Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 567

After putting Joo Young-gi in a taxi, Kang Jin-ho took out a cigarette.

Click.

He lit the end of the cigarette, inhaled the smoke slowly, and then exhaled.

“You should take a taxi.”

“It’s not that far. I can walk.”

“Still, isn’t it better to take a taxi?”

“Jin-ho, money disappears when you spend it. It’s not good to be a complete cheapskate, but you have to save where you can.”

“…You don’t have to save on things like this.”

“It’s fine. Let’s walk together. I have something to say, and it’s been a while since I took a walk. I need to sober up too.”

“Hmm…”

Kang Jin-ho nodded quietly.

He wasn’t a fan of taxis either. But the reason he told Park Yu-min to take a taxi was because people would glance at Park Yu-min when walking through the busy streets.

It wasn’t out of malice.

If anyone were to laugh at Park Yu-min’s gait, Kang Jin-ho would not let them get away with it. But those glances were half instinctive.

A curious gaze at someone different.

Those glances, without malice, sometimes hurt people more. And Park Yu-min had lived his whole life under those gazes. Kang Jin-ho knew all too well how that felt.

“Let’s go.”

But Park Yu-min didn’t seem to care much about it.

Whether he really didn’t care, or didn’t want to show that he cared, he didn’t know…

Anyway, in Kang Jin-ho’s eyes, Park Yu-min was a very strong person.

“It’s gotten a bit chilly now.”

“Yeah, it’s autumn.”

“I couldn’t even think about walking anywhere like this in the summer. I’m too weak against the heat. The greatest person in humanity must be the one who invented the air conditioner.”

“I agree.”

The two of them chatted about this and that as they headed towards the orphanage. After walking for a while, old memories came to mind.

“That alley over there.”

“Huh?”

“That’s the road where you used to carry me around.”

“Oh, right.”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled lightly.

Back then, his bicycle, Geumdong, was Park Yu-min’s legs. Kang Jin-ho always carried him because it was hard for Park Yu-min to climb up to the poor neighborhood.

“Looking back, you were weird even back then.”

“Huh?”

“How could you ride a bike up a hill that’s hard to walk up? And with me on it.”

“You just need strong legs.”

“…By your standards, there’s no one in the world with strong legs.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

Park Yu-min looked up at the distant sky. Kang Jin-ho naturally turned his head to the sky like Park Yu-min.

A dark sky.

A dark sky, as if painted with black ink, with not a single star visible, was looking down at them.

“Jin-ho.”

“Yeah?”

“If the head nun saw me now, would she say I’m doing well?”

Kang Jin-ho didn’t answer and looked at the sky.

‘Head Nun.’

It was a name that had become a little unfamiliar now.

But every time he heard the name, it came alive. Her words, her face, and…

That touch.

The touch of her thin hand, holding Kang Jin-ho’s hand, was imprinted in Kang Jin-ho’s memory like a brand.

“She would say you’re doing well.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, she would.”

Even if Park Yu-min was going down the wrong path, the head nun wouldn’t have scolded him. She would have just quietly reached out her hand and pulled Park Yu-min in.

Kang Jin-ho couldn’t be like her.

The head nun, who seemed to embody all the kindness in the world, was an unattainable being for him. Even if he were reborn several times, he could never live like her.

But…

‘It doesn’t have to be that way.’

He couldn’t be the same as the head nun, but he could do more than the head nun. Not with his heart, but with his body and his mind.

In a different direction, that is.

“What did the head nun want you to be?”

“Hmm…”

Park Yu-min hesitated to answer.

Just thinking about the head nun brought back countless memories, but it wasn’t easy to find an answer to this question.

“That’s it.”

Park Yu-min tilted his head at Kang Jin-ho’s words.

“What do you mean?”

“She didn’t have any wish for you to become a certain kind of person. She would have just thought it was enough if you lived well.”

“That’s who she was.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Park Yu-min’s voice became wistful.

For Park Yu-min, the head nun was like a mother. And since that mother was such a wonderful person, how could he not miss her?

“Jin-ho, you know…”

“Yeah.”

“Sometimes, the fact that I’m an orphan was so hard.”

“Yeah, I understand.”

“But sometimes, it was good too. If I wasn’t an orphan, I wouldn’t have come to this orphanage, and I wouldn’t have met the head nun. And I wouldn’t have seen the kids either.”

“Hmm…”

Kang Jin-ho couldn’t bring himself to nod.

This wasn’t something that people around him could affirm. All Kang Jin-ho could do was listen.

“I don’t pride myself on being righteous or great, but if I hadn’t grown up in the orphanage, I wouldn’t be who I am now. I probably would have spent my whole life resenting my leg.”

“You’re not that kind of guy.”

“No, I am. Don’t you remember how gloomy I was before I met you?”

“Were you gloomy?”

“Your memory is something else.”

Park Yu-min chuckled.

He liked Kang Jin-ho.

Not because he had changed his life. His friend, who had given him so much, had never once taken credit for it.

“I’ve received so much. So sometimes I worry. I have to become as great a person as you or the head nun, but… I’m afraid I won’t be able to.”

Kang Jin-ho slightly narrowed his brow and looked at Park Yu-min.

“So I’m trying to live hard, I’m really trying my best to live… but sometimes it feels a bit overwhelming.”

“You’re an idiot.”

Kang Jin-ho said in an annoyed voice.

“The head nun didn’t want anything from you.”

“I know that…”

“But, she gave you something scarier.”

“Huh?”

Kang Jin-ho quietly looked up at the sky and said,

“Conscience.”

“…”

“And responsibility.”

Park Yu-min’s lips slightly twitched.

“It’s not that hard to become a great person in the eyes of others. It might even be easy. I just have to endure a little more. But that’s not enough. I can’t deceive myself.”

“That’s right.”

“In the end, whether I’m living right can only be judged by myself. The head nun gave you that.”

She was like a mirror.

A mirror that wasn’t distorted.

Thinking about her always made him look back at himself. He would wonder if he was living a life that he wouldn’t be ashamed of in front of her.

That was the greatest gift she had left behind, and the greatest burden.

“So, you don’t have to worry about what the head nun would think of you. What matters is what you think of yourself.”

“Yeah, you’re right. But… hey, that sounds even scarier?”

“Did I ever say I would solve your problems?”

“…Are you even my friend?”

“Of course. I’m your best friend.”

“Yeah, right.”

Park Yu-min chuckled.

“We’re here.”

“Yeah.”

Even though they tried to walk slowly, they had already arrived at the orphanage.

“Should we go in?”

“The kids are all asleep. What are you going to do? Come during the day.”

“I guess I should.”

“Okay. Then I’ll go in.”

“Okay. Call me when you go to the practice room.”

“I’ll call you before that too?”

“Do whatever you want.”

Park Yu-min smiled brightly and waved his hand. Kang Jin-ho also waved his hand towards Park Yu-min, who was heading into the orphanage.

As Park Yu-min disappeared into the orphanage, Kang Jin-ho took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and lit it.

The acrid cigarette smoke filled his lungs and slowly escaped.

Smelling the cigarette scent, Kang Jin-ho looked up at the sky.

‘What would the head nun think of me now…’

Maybe that was a question that Kang Jin-ho, not Park Yu-min, should be asking.

Because Park Yu-min had done nothing wrong.

He was just living his life to the fullest. But what about Kang Jin-ho himself?

He was walking into it.

Into the flames of war.

As long as he maintained his current path, blood and death would follow him like a brand.

When he first came to this world, Kang Jin-ho just wanted to live a normal life.

A normal life. A life like everyone else. A life where he didn’t kill or get killed, just a normal modern life.

But what about now?

“Am I doing well?”

Kang Jin-ho closed his eyes.

He knew. This was something that someone had to do.

In the end, this world wasn’t completely free from violence either. There were warriors here too, and once he knew that, it was something he would have to face someday.

But…

Yeah, it would be different.

The Kang Jin-ho who first returned to this world and the Kang Jin-ho now were different people. They might look the same, but the contents inside had completely changed.

And sometimes that fact made Kang Jin-ho hesitate.

‘Am I righteous?’

Park Yu-min and he were opposites.

In his own opinion, he had done nothing wrong. It was others who had invaded his world, and he was just fighting back to protect his world.

He could ask himself a thousand times, ten thousand times, and the answer would be the same.

I have done nothing wrong.

But…

Could he say that in front of her?

Could he say with confidence that he was righteous while killing people to protect people, while beheading enemies to protect his loved ones?

He couldn’t.

He wouldn’t even be able to look her in the eye.

It was ironic.

Kang Jin-ho looked up at the sky. He seemed to see her figure in the dark sky.

“I won’t apologize.”

A bitter murmur escaped from Kang Jin-ho’s lips.

“It’s just different. I don’t think I’m wrong.”

What would she have said if she had heard this?

Would she have been angry?

Or would she have looked at him with sad eyes?

Or… would she have reached out her hand to him with her usual gentle smile?

He didn’t know.

It was something he couldn’t know.

The head nun had always been beyond Kang Jin-ho’s understanding.

“I will keep that promise. To be someone who reaches out first. Yes, I will keep it. I will try to reduce the number of people who are suffering, just like you did.”

But…

“You might say no, but the world also needs people who get their hands dirty. If it’s something that no one else can do, then I have to do it. So… please don’t look at me like that.”

Kang Jin-ho finally lowered his head.

The head nun’s eyes, looking down at him from the sky, were too sorrowful.

“I will protect my world.”

Even if it meant taking someone’s life.

Even if it meant countless people shedding blood because of it.

What was there to change now?

He had been a demon from the beginning.

“Just…”

Kang Jin-ho threw the cigarette he was holding on the ground and stomped on it with his foot.

Kang Jin-ho couldn’t bring himself to say the last words.

Kang Jin-ho’s back, slowly walking towards the darkness that had settled on the street, looked somehow lonely.