Chapter 1347. Conferring (2)

“Now, speak.”

Chen Hui grinned. “Sir, do you mind waiting for a bit?”

“...?”

Before Kang Jin-Ho could respond, Chen Hui spoke again.

“I assure you, this is not a ploy to waste your time, sir. This will be beneficial to you as well.”

Kang Jin-Ho narrowed his eyes. But he decided to wait and see after sensing several people approaching the room.

Thunk!

The doorway was pushed wide open, and a group of people walked in. Kang Jin-Ho turned his head to look and smirked after confirming his suspicion.

“I’m sorry about this, sir,” said Lee Hyeon-Su while walking inside, his hands raised high. Which made sense, since he had the nozzle of a rifle aiming at his waist.

Chen Hui grinned. “Forgive me, sir. I heard that you discuss all the important matters with him. In order to make your decision-making a little easier, we brought him here.”

“Thanks for being so considerate,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

He then took out a packet of cigarettes from his pocket and tossed it to Lee Hyeon-Su. The latter accepted the cigarette, his expression stiff.

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Chen Hui. “Get those guns away from him.”

“Leave us,” said Chen Hui.

The soldiers packing guns heeded his order by leaving the room in an orderly fashion. Lee Hyeon-Su sighed deeply after finally being freed from the threats of gunfire and mouthed a cigarette.

He urgently needed nicotine in his system right now.

Chen Hui bowed slightly. “Please accept my apology, sir. Trying to get in touch with you has been very difficult for us, you see?”

Kang Jin-Ho cocked an eyebrow. “Difficult, you say?”

“Yes, sir. It seems you’re not aware of it, but you could very well be one of the hardest individuals to speak to in the world right now. Well, it’s not as difficult as the President of the United States, but...”

Chen Hui slowly scratched his chin.

“Depending on the situation, speaking to you might be even harder, sir. After all, the attention of the three factions belonging to the Crimson King, the Dark King, and the Azure King are squarely locked on to you, you see?”

Kang Jin-Ho remained expressionless as he stared at Chen Hui. However, even though he wasn’t showing it on the surface, this revelation puzzled him to some degree.

Due to the attention of the Three Kings and their factions, Chen Hui’s side couldn’t contact Kang Jin-Ho? Didn’t that mean this group wanted to avoid the Three Kings’ attention as much as possible?

“Your guesses are correct, sir,” said Chen Hui with a bright grin. “There’s nothing to hide now that we’re all here. Yes, it’s as you suspect. We are not in the same camp as them.”

Lee Hyeon-Su’s expression crumpled. “You expect us to believe that?”

“Goodness me. We brought you here to assist Sir Kang, yet you are trying to ruin this meeting instead? Of course you should believe us. Did you really think a vast land like China could be divided neatly by three factions? This is not a video game, my young friend.”

“...”

“Even a united country can split apart depending on the situation. In that case, do you really expect secretive, behind-the-scenes factions and their influences to be enough of a glue to hold everything together?”

Lee Hyeon-Su had to admit that this man had a point there. He sarcastically asked, “Then, what should we call you? Has the Forbidden King or something decided to grace us with his presence?”

“Yes, I admit that the Forbidden City moniker can sound quite immature. However, you’d do well not to run your mouth so sarcastically, boy. I’m still a proud Chinese. Watching a lowly Korean punk yapping on and on is making me want to rip that punk’s mouth wide open, you see?”

Lee Hyeon-Su obediently shut his mouth up.

Chen Hui shifted his gaze back to Kang Jin-Ho. “We don’t have a title or anything grand like that, sir. However, if you wish to call us with something, this should suffice.”

He lightly snapped his finger.

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

“We are... the People’s Republic of China.”

“...As in China? The country?”

“We’re not some faction, sir. We’re China itself. Or, to be more precise, we’re the ‘center.’ We’d be the imperial court during the ancient times, if that makes sense.”

Lee Hyeon-Su furrowed his brow in slight confusion, but not Kang Jin-Ho. He perfectly understood that simple comparison. It meant Chen Hui’s side was not affiliated with any of the Three Kings, but still concerned with this country’s politics and military.

Just like how the imperial court during the ancient Zhongyuan days didn’t involve itself in the affairs of

Murim

, this faction kept its distance from the Three Kings while trying to run this country.

Kang Jin-Ho asked, “Calling you the political faction is a little incorrect, isn’t it?”

“Well, about that. You’ll gradually get to know more about us in time, sir. But that’s not important right now.”

Chen Hui smiled like a good-natured uncle. However, that was not what Lee Hyeon-Su saw.

This bastard... His eyes aren’t smiling at all.

Chen Hui’s eyes flickered chillingly from within his somewhat wrinkled face. Lee Hyeon-Su felt goosebumps breaking out on his skin every time he noticed those flickers.

“I’m not sure if you’re aware of this since you’re a cultivator yourself, but... Sir Kang, our country does not appreciate cultivators.”

Kang Jin-Ho replied unhurriedly. “That has always been the case.”

“From the perspective of the country, cultivators are a troublesome existence, sir. They are basically modern-day warlords, aren’t they? They stand out like a sore and

outdated

thumb in our modern era.”

Kang Jin-Ho also agreed on that part. It shouldn’t be surprising to hear that the government and the martial world found each other burdensome to co-exist with.

“Unfortunately, it’s difficult for us to sweep these warlords away. That’s because of the roles they fulfill. Let’s say your home is teeming with ants. Wiping them all out means cockroaches will move in instead. Knowing this, the country will have to leave a suitable number of ants alive. Even if they dare to bite the sleeping humans’ feet and ruin our food every once in a while.”

Although comparing martial artists to ants and cockroaches didn’t sit well with Kang Jin-Ho and Lee Hyeon-Su, that analogy still fit to some degree, so they didn’t say anything about it.

“However, this cohabitation is getting more and more uncomfortable for us. Especially when the ants dare to climb up the human’s body. We can no longer sit still and do nothing about it.”

Lee Hyeon-Su tutted. “Really? But without your teeth, your gums will ache?”

Chen Hui clapped his hands. “Yes, that’s exactly it! And that’s why we haven’t been able to do anything about this situation. To be honest, wiping the cultivators out won’t be too much of a problem for us if we mobilize our troops.”

Lee Hyeon-Su frowned deeply. “Sure, if you want to start a civil war, that is. Unless you’re insane.”

Chen Hui ignored Lee Hyeon-Su and continued to address Kang Jin-Ho. “Of course, I didn’t mean we’d mobilize ordinary soldiers. I’ll be honest, sir. Cultivators, such as yourself, have this tendency to severely overestimate your abilities. But you stand no chance of survival against modern firearms.”

Kang Jin-Ho cocked his head to the side. “I’m listening.”

“Mister Lee’s analogy was a good one, sir. Since gums without teeth will be in great pain, we had no choice but to endure this state of things. We have three rotting teeth in our mouth. In the beginning, the pain was tolerable, but as time wore on, it became harder and harder to endure. And something must’ve grown in the wrong direction, because these three rotting teeth have gotten into conflict with each other to worsen the pain.”

Chen Hui rubbed his jaw as if merely imagining the tooth ache horrified him.

“So, we went to a dentist. Do you know what he told us? We shouldn’t stupidly endure the pain and just replace the rotting teeth with implants.”

Clap, clap, clap...

Chen Hui clapped three times, a look of awe on his face.

“Isn’t that a wonderful solution? I hear that the latest implants can be better than regular teeth. Even if it’s not something my body has naturally produced, what’s stopping me from using the implant if it can be just as good as my teeth?”

Kang Jin-Ho frowned while scratching his head. “People have called me all sorts of names and insults until now, but this is my first time being compared to an implant.”

“My apologies for such an improper comparison, sir. But doesn’t it sound oddly applicable to our situation?”

Kang Jin-Ho couldn’t help but chuckle just then. So, to summarize...

Chen Hui’s side wanted to push out the Three Kings and bring in an external faction, namely the Martial Assembly, to replace them. More correctly, they wanted the Kang Jin-Ho-led Martial Assembly.

Kang Jin-Ho asked, “What makes us different from them in your view?”

“It’ll be very different, sir. Very much so. This is China, isn’t it? No matter how strong and wide-reaching your influence is, your scope of activity in China will always be limited. You could certainly manage your business interests and other operations, but ruling over China? That won’t be possible.”

Lee Hyeon-Su slowly nodded in agreement.

Chen Hui was right. The situation in Japan was the perfect example of what he was talking about.

The Martial Assembly achieved an overwhelming victory before entering Japan, yet it still had to quell endless attempts at a rebellion. Even if the Martial Assembly had somehow succeeded in completely suppressing the dissenters, ruling over Japan long-term was still not possible. At least, that was the conclusion the executives of the Assembly had reached.

In that case, what about China?

Yup, we won’t even dare.

The mere thought of ruling over this vast land terrified Lee Hyeon-Su to no end. If Chen Hui’s side stepped in and lent their support, the Martial Assembly might have enough justification to extend itself in an attempt to manage China, but that would be all. Creating a Martial Assembly faction and interfering in China’s politics would be like an unreachable dream.

Chen Hui continued to explain. “Then we’ll finally get to scratch our itch without worrying about the rest. Is there a reason to release three fierce tigers to protect our home? When we can chase away any would-be robbers with one fierce wolf?”

Kang Jin-Ho narrowed his eyes. “You were thinking of a dog, not a wolf. Isn’t that right?”

“I apologize for displeasing you. But it’s still undeniable that your side stands to gain so much in this trade. Don’t you think so, too?”

Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly reached out, prompting Lee Hyeon-Su to hand over the packet of cigarettes. Once Kang Jin-Ho mouthed a cigarette, Lee Hyeon-Su lit it up with a lighter.

“

Fuu-woo

...” Kang Jin-Ho exhaled a lengthy trail of smoke, then furrowed his brow. “We have so much to gain, you say?”

“Yes, sir. Wealth beyond one’s wildest imagination. The authority to rule over China’s martial society. And securing the safety of the Korean Martial Assembly from that moment on.”

Chen Hui grinned brightly again.

“Although there are plenty more benefits, these three stand out the most, wouldn’t you say? If you join us and push out the Three Kings, East Asia will turn into an ownerless mountain, ripe for a takeover. Of course, we’ll have to have some say in your business operations taking place in China, but you’ll be free to do whatever you want in South Korea and in Japan.”

The cigarette smoke swirling in Kang Jin-Ho’s lungs slowly returned to the atmosphere through his lips. It felt like his brain was working a little clearer now.

“It’s not a bad proposal,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

Chen Hui nodded. “I’m not a dummy who doesn’t value his life, sir. I would never dare seek the audience of the Demon King with some half-baked proposal.”

Chen Hui was undoubtedly cunning. A smooth operator. Yet he was also remarkably composed. He was just as difficult to deal with as Cai Kechang was, just in a different sense.

“I want to ask you a few questions,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“Yes, sir. Ask away.”

“The coup d’état. Was it all staged?”

“No, sir. But it gained a little more traction than usual. I’m not sure how much you know about the situation in North Korea, but coup d’etat attempts happen fairly often in that country. It’s just that the would-be conspirators get suppressed before they can do anything notable. We only extended a little bit of our protection over Rhee Ki-Gwang this time. And when we thought the time was right, we called him in here. That is all.”

Chen Hui theatrically spread his arms open and rocked his body a little.

“And so, ta da~! We were able to speak in person like this.”

Lee Hyeon-Su chuckled hollowly just then.

This was insane. Just to bring Kang Jin-Ho to this place, they engineered this whole coup d’etat business? Was this how big the scale of schemes the Chinese government could resort to? Or was this merely something a bunch of lunatics did out of sheer madness?

Kang Jin-Ho stared at Chen Hui in genuine interest.

“Sir, all things begin with an encounter. Our administrative staff can discuss all they want, but it’s all meaningless unless we chat face to face like this. We were a little insolent in our actions this time, but if this meeting could lead to a favorable outcome for both sides... My indiscretions can be forgiven with a stiff drink, no?”

Kang Jin-Ho now understood why Chen Hui was representing the government in this meeting. This man knew how to

cook

. He was an expert at knowing when to tighten the screws and when to release the pressure.

Kang Jin-Ho glanced around the room. “Did you choose this place to avoid the Three Kings’ prying eyes?”

“Yes, sir. That’s correct. If we’re being honest, the concept of safe houses isn’t all that necessary in China. But there are times when we need to avoid drawing their attention. There is nothing to worry about. I assure you, the Three Kings won’t find out what transpired inside this building. No one will suspect anything even as you board the plane home.”

Chen Hui glanced behind him.

“Yes, it’s a pity that some people had to die for this meeting, but...”

It seemed Rhee Ki-Gwang’s escorts had all been killed off ahead of time.

Lee Hyeon-Su was currently stewing in hollowness and the absurdity of this situation. An operation that the Korean government and the Martial Assembly risked so much to succeed was all for this?

No, this isn’t really absurd when I think about it, no?

This was what power could do. It was just that neither Kang Jin-Ho, Lee Hyeon-Su, or even Kim Myeong-Chan had imagined such a possibility.

...The possibility of China manipulating North Korea to manufacture a fake situation, that was!

That’s right. Our opponent wasn’t only the Three Kings.

Lee Hyeon-Su thought like a martial artist, and that had narrowed his field of view.

In the end, the Three Kings and their factions still belonged to China. Was there a guarantee of the Chinese government not interfering in the battle between martial art factions? Of course there was no such thing.

But what about the unspoken agreement?

It was called “unspoken agreement” precisely because no one had bothered to sit down and hash out the finer details. As such, such an “agreement” could be altered at any given moment.

“Now, then. What do you think, Assembly Master, sir?” Chen Hui asked.

The

status

of Kang Jin-Ho’s title had improved a little just then.

“Sir. I believe our proposal makes a lot of sense. Even your side...”

Kang Jin-Ho abruptly cut Chen Hui off. “Here’s another question...”

“...?”

“What will you do if I say no?”

Chen Hui’s expression stiffened, his eyes becoming withdrawn.

At the same time, the atmosphere in the room grew instantly icy.