Chapter 850: Intimidate (5)

Cheon Tae-Hun stared weirdly at the stack of A4 papers Bang Jin-Hun had passed on to him.

“Master, are these all...?”

“That's right!” Bang Jin-Hun replied curtly, his expression filled with hotly burning fervor.

Yes, that was undoubtedly fervor. But this fervor seemed a bit...

‘...A bit like he’s totally pissed off?’

Bang Jin-Hun didn’t look like a man who had finally created a new cultivation technique after racking his brain over and over again. His expression was more like...

‘...Right. It’s like I’m looking at a university study group captain saddled with a group project!’

Yes, that was the face of a captain who, despite everyone in the group receiving their share of the workload and promising to do their best, couldn't contact several of his group as the deadline approached. And those whom he could contact had handed in utter garbage that even kindergartners would refuse to submit out of shame!

So, the captain had to stay up all night to defeat all the evils trying to destroy him and managed to complete the group project. And now... he was heading to the podium to announce the project's results. Yes, that was the expression on Bang Jin-Hun's face!

Cheon Tae-Hun narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the messy expression of satisfaction and anger on Bang Jin-Hun's face. “...Master, did something happen? Like, something bad?”

“Nope. Everything is great.”

“Master?”

“The problem is that it’s been too damn great!” Bang Jin-Hun loudly gritted his teeth. “Waaaaay, tooooo, daaaaamn, great! And that’s the f*cking problem!”

“...” Cheon Tae-Hun clamped his mouth shut. He could roughly guess what happened.

“Listen, Tae-Hun.”

“Yes, master?”

“See, the thing with people? You gotta have your wits about you. You gotta be flexible!”

“...I’m sorry?”

“It's not like I've created several cultivation techniques before, right? So, how the hell can anyone expect me to create something perfect from the get-go?! That's what I'm trying to say!”

Cheon Tae-Hun clamped his mouth shut again.

When someone above you in the pay grade was bad-mouthing someone else further up the food chain, you could respond in one of two ways. One, you could give your everything to kissing ass to create an even tighter bond with the irate higher-up. Or, alternatively...

‘I’m sh*t scared of what might happen later, so... Let’s just keep my mouth shut.’

If Bang Jin-Hun's target was Vator or Wiggins, Cheon Tae-Hun might have participated in this bad-mouthing session. After all, Cheon Tae-Hun was Bang Jin-Hun's direct disciple, wasn't he! Since his master was insulting someone, he should do his part as a good disciple and add more spice to the proceedings.

However, bad-mouthing Kang Jin-Ho proved too much of a burden.

Even so, Cheon Tae-Hun decided to say something before things got out of hand. “Sir... You got the result you wanted, so isn’t it all good?”

“...Look here, man.”

“Master?”

Bang Jin-Hun wordlessly turned around, then brushed the back of his skull up.

“Heol...?!” Cheon Tae-Hun’s eyes powerfully quaked. He could see a clear patch of ‘white’ flesh among Bang Jin-Hun’s hair. No, that wasn’t right. There were two such empty patches the size of a 500 Won coin on Bang Jin-Hun’s scalp!

“Can you see them? Huh? Can you?”

“W-what...? How? Master...?”

“The doctor said it’s hair loss from extreme stress,” Bang Jin-Hun muttered while holding his head. “Holy cow, a martial artist suffering from stress-related hair loss... In the shape of a coin, no less... Have you ever heard of a crap like that before? Have you?”

Cheon Tae-Hun was left speechless. For sure, he had never heard of a martial artist suffering from patchy hair loss until today. Just how bad the stress must’ve been for Bang Jin-Hun to suffer from such a disaster!

“At this rate, Imma kick the bucket before I get the chance to finish anything! You hear me?!”

“P-please, calm down, master,” Cheon Tae-Hun hurriedly raised his voice in an attempt to console Bang Jin-Hun. “Bald patches like those aren't anything to worry about, master. I'm sure they’ll heal on their own soon enough. Although, the top of your head does look a bit thinner than before...”

“What was that, you brat?!”

“...M-my apologies,” Cheon Tae-Hun hurriedly faltered and lowered his head when Bang Jin-Hun glared daggers at him.

Not many things in this world were as scary as a baldy whose baldness had been pointed out. The baldy in this situation would instantly fall into a berserk state, much like a dragon angrily destroying the world after its reverse scale was touched!

“You better watch your damn piehole, you hear me?!”

“I'm sorry, master.”

“Tsk!” Bang Jin-Hun tutted loudly, then pointed at the A4 document stack with his chin. “So? What do you think?”

“Rather than what I think...” Cheon Tae-Hun frowned and smacked his lips. “Shouldn’t we, you know, try to make it more formal? This is supposed to be a secret manual for the Assembly, not some kid’s scribbling on recycled paper, so printing them out like this is a bit...”

Bang Jin-Hun grumbled loudly. “So what? Should I hand it over to a publisher and have them print it for us? While telling them this document contains foundational martial art techniques for the Martial Assembly?”

“Even so, at least binding them would be...”

“This is still a rough prototype, okay! Not a finished article!”

Cheon Tae-Hun sighed in defeat.

Bang Jin-Hun always had this unreasonable side to him. Then again, this hard-headed attitude was what enabled him to stand up against Lee Jung-Geol when the latter still had a total grip on the Martial Assembly. However, it was also true that Bang Jin-hun's unreasonableness seemed to have worsened recently.

‘This is why you need to be careful with whom you become friends with!’

It was as if Bang Jin-Hun’s personality changed after he started hanging out with the ‘wrong’ sort of crowd!

“Mm... I'm not sure,” said Cheon Tae-Hun while perusing the documents.

“Take your time reading it, okay?”

“...Master, if I had the discernment to break down and analyze a secret manual, I wouldn't be living like this.”

“...And who informed you?”

“What do you mean, who? Didn’t I already tell you? Our uber-talented Assembly Master, obviously.”

Cheon Tae-Hun’s eyes quaked subtly again. Kang Jin-Ho verified it?

“Really, sir?”

“Hah... Will you listen to this damn brat?”

Judging from Bang Jin-Hun's response, it didn't seem like he was lying here. In that case, the story would have to change. And drastically, too.

That was because Cheon Tae-Hun viewed Kang Jin-Ho as a man of zero empty compliments. Kang Jin-Ho was the type to torment his underlings by telling them to start over instead of offering inflated evaluations on a martial art that didn’t meet his standards.

‘In other words, this cultivation method, it...’

Cheon Tae-Hun stared at the documents, still unable to see anything remarkable about it.

Bang Jin-Hun grunted. “That’s what orthodox cultivation is like. Or have you already forgotten?”

Cheon Tae-Hun slowly nodded. Yes, this was an orthodox cultivation method. And the orthodox cultivation was all about steadily building one's foundation.

A cultivator was supposed to lay the foundation again and again until it became sturdy enough to support a tower high enough to touch the heavens. That was the orthodox cultivation’s principle.

Rather than effectiveness or efficiency, it rewarded diligence and dedication.

“Master... I think mastering this cultivation method will take a long time.”

“The Assembly Master said he had done something about that, too. Don't ask me what he did because I don't know either. Sure, I may have created this thing, but the core and all the important bits were cooked up by that dude, you see.”

“Oh. In that case, I guess I can trust...”

“What the hell? You wanna die?”

“...My apologies.”

Cheon Tae-Hun’s grip on the secret manual tightened noticeably.

Bang Jin-Hun smirked at how Cheon Tae-Hun was barely reining in his excitement.

‘Hah, this brat. Yeah, I can see how much you wanna celebrate.’

Either way, it was fine with Bang Jin-Hun. It didn't matter to him whose name was on the cover of this secret manual. He only cared about the young martial artists, who had been feeling left out and alienated by the recent events, standing back up again through this martial art.

Improvements in various small parts wouldn't be quite enough at the end of the day. If Bang Jin-Hun and Co. were serious about strengthening the Martial Assembly's combat capabilities, those left behind had to be pulled up as well.

Cheon Tae-Hun expectantly asked Bang Jin-Hun. “When will we start?”

“I still need a little more time.”

“Why? What’s the delay?”

“Listen here, you brat! How am I supposed to teach everyone by myself? We need at least ten people. We gotta find ten elders good enough to act as instructors so I can impart this method to them. Then they can start teaching everyone else!”

“But, master? Why can't you teach us directly?”

Bang Jin-Hun slapped his forehead in disbelief. “What the... Where would everyone gather, then? Besides, even though I know I can be super loud, I'm not loud enough for everyone to hear me, okay?”

“None of those things are an obstacle to us. In that case, let us begin tomorrow, master.”

“...Didn’t you hear what I said?”

“Yes, I heard you.”

Bang Jin-Hun frowned deeply. “Then, why are you like this?”

“Trust me on this, master. I can take care of everything.”

“What? How?”

Cheon Tae-Hun smirked triumphantly. “As long as everyone can see and hear you, it should be fine, yes? If the pupils run into walls or can’t understand something, they can always ask an elder during their spare time. Assuming that elders would master the cultivation faster than everyone else, of course.”

Bang Jin-Hun was taken aback. “Uh, o-okay?”

“Then, isn’t everything already sorted out?”

Bang Jin-Hun tilted his head in confusion as he watched a bright grin spread on Cheon Tae-Hun’s face. He couldn’t figure out what this brat was saying. “What the hell... What is it that you want me to do? Grab a mic or something?”

“Master, sir...!” Cheon Tae-Hun resolutely corrected Bang Jin-Hun. "The era has changed, sir. You should also do your best to get used to the ways of the modern world.”

“...Huh?”

“Have you heard of the... online tutoring, sir?"

“Eh?”

The triumphant smirk on Cheon Tae-Hun's face deepened. “That will solve your problem. You can teach everyone as if they are all in the same classroom as you. They can also watch your demonstrations. Besides, everyone taking part will be a martial artist, sir. It won't be our first rodeo, so everyone should be able to keep up with the teachings.”

“...”

“Allow me to attempt the first-ever online video lecture in Murim's history. How about we set up a company, sir? What do you think about calling it... Giga Murim Study?”[1]

“...I have no idea what you're on about, you crazy brat!”[2]

And so, the debut of Bang Jin-Hun as a new streamer had been decided.

Revolutions and reforms usually tormented the old folks the most—especially those who tried to cling to the old ways!

1. I've no idea what the author is referencing here. Although, there is a YouTube channel called Giga Study English in Korean. Also, MegaStudy is a well-known Korean online academy, so it might have something to do with that? ☜

2. It seems I'm not alone in my confusion, then... ☜