Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1028

“Hoo…”

Kang Jin-ho let out a deep sigh.

‘This is awkward.’

The sight of himself in the mirror felt incredibly strange.

A sharp navy suit, complete with a tie.

The clerk who sold him the suit had clapped and taken pictures, saying it was a perfect fit. It was that impeccable.

In the end, clothes are only as good as the hanger they’re on. There wasn’t a single person in the Assembly [a martial arts organization] who didn’t look good in a suit. A body honed by exercise was bound to look perfect in a suit. Just like Kang Jin-ho now.

He looked so sharp that he could have been on the cover of a men’s magazine, but Kang Jin-ho still felt awkward looking at himself in the mirror.

It was understandable.

Since his discharge, Kang Jin-ho’s wardrobe had consisted of jeans and t-shirts, or hoodies, or tracksuits.

These formal clothes felt unnecessarily stuffy.

But it couldn’t be helped.

A person going to work couldn’t wear a tracksuit. There was a certain formality required for the job.

‘I have to wear this for a whole month?’

Jae-kyung had set the new employee training period at three months. For a typical employee, three months of training was required.

However, the office workers of the Assembly, including Kang Jin-ho, didn’t need to learn the corporate culture to adapt to Jae-kyung. They only needed to learn the work-related tasks.

And even though they were people who had switched to office work due to a lack of talent, everyone at Jae-kyung was basically a martial artist. In terms of basic physical fitness, they couldn’t even be compared to typical new employees.

That’s why Hwang Jung-hoo and Jo Gyu-min had created a schedule that condensed the three-month training period for ordinary employees into one month, cramming the education in.

Naturally, the number of instructors was also tripled. Hwang Jung-hoo had kept his word about preparing the highest quality training program.

But that was Hwang Jung-hoo’s perspective.

From Kang Jin-ho’s perspective, who actually had to go through that schedule, a month was an incredibly long time.

“Hmph.”

Kang Jin-ho cracked his neck a couple of times and turned to walk outside.

Opening the door, Kang Jin-ho was startled to see his family standing in front of the door.

“…Why?”

Baek Hyun-jung clapped her hands.

“It’s our son’s first day at work, of course we have to see him off!”

Baek Hyun-jung and Kang Yu-hwan were looking at Kang Jin-ho with faces that seemed like they couldn’t be any happier. He couldn’t help but sweat under their gaze.

“It’s not that big of a deal.”

“It is a big deal. It’s a big deal. It’s our son’s first day at one of the leading companies in Korea.”

“I’m an intern.”

“An intern is still something! The competition for internships there is fierce.”

Kang Jin-ho forcibly suppressed the sigh that was about to escape.

When you think about it, his family might be the people who took Kang Jin-ho the least seriously in Korea. The head of the Assembly was going to receive new employee training, and they were watching with such emotion.

“Oppa, have a good day!”

Even the usually cheeky Kang Eun-young was calmly congratulating him at this moment.

It was ironic. So ironic.

“…Okay, then.”

Kang Jin-ho awkwardly nodded and headed to the front door. He took out his newly bought shoes from the shoe rack, took a deep breath, and slipped his feet into them.

‘This is awkward.’

Come to think of it, he had worn suits several times before, but this might be the first time he was wearing dress shoes. Even when he wore a suit, he always wore sneakers.

The feeling of the leather constricting his feet was incredibly awkward.

“Wow, you look like a real office worker!”

“That’s our son!”

“Be careful on your way.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded vigorously and hurried out the front door. He was afraid of what they might say if he stayed there any longer.

Kang Jin-ho let out a deep sigh as he stepped outside.

‘Is this really such a big deal?’

It felt like the people around him were making more of a fuss about it.

Kang Jin-ho slumped his shoulders and got into his car.

Woo-woo-woo-woong.

The familiar engine sound greeted him as he started the car. It was something that happened every time he went to work, but today it felt a little different.

Kang Jin-ho entered the company address into the navigation system, moistened his dry lips with his tongue, and stepped on the accelerator.

***

“It’s Jae-kyung.”

Bae Jae-min’s mouth slightly opened as he looked at the towering building.

The Jae-kyung Group’s logo, known to everyone in Korea, was proudly displayed at the top of the building, which seemed to reach the sky.

‘So, I’m going to be trained here starting today?’

It was a strange feeling.

The Jae-kyung Group was one of the leading groups in Korea.

Just being employed by Jae-kyung was considered a guarantee of a successful life.

The number one company for job seekers.

Of course, the Jae-kyung Group wasn’t the company with the highest sales in Korea, but it was always ranked number one in surveys of job seekers.

Unlike other companies that ruthlessly cut down employees with poor performance, Jae-kyung was known as a company that treated its employees like family and tried to move forward together.

It was said that if Hwang Jung-hoo had abandoned this principle and pushed his employees onto a knife’s edge like other large corporations, Jae-kyung would have become the number one company in Korea much earlier.

That was Jae-kyung.

And he was going to be trained at such a place.

Of course, training was just training, and it didn’t mean he was joining Jae-kyung, but he couldn’t help but feel a sense of novelty.

‘This is amazing.’

It was an undeniable fact.

In the Assembly, office workers were close to being dropouts.

No one called them that, and no one openly ignored them, but Bae Jae-min knew it himself. If he had just a little more talent in martial arts, he wouldn’t have applied for office work either.

The ideal of the martial artists in the Assembly was to become stronger. Those who didn’t have the desire to become stronger didn’t become martial artists.

In fact, martial artists were close to being fools. Even in this era where individual strength was losing its meaning, they were people who had bet everything on becoming stronger and had rejected an ordinary life.

It was even more so for office workers.

Those who couldn’t become stronger no matter how hard they tried with their given talents. Most of them gave up the life of a martial artist. The moment they couldn’t become stronger, the inconvenience of having to give up an ordinary life outweighed the advantages they could gain as a martial artist.

That’s why many people hid the fact that they were martial artists and blended into the ordinary world.

The office workers of the Assembly were on that boundary.

They could no longer become stronger, and they had encountered a wall that they couldn’t overcome with effort, so they could no longer live as martial artists, but they couldn’t let go of their attachment and couldn’t leave the martial arts world.

Those were the office workers of the Assembly. So, they couldn’t be treated well. They hadn’t learned anything properly, and they didn’t receive any handover of work. They were just thrown in and had to somehow handle the tasks they were given.

‘I’m just living day by day.’

What made it even harder for Bae Jae-min was that it wasn’t hard to live as an office worker.

To be blunt, the office work in the Assembly was close to being a free ride. In military terms, it was a cushy job.

Why?

Because no one got angry.

In the end, criticism and complaints about work started from expectations. The moment you failed to meet the expectation that you would do this much, the criticism began.

But no one had any expectations for the office workers of the Assembly.

Everyone knew that they weren’t professional office workers, and no one thought that they would do anything great.

Just spending time day by day while watching the life they admired from close by.

That was what Bae Jae-min thought of the office workers of the Assembly.

But…

‘Jae-kyung, huh.’

That perception was starting to change at this moment.

Bae Jae-min swallowed hard as he looked at the tall Jae-kyung building.

Jae-kyung was one of the leading companies in Korea. And they were going to be taught at such a company. He didn’t know how they had managed to do this, but one thing was certain.

‘The Head… and Director Lee don’t think of us as disposable.’

They were teaching them. They were training them.

That meant they were going to use them properly.

Even Bae Jae-min had given up on himself, but the two people leading the Assembly were trying to teach them and use them somehow.

The fact that he felt a strange sense of emotion at that fact meant that Bae Jae-min was currently at rock bottom.

‘Can I do it?’

To be honest, he wasn’t confident.

The people receiving new employee training at Jae-kyung were some of the most talented people in Korea. Only the most outstanding talents who had overcome the fierce job competition could cross the threshold of Jae-kyung.

Could Bae Jae-min handle the training that those people received?

It definitely wouldn’t be easy.

But Bae Jae-min had applied for the training the moment he heard about it, before anyone else.

Being expected.

Being seen as useful to someone.

That small satisfaction, which was nothing to others, was so desperate for Bae Jae-min.

“What are you doing here?”

“Huh?”

Bae Jae-min turned his head.

Kwak Jin-hyung, a deputy from his department, was waving his hand and approaching him.

“You’re here?”

“Why aren’t you going in?”

“I’m getting nervous about going in.”

“…Right?”

Kwak Jin-hyung looked up at the Jae-kyung building and sighed.

“I want to act like I’m not a big deal, but my legs are shaking so much that I can’t even pretend. I’m so nervous.”

“Me too. I’m worried about whether I can do well.”

“Well, to be realistic, Director Lee wouldn’t have created a program that we couldn’t handle.”

“Right?”

“…No. If it’s that person, they might have.”

The two looked at each other with uneasy eyes.

“Anyway, let’s go in. We can’t turn back after coming this far. We have our pride.”

“Of course. Then…”

It was at that moment.

Broom OOOOOOOl

—1—I——I—-1~I—-1——厂히

A familiar engine sound reached their ears. Their hearing, several times more sensitive than ordinary people, picked up the sound and sent a signal to their brains.

“What?”

“What is it?”

Their heads snapped around.

A familiar sports car came into their view.

“The Head?”

“Huh? The Head?”

Broom-broom-broom.

The sports car that had sped down the road entered the underground parking lot without any hesitation.

“…Was that him?”

“Looking at the license plate, it seems like it. Why is he here?”

“…Is it a visit of encouragement? He didn’t have to go that far.”

The two tilted their heads and stared at the underground parking lot for a while before turning around. Or, they were about to turn around.

At that moment, Kang Jin-ho walked out of the underground parking lot with an awkward gait.

‘A suit?’

‘Dress shoes?’

The two’s eyes began to tremble the moment they saw Kang Jin-ho’s attire.

Could it be?

Kang Jin-ho, who had come outside, noticed the two and started walking towards them.

“Ah, hello!”

“Good morning, Head!”

Kang Jin-ho waved his hand.

“Don’t call me Head here. Call me Kang Jin-ho.”

“…Yes?”

Kang Jin-ho replied with a blank face.

“I’m also receiving training.”

What kind of nonsense was this?

Why was the Head receiving training?

“More importantly, have you seen a cafe nearby? I forgot to get coffee on my way to work.”

“There, there’s one over there!”

“I’ll take you there!”

The two, terrified, led the way to the cafe they had seen earlier. Even as they walked to the cafe, their faces were pale.

‘I’m receiving training with the Head?’

‘What did Director Lee do, for goodness sake!’

It was the moment they realized that this training wasn’t going to be ordinary.