Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1484

“Ugh, I’m so nervous I could die.”

Jo Sung-ho, his face a picture of anxiety, stared at his own shop.

The preparations were absolutely perfect.

The interior was impeccably clean, and the kitchen layout was flawless. He had completed training to perfectly prepare all sorts of menu items and had even finished simulations over two days.

He was wearing his uniform, and the shop was so clean you could slip on the floor.

Of course.

Jo Sung-ho, after all, was a former martial artist. His stamina and tenacity far surpassed that of ordinary people. When someone like that put their mind to cleaning, they could turn an old house into a new one.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes, Manager!”

The part-timers, carefully selected by the headquarters, had also finished their training and were ready to go.

“Hoo…”

Despite all that, the tension in Jo Sung-ho’s heart wouldn’t go away.

‘Seriously, why did that guy have to say something like that?’

The words he had heard from Lee Hyun-soo a few days ago kept swirling in his head. How their performance at this business would determine how the General Assembly would support those retiring from it.

Jo Sung-ho knew very well that it wasn’t just about deciding on a method.

If they didn’t show a proper performance, the General Assembly might cut off support for retirees or those who left.

‘That can’t happen.’

Absolutely not.

It wasn’t just about wanting support from the General Assembly. To be precise, he was afraid of severing ties with the General Assembly.

Hadn’t Jo Sung-ho already lived that kind of life for a while?

The helplessness felt by someone who had lived their whole life in the General Assembly when they left it, the alienation of feeling disconnected from the world, and more than anything, the fear of having to stand alone in a now unfamiliar world.

He didn’t want to feel any of that, nor did he want anyone else to feel it.

That meant that Jo Sung-ho and the other franchise owners had to do their best.

“Let’s start!”

“Yes!”

The part-timers went to the front and opened the shop door.

‘Use honorifics, use honorifics.’

Jo Sung-ho muttered to himself.

Although the part-timers were much younger than him, the cafe encouraged the use of honorifics to show respect for them.

On the surface, it seemed like a very good idea to respect people’s personalities regardless of age, but…

“Use honorifics, you bastards! The moment you use informal language, you’ll look down on people, make weird old man jokes, and make people feel bad with your pranks! Think of the part-timers as your superiors and treat them well! If you don’t want to see this place go bankrupt!”

In reality, it was closer to a measure to forcibly extract the hierarchical, old-fashioned culture deeply embedded in the General Assembly.

Surprisingly, this measure was accepted without much resistance. It was because all the owners knew themselves best and admitted that they had such tendencies.

‘And smile, smile!’

“I’ve installed CCTV in the store. Headquarters will be checking it. Anyone who frowns or gets annoyed will have the 5-minute standby team come and drag you to the back alley!”

There were some complaints that it was a violation of human rights, but Lee Hyun-soo shut down all the complaints by saying, ‘What human rights? What are you talking about?’

Well, yeah.

You can only worry about human rights when you have enough to eat.

‘I don’t need human rights, I just want the business to do well.’

He knew that the Guild Leader had done a lot for them. But the franchise owners had also invested all the money they had earned into this cafe.

The concept of asset management was introduced to the General Assembly, and they were able to save money only after Kang Jin-ho took full control of the General Assembly. No matter how much money they received, how much could they have saved from then until now?

If this shop failed, Jo Sung-ho would be penniless.

He absolutely did not want that.

But…

“Why aren’t any customers coming? We’re open… Did you put up the ‘Open’ sign properly?”

“Yes. I changed it.”

“Then why aren’t any customers coming? There are so many people passing by in front? Should I go out and promote it?”

The part-timers looked at Jo Sung-ho with blank expressions.

Of course, they could understand how someone opening a business would feel, but there was a limit to everything.

“Should we leave the door open? Maybe they don’t know we’re open just by looking at the ‘Open’ sign.”

“…They all know.”

“Or should we brew some coffee? If the smell of coffee wafts out, people might come in.”

“Manager, please calm down and sit down.”

“Ugh…”

Jo Sung-ho scratched his head vigorously.

He hadn’t been this nervous even when he was taking promotion exams in the General Assembly. Back then, he thought there would be a next time, but now there was no next time.

‘They said the CF [Commercial Film] will be aired in a few more days…’

The thought that he might have to sit around twiddling his thumbs until then made his heart clench.

That was when it happened.

Clang!

The door opened with the sound of the chime bell.

“Welcome!”

Jo Sung-ho greeted them energetically.

He had been trained to greet customers with a clear and distinct voice, not too loud so as not to make them uncomfortable, but as soon as a customer came, his voice got louder without him realizing it, probably because he was so happy.

The people who came in were two men.

The larger of the two men frowned and said,

“Hey, man. You dragged me out first thing in the morning, and all you wanted was to drink coffee? I wasted gas picking you up.”

“Coffee is good.”

“You don’t even like coffee that much.”

“What? I like coffee.”

“Well…”

The larger man walked over to the counter.

“Give me an iced Americano, and what do you want?”

“…”

The slightly smaller man smiled faintly and said,

“Manager, please give me a blueberry yogurt smoothie. You should have a smoothie too.”

“What smoothie? I said I’m having an Americano.”

“Then have an Americano and a smoothie too.”

“…Are you out of your mind? Why are you like this first thing in the morning?”

“Have it, have it. I’ll pay. And manager, do you happen to take group orders?”

Jo Sung-ho’s eyes widened.

“G-group orders? Yes. Of course, we do.”

“Then can you pack about 20 cups?”

“Yes. Of course, we can.”

“Then we’ll tell you when we’re about to leave, so please pack 20 blueberry yogurt smoothies.”

“…Hey, since when did your family start farming blueberries?”

“What farming? Manager, is it okay?”

“Yes! Of course, sir!”

Jo Sung-ho’s eyes twitched. What was this? An angel?

He thought he could see pure white wings on the man’s back. To think that the first customer on opening day was such an angel… Huh?

Jo Sung-ho tilted his head.

“Um… I feel like I recognize you, are you perhaps the athlete Park Yu-min?”

“Ah…”

The man blushed slightly.

“That’s right. He’s Park Yu-min.”

“Ah, I knew it! Then I’ll give you one drink for free, could I get an autograph?”

“Yes. I’ll definitely give you an autograph. But you don’t have to give me a free drink. I’ll pay for it.”

“No, it’s because I want to give it to you.”

“Really, it’s okay. I’ll get in trouble if I get caught later. I’ll just pay for it. That’s more comfortable for me.”

“Ah, if you insist…”

Jo Sung-ho took the card Park Yu-min handed him and made the payment.

“Here’s your buzzer.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Park Yu-min took the buzzer and sat down.

“The interior is pretty.”

“You’re doing something you don’t usually do?”

Joo Young-gi, sitting across from Park Yu-min, chuckled.

“What’s pretty about it? Interior design should have a slightly old-fashioned, country feel.”

“Young-gi.”

“Yeah?”

“I hope you absolutely don’t get involved in the interior design of any expanding branches.”

“This is advice from a friend. Listen seriously.”

“…You jerk.”

Joo Young-gi looked around with a wronged expression. It was just white and black, what was so pretty about it?

“Huh?”

Joo Young-gi turned to Park Yu-min as if he had realized something.

“Hey, is this perhaps the cafe that Jin-ho is running?”

Clang!

Joo Young-gi and Park Yu-min simultaneously turned to the source of the sound. There, Jo Sung-ho was frozen like an ice statue, his hands trembling.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah… Ah! I’m sorry. I… Ah… Sorry…”

Jo Sung-ho’s heart began to beat violently.

‘What did they just say? Jin-ho?’

No, he must have misheard.

The two people, having taken their eyes off Jo Sung-ho, continued their conversation casually.

“So that’s why this guy is doing something he doesn’t usually do… This is one of Jin-ho’s cafe branches.”

“This one was the closest.”

“Hey, it’s good to boost sales, but do you have to do it first thing in the morning? What’s the difference between boosting it in the morning or evening?”

“It feels different. It feels good to think that I’m the first customer of this shop.”

Joo Young-gi chuckled.

Anyway, this guy was too nice, that was the problem. He must have been waiting for this day, worried that the business might not do well.

“Since it’s come to this, let’s call that bastard Kang Jin-ho.”

Clang!

The two people’s heads turned back towards the kitchen.

“Manager, is there something wrong with the cup?”

“Ah, no, absolutely not. There’s nothing wrong with the cup! I’ll correct it!”

“This isn’t the military, why are you saying ‘correct it’?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Joo Young-gi and Park Yu-min looked at Jo Sung-ho with slightly strange eyes.

But Jo Sung-ho was going crazy right now.

That bastard?

Did they just call Kang Jin-ho ‘that bastard’?

The words were so shocking that his mind was refusing to process them.

To think that Kang Jin-ho and that word could be used together.

‘I thought an angel had come, but it was a devil.’

Come to think of it, he had heard before that the Guild Leader’s friend was a pro gamer. But he never imagined that the pro gamer would be Park Yu-min.

‘If I get caught, I’m dead!’

Those people were high-ranking figures.

Social status or whatever, if they were friends with the Guild Leader, they were high-ranking figures.

Even that Director Lee Hyun-soo was just using the Guild Leader’s authority to boss around people who were tens of times stronger than him, and these weren’t even subordinates, they were friends.

Jo Sung-ho began to grind the smoothie with all his soul, like a medieval slave paying respects to the emperor’s relatives.

And then it happened.

Clang.

“Aigoo, I heard there’s a new place that opened here.”

A group of men began to enter the shop. Their swaggering posture was no different from gangsters.

Jo Sung-ho’s eyes shook.

Of course, it wasn’t because gangsters had entered. Even though Jo Sung-ho couldn’t use his inner energy, he was a martial artist by birth. He could take on a truckload of gangsters with just one toe.

The reason Jo Sung-ho was surprised was because the people entering were not gangsters.

“Hey, Mr. Jo. Is business doing well?”

The people swaggering in were people he knew very well.

They were members of the General Assembly, his former colleagues.

He understood their swagger. He understood it well. They were always like that. If they were somewhere alone, he would have expressed his joy first.

But right now, there was someone here who didn’t like that swagger at all.

“What? Why are a bunch of thugs crawling into the cafe in the morning? You wanna die?”

“What?”

Joo Young-gi, who was sitting down, stood up and frowned, and the General Assembly members who were entering all glared at Joo Young-gi.

“Hey, what’s with that guy?”

“What is that? He looks like a thug himself?”

“You wanna get beat up?”

Hehehehehe!

“Hahahahahaha!”

Jo Sung-ho laughed loudly and rushed out from behind the counter. Then, he grabbed the heads of the General Assembly members who were entering and began dragging them outside.

“Ah, ouch! Are you crazy? What are you doing?”

“Hahahahaha! Customers, let’s talk outside.”

“No, are you crazy! Why are you doing this!”

“Please, just follow me without saying anything. Please.”

You crazy bastards, I’m doing this to save you!

Seriously, why is this happening from the opening! From the opening!

Jo Sung-ho’s silent scream filled the shop.