Chapter 607. Overwhelmed, Again (2)
Director Choi's mind was too chaotic to think straight.
His body was too aged to withstand the former knight Wiggins' sword strike. Hoping to emerge unscathed when his younger and more virile self wouldn't have succeeded was asking for an impossible miracle.
'Utterly crushed' perfectly described Director Choi's current physical condition. That was how thoroughly he was beaten up.
“Kkeuh... wuuuk...”
Director Choi couldn't even move a finger. The pain and agony were so severe that dying seemed the better option. It felt like a terrifying grim reaper was stealthily approaching him from behind!
'Well, I have lived a long life, so there's that...'
Indeed, he had been living for too long. People he called his acquaintances who were still alive were all in this place, after all! As such, Director Choi thought he could calmly accept his fate. He had already transcended past things like lingering attachment to life and...
'...Who am I trying to fool here?!'
Which insane son of a b*tch would calmly accept his death?! Who would remain unaffected and aloof by the idea of dying!
Since he had lived a long and fulfilling life, it was time to go? What a dogsh*t notion that was!
People accepted death because they couldn't avoid it. If avoiding it was possible, who would gladly let death come for them?! Director Choi would rather roll around in the field of literal dogsh*t if that meant he could stay in the world of living.
He's old, so he should go? He had lived a good life, so he should accept it like a man?
Ask any young man if they wouldn't mind dying since they had lived longer than little kids. How would they reply to that idiotic question?
Losing the fear of death after getting older was nothing more than a fantasy. Death was an existence that instilled an equal amount of fear in everyone's heart!
'No, I want to live!'
Director Choi didn't want to die. He wanted to live longer. Only by reaching this point in his life did he realize something important.
Honor? Power? None of those things mattered in the question of life or death. After all, one needed to be alive first to enjoy wielding power or revel in honor and prestige!
If only he hadn't opposed Kang Jin-Ho! Director Choi wouldn't be trembling pathetically like this as the fear of impending death choked him mercilessly.
That was when he sensed the presence of someone right behind him.
'Is that the grim reaper?'
That couldn't be it. For a supposed grim reaper, that presence was far too easy to notice. Didn't that mean Director Choi was still alive?
“Now, then. Get up.”
Director Choi's body shuddered, and his skin crawled. That voice... Maybe it really was a grim reaper? Despite knowing that couldn't be it, he couldn't explain how a human could speak in such an icy voice unless they really were a grim reaper!
“Get up.”
Director Choi weakly turned his head to look. Even that simple action seemed to suck out every ounce of energy still in him. However, he simply had to confirm who the owner of that chilling voice was. He simply must!
“...Ah.” Director Choi discovered Wiggins standing behind him, but the former knight's expression as he stared back made the weakened martial artist gasp fearfully.
That should be Wiggins, the former knight of the Round Table. However...!
'Is he really the same man?'
The facial features were the same, and so was his attire. Director Choi's eyes assured him that he was still looking at Wiggins. However, the presence emitted by the former knight greatly differed from what Director Choi had felt before.
This man... couldn't be the same person from a minute ago!
“I said, get up,” Wiggins repeated himself three times.
However, he did not urge Director Choi at all. It was as if he knew the Yeongnam Group director had no choice but to obey since he had issued his order.
Wiggins was not wrong in his assumption, of course.
“Kuh-wuuk...” Director Choi grunted and tried to push his torso up with his shaky, unsteady arms. Doing this roused up untold agony so severe that it felt like all his hair was turning snow-white in an instant. Even so, he kept pushing himself up.
That was because he knew. If Director Choi disobeyed that command, he'd really die! Wiggins' icy voice was implying that without implicitly saying anything!
Director Choi eventually managed to stand up, and then stared right back at Wiggins. His legs shook precariously, while his breathing was labored and shallow. The near-crippling pain shooting up from seemingly every part of his body had become more or less a familiar sensation now.
“Then, shall we get started?” Wiggins asked rhetorically while smirking odiously. He casually gestured toward the only other person standing here unscathed, the interpreter.
After listening to the fearfully trembling interpreter's translation of Wiggins' words, Director Choi grimaced and weakly asked back. “What... What do you want to start now?”
“You're asking the obvious, mister. I'm telling you to spit out all the information you have. That will be a wise move for you since I'm not a nice or patient man.”
“I... I don't know anything!”
“That's not true. You do know,” Wiggins replied in a chillingly composed voice. It was as if he was doing something exceedingly familiar to him, and such things wouldn't even get his heartbeat up. “You told me I should call you Director Choi, didn't you? I'd have preferred to know your name, but it doesn't really matter now. I will most likely butcher your name, after all. Besides, we aren't exactly close enough to happily share our names anyway. So, then... How about Mister Choi? That should be good enough, yes? Well, then. Mister Choi, listen closely.”
Wiggins' expression remained still. As still as his monotone voice.
“I'm very familiar with these kinds of things. Maybe much more than you can ever imagine. Information isn't for free, you see? So, to acquire the information we want, we must go through some rough processes first. In the past, we used to implant spies in the groups we wanted to extract information from, but don't you think that's rather inefficient? We could potentially lose a valuable asset that way. So, we prefer a much more straightforward method. We directly ask the one who holds the information.”
Director Choi's eyes quaked in fear as he stared at Wiggins.
“I won't answer. I don't know anything. It's useless to ask me... I've heard all those things many times before. However, did you know that...” Wiggins suddenly bared his fangs in a toothy grin. “Every single person who said that to me changed their tune eventually. It's the strangest thing, this. Folks who say they don't know anything suddenly know a lot of things. Folks who say it's useless to ask them will try so hard to prove how valuable they are in reality. And those who didn't want to answer... I don't have to explain what happened to them, now do I?”
Wiggins smirked, then reached out to casually pat Director Choi's cheek.
“Now, then. It's time to consider your options, friend. You can only look forward to one thing in this situation. And that is... freedom. Yes. Freedom from me. Cooperate with me, and I'll grant you that freedom. You won't get to wield power and authority ever again, but you will get to go home and heal your injuries, then spend the rest of your remaining days doing relaxing things like fishing. I hope you understand what I'm saying here.”
Director Choi quietly nodded away.
“However, if you don't want to play ball, I will have no other choice but to resort to my old methods. But the end result will remain largely the same. You will go home after all is said and done. However, healing your injuries will become a lot trickier, and you will feel a fair bit of physical discomfort while going on fishing trips. Worse still, you might not enjoy the physical freedom to go on a fishing trip in the first place. Do you understand me?”
Despite asking that question, Wiggins didn't bother to wait for Director Choi's response and continued to speak.
“No one would be stupid enough to choose another path when the answer is crystal clear. The end result will be the same anyway, so is there a reason to go through the unnecessary and irritating process in the middle? So, Mister Choi. Let's make this simple for everyone involved. Say that you will tell me everything you know, and I'll get out of your hair right now. Isn't that a good deal?”
Director Choi's eyes powerfully quaked. Wiggins couldn't be any clearer with his intentions. Even a moron would've understood their situation by now with such a straightforward explanation. Besides, Director Choi didn't even need to worry about his loyalty at this stage of his life. In that case, his decision should be easy enough, no?
Director Choi smirked even as the pain tried to crush his body. And then...
Ptooi!
The glob of spit flying out of Director Choi's mouth headed straight for Wiggins' face. And it accurately hit him there. Even though Wiggins could've dodged it if he wanted to, he didn't bother.
Director Choi tried to growl like a predator. “Keep running your mouth off, you bastard. If you thought I'd cave in, you were only fooling yourself!”
Wiggins' head slowly cocked to the side. “Hmm...”
“Freedom? Keep barking like a dog, you bastard! Try your worst, see if I'll talk! I will never submit to the likes of you! A man without integrity is no man! Even if I die, I'll die as a man!”
Clap, clap, clap...
Wiggins slowly clapped as if he was impressed by Director Choi's integrity. And his applause was deliberate and very slow.
“How admirable of you. Very much so. I must confess, I'm a fan of strong-willed people. Yes, it'd been more convenient if you told me everything from the get-go, but people like that never sat well with me, for some reason,” said Wiggins in a hushed voice.
“However, there's something you need to know, Mister Choi. I have good news and bad news for you. Let me not beat around the bush and tell you what they are. The good news for you was that my daughter was here. Every father would want his daughter to see them as an idealist or a romanticist, and that story also applies to me. Since that's the good news, can you guess what the bad news is? Mm?”
Wiggins leisurely closed the distance to Director Choi, then powerfully grabbed the latter's head.
“My condolences for Elena's grace abandoning you, Mister Choi.”
And then... Director Choi's head slammed straight into the hard, unforgiving ground.
***
“Hmm...” Wiggins grunted while standing up, then called out to the interpreter. “You, there. Come closer.”
“Y-you mean... me, sir?”
“Yes. I don't see anyone still standing here beside you, young man. Do you think I should call someone else, then?”
“N-no, sir!”
“Good. Since you can understand me perfectly well, will you be kind enough to take out my handkerchief from my back pocket?”
“Y-yes, sir!” The interpreter hurriedly rushed up to Wiggins' back, then cautiously took out a handkerchief from the former knight's rear pocket and presented it like a well-behaved manservant. “H-here it is, sir!”
“Thank you for your speedy service, young man.” Wiggins chuckled and wiped his face, then his hands.
A martial artist leaving his back exposed to another like this was asking for trouble, but the interpreter dared not hold any untoward thoughts. A puppy looking at an adult tiger's exposed back wouldn't jump on this supposed chance, after all!
“Don’t you think this is so bizarre?” Wiggins relaxedly muttered.
“...?”
“Even if humans can see the end result already, they still need to experience the torture first to comprehend their situation. They all think they are different from everyone else while waltzing blindly into a death trap. Rather similar to how idiots either flock to casinos or dump their life savings in the stock market in the hopes of winning that jackpot. Wouldn't you agree?”
“Y-yes, sir. It is.”
“Oh, so you think so, too?”
The interpreter couldn't say anything else and froze up. 'This insane bastard...!'
A human being with a conscience should not behave this way. Wiggins had quite literally stomped and trampled Director Choi mercilessly. A person with morals wouldn't treat an injured man like that!
“Listen, young man.”
“Y-yes, sir? Y-yes, sir! I'm listening!”
“Why do you think you are left unscathed?”
“I, uh... I don't know, sir.”
“Soon, some people will show up to clean this place up. Your job is to help them identify each and every one here and apprehend these folks. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir! I'll definitely remember!”
Wiggins meaningfully glanced at the interpreter. “Good. As for what you saw today...”
“I, I swear never to tell anyone, sir!”
“No, no, no. Young man, you need to talk about it.”
The interpreter faltered in confusion. “I, uh... I don't follow?”
“Do you know how stressful it is when people see you as a migrant laborer all the time? So, I want you to let others know I'm this strong. I hope you catch my drift.”
“...Ah! Yes, sir, I do!”
Wiggins lightly patted the interpreter on the shoulder before turning around to leave. “Then, I should get going before Elena gets mad at me.”
In a way, he could call this battle a bit of a letdown. However, if his very first fight in South Korea had been too challenging for him... That might have signaled the existence of a concerning issue with Wiggins.
'Things are bound to get more interesting in the future...'
Wiggins relaxedly looked up at the night sky. He couldn't see a single star up there, and this sight reminded him of London's night sky.
“Hmm. A perfect night for my lord to cut loose, then?”
Nights were that man's domain, after all!
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