Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1958

The board members of the General Assembly, including Kang Jin-ho, and the key figures of the Hong King faction, including Hong Wang, sat around a large table.

The expressions on their faces as they faced each other were heavy and somber.

“Well, first…”

Chai Ke-chang spoke first.

In this situation, he didn’t want to engage in a childish power struggle. Since no one else was speaking, he had to be the one to start the conversation.

“According to the government, the nuclear missile launch facility seems to be completely occupied.”

“What an obvious thing to say.”

Lee Hyun-soo grumbled with an annoyed tone, but Chai Ke-chang ignored it.

“It hasn’t been determined yet whether there are any survivors inside. However, judging from the circumstances, it seems that there are personnel left to control the interior. It’s unknown whether they were originally collaborators or if they are cooperating to survive.”

Lee Hyun-soo glanced at Kang Jin-ho.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know. Creating problems based on pre-planted individuals, or using those recruited on the spot, are both things that Cheongma [a powerful antagonist] does well.”

“…Seriously.”

Lee Hyun-soo sighed.

He had once thought that Kang Jin-ho was unusually calm when facing Chang Wang.

He and Wiggins were swept away by Chang Wang’s schemes without even a chance to breathe, but Kang Jin-ho showed no signs of being shaken by Chang Wang’s attempts to manipulate them.

Lee Hyun-soo thought it was because of Kang Jin-ho’s calmness, but now it seemed that Kang Jin-ho had already experienced similar things countless times.

“It’s probably both. The key personnel were probably recruited beforehand. And the rest were probably recruited on the spot. People tend to waver when they see those they worked with suddenly siding with the other side.”

“Dying together isn’t that hard, surprisingly. What’s hard is dying alone.”

“That’s definitely true.”

Lee Hyun-soo nodded, looking like he could roughly guess how the situation had unfolded.

“So…”

Wiggins spoke, looking at Chai Ke-chang.

“What about entering the interior? Is there no way to check what’s going on inside?”

“As you know…”

Chai Ke-chang glanced at the others before continuing.

“This is a nuclear missile launch facility.”

Chai Ke-chang turned on a pre-prepared visual, and the internal blueprints and cross-sections appeared on a large screen.

Bang Jin-hoon chuckled at the sight.

“How can we understand anything from that…”

“Hmm, it’s a complicated structure.”

“…Yeah.”

Oh. You understand it well.

Am I the only one who’s dumb?

Bang Jin-hoon turned to his colleague, and Bator smiled warmly at him, as if to reassure him that he wasn’t alone.

“Nuclear missile launch facilities are designed to extremely defend against external intrusion. And since those guarding the inside are no longer soldiers but Murim [martial arts world] people, it’s almost impossible to infiltrate without being detected.”

Upon hearing that, Wiggins turned to Kang Jin-ho.

“Lord, what about the Blood Demon? You said they are better at infiltration than you.”

“It’s impossible.”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

“It might have been possible if Cheongma didn’t know the Blood Demon was on our side. But he’s not someone who misses such information. He probably already has defenses in place.”

“It seems like they didn’t expect to lose the Blood King, but is it still the same even considering that?”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

“The Blood King is like an upgraded version of the Blood Demon… but even so, they are just limbs to Cheongma. Losing one of them won’t significantly reduce their power.”

“Hmm.”

Wiggins groaned.

He had hoped for the best, but it seemed like it was as he expected.

“So, infiltration is impossible.”

“Yes. That’s what my analysis shows.”

At Chai Ke-chang’s words, Lee Hyun-soo scratched his head vigorously.

“Damn it, we should have thought of this beforehand.”

There is no better place to block a large number of people with a small number of people than this place.

For the Black King faction, where each member is incredibly strong but the numbers are extremely small, the nuclear missile launch facility is the best terrain to occupy and the place where they can maximize efficiency.

“We’re not gods, how could we have known this?”

Bang Jin-hoon grumbled.

“We couldn’t even imagine attacking a military facility until that crazy bastard started this. If we could predict that, we wouldn’t be sitting here, we’d be fortune tellers.”

“That’s true, but…”

It’s frustrating.

Even to Lee Hyun-soo, it seemed almost impossible to attack that place. Infiltrating and assassinating them was out of the question. Then, going in head-on…

“If we go in head-on?”

“Yes?”

At Hong Wang’s words, Chai Ke-chang flinched and turned his head.

“I understand that it’s a difficult space for a large number of people to enter. But they are also a small group. What about selecting our best and breaking through?”

“It’s possible.”

Chai Ke-chang nodded immediately.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“However, we don’t know how they will react while we attempt to enter. Even if we select all the best we can, the enemies are not easy to deal with. If it takes time to subdue them, nuclear missiles could be launched. Then…”

Bator drew his thumb across his thick neck.

“We’ll become traitors, and maybe even innocent Murim people will have to learn how to dodge bullets.”

“In the worst case…”

It’s impossible to destroy the world with a dozen nuclear missiles.

In the worst-case scenario, the defense systems of countries that detect the launched nuclear missiles could be activated, leading to a chain reaction of nuclear launches, but that’s almost a doomsday scenario.

If the countries of the world are sane, they have likely already removed the counterattack system for missiles launched from China.

But that’s just a way to avoid the worst of the worst, and it’s not a reason to be optimistic about the situation.

What if they launch missiles, and those missiles hit cities without being intercepted?

If nuclear weapons fall on major cities around the world, at least hundreds of millions of people will die. The human and economic damage would be incalculable.

And the bigger problem is the anger of those who lost their families and acquaintances because of what the Murim people did.

People who are just now understanding what Murim people are, will they harbor hatred for their existence?

‘This is too terrible to imagine.’

Wiggins rubbed his face.

The Round Table and the Central Plains [two major factions in the Murim world] have existed in the world for hundreds, even thousands of years. There was a time when they too walked proudly in the sunlit streets.

But the reason why two groups, who had little interaction, gave up the world and slipped into the shadows is simple. It’s because they don’t want to coexist with them.

How many people can remain calm knowing that the person sitting right next to them could blow their head off in a second if they wanted to?

It’s like people walking around the streets in broad daylight with loaded machine guns.

‘No. It’s worse than that.’

The target threatened by a gun can be countered with a gun. If guns are allowed in a country, I can buy a gun too.

But it’s impossible to deal with Murim people in that way.

The only way to counter a Murim person is to learn martial arts myself. But martial arts cannot be learned as quickly and easily as guns.

The reason why martial arts became obsolete is now starting to strangle the necks of those who have gained an advantage through guns.

“In the worst case, we might follow the path of the Demonic Cult.”

Everyone groaned at Lee Hyun-soo’s words.

“It’s undeniable that fear was the reason why the Demonic Cult was massacred.”

“Watch your mouth, Lee Hyun-soo. We…”

Suddenly, Chai Ke-chang closed his mouth.

What he was originally going to say was, ‘Were you afraid of that insignificant Demonic Cult?’, but he couldn’t say that in front of Kang Jin-ho and Jang Min.

Not even Hong Wang could say such things in front of them now.

“Or what? Just because they were unpleasant to look at?”

When Chai Ke-chang hesitated to answer, Lee Hyun-soo spoke as if to provoke him.

“The fear that we might be attacked someday drives people to extremes. Massacres usually happen at times like that.”

“That’s true.”

“The fact that Murim people can kill them if they want to will be a great fear for them. But an even greater fear is that something like this could happen at any time.”

“Ten people. Just ten people. Those ten people are shaking the lives of over a hundred million people. How do you think the leaders of each country will take this? Right now, there are countless nuclear missile launch facilities all over the world that Murim people can occupy if they want to. Do you think they can all be shut down?”

A groan escaped from Chai Ke-chang’s mouth.

“If I were the President of the United States, I would choose to kill all the Murim people.”

“That’s why we’ve been coexisting until now.”

“That’s right. But now there’s a reason to do it even if it’s difficult. Thanks to those crazy bastards.”

Lee Hyun-soo didn’t think things would go that extreme either. But it was undeniable that the situation had become terrible.

“It’s one guy, one guy. There are more than a few crazy people among the national leaders. If just one of them starts doing crazy things, the flow will change.”

Chai Ke-chang bit his lip as he recalled the faces of some leaders in his mind. There were definitely a few who would do such things.

And it was obvious where that spark would fly.

“So…”

Kang Jin-ho, who had been listening to the conversation quietly, opened his mouth.

“To avoid the worst, we have to somehow resolve this issue.”

“…Yes. It sounds ridiculous, but it’s true.”

Lee Hyun-soo sighed.

“If this issue is resolved by the military instead of us, we won’t be able to escape the perception that we created the problem and they solved it. That will further accelerate their negative perception of us. Maybe not right away…”

“So, that perception will eventually tighten the noose around our necks.”

“In my opinion…”

Kang Jin-ho nodded quietly.

He understood.

He understood, but this was a hopeless situation. As he had said earlier, it was almost impossible to attack that place.

“It’s easier said than done…”

Just as a hollow voice escaped from Wiggins’ mouth, it happened.

Bzzzzzz.

Kang Jin-ho’s cell phone, which was on the table, began to vibrate.

He didn’t even need to check the number on the screen to know who it was.

“It’s Cheongma.”

The room fell silent in an instant.