After hearing that the other man’s name was Kwak-Jung, Kang Chul-In’s face turned stiff like stone.

“Black Leopard… is Kwak-Jung?”

First of all, 3 of the 4 things that indicated that it was Kwak-Jung was already checked by him.

Smoker, adventurer, and name. If the guy in front of him was truly 35 years old, then he would truly be the Kwak-Jung he was looking for.

To think that the Kwak-Jung he had been looking for all this time came to him of his own volition. It felt as if someone had tangled the threads of destiny with him and Kwak-Jung.

“No way.”

Kang Chul-In first thought of the possibility that this man in front of him was truly the Kwak-Jung he was looking for.

First of all, the image of a scholar and soldier truly didn’t fit the gangster that stood opposite him.

It was like the opposite of Lee Gong-Myung.

Fitting the fact that people called him a genius, Lee Gong-Myung was able to get into the prestigious Harvard University with a scholarship. That’s how smart he was.

Not only that, but his image.

They say that the water a man plays in changes the man himself. Lee Gong-Myung, who associated with Alex Rothschild at Harvard University, was the epitome of gentleness as well as the ability to stay calm and cool no matter what the situation was.

But a gangster?

The Kwak-Jung that was toe-to-toe with a genius like Lee Gong-Myung was a gangster? With a not-so-funny nickname like “Black Leopard” as well?

No, it can’t be.

Kang Chul-In shook his head.

Out of the population of 51 million, there would surely be other Kwak-Jung’s that were of age 35.

They had only looked around Seoul. There was a chance that he had also moved to Seoul in 2020.

“Kwak-Jung, huh? How old are you this year?

Kang Chul-In asked just in case.

“Huh, so disrespectful.”

Black Leopard gave Kang Chul-In the stink eye.

“Even if you look at me like this, I’m still in my mid-thirties, you know. Don’t talk to your elders so disrespectfully.”

Kang Chul-In was only in his late twenties. In Black Leopard’s opinion, of course he was older than Kang Chul-In. It was truly like that too.

“But… you’re whatever years old, but you’re sitting there talking to me. Doesn’t make sense to me. Even though you’re definitely under me.”

“Black Leopard” Kwak-Jung tilted his head.

“Just tell me your age.”

Kang Chul-In gave him a grin in response.

And stood up from Doo-Sik’s chair.

“……!”

Kang Chul-In started looking down on Kwak-Jung. Kang Chul-In was 184cm tall, and Black Leopard’s height was only in the mid-170s. It was natural that the former looked down on the latter.

“Huuuu…”

Smoke covered Kang Chul-In’s face.

“Listen here, arrogant pri…”

But as he was talking….

BAM!

Kang Chul-In flipped the table over and ran towards Kwak-Jung.

C-CRACK!

The heavy desk was bashed into smithereens, and the debris filled up the whole office.

“Kuh…”

“Black Leopard” Kwak-Jung was nearly crushed by the impact, and he grabbed his wrist and screamed in pain.

Impaled by wooden shrapnel, Kwak-Jung’s wrist was bleeding profusely.

“Black Leopard, was it?”

Kang Chul-In took a step forward.

……!

Suddenly, Kwak-Jung’s face whitened and paled in fear.

W-who the hell is this guy?

From head to toe, his whole body was trembling in fear. Even though he wasn’t nervous raiding Park Doo-Sik’s office by himself, he truly was afraid now. It was like he had met a terrifying wild beast.

“Tell. Me. Your. Age.”

“Who the hell are you to look down on me?!”

Kwak-Jung aimed a low kick at Kang Chul-In’s face.

“…..!”

But he struck thin air.

“That fast?!”

“Black Leopard” Kwak-Jung was startled. He had never seen someone dodge his low kick with such fast, precise movements.

“I guess you just won’t listen, huh?” muttered Kang Chul-In as he closed the distance between them.

“…….!”

Kwak-Jung hurriedly put his guard up and tried to put distance between him and Kang-Chul-In. However…

POW!

The second Kwak-Jung raised his guard, Kang Chul-In’s right hand came in and grabbed Kwak-Jung’s shoulders.

Uh oh, I’m falling.

Was what Kwak-Jung thought as his body fell down out of his control, drawing a smooth arc.

BOOM!

“KUH…”

Kwak-Jung’s lips were bloodied as he coughed blood out of his mouth.

“Cough, cough! Cough.”

Trying to breathe after the damage to his lungs, Kwak-Jung seemed unable to speak properly.

“Speak.”

Kang Chul-In stepped on Kwak-Jung’s throat and spoke imposingly.

“How old are you?”

It was as if he was threatening to actually kill Kwak-Jung.

“You crazy bastard. Why do you care about how old I am so much?”

Kwak-Jung was frustrated. Who would beat up someone to such a state just because they didn’t say their age? This was the first time he met someone as peculiar as this.

“As if I would get beaten like this!”

Kwak-Jung still didn’t give up.

“HA, try to stand up to this.” Saying this, Kwak-Jung drew on his mana.

The effect of mana was more than just increasing muscle strength or energy output. You could beat someone that you normally couldn’t just by using mana. It could reverse almost any kind of situation.

Pshh, PSHHHH

As soon as mana started flowing in his hands, Kwak-Jung aimed his left hand towards Kang Chul-In’s ankles.

But Kang Chul-In’s feet moved quickly. And….

“KUHUK…”

With his ridiculous grip strength, he once again grabbed Kwak-Jung’s collar.

“Don’t.”

Kang Chul-In grabbed Kwak-Jung and held him up like a rag doll.

“Test.”

And threw Kwak-Jung to the ground violently.

Although Kwak-Jung screamed…

“My.”

Kang Chul-In, who was already pissed off, continued to beat him up.

“Patience.”

POW!

One more time…

PAPOW!

Once again…

KAPOW!

And one last time…

“AGHHHHHHHH!!!”

Kwak-Jung, who was lying flat on the ground right now, screamed in intense agony.

Mana?

When you fought, you had to choose your opponents wisely. Although his puny mana tricks would work on people like Doo-Sik, it definitely wouldn’t work on him.

“I ask you one last time.”

Kang Chul-In stared at him with a cold light in his eyes.

If he didn’t answer?

Kwak-Jung or not, he wouldn’t forgive the monkey that put smoke in front of his face.

“KUK… W-WHY… D-DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MY…? HUK!”

Kwak-Jung realized. Staring at Kang Chul-In right now, there was no hesitation in his eyes. Kang Chul-In would truly kill him if he didn’t tell him his age.

“It’s… thirty… five.”

Kwak-Jung finally relented.

“Thirty-five, huh? What region of the Pangaea continent do you work?”

“I…”

Kwak-Jung opened his mouth.

“East… part of the continent…. Lamacos… Cough.”

With a big cough, he spat out blood.

“Uh, uh?!” 

Kwak-Jung finally couldn’t keep his consciousness and fell to the ground, unconscious.

However, Kang Chul-In didn’t care about that.

“Kwak-Jung, smoker, 35 years old, adventurer.”

Everything that he knew about the past Kwak-Jung fell perfectly in line with the man fainted in front of him, and he was agitated because of that.

“… East continent, the Lord of Lamacos. Quattro’s strategist, Kwak-Jung… God f*cking dammit.”

As the thought ended, Kang Chul-In headed towards Kwak-Jung in a flash.

“Doo-Sik.” Kang Chul-In called.

“Kuh, yes, big boss?”

“You did well.”

“…….?”

“That bastard is probably the Kwak-Jung I was looking for. No, there’s a very high chance that he is.”

“……!”

Although Doo-Sik was very surprised, Kang Chul-In seemed like he didn’t care and called Old Man Kwon.

“Yeah, what’s the matter? This meat, it’s insane! My strength… kukuku.”

“I have a request.”

“Huh?”

“I beat up a person. I want to treat him quietly. Is there a method?”

“Sigh… it hasn’t even been that long since you’ve left, but you already beat some poor guy up? You have a one-of-a-kind personality. But treat him? For that, why don’t you just give him one of your potions? I think that would be more effective for those kinds of bruises.”

“It’s not just bruises. I need a precise check done for him, to check whether he has lung cancer or not.”  “Lung cancer?”

On the other side of the call, Old Man Kwon was surprised. After beating someone up, Kang Chul-In was going to make the other person do a full body check? What the hell was he even saying?

“I need a hospital where he can get treated and checked up. He needs to be locked up, enough so that he wouldn’t be able to move a muscle for a month.”

If this was the Kwak-Jung that Kang Chul-In was looking for, he should be at the beginning stages of the cancer, also known as stage 1. However, he wanted concrete evidence.

“Hmm… There is a hospital that I have some connections to. Since it’s a big hospital, we can have him separated in a VIP room.”

“He’s an adventurer.”

“WHAT?! Well, it seems like locking him up won’t be easy then.”

“I would lock him up myself if I had time, but I have no time to stick with you guys. I have another promise that I made.”

The promise he referred to was naturally with Lee Chae-Rin.

The deal he had made was undoubtedly huge. Kang Chul-In had no plans to relinquish either Kwak-Jung or that deal.

“10 special forces guards, no. Twenty of them, along with titanium locks to bind him up. Is this enough?”

“For the guards, arm them all with pistols. It doesn’t matter if they shoot an arm or leg if he resists.”

“Got it. Send me your location. I’ll send some men immediately.”

After ending the call with Old Man Kwon, he stared at the fainted Kwak-Jung in front of him.

“Did I go overboard?”

“But to think that this guy would be Kwak-Jung…”

“Yeah, there’s no way he is, right?”

He had one straw of hope left, which was whether the Kwak-Jung lying in front of him had cancer or not.

Before that, the “Black Leopard” in front of him was not Kwak-Jung but someone that had a chance to be Kwak-Jung.

To think that someone equal to Lee Gong-Myung would be like this. No kind of soldier or reputable general was like…

“Not possible, right?” Kang Chul-In thought.

Soon after, a few famous figures in history flashed past his mind.

Han-xin.

Han-xin was a great general, of the Han Dynasty, one of the few who could truly be called the greatest. From a young age, he was an orphan and had to beg for food. He even faced the humiliation of being beaten up by gangsters.

Compared to him, Kwak-Jung wasn’t much worse.

Liu-Bei.

Another great in history, Liu-Bei was the main character in the whole Warring States period and was also the first emperor of Shu-Han. But there was a period in time when he had to beg for food too.

Yes.

People changed.

Kang Chul-In himself was a poor young man looking for any type of job, looking to earn money in any way possible. Although Kwak-Jung was a gangster, there was a chance that he was the Kwak-Jung he was looking for.

Well, I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

At least he found someone that he suspected was Kwak-Jung.

“Doo-Sik.”

“Yes, Boss.”

“Old Man Kwon’s underlings are coming. Hand Black Leopard over to them. The rest will be up to them.”

“……..!”

Although Doo-Sik was startled when he heard that Old Man Kwon’s underlings were coming, he soon regained his calm.

“Yes, Boss!”

“Continue what I first told you to do. The one in front of me might not be the one I’m looking for.”

“Hmm… Can I continue after resting a few days?”

“…….?”

“That’s fine. I’ll see you in a month then.”

Kang Chul-In started to move.

“Are you leaving?”

“I have something I need to do.”

The deal with Chae-Rin was urgent. He had to move to the Pangaea continent immediately in order to meet the time.

———————————————————————————————————————

Mr. Chul-In, are you coming soon?

On the promised day, Lee Chae-Rin waited impatiently for Kang Chul-In to come.

The situation wasn’t good. They had spent thousands of their forces to take back Nidavellir, and when they thought their forces weren’t enough, their opponents used guerilla tactics in order to ambush some of their men and were still nearby.

If things continued like this, her territory would surely be decimated. If she couldn’t manage to deal with these guerilla tactics in a few days, they would have to go all-out against them immediately. At least they wouldn’t be starved or die from slow, torturous attacks.

It was at that moment.

“Your highness?”

A dwarf that looked tough came before Chae-Rin.

You could tell his attitude from the way he spoke; he had no respect for his Lord. It was obvious that he didn’t really care about his Lord.

“Tell me, Secretary Sledge.”

That’s right.

The one treating the Lord, Lee Chae-Rin, disrespectfully was none other than her own Secretary.

“There’s someone that says he wants to meet you.”

“……!”

Lee Chae-Rin abruptly stood up from her throne.