Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1461

Laying Waste (1)

The grip tightened.

The hand holding his neck began to squeeze.

Phil Button instinctively raised his hands and grabbed Kang Jin-ho’s wrist. But at that moment, all he felt was utter despair.

He could tell.

Just by the touch, he could feel it. No matter what he did, this hand wouldn’t be released. It was more like a piece of iron than a human arm.

Only then did Phil Button understand who he had picked a fight with.

‘Testing him?’

Who?

He was testing Kang Jin-ho?

A foolish act.

An idea only a madman would have.

Why hadn’t he tried to understand beforehand?

There were countless ways to avoid this situation. If he had checked Kang Jin-ho’s abilities just once before starting this training, this wouldn’t have happened.

No, even before that…

If he had seriously considered what Kang Jin-ho had done at H27… No, if he had just accepted what Kang Jin-ho had done in East Asia as it was, the situation might have been different.

But Phil Button had thrown away all those chances himself, and as a result, he was now facing Kang Jin-ho.

Despairingly so.

Phil Button convulsed under the powerful force squeezing his neck. Then, he looked at Kang Jin-ho with desperate eyes.

“Don’t give me that look.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled faintly.

“This is something you started.”

Kang Jin-ho put more force into the hand squeezing Phil Button’s neck.

“Gurgle.”

With a strange sound, Phil Button’s body was thrown back. Foam dripped from his mouth, and tears streamed from his eyes.

Frank swallowed hard.

Even facing a bear or a lion at close range wouldn’t be this tense. A well-fed beast doesn’t usually hunt humans.

But the human in front of him was a hundred times more dangerous than a wild beast, hunting humans not out of hunger but out of his own will.

Frank cautiously opened his mouth.

“He… he could die.”

Kang Jin-ho slowly turned his head to the side. Without loosening his grip on the neck, Kang Jin-ho looked at Frank.

“Who is he?”

“…Lieutenant General Frank Wilson. The commander of the 3rd Army Corps. The superior of the division you fought against.”

“I see.”

Kang Jin-ho turned his head away as if he had lost interest.

He had no feelings for the soldiers who had faced him under orders. This was why Kang Jin-ho didn’t find much interest in battles with the military. They had no will of their own.

No matter who the enemy was, or what the situation was, they just fought as they were told, and retreated as they were told.

In other words, soldiers were tools.

No one gets angry at a knife for being stabbed. What you should be angry at is not the knife, but the person holding it.

By Kang Jin-ho’s standards, Frank and Reggie were just knives. The one who wielded those knives was Phil Button, who was now in Kang Jin-ho’s grasp.

Kang Jin-ho’s hand tightened.

Phil Button convulsed.

“He, he’s going to die!”

Frank shouted in horror.

But Kang Jin-ho just stared at Frank with a blank face.

“So what?”

“…Huh? What did you just say?”

“Is there a reason he shouldn’t die?”

Frank shut his mouth.

“Shouldn’t you be encouraging it? An incompetent superior is more dangerous than a powerful enemy. It’s because this guy is alive that you’re doing such stupid things.”

He agreed.

In his heart, he agreed a hundred times over. If Kang Jin-ho hadn’t jumped in here, Frank might have beaten Phil Button to death himself.

Today, Frank had realized the reason why superiors are killed in war.

But this wasn’t right.

“…Still, he is a U.S. Undersecretary. Killing him will cause big problems.”

“I don’t care.”

“But…”

“You’d better think of another argument.”

Kang Jin-ho cut off Frank’s words.

“The problem is already big enough.”

Frank had no choice but to admit that Kang Jin-ho was right.

Anyone with eyes could agree. If anyone believed they could fix this after seeing the carnage outside the bunker, it would be better to remove their useless head.

What difference would it make if one more Undersecretary died here?

“But… this is just training.”

“Training?”

Kang Jin-ho smiled as if he found it amusing.

“Maybe. It’s not a real battle.”

“Yes. Clearly…”

“But it’s a matter of life and death.”

Frank shut his mouth.

“Can you see?”

Kang Jin-ho gestured outside with his chin.

“How many have died?”

Frank had eyes too.

He couldn’t miss the sight of people crawling out of the half-destroyed tanks. He could also understand that Kang Jin-ho had shown them some mercy.

But that didn’t mean everyone could survive.

Those who were in the tanks that soared into the sky and then crashed to the ground could not be saved no matter what. If you included the injured, the damage would increase exponentially.

“The moment this stupid thing started, someone was going to die. It could be me, or it could be them.”

Kang Jin-ho turned his head and looked at Phil Button, who was gasping for breath, with indifferent eyes.

“Those who try to kill someone must be prepared to die themselves. Are you going to start a killing spree and then just watch from behind?”

That’s ridiculous.

Everything has a price.

Kang Jin-ho was just making them pay that price.

Frank said with a face dripping with cold sweat.

“Maybe that’s natural.”

“But the responsibility should be on the United States, not you. I think letting him die like this is also an act of evading responsibility.”

Kang Jin-ho looked at Frank with strange eyes.

‘I like him.’

Even though he was an ordinary person without a single trace of inner strength, he had approached Kang Jin-ho first and tried to persuade him. He had done so despite the overwhelming pressure that would have made an ordinary person gasp for breath just by being nearby.

This man was not a martial artist, but he had the attitude of one. So, he would respect him and talk to him.

‘The U.S. military isn’t bad either.’

Their methods were a little different, but Frank, who was in front of him now, and Reggie, who he had met earlier, were people that Kang Jin-ho could acknowledge by his standards.

It was because people like them were in high positions that the U.S. military was so strong.

“Even if I can make him pay the price?”

“…It’s a matter of agency.”

Frank said with a sigh.

“Perhaps dying at your hands would be the greatest punishment for him. But the important thing is not to give a big punishment, but to give a just punishment.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled slightly.

“Tell me your true feelings.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not particularly angry. Tell me, General. What do you want?”

Frank stared at Kang Jin-ho for a long time before sighing.

“Compensation for the survivors, and honor for the dead.”

“…Make it simpler.”

“If he dies, the blame will come back to us. It’s our fault for not protecting him to the end. Those who died here will lose their honor, and the survivors will become losers. Why should we bear that burden because of what that bastard did?”

Kang Jin-ho’s smile deepened.

“So?”

“Spare him. And make him fully pay the price for what he did. That’s all I want.”

The honor of his subordinates…

‘How romantic.’

They said Westerners were more practical than Easterners, but it didn’t seem to be the case. No, in the first place, thinking about Westerners and Easterners was a shallow thought.

Kang Jin-ho squeezed Phil Button’s neck tightly and then threw him into a corner.

Thud!

Phil Button lost consciousness and fell to the ground.

“Don’t worry. He’s alive.”

“Ah…”

Frank, who was about to rush to Phil Button, flinched and stopped.

“Do as you wish.”

Kang Jin-ho turned around.

In the first place, he didn’t have any particular grudge against Phil Button. Kang Jin-ho was the one who accepted this ridiculous situation. He was just going to make him pay the price for his absurd misjudgment, the price for those who had died.

It was also ridiculous that Kang Jin-ho would pay that price.

Anyway, if they didn’t want that, there was no reason to do it.

He had gotten everything he needed here, and he had proven everything he needed to prove.

“Thank you.”

Kang Jin-ho glanced back at Frank and then jumped out of the bunker.

Thump.

As soon as Kang Jin-ho went outside, Frank collapsed on the spot.

It was a miracle that he had managed to stay standing until now. Facing Kang Jin-ho drained a person’s mental strength in an instant.

“Are, are you alright, Commander!”

Those who had been watching the situation from behind rushed over and supported Frank. With their help, Frank got up and wiped the cold sweat from his face with his sleeve, frowning.

“What’s the situation?”

“We’re working on recovery. However, since we’re in the middle of the desert…”

Frank, understanding his adjutants’ words, bit his lip slightly.

“Request all available helicopters and vehicles from nearby units and send them here! Contact 911 and tell them to send ambulances too!”

“Bu, but that would compromise security…”

“Is security more important than human lives! I’ll take all the responsibility, so move now!”

“Yes, Commander!”

Frank reached out and pulled a chair over, then sat down.

‘I’m a mess.’

It was terrible.

But it wasn’t the worst.

The real worst would be experiencing this terrible situation in a real battle. If that had happened, not only Phil Button, but Frank would not be alive right now.

“A martial artist…”

Before the training started, he felt like an idiot for agreeing with Phil Button’s words. He hadn’t properly understood his opponent and had just held a baseless sense of superiority.

He had been deluded by the words ‘the world’s strongest U.S. military.’ No matter how great the firepower of the U.S. military was, if the person operating it was an idiot, that firepower could not be used properly.

And right now, the idiot here was obviously Frank.

“Haa.”

Frank took a deep breath and stood up.

“Open the bunker.”

“The outside is…”

“Now!”

“Yes, Commander!”

Frank looked at Phil Button, who was slumped in the corner. He frowned once, then coldly turned his head and went out of the bunker.

What he had to do now was to discuss the aftermath with the division commander and apologize to him.

‘It’s going to be a mess.’

If this result was reported, the higher-ups would be in an uproar. They would have to overturn the rules of engagement that had been maintained for decades from the ground up.

It wasn’t a pleasant thing to be the person responsible for that.

As Frank came out of the bunker, he saw Kang Jin-ho’s back walking among the burning tanks.

Frank stared at that back for a long time before letting out a deep sigh.