Chapter 1589. Regaining (4)

“That, um...”

Bang Jin-Hun stared weirdly at Kang Jin-Ho.

“Well, it’s, eh...”

Eventually, though, he had to groan loudly.

“Yes, it’s true that you ordered me to create a new higher-tier martial art to improve every Assembly member’s martial prowess.”

While he muttered away, Bang Jin-Hun’s fingers continued to fidget nonstop.

“And it’s the duty of a subordinate to carry out his boss’s orders, but...”

Bang Jin-Hun pouted more and more, his voice getting more whiny.

“But martial arts aren’t... something I can just create on the spot, so expecting a result in only a month is a bit...”

However, Kang Jin-Ho remained expressionless, forcing Bang Jin-Hun to groan weakly.

Sir! I’m not a monstrous freak like you!

Actually, other monstrous freaks would’ve tutted disapprovingly if they had heard his inner thoughts.

To think that Kang Jin-Ho wanted Bang Jin-Hun to create a new martial art in one month! Such a demand would’ve even freaked out Vator, while Wiggins would’ve pretended to have a hearing loss. So how did it make any sense to demand such a thing from Bang Jin-Hun?!

All he could do was stare in resentment at the tyrant sitting before his eyes.

Kang Jin-Ho was probably the type of person who would give you half a dollar and order you to buy a loaf of bread, two cans of Coke, and one cup ramen, and then magnanimously tell you to keep the change. Bang Jin-Hun genuinely felt sorry for the young men who had to serve as Kang Jin-Ho’s juniors in the army.

After studying Bang Jin-Hun’s response for a little while, Kang Jin-Ho finally broke his silence. “This is my opinion, but...”

“Yes, sir?”

“Knowing your personality, you must’ve prepared something already even without me bringing this topic up. Am I wrong?”

“...” Bang Jin-Hun slowly shook his head. “Since when did you figure out my personality so well, sir?”

“Being around you for a while was enough.”

“Fuu... It’s impossible to keep secrets in this place.” Bang Jin-Hun roughly scratched his head, a somewhat sheepish expression on his face. “It’s not really worthy of a label like preparations and whatnot. But I do have something that I’ve been working on and off as a hobby, sir. However, I’m telling you, it’s not exactly ready to show off yet...”

“I want to see it.”

“...You might get disgusted by it, though.”

“It’ll be fine.”

“Urgh...”

Bang Jin-Hun sighed deeply again. Why couldn’t Kang Jin-Ho respect other people’s privacy!

Pretty much everyone in existence wouldn’t want to display their half-completed projects to other people, no? Besides, there was no guarantee of achieving earth-shattering results from said projects, anyway.

Bang Jin-Hun unwillingly moved the mouse around to open the file folder on the computer. “Here, sir.”

Kang Jin-Ho cocked his brow. “...?”

“What’s the matter, sir?”

“No, well... I’m still not used to seeing secret manuals as Korean word files, you see?”

“Sir, remember the era we’re living in. You can’t expect me to jot everything down in a notebook.”

“Yeah, that’s true. Still...”

Kang Jin-Ho’s expression could only be described as weird as he took over the mouse. The way he saw it, being “analog” was not a bad thing at times.

In fact, he missed the good ol’ analog days whenever he was forced to read secret manuals on computer monitors like this. Of course, there wasn’t a problem with such arrangements as long as the contents typed into the computer were the same as the ones being written down.

Still, it feels wrong, doesn’t it?

Kang Jin-Ho began scrolling down with the mouse wheel, his movement somewhat stiff. However, his expression grew more and more somber the longer he read the texts densely filling up the screen.

“Mm...!”

Meanwhile, Bang Jin-Hun continued to fidget nervously behind Kang Jin-Ho.

Gee whiz! This is unbearable!

He wasn’t some little kid waiting for his teacher to finish grading his homework, so to think he’d end up feeling this way at his age!

“Mm...!”

While glaring sharply at the monitor, Kang Jin-Ho took out a packet of cigarettes from his pocket. After mouthing a cigarette and lighting it up, his glare became much more unreadable.

Bang Jin-Hun frowned slightly. “Sir, if something is off, just say so. I can take it.”

“No, it’s not that, but...” Kang Jin-Ho shook his head. “Honestly, I’m a little shocked.”

“Sorry?”

“So, this is how martial arts evolve, then?” Kang Jin-Ho chuckled hollowly.

Without a doubt, the secret manual he was reading was incomplete. But he could see how solid its framework was, and this was what surprised him so much.

How am I supposed to explain this?

This martial art was practical and also destructive. At least on the surface, it almost looked like a demonic cultivation technique. However, the teachings of orthodox cultivation were deeply embedded in its core.

At this point, it’d be safe to say he was looking at a new type of martial art.

“And I heard that necessity is the mother of all invention.”

All the series of battles and wars must’ve been the catalyst that pushed Bang Jin-Hun into creating this type of martial art.

If it were in the past...!

This martial art would have never been allowed to see the light of day.

For one, its killing intent was too thick and too strong. All the stances described leaned far closer to demonic arts or evil sorcery rather than orthodox techniques. If an orthodox faction cultivator had created such techniques back in the day, they would’ve been branded as a heretic, and their tendons would’ve been severed for thinking up something so demonic.

However, it seemed Bang Jin-Hun wasn’t even remotely worried about such a thing, judging from how weird his gaze locked on Kang Jin-Ho currently was.

I guess this is a good indicator of how much the times have changed.

The boundary separating the orthodox, demonic, and evil cultivation methods had become so much more indistinct these days. In a world where practicality mattered the most, even someone who had mastered orthodox cultivation like Bang Jin-Hun could produce a martial art like this.

Kang Jin-Ho continued to stare at the monitor with even more interest than before.

Bang Jin-Hun’s frown deepened. “Is it no good, sir?”

“No, it’s not that.”

“I tried to make it more practical, you see? Back when we were trying to cook up a new base martial art for everyone, you mixed in a few practical ideas, and that led to a pretty amazing outcome for our people, so... I tried to take into account what we will be going through in the future, sir.”

“That was smart.” Kang Jin-Ho nodded.

It was not possible to have everything; if you wanted one thing, you had to give up on something else.

Martial arts that could be mastered relatively quickly had clear limits. On the other hand, those that took much longer had fewer limits to worry about.

Deciding which one was “better” was up for debate, but there was no debate necessary to figure out what the Martial Assembly needed the most right now. For now, its members needed to become stronger as quickly as possible. It wouldn’t be too late to worry about the future later.

In that sense, Bang Jin-Hun’s decision was not incorrect in this case. Actually, what he had done even surpassed Kang Jin-Ho’s expectations.

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Bang Jin-Hun. “Why haven’t you completed it yet, though?”

“It’s beyond what I can do, sir.” Bang Jin-Hun helplessly shrugged. “It’s like, I know where we’re supposed to go, but I can’t figure out how we can get there. I wanted to keep the process roughly the same as before, but it being a higher tier meant I couldn’t use the martial art we’ve created before as a reference.”

“Mm...”

Bang Jin-Hun shrugged again. “It’s pointless to blame a frog for not knowing how to fly, you know? All I know is how to jump around, after all. That’s why it’s not possible for me to teach other people how to fly.”

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled softly. “Don’t sell yourself short like that.”

“I’m not, sir. And I’m definitely not a monster like Sir Vator or you. Without you, I would’ve been bickering with the likes of Lee Jung-Geol or Kim Seok-Il even now. Different people have different limits, you know.”

“It’s not as bad as you say,” Kang Jin-Ho replied sharply.

Of course, it would be impossible to say how the power struggle between Bang Jin-Hun and Lee Jung-Geol would have played out without Kang Jin-Ho’s involvement. After all, Lee Jung-Geol had a hidden ace up his sleeve.

However, if Kang Jin-Ho was asked to choose who was the better, more exemplary martial artist between Bang Jin-Hun and Lee Jung-Geol, he’d unhesitantly choose the former. Even if Lee Jung-Geol held more power and influence, he still would have thought twice about crossing Bang Jin-Hun’s path in another ten years or so. That was Kang Jin-Ho’s earnest evaluation.

Kang Jin-Ho rubbed his chin. “Doesn’t look that tough to me.”

“I’m not surprised. You’re you, after all.”

“No, I think you can do this, too.”

“Eii, that’s not possible, sir. I can’t even picture what the completed version will look like, you know?”

“Very well. Let me show you.”

“...? Eh?”

Kang Jin-Ho got up, then slowly extended one hand forward.

“...!” Bang Jin-Hun’s eyes opened super-wide after realizing that was the first stance of his latest secret manual. “S-sir? What are you doing?”

“You’ll figure it out once you see it in action,” said Kang Jin-Ho nonchalantly.

“H-hold on?! You want to demonstrate it in my office?”

“Yeah. I don’t need a lot of space, anyway.”

“That’s not the issue, sir. It’s more like... Do you have to?”

Bang Jin-Hun was flustered by the fact that Kang Jin-Ho was able to complete the secret manual after perusing it once.

No, hang on a sec. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. We’re talking about the Assembly Master here, after all.

Didn’t Bang Jin-Hun tell himself not to get shocked by Kang Jin-Ho’s antics when it came to things related to martial arts? Indeed, he wouldn’t bat an eyelid even if Kang Jin-Ho suddenly soared into the skies. In fact, he’d probably laugh and brush the whole thing aside while saying something like, “Hahaha. He’s now cosplaying as Sup*rman. Hahaha.”

But the problem here was that... If Kang Jin-Ho could see through the secret manual to the point of completing it on the fly, shouldn’t he just finish it himself? Why did he have to dump the responsibility on Bang Jin-Hun’s shoulders while demonstrating it like this?

“Sir, please do it yourself!”

Kang Jin-Ho firmly shook his head. “No.”

“Why not?! Aren’t we running short on time?”

“Yes, completing this martial art and providing it to as many people as possible is important.”

“Yes, it is!”

“However, you breaking through the wall and evolving even further is more important to me.”

“...”

Kang Jin-Ho narrowed his eyes and stared somberly at Bang Jin-Hun. “I’ve never assigned you away from being our frontline combatant. You said you wanted to teach the youngsters, and that’s why I said yes. That’s all. Remember that you’re also an important asset. Not as a teacher but as a martial artist.”

Bang Jin-Hun bit his lip. “But... Am I? Really? With so many monsters out there?”

“Director Bang, you will become at least twice as strong as them when you reach their age.”

“...!”

“Orthodox cultivation is all about building your foundation and accumulating strength. The more you accumulate, the stronger its effect will be in the future. No need to despair just because you feel weak right now. Because that comes with the territory.”

“M-mm...”

Kang Jin-Ho grinned softly. “In the past, you were comparing yourself with others mastering similar orthodox cultivation methods. But now, experts mastering different types of cultivation methods have entered your life, and that made you think that catching up to them is impossible for you. No need to get disappointed, however.

“Orthodox cultivation is like a pot with a wide bottom and a narrow top. Even if you pour the same amount of water into it as other types of pots, yours will take longer to fill up, at least initially.”

“I... I understand what you’re saying, sir.”

“Watch the demonstration. Then try to complete the martial art. Do that, and you will be able to take another step forward.”

Bang Jin-Hun nodded gravely.

Of course, he too held an ardent desire to grow even stronger than before.

No martial artist would ever give up on the dream of attaining greater strength. As long as they lived as a martial artist, that dream, that ambition, would forever burn in their heart until the moment they gave up on walking the path of martial arts.

As for Bang Jin-Hun, he had to pause his pursuit of strength because of the wall called reality. Which forced him to look for something else he could do.

But here was Kang Jin-Ho, telling him that his worth as a martial artist had not been lost yet...!

I’d have laughed in their faces if other people had told me that, but...

Kang Jin-Ho was not the type to lie to make others feel better about their failures. If he had genuinely thought Bang Jin-Hun had no future left in martial arts, he might have said some blunt words and then clumsily tried to comfort the latter.

“Now, watch.”

Kang Jin-Ho’s arms slowly moved. Bang Jin-Hun kept his eyes wide open and focused so that he wouldn’t miss a single movement.

Kang Jin-Ho’s movements, initially slow and flowing like water, gradually picked up pace. Qi began roiling, and the surrounding air exploded. However, even as the winds gushed around angrily, Bang Jin-Hun didn’t even blink once.

Eventually, Kang Jin-Ho’s movements came to an end. After relaxing his arms, he glanced at Bang Jin-Hun and noticed that the latter wasn’t looking at him anymore.

No, Bang Jin-Hun just stood there with his eyes closed, mumbling nonstop to himself, as if he needed to organize every strand of thought popping into his head.

Kang Jin-Ho didn’t disturb him and quietly exited the office.