The Founder's POV

Chapter 36: Jin Marsh [2]

I went back to working with him, using my stealth abilities to sneak out of the house after school. Doing this without anyone noticing was incredibly easy, especially since I was an assassin, and my mom wasn't even awakened.

The intermediary stopped his mind games after that day and began throwing horrific tasks at me without any consideration. Of course, accepting them or not was never my choice. I had to do everything he said if I wanted my family to live another day.

In just two months, the intermediary turned a twelve-year-old from a slightly twisted obedient student into someone deeply entrenched in the world of crime. I was a child, sensitive and innocent, more so than others, but I could adapt much faster than adults.

My mind was also much easier to manipulate. The intermediary used countless mental tricks to make me grateful to him... Grateful that he hadn't killed my family and that he provided me with profitable work... He was just a despicable manipulator of children...

Over time, he began paying me with things other than money, ways and materials to enhance my strength, weapons, and combat arts at various levels. I was extremely talented, and my body had just started growing, so my development was rapid.

A year passed like that...

I turned thirteen, and my daily routine became terrifyingly stable for someone my age. I would go to school in the morning, spend an hour or more with my family, then go to my room to study a bit.

After that, I would go to the intermediary to receive a task, complete it as quickly as possible, and spend the rest of the day striving to become stronger.

At the end of the day, I would eat dinner, take a shower, and go to sleep immediately. That lifestyle was incredibly harsh on me. I could rarely focus during my day and barely slept for three hours at night.

I reached rank D+ without even noticing, impressive considering all I consumed were cheap materials that could be found anywhere.

I achieved my goal of not moving to a poor neighborhood, but my life deteriorated unbelievably.

Like a ball rolling down a hill, my fall became faster and faster...

The intermediary introduced me to a strange group specializing in eliminating people, and I became someone's slave that day. My morals deteriorated further, and my personality twisted even more.

The disdain I had for those poorer and worse off than me worsened, extending to all who were not awakened. Those were the values of the group I joined, and they began to infiltrate my mind unconsciously.

My teenage years passed like that, becoming a scum of society, killing many people daily. I counted money over the corpses and blood of people, I stopped caring at that point.

I began to sleep comfortably, not thinking much about those who died by my hand daily, laughing a lot with my family. I lost count of those who suffered because of me, and that was the biggest problem.

I had already stopped being a victim - a deceived child. I became a criminal and couldn't go back to what I was anymore... My bright future was completely destroyed, gone forever.

I foolishly accepted my situation at that time, stopped resisting what forced me to become a criminal... I became stronger quickly and found myself at rank B without noticing.

I was eighteen then, no longer a child, and my arrogance reached its peak. I rebelled against the group I was in, killed some of its members in a surprise attack, and became the leader.

My arrogance didn't allow me to continue being a subordinate. I killed several people at my level with the help of my unique element and soon found myself at the top of the crime world, at least in the place where I lived.

I seized many methods, and my progress accelerated. I didn't care that many resources destroyed my body, advancing recklessly. For that reason, breaking through to rank S- became a distant dream for me, something that would happen only when my body naturally cleansed the junk inside it.

That would take at least twenty years...

I threw away my talent, morals, and values... Ignored my life, thoughts, and family completely... all because my mind was completely washed, and I truly believed that the crime world was the only place that would accept me after everything I had done.

I didn't know at the time that everyone in the dark world had acquaintances just like me and close people too. On a random night while I was sleeping, the incident happened...

___

I was kidnapped without noticing and woke up in a completely white room. Everything from the walls, floor, clothes, and even the lighting was white.

I sat on a white chair, bound by a white strap, and my mouth was covered with tape of the same color. I screamed, cried, and begged for hours and days, but no one answered me. I felt insane, started forgetting my memories, crying at random times for no apparent reason...

Even when I slept, I dreamed of the same white room... The color white became representative of my life without me noticing. My mental health collapsed at a record pace.

After reflecting on that place for some time, my remaining memories were all I had left for entertainment. Although it was a form of torture, I now consider it a period of mental purification.

I was undoubtedly traumatized, but I also began returning to my old self. I was shocked when I realized what I had done over the previous years, how my life had turned out, and how stupid I had been all along.

I cried, regretted, screamed... but it was useless.

It was already too late... this was my end, and I deserved it, so it was no problem... but I was wrong. It wasn't just my end; the punishment I deserved was much greater than that.

Several people entered the room simultaneously, all wearing white clothes and masks.

What was shocking were the hostages they brought with them...