Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 102

“It’s so boring.”

Kim Su-gwan sighed as he looked at the posts on his cycling club’s online forum.

It used to be a very active forum, the largest road bike club in the country. But recently, it felt like the enthusiasm had died down a bit.

In the past, posts would be updated in real-time.

Especially when monsters appeared, members would rush to take pictures of the monsters’ paths and share their routes…

“Those were fun times.”

It seemed the monsters had lost interest in bikes, as they no longer appeared.

“That’s probably why things have been so dull lately.”

Not long ago, he thought things couldn’t go on like this, so he organized an offline competition, but there weren’t many applicants, and it fizzled out.

In forums like this, where hobbies are the main focus, there’s usually a turnover when active members get hit by the ‘marriage’ or ‘job’ bug and stop participating.

He tried to console himself by thinking it was just that kind of period, but it was never a good feeling to watch a once-active forum slowly die.

“…It used to be fun.”

He remembered preparing for a relay to catch a monster, only for it not to appear, so they ended up just drinking soju [Korean rice wine] and going home. Or chasing after one in a car, getting yelled at by a police officer for running a red light and getting a ticket… Looking back, they were things he shouldn’t have done, but at the time, they were so much fun and now remained as memories.

Memories are best left as memories, but it was still sad to watch the people who once shared their passion for bikes slowly disappear.

Kim Su-gwan closed the website and got up from his computer.

“I should go for a ride.”

Riding is the best when you’re feeling down. His beloved bike was still in top condition and ready to go.

“It’s just the engine that’s third-rate.”

What good is a great bike if Kim Su-gwan is a third-rate rider?

No matter how much money he invested in his bike, it was impossible for him to go fast unless he, Kim Su-gwan, exercised more.

But so what?

For people who just enjoy riding, speed is just a side issue.

As Kim Su-gwan was looking for his helmet, his phone rang.

Bzzzz.

“A text?”

But then, his phone started vibrating like it was having a seizure.

“What, what is it?”

Did someone send him a text bomb?

Startled, Kim Su-gwan picked up his phone, his eyes widening.

It wasn’t a text or a messenger notification that was making his phone vibrate, but the forum’s notification app.

He had set it to notify him whenever a new post was made, but it was rare for it to go off even ten times a day. Now, suddenly, posts were flooding in.

“Could it be?”

Kim Su-gwan rushed back to his computer and turned it on.

“Hurry, hurry.”

With a nervous look, Kim Su-gwan stared at the computer. As soon as it booted up, he opened the web browser. Even then, his phone kept vibrating. He logged in and went to the forum, and what he had been thinking was happening.

– A monster has appeared! Everyone, a monster has appeared!

– Tracking. Tracking.

– Wow, it’s been so long? Where is it now?

– Moving towards the Gangbuk area.

– It’s so good to see it again. Where has it been all this time?

– Judging by its shorter hair, it seems like it was in the military.

The forum, which barely had five posts a day, was now rapidly moving upwards with each refresh.

Bzzzz!

Bzzzz!

Kim Su-gwan looked at his phone screen as it vibrated.

“It’s ‘Turtle on the Hill’.”

He answered the phone, and an excited voice came through.

—Did you see the forum?

Kim Su-gwan smiled at the sudden outburst.

“Yes, I saw it. My phone was vibrating so much, I couldn’t not look.”

—It’s been so long since a big name appeared. Shouldn’t we go on a raid?

“Hey, you know we can’t keep up on bikes.”

—Ha, it’s such a shame to just let it go…

“I want to go too, but if we start chasing it on bikes from here, it’ll disappear again soon. There’s no bike in Seoul faster than that thing.”

—If it weren’t for the traffic lights, we could follow it by car.

“That’s a shame, indeed.”

Kim Su-gwan clicked his tongue.

The reason why everyone who had tried to chase the monster had failed was precisely this.

Bikes couldn’t keep up with the speed, and cars couldn’t go as fast as they wanted. If they could take national or outer roads, there might be a way to follow it, but there was no reason for a bike to go on outer roads.

“Anyway, all the people who haven’t been around are showing up.”

Everyone is contacting each other and making a fuss.

“You should leave messages more often.”

—Haha, is that possible when you’re living your life? Speaking of which, let’s have a meetup. This time, let’s leave the bikes behind and have a drink.

“Shall we?”

Kim Su-gwan smiled happily as he looked at the forum.

The monster’s movement path was being uploaded to the forum in real-time. Kim Su-gwan clicked his tongue, seeing the accurate tracking without a separate GPS.

“The bike club members aren’t riding their bikes, they’re just stalking someone else riding a bike….”

Even so, Kim Su-gwan was happy to see faces he hadn’t seen in a while.

“Instead of this, should I try to recruit that guy?”

Kim Su-gwan, having found a new way to revive the forum, began to ponder as he looked at the tracking path.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

The sound of the wind rushing past his ears was terrifying.

‘Good.’

Kang Jin-ho was enjoying his ride after a long time. He could almost hear the creaking of Goldie.

Even though he had taken good care of it, it had been a long time since he had ridden it, so it was creaking here and there.

‘I need to take better care of it.’

Even though he was in the military, he felt bad that he had let the bike that had been his legs for years get into this state.

“It’ll get smoother if I ride it more.”

Kang Jin-ho thought he should tell Jo Gyu-min to get it serviced and then stepped on the pedal.

Sweeeng!

A motor sound came from below. Other people would be shocked to hear such a sound while riding a bike, but it was very natural for Kang Jin-ho.

The drive shaft creaked and screamed. If Goldie had a life, it would have cursed its owner, but unfortunately, the lifeless bike could only complain about its abusive owner by making as much noise as possible.

“Eek, what is that!”

People who saw the bike speeding past their cars all craned their necks in shock. But unfortunately, all they could see was the already small figure in the distance.

“Did he put on nitro or something?”

“Isn’t that illegal?”

“…If he put on nitro, it’s illegal.”

“But what if it’s just a bike?”

“That’s a bit ambiguous. There’s no speed limit for bikes.”

“What happens if a bike exceeds the speed limit on the road?”

“I, I guess it’s speeding?”

“Are you sure?”

“How would I know?”

People were collectively in a state of mental breakdown, seeing something they had never thought about before. But Kang Jin-ho just kept pedaling, unaware of what was happening around him.

Screeeech!

Goldie stopped with a long skid mark.

“Hmm…”

Kang Jin-ho got off the bike, lifted Goldie a few times, and then chained it to a corner.

Sungsim Orphanage.

A large sign was visible in front of him.

This was the new Sungsim Orphanage building that he had asked Jo Gyu-min to move to.

‘The surroundings seem a bit dirty.’

The head nun was very strict, so she wouldn’t have allowed the surroundings to get this dirty. Even when she was living in that dilapidated building, she kept the floors so clean that they were slippery.

‘Is she getting too tired now?’

It wasn’t a big deal. If it was dirty, he could just clean it. Kang Jin-ho opened the door and went inside.

“Huh?”

As he entered, the children who had been running around all turned their heads to look at Kang Jin-ho. They looked like meerkats on guard, and Kang Jin-ho couldn’t help but smile.

“Where’s Yu-min?”

“Ah!”

Only then did the children recognize Kang Jin-ho’s face. It seemed they hadn’t recognized him at first because of his shorter hair. The children, realizing that the person who had come in was Kang Jin-ho, dropped their guard and welcomed him warmly.

However, he really wanted to refuse their way of welcoming him.

‘Forget the meerkats.’

These were cats. And judging by how much they liked people, they were definitely cat-like dogs.

Kang Jin-ho picked up one of the children clinging to his leg and said,

“Where’s Yu-min?”

“Oppa, you go away and come back?”

Kang Jin-ho stroked the child’s head as he listened to the child’s slurred words.

“To protect the country.”

He couldn’t just push away the children who were clinging to him because they liked him, so there was only one way.

“Okay.”

Kang Jin-ho gave up on trying to move and stroked each of the children’s heads. It felt ticklish to see the kids who liked him without wanting anything in return.

“You go away and come back?”

It seemed they didn’t understand what he was saying. It was the middle of the day on a weekday, so it seemed that all the older kids who usually controlled the younger ones were at school, and there were only the kids who didn’t go to school yet, so there was no way out.

“Umm.”

Cold sweat started to form on Kang Jin-ho’s forehead. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the children, but if he didn’t do something, he would just be surrounded by them and waste time.

That wasn’t so bad, but he had come here with a purpose.

“Can you move a little?”

“Hehe.”

“…Okay.”

It didn’t take long for him to realize that trying to solve things with conversation was a fool’s errand. If they understood, they wouldn’t be children. They were children because they didn’t understand.

As Kang Jin-ho was pondering a solution, Park Yu-min’s voice came from inside.

“What’s going on?”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes widened as he saw Park Yu-min coming out.

“Oh? Jin-ho?”

Kang Jin-ho slowly opened his mouth as he saw Park Yu-min with a child on her back, another in a baby carrier in front, and a ladle in one hand.

“Did you get married already?”

Park Yu-min just blinked, unable to say anything.