The Recruit

Chapter 11

I entered the class and I was surprised I wasn't the only student. There was this boy around 8 years of age, who I later found out to be my classmate.

"Hi. I'm Livia. Are you a recruit as well?" A little bit concerned that such a young boy is involved in this business.

"I'm Jacob. Jake for short. I will be next year. My father told me that he would like me to start early, so here I was." I raised my eyebrows at his name.

He quickly added, "My father doesn't force me into this. I find it fun to learn philosophy. Think of it like an afterschool activity. Where others go to piano or math lesson after school, I just come here to learn from Master Kojiro." I wanted to ask him about his name and his parents, but before I could do that Master Kojiro entered the room.

"Ah Jacob, you are here too my future assassin. How is school, my child?" Kojiro greeted him warmly.

Little Jake nodded excitedly. "Boring. I can't wait to learn more from you and train to be an assassin." Kojiro smiled at the enthusiastic child and it warmed my heart to see the interaction between the two. Just like an old uncle doting on his nephew.

"Livia was it? How was your first day with us?" He smiled knowingly getting a reaction out of my reddening cheeks.

"Great! I like being stabbed." I realize that probably didn't come out right and sounded sarcastic, so I added quickly "I mean learning about pain. In a good way, Master Kojiro."

"Wonderful! That makes a good topic for aspiring assassins. Let's talk about pain then." The genuine interest knowing we would talk about pain in the Master's voice kind of scares me a little bit. Then again knowing philosophers, they would probably find interest in everything.

"Why do you like getting stabbed, Livia?" The boy looked at me with interest. He seems to marvel over the idea someone could like pain.

"I get to learn how to get used to pain, so it wouldn't make me give up so easily. I think learning to think while I was in pain was what I needed to stay focus on finishing my mission and surviving." I finished my thoughts. I could hear the gears on the young Jacob's mind turning to think about what I said.

"Well done. What about you, Jacob? What do you think of the purpose of pain?"

"Maybe to remind us about the happy days of not being in pain, Master Kojiro." Such a simple explanation, I was about to smile at his cute thought before he finished his point.

"Think about it, sir. If we never experienced pain, we wouldn't know what being healthy feels like and hence we wouldn't be able to feel grateful when we feel no pain. Pain is kind. It lets us know when there is something wrong with our body. Without pain, there will be no consequences for doing hurtful things to ourselves and the human race will be more prone to dying." I was so surprised and so proud at my new friend, so young yet his mind is bright. Unconsciously I started to clap, and the boy struggled to not laugh and try to act like a mature man.

"Daebak." I muttered under my breath. The boy didn't get it, so I explained it's the equivalent of 'awesome' in Korean.

The class with Master Kojiro continued. We discussed about pain and give our thoughts about quotes about pain from philosophers around the world. Who knew pain could be such a fun topic to discuss? There would be no tests from this class and Kojiro explained that this class is there to help with Assassins' critical thinking and think outside of the box even in desperate situations.

After class, little Jake and I decided to be friends. We shooked on it, before parting ways as he needs to go home before school starts and get ready for school or his father would be displeased.