, and just as I expected the amount of growth she showed was tremendous.

I instructed my subordinates, the assassins, to keep a close watch on her, and just as I suspected, she demonstrated remarkable progress.

However, as the days went by, she became increasingly elusive, leading some to believe that she was withdrawing in order to socialize with her peers. I too entertained this notion for a moment, but soon realized that it was merely a facade.

I noticed that my assassins were disappearing one by one, their bodies discovered in various parts of the castle in places where they shouldn't have been. Instead of ramping up security or putting more pressure on the other children, I decided to personally look into the matter and discovered that the culprit was the same ten-year-old girl, who was leaving her room at night.

I was stunned and horrified to learn of her actions. Not because she was a ten-year-old killing my assassins, but because of the manner in which she did so. She was a psychopath, constantly wearing a mask to conceal her true nature. The sinister look on her face and the dark aura she exuded made it seem like she had the potential to conquer the world through malevolence and evil.

Her nature was far eviler than a devil I've contracted with, and the murderous intent was enough to pressure my whole existence.

She turned to face me, as I stood frozen, and approached me as I looked down at her small frame.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, it just happened," she stuttered, her expression shifting back to that of a scared ten-year-old.

Surprised by the sudden change in demeanour, I stumbled backwards and fell onto my haunches.

"You won't punish me or tell anyone about this, right sir?" she asked, a sinister aura emanating from her once again, causing me to feel a wave of fear.

I am an A-ranked assassin, and I could tell that the child in front of me was at a C-rank level, which is unprecedented for someone her age.

Suddenly, several dark red-skinned disgusting and revolting hands appeared out of nowhere and encircled me, causing me to pass out. I couldn't understand why she spared my life, but I was aware that it was not me controlling her, but rather she who had taken control over me.

Despite being made to do something disrespectful by Karl Fischer, she never retaliated. However, as soon as he left, she would relentlessly gather information about every inspector who came to inspect and analyze our group of assassins. Over time, she amassed all the necessary information about each of them.

With only four years left to live, Ruby set her sights on a new goal: to eliminate all of the Cillian Marino. After two years of hard studying she got admitted to Cypress Academy, But something bugged her when the results of the examination came out.

Upon examining the information of all the students in the academy, she discovered that the top-ranked student in the examination, Kael Hashirae, had fabricated background information. After further investigation, she realized that he was not associated with any assassin branch, but was someone else entirely.

Thus, Kael Hashirae became her target for manipulation. Her task became easier when he unexpectedly fell in love with her without any effort on her part.

She believed that individuals in love would go to great lengths to avenge their partner's suffering, and her plan played out exactly as she anticipated.

She noticed various shadowy figures associated with Kael in the academy which no one in the assassination guild or any other figure could notice, so she instructed someone to attack her, confident that he would come to her rescue.

But now that I'm facing him, I realize that for the first time, she chose the wrong target to mess with.

--------[End of Memory Fragments]

"well played, Ms Ruby", I whispered as I gazed upon the lifeless body of Yeon-Jae.

I added, "I don't despise it...as a matter of fact, I actually love this".

A wide smile of excitement and anger spread across my face, recognising that I had been skilfully manipulated.