Chapter 1527 Educating (2)

For the first time in a while, Seong Ju-Chan began clenching his fists.

Damn. How long has it been?

Those who quit the Martial Assembly didn’t give up on the life of martial arts because of their lack of talent. They all had been mastering martial arts since young, but quite a few of them still chose to walk away after realizing that the life of constant battles just wasn’t for them.

Seong Ju-Chan was one of those people. But this situation was making him seriously doubt the validity of his decision.

Because I’m feeling this powerful urge to kill this motherf*cker right now!

Grit!

His teeth began grinding all on their own. Thankfully, it seemed he wasn’t the only one feeling this way.

“Sooo, it was this motherf*cker?”

“Haaah~, f*cking hell? I genuinely don’t know what to say, fellas. How dare this little punk-ass b*tch do that to us?!”

“Gee whiz! It’s not like I can just take my anger out on the guy, either!”

The managers of various Caffe Luogo branches took turns to mutter in rage.

However, considering where they were from originally, their reaction could be described as surprisingly peaceful. If this had happened right after they had quit the Assembly, their first response would have been to feed Jeong Myeong-Cheol a knuckle sandwich or two, and then start talking afterward. But now? At least now they knew they must follow the law and order first!

If Lee Hyeon-Ju was here to witness this scene, she might have smiled contentedly while saying something about how she had successfully turned a bunch of neighborhood thug-like people into respectable citizens by making them work as franchisees.

Unfortunately for the one at the receiving end of their hostility, though... He had no way of knowing any of this!

“Uh... Ah... Ah...?”

Jeong Myeong-Cheol was this close to losing his mind to fear. Which made sense, really.

It was already terrifying enough to get kidnapped in broad daylight and brought to who-knows-where. But now, he was being surrounded by a bunch of burly men with faces belonging to thugs who must’ve killed many times before!

To make matters worse, they were all openly hostile toward him, too!

Most average people would have already wet their pants in this situation. But things were much worse for Jeong Myeong-Cheol, since his mind had already been frazzled by enduring a spell inside a room of inky-black darkness all by himself.

“P-please spare me! Please!”

“Spare you?!”

One of the franchisees pulled out a knife he must’ve brought from somewhere and began licking its blade.

“What the f*ck is this moron even saying? Should I just gut him open and use his intestines as a noose around his throat? So that he finally realizes what he has done?!”

“Listen here, you dipsh*t! I’d rather save a mosquito than spare your stinking b*tch ass! That way, I’ll be doing something good for this world!”

“Can’t I just kill him now? Or crack his skull open so that he will never flap his gums again?!”

Everything they said sent chills of horror down Jeong Myeong-Cheol’s spine.

However, Lee Hyeon-Su merely cackled away while scanning the crowd of incensed franchisees.

He asked Yi Jong-Wuk. “Hey, that knife. Isn’t that the knife we use to slice bread? Why did that idiot show up here with a knife like that?”

Yi Jong-Wuk shrugged. “I heard him say that he was busy preparing pastries for the morning rush hour tomorrow when he received the call, chief. He must’ve discovered the knife in his possession only after getting here.”

“He was preparing tomorrow’s pastries today? What the...? Put that idiot down for another round of training!”

“Understood.”

Yi Jong-Wuk unhesitantly saved Lee Hyeon-Su’s order on his phone.

Someone rashly rocked up with a bread knife only to meet a tragic fate, but the person himself remained oblivious to what would happen to him in the near future.

Lee Hyeon-Su continued to observe the behaviors of the franchisees before shrugging away. “Hiyaa~, looks like these idiots have gotten a lot nicer these days. I genuinely thought they would try to kill the guy as soon as they got here, but no! Look at them holding themselves back.”

Several franchisees were twitching menacingly as if they would pounce on Jeong Myeong-Cheol right away, but their peers were pulling them back.

Lee Hyeon-Su glanced at Yi Jong-Wuk. “Can you call Seong Ju-Chan over here?”

“Got it, chief.”

Yi Jong-Wuk rushed over to the crowd and brought Seong Ju-Chan over.

“Chief Lee? Did you call for me?”

“Mm...!” Lee Hyeon-Su grinned deeply. “As you can see, we found him.”

“Thank you, sir.” Seong Ju-Chan bowed deeply. “I’ll be honest, sir. I didn’t think you’d really drag him to the Assembly grounds like this. From what I’ve heard, isn’t he a third-gen chaebol or something?”

“That’s nothing. There must be at least several hundred third-gen chaebols in Korea alone, after all.”

Of course, Jeong Myeong-Cheol was from Taegwang Group, which meant he belonged to the upper class of chaebols. But Lee Hyeon-Su still wasn’t worried about the consequences of kidnapping such a man.

Why should I? It’s a laughable notion for us, after all.

The current Martial Assembly didn’t have to tread lightly because of such things anymore. In fact, it was the Taegwang Group that must watch its conduct around the Martial Assembly instead!

Seong Ju-Chan cautiously asked, “Chief Lee... Can we really do whatever we want with that bastard?”

“Sure. But don’t kill him.”

“Eii~, we wouldn’t do that. His crime doesn’t deserve death as punishment, after all.”

“Don’t cripple him either.”

“Ehh? Really? That’s a bit unfortunate...”

Lee Hyeon-Su chuckled helplessly. “Look, I get how you feel, okay? Still, you gotta do it in moderation. Sure, that bastard is human trash, but objectively speaking, his crime isn’t that serious, now is it?”

“Well, I guess so.”

“You can beat him up. Do whatever you think is necessary. However, there must not be any lasting harm done to the guy. Think of it as an opportunity to fix a broken person. Stick to that mindset.”

“Got it, sir.” Seong Ju-Chan began grinning in anticipation.

“Good. I’m glad you’re open to reas...”

“I’m really good at beating people up to a pulp but stopping right before inflicting any permanent damage, you see?”

“...”

It seemed Seong Ju-Chan had not understood a thing, then?

Oh, well. I guess it won’t matter.

As long as there was no “permanent damage”, Lee Hyeon-Su didn’t care what happened to Jeong Myeong-Cheol. After all, if it were up to him, he would have buried that bastard alive with his own two hands.

He wasn’t angry about what had been done to MK, however. No, what really pissed Lee Hyeon-Su off was Jeong Myeong-Cheol’s mindset of trampling on strangers for no other reason than because they ever so slightly got in his way.

Yeah, I know. I know I’m not qualified to judge him, but still!

Lee Hyeon-Su was also guilty of trampling on other people. He didn’t hesitate to crush weaker opponents in order to achieve his goals. Even then...!

There was one crucial difference separating Lee Hyeon-Su from Jeong Myeong-Cheol. He had never trampled on people for fun, and he had never crushed others so that he could avoid a slight bit of inconvenience.

He despised this type of person.

Because he reminds me of Kim Seok-Il.

Like a deep-seated trauma, Kim Seok-Il’s face suddenly re-emerged in Lee Hyeon-Su’s mind. This simple reminder of his past instantly soured his mood, and he spat on the floor in unhappiness before resuming his observation of the franchisees.

A franchisee, clearly letting his excitement get to his head, rushed forward and grabbed Jeong Myeong-Cheol by his collar.

“How does it feel?! Now that you don’t have that chaebol shield protecting your sorry ass, do you understand the sh*t you’re in?!”

“I, I...”

“Don’t think you’ll walk out of here in one piece! When I think about all the stress I’ve been under because of you...! Beating you to death right now won’t be enough! I promise you, you’re dead meat!”

The franchisee roughly shoved Jeong Myeong-Cheol back.

Plop!

Jeong Myeong-Cheol collapsed to the ground. His unfocused eyes dazedly scanned his surroundings, his slack jaw falling lower. His expression clearly conveyed how scared he was.

The thing was, though, different people responded differently to fear.

“You... You sons of b*tches!”

“Ohh?”

Lee Hyeon-Su stared at Jeong Myeong-Cheol with renewed interest. He even trotted forward and pushed his way into the ranks of the franchisees, too.

Jeong Myeong-Cheol, venomous desperation now filling up his expression, was roaring at his captors. “What did I do to deserve this, you sons of b*tches?!”

“Hah? Would you listen to this guy?!”

“He looked piss-scared only a second ago, too. Was that all an act? Holy sh*t, is this guy for real?”

“Hey, did you hear that? Fellas, he thinks he hasn’t done anything wrong.”

Jeong Myeong-Cheol loudly gritted his teeth. Such was the intensity of his teeth gritting that dull noises of things breaking came from inside his mouth.

“A-anyone sane would have done the same thing as me! What, you think no one would’ve attacked you? That I’d be the only one?! What the f*ck?! Don’t you know this is a dog-eat-dog world?! You f*cks know nothing, so why are you taking your bullsh*t anger out on me?!”

Lee Hyeon-Su began smirking again at the sight of Jeong Myeong-Cheol roaring like a madman. Yes, this is better.

This kind of spicy attitude made educating this bastard more fun! If Lee Hyeon-Su was being honest, he had been losing his motivation from Jeong Myeong-Cheol’s meek attitude until now.

“You... You sons of b*tches! You think you’ll get away with this?! You better kill me, or else! Because I’ve seen all your faces, okay! When I get out of here, I’ll make sure none of you will have a life left! Do you know who the f*ck you’re dealing with?! I! I’m the Taegwang Group chairman’s grandson! You motherf*cking sons of b*tches!”

“Uh-whew, I’m so scared~!”

The franchisees all cackled in derision. It seemed this moron still hadn’t realized that his background or status posed no threat to them.

Then again, who could blame him?

Just like how the franchisees had never encountered someone like Jeong Myeong-Cheol until now, he too had never run into a group of people who didn’t care about his background, after all!

“Y-you think it was unfair?! That what you went through was unfair?! Don’t make me laugh! If you thought it was unfair, why didn’t you have the power to stop it?! Listen here, you sons of b*tches! Me? I belong to a totally different breed than you losers! I was born different from you pissants! Why should I care about what you think, ah?! Why! Don’t make me laugh!”

Jeong Myeong-Cheol suddenly toppled over and coughed and wheezed as if all that yelling had taken a toll on his body. He coughed for a long time before spitting large chunks of phlegm onto the floor. He gritted his teeth and glared at the franchisees again.

“You f*cking peasants! You’re worse than dogsh*t! How dare you not know your goddamn place?! You think I’ll let this go?!”

The franchisees sighed in lamentation while looking at the crazed Jeong Myeong-Cheol. Even they could tell that words wouldn’t get through to this moron. ℴℴ𝘮

“Let’s just beat the living snot out of him first.”

“Yup. We shouldn’t leave this guy alone. A punk like him will cause a big problem later down the line, after all.”

Just as the franchisees said that...

“You’re not wrong.”

The franchisees hurriedly stood at attention when that voice came from somewhere behind them.

“Make way! Hurry the hell up and make way, you idiots!”

That yell prompted the franchisees to glance behind before parting ways to their left and right, thereby creating an uninterrupted path to Jeong Myeong-Cheol. A man leisurely walked through this path to reach the still-kneeling man.

Unsurprisingly, it was Kang Jin-Ho.

Lee Hyeon-Su quickly emerged from the crowd and sidled up to Kang Jin-Ho. He even extracted a cigarette from his pocket like an expert and placed it between Kang Jin-Ho’s lips before smartly lighting it up.

The expressions on the franchisees’ faces crumpled at this sight.

Holy cow. Look at that sly snake!

Why was he born in this era? If he had been born in the Joseon dynasty, he could’ve been the perfect eunuch!

Lee Hyeon-Su cleanly ignored the dissatisfied gazes of the franchisees while following Kang Jin-Ho from a step behind.

Kang Jin-Ho’s leisurely gait took him right to the front of Jeong Myeong-Cheol, then he squatted before the kneeling man so that he could stare directly into the latter’s eyes.

“No, you’re completely right in your assertion.”

“...?”

Kang Jin-Ho leisurely puffed away before transferring his cigarette to his hand, then smiled cheerily at Jeong Myeong-Cheol.

“I agree with you. If you think something is unfair, you should simply acquire enough strength to fight back. No one will listen to the weaklings complaining about how unfair it is. After all, that’s life, right?”

Jeong Myeong-Cheol’s bloodshot eyes held Kang Jin-Ho’s gaze. “What did I do wrong to deser...”

“However, let’s make one thing crystal clear.”

“...?”

The grin on Kang Jin-Ho’s face disappeared.

“I never once said you did something wrong.”

“...!”

Jeong Myeong-Cheol suddenly felt this weighty killing intent crushing down on him.

“You can do whatever you want. That’s your freedom. Your right. But the thing is...”

Kang Jin-Ho took another lengthy puff of his cigarette. When he exhaled the unhealthy smoke into the air, the corners of his lips curled up weirdly.

“I can also do whatever I want. To you, that is. Because that’s my right.”

“...What did you say?”

“What’s the matter? Is it unfair?”

“...!”

“If you think it’s unfair, you should’ve been more powerful.”

Jeong Myeong-Cheol’s entire body began trembling uncontrollably. Kang Jin-Ho watched Jeong Myeong-Cheol’s eyes swimming dizzily from shock and smirked again.

“Yes, I agree with you. Those with power can do whatever they feel like. Isn’t that how you’ve lived your life until now? Too bad...”

Kang Jin-Ho tapped on Jeong Myeong-Cheol’s forehead with his index finger.

“It looks like you’ve never considered the possibility of meeting someone more powerful than you.”

“...!”

“A man who wants to kill others should be prepared to lose his life in the process, too. It’s the same principle. A man who wants to trample on others should also be ready to get trampled one day. Because that’s life.”

“B-but, I...”

“It’s about time you learned it. Learn what it’s like to get trampled by someone much more powerful than you. I just feel like trampling on you, that’s all. So, let’s not bother with useless excuses and justifications.”

Kang Jin-Ho patted Jeong Myeong-Cheol’s shoulder.

“Have fun, okay?”

When Kang Jin-Ho stood up and turned around to leave, the franchisees encircled Jeong Myeong-Cheol once more.

While discarding the almost-finished cigarette, Kang Jin-Ho headed to the building in the distance.