Chapter 1349. Conferring (4)

Kang Jin-Ho got up, then leisurely walked forward... Toward Chen Hui, that was!

The guards quickly stepped in and blocked the path, their expressions cold and stiff.

Chen Hui urgently said, “Please back down, sir.”

Kang Jin-Ho scanned the faces of the guards, an eerie smile still deeply etched on his face.

“Sir, we ask of you to observe the decorum of the...”

“Are you...” Kang Jin-Ho ignored Chen Hui and addressed the guards instead. “...Soldiers?”

“...?”

The guards kept their mouths resolutely shut as they didn’t understand what Kang Jin-Ho wanted to know with that question. Then again, they were forbidden from saying something even if they understood, anyway.

That was what being a soldier meant, after all!

“If you were martial artists, you’d all be dead by now. However, I’m willing to give you one more chance as you’re soldiers. Now, stand aside. I’ll let you live if you do.”

Martial artists willingly chose their path. But soldiers had to follow orders.

Getting angry at people merely following orders didn’t make a lot of sense to Kang Jin-Ho. Even if a knife was used to commit murder, the hand holding the weapon shouldn’t be guilty of the crime.

The soldiers, their expressions stiff, stared back at Kang Jin-Ho in silence.

Their duty was to follow orders. They couldn’t afford to get shaken up, regardless of what their opponent said.

“Get out of the way.”

“...”

All Kang Jin-Ho did was stand there and stare at them. He wasn’t being threatening at all, yet the soldiers standing in his way felt this incredible pressure, the one they had never experienced before, crushing down on them.

It felt like something intangible was tightening around their throats. Despite knowing they shouldn’t move, their hands kept trying to move toward their necks.

Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly stared at the soldiers, but then...!

Grab!

He reached out and grabbed the throat of the soldier right before his eyes.

“

Kuk

?!”

Even though Kang Jin-Ho’s hand was slow enough for the naked eyes to follow, for some reason, the soldier couldn’t dodge. He stiffened like a log and couldn’t move an inch.

Even his comrades couldn’t lift a finger despite witnessing the assault. That was because they had been ordered not to attack first or provoke Kang Jin-Ho, no matter what!

The soldiers glanced behind them in a fluster, but Chen Hui, their boss, also was too flustered to issue a new command.

“Looks like you don’t understand,” Kang Jin-Ho growled, his cold eyes locked on his victim firmly gripped in his hand.

The first refusal was due to the orders from their superior. But the second time? They chose to stand their ground. Kang Jin-Ho wasn’t nice enough to spare those who had failed to make good judgment despite being warned once.

“Kkeuh-wuk...!”

Just as the soldier with his throat gripped began writhing...!

Crunch!

A chilling noise of bones breaking resounded from the soldier, and his body went limp.

The faces of everyone here who understood what that meant hardened like stones instantly.

Plop!

The soldier collapsing on the ground was a human a minute ago. But now, he could only be called a corpse instead.

The air in the room rapidly grew icy.

Everyone here had experienced murdering other human beings before. Only those scumbags who had grown numb and felt nothing about taking another life, an act so heinous that it should never be forgiven, had the qualification to stay in this room. Even then, everyone here was still shocked by the spectacle they had witnessed.

Kang Jin-Ho broke that soldier’s throat? Of course, that wasn’t the issue here.

When someone tried to kill another person, there would be at least some type of struggle, a last desperate act of resistance. No matter how familiar one was with murder, killing a person unable to resist right before their eyes was surprisingly hard, unless they resorted to using guns from a distance, such as a sniper’s rifle.

But Kang Jin-Ho had no such qualms. Judging from how easy it seemed, he must’ve thought of killing other humans as an act no different from, say, taking out a container of food from the fridge.

Despite outwardly resembling a human, Kang Jin-Ho was a fundamentally different

thing

from everybody else here.

Step!

Kang Jin-Ho casually walked over the corpse and approached Chen Hui. The soldiers, no longer filled with bravado, couldn’t bring themselves to stop his advances. All they could do was stand there like statues.

If they moved, they would die. That was what their instincts screamed at them. Even if they weren’t trying to stop Kang Jin-Ho, it’d still end up in the same outcome. Moving an inch for some reason, any reason, would lead to Kang Jin-Ho breaking that person’s neck without even bothering to find out what their intentions were.

Knowing this, none of the soldiers dared to move.

These soldiers weren’t afraid of death. If their higher-ups ordered them to, they would gladly cut their own throats off. This was their own evaluation, not someone else’s.

However, their instincts said that blocking Kang Jin-Ho’s path required something else, something more, than sacrificing their lives. Even though they didn’t know what that something else was, it still chained their ankles and stopped them moving an inch.

Clomp, clomp!

Kang Jin-Ho nonchalantly brushed past these frozen soldiers and reached Chen Hui. The Chinese man’s complexion was as pale as a human face could get.

Kang Jin-Ho bared his fangs in a toothy smirk. “What did you say earlier?”

“...?”

“That you have investigated me?”

“Y-yes, we...”

“So, what did you investigate about me?”

“...?”

“My life?”

Clomp.

“Or is it my status?”

Clomp.

“Did you confirm what’s happening in my life?”

All of those would’ve been meaningless. Things like Kang Jin-Ho being the Assembly Master, the chairman of MK, enjoying a secretive arrangement with the Korean government, possessing enough martial prowess to shake up the world, or even acquiring a title that elevated his status to rival China’s Three Kings...

All of these things were useless when trying to

explain

who or what Kang Jin-Ho was.

“You should have known.”

If they wanted to negotiate with Kang Jin-Ho, one should, at the very least...!

“You should have known what kind of creature I am.”

Clomp!

Kang Jin-Ho stopped walking when he arrived right before Chen Hui.

Only then did Chen Hui realize what he had done wrong.

This man, he’s... He’s not a lowly creature like a wolf!

A wolf’s actions were based on instincts. And the instincts ruling over the wolf were hunger and the desire to survive. It hunted to sate its hunger. It kept moving to survive.

But Kang Jin-Ho was no mere wolf. That was why he didn’t merely chase after benefits. And he could get angry, too.

Not realizing this ahead of time would be Chen Hui’s greatest mistake.

“Y-you can’t touch me, sir!”

Chen Hui forced his voice to break free from his mouth. His creaky, trembling voice desperately held on to his life threatening to abandon him.

“I, I’m not the head of this operation, sir! I’m merely a messenger! But killing me will break this negotiation apart for good, and you won’t leave this country alive! Y-you must not kill me!”

“I know all that already,” said Kang Jin-Ho, his face expressionless.

“P-please, think rationally about this situation! You are...”

“Looks like you really don’t understand, then?”

“I, I’m sorry?”

Kang Jin-Ho bared his fangs again. “I’m being perfectly rational right now.”

Chen Hui’s eyes powerfully quaked. This was Kang Jin-Ho being rational?

“Do I look like a man blinded by rage?”

Kang Jin-Ho reached out and grabbed Chen Hui’s collar before yanking the latter very close.

“No, I’m not.”

“...”

“Every person has a line that must never be crossed. And I have a rule regarding that. Anyone crossing that line will not walk away alive. Too bad for you, you’ve crossed that line. That’s why you’ll die here today. So, what do you think? Isn’t that rational?”

Chen Hui was about to say something to defend himself, but Kang Jin-Ho spoke first.

“You must’ve used your slick tongue to save your life until now. And used that tongue to scam so many people too, leading them to destruction. So, I’ll give you a chance. I’m going to start destroying your body, okay? I’ll destroy one body part at a time and make my way up to your head. You have until then to change my mind. Think carefully about what to say to convince me.”

Kang Jin-Ho didn’t even signal that he’d start right away. He simply stomped on one of Chen Hui’s feet next.

Cruuuunch!

The noise of human bones getting crushed echoed creepily in the room. However, before that noise could spread any further, it was drowned out by Chen Hui’s scream instead.

“Kku-aaaaaaaaahk?!”

“You don’t have enough time to waste on screaming, though?”

Cruuuuunch!

Chen Hui’s other foot got crushed next. He began trembling pitifully. Only after losing both feet did he realize Kang Jin-Ho wasn’t bluffing. Unfortunately, his brain was wrecked by the intense pain and couldn’t come up with an adequate excuse.

“Think,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

...And then, he broke Chen Hui’s shin bones.

Like frail rice crackers, human bones got snapped and broken into bits.

The pain exceeding human imaginations repeatedly slammed into Chen Hui’s brain. His eyes rolled back, and his whole body shook and spasmed.

“Come on, think. Find a reason why I must let you live. I’m also desperately searching for that reason, you see? But...”

Cruuuunch!

Chen Hui’s knee bent the wrong way next.

“I just can’t think of one.”

Ironically enough, Chen Hui might have walked away from here unscathed had he pointed a gun at Kang Jin-Ho’s face instead. As a matter of fact, he might have still survived even after laying out a trap and injuring Kang Jin-Ho.

Unfortunately, what he had done here was crossing a line he shouldn’t have.

Not even the Crimson King and Cai Kechang dared to lay a hand on the people around Kang Jin-Ho. That was because anyone sane wouldn’t want to deal with an enraged tiger running wild for revenge.

Chen Hui didn’t know that.

Although it was too late now, Chen Hui bet his everything and searched for a way to reverse this situation. Countless words exploded from his mouth like a local dialect, interspersed with wretched screams.

Too bad for him, however, none of those words reached Kang Jin-Ho.

“Come on. Summarize what you’re saying.”

Cruuunch!

Chen Hui’s thigh bones snapped in half. No, not snapped, but crushed.

Chen Hui’s jaw flew open. This time, he couldn’t even scream. All he could do was to spasm in eerie silence. Blood vessels in his eyes had burst by then, dyeing the whites of his eyes crimson. Blood leaking out intermingled with his tears and trickled down his face.

He must explain. He must desperately explain and convince Kang Jin-Ho!

Unfortunately, that only happened in his head. Incomprehensible yells and howls exploded from his mouth instead. He screamed, then spasmed in silence, before rambling some incomprehensible things.

Kang Jin-Ho emotionlessly stared at the delirious Chen Hui.

“I... I! I...”

That was when Chen Hui spat out something that sounded like proper words.

But Kang Jin-Ho still grabbed Chen Hui’s hand. And the Chinese man spasmed violently again when that happened. Because he knew what would happen next to his hand.

Cruuuunch!

As if his right hand had been placed under a large pressing machine, it got completely crushed. The skin and flesh ruptured, and crushed bits of bones leaked outside along with all the blood.

“They... They! They... kill... you... danger...”

“Wrong,” said Kang Jin-Ho disinterestedly.

“...!”

Kang Jin-Ho grabbed Chen Hui’s shoulder and muttered, “Good news for you, I have thought of a reason why I must spare you. Isn’t that nice?”

Light quickly returned to Chen Hui’s eyes.

CRACK!!!

But that light quickly faded when his shoulder bones were crushed. After utterly destroying both of Chen Hui’s arms, Kang Jin-Ho yanked the Chinese man very close.

The sight of a human being flailing about like a boneless mollusk was truly bizarre to behold.

“Your job now is to deliver my message. Provoke me, and this will be the price you pay. This won’t be the end, though. Use that mouth of yours, and your body, to let them know what will happen to anyone who crosses the line. Make sure they all understand.”

Kang Jin-Ho finally let go.

Plop!

Chen Hui crashed to the floor and resumed spasming pitifully.

“You used your head and mouth to climb this high up the hierarchy,” said Kang Jin-Ho while staring coldly at Chen Hui. He sounded like a judge announcing a criminal’s punishment. “And now, you’ll really have to rely on your head and mouth to survive. Maybe that will be more convenient for you.”

“Aaah...! Awuoouo... Ach...!”

Chen Hui figured out what Kang Jin-Ho was talking about and spasmed even more violently.

All four of his limbs were crushed. He’d never be able to go back to how things were, no matter how good the treatment he received was!

“Kill... Kill me...!”

“No,” Kang Jin-Ho smirked while baring his fangs. “I don’t condone killing powerless

normal

people, you see? No need to thank me on that one.”

𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Sometimes, dying was more preferable to living.