Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1067

A hand tightened around his neck.

The hand gripping him felt devoid of human warmth. An icy cold hand slowly tightened around his neck with a force that robbed him of any will to resist.

“Ugh!”

A groan escaped him involuntarily.

In that moment, Seok Dong-soo rediscovered a forgotten sensation.

Violence.

The power that oppresses the body.

The first power a human experiences isn’t wealth or authority. When the usefulness of wealth and the might of power are still beyond comprehension, everyone recognizes violence as the only true power.

But as they grow older, people forget violence.

Because the act of bodies colliding and inflicting pain on each other becomes increasingly distant.

What remains is other power.

As he grew older, Seok Dong-soo became fascinated by authority.

The power to approach the source of secrets.

The power to control people at will with a mere glance or gesture.

It was impossible for him not to be captivated by the brilliance of that power.

But at this moment…

Seok Dong-soo was forced to realize.

How merciless the power he had forgotten was.

This power, which he had erased from his mind, believing he would never encounter it again, evoked a primal fear in him.

He could tell.

Even if his mind didn’t remember, his body fully recalled violence. This abnormal power could crush his neck like chalk with just a slight twist of the fingers.

“Ugh…”

It was absurd.

In this society, violence no longer had a place. In a society ruled by rationality, violence was merely a procedure to prove one’s own irrationality.

Conversation.

If only he could talk for a moment. Then he could completely prove that this person’s thinking was wrong.

But…

Something within Seok Dong-soo crumbled as he looked at Kang Jin-ho’s face.

‘It won’t work.’

He had no choice but to realize it.

When you see someone strangling you with an unbearable expression, you have to accept it.

This person was different.

This person didn’t fit into the category of humans he knew.

“People often….”

Kang Jin-ho opened his mouth calmly.

A voice that didn’t threaten.

A voice that simply recited emotionlessly.

That was why Kang Jin-ho’s words penetrated Seok Dong-soo’s ears even more clearly.

“…make a mistake.”

“When they’re surrounded by pretty good people.”

Kang Jin-ho’s face contorted.

He was smiling.

This was a smile.

But Seok Dong-soo had never seen such a twisted smile before.

He had met many people in his profession, but none of them had ever made such a face. Compared to this expression, the serial killer he had seen in prison had a more human face.

It was so eerie, so cruel.

“So they forget.”

“Ugh…”

The force tightening around his neck grew stronger.

“What kind of human I am.”

Kang Jin-ho slowly grabbed Seok Dong-soo’s neck and lifted him.

Crack, crack.

Seok Dong-soo’s neck, unable to bear his own weight, began to make sounds as if it would break at any moment.

“Ghk, ugh! Ghk!”

Every human is in contact with death.

In South Korea alone, nearly a thousand people die every day. Death comes to everyone equally, without discrimination. But people never think that they are in contact with death.

Because they can’t live that way.

If they thought that death was always circling around them, humans wouldn’t be able to maintain their lives. Death is an absolute oppressor that turns dreams, hopes, and even will into nothing.

How could one live if they thought that death could come suddenly one day without any reason or justification?

That’s why people forget about death.

While they feel sorry for the deaths of others, they never think that death will come to them.

But at times like this.

When the hand of a demon-like being tightens around your neck, when your neck screams as if it’s about to break, when your arms and legs are paralyzed and unable to move, humans finally realize that death is breathing behind their backs.

The human reaction in such moments is always the same.

“Sa…”

He desperately cried out with a throat that was so constricted he couldn’t even breathe.

“Sa, save… me…”

Reason and intellect disappear, leaving only the primal desire to live.

That’s what violence is like.

“You want to talk, don’t you?”

Kang Jin-ho opened his mouth, calmly looking at Seok Dong-soo.

“I’ve thought a lot on my way here. I wanted to hear what you had to say. Even if I don’t understand it, you must have had some reason.”

Seok Dong-soo nodded vigorously.

He was just frustrated that his head wouldn’t move as he wanted. He couldn’t tell if what was flowing down his face was saliva or tears that had run down from his eyes and pooled in his mouth.

“So I wanted to listen. But…”

Kang Jin-ho’s smile deepened.

“I had a thought.”

“Why should I?”

Kang Jin-ho’s hand began to tighten around Seok Dong-soo’s neck even more.

“What does it matter to me what you think or why you acted? In the end, I have to create one outcome, no matter what you think.”

Crack.

Every time he heard the sound of bones colliding in his neck, his heart felt like it was stopping.

Tears flowed so much that he couldn’t see properly.

“For a moment, I couldn’t understand myself. There was no reason for me to think like that. So I wondered why I was thinking this way.”

Seok Dong-soo knew.

This guy was crazy.

He was completely insane. No one sane could strangle someone’s neck while muttering things that no one could understand.

“Then I came to a conclusion.”

Kang Jin-ho lifted Seok Dong-soo a little higher. The force tightening around his neck grew stronger. It felt like his neck would break at any moment.

“I wanted to pretend to be nice.”

A low chuckle was heard.

A chuckle that sent shivers down his spine just by hearing it. It was a bizarre and twisted chuckle that no sane person could ever make.

‘Why! Why are you doing this to me! Why!’

Seok Dong-soo’s mind went blank.

“It’s ridiculous.”

Kang Jin-ho bared his teeth.

“Not knowing my place.”

He had been feeling it for some time.

A stumble.

An inability to move forward.

Kang Jin-ho thought it was the process of adapting to this world.

Because he could no longer live as he used to.

Because he couldn’t live as he pleased anymore.

He thought it was something he had to accept.

But after experiencing this, he realized.

No.

That wasn’t it.

He hadn’t adapted to the world.

By overcoming the Heavenly Demon, Kang Jin-ho thought he was no longer the Heavenly Demon but Kang Jin-ho.

That change in perception, which was nothing at all.

That change was restricting Kang Jin-ho’s actions.

He became accustomed to being expected, and he became accustomed to fulfilling the expectations of others.

In the process, he tried to satisfy others.

Bluntly?

He tried to be a good person.

If it had been the old Kang Jin-ho, he wouldn’t have been curious about what kind of person Seok Dong-soo was or what he was thinking. He would have just broken the neck of anyone who stood in his way and bitten their jugular.

That was Kang Jin-ho.

But the current Kang Jin-ho was curious about the thoughts of Seok Dong-soo, whom he had never met before.

Isn’t it funny?

‘How dare I…’

Kang Jin-ho knew.

Just because he had overcome the Heavenly Demon didn’t mean that the life Kang Jin-ho had lived as the Heavenly Demon would disappear.

Would those who had died by his hand recognize Kang Jin-ho and the Heavenly Demon as different people?

Even if they did, he couldn’t deceive himself. He was a murderer who had killed countless people.

Even if he came to another world and lived another life, the fact that he was the worst murderer would not change.

And yet…

He listened to others, thought rationally, and judged right from wrong logically.

Isn’t it funny?

“It helped.”

It was nothing special.

But thanks to that insignificant thing, Kang Jin-ho fully realized what he had been doing.

Playing the good boy didn’t suit him.

Kang Jin-ho knew.

There was no one more evil than him in this world.

So why hesitate?

No matter what he did, the blood on his hands wouldn’t disappear, and no matter how much he pretended, his true nature wouldn’t change…

Kang Jin-ho chuckled softly and shook his head with a helpless expression.

Isn’t it quite enjoyable?

This nature couldn’t be hidden.

When he oppressed and crushed his opponent with force, Kang Jin-ho experienced unparalleled pleasure.

A different kind of pleasure from what he felt in battles where blood and death were exchanged.

As long as he couldn’t deny that pleasure, Kang Jin-ho couldn’t change at all.

A murderer who lived soaked in blood.

That was Kang Jin-ho’s true nature.

“So…”

Kang Jin-ho slowly bent his arm and slowly pulled Seok Dong-soo closer.

It wasn’t intentional, but thanks to his entanglement with Seok Dong-soo, Kang Jin-ho had accurately grasped his situation. Seok Dong-soo had no idea how much this small incident would affect Kang Jin-ho in the future.

He would always repay grudges.

And if he could repay kindness, he should.

Then could this also be considered kindness?

Kang Jin-ho bared his teeth and smiled.

“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you.”

“…Ugh.”

“However…”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes stared directly into Seok Dong-soo’s eyes.

“You have to pay the price for making me annoyed.”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes turned blood red.

“Look at me.”

“Look into my eyes.”

Seok Dong-soo’s eyes, which had been half-crazed with fear and terror, began to glaze over like a simpleton.

His whole body lost strength and slumped.

Small convulsions.

“Ghk! Ugh! Ugh!”

Even though the hand gripping his neck had loosened, Seok Dong-soo couldn’t move.

“Ugh!”

Convulsions.

His eyelids twitched uncontrollably, and white foam formed on his lips. His pale face convulsed, and his whole body had a seizure as if he had epilepsy.

Kang Jin-ho smiled as he watched.

His body was here, but his soul was probably seeing hell right now.

And even if he escaped from that hell, he would never be able to oppose Kang Jin-ho again. The curse Kang Jin-ho had placed on his soul was clearly engraved.

Thud.

When Kang Jin-ho released his hand, Seok Dong-soo’s body fell to the floor like a bundle of straw.

Looking down at his trembling body, Kang Jin-ho raised a hand and covered his face.

‘At this rate…’

He had to admit that Hong Wang calling him a demon after spitting blood was understandable.

Kang Jin-ho turned his head and looked at the window.

A night with darkness.

The moonlight pouring through the window was chilling.

And then, Kang Jin-ho smiled a smile that was colder than the moonlight in that darkness.

His body slowly seeped into the darkness.

Where Kang Jin-ho had disappeared, only Seok Dong-soo remained, lying on the floor, convulsing endlessly.