---

“What? That kind of martial arts skill? Ha, a mouth that’s full of holes sure knows how to chatter.”

“The only thing that’s full of holes is your skill. You can’t even hide your spirit, and you’re spilling your patheticness all over the place….”

Chungju’s night streets.

Two warriors were creating an ominous atmosphere.

One warrior, dressed in clothes reminiscent of a kendo uniform, was armed with a sword and picking a fight, while the other, looking like a fighter, was frowning as he argued with the inspector.

However, what was peculiar was that their quarrel was taking place in different languages.

The swordsman was speaking in Korean, while the fighter was throwing out Japanese words.

It was a clash of languages drawing the attention of passersby.

In fact, the strange machine around the neck of the fighter was translating his Japanese into Korean mixed with mechanical sounds, providing real-time translation…. It was a scene that would certainly make onlookers stop in their tracks.

Indeed, in a typical situation, this would definitely attract attention.

Not just passersby, but even the residents nearby should have been opening their windows to watch this.

And that’s not all.

It wouldn’t be strange for someone to pull out their smartphone to film it, or even show up with a camcorder or webcam.

Yet, here in Chungju, things were different.

“Oh boy, here we go again.”

“Tsk.”

Only a few outsiders stopped to watch.

Most people made disgusted faces as the argument between the two warriors started and walked away, while houses that had their windows open quickly shut them to avoid the noise that was bound to follow.

Smack!

With a noise that shattered the tranquility, it was quite irritating.

Surprisingly, bickering among warriors was a part of daily life for the citizens of Chungju.

An exhausting and annoying daily life.

At this stage, overflowing with hormone-fueled warriors who could hardly contain their energies, such quarrels were truly commonplace. It was normal for them to throw insults at each other or grab each other’s collars if something didn’t sit right, and light punches were not uncommon either.

Sometimes they would even draw weapons to threaten one another.

『Two warriors are arguing on Bonbangdong Cheonbyeon Road. Please respond quickly.』

The citizens of Chungju sighed deeply as they messaged 112.

Making any noise could attract the attention of the warriors for no reason.

‘Sigh…. This is really getting tiresome.’

If there was even a little sense left in them, they would stop their bickering and vanish upon hearing someone call 112…. But every now and then, a warrior who had gotten completely drunk would show up. In those cases, they would either pick a fight with citizens trying to report or snatch and break their smartphones, making texting the safest option.

As such, people drained away like a receding tide, leaving just two individuals on the street.

The Korean inspector, who looked ready to draw his sword, and the Japanese fighter, whose eyes were burning with a fighting spirit, were the only ones left.

A situation on the verge of eruption.

It looked like they were about to fight any second.

But then, something came to stop their brawl.

Wee-oo!

Four motorcycles.

One police car.

The police, racing to get in front of the two warriors, surrounded them. Those on the motorcycles pulled out net guns aiming at them, while the police in the car got out together.

Clunk.

The person who got out of the passenger seat of the police car was not a police officer, but a civilian.

He was a huge man whose size was so imposing, it felt like he was ‘crammed’ out of the not-so-small police car as he opened his mouth.

“Both of you, stop it. Hehe.”

He glared at the two warriors while brushing off his suit that seemed about to burst from the muscles beneath.

The translated Korean that came from the man’s mouth was warm.

However, despite being in a suit, the bulging muscles and the intimidating eyes that seemed ready to rip them apart silently threatened, suggesting, ‘If you don’t stop right now, I will tear you in half.’

No, he was actively threatening them.

The terrible aura emanating from the middle-aged man who had stepped out of the police car pressed down heavily upon the two warriors.

Did they feel this overwhelming presence?

Both warriors stopped displaying animosity toward each other.

Of course, this came at the cost of suffering under the gaze of the imposing middle-aged man.

“Ta, Tabudai?”

“Hehehe. Yes, do you recognize me? I thought you were oblivious since you were the one who started the fight, but your mind seems to be intact, huh?”

The inspector couldn’t hide his surprise upon recognizing the man who was overpowering him with his aura.

Tabudai.

A warrior from Mongolia.

Starting from the tale of how he subdued an enraged horse with his bare hands at the age of ten and tore it in half, he was infamous for displaying the limbs of warriors who dared to challenge him.

Moreover, his temper was so explosive that during his coming-of-age ceremony, when his cherished horse wasn’t performing well, he twisted its neck and ran through a snowstorm with the dead horse slung over his shoulder, completing 80km back and forth. Not to mention absurd tales of him crushing every single bone of those who insulted him and fashioning them into rounded shapes like wagon wheels.

And he was also one of the committee members for the upcoming Chungju World Martial Arts Festival Mastership.

He was a significant figure involved in the proceedings of the festival and one of those who needed to focus entirely on eliminating disturbances.

And this was the story….

“To start, let’s both take just one hit before we begin.”

The fact that this notoriously hot-tempered Mongolian warrior had sufficient reason to hit the two meant something.

Tabudai walked over to the two, both of whom were paralyzed by his aura.

Then he fiddled with his tie and produced a clap from his enormous hands as if they were giant lids.

Raising his right hand….

“Flex your chest.”

Bam-!

He struck the chest hard.

With a sound that was more like a heavy club hitting than flesh meeting flesh, the inspector was sent flying backward.

It wasn’t an exaggeration—he actually flew into the air and backward.

“You too.”

“Ugh!”

Bam!

Tabudai’s slap also fell upon the Japanese fighter.

However, the sound was quieter than that of the previous slap, indicating he had definitely controlled his strength far more.

“Ugh….”

“Hehehe. For all the noise made over here, you seem feeble.”

Tabudai chuckled heartily, repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fists.

It seemed he wasn’t satisfied yet with this.

But soon, he realized that his suit was just that—a suit, and that he was a ‘committee member’ who had to focus on keeping the festival free of issues; hence, he calmed down.

Instead, he looked at the two warriors who were now collapsed on the ground.

Even though Tabudai had stopped exerting his pressure, the two were still struggling to compose themselves, their arms and legs trembling in a state that didn’t seem normal.

“You two can’t even handle a weak tap of my energy? How do you expect to stir up such chaos with that level of skill?”

Tabudai clicked his tongue as he approached them.

Then, like placing a sack of rice on his shoulders, he lifted both men onto his broad shoulders and glanced at the police who were securing their weapons.

“Hehe. Well then, I’ll be sure to educate these warriors properly.”

“Ah, yes. That sounds good. It wasn’t like there was a murder or anything; it’s just a verbal spat. I’ll leave it to you, Tabudai.”

The police didn’t try to stop Tabudai from carrying away the two who had caused the commotion. Instead, they seemed grateful, as if happy that he was taking care of the troublesome situation for them.

“It’s not like anything major happened, so we’ll consider this a light reprimand. So please don’t worry, just take them away and give them a good talking to so this doesn’t happen again.”

A remarkably light penalty for causing a ruckus in the street.

For those from other cities, it would have been perfectly reasonable to see those police officers as negligent in their duties, close to ‘garang’ or ‘yamye,’ as they say.

But in Chungju, this was normal.

Despite an overflow of warriors ready to pick a fight at the slightest glance, the police force was sorely lacking. Furthermore, warriors who occasionally lost their senses would also pick fights with the police, resulting in injuries to personnel as a common occurrence. No matter how many officers were hired or how much staffing was supplemented, there were always too few.

Yet, to only deal with distinct acts of violence or where blood was shed while drowning in overwork… why focus on noisy shouting matches on the street?

They couldn’t, nor did they want to.

Why, amid their busy schedules, would they take the time to address altercations like this?

As such, the police typically handled situations between warriors with forbearance unless a fight got notably serious.

And this was no different.

The police didn’t want to waste their effort on such petty incidents, so they sought to be practical by contacting Tabudai to ask for his ‘education.’

In Tabudai’s eyes, this arrangement was not a bad outcome.

While what the two warriors did wasn’t that serious, there was always the risk of them being taken to the police station and caught by a journalist stationed there, which could lead to an embarrassing article.

Especially now when generating positive media was crucial, getting involved in trouble would harm his image and that was the last thing he desired.

Thus, not having to drag them to the police station and being able to handle things right there in front of him was beneficial for him as well.

Consequently, the situation benefited both the police and Tabudai.

“Hehe. Of course. I’ll make sure they don’t forget this.”

And so, the police and Tabudai parted in a warm atmosphere.

 

---