Chapter 31
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: I'll Let You Live (2)
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"Hoo."
Kang Moo-woong let out a deep sigh, rolling his neck side to side to loosen his muscles.
"What's with you? Acting all tense like that."
"I am tense."
Kang Moo-woong's face had grown stiffer the closer they got to the Diamond Escort Agency.
It was all because his heart was a tangled mess of guilt for not being able to do anything and longing from being away so long.
Thud.
Moo-jin placed a hand on his rigid brother's shoulder.
"Tension doesn't suit you. Come on in."
"Hey, this...!"
Kang Moo-woong's eyes widened at the shiny new golden signboard over the main gate reading Diamond Escort Agency.
"Told you. We've got some money now."
Kang Moo-jin wore a relaxed expression as he pushed open the agency's doors.
"Everyone, form a line!"
"Hey, no cutting!"
"Oi! Leave live animals outside!"
The agency grounds were packed with so many people it felt chaotic.
Countless clients here to commission escorts filled the compound, while Crimson Flame Gang disciples directed them into queues everywhere.
On one side, Moo-jin's subordinates Do-ryang and Jo-yu were distributing assigned cargo to the escorts, but they were so short-handed even Kang Soo-yeon was pitching in.
"Th-this is our agency!?"
Kang Moo-woong stared in disbelief.
This was the Diamond Escort Agency that had been on the brink of ruin with nary a customer in sight.
He couldn't believe where all these people had come from.
"Too early to be shocked."
Moo-jin tugged the dumbfounded Moo-woong's shoulder, leading him toward their father.
"...!"
Kang Moo-woong froze again upon spotting his father seated in a chair off to one side of the compound, reviewing documents on the desk before him.
"...Father."
Moo-woong's voice came out rough and trembling. His throat tightened so much he could barely get the word out.
"...! Moo-woong, my boy."
His father's eyes quivered at the sound.
This was a man who had never feared storms or death his whole life.
Even when he lost his wife, even as the agency teetered on collapse, there had never been a flicker in his eyes.
"M-Moo...woong."
And now Kang So-gong was crumbling.
"...Good to have you back."
It was just those short words.
Yet they carried all the long nights of waiting and desperate prayers.
"...Daddy!"
Moo-woong's shoulders jerked hard at the familiar voice from behind him.
"S-Soo-yeon!"
Joy, surprise, and longing overflowed in his eyes as he faced his daughter.
"You rascal...!"
Kang Moo-woong couldn't even string words together as he pulled her into a fierce embrace.
Soo-yeon wept so hard she couldn't speak either.
Her tears soaked his shoulder completely.
"You didn't die... You came back safe. Moo-woong."
Kang So-gong rose unsteadily, reaching out with trembling hands to stroke his son's cheek.
Hands that had never shaken gripping a sword now quivered like aspen leaves.
"It's a blessing... A true blessing."
His father's voice shook. A stifled sob mingled at the end.
"Moo-jin... Thank you. This is all thanks to you."
"Sniff... Thank you, Uncle."
"Thanks, little brother."
Kang Moo-woong, Kang So-gong, and Kang Soo-yeon all looked at Moo-jin with reddened eyes.
Without Kang Moo-jin, they might never have reunited.
No, they wouldn't have.
The odds of Moo-woong surviving five years in Penance Cave were slim, and before that, the agency would have collapsed, putting everyone in peril.
So, all of this was possible only because of Kang Moo-jin.
"What talk between family? It's nothing."
Moo-jin shrugged casually, expression calm.
"..."
"..."
The Diamond Escort Agency compound fell into a silence so deep no one dared breathe.
The escorts clutched their chests wordlessly, while overwhelmed clients bowed their heads in quiet tribute.
As a breeze passed carrying the weight of that hush, a sniffle broke through.
"Sniff... Hic... sniff..."
It was Ma Du-gwang, snot and tears streaming down his face, shoulders heaving.
"So... touching... sniff... hic..."
Ma Du-gwang wiped at his face with his sleeve, only for more tears and snot to flow.
"Hic-hic... Such a... moving story..."
He stumbled toward Kang Soo-yeon, Kang Moo-woong, and Kang So-gong in their emotional reunion.
Thud.
But Moo-jin grabbed his neck first and yanked him back.
"You bastard. When's the last time you bathed?"
"...Brother. Is that really important right now?! Don't you have a heart?"
"You stink."
"No way! It's only been two weeks!"
"..."
Suddenly, looks of contempt poured onto Ma Du-gwang from everyone.
Not just Kang So-gong and Kang Moo-woong—even the clients commissioning escorts edged away from him.
Swipe.
Moo-jin pinched his nose and stepped back too.
"Go wash up. Now. Unless you want to die."
A month had passed since Kang Moo-woong's return to the Diamond Escort Agency.
During that time, he'd caught up on all the backlog of news and spent time with his father and daughter. Now, at Moo-jin's summons that it was about time, he finally made his way to the training grounds.
"Hah!"
"Hyah!"
The vast new training grounds behind the Diamond Escort Agency buzzed with dozens of martial artists training.
Very unusual training, at that.
"...?"
Kang Moo-woong blinked at the 3-jang-tall (about 9 meters) iron pillar planted smack in the center of the grounds.
What lunatic had driven a steel column into the middle of a training yard...?!
"M-Moo-jin. What's this? Who the hell put this here?"
"I did."
"...Huh?"
Kang Moo-woong blinked in bewilderment.
"Prepared it for training. Time to ramp up the intensity."
Moo-jin's words made his subordinates murmur uneasily.
"Wh-what're we ramping up?"
"Here? More?"
"W-we'll die, Great Hero!"
Moo-jin shot them a murderous glare and bellowed.
"Quiet! Want me to kill you right now?"
"Y-yes, sir! We'll train hard!"
One word silenced them all. Moo-jin turned back to Moo-woong with a gentle smile.
"Anyway, you need to train too, right? Figured we could do it together here."
The trainees included those Moo-jin had picked from gambling duels, Crimson Flame Gang disciples, wandering ronin, and unaffiliated martial artists.
All hired as escorts in exchange for his tutelage.
"Me too?"
"Of course. Can't stay weak forever. I've got a new training method I devised—just what you need."
"Heh. Looking out for your big brother like this. Thanks, Moo-jin."
Kang Moo-woong patted Moo-jin's shoulder, deeply moved.
"..."
But at that moment, he didn't notice.
All the pitying gazes from the others directed at him.
"Alright, listen up. From today, you're learning a new martial art."
Moo-jin strode to the iron pillar in the center of the grounds.
"What you'll learn is the Diamond Muscle Nourishing Art."
The Diamond Muscle Nourishing Art was Moo-jin's enhanced version based on the Reverse Tendon Longevity Scripture.
Even as an enhancement, since the original was one of the Central Plains' top divine arts, it rivaled the advanced techniques of any sect.
Plus, with Moo-jin's insights infused, it wasn't overly difficult to cultivate.
Just brutally exhausting.
"The method's simple. It's a fusion of internal and external arts, so master the technique, then just punch this iron pillar."
"Th-that barbaric thing?!"
"Yeah. Easy, right?"
Moo-jin tapped the pillar casually, as if it were nothing.
Boom!
The clash of metal and fist unleashed a thunderous boom that swallowed the yard.
The pillar groaned deeply, a metallic ring mixing in.
"As you see, it's made of cast iron—super sturdy. No worries about breaking it."
"..."
Everyone in the training grounds gaped, speechless.
Punch that terrifyingly solid iron pillar?
What kind of savage, cruel training was this?
"J-just once a day, right? Right?"
Ma Du-gwang clung desperately to that hope.
The others stared at Moo-jin with pleading eyes too.
Please... say yes.
"No? What're you talking about."
But Moo-jin's response made their legs buckle.
"Ten thousand times a day. At least ten thousand."
Boom! Kwang!
Over a dozen martial artists in horse stance threw straight punches at the iron pillar in unison.
The deafening roars of metal meeting flesh filled the grounds, their fists turning red.
"Haaah!"
Eun Do-hyeon cradled his fist and collapsed to the ground.
The searing pain from each strike had sapped the strength from his legs.
"Ooooh... I'm getting stronger! Power... power's surging!"
Circulating the Diamond Muscle Nourishing Art, Eun Do-hyeon sprang up flushed and hammered the pillar again.
It had started as pure agony, but the more he struck, the stronger he felt—a thrilling rush now.
Not just him—many others were in the same state.
For those who'd trained endlessly without progress, Moo-jin's method was a ray of light in the darkness.
"G-gonna die. Seriously gonna die...!"
Ma Du-gwang grumbled, his fists bruised purple and callused thick.
"Damn. What kinda training kills people?"
Then Moo-jin approached the complaining Ma Du-gwang.
"Hurts?"
"Eek! Y-yes! It does!"
"Iron doesn't hurt."
"...?"
Ma Du-gwang gawked at Moo-jin's retreating back and nonsense words.
If the guy wasn't such a monster fighter, he might've smacked him upside the head.
'Gotta endure.'
Not wanting to die, Ma Du-gwang staggered up again.
"Damn it. If it didn't even work, I'd riot... but it does."
His gaze swept over the training martial artists.
In just three months, every trainee's frame had more than doubled in bulk.
Even scrawny First Young Master Kang Moo-woong was now rock-solid, veins like steel cables bulging over his muscles.
'But is this really making escorts?'
Ma Du-gwang tilted his head watching them.
Shoulders like ramparts, muscles taut as drawn bowstrings—like scores of honed steel blades.
They resembled massive beasts more than escorts.
Moo-jin's grueling regimen had turned third-rate warriors into ferocious predators in three months.
"Hmm. Definitely effective."
Moo-jin smiled satisfied from the training grounds' edge.
Third-raters had reached first-rate in three months.
Talented ones like Do-ryang and Eun Do-hyeon had already breached peak realm, others teetering on its edge.
Thanks to the Reverse Tendon Longevity Scripture's essence in the Diamond Muscle Nourishing Art, plus Moo-jin's custom regimen.
"Time to sort the standouts into a separate unit."
Moo-jin planned to pull the elites here into an armed squad.
Like Shaolin's Eighteen Arhats or Mount Hua's Plum Blossom Swordsmen.
He'd name it the Iron Fist Squad.
An elite escort unit to defend the agency from any threat and flawlessly execute any mission, with Moo-jin as leader.
"Hmm. Shall we crank up the intensity a notch?"
As he muttered words that would blanch his subordinates' faces—
"Golden Ghost Indestructible Young Hero Kang."
A voice came from the other side of the wall against which Moo-jin leaned.
"What."
"Beggar Clan."
"I know that. State your business."
Moo-jin had already sensed the man's identity from his aura.
His realm let him perceive foes with qi, not eyes.
"...Rumors don't do you justice. It's about the commission you gave us. Information on Diamond Escort Agency's Second Young Master Kang Moo-seon."