Hollow Blindness
Ivo stood before the door for a few moments, his hand resting on the handle, but he did not open it immediately.
He turned his head toward Jinsu, who was standing behind him.
He looked at him calmly.
“Ready?”
Jinsu raised his eyebrows slightly, then nodded quickly.
“Yes, yes.”
Ivo turned the handle and opened the door.
He stepped outside first, followed by Jinsu.
The moment Jinsu stepped out, he raised his eyes toward the village.
Silence.
He remained standing there for a few moments, looking around.
He had expected something different.
Something that would make entering the Land of Assassins different from any place he had ever seen before.
But...
Nothing.
The same roads.
The same buildings.
The same strange silence that had surrounded the place since his first arrival.
Even the air felt the same.
Jinsu felt the excitement that had begun building inside him when Ivo told him he would see the legendary Assassins Village slowly fading away.
Is this it?
He did not say it aloud, but he thought it clearly.
He had imagined a place filled with assassins, people walking around with swords, battlefields on every corner, perhaps scenes that would make anyone regret entering in the first place.
But the village looked...
Normal.
Normal in an unsettling way.
Jinsu shifted his eyes to the right.
Then he stopped.
There.
It was the same place he had seen on the day he first arrived in the village.
The place where he had watched a Yami child being killed before his eyes.
A small knot formed in Jinsu’s chest.
He stared at it for a few seconds, then noticed the same man standing there.
But this time, he was not alone.
There was another child with him.
And inside the cage was another Yami.
Jinsu raised his gaze slightly.
Several children were sitting around the area, some of them sitting close together, as though they were watching a show and waiting for it to begin.
In the middle stood a small child holding a sword.
He looked about nine or ten years old.
In front of him stood a man who appeared to be a teacher.
His arms were folded across his chest as he silently stared at the child.
Jinsu stopped walking.
He noticed something.
The child’s hand.
It was trembling.
Just slightly, but it was obvious.
Jinsu stared at the child’s hand for a few moments before looking away.
Maybe he was simply afraid.
But when he looked again, he heard the child’s voice.
“I won’t do it!”
The words came out loudly.
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The child threw the sword away.
It struck the ground with a clear metallic sound.
The child looked at the teacher.
But the teacher did not move.
He remained standing calmly, his arms still folded across his chest.
Jinsu stopped completely.
Ivo noticed.
He stopped as well.
But he did not call Jinsu.
He did not tell him to follow.
He simply let him watch.
As if he wanted Jinsu to see what was happening for himself.
To understand where he was.
And who the people living here truly were.
The teacher slowly approached the child.
The child raised his eyes toward him.
The moment their eyes met, he froze slightly.
There was something in the man’s eyes.
Something Jinsu could not understand.
Was it disgust?
Or sadness?
He did not know.
But he knew one thing.
That look was not the way a man looked at a small child.
It was the look of someone staring at a weakness he could not accept.
A faint shiver ran through Jinsu’s body.
The child was not even ten years old.
And yet, the man stood before him as though he were facing someone who had disappointed him.
After a long silence, the teacher spoke.
“Baki...”
He paused for a moment.
“What did you just say?”
Baki swallowed.
“I-I said I won’t do it.”
The teacher looked at him.
Then he looked toward the Yami inside the cage.
After that, he slowly walked toward the sword the child had thrown away.
He bent down and picked it up.
He ran his fingers along the hilt for a moment.
Then he said,
“Do you know, Baki...”
He raised the sword slightly.
“That the world has two horns?”
Baki remained silent.
The teacher gestured toward himself with his eyes.
“One horn was given to humans.”
Then he looked toward the cage.
“And the second horn...”
He paused.
He looked directly at the Yami.
“...was given to the Yami.”
His voice remained calm.
Then he lowered his gaze to the sword.
He tightened his grip until the veins in his hand became visible.
“But unfortunately...”
He raised his head.
“Our horn was shorter.”
Silence filled the area.
Then the teacher looked at Baki.
“But despite being smaller...”
He took a step forward.
“We still resist.”
Then he pointed toward himself.
“Look at me.”
He placed a hand against his chest.
“I am the owner of the smaller horn.”
Then he turned toward the Yami.
A smile appeared on his face.
A small smile.
But it was the worst smile Jinsu had ever seen in his life.
It was not a smile of happiness.
Nor joy.
It carried something else.
Something that made Jinsu feel disgusted.
The teacher said,
“While the owner of the larger horn...”
He pointed toward the Yami.
“...is in a cage.”
He paused for a moment.
Then added,
“Like a rat.”
Jinsu looked at the Yami.
He did not like what he was hearing.
But before he could think any further, the teacher moved toward Baki.
He held the sword out toward him.
“Take it.”
Baki stepped back.
“No.”
“Take it.”
“No!”
The teacher moved closer to his face.
“Baki...”
His voice lowered.
“If you do not take this sword...”
The child remained silent.
The teacher moved even closer.
“You will enter the cage in his place.”
Baki’s eyes widened.
“And we will see...”
A small smile appeared on the teacher’s face.
“...whether he will refuse like you did.”
Baki’s body trembled.
He looked at the cage.
Then at the sword.
His fingers were shaking.
But in the end, he reached out and took the sword.
“Good.”
The teacher stepped back.
Then he said,
“Now...”
He pointed toward the Yami.
“Kill it.”
Baki slowly approached.
The Yami watched him from inside the cage.
The closer the child came, the more violently its body moved.
The Yami was not merely a soulless creature.
It had instincts.
The instinct to survive.
The instinct to recognize danger.
And it knew that the child approaching it was carrying something that could end its existence.
But the Yami also knew how to use what it saw.
Suddenly...
Its form changed.
Baki stopped.
His eyes widened.
He was no longer looking at the Yami.
There was a woman standing before him.
A woman he knew.
A woman who had died only a few days ago.
His mother.
Baki’s body froze.
The sword nearly slipped from his hand.
“M-Mom?”
Jinsu looked at the teacher.
He expected him to intervene.
To stop the Yami.
To pull the child away.
To do something.
But he did not move.
He simply stood there.
As if what was happening before him was a normal part of the lesson.
Jinsu stared at him.
How could he just stand there?
The child was standing directly in front of the Yami.
And the Yami was exploiting the thing that hurt the child the most.
The memory of his mother.
His mother’s form moved closer to Baki.
“You won’t kill me, my dear...”
She paused for a moment.
“...right?”
Baki lowered his head.
He no longer knew what to do.
His hand trembled around the sword.
His mind was telling him one thing.
His heart was telling him another.
Then the teacher’s voice exploded through the area.
“Raise your head!”
Baki flinched.
“Look carefully!”
The teacher raised his voice.
“It’s not your mother!”
Baki tried to look away.
But the teacher stepped forward and grabbed his face.
He forced him to look.
“Look carefully, Baki!”
The teacher’s fingers pressed against his face.
“If you lose yourself in your feelings...”
He moved even closer.
“...you will die.”
Baki’s eyes widened.
“Kill her.”
“N-No.”
“Kill her.”
“No...”
The teacher shouted,
“They killed your mother!”
Baki trembled.
“They killed your father!”
His lips began to shake.
“They killed your ancestors!”
The child’s breathing grew faster.
“Get angry, Baki!”
His voice grew louder.
“Get angry!”
Baki gripped the sword with both hands.
“Kill her now!”
The teacher screamed.
For a moment...
Baki remained standing there.
Then something changed in his eyes.
He raised the sword.
He screamed at the top of his lungs.
And charged.
He stabbed the Yami.
The Yami’s body stopped.
Baki froze.
He looked at the sword.
He thought he had succeeded.
He thought he had killed the Yami.
But...
The Yami was not dead.
Baki slowly raised his head.
And in the next instant, the Yami lunged toward him.
Its movement was instantaneous.
Far too fast.
Baki froze.
The danger was upon him in an instant.
But before it could reach him...
Jinsu appeared.
He grabbed Baki and pulled him away.
The two of them quickly retreated.
The teacher looked at Jinsu.
For the first time since the beginning of the scene, his expression changed slightly.
“Who are you?”
Jinsu stood in front of Baki.
Anger was obvious in his eyes.
“You left him to die!”
The teacher looked at him without answering.
Jinsu shouted,
“Why didn’t you intervene?”
Then he added angrily,
“What kind of teacher are you?”
The teacher continued staring at him.
Then he looked at the Yami.
Then back at Jinsu.
He slowly moved toward the cage.
He pulled out a sword.
Then he stood before the Yami.
Finally, he looked at Jinsu.
“You...”
He paused.
“Are you saying this kind of teaching is wrong?”
Jinsu did not hesitate.
“Yes.”
Silence.
Then the teacher opened the cage.
The Yami stepped out.
Jinsu took a step back.
Then he said,
“You bastard...”
He glared at the teacher in anger.
“Do you want to kill children?”
The teacher stopped.
Then he laughed.
A short laugh.
“Children?”
He looked at Jinsu as if he had just heard something strange.
“Do you think they are afraid?”
Jinsu turned around.
He looked at the children.
He expected to see fear.
A child crying.
Another trying to move away.
Or even someone running.
But...
No one moved.
Not a single child.
They remained seated in their places.
Calmly.
No one shifted.
No one stepped back.
No one screamed.
Jinsu stared at them.
Then he felt something worse.
The Yami was the real danger standing before them.
And yet...
They were not looking at it.
Their eyes did not follow it.
None of them cared about what had almost happened.
All of their eyes were fixed on Jinsu.
On him.
Jinsu remained silent.
He looked at the Yami.
Then at the children.
Then back at the children.
He finally understood.
The Yami was not a monster attacking a child to them.
It was not the danger.
It was...
a lesson.
And Jinsu was the person who had interrupted that lesson.
Jinsu stood there without knowing what to say.
For the first time since entering this village...
he felt that he did not understand the place he was standing in.
Blindness was not closing your eyes.
It was seeing the entire world before you...
and still being unable to understand what you were seeing.