CH 504

Vincent was currently mired in a hellish situation.

He obviously knew something terrible was in store for him and the Chevaliers. Even a moron could imagine the fate of those trying to assassinate Kang Jin-Ho only to fail and get captured alive, after all!

While being dragged to the Martial Assembly's HQ, Vincent's head was filled with only two thoughts: never submit to the enemy and protect his subordinates at all costs!

It was common sense to subject prisoners of war to merciless torture to extract information. What about human rights, you ask? Human rights might play a crucial role in the surface world, but not where Vincent plied his trade. Human rights were worth less than a piece of gum on the street of some seedy back alley.

In a world where people coldly cut each other's heads off if it meant their goals could be achieved, no one gave a damn about human rights. If Vincent was in their shoes, he would've done the same thing without hesitation.

Actually, Vincent already had prior experience of capturing and torturing an enemy agent under the pretext of completing his mission. He considered what he did back then as a part of the mission.

Vincent was certainly not shameless enough to scream, 'Human rights violation!' just because he was now on the receiving end.

As such, he was prepared to silently endure the torture about to rain down on him. He resolved himself to never show a pathetic side unworthy of being a knight. To always uphold his honor... even till the end!

Vincent was surprised by how large the Martial Assembly HQ was. And he was surprised again by the scale of the prison built underground. Since the Korean Martial Assembly had no contact with the rest of the world, France—and the Round Table—genuinely didn't know that such a facility existed below the Assembly HQ. The first reason for that assumption was the difficulty of covering up everything if someone on the surface world discovered the construction of such illegal structures. The trouble wouldn't have been worth it.

The second reason was even simpler: holding martial arts experts in a facility like this was practically impossible, to begin with.

However, a prison did exist below the Assembly HQ, so there must be a good enough justification for it. Vincent naturally assumed that either the Assembly's people tortured their victims until escape was physically impossible or powerful drugs were used to incapacitate the prisoners.

That had been Vincent's thoughts, but now...!

“...Just torture me already, you insane bastards!” Vincent growled like a wounded beast.

That's right. There had been no torture. No drugging. None of such things!

When his subordinates asked about the handling of the Chevaliers, the Korean Martial Assembly Master, Bang Jin-Hun or whatever his name was, replied with a couldn't-care-less attitude. Vincent later asked the interpreter what that man had been yapping about, and the so-called Assembly Master apparently said... 'Just imprison them or whatever. I don't care!'

He didn't care? Did that man really say... he didn't care?!

Vincent and his men were the proud Chevaliers! Although they had to suffer the ignominy of being captured alive by the enemy, they were still proud knights representing the country of France. So, how dare that man order the Chevaliers to be 'imprisoned or whatever' as if they were rain-drenched remnants of some useless defeated army!

Obviously, Vincent was angry. Incensed!

But it was also true that they were defeated and taken as prisoners of war. Such prisoners had no rights and should endure this humiliation. So, Vincent did just that and kept his mouth shut.

However, truth be told... Being confined in a shoddy prison with steel bars meant to prevent escape and practically zero guards watching him was much more humiliating than being prisoners of war to Vincent!

Of course, there were guards watching the Chevaliers, but... Those idiots were too busy messing around with their phones the whole time they were on shift to monitor anything. Labeling them as guards was perhaps being too generous!

'These bastards... Just what do they take us for?!'

Logically speaking, their attitude was entirely understandable. For one, these men had never confronted a Chevalier before. From their perspective, it must've looked as if their superiors popped outside for a bit before dragging in a group of Westerners and ordering them to show the new guests the Martial Assembly's hospitality.

The regular Assembly members had no idea who the Chevaliers were or how much strength and influence the Round Table wielded. No wonder they would let their guards down like this.

Vincent could understand all this. Yes, he definitely could! Even then...

“Even if that's the case, that's not how you behave in a situation like this, you bloody lunatic...!” Vincent glared at the guard, who was leisurely dozing off on the chair by the exit, before groaning softly. 'Should we just escape from here?'

Vincent wouldn't have entertained such thoughts in any other circumstances, but the task of erasing the word 'escape' from his head progressively got harder and harder after he realized that it had been over a week since he and his men were discarded in here.

However, Vincent soon shook his head. He was convinced that at least half of the Chevaliers would've been able to escape the Martial Assembly's grounds. However, what about the other half?

Those Chevaliers who got caught during their escape attempt would no longer be treated so humanely anymore. Maybe 'humanely' was the wrong word here? Treated with utter disinterest? That seemed more like it.

In any case...! Vincent couldn't accept the idea of escaping and abandoning his men to the wicked ways of these Martial Assembly bastards. Making such a choice was basically spitting in the face of what Vincent had done and achieved over the years as a proud knight.

Besides, there were more practical problems to consider. Even if he managed to escape the Assembly HQ, how was Vincent supposed to slip out of South Korea?

Only now did Vincent realize that South Korea wasn't a peninsula but an island. There were only two ways to leave this country: on an airplane or a boat. He also had the option of crossing the demilitarized zone and slipping into North Korea. But that choice was also unthinkable in a different sense.

To summarize, Vincent had to find a solution to his transportation problem as if he was stuck on an island. But the Martial Assembly ruled South Korea, so slipping past their watchful eyes seemed next to impossible when he couldn't even speak the language. Which meant...

Vincent glanced behind him at his subordinates. At first, they were all standing around stiffly like statues in pure nervousness, but lately... They were now lounging around like puppies suffering from heatstroke in the middle of a balmy summer!

'You... disappointing idiots!'

It wasn't as if Vincent didn't sympathize with them, though. Since they had nothing to do but suck on their fingers, their current attitude made some sense.

Vincent almost blurted out, 'If you're all going to slack off like that, why don't you train yourselves instead!' However, they were prisoners, weren't they? Yelling at his men to train inside a prison cell was akin to... asking for a thorough beating, now wasn't it!

'Kuh-hum... In any case, why has the Assembly abandoned us like this?'

Something about this situation didn't make much logical sense. Indeed, the logical thing to do was to torture the Chevaliers to extract all the information from them. However, France's proud Chevaliers were thrown inside this jail for over a week, and nothing was done to them. What an unbelievable situation this was.

“...Besides all that. What is our headquarters doing right now?!”

The negotiations with the Koreans should've been finished by now, considering how long they had been imprisoned down here. However, there was still no word yet? It could only mean that the negotiation hadn't been going well.

It felt like everything in this world was trying to choke Vincent to death.

“Urgh...! Damn it...!”

Just as Vincent was about to yell in frustration...!

Clunk! Clomp, clomp...

Sounds of footsteps could be heard coming from the staircase. Someone was coming down to the underground prison.

Vincent frowned slightly.

'Hmm? It's still too early to change shifts, though?'

As Vincent hadn't been doing anything noteworthy besides staring at the scenery, he even got to memorize when the guards changed shifts. There was also the matter of a wall-mounted clock, provided by the oh-so-friendly prison guards, that allowed Vincent and his men to know what time it was.

Vincent had never imagined that South Korea was a country with such a high human rights standard before getting locked up in here.

Clomp, clomp...

The eerie footsteps woke the Chevaliers up, and they began focusing on the exit next.

“...Urgh!”

However, when they saw who was coming down the stairs, the relaxed expressions of the Chevaliers were rapidly replaced by dread and extreme nervousness.

'I-it's... Kang Jin-Ho!'

Indeed, it was none other than Kang Jin-Ho. Two more people could be seen behind him, but Vincent's eyes could only see Kang Jin-Ho and no one else.

Vincent felt his scalp and spine tingle right after confirming Kang Jin-Ho's face. His entire being tensed up to an extreme degree merely from Kang Jin-Ho's presence.

All emotions were bound to get diluted over time. However, there was always an exception to the rule, and one emotion could get stronger over time. That emotion was terror.

What Vincent witnessed on that island was plenty scary enough. However, the more he remembered, the more terrified he became.

Vincent was haunted by the PTSD-like fear born from the fact that one slip-up from him would've turned everyone in here into headless corpses. And now, the incarnation of that fear had finally shown up before his eyes!

Just what did that monster want from Vincent and his men this time? Just what...!

Smaaaack!

Vincent's extremely heightened tension flew out the window at the sound of Lee Hyeon-Su's vicious finger flick performed on the sleeping guard's forehead.

“Ouch?! Who the f*ck dares to...!” The guard held his aching forehead while shooting up to his feet. However, he soon froze still on the spot after discovering Lee Hyeon-Su and Kang Jin-Ho.

Lee Hyeon-Su tutted loudly. “So, you were sleeping, eh?”

“...It, uh, it's not what it looks like, sir.”

“Oh? So you were f*cking sleeping on the job?”

“I was trying my best not to fall asleep, sir. I swear on my life.”

“What the f*ck, this punk...! Where's your bloody discipline, man! Since you feel sleepy, how about I help you sleep for all eternity? Huh? Is that what you want?”

“I'm deeply sorry, sir.”

Lee Hyeon-Su spat out a lengthy groan. As for the young martial artist being chewed out, he couldn't help but gauge Kang Jin-Ho's mood while urgently bowing his head.

'F*ck, I'm so dead!'

If this situation was explained using a military setting, the young martial artist was a private first class who got caught napping during guard duty by the visiting division commander. To make matters worse, though... The division commander was being accompanied by the battalion commander!

Kang Jin-Ho, the division commander in this analogy, might chuckle and let it slide without any punishment, but the battalion commander—Lee Hyeon-Su—would never, eveeer, let the sleepy private first class off the hook.

The young martial artist could already imagine the horrible fate waiting for him later today!

Lee Hyeon-Su glared at the young martial artist. “You! Get out of here for the time being, okay? And...”

“...Yes, sir.”

“Tell your replacement to come now to take over from you. As for you... You, go to my office and wait for me there, got that?!”

“...Yes, sir.”

“Now, get out of my sight!”

The young martial artist trudged outside the exit, his shoulders drooping low.

'Huh. Maybe I should've woken him up...?' Vincent couldn't help but feel sorry at how depressed that young martial artist looked just then.

Kang Jin-Ho stopped in front of Vincent and asked, “So? How have you been? Anything that's been bothering you?”

Vincent blinked his eyes in confusion before looking around him. That prompted one of the Round Table's agents toward the back of the cell to rush toward the steel bars to offer his translation services.

“Something that's been bothering us...? Other than having nothing to do, there isn't anything to complain about. Even the treatment is more or less satisfactory, so…” Vincent muttered before noticing all the murmurings coming from behind him. He listened, then nodded slightly. “Wait. There is one issue. Although you might think we're shameless for requesting this…”

Kang Jin-Ho looked unconcerned as he responded, “It's fine. Tell me.”

“We don't mind even if it's just a piece of hard black bread, but... Can't you give us bread and some jam for our meals instead?”

Kang Jin-Ho turned his head toward Lee Hyeon-Su and cocked an eyebrow. “What have you been giving these folks?”

“Well, since we don't have anything like special meals for prisoners, I ordered the cafeteria food to be delivered to these people. I guess they didn't like traditional Korean cuisine?”

“...”

“Even so, Mister Jin-Ho! When in Rome and all that! Since they are in Korea, shouldn't they eat Korean food?! Hey, you!” Lee Hyeon-Su pointed accusingly at Vincent. “Do you know kimchi!” [1]

“...Please just give them bread,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“Will do, Mister Jin-Ho.”

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled a little at that. Meanwhile, Lee Hyeon-Su loudly tutted while taking out a small notepad to jot down the new order. “Gee, whiz. For a bunch of prisoners, they sure want lots of things, don't they...?”

Kang Jin-Ho turned his attention back to Vincent. “Anything else?”

“No, we don't have any other requests. I'll be honest, however. You're treating us too well, and that's making me nervous. I was beginning to wonder if abandoning us like this was a part of the torture.”

Kang Jin-Ho smirked after listening to the interpreter. Of course, Vincent didn't take that smirk as merely that, a smirk.

Vincent sucked in a quick but deep breath before staring straight at Kang Jin-Ho. “What is your aim, Mister Kang Jin-Ho?”

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head. “My aim?”

“Yes. You could've easily killed us but didn't, instead choosing to hold us prisoners here. That can only mean you are angling for something, Mister Kang Jin-Ho. However, I still don't understand why you abandoned us here for such a long time.”

Kang Jin-Ho casually shrugged his shoulders. “There is no deep meaning behind it.”

Vincent narrowed his eyes. “What does that mean?”

“I merely forgot.”

“...!”

“This matter isn't all that urgent for me, you see. Since I was busy with something else, dealing with you had to be put on the back burner. That's all.”

Vincent's face reddened. What Kang Jin-Ho said just now was the most humiliating thing he had ever heard during his time as a proud knight. If he could, Vincent would've cursed loudly at this indignity, but his endurance was being tempered into a wall of solid steel by remembering that his conversation partner was none other than Kang Jin-Ho.

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Just as Vincent took several deep breaths to calm his anger, Kang Jin-Ho relaxedly said something else that almost set the Frenchman off again. “Seeing how your people back home still haven't called us back, it's safe to assume that you all have been thrown away by your higher-ups. Which means I now have a dilemma on my hands. Useless things are taking up valuable space, after all.”

Vincent's cheeks began twitching in shock just then. There hadn't been any contact from the Round Table? Until now? That had to be the sign that something had gone terribly wrong somewhere.

“So, I was thinking...” Kang Jin-Ho smirked deeply. And at the same time, Vincent's face was dyed in sheer dread. It felt like the devil was reaching out to him, coaxing him into making a bargain! “I'll give you a choice. And it won't be such a bad deal for you.”

Kang Jin-Ho's smirk at that moment looked indescribably villainous.

1. This last bit was in English in the raw. ☜