Chapter 1599. Training (4)

Paaaaahaang!

Kang Jin-Ho swung his sword.

Too slow.

Paaaaaaahang!

His sword moved even faster. However...!

Still too slow!

Kang Jin-Ho’s expression visibly crumpled.

Swiiiiish!

His sword still moved according to the trajectories he had in mind, with not a single deviation in its path or angle. However, its speed was not as perfect as Kang Jin-Ho had hoped for.

He abruptly stopped his sword mid-air, then slowly brought it back down to his side, a quiet little sigh leaving his lips.

Not a single drop of sweat covered his skin, yet intense fatigue still tried to crush his entire body.

It’s not easy.

Flipping everything on its head and starting anew would never be an easy task. That was why Kang Jin-Ho figured he’d return to the basics first.

The so-called “completion” of one’s martial path—just what could that be?

Kang Jin-Ho pondered this question over and over again, yet the answer remained elusive. In the past, when he had just begun his martial arts journey, he cared only about getting stronger and not much else.

But now he could tell that the completion was not something he could achieve by getting stronger. The path of acquiring greater strength was endless, yet the path he sought after had an end.

In that case, what could be the completion he was thinking of? After countless debates with himself, Kang Jin-Ho arrived at an answer: the “completion” was “perfection.”

Yes, perfection.

The power strong enough to destroy the worlds was not the answer. Accumulating an incredible amount of demonic qi to reach a realm no other demonic cultivator had ever reached was also not the definition of the completion Kang Jin-Ho thought of.

No, the completion he was thinking of should mean there was “no more.” As in, there was nothing more left for him to do. Or a single “perfect” sword swing.

Now that he had settled on the concept, it was time to put in the maximum effort to reach it, but...

Kang Jin-Ho scowled deeply. This is difficult.

Indeed, it truly was difficult. He never complained about the difficulty of martial arts until now, but even then... He just couldn’t see the solution here.

Just what was “perfection?” And what did the single perfect sword swing even mean?

He kept pondering, but couldn’t figure it out. This had to be his first time feeling like a man lost in a dense fog ever since becoming a martial artist.

“Fuu-woo...”

Kang Jin-Ho closed his eyes, then imagined drawing the most perfect trajectory in his mind.

Should it be in a straight line? No. Then, how about an arc? That wasn’t it, either.

He couldn’t reach his goal by imagining predetermined trajectories.

In the end, it’s about me.

It was impossible to truly comprehend the singular concept of perfection and recreate it in reality. But that was a part and parcel of mastering martial arts, wasn’t it? A thousand experts would have come up with a thousand different interpretations of what perfection was, after all. No, maybe it was far more than a mere thousand.

In other words...

I need to start with myself first.

Kang Jin-Ho must look back to the first martial art he learned and at everything he had achieved up until now. And once he was finished with looking into his deepest inner self, a single line he couldn’t see before should finally materialize in his mind.

“Being able to draw that line in reality is a separate problem, but still...!”

The corners of Kang Jin-Ho’s lips curled up slightly, even though he still felt like a wet sponge.

Not because he had tortured his body to exhaustion, however; the fatigue of his mind was even affecting his physical body. When he looked at himself again, he realized sweat now completely covered his body when there was none not too long ago.

A strange expression floated up on Kang Jin-Ho’s face as he observed the sweat drops falling insistently from his sleeves.

I’m sweating...?

How long had it been?

Recently, it felt like he had gone back to the days of being a fresh-faced kid learning martial arts for the first time. And in those days, he used to worry about every single little thing, like how to hold the sword and where to place his feet.

Even though I kept going forward, I still returned to my starting point...?

What an amusing turn of events this was.

Kang Jin-Ho had experienced many stages of martial arts to get to where he was. However, all the progress he had made and all the journeys he had taken on this path of martial arts had led him right back to the beginning instead.

Was this the so-called cycle of life? If not life, then going back to his roots, his foundation?

Probably... not.

The feeling Kang Jin-Ho got said it was a little different from those things, but he couldn’t think of a way to explain it.

This task was difficult. Extremely so. But it didn’t feel impossible, either.

He was certain of this. As long as he clutched tightly to this vague, undefined feeling and kept working at it, he’d eventually reach the destination—at least, that was what he felt.

Rumble...

Kang Jin-Ho opened the entrance to subspace, allowing it to swallow up his Crimson Destiny and Azuremourne. He let out a brief sigh, then turned around.

“Mm, for now...”

He chuckled helplessly while studying his sweat-soaked clothes.

“I guess I should take a shower first.”

***

Kang Jin-Ho closed his eyes and relaxed while letting the shower water pummel his body.

It’s been a while since I last used the Assembly’s showers, hasn’t it?

The Martial Assembly obviously featured a communal shower facility. Not having one made no sense, since the concept of training one’s body was the foundation of all martial arts.

The funny thing was, though, the management of the Assembly’s communal showers rivaled that of top luxury hotels and spas. The credit for this state of things should go to Lee Hyeon-Su, who held a germophobe-level of obsession on the quality of the facilities under his care, and Lee Hyeon-Ju, who was still captured by the outdated ideology of facilities used by men being unhygienic and utterly disgusting.

After going through reconstruction and several remodeling attempts, the communal showers now boasted facilities surpassing those of a brand-new exclusive golf clubhouse bathrooms. That was how good the Assembly’s showers were these days.

But why do we have to go this far just for a clean shower, though?

Kang Jin-Ho couldn’t understand those two Lees. Wasn’t a shower meant to help a person wash themselves? As long as the water came out of the taps properly and things were clean enough, everything should be fine, no?

He slowly shook his head.

When I think about it, this is how things have always been, isn’t it?

Indeed, it was true that Kang Jin-Ho always had trouble comprehending what Lee Hyeon-Su or Lee Hyeon-Ju was thinking about. It was just that he told himself the two Lees knew the modern era better than him, so he should just shut up and go along with their recommendations.

Since that was the case, what was there to be surprised about?

“Fuu...”

Kang Jin-Ho sighed while enjoying the sensation of the cold water hitting his skin. But then...!

“Awoo...! Dude, I thought today would be my funeral for sure!”

“Yeah! Don’t you think Director Bang has been way too harsh lately?”

“Why didn’t you tell him that to his face earlier?”

“Are you insane?! If I did that, he’d probably order me to run laps around the training area with my head planted to the ground!”

“Are you scared of the punishment or the possibility of going bald?”

“It’s both, you moron!”

Kang Jin-Ho flinched a little and looked behind him. He could see the Assembly members flooding into the communal shower. This place was spacious enough to accommodate a hundred people at once, yet it still filled up to the brim in a matter of seconds.

Considering this wasn’t the only communal shower in the Assembly... It seemed the training session for the members had ended just now. Other showers should be filling up to the brim as well.

Knowing that things could get really awkward if he stayed, Kang Jin-Ho tried to find the right opening to escape. Not that he was worried about feeling awkward, no, but he was thinking about the others here. They would undoubtedly get uncomfortable with his presence, so before they noticed him, he should...

“By the way, don’t you think the Assembly Master is being unfair lately?”

Mm? Kang Jin-Ho stopped moving, turned sneakily around, and pressed himself against the opaque glass partition, which hid his figure.

“He’s even teaching the Yankees at the American military base, right?”

“Yeah, I heard about that. It’s all gone a bit global, hasn’t it? Global, I say! We would’ve never imagined things like this happening in our lifetime.”

“That’s because our Assembly is no longer the same Assembly, you know? Kuh-euh~! I’m so proud of this place, I tell ya! Even the Americans acknowledge the greatness of our Assembly Master.”

The person who started this banter scoffed loudly. “So what if all that is true? When it’s done nothing good for us?”

“What are you talking about? The Assembly Master getting more recognition means the Assembly is getting more famous, doesn’t it? That’s automatically good news for us.”

“Really? How so?”

“Well, that’s...”

No replies came forth.

“See? Listen, you morons. Let’s be realistic here, okay? The busier our Assembly Master is, the less attention he’ll pay to us, okay? When was the last time you saw the Assembly Master in person?”

“...”

“In the past, he’d stop by regularly to encourage us and even stay behind to help us train. But now? He left everything to Director Bang and hasn’t even spared a glance in our direction.”

“But isn’t that because the Assembly Master is busy guiding the Demon Flames?”

“Nah. I heard the Elders are guiding them these days.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really! With how busy the Assembly Master is, no wonder everything is being pushed to the back.”

One of the martial artists furrowed his brow. “But that’s not his fault, you know?”

“What the hell? What are you trying to imply here, man! I never said it’s his fault. It’s just that, well... He’s not been paying much attention to this side, that’s all!”

“But that’s because he’s got a lot on his plate.”

“Yeah, I know that. I do, okay? But what can I do about all this disappointment I feel? You know I’m a small-minded bastard, after all.”

“You ain’t a little kid, man. Get a grip.”

“What the...? You’ve been on my case for a while now! Wait, you want a fight? Is that it?”

Kang Jin-Ho grinned bitterly while eavesdropping. Things had truly gotten tricky now.

If he had revealed his presence from the get-go, it might have been possible to leave without raising too much fuss, but... With the current atmosphere being what it was, there was no way he could do that now!

Maybe he should just wait until everyone had left, then sneak out of...

“By the way, who’s that?”

“Mm?”

Kang Jin-Ho subtly pressed his body closer to the wall.

“That guy. He was here even before we arrived. But why is he taking such a long-ass shower? No, hang on...? We were the first ones to rush here after the training, yet he was here before us? What the hell, did he play hooky or something?”

“Leave him be. It’s not a problem, right?”

“What do you mean, it’s not a problem! We were all working our butts off, yet this guy dares to skip out on training?! What he needs is a good beating, that’s what!”

Kang Jin-Ho’s expression cramped up a little.

Uhm, well... Yes, your attitude is pretty good. Very good, in fact. But...

Wasn’t it okay to look the other way just once?

“Hey, you over there! Who are you, and... Wow, look at this punk’s muscles!”

“Eh?”

“Look at how ripped he is! Who knew human back muscles could look like this guy’s? Hey, man, you a stallion or something? A wild stallion?”

Kang Jin-Ho clamped his mouth shut as the questioning Assembly member closed the distance.

“Hey, man. Say something. Who are you? I don’t remember a guy like you in the Assembly, though? Hey, turn around and look at me.”

“...”

“I said, turn around! Do I have to use force now?”

Kang Jin-Ho groaned deeply, then slowly turned around to face the Assembly member.

“Uh? I don’t recognize your face, though? Hey, aren’t you a pretty... boy... Eh?”

The Assembly member’s voice petered out before he urgently clamped his mouth shut.

Kang Jin-Ho could clearly see his reflection in the man’s previously small irises as they rapidly grew wider.

“A-A-A-Assembly... Master?! B-b-but, why? You shouldn’t be here, though?!”

Kang Jin-Ho groaned again. Yeah, I agree with you. I really do.

“I’m sorry, sir!”

“I didn’t know you were here!”

“Our remarks were disrespectful, sir! Please punish us!”

All the Assembly members in the communal shower went down on their knees simultaneously.

Kang Jin-Ho groaned again, this time much louder, at this sight. “Why are you all kneeling?”

“We’re sorry, sir! We really had no idea!”

“W-we didn’t mean it, sir!”

Kang Jin-Ho slowly shook his head. “Whether you meant it or not isn’t a problem for me. You have done nothing wrong, anyway.”

“...”

“First of all, I now understand that you are disappointed with all that’s been happening lately. I’d like to apologize to you all for that.”

“N-no, sir! Please don’t!”

“It’s just that one guy, sir! He didn’t know his place and flapped his gums!”

“Don’t worry, sir! We’ll kill him and dispose of him on our own!”

What the hell was that last guy even saying?!

The crowd shot murderous glares in one specific direction. The Assembly member, who “dared” to talk about feeling disappointed earlier, kept his head down and fidgeted fearfully.

Kang Jin-Ho roughly scratched his head as if this situation troubled him somewhat. “Listen. This isn’t something you can blame someone specific for. Actually, I wanted to say something about the current situation, but doing that here is a bit troubling. So, finish showering first, and then... Mm?”

Kang Jin-Ho stopped talking abruptly when he noticed how every naked kneeling Assembly member was looking in one direction, namely him.

After realizing what they could be staring at, Kang Jin-Ho frowned slightly. “What are you looking at?”

“Oh, uh...”

The Assembly member closest to Kang Jin-Ho sheepishly scratched his head. He cautiously studied Kang Jin-Ho’s mood, then explained in an embarrassed voice.

“Sorry about that, sir. It’s just that, uh, it’s leaving a pretty strong impression, you see?”

“...”

“Sir, you’re indeed the Assembly Master. As expected of you.”

“...”

Another Assembly member kneeling at the back suddenly gave Kang Jin-Ho a thumb-up. “Sir, you have my utmost respect.”

“...”

Kang Jin-Ho groaned deeply again.

Should I just beat all of them up instead?

Hah-ah...