“Why the hell is this thing so slow?!”
“They said it's the fastest boat, though!”
“Fastest, my ass! A sloth can haul ass faster!”
“Calm down, will ya? Dammit, man...”
Even though people were grumbling unhappily behind him, Yi Myeong-Hwan paid them no mind.
‘Dammit. Why aren't we there yet?’
The only thing he could see was the endless stretch of the ocean. Maybe things might have been better had he come here during the daytime. At night, though? He couldn't see anything other than the dark surface of the water and the night sky maintaining a delicate boundary against the water on the distant horizon.
That made it so much harder to get a sense of how far this boat had come.
‘How long has it been since we departed?’
Yi Myeong-Hwan nervously chewed on his nails.
“Oi, Myeong-Hwan. Calm down, dude.”
“You think I can calm down in this situation?!” Yi Myeong-Hwan shot back at his comrade.
“Come on, now. I'm sure the Assembly Master had a plan when he went ahead with only a handful of people. Other than how thoughtless and reckless they are... You know he can be surprisingly calculative.”
Yi Myeong-Hwan groaned softly as he listened.
‘Calculative? My foot.’
Kang Jin-Ho's standing within the Martial Assembly was absolute. That was because he had never failed once since his first appearance. That wasn't all, either, as he was also responsible for the Martial Assembly's scarcely believable rate of improvement.
The Demon Flames could legitimately claim to be the biggest beneficiary of this improvement, so their loyalty and faith toward Kang Jin-Ho was unquestioning. The problem with such an undying, forged steel-like loyalty was that... Well, at least this time, it had become a little crooked as time went on!
These Demon Flames did not doubt Kang Jin-Ho. They didn’t even bother to consider the possibility that Kang Jin-Ho’s choice could be wrong.
‘It’s not like we’re in a cult or something, so what the heck...’
Too much of anything could be hazardous to one's well-being. And that included excessive faith in someone. With how things were going, if someone told the Demon Flames that Kang Jin-Ho could turn copper into gold, these fools might believe that ludicrous claim!
‘I mean, don’t you know what that dude is really like...?’
However, Yi Myeong-Hwan knew the truth. Despite his faith in Kang Jin-Ho, Yi Myeong-Hwan knew the latter could be such a hopeless nutcase. Things Kang Jin-Ho did were not based on watertight plans.
No, he simply did all those things under the assumption that he’d never, ever lose!
Up until now, everything worked out according to that belief of never losing to anyone. That was why Kang Jin-Ho could've accomplished all those extremely impressive feats. However, as demonstrated by the recent run-in with the Crimson King, this was a delicate balancing act.
Even a slight loss of equilibrium could plunge the acrobat into the depths of inescapable Hell.
Yi Myeong-Hwan had zero plans of watching this balancing act for the rest of his life without doing something about it first. From his perspective, he and Kang Jin-Ho were what he’d call fate mates.
Only by Kang Jin-Ho unwaveringly protecting his position could the Martial Assembly and Yi Myeong-Hwan continue growing stronger.
Yi Myeong-Hwan glared at his fellow Demon Flames. “You idiots...! What if the Assembly Master passes on for some reason?!”
“What the... Who’d be strong enough to kill that fella?”
“...What if the damn cruise ship sinks?”
“Eh?”
Yi Myeong-Hwan yelled in irritation. “What are you gonna do if some sh*t happens and that ship goes under? Even if the Assembly Master routinely defies our common sense, do you think he's strong enough to swim to the nearest shore from this far out? And do you think we can search for him in this darkness?”
The atmosphere in the ship rapidly grew gloomier.
“You are all mistaken about something here, okay? Let me remind you that the Assembly Master is a human just like us. Last time I checked, humans die all the time. You never know when you'll kick the bucket!”
“E-eii, come on, man. Even if that’s true, I’m sure the Assembly Master had a good reason to go meet the Japs in the middle of the sea.”
“Really? Is that why he fought against the Crimson King? Because he had a plan?”
“...Uh?”
No one argued back against Yi Myeong-Hwan this time.
Taking that as his cue, Yi Myeong-Hwan continued to lay out his case. “Back then... If we hadn't gone there, that dude would've died.”
Heavy silence quickly descended on the boat. That finally convinced everyone. They could finally get a grasp on what kind of person Kang Jin-Ho was!
“That dude pretends to be all composed and stuff, but when someone provokes him? He's the type to lose his cool in a heartbeat,” said Yi Myeong-Hwan with some conviction. “Anyone in his shoes would've run away in that situation, but not him. Our Assembly Master stayed behind and fought the Crimson King to death!
“I'm telling you, if it hadn't been for Chief Lee ordering us to go and save him and Director Wiggins helping us out at the nick of time... Our Assembly Master would've died back then. Do you get it now?”
One of the Demon Flames cautiously asked, “...Then, what about this time?”
“Didn’t you hear the briefing? The Japs are invading us, you dumbass!”
Kang Jin-Ho was the type to go absolutely nuts after learning about enemies targeting him. However, as if to pour gasoline over the flames, the enemy this time happened to be Japan!
Obviously, not every Korean held hostile feelings toward Japan. Even so, the emotions the Koreans felt when Japan was invading must be quite different from the emotions felt when some other country was the invader.
The “Kang Jin-Ho” Yi Myeong-Hwan knew would have flown into a rage after hearing about the invasion.
“I-in that case, what should we do, Myeong-Hwan?!”
The crowd began murmuring among themselves. It seemed they had finally understood the severity of the situation.
Yi Myeong-Hwan turned his attention over to Lee Hyeon-Su next. “Chief Lee?”
“What is it?”
“What should we do now? Do we enter that ship as soon as we get there?”
Lee Hyeon-Su furrowed his brow slightly. “Mm... For now, we wait.”
“I’m sorry? Now isn’t the time to wait around and...”
“I’m telling you to wait.”
Yi Myeong-Hwan clamped his mouth shut.
He had been pushing Lee Hyeon-Su's buttons a lot more lately, but that was only during the “normal” situations. Lee Hyeon-Su during battle situations emitted a totally different presence from when he was doing office work. And that stopped Yi Myeong-Hwan from being an insolent idiot.
“We gotta figure out the situation first, no? You idiots haphazardly jumping in will only hinder the Assembly Master’s activities,” said Lee Hyeon-Su.
“Hinder?”
“Well, rather than hinder...” Lee Hyeon-Su didn’t finish his sentence and simply smacked his lips.
‘...Forget getting in the way, you’ll only get killed up there.’
Right about now, Kang Jin-Ho and Co. must be going absolutely wild on that cruise ship. With them going off the rails and destroying everything in front of their eyes, trying to assist them right now could only get the Demon Flames chopped apart by Kang Jin-Ho's blades instead!
Of course, something like that was only a remote possibility. Even so, the situation on that cruise ship was too extraordinary for Lee Hyeon-Su to be flippant about their approach.
“For now, get this boat as close to the ship. I need to observe the situation first,” said Lee Hyeon-Su.
“Understood.”
The boat picked up speed. Even then...
‘Why is it still so far away?’
Since the cruise ship was visible to the naked eye, Yi Myeong-Hwan figured they’d reach it pretty soon, but no! Even after several minutes later, they were still some ways off the ship.
Everyone anxiously stared at the cruise ship. Their figures began crowding toward the front of the boat. Eventually, their ride got close enough and began slowing down.
‘I wonder what’s happening up there...?’
Just as Yi Myeong-Hwan began wondering...
KA-BOOOOOOOM!
A massive explosion went off inside the ship, and almost at the same time...!
“Uwaaaaahk!”
“Aaaaaahk!”
The eyes of the Demon Flames grew large at those desperate screams.
“W-what the hell?!”
“Look! Look up there!”
Since the boat was much smaller than the cruise ship, the Demon Flames could only look up, which prevented them from getting an accurate picture of the situation on the deck.
However, they now could make a fairly accurate guess!
As the explosion rang out in the air, people began flying out over the cruise ship's side!
Splash! Splosh!
The victims landed mercilessly into the seawater below. Some floated back up but didn’t move. Some kept sinking lower. Some others, seemingly free from injuries, urgently clung to the ship.
Before the Demon Flames could take in this situation, yet another group of Japanese warriors jumped off the ship and dived into the water.
‘Hang on a minute...?’
Yi Myeong-Hwan blinked his eyes in confusion. Those people jumped?
The second group’s method of entering the ocean was clearly different from the first group. While the first group quite literally flew out against their will, the second group had willingly abandoned the ship.
‘What the hell is going on up there?’
KA-BOOOOOM!
Yet another explosion went off. Yi Myeong-Hwan’s jaw fell as he dazedly looked up. “Would you look at that...?”
Another group of Japanese martial artists could be seen flying out of the ship as vapors of blood sprayed into the air. It was as if someone had squatted red-colored water contained in a spray gun into a stiff breeze!
“That's kinda like popcorn popping off, isn't it?”
When Yi Myeong-Hwan heard someone mutter that poorly suited description that also oddly fit the situation, he couldn’t help but reflexively nod in agreement.
Tumble! Splash!
The Japanese warriors who had willingly jumped into the water began madly swimming away from the cruise ship as if a grim reaper was chasing after them. Even though they were in the middle of a vast ocean, they didn't seem to care!
Yi Myeong-Hwan had no idea what was going on inside this cruise ship, but he was certain about this one thing.
“You shouldn’t have provoked those people, you idiots.”
No one on that cruise ship was enjoying themselves right now... Except for four people, that was!