"Madam, the ceremony will begin now," one of the maids informed Althea, the third wife and the most favoured by the head family.
The Moon family is currently hosting a traditional ceremony where, if a child of Moon family reaches the age of 5, the child must choose a path that the child will take forever. They have two choices: the corporate world or the shadow world.
A child who chooses the corporate world must take the entrepreneur life, and a child who chooses the shadow world must live in the shadow.
Whoever chooses the shadow world will disguise themselves as businessmen during the day and must accomplish their mission at night as assassins. Additionally, being part of the shadow world is the only way to become an heir to the family.
So at the age of 5, a crucial decision was given to them without considering their mental age.
On June 30, 2008, Azer Moon, the youngest of the Moon family, must decide his own path, which he will take forever. Will he choose the corporate world? And live a comfortable life, or will he choose the shadow world? And live a hellish life.
Azer was placed on the carpet, surrounded by his family and relatives. Azer was giggling, not knowing what's going on. He thought they were playing with him, but no. He was going to make a crucial decision that would change his life forever.
At the end of the carpet, two maids placed a pile of money on the right and a toy knife on the left side, and then Azer immediately sensed the pressure on him.
He turned left and right, turning his head like he was looking for someone. "M-ma—ma," he called with a hint of fear. On the other side, Althea, Azer's mother, was watching her youngest with so much nervousness.
As per the traditions, no one should interrupt or guide the child before or during the ceremony. So as the mother, Althea was powerless to do anything for her youngest.
When Azer couldn't find his mother, he experienced his first anxiety attack at a young age. He felt suffocated by the stares of the people around him. And then he saw the toy knife at the end of the carpet and used it to hit those people who were staring at him.
With that, his life was decided.
Everyone at the ceremony screamed with joy as if they had won a lottery, or, should I say, a human machine? However, Althea doesn't feel the same because she lost her last hope. Her last hope is to be freed from this family.
Now that he chose the shadow world, he was bestowed a second name. As a tradition, every child who chooses the shadow world will be given a second name, a symbol that they're part of the shadow organization.
A year after the ceremony,
Azer is now 6 years old, and he received his first training. Hellish training.
"It's your first day of training, and you have the audacity to come late!?" His trainer furiously said.
"I overslept... I'm sorry"
"What? Sorry? Go run 10 lapses!" Azer was shocked, because who's in their right mind to task a 6-year-old child to run 10 lapses in a 400-meters oval field??
"But I will end up dead if I do that," Azer complained in a low voice.
"What? Are you saying something!? Or 10 lapses is not enough?" The trainer threatened Azer.
Azer was scared of adding more to the 10 lapses, so he decided to run and pray for his life. After that, Azer almost lost his life because he ran nonstop for 4000 meters.
"Go, take a 5-minute break!" His trainer commanded.
Azer then sat on the vacant bench and asked himself, "How did I even end up in this situation? I just want to play with Ace."
Right now, Azer just wants to play and receive lots of love from his family. But it seems like fate wasn't on his side.