Chapter 416 - 416: Phantom's Story

"It's about your real father, Cedrick Falcon. I knew him."

Elle didn't expect to hear that from Master Phantom. They've been together for so many years now but Elle and Phantom never talked about her family most especially her parents. 

Thinking back, Elle was curious how Phantom ended up coming to their house on that day. Because of that, Phantom was able to save her. She was barely alive when Phantom found her.

"Are you willing to talk about the past now, Elle?" Phantom asked her worriedly. He was afraid that if they talked about the past it would bring up her wound and triggered her negative emotions to resurface.

"I'm okay now, Master. I'm ready to listen to your story."

Phantom guided her towards the leather couch and both of them sat down. Phantom began to tell her what happened in the past and his first encounter with Agent Cedrick Falcon, Elle's father.

"25 years ago when I decided to go this path. That's the time when my wife and my son were killed. Police authorities failed to catch the culprits. They didn't even get any lead or what's the motive. They said it's robbery. They did catch the robber. But everything seemed suspicious."

Elle first heard about the story of her Master when she was rescued by him after attempting to commit suicide. She could remember it so well. After hearing his life story, that's the time she found her reason to stay alive.

Phantom paused for a moment as his mind wandered back to what happened to him and his family.

Phantom was just an ordinary Taekwondo instructor, living a simple life with his family. His wife was a chemist. She was working in a small research facility in the city. But everything changed because of that one night. 

He went home late that night because his students won the taekwondo tournaments. They went out to celebrate. The moment Phantom arrived home, his wife and his son were already bathing with their own blood.

Phantom screamed, weeping and bawling while hugging the lifeless body of his wife and his son. At that time, he questioned God why that tragedy happened to his family. He's a good man and so his wife. Their son was innocent. No one held a grudge against them. They were not even rich why would robbers target his household? There were bigger houses nearby.

At that time, he also wanted to die. Then he saw something in his wife's hand. She was clutching a small glass bottle with a cork. There was an X-mark on it. He could see the purple liquid substance inside the glass bottle. He thought it was poison so he immediately drank it in one go. But to his disappointment, nothing happened. He didn't die.

After several minutes, his wife's sister entered the house and saw the tragic scene. She immediately called an ambulance and the police. But it's already too late. Her sister and her nephew were already dead.

When Phantom calmed down, he realized that killing himself was not the best solution. He needed to stay alive and seek justice for the death of his poor child and beloved wife. 

The police authority caught the robber but when Phantom confronted him face to face, the robber told him that he was not the one who killed his wife and son. He also needed the money so he took the blame.

That was the moment, Phantom realized that there was a bigger conspiracy behind his family's death. He couldn't trust the law enforcement anymore so he decided to investigate the case by himself.

After half a year of digging for information, Phantom found out that a powerful and influential politician called the hit to kill his family for an unknown reason. He wanted to kill him but he was still powerless and an amateur. And the politician had so many people guarding him for his protection. He couldn't find the perfect opportunity to kill him.

So Phantom decided to train and become an assassin. He tried to learn from underground organizations. He also met a ruthless but expert assassin who became his Master. He wanted to be strong with one goal in mind: To kill the person who ordered to kill his family.

Then he met Antoine. They became partners. After one year of training, their master started to give them a mission. Phantom did his first kill. And every time he would kill someone he was imagining that the person he was killing was the person who was responsible for his family's death. That's how he survived to kill different people during his missions.

As time went by, Phantom got used to killing. His skills improved ten times. He became unstoppable, feared by both in the underground and the government. At first, they called him the Masked Man.

But Phantom would not just accept the mission. He was assessing first if the person he was about to kill was a bad guy. He would just accept the mission if those people were also doing illegal things. That's his special rule. He didn't want to kill innocent people. And that rule was also learned and followed by his apprentice Catseye.

Other people thought that Catseye was only vicious, merciless, and ruthless who would kill anyone even innocent people. But they didn't know that the people she killed had also a dark side. They were not innocent because they were just hiding from their beautiful masks.

That was the truth, Phantom and Catseye would only kill bad guys, not innocent people. But they knew the fact that killing bad people won't excuse them nor exempt them from the crime and sin they committed. They accepted the fact that they were also bad people who deserved punishments from the law.

In the end, Phantom got what he wanted. He was able to kill the person who ordered to murder his wife and son. But he failed to ask him the reason why. Because until the end, that politician denied it, telling him that he didn't do it.

After getting his revenge, Phantom didn't retire. He continued his job as a professional assassin. He became infamous after 4 years. Untouchable and unstoppable. But everything changed when Agent Cedrick Falcon took charge of Phantom's case.