Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 941

Kang Jin-ho tugged slightly at his shirt collar, feeling constricted.

‘This is uncomfortable.’

Becoming a master was a good thing, but it wasn’t without its drawbacks. When you become a master, your senses inevitably become more acute. You hear sounds others don’t, and see things others can’t.

Your brain also becomes more active, so processing all that information isn’t particularly difficult. But think about it. Is it really good to live hearing the sound of a pin dropping like a clap of thunder?

The same goes for this problem now.

It’s not just sight and hearing that become more sensitive. The sense of touch also becomes excessively sensitive. Things that ordinary people wouldn’t even notice. For example, the feel of pants against your thigh. You can feel even the slightest difference in the texture of your socks.

The worst of all was the feeling on his neck.

The sensation of thin fabric against his neck was felt so clearly. To explain it from an ordinary person’s perspective, it would be similar to the feeling of a razor blade against your neck.

That’s why martial artists usually don’t wear clothes that constrict their necks.

Why am I saying this?

‘It’s not for nothing that I wear only tracksuits.’

And those are the ones with stretched-out necks.

He wasn’t particularly interested in fashion, but he knew that the clothes he usually wore didn’t look very neat to others.

He also knew that to live in the current world, he needed to dress in a way that was more appealing.

To be honest, every time he went to work wearing a stretched-out tracksuit, he had to try so hard to ignore Lee Hyun-soo’s subtle glances.

However, for Kang Jin-ho, the physical comfort he felt was more valuable than external appearances. It was an area he didn’t want to give up easily.

But…

Kang Jin-ho looked at himself in the rearview mirror.

His appearance in a shirt and slacks was awkward to say the least.

Of course, this outfit wasn’t something Kang Jin-ho wanted to wear.

The problem was that Kang Eun-young had grabbed Kang Jin-ho as he was coming out of the house in his tracksuit.

—You’re going on a date like that?

That was the beginning.

He could accept that the issue started with a matter of etiquette. But it was too much that the issue of etiquette led to talk of family shame and proof of poor upbringing.

But it wasn’t a situation where he could resist. Thanks to that, Kang Jin-ho became a human mannequin and had to wear all the clothes his mother and Kang Eun-young put on him.

And the nagging continued.

—You don’t have any decent clothes!

—Throw away those old clothes!

—You should organize and hang up your clothes!

Did Buddha say it?

Life is suffering.

Even as his life changed and his circumstances changed, the elements that tormented Kang Jin-ho did not completely disappear from his life.

In the end, the shirt and pants were the only clothes among Kang Jin-ho’s that were deemed suitable for a human to wear.

To interpret that, it meant that Kang Jin-ho was almost not human when it came to wearing clothes. He was dying of discomfort.

“Ahem.”

Kang Jin-ho slightly touched the button on his collar. He desperately wanted to undo it, but he had already been threatened by Kang Eun-young that she would break his wrist if he undid the button.

It was strange.

At first, Kang Eun-young was so eager to catch Choi Yeon-ha, but why was she now so eager to be considerate of Choi Yeon-ha?

The psychology of women was something he couldn’t understand at all.

As Kang Jin-ho awkwardly looked at his reflection in the rearview mirror, he saw Choi Yeon-ha coming out of the door.

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes widened slightly.

The person coming out of the door was the usual Choi Yeon-ha. But she was a little different from the Choi Yeon-ha that Kang Jin-ho had known so far.

Usually, when meeting Kang Jin-ho, Choi Yeon-ha would wrap herself up tightly. She would cover her entire body so that not a single bit of skin was exposed, and she would also cover her face with a hat and scarf. She would even wear sunglasses for perfect protection.

But now?

“…Hot pants?”

Simple hot pants and a t-shirt. She was wearing a hat and sunglasses, but it felt more like comfortable attire than something to hide herself.

Choi Yeon-ha walked over, opened the car door, and got in. The moment her long legs stretched inside, Kang Jin-ho couldn’t find a place to look and turned his head away.

“Did you wait long?”

“Ah, no.”

“I was just going to throw something on quickly… but I got strangely self-conscious. Sorry.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Huh?”

Choi Yeon-ha turned her head and stared at him.

Seeing Kang Jin-ho, who was fixing his gaze in the opposite direction, she felt a subtle difference from usual.

“Why aren’t you looking at me when you talk?”

“Huh?”

Choi Yeon-ha noticed Kang Jin-ho’s cheeks, which were slightly flushed.

“Could it be?”

“…No, it’s not.”

“You’re not some Joseon-era [Korean dynasty from 1392-1897] person!”

“It’s just a little awkward.”

Kang Jin-ho cleared his throat, and Choi Yeon-ha covered her mouth and laughed.

‘This side of him is cute.’

Objectively speaking, Kang Jin-ho was someone who could easily charm women.

He didn’t even need other abilities. Just his face, which was not only decent but also radiant, would be enough for women to line up. It’s not like Kang Jin-ho was lacking in other areas either.

He had a good education. He was rich. His personality… well, she wasn’t sure if his personality was good, but it wasn’t like he had a particularly bad personality. If Kang Jin-ho wanted to, it wouldn’t be hard for him to date multiple women.

And yet, this man was acting so innocent. That irony made Choi Yeon-ha laugh.

“Are you uncomfortable?”

“No. It’s not that I’m uncomfortable.”

“Be honest.”

“…A little.”

Choi Yeon-ha covered her mouth and laughed again.

“Okay, I won’t wear this kind of thing next time. Or should I change now?”

“No, there’s no need for that.”

Choi Yeon-ha glanced at Kang Jin-ho’s face and gave him a meaningful smile.

“Hmm.”

His answer wasn’t very refreshing. When he was like this, it meant he was thinking something else inside…

“It doesn’t sound like a good answer… Hmm, then what could it be? It means a different answer should have come out?”

Kang Jin-ho sighed at her playful tone.

“It’s not that…”

“I get it. You don’t want me to wear it anywhere else either?”

Kang Jin-ho closed his mouth.

Sometimes, a person who has been hit right on the mark can’t say anything.

“Am I right?”

“Ah, no.”

Choi Yeon-ha burst out laughing and patted Kang Jin-ho’s shoulder.

“I’d rather meet an old man.”

“Well, that’s fine. I can do that much. I look pretty even in long pants.”

“Where should we go?”

“Look at you changing the subject. You’ve improved a lot, Mr. Kang Jin-ho.”

Kang Jin-ho fixed his gaze forward. Seeing that, Choi Yeon-ha smiled broadly.

“I’ll let it slide. You’re dressed nicely today too.”

“Ahem.”

Kang Jin-ho was grateful to Kang Eun-young, at least in his heart.

“Let’s go eat first.”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-ho stepped on the accelerator. Kang Jin-ho’s face, as he started the car, looked quite relaxed for the first time in a while.

The prejudice that comes from appearance is bigger than one might think.

He didn’t know about other people, but Kang Jin-ho was quite influenced by that prejudice. You could call him a snob. Kang Jin-ho was originally that kind of person.

As long as he didn’t show it to other people, it was fine, wasn’t it?

Anyway, because Kang Jin-ho was that kind of person, the scene in front of him might have felt a little strange.

“Why?”

“It’s nothing.”

Choi Yeon-ha tilted her head.

“Mr. Kang Jin-ho, you’ve become a bit more mysterious since I last saw you. I liked your confidence in saying what you wanted to say.”

“It’s not that.”

Kang Jin-ho cleared his throat.

“Didn’t you originally like Western food?”

“Western food?”

Choi Yeon-ha lowered her head slightly.

The bubbling kimchi stew came into her view.

“Ah, Western food. Like pasta or steak?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t really like that kind of thing.”

Kang Jin-ho also tilted his head.

“But all this time, you mostly…”

“Ah, that?”

Choi Yeon-ha chuckled.

“How should I put this? It’s quite ironic.”

“Yes.”

“I really hate paparazzi. I really don’t want to be photographed. It’s like, if Mr. Kang Jin-ho was walking around in his underwear at home, someone was watching him through a telescope.”

Just imagining it was awful.

If that happened to Kang Jin-ho, he would find that reporter and throw him to the ground no matter what.

“And they don’t just take the picture and keep it, they publish it in articles.”

“Isn’t that against the law?”

“Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t… The money they make from the photos is more than the fine they have to pay for breaking the law. So they don’t disappear.”

“Hmm.”

Choi Yeon-ha shrugged.

“Anyway, what I was trying to say was that I really hate paparazzi. I like being photographed when I’m prepared, but I hate being photographed when I’m not. But the funny thing is, since I have this job, I can’t help but prepare for being photographed by paparazzi.”

“I guess so.”

“So, it’s like… I’m considering what kind of image will come out when I’m photographed in a way I really don’t want to be. Do you understand what I mean?”

He couldn’t guess.

Just thinking about it made his head spin.

“That’s why I go to those places. ‘Choi Yeon-ha spotted eating soju [Korean distilled beverage] at a samgyeopsal [Korean grilled pork belly] restaurant’ isn’t as pretty a picture as ‘Choi Yeon-ha twirling pasta at a pasta restaurant.'”

This was an area Kang Jin-ho couldn’t understand. What did she mean by one being prettier than the other?

“You have a look that says you don’t understand. But Mr. Kang Jin-ho, you were a little awkward just now too.”

“Hmm.”

It was a little different.

The reason Kang Jin-ho was awkward wasn’t because Choi Yeon-ha didn’t look good eating kimchi stew, but because he had never seen her like that before.

Her drinking from the earthenware pot after returning to the country was the first time.

“It’s a little like that. It’s not like eating pasta is elegant, and it’s definitely not like eating kimchi stew is old-fashioned. But even though I know that, I couldn’t help but try to make my external appearance look better. When I think about it, I was a huge snob too.”

“I don’t think you need to think that way.”

“That’s how I feel.”

Even though she said that, Choi Yeon-ha’s expression wasn’t bad. She even looked a little relieved.

“So I’m not going to do that anymore. In a way, it’s also a star disease. Hollywood and Chinese stars just do what they want, whether they get photographed or not. Who am I to avoid all that?”

“So that’s why your outfit is like that?”

“Yes. I dressed comfortably.”

Choi Yeon-ha said with a subtle smile.

“Do I look comfortable?”

“Yes. You look comfortable.”

“Then do I look pretty?”

Every time Choi Yeon-ha came at him like that, Kang Jin-ho was at a loss for words. And Choi Yeon-ha seemed to find Kang Jin-ho’s reactions amusing.

“No answer?”

“How was China?”

Kang Jin-ho changed the subject, and Choi Yeon-ha gave him a meaningful smile.