Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 357

Kang Jin-ho quietly took a breath.

‘It’s not enough.’

A desire was boiling within him.

‘It’s not enough.’

He had been holding back well until now.

But he knew very well that he couldn’t hold back any longer.

What would happen if you gave a slingshot to a child and told them not to shoot it, but just to look at it?

At first, they would listen.

But if you keep giving that slingshot to a child who knows that if they put a stone in it and pull it back, it will fly far, would they be able to hold back until the end?

Of course not.

They will pull it back someday. They will use it someday.

Then what about a gun?

If you give a person a loaded gun and tell them never to shoot it, but just to hold it, wouldn’t they shoot it?

They might hold back for a day.

But what about a week?

What about a month?

Could they not shoot that gun for a year?

It’s impossible.

In the end, humans find a place to use that loaded gun. Whether it’s a target in a deserted place with no people, or a safe shooting range.

Or a shady back alley.

Military arts were like that.

You can’t just possess it and live an ordinary life. A human with martial arts is tormented by the urge to use those martial arts. In some way or another.

But sometimes, that gets in the way of a person’s life.

Even when Kang Jin-ho was in the Murim [a world of martial artists], many people were fed up with the martial world, washed their hands of it, and lived in seclusion in the deep mountains, but in the end, they all couldn’t overcome that urge and returned to the martial world.

To be strong.

And to easily solve all problems and enjoy a transcendent status by using that strength is a temptation that no human can resist. It would be easier for a drug addict to quit drugs with willpower alone.

Kang Jin-ho knew that very well.

That’s why he tried not to be obsessed with martial arts. This world is a place where martial arts are not needed, and if he learned martial arts, he would eventually find a place to use them.

The reason that decision was broken at first was because the world didn’t let him live an ordinary life. But back then, it was an ordinary person who touched him.

But it’s not like that now.

It was a martial artist who touched him. And it was from a place that could be called the largest organization in Korea. To deal with and punish those people, he needed power.

More power.

Much more power.

Like…….

— Like me?

Kang Jin-ho’s body trembled slightly.

That voice whispering like a devil was not someone else’s. It was his voice.

Kang Jin-ho knew.

When he first returned to this world, and even when he was in the military, Kang Jin-ho had separated himself from the Demonic Heavenly Sovereign almost perfectly.

He lived as Kang Jin-ho normally, and when necessary, the personality of the Demonic Heavenly Sovereign would flow out.

But recently?

They were mixing.

To put it nicely, they were becoming one, and to put it badly, the personality of the Demonic Heavenly Sovereign was influencing his personality. Like water seeping in slowly.

‘Everything is me.’

He was also Kang Jin-ho, and the Demonic Heavenly Sovereign was also Kang Jin-ho. He had no intention of denying or twisting it. He had just separated them for convenience.

— Don’t you want to be comfortable?

If he fully accepted him, Kang Jin-ho’s life would be much easier. He wouldn’t have to cling to cumbersome things, and he could live a much simpler life than he does now.

But he would lose a lot by doing that.

Kang Jin-ho chose a third path.

External energy began to flood into his open dantian [an energy center in the body]. As he tore down the wall of growth that he had forcibly blocked, external energy began to rush towards him explosively, like air filling an empty space.

‘It’s not enough.’

More.

More, more!

He needed more energy.

To become stronger as Kang Jin-ho, not as the Demonic Heavenly Sovereign.

The reason he had to differentiate the Demonic Heavenly Sovereign within him was because the power of Kang Jin-ho’s current personality could not handle the Demonic Heavenly Sovereign. Three lives had given him two personalities. The personality that had been forcibly blocked and shoved into a corner was tearing apart its restraints and slowly popping out as he became more and more angry.

It was just a war going on in Kang Jin-ho’s head, but this war was more fierce and violent than any war in the world.

More!

I need more!

And Kang Jin-ho would become stronger.

Squeak.

The face of Kang Jin-ho, who opened the door and came out, looked very calm.

“Jin-ho, what were you doing all day with the door locked?”

“Mom!”

Kang Eun-young yelled.

“You shouldn’t ask a grown man that. If someone who doesn’t have a girlfriend is in their room, it’s obvious what they’re doing.”

“Why doesn’t he have a girlfriend? He even went on a trip with Choi Yeon-ha.”

“……Huh? That’s right? Oppa, what were you doing?” Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

“I just had something to think about. But you’re home a lot these days?”

“Yeah. I don’t have any activities these days.”

“Aren’t you preparing for your next activity?”

“It’s a bit hard to figure out. If I do another drama, I have to postpone the album, and if I do the album, I have to postpone the drama, so it’s a bit ambiguous which one to prioritize.”

“Okay.”

“No, Oppa. This is just me worrying, so you don’t have to worry. Once it’s decided, I’ll be very busy.

A person needs to recharge a bit.”

“Okay.”

Usually, the word ‘recharge’ doesn’t mean lying on the sofa and eating snacks, but Kang Jin-ho didn’t bother to point that out.

He just pointed out something else.

“You’ve eaten too much during your non-activity period.”

“……Huh?”

“I think you’ve gained about 5kg?”

“No, I haven’t! It just looks like that because I’m wearing loose clothes.”

“Your face is like a full moon?”

“Really? Really?”

Kang Eun-young screamed and ran to the mirror. After staring at the mirror for a while, Kang Eun-young, who had become pensive, ran into her room where the scale was and screamed.

“Tsk.”

Kang Jin-ho stepped out the door, listening to the wails of someone paying the price for letting go of everything.

“Where are you going?”

“Yes. I’m going to the PC cafe with the guys today. I’ll be back in the morning, so don’t wait up for me.”

“You’re not going to be out of contact again, are you?”

“I’ll answer my phone.”

“Okay. I trust you, Mom?”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-ho stepped outside, receiving a worried send-off from Baek Hyun-jung. In the past, Baek Hyun-jung would have told him to go out more instead of staying home all the time, whether he went out at night or during the day, but the price of losing trust once was high. It seemed like it would take some time to regain that much trust.

He felt a slight annoyance when he thought that it was all because of the Yeongnam Association guys.

When he came out wearing his sneakers, Jo Gyu-min was already waiting in front of the door.

“You’re here.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded and headed towards Jo Gyu-min.

“What’s that?”

When Jo Gyu-min pointed to the bag in Kang Jin-ho’s hand, Kang Jin-ho said as if it was nothing.

“It’s clothes to change into.”

“Yes?”

“I keep getting my clothes blown away outside these days, and when I came home in a suit, I ended up with several suits at home, and my mom asked if I got a job at a nightclub.”

Jo Gyu-min covered his mouth.

He was on his way to do something serious, but this was too funny. A nightclub.

It wasn’t hard to understand. From a parent’s point of view, it would be strange. Their son, who went out in ordinary clothes, kept coming home in a black suit.

“So that’s why heroes wear spandex.”

“……Ah!”

“Should I make one for you?”

“I would never wear that.”

“Why? With your physique, Mr. Kang Jin-ho, it would look good? If you don’t have any extra fat, spandex is as good as…”

“That’s enough.”

Kang Jin-ho, who had cut off the barrage of attacks, shook his head and followed Jo Gyu-min to the main road.

“Have you solved the transportation issue?”

“Yes. Well, that’s easy enough.”

“How?”

“You can see over there.”

“……Hmm?”

When they went out to the main road, they saw many buses parked on the side of the road.

‘Is this the solution?’

He had said that it was a problem because he kept getting stopped and searched while riding the bus, but what good would it do to have many buses?

“Does this mean we won’t get searched?”

“Hey, why are you like this, you have a good eye. Look again.”

“Yes?”

Kang Jin-ho turned his head and looked outside.

“Ah……”

The buses that were parked were not just any buses, but each one had the Jae-kyung mark on it.

“I’ve arranged all the company commuter buses. 50 40-seater buses.”

“……There are that many buses?”

“I gathered them not only from the headquarters but also from the factory and everywhere else.”

“Why this?”

Jo Gyu-min shrugged his shoulders.

“We can just say we’re going on a Jae-kyung company outing. They don’t usually search company shuttle buses. As long as we don’t drink and make a fuss inside, there won’t be any problems.”

“Wow……”

Kang Jin-ho looked at Jo Gyu-min with admiration at the idea he had never even thought of.

‘He’s really good at using his head.’

“But if we get searched by mistake, won’t it be on the news that Jae-kyung mobilized gangsters?”

“……Hey, no way.”

Jo Gyu-min waved his hand and pointed to the bus at the front.

“You can get on bus number 1. All the important people are gathered there.”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded and got on the bus.

‘This is like a school trip.’

It felt strange to be going to war by chartering a bus. In the Murim, when they went to attack another sect, they would run on their two strong legs or ride horses.

‘If I think of it as a horse, it’s not that strange……’

Unlike his head, his heart seemed to feel something ambiguous. Kang Jin-ho got on the bus, smelling the slightly fishy smell unique to buses.

“Welcome.”

Inside the bus, Bang Jin-hoon and several directors, as well as Lee Joong-gul and Lee Hyun-joo, were already waiting.

“……It’s been a while.”

“Yes.”

When Lee Hyun-joo bowed her head, Kang Jin-ho returned the greeting with a light nod.

When Kang Jin-ho took his seat, Bang Jin-hoon opened his mouth.

“It’s the day.”

“Yes. It’s the day.”

It had taken a long time.

Kang Jin-ho sighed with a bitter face. When he thought about it, the reason it had taken so long was very simple. It was because he couldn’t make up his mind. Attacking the Yeongnam Association meant that he could no longer distance himself from the world of martial artists.

That point had been bothering him, and he had been procrastinating, which was why it had taken so long. But now that he had made up his mind, there would only be one result left.

“I’ve put together a plan, so I’d like you to check if you like it.”

Bang Jin-hoon handed over the documents.

Jo Gyu-min said, looking at Kang Jin-ho.

“I also participated in making it. This is probably the best we can do. I also considered the movement, and I tried to make sure that no one escapes.”

Kang Jin-ho flipped through the documents and closed them with a snap.

“I don’t need it.”

“Yes?”

Jo Gyu-min looked at Kang Jin-ho with a bewildered expression.

The Kang Jin-ho he knew was not the kind of person who would cut off other people’s opinions so sharply.

‘Does he have another plan?’

“Do you have a plan in mind……”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-ho said his plan as if it was nothing.

And when Jo Gyu-min heard the plan, he laughed twice, then shouted loudly.

“Are you crazy?”

It was the first time that a swear word about Kang Jin-ho came out of Jo Gyu-min’s mouth.