Chapter 228: If You Want, I’ll…

Kim Muhyuk stared hard at the face before him.

It was rude, but right now, he had no room to worry about manners.

“Is it really...”

Was this really Richard Han? Why was he suddenly here? How? Why?

His mind was so flooded with questions that he could barely force any words out.

The Strongest in the World.

The leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult.

The idol Kim had dreamed of meeting since childhood.

The embodiment of all three stood close enough for Kim to touch if he reached out.

Reflected in the man’s clear eyes, Kim felt as though he had been stripped naked from head to toe.

“I heard you were a pinnacle expert. Did you recently become a supreme master? It seems coming to meet you was the right choice.”

As Richard Han spoke with a delighted smile, Kim could see < cafe Naru > behind him.

No way.

Kim caught the familiar aroma of garlic coffee coming from Richard Han and went rigid.

Richard tilted his head at the reaction.

“Are you normally this timid? You’ve been trembling ever since we met.”

“...”

His mother. His father. Bokja. Apricot. Jaechun.

Everyone precious to him was gathered close enough to be reduced to dust with a single gesture from a peerless master.

And Kim knew the man standing before him was fully capable of doing exactly that.

Clench.

Sweat gathered inside Kim’s fist as he tightened his grip on the sword hilt.

His breathing gradually quickened, and his eyes turned cold.

The carefully manufactured image of an orthodox martial artist cracked apart, revealing the true self that had kept him alive for decades.

“Hmm?”

The faint disappointment on Richard Han’s face vanished as a smile slowly spread across his lips.

“I heard you were like a wolf with its hackles raised. Those are some impressive fangs.”

Muttering almost to himself, Richard reached inside his coat and took something out.

Kim flinched, but did not act rashly.

Not until he saw the paper bag marked <naru>.

“That...”

“This?”

Richard opened the bag, took out a cookie, and bit into it.

“I bought it from the café behind us. They were so good that I got some to go.”

A cookie Park Jiyeon baked herself every morning crumbled between Richard Han’s teeth.

Crunch. Crunch.

He was waiting for me at Naru. He knew my family was there...

When Kim stared at him with a rigid expression, Richard smiled amiably and held out another cookie.

“Your mother is an excellent baker. Would you like one?”

A faint tide of killing intent began seeping from Kim’s entire body.

In the span of a heartbeat, every trace of the orthodox gentleman he had been performing disappeared, replaced by the presence of a wild beast.

He did not care that the man before him was the Strongest in the World. Madness churned in his eyes, threatening to spill over.

“...I don’t particularly enjoy hearing strangers talk about my family.”

His voice was low, like a wolf’s growl.

Richard Han let out an exclamation of genuine wonder.

“Wow.”

The eyes of the Strongest in the World—another man afflicted with incurable madness—shone like a universe filled with stars.

“I came here deliberately keeping my expectations low, but you’re incredible.”

Praise from anyone else in the world could not have pleased Kim more.

Right now, however, he heard none of it.

He prepared for the worst.

If the Heavenly Demon Cult sent him to eliminate me...

No matter what Kim tried in his current state, he could never handle Richard Han.

But he had no intention of quietly allowing himself to be killed.

I can at least struggle.

Kim was prepared to stake his life.

The people he had to protect were only a short distance away. Running had never been an option.

If he could somehow warn Kim Bokja of the danger and buy time until his master or Dr. Man arrived...

“But this is a little strange.”

Richard Han awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

“Most people are amazed when they see me. You seem far too wary. And you’re not old enough to have any personal grudge against me...”

Faced with Richard’s guileless expression and blunt question, Kim hesitated.

Right. As far as he knows, I’m only a young rising star who knows nothing about the Heavenly Demon Cult.

Being overly wary of Richard Han might only arouse suspicion.

And if Richard had come to him openly as the Strongest in the World, he had no reason to kill a young Korean martial artist without cause.

He’s testing me. He wants to know how much I know about him. There’s no need to get worked up and attack first.

Having reached that conclusion, Kim decided to play along.

Haaaa...

He released a long breath, relaxed his body, and offered a formal clasped-hands salute.

“My apologies, Richard Han. Your sudden appearance startled me so badly that I acted rudely without realizing it.”

Richard smiled gently and returned the greeting.

“I’m partly to blame for appearing without warning. You recently went through a major battle, so your body must still be on edge.”

He had apparently assessed the extent of Kim’s injuries in that brief exchange.

Knowing there was no point hiding it, Kim nodded.

“I only gained my recent enlightenment a short while ago, so I’m still adjusting.”

“Congratulations. A friend told me an extraordinary talent had appeared in her homeland, and I was curious. Now that I’ve met you, you’re even more impressive than I expected.”

“...Was that friend Sunwoo Jeha, leader of the Transcendent Extremity Gate?”

Richard nodded, then grinned playfully.

“Why don’t we drop the formalities? It’s been a long time since I was in Korea, and all this polite speech feels awkward.”

They did not look particularly far apart in age, but Richard was twenty years Kim’s senior in both years and martial experience.

“Of course. Please speak freely.”

Richard stepped closer without hesitation and offered Kim his hand.

“Meeting like this must be fate. How about a casual drink?”

Kim put the orthodox mask he had spent the past few days learning back into place and smiled.

“It would be an honor.”

*****

The two arrived at a cocktail bar that stayed open late.

It was a quiet establishment with only a few tables and almost no customers.

After warmly greeting the owner, Richard led Kim to a secluded table in the corner.

“I stop by sometimes when I’m in Korea.”

“...Haven’t you barely visited Korea since becoming a naturalized citizen?”

Richard winked.

“Officially.”

He was the most famous martial artist in the world.

Yet no one in the cocktail bar recognized Richard Han.

Even the owner seemed to know him as someone else.

I thought Master had become the greatest assassin alive after reaching the peerless-master realm...

Even Kim lost sight of Richard’s face whenever his concentration slipped. He could not begin to guess what kind of ability made it possible.

“Jeha told me a lot about you. She hardly ever praises anyone, but when we met for the first time in years, she spent ages talking about nothing but you.”

Richard laughed cheerfully as he explained that Sunwoo Jeha’s stories had made him curious enough to come and see Kim for himself.

Kim, however, still could not relax.

“Is the Transcendent Extremity Gate leader doing well?”

“She’s probably suffering by now. Proving that you’ve reached the peerless-master realm is never easy!”

Richard laughed as he drank the cocktail the bartender had brought him.

It was a Moscow Mule served in a copper mug. Kim had ordered the same.

“Hahahaha!”

In person, Richard Han seemed like a friendly older guy from the neighborhood.

He was cheerful, smiled constantly, and made no attempt to probe Kim with veiled questions.

“You killed a Great Anomaly like that? That bastard Jeha didn’t explain anything properly!”

“What did she tell you?”

“‘I climbed up and cut it.’ That was all! She has a real talent for making people lose their minds!”

“Pfft...”

Kim almost wondered whether he had misunderstood Richard Han from the beginning.

That only made him more frightening.

—Do you know which kind of martial-arts lunatic is the most dangerous?

Kim clearly remembered what Sunwoo Jeha had told him.

—The kind who believes he’s normal. He refuses to admit he’s insane and is always considerate of the people around him. He’s sociable and kind enough to become everyone’s role model...

Now that Kim had met him in person, Richard Han truly was that kind of man.

He was exactly as he appeared in the media.

The idol of every boy and girl who dreamed of becoming a martial artist, and the most beloved martial artist in the world.

Had Kim not seen the future twenty years from now, he would never have suspected him at all.

“...Richard Han. You’re my idol. You have been for a very long time.”

It was a sincere confession.

Even now, Kim’s heart pounded as though it might burst. He could hardly believe that the man he had admired stood before him. It felt like a dream.

That feeling existed separately from the fact that Kim would one day have to defeat him.

“Haha. I hear that often, but it makes me a little happier coming from a promising junior like you.”

The Strongest in the World.

Meeting him in person made Kim understand just how absurdly powerful the man truly was.

His public persona was exactly as Kim remembered, but his martial arts felt nothing like they had through a screen.

I can’t sense anything.

Even after becoming a supreme master, Kim felt like a child before him.

Yet the feeling was not unpleasant.

It thrilled him.

His idol stood at a height so distant that Kim could barely imagine reaching it.

As more alcohol entered his system, Kim gradually became more talkative.

“Do you remember your first victory in the World’s Strongest Sparring Tournament? Your opponent in the finals called you a brat during the interview, and then you defeated him exactly the way he said he’d defeat you.”

“You mean Rui Chen from China? The challenge was to make him drop his weapon within three hundred techniques. It was my first time, so it was fairly difficult.”

“What about your third championship? When France’s Sword King declared he would break your sword?”

“He burst into tears when his own sword broke. But I couldn’t help it. It had become a matter of pride between our sacred weapons.”

“When you became the first person in history to win for the tenth time, I cried with you. Until halfway through the match, I thought you were going to lose...”

“That was one of the greatest fights of my life. They took me straight to the hospital afterward, and damn it, when I opened my eyes, three days had passed!”

Kim became completely absorbed in talking with the idol he had admired for so long, rambling excitedly like any devoted fan.

Empty cocktail glasses gradually accumulated in front of them.

“I like you.”

Richard grinned and raised his glass.

They lightly clinked their glasses together and downed their cocktails in one go.

“You said you’re twenty, right? That’s the same age I was when I became a supreme master. I like that too.”

Kim tilted his head. That contradicted what he knew.

“I thought you became a supreme master at twenty-one.”

“That’s what the official record says.”

Richard winked, then tapped a finger against his empty glass.

“Do you know what I like most about you?”

Kim felt as though he already knew the answer.

“You haven’t asked me anything about martial arts. Most martial artists turn ravenous the moment they meet me and beg me to teach them a single move.”

For the first time, contempt crossed Richard’s normally amiable face.

“Idiots who wouldn’t understand even if I explained it to them. They’re stupid, yet endlessly greedy. Unfortunately, that describes most martial artists.”

A chill ran down Kim’s spine, but he did not look away.

This man was both his idol and the opponent he would one day have to defeat.

“But you haven’t asked me anything. You don’t need to. You already know the path you have to walk. All you need is enough time.”

A vast universe stretched through Richard Han’s eyes as he spoke.

At the same time, he looked unbearably lonely.

“Seeing you is making me impatient. So...”

At some point, without Kim even noticing him move, Richard’s hand had closed tightly around his throat.

“Will you become my disciple? I’ll make you a peerless master within five years.”

“Ghk...”

Before Kim could answer, Richard leaned close and whispered.

“If you want, I’ll even give you a chance to kill me.”

The madman bared a savage smile, his eyes shining with absolute sincerity.