Chapter 1190. Fierce Fighting (5)

Chapter 1190. Fierce Fighting (5)

“

Huff, huff...

! Urgh!”

Gokubo Shigeru clutched at his shoulder while panting heavily away. The shoulder didn’t have any arm attached to it, however, and a copious amount of blood was gushing out from the gaping wound.

There was no one... No Japanese were left standing now!

‘This place is Hell!’

One thousand and five hundred elite Japanese warriors had arrived at this place. Not just any elites, either, but the ones carefully selected from the ranks of Yamashiro-gumi, the organization boasting the greatest power in Kanto! And many other elites from

gumis

representing Kanto were here, too.

An army boasting this level of power should’ve had no problem conquering most countries with ease.

Gokubo Shigero genuinely believed that Japan couldn’t exercise its full power because countless organizations had divided the nation and kept each other in check. If it weren’t for that situation, Japan could’ve become a credible rival to China.

But that belief was shattered into a million pieces today. Not by China, but by South Korea, no less!

They couldn’t even do anything to these Koreans, the people they thought they could conquer at any time, and got annihilated instead.

“

Huff, huff

!”

His breathing grew shallower and shallower. But such a thing was nothing compared to his mental anguish. Gokubo Shigeru wanted to rip his own eyes out if he could.

‘We’re finished.’

Yamashiro-gumi was finished.

Even if this war ended in Japan’s victory, Yamashiro-gumi would not be able to continue on anymore. How could it survive when its power was eradicated like this?

The surviving members of Yamashiro-gumi would end up as prey to Shinichi-kai. With that, the one wish every Japanese warrior had held for so long would come to reality. And that wish was, of course, the unification of Japan!

...And the one getting the short end of the stick would be Yamashiro-gumi.

“

Keuh

...

heuh

-

heuh

,

heuh

-

heuh

-

heuh

...!”

A cackle that sounded like a sobbing leaked out of Gokubo Shigeru's mouth. He pushed his faltering head up to glare at the enemy before his eyes.

Bang Jin-Hun whimpered in pain. “

Ouch

!? Please be gentle with me, okay?”

Wiggins tutted, unimpressed. “Be gentle? Man up a little, Mister Bang. You’re a man, so what’s with all this whining?”

“Did you say man up? Whining?! How could you say that after looking at the state of my waist, sir?! The hole in my side is big enough to fit a...

Ouch

?!

Owowow

?!”

Wiggins wordlessly poked Bang Jin-Hun’s side with his finger. The latter yelped in horror while contorting his body.

“Aren’t you embarrassed to act this way in front of everyone? Quieten down a little,” said Wiggins.

“Acting tough won’t make this pain any more bearable, you know? It hurts like hell, after all!”

Bang Jin-Hun scowled deeply in pain while clutching at his side.

Gokubo Shigeru gritted his teeth at this sight. He just couldn’t believe that the commander of this army, Kazuhiro, fell at the hands of such a... Such a ditzy, glib bastard!

The situation would’ve ended differently had Kazuhiro survived that fight.

Gokubo Shigeru’s glare left Bang Jin-Hun and Wiggins to lock on Chang Min and Vator.

‘Monsters!’

A shudder of dread ran down his spine.

At least Bang Jin-Hun and Wiggins looked like human beings. But those two! They surely couldn’t be humans at all. Even though they weren’t emitting demonic qi or blood-like crimson qi anymore, Gokubo Shigeru was still terrified of the duo.

Lastly...

Click!

A man standing in the center of them leisurely lit up a cigarette. He mouthed it and glanced at Gokubo Shigeru.

“Would you like a smoke, too?”

Gokubo Shigeru forced his head to look up at the man speaking in fluent Japanese.

“

Kuh-huh

...!”

He couldn’t sense any sort of strength from this cigarette-smoking man other than some faint whiffs of cultivation. That could only mean this man was not a powerful individual.

‘And this is probably South Korea’s true strength.’

Gokubo Shigeru couldn’t understand it, at least in the beginning. What he meant by that was how one-sidedly the Korean Martial Assembly slaughtered the elites of Yamashiro-gumi. Even if the slaughter was a result of monsters rampaging around, Westerners charging in like unfeeling machines, and even demonic cultivators popping out of nowhere to drive the Japanese to the edge!

However, he could finally understand after taking one look at this cigarette-smoking man.

The Koreans operated

differently

from the Japanese

.

This man, Lee Hyeon-Su, would’ve never dared to stand among these powerful individuals had this been Japan. In fact, someone as weak as him would’ve never been permitted to speak in their presence. The Japanese hierarchy was far too strict for that.

No matter how talented they were, their role would still have been reduced to watching from some remote corner when in the company of powerful experts.

But Lee Hyeon-Su stepped forward instead of these powerful experts to engage Gokubo Shigeru in a dialogue. All the while leisurely smoking away, no less!

Such flexibility was unheard of in Japan.

“Kill me,” said Gokubo Shigeru.

Lee Hyeon-Su chuckled at how resolute the Japanese sounded. “Looks like you’ll die without me doing anything, though?”

“Why, you...!”

Lee Hyeon-Su chuckled again before walking up to Gokubo Shigeru and sticking a fresh cigarette in the latter’s mouth. “If you don’t want to, you can always spit it out.”

“...”

Gokubo Shigeru wordlessly puffed away at the cigarette. Pure-white smoke lazily drifted out from his nostrils and mouth.

While mouthing the cigarette, he slowly closed his eyes.

A short while later, he muttered hatefully. “You sons of dogs.”

“I don’t want to hear that from invaders like you bastards.”

“You think your end will be pleasant after killing so many noble warriors?!”

“That is not something you should worry about,” said Lee Hyeon-Su.

Gokubo Shigeru bared his blood-soaked teeth.

How hateful!

These men dared to slaughter Shigeru’s comrades. Of course he hated their guts.

However, all things were relative. Even hatred.

No matter how much he hated these people, they would have to take a backseat in the list of priorities if he found someone else even more hateful. And the ones making Gokubo Shigeru grit his teeth in rage were none other than the bastards of Shinichi-kai.

Those insidious Kansai bastards offered to work together first, but then stabbed Kanto’s people in the back by leaking their information like this!

Traitors were often much more hateful than the enemy.

These Martial Assembly bastards were simply defending their territory from the invading Yamashiro-gumi warriors. Even Gokubo Shigeru would’ve fought back if he was in their shoes.

However, that story did not apply to Shinichi-kai.

Even though they had been historically at odds with each other, this was war, and they were supposed to be allies.

The act of throwing your allies into a deadly trap was unforgivable, no matter the excuse!

Any individual wearing human skin should’ve never done something like that.

‘

Never

!’

Since that was the case, Shinichi-kai’s people must pay the price, too.

Gokubo Shigeru’s fading consciousness and rapidly cooling body interfered with his judgment.

“Yes, that’s... right. It’s none of my concern.”

Gokubo Shigeru forced his trembling hand to hold the cigarette for the one last puff. However, he could barely feel the cigarette smoke filling his lungs.

That confirmed it. He was almost at death’s doorstep.

“

Fuu-woo

...!”

Gokubo Shigeru smirked bitterly at his impending death.

“Very well. I’ll tell you what you want to hear. I’m on my way to the netherworld, but at least... Let me pay for this cigarette.”

Lee Hyeon-Su’s eyes flickered just then.

“It’s about the advance party, and...

Cough!

”

Gokubo Shigeru coughed out a mouthful of blood. Judging from how thick the blood was, he didn’t have much time left.

“...I’m quite certain that those traitorous dogs are on their way to murder your Assembly Master,” said Gokubo Shigeru.

Lee Hyeon-Su’s eyes opened wider.

‘Say what?’

He did not expect to hear that. Of course Lee Hyeon-Su wanted to extract valuable information from the dying Japanese, that was related to the additional landing party.

But a completely unexpected piece of info just slapped him in the face instead!

“What are you talking about?! Give me the details!”

The directors who couldn’t speak Japanese still stiffened at Lee Hyeon-Su’s reaction.

“

Fuu-woo

...!”

Gokubo Shigeru dropped the cigarette when opening his mouth. He barely picked it up to puff at it one more time, before his blood-soaked face cracked into an insidious smirk.

“It... was one of potential plans... we discussed. In case the advance party... does not encounter enemy resistance... It’d charge straight to the Martial Assembly HQ. I merely...

Cough!

I thought it was nothing... more than one of the options. Now that I’m here, the bastards must’ve been planning it since the beginning.

Kuh-heuh...

! They must be using us as baits to distract you while they head to your HQ.”

Lee Hyeon-Su’s eyes powerfully quaked.

‘No, that’s impossible!’

Considering the distance from here to the Assembly HQ, reaching the destination on foot quickly was out of the question. If the battle here had taken a while, then maybe the advance party could have arrived, but...!

‘Has anyone contacted us yet?’

No, no one had so far.

The police had set up countless roadblocks and checkpoints around Gunsan. Even the Korean military was secretly monitoring the scarcely used roads, too.

If this was China, evading all those eyes and CCTV cameras littered around the place to reach the Assembly could have been doable. But this was South Korea. Such a thing should be impossible to pull off.

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

“...!”

“This is why... Fools who think they are smart...”

Gokubo Shigeru’s insidious smirk deepened.

Even though his side had lost, he derived much satisfaction from mocking Lee Hyeon-Su as his last act on Earth.

“Our side had traitors, so... Your side would obviously... have traitors, too.”

Lee Hyeon-Su grimaced and tersely replied, “The Assembly has no traitors.”

“Sure. But what about Korea itself?”

“What...?”

Lee Hyeon-Su clamped his mouth shut.

Korea? Not the Assembly, but the country itself?

‘...Then, there could be traitors.’

Lee Hyeon-Su’s face grew paler. He had not thought about that possibility.

This war was already no longer a clash between the Korean Martial Assembly and Japanese

gumis

.

The governments of both countries secretly supported their respective martial societies. Since that was the case, it’d not be a stretch to view this war as a war between these two countries, too!

In that case?

‘I shouldn’t be surprised that from within the Korean government, or some other entities, some people would be willing to cooperate with the Japanese!’

Actually, such traitors existing should be a given.

Even in the past, when a sovereign nation guaranteed your safety against foreign invaders, traitors and greedy bastards still existed. And in the modern era, when borders between nations were less defined than ever before, and patriotism was seen as a refuge of keyboard warriors...!

It shouldn’t be strange to see unscrupulous bastards willing to sell out their mother nation to line their pockets.

‘Fine, I get that. But how are they doing it?’

Unless one was a martial artist, there shouldn’t be that many ways to support the invaders. First of all, the Japanese invaders didn’t need operational funds and sustenance. An ordinary invading army would have benefited greatly from those two factors, but such things were basically meaningless for the martial artists.

In that case, could it be a place to hide?

‘No, that’s not it either!’

A place to hide would only delay the plan. It’d be no help to a group trying to assault the Assembly HQ.

In that case...!

Lee Hyeon-Su cried out, “Contact the police right now and find out if a large convoy of vehicles had driven past any of the checkpoints! Hurry up! Buses or trucks! Several dozen of them, at least!”

Wiggins was taken aback and asked, “Mister Lee? What’s going on?”

Lee Hyeon-Su replied, his voice trembling. “The advance party...! They are heading to the Assembly right now, sir!”

“To the Assembly? But there’s no... one...”

Wiggins clamped his mouth shut after remembering that the Martial Assembly HQ should be empty right now... except for the presence of one person!

“Master...!”

Vator gasped out loud.

Only one person was guarding the Assembly HQ right now. And that was Kang Jin-Ho!

What would happen if over a thousand elites from Shinichi-kai were targeting him?

Vator roared loudly. “No, this can’t be!”

Kang Jin-Ho was not a god. He displayed the martial prowess deserving of the label, the one-man army, only because the Martial Assembly had been supporting him from the rear, plus all the combat environments so far had suited his style.

However, for him to fight one thousand enemies with no back-up? Not only that, but against top experts from the strongest organization in Japan, Shinichi-kai?

‘He will die!’

No one could win in a battle like that! Not even the Crimson King would be able to survive such an encounter.

The ecstasy of victory was rapidly wiped out from the faces of the Assembly martial artists, only to be replaced by urgency. They all had realized that the flow of this situation had shifted in a dangerous direction.

Gokubo Shigeru smirked at this sight.

‘Well, that feels good.’

It felt like he had landed a sucker punch as his parting gift.

“Hey, you!” Gokubo Shigeru squeezed out the last drop of his remaining life to address the flustered-looking Lee Hyeon-Su. “Don’t forget that I... Yamashiro-gumi has helped you out this time... Favors must be repaid...!”

Shuffle...

Gokubo Shigeru’s lifeless figure gradually slumped over and collapsed on the ground.

Lee Hyeon-Su’s expression stiffened as he stared at the corpse.

“We’re heading back to the Assembly, right now! Hurry up! Move, you dipsh*ts!”

He started yelling like a madman out for blood. The directors, who should be trying to calm him down, also began yelling and issuing new instructions.

‘Dammit! Assembly Master, please be safe!’

While watching the Assembly’s martial artists quickly getting in line, Lee Hyeon-Su unconsciously clasped his hands in front of his chest.