Chapter 40
Chapter 40
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Let's Open the Emergency Response Committee
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With that, I gave Dongryong a long-overdue greeting with my fist and dragged him back to the camp.
Then I made Dongryong, along with Bangsam, Bongchun, Jeokyeom, and Eungchil, all kneel down before asking,
"All right, now explain yourself. Fuck, how the hell did you end up becoming the Bandit King?"
"Uh, but before that, boss...."
Bangsam whined from his prone position, sounding all aggrieved.
"Look, we get the vice boss, fine, but why are we getting beat? We didn't do anything wrong...."
"Shut your trap, you punk. Don't you know about collective responsibility? What were you doing while Dongryong was fucking around? When the top dog's going astray, it's the underlings' job to set him straight."
"Aw, come on... The water's gotta be clean up top for it to be clean down below...."
"Heh heh, you saying that top water's me? Fine, I'll give you a real taste of it today."
"W-Wait a sec, boss! Eek—!"
Bangsam was the one among my men who'd taken the most beatings from me, yet he still wouldn't back down and kept mouthing off.
I couldn't figure out why the hell he was like that—it pissed me off—so this time I brought a club instead of my fists to show him the spicy side of the top water.
Whack! Whack!
"Groooan...."
"......"
"......"
The brutal sound had my men visibly tensing up. I dragged the club over to Dongryong—the real culprit here—and asked again.
"All right, Dongryong.... I wanna give you a taste of the top water too...."
"B-Boss.... I already got hit earlier.... Please forgive me...."
"Fine, I'll ask one more time. How the fuck did you become that goddamn Bandit King?"
"I'll tell you right now—!"
As expected from my longest-serving guy under me. Dongryong started spilling it fast, like a rapper dropping bars.
"It happened a few days after you left, while we were training in martial arts among ourselves...!"
**
A few days after the boss left...
"Straighten your backs more! Extend the force in your arms even further!"
...Just as the boss ordered, Dongryong was teaching martial arts to the Wuak Mountain Brotherhood guys.
It'd only been a few days since the boss left, but the results were better than expected.
The Wuak Mountain Brotherhood were ex-government soldiers who'd kept training together even after quitting, so their external arts were already perfected.
'They all have a solid grasp of the techniques too.'
I'd passed on the mental methods long ago, so with their dantians properly settled, they were starting to build up internal energy...
At this rate, it looked like I could get them to master all the basics even before the boss got back.
That's when...
"All right, now for the next form..."
"You bastard—Jeokyeom Vice!"
"Huh?"
As they were about to continue training, a gruff voice called out Jeokyeom from behind them.
More precisely, from beyond the east outer wall.
"...What the hell?"
At Dongryong's puzzled question, Jeokyeom answered.
"Sounds like a guy I know. I'll go check."
"...Nah, let's all go."
Something felt off, so the entire Wuak Mountain Bandit Camp rushed to the east wall and peeked over.
There, they saw about a dozen men gripping weapons.
Before Dongryong could ask anything, the one who looked like their leader beat him to it and yelled,
"You fucker—Jeokyeom Vice! We heard the news already! Your Wuak Mountain Brotherhood got your asses handed to you by some passing beggars, huh?"
"Ahaha—!"
"Tsk tsk, a disgrace to fellow neighbor bandits! Bet you're all beat up in body and soul—come out now, surrender everything, and we'll take you in as underlings for our Yeohu Mountain Bandits—!"
After hearing their demands, Dongryong gave Jeokyeom an incredulous look.
"...They wouldn't be talking about us as those beggars, right?"
"...Pretty sure they are."
"What a joke.... Who the hell are these clowns?"
"Bandits from Yeohu Mountain next to Wuak—they've always eyed our spot here with the good water and air. Soon as they heard I lost, they must've seen their chance and come running."
"Hmm... I see. So... these guys are stronger than you?"
At Dongryong's words, Jeokyeom declared without hesitation.
"Those fools could never match the Wuak Mountain Brotherhood."
"......"
From his tone and expression, it wasn't just bravado.
If anything, he seemed annoyed that Dongryong was putting them on the same level as those idiots.
In that case... these guys really were weaker than the Wuak Mountain Brotherhood...
"Uhaha—! Looks like even this great one's got you scared into hiding! Pathetic, huh?"
Dongryong couldn't stand seeing weaker punks strutting in front of his house.
So...
"They're all talk anyway—bet they'll get bored and leave on their own... Huh? Where you going...?"
"I'll go confirm if they're all talk myself."
...He grabbed his sword and stepped out.
"The great Jeokyeom Vice of the world is now...! Uh, what's that?"
"One guy's coming out?"
And that day marked the start of Dongryong's conquest legend.
**
"...So after wiping out those Yeohu Mountain Bandits, I got all confident. Then... starting the next day, I went around smashing nearby mountains—dojo crawling. In just a few days, I got the nickname Wuak Mountain Tiger."
"...Go on."
"I'd always been called stuff like 'Skinny' or 'Wimp,' so getting Wuak Mountain Tiger felt damn proud. Smashing bandits was a breeze anyway.... So the day after that, I went after bandit groups all over Hunan Province...."
Dongryong was bragging away, sounding all pleased, when he saw me raise the club and turned pale.
"...Boss. Could you put that down first and talk?"
"Dongryong. Even if Buddha came back to life, he couldn't hold back on this."
"W-Wait...! I-I did this for you, boss...!"
"Bullshit, you punk—! You just got off on beating up weaker fuckers and did it for your own ego—!"
"Th-That's...!"
Seeing Dongryong not even hide it and look guilty as hell just made me madder.
Before my brain could catch up, the club reacted first.
Crack—!
"Gwaaaah—!"
"Dongryong, I thought you were being all quiet lately, but you pulled off a massive fuckup. Can't have that. Let's settle this today."
"Ugh... But in the end, didn't it help you out...? Now we got hundreds of bandits under our wing...!"
Heh heh.
I'd thought of Dongryong as my brain this whole time—what an idiot I was. They're all just uneducated bandit punks at the end of the day.
I started explaining kindly to Dongryong, who still didn't get my point.
"Dongryong, in just one month, you smashed every bandit group in Hunan Province and made 'em all your underlings—Bandit King ain't too grand a title for that. You know what? Your name's already famous among the merchants."
"...With you as boss, Bandit King feels way too much for me... but yeah, I'm proud."
"You fucking... "
Did that sound like praise to him...?
I nearly grabbed the club again but barely held back and continued.
"Yeah, 'king' ain't a title handed out to just anyone. So yeah, you've become a big shot in this Hunan backwater. And with a big shot like you under me, I become one too."
"Congrats...?"
"......"
"...S-Sorry."
Dongryong caught my expression and looked down, so I gently stroked his cheek with the club's tip and got to the point.
"Dongryong, fuck, did we become big shots by doing good deeds? Title's got 'bandit' in it—bandit. A big bad guy's popped up after a long time—think the Murim Alliance is gonna sit still for that?"
"Ah."
Hearing "Murim Alliance" made Dongryong go all innocent with an "Ah" of realization. Of course, that just pissed me off more.
"Hoo... Can't take it."
"Boss. I get it now. I'm truly sorry, so... Gwaaah—!!"
Even while getting the club treatment, Dongryong kept up his last-ditch excuses.
"B-Boss—! We're just lowly bandits—think the Murim Alliance even cares about us? Let's look on the bright side..."
"Fuck, there's probably hundreds of warriors on standby at Murim Alliance HQ right now. What, they bored? On vacation? Huh? Fuck, they gather hundreds for a fucking sports day? Just take my club positively."
"Aaaaah—!!"
How many whacks did I give Dongryong today? I counted up to a few dozen, then lost track.
Of course, no matter how much I beat Dongryong...
"Die! Just die already!"
"I'll really die like this—!!"
...My exploded rage showed no signs of stopping.
**
Right after, we convened the emergency response committee.
The attendees were my direct underlings—the so-called executives—plus Jeokyeom, the former boss of the Wuak Mountain Brotherhood, and Eungchil, the former vice.
The agenda was, naturally, how to handle this mess.
With Dongryong's face all swollen, the mood in the room was heavy... and surprisingly, the youngest spoke up first.
"What if... the Murim Alliance threat's the issue, maybe we could join them?"
"...What?"
Kid, that's like saying Russia joins NATO.
Frustrated by the nonsense, I clutched my forehead and spoke.
"Kid, you think that makes sense? If we're doing that, why not get the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult up top to join too and unify the entire martial world? Fuck."
"Ah... Was that stupid?"
"Obviously. Rejected. Anyone else got ideas?"
I looked around as I spoke, but they just hung their heads without a word.
"Haa... These punks as my underlings..."
"...We have no excuses."
Even Dongryong, the ringleader, finally realized his fuckup and bowed his head. I tossed him a word for it.
"Dongryong, don't look so down. Seeing you like that makes me wanna..."
"Boss..."
Dongryong thought it was encouragement and lit up with emotion, but...
"...feel like shit. The one who shat the bed ain't cleaning it up—just moping—and you think that makes me feel good?"
"Sorry..."
I felt like shit.
As soon as I let it out, Dongryong's already-lowered head—ripe grain ready for harvest—dropped even further.
"Aw, you dumb fuck. I say one thing and you... Eh... Fuck."
No helping it. They say the boss covers for his men's screwups.
Just then, an idea popped into my head that might calm this situation.
I ordered my men to act on it right away.
"How many bandit camps we got under us now?"
"Roughly a dozen or so."
"...That's a lot. Send men to all of 'em."
"Y-Yes...? For what...?"
"It's an emergency—gotta call in all the bosses running those camps and talk."
"You mean..."
"Yeah."
First things first—we gotta gather to survive together.
"Full assembly."