Chapter 148: The Principle
Tom Lee, the giant of a man, stood battered and heaving. His clothes were in tatters, and his 8-foot frame, usually a monument of power, was slumped with exhaustion. Each breath was a ragged pull of air. The fight had taken everything he had.
Across from him, Rivan stood with an infuriating nonchalance, hands tucked casually into his pockets. While he wasn't unscathed—his suit was dirty, stained with a few smears of blood, and his hat was missing—the superficial damage was a stark contrast to Tom's utter depletion. The playful Michael Jackson cosplay and theatrics were gone, stripped away to reveal his true, contemptuous self.
"See, Tom? How pathetic and weak you are," Rivan's voice was a cold, sharp blade, devoid of its earlier playful mockery. "You just happened to be lucky enough to find a home with Mr. Steve Lee. Without that, you'd be nothing. You're a weak-tier Saint, nothing more than a pathetic piece of overgrown meat and bones. I would have loved to gift your flesh to one of my martial brothers as a trophy, but what a shame. It's not even worthy."
He paused, letting the insult sink in. "I wasn't even planning to kill you... if you had just followed my simple instructions."
Tom lifted his head, his eyes burning with defiance despite his fatigue. "What do you want, Rivan? Don't you want this organization, as you claimed?"
Rivan let out a short, derisive laugh. "Hah! This shoddy little organization? Who would want it? I could create ten more with a flick of my wrist if I so desired." His expression hardened, his gaze turning serious and demanding. "No. What I want are the contract papers for Moon and Kai. Hand them over."
The demand took Tom completely by surprise. His brow furrowed in confusion. "Why? Why do you want them? What is your interest in those two?"
Rivan's answer was simple, chilling, and offered with a sinister smile. "Family matter. Hehheh."
The words struck Tom like a physical blow. A family matter? He stared at Rivan's face, and for the first time, he saw it—the subtle, faint similarities in the line of the jaw, the set of the eyes. Not the clear resemblance of direct siblings, but the kind you'd see in cousins. This monster was somehow connected to them by blood.
The realization solidified Tom's resolve. He straightened his back as much as his exhausted body would allow. "I don't care who they are to you," he stated, his voice firm and unwavering. "It is against my principles to hand over the contracts of employees who have placed their trust in me. If you need them so badly, go and talk to them yourself."
Rivan's eyes narrowed, a flash of annoyance breaking through his cool facade. "Oh? Are we remembering our principles now? How noble."
Tom ignored the sarcasm. He met Rivan's gaze head-on, his decision final. "Kill me if you must. But you will not get their contracts from me."
(The truth was, while a standard employment contract was straightforward, the ones used by powerful agencies and assassin organizations were different. They were binding documents laced with complex restrictions and clauses. In the wrong hands, the personal data and stipulations within could be manipulated to effectively enslave an individual. This was why most avoided them, and why those who did sign, like Moon and Kai, did so with an immense level of trust in their employer. Handing them over was tantamount to handing over the keys to their freedom.)
Rivan's patience finally snapped. A visible wave of anger radiated from him. "Fine," he spat, the word dripping with venom. "Then die. It makes no difference. Once you're dead, I will become the master of this place by default, and all assets, including their contracts, will fall to me. The only reason I was sparing you was because you've done nothing wrong to me personally, and I am not a psycho who enjoys killing without reason." He raised his leg, the air around his foot beginning to distort and scream with concentrated energy. "But since you've chosen death... then take it!"
He launched into the motion for a final, devastating kick, one that held enough power to splinter Tom into a hundred pieces. But just as the blow was about to be unleashed, Rivan's body suddenly froze mid-action, his eyes widening in pure, unadulterated shock.
To be continued…