“Colonel! Have you lost your goddamn mind?! Is that it?!”

Colonel William Reese sighed softly under his breath. He already had a hunch that his superior would say that to him.

However, he had no desire to resent or insult his superior for it. Because he, too, would have reacted the same less than a day ago!

“Handing over the command?! Do you understand what that even means!”

Reese raised his head and looked straight into the eyes of his superior. “Sir, I know it sounds completely absurd and unthinkable.”

“Absurd? Unthinkable?!”

The Undersecretary of the United States Department of the Army, Reynold Spencer, glared at Reese as a deep crease formed between his brows.

“Do you honestly think those two words are adequate enough to describe this demand? Taking over the command means they will have full control of our troops. Our troops! That’s the same as having the ownership of our own goddamn soldiers! Nothing like this has ever happened in our history, okay?”

“Sir, if I may. In my opinion, we shouldn’t try to complicate this situation. In case South Korea enters war, the authority to command operations rests with us, does it not? Think of it as roles reversing in this situation. That should make this demand easier to accept.”

“Colonel!” Spencer shouted, his eyes burning in rage. “Did you get hypnotized by those Koreans or what?! Why do you keep repeating that nonsense?! Besides, why should we even go that far, anyway?!”

Reese remained standing tall. “Sir, isn’t it obvious? Because we will benefit from this deal.”

“Really now? How so?”

“We get to learn from them, sir.”

Reynold Spencer stared at Reese in a daze before chuckling hollowly. “You’re not being serious, are you?”

“Sir, I’m sure you’ve seen the footage from H27 by now.”

“...”

Reese sighed deeply. “I understand why you’d react this way. That footage alone isn’t enough to paint an accurate picture of what happened, after all.”

Spencer wordlessly massaged the bridge of his nose. He had to admit that, yes, he also couldn’t wrap his head around what happened in Area H27.

Kang Jin-Ho, the so-called Demon King of Asia, displayed shocking physical prowess. Even Spencer had to watch slack-jawed at the video evidence.

However, no matter how strong he was, how could nearly a thousand American soldiers become terrified of him and nearly wet their pants? That just didn’t make any sort of goddamn sense!

For sure...

There must be something more undefinable, something that couldn’t be captured by the CCTV cameras, at play here. One or two people reacting that way made sense, but a thousand people, all at the same time? Spencer knew he shouldn’t downplay the significance of what had happened. Even then...!

“Even if...” Spencer weightily spoke after finally organizing his chaotic thoughts. “Even if the Koreans are far stronger than we’ve bargained for, it’s still not a good enough reason for us to hand over the command.”

“But, sir...”

“The whole point of this negotiation was to use South Korea as an effective deterrent against China. Since that’s the case, what do you expect us to get out of this deal by giving them the command? Which is basically everything? Do this, and we’ll be making the Koreans happy at our own expense! Maybe asking you to become our representative in this negotiation was an error in my judgment, after all!”

Reese silently stared at Spencer before forcing his unwilling lips to open.

“Sir. It’s about time we face reality.”

“Reality? Really now?”

“The United States military is the best in the world. But we are definitely not the best in the martial world. We can’t rely on the same tactic to reach the top here. Doing so will only severely limit our options. It won’t be any different from digging a hole for ourselves.”

Spencer’s face crumpled hideously. “Did you forget how much money we’ve sunk into this project? We are trying to create the world’s strongest, greatest martial artists, okay?! And you, Colonel, have always been at the forefront of our struggle until now. Yet here you are, daring to say something so humiliating like this! We are not the best? Really?!”

“Failure will always be unbearable, sir,” said Reese in a firm voice. “But what is even more unbearable is refusing to acknowledge one’s failure. The longer we take to acknowledge it, the more time and funds we will waste on this project. And that will only worsen our losses.”

“Hah...”

Spencer rested his head on his cushy chair’s headrest. As he stared back at Colonel William Reese, his expression remained hollow.

He chose someone he trusted deeply to represent the United States government, and that was none other than Reese. So, for someone so deeply trusted to say this...

Since Spencer wouldn’t entrust an important matter to someone he didn’t believe in, didn’t that mean whatever Reese said should be trusted, too?

His rational mind and his trust toward his subordinate were colliding nastily against each other.

Goddamn it!

Of course, Spencer knew what he should choose when stuck in a situation like this.

“Okay, so...”

Undersecretary Reynold Spencer slowly rubbed his face, then sighed deeply.

“In your view, we should form an alliance with the Koreans regardless of what. That will benefit us in the long run. Is that it?”

Reese nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“You’re out of your mind, Reese.”

Spencer chuckled loudly, but also helplessly.

Indeed, Reese must’ve been out of his damn mind. Spencer wouldn’t dare report something this outrageous to his higher-ups. However, sometimes in negotiations... One needed to bite the bullet and take that insane leap.

“Tell me, Reese. How sure are you about your choice being correct?”

“100%, sir.”

“And the reason is?”

“Because I’m not the only one thinking this way, sir. All the members of the SOB in H27, the ones who have faced off against Kang Jin-Ho at least, agree with me.”

“Everyone?”

“Yes, sir. Not only the commanders, but the soldiers who got crushed all wish to travel to South Korea.”

“Did they fall for the people who trampled on them or something? What is this? A third-rate young adult novel?”

“At the very least, they now know what true strength is like, sir.”

“Mm...!”

A helpless groan leaked out of Spencer’s lips.

The issue was with the method of training? If so, what a headache-inducing quandary this was.

Everyone, starting from him up to the highest officials involved, would have to acknowledge that America’s methods have been wrong all along in order to get this deal approved.

But that was the easy part. The hard part was figuring out who would shoulder the responsibilities of such a failure. And who would get the honor of becoming the unlucky one in this situation, then?

“Reese... Do you think we’ll get the approval?”

“Yes, sir,” Reese nodded quickly. “It won’t be difficult, sir. Because what we fear the most isn’t the failure of the past, but the failure in the future, after all.”

“...”

“It’s important to remember that we’ve gained an opportunity to correct our mistakes. We learn from our mistakes and become better versions of ourselves. Isn’t that how we’ve always been doing things until now?”

“No, we made sure not to make mistakes in the first place,” said Spencer.

Despite his sour-sounding reply, though, he knew his mind had already been swayed.

He knew they had done everything they could. The American training system was created with the input from top specialists in various fields. However, if that notion was flipped on its head...

If this method was proven to be a failure, America wouldn’t have a way to fix it with its own powers. How humiliating was that?

Spencer sighed deeply. “Is there no other way? Such as requesting the Round Table for assistance?”

“Undersecretary, sir...” Reese furrowed his brow deeply. “We must not let our meaningless pride distract us from our goal.”

“What... did you say?”

“We can’t be the best in every field in existence, sir. That’s only logical. Look at our own auto industry, for instance. The folks at Detroit won’t hesitate to jump on the chance to extract valuable technical know-how from the top three German automakers.”

“...”

“America remained the best in the world because that’s what we’ve been striving toward all this time. Since when did we throw away opportunities to improve ourselves because of some petty pride? That’s being unpatriotic.”

Spencer didn’t even bother hiding his discomfort. But he didn’t let his emotions cloud his judgment and mess with official business.

“Goddamn it. You sure know how to run your mouth, don’t you?”

One shouldn’t criticize something that was correct. In the end, Reynold Spencer could only groan deeply in resignation.

“We must get something out of this deal, Colonel. Or it won’t end with just you or me losing our jobs, okay?”

“I understand, sir. And I’m prepared for it.”

Spencer groaned again. “Fine. I’ll send it upstairs, see what they have to say. Let’s just pray that your choice is the right one.”

“Me too, sir. Me too.”

Spencer tapped on his desk for a few seconds, then narrowed his eyes at Reese. “Besides all that... Let’s talk about Kang Jin-Ho. How was he, now that you got to observe him in the flesh?”

“I’m not sure if I understand your question properly, sir.”

“You don’t have to give me a clear-cut answer, Colonel. Just tell me your overall impression of the man.”

Reese clamped his mouth shut. He gave himself a little bit of time to organize his thoughts before ruefully shaking his head. “I’m sorry, but it’s not easy, sir.”

“That bad?”

“No, that’s not what I meant, but... I’m not sure what to say exactly, sir. With all the different impressions I’ve got from him... One thing is for certain, however. We might as well discard all the data we’ve collected about his personality.”

“Hmm?”

Spencer’s ears perked up when he heard that.

Reese believed in the value of data and information. So, for him to say they must discard the source of his confidence? What an interesting development that was.

“Are you suggesting that our data might be corrupted?”

“No, sir. My experience tells me that such fragmented bits of information aren’t enough to describe Kang Jin-Ho the person. For one thing, he’s not your stereotypical East Asian male. Far from it. And his personality doesn’t match our prediction that was based on the data. It’s... Uh-whew.”

Reese sighed deeply.

“You could say there are some similarities, yes. But the issue is that his personality will change depending on the situation.”

“Does that mean he’s got a multiple personality disorder or something?”

“No, his situation is a little more unique than that, sir. But not in a negative sense. That’s what makes it so difficult to define him.”

Spencer leaned against the chair while looking up at the ceiling of his office. Why did it feel like nothing was going right?

Unfortunately, that was life, wasn’t it? 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

If Kang Jin-Ho was indeed as complicated as Reese had described, maintaining an amicable relationship with him could get a lot trickier than initially expected. However, for the sake of this country’s future, they must succeed in this task, no matter what!

If they hadn’t even tried yet, there wouldn’t have been anything to rack his brain about. But now that he had decided to do this, Spencer knew he must make it happen. For both his future and America!

“Fine. Leave the higher-ups to me. Meanwhile, you focus on getting closer to Kang Jin-Ho and the Martial Assembly.”

“Understood, sir. We’re doing our best, but that man just seems to lack interest in the usual things, so... For instance, he doesn’t enjoy alcohol and doesn’t even throw money around, either. And he’s also obviously not interested in narcotics, since he’s a martial artist.”

“...Really now? Then what does he do for entertainment?”

“We’re not sure yet, sir.”

Spencer furrowed his brow. “What about women?”

“Sir?”

“No hot-blooded men can resist the allure of the opposite sex, after all. How about we find someone stunning and...”

“Don’t even dream about that, sir. Otherwise, the Pentagon will get blown up to smithereens.”

“...?”

Reese shuddered in dread. “We must never explore that avenue, sir. Not only does he have a well-established girlfriend, but in my honest opinion, that woman’s personality is ten times worse than Mister Kang’s.”

“...I see. Pretend I didn’t say anything.”

Reese didn’t bother to voice the part about Choi Yeon-Ha being a stunner herself.

Unless Kang Jin-Ho preferred foreign beauties, it’d be near impossible to find someone more attractive than Choi Yeon-Ha. Reese wasn’t even remotely drawn to Asian women, yet even he could barely keep his eyes away from Choi Yeon-Ha’s beauty, after all!

God can be so unfair sometimes!

Reese ruefully shook his head, then cautiously studied Spencer’s mood. “Then... I’ll leave this matter with you, sir.”

“Hmph. You seem to enjoy dumping impossible tasks on my shoulders, don’t you?”

“That’s one of the perks of your job title, sir. Isn’t that right?”

Spencer groaned and dismissively waved his hand. “Work hard and get your promotion soon, okay?”

“Thank you for the encouragement, sir. Oh, and by the way...”

Reese carefully took out a large envelope containing documents from his bag, then placed it on Spencer’s desk. Even at a casual glance, the envelope was obviously tightly sealed.

What was strange about it was that the envelope had been placed just out of Spencer’s reach for some reason.

Spencer looked at Reese weirdly. “And what’s this?”

“It’s, uh, it contains additional demands from them. Demands that are, well, sundry in nature, but we still need to agree with them to complete this deal. That kind of thing, sir.”

“Hmm? Is that so? I’ll take a look, then.”

“Thank you. Then, please excuse me.”

Reese hurriedly turned around and escaped from Spencer’s office. His movement seemed urgent for some reason, and Spencer couldn’t help but tilt his head in confusion. What was that all about?

Eventually, his gaze shifted over to the envelope. He reached out and dragged the envelope closer, before tearing its stubborn lid off.

A short while later, after he started reading the contents of the documents...!

“Colonel William Reese! Reeeese! Get your ass back in here, right now!”

A furious roar exploded from the undersecretary’s office.

“Anyone outside?! Go and arrest that motherf*cker! Right now! Goddamn it!”

This was the wretched fate of all those who didn’t know that Kang Jin-Ho wasn’t their biggest threat during the negotiation, but somebody else!