The Assassin | Dreamcatcher

Chapter 2

Leaving school alone, Siyeon takes the bus across the city, walks a little and ends up outside of a tall building with the words 'Kim and Lee' in large lit-up characters on one side of the building. A name that didn't really reveal what the company specialised in.

Siyeon heads inside, giving a brief smile and nod to the receptionist.

"Remember your meeting with Miss Lee in ten minutes!" He calls after her.

"Thanks!" She replies and heads into the lift, pressing the button for the seventh floor.

On the correct floor, she heads to Dami's office, already dreading the meeting. She didn't exactly have a way with words and Dami was a genius master in everything from languages to assassination.

"Did you make it here okay?" Dami rises from her seat and lends her hand out to Siyeon as she enters.

"Great. Thanks." She replies flatly, limply taking her outstretched hand before sitting. Her frustration bled through her pores heavily as Dami frowns in clear concern.

"How are you feeling today? You seem a touch...moody." Her eyes crinkle. "I guess your teenage hormones are running wild this month."

"Why am I not a Senior Assassin yet?" She demands and crosses her arms.

"Is that what you called a meeting with me for?" Dami's eyebrows raise in a controlled arch.

"Yes. Please. Tell me why. Is there even a reason?"

She smiles infuriatingly slowly and leans back in her chair to spin around and pull a ring binder out from the shelves behind. Dami turns back to Siyeon again.

"Do you know what this is?" She finally asks, her hand on top of the black ring binder.

"My file, I guess." Siyeon replies coldly.

"You've been with us for five years." Her hand opens the file and she stares at the front page. "It was the day of your thirteenth birthday that you came into my care."

"Don't mention that again." Her mouth purses as unwanted memories pursue her wandering mind that she struggles to repress.

The flames. Their dead eyes...and something else she couldn't quite remember.

"Sorry, Siyeon. Of course that would bring up, painful, painful memories. But what privileges do you think Senior Assassins get?"

"Well, they-- Hang on, I need to focus." Siyeon turns away from Dami to close her eyes and throws the dark memories away into the back of her mind. "Whew." She spins back to face Dami.

"You okay?" Dami's concern makes her feel fuzzy inside. "Do you need any water?"

"I'm fine. Let's continue. You asked me what privileges Senior Assassins get?"

Dami nods.

"I believe that they are allowed to go on longer and more immersive missions and are allowed to learn more of the company's secret techniques, use more of the studios and a wider range of weapons. The list feels endless."

"So you feel that your missions are not enough?"

"I enjoy them and they're pretty easy."

"You 'enjoy' them?"

Siyeon immediately realises with embarrassed dread that her words likely made her sound like a psychopath. "I mean, I don't enjoy killing. I just enjoy the feeling of successfully completing a mission."

"I see." She replies with a straight face. "Do you feel that what you have isn't enough, being a Junior Assassin?"

"I have been here for five bloody years! There are people who here who are Senior assassins that have been here for less time than me."