Descent of the Demon Master-Chapter 1285. Punishing (5)

“If you believe the Martial Assembly’s rules are unfair and illogical, come and speak to me. We will welcome any logical arguments and amend the rules to address your dissatisfaction.”

After making that announcement, Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Lee Hyeon-Su.

That prompted Lee Hyeon-Su to speak up right away.

“Come find me. Discussing the matter with me will be the first step. If I find your points valid, I’ll report them to the Assembly Master.”

Kang Jin-Ho shifted his icy gaze to the still-collapsed Ahn Dae-Hyeon.

“If this man had come to me before dealing in drugs and discussed the unfairness of his situation, his outcome would have been different. But he didn’t do that and went ahead with dealing in drugs. And now he’s talking about unfairness after he got caught. Are the two things the same?”

No, they couldn’t be. Everyone here understood that.

“Punishing a murderer with death might be illogical to some. However, the murderer himself arguing about it is quite funny, don’t you think?”

Kang Jin-Ho’s cold gaze moved to the shivering martial artists next to Ahn Dae-Hyeon.

“These men might have given their all to the Assembly, just like Ahn Dae-Hyeon had alluded to. And maybe, they haven’t received their fair compensation for their troubles. However, if that was what they truly believed, they should have made their positions clear and fight for what’s rightfully theirs. Using this kind of method is no better than insulting all those who did their best to walk the righteous path.”

Kim Won-Hyeok subtly bit his lip. Kang Jin-Ho was also right.

Maybe Kim Won-Hyeok would end up like those people. But that was still in the future where things had gone quite badly for him. Wasn’t he already doing his best for himself and for the Assembly without taking shortcuts?

“Not all rules can be just and logical. However, that doesn’t mean you’re free to break them as you please. Just like how you’re all working hard, we’ll also try our best. We’ll listen to your complaints and dissatisfaction and try to improve things. That’s why...!”

Kang Jin-Ho spoke calmly but forcefully.

“You, too, must not give in and continue to work hard!”

“Yes, sir!”

A chorus of powerful replies thunderous enough to rock the mountain exploded forth from the crowd.

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Lee Hyeon-Su. “Carry on.”

“Yes, sir!”

Lee Hyeon-Su rushed out to the front and shouted at the criminals.

“Goh Min-Seong! Jo Yeong-Hwa! Bak Gyeong-Ho! Choi Chan-Il! You’re charged with the crimes of drug smuggling and distribution! Assault! Extortion! Embezzlement!”

Kim Won-Hyeok and others couldn’t hear the rest of the charges. Their focus was solely on drug smuggling and distribution. Just those four words alone were enough to make their hearts tighten into knots.

“Do you accept these charges?”

Goh Min-Seong and the others nodded, their bodies pitifully trembling. How could they not admit to these charges in this situation?

Lee Hyeon-Su observed their responses before coldly admonishing them.

“The punishment for the aforementioned individuals will be...! Their cultivation will be sealed away, and their tendons will be severed! And they are to be expelled from the Martial Assembly with immediate effect! Finally, all the money earned through drug dealing, plus all of their current assets, are to be confiscated!”

Kim Won-Hyeok’s eyes shot wide open.

“Holy sh*t...”

“I-isn’t that too harsh for a punishment?”

His peers all reacted roughly the same, too. Despite Kang Jin-Ho suppressing the atmosphere a minute ago, the crowd still reacted viscerally like this, which was a proof of how stunned they were by the severity of the punishment.

The confiscation of all the wealth was a given. And being expelled from the Assembly also was easy enough to accept. Getting involved in drugs was one of the biggest forbidden taboos in the Assembly, after all. In fact, those involved should thank their lucky stars for keeping their lives.

However, sealing away one’s cultivation and severing tendons was a massive step up in terms of punishment.

Without cultivation, one would be no different to an ordinary person, strength-wise. However, since they had been practicing martial arts, one could still defeat ordinary people easily enough without internal energy’s assistance. However, what if their tendons were cut, too? Even ordinary people would find it difficult to live normally.

To martial artists who devoted their entire lives to acquiring strength, becoming weaker than ordinary people must be an unbearable torture. This could be worse than... than cutting wings off a bird that used to soar through the skies!

“The mastermind, Ahn Dae-Hyeon, will also receive the same punishment. However, the severity of his crimes means not only is he expelled from the Assembly, he will also serve twenty years of imprisonment!”

Twenty years behind bars on top of losing his cultivation and his tendons being cut?! Kim Won-Hyeok shuddered in dread at this unimaginably harsh punishment. He’d rather die than live through that torture.

Imagine being stuck in an underground cell with almost no light source while being unable to use any of your limbs properly; if such a thing happened to Kim Won-Hyeok, he’d go insane within a week.

How fortunate that Ahn Dae-Hyeon was currently unconscious. If he was awake, he probably would have thought about finding an opening to kill himself before his cultivation was sealed away for good.

Lee Hyeon-Su loudly shouted, “Now... Take them away!”

“Yes, sir!”

The dazed-looking Goh Min-Seong and his accomplices were dragged away in full view of the Assembly members. And this sight ushered waves of bone-chilling fear into their hearts.

Lee Hyeon-Su respectfully bowed toward Kang Jin-Ho. “Sir. We’re finished.”

“Mm...”

Kang Jin-Ho coolly nodded, then scanned the crowd in silence.

He could see how frozen-solid everyone’s expression was. Although this wasn’t his original intention, this process must’ve felt like he was threatening them. A threat that said, Anyone breaking the Assembly’s rules will be punished without mercy. So, do not ever break the rules! Or something similar.

It seemed undoing their misunderstanding was in order.

“The Assembly’s rules are things we should abide by as members of the Assembly,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“...?”

“In other words, these are rules created by those who keep the Assembly going. You are also responsible for making these rules, not just upholding them.”

Kim Won-Hyeok and the rest stared at Kang Jin-Ho in confusion. That was when Kang Jin-Ho suddenly pointed at Kim Won-Hyeok.

“You.”

Kim Won-Hyeok flinched slightly. “S-sir? You mean... me?”

“Your name.”

“I-it’s Kim Won-Hyeok, sir!”

“Now, speak.”

“I’m... sorry?”

Kang Jin-Ho casually shrugged. “You seem to have something you want to get off your chest, so go on. Don’t worry, you won’t get punished for speaking up.”

Kim Won-Hyeok tightly clenched his fists. His body didn’t want to stop trembling merely because Kang Jin-Ho was staring at him. His heart pounded madly, and he felt lightheaded, too.

However, he still squeezed out every ounce of courage in his body to break his silence.

“S-sir. The rules are already set, so I don’t understand how we’re supposed to make them.”

Kang Jin-Ho cocked an eyebrow. “Are you smart?”

“Sorry?”

“Do you consider yourself a smart person, Kim Won-Hyeok?”

“Oh, uh... No, sir.”

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled slightly. “Even if every person in the Assembly is a genius, we’ll still need more than a decade to complete a set of rules if we want to make it fair and ask everyone to participate.”

“...”

That sounded logical. Garnering everyone’s opinion would never be a simple endeavor, after all.

“As such, we pushed one smart guy we know to come up with a draft set of rules,” said Kang Jin-Ho. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

“...Sure, sir. Use me as much as you want, why don’t you?”

Lee Hyeon-Su grumbled unhappily, but Kang Jin-Ho cleanly ignored the complaint that wasn’t a complaint.

“Creating something new from scratch is difficult. However, finding errors and mending them in already-existing rules is easier than most of you think. You see, humans are creatures of constant dissatisfaction.”

Kim Won-Hyeok nodded in agreement. Even people with zero knowledge in the law could still figure out if the laws pertaining to them were just or not.

“That’s why we want you to check the rules and tell us if you’re not happy with something. Lee Hyeon-Su will ably deal with them.”

That was when Lee Hyeon-Su’s complexion paled in alarm.

“N-no, wait! Your complaints will be processed through an app! We’ll set up an online bulletin board, so use that, everyone. If I need to sit through meetings with every single one of you, I... I won’t get to do anything else! Besides, Assembly Master! These idiots won’t be able to speak honestly in my company.”

“Oh. You have a point there,” Kang Jin-Ho nodded, then scanned the crowd once more. “Lee Hyeon-Su will distribute the draft set of rules to everyone. You will check the areas you’re most familiar with and submit ways to improve or amend those sections. We’ll even prepare a suitable monetary compensation for the individual who submits a suggestion preferred by the highest number of people.”

“Heol...?” Lee Hyeon-Su’s jaw fell slightly. “Sir, you haven’t told us anything about that...?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’ll come out of my own pocket.”

“Oh, uh, I see, then.”

What could Lee Hyeon-Su say when the filthy rich wanted to cough up the cash himself?

“Of course, I’m not saying you will have the power to decide on everything. I cannot yield on certain rules, after all. Those rules will not change no matter how dissatisfied you feel,” said Kang Jin-Ho in a firm voice.

Unsurprisingly, no one dared to complain about that. After all, the Assembly’s system was set up in such a way that the Assembly Master held all the authority. One could say that it was already a minor miracle for the Assembly Master to yield so much to the rank-and-file.

The species called humans always craved for more. As such, the Assembly members might want to take away the authority held by the Assembly Master one day. But that day wouldn’t be today.

“And also, let me warn you about something,” Kang Jin-Ho addressed the crowd in an icy voice. “Without a doubt, some among you must’ve already broken the Assembly’s rules and committed various crimes. Indeed, there is no doubt about that. Even a thorough investigation cannot find every guilty individual, after all.”

“...!”

Even Kim Won-Hyeok, who was guilt-free, couldn’t help but stand at attention, his whole body tense from nervousness.

“This warning is for those people. Your luck won’t last forever. If you think you can fool my eyes till the end of time, go ahead. Carry on with what you’ve been doing.”

“...”

“I’ll gladly teach you the consequences of your actions.”

That was when Kim Won-Hyeok grew certain about something. The Assembly shouldn’t have any idiots breaking rules, at least for a good while!

If someone still wanted to break the rules after being warned by Kang Jin-Ho speaking in that tone and making that face, that bastard was probably destined for something massive. Whether that was in a positive meaning or not was yet to be decided, of course.

“Chief Lee, wrap it up,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“Yes, sir.”

When Kang Jin-Ho returned to the chair, Lee Hyeon-Su shouted at the crowd.

“We’ll establish a department to monitor and enforce the Assembly’s rules very soon! They will probably feel like military police to you! However, their job will be far closer to dealing with the aftermath rather than monitoring and prevention. The Assembly prefers its members to uphold the rules on their own. And that’s why we’re allowing you to make suggestions and amend the rules. Do you understand all that?”

“Yes, sir!”

“We’ll upload both the abridged and full versions of the rules on our app. Download it and go through it when you have time. Let me warn you in advance! If any fool we catch in the future dares to mutter crap like, ‘Sorry, sir, I don’t know how to use an app’, I swear to you, I’ll do my utmost to make that fool experience a miserable death!”

“...”

“You better check the rules, even if you have to ask someone. Got that?!”

“Yes, sir!”

Lee Hyeon-Su firmly nodded, only for his hearing to catch familiar voices grumbling unhappily behind him.

Bang Jin-Hun muttered, “Huh, so it’s available digitally, too? Why didn’t that bastard give us that, then?”

Wiggins grumbled. “He probably wanted to brag about it to us.”

Vator tutted. “Petty bastard.”

Lee Hyeon-Su did his best to ignore those grumblings. Getting into an argument with those folks was more or less like digging his own grave, after all!

“Lastly! The Assembly Master has taken into consideration all you have gone through recently, and wants to give you all some time off. Yes, I’m talking about a vacation! We’ll set a suitable time period, so you select the date that’s most convenient for you in that period and submit your request.”

The eyes of the Assembly members nearly bulged out of their sockets. A vacation?

Such a thing had never happened before since the founding of the Martial Assembly!

They were witnessing the actual, real-life application of the stick-and-carrot method! Thanks to all these revelations, the members weren’t sure whether to smile or sob.

“The announcement will be made in the near future, so keep that in mind! Dismissed!”

“Dismissed!”

The Assembly’s members began shuffling out of the central training area in uncertain steps.

Kang Jin-Ho turned around and headed to the main building. Lee Hyeon-Su quickly caught up to him and whispered quietly. “If a murderer can’t punish a criminal, we can just let them punish themselves.”

“...”

“Isn’t that right, sir?”

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled slightly while lightly tapping Lee Hyeon-Su’s head.

No one held a perfect answer to everything. However, what mattered was how one diligently strove toward that perfect answer.

Even if one couldn’t overcome the dilemma they faced by themselves, there were always better alternatives to consider.

Kang Jin-Ho sighed softly.

I’m sure things have gotten a little better.

...And things would continue to get better into the future, too.