* Featured Character ( A section at the beginning of each chapter to remind readers of who characters are and which characters will be featured in the chapter )
New Character
Haphuco ♂ - The main character
Bodias ♂ - ?
Biudo ♂ - ?
Jowi ♂ - ?
Biani ♀ - ?
Haphumi ♀ - ?
Merodi ♀ - ?
Nara ♀ - ?
Hakyo - The name of the city where Haphuco is living in, a city of Mantevis, one of the six countries in the world.
In this world, human being has come to realization that war only brings unnecessary devastation to the land and resources, oh, also to human, too.
However, as killing is still a need, throughout times, in specific, 80 years has passed since the wars between countries ended, opening a peaceful era for people, a more "peaceful" method has been taken which is Assassination. And so, Organization was created.
In this novel, important words will be capitalized and there will be words with general meanings that will have their first letter capitalized to become terms in the story. Organization is an example. If organization just means an organization in general, then Organization in the story will be understood as the organization which manages Assassination based on Orders.
Standing in the frontline of the Organization are Assassins who are well-trained from a young age and when they grow up, they seamlessly blend into the daily lives of normal people, always be ready to assassinate their Target whenever receiving an Order.
The main character of the novel is Haphuco ♂. Since young, he has shown to have talent in becoming an Assassin and also a passionate dream to become a great Assassin in the future. It was expected that after graduating from School, Haphuco will become an useful asset to the Organization.
But now he is working as a secretary in Hakyo Agency, an agency of Bodyguard, known to be an eyesore in the eyes of Assassin, having the mission to protect their Client which can always be the Target of Assassin.
So what happened ? It's a story to be told one day.
Overall, there is nothing much for his job. Just clock-in in the morning, do some work like accepting Requests to protect Clients, manage the working time of Bodyguards within the Agency, assigning work to them and then clock-out and go home.
It has been one month since he started this job, today is a quite Saturday, 30th of August, 2025. It's now 5 p.m, it's time to clock out.
"It's time so I shall take my leave, Mr. Bodias." Haphuco said to an old guy who is comfy lying his head on a big chair.
Bodias ♂ is the Boss of Hakyo Agency, sounds cool but almost everyday, this guy only watches TV or ditching work to go somewhere. This secretary position of Haphuco is actually just created so that he can push his job to someone else.
But please don't misunderstand as Bodias is not a bad person. In fact, Haphuco appreciates Bodias so much for giving him this job despite Haphuco being an Assassin, a former Assassin, to be correct. The story is that Jowi ♂, the Manager of the Orphanage where Haphuco used to live has written a recommendation letter for Haphuco to give Bodias when they met. As soon as Bodias finished reading the letter, he immediately shoot bullet into Haphuco's face.
Of course, Haphuco manages to dodge, otherwise, there won't be any story to be told for you guys. However, this means between Jowi and Bodias must share some kind of relationship with each other.
"Okay, Haphu...Oh, wait, Haphuco...How's about you join me drinking some beer for tonight ?" Bodias said.
"No thanks, Mr. Bodi. I still have another job tonight. And also, I don't dri..." As Haphuco was talking, suddenly, someone is strongly opening the entrance door from outside, causing the door to fly towards his face.
However, he immediately somersaulted backwards so he didn't get hit in the face by the door. The person who opened the door was Nara ♀, a Bodyguard in the Agency.
She is a monster !
"Heyo ! Eh, why are you bending down like that, Haphuco ?" Seeing Haphuco who just dodged being hit by the door, Nara asked.
I do not exaggerate, her fists are hard as heck, please experience by yourself to know more in details.
"Nara Senpai ! You almost make my face hit the door !" Haphuco shouted.
"Oh, really, my bad...It may be a bad decision to make the door to be pushed instead of pulled." Nara de-importantlised the situation.
"On the bright side, you managed to not get any hurt so forgive me please ?!" Nara winked her eyes, she thought that she was looking sorry for what happened.
"Sigh, okay, you did not mean it so it's fine." Haphuco stepped down, he has been aware of what kind of person Nara is. A person who is always nonchalant about her life.
"I will go then, see you, Nara Senpai." Haphuco walked past Nara to the door.
"Oh, right, I have something for you, Haphuco." Nara said as she pulled out something from her pocket.
And then she threw it towards Haphuco.
"Eh, what..." As Haphuco turned his head back, he saw a knife throwing towards him.
He managed to catch it !
"What the..." Haphuco was surprised again but Nara quickly explained.
"Sorry, it's just a toy knife that I bought."
"Consider it as a gift to celebrate your first month joining the Agency, Haphuco." Nara winked.
"..." Haphuco pointed his finger to the knife, it is really a toy knife.
"Heh..." Haphuco let out a laugh.
"Thank you, Nara Senpai. I will see you guys next Monday." And then Haphuco left.
"Hey, old man, why don't we let Haphuco becoming a Bodyguard ?" Nara asked Bodias.
"With his skills, even if he was a former Assassin, he could still become a great asset to us."
"..." Bodias briefly thought something and then he said.
"It's up to him to decide..."
In a food street, there is a restaurant named Cha Restaurant, serving Vietnamese-style food ( i.e. "Vietnamese" here is not the name of a country in real life but simply a name of a cuisine. ), this is where Haphuco is heading to.
He is working as a kitchen assistant plus waiter for the restaurant. Serving in the restaurant, we have :
+ The restaurant owner Cha ♂ who is also the sole restaurant chef.
+ His daughter Haphumi ♀ who has always been helping his father managing the restaurant.
+ Merodi ♀ who is a hired employee like Haphuco.
Haphuco had this job not so long after he had the job at the Agency while wandering around the street. The best part about this job is that he will have Mr. Cha to gradually teach him how to cook several Vietnamese-style food during the upcoming time. He feels really excited about this opportunity, especially when he can then cook these food for Biani ♀, his younger sister, who is living with him.
She is currently on her "business trip".
There's still some time left before the restaurant opens at 6 p.m. Haphumi complained :
"Summer's almost over, eyyyyy..."
"That's right so you should stop staying up late, Haphumi." Cha said to Haphumi.
"And get more focused on your study, it's your last year before you enter the university after all."
"I don't know, dad. I have always been not good with my study." Haphumi said.
"Merodi and Haphuco Senpai, how was your time at university ? I heard it will be very different schools." Haphumi asked Haphuco and Merodi but their answers surprised her.
"I actually did not attend university." Merodi bluntly confessed.
"Uhm...me neither." Haphuco did not want to tell the truth so he hesitated for a bit.
"Ah, really ?!" Haphumi expressed her surprise.
"My dad did not attend the university too !" Haphumi said about her dad.
"Ehem, anyway, university is very important these days so you should think about it during the upcoming time. Now let's clean things up, it's time to open the restaurant." Cha ended the conversation.
The restaurant was then filled in by customers, today was a busy day. Among the customers, there are some familiar ones so you can here laughing sounds of Merodi and especially Haphumi when they communicated with them. About Haphuco, he is still new to the job but his face is getting more recognition within the restaurant.
Everyone happily eats and drinks. The sound of children laughing, the excitement of people drinking beer. The whole house exuded a vibrant and lively atmosphere that made Haphuco unable to help but have a smile on his face.
For now, maybe at this time, everyone is having a One Happy Life.
It's 9.30 p.m., the time for the restaurant to be closed, after cleaning things off, Haphuco then returned to his home. Currently, Haphuco is living inside a house of an old man named Biudo ♂ who has renovated his house's spacious basement into six apartments for rent and Haphuco lives in one of them along with Biani. Anyone who wants to rent and live here needs to get the approval of Buido right at the beginning. When Haphuco opens the house's door, he is greeted by Biudo
"Ah ! Mr. Biudo."
"Oh, you're back. How's the work, Haphuco ?"
"It was fine. Have you not slept yet, Mr. Biudo ?"
"I am old now, I don't sleep much. However, unlike me, you are still young so makes sure that you sleep soon, okay ?!"
"Got it, Mr. Buido. Thanks for caring."
"It's not like that, you brat. I am just giving you advices. Go ahead, Haphuco."
Haphuco opens the door to his apartment. As Biani is not at home today, the room is pitch dark. Even when the light is turned on, the room still emits a somewhat lonely atmosphere. Haphuco sits on the sofa and then lay down to relax. There are two rooms inside the apartment which can be used for bedrooms and one of them is used by Biani and the other is supposedly for him. However, for some reasons, he likes sleeping on the sofa, it just feels nice to him.
He then thinks about the current life he is having. He is having a stable job in the Agency and the restaurant. He is having a cosy place to live. He manages to reunite with his sister Biani and live with her although he has not been able to meet other his sisters and brothers at the Orphanage since they got separated more than three years ago.
He can say to himself that he is having a comfortable life since he decided to give up being an Assassin.
...
But in this kind of time when he is alone, he once again is thinking about the meaning of his life. He manages to not think about it while he was at work but now when he is all alone, he could not help but be filled with thoughts.
For a very long time, since he was a child, he had always dreamed to become a great Assassin because he thought that's the only way for him to have a meaning in life. He constantly trained his ability, graduated from the School just for him to then gave up being an Assassin right after his first-ever Order. And so, as he gave up being an Assassin, his dream consequently went away too.
So at times like this, he keeps wondering the same question :
"What is the meaning of my life ?"
And then he falls asleep.
End of Chapter 1 - Meaning
Next Chapter 2 - TBU ( To Be Updated )