Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1104

“Hmm.”

Kang Jin-ho took a sip of his coffee and slightly frowned.

“Don’t you like it?”

“Ugh.”

Lee Hyun-soo chuckled wryly.

“It seems the beans are different.”

“I thought coffee would be good in England.”

“That’s a misconception. South Korea is one of the most developed countries for coffee right now. There’s no other country in the world with as many coffee shops as Korea.”

“Is that so?”

“Besides, your standards are too high, Master. You don’t like anything that isn’t from the beans your father’s shop provides. It’s a matter of preference, you could say.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

The Master watched the two of them chatting with a slightly dazed look.

‘I’m going to faint.’

Kang Jin-ho and Lee Hyun-soo were casually talking about coffee.

There was nothing strange about it. The topic of conversation itself wasn’t the problem.

The problem was Kang Jin-ho’s change.

‘Is that really the same person who just made the Knights submit with just a look?’

The Master sighed quietly.

It was possible.

There were plenty of people like that. People who acted differently at work than at home. People who acted differently around men than around women.

It wasn’t really that strange. Humans were beings who lived with many different faces. Everyone put on the appropriate face when needed.

The problem was that the range of change was too extreme.

The Kang Jin-ho from just a moment ago, who had an almost ghostly aura, and the current Kang Jin-ho, who seemed almost vacant, looked like completely different people.

“Master.”

The Master barely regained his senses at Wiggins’ voice calling him.

“Would you like a cup?”

“…Please.”

The Master nodded, and Wiggins smiled lightly as he poured tea into a cup.

Only after the scent of the tea tickled his nose did his mind finally calm down.

“Do you always experience this kind of thing?”

“It’s not exactly common, but it happens from time to time.”

“I can’t understand it.”

The Master sighed deeply once more.

“But didn’t it work out well?”

Worked out well…

What should he say?

Looking at the result, it was definitely the best outcome. He had gotten everything he wanted.

But…

‘The process is the problem.’

He still couldn’t look Kang Jin-ho in the face.

Every time he saw him, he was reminded of Knight Yankova’s face.

He hadn’t realized it when he was extremely agitated in the Round Table hall. But as he left the meeting room and his blood began to cool, the face of the dead kept flashing before his eyes.

‘He shouldn’t have died like that.’

He was a Knight.

A warrior representing a nation.

Considering his value and the effort he had put in to become a Knight.

He shouldn’t have died like that, considering all those things.

Never.

“You seem to be deep in thought.”

Kang Jin-ho put down his coffee cup and looked at the Master. The Master sighed and opened his mouth.

“Did you have to kill him?”

“No. I didn’t have to.”

“Then why…”

“It was just the most certain way.”

Kang Jin-ho took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. Lee Hyun-soo lit Kang Jin-ho’s cigarette for him.

“Hoo.”

Kang Jin-ho exhaled a short puff of smoke and leaned back on the sofa, opening his mouth.

“There are always many ways.”

“Even though there was a way to avoid sacrifice…”

“Why?”

Kang Jin-ho asked nonchalantly.

“Why should I avoid it?”

“Wasn’t this what you wanted?”

The Master bit his lip.

He knew.

He had thought that someone would end up dying. It was the Master himself who hadn’t taken measures while tightening the screws on them. Eventually, someone among them had to step up. Had to jump out and be broken.

However, he hadn’t expected the oppression to be this way.

“Or…”

Kang Jin-ho stared at the Master and said.

“Should I have waited a little longer? For them to come at me with swords? Then I could have killed them with a slightly lighter heart?”

His words were like daggers piercing his heart.

The Master couldn’t say anything in response and just trembled.

“As far as I know…”

Kang Jin-ho’s voice was making the Master unable to move.

“There’s no such thing as just having authority. Excessive power always creates a backlash. There are only two ways to deal with that backlash.”

Kang Jin-ho’s finger pressed lightly on the table.

“Crush it with force, or control it with fear.”

The Master closed his eyes.

He knew. In fact, he knew that was the best way.

The reason he couldn’t do the best way was because the Master was a coward.

“I’m sorry.”

The Master bowed his head.

“I know that it was originally my job. I couldn’t do it because I lacked the strength, and I resented you even after putting off my own work. Please forgive me.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for.”

Kang Jin-ho curled up the corners of his lips.

“It was something that was planned from the beginning.”

Clap!

Lee Hyun-soo clapped loudly, drawing attention to himself, and smiled brightly.

“Let’s put aside the heavy talk for now, and I think we should move on to the next topic.”

It was Lee Hyun-soo, patching up the situation.

“The next topic?”

“Yes. We need to take action now.”

“Take action?”

The Master tilted his head.

Take action? What more was there to do here? It was all over already.

“Do you think they’ll just back down like this?”

“Then are you saying they’ll resist?”

“Of course.”

“But haven’t they already become unable to resist the Master?”

“Absolutely not.”

Lee Hyun-soo shook his head.

“It’s never easy to give up what’s in your hands. Right now, they’ll back down because they know they lack the power. They’ll be terrified. But fear is something that fades over time. If you give them a little leeway, they’ll remember the benefits, not the fear.”

“…Even after seeing that? Even after watching their colleagues die next to them?”

A low sigh escaped.

Lee Hyun-soo scratched his head and sighed.

“I’m not sure if I should say this…”

He smiled awkwardly and continued.

“Sometimes I wonder how the Master led the Round Table. No, no. Maybe this means the Master is amazing in a way.”

“Hmm, what do you mean by that?”

“Master, you don’t know people very well.”

It was a firm voice.

The Master waited for Lee Hyun-soo’s next words with a dumbfounded expression.

“From the beginning, people evaluate and predict others based on themselves. That’s why the saying ‘a pig only sees pigs’ exists. The Master has never been swayed by such temptations. You probably think that others are at least half as rational as you are. But in reality, humans are neither that rational nor that clean.”

“Are you saying I’m naive?”

“You could say that.”

His slightly open mouth couldn’t close.

Naive?

Me?

He had heard many things in his life, but he had never heard the word naive. How could the Master of the Round Table be naive in the first place?

“Master, you underestimate human greed too much. Greed paralyzes reason. It makes you unable to think normally.”

“Look here, they’re Knights.”

“And they’re human.”

Lee Hyun-soo said firmly.

“If you don’t believe me, just watch. They will never back down like this.”

“Are you saying they’ll try to target the Master?”

“…If they have even a minimum of brains, they won’t do anything that stupid. They must have felt the Master’s power directly. Even a child who cries after seeing a tiger for the first time at the zoo will proudly talk about seeing a tiger later, but they won’t think about fighting the tiger.”

It was a natural thing to say.

But it was also a strange thing to say.

For them to resist, they would have to go up against Kang Jin-ho. In the first place, wasn’t everything that was happening now possible because of Kang Jin-ho’s existence?

“Then?”

“There are many ways. There are too many, in fact. As Knights who can use the power of each country, they could put diplomatic pressure from the outside world, or they could refuse orders and return to their countries to lie low. And the most realistic way is…”

Lee Hyun-soo smiled brightly.

“To withdraw from the Round Table.”

“That’s impossible. They’re Knights. The position of Knight is given by the Round Table.”

“Master, not everyone values the Round Table as much as you do. They are already in control of their respective countries. The reason they cling to the name of Knight is because of the great benefits they receive when they become a Knight of the Round Table. If there’s no more food falling from the sky, there’s no need to maintain the position of Knight.”

He licked his parched lips with his tongue. The Master was feeling a strange sensation.

Talking to this man made him feel like he had become an idiot.

He didn’t want to brag, but he was someone who was considered wise. He had never once thought that he lacked knowledge compared to anyone else.

But this man was… what should he say…

‘Dark.’

Yes, he was terribly dark.

He knew the dark nature of humans better than anyone else. It felt like he was someone who had seen everything, even the deep places that the Master hadn’t yet looked into.

“This is quite gentlemanly.”

Lee Hyun-soo shrugged.

“It would be nice if they only did that much… but I don’t know. It’ll probably be more than that.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“I’ve already cast the fishing line. I’ve also put on the appropriate bait. Now, all we have to do is wait. Wait for the moment they bite the bait.”

“Huh…”

He thought it was all over.

But was this just the beginning?

The Master turned his head with a sullen expression and looked at Wiggins.

Wiggins smiled wryly as he met the Master’s gaze.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Didn’t you say he was your disciple?”

“He had a bit of a naive side back then. What can I do if he’s become like that as time goes on?”

Wiggins sighed.

In the past, when Wiggins first met Lee Hyun-soo, he lacked experience. But that didn’t mean Lee Hyun-soo was lacking. It was just that he had never experienced moving a single force like the General Assembly to deal with other countries.

Lee Hyun-soo, who had absorbed all of Wiggins’ knowledge, was now skillfully applying the methods he had used in Korea to other places.

‘He’s a real monster in this area.’

Driving people into a corner, not giving them a way to resist, and beating them down.

Showing a slight opening and then throwing them into a deeper pit when they try to escape.

There was no one who could follow Lee Hyun-soo in that field.

“Do you really have to go that far…”

“Don’t worry, Master.”

Lee Hyun-soo took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, then grinned.

“It won’t take long. I will soon present you with a complete Round Table. Please just wait a little longer.”

As Lee Hyun-soo smiled and tried to light his cigarette, the Master sighed and opened his mouth.

“Smoking is prohibited here.”

Lee Hyun-soo’s eyes flicked to the side.