CH 291

'I’m too scared to even talk to him now, aren’t I?'

Bang Jin-Hun grimly narrowed his eyes. If he was being honest, even following Kang Jin-Ho like this was scaring the living daylights out of him. While observing the utterly-silent Kang Jin-Ho heading toward the Assembly Master's private residence, Bang Jin-Hun nervously gulped.

None of the versions of the Kang Jin-Ho that Bang Jin-Hun had witnessed so far could be described as 'nice.' Even after taking into account all those versions, though, this Kang Jin-Ho was... peculiar, to say the least. Just the sight of his back while he walked around was enough to choke the air out of those behind him.

How frightening! Bang Jin-Hun could think of all sorts of flowery descriptions, but at their core, only one emotion existed. For now, Bang Jin-Hun and Kang Jin-Ho existed within the realm of 'allies.’ However, that didn't lessen Bang Jin-Hun's fear of Kang Jin-Ho one bit.

But this fear didn't simply exist as fear in Bang Jin-Hun's head. Because he was certain that his enemies tonight would get to experience a level of fear so—so much more crippling than his.

'Same things happened throughout history, didn't they?'

The famous generals found throughout history who reputedly raised the morals of the allies to the heavens while making the enemies scared of them even though they were simply standing as the spearhead... Would their backs be similar to Kang Jin-Ho's? A back that instilled fear, but... But one that could also inspire confidence and boost your morals?

'And they say a man's back tells everything you need to know about him, too...'

Bang Jin-Hun suddenly grew curious about what others would think about his back. He imagined what his back would look like from some distance away, and... Eventually, he shook his head.

'Nope, can't even compare.'

The differences in their abilities were simply too great. No, wait. It might not be as simple as that. Kang Jin-Ho had lived a far longer life than Bang Jin-Hun, meaning he had to have experienced so much more. Bang Jin-Hun deciding that everything was down to the differences in physical specs and abilities would be him giving up on his own future, and an insult to the life Kang Jin-Hu had to have lived.

Bang Jin-Hun bit down on his lip. It wasn’t right now, but someday…!

He had to carry that mindset in his heart.

Kang Jin-Ho fearlessly walking ahead suddenly stopped. Almost at the same time, Bang Jin-Hun and his followers stopped walking as well.

"Why...?" Bang Jin-Hun muttered, only to hurriedly cover up his mouth. He knew he wasn't supposed to carelessly say something like that, so how could he...

Fortunately enough, Kang Jin-Ho didn't pay him any attention and addressed someone else. “Come out. Now.”

His voice was low and cold. Despite lacking the intention to threaten, it still managed to instill fear in those who heard it. What a relief it was that Kang Jin-Ho's voice wasn't meant for Bang Jin-Hun or his men! In that case, who was he talking to?

Bang Jin-Hun's question was soon answered. Not too long after Kang Jin-Ho finished calling out, three figures emerged from the thick darkness cast by the shadow of the building in front of Bang Jin-Hun's group. These three figures started closing the distance.

Bang Jin-Hun sucked in a deep breath.

'I couldn't even sense them there.'

What could have happened if Bang Jin-Hun and his men infiltrated this place without Kang Jin-Ho? Would they be able to fight against this trio?

This was different from fighting known enemies in broad daylight. Would Bang Jin-Hun be able to avoid all the traps set by the aging but still crafty fox to kill the assassins after him? It was questionable.

Bang Jin-Hun finally realized how lucky he had been for driving Lee Jung-Geol to that state back in the mountainside villa. It could only happen with the combination of Lee Jung-Geol letting his guard down while thinking, 'He wouldn't dare to do that to me now, would he?' and the perfect timing.

Such luck would never come around again. Bang Jin-Hun shouldn’t rely on such luck to deal with this situation and with just his own strength alone.

“Hah. Director Bang, don't you think sneaking in like some kind of a cat burglar is rather damaging to your reputation?”

Bang Jin-Hun narrowed his eyes while studying one of the trio that snarkily addressed him.

'Do I know him?'

Unfortunately, he didn't recognize the punk.

'...Makes sense.'

This shouldn't come as a surprise. Just like how Bang Jin-Hun had trained Cheon Tae-Hun in secret, Lee Jung-Geol had to have trained a combat force no one knew about, too. And just like how Cheon Tae-Hun knew every little dirty detail of Lee Jung-Geol, this trio should know everything about Bang Jin-Hun, too. Perhaps they knew him even better than Bang Jin-Hun himself!

"Mm? Director Bang. Looks like you've hired someone fairly handy here. Even so, don't you think you're looking down on us a little too much by attacking us with so few? Don't act like this, sir. How do you think we'd feel when we had to hide in the shadows to keep you in check until now, only for you to treat us this way? It's a bit unfair, isn't it?"

Bang Jin-Hun could only smile wryly. Despite Kang Jin-Ho standing in front of them, this trio didn't pay one iota of attention to him.

'They might be skilled, but... they’re utter amateurs.'

This trio couldn't even tell. Actually, Kang Jin-Ho had never threatened anyone by outwardly releasing his aura or something similar to that. However, those martial artists who had survived hell didn't need a demonstration like that to figure out how dangerous and scary Kang Jin-Ho was. No, they could instinctively feel it with their soul.

But this trio? They might have received top-tier training, but it seemed that they were lacking in the 'perception' department.

They were so lacking that even though there was a starving lion drooling before their eyes, they chose to engage the relatively-harmless people behind said lion instead.

'So, what will he do now?'

Bang Jin-Hun glanced at Kang Jin-Ho. The latter hadn't moved an inch yet. That inaction seemed to be a signal from Kang Jin-Ho as if he wanted Bang Jin-Hun to step up in his stead.

Left with no choice, Bang Jin-Hun stood up straight. It seemed he had to say something here. “In that case, why aren't you sending a signal to the rest of your friends or shouting everywhere about how I've arrived?”

"Kekeke~!" One of the trio, the snarky one, cackled. "Of course, I'd dearly love to share with the rest of my colleagues this wonderful sight of you scurrying around like some rat, Director Bang. Unfortunately, though... I was ordered not to do so."

'Mm?'

Bang Jin-Hun furrowed his brow. Someone ordered the trio not to do what?

Only one person would be capable of ordering these three around. And that would obviously be Lee Jung-Geol. They shouldn’t listen to anyone else aside from him! But now, Lee Jung-Geol ordered them not to alert anyone about the presence of intruders? Even though Lee Jung-Geol had locked himself inside the Assembly HQ's residence for his own safety?

'...So, he has something planned for us.'

Bang Jin-Hun realized that Lee Jung-Geol had to have prepared something dastardly. That sly, aging fox wouldn't present his head on a platter to his enemies like this. In that case, Bang Jin-Hun had to assume that the Assembly Master had cooked up a plan to eliminate his enemies that didn't involve alerting the rest of the Martial Assembly.

Search tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w for the original.

“So, you three are supposed to stop me here? You three, against me, Bang Jin-Hun?” Bang Jin-Hun muttered that while feeling a little dismayed.

Initially, he thought the signal had to have already been sent to the Martial Assembly now that he had been discovered. That would be the obvious thing to do. But now? If that wasn’t the arrangement, then these three men were supposed to stop Bang Jin-Hun's group?

One should not underestimate others to this degree! Bang Jin-Hun worked incredibly hard to cool his rapidly-boiling rage down. Getting agitated now was stupid. Besides...

'...I should not get agitated during this situation.'

Indeed, he needed to maintain his cool no matter what. Losing his cool now meant no one would be able to respond if Kang Jin-Ho did something totally out of calculation later on.

The snarky one who seemed to be the leader of the trio replied, "Of course not, Director Bang. We have no thoughts of stopping you by ourselves."

“Hmm?”

“We are not stupid, you know. No, we're merely here to guide you.”

“Guide me?”

“Yes. We are guides, sir.” The man cackled again. “If you're feeling brave, please follow us. We have already discovered you anyway. It can't get any worse than this, wouldn't you say? Getting spotted by the others wouldn't be great, so why don't you follow us quietly and enter the residence for a chat?”

Bang Jin-Hun repeatedly clenched and unfurled his fist.

'What are they planning here?'

Lee Jung-Geol predicted that Bang Jin-Hun and his group would show up, yet the old man didn't want to alert the Martial Assembly and even wanted to have a chat in his private residence? Wasn't this like... he wanted to negotiate?

However, for a negotiation, the attitude of the greeting party coming to welcome Bang Jin-Hun was unacceptable. Then again, young martial artists filled to the brim with passion and reckless bravado would sometimes fail to rein in their attitude, so this kind of behavior was still understandable to some degree.

'What should I do?'

For a brief moment there, Bang Jin-Hun was plunged into confusion. If Lee Jung-Geol really wanted to negotiate, then Bang Jin-Hun had to entertain the thought of sitting down at the same table as the Assembly Master to listen. But...

While Lee Jung-Geol was having a tough time organizing his thoughts, Kang Jin-Ho finally broke his silence. “Are you finished?”

“...”

When Bang Jin-Ho struggled to find the right response to that question, the snarky leader of the trio stopped observing the situation, smirked arrogantly and addressed Kang Jin-Ho. "Listen, boy. Looks like you've seen some sh*t before, but here's the thing. This is a place for adults. Kids like you don't belong here. So, you go sit over there in a corner and let the adults talk, okay? Before we scold you, and you go running back to your mommy crying."

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled faintly at that.

"Huh? Would you look at this brat? Hey, boy. Where did you even pick up such a scary-looking sword from? Don't you know that little kids walking around with things like that will only get—"

Suddenly, the man stopped talking.

Bang Jin-Hun was somewhat flustered by that. If someone suddenly stopped blabbing his mouth, a person's instincts would be to check the surroundings to see if something had distracted him. However, Bang Jin-Hun couldn't sense any movements around.

'What's gotten into him, then?'

However, Bang Jin-Hun's fluster was nothing compared to the shock the man in question was feeling right now.

'What's... going on?'

For some reason, no words wanted to come out of his mouth. It wasn't as if he had consciously stopped himself from talking. No, it just stopped. His brain was ordering his mouth, but his body was refusing to heed it.

'How come?'

That wasn't the only strange thing… Even his vision was not functioning properly. His view seemed to get a little blurrier, then slowly drifted upward instead of staring at the front. The face of the young man, Kang Jin-Ho, seemed to slide lower in his vision before it was dominated by the sight of the starless black night sky.

Lastly...

'Isn't that...?'

The last thing this man saw was some random dude's back that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere in front of him. However, that back belonged to himself. As the man realized that his back was something he should have never seen in his life, his consciousness was shut down like a TV that had been unplugged.

“...!” Bang Jin-Hun tightly clenched his fists. 'Just when?!'

A red line suddenly appeared around that man's mouth as he talked, then... Like a scene from a horror movie, his head split wide open from top to bottom. The top half rolled off and fell off the ground.

Splaaaaash!

A fountain of blood exploded from the severed artery.

Shuffle...

The headless man's figure collapsed to the ground in slow motion. And no one—absolutely no one spoke.

The dead man's colleagues stood there silently with their eyes wide open. As for Bang Jin-Hun's underlings, they also stood there covering their mouths as their figures shivering pitifully.

Were they in shock at the grisly demise of their fellow human being? No, it was nothing like that.

They had already witnessed countless deaths before. Even if someone they knew were killed in the most gruesome, horrific manner possible, they wouldn't get shocked to this degree. As such, their shock stemmed from something else.

Not a single person here, including Bang Jin-Hun, had noticed just when Kang Jin-Ho made his move. Considering the situation and the wound on the dead man, Kang Jin-Ho definitely sliced that man's head off. However, no one witnessed him doing that.

That was what kept all these men rooted to their spot, unable to budge an inch. They were afraid that if they moved even a finger, the invisible blade would chop their heads off. The pressure—the fear—that particular knowledge brought them ruthlessly crushed them.

'Dammit...!'

Bang Jin-Hun could feel his hand trembling. He knew he shouldn’t show a weak side to his subordinates, at least not here and not now, but there was nothing he could do about his trembling hands. He resorted to shoving his hands inside his pockets to hide the tremor, and then he stared at Kang Jin-Ho while nervously gulping a mouthful of his own saliva.

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at the headless corpse with blood gushing out, then leisurely raised his voice. “Carelessly running your mouth invites disaster.”

The dead man should have known this truth a bit earlier. Kang Jin-Ho turned his head toward the two surviving men, and the corners of his lips slowly curled up.

“...Next.”

Terror quickly overtook the expressions of the two surviving men.