Chapter 232: To Become Stronger

“Master. Did you enjoy your trip?”

The moment Richard Han emerged from the airport, he greeted the white-haired old man who stepped forward to take his luggage with a warm smile.

“I did. I made a new friend this time.”

“Oh... Congratulations! A true friend who shares your heart is harder to find than a peerless elixir.”

The old man looked genuinely moved.

He was Richard Han’s butler.

His white hair was swept stylishly back, his pupils were bright yellow, and he wore a tailcoat. He looked unusual enough to draw stares, yet among the countless people filling the airport, not a single person seemed to notice his existence.

The old man stepped closer and straightened Richard’s clothes.

“For someone as lonely as you, Master, such a person must be all the more precious.”

“Thank you, Edmund.”

The existence of the old man called Edmund was unknown to the world.

He was the invisible shadow of the Strongest in the World.

Richard nodded and began recounting his trip to Korea.

“It wasn’t a peerless elixir, but the coffee I drank with that friend was quite good. I’m thinking of visiting again sometime.”

“Coffee worthy of your praise? I would very much like to learn how to make it. May I accompany you the next time you go?”

“My friend probably wouldn’t like that. Oh, and I saw someone with the talent to become a Grand Spellcaster. She looked about twenty.”

“Oh... Now I want to visit even more.”

The two continued catching up as they left the airport.

A car was waiting outside.

The driver standing beside it greeted Richard with utmost respect, his face tense.

“Master Han. It is an honor to meet you. I am the Cult’s newly assigned—”

Richard walked past him without so much as a glance and climbed into the back seat.

The white-haired old man naturally took the front passenger seat.

The driver hurried after them, closed the door, then cautiously said,

“I’ll take you directly to your residence.”

Richard leaned back against the seat without answering.

His thoughts returned to Kim Muhyuk, whom he had observed over the past several days in Korea.

A smile appeared naturally on his lips.

He was remarkable.

It felt as though he had discovered an exceptionally fine unpolished gem.

Kim had already broken through the wall of a supreme master.

He might one day reach the realm of a peerless master.

Perhaps there was even the faintest possibility that he would go beyond it and threaten Richard himself.

He certainly wasn’t an ordinary twenty-year-old... but I wonder what would have happened if he had fought me when I was his age.

Richard closed his eyes and summoned both his younger self and Kim Muhyuk into his mental world.

Within his mind, two young men holding swords faced each other.

Then both charged at once.

A fight to the death began.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

The two swordsmen traded fierce blows, neither easily gaining the upper hand.

Richard accelerated his thoughts and repeated the fight dozens, then hundreds of times.

Win. Loss. Win. Draw. Loss. Win. Draw. Draw. Win...

Sometimes his twenty-year-old self fell lifelessly after having his throat cut first.

Sometimes he drove his sword through Kim Muhyuk’s heart and forced him to his knees.

And many times, they stabbed each other simultaneously and ended in mutual destruction.

Lick...

Richard ran his tongue across his lips.

Like a gourmand slowly savoring a fine meal, he replayed each of those imagined battles one by one.

How long will it take him to become a peerless master?

Battles fought within a mental world were not perfect.

Not even a peerless master could predict every variable that might arise in a real fight.

That only made Richard thirstier.

He desperately wanted to cross swords with Kim for real.

To cut flesh.

To break bone.

To fight.

...But if he did that now, the result would obviously be nothing more than smashing the precious gem before it finished growing.

“My patience keeps getting worse. Maybe I should have forced him to become my disciple after all.”

At Richard’s sighing murmur, the old man turned around and smiled.

The driver quietly watched them from the corner of his eye.

Sssssss...

A domineering presence began leaking from Richard’s entire body.

It was the primal, savage pressure of an absolute ruler—something he never revealed to the outside world.

It filled the car.

Breathing became harder by the second.

“Urgh...!”

The driver felt as though he were slowly sinking beneath seawater and drowning.

His eyes widened.

Just as strength began draining from his hands around the steering wheel, the old man in the passenger seat placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered,

“Now, breathe.”

As though by magic, breathing suddenly became easier.

“Haaa...”

The driver finally managed to draw in air.

His face pale, he bowed his head toward the old man.

“Th-thank you.”

“You should get used to it. It would be troublesome if you went mad behind the wheel like your predecessor. If it becomes too difficult to endure, you may simply ask me for assistance.”

The old man smiled kindly.

Yet something ominous and wicked rippled within his bright yellow eyes.

“If I insert a single long needle into your head, I can turn you into a warrior incapable of fear. Feel free to ask at any time.”

A demonized martial artist.

Even within the Heavenly Demon Cult, madmen like him were difficult to come by.

And this refined-looking old man was one of them.

“...I’ll keep that in mind, Elder.”

The driver answered while trembling.

Internally, he vowed that he would rather kill himself than be subjected to the old man’s forbidden art and reduced to a soulless puppet.

Just then, Richard opened his eyes and addressed the driver.

“Black Swallow, was it?”

Even while asking the question, Richard did not look at him.

Unlike Richard Han, the Strongest in the World, Master Han of the Heavenly Demon Cult had no interest in insignificant people.

“You were the chief missionary operative who withdrew from Korea. I heard every important plan under your command ended in failure.”

Whenever Richard spoke to someone directly, it was because they possessed sufficient worth—

or because he needed something from them.

“...That is correct, Master Han.”

Richard Han’s new driver, Black Swallow, swallowed his humiliation and answered respectfully.

Richard looked out at the complicated streets of New York through the car window.

“Then tell me.”

“Tell you... what?”

“Why each important operation failed. What interference you encountered. Who got involved along the way. Keep me entertained until we reach home.”

“...”

The Heavenly Demon Cult had demoted Black Swallow for his repeated failures.

He had fallen from the position of chief operative responsible for proselytizing within the Korean martial world...

to that of a mere driver.

Why me, of all people?

He had only been told that Master Han himself had personally selected him.

Black Swallow did not know the exact reason.

Either way, now that he had been given an order, answering every question without omission was probably the only way to preserve his life.

“I’ll begin with the unexpected variable that appeared at the martial-artist license exam.”

Black Swallow did his best to explain his own efforts and all the unforeseen variables that had disrupted them.

He might have fallen from national chief operative to driver, but he did not believe his career ended here.

If anything, this could become an even greater opportunity.

If I can just catch Master Han’s eye...

The Heavenly Demon Cult had a Cult Leader.

Beneath him were five Masters operating covertly across the world.

And the Cult’s elders each backed one of them.

Richard Han had only become a Master relatively recently, yet he had already gathered a considerable faction around himself.

The Cult’s believers worshiped the Heavenly Demon as a god.

And above all else, they revered strength.

That was why Richard was already being mentioned as a possible next Cult Leader.

“...Taking all those incidents into account, as well as the connections among the individuals whose movements overlap with them, I am certain that the organization called the Blue Wolves was deliberately interfering with our Cult’s plans from behind the scenes.”

Richard had been listening with interest.

He casually asked,

“Did you submit a report to the Cult Leader?”

“Only a preliminary report. I am still preparing the full report. As soon as it is completed—”

“Bring it to me first.”

Black Swallow hesitated, puzzled.

Then he felt Edmund’s cold gaze from beside him and immediately answered.

“...Yes.”

Silence followed for a moment.

Outside the window, Times Square happened to be displaying advertisements for the World’s Strongest Sparring Tournament.

Richard stared indifferently at the enormous screens showing his own carefully manufactured public image.

Then a smile suddenly touched his lips.

“Black Swallow. The Cult Leader seems to consider you a failure, but after hearing the whole story, I think you may have been treated a little unfairly.”

“...No. It was entirely my incompetence.”

Black Swallow broke into a cold sweat, wondering whether this was some kind of test of loyalty.

Richard shook his head.

For the first time, he turned and looked directly at him.

“If I gave you a chance to make up for your mistakes, would you take it?”

“I’m not sure what you mean...”

Richard’s smile deepened, like a mischievous child plotting something wicked.

“Kim Muhyuk. You know the name, don’t you?”

“...!”

For the first time, something other than fear entered Black Swallow’s eyes.

Rage.

Rage toward the man who had driven him out of Korea and caused his demotion within the Cult.

“Kim Muhyuk will be entering America soon. Can you kill him and bring him to me?”

Richard promised to provide him with some of the Cult’s forces as support.

There was nothing to consider.

Black Swallow answered in a trembling voice.

“If you entrust this task to me, I will not disappoint you.”

“If you succeed, I’ll promote you from driver to personal aide.”

“...!”

When they arrived at the mansion and Richard stepped out of the car, Black Swallow immediately departed to begin making preparations.

His eyes burned with vengeance and ambition.

“Master.”

Edmund watched him leave with clear displeasure.

Then he asked,

“Is it truly wise to entrust such a task to a failure like him? You could simply leave it to me.”

“You would be too harsh a trial for my friend right now, Edmund. Someone at that level is just about right.”

“I could play with him for a while and then let him go.”

“If that were more useful, I would have done it myself.”

Richard smiled meaningfully.

“An enemy driven into a corner, willing to resort to any means and fight with everything he has. There’s hardly a better opponent for helping a martial artist grow.”

He spoke as though Black Swallow’s death were already decided.

But the experience would by no means be easy for Kim Muhyuk either.

Fighting in an unfamiliar foreign country would differ from fighting in Korea in more ways than he could anticipate.

And perhaps, contrary to Richard’s expectations, Kim might even die.

But if he’s destined to die because he can’t endure even this much...

Then perhaps it would be better for him to break sooner rather than later.

Better than raising Richard’s expectations so high only to disappoint him in the future.

“I want my friend to become stronger far faster than even I can imagine. That way, I’ll get to cross swords with him that much sooner.”

Seeing Richard so excited, almost like a child, Edmund smiled with satisfaction.

“You look happy, Master. I cannot remember the last time I saw you this excited.”

He had served Richard Han as his master for ten years.

Yet he could count on one hand the number of times he had seen him enjoy himself this much.

“Edmund. I’m going to become stronger.”

Richard looked up at the New York sky, now swallowed by night.

“I made a promise. That I wouldn’t grow complacent. That I would keep becoming stronger. That I would wait at the very top. So...”

He lowered his gaze again and looked at the Heavenly Demon Cult elder who had served him for so many years.

“I suppose it’s about time I became the Cult Leader.”

Before Richard Han, who had made the declaration with complete calm, the old man dropped reverently to one knee.

“Master.”

THUD!

Convinced that this man would become the greatest ruler the Heavenly Demon Cult had ever known, Edmund praised him in a voice trembling with ecstasy.

“The entire world will bow its head before you.”