Unknotting Fate

CHAPTER 2: JUST ANOTHER KILLER

One week before the incident

When the clock struck 5 am, Ko Resurreccion sprang out of bed without changing his pajamas. He does his morning workout, which consists of 100 push-ups, sit-ups, and squats with no breaks.

Ko always does the same thing to a dot. Never late and always working— a workaholic machine. Once done, he walked to his balcony. A view of orange-pink skies, glistening skyscrapers, and the imperial palace golden-roofed towers greeted him.

 This is Kudrik City, the financial epicenter of the South East Asian Empire. Hence, this is where the royal family decided to build their royal palace. One must be someone important to warrant a living in this area. All of the locals fit that description. Despite the city's prestige, richness, and beauty, Ko hated Kudrik City.

Hate was just as good of an object of meditation as the breath. He sat in a lotus position on an abaca chair and closed his eyes to do his morning meditation routine.

About 15 minutes passed, and Ko was deep into his meditation. Suddenly, a man dressed in all black with a white mask emerged from the gray carpet floor of Ko's bedroom, like he was a ghost.

The assailant raised his knife to Ko's neck. Inches away from piercing the skin, a powerful force repulsed it, bending the blade into an L shape and sending the killer flying to a wall.

He groaned as he tried to stand up but was too disoriented. Without warning, his arms and legs contorted. A sharp scream came out of him; it was like a hurricane shrinking in Ko's ears.

Despite the terrifying sounds, Ko was not worried about his neighbors' hearing because these were all ordinary incidents in Slayer Village.

 Assassination attempts on slayers were as common as seeing a bird fly. And the funny thing was that most assassination orders come from other slayers.

No one hated slayers more than other slayers. Why not lessen the overwhelming and suffocating competition by killing a few? Everyone wanted to be the next God Slayer, and the more slayers there were, the improbability increased, so kill them.

Using his telekinesis, the cabinet doors opened, and out flew a rope. It wrapped itself around the killer's contorted body.

The assassin looked like a pretzel. He kept screaming, which annoyed Ko, so a dirty sock from a bin found its way into the killer's mouth; despite all that, Ko never broke from his meditation. He did not move an inch and never opened his eyes.

After 29 minutes passed, Ko's morning meditation was done. He got up, stepped over the assassin, who was now unconscious, and headed to the bathroom.

Knock Knock.

"May I come in, sir?" someone asked outside Ko's bedroom door.

Ko stayed quiet, and the bedroom door unlocked on its own.

A plump, short woman entered the room. She wore a long-sleeved bronze dress with the hem cut revealing her muscular calves. 

After entering the room, she dragged the assassin out of the bedroom and dumped him in the hallway like he was garbage later to be disposed of. She returned to the bedroom and started tidying up.

In the bathroom, Ko looked at his phone to check the leaderboard of Slayers. The results made him want to smash the toilet bowl.

"FUCK!" he shouted.

Sefina did not even flinch. She continued humming while cleaning Ko's bed. 

Ko was in second place. Bested once again by Vin Albay.