Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 384

Of course, Han Eun-sol’s thoughts were a misunderstanding.

Kang Jin-ho had simply sought a ‘magic key’ that could resolve all his issues. He’d said, ‘We need a place for the kids to exercise,’ and the magic key had responded with, ‘Then do it nearby. Indoors, so you can do it even when it rains.’

Kang Jin-ho, thinking the magic key’s words made sense, nodded. The magic key then took care of all the payments and contracts on its own.

Who would have thought it would be a professional team’s indoor practice field? They just came because they were told to come there.

However, even if misunderstandings arose, Kang Jin-ho wasn’t the type to kindly explain the details.

“It seems to be over there, Eun-sol.”

“Huh?”

“Kang Jin-ho’s car is there.” Han Eun-sol slightly frowned.

‘Doesn’t this older sister have some interest in cars?’

To distinguish whose car it is just by looking at the car model from this distance, where even the license plate isn’t visible…

“That red one?”

“Yeah. That’s the car.”

“Ah, the one with the low chassis that looks like it’ll scrape the bottom on speed bumps, the very inefficient and meaningless one, the one you’d sell your wife to get, you’re talking about that car?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Nothing.”

Han Eun-sol wiped his eyes.

‘I guess she can tell them apart.’

Korea is now a place where those kinds of cars roll around on the streets, but what are the odds that a car of the same color would be parked at the destination? It wasn’t Choi Yeon-ha who was dumb, it was him.

‘No, why does that guy dress so sloppily, driving a car like that!’

It was both incomprehensible and understandable. If it’s incomprehensible that someone with enough money to drive such a car would dress so shabbily, what should one say?

‘It’s the other way around.’

It’s because he’s someone who can drive such a car that he can wear whatever he wants.

He remembered seeing a neighborhood bum at a convenience store, with a bird’s nest on his head, wearing a stretched-out tank top and shorts, buying cigarettes. He’d thought, ‘I should never become like that guy.’

But then he saw that guy get into an expensive foreign car and drive off, and the shabbiness instantly transformed into coolness. Han Eun-sol had experienced that.

Thinking about it that way, that stretched-out tracksuit now felt like a symbol of cool chic.

‘No! I’m being brainwashed.’ Han Eun-sol shook his head.

This is what they call cognitive dissonance [a state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes].

Han Eun-sol knew that Choi Yeon-ha was extremely picky about men. To that extent, she was practically a declaration of giving up on marriage, no, dating.

Thinking that such a person had chosen this man, he figured there must be something extraordinary about him that overwhelms others, and he kept finding meaning in things that weren’t really there.

In reality, he was just dressing casually.

“We’re here.”

Han Eun-sol stopped the car, and Kang Jin-ho and Choi Yeon-ha got out of their seats.

“What are we doing here?” Choi Yeon-ha asked, bewildered, looking at the huge indoor gym in front of her.

“Exercising.”

“…Are you training national athletes? For a few kids to exercise, a neighborhood schoolyard or gym would be enough.”

“I did say that, but…”

Kang Jin-ho wore a wry smile. If he interfered too much with what they were doing, he’d end up with more work later. If he’d entrusted and asked them, it was better not to complain.

“Anyway, let’s go in.”

“Okay.”

Choi Yeon-ha nodded.

‘She seems a bit less tense now.’

Choi Yeon-ha’s face had mostly returned to the way Han Eun-sol knew it. Han Eun-sol opened his mouth, half with anxiety and half with anticipation.

“Then I’ll go take care of some work, sis. And…”

Han Eun-sol glanced at Kang Jin-ho’s car parked in the corner and changed his words.

“It seems like it’ll take a while, so I won’t be able to pick you up. So…”

Han Eun-sol gave Kang Jin-ho a friendly smile.

“Could you please take my sister home?”

“It’s not a difficult task.”

“I’d appreciate it. She’s so famous that taking a taxi is a burden. Please, I’m counting on you.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Han Eun-sol bowed his head and looked at Choi Yeon-ha, who nodded lightly.

‘Nice.’

‘Fighting!’

After exchanging a secret glance, Han Eun-sol whistled and returned to his car. Before opening the car door, he turned his head and saw Kang Jin-ho and Choi Yeon-ha walking side by side.

“Hoo…”

For some reason, he sighed.

‘Now that it’s come to this, I should wish them well.’

He had to abandon the mindset of a mother-in-law. Just as a mother would never be satisfied with who her child ends up with, he would never be satisfied with who his celebrity ends up with.

“They’ll probably break up anyway, but I hope she learns how to control her temper through this.”

Han Eun-sol took another deep sigh and got into the car.

“…What is going on?”

Han Jin-sung couldn’t understand the current situation at all.

In the first place, he didn’t understand what Kang Jin-ho was trying to do, but it wasn’t as incomprehensible as this current situation.

‘So… what are we doing here?’

His gaze swept around the surroundings. The empty spectator seats were a bit eerie, but no matter how he looked, this place was…

“Isn’t this the Dolphins Gym?”

“It seems like it?”

Although it wasn’t the actual stadium where games were played, coming to a place where a professional team practiced was also a novel experience. Moreover, if it wasn’t for a tour, it was an even more novel experience.

“What kind of person is he, really?”

Han Jin-sung’s voice trembled. The kids were just amazed because they didn’t know what this situation meant, but Han Jin-sung was old enough to understand. He didn’t know exactly how much money it would take to rent a gym of this size, but it was beyond what he could imagine.

‘He’s using it for this?’

Of course, if a person has money and needs to do something, they can use it. What’s so great about spending money?

But the scale of renting a professional team’s gym just to have a few kids from the orphanage exercise was beyond his comprehension.

“Hyung, are we going to exercise here?”

“I guess so…”

Somehow, he should have noticed when the sneakers came in yesterday, all in different sizes, saying they would be needed.

“It took longer than I thought.”

Park Yu-min said as he walked inside.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think, I’ll rent a bus from tomorrow to go back and forth. Sorry, sorry.”

“It’s okay, hyung. Why are you sorry? Even if you told us to run here, we would have run. But why did we come all the way here? We could have just done it outside.”

“Ah, Jin-ho said…”

“Yes.”

“He said that training shouldn’t stop whether it rains or snows. So we have to do it under a roof.”

There were other places with roofs, not just this one.

‘I don’t know anymore.’

Han Jin-sung stopped thinking. Thinking about it just made him frustrated.

“Hyung, Jin-ho hyung is coming.”

“Huh?”

Kang Jin-ho was entering through the gym door.

“Huh? Who’s coming with him?”

“…Wow, tall…”

The children’s eyes widened as they were about to utter a common exclamation.

“Wait a minute.”

That person looks familiar?

“Choi, Choi Yeon-ha?”

“So it was real?”

There was a commotion once before when Choi Yeon-ha visited the orphanage. But that was in the morning, and the children who were old enough to know who Choi Yeon-ha was and understand her significance were all at school or away.

That day, all the home appliances, including the washing machine, were replaced, so they were half-believing and half-doubting it…

“Why is Choi Yeon-ha here?”

“Hyung! Yu-min hyung! Are Jin-ho hyung and Choi Yeon-ha close?”

“A little?”

“Wow, amazing!”

Han Jin-sung covered his eyes.

She’s glowing, glowing. It felt like an aura different from ordinary people was emanating from her. She was stunning on TV, but seeing her in person, it was clear that TV had nerfed her severely [made her look less impressive than she is in real life].

‘Her proportions are on another level.’

Is it even possible for a person to be so long and slender? And putting aside her figure, what should he say about her face…

“She’s not human, she’s not human.” Han Jin-sung looked around.

‘Ugh, these losers.’

Unlike him, the other kids had faces that said there was nothing strange about Choi Yeon-ha being here.

Just a reaction of seeing a pretty person?

“Sigh.”

Well, that’s why the guys here are good.

“Uh, uh, buh.”

“Huh? Jong-in!”

Jong-in, who was now in middle school, found Choi Yeon-ha and Kang Jin-ho and ran towards them.

“Uh, uh.”

Han Jin-sung watched the scene with anxious eyes.

It was a fact he didn’t want to admit, but children with slightly lower intelligence showed it in their expressions. Many kind people were often disgusted just by such children approaching them.

Especially someone like Choi Yeon-ha, who had only seen good things?

‘Her impression might worsen.’

But it seemed that was a needless worry. When Choi Yeon-ha saw Jong-in drooling and approaching her, she smiled brightly, sat down slightly to match his eye level, and opened her arms wide.

‘Ah…’

There were no cameras here. And there were no ordinary people watching.

She could have just smiled slightly and avoided him, and no one would have said anything, but Choi Yeon-ha was welcoming Jong-in as if she was truly happy to see him.

Just as his eyes were about to sting at the sight, Jong-in completely ignored Choi Yeon-ha’s outstretched arms and ran past her, hugging Kang Jin-ho, who was two steps behind.

“You shouldn’t act like a baby.”

“Hee, hee.”

Kang Jin-ho spoke bluntly, but he picked up the running Jong-in and patted his back.

Then, the person who became seriously awkward was Choi Yeon-ha.

Choi Yeon-ha couldn’t retract her outstretched arms and was half-awkwardly folded, with a face that said, ‘I’m so embarrassed I could die, someone please resolve this situation?’

‘I’m sorry.’

Han Jin-sung felt sorry for everything.

Kang Jin-ho put Jong-in down and opened his mouth.

“Why are there only this many?”

“I only brought the kids who can exercise.”

“Kids who can exercise?”

“I didn’t think it would be helpful to bring the ones who can’t.”

Kang Jin-ho frowned slightly.

‘I guess so.’

There were many children with slightly lower intelligence at the orphanage. Some were not inconvenienced in their daily lives, but there were also many who were.

Those children wouldn’t be able to accept the training that Kang Jin-ho was giving. They wouldn’t understand the concept of having to push their bodies now for the future.

“Okay, I understand for now. I’ll think about them separately, so let’s start with you guys.”

“But what are we doing? What kind of exercise are we doing that we came all the way here for?”

“You’ll know when you try it.”

At that moment, anxiety began to creep into Han Jin-sung’s face.

‘That expression, it looks a bit evil…’

“Let’s start by running. You need to warm up to exercise well. Shall we start with twenty laps lightly?”

“Twenty laps?”

“Why?”

“Ah, no. I’ll do it.”

Han Jin-sung thought it wasn’t good to complain from the start, so he decided to follow Kang Jin-ho’s words for now.

But it became clear soon enough that he was mistaken.

He should have complained from the start. Definitely!