Chapter 1071. Taking Action (1)

—The overall atmosphere here has shifted quite suddenly and considerably.

Lee Hyeon-Su frowned deeply while listening to the person on the phone.

—Right now, there’s not much our side can do about it. We can’t even figure out how this happened, either.

“Then...” Lee Hyeon-Su tried to speak as calmly as possible. “Sir, have you noticed any commonality among the opposing voices?”

-Commonality, you say...?

The person on the other end of the line, a National Assembly member, paused for a few seconds before voicing his thoughts.

—I’m not 100% certain if this is what you’re asking about, but all the opposition is coming from the pro-China faction.

‘I bloody knew it!’

Lee Hyeon-Su’s expression stiffened. His guess was right on the money.

—I don't even know where to start explaining the weirdness of this situation. Our opponents are definitely hellbent on pressuring us, but some of them don't seem to know what's going on.

“I beg your pardon?”

—It makes some sense that folks who know about you have contacted us, but we’ve started getting calls from those who don’t as well. What’s funny about this whole thing is that... This isn’t about drafting a legislative bill, so flooding us with phone calls won’t really change anything. Since that’s the case... Should I say this feels like a deliberately overbearing display of influence? I hope you understand what I’m trying to convey.

“Yes, I do understand. Then, sir... What should our side do?”

—I'm not sure yet, Mister Lee. In a way, you can say this is a battle to saddle the other party with heavy political baggage. If we want to force it through, I think we can. After all, they can't publicly reveal what's going on. And it’ll be difficult to figure out who’s pulling the strings, anyway.

The National Assembly member groaned loudly.

—Of course, I’m aware that's not the main issue. No, it’s... the minister in charge, the one from the ruling party. He’s refusing to follow through with the order from the party leader. We should be able to turn the situation around if we can change his mind somehow, but... that man hasn't been in the office for long. Replacing him so soon would put too much pressure on the ruling party.

“

Mm

...!”

—In this situation, making a move will be too difficult, Mister Lee. How about we ride out this storm and aim for an opening later?

“Thank you for the update, sir.”

—Any time, Mister Lee. Goodbye.

Lee Hyeon-Su ended the call and looked away from the phone on the table. The Martial Assembly directors listening to the conversation through the speaker responded in a way that matched their personalities.

“The negotiation broke down...?” Wiggins leaned forward in his seat as if this situation greatly amused him. “It must be

them,

no?”

Lee Hyeon-Su gravely nodded. “I believe so, sir.”

Bang Jin-Hun vocally expressed his displeasure. “Excuse me! Don’t talk in riddles only the two of you can understand. Speak like normal people so the rest of us can hear you, too! If you can’t be bothered, don’t call us next time.”

Lee Hyeon-Su smiled wryly. “I mean... If the pro-China faction is behind this situation, doesn’t that make it obvious who orchestrated it from the shadows?”

“The Crimson King’s faction?”

“Yes. That’s who I strongly suspect.”

Bang Jin-Hun tilted his head in confusion. “What the hell...? How did the Crimson King’s faction interfere with Korean politics?”

Lee Hyeon-Su sighed deeply. “Of course, they can’t directly influence our politicians, but they certainly can have their own politicians at home do it for them. Besides, quite a few Korean politicians are in the pockets of the Chinese government anyway.”

“Wait, what? Those bastards can even make Chinese politicians do their bidding?” Bang Jin-Hun asked in pure disbelief.

Despite having been the second-in-command of the Martial Assembly since the days of Lee Jung-Geol’s leadership, he still couldn’t even imagine how that was possible!

Of course, being at odds with the absolute ruler of the Assembly meant Bang Jin-Hun’s influence wasn’t as wide-reaching in society as his impressive title might suggest. Even so, it wasn’t as if he had zero political sway in this country.

Someone like that was having a hard time imagining how a group of martial artists could control a country’s political elites. Bang Jin-Hun had never dreamed of mobilizing the politicians to do his bidding as the extent of his involvement with them amounted to greasing their palms and politely asking them to stay out of whatever the Assembly was doing.

So, to think the Crimson King’s people could mobilize Chinese politicians to pressure South Korea!

‘Holy cow. I can’t wrap my head around this at all. It’s like a story from another universe...’

Since Lee Hyeon-Su wouldn't lie about stuff like this, Bang Jin-Hun had no choice but to believe it. Even so, it was still a shock to Bang Jin-Hun's senses.

“I've already mentioned this, haven’t I?” Wiggins casually shrugged. “That the Martial Assembly has too little influence on the Korean political scene? It's not just the Crimson King’s faction, the Japanese do this as well. And the Round Table also has enough power to use the European politicians at will.”

Bang Jin-Hun faltered. “Even if that’s the case, isn’t that a bit...”

“Think about it, Mister Bang. Isn’t it rather obvious? This matter is intimately tied to our survival, after all! No matter how powerful and influential the martial world is, being at odds with the political elite will threaten its continued independence. It only makes sense to build bridges with the government.”

“

Mm

...!”

Wiggins chuckled slightly. “Although, you should remember that political power isn’t permanent. In the beginning, the martial world believed maintaining friendly relationships with the political heavyweights of the era was for the best. However, that opinion eventually went through somewhat of a change.

“We realized that instead of building bridges with those already in power, it's far simpler and more convenient to turn someone we are already friends with into a... Shall we say a person who makes all the important decisions?”

Bang Jin-Hun blinked his eyes in shock. “Y-you mean... like sponsoring a politician until they become the President? Something like that?”

“Well, yes. That example seems about right in South Korea’s case."

“What the hell... Is that even possible?”

Wiggins tilted his head. “What makes you think it’s not?”

Bang Jin-Hun shuddered. “I mean... What about the issues of morality? No, besides that. Realistically, can anyone really attain that level of influence...?”

“Mister Bang...” Wiggins sighed. “In the end, what determines the outcome of an election... are the media and money. The media of a country with a powerful martial society is bound to be under the thumb of martial artists. It might be difficult to promote someone utterly useless, but! As long as the candidate is somewhat capable, giving them a boost from the shadows will be a cakewalk.”

Bang Jin-Hun scratched his head. “Sorry, but I still don’t get it. I’ve never thought about this before, you see...”

“It's fine. It isn't really important in this situation anyway. No, what is important to us right now is that the Crimson King's faction has a firm grip on the Chinese political scene. And that they are using it to hinder us.”

Bang Jin-Hun’s expression crumpled in anger.

“Now hold on. Wait a minute. What you’re saying is...”

Bang Jin-Hun trailed off and licked his lips. His expression said he was trying to organize his messy train of thought.

After some time...

“Doesn’t that mean those motherf*ckers are hindering us at the behest of the Chinese?! F*cking traitors!”

“All politicians are like that, Mister Bang,” Wiggins hurriedly replied to calm Bang Jin-Hun down. “Besides, from their perspective, there shouldn't be much difference between the Martial Assembly and China. Actually, they might even prefer dealing with China since they wouldn't commit various crimes in Korea.”

“We don’t commit any crimes either!” Bang Jin-Hun sourly retorted.

“Sure, but that’s only true now, isn't it? What about in the past?”

“

Urgh

...” Bang Jin-Hun groaned, seemingly realizing that no amount of sugar-coating could excuse what they had done in the past. Even though his head could make sense of it, his heart refused to. “Still, this is...

Argh

! Blooming hell!”

He slapped his knee. His dissatisfaction stubbornly refused to stay docile.

“It's not like we’re trying to do something bad, now is it! We had to get rid of all the illegal stuff to prepare for this legalization or whatever, didn't we? And how much did that cost us?!”

By now, he had stopped holding his anger back.

The Martial Assembly's nature left it with no other choice but to get involved in the criminal underworld.

Until recently, most of its funding used to come from business interests operating in not-quite-legal ways. However, as part of her drive to turn the Assembly into a legitimate business entity, Lee Hyeon-Ju persuaded all executives that doing business legally could prove more profitable in the long run. With their approval, she cut ties with all shady business ventures that couldn't be recorded on the accounting books.

Unfortunately, with things going down the drain like this... It pretty much meant the Assembly had given up on their source of income for no reason.

Wiggins tried to look at the bright side. “It's not all doom and gloom, Mister Bang. We would've eventually gotten rid of such unsavory business ventures if we wanted to expand the Assembly's operation anyway.”

Bang Jin-Hun tutted. “Please, let’s not suddenly act like Bible Study teachers, Mister Wiggins. Those things won’t just disappear because we stopped, you know? Sooner or later, someone else will take up the slack.”

Wiggins chuckled affably. He couldn’t help but agree that Bang Jin-Hun was right. “Still, there is no need to be alarmed. Nothing has been decided yet.”

Bang Jin-Hun grunted. “Well, that’s true...”

Wiggins glanced at Lee Hyeon-Su next. What Bang Jin-Hun said probably represented everyone's sentiments on this development.

Lee Hyeon-Su sighed. “Shouldn’t we think of a countermeasure?”

Wiggins nodded in silence.

‘Cai Kechang...!’

For some reason, everyone in the room thought they could hear Cai Kechang’s indistinct cackle.

Wiggins groaned. “He sure got us this time, didn’t he?”

Lee Hyeon-Su ruefully shook his head. “Yes. He totally got us by surprise.”

Wiggins frowned deeply while rubbing his chin.

‘What does this mean? Does Cai Kechang know what we're trying to do? Or did he simply order his contacts to hinder us regardless of what we do?’

Whatever Cai Kechang's intentions were, one thing was for sure; he had managed to stop the Martial Assembly dead in its tracks!

“Okay, so?” Kang Jin-Ho suddenly broke his silence before Wiggins could get lost in his thoughts. “What are we gonna do about this?”

“

Mm

, well...” Wiggins groaned again.

Despite having experienced all sorts of events in his life, Wiggins was sure of never encountering a troublesome situation with no clear answers like this one. Many of the issues he had faced until now had solutions, and the uncertainty surrounding them usually lay with the potential fallout those solutions could cause.

However, even Wiggins couldn't see a clear-cut solution to this particular problem.

“My lord, I think we should just observe the situation for now.”

Kang Jin-Ho narrowed his eyes. “Observe?”

“Yes. The situation is rather delicately poised, so...” Noticing Kang Jin-Ho's silent gaze locking on him, Wiggins trailed off.

The Englishman then sighed deeply. “There isn't any workable solution available, my lord. We need that minister's cooperation. The will of one person or two isn’t enough to accomplish our objectives. We require the cooperation of the related government department.

“With the minister in charge of said department not playing ball ... there is not much we can do.”

“You know, there’s something I’ve been curious about...”

“What is it, my lord?”

“What’s the government’s position on the matter?”

“The higher-ups are definitely on board with the Assembly going legit, my lord. They have no reason to balk at a new tax revenue stream opening up, after all. It’ll become potentially easier to restrict us, too.

“Many overseas martial societies disguise their sources of income as legitimate business interests already. Even if all of their income doesn't come from legal sources, they still contribute handsomely to the nation's coffers. The Korean government has no reason to oppose the Martial Assembly’s desire to join this trend.”

Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded. “So what you’re saying is we ultimately need the government’s help to launder our wealth acquired through extralegal means and to hide the source of our funds.”

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

“Yes, my lord. Without those reasons, we wouldn't need the government's assistance. That was why we figured a few well-placed bribes should be enough to wrap up this situation, but... We did expect a few of them to get greedier and demand more. However, to think someone would actually tear the script apart and throw it away...!”

Lee Hyeon-Su took the baton from Wiggins. “It's my fault for not realizing ahead of time that Minister Seok is more ambitious than we anticipated. Please forgive me, sir.”

Lee Hyeon-Su bowed deeply while grimacing.

‘Dammit!’

Despite having valiantly declared that he'd produce a desirable result, he ended up putting them in the worst possible situation instead! He was too embarrassed to even raise his head.

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head. “How is it possible for one measly minister to refuse to heed the government’s decision and even try to change its course?”

“... Such a thing normally wouldn’t be possible. However, the Chinese are probably protecting Minister Seok using every means at their disposal. Because replacing or reprimanding Minister Seok can sour the government’s relationship with China, navigating this situation has become quite tricky. In a way, you could say the government is stuck in an even more troublesome situation than us.”

“

Hmm

...” Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded. “This is simpler than I thought.”

“I’m sorry?”

Lee Hyeon-Su and Wiggins blinked furiously. Simpler? This situation was by no means simple. It was so complicated that no one had any straight answers!

“I don’t know how far the Chinese’s influence reaches, but result-wise, it’s currently focused on this Minister Seok, right?” Kang Jin-Ho asked expressionlessly.

“... Basically, yes.”

“Then we only have to change his mind, don’t we?”

Wiggins stared at Kang Jin-Ho in flabbergast.