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The explosion noises rocking the ship painfully dug into Nobuo\'s hearing. Meanwhile, his body got punted around by all the uncontrollable shaking he couldn\'t deal with in his current state.

\'What the hell is going on out there?\'

Nobuo\'s confusion was only getting worse. For some time now, loud noises akin to the ship blowing up and overturning had been tormenting him.

\'Did this ship get attacked or something?\'

However, such a thing should be impossible. The Korean army attacking a civilian cruise ship would practically be a declaration of war, now wouldn\'t it? No matter how reckless or brain-dead the Koreans were… Could they risk an open war like that?

Despite his misgivings, Nobuo had to admit an attack must be taking place.

All the shaking and shockwaves were still within the realm of understanding. More or less. The ship could have developed mechanical issues, for instance. Of course, such problems shouldn\'t cause a ship to rock and shake around like this, but Nobuo wasn\'t an engineer, anyway. He couldn\'t outright discount the possibility.

However, how was he supposed to explain all this screaming, then?

The passengers of this cruise ship were martial artists. Even if the ship suddenly split apart in half, and everyone ended up in the ocean, they were still not the type of people to raise a fuss like this.

...In the end, all these factors pointed to only one possibility.

\'It\'s an ambush!\'

Yes, someone must\'ve ambushed this ship! That was the only conclusion Nobuo could arrive at after desperately racking his brain. However, who would do something like that?

\'What a stupid question that is!\'

After all, only one group would be interested in targeting this ship. And that was… the Korean Martial Assembly! It had to be them.

\'Crazy sons of b*tches!\'

Nobuo was flabbergasted.

He was the informant responsible for alerting the Koreans about the Japanese invasion. However, that didn\'t mean he had expected this outcome. He justifiably believed his actions were only good for giving the Koreans enough time to prepare.

Could anyone be able to finish preparing an ambush as soon as receiving the news of an enemy invasion? Then lie in wait in the middle of the enemy\'s path? Of course such a thing was impossible. Absolutely not.

The larger an organization, the slower it would be in its responses. That was because a report would have to go through many middle management first before reaching the people in charge in a large, bloated organization.

Even if its efficiency had been maximized somehow, a large, bloated organization\'s response time would still lag way behind that of a much smaller organization.

That was supposed to be the case, so what happened here?

Even under the assumption that the Koreans acted immediately after receiving the news, this level of swiftness made no sense. So much so that Nobuo wondered if they had known about the invasion even before he sent that warning.

\'No, hang on. That makes more sense, right?\'

Logically, his guess had to be right.

What Nobuo did was basically an act of reckless bravado. When viewed from the other side\'s perspective, his warning wasn\'t even worth the time spent confirming its veracity. If Nobuo was working for the Assembly and had received such a message, would he even bother to send it upstairs? Probably not.

Besides, even if he did alert his superiors, nothing of note would\'ve happened, anyway. No higher-up in their right mind would want to take a serious look at a simple message sent by some random nobody.

Wouldn\'t a quick check solve that?

Unfortunately for that argument, ships had countless well-established sea routes to choose from when traveling between Japan and South Korea. And then, there was the possibility of this ship not using any of those routes. That meant the Koreans would have to scour the entirety of the Sea of Japan/East Sea!

What an enormous undertaking that would be, trying to confirm the presence of one specific ship in the middle of an ocean. So, would anyone risk that level of trouble because of a message sent by an unverified source?

\'Nope. Definitely not happening!\'

At least, not with the Martial Assembly Nobuo had heard about.

Of course, the Assembly was not to be blamed for this attitude. If Nobuo was back in Japan, and his acquaintance in South Korea sent him a warning one day that said the Koreans were invading Japan… How would Nobuo react?

Would he report it upstairs? Probably. That was indeed a possibility.

However, it was plainly obvious what might happen if he did report it. The warning wouldn\'t even reach the ears of the higher-ups as it\'d get cut off by Nobuo\'s immediate superior. And Nobuo\'s reward for his troubles would be a loud yell telling him to "Wake the hell up!"

The truth was, Nobuo never expected his warning to act as a crucial turning point. He only wished for the Koreans to pay more attention to this situation, even if it was only by a little. And also for them to reinforce the security of their Eastern coastline. That was about it, really.

However, the Koreans didn\'t do that. No, they chose to assault this ship even before the Japanese could reach South Korea!

What a terrifying decisiveness that was. Not to mention, a seriously scary level of swiftness, too!

Even if the Koreans had already possessed vital information and made appropriate preparations well ahead of time, this situation still seemed absurd to Nobuo.

No other organization in history would be able to make such an absurd decision with a snap of its fingers.

"Kek… Hehehe…"

Nobuo cackled hollowly.

This worked out rather well, didn\'t it? Although this was not what Nobuo had intended, the Koreans still learned about the Japanese invasion and had come up with a countermeasure. That was all Nobuo could ask for.

With that, his role was now over.

Nobuo\'s trembling hand weakly wiped at his face. A deep, deep sigh akin to his soul leaving his body leaked out of his mouth. Almost at the same time, all strength abandoned his body.

\'Am I… finally kicking the bucket?\'

That didn\'t surprise Nobuo. The torture session he went through could only be described as merciless, after all.

What Nakata Yuji did was thoroughly destroy Nobuo\'s body. Even so, he probably wasn\'t thinking of killing Nobuo. Not just yet, anyway.

Nobuo was sure about this since Nakata Yuji\'s desire to take his time torturing his victim was easy to read from that bastard\'s face!

That man must\'ve thought Nobuo was strong enough to withstand torture of this intensity. The only thing Nakata Yuji failed to consider was probably Nobuo\'s lack of will to carry on.

Nobuo had already thrown away his life\'s work. The only thing waiting for him back in Japan was getting thoroughly tortured out of his life for being a traitor. And going to South Korea wouldn\'t drastically improve his situation, either.

The only treatment he\'d get in that country was discrimination and scorn for being a half Jap. And his life there would be even more isolated than the one he was familiar with back in Japan. Could he be able to endure that lifestyle?

\'I might have stood a chance if my cultivation was unaffected, but…\'

Nobuo lowered his head and stared at his gut… where a small hole could be seen.

The first thing Nakata Yuji did when Nobuo tried to fight back was ruthlessly destroy the latter\'s dantian. With that important organ gone, Nobuo would never be able to cultivate for the rest of his life.

So, then. Nobuo had become a cripple. He no longer had a country. His life as he knew it was over. In that case, why should he keep clinging to this worthless life?

Since his final act of significance had borne fruit, he had no regrets left. Nobuo had nothing holding him back now.

"Ke… kekeke."

Nobuo cackled quietly. Why did it feel like he had become a patriotic martyr fighting against the Japanese occupation?

Although it was sacrilegious for someone like Nobuo to even mention the names of those noble warriors who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country… What could he do about it when that was how he felt?

\'Did they regret their choices, too?\'

For some reason, Nobuo\'s mind didn\'t want to drop that question. Did those patriots regret their choices as they were tortured to death inside an icy prison cell?

He couldn\'t help but admire their commitment, although he wasn\'t sure why.

Nobuo read in a book somewhere that a Korean freedom fighter harshly rebuked a Japanese judge during a trial. Even though he had been tortured during his detention before being hauled into that court!

What motivated him to do something that only hastened his own demise? When Nobuo was regretting his decision so, so much?

No, that wasn\'t quite right. Nobuo didn\'t regret anything. But he was rueful. Regretful. And proud. But also ashamed by his stupidity.

All the emotions out of his control ran rampant inside Nobuo\'s heart. The inside of his head was a mess.

But then… Gradually, only one emotion settled down to rule over him. And it was the hollow emptiness.

The gratification of achieving something significant and the regret of doing something stupid did not bother to hang around. Once the visceral rollercoaster of emotions swept him by, the only thing remaining was this feeling of enervating emptiness.

Could he have done it a bit differently? Then, wouldn\'t the results have been a little different, too?

If only he had been a bit smarter about this thing! Then, maybe, he could have…

\'...Nah. Let\'s not delude myself.\'

What good would these regrets do for him? Nobuo was about to die soon, anyway.

The Koreans would obviously not care about Nobuo. They weren\'t duty-bound to find the lone informant within the enemy\'s midst, after all. Indeed, they would only care about executing their plans based on the provided intelligence.

If they were interested in finding the informant, they would probably do that after sorting out this situation first. However, Nobuo would be long dead by then.

Even if the Koreans emerged victorious this time, Nobuo would still die. After all, the Koreans wouldn\'t bother to search every nook and cranny of this cruise ship to locate him. And Nobuo would be dead for certain in case the Japanese clinched victory.

It didn\'t matter who won in the end; Nobuo still didn\'t have any hope. The only solace he could take with him to the netherworld was the gratification from knowing he had properly screwed over those hateful Japanese bastards. Once he died, he…

Nobuo\'s vision quickly clouded over from all the moisture.

His head might be saying all these things, but his heart didn\'t want to accept any of this. It still hadn\'t discarded the lingering hope. Hope that he might survive this ordeal somehow!

However, admitting to himself that there was no hope opened the floodgates of tears.

Dying like a hero was now out of the question. Then again, something like a heroic death didn\'t exist in reality. Death was just that, death.

Nobuo realized he wasn\'t manly or heroic enough to calmly accept his impending demise.

\'I mean, look!\'

The world was unsteadily shaking. And then, what about all those explosion noises rocking his eardrums! And to cap everything off, the floor rumbled and shook around as if the ship had encountered turbulent waters.

The darkness in this room suddenly collided with an outpouring of light flooding in from somewhere. If this was the final scene a dying man got to see… Wasn\'t it poetic in a way?

As this illusion of light blinded Nobuo\'s vision, he thought he could see the face of another person in the room. Practically buried within the rays of the light, this person, a man, silently studied Nobuo.

\'Is he a grim reaper? Or… maybe an angel?\'

It had to be one of the two, no?

At least Nobuo was certain about one thing. This person could not be a human being. Nobuo needed only one look to know this.

Although this man looked different from Nobuo\'s idea of a grim reaper or an angel, he still boasted the requisite otherworldly presence. This man\'s appearance alone was enough to convince anyone he couldn\'t be a human being.

Should Nobuo be happy about greeting a painless death? A weak little cackle leaked out of Nobuo\'s mouth.

Yes, the time to meet his maker had come. In that case, he should ask that question everyone in his shoes would want to ask. Whether he was Heaven-bound… Or destined to suffer in Hell!

When viewed as a Korean, Nobuo might be seen as a martyr who sacrificed his life for his mother nation. Maybe people would praise him and remember him for a long, long time for his sacrifice.

If Nobuo got lucky, that was!

However, when viewed as a human being… Wasn\'t he a criminal who created a bloody massacre just to prevent a different massacre?

How would a grim reaper judge his soul in that case?

Just as Nobuo\'s thoughts reached that far, the man, who could be either an angel or a grim reaper, said something.

However, Nobuo was unable to understand what that otherworldly being was saying. It was a language he had never heard before… Probably?

That was when Nobuo suddenly realized that humans couldn\'t possibly communicate with angels.

The giant angel turned his head and muttered something else. And when he did…

Nobuo\'s hearing picked up a familiar language. A human-like face suddenly popped out from the side of the angel, then yelled in a clearly annoyed voice. "What the f*ck is wrong with this brat? Why is he so out of his mind?"

Nobuo almost slipped and planted his face on the floor.

\'What the hell? Isn\'t that… Korean?\'

Why? Why was the… angel\'s assistant speaking in Korean? Was it because Nobuo was of Korean descent? Did that mean angels worked with interpreters…?

"Hey, you brat! Get a hold of yourself! Are you that Nobuo or whatever your name is?!"

"S-sorry?" Nobuo sobered up immediately and raised his head higher.

\'What the f*ck? I... I\'m still alive? And I\'m still stuck in reality?\'

In that case, who was he looking at right now? This… This gigantic monster at least three times the size of an average person?!

"Tsk, tsk… I see now. You got tortured out of your mind, didn\'t you? Get up, man. We\'re getting you out of here."

The monster… No, Vator, tutted softly while reaching down to Nobuo. He then picked the latter up like a toy before turning around to leave.

In the middle of being rescued, Nobuo still couldn\'t wrap his head around this situation and genuinely wondered if it\'d be better to kill himself instead of letting a giant carry him like a princess.