Chapter 6: Murderer

If I had to give one piece of advice to anyone that is in a hard time and is desperate for money, PLEASE do NOT go into my line of work. You have grudges but then when you actually kill the people you have grudges with, it doesn’t stop there. You have to follow orders. It is literally just like the saying: “Kill or be killed.” Well, maybe that’s not a real saying but you get my point.

My assignments were fairly easy. Even though Alice had told me to put on more of a show, when I received a call from the big boss, they told me that the methods I already use are fine. Basically saying that it’s entertaining enough that I don’t hesitate, I just kill and get it done. It makes for a quick get away, causing me never to be caught. Pretty quickly, I surpassed all the other assassins in the league.

Though, in this line of work, that is considered both a very hard and very good thing to do, it doesn’t exactly make you friends with any of your “co-workers”. Therefore, while I was loved by the boss, I was pretty much resented by everyone else. It made me feel….lonely at times. Not having anyone to talk to about my job was quite hard and an interesting burden.

After I had my first meeting with Alice, I don’t think I ever saw or heard from her again. She seemed to disappear. Though, when I first entered this business, the assassins told me that she was the top assassin at the time. So I figure, I like this girl, let me show her I can get to her position and when we work together, she’ll see just how good I am.

However, I was quickly met with disappointment. I reached the top in a matter of two weeks because I was so determined. I slept an average of two hours a day and ate the equivalent of one meal. I was very busy. As soon as I had the money, and because I had a high paying job, it didn’t take long, I moved out. My dad was very concerned but it made paying rent a lot easier for him so he let me go.

I had one mission where I was to kill the owner of all the McDonald’s chains. When I was receiving this mission, I almost felt like I was in a: Try not to laugh challenge. Since I’m pretty sure that you are not in my line of work, I would like to explain how missions are given. First, you are called by a messenger of the boss, telling you the time and place for your meetup. One thing that is highly annoying is that these calls can be at any time of the day and you absolutely CAN NOT miss the call unless you want severe consequences.

The ironic thing was that we met in a McDonald’s parking lot. There was a suspicious looking black van in the corner underneath a broken light. I climbed into the backseat and awaited my mission. The thing about these is that you don’t sit in the passenger seat because you are not supposed to see the big boss unless they want you to.

From here, they tell you what you’ll be doing and the reason for why you are doing it. Interestingly enough, every mission that I’ve been given has had a reason to go along with it. As soon as I closed the door, the car doors locked, and we headed for the drive thru. This was extremely frustrating because I was already very hungry from not being able to eat normally. They pulled up to the drive thru so that my window was in front of the speaker. I was confused.

I looked toward the front of the car and saw that they were trying to hand me a piece of paper. I looked at it and it was a list of an order. Then, at the end of the list, it said:Order what you want, I know that you haven’t eaten today. I was honestly creeped out by this, as they would have had to be following me all day to know what I was doing.

I ordered what was on the paper plus the bare minimum for myself. When we had to pick up the food, the boss rolled up so that I had to take it. The person who was giving us the order seemed very confused but didn’t comment. The screwed up part about this whole interaction was that I, ME, had to pay for everything. If I knew I was going to do that, I would have ordered a lot more. So, I was both hungry, frustrated, and tired now. The boss then went back to the corner where I first climbed in.

Once we were parked, they reached a gloved hand back. I took my food out of the bag and then handed the bag to them. If you were a socialist, this whole interaction would be weird and foreign to you and pretty uncomfortable I’m sure. However, I was pretty anti-social with people I didn’t know too well, so this exchange was fine by me.

It was only weird when I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be eating or just waiting for orders. It was then that another piece of paper was being handed to me. I took it and literally almost started laughing. It read, and I quote, “Don’t be shy, eat some more.” To know that the big boss was on TikTok would probably make the list of top ten anime betrayals. I don’t know how I managed to keep it in, but I did. For the next ten minutes, we sat in silence and just ate.

When I was finished, another piece of paper was handed back to me. It told me that my next mission was to kill the head of all McDonald’s chains. This itself was a little peculiar because I generally have a very specific name so that I don’t kill the wrong person. The fact that I got a paper with a non-specific name means that the boss didn’t do his research and this was a spur of the moment decision.

I then continued reading so that I could know the reason for this sudden decision. Under reason, it was put simply: They messed up my order and put onions on my burger. I knew that the boss was watching me and I was very lucky that I was blessed with a great poker face so I remained calm on the outside. On the inside, I was dying with laughter. I then exited the car and took exactly two steps before I passed out.

When I came to, I was in a hospital that was owned by the clan. I thought it was pretty convenient because then we don’t have to worry about people finding out about us because everyone already knows who everyone is. I turned my head to the side slightly and jumped because I saw Alice sitting there, glaring at me. I sat up quickly and she came over and forcefully pushed me down. Again, I was confused.

“Lie down. You need to rest, you have a concussion and you are experiencing malnutrition.” She told me in a lifeless voice.

I pushed her hands away and sat back up. “I’m fine. I need to get back to work anyways to complete the boss’s mission.”

She sighed “I said lie down.” She pushed me down again. “The boss called me last night while he was taking you to the hospital and told me to finish it.”

I was stunned. Usually if an incident like this happens, you are screwed. The boss doesn’t really care about the people that work for him and therefore it doesn’t matter what you have to do to get the missions done. However, you have to get it done with zero mistakes. Me passing out and getting injured is a big mistake.

“Don’t worry.” She said. “The boss is giving you the day off and is pardoning you for what happened yesterday.”

I sighed with relief and layed back down. Alice turned to go sit back in the chair but, me, being really dramatic, like I was in a K-drama or something, grabbed her wrist. The moment was intensified when she slowly turned around to face me.

“Please don’t go.” I pleaded in my best actor voice and tried to act all cute and desperate. I expected her to melt at my attempt, but unlike all the K-dramas, she was not having it.

She slapped my wrist and said, “Stop being dramatic, I’m just going to sit in the chair. It’s not like you need me anyways.” She rolled her eyes and walked away.

“What do you mean, I don’t need you? Of course I do.”

She spun around to face me and crossed her arms. “No! You don’t! If you did, why do you keep trying to replace me! Why do you keep trying to be better than me?”

I was taken aback. All I wanted to do was be able to work together with her because I like her. “I-I-Look, it’s not like that and you know it. Don’t you know that I like you?”

She laughed and slid her hands down her face. Then she mumbled to herself, “What’s up with the confessions recently?”

I swung my legs around so I could stand and then went over to her and put my hands on her shoulders. “What did you just say?” I demanded. She looked at me, confused.

“Some guy basically proposed to me earlier this week.”

“What did you say? Please tell me that you didn’t say yes.”

She flinched. “Ow, you’re hurting me.” I hadn’t realized how hard I was squeezing her shoulders. “I don’t have to tell you what I said. It’s none of your business.” With that, she turned and exited the room.

I fell back on the bed and sighed. For some reason, I was both way more angry and sad than I would have anticipated. The fact that I was and still am working this hard to get her, and someone could have beat me to it, is infuriating! I mean, I’m in the hospital because I passed out from all the hours I’ve been working! The world really isn’t fair.

I tried to lie back in bed and sleep it off, but her phrase kept repeating in my head. “It’s none of your business.” What does she mean! Of course it is my business because I have been trying so hard and she knows it! But she took it the wrong way! I’d never want to replace her, I just wanted to work with her. I took my pillow and covered my face with it and started to yell. Apparently it was a thin pillow because the nurse rushed in asking what was the matter. I shooed her away.

This is where I made my second most big mistake. I was feeling very depressed and this was honestly new to me seeing as I’ve been feeling numb the past couple weeks. I would prefer it stayed that way now, I don’t need her any more than she needs me. The only way to make myself numb again would be to get another assignment from the boss. Before I go, I’ll make sure to eat plenty and then call.

I walked in my hospital gown to the cafeteria and saw that Alice was there sitting in a corner, looking at her phone and smiling. The flame of rage flared up again and I turned away from her and walked to the line. They had blueberry pancakes that looked absolutely delicious so I grabbed a stack of those, a bowl of cereal, and a pastry. Then I walked back to my room, I didn’t want to see Alice.

I sat on my bed and turned on the TV. I couldn’t help but laugh. Displayed on the TV was the news broadcasting that the head of McDonald’s chains was killed last night for a mess up on an order. It was so..ironic. I guess the boss wanted Alice to leave the reason behind. Which is something we do sometimes, to let other people know to not make the same mistakes or they’ll meet the same fate.

Once I was finished eating, I called the same number that called me last night.

“What do you want?” The boss said in his normal, “If it’s not important, I don’t want to be bothered.”

“Give me another mission. I need it.” I told him straightforwardly, which was unlike me but I didn’t want to beat around the bush.

“I want you to rest today, didn’t Alice tell you that?” He asked angrily.

“Yes, she told me and that’s the problem. I don’t want to be around her right now, I need another mission, I just ate and I’m all good.”

I could hear the boss sigh, but he gave me another mission nonetheless. “Alright.”

Little did I know that I would be fighting for my life from the second I started the mission.