Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 2075

Clash (6)

KWA-BOOM!

Kang Jin-ho’s jaw twists.

Even he, clad in demonic armor [魔辨 – a type of armor imbued with demonic energy], which is harder than steel and can effortlessly block any aura, momentarily loses consciousness from this single blow.

KWA-BOOM!

A fist slams into his abdomen, twisting his insides.

The pain is beyond intense. And that’s how he feels this power.

Kang Jin-ho’s bloodshot eyes narrow slightly.

WHAM!

Kang Jin-ho, having struck the Black King’s face, kicks off the air and pursues the Black King as he is thrown back.

He grabs the Black King’s leg and slams his head into the ground with both hands.

KWA-BOOOOOOM!

The Black King, buried in the ground, bounces back up like a rubber ball.

“YOU BASTAAAAARD!”

Kang Jin-ho kicks the Black King in the side, sending him flying, and then catches up to him at an incredible speed.

CRACK!

Kang Jin-ho grabs the Black King’s face, slams him into the ground, and continues to run. The ground along their path is gouged out and rises on either side, as if a giant dragon had passed through.

RRRRRRRRRRR!

The rocks melt from the intense demonic energy, and black demonic flames burn like a river in their wake.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The Black King’s fists repeatedly strike Kang Jin-ho’s jaw. But Kang Jin-ho, enduring the blows, presses down on the Black King even harder.

Each blow feels like his head is being completely obliterated.

Kang Jin-ho twists his lips as he sees the Black King, radiating a bloody aura, striking at him.

KWA-BOOM!

The Black King’s head, struck by Kang Jin-ho’s fist, pierces through the ground. Kang Jin-ho unleashes another blow at the Black King’s buried head.

KWA-BOOOOOOM!

A powerful blow that could overturn the entire surface of the earth.

But at that moment, the Black King’s foot slams into Kang Jin-ho’s stomach.

Kang Jin-ho is sent flying in a straight line, crashing into the river of demonic energy he had created.

The Black King, without delay, stumbles and takes a step to the side.

“Ugh…”

His face is horribly distorted. The moment his murderous gaze turns, Kang Jin-ho slowly raises his upper body, looks at the Black King, and then pushes himself up from the ground.

Kang Jin-ho, staggering to his feet, slowly opens his mouth.

“It’s a bit of a sudden question…”

The Black King narrows his eyes.

“…You said we’ve talked enough.”

“I just got curious.”

The Black King silently stares at Kang Jin-ho, as if telling him to speak his mind.

“If my memory serves me right…”

Kang Jin-ho chuckles and continues.

“…You seemed a bit smarter than this?”

The Azure Demon he knew wasn’t one to fight like this.

The Azure Demon Kang Jin-ho remembered was a swordsman who wielded the ultimate quick sword. His icy blade sometimes even made Kang Jin-ho admire him.

Incredibly sharp and incredibly delicate.

He was, in the truest sense, the epitome of a swordsman.

But now, in the Black King’s martial arts, there is not a trace of the Azure Demon he once knew.

His fighting style is more like Kang Jin-ho’s.

“You ask an obvious question.”

The Black King smirks.

“I’m not foolish enough to repeat a mistake I’ve already made. If I know how to use demonic arts more efficiently, it’s right to follow that method. That’s all there is to it.”

Kang Jin-ho laughs softly.

“Is that a lesson you learned with your life?”

“Well, I won’t deny it.”

It’s clearly a provocative remark, but the Black King doesn’t seem the least bit agitated.

“It’s a bit unexpected.”

“…Unexpected?”

Kang Jin-ho twists his lips.

“I thought you were the type with a bit more pride.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

The Black King shrugs.

“But well, that comes from the leader’s misunderstanding. My pride isn’t about the method, but the goal itself.”

The Black King’s cold smile pierces through Kang Jin-ho.

“I have no intention of being proud of the method. The pride I uphold is achieving my goal, no matter what method I use. That’s all.”

“Hmm.”

Kang Jin-ho looks at the Black King with a knowing yet uncertain expression.

“Don’t be too resentful.”

The Black King slowly approaches Kang Jin-ho. The demonic energy flowing from his entire body overlaps and becomes increasingly black.

A dense darkness that seems to suck you in just by looking at it. A deep darkness that shouldn’t exist in this world.

“Thanks to that, I can show you the realm of demonic arts that you can’t reach.”

“Keep talking.”

“Hehehehehe.”

A smile full of joy blooms on the Black King’s face.

He says this, but he is also quite overwhelmed right now.

Yes. His life exists solely for that purpose. Nothing else is needed.

But…

‘Do I still have blood left to boil?’

He thought his blood had already gone cold. But the moment he exchanged blows with Kang Jin-ho, his blood, which he thought would never boil again, was heating up.

‘Maybe I’ve been waiting for this moment more than I thought.’

The Black King couldn’t help but smile.

Yes.

To him, that man cannot be a mere ‘variable’.

“Leader.”

“Hmm?”

The Black King stares at Kang Jin-ho for a moment before opening his mouth.

“You asked me if I’ve ever been happy.”

“…Yes.”

“Let me ask you one in return.”

As Kang Jin-ho silently gazes at him, the Black King slowly parts his lips.

“Have you ever been happy in the Central Plains?”

Kang Jin-ho closes his mouth.

After staring at the Black King silently for a while, Kang Jin-ho reaches into his pocket and pulls out a cigarette from a tattered pack.

Click.

Kang Jin-ho, instead of using a broken lighter, snaps his fingers to light the cigarette and slowly exhales smoke.

“Never.”

“…As I thought.”

“I figured as much.”

The Black King looks at Kang Jin-ho with a puzzled expression at the following words.

“Because I missed this place so badly.”

“Isn’t it funny?”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t have any good memories in this world.”

The Black King nods without realizing it. There’s no way he could have good memories.

“I thought it was obvious, but it wasn’t. If I liked this place so much, I wouldn’t have committed suicide. This world was just terrible to me.”

“It must be the same for all returnees.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Kang Jin-ho chuckles as he exhales smoke.

Having lost his family and his freedom, he struggled at the bottom of this world.

This world was too cold to live on the occasional pitying glances he received.

What did he miss so much?

All he received in this world was coldness. Everything he had came from the Central Plains.

So why was he so empty, so desolate?

“Looking back…”

The white cigarette smoke slowly spreads into the sky.

“…Yeah. There were some fun times too.”

The Black King looks at Kang Jin-ho with a slightly dazed expression.

“I’ve also had regrets.”

“Regrets?”

“That’s always how I am. I only realize what I should have done after it’s too late.”

“When I was in that world, I missed this place, and when I got used to this place, I started dreaming of that time.”

“…What is that?”

“It’s idiotic.”

Kang Jin-ho laughs softly.

It’s ridiculous even as he says it himself, but it’s the truth. He’s the kind of person who doesn’t know what’s precious until he loses it. That’s why he’s been fighting tooth and nail in this life to not lose a single thing.

He embraced everything to an excessive degree, in the eyes of others.

Because he doesn’t know.

Because he’s a fool who doesn’t know what he’ll regret losing.

“Back then, if I…”

Kang Jin-ho looks at the Black King. Strangely, there is no hostility in his gaze.

“If I had felt value in that life, maybe the relationship between you and I would have been different now.”

The Black King smirks.

“No. Nothing would have been different. In the end, I had things I had to do, and you would never have agreed with what I had to do.”

“…Maybe not.”

He answered that way, but Kang Jin-ho’s thoughts were a little different.

What if…

What if he and the Azure Demon had been able to open up to each other a little more?

What if he had known that he wasn’t the only one who had traveled from the modern era to the past to live a second life?

Maybe…

Maybe he wouldn’t have met Park Yu-min, Choi Yeon-ha, Lee Hyun-soo, or anyone else. The Kang Jin-ho of that world would definitely be different from the current Kang Jin-ho.

Maybe he would have been even more radical than the Black King, revealing himself to the world and trying to create a world of martial artists.

But…

The current Kang Jin-ho can’t do that.

Because he knows now.

‘A person is not made up of themselves alone.’

Inside him are the people he has met in this world.

It’s not just a rhetorical expression. He has lived, talked, and formed relationships with countless people… and learned from them.

He learned to care for others from Park Yu-min. He learned from Lee Hyun-soo how to not give up and to assert himself, and he learned from Choi Yeon-ha how to approach others first.

The parts of all the people he has cherished in this third life are now melted into Kang Jin-ho.

“Nothing has changed, but…”

The Black King nods as if he knows what he is about to say.

“You’ve changed too much, Leader.”

“Yeah. And it’s the same for you.”

Kang Jin-ho smiles faintly.

“Can I be honest?”

“…What do you mean?”

“You talked as if you knew everything… but the truth is, I don’t know. What’s right or wrong. Whether what you’re saying is right or not.”

The Black King clicks his tongue as if he expected it.

“The only thing I know for sure is that the past cannot be undone. The reason I couldn’t escape the emptiness in the Central Plains is that I couldn’t bury the past that had already passed as a memory and move on.”

“…Leader.”

“You are my last remaining past.”

Kang Jin-ho slowly clenches his fist.

“I will defeat you, Azure Demon. I don’t know much about the world. The only thing I know is that if I can’t overcome you, I’ll just be like the past.”

The Black King silently stares at Kang Jin-ho.

“So let’s end it here. This long-standing relationship, too.”

The Black King sighs softly.

“It’s natural for people to think from their own perspective, but…”

A faint smile appears on his lips.

“Objectively speaking, you are the ghost from the past, Leader. I’ve been diligently preparing for a hundred years. Until you showed up at the last minute and turned everything upside down.”

“Well, it can’t be helped.”

The corners of Kang Jin-ho’s mouth curl up.

“That’s the relationship between you and me.”

“What a damned ill-fated relationship.”

The two laugh hollowly before slowly approaching each other.

There is no malice.

It’s strange, but in fact, there was no real reason for them to hate each other. There was no reason to hate each other just because they were in each other’s way or had different ideas.

They just know.

They were destined to end up like this, and they would never get what they wanted without overcoming each other.

It’s just a terribly twisted fate. A fate that cannot be unraveled, so it must be severed.

“Prepare yourself, Leader.”

The Black King’s eyes lower.

“Now I’m really going to kill you.”

Kang Jin-ho bares his teeth.

“Try if you can.”

Above the two people enveloped in demonic energy, a dark night sky with no stars is visible.

A deep and murky, and perhaps therefore, even more beautiful sky.