Chapter 1161: Chapter 1161

The night usually descended quicker on mountainsides. As such, the Martial Assembly was bathed in darkness in the blink of an eye.

Bang Jin-Hun’s expression was a little downcast, maybe a little unreadable, as he stared at the darkness of the night.

Thanks to the unique quirks of martial artists, the Martial Assembly didn't have many lights outside the buildings to illuminate the surroundings. Which was convenient, since the organization didn't have to worry too much about the light leaking out of what was supposed to be a deserted mountainside.

Bang Jin-Hun didn’t usually find this darkness strange or unsettling, but today... The darkness outside his windows felt a little unfamiliar for some reason.

What happened so far didn’t feel great to him. Quite a few people had come to speak to him in this very office, after all.

However, his mood wasn't affected by the visitors saying they couldn't share the Assembly's fate anymore. And how many of them had come wasn't the culprit, either.

Bang Jin-Hun looked away from the window when someone knocked on the door.

He glanced at the watch, and it said one minute past nine. That meant this person could very well be the last one to quit.

The door remained shut despite Bang Jin-Hun granting his permission. Although usually a short-tempered man, he responded differently this time by silently and patiently waiting for the other person.

Eventually, though, the door opened slowly. The person stepping into the office kept his head down, seemingly unable to look Bang Jin-Hun in the eye.

Bang Jin-Hun sighed deeply at this sight. This here was the reason for his frustration, his sour mood. Everyone entering his office behaved this way.

In this era, even murderers boldly looked into the cameras or the officers of the court and poured out a barrage of insults. So why were these martial artists acting like remorseful criminals who had committed heinous crimes?

Bang Jin-Hun asked first. “Are you the last one? Anyone else waiting outside for their turn?”

“...No, sir. I’m the last one.”

“Got it. Okay, come sit over here,” said Bang Jin-Hun while pointing at an empty chair before his desk.

The visitor shuffled toward the chair and carefully settled down. Bang Jin-Hun silently watched before pushing up the reading glasses up his nose.

Since he was a martial artist, a pair of glasses wasn't really necessary as his eyesight wouldn't go bad anytime soon. However, wearing this item gave him that little boost of confidence required to handle the unfamiliar paperwork.

“Okay, let’s begin. What’s your name?”

“It’s Seong Ju-Chan, sir.”

“Okay, Seong... Ju... Chan. Here we go,” Bang Jin-Hun muttered while typing on the keyboard, his eyes glued to the computer monitor. “Hah... Things have gotten way more convenient these days, don't you think? If this was in the past, I'd be sweating bullets trying to find your details in the stacks of files.”

“Okay, so... Seong Ju-Chan? Have you made up your mind?”

Seong Ju-Chan’s head faltered in silence. Bang Jin-Hun furrowed his brow at that. His blood boiled at the faltered head and slumped shoulders of his fellow martial artist. However, in the end... He still managed to keep his mouth shut.

“Sir, I, uh...” Seong Ju-Chan, who had been silent for a while, finally raised his head. “Has anyone changed their mind after coming this far?”

“Yeah, sure.” Bang Jin-Hun casually shrugged. “Not only that, but some people apologized with tears and snots and whatnot as if it's the end of the world or something. And some others, we chatted for a bit, and then they decided to stick around, saying it was a mistake to quit. You know how people can be so diverse and stuff.”

“...I guess so, sir.”

“Why do you wanna know, though? Changed your mind?”

Bang Jin-Hun quietly studied Seong Ju-Chan’s face for a bit before reclining against his chair. He opened one of the drawers, found a packet of cigarettes, then mouthed a cigarette.

“Hey, man. You smoke?”

Seong Ju-Chan looked up. “S-sir?”

“Okay. Here, it’s on me,” said Bang Jin-Hun while offering a cigarette to Seong Ju-Chan.

“Huh? Then I’m gonna smoke alone, okay?”

Bang Jin-Hun chuckled when Seong Ju-Chan got flustered. “That’s why you should’ve just accepted it. Here.”

Seong Ju-Chan hesitated but eventually accepted the cigarette. And when Bang Jin-Hun lit it up for him, Seong Ju-Chan politely turned his head away and cautiously puffed away for a bit.

Bang Jin-Hun lit the cigarette dangling between his lips, then deeply inhaled the unhealthy smoke.

“Sir? I didn’t know you smoked.”

“Well, I don’t smoke often,” Bang Jin-Hun chuckled again. “You gotta be on your toes if you want to smoke these days. If I smoke a bit before going home... Man, all that nagging! Gimme a break.”

Bang Jin-Hun shook his head as if he remembered something unpleasant.

“That's why I usually try not to smoke. But there are moments in this sh*tty life when you just have to smoke, know what I mean? And today is one of those days, man. Wouldn't you say?”

“Yes, sir. You’re right,” Seong Ju-Chan meekly replied, his head faltering again.

What Bang Jin-Hun said just now sounded like he was stressed out from everyone quitting on him, at least to Seong Ju-Chan's ears. That was probably true, though.

“Come on, man. Raise your head, will you? You’re a man, so why do you keep looking down at the floor?”

“...My apologies, sir.”

“Apologies, my foot,” Bang Jin-Hun grunted while taking another puff of the gray smoke. “The Assembly ain't your dad, okay? To you, this place is supposed to be a job. A company. Why apologize for quitting a company? You leave when things don't work out, and that will be all. It's not like we're in the eighties or something, so what's the problem here?”

“Stop acting as if you’re guilty of something, okay?”

Bang Jin-Hun stared at the gray smoke lazily drifting apart in the air above. “Hey. Are you frustrated?”

“I guess that makes sense,” Bang Jin-Hun chuckled wryly.

Although he was a bit harsh with this guy just now, it wasn't as if Bang Jin-Hun didn't understand Seong Ju-Chan's current thoughts and feelings.

Although Seong Ju-Chan's sense of belonging to the Martial Assembly wasn't as intense as Bang Jin-Hun's, he still probably thought living in the Assembly was his life.

Uprooting and changing such a life literally overnight would never be easy.

“Don’t think of it as giving up. No, think of it as you finding a new opportunity.”

“You know who are the most miserable martial artists?”

“You think it’s folks like you? Folks who give up or got eliminated?”

“Nope, it's not them,”" Bang Jin-Hun muttered gruffly while stubbing the cigarette. There was a hint of irritation in his gesture, though. “No, the really miserable bastards are the ones who know they've missed their window of opportunity. Opportunities to quit, that is.”

“Window... of opportunity, sir?”

“Yeah. Folks who had the chance to quit but didn’t. You probably think quitting now will turn you into the most pathetic fool in the world, but that’s not true. Not even close. Being able to quit at your age is actually a blessing, okay?

“Do you know what happens to folks over forty, maybe nearing fifty realize they can no longer keep up with their peers? They start to stagnate and rot away in their souls. They become basically a walking corpse.”

“Yeah, I'm a martial artist. But you know what? Being a martial artist f*cking sucks. Ordinary people know what they'll amount to by the age of thirty or so. Why? Because their initial struggles will more or less conclude by then. That's when you'll learn whether you are one of those people who'll acquiesce and adapt to the world or a fighter who will keep struggling.

“So, if you think you just don't have what it takes to be somebody in your chosen profession, you can still seek alternative employment somewhere.”

“Yes, that's true...”" Seong Ju-Chan slowly nodded. He began to understand what Bang Jin-Hun was trying to say.

“But that’s not true with martial artists. The sh*tty thing about martial arts is that you keep growing stronger even if you’re past forty and even at the age of fifty. Which means you can’t let go of that sliver of hope until it’s too late. By the time you finally realize where you’ll be stuck for the rest of your life... Well, it’ll be too late to turn back.”

“People proclaim that we can all live up to a hundred years and whatnot in this era, but come on, let's be real here. What can a fifty-something dude even do for a living when all he has done is train in martial arts? Ordinary people his age should already have plenty of life experience and knowledge. At least, some kinda technical skills to get them by.

“But that's not the case with martial artists. Folks who have to drop out of this hamster wheel at the age of fifty can only do stuff like hurting or killing people.”

While saying that, Bang Jin-Hun mouthed a fresh cigarette. His expression remained bitter. After lighting it, he wordlessly puffed away at it for a while before ruefully shaking his head.

“That's why I don't want you to think that quitting now is a failure on your part, okay? I'm guessing that, maybe in thirty years or so? You'll find plenty of idiots kicking themselves for not following you and quitting when they had the chance.”

Seong Ju-Chan stared at Bang Jin-Hun, his expression withdrawn. He grimaced a little before finally saying something. “...Director, sir?”

“Why haven’t you told us this sooner?”

“What would’ve changed if I told you?”

Bang Jin-Hun smirked helplessly. “At least you’re paying attention now because of your current situation. However, you wouldn’t have listened if I told you this a week ago. Sure, you might have thought I was spitting facts. But you would’ve also thought that none of it concerns you.”

Seong Ju-Chan clamped his mouth shut. He knew Bang Jin-Hun was correct.

After all, he never imagined he'd be grappling with something only yesterday!

“Stop lowering your head like that, man.”

“...!” Seong Ju-Chan clenched his teeth and pushed his head back up.

Bang Jin-Hun nodded in approval after noticing the flames of determination flickering to life within Seong Ju-Chan’s eyes. “Tell me something. Do you see yourself as a coward? Because you can’t do what other people have no problem doing?”

“You’re only half right about that.”

“And you're half wrong, too,” Bang Jin-Hun slowly shook his head again. "Jumping onto a speeding train takes guts. But jumping off a speeding train also takes a lot of courage, okay? You wanna know where to find that courage? It's simple. Just close your eyes and charge straight into a warzone. That's it.

“You think you will hold yourself back when your enemies are pouncing on you with intentions to kill? Hell, even a guy who won't hurt a fly will stab people in the throats during a war, man.”

Bang Jin-Hun groaned deeply after that mini-speech.

Of course he already knew. If he had chosen to drag all these undecided people to the battlefield, they would surely have done some good for the Assembly.

If their mindset had been poor enough to become nothing more than annoying hindrances, the Assembly would've been finished a long time ago.

So, sending them out to fight would’ve been a good way to temper them into proper warriors. However, Bang Jin-Hun wasn’t so keen on doing that.

“I’m not doing this to filter some of you out, okay? I’m not going to all this trouble just to net me some useful talents or anything like that.”

Bang Jin-Hun jerked his head back to stare at the ceiling.

“What if the Assembly is an ordinary company? There must’ve been some people who chose to resign from this company in that case, right?”

Seong Ju-Chan couldn't help but ponder deeply. He found it hard to formulate his response to this question. However, despite his mental struggles, the answer was already available and ready to leave his lips.

“...Yes, sir. There must’ve been.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Bang Jin-Hun smirked again. “I’m telling you, if this place had been an ordinary company, I’d have already quit. In fact, I’d have quit when that f*cker Lee Jung-Geol was making a mess of this place. But I didn’t. It’s like I’m tethered to this place. And that goes for everyone else, too.”

Bang Jin-Hun scoffed again.

“So, I figured, let's use this opportunity. Let's clear up the air and see where everyone stands. Without an opportunity , you'd never entertain the possibility of quitting, after all. So, when you still have the chance to choose a different path, a chance to start a new life? That's the correct time to do this. You get what I'm trying to say, right?”

Seong Ju-Chan wordlessly nodded.

How strange was this? Even though they were just sitting here and calmly discussing things, Seong Ju-Chan still choked up. So much so that it was getting harder to speak.

“I know it’s been difficult for you.”

“You’ll go through an education program meant to teach you on what to do after quitting. That’s why, don’t have any lingering attachments to this place, okay?”

“You decide what you'll do with your life, okay? Stop caring about what others will think, you dumbass. If it hadn't been for me or the possibility of other people talking behind your back, you wouldn't even have thought twice about this damn thing, right?”

Bang Jin-Hun asked in a sharper, colder voice.

“Yes, sir. I... wouldn’t have.”

“See? You dumbass,” Bang Jin-Hun chuckled again. “Don’t get too hung up about this. Like I said, quitting while you can also takes guts.”

“...Understood, sir.”

“Yeah. Now get out of here. I'll handle the rest. Once you leave the Assembly grounds, don't look back and head straight home, okay? You'll receive a call later on. Oh, and don't forget, you must never use martial arts or qi from now on.”

“Alright. Get going, then.”

Bang Jin-Hun nodded slightly as Seong Ju-Chan got up to leave.

As he walked away, Seong Ju-Chan faltered and looked back several times, but in the end, he exited the office in defeated silence.

Bang Jin-Hun sighed deeply as the noise of the door closing echoed in the office.