Chapter 254: Belated Mourning

A few minutes ago in Moon’s room. He stared wordlessly at the photo.

The young girl was the assassin herself when she was younger, and the guy next to her was the familiar face he never thought he would see like this until a few hours ago.

Looking healthy, leisurely, and casual. No dirt or grime, nothing sticking in his hair, and he had enough meat on his shoulders that the bone didn’t look like an open bracket.

His hands were clean, not torn in multiple places without being allowed enough time to heal.

Yet no matter how different he looked, Moon wouldn’t fail to identify him.

He recognized him as he would his own face.

Moon without a doubt knew this was him, and that assassin who spent her time in the Normalization Facility digging a hole at the back of his head with her gaze...

"So you are the sister he spoke of..." Moon said slowly. "What a shitty way to meet..."

He shook his head, while her hand landed firmly on Moon’s shoulder.

"Do you know where he is now?" she asked eagerly; her demeanour was nowhere to be seen. She looked like a human, a normal human.

Not an assassin.

To Moon, who didn’t know what to do at this point, this was more problematic than facing an army by himself.

Should he just say it, or should he give her an empty dream where she once again finds her brother?

Moon went silent for a long moment.

"Please!" she asked again, her eyes on the verge of tears. "Where is he now?"

"Is he still on the first floor?" she added.

Moon tried to hold back, but soon...

Without asking permission, his chin puckered, and his lower lip began to tremble.

"He... he’s dead."

The sister whose name he still didn’t know—

Thud~

She fell to her knees, her eyes shaking in disbelief, letting go of Moon’s shoulder.

On the ground, "You’re lying," she mumbled. "You’re lying."

"This can’t be real!"

Surrounded by the daggers, hood, and rings that had fallen off her hands. Her body began to shake.

Moon didn’t move; he lowered his head and said nothing.

But suddenly, the girl forced herself up.

She grabbed Moon’s shirt. "YOU’RE LYING!" she screamed in his face.

Only once, when she took a good look at his face. His eyes and the tear about to slip.

She collapsed again.

She wept; Moon didn’t interrupt her.

If anything, for once, he found someone who could understand his pain... His loss.

He cried silently...

Missing the morning drill, knowing soon someone would knock on his room to tell him he was late.

Moon let himself cry freely for once...

Maybe holding back was hurting him all that time.

Soon—

Knock~

It came. "Boss, you’re late!" Basil’s voice rang from the other side.

The girl was still crying, but she also couldn’t allow herself to be seen like this...

"Cough." Moon cleared his throat, suppressing his shaking voice. "I’m feeling unwell today; start without me," he said briefly.

"Boss." Basil’s tone turned to worry. "You need me to bring you anything?" he asked.

"No, I just need to rest... cough," Moon replied weakly.

"Sure thing, Boss. Get well soon," Basil said last before letting them be again.

The girl moved away from Moon; she was weeping at his feet. She rested her back against the wall and hugged her knees.

After catching her breath...

"He... brother... he disappeared from home years ago," she began. "I couldn’t find him or know where he went."

"They said he ascended, but he never came back."

"No one gave me an answer, no one told me where he was..."

She shut her eyes tightly for a moment.

"I trained for the day I would ascend and find him," she said. "Made a deal with the Dokkaebi in exchange for intel."

She paused, raising her bloodshot eyes to Moon.

"Do you know why I came here?" she asked.

Moon’s gaze stayed on the ground; he shook his head without answering.

"The Dokkaebi wanted to take down the stand-in general of yours," she said. "I want nothing to influence his actions, or so he said."

Moon didn’t react again; he only exhaled slowly, trying to calm his troubled heart.

He leaned back, letting his back rest on the bed.

"How did brother..." she asked, letting her voice trail...

It was her right to know.

Moon also understood that he couldn’t connect Korr to his death. Until just an hour or so ago, she couldn’t have believed her brother was on the first floor.

He was also an ascender at that time, from what Moon understood.

He ascended first, and somehow, instead of returning home as he should... He became a slave on the first floor.

Another mystery he couldn’t unravel, and the one in question was long dead.

Moon proceeded to tell her the story.

The same story he once told Talia and the others.

A mercenary band of ten.

’You gay bastard, I’m letting you look cool in front of your little sister.’ Moon made 9th Bro owe him a favour in his heart.

"...in the end, they all died," Moon said. "Only the two of us were left, mortally wounded."

He paused for a moment.

"You can guess the rest," he whispered.

"Is... is there any chance he survived?" she asked, like a drowning child trying to hold on to any fragile straw...

Straw of hope.

"No..." he said. "He died before I ascended."

Moon didn’t want her to get any hopes; there was no way he could have lived under these circumstances.

Giving her hope was giving her a weakness.

A disadvantage and a way to be exploited by others.

It was best for her to give up all hope; the dead do not return.

It was harsh, but better than allowing her to be led around for something that cannot exist.

Setting her free of hope was painful, but he knew it was the right thing to do.

She forced herself to her feet.

She started with wearing the sheath over her shoulders, getting the daggers fixed underneath her elbows.

She put on her rings before finally fixing the hood.

Moon’s gaze landed on her. "You returning there?" he asked, still spread on the bed.

"Killing Korr," she said, ready to jump off the window.

"Are you stupid?" Moon asked. "Do you think you can kill him in that place?"

Moon shot down whatever she had planned in her head.

"I can’t let him live," she said.

"Me too," Moon agreed. "I can’t let him live either," he affirmed.

His gaze returned to the ceiling. "But I won’t exchange my life for his," he added.

Going up to the fort alone, getting surrounded by ascenders he had no idea what kind of weird abilities they had, and facing someone like Lorian in the middle with an ability he still couldn’t understand.

On top of that, Enzo himself.

It was suicide; even if taking Korr down was possible, it was suicide.

On top of that.

"If you think Korr is easy to kill, you’re wrong," Moon advised. "That bastard is an expert when it comes to keeping himself out of harm’s way."

The two of them had watched one another for years and understood each other more than they should.

"My name is Alma."