Kang Jin-Ho asked incredulously. "Tax?"

Lee Hyeon-Ju nodded weightily. "Yes, sir. Tax."

"You want to pay tax?"

"Yes."

Kang Jin-Ho dazedly stared at Lee Hyeon-Ju and repeated what he said again. "Us paying tax?"

Lee Hyeon-Ju patiently responded, "Yes, sir."

"Huh. Uh…"

Kang Jin-Ho began to seriously mull on what he just heard. He usually wouldn't mull anything like this in front of so many people, but what Lee Hyeon-Ju said made it impossible to stick to that rule.

'Paying taxes, eh?'

Tax? An organization of martial artists paying tax to the government?

Kang Jin-Ho's head tilted at a bizarre angle. An innocuous little word, 'tax,' managed to kick his brain into overdrive until steam was about to come out of his ears!

"When you say tax…" Lee Hyeon-Su acted before Kang Jin-Ho could reply by rebuking Lee Hyeon-Ju. "...Surely, you don't mean the act of handing over a portion of the profit we earned during our business activities to the government?"

"No, that's the one," said Lee Hyeon-Ju.

"...You seriously want us to pay that tax?"

"Yes."

Lee Hyeon-Su broke into a bright smile. It was so radiant that looking at his expression could even warm the cockles of one's heart! Although, what he said next didn't exactly match his expression.

"Have you gone insane?!" Lee Hyeon-Su yelled loudly. "Are you trying to win us that honest taxpayer benefit thing? Is that it?! If not, why are you trying to dump all that money in front of the tax collectors when the government hasn't even told us to cough it up?! Did the government promise you to give you a star for behaving like a good little kid?!"

"Of course not," said Lee Hyeon-Ju flatly.

"Then, why?!" Lee Hyeon-Su roared, his eyes burning like a pair of suns.

However, his murderous glare only caused a vein to bulge on Lee Hyeon-Ju's forehead. "Excuse me, Chief Lee?"

"What!"

"...We're in the middle of a meeting, so please keep it down. We're all adults here, so let us try to control our emotions a little better and focus on the topic at hand, shall we? Take a seat first and calm down, please. If you don't want to die, that is."

"…!" Lee Hyeon-Su instantly grew silent, then sheepishly sat back on his chair.

Once the situation had been 'resolved' somewhat, the cogs in Kang Jin-Ho's brain began spinning again. An unexpected development had interrupted his train of thought, but his mind was working as intended now.

"Okay, so…" Kang Jin-Ho furrowed his brow. Paying tax, was it? His unreadable gaze locked on Lee Hyeon-Ju next. "You want us to pay taxes?"

"Yes, Assembly Master."

Kang Jin-Ho scratched his cheek.

'Huh. Paying tax?'

In a way, the idea of paying taxes shouldn't be so controversial. Then again, it was also true that he had never considered doing so until now. Why? Because he had never met any martial artist who paid taxes during his past life. Or this one, for that matter.

Quite obviously, the demon cult didn't pay any tax. If the emperor had demanded tax payments from the cult, Kang Jin-Ho would've lobbed that fool's head off and played soccer with it. If the emperor wanted to keep enjoying his life, he should pay the cult instead!

'Hold on. I think I do remember receiving tributes back in Zhongyuan…'

Now that he thought about this topic some more, didn't Kang Jin-Ho frequently receive gifts from the emperor back then? However, those gifts usually contained things like grain and other necessities. In that case, wouldn't it be more correct to say they were bribes instead?

In any case…! Kang Jin-Ho didn't pay any tax back then. He could even say the government paid him a 'protection tax' instead!

However, this situation didn't only happen to the demon cult. Kang Jin-Ho couldn't recall hearing about Shaolin or Wudang paying taxes before either. In fact, the government would financially reward the sects and clans if they had achieved some great feat.

In conclusion…

'...Martial artists are existences that never pay but always get paid.'

What a sad but true reality that was.

When analyzed from society's point of view, martial artists were creatures that didn't produce anything but constantly consumed resources. One could even say martial artists were parasites feeding on other people's hard work.

But now, they should pay tax?

"...Why should we?" Kang Jin-Ho asked, his still gaze locked on Lee Hyeon-Ju.

As far as he knew, this woman was not a dummy. Nor was she overflowing with a sense of morality, either. Everything she recommended always directly benefited the Martial Assembly. In that case, she must've had a good reason for bringing this topic up.

Lee Hyeon-Ju nodded. "It's because we will benefit from doing so."

Even before Kang Jin-Ho could respond, Lee Hyeon-Su yelled loudly first. "Say what?!"

However, Kang Jin-Ho raised his hand slightly to cut Lee Hyeon-Su off. Once Lee Hyeon-Su obediently zipped his lips shut, Kang Jin-Ho glanced at him and spoke firmly. "Call Wiggins."

***

"Hoh-oh?" Wiggins smirked, his curious gaze locked on Lee Hyeon-Ju. "So, you suggested we should pay tax?"

"Yes, sir."

Currently, all the other heads of departments had left the meeting venue. Since this discussion was deemed sensitive, continuing it in the presence of everyone was not going to happen. So, only Kang Jin-Ho, Lee Hyeon-Su, Lee Hyeon-Ju, and Wiggins were present.

Vator, Chang Min, and Bang Jin-Hun were obviously qualified enough to attend, but their presence wouldn't have added much to the discussion. Besides, they weren't really interested in the financial side of the Assembly's operation, anyway.

"Good. Very good…" Wiggins nodded as if something had greatly amused him. "So, you want us to pay taxes? What is your reason for saying that?"

The way Wiggins smiled reminded everyone sitting here of an aging professor pampering a promising talented student in his class.

"First of all…" Lee Hyeon-Ju glanced briefly at Lee Hyeon-Su. "Allow me to say that it's only the first reason. There is a person here who can't help but interject at the first opportunity and grind the proceedings to a halt, you see?"

"Yes, yes. I agree that rudely interrupting another person is a terrible habit," Wiggins nodded weightily.

"Urgh…" Lee Hyeon-Su let out a soft groan, but no one paid attention to him.

Wiggins continued to address Lee Hyeon-Ju. "So, mind telling us why you've brought up this seemingly nonsensical idea?"

"The first reason is ethics. Since we're making money, isn't it obvious we should pay taxes, too?"

"Yes, it is obvious. So obvious, in fact, that it's not even a reason anymore. Wouldn't you agree, Miss Lee?"

"Yes, I do."

Wiggins leaned back in his chair. "Then, let us stop skirting around and get to the core of the matter, shall we? Why do you wish to pay taxes?"

Lee Hyeon-Ju nodded. "It's because… Our scope of activity is narrowing, sir."

"The scope of activity?"

"Yes," Lee Hyeon-Ju replied, then turned her head to stare at Kang Jin-Ho. She was implying that, even if Wiggins had asked her, the answer was meant for Kang Jin-Ho's ears. "The times have changed, sir. I'm sure the recent events helped you realize that. It's increasingly getting harder to stay under the radar."

"Hmm…" Kang Jin-Ho narrowed his eyes and stared at Lee Hyeon-Ju. "Why do you think that?"

"As I've said before, the changing of the eras is the culprit, sir."

"Eras change all the time. And for everyone, too. It's not like only our situation has changed, now is it?"

"Our situation is rather different from our neighbor's, sir. First of all, the Chinese or European martial organizations can easily hide in their vast territories. Compared to those nations, South Korea basically has no abandoned, unoccupied land available."

"I see. What about Japan, though?"

"Japan has already finished legalizing it, sir. And now, even the Yakuza pay taxes. The days of collecting protection money to survive have long been over for them. They might still be shady dealings happening behind closed doors, but on the surface at least, they operate as fully-legal business entities."

Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded after recalling hearing about that in the past.

"Assembly Master, sir…" Lee Hyeon-Ju sucked in a deep breath. "The amount of money we handle has grown explosively. We will run into a wall by continuing to operate as we have."

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Kang Jin-Ho sighed ruefully. "My bad, but…"

"Sir?"

"I don't know what you mean by continuing to operate as we have. I know it's kinda inconvenient for everyone, but do you mind explaining it in detail for me?"

"Of course, I'll be happy to," said Lee Hyeon-Ju, then smartly pushed forward one stack of documents each to Kang Jin-Ho, Lee Hyeon-Su, and Wiggins. Anyone with a functioning brain could guess that she had come prepared for today's discussion.

"The Martial Assembly acquires most of its capital in three ways," said Lee Hyeon-Ju in a clear voice. "The first revenue stream is collecting rent from all the buildings and other real estate the Assembly owns throughout the country. We also pocket the profit by buying and selling property depending on the market situation, but most of the revenue is still from the rent."

"Mm…"

"The second revenue stream is various businesses the Assembly operates. Although other people are running them as our proxies. Basically, we've delegated the management of these business entities to people we trust and pocket a fixed amount of profit."

"Why the cumbersome method?"

"Because they have been acquired through extra-legal means, sir," said Lee Hyeon-Ju flatly. "The former Assembly Master resorted to all sorts of business ventures to earn funds to operate the Assembly. Only a handful of business types don't involve declaring your earnings to the taxman, and I'm sure I don't need to explain what they are."

Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded to indicate that she didn't have to. He wasn't trying to be considerate toward Lee Hyeon-Ju, but some things should still be off-limits as human beings. One of those things was not forcing someone to speak ill of their grandparents.

"Okay, got it. And what's the last one?" Kang Jin-Ho curiously asked.

"The third revenue stream is 'donations' coming in from all the Assembly-affiliated clans and sects, sir. It'd be more correct to call it a membership fee, though."

"There was a such thing?" Kang Jin-Ho blinked his eyes in stupefaction.

"Yes. Although it might sound trifling and absurd, the amount collected that way can be surprisingly high."

"Huh. Are you telling me that people who are members of the Assembly must pay the membership fee… Even though we pay them their monthly wages?"

"Yes, sir."

What an absurd system that was, indeed! And the fact that no one tried to fix this system seemed even more absurd to Kang Jin-Ho.

"I see… So, what is the problem with this arrangement?"

"The era has changed, sir. Even though the Assembly's coffers are still robust, our revenue has seen a quite clear drop over the years."

"Mm?"

"Taking inflation into consideration, we can unequivocally say the Assembly's revenue has halved in the last two decades. The biggest factor in this decline can be attributed to the Assembly no longer dealing with various illegal business ventures.

"In the past, this organization was prepared to do practically anything to make money. It even resorted to selling drugs at one point."

Kang Jin-Ho furrowed his brow. Selling drugs? Even though the Martial Assembly was supposed to be a sect that martial artists called home?

Even if it was centered around violence, a sect was clearly different from organized criminal syndicates. Also, wasn't the Assembly created as a place for martial artists to come together to reach the peak of cultivation? So, to think such an organization sold drugs!

"They crossed the line, then," said Kang Jin-Ho.

"Yes. It was something only human garbage would've done," Lee Hyeon-Ju unhesitantly replied. She remained ruthless, even though they were discussing her grandfather's dark history.

"That wasn't all, sir. Before Director Bang Jin-Hun became the new Assembly Master and stabilized the situation within the Assembly… Our other revenue stream was acting as a fixer."

"Fixer, you say?"

"Yes. Basically, we'd receive commissions from powerful figures of the surface world or underworld organizations and eliminate certain people for them."

"...So, similar to a masterless wandering warrior, then?" Kang Jin-Ho chuckled in dismay.

'This is worse than I thought.'

Not even the demon cult back in ancient Zhongyuan would've taken on such work. Only those wandering vagabonds in need of money or the members of the Dark Society would stoop so low. Neither of those groups were treated like human beings back then.

Did that mean the modern era had become less ethical?

'No, that's not it.'

Humans weren't the ones that changed, but their values and morals did. It was just that the importance of money had skyrocketed these days compared to the ancient past.

"I see. So, in conclusion…" Kang Jin-Ho nodded, then tried to summarize what he heard. "The Assembly's revenue has fallen sharply after we stopped doing illegal things. Is that it?"

Lee Hyeon-Ju frowned slightly. "Yes, sir. To be more precise, we can't even properly collect that sharply fallen revenue."

"And why is that?"

"It's because everything has gone online, sir. To avoid the taxman cottoning onto our activities, we must keep using cash, but exchanging large sums of cold, hard cash is no longer viable in our current era. Also, it has become so much harder to disguise the earnings from our shell companies. As a result, we're consistently failing to recover those earnings."

Kang Jin-Ho silently stared at Lee Hyeon-Ju for a few seconds before asking her in a still voice. "So, in conclusion?"

"Assembly Master, sir…" Lee Hyeon-Ju quickly sucked in a deep breath. At the same time, her hands resting on her lap clenched into tight fists. It was as if she was psyching herself up to reveal the most important truth of this world.

Eventually, she raised her voice.

"I believe the Martial Assembly must be re-molded into a lawfully-recognized entity. It's about time we leave the shadows and join the surface world, sir."

When Lee Hyeon-Su heard Lee Hyeon-Ju's determined speech, he naturally had to provide a commentary perfectly matching his character.

"...Yup, she's gone totally nuts."

Even Kang Jin-Ho almost blurted out his agreement just then.