Under the Veil of Night

The Ryukalin Clan

"Boss, do you need something?" Neo was startled upon seeing Kevin come to the training hall. This young man was quite busy with the clan's matters lately that he shouldn't have any time to train at all.

Kevin flicked him a glance. "Where's Mike?"

"He's holed up in the training room," Neo pointed to the hall beside him.

Without saying anything else, Kevin strode into the room. Inside the large hall, several kinds of training equipment were lying about on the floor. In the middle of the mess, a large young man was standing in front of a punching bag. He was kicking and punching tirelessly.

Kevin glanced at Neo. "How long has he been like this?"

"Ever since we returned, Boss," Neo answered.

On the day of the incident, Mike was out on an errand. Hence, he had not been present. When he arrived, everything was already over; Kevin was slightly wounded, and both of them had lost their fathers, as Mike���s father was the one who drove the car.

Walking towards Mike, Kevin leisurely picked up two wooden swords on the ground. Upon getting near the boy, Kevin threw one of the swords straight towards him.

By instinct, Mike turned around and caught the sword. Kevin didn't throw it that hard, but it nearly slipped off his hand.

"Boss?"

Kevin scanned the big teenager in front of him. "As a guard, you have to always stay alert. Didn't your father teach you this?"

Hearing Kevin's rebuke, Mike lowered his gaze. His eyes caught the sight of Kevin's bandaged arm. It had gotten wounded that day, and the doctor didn't allow Kevin to use it for the time being.

Whenever he saw the bandaged arm, he would remember his incompetence. It made him feel extremely guilty because he couldn't do his job properly, even when he already vowed to protect Kevin.

"Fight me," Kevin ordered.

Mike's eyes widened. He stared at the wooden sword in his hand before looking towards Kevin in bewilderment. "Boss, you're wounded…"

"Only my left arm is wounded. My right arm is perfectly fine," Kevin pointed the sword in his hand at Mike. "Facing the current you, one arm is already more than enough."

"But Boss…"

"Raise your sword. This is a command!"

The next moment, Kevin dashed towards Mike with his sword raised over his head. Mike quickly put his guard up and blocked the attack. Due to the training he did since he was young, he was already used to surprise attacks, so his instinct worked on its own.

However, it was not easy to face Kevin with just instinct alone. Right after he blocked the first attack, Kevin continued with another barrage of attacks. Within minutes, the fight ended with Mike's complete loss.

Neo shook his head as he stared at his best friend pitifully. "If you don't want to fight, you shouldn't have picked up the sword in the first place."

"I…" Mike stared at the sword in his hand. He once vowed to protect Kevin with everything that he had. That was what he needed to do, and nothing else. He had failed to protect Kevin once, but did he want to fail again?

"I'm… Boss's sword, and I'll follow everything he says," Mike answered slowly.

Kevin glanced at the sword on the ground. "Then pick it up and keep fighting. Did you think that the fight just now was all you could do?"

Picking up the sword on the ground, Mike hardened his resolve. He straightened up and charged towards Kevin again, this time in all seriousness. Unfortunately, Kevin still beat him in the end. The difference was this fight didn't end up in one-sided like before.

After the fight ended, Mike sprawled on the ground without any remaining energy. The fight had allowed him to clear up his mind. Raising his hand above his head, he clenched it into a fist.

He would never ever fail again!

"Have fun watching, Neo?" Kevin asked nonchalantly as he walked out of the room.

Neo smiled slightly. "Boss, what are you talking about? I just accompanied you to help out a bit."

Kevin looked back at Neo as he examined the young man's expression. Unlike the training maniac Mike who vowed to protect him since he was young, Neo only approached him because of the Old Man's challenge to the young boy. In the end, this young teenager also stuck with him for a long time.

The time they spent together all this time allowed him to know more about the young man.

"You're indeed hard to read, Neo. But you shouldn't think about doing something dangerous, even if it's for the sake of revenge."

Neo paused for a moment. He glanced at Kevin with a wry smile. How many times has it been that Kevin managed to infer his plans in mere minutes?

"Boss, I can never hide things from you, can I?"

Kevin didn't answer and took his sword up again. "Are you up for some training? The Old Man complained to me about you skipping training again."

Neo's face paled immediately. That father of his still had the time to complain about this matter again? He truly needed to tell the Old Man that their training plan for him was insane. There was no way he could possibly finish it all.

He pointed to Mike. "Just ask Mike to be your sparring partner. He's far better than me."

"I know that," Kevin answered in a flat tone.

Neo grunted begrudgingly. Without a choice, he became the next victim of Kevin's inhuman training that Kevin had. It was so painful that he complained to his father.

"Old Man, can't you do anything about the standard training here?" Neo complained when he saw that his father had returned.

The Old Man shook his head. "There are more important matters, Neo. You should just follow the training obediently. With your constitution, being a core member would be nothing but a dream."

"What dream? I never wanted to have an amazing physique like Mike's. As long as I have my gun in my hand, no one will ever beat me," Neo gritted his teeth.

The Old Man sat down as he watched his son struggle to apply medicine. "Did you observe anything different about Boss?"

Neo frowned. There was nothing that changed about that ice block. He was still extremely cold and unfeeling without having any changes to his expression. However, he did realize one strange thing.

"He's been completely expressionless for the past few days." Neo looked up. "He's bottling up all of his feelings inside, Old Man?"

"I suppose so," the Old Man nodded his head. Normal teenagers wouldn't be able to do that for a prolonged time, so he was not entirely sure. As it had already been a long time since Kevin started wearing a poker face, no one thought that it was strange. However, he knew that Kevin still changed his expression from time to time around his closest family.

"Should I talk to him about that?" Neo inquired.

"He's a proud man, so I doubt that he'll want you to point it out so blatantly," the Old Man shook his head. "It's not like anything will change if you tell him to loosen up. The clan rules will never allow him to do that."

Neo tilted his head a bit before a devious smile appeared on his lips. "I have a plan."

The next day, Kevin felt a headache because his two subordinates suddenly pestered him to smile.

"Boss! Please smile!"

Kevin looked at the two of them coldly. "If you have time to ask for this, how about another round of training?"

Neo's face turned white. "Boss, come on. I already had enough of your training yesterday. Please let me off for the time being."

"If you don't stop pestering me, there'll be another training session for you."

"You're a ruthless boss…"

Mike was contemplating something when an idea popped into his mind. "Boss, since you won't smile, let me smile on your behalf!"

"It's up to you."

"Boss...!"

No matter what they said, Kevin didn't smile at all. He just focused on his work until he couldn't stand it anymore and gave them another thrashing to shut them up. However, Mike still pestered him and said that he would smile on his behalf until Kevin could show a genuine smile himself.

The Old Man watched as the three of them argued and bantered with each other. It was a pleasant scene to see because he knew very well that their lives were filled with danger.

"The Ryukalin Clan needs you, so you have to stay strong, Boss."