Chapter 1528 Educating (3)

Seong Ju-Chan roared, “Hey, you punk! Do it properly, or else!”

Jeong Myeong-Cheol gasped and panted breathlessly. “Euh... Euh-uhhh...?”

“What the hell? You’re falling behind?! You useless punk!”

Seong Ju-Chan kicked Jeong Myeong-Cheol in the rear, but that only led to the latter falling face first into the ground.

“Haaah? You really wanna die?”

“N-no, sir! I’m, I’m trying my best to... Wuuuph! Bleeeergh!”

Jeong Myeong-Cheol suddenly began emptying the contents of his stomach. Seong Ju-Chan freaked out and hurriedly backed away.

“What the f*ck, man! How dare you sully this sacred training ground with your vomit?! Do you wanna scoop that sh*t up and eat it again?!”

“I-I’m so sorry!”

“I don’t care about your apologies, so keep running, you piece of sh*t! You still have ten more laps left! Then we will talk some more.”

“B-but, my legs...”

“Then you better crawl! Today is your lucky day, you bastard! I had a feeling something like this might happen, so I already asked the manager to look after the cafe for the day, you see? Whether you live or die today, I’m gonna be riiiight here with you. Got that?”

“Kuh-euhhh... I, I really can’t...”

“Can’t what? Can’t live on anymore?”

Seong Ju-Chan began smacking the downed Jeong Myeong-Cheol with a shinai. Since its bamboo “blade” had been loosened ahead of time, the training weapon made lots of noises but did little damage. However, it seemed Jeong Myeong-Cheol still found that too difficult to endure, judging from how he curled up on the ground and began pathetically quivering away.[1]

“Get up already, you piece of sh*t! Before I really beat you to death!”

“Euh... Urgh...”

Jeong Myeong-Cheol pushed himself off the ground with shaky arms. He somehow managed to stand up and began staggering forward, his face resembling that of a person whose soul had already abandoned his body.

Seong Ju-Chan followed closely behind while smirking like a cruel devil.

The franchisees watching this scene from some distance away began voicing their displeasure. However, the source of their dissatisfaction was unexpectedly something else.

“What the f*ck... I think I’m gonna throw up.”

“Who suggested this idea? Which insane asswipe was it? Gee whiz.”

“Yup, that guy will die for sure. Definitely.”

The franchisees all turned their heads away as if they had witnessed something they shouldn’t have. However, their reactions made some sense.

Watching Seong Ju-Chan’s antics was reawakening a certain deep-seated trauma within them, after all!

“Oiii, who said we should let that poor bastard experience the Assembly’s hazing ritual? Who was it? Are you even human?!”

“Damn. Even Satan would’ve cried and asked for his mommy by now.”

“Holy cow. This is a bit too much, even for me.”

Everyone here was a part of the Martial Assembly in one way or the other, but they didn’t start their lives that way.

The Assembly was fundamentally a union of countless martial clans, schools, and sects. Most martial artists spent their formative years under their masters’ tutelage or in the care of their clans until they reached a certain age or a passable cultivation realm. Only then did they join the Martial Assembly.

It didn’t take a genius to realize that young martial artists around that age would be prideful to a fault, and feared nothing under the sun. Such kids arrogantly believed they could do whatever they wanted, and no one would be able to stop them.

That was where this hazing ritual came into the picture.

Martial artists of that age were already strong and sturdy enough to surpass most average pro athletes. But this ritual pushed such kids to their absolute limits, and then pushed them even more to the hellish extremes until they wished for death instead, so that they could be reformed into more respectable and useful members of the Korean martial society!

In other words, Jeong Myeong-Cheol, who was emphatically not a martial artist, was being forced to survive a hellish process meant to rehabilitate prideful martial artists and turn them into humble rookies once more!

“Owww... I came here to watch a comedy, not a horror show!”

“Damn. I’m not even a part of the Assembly anymore, so why should I have to watch this nonsense again? I never enjoyed watching our juniors go through this hazing, okay?”

This so-called ritual was akin to modifying a person.

The truth was that they had run into a serious problem while trying to figure out what to do with Jeong Myeong-Cheol.

If they started beating the guy up for real, he’d probably die from his injuries within ten minutes, probably less. However, even if they wanted to “moderately” beat him up, they had no idea what could be considered “moderate” in this situation.

Someone wondered aloud if they could just slap him around for a while so that there wouldn’t be any permanent damage, but someone else argued back while saying that there was a real chance of Jeong Myeong-Cheol dying from shock instead. That threw a proverbial wrench in the works.

“F*cking hell... It’s not like we can teach him martial arts just so that we can beat his sorry ass later.”

“We now have to worry about the bastard we want to beat up, too? This never happened while we were in the Assembly, though.”

“Duuude. Trying to live as an ordinary person is tough, ain’t it? Holy sh*t, why is everything so damn complicated?”

That was when someone recommended the hazing ritual. Naturally, everyone freaked out, but soon afterward, they were all forced into admitting that it was the best—and the only—option they had. After all, wasn’t it devised as a way to fix prideful people? Since that was the case, it should be effective with Jeong Myeong-Cheol, too.

Of course, they still had to “nerf” it quite a bit, since a powerless ordinary person wouldn’t be able to survive the ritual.

Plop!

They witnessed Jeong Myeong-Cheol fall to the ground after finally finishing the required laps around the training area.

“Wow. So it’s finally gonna start for real.”

“Damn. Look at him! It’s like Seong Ju-Chan is in his element, no? If this keeps up, the Assembly might re-hire him as a hazing specialist or something.”

“You think the Assembly will even want him back?”

“I mean, why not? Look at him. If it were up to me, I’d have hired him right away.”

Seong Ju-Chan grabbed the hair of the collapsed Jeong Myeong-Cheol and pulled the latter’s head up before unleashing a torrent of insults into the half-dead man’s ear.

“Get up, you worse-than-maggot bastard! I’ve taught countless punks until now, but I have never seen a trashy bastard more useless than you! You’re supposed to be a man! A man! How can you give up already, when you’ve only lapped the training area a hundred times?! Even a stinking cockroach has more stamina than you! Get up, now!”

The peanut gallery all grimaced at this sight.

Those who had not gone through this hazing had no bloody idea!

Usually, those who had endured extreme training would feel a sense of relief and even vague accomplishment at what they had done. Unfortunately for them, though, the Assembly’s hazing ritual specifically focused on utterly crushing those feelings.

That shouldn’t come as a surprise, since this process was to teach the young and inexperienced martial artists—who had rarely tasted defeat in life and acted unbearably arrogantly as a result—how frail, insignificant and trashy they were.

However, simply beating the living daylights out of them to brand that knowledge into their souls was too time-consuming. The best way to produce the optimal results was combining the right amounts of physical and mental “education.”

“Ohh? So, you wanna stay down like that? Very well! Do whatever you want. However, it’s your mealtime right now! You see over there? That’s your grub. You have exactly five minutes to get there and eat your food! Five minutes, and not a second more! Once the five-minute mark passes, you will have nothing left to eat!”

Jeong Myeong-Cheol trembled pitifully while pushing himself off the ground.

Did he lose his appetite because of his exhaustion? Of course not!

His body was screaming at him right now. He instinctively knew that he must eat something now, or his body would stop functioning soon. Getting beaten up to death no longer worried him, because he’d wither away to nothing at this rate before that could happen!

While staggering precariously, Jeong Myeong-Cheol dragged himself to the distant spot Seong Ju-Chan had pointed to. As for Seong Ju-Chan, he stuck close to Jeong Myeong-Cheol and continued with his torrent of verbal abuse.

“You better run, maggot! Did you glue your legs to the ground or something?! Were you seriously complaining about how unfair it was when you were this weak? I dare you. Complain again, and we’ll see what I’m going to shove into that ugly mouth of yours next!”

The franchisees stared weirdly at Seong Ju-Chan.

“Hang on? Isn’t it about time someone else takes over? Why hasn’t he asked us to replace him yet?”

“Maybe because he’s enjoying it too much?”

“Heh, looks like he’s found his calling, fellas. And someone like that wanted to run a cafe? Gimme a break.”

The gathered franchisees all groaned in unison.

***

Kang Jin-Ho silently watched the events unfolding on the Assembly’s training ground from his office before glancing at Lee Hyeon-Su, his expression unreadable.

“Isn’t that...”

“Sir?”

“That’s the hazing ritual?”

“Oh. Yes, sir.”

“I didn’t go through it, though?”

“Why would you go through the hazing ritual, sir?”

“...”

“I mean... Who would want to supervise that in the first place, sir? No one will be okay with their face getting kicked in by a dress shoe, after all.”

“...I rarely wear dress shoes.”

“Sneakers, then. They must taste nice, those sneakers.”

“...”

Kang Jin-Ho resumed observing the events on the training grounds with some renewed interest.

For some reason, that kind of resembles the army’s guerrilla warfare training, no?

Of course, the difficulty of this “training” was much more extreme, and the duration of said “training” was also inhumanly longer, while such a supervisor wouldn’t have been allowed to exist in the modern military.

...Huh. With such conditions, I guess it’s no longer guerrilla warfare training, then.

“Do we still do that to the new members?”

Lee Hyeon-Su nodded. “Yes, sir. We do.”

Kang Jin-Ho couldn’t help but frown deeply. “Really? Doesn’t it feel a bit too antiquated in this day and age...?”

“Sir, never mind antiquated, that’s a human rights violation thinly disguised as hazing. An inhuman custom, an evil practice, that has no place in modern society.”

Kang Jin-Ho grew puzzled by that reply and glanced back at Lee Hyeon-Su again. If that were the case, why hadn’t the Assembly gotten rid of this practice yet?

Lee Hyeon-Su chuckled helplessly. “That only goes to show you how rough and stubborn martial artists can be, sir. I mean... Let’s be brutally honest here. We aren’t dealing with normal human beings, after all. If they get too full of themselves and start acting arrogantly, someone will get killed sooner rather than later.”

“Mm...!”

Back when the Martial Assembly and the Yeongnam Group had been newly established, the new members often clashed with the existing members, leading to not-inconsiderable loss of lives.

Things had gotten so bad back then that newbies getting the lynch-mob treatment and ending up in a hospital to fight for their lives didn’t even qualify as gossip-worthy material in those days.

All those situations and experiences had led to the birth of this evil practice called the hazing ritual.

“Sir, what you’re seeing right now is a kiddie-gloves version. The actual hazing meant for the martial artists is a lot worse than that. And it was much, much worse back in the Yeongnam Group, too.”

Kang Jin-Ho furrowed his brow slightly. “Are you sure we need to go that far to make the newbies listen?”

“The thing is, we’ve been thinking about other ways to achieve similar results, sir. Honestly... Even I agree it’s not a nice thing to witness.”

“Mm...”

Kang Jin-Ho didn’t care about Jeong Myeong-Cheol’s plight, of course. But what bothered him was the prospect of the clueless new members of the Assembly going through an even worse version of this so-called ritual.

“Mm... I think talking to them like adults could work, though?”

“Sir, that only works because of who you are. People don’t take what you say at face value, after all.”

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head. “Eh?”

“Because when you say something, you usually omit the part, ‘Before you don’t do exactly as I say, think about where your head will end up afterward, okay?’ You can pretty much persuade any and every person on this planet with that method, you know?”

“...”

Kang Jin-Ho realized he had no rebuttal this time.

“In any case, I’ll try to find another way, sir. For now...” Lee Hyeon-Su grinned while looking out the window. “Let us enjoy the process of turning that bastard into an actual human being.”

“M-mm...”

Kang Jin-Ho looked out the window again, but his expression cramped up soon afterward. Jeong Myeong-Cheol had barely crawled into a canopy offering a little bit of shade and began shoving the food into his mouth with his bare hands. Meanwhile, three people were surrounding him to hurl all sorts of abuse and insults in his way.

Yup, I’d rather get beaten up instead.

Kang Jin-Ho felt a chill run down his spine after imagining himself going through the same hazing ritual!

“Kuh-hmm...” Kang Jin-Ho fake-coughed, then asked Lee Hyeon-Su. “What about Taegwang? Any news?”

“It seems that Jeong Myeong-Cheol bastard really has been a piece of work until now, sir. It’s been two days already, but Taegwang still hasn’t reacted at all. From what I’ve heard, it’s not unusual for this bastard to disappear for three days or more.”

“Really? And someone like that is serving as the president of a company?”

“Well, he’s a third-gen chaebol, after all.” Lee Hyeon-Su shrugged. “That’s why goldspoons can be such irredeemable bastards, sir. They all think they are the Hot Stuff, but the ones who do all the heavy lifting are their subordinates. And it’s also their subordinates who must mop up the mess they leave behind, too. Our case is a great example, don’t you agree?”

Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded.

“While we’re on this subject... Sir?”

“Yeah?”

“That team leader guy who took the fall this time? Wouldn’t it be better if we helped him out a little? And get him out of jail?”

“Huh?” Kang Jin-Ho’s eyes opened wider in surprise.

Lee Hyeon-Su sheepishly explained, “W-well, I mean... He’s innocent, you know? I thought he deserved our pity, sir.”

“Oh, my goodness. I didn’t think you’d ever use the word ‘pity’ in that manner, Chief Lee.”

Lee Hyeon-Su scowled deeply. “What do you take me for, sir?! Aren’t I a human being, too?”

“Actually, I wasn’t sure.”

“...Why do I even bother?” Lee Hyeon-Su groaned deeply. “In any case, please give me your permission.”

Kang Jin-Ho coolly nodded. He or the Martial Assembly had no obligation to assist Taegwang’s team leader, but... Without help, that person would undoubtedly go through all kinds of hardship and get thrown aside eventually.

Since that was the case, it might not be a bad idea to help out a little as if Kang Jin-Ho was making a donation for charity.

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at the training ground again. He could see the food plate that had been flung away to the distance, and Jeong Myeong-Cheol planting his head in the dirt.

“Hmm? Did that man serve in the military before?”

Lee Hyeon-Su chuckled again. “That’s rather unlikely, isn’t it, sir?”

“...It must be even tougher for him, then.”

“It’ll be fine, sir. People might die accidentally during guerrilla warfare training, but I’ve never heard of trainees dying from exhaustion during said training, you see? You could say what we’re doing is almost on the level of a free workout. Seriously, we should’ve charged him money for not only feeding him but making him healthier, too. Yes, we’re doing him a favor. This might even qualify as charity work, as a matter of fact.”

“...”

Did Lee Hyeon-Su possess any humanity at all?

Kang Jin-Ho couldn’t help but be tormented by this question once more.

1. A shinai is a wooden sword made of bamboo for training purposes in Kendo. ☜