Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 648

“Welcome.”

“It’s been a while. I don’t think we’ve ever formally greeted each other like this before.”

“Indeed.”

Cho Gyu-min looked at Lee Hyun-soo, who sat before him, with a gentle smile.

Every time Cho Gyu-min saw Lee Hyun-soo, he felt a strange sense of kinship. Among those around Kang Jin-ho, Lee Hyun-soo was the most similar to Cho Gyu-min. In terms of what they did and their style.

From the first time they met, he could sense that they were of the same kind. Because they were in charge of different tasks, they hadn’t interacted much, but this time, regarding Kang Jin-ho’s trip to China, they contacted each other separately for the first time.

That led to this meeting.

“I always thought we should meet sometime, but you contacted me first. I should have contacted you first, I’m really sorry.”

“Oh, please. We both know how busy we are. Let’s skip the formalities.”

“Haha…”

Lee Hyun-soo laughed awkwardly.

‘I really have been incredibly busy.’

It wasn’t just a common phrase. Lee Hyun-soo was a martial artist in his own right. His physical strength was at a level that ordinary people couldn’t even dream of. Nevertheless, this time he had worked so hard that he was genuinely worried about overworking himself to death.

‘I felt it to the bone.’

He realized it while working on this project. In the past, when he and Kim Seok-il worked together, there was someone to keep them in check. They would put the brakes on each other’s work.

That restraint, which he had found frustrating at the time, was now something he longed for.

‘Did I know?’

The synergy between Kang Jin-ho and Lee Hyun-soo was immense. When Lee Hyun-soo drafted a plan, Kang Jin-ho would push through it like a bulldozer and resolve everything. The problem was that the speed was faster than Lee Hyun-soo had anticipated.

It was good until they resolved the issues quickly. The problem was that the aftermath and all the processing fell to Lee Hyun-soo.

Lee Hyun-soo, who had never felt overloaded even when he was called the brain of the Yeongnam Assembly [a regional political group] and was bombarded with work, had truly experienced hell this time.

Having keenly realized his limits, Lee Hyun-soo now knew what the General Assembly needed most.

A braking system.

They needed someone to stop him and Kang Jin-ho, who were like runaway locomotives. If not that, at least someone to consult with about whether he was overworking himself.

In that sense…

‘He’s the right person.’

Lee Hyun-soo’s gaze sharply landed on Cho Gyu-min.

Here was the right person.

As Lee Hyun-soo saw it, the people around Kang Jin-ho were definitely abnormal. The only people who could speak their minds to Kang Jin-ho had no connection to the General Assembly, and everyone connected to the General Assembly was suppressed by Kang Jin-ho.

When Kang Jin-ho suddenly stepped on the gas, there was no one to shout, ‘Hey, driver! You’ll kill us all if you speed like that!’

The conditions for the person Lee Hyun-soo was looking for were simple.

Someone who had some interest in the General Assembly and could speak frankly to Kang Jin-ho. The right person was right in front of him.

‘It’s a strange position.’

Cho Gyu-min was someone who didn’t owe anything to Kang Jin-ho. Rather, he had helped Kang Jin-ho, and hadn’t received much from him. It was true that his life had changed by getting involved with Kang Jin-ho, but it was hard to see that as a favor.

In that sense, he was the only person who could speak frankly to Kang Jin-ho. He was already thinking of contacting him first, but Cho Gyu-min had reached out first.

“Shall we order coffee first?”

“I’ll go. What would you like to drink?”

“No, no. I should buy it.”

After a pointless back-and-forth, Lee Hyun-soo got coffee from the counter. The rich aroma of coffee from the cups on the table seemed to ease the atmosphere a little.

“Shall we get to the point?”

“Sure.”

Lee Hyun-soo smiled.

He really liked this straightforward feeling. Others would have wasted time with unnecessary talk, but he was getting straight to the point, like a busy worker.

“Since you’re busy.”

Cho Gyu-min shook his head at Lee Hyun-soo’s comment.

“I’m doing a bit better now. The busiest period is over.”

“Me too.”

The two sighed simultaneously.

“When I went home, it felt kind of unfamiliar.”

“The plants I was growing had withered and died.”

“I didn’t realize how wasteful the maintenance fees were. It’s been a long time since my house became more of a clothing storage than a home…”

“When I bring clothes home, I can’t find them to wear, so I use the dry cleaners a lot. Try it. It’s easier than you think.”

“Oh, really?”

The world’s greatest slave bragging contest had begun. The difference from the usual bragging was that while most people brag about how hard they work, these two were genuinely telling the truth.

If they were to sue Kang Jin-ho at the labor board, it would have to be a criminal case, not a civil one.

“I can tolerate the hard work, but…”

“China…”

“Exactly.”

Anger surged on both of their faces at the same time.

Like a wicked employer.

It was fine to give them work. But to dump this much work on someone and then casually go on a trip to China.

Of course, it wasn’t like Kang Jin-ho being in Korea would help with the practical work, but at least he should give the impression that he was working with them.

“I’ve been feeling lately that I could write a self-help book.”

“A self-help book?”

Cho Gyu-min nodded heavily.

“With the title, ‘Leaders, You’ll Succeed If You Just Don’t Do This.'”

“…I definitely want to read that. If possible, I’d like to co-author it.”

“That would be a great help.”

A soulless sigh escaped from Cho Gyu-min’s lips.

It’s been a while since the standard of leadership changed to leaders running alongside their team! This old-fashioned guy!

Still, it felt somewhat reassuring to have someone sitting in front of him who was suffering together. Isn’t that why they call them comrades?

“How is your work going?”

“I don’t know how to explain it. I’d have to say it’s a series of confusions… I’m sorting things out one by one.”

“Hmm.”

Cho Gyu-min nodded.

“The reason I asked you here is… if you don’t mind, I think I need to know how your work is going. I’ve been so focused on my work that things like this incident in China happen.”

“There’s definitely that aspect.”

Cho Gyu-min had tried to get Kang Jin-ho into the country with a regular visa. It was Lee Hyun-soo who stopped it midway. It wasn’t that Cho Gyu-min was dissatisfied because Lee Hyun-soo had blocked what he was trying to do. It was Cho Gyu-min’s mistake for not realizing what kind of presence Kang Jin-ho was in China.

He needed information to avoid making the same mistake in the future.

“Actually, I knew that Kang Jin-ho was causing trouble here and there…”

Cho Gyu-min swallowed his complaint.

It was too big to just brush it off as ‘here and there.’ He was doing things that could sway the Republic of Korea.

“Anyway, I didn’t know that the repercussions would reach China.”

“It’s something that most people can’t imagine. To be honest, I didn’t know things would get this big either.”

He thought he would just be involved in power struggles in Korea.

Who would have imagined that it would involve the Hongwang Group, Japan, and even Europe?

When Lee Hyun-soo joined the General Assembly, it was just a possibility. But that possibility had become a perfect reality.

‘Even if I had known all that, it wouldn’t have changed much.’

Even if he had known all the facts in advance, Lee Hyun-soo would have followed Kang Jin-ho. Like a mountain climber who climbs because the mountain is there. If this was the only path, what was there to reconsider? If he wasn’t going to live in seclusion and ignore the martial arts world, he couldn’t avoid Kang Jin-ho.

At the time, he was going to die anyway, so he didn’t care if he died because things went wrong, but now…

“It would be nice if he could be a little more careful.”

“That’s not going to happen. I’ve known him since he was young, and he’s not like that.”

“Once he sees something, he has to deal with it first. One of the things people misunderstand is that he’s a bit quiet, so they think he’s cautious, but that’s absolutely not the case. If he puts off something he seems like he’s going to deal with right away, it’s not because he’s thinking carefully, but because he’s looking for a more brutal way to deal with it. If you were to compare him to a human, he’s like…”

“A monster.”

“Yes, that’s it. I couldn’t bring myself to say it, thank you.”

The two men’s chatter was endless.

Isn’t complaining about your boss the most fun thing in the world?

If they were to keep complaining about Kang Jin-ho, they were confident they could go on for three days and nights without stopping.

“So the problem is…”

Cho Gyu-min sighed at Lee Hyun-soo’s slightly awkward tone.

“Until now, we’ve clearly divided our areas, but from now on, we need to interact with each other. But this is like asking for internal information from the General Assembly… I wasn’t sure if I had the right to do that, so I wanted to ask for your opinion first.”

Lee Hyun-soo nodded. It was definitely a sensitive issue.

“Can’t you just ask through Kang Jin-ho?”

“That’s the easiest and the dumbest way. No one except Kang Jin-ho and me would like that.”

“I see.”

Lee Hyun-soo grinned.

This guy gets it.

If you try to handle things too simply, you’re bound to fall into a trap. Cho Gyu-min was at least someone who knew what ‘relationships’ were.

“It’s not a problem that I can decide on my own. But I can bring the issue to the table. If they understand the necessity, everyone will understand.”

“That’s all I could ask for.”

As Cho Gyu-min was about to bow his head, Lee Hyun-soo stopped him.

“It would be better to listen to my story first. What I want from you is probably bigger than what you want from me.”

“Huh?”

Cho Gyu-min tilted his head.

As far as he was concerned, Lee Hyun-soo didn’t seem to want anything from him.

‘Because there’s a difference in our positions.’

The more he learned about the General Assembly, the more enormous it seemed. Even with the information he could gather, it was this big, so in reality, it must have several times more power.

Jae-kyung [a fictional company name] was preparing to become a global company, but it couldn’t be compared to the enormous organization that was the General Assembly. Even in terms of the financial resources they could mobilize, which was Jae-kyung’s strength, they wouldn’t be able to compete.

It was difficult to make a direct comparison because it wasn’t a listed company, but in terms of influence, Jae-kyung was no match for the General Assembly. And Lee Hyun-soo was a capable person who could be ranked at least in the top ten within the General Assembly. Cho Gyu-min, who couldn’t even make it into the top 100 in Jae-kyung, was someone he couldn’t even compare to.

So what could Lee Hyun-soo possibly want from him?

Cho Gyu-min sighed.

“You have something you want from me?” Lee Hyun-soo smiled meaningfully.