Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1498

“So…”

A mix of bewilderment and injustice clouded Lee Hyun-soo’s face.

“The reason you called me here is…” he began, a hint of incredulity in his voice.

Kang Jin-ho simply shrugged, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Director Lee is the expert in this area,” he stated matter-of-factly.

Lee Hyun-joo chimed in, her agreement immediate and enthusiastic. “Yes. There are many people in the world, but when it comes to this, no one can match Director Lee. It’s your specialty, after all.”

An indescribable emotion began to bloom on Lee Hyun-soo’s face. It was a strange mix of pride and annoyance.

“So… to summarize…” Lee Hyun-soo subtly turned his head to glance at the CCTV footage playing on the screen. “It seems like someone is pulling some tricks…”

“That’s right,” Kang Jin-ho confirmed.

“Uh-huh,” Lee Hyun-joo echoed.

“But, I don’t really know what those tricks are…” Lee Hyun-soo continued, his tone laced with sarcasm.

“Yeah,” Kang Jin-ho replied.

“That’s right,” Lee Hyun-joo added.

‘No, stop adding those interjections every time!’ Lee Hyun-soo thought, his irritation growing.

“So, you’re saying you called me because I’m an expert in tricks, underhanded schemes, screwing people over, plotting to drive people into a pit, and so on?” he asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Exactly,” Kang Jin-ho said, nodding.

“That’s correct,” Lee Hyun-joo agreed.

Lee Hyun-soo’s face twitched. ‘Seriously! What do these people think I am!’ he fumed internally.

“Why am I an expert in that area! Why me!” he exclaimed, his voice rising in frustration.

“Aren’t you?” Kang Jin-ho asked, a hint of amusement in his tone.

“Aren’t you?” Lee Hyun-joo echoed, her eyes wide with mock innocence.

‘No!’ Lee Hyun-soo wanted to shout.

‘Well, yes…’ he conceded internally.

‘Oh, that’s right. That’s an undeniable fact,’ he thought, his shoulders slumping.

Lee Hyun-soo’s face rapidly turned gloomy. ‘It’s a good thing when someone acknowledges your abilities. But does it have to be in this kind of field?’ he lamented.

“This is a really strange feeling,” he muttered, his voice tinged with self-deprecation.

“Think of it positively. It’s good that you’re useful somehow,” Kang Jin-ho said, his tone surprisingly encouraging.

‘Yeah,’ Lee Hyun-soo thought, ‘Chairman, your eloquence has improved a lot. You even know how to turn people inside out like this. Seriously, when I think about the old days, it’s like heaven and earth have changed, really.’

“Ugh, okay. Let’s take a look for now,” Lee Hyun-soo conceded, his curiosity piqued despite his annoyance.

After hearing the whole story, Lee Hyun-soo spat out the coffee he was drinking, his eyes wide with disbelief.

“They asked for a hot iced Americano?” he repeated, his voice incredulous.

“That’s right,” Kang Jin-ho confirmed.

“And you let that slide? You should have twisted his jaw,” Lee Hyun-soo declared, his tone sharp.

“…It’s a bit late, but I did twist it,” Jang Young-chul mumbled, his voice barely audible.

“Ah, that’s a relief then,” Lee Hyun-soo said, a hint of satisfaction in his voice. He chuckled and replayed the CCTV footage several times, his brow furrowed in concentration.

“Hmm,” he hummed, leaning back on the sofa, his eyes fixed on the screen.

“Can I have a smoke?” he asked, his voice casual.

“Smoke as much as you want. You’re the boss right now,” Kang Jin-ho replied, his tone light.

“Oh, please, don’t say it like that. It makes me feel like I’m getting too big for my britches,” Lee Hyun-soo said, a hint of self-awareness in his voice. ‘Anyway, this guy isn’t normal either,’ he thought, clicking his lighter.

Kang Jin-ho and Lee Hyun-soo lit their cigarettes at the same time. Lee Hyun-soo half-closed his eyes and slowly puffed out smoke, his mind already racing. Kang Jin-ho and Lee Hyun-joo quietly kept their mouths shut, not disturbing Lee Hyun-soo’s train of thought.

When it came to thinking, it was best to leave it to Lee Hyun-soo. That was one of the unwritten rules of the Yeongnam Association [a fictional group or organization].

“It definitely looks like a setup,” Lee Hyun-soo stated, his voice firm.

“Right?” Kang Jin-ho agreed.

“Yes. It doesn’t seem like something that could just happen. Especially… um, the fact that those bastards immediately uploaded something that clearly looks unfavorable to them is suspicious. This is something that could be resolved with just one CCTV,” Lee Hyun-soo explained, his gaze intense.

Lee Hyun-joo nodded, her expression thoughtful. “Even if it’s hard to fix, they can at least avoid responsibility.”

“But they still went ahead with it? Still… hmm,” Lee Hyun-soo mused, his eyes narrowed in thought.

He pointed at the people holding their phones in the video. “If we release the CCTV, those bastards will edit the video they took in a sensational way and release it right away.”

“…Would that even matter?” Kang Jin-ho asked, his brow furrowed.

“It does matter. The screen we’re seeing now is from above, right?” Lee Hyun-soo explained.

“That’s right,” Kang Jin-ho confirmed.

“But if you film it up close, it becomes more dynamic. If they zoom in and upload the scene of the store owner dynamically hitting someone with his huge hand… no matter how wrong they were, people will say, ‘How can you hit someone like that?'” Lee Hyun-soo said, his voice laced with frustration.

The three of them turned their heads at the same time to look at Jang Young-chul.

Then, Jang Young-chul, who had been sitting, silently got off the sofa and knelt on the floor, his head bowed in shame.

“I’m sorry…” he mumbled, his voice filled with remorse.

Kang Jin-ho tried to stop Jang Young-chul. “No, you don’t have to go that far…”

“You better bow your head, you bastard!” Lee Hyun-soo interrupted, his voice sharp and unforgiving.

Jang Young-chul immediately bowed his head to the floor, his body trembling slightly.

“Seriously, this bastard! I emphasized a hundred times not to lay a hand on anyone no matter what! And you couldn’t even last a month before twisting someone’s jaw? What kind of bastard are you?” Lee Hyun-soo berated him, his voice filled with anger.

Even Kang Jin-ho shut his mouth at Lee Hyun-soo’s fierce demeanor. In fact, Kang Jin-ho had only created the overall guidelines, and the actual training of the employees was done by Kang Yoo-hwan and Lee Hyun-soo, so it wasn’t Kang Jin-ho’s place to step in.

“Oh? This bastard, he’s been re-educated?” Lee Hyun-soo’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“This bastard got re-educated and still twisted a customer’s jaw? I should twist yours, you bastard!” Lee Hyun-soo exclaimed, his anger reaching a boiling point.

As Lee Hyun-soo lunged at Jang Young-chul, Kang Jin-ho reached out and pulled Lee Hyun-soo back, preventing him from reaching his target.

“Aghhhh!” Lee Hyun-soo yelled, kicking wildly, but his feet barely missed Jang Young-chul.

“Calm down,” Kang Jin-ho said, his voice calm and soothing.

“How can I calm down! Seriously, this bastard!” Lee Hyun-soo exclaimed, his face flushed with anger.

Jang Young-chul, with his head bowed, loudly defended himself. “I’m sorry, Director! That bastard poured Americano on me and hit me in the face, so I got too pissed off…”

“What? Pissed off? You got pissed off? I’m more pissed off, you bastard!” Lee Hyun-soo retorted, his voice filled with indignation.

Kang Jin-ho smiled wryly and pulled Lee Hyun-soo closer, trying to defuse the situation.

“Calm down. It’s understandable to be angry,” he said, his tone gentle.

“Huh? It’s understandable to be angry?” Lee Hyun-soo turned his head sharply to look at Kang Jin-ho, his eyes blazing with fury. Kang Jin-ho flinched involuntarily at the sight of his intense gaze.

“Would you twist someone’s jaw if they poured warm water on you, Chairman?” Lee Hyun-soo challenged, his voice sharp.

“It was hot water, not warm water,” Kang Jin-ho corrected, his voice meek.

“Would that even be hot for that bastard!” Lee Hyun-soo exclaimed, his voice rising in frustration.

“…Huh?” Kang Jin-ho blinked, momentarily taken aback.

‘Come to think of it…’ he thought, his brow furrowing.

‘It could cause burns for an ordinary person, but for Jang Young-chul, a martial artist, it would just be a little hot,’ he realized.

“He hit him in the face, you know,” Kang Jin-ho said, trying to reason with Lee Hyun-soo.

“Would you twist a baby’s jaw if they touched your face, Chairman? No matter how hard an ordinary person hits him, would that bastard even feel it?” Lee Hyun-soo countered, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

‘That’s true too,’ Kang Jin-ho conceded internally.

“That bastard didn’t feel hot, didn’t feel pain, and just got angry and hit the customer. And you’re just going to let that slide?” Lee Hyun-soo demanded, his voice filled with indignation.

Kang Jin-ho smiled gently, his expression calm and composed.

Then, he slowly released the hand holding Lee Hyun-soo, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

“Go,” he said, his voice soft.

“Ugh! You bastard!” Lee Hyun-soo yelled, his anger flaring up again. He charged at Jang Young-chul and body-slammed him, sending him flying into the air before he crashed to the floor.

“Die! Die, you bastard! Die!” Lee Hyun-soo shouted, his voice filled with rage.

“Ack! Aaaack! Director, I was wrong! Director, please save me!” Jang Young-chul cried out, his voice filled with mock pain.

Kang Jin-ho made a troubled face as he watched the scene unfold. ‘He’s not in pain,’ he thought, his lips twitching slightly.

Lee Hyun-soo was kicking desperately, but Jang Young-chul, who was being hit, didn’t look like he was in pain at all. In the meantime, he was just pretending to be in pain to try and please Lee Hyun-soo.

So, it became clear. No matter how hard the customer hit him, Jang Young-chul wouldn’t have felt any pain.

After hitting Jang Young-chul for a long time, Lee Hyun-soo finally realized that he was just getting more tired and returned to Kang Jin-ho, panting, his face flushed with exertion.

“Chairman, can’t you just smack that bastard in the mouth once?” he asked, his voice still filled with anger.

“…Then he’ll die,” Kang Jin-ho replied, his tone matter-of-fact.

“I’d rather he died. Ugh,” Lee Hyun-soo muttered, scratching his head in frustration. He knew something like this would eventually happen. But it happened sooner than he thought, and it was more unpleasant than he thought.

“Good job! You did a great job, you bastard! Giving those bastards who were obviously trying to create a case a case!” Lee Hyun-soo said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“…I’m sorry,” Jang Young-chul mumbled, his voice filled with remorse.

“I don’t know. You deal with it now. I’ll hold back. I’m holding back. But I don’t know if your colleagues will hold back,” Lee Hyun-soo warned, his voice menacing.

Jang Young-chul’s face turned pale at the word ‘colleagues,’ his eyes wide with fear.

“Ugh, seriously,” Lee Hyun-soo muttered, shaking his head in frustration. He sat down and took out a cigarette. Kang Jin-ho instinctively lit Lee Hyun-soo’s cigarette, his movements smooth and practiced.

“So, anyway!” Lee Hyun-soo sighed deeply and put the cigarette in his mouth. Then, he slowly started to inhale, his mind already working on the problem at hand.

“It definitely looks like we’ve been set up,” he stated, his voice calm and collected.

“The problem is, what was their intention in setting us up? This doesn’t seem like something they did just to get a settlement,” Kang Jin-ho said, his brow furrowed in thought.

“I think so too,” Lee Hyun-joo agreed, her expression serious.

“If they were aiming for a settlement, they would have tried to contact us first before making it public. Of course, there are cases where they try to settle after blowing things up, but since there hasn’t been any contact yet, it doesn’t seem like that’s the case,” she explained, her voice thoughtful.

“Then that means they have another intention…” Lee Hyun-soo mused, his brow furrowed in concentration.

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t figure out their intention. The fact that they did this means they want to have a negative impact on us, so who would benefit from that…

“Could it be that another franchise is behind this?” he asked, his eyes wide with realization.

“Huh?” Kang Jin-ho asked, his voice filled with surprise.

“What? Seriously?” Lee Hyun-joo exclaimed, her eyes wide with disbelief.

“No, no… It’s definitely a possibility,” Lee Hyun-soo said, his voice firm.

Kang Jin-ho and Lee Hyun-joo looked at Lee Hyun-soo with disbelief. Even so, would another franchise really go this far so early in our opening?

“This is a red ocean [a highly competitive market],” Lee Hyun-soo explained, his voice matter-of-fact.

“Huh?” Kang Jin-ho asked, his brow furrowed.

“The cafe business is like that. Franchise businesses have already taken almost all the pie they can. So, what’s left is how much to share the pie. Where else would our sales come from?” Lee Hyun-soo explained, his voice calm and analytical.

“From the existing franchises’ pie?” Kang Jin-ho asked, his eyes wide with understanding.

“They wouldn’t like us. They’re probably in hell right now too. The government is already cracking down on franchise settlement ratios and unfair contracts, right? And our franchise contracts are even excessively favorable to the store owners,” Lee Hyun-soo said, his voice filled with conviction.

‘Of course, that wasn’t intentional,’ Kang Jin-ho thought, his face slightly flushed.

“In that situation, if the government selects us as a win-win model and pushes us, the others will be furious. Then, it will be impossible to avoid the argument that the money that franchise headquarters have been taking is excessive. Even the store owners will try to switch,” Lee Hyun-soo explained, his voice filled with insight.

Kang Jin-ho’s face went blank. He had never thought about that aspect at all.

“From the perspective of other companies, we are a company that absolutely must fail. No, we are a company that must fail. But we’re doing well instead,” Lee Hyun-soo said, his voice filled with a hint of pride.

“Oh… right,” Kang Jin-ho muttered, his eyes wide with realization.

“If it were me, I would do anything to make this company fail. I wouldn’t use such a clumsy method. I would put a cockroach in the coffee. And cut it in half too,” Lee Hyun-soo said, his voice calm and matter-of-fact.

Kang Jin-ho was horrified and looked at Lee Hyun-soo, his eyes wide with disbelief. ‘Isn’t this almost human trash?’ he thought, his face pale.

“…Isn’t that too much of a leap?” Lee Hyun-joo asked, her brow furrowed in doubt.

“A leap?” Lee Hyun-soo asked, his voice incredulous.

“Yes. It’s just something that happened at one store. And the CCTV clearly shows that they were at fault. No matter how much they film separately, there will be a limit to the impact,” Lee Hyun-joo explained, her voice filled with logic.

“Wait, what did you just say?” Lee Hyun-soo asked, his eyes wide with realization.

“CCTV…” Lee Hyun-joo repeated, her brow furrowed.

“No, before that!” Lee Hyun-soo interrupted, his voice sharp.

“Ah, one store. At one store…” Lee Hyun-joo said, her eyes wide with understanding.

Lee Hyun-soo jumped up from his seat, his eyes blazing with urgency. “Contact all the stores right now and tell them not to fight with customers no matter what happens today! There will definitely be bastards trying to pick fights!” he exclaimed, his voice filled with alarm.

“Ah…” Lee Hyun-joo’s eyes widened in realization.

“If it’s just something that happened at one store, the right and wrong can be determined, but if problems occur at multiple stores, it will automatically be our fault! Move quickly! And tell them to manage the food well. There will definitely be bastards trying to pull tricks!” Lee Hyun-soo ordered, his voice filled with urgency.

“Yes! I understand!” Lee Hyun-joo replied, her voice filled with determination. She ran off to make the calls, her movements swift and efficient.

Watching Lee Hyun-joo run off, Lee Hyun-soo gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with a cold fury.

‘I’ll grind the bones of whoever did this to dust,’ he thought, his hands clenched into fists.

It seems there are people in the world you shouldn’t mess with.