Chapter 1221. Organizing (1)

Chapter 1221. Organizing (1)

As it was often said before, the clean-up of a war was far trickier and involved than waging one.

Fighting a war wasn’t all that difficult. Of course, winning a war was a separate matter, but the battles themselves only required the combatants to pick up their weapons and charge at their enemies.

However, cleaning up and reorganizing the battlefields devastated by the flames of destruction until they returned to their previous state before the war required a lot of money, massive manpower, and many sleepless, stress-filled nights.

For the moment, the Martial Assembly was not worried about such issues.

Seven people stood at the pier to observe a large ship disappearing beyond the distant horizon. These people were Kang Jin-Ho, Vator, Wiggins, Chang Min, Bang Jin-Hun, Lee Hyeon-Su, and...

‘Why am I even here?’

Akinori made a depressed face as he cautiously studied the mood of everyone here.

Technically speaking, Akinori was the general of the defeated army. And these people surrounding him were members of the occupying forces. Even if he wanted to stand tall, his spine didn’t want to straighten up.

“Sir? Why did this motherf*cker stay behind?”

The one who fired the opening salvo was Bang Jin-Hun. After happily sucking away at his cigarette, he spat out the gray smoke while glaring sharply at Akinori.

Kang Jin-Ho casually shrugged. “Sending him back along with the rest didn’t feel right.”

“But, sir. It’s not like fuel is cheap these days, you know? Why keep him here when we had that big ship and all?”

“He could’ve died if we did that.”

“...That’s his problem, though.”

Akinori’s head fell in even more dejection after noticing how hostile Bang Jin-Hun was toward him.

Wiggins chimed in. “Yes, this fool losing his life is not our concern, but that means we will have to find another candidate to manage Japan. Wouldn’t you say that process could become drawn-out and rather annoying for us?”

Akinori sneakily raised his head and glanced at Wiggins.

‘I thought he looked laid-back and kind-hearted, though...’

It seemed Akinori was wrong with his assessment of Wiggins.

Regardless of what, though, the craziest person in this group had to be Lee Hyeon-Su, who had been diligently translating everything the group said, even the most trivial conversations. Akinori couldn’t quite understand Lee Hyeon-Su’s intentions for translating unnecessary stuff like insults and swear words!

At least that confirmed how twisted Lee Hyeon-Su’s personality was.

“Whatcha looking at, you piece of sh*t?!”

Bang Jin-Hun loudly voiced his unhappiness, prompting Lee Hyeon-Su to translate enthusiastically in a loud voice, too.

Akinori was convinced now. This pair had to be insane!

“By the way, sir? Can we really trust this bastard?”

When Bang Jin-Hun cautiously asked, Kang Jin-Ho nodded. “Yeah. We can.”

“I’ll be honest, sir. I can never, ever, trust a Jap. These bastards are famous for being two-faced, after all. They pretend to be upstanding and sensible and whatnot, but inside? They are all snakes!”

Akinori was triggered just then. His blood pressure always spiked whenever someone said that to him.

What was so bad about behaving that way, anyway? Wouldn’t acting like a good person be better than being a ruffian through and through?

Although Akinori felt wronged just now, he did his best to suppress his desire to restore his honor by hurling insults around. Nothing good would come from causing trouble with these folks. Most importantly, though, Kang Jin-Ho was observing him right now, too!

“

Oh

, well. That’s that, but...” Bang Jin-Hun frowned while glancing at the others. “Why have we gathered here, though? Even though our people have already gone home?”

When Bang Jin-Hun raised that point, the Assembly executives exchanged glances of confusion. Eventually, their wandering gazes landed on Kang Jin-Ho, but even he looked confused.

“I’m here because I was told to stay?”

“Huh? Then who said that?”

“Well, it wasn’t me.”

“It wasn’t me, either, so who?”

That was when someone from their group suddenly raised his hand. “That will be me.”

That someone turned out to be Lee Hyeon-Su. And he was smiling brightly like a gentle saint. Unfortunately for him, the Assembly’s executives felt like spitting on that smiling face.

“You better put your hand down.”

“That’s right. Before we break it.”

Lee Hyeon-Su sneakily lowered his hand.

“So...”

Vator got ready to get up as veins bulged on his forehead.

“You, not my master, thought it’d be okay to tell us to come and go as you please? Is that it?”

Lee Hyeon-Su urgently cried out, “P-please calm down and listen to me first!”

“Why? Beating you up after listening to what you have to say isn’t all that different from beating you up first and then listening to you.”

“No, there’s a huge difference there, sir!”

Vator kept his fists clenched while growling at Lee Hyeon-Su. “

Hoh-oh

? Should I take that as you having a sufficient excuse to avoid punishment?”

“Of course, sir! If we return to the Assembly now, all of you will go on your merry ways, no?!”

“...

Huh

?”

“For instance! Sir Vator, you’ll resume your training, won’t you!”

Vator frowned slightly. It was true that his heart was filled with the singular desire of urgently fixing all the lacking parts in his cultivation he discovered during this war. So, he was thinking of confining himself to a training area as soon as returning to the Assembly, but this...

“And Mister Wiggins! You’ll most likely slink off to the research center!” Lee Hyeon-Su cried out.

Wiggins sheepishly looked away. “

M-mm

!”

“As for Elder Chang Min, I don’t have to say anything since it’s so obvious. And Director Bang will head to a hospital, no?! A hospital!”

Bang Jin-Hun cocked an eyebrow. “...What the hell? My situation is a bit special, don’t you think?”

“Please bear with it for now, sir. Your injuries won’t get any worse, you know?”

Bang Jin-Hun had to work extra hard to suppress his anger from erupting just then.

‘Yup, I knew it. I should’ve beaten up Lee Hyeon-Su at least once.’

Once upon a time, Lee Hyeon-Su firmly ranked among the top three in Bang Jin-Hun’s list of ‘Bastards I Want To Rip Apart With My Bare Hands’. But he had to leave the idiot alone since they had become allies.

However, that decision had come back to bite him in the rear, since Lee Hyeon-Su had gotten way too arrogant for his own good!

“But you can’t do that this time, everyone! I’m not acting this way because I want to skip work, you know! If we don’t wrap everything up properly this time, all the hard work we’ve done to swallow Japan up will go down the drain.”

“

Mm

...”

Vator contemplatively nodded. Even he had to agree that Lee Hyeon-Su had a point here. Although Japan as a territory was an enticing proposition, managing it would be quite a task.

First and foremost, the Japanese’s antagonistic sentiment toward Koreans was nothing to scoff at. Just like how Japan consistently ranked at the top of ‘Most Hated’ list of countries for the Koreans, South Korea also hovered somewhere near the top of the Japanese’s list.

With the sentiment like that, which Japanese warriors would be happy about Koreans ruling over their land?

‘Even if we’ve crushed their morale...’

Since Kang Jin-Ho’s terrifying presence had utterly destroyed their motivation, the Japanese shouldn’t even dream of rebelling for a while. However, humans weren’t the type to stay docile forever.

If they sat for an extended period, humans would want to lie down. If they did lie down, then they would want to go to sleep. In that sense, some people unwilling to accept the reality of Japan being under South Koreans’ control should pop up sooner or later.

Bang Jin-Hun pointed at Akinori with his chin. “Isn’t that why we got this guy? The Assembly Master said we can trust him, right?”

“Yes, we certainly can. However, the truth is? This guy has become a bit powerless now.”

Everyone stared at Akinori next. Since this conversation had taken place in Korean, Akinori couldn’t understand why everyone had suddenly started glaring at him. All he could do was just stand there, dazedly blinking his eyes.

“Really? But isn’t he like a respected expert among the Japanese?”

“That doesn’t matter right now, sir,” said Lee Hyeon-Su. “What matters is that the Assembly Master didn’t stop at yanking out Shinichi-kai’s supporting roots, but even scattered a liberal amount of herbicide on the spot and completely killed that organization. So what if this bastard is Shinichi-kai’s second in command? When he’s basically the only one remaining now?”

Everyone’s gaze shifted over to Kang Jin-Ho next.

When he realized their gazes contained hints of criticism, Kang Jin-Ho furrowed his brow slightly. “I haven’t done anything, though...?”

“Come on, sir. Please don’t kill so many next time,” said Bang Jin-Hun.

“You’re not some bloodthirsty butcher, so why... That is a bit unsightly, master,” said Vator.

“Yes, Assembly Master, sir. You should do it in moderation,” said Lee Hyeon-Su.

“My liege! I’m in awe of your greatness!”

Everyone cleanly ignored the last bit and groaned deeply.

Now that they had thought about it, it became easier to understand the complicated nature of this problem.

They must manage Japan, but that was easier said than done. After all, the Assembly somehow must rule over a territory easily twice the size of South Korea. Not only that, but it must quell periodic rebellions within this territory, too.

This matter was a different type of beast compared to ruling over South Korea. Korean martial artists had little to no problem with joining the Martial Assembly. If they didn’t like something about the organization, they would try to reform it, not break away and create their own factions to wage war against their former associates.

However, the Japanese didn’t have that sense of unity, the sense of belonging. As such, forcing them to serve you would be very tricky.

“Yes, it’s a tricky matter, everyone,” said Lee Hyeon-Su. “However, that doesn’t mean we don’t have options. After all, we have two favorable factors on our side.”

Vator tilted his head. “Two factors? Like what?”

“First of all, the Assembly Master surprisingly let the Japanese go home alive. And Commissioner Akinori willingly surrendered to us.”

“How would that be favorable for us?”

“Trust me, sir, it will be. Since our aim is total control, we need a carrot that says those willing to obey us will be spared. Absolute terror is not an everlasting emotion, you see? The leash that controls humans the best isn’t fear, but tangible real-world benefits.”

“

Mm

...!”

“The survivors should convey the news that as long as they bow before the Assembly Master and pay us tributes, everyone will also get to keep their lives. With Commissioner Akinori lording over the survivors, we should be able to enjoy the fruits of Japan without putting in too much hard work.”

Vator stared at Akinori with renewed interest.

‘Well, now...’

What if China had conquered Mongolia? Instead of having a Chinese rule over Mongolia, having a pro-China Mongolian act as a puppet leader would reduce the voices of discontent the most. Doing things that way would

feel

different, even if the outcome was still the same.

‘A crafty scheme, indeed.’

Of course, the ones that regularly fell for such a scheme weren’t some apes, but human beings.

“So, that means we need to lend this bastard some of our strength,” said Vator.

Lee Hyeon-Su nodded. “Yes, sir. That’s what I think.”

“But how will we do that? Didn’t you say that Shinichi-kai has become toothless now?”

“Yes, most of its foot soldiers have been taken care of, but its core members are still around. Since that’s the case, we only need to lend them a powerful expert.”

“Yeah, I get that, but how?”

“That’s the crux of the issue, sir. And also the reason I wanted all the directors in one place,” said Lee Hyeon-Su with a sigh. “I don’t foresee a long-term issue. We can handle the situation by more or less unifying all the disparate gumis and hand-picking useful personnel from them to work under the banner of Shinichi-kai. Convincing them won’t be difficult as long as we guarantee them real-world benefits. But ‘now’ is the problem we must address.”

Lee Hyeon-Su sneakily wiped the sweat off his brow.

“Someone must stay in Japan for the time being, sirs.”

“And who will that be?”

“That’s the troublesome part, sir. The person traveling to Japan with Akinori will have to serve as Japan’s ruler for the foreseeable future. This task is much harder than it sounds.”

Lee Hyeon-Su addressed everyone firmly.

“We need to consider several factors. One, this candidate must be absolutely loyal to the Assembly Master. A person who would never betray him. Two, the candidate must possess outstanding martial arts since they would have to quell any rebellion as quickly as possible. Three, they must resort to harsh punishments to set examples to deter future troubles. To do that, their nature must be crueler than most. And most importantly!”

Lee Hyeon-Su stopped talking there to build a bit of anticipation, then scanned his audience members.

“The candidate must have prior experience in leading organizations. And with absolute, overwhelming charisma, too!”

When Lee Hyeon-Su finished talking, everyone’s gaze landed on one person in this group.

Was that Kang Jin-Ho? No, not this time.

“...What is it?” Chang Min asked while looking weirded out. “Why are you all looking at me like that?”

Vator smirked. “So, there was one.”

Wiggins nodded in agreement. “Indeed.”

Even Bang Jin-Hun chuckled affably. “I knew you already had a candidate in mind when explaining to us. I mean, everything fits perfectly, right?”

“...

M-mm

?!”

Chang Min’s brows shot up high when he finally understood what happened.

“You fools! I’m the Elder of the demon cult! My duty is to lead the cult and assist my liege, plus to keep the cult believers in...”

Kang Jin-Ho suddenly butted in. “Chang Min?”

“Yes, my liege!” Chang Min immediately prostrated on the ground.

“Stay in Japan for a while.”

“I shall never disobey you, my liege! This Chang Min swears to complete your command as perfectly as possible!”

Vator tutted loudly at this spectacle. “

Hah

... A man should at least try to be more consistent, no?”

Chang Min didn’t seem to care about things like

consistency

when it came to all things related to Kang Jin-Ho!