The Martial Assembly was changing rapidly.
Until recently, the Assembly's "training" regime could only be described as a disorganized mess.
As a way to maintain the Assembly's sense of identity, all training was supposed to be held within the Assembly grounds, but that still didn't change the fact that people mastered different martial arts from each other.
Since everyone practiced the martial art of their sect, they naturally became wary of their secrets being leaked. Which, in turn, meant no training would get done most of the time!
This system held a lot of disadvantages. However, Lee Jung-Geol didn't stick to it because he was an idiot. No, he believed this 'process' was necessary to tie all the small sects existing messily within South Korea's martial society into one organization and gradually imprint the idea of the Martial Assembly into their subconscious.
...Even if his actions led to no one getting any proper training and the overall standards of martial arts plummeting to the pits!
Unsurprisingly, the scenes at the Martial Assembly's training areas were chaotic. Whether it was an individual-only room for closed-door seclusion, joint exercise rooms for smaller groups, or the massive training halls... Like how people called dibs on certain seats in a university library, people could be seen waging psychological warfare to occupy their favored training spots. The war of nerves had reached an insane point.
However, Kang Jin-Ho had no time of day for such nonsense.
“Level everything down.”
Lee Hyeon-Su had a sneaking suspicion that his boss had decided to set his identity as a bulldozer. That was because Kang Jin-Ho just issued an order to flatten all the training areas, even though those places were some of the most crucial pillars supporting the Martial Assembly!
“Sir, leveling everything down is a bit...”
“There is no point to them if gaps develop between those who train inside and those who are relegated outside. Let’s make things as fair as possible, shall we?”
“That’s... a rather extreme way to enforce fairness, sir.”
Being fair meant everyone received equal treatment, not dragging those who enjoyed privileges down. As long as those privileges had not been earned immorally, they should be acknowledged and left alone.
However, it was as if Kang Jin-Ho had become Karl Marx's avatar, judging from how he insisted all comrades must be equal in suffering! And like all the helpless goons groaning in resignation in the shadows of the tyrants they served, Lee Hyeon-Su had no choice but to faithfully carry out the orders.
The only saving grace in this situation was that one of the rules of the surface world also applied in this place. And that rule was... Tearing something down was so much easier than building something! Especially in the Martial Assembly, which was overflowing with human excavators and bulldozers!
With such workers freely available to exploit, dismantling buildings took no time at all.
Kang Jin-Ho only had to point at a building and say, ‘That structure is harmful to us,’ for martial artists to pounce on said building like an army of ants. And then, they diligently crushed and dismantled everything until not even crumbs of concrete remained on the spot. The empty spot was flattened to become an open plot of land next.
Kang Jin-Ho issued a new order afterward. “Turn it into a new training area.”
Lee Hyeon-Su frowned a little. “This space isn't quite large enough, sir. We need somewhere larger to accommodate all these people.”
“What do you mean? Anywhere is good enough for a training area as long as it’s a flat piece of land. How much space do we need, then?”
“But, sir, we lack such flat pieces of... Ah."
Lee Hyeon-Su realized he had said something he should not have. It was too late for regrets, though.
Of course, he hadn’t said anything wrong. The Martial Assembly’s HQ was located in the middle of a mountainside. With so many nameless peaks surrounding the area, calling this place naturally rugged would be selling the situation pretty short.
There was a reason why Lee Jung-Geol picked this particular location. Since this mountainside had nothing particularly significant about it, outsiders rarely approached the area. Even if they wanted to explore, the terrain made it hard to come and go as they pleased.
Those were all great advantages to have. However, this location also presented certain challenges, such as... Where would anyone find a flat piece of land in the middle of a mountainside?
Again, Lee Jung-Geol was no idiot. He ensured there would be enough room for expansion in the future while picking the right spot to build the Assembly HQ. Unfortunately, he was also not a god and obviously didn’t foresee a future where so many demon cult believers would join the Assembly one day!
So, to summarize... the current Martial Assembly faced a severe shortage of flat pieces of land that could serve as training areas.
“Oh, so we don't have enough flat grounds? Is that it?” Kang Jin-Ho muttered, then raised his head to look around.
Lee Hyeon-Su silently freaked out and tried to find something to say. He could already imagine what Kang Jin-Ho might say next. However, those words must not be said out loud, no matter what!
“That mountain over there. I don’t like it,” said Kang Jin-Ho.
Lee Hyeon-Su’s expression progressively cramped up. He definitely did not want to hear this, but...
“Cut it down.”
“Yes, sir...”
Kang Jin-Ho was now exercising absolute power through his fingertips. Anything he pointed at with that finger disappeared, whether it was man-made buildings or a mother nature-created mountain...!
The miracle of altering geography with just a finger pointing was unfolding right before Lee Hyeon-Su’s eyes! And all he could do was swallow back his tears of blood.
‘I’m happy about the Assembly Master becoming more fearless than before, but...!’
Instead of the previous Kang Jin-Ho, who displayed hints of hesitancy in his actions, Lee Hyeon-Su preferred the current Kang Jin-Ho and his manly ways of doing things.
Yes, this Kang Jin-Ho was preferable, but... But...!
‘Why? Why doesn’t he have, you know, a middle ground?’
Why did Kang Jin-Ho have to be so extreme?
Most people would be more gradual when they moved from one side to the other on a spectrum. As an example, if you thought the room was too cold, you'd either raise the temperature on the air conditioner or turn the device off altogether.
However, Kang Jin-Ho wanted the air conditioner destroyed for being too cold and a wood-burning stove installed in its place instead to warm up the place! That was the type of person he had become! No wonder the subordinates, like Lee Hyeon-Su, were going through Hell while trying to appease their boss!
“Calculate the number of people who will train here and prepare the training area accordingly,” said Kang Jin-Ho.
Martial artists wielding shovels like swords froze in their places and stared at Kang Jin-Ho, their faces sickly pale.
None of them were brave enough to openly voice their grievances to Kang Jin-Ho. So, they did the next best thing by ardently staring at Lee Hyeon-Su, their spokesperson!
“By the way, sir?”
Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Lee Hyeon-Su. “What is it?”
“...Cutting that mountain down still won’t be enough, sir.”
The shocked gasps of ‘Hiiiieeeek?!’ broke out from various places. What Lee Hyeon-Su said should have been strictly forbidden. He must not say those absolutely prohibited words...!
“Is it? Then, cut more down.” Kang Jin-Ho used his chin to point at a peak in front of his view, then another one behind him. “Those two should suffice, right?”
“Sir. We’ll proceed accordingly, then.”
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