Chapter 1553 Nurturing (3)

“It’s simpler than it sounds, everyone,” said Lee Hyeon-Su while tapping on the large screen behind him.

Currently, the Martial Assembly’s executives had gathered in the conference room.

“Thanks to Elder Chang Min’s hard work, Japan has completely lost any will or strength to resist us. Even the sporadic attacks on our people have died down completely.”

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Chang Min. “You did well, Chang Min.”

“My liege! This is all thanks to your grace and generosity! This servant merely showed those lowly fools the majesty and authority of the demon emperor, and taught them that dedicating their pitiful, worthless lives to serving you would be the greatest honor they could ever imagine! They realized the error of their ways on their own, and now...”

“Stop... Just stop. Stop with this nonsense already, okay? Okay?!”

“I beg your forgiveness, my liege!”

Kang Jin-Ho groaned loudly. Wasn’t it about time Chang Min stopped with this stupid act?!

Lee Hyeon-Su grinned deeply while resuming his briefing.

“In other words, our conquest of Japan is complete, everyone. The Japanese martial artists are suppressed by our expeditionary force, and now, they have become nothing more than our gophers who collect money from the Yakuza under their control.”

Wiggins furrowed his brow slightly. “Actually, I have some reservations regarding that situation, Mister Lee. I heard that the power of Yakuza has been waning recently, and that their income sources have dried up. It seems they are under tremendous strain.”

Lee Hyeon-Su nodded. “Yes, I’ve also received that report, sir. However, that situation only applies to small fries. The larger Yakuza organizations have already made investments in various business ventures, such as entertainment companies. They own sizable shares in large corporations via shell companies, and some of them even operate small to medium companies of their own.”

“Mm, is that so?”

“Yes, sir. In other words, they have more than enough sources of income, reputable or otherwise. Besides, we don’t have to care about where they get their money from, no? We only have to extort them out of what they have, anyway.”

Kang Jin-Ho was slightly bothered by the term, “extort”, but couldn’t do anything about it since it was technically correct.

“So what about it?” Vator asked disinterestedly.

Lee Hyeon-Su smiled at the big man. “Sir Vator, do you know who pillaged South Korea the most when it was being ruled by the Japanese?”

Wiggins chimed in. “The Japanese Government-General of Korea?”

“...”

Lee Hyeon-Su was rendered speechless by how natural Wiggins sounded just then. Was he really a Briton? Maybe he was secretly Korean underneath?

“It’s... Uh, you’re quite close, but incorrect. The ones who pillaged this country the most were none other than the people in the pro-Japanese faction.”

“Mm...!”

“When you think about it, it should be fairly obvious why that was the case back then. Since they were also Koreans, they were privy to more local information than the Japanese. That meant they also knew how to squeeze out every last drop of lifeblood from their own countrymen.”

“I see. What a despicable bunch of bastards,” Vator grunted while scowling deeply.

On the other hand, Wiggins nodded as if such a revelation didn’t surprise him. “Similar things happened whenever Europeans colonized other parts of the planet in the past. The standard practice was to grant the collaborators a little greater freedom and authority than other natives in return for their help in lording over the colony.”

Unfortunately, this system gradually got extreme to the point where Western colonizers and their collaborators would even resort to severing limbs of small children if the export quotas for things like sugarcane were not met.

Europeans might sing enthusiastically about human rights and whatnot these days, but Wiggins had no plans to conveniently forget about the history of blood and tears of colonies that formed the foundation of modern Europe.

Lee Hyeon-Su scanned his audience members. “Since that’s the case, it’s about time they learned what that feels like. Through the pro-Korea faction, that is.”

Bang Jin-Hun furrowed his brow next. “Hang on? You want to get even with the Japs?”

“That would be nice, but realistically speaking, it’d be impossible, sir.”

“Huh? Why?”

“The era has changed, and the current situation is not the same as in the past, sir. Even if we wanted to be as villainous as possible, would we be okay with dragging the unwilling Japanese to war zones and using them as meat shields? Or take their women and turn them into the so-called comfort women?”

“...”

Bang Jin-Hun was about to say they wouldn’t do something inhuman like that, but Lee Hyeon-Su’s words triggered his blood to rush to his head. Of course, he got himself under control almost immediately.

Obviously, the current generation of Japanese didn’t have to pay for the crimes of their ancestors. Besides, threatening to do the same thing as their great-grandfather had done to Korea would be a bit too villainous, now wouldn’t it?

“However,” Lee Hyeon-Su raised his index finger. “We can make the process a lot more efficient for us. To be honest, I feel that we’re wasting far too much of our manpower and resources to prevent the Japanese from amassing power to rebel again. So, if we could find someone to do that for us instead, exploiting them should become so much easier.”

Kang Jin-Ho asked, “And you’re thinking of using the pro-Korea faction for that?”

“Yes, sir.”

Wiggins slowly scratched his chin. “Hmm... In terms of management, I agree that it makes a lot of sense, my lord. Even from an ethical perspective, it’d be a...”

“Ethics shouldn’t even be a part of this conversation,” Lee Hyeon-Su cut in and cleanly quashed Wiggins’ concerns. “It’s not like we’re forcibly mobilizing them, after all. No, we’re simply ‘asking’ those who want to improve their martial arts in Korea to work for us as compensation. It’s a perfect give-and-take, I think.”

Wiggins narrowed his eyes. Well, yes. On the surface at least, that’s what this arrangement would look like.

“Anyone with eyes will see through such a pretext.”

Lee Hyeon-Su remained unfazed in his reply. “Those bastards didn’t even bother with any pretexts back then, you know?”

“...”

That was technically true, wasn’t it?

“Regrettably, I’m not exactly the most patriotic person in this world, sir. It’s the opposite, as a matter of fact. So, please don’t misunderstand me and think of my suggestion as my attempt to get even with Japan. I would have made similar suggestions if the same situation had happened to other countries.”

“Your consistency is certainly worthy of some praise,” Wiggins chuckled helplessly. At least they were doing it the right way, so there was that!

Strictly speaking, the Martial Assembly didn’t have to do this.

Throughout history, it was rare to see the colonizers going out of their way to threaten the ruling elites of the colonized lands with guns and knives thrust into their faces. No, all they had to do was get rid of resistance movements and leave behind only the friendly ones. Those folks would voluntarily fight over each other to offer proof of their loyalty afterward.

As for the proof, there could really be only one: tributes. To offer even more taxes and tributes to the colonizers, those who wished to demonstrate their loyalty would voluntarily exploit their own countrymen.

As for the Assembly, all it did was creating categories like “Pro-Korea” or even “Assembly Trainee.” That was all.

What if those people received training in Korea but still didn’t become pro-Korea in the end?

Nope, that’s impossible.

Humans couldn’t decide on the categories that defined them. That job belonged to the people around them.

Even if the ones training in Korea tried hard to behave the same as before, the way other people acted around them would still change the moment they returned to Japan.

The species called humanity had this tendency where their hearts could transform depending on the treatment they received from their surroundings.

They won’t have a choice but to walk this path if they wish to survive, Wiggins mulled silently.

Lee Hyeon-Su should also be aware of this, even though he hadn’t said anything about it. Why would he remain silent, though?

Wiggins glanced to his side. More specifically, at Kang Jin-Ho.

My lord can be rather peculiar in matters like this, after all.

Kang Jin-Ho could be rather inconsistent in his actions.

Of course, when he was acting as an individual, he stuck to a set of ironclad rules. For instance, he never attacked unless provoked first. And anyone provoking him would always suffer serious consequences.

But as the leader of the Assembly, that story had to change somewhat. After all, an organization like the Assembly was not an individual. Depending on the situation, it should be ready to attack first.

In a situation like that, however, the leader’s set of values would play a major role. And that was where the issue was—as far as his values were concerned, one could say Kang Jin-Ho was a very complex individual, indeed!

He was fully capable of utterly trampling on his enemies without batting an eye. But at the same time, he was way too generous toward those he took a shine to. Depending on the situation, he’d completely forgo benefits and move according to his whims, too. A good example was the Seongsim Orphanage and all the children under his care in that place.

Could there be any other man as contradictory as Kang Jin-Ho in this world?

What Lee Hyeon-Su was trying to do was to avoid a situation where Kang Jin-Ho might reply with something like “I’m not entirely happy with this idea” to his suggestion.

Technically speaking, he was trying to deceive his boss. But Wiggins kept his mouth shut despite having noticed this deception. Why? Because he knew the intention of this deception was to benefit everyone in this room, including Kang Jin-Ho.

If Lee Hyeon-Su had been trying to benefit himself, Wiggins would’ve trampled his disciple underfoot without a shred of hesitation and thrown the fool into the underground prison.

“My apologies for taking so long to get to the point. My suggestion is to pick suitable candidates from among the Japanese and bring them over to Korea,” said Lee Hyeon-Su. “Then, we train them with demonic cultivation or the Assembly’s exclusive martial arts... before deploying them back to Japan.”

Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded. “Hmm...”

“Those people will keep the other Japanese martial artists in line all on their own without us telling them to. Which will make our lives that much more convenient, sir.”

Everyone focused their attention on Kang Jin-Ho next. With this much explanation, even an idiot would have figured out the details and the end goal of Lee Hyeon-Su’s suggestion by now. And now, only one thing mattered, and that was Kang Jin-Ho’s decision.

Kang Jin-Ho mouthed a cigarette, lit it up, then leisurely puffed away. “You know, there’s something I don’t understand...”

“Please ask away, sir.”

Kang Jin-Ho cocked his head to the side. “When you first brought up this idea, wasn’t it to turn the freeloaders into an actual combat force in the war against the Three Kings? But this sounds more like a plan to secure our source of income instead. And it sounds like a long-term plan, too.”

“Yes, sir. You’re right. But what I’ve explained just now is a secondary effect. What’s important is that the Japanese martial artists will be staying in Korea.”

“Is that right?”

“Right now, the Demon Cult elders and Demon Flames regularly travel to Japan to keep the Japanese martial artists in line. Isn’t that so?”

“Yes, it is.”

“The idea is the same, sir. When the group of Japanese martial artists comes to Korea to train, we do exactly that and train them. However, after a while, we send half of them back to Japan and have them act as on-site managers. And after some time, we summon them back to Korea, while the other half return to Japan as their replacement.”

Wiggins furrowed his brow. “I see... That should produce an excellent result for us, theoretically speaking. The second group would be anxious to surpass the achievements of the first group in Japan. Meanwhile, the first group wouldn’t want to look weak to the second group, so they would try their hardest to get the job done and refrain from doing something unwise.”

“Yes, that’s it, sir.”

“However, there’s a reason why colonizers couldn’t utilize this idea effectively throughout history, Mister Lee. If the first group refuses to return, you won’t have a choice but to force them back. But you will never get their cooperation that way. No, you’re simply giving them the justification to harbor anti-Korea sentiments instead.”

“No, sir. That won’t happen,” said Lee Hyeon-Su with a cool smirk. “In the past, many Koreans went to Japan to study and eventually became freedom fighters. That’s because they had acquired the minimum-required knowledge to fight against the Japanese imperialist rule. Simply put... Japan no longer had something to offer them.”

“I... Yes, I see now. Our story isn’t the same.”

“Yes, sir. We are martial artists, after all,” Lee Hyeon-Su coolly shrugged. “That story doesn’t apply to the Japanese martial artists, because they know that Korea is the only place where they can attain even greater strength.”

“Indeed!”

Wiggins nodded weightily in acceptance.

Some might try to break off from this... program midway and become rebels instead, and that could cause serious headaches. However, the allure of greater strength could solve that problem quite easily.

After all, the rebels would have received guidance on the Martial Assembly’s exclusive martial arts or demonic cultivation. Without continuous guidance from the Assembly’s people, their improvement would stall eventually.

On the other hand, those who kept entering Korea to receive said guidance would continue to get stronger. Eventually, the rebels would get weeded out by their fellow Japanese martial artists.

Wiggins turned his attention back to Kang Jin-Ho. “My lord, I believe this suggestion is worth looking into. The Japanese receiving guidance in Korea can be utilized as combatants immediately, while the ones in Japan can quickly re-enter Korea as reinforcements.”

Kang Jin-Ho dropped the cigarette ash into a nearby ashtray, then muttered quietly. “Yes, the suggestion itself isn’t bad, but...”

He let his sentence drift on for a bit before narrowing his eyes.

“I’m not entirely happy with this idea.”

Everyone in the room grew tense just then.