Mission: A teacher at Eden Academy!

Karen slipped into the crowd and ran out, the clamor of voices and chaotic footsteps rising and falling behind him.

He hailed a cab, then wound through several alleys after the ride before finally reaching one of his organization's secret bases.

The moment he arrived, he headed straight for the bed and flopped down comfortably without even taking off his shoes. His whole body felt as though it had fallen apart, and he looked utterly exhausted.

"Fuck, what a terrifying woman! Yor, the Thorn Princess." Karen panted, a trace of lingering fear in his eyes.

"I never want to fight her again. It's exhausting, and one little slip could get me killed." He rolled over and draped an arm over his eyes, his voice thick with fatigue.

Just thinking about Yor's freakish reflexes made Karen shudder.

Was she even human?

She blocked every bullet and kicked apart a chandelier weighing over a hundred pounds. The author really made her invincible.

Some time later, footsteps suddenly sounded outside the secret base. They were faint but clear, especially noticeable in the silent room. Karen instantly went on alert, raised his pistol, and held his breath without a word.

Knock-

"Karen, it's me." The leader's voice came from outside.

Karen put away his gun, and the leader walked in.

In the dim light, the leader looked at the disheveled Karen, an odd smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "Why are you such a mess? Was there someone tough among the guards Bunanren hired?"

"I ran into the Thorn Princess. I killed the target as quickly as I could, but I still ran into her on my way out." Karen rolled over on the bed and spoke weakly, each word seeming to squeeze its way out of his throat.

The leader frowned, a flicker of concern in his eyes. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, just a little too shaken up. I'd like to request six months of leave after this mission." Karen spoke lazily, a hint of hope in his voice.

"Denied!" the leader shouted at him, the nerves that had tightened with worry gradually relaxing.

Looks like the brat's still in good spirits. He can even joke around. Hmm, he's still useful. I'll keep giving him missions.

The leader sat on the sofa and turned on the television, which was reporting on the incident at the Royal Hotel. Its light flickered through the room, illuminating their faces.

"Since the assassination target is dead and you escaped successfully, where are the documents?" The leader's voice suddenly turned cold.

"Uh..." Karen froze, coughed awkwardly twice, and averted his eyes. "Well... they took them back..."

Seeing the leader's expression grow uglier by the second, his face almost turning red with rage, Karen hurriedly added, "But I read through the documents beforehand. I remember over ninety percent of the contents."

"That's more like it. Hurry up and write it down."

"I'm so tired. I'll dictate, and you write..." Karen said, shamelessly trying to get his way.

"...You little bastard." The leader sighed helplessly. Seeing that Karen really was exhausted, and had been out on missions for five or six days straight, he picked up a pen and started taking notes.

The leader wrote for nearly two hours, finally finishing amid Karen's repeated complaints of, "Why do you write so slowly?"

He couldn't help shaking out his aching fingers. In his fifty years as an assassin, this was the first time he had written so much. It was more exhausting than killing his way from one end of a street to the other.

Then he couldn't help looking at Karen, who lay sprawled on the bed eating potato chips and watching television... His fists began to clench.

"If you've got time to lounge around, you can keep doing missions," the leader said irritably.

"What? I don't even get a break?" Karen wailed. No matter the profession, overtime and being denied leave were truly the most painful things.

"Stop whining. It's an easy assignment, and a long-term one, too. Good pay, little work. Just think of it as a rare vacation," the leader said.

"Holy shit, what kind of job is it?" Karen scrambled off the bed at lightning speed and practically teleported to the spot opposite the leader, his eyes shining like light bulbs.

Looking at the excited Karen, the leader waved for him to calm down. He took a form from inside his clothes and handed it over.

Karen eagerly accepted it, but after a quick look, he was utterly confused. "A teacher examination form? Boss, has your eyesight gotten that bad already? You can't even tell a mission form from a teacher form?"

As he spoke, Karen held up three fingers and waved them in front of the leader. "Boss, how many fingers am I holding up?"

Shing-

A knife sank deep into the tabletop!

The leader's face grew darker and darker, killing intent pouring out of him. The temperature in the room instantly dropped several degrees.

How dare this brat call him senile? Sixty was the prime age to get out there and make things happen. Even if he were sent to assassinate Ostania's leader right now, he wouldn't miss a beat.

Karen obediently withdrew his hand. Thank goodness he'd reacted quickly just now, or it really would have been chopped off.

The leader reined in his killing intent and gave him an irritated look. "I didn't bring the wrong form. Your next assignment is to become a schoolteacher."

"Eden Academy, the best school in Ostania. Its outstanding students can even be called 'Imperial Scholars.' It's a prestigious school countless people are desperate to get into." The leader made himself a cup of tea as he explained.

Karen truly had to admire whoever had commissioned this mission.

Sending an assassin to be a teacher? Was their head full of water?

Didn't they know people had their own areas of expertise?

Did they expect him to teach killing techniques to little kids?

Karen couldn't help shaking his head. Setting aside whether he had the time and energy to teach them, the important thing was that these people had absolutely no need to learn.

As long as they graduated from Eden Academy, they would become society's elite. To put it bluntly, they were exactly the sort of people those killing techniques were meant to kill.

And now they wanted him, the hunter, to teach his prey... He really couldn't help wanting to laugh.

The leader glanced at him and rolled his eyes. "I know what you're thinking, but it's not like that. Calling you a teacher is the polite way to put it. In reality, you're going there as a bodyguard."

"Most students at Eden Academy come from rich and powerful families. They're prime targets, and kidnappings happen from time to time."

"This year's students include two with particularly distinguished backgrounds: Prime Minister Desmond's second son and the daughter of the Blackbell family, which owns a major enterprise vital to the country. Their arrival has made plenty of people and organizations eager to make a move."

"To keep the students safe, Eden Academy's headmaster specifically contacted our organization, hoping you could help protect them."

After finishing his explanation, the leader picked up the tea on the table and took the opportunity to observe Karen's expression.

Knowing Karen, he was certain to accept this assignment. But the leader was disappointed. There was no expression on Karen's face.

The brat simply sat upright across from him without saying a word.

"As expected of an elite assassin. You clearly want this assignment badly, yet you can control your expression perfectly."

"Do a good job. I won't take a cent of the salary Eden Academy pays you." The leader patted Karen, nodded in satisfaction, and left.

"Hell yeah!!!"

Not long after the leader left, thunderous laughter erupted inside the secret base.

Karen hadn't actually been expressionless earlier. He had simply been so happy that he couldn't help imagining his wonderful future on campus: a regular elementary school schedule, his status as a teacher, and a generous salary without having to teach... That was why he hadn't shown much emotion in reality.

Now this was the life he, Karen, deserved!

"Now, then... I'd better buy something presentable to wear. My only suit got slashed up today."