Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1045

Jeon Byeong-su swallowed hard, his throat dry.

‘This is the first time I’m reporting to this person…’

Thinking about it makes me even more nervous.

‘No, there’s no reason to be nervous.’

What does he have to be inferior to this person?

He joined the company earlier. He’s older. And, crucially, he’s a self-made man who climbed to the position of team leader in the challenging finance department.

If you break it down, there’s nothing he’s worse at than this person.

But…

‘Come on, let’s talk sense.’ Even thinking about it himself, it’s just absurd.

No matter how much the position of director is like a ring on your ear or a ring on your nose [meaning, a position that is more for show than actual power], it’s basically a higher position than a team leader in finance.

Even if he’s a director with no real power, he should be nervous, but there’s no way he wouldn’t be nervous dealing with the director of the secretary’s office, who is the living power itself in any company.

‘When you think about it, he’s really amazing…’

It’s amazing that he secured the position of director of the finance secretary’s office at such a young age, not even forty yet.

But what’s even more amazing is that the current secretary’s office director is showing a clear difference from the previous secretary’s office directors.

While the previous secretary’s office directors were just managers managing Chairman Hwang Jeong-hu’s schedule, the current secretary’s office director is directly involved in many areas beyond that role.

Living power.

In reality, the people you should be most wary of in company life are these people. Unlike the board members or presidents who don’t try to touch the department heads as long as you just match their tastes and don’t oppose their authority, these people directly evaluate performance and ability.

What he says and reports in this meeting today could mean a major change in his future company life.

Jeon Byeong-su swallowed hard and looked at the man in front of him.

Jo Gyu-min.

Jo Gyu-min’s eyes narrowed slightly as he read the report. After quickly scanning the report, Jo Gyu-min sighed slightly and placed the report on the table.

“Team Leader Jeon Byeong-su.”

“Yes.”

Jeon Byeong-su replied briefly in a nervous voice.

“I’ve seen the report, but I want to hear the real story. How is it?”

“Well…”

Jeon Byeong-su wiped his forehead once and continued.

“Basically, it’s not a situation where we can assess work skills.”

Jo Gyu-min covered his face with his hand and leaned back on the sofa.

“To what extent?”

“They can’t even handle basic word processing properly. I don’t think I need to mention other work programs. In the meantime, strangely, those who have worked in accounting-related tasks are showing some level of proficiency.”

“…I heard that my sister-in-law is capable.”

“Pardon?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Jo Gyu-min rubbed his lips and shook his head.

There are two reasons.

‘The accounting team would have gathered the best talents.’

One is that since the most important part of the general meeting is fund management, those who are considered capable would have been all assigned to the accounting team. It’s a general meeting that doesn’t require new strategies or perfect operation, so it’s only natural.

The other is the existence of Lee Hyun-ju.

It’s also true that the general meeting went through a major change since Lee Hyun-ju took over the accounting department. There’s no way she would have left her incompetent subordinates alone.

“Is it very difficult?”

“We lowered the level of the basic training significantly because we received prior information. But they can’t even properly absorb the lowered level of training.”

Jo Gyu-min hung his head.

‘It’s one thing to throw a burden, but this is too much.’

Thinking of Lee Hyun-ju’s face makes him grind his teeth.

She asked for employee training, but it’s like she sent three-year-olds.

‘How can they be so unprepared?’

It’s not something he can’t understand.

When you think about it, the martial artists of the general meeting were similar to athletes going through the process of elite sports. Just like students in sports clubs aiming to go pro give up all general education courses and focus only on sports, the martial artists of the general meeting would have thrown away all education and focused only on martial arts.

Just like athletes who have devoted everything to sports face a bleak reality when they fail to go pro, those who have devoted their lives to martial arts become helpless when they can no longer live as martial artists.

What Jo Gyu-min doesn’t understand is not the fact that such a series of events occurred, but that the subsequent retraining process was completely ignored.

Of course, this is not Lee Hyun-ju’s fault.

“…Isn’t there anything positive at all?”

“Well…”

Jeon Byeong-su smiled awkwardly and opened his mouth.

“It might sound strange, but there are surprisingly many positive aspects.”

“Pardon?”

Jo Gyu-min raised his head in surprise. Combining the contents of the report and what Jeon Byeong-su said, it’s a situation that couldn’t be more terrible, but there are many positive aspects?

What is he talking about?

Jeon Byeong-su smiled as if he understood Jo Gyu-min’s question and opened his mouth.

“First of all, these people’s physical strength is no joke.”

‘I guess so.’

They are martial artists, after all.

From their perspective, they are people who can no longer live as martial artists because they lack talent, but from the perspective of an ordinary person like Jo Gyu-min, they are still not human [meaning, they are exceptionally strong].

Even Lee Hyun-su, who can be said to be the weakest among them, was at a level where she could play with a sturdy young man like Jo Gyu-min, who had learned self-defense for security, with just one finger.

So, their physical strength must be overflowing.

“This is very important.”

“It’s good that they have a lot of physical strength, but…”

“It’s more important than you think. Because, after all, concentration is also based on physical strength. It’s amazing that they are still lively until the last training session, even though they start training at 9 am and continue until 10 pm.”

“Hmm, indeed.”

“Thanks to that, we were able to increase the training hours. Rather, the instructors’ physical strength couldn’t keep up, so we started to recruit more people and rotate them in two shifts.”

Jo Gyu-min nodded.

It’s definitely a good thing. Increasing training hours means that the training period can be shortened. Of course, since they have to teach from more basic parts than expected, the overall training period will only increase, not decrease.

“The second thing is… well, this is…”

Jeon Byeong-su chuckled.

‘Huh?’

His reaction is a bit strange. He has to report, but he doesn’t know how to say it.

“It feels strange even as I say it, but I’ll report it as it is. The trainees are smart.”

“…Pardon?”

Jo Gyu-min tilted his head.

According to the report…

“From the report and what you’ve said, they seem to be almost at the level of idiots?”

“That’s correct. But they are smart. I’d have to say they are smart idiots.”

“…I don’t quite understand.”

Jeon Byeong-su could only smile awkwardly.

“I don’t know how to explain it. If you look at their knowledge level or ability, the average of the trainees doesn’t even reach the level of a general humanities high school student.”

“Yes. And?”

“But their learning ability itself is very high. To be more precise, their comprehension is below average, but their memory is amazing. They don’t forget what they’ve learned once.”

“Pardon?”

“I don’t know if this expression is correct, but… they are typical cases of ‘my child is smart but doesn’t study.’ And almost all of the trainees are like that.”

At that moment, someone came to Jo Gyu-min’s mind.

‘Come to think of it, Kang Jin-ho was like that too.’

In high school, Kang Jin-ho was the last in the entire school. That guy studied for a year and got a score that allowed him to enter Korea University as the top student.

He thought it was because Kang Jin-ho was a genius, but now that he thinks about it, there might be something in the martial arts they learn that makes people’s memory extraordinary.

“So, in conclusion?”

“Yes.”

Jeon Byeong-su nodded.

“It’s a fortunate thing from the teaching perspective. The teaching process might be difficult, but once they learn it, their ability will be certain, right?”

“I guess so.”

Jo Gyu-min showed interest as if he was intrigued.

‘Does it make your head smarter? Then the versatility of martial arts will also increase.’

“Is the lack of comprehension because they have little knowledge?”

“No. They just seem to be bad at thinking.”

“That’s why it’s difficult to say. Their memory is certain, but their comprehension is ambiguous. They seem smart, but they are stupid, and they seem stupid, but they are smart…”

Where have I heard this story before?

Are they mini Kang Jin-hos?

“Hmm, definitely…”

Jeon Byeong-su summarized.

“They are also motivated, so if we can increase the training period a little and recruit more instructors to increase the daily training hours, we can get results. However, this part is not something I can decide on my own, so I need the chairman’s approval.”

“I’ll get the approval.”

“Ah.”

Jo Gyu-min smiled.

“Since the team leader wants it, we should support it as much as possible. It’s true that we pushed you into an unreasonable task.”

“If you do that, I will get results.”

Jo Gyu-min looked at Jeon Byeong-su with a meaningful gaze.

‘He seems to be a talented person…’

It was a waste for him to stay in the training team. His abilities haven’t been verified yet, but his attitude is good.

Usually, when people are assigned to this kind of task, they come to report and complain about how difficult it is, but he is reporting only the facts and suggesting how to compensate.

It seems like a natural thing, but it’s the most difficult thing to find someone who handles the natural things naturally. In that sense, Jeon Byeong-su was someone he could trust with work.

“Please take good care of this training. If the results are good, there will definitely be a reward.”

“Ah, that’s…”

Jeon Byeong-su scratched his head.

“There’s one more thing to report, and I don’t know if this will be a contribution even if the training goes well.”

“Pardon?”

What does this mean?

Jeon Byeong-su smiled awkwardly as he saw Jo Gyu-min trying to express his question.

“Right now, that Kang Jin-ho? That person…”

“Pardon?”

Why is that name coming up again here?

“What is he doing… it’s like, well…”

As Jeon Byeong-su’s reaction and the name Kang Jin-ho combined, anxiety began to creep in.