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Chapter 448: Challenging (3)

–Indeed, Knight Leveaux. We all must learn from Knight Leveaux\'s spirit of sacrifice for the sake of our Round Table.

Master nodded contemplatively, offering his words of support for Leveaux. Wiggins\' expression under his mask distorted even further, but he still didn\'t say anything.

–You can rest easy, Master. As I\'ve been entrusted with such a grave matter... I shall ensure its success.

–Mm. The Round Table\'s will shall be with you, Knight Leveaux.

Now that the discussion had more or less wrapped up, Master decided to end the video conference with simple parting words.

–And that shall conclude our conference on East Asia\'s situation. All knights shall abide by the Round Table\'s decision. And you shall also provide all the support deemed necessary to Knight Leveaux as he takes the lead in this task.

–Yes, Master.

–Understood.

–Well, then. Good day to you all.

The monitor containing Master\'s image flickered before turning off. That prompted other monitors to turn off almost at the same time. The still-fuming Wiggins was reaching out toward his camera to turn it off, but Leveaux suddenly stopped him.

–Please wait, Knight Wiggins.

“...What is it, Knight Leveaux?”

–I require related information.

“Have I not already give you my report? If you require written documents, you will have it soon.”

–Not only that, but all the other data Pawn Elena has collected on her own accord, as well.

“...!”

Knight Leveaux shrugged.

–She is a much more talented operative than you give her credit for. A warning from someone like her... Well, I certainly can\'t afford to miss that, now can I?

“...You shall have it right away.”

–I thank you for your cooperation, Knight Wiggins. Let the blessing of the Round Table be with you.

Just as the image of brightly-beaming Leveaux disappeared from the monitor... Wiggins suddenly slammed his fist into the screen in anger.

Boom!

The sudden boom exploding from Wiggins\' office shocked Purvis on standby outside, and he hurriedly rushed inside.

“S-sir?” Purvis\' expression stiffened as he alternated his gaze between the smoking monitor with a hole in its screen and Wiggins angrily huffing away.

“That... That stinking French bastard!” Wiggins\' entire figure shuddered from his barely-contained rage. “I will never forget this indignity! I swear it!”

“Sir! Please calm yourself.”

“...Yes, I should.” Wiggins groaned before shaking his head.

Purvis smartly retrieved a can of beer from the office\'s refrigerator, poured it into a glass and presented it before Wiggins.

Wiggins stared at the golden liquid with bubbles foaming on top in silence before sighing again. “...I deserved it.”

“Sir? Did you... say something?”

“Tsk,” Wiggins tutted loudly. “Elena\'s my daughter, so it\'s fine for me to be hard on her. However, I won\'t allow others to do that. If I don\'t pass on my own daughter\'s observations, who else will?”

“Knight Wiggins, sir…”

“Don\'t misunderstand me, Purvis,” Wiggins shook his head. “This is... not love between a father and his daughter. The Round Table is a sacred organization. An organization that has no time for our personal feelings. As you\'ve said before, Elena has excellent qualities as an operative. A knight is supposed to consider a Pawn\'s opinions, so I merely thought that... I shouldn\'t overlook her observation, that is all. Even if only ridicule waits for me at the end of the day.”

Purvis suddenly smiled brightly. “You made the correct decision, sir.”

“Tsk…” Wiggins tutted again before roughly chugging the beer down and loudly placing the empty glass on the desk. He wiped the edges of his mouth and glanced at Purvis. “Now that things have come down to this... I hope that Kang Jin-Ho is as dangerous as Elena has observed. If he is, the French knight order will have to suffer some losses in personnel.”

Purvis frowned slightly. “...Sir.”

“That was a joke, Purvis. No need to glare at me like that,” Wiggins grunted while burying himself deeper into his chair. \'However... What if Elena\'s observation was not an exaggeration?\'

A sudden bout of anxiety filled up Wiggins\' mind.

\'I should speak to Master in private as soon as possible.\'

Although the chances were slim, the Round Table didn\'t allow even the smallest odds of mistakes to slip past its members.

“...For now, we need to concentrate on dealing with all the accumulated work first. I will have to free up around two days out of my schedule at this rate...”

“Understood, sir.” Purvis nodded before rushing outside the office.

Wiggins hurriedly shouted at him. “And bring me some aspirin on your way back!”

“...Yes, sir.”

Once Purvis was gone, Wiggins sunk deeper into his chair while massaging his face.

\'Kang Jin-Ho, Kang Jin-Ho...\'

When looking at what Kang Jin-Ho had achieved in his country and what Elena had said... One thing seemed to be certain about that man.

\'...Kang Jin-Ho should be a very dangerous individual, indeed.\'

Wiggins had never met Kang Jin-Ho. He only had a report and a handful of photographs depicting the Korean\'s face. That was about it. Even then, it still felt like Wiggins had already encountered Kang Jin-Ho in person.

\'A bomb that shouldn\'t be touched, is it...?\'

Wiggins\' heart shuddered from a sudden chill after recalling that warning from his daughter.

***

“Eh…” Kang Jin-Ho, the subject of intense scrutiny by Knight Wiggins, was currently stuck in a troublesome dilemma. He glanced at Bang Jin-Hun and cautiously asked a question. “So, uh... The message was delivered properly, yes?”

Bang Jin-Hun\'s expression was cramped. “Yes, of course. But, uh...”

Kang Jin-Ho scratched the back of his head while taking in the spectacle happening before his eyes.

“Stop pushing me, you bi*tch. Wanna die?”

“F*ck off, b*tch. Everyone here is prepared to die, right? So, shut the hell up.”

“Hah? I guess you wanna die even before the training, then?”

“F*ck it! You, come outside, now! Imma rip your head off today!”

Bang Jin-Hun groaned deeply. If this was any other, more \'normal\' situation, he\'d have severely punished those openly acting hostile like these idiots. He placed great importance on the harmony and unity between the former Yeongnam Group members and the Martial Assembly, after all.

Of course, he knew that the intense emotions going back decades wouldn\'t allow such a thing to happen so soon. That was precisely why Bang Jin-Hun had to play hardball about this.

However, he couldn\'t say anything toward those two martial artists baring their fangs at each other and growling menacingly away. Hoping that the unhappy tigers trapped in a small cage wouldn\'t fight each other was... when kindly put, being delusional.

“I said, stop pushing, you f*cking dimwits! I\'ll really f*cking kill you, you hear me?!”

“Who the f*ck do you think you are, b*tch? Stop running your trap, will ya?”

“What the f*ck did you say, you piece of sh*t? You want a piece of this?!”

Bang Jin-Hun\'s soulless eyes shifted to Kang Jin-Ho next. That prompted Kang Jin-Ho to sheepishly turn his head away to avoid the Assembly Master\'s hollow gaze.

“So, Mister Jin-Ho. A small number of elites, you say?”

“That was the plan, yes. But, uh...”

“I know that \'small\' is a subjective point of view, but it might not be technically correct to call this number of people small, wouldn\'t you say?”

Kang Jin-Ho was left with nothing to retort with. A small slip-up from his side meant the Yeongnam Branch people didn\'t get the memo to assemble, so Kang Jin-Ho extended the deadline for one more day. He figured there was no helping it if the new deadline resulted in even fewer applicants from the Martial Assembly. After all, what he did was the same as giving them more time to change their minds.

Besides, it was never a good idea to accept applicants for something this grave on two separate occasions, anyway. That was because some thoughtless idiots might get too competitive for their own good after seeing the first set of applicants and decide they would also like to receive Kang Jin-Ho\'s training.

So, the number of applicants should\'ve dropped, but...

“So, Assembly Master Bang...?” Kang Jin-Ho scanned the crowd figuratively filling the auditorium to the brim and quizzically asked Bang Jin-Hun. “Why do we have so many people here?”

“Why are you asking me that? I didn\'t do anything, you know?”

“It\'s just that I can\'t understand this phenomenon, you see...”

“Mm... Well...”

The auditorium had turned into pandemonium. Only tense nervousness densely filled this place yesterday, but now? After bringing together the most hot-blooded youths from the Yeongnam Branch and the Martial Assembly under one roof, the atmosphere rapidly devolved to the point where a huge brawl might break out any second!

“Mister Jin-Ho, does it look like they got your message?”

“Well, it seems that way.”

“Then... There can only be one reason for this mess.”

“Mm?” Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head.

Bang Jin-Hun smirked deeply. “They most likely didn\'t think you were being serious about dying during the training. They must see you as a pushover, otherwise we wouldn\'t have this many people showing up today. Wouldn\'t you say? Keheheheheh!”

“...!” Kang Jin-Ho\'s eyes twitched ominously. \'A pushover? I am?\'

What kind of nonsense was that? No one had ever dared to call him that in his life so far, so why now?

Kang Jin-Ho was a lot more familiar with adjectives like \'cruel\', \'vicious\', \'heartless\', and \'scarier than evil demons\'. As such, he never thought words like \'pushover\' would ever be associated with his name in his lifetime. However...

\'Well, I can\'t fault them for that.\'

Of course, these people must\'ve had good reasons for deciding to come here today. Good reasons that didn\'t have anything to do with Kang Jin-Ho being a pushover or not.

Kang Jin-Ho couldn\'t really figure out how these people operated. Then again, he still found it difficult to fully understand the mentality of the modern era\'s younger generation, anyway.

Despite knowing all that, though...

“Come outside, now! You f*cking punk! Imma make me some skipping ropes with your goddamn intestines today, you hear me?! I was worried about gaining weight lately, so this is f*cking great!”

“Hah! A fat pig like you exercising? You better not unless you wanna cause an earthquake with you skipping around like a moron! Besides, you look like the type to sweat all the meat gravy away while walking around, so why bother with such an intense workout? Amateurs like you are supposed to start with gentle exercises, you see? Don\'t you worry, little pig, cuz this big bro will teach you today!”

“You motherf*cking son of a b*tch?! Why am I wasting time with a goddamn hillbilly?”

“Hah, listen to this weakling running his mouth off!”

Kang Jin-Ho slightly furrowed his brow. Of course, these people must\'ve had different reasons for coming here today. However, they wouldn\'t have bared their fangs and bickered like that in front of Kang Jin-Ho unless... Unless they really saw him as a pushover, just like Bang Jin-Hun said earlier!

Kang Jin-Ho\'s dazed gaze drifted toward the ceiling.

\'Mm... Things were better back in Zhongyuan...\'

Back then, Kang Jin-Ho was overflowing with dignity, authority and prestige. Even if he didn\'t try to exude those qualities outwardly, people still recognized Kang Jin-Ho\'s greatness and worshiped him all on their own.

Kang Jin-Ho never, ever thought that his life back in Zhongyuan was \'better\' than the one in the modern era. Not even for one second. However, at this moment... Kang Jin-Ho suddenly began missing his subordinates who obediently did everything necessary without him saying a word.

When Kang Jin-Ho lost himself to the sorrow of becoming a pushover and couldn\'t say anything, Bang Jin-Hun subtly pulled him back to reality and urged him as gently as possible. “Mister Jin-Ho. How about... Mm, Calming this situation down somehow...?”

“Sure thing...” Kang Jin-Ho briefly nodded. He then stepped forward toward the crowd. “Okay, so...!”

Thankfully, it seemed Kang Jin-Ho still had some clout left with these younger-generation martial artists. The noisy auditorium instantly quietened down when the people occupying it realized Kang Jin-Ho was about to address them.

“Is everyone here to receive my teachings?” Kang Jin-Ho loudly asked.

“Yes, sir!!!” A chorus of energetic replies echoed in the auditorium.

“All of you?”

“Yes!”

Kang Jin-Ho\'s face rapidly became expressionless as he scanned the crowd again. “If any of you got half-carried away by the mood and unwillingly came here with the dumb resolutions like \'Others are going, too. I can\'t be the only one left behind.\'?...You can still leave. No one will criticize your decision.”

“No, sir! No one\'s like that here!”

“N-no, hang on. Let\'s not get swept up in the mob mentality and think more about...”

“No, sir! There is no need!”

Bang Jin-Hun tilted his head slightly and glanced at Kang Jin-Ho as the crowd roared back.

\'Hmm. He\'s kinda different from his usual self, isn\'t it...?\'

While thinking that Kang Jin-Ho\'s manner of speech seemed a little different from his usual self, Bang Jin-Hun narrowed his eyes and looked closer at Kang Jin-Ho. And that was when he spotted something suspicious.

\'...Is that a vein?\'

Indeed. There were veins visibly bulging on Kang Jin-Ho\'s forehead!

\'Huh? What\'s gotten him all so riled up?\'

Kang Jin-Ho continued to address the crowd as if he didn\'t know what Bang Jin-Hun was thinking about. “Okay, so... I take it that all of you don\'t care whether you live or die.”

“...”

That wasn\'t it, though...? The crowd instinctively knew they should say something, but that bizarre grin contorting Kang Jin-Ho\'s face froze them stiff.

\'R-right, his eyes aren\'t smiling.\'

\'He\'s not really smiling, now is he?!\'

Kang Jin-Ho spread his arms open. “I cannot afford to disappoint you all when so many of you deigned to show up today! Don\'t you worry, though! You shall get your wish.”

That smile looked cheerful on the outside, but the martial artists inside the auditorium all thought they were now stuck inside a horror movie. Some even thought that something somewhere had gone terribly wrong just now, but it was too late for them to escape from here.

Bang Jin-Hun helplessly shook his head. “I\'m telling you, what a twisted personality that is...”

“...Cough.”

Kang Jin-Ho chose not to say anything about that.