CH 367

“Oww... I'm so tired.” Park Yu-Min moaned weakly while climbing into Ju Yeong-Gi's car.

“I feel ya, bro. We shouldn't be surprised since we are short one hand, after all!” Ju Yeong-Gi grumbled unhappily.

“Come on, man. How long are you gonna be hung up on that?”

“You think I'll ever feel happy about the so-called boss abandoning his own store to play around all the time?”

“You know Jin-Ho's not doing that, though.”

“...Urgh.” Ju Yeong-Gi groaned in irritation and sharply lowered the hand brake before stepping on the accelerator. The car shot forward with a loud vroom!

Park Yu-Min sighed. “Drive slowly, okay?”

“Don't you trust my driving skills?”

“No, I do. But I don't trust your car. Can't you hear it sobbing from all the abuse you're putting it through?”

“...Well, that's true.” Ju Yeong-Gi glanced in the rearview mirror. Despite the hour being late, he could see choking gray smoke spewing out of the exhaust pipe.

“Yeong-Gi, how about getting a new car?”

“Don't want to. It's still working fine.”

“You might get into an accident at this rate, you know?”

“...Accident, my foot,” Ju Yeong-Gi pouted and complained again.

Park Yu-Min chuckled softly.

'You and your tough-guy pride...'

Of course, he knew that Ju Yeong-Gi wasn't a bad person. Actually, he was a nice guy considering how affectionate he was. Not only did Ju Yeong-Gi silently take care of other people around him, but he also often worried about hurting them inadvertently.

However, Ju Yeong-Gi seemed incapable of capitalizing on those points and continued to act like a tough guy, probably due to his upbringing or his personality. But there was little doubt that he deeply cared about his family and friends.

'And the problem with that is Yeong-Gi only cares about his family and friends...'

Park Yu-Min's expression grew solemn as he rested his chin on his hand.

'Hang on, now that I think about it... Aren't I the same?'

Park Yu-Min suddenly realized that he, too, had a similar side. Obviously, most people would feel this way. But those around Kang Jin-Ho seemed to be a lot more particular about it. Instead of self-centered, should they be called 'communal-minded' in this case? Everyone in Kang Jin-Ho's circle of acquaintances seemed to display endless trust and affection to anyone judged to be a part of their community. However, they were shockingly disinterested in those not included in the circle of acquaintances even if they tried.

Was it because people like that tended to gather around Kang Jin-Ho? Or was it more like Kang Jin-Ho's influence gradually changing them? Park Yu-Min thought he should think about this some more.

He glanced at Ju Yeong-Gi. “No need to get that angry, though.”

“I'm not angry,” Ju Yeong-Gi pouted again.

“Then, what's wrong?”

“It's just, you know…”

Park Yu-Min narrowed his eyes and silently observed Ju Yeong-Gi driving the car before quietly asking a question. “Are you sulking?”

Ju Yeong-Gi suddenly yanked at the steering wheel. “Uwaaaaah?!”

“What are you doing?! Yeong-Gi?! Uwaaah?!”

The car swayed dangerously from side to side. It got into a tank slapper and skidded around nearly uncontrollably.

Park Yu-Min cried out in alarm. “What are you doing?!”

“Hey, you dumbass! You surprised me!” Ju Yeong-Gi yelled back while managing to bring the car under control. He groaned while wiping the sweat off his forehead. “Holy sh*t! That was a close call! Feels like I've lost ten years just now. What a relief there weren't lots of cars here…”

“...Yeong-Gi, please get a new car. Please?”

“This wasn't my car's fault, man. Besides, who's sulking here?”

Park Yu-Min was sure of it now.

'Yup, Yeong-Gi is definitely sulking.'

Park Yu-Min couldn't hold his laughter anymore. It seemed Ju Yeong-Gi was sulking about the situation with Kang Jin-Ho.

Well, Kang Jin-Ho was probably involved in something big only a couple of days ago but had gone under the radar again, so it wasn't like Park Yu-Min couldn't understand Ju Yeong-Gi's sentiments.

Park Yu-Min finally stopped laughing. “A man should be a bit more broad-minded, you know?”

“What are you on about? Don't you know that my nickname is Mr. Broad-Minded?”

“Oh? I thought it was Mr. Petty-Minded, though?”

“...You! Do you want to walk home, huh? Wanna get out?”

“See? You can be so petty.”

“I'm telling you, it's not like that!” Ju Yeong-Gi yelled again and huffed heavily before groaning loudly. “Seriously, it's not that, you dummy.”

“Mm?” Park Yu-Min glanced at Ju Yeong-Gi and was surprised by the serious expression on his friend's face.

“No, it's not what you think. I'm just worried about that idiot getting involved in dangerous things again.”

“Dangerous things?”

“...Yeah, you dummy.”

Park Yu-Min stared in confusion at Ju Yeong-Gi. It was as if he couldn't understand that notion.

'...Urgh. He won't get it even if I try to explain...'

Ju Yeong-Gi inwardly groaned and chose not to explain himself.

From his perspective, Park Yu-Min was somewhat of a mystery. Growing up as an orphan meant Park Yu-Min must've experienced the unsavory side of the world, yet his trust in Kang Jin-Ho seemed absolute.

Ju Yeong-Gi jokingly referred to Park Yu-Min as a religious zealot sometimes, but lately, he had been getting a feeling that some part of that jokey evaluation might be true after all.

Ju Yeong-Gi knew Kang Jin-Ho was hiding a part of him that was completely different from the... 'normal' people, thanks to that event back in the military. And that was why he couldn't hold such absolute faith in Kang Jin-Ho.

Of course, it didn't mean Ju Yeong-Gi didn't trust Kang Jin-Ho or thought of him as a bad guy. Ju Yeong-Gi was worried that Kang Jin-Ho could be doing something very dangerous in a place without telling his friends about it.

Park Yu-Min suddenly spoke up. “Jin-Ho doesn't have anything dangerous going on in his life, right?”

“...Probably not.”

“So, why are you worried?”

“...Not sure myself.” Ju Yeong-Gi shook his head.

'I should not say anything.'

Ju Yeong-Gi grimaced slightly. If anyone was going to worry, he should be the only one. He didn't see the point of talking to Park Yu-Min and sharing this burden with his friend. Besides, this thing called worry tended to grow in size the more it was shared, anyway.

Park Yu-Min continued to speak. “I don't know what you mean, Yeong-Gi, but…”

“Mm?”

“Even if Jin-Ho is doing something dangerous, I don't think we should be worried.”

“Eh?”

“Jin-Ho might not look like it, but he's incredibly smart, you see?”

Ju Yeong-Gi made a weird face. “...He doesn't look that way to you?”

“Well, Jin-Ho doesn't have a bookworm-type face, right?”

“T-that's... certainly true.” Ju Yeong-Gi had to hold his chuckle back. Park Yu-Min had this unexpectedly level-headed side to him, didn't he?

“In any case, Jin-Ho is smart, and he hates getting hurt with extreme passion, so... What I'm trying to say is that Jin-Ho won't put himself in a dangerous spot even if the stuff he's doing is dangerous. If he thought it might be too risky, he probably wouldn't even try in the first place.”

“Hmm…”

Park Yu-Min had a point. When Ju Yeong-Gi thought about it, he couldn't remember the last time Kang Jin-Ho had to swallow the loss and move on. Not just here in civilian society but back during his military service, too.

Despite this realization, Ju Yeong-Gi's worries didn't go away. He tried to figure out why and arrived at a new realization soon afterward.

“I think that's not the crux of my problem, good sir.”

Park Yu-Min tilted his head. “It isn't?”

“Dangerous or not, I'm not happy about Jin-Ho leaving me out of whatever he's doing.”

“Oh. Honestly, I feel the same.”

“I guess... Once he comes back later, I'm gonna have a serious chat with him.”

“About what?”

Ju Yeong-Gi tutted. “I don't know what Jin-Ho's doing these days, but we're still friends, right? So, I want to get involved, too. Whatever it is, I wanna help out and know about it. Together. Seeing Jin-Ho going around doing whatever it is by himself is kinda pissing me off, know what I mean?”

“...Yeong-Gi, you're amazing.”

“Huh? Why?”

Park Yu-Min suddenly smirked. “I thought about something similar before but couldn't bring myself to say that to Jin-Ho, you see? Aren't you straying too dangerously close to the territory of obsession here, Yeong-Gi? Wouldn't a girl say that to her boyfriend?”

“Hah. Don't you know that the bond between men is stronger than love, you dummy?”

“...I respect you, Yeong-Gi.” Park Yu-Min quietly chuckled while glancing at the cackling Ju Yeong-Gi.

'Yeong-Gi's mood seems to have improved. That's good.'

Park Yu-Min turned his head and stared out of the car's window. The faint moon looked particularly elegant tonight.

'There's... nothing to worry about, right?'

Ju Yeong-Gi might think Park Yu-Min didn't know, but that wasn't the case. Park Yu-Min already knew about Kang Jin-Ho's dark side. However, if his friend didn't want to talk about it, he shouldn't pry.

Knowing the dark side's existence wouldn't change their relationship, anyway. Besides, knowing everything about the other person wasn't a requirement to form a tight friendship.

The friendship Park Yu-Min had in mind involved respecting each other first and foremost. Even so...

A quick look at "pawread dot com" will leave you more fulfilled.

He couldn't help but worry sometimes.

'You're fine, right? Jin-Ho?’

Park Yu-Min asked inwardly while staring at the moon. Wherever Kang Jin-Ho was, he should be able to see the same moon as his friends.

***

“...Now that's freaking scary. Seriously!” Bang Jin-Hun gripped the wall tightly.

His fingers soon began digging into the concrete. And when his grip strengthened a little more, the concrete cracked apart and came loose.

“Mm…”

Bang Jin-Hun grunted while discarding the concrete bits in his grip before fixing his attention back to his front.

'How am I gonna start explaining this...?'

When Kang Jin-Ho first revealed his plan, everyone said he had lost his marbles. Even if he hadn't gone crazy, he'd have to be in a mindset pretty close to even think about a plan like this!

Bang Jin-Hun only approved of this plan partly because he was in no position to stop Kang Jin-Ho. He also believed that Kang Jin-Ho would inevitably ask for help, and that Kang Jin-Ho was strong enough to take care of himself until then.

However, Bang Jin-Hun had to admit that all of his thoughts and calculations were wrong. Kang Jin-Ho wasn't merely capable enough to take care of himself but actually so strong that he could flip the entire Yeongnam Group by himself!

Splaaaaash!

The sounds of blood fountains exploding sent shivers down Bang Jin-Hun's spine.

'God dammit...'

The situation before his eyes was so horrifying that even though Bang Jin-Hun acknowledged Kang Jin-Ho as an ally and the Yeongnam Group as the enemy, Kang Jin-Ho still looked like the devil in his eyes.

Because of the deep-seated enmity between the Yeongnam Group and the Martial Assembly, Bang Jin-Hun would've clapped vigorously at the news of a bomb going off in the Yeongnam Group HQ and killing everyone inside. But now? He was actively pitying the Yeongnam Group fools.

Kang Jin-Ho was quite literally going on a rampage. With two swords held in each of his hands, Kang Jin-Ho was madly and tirelessly cutting down all those daring to charge at him, those trying to run away, those on their knees begging for their lives, and those who had clearly lost their will to fight.

The ones trying to flee were sliced apart on their backs, while those charging at Kang Jin-Ho were chopped apart in half, their body parts tumbling around on the ground.

'Bloody hell... At least try to kill them more humanely, will ya?!'

If someone wanted to argue that different killing methods ultimately meant little when killing another human being, Bang Jin-Hun would've definitely dragged their sorry ass over here and showed them how Kang Jin-Ho was cutting all those people down.

In movies, people would usually start vomiting blood and collapse as crimson lines appeared on their torsos after a sword cut through them. Anyone who grew up thinking that depiction was close to reality would start throwing up what they had eaten three days ago after witnessing Kang Jin-Ho's brutal handiwork!

Like a chef chopping fruits and vegetables with his kitchen knife, Kang Jin-Ho cut down his fellow human beings with wild abandon.

The fountains of blood had been working overtime for so long that several crimson puddles had formed while the ground had been dyed blood-red.

“Crazy son of a...!” Bang Jin-Hun's trembling hands tightly gripped his thighs.

This was insane. A human shouldn't be capable of doing this. On the other hand...!

Bang Jin-Hun had to work hard to suppress his rapidly-pounding heart. This spectacle wasn't merely a... vicious, cruel sight to behold. No, it was something more.

A lone man. No, a lone martial artist...!

Kang Jin-Ho was utterly destroying the Yeongnam Group all by himself. A group that deserved the somewhat-justified claim of possessing half of South Korea's martial artists was being completely wrecked by a single man!

Not even in his wildest dreams did Bang Jin-Hun think something like this was possible. Yet here it was. The heroic warrior Bang Jin-Hun wanted to become before he started cultivating, before he learned about the ways of society, before he learned how cruel this world could be... That man was right here!

A martial warrior who never backed down no matter how many enemies came charging at him! And this strength that could transcend the numbers game and accomplish anything one desired!

As a martial artist himself, how could Bang Jin-Hun's heart remain still at this incredible spectacle!

'My blood is boiling!'

Bang Jin-Hun tightly clenched his fists. To think his job was watching and stopping any potential escapees while Kang Jin-Ho was displaying such awe-inspiring might! Bang Jin-Hun felt so pathetic just then.

“Dammit!” Bang Jin-Hun got up, ready to charge into the melee himself.

However, someone grabbed his shoulders.

“What do you want!” Bang Jin-Hun hurriedly turned to look and discovered Jo Gyu-Min looking at him while shaking his head. Bang Jin-Hun frowned deeply. “Why are you stopping me?”

“Please wait.”

“...Huh? Why?”

Jo Gyu-Min's withdrawn eyes locked onto the 'battlefield' as he quietly explained himself. “Mister Jin-Ho might seem out of control, but he's not that kind of a man. Please be more patient since he'll be done soon.”