Chapter 1237. Establishing Plans (2)

Chapter 1237. Establishing Plans (2)

His hearing registered some kind of buzzing noise. Those noises were actually people's voices, yet none of what they said sounded intelligible to him.

Shimizu Makoto sneakily turned his head to scan his surroundings. Perhaps unsurprisingly, others filling up this chamber were all making a similar sort of expression.

It was one of sheer stupefaction, tinged with hints of terror!

Thanks to his surroundings, however, Shimizu Makoto didn’t have to wonder about what kind of face he must be making in this situation. Because, it should be the same as everyone else’s!

He shifted his gaze back, this time to the front of the chamber—at Akinori, currently sitting on the seat of the honor. A dignified aura he had never emitted until now could be felt from his upright figure clad in a traditional robe.

‘Is he even the same Akinori?’

Shimizu Makoto had met Akinori several times before in the past. Even back then, the latter imparted a solid impression of a well-trained warrior, a man who perfectly suited his role as Shinichi-kai’s Commissioner.

However, Akinori back then didn’t display this level of authoritative, dignified aura.

Was this the case of “the position maketh the man”? Or did Akinori experience a growth while fighting in the last war?

‘Or maybe...’

Neither could be the right answer.

Shimizu Makoto’s gaze shifted once more, this time to a spot behind Akinori. He could see an old man sitting casually on a chair.

That old man’s name was... Chang Min!

‘Yes, that must be it.’

Not too long ago, a meeting was convened under the much-tarnished banner of Shinichi-kai. Bosses of various gumis attended it, their attitude full of sneer. But they returned as mangled corpses in closed-lid caskets.

The sight of those unrecognizable corpses was very effective in shutting up people, regardless of whether they were enraged or grieving.

The caskets were delivered along with the names of Chang Min... and Kang Jin-Ho!

That last name brought together all these people who had lost the heads of their families to today’s meeting.

“There is no need to overthink this situation.”

Akinori addressed the chamber in a low, solemn voice.

“Haven’t you already been offering tributes to Shinichi-kai until now? This arrangement will be no different. You offer us, at Shinichi-kai, tributes as usual. And we’ll simply deliver it to the people above us. Nothing will change in that regard, so I’m quite confused about why you’d be so reluctant now.”

Shimuzu Makoto bit his lip.

‘You traitor to your own country!’

Akinori was announcing his intentions to sell out his own mother nation in a saintly voice!

Nothing would change? What kind of dogsh*t logic was that?

The act of offering tributes might look the same on the surface, but where the tributes would end up flipped the story entirely on its head! How could offering tributes to his fellow Japanese be the same as giving it to some damn

Chosenjin

?!

This was nothing more than sophistry!

“B-but Commissioner Akinori...!”

Akinori curtly replied, “No.”

“...Sorry?”

“Call me Commander.”

Everyone here raised their head up a little to shoot a glare at Akinori. The significance of what he said just now was not lost on them; with the Iemoto gone... Akinori had declared that he’d devour Shinichi-kai for himself!

Of course, everyone in this chamber had predicted this outcome. But openly declaring his intentions differed somewhat from making covert moves behind the scenes, now didn’t it!

“...Commander Akinori.”

Akinori nodded slightly. “Yes, speak.”

“I wanted to ask you about something.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

The person speaking up glared subtly at Akinori.

Even though Akinori boasted the background of Shinichi-kai’s commissioner, everyone present in this chamber was second-in-command of their respective gumi. In other words, his status was too low for him to act this rudely.

However, no one here dared to point that out. They all tacitly agreed that the situation had changed considerably now. Before they stepped in here, Akinori was their partner, a colleague within this martial society. But now, he was rapidly morphing into their ruler!

“You said the act of offering tributes has not changed... Does that mean the tribute amount has not changed as well?”

“That wouldn’t make much sense, now would it?”

Akinori smirked deeply. That smirk humiliated the gathered Japanese even more than anything they had heard so far in this chamber.

“Wouldn’t you say that the tributes offered by the defeated should be more than the ones who have not been defeated yet? One of the rules in our world is that the victor has the right to take everything. Are you suddenly going to argue that such a rule doesn’t apply to you?”

Shimizu Makoto reflexively let out a sharp yell. “Who are you referring to when you say the defeated, Commander Akinori?! Us?”

He didn’t bother to expand upon that rhetorical question.

The ‘defeated’ were not Shimizu Makoto or the other heads of the gumis here. No, it was Shinichi-kai. It was Akinori!

That point didn’t have to be brought up since everyone knew that already. And that included Akinori.

“Yes, I acknowledge that you are not the defeated,” said Akinori with a brief nod. However, what he said next couldn’t be construed as being hospitable toward the others. “You weren’t even worthy enough to be defeated. That’s who you are. Or are you going to argue that not fighting in the battle means you’re free from the obligations of our defeat? Now I’m curious. Is that what a warrior should say in your opinion?”

Shimizu Makoto gritted his teeth.

‘You goddamn bastard!’

Akinori was not

incorrect

.

The biggest shame for a warrior was not losing to an opponent. Actually, it was not even getting the opportunity to lose in the first place. How laughable was it for a group of weaklings who couldn’t even fight in the war to insult the losers?

In that sense, what Akinori said could be seen as a painful reminder to these men in the chamber. In any other situation, none of these people would have argued back in anger.

But the anger still bubbled up rapidly within the hearts of these men right now. And that was because the one lecturing them was a traitor to this country. Even if the lesson was the same, the intent and the

feel

of it would still drastically change depending on who taught it, now wouldn’t it!

“Then... Just how much are you telling us to...”

Akinori smirked. “Eighty percent.”

“...!”

The person speaking up clamped his mouth shut.

Eighty percent?! Even though the tribute these people offered to Shinichi-kai was around thirty percent in the past? Akinori now wanted more than double that amount!

‘What the hell? You think eighty percent is even feasible?’

This was no longer the issue of whether Akinori wanted to reduce the tributes or was being even greedier than before.

“If we offer eighty percent of revenue from our business interests as tributes, it’ll become impossible for us to maintain our organizations!”

Akinori narrowed his eyes at the man arguing back. “Vice Commander Hideo?”

“...Yes?”

“The world has changed now. If the old ways can’t carry you anymore, you should search for new ways to move forward. Did you think the losers of the war would continue to enjoy the same lifestyle as in the past? Change yourselves. Overcome this with your mindset. Then, you will find a way forward.”

“What?! What are you even...!”

“

Ah, ah

.”

Akinori raised his hand to stop the angry yell.

“No need to get worked up to this degree. We are not going to demand you to cough up right now, after all. This meeting’s goal has always been to get your cooperation, that is all. If you do not wish to cooperate, that would be entirely up to you.”

Shimizu Makoto silently glared at Akinori before speaking up. “What will happen to those who refuse to cooperate?”

The one who replied to that question wasn’t Akinori.

“Do you want to know?”

Chang Min listened to the interpreter, then got up. His weighty presence suddenly bore down on the chamber, causing everyone’s shoulders to quiver slightly.

Something about that old man was different from everyone else.

He emitted this ominous aura. Not because he seemed violent and cruel, though. No, he felt fundamentally different from other warriors.

‘Is he what they call a demonic cultivator?’

A demonic cultivator referred to a warrior who willingly mastered demonic arts.

Despite the presence of demonic cultivators having gotten less prominent in the current era, martial artists still remembered how dangerous those practicing demonic arts could still be. And now...

These Japanese warriors had come face to face with a true demonic cultivator for the first time in their lives. This old man wasn’t a random demonic arts practitioner who picked up some trash demonic arts on the street.

“We did not summon these people here to talk about insignificant nonsense like tributes and whatnot, Akinori,” said Chang Min.

“My apologies, Elder Chang.”

Clomp, clomp!

Chang Min walked past Akinori and stood in the middle of the chamber. He calmly scanned the faces of all the Japanese warriors sitting cross-legged and staring back at him in silence.

“Gladly offer everything,” said Chang Min.

“...!”

“From this moment on, everything you own exists solely for my liege’s sake! Offer your wealth, your lives, and everything under your name! That is the only way to earn forgiveness for daring to commit sacrilege toward the one and only demon emperor!”

Shimizu Makoto’s eyes opened wider.

Akinori’s demands were unreasonable. But Chang Min’s demands even exceeded that! Wasn’t he saying the demands wouldn’t just be satisfied by coughing up some money?!

“But, sir! Isn’t that too excessive?”

“Excessive?” Chang Min bared his fangs in an eerie smirk. “It seems you don’t know what excessive actually means.”

The interpreter urgently translated everything Chang Min said, his voice trembling noticeably. His desperation to save people, even if it was only one person, by translating as faithfully as possible was palpable in his body language.

“Know your guilt first, you insolent and wicked fools. Simply letting you live even after daring to raise your swords at my liege is testing the limits of my patience! If it was up to me, I’d have ripped all of you to shreds already!”

Chang Min’s threatening aura, reminiscent of a growling predator, suppressed the Japanese in the chamber, and they could only grit their teeth to resist. The incredible killing intent gushing out of Chang Min made their bodies shudder nonstop.

This killing intent proved Chang Min was not lying.

“Yet you all still live all thanks to my liege’s mercy! You fools would’ve been ripped into thousands, nay, millions of pieces by now had it not been for my liege’s boundless heart of forgiveness and mercy, yet you dare...!”

Chang Min’s volcanic rage flooded the chamber. The representatives of various gumis couldn’t even breathe as this storm of aura pounded them mercilessly.

‘Where... did a monster like this even come from?!’

‘Are you telling me South Korea is filled with monsters like this old man?’

What stunned these men the most was the fact that the man suppressing them was not Kang Jin-Ho, but someone else.

They had repeatedly heard about Kang Jin-Ho’s strength and terrifying aura until blood almost started trickling out of their ears. That man raised the bottom-of-the-heap Martial Assembly to a point where it rivaled Japan... No, an organization surpassing Japan in the proverbial blink of an eye.

However, if that notion was flipped on its head, didn’t it mean the Assembly didn’t have anyone noteworthy besides Kang Jin-Ho? Wasn’t that why the Japanese’s plan for the invasion revolved around the idea of eliminating Kang Jin-Ho first, no matter the cost?

However, that plan had failed. Shimizu Makoto now knew why everything had ended in such abject failure!

‘The Assembly doesn’t only have Kang Jin-Ho.’

Indeed, monsters like Chang Min also called the Martial Assembly their home. No wonder the mere likes of Shinichi-kai and others stood no chance of conquering South Korea. It had been a fool’s errand all along!

Chang Min continued to growl at the Japanese. “Now, choose! Choose your fate in this place. Will you swear your undying loyalty to my liege? Or will you receive punishment for your sins?”

Shimizu Makoto nervously swallowed his saliva.

‘How laughable our situation has become.’

Had the Japanese ever been treated this way by the Koreans before? Yes, the history books said the Japanese people did hold the Koreans as their superiors in ancient times. But that literally had happened in ancient times!

Not even once did the Japanese bow their heads to the Koreans as the eras progressed. Indeed, it had always been the Japanese that conquered and trampled the people of the Korean peninsula.

When his thoughts reached that far, this boiling hot emotion welled up from deep within Shimizu Makoto’s chest. However, before he could yell out...

“Don’t you think you’ve crossed the line, old man!”

Someone else beat Shimizu Makoto to the punch and shot up to his feet first.

“What was that?! Undying loyalty?! How dare a lowly

Chosenjin

say that to me! Me! No, wait! You aren’t even a

Chosenjin

, now are you? A mere puppet of

Chosenjin

dares to act all high and mighty?! Kang Jin-Ho? Loyalty?! Don’t make me la...”

SPLAAAAT!

Unfortunately for this man, he didn’t get the chance to voice his grievances in full. His corpse, now torn apart into five chunks, flew in different directions. Blood spewed and rained down on the chamber.

Everyone dazedly stared at this abrupt eruption of violence.

At first, they were stunned. Shock and flabbergast came next, then swiftly morphed into pure terror.

“It sounds like you still don’t understand me...” Chang Min growled through his clenched teeth. “Do not sully the demon emperor’s honored name with your dirty mouth.”

“...!”

“I am not! As merciful as my liege! Now, choose! Swear your undying loyalty or die where you sit!”

“...!”

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Chang Min’s murderous glare swept across the chamber. Those who were subjected to his glare freaked out, and either looked down or urgently turned their heads away.

Eventually, though, Chang Min’s glare locked on Shimizu Makoto.

“

Urgh

...

Euh

...?”

That murderous, blade-like glare!

“Now, choose!”

The grim reaper’s scythe now pressed tightly against Shimizu Makoto’s throat.