Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1790

Various reports came and went, each dealing with significant matters. They covered everything from the daily lives of the current General Assembly members and the aftermath of the recent war, to issues concerning MK [likely referring to a specific company or project]. A meeting that would normally have dragged on was progressing unusually quickly today.

“That’s something Director Bang can handle on his own,” someone stated.

“How should we report it?” another asked.

“Just let Director Bang take care of it,” came the reply.

“…Understood,” Bang Jin-hoon said, slightly lowering his head.

‘Good grief,’ he thought. Even matters that would normally require a detailed written report were now being handled at their level. This included the members’ training, which Kang Jin-ho considered paramount.

‘Is it my time to die?’ he wondered. Of course, that couldn’t be the case, but Kang Jin-ho’s behavior was so unlike his usual self that the thought naturally crossed his mind.

“Any other issues?” Kang Jin-ho asked.

The directors exchanged glances.

“It seems we’ve covered most of the reports. We’ll report any omissions at the next meeting,” one of them said.

“Hmm,” Kang Jin-ho responded, nodding. “Then, now for my agenda…”

“Yes?” Lee Hyun-soo looked at Kang Jin-ho with surprise.

“Why?” Kang Jin-ho asked.

“Ah, no,” Lee Hyun-soo replied, flustered.

Had Kang Jin-ho ever presented his own agenda before? He couldn’t quite recall.

“So, what kind of…” Lee Hyun-soo began.

Kang Jin-ho leaned back slightly on the sofa and began, “It’s about how we should run the General Assembly from now on…”

“…Pardon?” The directors all widened their eyes at his sudden remark.

“How to run the General Assembly? What do you mean by that?” one of them asked.

“Well, it’s nothing too serious,” Kang Jin-ho said calmly. “Until now, the General Assembly has been run in preparation for war. Isn’t that right?”

Lee Hyun-soo nodded. In fact, the General Assembly had been operating under a constant wartime system since Kang Jin-ho became a director, even before he joined.

“That’s true,” Lee Hyun-soo agreed.

“But now, that doesn’t make much sense anymore,” Kang Jin-ho stated.

“Well, that’s true,” the directors all agreed.

War is only possible when there is an enemy. But now, the General Assembly no longer had any reason to engage in full-scale war.

“Indeed, continuing to operate under the current system is highly inefficient,” Lee Hyun-soo added.

At Lee Hyun-soo’s words, Bang Jin-hoon’s eyes twitched.

“No, I mean… when you think about it, there isn’t much difference between now and before. It’s just that the intensity has increased a bit. It was like this before too, wasn’t it, Director Lee?” Bang Jin-hoon argued.

“No. That’s not it,” Lee Hyun-soo countered.

“Huh?” Bang Jin-hoon responded, confused.

Lee Hyun-soo shook his head. “Of course, Director Bang is also right. Even under the dual leadership of Lee Joong-geol before the Chairman, the General Assembly was operating under a semi-wartime system. But that was because the Yeongnam Association [a rival organization] was on the other side.”

“Hmm, that’s…” Bang Jin-hoon trailed off.

“It was the same back then, not knowing when a war might break out. So, we had no choice but to make money and strengthen our forces,” Lee Hyun-soo explained.

Bang Jin-hoon groaned as if he couldn’t argue with that. “That’s true.”

“Otherwise, there’s no reason to maintain this ridiculous system. To be honest, more than half of the members are just punching the air and getting paid; they’re practically useless,” Lee Hyun-soo stated bluntly.

“Hey, man! Even so, how can you call the kids who are training so hard useless!” Bang Jin-hoon exclaimed, starting to get agitated.

Lee Hyun-soo quickly waved his hand. “Calm down. I’m the one who participated in those crazy wars with my bare hands; would I ignore the kids? I’m just saying that from an economic point of view.”

Bang Jin-hoon still looked displeased and huffed. “It’s true that they’re getting huge salaries but not making any money.”

“Isn’t that because you and the Chairman are preventing them from doing any external work?” Lee Hyun-soo asked.

“Should we continue to extort thugs, run hostess bars, operate loan shark businesses, and pretend to be bodyguards while roughing people up? Are we some kind of gangsters?” Bang Jin-hoon retorted.

Bang Jin-hoon closed his mouth with a dissatisfied look. To be honest, before Kang Jin-ho came, the General Assembly was not much different from a gang.

“Well, at least we didn’t extort money from ordinary people,” Bang Jin-hoon muttered.

“Where do gangsters get their money? If we extort the money they earned, they’ll just find more money again,” Lee Hyun-soo pointed out.

“Ah, I get it, man!” Bang Jin-hoon sighed deeply. Lee Hyun-soo smiled wryly at the sight.

“I’m not blaming you, Director. To be honest, would I be any different? I was even more ruthless,” Lee Hyun-soo admitted.

“Oh, that’s a relief,” Bang Jin-hoon replied.

‘Wait, is he serious?’ Lee Hyun-soo wondered.

Lee Hyun-soo cleared his throat and continued. “I’m not trying to belittle the kids. It’s just that the General Assembly is doing well now, so it doesn’t matter if they don’t make money. But there’s no guarantee that it will always be like this.”

Bator nodded. “That’s right. No one thought that the Heung-Wang faction and the Chang-Wang faction [rival factions] would change so much in just a few years. It’s a world where things that have lasted for decades can be shattered and overturned overnight.”

Lee Hyun-soo grinned, seeing Bator taking his side for once. “Thank you.”

“What are you thanking me for?” Bator asked.

“Yes. So, I think I understand why the Chairman is saying this. Now that there’s not much chance of war, it’s time to start looking to the future. Then, we can’t continue as we are now,” Lee Hyun-soo concluded.

“I agree,” Wiggins nodded.

“The reason the General Assembly has been able to grow so rapidly is because everything we earned was used to strengthen our forces. The members of the General Assembly were guaranteed a living just by training, without having to do anything else. This is something that even the Round Table [a powerful organization], which has existed for hundreds of years, couldn’t do,” Wiggins explained.

Kang Jin-ho quietly nodded.

“In fact, although the General Assembly is making money through MK and other ventures, the main source of income is the vast wealth accumulated by those who waged war against us and the clean takeover of the markets they owned. The companies we created to make money have actually cost us a lot in investments and haven’t made much profit,” Wiggins added.

“…Well, they do make some profit,” Lee Hyun-soo interjected.

“So how much?” Wiggins asked.

Lee Hyun-soo covered his mouth and coughed. Of course, sales had increased tremendously, but compared to the assets of the General Assembly, the amount was not particularly significant.

“In other words…” Wiggins looked at everyone and said, “Unless there’s another war, the General Assembly’s income will never increase dramatically again. The virtuous cycle of using the money we earn to strengthen the Assembly through training, and then taking over bigger places as we get stronger, is over.”

Everyone nodded. Some had been thinking about it, while others hadn’t thought about it at all, but now this was an undeniable reality.

“So, the General Assembly must change now,” Kang Jin-ho stated.

Kang Jin-ho looked like he was pondering for a moment, then looked at Wiggins. “Wiggins.”

“Yes, Lord,” Wiggins responded.

“How does the Round Table maintain itself?” Kang Jin-ho asked.

“Maintaining the Round Table isn’t particularly difficult. Because the Round Table is a union of each country. The countries are the ones that manage and train each knight, and the Round Table just uses them,” Wiggins explained.

“…So, each country funds it with taxes?” Kang Jin-ho inquired.

“There are aspects of that, and aspects that are not. First of all, the knight orders of Europe have a long history and have their own sources of funding. They operate vast amounts of real estate under assumed names and own several companies,” Wiggins replied.

“…That’s what we’re trying to do,” Kang Jin-ho muttered.

Wiggins smiled. “That’s why I’ve been saying that the General Assembly needs to change. If we don’t have a system to convert influence into funds, the General Assembly won’t last long.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded. “That’s a good point.”

Click. Kang Jin-ho lit a cigarette and leaned forward a little more. “But what I’m talking about isn’t that kind of story.”

“Yes?” someone asked.

Kang Jin-ho quietly looked at everyone before opening his mouth. “What I want to talk about is the direction of the General Assembly. Not about how to reduce costs or how to make money to maintain the General Assembly.”

Everyone looked at Kang Jin-ho with puzzled expressions. It sounded a bit like he was grasping at straws.

“Then, what part are you talking about?” Lee Hyun-soo asked.

“We get stronger to fight,” Kang Jin-ho stated.

“…Not necessarily, but there is definitely that aspect,” Lee Hyun-soo conceded.

“Then, what is the purpose of a warrior without an enemy?” Kang Jin-ho asked with a slightly serious expression.

“No, Chairman, it’s not necessarily…” Lee Hyun-soo began.

“I’m not just saying that the Chang-Wang faction is gone. Even if the Chang-Wang faction is gone, there are still others left. And problems we don’t know about could arise,” Kang Jin-ho explained.

“That’s right,” Lee Hyun-soo agreed.

“But even so…” Kang Jin-ho looked at the dissipating cigarette smoke. “I’ve been thinking this for a while, but the martial world will disappear someday.”

“I thought about it while fighting Chang-Wang. I never thought that modern weapons would be so diverse and used so effectively,” Kang Jin-ho continued.

“No, we already fought the US military last time…” Lee Hyun-soo interjected.

“Those who are on the ground can be dealt with somehow. But there was no way to deal with what was pouring down from above. If our opponent had been the Chinese army instead of the Chang-Wang faction, could we really have won?” Kang Jin-ho asked.

No one answered. Lee Hyun-soo rubbed his chin as if he was pondering. ‘It depends on the situation and the enemy,’ he thought. But he wasn’t confident that he could say they could definitely win. Because a martial artist cannot defeat a soldier in an open space.

“We might be able to handle it now. But someday, even those on the ground might become impossible to deal with. Then…” Kang Jin-ho looked at everyone and said, “There will be those who will not tolerate the power we have.”

Kang Jin-ho spoke in a firm tone. “This isn’t something I just thought of now. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time. If this were just my problem, it wouldn’t be a big deal. I could just live quietly. But as someone running the General Assembly, I can’t ignore something that might happen in a few decades, or maybe even a few years.”

Everyone now understood what Kang Jin-ho was saying, and why he had talked about the issue of direction.

“So…” Kang Jin-ho said, “I ask you.”

At the word ‘ask,’ everyone looked up at Kang Jin-ho with utterly surprised eyes. This was a phrase that seemed so out of character for Kang Jin-ho.

“I couldn’t find the answer on my own. So, I’d like everyone to think about it together. What should we do when a world comes where we no longer have to fight, or perhaps a world where we can no longer fight? What kind of mindset should we live with?”

The directors’ faces became extremely serious. Only Wiggins was smiling brightly.

“It may take time to find the answer…” His smile grew even brighter. “If the Lord maintains that mindset and attitude, the answer will surely come.”

Kang Jin-ho coughed awkwardly.