Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 177

“You said you didn’t have any specific plans before returning to school.”

“Hmm.”

Hwang Jung-hoo flicked ash into the ashtray, looking displeased.

“Does that mean he’s just going to loaf around?”

“It doesn’t seem like that’s his intention, but it’s true that he doesn’t have anything to do if he’s not going back to school right away. Usually, students in this situation go on language study trips or travel, but Kang Jin-ho doesn’t seem interested in those things.”

“I see.”

Hwang Jung-hoo exhaled a long stream of smoke and then opened his mouth.

“You know I can’t stand seeing a young man just lazing about.”

“You’re the one who’s paying Kang Jin-ho a huge sum of money so he can loaf around, Chairman.”

“That’s different.”

I didn’t know how it was different, but if he said it was different, then it must be different. If Hwang Jung-hoo said the sky was yellow, then it was yellow.

“Isn’t it about time he learned how the company works?”

While Jo Gyu-min hesitated, Baek Young-gi nodded.

“That’s right. The sooner, the better.”

Baek Young-gi already knew that Hwang Jung-hoo was secretly thinking of Kang Jin-ho as his successor. So, it wouldn’t hurt for him to learn how the company works in advance.

“But…”

Jo Gyu-min said with a reluctant expression.

“Kang Jin-ho isn’t interested in the company, is he?”

“…That’s the problem.”

Even as he spoke, Jo Gyu-min was dumbfounded.

‘There’s someone who doesn’t want to inherit a conglomerate.’ If anyone else were in Kang Jin-ho’s position, they would do anything to gain Hwang Jung-hoo’s favor. The fact that Hwang Jung-hoo, who had no successor, was showing him favor meant that there was an opportunity to swallow the entire Jaekyung Group.

But Kang Jin-ho was refusing Jaekyung even when it was right in front of him, and spitting it out even when it was fed to him.

‘Even if someone has no ambition, there’s a limit.’

No matter how much money someone has and how they can live without worrying about money for the rest of their lives, no one would refuse the opportunity to inherit a company of this size.

However, in Jo Gyu-min’s eyes, Kang Jin-ho clearly had no interest in Jaekyung at all.

“That ungrateful bastard.”

When Hwang Jung-hoo became angry, Baek Young-gi turned his head and smiled slightly.

The Hwang Jung-hoo he knew had a cat-like temperament. If Kang Jin-ho had been greedy for Jaekyung and had rushed at it, Hwang Jung-hoo would never have considered entrusting it to him.

It was because Kang Jin-ho had no interest in Jaekyung that Hwang Jung-hoo was showing him even more interest.

“Well, we can always find a way, can’t we?”

Hwang Jung-hoo’s face lit up at Baek Young-gi’s words.

“Do you have a good idea?”

“…It’s not something you should be asking me. Isn’t everything regarding Kang Jin-ho’s affairs entrusted to the Chief Secretary?”

“Huh?”

Jo Gyu-min looked at him pitifully, as if to say, ‘Why are you dragging me into this?’ but Baek Young-gi was firm.

“You don’t really do much anyway, so you can’t not solve this kind of problem. You’ve been given the important position of Chief Secretary at a young age, so you need to show your abilities.”

Cold sweat dripped from Jo Gyu-min’s forehead.

Even though he wasn’t directly attending to the Chairman, there was already a lot of talk internally about how he had managed to secure the position of Chief Secretary.

Although they couldn’t openly complain because Hwang Jung-hoo had directly appointed him, Jo Gyu-min was aware that many people were badmouthing him behind his back.

Come to think of it, the company was similar to the royal court of the past.

Many people competed to gain the favor of the one and only king, and those who received favor were bound to be envied.

‘It’s not favor directed at me!’

Jo Gyu-min sighed bitterly.

Most people didn’t know that the object of that favor was not Jo Gyu-min himself, but Kang Jin-ho.

There was no need to make Kang Jin-ho’s existence known to those who didn’t know.

Thanks to that, Jo Gyu-min was also receiving the envy that Kang Jin-ho should have been receiving.

“So, what do you think?”

At Hwang Jung-hoo’s words, Jo Gyu-min took a deep breath.

‘Whether I’m envied or not…’

Jo Gyu-min also knew that securing his current position was impossible without luck. However, maintaining that luck was impossible without ability.

Jo Gyu-min realized that now was the time to prove his abilities and opened his mouth heavily.

“Kang Jin-ho is not interested in wealth or power. What moves Kang Jin-ho now is his affection for his family and his sense of duty to live an ordinary life.”

“So?”

“If you want to give an unwanted position to someone who doesn’t want it, you have to pay a sweet price.”

“What’s that price?”

Jo Gyu-min grinned and opened his mouth.

“Grades.”

“…Huh?”

Hwang Jung-hoo tilted his head.

“It’s a cafe?”

“Yeah. Your father took him there.” Kang Jin-ho nodded slowly.

They said they were going to give him a part-time job, so it seemed like they were going to make him work at a cafe.

It was safer to work at a cafe run by his father than somewhere with a stranger as the boss.

Since he was a celebrity, it wasn’t easy to find a place where he could work without any problems.

“Isn’t Mom going to work?”

“I just came in to make food for a bit. Hurry up and eat.”

Kang Jin-ho swallowed hard as he looked at the bowl piled high with rice.

‘Is this a mission as soon as I open my eyes?’

Why did emptying that bowl of rice feel like a bigger task than unloading all the packages at the logistics warehouse?

Kang Jin-ho sat at the table with a determined look on his face.

“Wait a minute, Jin-ho.”

“Yes?”

“Make some room there.”

Kang Jin-ho, who saw his mother bringing a huge pot of stew, froze slightly and couldn’t move.

“What are you doing?”

“…Yes.”

After clearing the side dish bowls to make room, his mother placed the stew pot on the table.

“People who work hard need to eat a lot.”

I didn’t even eat this much in the military, Mom.

“Your father is really good at starting unnecessary things. What part-time job? It’s not like we don’t have money, and he’s so eager to make a kid who just got out of the military work again. Sigh, I can’t live like this.”

“He’s doing it with good intentions.”

“What good are good intentions if the results aren’t good!”

Kang Jin-ho smiled wryly and took a spoonful of soup.

It seemed like he had to go out.

“Isn’t work hard for you?”

“It’s okay.”

“They say that loading and unloading packages ruins your body.”

“It’s really okay.”

“That’s what you say, but there’s no way it’s okay.”

Kang Jin-ho felt a strange mix of emotions.

He was telling the truth, but why didn’t they believe him? He couldn’t even film himself working to prove it. Come to think of it, if he filmed himself working, his mother would tell him to quit right away.

“Eat a lot.”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled and began to eat his rice. His mother, who had been watching Kang Jin-ho eat with a pleased expression, headed to the kitchen.

“Huh?”

Beep beep.

The sound of the rice cooker opening was the scariest sound in the world to Kang Jin-ho.

“Digestion…”

Kang Jin-ho clutched his stomach.

He might not be completely immune to all poisons, but he felt like he was at least immune to most of them, yet he was suffering from overeating.

‘She wasn’t like this before, was she?’

The mother he remembered from the past was always there for him, but she wasn’t the type to bombard people with food like this.

‘Maybe my memory is too short to remember…’

Kang Jin-ho was a student until his mother died in a car accident, so he didn’t have that many memories of spending time with her. And she was often away from home because she worked.

‘Come to think of it, I didn’t know much about my parents either.’

It seemed like he was seeing new sides of them now that he had more time and saw them more often.

He thought that this was one of the joys of having a new life, and at the same time, he reflected on how little time he had had in the past that he hadn’t known these things.

‘Reaching out isn’t just for strangers.’

If the Kang Jin-ho of the past had reached out to his parents a little more, he might have known and understood more than he did now. The thought made Kang Jin-ho feel like he was reflecting on himself.

“Ugh…”

But he didn’t really want to know this side of them.

Kang Jin-ho, pressing down on his swollen stomach, trudged towards his father’s cafe.

“Huh?”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes widened as he saw the crowd of people filling the area in front of the cafe.

What was going on?

“Ah! Don’t push!”

“It’s been a while since anyone came out! Let’s go in now! Did you rent the place? How long are you going to stay after ordering just one coffee!”

“Ah, don’t push!”

The people weren’t just waiting in line, they were practically a human sea. Kang Jin-ho was surprised by the unexpected situation and stood there blankly for a moment before hardening his expression and starting to push his way inside.

“Hey! What are you doing! Don’t cut in line.”

“I’m just going to go in.”

“Can’t you see people are waiting in line?”

As Kang Jin-ho was wondering what to do about this situation, someone shouted.

“That person is Kang Se-ah’s brother!”

“Huh?”

“That’s right. He’s the guy from the video. That macho man.”

“That’s him! He’s even more handsome in person?”

Kang Jin-ho was a man who had never been flustered even in front of tens of thousands of followers when he was the leader of the Demonic Cult in the past.

But at this moment, he felt like his face was flushing.

“Let’s make way.”

“Let’s get closer.”

The people made a path to the left and right. Kang Jin-ho, who had parted the crowd like Moses parting the Red Sea, felt an unknown sense of shame as he slowly walked into the cafe.

When he opened the door and stepped inside, he saw that every table was full of people.

“What is this…”

“Jin-ho, you’re here?”

“Oppa! You’re here?”

His father and Eun-young greeted him at the same time.

“What’s going on?”

Kang Eun-young sighed as if she was in trouble and whispered.

“Someone who came in the morning must have posted on social media that I’m working here. Suddenly, people started pouring in, and it became like this.”

“Hmm…”

Kang Jin-ho scratched his head, looking troubled.

‘Even so, this is too much…’

He knew that the power of social media was great in modern society, but he didn’t know that it could gather this many people. He was also surprised that so many people would come here just to see Kang Eun-young on a weekday afternoon.

“It’ll be difficult to work part-time like this…”

“What’s difficult about it?”

Looking at his father, who was smiling broadly, he had a bad feeling.

“It’s good to have so many customers for a change. You, go put this up in front of the door.”

“Yes?”

The A4 paper his father handed him had the words ‘One drink per person. One additional drink for every 30 minutes exceeded’ written on it.

“…Father?”

“Why, why? I’m happy to sell coffee, those people are happy to see Eun-young, and Eun-young can gain social experience, so isn’t it a good thing for everyone?”

Kang Jin-ho looked at his father with suspicious eyes before asking one thing.

“Do you happen to use social media?”

Kang Ji-hwan didn’t answer.