Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1076

“Oppa!”Kang Jin-ho chuckled as Kang Eun-young came running towards the entrance.

‘She’s like a puppy.’

It’s been like this for years, and it’s quite something that she maintains this behavior even though he doesn’t really react much.

“Oppa, have you eaten? Huh?”

Kang Eun-young looked Kang Jin-ho up and down.

“Why?”

“You seem a bit off? Did you fight with Unnie [older sister]?”

“…No.”

“Something feels off, though?”

Kang Eun-young looked at Kang Jin-ho with suspicious eyes. Kang Jin-ho sighed softly.

“Where’s Mother?”

“She went on a date with Dad?”

“…Really?”

They seem to be getting along well.

“It’s like, now that the kids are grown, they’re finding their own lives, you know?”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

A strange feeling washed over him.

Of course, it’s not like he feels sad that his mother’s attention is waning.

‘Their own lives…’

He’s been taking it for granted recently, but in his first life, his father, mother, and Kang Eun-young all died in a car accident.

Thanks to Kang Jin-ho twisting fate, his father, mother, and Kang Eun-young were all finding their own happiness.

‘Twisting fate, huh…’

Kang Jin-ho felt a strange sensation as he headed towards his room.

“Have you eaten?”

“It’s okay. Were you going to make me something if I hadn’t?”

“There’s ramen.”

“…Thanks.”

“If you really want, I can even make it for you. I’m your oppa [older brother], so I can do this much.”

“…No, it’s fine. I have hands too.”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled and went into his room.

After showering, Kang Jin-ho sat cross-legged on his bed.

He hadn’t done this much recently. At some point, his training stopped being something he did artificially. The training that started with physical conditioning had gone through the stage of meditation, and now it had reached a level where he couldn’t progress any further with meditation.

For Kang Jin-ho now, meditation was nothing more than a way to control himself.

But right now, that ‘control’ was necessary.

The one question that had been dominating Kang Jin-ho’s mind recently was:

– Why can’t it be the same as the past?

Until recently, Kang Jin-ho hadn’t questioned this. Because there was an obvious answer.

The world is different.

The Murim [martial arts world] was a world where power ruled everything.

Laws existed, the imperial court existed, and officials existed, but those who lived in the Murim were governed by the power that was close to them rather than the distant laws and imperial court.

That’s why there was no need to worry about this and that.

To achieve something, you just had to become stronger. If you became stronger, everyone would follow. There was no need to think about troublesome things like the Demonic Cult’s control.

A world where power was everything.

That was the Murim.

But this is modern Korea.

If the place where you live is different, the way you live will inevitably change.

Here, you can’t live by just flaunting your power.

Kang Jin-ho definitely thought so.

But….

Now, Kang Jin-ho’s thoughts were being shaken.

Is that really true?

Is it really impossible to live in this world with just power?

Or was it just that he wasn’t strong enough?

Can he deny it?

Kang Jin-ho’s mind calmed down.

‘It’s clear.’

The reason he could dominate the world with just power in the past Murim was very simple. It was because the power of the Demonic Cult surpassed the power of the state.

Even if the country’s control over the Murim was lax, if they had enough power, they should have launched a massive attack on the Demonic Cult when it started to dominate the Murim.

But what actually happened?

They remained silent.

Even though the Demonic Cult was clearly breaking the country’s laws and wielding the Murim as they pleased, the government forces didn’t stop them, and the imperial guards turned their horses towards the foreign enemies.

‘Foreign enemies…’

It’s a ridiculous story.

Even though the enemy is in the middle of their territory, they desperately look for enemies outside. They don’t have the confidence to fight them, so they acknowledge and accept it.

It was undoubtedly the power of the Demonic Cult that created that situation.

So, what about now?

How is the current Kang Jin-ho different from the Kang Jin-ho of that time?

There are endless things to point out.

But Kang Jin-ho knew very well what the most fundamental difference was.

‘I’m weak.’

He is weak.

A true strong person is not swayed.

The reason why Kang Jin-ho in the Murim could rule as he pleased, even though he was reckless, was because no one dared to challenge his strength.

Overwhelming strength transcends good and evil.

The reason why the Demonic Cult, a group with a terrible name, could dominate the Murim was because the Demonic Cult’s power was strong enough to suppress its notoriety.

All adverse conditions can be suppressed with just power.

And what was the reason why Kang Jin-ho was betrayed and defeated by the combined forces of the Murim at the very last moment?

Was it because he tried to spread the Asura Technique in the Murim?

Was it because he was separated from his personal guards who followed him like their own lives?

Was it because Cheongma betrayed him?

No.

‘Because I was weak.’

He couldn’t overcome it.

If Kang Jin-ho had been stronger, Cheongma wouldn’t have dared to betray him. No matter what injustice he faced, even if Kang Jin-ho led the Demonic Cult into the burning flames, they wouldn’t have been able to stop him.

But Kang Jin-ho was weak.

To be precise, he wasn’t strong enough that no one dared to oppose him.

The reason why the Demonic Cult followed Kang Jin-ho with their lives wasn’t because he was cruel or coercive. Nor was it because he led someone with overwhelming charisma.

Just strength.

The power of pure strength without any other clumsy modifiers.

So, what about in this world? What’s different?

The reason why Kang Jin-ho was able to subjugate the Round Table was because he was stronger than the Elder Knights.

If he had lost to the Elder Knights, the General Assembly would have ended there.

The reason why he was able to stop the Japanese invasion was also simple. If he didn’t have the power to overwhelm all those who attacked alone, he wouldn’t have been able to think about fighting them on the sea.

What was the reason he survived the fierce battle with Hong Wang?

What was the reason he was able to subjugate the Yeongnam Association without any problems?

What was the reason he was able to swallow the General Assembly in an instant?

No, before that….

What was the reason he was able to protect his family, who should have died in a car accident?

There is only one answer.

It was because Kang Jin-ho was strong.

For the sole reason that he was strong, Kang Jin-ho had been running without brakes. He sometimes agonized and sometimes worried, but that agony didn’t slow down Kang Jin-ho’s speed.

But recently, Kang Jin-ho had begun to face a crossroads of choices.

If he chose one, he had to give up the other.

Why?

‘Because I’m not strong enough.’

A true strong person doesn’t need to choose. If they want something, they can have it all. Choosing is just something that those who can’t have both do.

What this situation is saying is simple.

Kang Jin-ho’s ‘strength’ is not overcoming the ‘strength’ of the world.

In the small world where Kang Jin-ho only protected his family, Kang Jin-ho’s strength was overwhelming. That’s why there was no need to worry about anything. If he wanted something, he could have it, and if someone blocked him, he could kill them.

In that world, all Kang Jin-ho had to do was decide which direction to go.

But what about now?

‘It’s not enough.’

His strength is not enough.

What he has to face is no longer small.

No, rather, it should be seen as too powerful.

The Hong Wang faction, Shinichikai [a Japanese organization], and even the state are all opponents that are too much for the current Kang Jin-ho.

When the power of authority pressed down on him, he couldn’t resist with force.

Even though the Hong Wang faction tried to kill him, running away was the best he could do, and even though Japan tried to trample on his land, he couldn’t punish them.

Because his strength is not enough.

Because he is weak.

If Kang Jin-ho was strong enough to trample them all, his response would have been different. All the situations that are tormenting him now ultimately stem from Kang Jin-ho’s weakness.

Utter weakness.

He is so weak that it’s laughable.

Kang Jin-ho slowly opened his eyes.

But his eyes were endlessly sunken, unlike usual.

He struggled.

It’s not like Kang Jin-ho didn’t try. Knowing that he wasn’t as strong as before, he did everything he could.

Because he lacked the brainpower, he put someone next to him to use their head for him, and because he lacked power, he gave away what he had without hesitation. At the same time, he didn’t hesitate to accept any power he could.

He filled, filled, and filled again.

Even so, it’s not enough.

It’s so insufficient that his thirst never stops.

The cause of everything is one. Then….

—I need power, right?

Kang Jin-ho closed his eyes.

Even if he kills, kills, and kills again, the Red River (赤川) inside him doesn’t disappear.

It’s only natural.

In the first place, he and Red River are not different people. It’s not like a split personality. The Demonic Lord Red River is just another path he lived. There’s no way to separate something that wasn’t different in the first place.

Even if he kills and kills again, it will come back to life. Until the moment Kang Jin-ho dies.

Red River is ultimately another side of Kang Jin-ho that craves power.

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

This thirst.

The reason for this unquenchable thirst.

Kang Jin-ho knows.

‘I just need to become stronger.’

More.

More than in the past.

Even though the Demonic Lord Red River had accumulated power that had no more room to grow, he couldn’t protect anything.

What he had to protect was only one thing.

His own life.

The Demonic Lord Red River, who devoted everything to the single purpose of survival, couldn’t even protect his own wish of ‘survival’ at the last moment.

He was utterly weak.

At some point, he had been thinking that.

If he could catch up to the Demonic Lord Red River, he could do anything.

A sublime realm that he couldn’t even grasp how much time he would have to spend to reach with his newly born body.

Overwhelming power that could crush the Kang Jin-ho of that time with just one finger.

He thought that by regaining that power, he could have everything he wanted.

Because this place is weak.

But now he knows.

The modern world is not absolutely weaker than the Murim. No, the evil hidden behind the seemingly ordinary appearance was enough to easily surpass the Murim of the past.

The power that reaches out persistently. And the violence that tries to kill him.

To assert himself against all that power….

“I have to become stronger than my past self….

Than that Demonic Lord Red River….”

“I have to become stronger.”

An obvious conclusion.

It was such an obvious conclusion, yet he had come a long way around.

Kang Jin-ho slowly curled up the corners of his mouth.

‘I will become stronger.’

More than now.

More than in the past.

To the point where he wouldn’t be swayed by any of the many things he held in his hands.