Chapter 1482: Discussing (2) |
Kang Jin-Ho had to resort to unleashing several strategic punches to the face and raising his voice a couple of times to make Chang Min back off and say, “We’ll discuss this matter some other time, my liege.”
No wonder he couldn’t stop this lengthy groan from escaping his lips! To think he’d get nagged on by his subordinate about getting married as quickly as possible, which was something not even his parents had done yet!
While groaning again and again, Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Chang Min.
To him, Chang Min occupied a unique space. Without a doubt, Chang Min was Kang Jin-Ho’s subordinate, his junior, in the hierarchy. On the other hand, he was undoubtedly Kang Jin-Ho’s senior, too.
If the deciding factor for seniority was the date of birth, Kang Jin-Ho could’ve had a case here, However, if the yardstick was the number of years one had lived, then combining all three of Kang Jin-Ho’s lives still wouldn’t be enough to surpass the time Chang Min had spent on this planet.
That meant Kang Jin-Ho couldn’t completely disregard what Chang Min said. Not to forget, Chang Min kept the crumbling Demon Cult together all those unforgiving years while waiting for Kang Jin-Ho’s return, didn’t he?
It’d be a lie if Kang Jin-Ho said he didn’t owe Chang Min anything. At the very least, he owed the latter an apology.
If only he could act more like an adult…!
Kang Jin-Ho subtly gritted his teeth.
“The revenue stream from Japan being more than we expected is great news, sirs,” said Lee Hyeon-Su in an attempt to summarize the situation. “Elder Chang, thank you for all your hard work.”
Chang Min crossed his arms in front of his chest and replied nonchalantly. “Don’t worry about it. Besides, a good beating can keep any would-be heroes down, anyway!”
If he said that in any other situation, quite a few people would have looked on with some admiration, but not this time. No one would consider a man with a black eye saying that as an epitome of cool, after all!
Everyone in the room, except for Chang Min, had to work hard to suppress their groans.
Vator grunted. “Old fart, you should act your age, okay?”
“What was that? You want a beating yourself, too?”
When Chang Min pretended to not hear Vator, the big man groaned deeply again.
To think I can’t even defeat an old fart like him, even now…!
As befitting a man who didn’t feel a shred of fear while confronting the Crimson King, Vator often sparred with Chang Min to gauge his strength. However, despite becoming incomparably stronger after mastering the demonic cultivation technique Kang Jin-Ho had given him, he still couldn’t defeat Chang Min even now.
The reason for that was simple enough: while Vator was getting stronger, so did Chang Min!
Chang Min joined the Demon Cult during its era of steep decline. And then, he spent his entire life witnessing the Cult’s continued slide toward an eventual demise. He endured those cruel years and somehow grew strong enough to keep the disparate Cult members under control.
However, if that notion was flipped around, it meant Chang Min never had anyone with a higher demonic cultivation realm to learn from. There was no powerful expert to set his sight on, either. He had no one to rely on while researching and mastering demonic cultivation techniques that had been half-lost in time to get to where he was.
…But then, someone like that ran into Kang Jin-Ho, a man who was practically a walking, talking treasure vault of all things demonic cultivation.
No, maybe it was more like he was a demonic cultivation dictionary?
While he had to select and modify demonic cultivation methods with the least-concerning side effects related to demonic nature before imparting them to the ordinary Cult believers, he didn’t have to do that with Chang Min.
Why? Because Chang Min had already overcome most of the negative effects of the demonic nature by then.
Which meant Kang Jin-Ho didn’t have to worry about a thing and imparted some of the highest-tier demonic cultivation methods suitable for Chang Min. As a result, Chang Min’s strength was improving at a frightening rate, even now.
Such was his rate of improvement that even Vator’s rate paled in comparison.
“How dare you stare at me that way, you oversized oaf!” Chang Min glared right back at Vator and growled.
Vator groaned. “Old fart… Haven’t you had enough at your age? Isn’t it about time you slow down?”
“Slow down? Kekekeke! You sure are a greedy little pup, aren’t you! Considering all the years I’ve lived, you should be glad that you can at least keep up with me during our sparring sessions.”
Although Chang Min was right… Vator shook his head in slight dissatisfaction.
“Okay, so…!” Kang Jin-Ho cut the two men off while thinking that their conversation was straying into the territory of uselessness. “We don’t have to worry about Japan anymore?”
“We’ll need to continue monitoring and managing them. The thing about a system of governance is that, although it’s difficult to set one up, it’s even trickier to keep it going, you see? But I believe we don’t need to resort to dispatching a large combat force like before to keep them in line,” said Lee Hyeon-Su.
He paused there for a moment, as if to think about something else, before resuming his explanation.
“I think it should be fine to recall the Demon Flames. And I’d like to recall half of the Demon Cult elders in Japan, as well. As for the remaining elders, I’d like to replace them over time with the members of the Assembly.”
When nicely put, he was trying to bring the Demon Cult believers back home. When not-so-nicely put, Lee Hyeon-Su was basically saying that the Assembly would swoop in and claim all the hard work the Demon Cult elders and the Demon Flames had done for itself.
Despite figuring out the hidden intention behind what Lee Hyeon-Su said, however, Chang Min didn’t express his displeasure. What mattered to him at the end of the day was harvesting all the money properly from the land the demon emperor had conquered and ensuring that this land stayed as the demon emperor’s territory. Who managed the land and the collection of wealth was a secondary problem for him.
Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Chang Min. “What’s your opinion? Is Lee Hyeon-Su correct?”
“Yes, my liege. The Japanese won’t dare oppose you again,” said Chang Min, but then paused for a second. “They now know what will happen to all those who oppose you. I’ve made sure of that. All the organized rebellions have been thoroughly crushed. Even if a few still hide in the shadows and scheme to rebel against you, they will not be able to do anything for the next several years, at least.”
Kang Jin-Ho cocked an eyebrow. “Sounds like you went overboard again.”
“I’ve merely meted out appropriate punishments, my liege.”
Yes, I’m sure you have, Chang Min.
Unfortunately, what the Demon Cult deemed appropriate was way too over the top for most ordinary people, and that was the problem here!
“…You did well, Chang Min.”
However, that didn’t mean Kang Jin-Ho wanted to criticize Chang Min for it. He considered all these things first before dispatching the latter to Japan, after all.
In all honesty, Kang Jin-Ho never wanted to take over the Japanese martial society, did he? He simply fought them off because they wanted to invade South Korea. And he killed their leader because they were picking fights with him. That was all!
As for what the Assembly was doing to the Japanese right now? It was merely part of the remuneration process. Yes, it was to recoup all the losses incurred during the war against the Japanese. If they had voluntarily stepped up first and promised a hefty compensation, Kang Jin-Ho wouldn’t have…
…Nope! Let’s be honest here! I would have invaded them, anyway!
Still, he probably would’ve handled things in a more gentlemanly way.
Since that was the case, the blame for this outcome solely rested on the Japanese.
“What about the Japanese government?”
“They haven’t displayed any noticeable reactions so far, sir,” said Lee Hyeon-Su. “It’s not like they can deploy their self-defense force, so the only option they have for now is to sit back and observe. If they think our plundering is getting a bit too much, they’ll probably try to arrest the Yakuza members involved and cut off the supply line. But that won’t be easy for them.”
That was because the Yakuza had been pouring a ton of money into Japanese politics for decades. If the politicians were serious about working for the good of their nation, they would forgo all the nice financial backing and try to exterminate the Yakuza, but…
But that would never happen.
If it had been possible, the Japanese government wouldn’t have left things alone until the term “Yakuza” had become a proper noun and seeped into the global lexicon. Indeed, the Japanese politicians didn’t lift a finger and let things be for decades despite knowing that the Yakuza posed a serious societal problem.
All governments were cursed with politicians who cared more about the health of their bank balance than the fate of their countries. As long as such people existed within the Japanese government, a comprehensive extermination of the Yakuza would never happen.
Besides, even if the politicians turned over a new leaf and went ahead with the extermination, new criminals would take over the void left behind by the destruction of the Yakuza, anyway. Since that was the case, the Martial Assembly simply had to bide their time before getting in contact with said criminals.
Kang Jin-Ho slowly rubbed his chin. So, this is what happens when a country’s martial society completely collapses?
Even though martial artists from another country were openly making a mess of their criminal underworld, the Japanese government couldn’t do anything to stop them. They didn’t have the pretext to deploy the military, while the ordinary members of the police lacked the strength to handle the martial artists.
That meant the government had no way of stopping the Korean martial artists. They might come up with a way to do so in the future, but for the time being? Things should flow in favor of the Martial Assembly for a while.
“Then, let’s assume that the situation in Japan has been stabilized,” said Kang Jin-Ho.
Lee Hyeon-Su nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Is everything over, then?”
“Not yet, sir,” Lee Hyeon-Su hurriedly waved his hand. “We didn’t crush the Japanese for the goal of receiving tributes from the Yakuza, sir. The plan is for us to operate several businesses in Japan under MK’s moniker. I also have a few other ideas, but I’d like to submit a comprehensive report to you once all the plans have been figured out.”
Kang Jin-Ho nodded in acceptance, then glanced at Chang Min as if something bothered him. “Chang Min, return to Korea for good.”
“I shall obey, my liege! Actually, I’ve noticed that the overall discipline of the Cult believers has become a bit lax lately, and it might be a good idea for me to return and set everyone back on the correct path again. Please be rest assured, I shall re-instill proper discipline in three days!”
In other words, wailings and whimperings should start echoing in the surroundings soon, then?
Kang Jin-Ho helplessly shook his head.
Putting its believers or the trainees through the proverbial hell in the name of training as if they were worthless idiots with no redeeming qualities was the Demon Cult’s tradition at this point. And Kang Jin-Ho had no right to complain about it, considering where that tradition had originated from!
Damn. I’ve left behind some strange customs and traditions, haven’t I?
The Demon Flames would vomit blood and start complaining bitterly if they heard Kang Jin-Ho say that out loud. Thankfully, though, their representative, Yi Myeong-Hwan, was not present today!
“I’ll leave Japan to you, Chief Lee. Handle it as you see fit,” said Kang Jin-Ho.
“Thank you, sir.”
After nodding slightly, Kang Jin-Ho tried to move on to the next topic. However, he stopped after realizing that Chang Min was staring intensely at his face for some reason.
Hmm. How should I describe that look…?
It didn’t look as if Chang Min was glaring in dissatisfaction. Definitely not. But the intensity of his gaze still rivaled a glare, nevertheless.
Kang Jin-Ho grinned wryly. “It must’ve been tough for you in Japan, Chang Min.”
“My liege! I wouldn’t dare speak of having a tough time! Everything I do is for the glory of the Demon Cult and the demon emperor! If it will serve you, I shall gladly grind my bones to dust!”
Then, at least try not to brag about it, okay?! For a moment there, Kang Jin-Ho got confused if this was the case of Chang Min’s words and actions not matching each other… Or maybe they matched each other perfectly?
Kang Jin-Ho shook his head again. “With that, let’s consider the Japanese issue resolved. And…”
Chang Min suddenly piped up. “My liege, please wait. I have one more item to report to you about.”
“…? What is it this time?”
When Kang Jin-Ho sounded a bit more sullen than usual, Chang Min didn’t dally and made his report immediately.
“The Demon Flames have finished my training regime, my liege. Of course, my training regime is utterly insignificant compared to yours, but even so, their martial prowess still has improved by leaps and bounds.”
“Hmm?”
Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Chang Min’s face. Hints of confidence were clearly visible in the latter’s expression.
As expected of him.
That wasn’t so surprising to hear. All Kang Jin-Ho did in the past was impart high-tier demonic cultivation methods to his personal troops, then pushed them to their absolute limits in the name of training. But Chang Min was someone who had been supervising the Demon Cult believers for decades.
Since that was the case, he should have been capable of spotting holes in Kang Jin-Ho’s teachings and filling them up without too much trouble. And there must be a reason why Chang Min brought this matter up here.
“No, Chang Min. I’m not giving them to the Cult.”
“But, my liege. They have mastered demonic culti…”
“Even so, it’s still a no.”
“Mm…!”
Chang Min looked rueful about this missed opportunity while staring back at Kang Jin-Ho. But he came across more like a huge dog staring at his owner with puppy dog eyes, and that kind of freaked Kang Jin-Ho out.
“My liege… But the Demon Flames are legitimate heirs to the Cult’s legacy. This is not simply a matter of combat forces, but for the Cult’s stability. We need them to be a part of the Cult.”
“They have always been affiliated with the Assembly.”
“One’s affiliation can always be changed, my liege.”
Kang Jin-Ho sighed deeply. “Fine. We’ll decide once they are all back home.”
“Thank you! You have made a wise decision, my liege!”
Kang Jin-Ho furrowed his brow. Judging from how enthusiastic Chang Min sounded, maybe the Demon Flames were serious about making the switch. Or, at least, that was what Chang Min believed.
I’m sure it will work out somehow.
Kang Jin-Ho pushed the clingy Chang Min away, then turned his head to look at Wiggins next.
“That’s enough about Japan. Wiggins?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Give us your report.”
“Of course.”
Wiggins grew somber as he stared back at Kang Jin-Ho.
