Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 112

“It’s not like I came because I had nowhere else to go.”

“Sure seems like it?”

“It’s true.”

“Okay, I’ll believe you, hyung [older brother or close male friend].”

I felt a surge of emotion.

“Follow me.”

“Huh?”

Park Yu-min got up from his seat and led Kang Jin-ho to the side.

“Jin-ho’s here. Say hello.”

“Oh? Hyung!”

“Oppa [older brother, used by females], you’re here?”

The older kids, now with a bit more sense, rushed towards Kang Jin-ho.

‘It’s Saturday.’

Usually, I only saw the younger kids when I visited during weekday afternoons, but it seemed like the older ones were all at the orphanage because it was the weekend.

“Wow! Hyung, you look weird with your hair cut.”

“Move! Oppa, you look even cooler with your hair cut!”

Seeing the starkly different reactions from the boys and girls, Kang Jin-ho felt a sense of pride.

Even though the little ones treated him like an NPC [Non-Player Character, a term from video games for a character that isn’t controlled by a player], there were still people who welcomed him.

Even the kids who spoke a little awkwardly greeted him with bright smiles.

Once the greetings were over, Park Yu-min pulled him away.

“Perfect timing. I was just about to start preparing lunch, so come help out.”

“Lunch? Why is it so late?”

“It’s the weekend. The kids needed to sleep in a bit. They had a late breakfast. It’s almost lunchtime now.”

“What are you making?”

“……Curry?”

The kids’ faces crumpled at the mention of curry. I guess no matter how hard Park Yu-min tried, it was still just a meal made by a man alone. What could be tasty about a meal made by Park Yu-min, who had never learned to cook properly?

“Do you know how to make anything else?”

“Ramen? Kimchi fried rice?”

It was bad enough to get him sued for child abuse.

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

“I thought you were the one suffering, but it’s the kids who are suffering.”

“We’re okay. We eat school lunches. It’s the little ones who are really suffering.”

“The kids don’t want to eat.”

Park Yu-min was fuming, but reality was reality.

Kang Jin-ho stared at Park Yu-min and then spoke.

“Is that all you’ve been feeding growing kids?”

“……I’m sorry.”

“Hmm.”

Kang Jin-ho finally came up with a special plan.

“Jong-ho.”

“Yes, hyung.”

“Call the kids and…”

“Yes.”

“Tell them to shout out everything they want to eat.”

“We’re ordering lunch today.”

“Oh!”

Jong-ho’s eyes lit up.

“Hyung, can I have jokbal [braised pig’s trotters]?”

“I want jajangmyeon [noodles in black bean sauce]!”

“I want chicken!”

“Ughhh.”

“What? Pizza?”

“Ugh.”

Park Yu-min grabbed Kang Jin-ho’s shoulder tightly.

“Hey, what about the operating costs!”

Park Yu-min was about to say something, but he shut his mouth when he saw the object Kang Jin-ho had subtly raised above his shoulder.

A shiny card.

Park Yu-min swallowed hard as he looked at the card, which was sparkling under the sunlight, and then opened his mouth.

“Do they deliver sashimi?”

“……”

It was too bizarre to be called a feast.

The scene of the delivery and the eating exploding in harmony was literally chaos.

“Jokbal! Jokbal and bossam [boiled pork belly] have arrived at the entrance.”

“Move it!”

“Roger!”

The kids rushed out and carried the packaged jokbal from the entrance.

“T-there’s not enough space on the table.”

“Eat it up!”

“Yes!”

The appetite of over thirty children was enough to make even Kang Jin-ho shudder. Kang Jin-ho, who had been silently swiping his card, entered the dining hall, wondering if he should try a piece of bossam.

“Push that over here!”

“I don’t have anything to eat either?”

“……Guys, we have to share.”

Park Yu-min was half-resigned and feeling defeated.

You bad kids.

I worked so hard to make it for you.

“It feels like I’m alive again after eating real food for the first time in a while.”

“I never knew the director was such a good cook.”

“Isn’t it just that Yu-min hyung is bad at it?”

Kang Jin-ho silently patted Park Yu-min’s shoulder, and Park Yu-min covered his face.

“Chicken! The chicken has arrived!”

“Carry it!”

Kang Jin-ho went to swipe his card with a determined look.

Pizza, chicken, jokbal, bossam, and even sashimi and soup that Park Yu-min had requested.

He had ordered everything they wanted, and it seemed like too much, but watching the kids devour the food like hungry ghosts, he wondered if he should add tangsuyuk [sweet and sour pork] and jajangmyeon.

“Did you starve them?”

“……Don’t say that.”

Park Yu-min seemed to feel a great sense of betrayal, but on the other hand, he was happy to see the kids eating well.

“It cost a lot, right?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Just looking at it, it’s probably over a million won [Korean currency]?”

“It’s not that much. And even if it is, it doesn’t matter.”

He had more money than he knew what to do with. The money Hwang Jung-hoo was paying him was still piling up in his account.

“But if you keep feeding them this kind of stuff, the kids won’t eat regular meals. It’s not good for their nutrition either.”

“If you’re worried about nutrition, just give them vitamins!”

“That’s right!”

Park Yu-min’s blood boiled at the high schoolers’ rebellion, and he shouted.

“You little punks, I put so much thought into the menu!”

“Is it the menu that’s the problem! It’s the taste!”

“That’s right!”

Seeing Park Yu-min utterly defeated, Kang Jin-ho picked up his phone.

– Yes, Kang Jin-ho-ssi [Mr. Kang Jin-ho].

“About the childcare worker I mentioned last time.”

– Yes. We’ve almost found them all.

“Please find a kitchen helper as quickly as possible.”

– ……Yes?

“Hurry.”

– Understood.

Hanging up the phone, Kang Jin-ho nodded firmly and said to the kids.

“It’s settled.”

“Waaaaaaaah!”

“Oppa, you’re the best!”

Park Yu-min, who had lost his mind, scratched the wall in the corner.

“I can’t eat anymore.”

“Ugh, I don’t think I can eat for three days.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded, having succeeded in feeding the gluttons until they were full. It was a very difficult mission, but there was nothing that couldn’t be solved with cash.

“You guys, are you not going to eat dinner after this?”

“We’ll eat?”

“We can eat more.”

“……”

Park Yu-min sighed as he held the youngest one, who was so full he couldn’t even sit properly.

“You have to thank hyung.”

“Thank you!”

“Hyung, we really ate well.”

“Oppa, you’re the best!”

Kang Jin-ho raised his hand with a stern face. Then applause erupted from all directions.

“Hmph.”

Park Yu-min, who was annoyed by the sight, grumbled.

“You have to clean up what you ate!”

“Nag!”

Leaving the cleaning to the kids, Park Yu-min and Kang Jin-ho went outside.

“Is it okay to leave the kids?”

“There are the caregivers. They’d usually be out playing, but they’re staying here to watch the kids so I can rest.”

Come to think of it, it was the weekend, so he wondered why all the middle and high school students were still at the orphanage. It seemed like they had an intention.

“They’re nice.”

“They’re angels.”

Park Yu-min smiled contentedly.

“Do you usually eat lunch late on weekends?”

“We shouldn’t, but we do eat breakfast a little late. The kids want to sleep in a bit since it’s their day off.”

“Do they usually wake up early?”

“They usually wake up at seven to eat because they have to go to school. And the ones who go to school go, and the rest play with the caregivers… but since the director was hospitalized, the caregivers all quit…”

“Hmm….”

So that meant Park Yu-min was doing two jobs at once.

“Isn’t cleaning and stuff hard?”

“The kids do all that. I let the high schoolers off the hook a bit. They’re busy with their own studies.”

“You let the kids off the hook, not the other way around?”

“You have to teach them to do their own work from a young age. They’re kids who won’t have anyone to take care of them when they go out into society. By the time they enter elementary school, I try to teach them to do their own work and cleaning. Even the kids who aren’t feeling well try to stick to that.”

“From elementary school?”

“Yeah. So the younger kids listen well, but the older ones keep running away from cleaning and hiding, which is a problem.”

Kang Jin-ho felt a strong sense of incongruity.

‘Is this the military?’

It sounded a bit like the military. It was a place where people gathered and lived together, so it might be similar, but still, this feeling was just….

“Did you tell them about your return?”

“I told them, but the date isn’t confirmed. I just mentioned it.”

“What did they say?”

“They told me to come back quickly. They said my skills are getting rusty, and I need to come back as soon as possible to get back in the groove and keep up with the trends.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

A pro gamer’s career is short. Unlike other jobs where you can somehow survive in the industry once you get a job, it was hard for a pro gamer to maintain their prime for more than two years. Even at this moment, Park Yu-min’s prime might be slipping away.

“You have to think about your own life too.”

“Easy to say.”

Park Yu-min grumbled.

“Here.”

“Huh?”

Park Yu-min’s face turned serious when Kang Jin-ho held out the card.

“Hey, did you think I couldn’t feed the kids because I didn’t have money? I have money too, you know.”

“No, I’m saying use it to feed the kids dinner.”

“……”

“I’ll take it back.”

“……Okay.”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled. Park Yu-min did earn money, but he hadn’t been a pro gamer for long. He might have renegotiated his salary this year, but he wouldn’t be getting paid since he wasn’t active.

The money he received last year was obvious. Even if there was prize money, it would disappear quickly if he spent it thoughtlessly.

Again, a pro gamer’s career is short. If you don’t prepare for the future with the money you earn while you can, you’ll just become unemployed after your skills decline.

It didn’t seem like Park Yu-min could become a commentator with his speaking skills, and it didn’t seem like he could become a coach with his personality.

“Shall we get going then?”

“Where to?”

“To see Se-yeon.”

Park Yu-min looked at Kang Jin-ho with a slightly stiff face.

“Do you want to come?”

“No, I don’t think it’s my place to go… Did you call Se-yeon?”

“Yeah.”

“When?”

“This morning.”

Park Yu-min sighed deeply.

“Jin-ho.”

“Yeah?”

“Be good to Se-yeon.”

“You’re saying weird things.”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled and pulled out Geumdong, getting on it.

“They’ll find a childcare worker soon, so just hold on a little longer. It’ll be back to normal soon.”

“……It’s not that easy, Jin-ho.”

“I have something else to talk to you about regarding that. Let’s talk later.”

Park Yu-min nodded silently.

He was confused because things seemed to be progressing chaotically, but the Kang Jin-ho he knew was someone who always solved problems.

This time too, he had a blind faith that whatever happened, he would solve it since he had stepped in.

“……But if we keep ordering dinner, it’s not good for the kids. If they keep eating takeout, they’ll get fat.”

“Buy meat.”

“Huh?”

“Go to the butcher shop and buy a ton of meat and grill it. Even if your cooking skills are bad, you can at least put salt on meat.”

“Aren’t you, aren’t you making me out to be too much of a trash?”

“The curry you made was too bad to even be called curry. How is it worse than military food? I’m going.”

Watching Kang Jin-ho ride away on his bike, Park Yu-min smacked his lips bitterly.

“He’ll figure it out.”

The matter between Han Se-yeon and Kang Jin-ho was something they had to solve themselves. He knew it wasn’t his place to interfere. But Park Yu-min’s honest wish was that his friends, who had been together for so long, could spend a little more time together if possible.

“I don’t know.”

Park Yu-min shook his head and walked back into the orphanage.

“I’ll show them what real curry is.”

With Park Yu-min’s terrifying thought that it would taste better if he used high-quality ingredients, the orphanage kids had to suffer again that evening.