Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 270

‘What on earth just happened?’

Even after Kang Jin-ho left, Bang Jin-hoon remained in a daze. The cafe owner, who had watched Kang Jin-ho depart, entered the room and was horrified to find Bang Jin-hoon slumped over like a waterlogged rag.

Bang Jin-hoon’s hand, reaching for the cold glass of ice water offered to him, trembled as if he had a severe case of the shakes.

“Are you feeling any better?”

He nodded at the voice he heard.

But it wasn’t a nod of understanding. His mind, wiped clean like a blank sheet of paper, was incapable of a proper response.

He simply nodded because he was asked.

That was all.

“What on earth happened? I didn’t hear a thing.”

“You didn’t hear anything?”

“No.”

“…You didn’t hear my hand breaking and my stomach being pierced?”

“Huh?”

Bang Jin-hoon chuckled hollowly as he watched the owner examine his own hand and stomach.

Of course, there was no way he could have heard it.

He must have thought he was talking nonsense, seeing how perfectly fine he looked.

Bang Jin-hoon waved his hand at the owner, who seemed to be pondering if there was some other meaning behind his words.

“I understand, so could you leave me alone for a bit? I need to clear my head.”

“…Yes, I understand.”

Thud.

The door closed, and Bang Jin-hoon, left alone in the room, pulled out a cigarette with trembling hands.

Watching his hands shake so badly that he couldn’t even hold the cigarette properly, a surge of irritation washed over him.

“Damn it!”

Without realizing it, Bang Jin-hoon slammed his fist on the table, breaking it in two, and then clutched his shoulder.

“What the hell did he do?”

Who else could have experienced something like this?

If his stomach had been ripped open when he opened his eyes, he wouldn’t have felt this way. But even though he had vividly felt his hand breaking and his stomach being pierced, his body was perfectly fine.

It was as if he had been possessed by a ghost.

“This… this isn’t human.”

Bang Jin-hoon couldn’t help but tremble with the fear that welled up from within. This was beyond the realm of understanding.

No human could do something like this.

He was well aware of how strong Kang Jin-ho was. Probably, even ten men like him wouldn’t be a match for Kang Jin-ho.

But this wasn’t something that could be done simply by being strong.

He had dreamed with his eyes open, and he had been subdued while conscious. Who else in the world could have experienced something like this?

Bang Jin-hoon, having barely calmed his trembling body, gritted his teeth.

‘Is it some kind of illusion?’

He had heard of them.

Techniques that controlled the opponent at will.

He had heard that such sinister arts had been prevalent in the past. But in all the stories he had heard about illusions, there was no mention of such vivid realism. If this was an illusion, the world would have been conquered by illusionists.

Buzz.

Bang Jin-hoon flinched at the sudden vibration of his cell phone, jumping up from his seat in alarm.

‘Damn it all.’

Who was he?

He was Bang Jin-hoon.

He was one of the top martial artists in the Korean peninsula, yet he was so terrified that he jumped up from his seat at the mere vibration of a cell phone. Realizing his own pathetic state, Bang Jin-hoon irritably pulled the phone out of his pocket.

“Who is it?”

[…It’s, uh, Chun Tae-hoon.]

“What!”

His voice was sharper than ever.

[I, I was just wondering what happened…]

“Damn it.”

He knew that it wasn’t Chun Tae-hoon’s fault. But right now, he couldn’t help but vent his anger on someone.

“Hang up. I’m not in the mood to talk to you right now.”

[Director!]

Bang Jin-hoon frowned at Chun Tae-hoon’s urgent voice.

Is this guy for real?

[You’re not going to be hostile towards him, are you? Right?]

Listening to Chun Tae-hoon’s almost desperate voice, Bang Jin-hoon felt his mood stabilizing.

“No. Hang up.”

Bang Jin-hoon, having hung up the phone, picked up the cigarette that had fallen on the floor.

‘This is a ridiculous situation.’

Thanks to Chun Tae-hoon, he had come to his senses. The situation he had to worry about the most right now was becoming hostile towards Kang Jin-ho.

He had already witnessed Kang Jin-ho’s power. If he were to stand against Kang Jin-ho, everything he had built up until now would vanish like a mirage in an instant.

He was a being with that much power.

But Kang Jin-ho had decided to use him. He didn’t know what would happen after his usefulness was over, but for now, it was beneficial.

If Kang Jin-ho stepped in, he could resolve the General Assembly [a national martial arts organization] without any injuries, and he could fight the Yeongnam Association [a regional martial arts group] with Kang Jin-ho’s help. After all, even if Kang Jin-ho hadn’t been there, taking control of the General Assembly and fighting the Yeongnam Association was the course he had been planning.

So what was the problem?

Click.

Bang Jin-hoon lit a cigarette and took a deep drag.

Objectively speaking, everything was going well, but the unease and anxiety that had settled deep within his heart refused to go away.

‘Yes, I’m afraid of him.’

He was scared.

It felt like he had unwillingly made a deal with the devil. What made it even harder for him was that he had already experienced Kang Jin-ho’s power firsthand, and now he knew that he wouldn’t be able to refuse any request from Kang Jin-ho.

Crack.

The armrest of the chair was ripped off. The metal chair was torn apart and tumbled to the floor. Bang Jin-hoon chewed on the filter of the cigarette in his mouth and muttered.

“A devil… a devil is fine. If you’re a devil, then I’ll make a deal with you. Take my soul if you want. I’ll get the General Assembly in return.”

Bang Jin-hoon spoke boldly, but his voice sounded hollow.

‘I need to buy a car.’

As he slowly walked home, Kang Jin-ho was once again realizing how inconvenient it was not to have a car.

A journey that would have been easy with his beloved car now felt long. If he used his lightness skill [a martial arts technique for moving quickly], he could move faster than a car, but he didn’t want to show off his skills in Seoul, where half the city was covered in CCTV cameras.

He might be able to avoid the cameras by going over the buildings, but he wanted to refrain from doing that unless it was absolutely necessary.

More than anything, if he kept using his martial arts in his daily life just because it was necessary or convenient, his everyday life would eventually collapse. Kang Jin-ho, who used martial arts, was like Superman. There was no way such a person could live in an ordinary society.

And…

Kang Jin-ho, exhaling a puff of smoke, smiled lightly as he watched the smoke slowly dissipate into the night sky.

‘Today, this isn’t so bad either.’

There was a certain charm to walking home, breathing in the cold night air. He had been so busy lately that it had been a long time since he had felt this way.

Kang Jin-ho quietly raised his head and looked at the sky.

‘I’ve stopped looking at it.’

When he first returned to this world, this night sky was incredibly beautiful.

The night sky, which he had missed so much, with no stars.

He had missed the dark and gloomy night sky so much.

Whether it was because he had adapted to the world, he had stopped looking at the sky at some point. In the past, he had often been told that he was always looking at the sky as if there was something to see.

Has Kang Jin-ho changed?

If adaptation was considered a change, then Kang Jin-ho might have changed. It wasn’t a bad change.

But Kang Jin-ho also knew that all changes were accompanied by loss. Just like Bang Jin-hoon right now.

Kang Jin-ho chuckled softly as he thought of Bang Jin-hoon.

‘He’s so weak.’

The modern martial artists were so weak that he didn’t even need to lift a finger. Bang Jin-hoon was one of the stronger ones he had met, but that was all. He wasn’t enough to satisfy Kang Jin-ho’s competitive spirit.

It was evident from how easily he had fallen for the Demonic Illusion Kill. If Bang Jin-hoon was a martial artist who had truly mastered orthodox martial arts, the illusion shouldn’t have worked. But with Bang Jin-hoon’s level, he couldn’t resist the Demonic Illusion Kill, which contained a thousand years of Demonic Cult history.

‘I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing.’

Kang Jin-ho looked at the sky.

If it had been him in the past, he wouldn’t have done such a pointless thing. His way was to get rid of anything that bothered him.

If the former ‘Heavenly Demon Lord’ had experienced this situation, he would have stormed into the Yeongnam Association and killed everyone involved. He might have spared those who ran away, but he wouldn’t have left alive those who dared to oppose him.

But that method had its limits. He knew how to destroy, but he didn’t know how to manage.

In the end, if he had stuck to his ways, it would have only led to the collapse of the Yeongnam Association. And after the Yeongnam Association collapsed, someone would take its place. Perhaps the General Assembly would split up to take the benefits, and endless conflicts would follow.

Therefore, someone had to control the situation. Someone other than Kang Jin-ho.

Whether it was Bang Jin-hoon or Lee Jung-geol.

‘You’ve thought this far.’

He, who had lived with the simple thought of ‘kill anything that bothers me,’ like a beast, had finally come this far after meeting his family and other people.

Kang Jin-ho suppressed the urge that was stirring within his heart.

‘Don’t go wild.’

It wasn’t about suppressing it.

There were plenty of places for you to go wild. And in the future, he had a feeling that this guy inside him would have to take the lead more often.

What did Kang Jin-ho have to do?

Not to go to extremes.

Maintaining the balance between reality and the other side, and not breaking the thin ice, was what Kang Jin-ho had to do from now on.

To do that, he had to eliminate those who were encroaching on his life.

Kang Jin-ho curled up the corners of his mouth as he thought of the name Yeongnam Association.

The time was coming.

The time was approaching when he could unleash everything that had been suppressing and restraining him, and go wild like a beast.

Kang Jin-ho didn’t know if the strange excitement rising in his chest was the joy of the Heavenly Demon Lord or his own joy.

‘I need to calm down…’

Kang Jin-ho couldn’t help but laugh out loud, unable to contain the boiling blood.

How hard had it been to resist the urge to rip off Bang Jin-hoon’s head, who was screaming in the illusion?

Perhaps it was because he had seen so much blood recently, but strange urges kept taking over him.

Where did these increasingly strong urges come from?

“I need to go home.”

He wanted to see his mother.

He felt like he could suppress the urges rising in his chest if he drank his father’s coffee, ate his mother’s food, and bickered with Kang Eun-young.

-Why do you have to hold back?

“…Shut up.”

Kang Jin-ho, deliberately ignoring the voice that was so clearly audible in his ear, lowered his head and walked towards home. Whether consciously or unconsciously, Kang Jin-ho didn’t look up at the sky even once as he headed home.

The night fog was quietly descending behind him as he walked home.