Chapter 28
Chapter 28
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Fist Emperor (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“The food is really delicious. It’d be even better with a drink on the side.”
Kang Hyun-soo subtly offered the Fist Emperor a drink.
‘Nothing beats booze for opening someone up.’
Once you get drunk and swept up in the mood, you end up spilling your deepest secrets.
“Booze? Booze is a bit…”
The Fist Emperor hesitated.
“Oh, sorry. Now that I think about it, you’re too young for alcohol. I’ll order you some sweet juice instead of the bitter stuff.”
The Fist Emperor’s face flushed with irritation at Kang Hyun-soo’s words.
“What do you mean, too young? I’m an adult! Get me booze instead of juice!”
His baby face was one of the Fist Emperor’s biggest insecurities.
There was prejudice against the Rabbitkin as a race, but he also believed his youthful looks led people to underestimate his skills.
“In that case, we’ll do it.”
Kang Hyun-soo ordered some strong liquor.
“Here you go.”
He poured a glass for the Fist Emperor.
“You know booze is meant to be downed in one go, right?”
With those words, Kang Hyun-soo emptied his glass cleanly.
The Fist Emperor hesitated for a moment at the sight, then squeezed his eyes shut and downed his shot.
Kang Hyun-soo kept the conversation going while pouring more drinks, and the Fist Emperor unleashed his inner motormouth, chattering nonstop as he emptied glass after glass.
How much time had passed?
Both Kang Hyun-soo’s and the Fist Emperor’s faces were starting to glow bright red.
“I know why the other beastkin don’t recognize us Rabbitkin as warriors. Most of my kin are cowards. They hate fighting. In a way, it might even be considerate. During the war with the Terra Kingdom in the past, even when half the country was burning, the Rabbitkin were kept as civilians handling rear supply duties, not soldiers. But isn’t that not always the case? If you produce results, shouldn’t you get some recognition? Not all Tigerkin are brave, and not all Rabbitkin are cowards, right? There could be cowardly Tigerkin and brave Rabbitkin. Why can’t they understand that? My dream is to enlist in the Muran Kingdom Army. I’ll become a soldier and head to the front lines myself to prove Rabbitkin can fight bravely. Got it?”
Drunk on booze, the Fist Emperor wouldn’t shut up.
‘My ears are gonna bleed.’
But thanks to that, Kang Hyun-soo gathered a ton of info on the Fist Emperor he hadn’t known before.
‘So that’s why he refused guilds and parties—he wants to join the kingdom army.’
Guilds came in all kinds.
Some mixed Muran Kingdom natives and Earthlings, some were all Muran locals, and others were pure Earthling groups.
Earthlings had less prejudice against Rabbitkin, so with his skills, the Fist Emperor could’ve joined one easily.
‘But he has a dream, so he turned them down.’
That explained why he’d shot down Kang Hyun-soo’s invitation so bluntly.
His determination to shatter Rabbitkin prejudice by joining the Muran Kingdom Army meant he ignored guilds and parties entirely.
However.
‘The Fist Emperor’s dream won’t come true.’
Before his regression, the Fist Emperor had never once served in the Muran Kingdom Army.
The decisive reason was the unwritten rule: Rabbitkin couldn’t enlist.
‘During the Muran founding war, the Rabbitkin fled en masse from a decisive battle they lost badly.’
Tigerkin, Wolfkin, Catkin, Bovinekin, Foxkin, Equinekin, and countless other beastkin fought to the death until the end.
Only the Rabbitkin fled.
After that, beastkin stopped recognizing Rabbitkin as warriors.
‘It must feel unfair from the Rabbitkin side.’
It was a battlefield where defeat was certain anyway.
Fleeing to preserve strength made more sense rationally than dying there, with an eye toward the future.
‘But sometimes emotions override reason.’
That’s what happened during the Muran founding war.
After the incident, beastkin leaders deemed Rabbitkin unfit for warrior roles.
They couldn’t send people who abandoned allies into battle.
‘If the fleeing Rabbitkin had demanded to return to the front, things might’ve been different.’
But the fleeing Rabbitkin welcomed leaving the battlefield.
‘After such a brutal near-wipeout, PTSD wouldn’t be surprising.’
But after that choice.
The image of Rabbitkin as cowards took deep root.
Later, in the founded Muran Kingdom, an unwritten rule barred Rabbitkin from enlisting.
No matter how brilliantly the Fist Emperor performed, that rule kept him out.
‘In the end, he gives up on the dream.’
What if he’d clung to it without giving up?
He could’ve enlisted in the Muran Kingdom Army.
Once he earned the Emperor title and rampaged fiercely, the army broke the unwritten rule and officially courted him.
But the Fist Emperor refused.
‘Can’t blame him.’
Kang Hyun-soo got it.
They’d rejected him with excuses about the unwritten rule when he begged to join.
Then, after he gave up completely and moved on, suddenly it wasn’t an official rule anymore—join us!
‘Even if it’s dirty and petty, no way.’
By then, the Fist Emperor had already shone brilliantly, shattering Rabbitkin prejudice.
‘He probably died fighting alone in a hopeless battle to prove the prejudice he broke wasn’t wrong after all.’
Kang Hyun-soo felt bad about the Fist Emperor’s death.
He also pitied the current Fist Emperor, full of dreams and hope, challenging the impossible.
‘But I can’t just tell him to give up blindly.’
That would make the Fist Emperor resent him big time.
In the end, insincere words slipped from Kang Hyun-soo’s mouth.
“Yeah, I hope you achieve that dream.”
“What? ‘I hope you achieve it,’ but why the face? You look like it’s absolutely impossible.”
The booze-flushed Fist Emperor glared at Kang Hyun-soo.
‘What to do?’
After a moment’s thought, Kang Hyun-soo decided on honesty.
He could spout empty encouragement.
But that wouldn’t help the Fist Emperor in reality.
‘Bitter medicine is good for you.’
Even if it soured his mood now and bred resentment.
Far in the future, when he thought back on Kang Hyun-soo?
Wouldn’t he remember him as ‘the guy who gave me tough love’ or ‘the one with realistic advice’?
With resolve, Kang Hyun-soo spoke.
“I’d love for that dream to come true. But it’s a shame it’s realistically impossible.”
“Impossible?”
The Fist Emperor growled like a beast, face fierce.
‘Not scary at all.’
With his baby face and twitching rabbit ears as he spoke, he looked downright cute.
“Yes.”
“Why do you think that?”
Kang Hyun-soo continued calmly at the Fist Emperor’s question.
“You know the reason better than anyone. The Muran Kingdom Army’s unwritten rule. You built a golden tower with four straight undefeated Martial Tournament wins… but did the army’s stance change? Did others’ views change? Even if you win five or six in a row, will eyes change?”
“So, give up?”
“Not give up—let go of your fixation on the Muran Kingdom Army. Mixed guilds of Muran natives and Earthlings would face too much backlash for enlistment… but Earthling-only guilds? You could join those.”
“Those bastards are the same. They lowballed my pay just because I’m Rabbitkin.”
‘Did that happen?’
Now Kang Hyun-soo understood why the Fist Emperor ended up in neither guilds nor the kingdom army later on.
‘They undervalued him.’
With nowhere else to go but Earthling guilds, his bargaining power tanked.
Plenty of excuses too.
It’s an all-Earthling group, so take a pay cut for a beastkin.
Rabbitkin makes it harder to recruit other beastkin later, so pay cut.
Rumors say Rabbitkin are cowards, pay cut.
They probably hit him with every reason to slash his value.
‘Blind idiots really screwed up.’
The Muran Kingdom Army ignored him, guilds undervalued him.
‘No wonder he went lone wolf.’
How did the Fist Emperor view the kingdom army and guilds cozying up later?
‘Disgusting, probably.’
From his upright perspective, their sudden change from disdain to fawning reeked of hypocrisy.
“If they treated you fairly, would you join a party?”
The Fist Emperor paused at Kang Hyun-soo’s question.
“Ah!”
Then his face lit up like he’d realized something.
“You tried to recruit me into your party too, right?”
“Yes.”
“Hahaha, so that’s why you’re saying this.”
“That’s part of it, but not all.”
“What?”
“I think chasing impossibilities is less productive. You don’t have to join the Muran Kingdom Army to shatter Rabbitkin prejudice, right? Join a party or guild, make great allies, grow strong, make a name worldwide—that breaks prejudice too.”
“…….”
The Fist Emperor shut his mouth.
He looked deep in thought.
That’s when it happened.
“Coward like you in the kingdom army? Dream on!”
“Can’t trust a damn Rabbitkin with my back.”
“Always ready to abandon comrades and run—can’t trust Rabbitkin trash.”
Three beastkin in Muran Kingdom Army uniforms raised their voices, slamming Rabbitkin.
Especially.
“And what? Cowardly Tigerkin exist? No such thing!”
The Tigerkin soldier pointed at the Fist Emperor and bellowed loud enough to shake the restaurant.
“You bastard!”
The enraged Fist Emperor shot to his feet.
At that moment.
“Right! Spot on!”
“Coward Rabbitkin exist, but never cowardly Tigerkin!”
“Compare brave Tigerkin to coward Rabbitkin?!”
“Rabbitkin trash aren’t warriors!”
Other diners echoed the Tigerkin soldier, voices rising.
‘Beastkin have great hearing.’
Every beastkin in the restaurant had probably overheard Kang Hyun-soo and the Fist Emperor’s talk.
‘Resentment built up.’
Prejudice from history made it inevitable.
But they lacked guts to confront Kang Hyun-soo and the Fist Emperor directly, so they grumbled inwardly.
Then Muran Kingdom soldiers piped up.
‘Resentment exploded.’
Eyes full of rage and hate poured in from all sides.
‘Muran Kingdom really isn’t the place for the Fist Emperor to spread his wings.’
If he’d operated in another country?
He’d have made a name long ago.
‘In fact, he earned his Emperor title through feats abroad.’
“Eek!”
The Fist Emperor trembled with fury.
But even so, he couldn’t charge the Muran Kingdom soldiers.
Attacking regular army in public?
It’d be as good as rebelling against Muran Kingdom.
‘If they attacked first, he’d have justification.’
Fat chance.
‘They’re soldiers.’
Military law was similar in Korea or Muran—harsh on soldiers.
“I’d love to beat the crap out of you, but rules say soldiers can’t fight civilians, so I hold back. Now get lost.”
Killing intent flashed in the Fist Emperor’s eyes at the Tigerkin soldier’s words.