Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 474

Saito’s hand trembled.

‘What is this?’

What the hell is that guy?

Kang Jin-ho, Kang Jin-ho, Kang Jin-ho…

His name had been the most bothersome to his ears for the past few months. But that meant he was annoying and irritating, not that he was ever afraid or scared.

He thought that the situation, circumstances, and location were intertwined, protecting Kang Jin-ho. If Kang Jin-ho had been active in Japan instead of Korea, he would never have become a figure known in other countries.

That’s what he thought.

Until just a moment ago.

But Saito had to admit it.

It wasn’t because Kang Jin-ho was in Korea that he had such influence and recognition. It was because he was in Korea that the danger of Kang Jin-ho was hidden.

Another head soared into the air.

Saito bit his lip.

Those he had personally guided and taught were falling like autumn leaves.

But strangely, he didn’t feel any anger.

He didn’t feel like what was unfolding before his eyes was real. It was as if he were blankly watching a silent movie without sound.

A strange sense of incongruity.

What pulled him back to reality was Oizumi’s urgent voice.

“What do we do!”

“…”

His wandering mind returned to reality.

Saito, biting his lip tightly, looked ahead.

A sword, gleaming in the moonlight, slashed down from the upper right to the lower left. In front of him, the body of an organization member wearing black martial attire was cut from shoulder to hip, and his body was flung to the left and right.

“This…”

Japan was in the midst of a warring states period [a time of feudal conflict].

The visible world seemed unified for hundreds of years, but the hidden world was different. Just as the Yakuza [Japanese organized crime syndicate] divided and fought over territories, they were also divided into various factions and were fighting.

There was no way blood wouldn’t be spilled in the martial artists’ conflicts.

He had seen the deaths of countless people, and he had killed dozens, hundreds with his own hands.

But he could say with certainty that in his life, which was marked by blood and death, he had never seen such a sight.

A feeling that a person was not like a person.

The sight of a person who had been alive and well being instantly cut in half and flung away was too surreal to even feel gruesome.

And there was something else that added to the surreal feeling.

The figure of Kang Jin-ho, who appeared between the bodies that had been flung to the left and right.

Kang Jin-ho, shrouded in black smoke that made it impossible to guess his true identity, was emitting streaks of blood-red light that made his heart pound just by looking at him.

A sight that was frightening to see even in a dream.

It was a sight that was literally like the incarnation of a demon.

The swords in both hands shone white in the moonlight. A demon holding a pure white sword was such a strange sight.

‘What the hell is that guy?’

There is such a thing as common sense for martial artists.

But Kang Jin-ho had far surpassed that common sense. It wasn’t just simple strength. His appearance, atmosphere, the martial arts he used, and even his way of thinking… everything was beyond his expectations.

Among them, what Saito could not understand the most was his martial prowess.

Fwaaaang!

A tearing sound that seemed to rip the ears apart burst out.

It wasn’t the sound of something hitting something. It was the sound of the sword tip cutting through the air.

Who could believe that a person could make such a sound by holding and swinging steel? Even Saito, who was seeing and hearing it right in front of him, couldn’t believe it.

“We’re, we’re being annihilated. At this rate, we’ll be annihilated! We need a plan!”

Idiot.

He had told them so many times not to panic, so why were they panicking? When people panic, they can’t think straight. First, they had to stay calm.

Calm…

How long was he supposed to stay calm!

“You bastard!”

Saito drew his sword. Kang Jin-ho was advancing, cutting down people like they were straw. Now, there were no longer any who dared to face him.

“Ugh…”

They had to run away.

But his feet didn’t move as he thought they would. In his head, he was turning his back and running with all his might, but his body was refusing his mind’s commands and was creaking.

“Ugh…”

One of the Japanese martial artists, seeing Kang Jin-ho approaching him, took a step back. No, he tried to take a step back.

His body, which had been constantly trained, never betrayed his will. It was slow, but it tried to follow his commands.

But the speed at which Kang Jin-ho was walking was faster than the speed at which he was running away.

Thud!

Kang Jin-ho came right in front of him and grabbed his neck. Then, he slowly lifted him into the air.

“There’s one thing I want to ask…”

The tightening hand felt like it would burst his neck at any moment. The fear of a killer who had just slaughtered a dozen people in front of his eyes holding his neck.

It was impossible to maintain his sanity.

“How should one judge who is an enemy?”

The darkness twisted.

The darkness that had been covering the part where his mouth should have been slowly, very slowly, twisted.

The meaning of that twist was too clear.

Mockery.

It was clear mockery.

“An enemy is made up of two things. Hostility and possibility. When someone who has hostility has the possibility of harming me, the concept of an enemy is created. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

It was a question.

But it was a question he couldn’t answer.

How could he answer when his trachea and esophagus were constricted, making it impossible to even breathe?

But…

Even in the midst of not being able to answer, even in a situation where his head was turning white from suffocation and water was dripping from his nose and mouth,

one thought dominated his mind.

Kang Jin-ho’s words were clearly audible in his ears.

“In that sense, are you my enemy, or not my enemy?”

If an enemy is a concept that is formed when they have hostility and possibility, then he could not be called Kang Jin-ho’s enemy. The weak hostility had long since flown away, and the possibility of him harming Kang Jin-ho had never existed in the first place.

So…

A hope began to emerge.

Contrary to the pain of his neck being strangled, a hope that he might survive was blooming in his mind.

“But do you know what the problem is?”

Kang Jin-ho slowly pulled the man towards him.

Through the dark and dense demonic energy, Kang Jin-ho’s blood-red eyes looked down at the man.

“I don’t care about such things.”

Crack.

The man, his neck broken, stuck out his tongue.

From the perspective of giving a painless death to someone who did not have hostility, Kang Jin-ho was a very clear-cut person.

Though, the dead man might not think so.

Kang Jin-ho, who had carelessly thrown the corpse in his hand to the ground, met the eyes of those who were filled with fear.

“This can’t be it.”

The low, deep voice was strangely clear as it pierced their ears.

“It can’t be just this much. Right? Otherwise, you wouldn’t have come at me to capture me.”

Saito clenched his teeth.

His bloodshot eyes followed Kang Jin-ho.

“Come at me.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled and flicked his fingers.

“I’ll give you a chance. A chance to survive. Get ready. And then come at me again.”

No one could open their mouths.

“You have nowhere to run anyway, right? If you can survive by throwing yourself into the vast ocean, that would be fine too.”

Some people flinched.

It was definitely a suggestion that couldn’t be ignored. For an ordinary person, jumping into the sea at night was the same as committing suicide, but they were martial artists. They were not ordinary people.

It would be difficult and hard, but if they did well, it would be possible to swim to shore. It was a hundred times more likely to survive than fighting that monster.

Then…

“However, you should also know that there are people waiting for you on the shore.”

His energy drained away.

It was becoming real.

The realization that they had fallen into a trap.

They had looked down on the roughly woven net, but it turned out that the net was not just one. Even if a net has holes, if you layer several of them, it becomes denser than any other net. Now they were like fish caught in that net.

All that was left was to wait quietly for death inside the net, or to struggle to get out of the net and suffocate to death.

So, which one should they choose?

“This is enough humiliation.”

Saito’s voice, as if he were grinding his teeth, leaked out.

He had seen the sight of the warriors of the Great Japanese Empire being intimidated by a mere Joseon [historical term for Korea] person and running away. This was a sight he would never forget, even if he died. It was a sight that shattered all of his pride and self-esteem.

“Die like a man of the Japanese Empire! Is this the appearance of Japanese warriors!”

As Saito’s blood-boiling voice echoed, a resolution began to bloom in the eyes of the warriors who had been intimidated.

His control was certainly something to be acknowledged.

Although, it seemed that there were some who didn’t think so.

“It would be nice if you could speak in a language I could understand?”

Oizumi’s body trembled at Kang Jin-ho’s nonchalant voice.

The terrifying voice from a moment ago was better. The mockery in that voice now was more unbearable.

“I’m sorry for showing you such a pathetic sight. I will now show you what a man of the Japanese Empire is. I will show you what the Japanese spirit is!”

“I know.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded and said.

“I was also interested in history. I know well what you call the Japanese spirit. Do you know what they call it in China?”

“…China?”

“A mantis trying to stop a chariot [a futile effort].”

“…”

“I heard that your aesthetic is to charge into an aircraft carrier with a single fighter jet. It’s interesting. What is ridiculed in China is praised there. Is this cultural relativism?”

“You bastard!”

“However, that is also China’s reaction. It’s not my reaction. My reaction is a little different.”

Kang Jin-ho slowly raised his sword.

“As a Joseon person, what I have to say is obvious. You’re just full of victim mentality!”

“No, no.”

Kang Jin-ho grinned, revealing his teeth.

“Nationality or whatever, I don’t care. The conclusion is the same. From the moment you showed your teeth to me, your fate was decided.”

“They say that it takes courage to change fate. Now, it’s time to test your courage. Let’s see if what you call the Japanese spirit will work on me. The result… will be obvious, though.”

“You damn…”

At that moment, Oizumi saw it.

Kang Jin-ho had closed the distance and appeared right in front of him.

Before he could even react, a pure white sword emitting a dazzling light was rushing towards his head.

‘This, this is a lie…’

Death was clearly approaching.

Death was approaching him in white light.

And beyond that light, he could see the red glow. Seeing the red glow that was slightly curved, Oizumi had a premonition.

It had been wrong from the beginning.

They should never have touched this man.

From the moment they decided to kill this man, they were destined to face this sight someday.

Before the feeling of regret could even arise, Kang Jin-ho’s Red Tear split Oizumi’s body in half.