Chapter 1216 of 1419
Chapter 1216. Transforming (1)
Chapter 1216. Transforming (1)
“
Argh
! Please put me down already! It’s embarrassing, you know?”
Vator smirked and put Lee Hyeon-Su down. “
Hah!
Then, get strong enough to jump up here on your own.”
“Sir, different people have different things they are good at.”
“Sure, that’s true. Go and do what you’re good at, then.”
Lee Hyeon-Su shrugged casually before walking briskly forward. He stopped at a spot one step behind Kang Jin-Ho and spoke loudly in Japanese. “Our Assembly Master wants to speak to your representative.”
Akinori’s brows shot up at how fluent that man's Japanese was.
Gohei had rushed up to Akinori and was about to step forward instead of the Commissioner. However, Akinori raised his hand abruptly and stopped Gohei.
Now didn’t seem like the right time to worry about matching the status of the representatives and whatnot!
“Furuta Akinori. Commissioner of Shinichi-kai.”
“Commissioner?” Lee Hyeon-Su scratched his head in confusion. “Let’s see, your hierarchy is...
Uh
, so, starting from the top, you got the chairperson... Eh, in your case, the Iemoto. Below that is the commissioner or
wakagashira
. And then, you get the chief of staff or something like that...
Uh
...”
Lee Hyeon-Su leaned closer to Kang Jin-Ho and whispered, “That man is like the second-in-command, sir.”
“
Mm
...”
“Although their ranks have this random quality to it, that man claims to be the Commissioner of Shinichi-kai, making him equivalent to an executive director.”
Kang Jin-Ho coolly nodded, then addressed Akinori. “Will it be too weird to say nice to meet you in this situation?”
Akinori heard Lee Hyeon-Su’s translation and ended up chuckling wryly.
‘I knew it. He’s insane.’
The impression he got was that Kang Jin-Ho was missing a few screws in his head. A sane person wouldn’t have said something like that so casually in this situation.
“Nothing is stopping you, sir.”
However, Akinori wasn’t sane-minded, either.
Then again, asking him to remain sane in this unbelievable situation was a demand he couldn’t satisfy. After all, the enemy force’s commanders waltzed right into a potential trap without the rest of their combatants in tow. Who in their right mind could have predicted this situation?
“I’ve heard many times that you can be a peculiar man, sir. However, now that I’ve met you face-to-face, the rumors don’t do you justice. Honestly, it’s difficult for an ordinary man like myself to be in your presence.”
Akinori abruptly realized he had been speaking politely for a while. The level of respect in his attitude was about the same as when addressing the Iemoto.
But that shouldn’t be a surprise. After all, Kang Jin-Ho was the undisputed boss of the Martial Assembly that enjoyed complete control of South Korea. In other words, he was a king.
As for Akinori, he was merely a second-in-command of Shinichi-kai that ruled over a small portion of Japan. No one could deny that his status fell well below that of Kang Jin-Ho’s.
But Akinori’s respectful attitude wasn’t because of his opponent’s much higher status. No, he could sense it. He could sense Kang Jin-Ho’s power as a fellow martial artist!
Anyone who had devoted their entire life to martial arts and viewed ‘attaining strength’ as their life’s ultimate goal wouldn’t have a choice but to express their deepest respect after sensing Kang Jin-Ho’s aura.
That aura belonged to a life form, a living manifestation, of all things martial arts, just roaring to erupt like a volcano!
Kang Jin-Ho studied Akinori for a little while, then nodded. “Vator?”
“I was waiting, master! Let me at them, and I’ll rip those bastards into...!”
“Go get me a chair.”
“...?”
When Lee Hyeon-Su heard that, he simply had to sneak a glance in Vator’s direction. Rather unsurprisingly, Vator’s expression was crumpled hideously like that of a man chewing on something unmentionable.
“...You want me to get you a chair?”
“Yeah. Who else?” Kang Jin-Ho glanced behind him, which made Vator sheepishly look at the floor.
“H-hold on.”
Vator turned around and headed to the ship’s bow.
CRACK!
Vator grabbed a part of the railing and the floor made of steel, then began tearing them apart.
RIP! CRAAACK!
He then crumpled and rolled those bits of steel like sheets of paper to create a rough shape of a chair. His muscles rippled, his power seemingly overflowing. No one could tell if he was doing this intentionally, but whatever it was, he was doing a stellar job of it.
Everyone watching this spectacle did so in sheer stupefaction.
The thing was, though, everyone here could also have done what Vator was doing if they
really
wanted to. However, no one here could do that as nonchalantly as the big man.
What a demonstration of pure, unadulterated physical strength that was. One that sent a chill down one’s soul!
“Here, I’ve brought you a chair, master.”
Clang!
Vator placed a chair-like thing next to Kang Jin-Ho.
After taking a good look at it, Kang Jin-Ho smiled brightly. “I’m talking about a chair, not scrap metal.”
“...”
A vein visibly bulged on Vator’s forehead. However, his angry glare didn’t dare target Kang Jin-Ho. Instead, it landed on Akinori and his men.
“Hey, you! Go get us a chair!”
“...I’ve already sent a man to do that. Please wait,” said Akinori while chuckling powerlessly.
How insanely arrogant this was. Would there be any other group of people who could act this way after boarding a ship full of enemy combatants?
These people probably weren’t the world’s strongest warriors, but at least Akinori was convinced that they were definitely the most arrogant and rude.
Akinori’s underlings hurriedly brought out a couple of chairs and placed them midway between their leader and the Assembly’s group. Kang Jin-Ho strode toward the closest chair and wordlessly settled down on it.
Lee Hyeon-Su smartly produced a cigarette and respectfully handed it over to Kang Jin-Ho and even lit it up for his boss.
“
Fuu-woo
...”
Kang Jin-Ho exhaled a thick waft of gray smoke, then crossed his legs while glancing at Akinori. “Take a seat.”
“
Oh
...!”
Akinori flinched subtly before sitting on the empty chair.
He sighed under his breath. Wasn’t this ship supposed to be Japanese territory? Yet here he was, acting like a loyal underling who had visited his superior’s office and now was waiting for permission to sit down.
But the strangest thing about this situation was that... Despite making several mistakes until now, he didn’t feel ashamed or angry. In fact, he even felt a little calmer, more settled, than before.
“Please tell us what brought you here, sir.”
“I came to talk.”
“...Talk, sir?”
“That’s right,” said Kang Jin-Ho, his slightly narrowed gaze fixed on Akinori. “I’m sure that idea sounds absurd to you. It sure sounds absurd to our side, too. This is my first time talking to my enemy like this, you see?”
“...”
That had to be true. Even if Kang Jin-Ho wanted to have a sit-down with an enemy in the past, he wouldn’t have done it this way. As in, charge straight into the enemy camp by himself and chat to the enemy commander before merrily going his way again!
‘This is all insane!’
Maybe because Akinori was witnessing something indescribably insane, he no longer felt flabbergasted by this situation.
How should he describe this slightly surreal feeling, then? That it was as if he was looking at some bizarre sitcom through a TV screen?
“What would you like to talk about, sir?”
Kang Jin-Ho casually leaned back. “Before we start, have you been informed of the current situation?”
“That is...”
Before Akinori could finish, Lee Hyeon-Su butted in.
“Your first two waves have been completely annihilated.”
Akinori reflexively gripped his knees, hard.
‘I knew it!’
He had already expected this outcome. It was just that he didn’t want to acknowledge it.
Even the last feeble thought of ‘What if?’ dissipated the moment he clapped his eyes on Kang Jin-Ho and his companions. If the Japanese invaders were still alive and waging a war, the Assembly’s top executives wouldn’t have dared to come here.
They were the core of the Martial Assembly’s combat force, after all. All the commanders simultaneously leaving the battlefield was unthinkable.
All these factors served to make Akinori even more respectful toward his guests. “Annihilated... All of them?”
“Yes,” said Lee Hyeon-Su.
Not in a symbolic sense, but in reality, too! Not a single Japanese invader in the first two waves had survived the battle, in other words!
‘But the combined number for both waves was two thousand five hundred!’
That was roughly the same number as this wave. So, to hear that so many warriors had perished!
Akinori couldn’t quite figure out how he was supposed to respond to such a high number of casualties.
“Also...”
Lee Hyeon-Su glanced back, prompting Wiggins to walk up to him in silence and hand over an item wrapped in fabric. Lee Hyeon-Su hesitated slightly.
Kang Jin-Ho calmly muttered, “Be respectful.”
“Yes, Assembly Master.”
Lee Hyeon-Su carefully and courteously received this object before approaching Akinori, then presented it to the Japanese.
Akinori shuddered powerfully at this unknown item wrapped in expensive-looking fabric.
It couldn’t be. It must not be!
Unfortunately, his instincts already told him what the item he had received was.
Judging from the weight felt by his hands reflexively accepting the item, and the shape felt through the fabric, it could only be...
“...!”
Akinori’s trembling hands began undoing the knot holding the fabric. And when he confirmed the item’s identity, he squeezed his eyes shut immediately.
Sure enough, it was the Iemoto’s severed head!
An indescribable expression was frozen in death on the Iemoto’s face. For the first time in his life, Akinori realized that the leader of Shinichi-kai was capable of making a face like that.
This expression lacked all the confidence and arrogance of the Iemoto’s usual face. It was as if his soul had abandoned him... No, it was not ‘if’, but a reality at this point. In any case, the
thing
that made the Iemoto who he was could no longer be seen in this expression.
It was merely the severed head of an old man who had lost everything.
Akinori re-wrapped the head with the fabric, his hands still trembling, then got up as respectfully as possible. He turned to face Gohei and presented the severed head.
“Remember to be respectful.”
“...Yes, sir,” Gohei replied in a subdued voice.
He must’ve seen what this item was. His noticeably quaking legs were as good a proof as anything could be.
After entrusting the severed head of the Iemoto to Gohei, Akinori turned around, then bowed deeply at Kang Jin-Ho. “I’d like to thank you for graciously returning the Iemoto to us.”
“
Mm
.”
Kang Jin-Ho briefly nodded.
“I hope you understand why this happened,” Lee Hyeon-Su chimed in to add context. “There were other methods available, but this was the best one to force everyone to accept that we have destroyed Shinichi-kai.”
“...No, I do understand.”
How could Akinori not understand? When he could feel it in his soul? That Shinichi-kai’s base had already fallen at the hands of the Assembly?
Nothing could serve as a better, more definitive proof than the Iemoto’s severed head, anyway!
“I’ve understood the situation, sir. Please tell us what you have on your mind,” said Akinori.
Kang Jin-Ho leisurely puffed away at the cigarette. The gray smoke leaving his lips scattered as the cold ocean breezes blew in.
“This war can only end when all of you die,” said Kang Jin-Ho.
“...”
“That’s the only fate remaining. We’re not merciful enough to forgive those who dare invade our home. Honestly? I wouldn’t mind killing you all right here, right now, and end the war for good.”
Akinori could tell that Kang Jin-Ho wasn’t bluffing.
The Assembly annihilated both waves of invasion in less than a day, then even traveled to Japan to cut the Iemoto’s head off. That was how powerful they were.
So the prospect of fighting such people now was... It was as absurd as it could get.
This so-called main force was only meant to occupy the already-conquered territory with its numbers. Its actual combat strength was negligible. The only way to ensure this wave’s survival was to take advantage of the arrogance of the Martial Assembly executives who had shown up here without escorts, and throw every combatant on this ship to kill Kang Jin-Ho. But...
‘But, considering the first wave has failed, there is simply no way we can make that happen.’
A large group of much-stronger warriors had already failed, which could only mean the Japanese had failed to estimate Kang Jin-Ho’s true strength.
Akinori couldn’t see a way out of this. There was no hope left now.
“However...” Kang Jin-Ho muttered while leaning back against the chair.
Akinori almost chuckled hollowly just then. He thought that no other person on this planet would suit the posture of leaning against a chair with legs crossed and a cigarette dangling from his hand better than Kang Jin-Ho.
The air of an absolute sovereign, an arrogant-to-the-core king, wafted from Kang Jin-Ho’s figure.
“We’re not some bloodthirsty genocidal maniacs who love killing people. Over two thousand people have already died today. If you die, that number will double. And we’ve gotten sick and tired of that idea.”
Kang Jin-Ho muttered, his expression one of disinterest.
But that only made it impossible for Akinori to guess what was on Kang Jin-Ho’s mind. All he could do was silently wait for his death sentence.
“So, I’m thinking of letting you choose.”
Akinori blinked his eyes. “Letting me choose, sir?”
“It’s simple, really.” Kang Jin-Ho casually tossed the cigarette to the floor. “Submit. Bow your heads and swear your loyalty to me. And offer everything from the land you have come from. Then I’ll spare all of you.”
Akinori almost reflexively shot up from his chair just then.
Those demands were unreasonable. No martial artist in their right mind would accept such conditions.
But all the strength in Akinori’s legs abandoned him instantly when he heard Kang Jin-Ho’s follow-up declaration.
“If you don’t, every single one of you on this ship will die. Every. Single. One. No one will be spared. I’ve already shown your side mercy once before. Don’t expect the same treatment again. I guarantee you that won’t happen.”
“...!”
Kang Jin-Ho sat up slightly forward. Even a simple gesture like that intensified the pressure he emitted by several folds.
“Now, choose.”
On this ocean enveloped in darkness, a sinister devil bared his fangs in a chilling smirk.
“Choose whether you’ll live or die. Whatever you decide, I’ll gladly make it happen.”
Akinori squeezed his eyes shut while realizing that the devil’s fangs were about to touch his throat.