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Chapter 682. Supporting (2)

Lee Hyeon-Su\'s straightforward reply only deepened Yi Myeong-Hwan\'s frown. Wasn\'t this totally out of the blue?

“Yi Myeong-Hwan. You do know that our Assembly Master is currently in China, don\'t you?”

“No. This is my first time hearing about it.”

“Really?”

“Yes, sir.”

“...”

“...”

A sudden bout of weird silence descended in the office.

Lee Hyeon-Su coughed to clear his throat. “Ahem. Didn\'t he say he\'ll be away for a while?”

“No, sir. He didn\'t tell us anything.”

“...”

Lee Hyeon-Su lifelessly leaned against the couch.

\'Yup. That\'s a big problem. Our Assembly Master is... not of sane mind!\'

Even if Kang Jin-Ho was in a hurry, how could he not say anything to his \'pupils\' before temporarily vacating his position! Even if the modern era emphasized personal freedom and responsibility, and the atmosphere was no longer as coercive or forceful as in the past... Wasn\'t Kang Jin-Ho\'s action verging on dereliction of duty?!

Lee Hyeon-Su curiously asked, “Then... What are you guys doing right now?”

“Sir? For now, we\'re focusing on increasing our qi reserve.”

“Did you encounter any issues when our Assembly Master left without a word?”

“No, sir. He never really visited us all that much when he was still around, you see? That was why I didn\'t know he wasn\'t even in the country.”

“...Hmm.” Lee Hyeon-Su rubbed his chin while trying to figure out what to say next.

Yi Myeong-Hwan broke the silence first. “It\'s okay, sir. We did figure something strange was up, anyway. Besides, I don\'t think his absence will be much of an issue for us. If nothing of note happened, the Assembly Master usually didn\'t bother to see how we were doing, you see? Sometimes, he\'d be a no-show for two weeks or more, so...”

“Oh, I see. I guess that\'s good to hear... Obviously not! Isn\'t that a big problem?!”

“Eiii, there\'s nothing to worry about, sir. We\'re learning pretty well on our own, anyway.”

Lee Hyeon-Su almost blurted out, Oh? What are you learning, then? When your supposed teacher only shows up once every two weeks!

Yi Myeong-Hwan took a sip from the coffee cup before asking a question. “Oh, by the way... Did Sir Vator accompany the Assembly Master on his trip abroad?”

“How did you guess that?”

“Gong Yeong-Gil told me that Sir Vator left while assigning a whole bunch of stuff to his disciples, you see? So, I thought, \'Oh, he must be going somewhere far,\' but never expected to hear that our Assembly Master was also gone.”

“...”

“I don\'t want to complain about things like this, sir, but... From the view of a man trying to learn from the Assembly Master, the \'difference\' isn\'t coming from the teacher\'s abilities but the motivation itself, so...”

“...Right, right. Yes, I hear you. I\'ll try to speak to the Assembly Master regarding this matter.”

“Thank you for looking after us, sir.”

“No, don\'t worry about it. I totally understand.”

According to the wise old \'they\', one\'s teacher was the same as their parents. It was supposed to mean that a student needed to trust their teacher as they would their parents. However, it also meant teachers must look after their pupils like their own children.

So, to think Lee Hyeon-Su would get to witness this nonsense!

It kind of felt like watching his father waltzing around the house in his shorts and a wife-beater on his day off, making ramen for breakfast and playing video games for hours and hours. Meanwhile, his friend\'s father was taking his kids to an amusement park to eat nice foods and have a generally-fun family day out!

For a bunch of \'kids\' growing up in such an environment, they sure have grown up into excellent adults, haven\'t they! Even if it was weird to say they \'grew up\' when they were already adults!

If these martial artists had been actual children, no one would argue about Kang Jin-Ho getting arrested for the crime of child neglect!

Yi Myeong-Hwan tilted his head. “But, uh... Do we have to go to China, too?”

“Mm, yes. That\'s what I actually wanted to discuss with you. It seems some idiots are targeting our Assembly Master, so I... Mm?”

Before Lee Hyeon-Su could finish his sentence, waves of powerful demonic qi suddenly gushed out of Yi Myeong-Hwan\'s entire figure. Even Lee Hyeon-Su was suppressed by this suffocating pressure and could only bite his lip in an attempt to endure it.

“Who are they, sir!”

“Why don\'t you calm down first?”

“...Oh! My apologies,” said Yi Myeong-Hwan while hurriedly withdrawing his demonic qi.

Lee Hyeon-Su spat out a lengthy groan. If only they hadn\'t discussed that thing earlier, he could have been so happy about Kang Jin-Ho creating a loyal private combat force. Now that he knew the backstory, though...

\'It\'s like I\'m looking at a puppy innocently chasing its mom around, even though the mom wants to wean it off its milk.\'

At least a mommy dog would try to lick and clean her puppies. As for Mister Jin-Ho, he... Well...

\'Yup. That man should not become a father.\'

Without a doubt, his children would go through a pitiful childhood!

Lee Hyeon-Su wasn\'t sure how his thoughts strayed into the topic of Kang Jin-Ho\'s qualifications as a parent, but he was still sure about one thing. And that was...

He simply couldn\'t picture Kang Jin-Ho being a good dad and looking after his children!

Yi Myeong-Hwan narrowed his eyes. “Sir, if some people are targeting our Assembly Master, shouldn\'t he come home instead of us going over there to join him?”

“Yup, you\'re right. However... Do you think he\'ll listen?”

“...I guess not, sir.”

Whether it was Lee Hyeon-Su or Yi Myeong-Hwan, their problem was that they had become experts on how Kang Jin-Ho operated.

“And that\'s precisely why you\'re going there as support players. Even though I can\'t imagine our Assembly Master falling into some sort of danger... A man should always prepare for the worst, you know what I mean?”

“I see. But sir, is it okay for only us to go?”

“The way I see it, your group is the strongest force available within the Assembly.”

“...Sounds like you\'re overestimating us, sir.”

“Overestimating you, eh...?” Lee Hyeon-Su wryly smiled at that. \'Nope. It\'s you guys underestimating yourselves.\'

Lee Hyeon-Su wasn\'t exaggerating here. Of course, there were stronger experts among the Assembly members than the Demon Flames. However, those folks already possessed the titles of elders or enforcers of the Assembly and belonged to different factions.

Among them, Lee Jung-Geol\'s faction would\'ve been seen as the core faction within the Assembly, but it got blown to smithereens the last time. That didn\'t mean the remaining experts were weaklings, but was it feasible to dispatch them to assist Kang Jin-Ho in China? No, it wasn\'t.

What needed to be considered seemed crystal-clear to Lee Hyeon-Su. Firstly, it had to be a unified group with a clear chain of command. Secondly, they had to be loyal to Kang Jin-Ho. Finally, in case of an incident, commanding the group should be a hassle-free affair for Kang Jin-Ho. And the group also needed to have some autonomy to act on their own accord.

Considering all these factors, it was obvious who should be dispatched to assist Kang Jin-Ho.

Lee Hyeon-Su cocked an eyebrow. “So? Are you unwilling?”

“How can \'unwilling\' exist in an organization, sir? If you tell us to jump, we ask how high, that is all.”

“I\'m not interested in that kind of a reply. I only want to know if you want to go or not.”

“Mm...” Yi Myeong-Hwan frowned while scratching his head. “It\'s not like I know what\'s cooking inside everyone\'s head, but... Well, I can tell you that we won\'t need a long time to pick twenty candidates, sir. No, hang on. Maybe they will start fighting each other for a spot in the group instead. And us trying to pick only the winners might lead to a riot. I think you need to mediate the process for us.”

“Hmm... Can\'t you do it?”

“Sir, please don\'t think of those bastards as your fellow human beings.”

“...Okay, got it.”

According to Lee Hyeon-Su\'s investigation, Yi Myeong-Hwan seemed to have finished taking over the Demon Flames and become its top representative.

However, Yi Myeong-Hwan wasn\'t feigning weakness when he said those things. After all, he didn\'t become the Demon Flames\' leader because of his outstanding strength.

One of the quirks of the Demon Flames was that trying to suppress them through strength would only make them resist even more. If strength had been the yardstick used to set the hierarchy, the struggle for supremacy within the Demon Flames would\'ve been endless, and the Assembly would have never seen a single day of peace.

Even so, someone still needed to become the representative of the Demon Flames, so Yi Myeong-Hwan was selected for that role since he was perceived to be \'well-acquainted\' with Kang Jin-Ho.

An adequate level of strength and abilities, plus an amiable personality; that was Yi Myeong-Hwan. He could lead the Demon Flames because he wouldn\'t cause a concerning-enough friction among the members.

However, what if Yi Myeong-Hwan tried to make them do something through force?

\'I don\'t think anything major will happen, but...\'

Lee Hyeon-Su slowly rubbed his chin again. The Demon Flames might possess an extreme dislike of being forced to do something, but their fear of Kang Jin-Ho was even greater. Despite growling like hungry wolves, didn\'t they tuck their tails like scared puppies when Kang Jin-Ho said something?

Even if their dissatisfaction level hit maximum, the Demon Flames would always be mindful of Kang Jin-Ho\'s moods. No one would try to remove Yi Myeong-Hwan from the leadership role unless they felt absolutely certain of not earning Kang Jin-Ho\'s disapproval.

\'The funny thing is, I don\'t think this guy is ballsy enough to exploit that for himself even if he gets it.\'

Lee Hyeon-Su couldn\'t help but chuckle quietly. Yi Myeong-Hwan might be an excellent talent but lacked the ability to scheme something for himself. The most fitting description for him would be... a talented servant type? Indeed, he was the type to sit in a corner and suck on his thumb unless someone ordered him to do something.

“In any case... Try to form a team, then let me know if you run into a problem, okay?”

Yi Myeong-Hwan nodded. “When will we depart, sir?”

“The earliest will be tomorrow. The latest... Three days from now.”

“Understood,” Yi Myeong-Hwan got up, then bowed deeply. “See you later, sir.”

“Mm.”

After Yi Myeong-Hwan left, Lee Hyeon-Su placed the coffee cups in the sink and also left his office. He had a place to go to.

***

Wuoooong...

Wuuuuuung...!

\'Geez, this is so... weird.\'

The spectacle before Lee Hyeon-Su\'s eyes came across as quite foreign to his sensibilities. Although, when he thought about it, it shouldn\'t be. As a self-proclaimed \'half-martial artist\' himself, he had witnessed others training throughout his life. And half of his time was spent training alongside them, too.

After all, training was an indelible part of a martial artist\'s existence.

However, that could also explain this strong feeling of incongruity swirling in Lee Hyeon-Su\'s head.

This training was completely different from the Eastern way he had grown accustomed to. That familiarity had given birth to such a strong feeling of being in an alien world while looking at Wiggins\' training regime.

Wiggins smiled and waved at Lee Hyeon-Su. “Aha, you\'re here, Mister Lee.”

“Oh, uh... Hello, sir,” said Lee Hyeon-Su while hurriedly bowing his head. His face blushed a little in shame. He should\'ve greeted Wiggins first but missed his timing. He got so absorbed in watching the ongoing training that he let his senior say hello first. In his book, that was clearly a big slip-up. “My apologies, sir. This is all so strange and new to me, you see...”

Wiggins tilted his head. “Strange and new?”

“Yes. This way of training is distinctively different from how we train.”

“Fufufu, that doesn\'t sound so surprising. However, to call it strange? Was that necessary? After all, both ways utilize qi, anyway.”

“Yes, of course.”

Wiggins had a point, even if the way qi was utilized was noticeably different!

Wuooooong...!

\'Learners\' were standing tall in their chosen spots, their hands gathered before their chest. And bright white light beams intermittently flickered and gushed out from the space between their gathered hands.

\'Yup, it\'s different, alright.\'

Even if Lee Hyeon-Su\'s cultivation wasn\'t deep, he could still instantly recognize that that light was not the same as internal energy, qi, the Eastern martial artists were familiar with.

Qi was a type of energy assimilated into one\'s physical body. Accepting and circulating the external qi flowing in nature into one\'s body would turn it into internal qi. This process would gradually build up a martial artist\'s cultivation realm and qi reserve. However, that light was different from the usual cultivation realm and whatnot.

Lee Hyeon-Su could see it. The external qi flowing around the trainees was clearly being attracted toward their hands before emitting that white light. In other words, that energy of nature didn\'t enter a person\'s body first but gathered around their hands before materializing into rays of light.

Lee Hyeon-Su quietly muttered, “It sure is amazing to look at.”

“Nothing amazing about it. It\'s just another way of utilizing energy,” said Wiggins while a gentle smile floated up on his lips. “When I was much younger, I used to wonder whether the Western or Eastern way of martial arts were superior. I was a proud young man back then. As I grew older, though... I realized all that was a useless waste of my time.”

“Useless? How so?”

“Simple. What matters isn\'t the martial arts, but the martial artist. Would our Assembly Master be a weakling if he had mastered Western martial techniques instead?”

“...No, definitely not.”

“There you go. Since humans are mastering the techniques, what matters are humans, not the techniques themselves. And to add to that... It\'s also important to know which technique could be mastered more efficiently for you.”

“I see. I understand now,” Lee Hyeon-Su replied, his excitement barely disguised, as he studied the trainees. “So... How is the efficiency, then?”

“Well, these fellas are quite willing, so that helps. Also, as they haven\'t experienced much success with Eastern martial arts, their growth has been outstanding. It\'s not like we don\'t have any dropouts, but there isn\'t much we can do about that.”

“I agree. As long as the remaining people get stronger, we can\'t ask for more.”

“Indeed. Good to know that the result of your inspection is so favorable.”

“I would never put you in a spot like that, sir,” Lee Hyeon-Su apologetically bowed his head.

His bowing had a different meaning compared to when he did it toward Kang Jin-Ho. If Lee Hyeon-Su\'s emotion toward Kang Jin-Ho could be summed up as \'idolizing\', his emotion toward Wiggins could be seen as \'respect\'.

“Mm? If not for inspection, what else could bring someone as busy as you to this place?”

“Actually, I wanted to discuss the matter with the Assembly Master in China.”

“Mm? With the Assembly Master, you say?”

Lee Hyeon-Su nodded, his expression getting more serious.