Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1806

A black sedan pulled up in front of Cheongma as he exited the cafe.

A man hurriedly got out of the driver’s seat, rushed to the back, and opened the door. Cheongma silently got into the car.

Click.

The man who closed the car door got into the driver’s seat.

“How bothersome.”

“Please don’t say that. It is my mission to serve the King.”

Cheongma, not bothering to reply, leaned back in his seat and turned his head to look at the lit-up cafe.

“I will take you to the hotel.”

“Do so.”

The car slowly started, and the cafe disappeared from Cheongma’s sight.

Not long after the car started driving on the road, the driver cautiously opened his mouth.

“May I dare to ask how the reunion was?”

“Reunion…”

Cheongma chuckled.

“Reunions are always a little different from what one imagines.”

“Especially the longer one has waited for that reunion. The person in my head and the person living in reality can never be exactly the same.”

“You seem a little happy, considering that.”

“Happy, you say…”

Cheongma’s lips curled up slightly.

“Perhaps I am. No, I am. I must be.”

It was a little different from what he had expected.

But that difference did not diminish his joy. Even if the reunion had been more different than it was, Cheongma’s joy would not have been diminished in the slightest.

Just sitting face to face with Kang Jin-ho was enough to fulfill his purpose.

However…

Cheongma wore an inscrutable expression.

His gaze was clearly directed out the window, but what he was looking at was definitely not the scenery outside the car window.

It was a place a little further away.

Perhaps even a place that was somewhat nostalgic.

“I don’t know.”

The driver in the driver’s seat looked at Cheongma’s expression through the rearview mirror. He opened his mouth with a slightly languid look on his face.

“I thought it was natural for people to change. I would have been disappointed if he hadn’t changed. But is it because I am also human that I feel a sense of regret at the changes?”

Cheongma let out a low chuckle. Kang Jin-ho.

His feelings for the Demonic Heavenly Sovereign were difficult for even him to accurately assess.

Once, he was the master he served. And an irreplaceable comrade. A war buddy who had gone through life-and-death situations together.

And perhaps a friend.

All those words describe his relationship with Kang Jin-ho, but none of them fully explain it.

“How regrettable.”

It would have been nice to talk a little more.

But it didn’t matter. This wouldn’t be their last meeting.

“However, my King…”

Cheongma slightly raised his head and looked forward.

“I find it difficult to understand. I understand that you have personal feelings, but I don’t think that person is so important that you would dedicate your time to him at this crucial moment.”

“I have plenty of time to spare.”

Cheongma smiled wryly.

“It’s no exaggeration to say that all I have is time. And…”

Cheongma chuckled.

“Do you think you are in any position to judge his worth?”

The driver’s body trembled.

“…I misspoke. Please forgive me.”

“It’s not good to be at a loss for words. Don’t shut your mouth just because you heard something unpleasant.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

Cheongma smiled faintly and looked out the window.

“They are lumped together and called the Three Kings, but I have never once thought that those insignificant beings could be compared to me.”

“Of course, that is true.”

If Cheongma had wanted to, he could have captured and killed them at any time. It was just that there was no need to do so.

“Nevertheless, they were great martial artists.

If we had lived the same amount of time, I wouldn’t have been able to ignore them either. They were definitely special individuals in my long experience.”

“Do you know why those people failed?”

“I don’t know well…”

“Because they underestimated him.”

Cheongma said in a low voice.

“The Red King and the Azure King are martial artists who appear once in a hundred years. That is a definite fact. But the Demonic Heavenly Sovereign is an existence that makes even those people insignificant.”

The driver gripped the steering wheel tightly.

He had never heard that person praise anyone so highly.

‘No, that’s not right.’

It would be more accurate to say that there was only one person he praised so highly.

“The reason he doesn’t seem to measure up to me now is very simple. It’s because he didn’t think the day would come when he would face me. If he had thought from the beginning that he would one day face the current me… he would probably be completely different from how he is now.”

Cheongma seemed to know what the source of his regret towards Kang Jin-ho was.

‘Absolute nature, is it?’

The Kang Jin-ho of the past was like a sharply honed blade.

He never stopped whipping himself, and he never stopped for even a moment.

That was an extremely difficult thing to do.

Kang Jin-ho was the one who lived such a harsh life without any fuss. Even Cheongma couldn’t even dare to do that.

“If you underestimate him, you will see hell.”

“…Then do you consider him an enemy?”

“You don’t understand.”

Cheongma said, as if dumbfounded.

“What have you been listening to? I absolutely do not want to turn that person into an enemy. If there is anyone in this world that I am wary of, it is only that person.”

“It’s something that should have started a long time ago. Yet, the reason I put everything down and waited patiently was because I didn’t know exactly when that person would return to this world.”

Nothing could be inferred from what he said.

Perhaps he had already returned to this world. If so, Kang Jin-ho’s existence would become an unparalleled variable.

With that thought, he stopped all his plans and simply waited and waited until recently. Until the moment he heard the news that a great martial artist had appeared in that small country.

“But it doesn’t seem like that person will be able to interfere with the King now…”

“You don’t know.”

Cheongma didn’t bother to explain.

It was too difficult to explain what kind of person he was to someone who had not seen Kang Jin-ho’s true nature.

Logically speaking, Kang Jin-ho should have died before reaching the Demonic Cult. All of the martial world was after him, and they had cast a net of heaven and earth. That was not something that could be overcome with skill.

And even if he had accomplished that impossible feat, he should have died after joining the Demonic Cult.

He was an outsider.

The Demonic Cult was not a place that would easily let an outsider who could not assimilate live. If one were to discuss only its hostility and violence, the Demonic Cult at that time was closer to hell than any other place in the world.

Even in such a Demonic Cult, Kang Jin-ho survived and became the cult leader.

And after that, he led that small Demonic Cult and waged war against the entire martial world, finally bringing the world under his feet.

This is not something that can be judged by common sense. He always breaks and twists the impossible.

‘Overwhelming ability and heavenly luck.’

Kang Jin-ho has that.

If one were to think naively, one might underestimate it and say that it was something that could be achieved because Cheongma helped him. But at least Cheongma himself did not think so.

It was also Kang Jin-ho’s ability that made him bow his head first.

The power to attract people, and the decisiveness to never miss an opportunity that came his way.

Even if everyone in the world underestimated Kang Jin-ho, that was why Cheongma could not easily look down on him.

“Then are you going to leave him as he is?”

“The decision is not mine to make. It’s his.”

Cheongma glanced back.

Cheongma, who had been chasing the image of the cafe that was no longer visible, lightly shook his head.

“If he really intends to protect only his world and live in it, I have no intention of interfering with that. No, I really hope that is the case. Then we might be able to become good friends.”

It cannot be said that there is no resentment.

Kang Jin-ho had destroyed everything he had, and in the end, even took his life.

The sensation of the sword that had pierced his heart was still too vivid to put aside just because he was his lord or his friend.

But his goodwill towards Kang Jin-ho was still full within him.

He could not involve emotions that he himself could not grasp in his work.

“However…”

A wry smile appeared on Cheongma’s lips.

“If that were possible, I could give up everything. I can do anything he wants. Even to the point of slightly changing the purpose I am trying to achieve.”

“But can he really live in his own cage?”

The driver in the driver’s seat looked at the rearview mirror with a subtle expression.

It was difficult for him to know.

What that great man wanted.

Whether Kang Jin-ho wanted to live quietly in that cage, or whether he wanted to break out of that cage and stand in his way.

It was too difficult for him to understand Cheongma’s heart.

Cheongma, who was leaning back in the car seat, closed his eyes slightly.

‘That wasn’t like me.’

The last provocation he had made to Kang Jin-ho was a childish act. If it had been his usual self, he would never have done such a thing.

Cheongma honestly admitted that he was excited.

But this was unavoidable.

Anyone in his position would not have been able to help but be excited.

‘If I have committed an act of rudeness, I must apologize. I should prepare a suitable gift.’

Cheongma, who seemed to be pondering for a moment, nodded his head.

“That would be good.”

“Yes?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Cheongma, with a subtle smile, turned his head and looked out the window.

‘Cult Leader, you who were once so great.’

There was no trace of his former self.

Cheongma knew very well that the person sitting in front of him could no longer be called the Demonic Heavenly Sovereign. His martial prowess, his skill, might even surpass the past, but that alone was not enough.

Cheongma tightly gripped his right hand with his left hand.

A twisted desire kept pushing its way up.

The desire to twist Kang Jin-ho’s life, to give him utter despair, and to return him to his former self.

A desire as childish and blatant as a child pulling the hair of someone they like.

Even though he knew that the manifestation of that desire would be harmful to him, Cheongma found it difficult to resist the urge that was stimulating him.

‘How ridiculous.’

Cheongma, who used to be more composed than anyone else, had become someone who trembled because he could not suppress his impulses, and Kang Jin-ho, who had once covered the world like an active volcano, had become someone who protected his own small world.

‘You too, me too…’

His eyes emitted a bright blue light.

‘We can no longer live as we did in the past.’

Isn’t that what makes life interesting?

“Hehehehehe.”

A low laugh escaped from Cheongma’s lips.

Even he did not know how this twisted and distorted relationship would unfold.

The black sedan carrying Cheongma quietly moved along the darkened road.