Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1145

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Buses lined up, speeding down the road.

Early in the morning, the buses that had been traveling on the highway began to enter Seoul. Bae Jae-min frowned as he watched the traffic start to build up.

‘I just can’t get used to life in Seoul.’

It wasn’t that he wanted to act like a country bumpkin, but every time he saw the cars packed so tightly that there wasn’t even room for a needle to fit, he couldn’t help but think that this wasn’t a place for people to live.

He was just glad that he wasn’t the one driving.

He couldn’t understand how the people of Seoul, who commuted to work by car every morning, could endure this frustration.

‘Is it because I’m from the Assembly [a secluded martial arts organization]?’

Come to think of it, that might be part of the reason.

In the Assembly, almost no one drove cars. They lived a life of doing their work and training in the mountains with good water and fresh air, so they rarely experienced the things that others did on a daily basis.

‘That just shows how out of touch the Assembly was with society.’

A bitter smile appeared on his face.

The way the Assembly viewed society was not much different from the feeling of a fox looking at grapes that were out of reach.

There was a subtle sense of elitism within the Assembly.

‘We are different from ordinary people. Therefore, we are superior to them. If we wanted to, we could mingle with them at any time and take over the world they occupy, but we simply don’t reach out because our world is superior.’

They shared such ridiculous beliefs with each other.

Deep down, they all knew the truth.

That the people who made up the Assembly were outsiders who couldn’t fit into ordinary society.

In the past, that might have been true.

Before the world developed and advanced so much, learning martial arts was a way to see a world that ordinary people couldn’t even dream of.

Leaping across rivers in a single bound, breaking rocks with one punch.

A life that was sometimes called a hermit, sometimes called a noble.

Their ancestors had lived such lives.

But what about now?

It was a world where ordinary people flew through the sky in airplanes and traveled faster than martial artists on high-speed trains.

The martial artists who used to run faster than horses and leap across rivers without boats were now slower than ordinary people.

Even as they saw and felt the gap widening, they couldn’t do anything about the gap that had already formed.

So, they turned a blind eye to the bright world and simply created their own world to live in.

That was how the Assembly was before Kang Jin-ho came along.

But since Kang Jin-ho arrived, unbelievable changes have been happening in an instant.

‘Is this how those who opened up to the world felt in the past?’

Kang Jin-ho forcibly opened the closed doors of the Assembly and led them out into the outside world.

‘It’s ridiculous, really.’

Who would have imagined that Bae Jae-min would be commuting to Seoul like this just six months ago?

A life of just doing what the Assembly told him to do and then fading away.

That was the future that Bae Jae-min had envisioned for himself until six months ago.

Of course, not much had changed.

His job was a little different, and the place he went to work was different, but Bae Jae-min’s life hadn’t changed that much.

Even so, Bae Jae-min couldn’t hide his excitement.

Those who had lived ordinary lives wouldn’t understand. The experience of feeling like the world around you is expanding.

Even though the world had become bigger, it wasn’t like the space he moved in had become bigger, but the fact that there were more places he could go was definitely a good thing.

‘Except for the fact that I have to travel on a slow bus.’

Bae Jae-min sighed.

“Hey, Jae-min.”

“Yes, Deputy Manager?”

Deputy Manager Kwak Hyun-tae chuckled and leaned his head towards him.

“How’s the apartment hunting going?”

“I need a day off to look for an apartment.”

“You must have looked around a bit, though.”

“I’ve seen some, but it’s not easy. The places nearby are too expensive, and the ones far away are cheap, but I’m worried about the commute.”

“You make so much money, why are you being so stingy?”

“You make more than I do, Deputy Manager.”

“Give it up. You won’t say that once you raise kids. Just feeding my two kids sucks up my entire salary.”

“Aren’t you exaggerating a bit too much?”

“Does it sound like I’m exaggerating?”

Bae Jae-min chuckled at Kwak Hyun-tae’s teasing.

“More importantly, shouldn’t you be looking for a place too, Deputy Manager?”

“In Seoul? Forget it.”

“You have enough money for that, don’t you?”

“Ha, that’s why you bachelors are like this. Hey, man. It’s not just about having money. What about the kids’ schools, and what about my wife’s job? It’s not like you can just find a room and move like you bachelors, man.”

“I guess that’s true. But you’ll have to move eventually, won’t you?”

“Yeah… but that’s for later. I’ll have to live as a separated father for a while. Ha, I’ve been commuting to the Assembly and living as a weekend couple for three years, and just when I finally bought a house and moved, who knew I’d be going to Seoul.”

“But why did you apply?”

“Man, of course, I had to apply! Why are you asking the obvious?”

Bae Jae-min chuckled.

“Anyway, we have to do something. It’s not easy commuting by bus like this every morning.”

“That’s right.”

Bae Jae-min agreed with Kwak Hyun-tae.

If ordinary people commuted by bus for two hours every morning, they would have physical problems, but the people here now were all martial artists.

There were no physical problems. Not even close.

But just because their bodies could handle it didn’t mean there weren’t other problems.

It wasn’t like they worked short hours at MK, and if they spent about four hours a day commuting, other activities would be almost impossible.

That’s why everyone was looking for a place near the company.

“It’s a bit bewildering since I’ve never thought about it before. I thought I’d live and die near the Assembly.”

“We’re all the same, I guess.”

Bae Jae-min smiled bitterly and glanced to the other side.

Everyone’s expressions weren’t bad.

They were adapting to a new life and making mistakes here and there, but most of them were satisfied with this change.

‘I guess so.’

There were many reasons, but most of all, it was encouraging that they, who had been treated like surplus power within the Assembly, had become the ones leading the new wave.

Bae Jae-min was most proud of that fact.

“Are you doing well at work?”

“Perfectly, perfectly.”

“…This kid’s gotten cocky.”

“Ah, I’m really doing perfectly. Considering how much I suffered during training, I have to do well. Or else, I’m afraid the instructors will come after me again.”

“I heard they’re planning to send those who are lacking in performance back for retraining.”

“Is that true?”

“That’s the rumor, the rumor.”

Bae Jae-min looked horrified.

‘I have to go through that hellish process again?’

No way, absolutely not.

Of course, the training process at Jae-kyung [the training facility] wasn’t that difficult. The schedule was hard, and the training hours were long, but for them, who had been training in martial arts, it was like light exercise.

But what really tormented them was the process of learning and mastering something.

For them, who were used to accepting and mastering everything with their bodies, wrestling with books and computers was like half torture.

They had endured it with the will to become useful human beings, but they didn’t want to do it again.

“I have to work hard. So I don’t get dragged back to training.”

“Tsk, tsk, you’re hopeless.”

“…Yes?”

Kwak Hyun-tae clicked his tongue and said,

“If you think you can live off what you’ve learned once, you’ll be left behind, man. Isn’t it a world where people who don’t develop themselves can’t survive?”

“…That’s true.”

“Man, it’s the same with living as a martial artist. If you learn a good martial art and get ahead in the beginning, what happens if you don’t train? You get overtaken and left behind, right?”

Bae Jae-min nodded.

That was common sense.

“Do you think it’s any different here? Right now, it’s just us. Soon, the people who received the second round of training will come in, and after that, they’ll keep hiring new employees. If they’re better than us, we’ll be pushed out. You have to keep learning and studying until the moment you quit the company.”

A sigh escaped him.

‘There’s no easy field in the world.’

There was a time when Bae Jae-min felt a sense of pride in having learned martial arts.

Even though he had failed, he had endured the grueling training, so he had a strange confidence that he wouldn’t be second to anyone in terms of perseverance, no matter what job he took on.

But as you live in the world, that kind of pride is shattered without mercy.

Others were no different.

It was just that the fields they worked in and their forms were different, but the people who lived in the world were all making their own efforts with their own perseverance.

“We’re here. Let’s get off.”

“Yes.”

As they arrived in front of the building, people got up and got off the bus. Bae Jae-min joined the crowd and went outside.

Bae Jae-min chuckled as he looked at the building in front of him.

He still couldn’t get used to the fact that the place he was going to work was not the old Assembly building, but a newly built office building.

Every time he saw the shiny building, he felt like he was in someone else’s house.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning!”

The people he met as he entered the building greeted him cheerfully. It was a liveliness that he had never seen before.

When they were working in the Assembly, they were indifferent to each other.

‘They’re looking down on each other.’

People are so strange.

After all, the office workers of the Assembly were dropouts who had deviated from the path of martial arts. Since they all had that perception of each other, they didn’t respect each other much.

The funny thing was that they were looking down on other dropouts even though they were dropouts themselves. It must have been the result of a baseless confidence that ‘I’m a little different.’

Or maybe they didn’t want to be reminded of their own situation by seeing each other.

Anyway, as they finished their training and started working at MK, they gained a vitality that they didn’t have before. He didn’t know how long it had been since he had greeted each other with a smile on their faces as they went to work.

‘This must be the taste of life.’

It was a bit funny to say this, but these days, he felt like he knew what the taste of life was. He couldn’t help but whistle.

“Oh? Manager, good morning!”

Bae Jae-min bowed deeply as he noticed Lee Hyun-soo in front of him.

“Hmm, Bae Jae-min?”

“Yes, it’s Bae Jae-min!”

“Good. You, come up to my office.”

“…Yes?”

“I said, come up.”

Forget about the taste of life.

What kind of bad luck was this?

Why did he have to meet Lee Hyun-soo in the morning and be dragged up to his office? He had been living a good life lately.

“M-Manager, did Jae-min do something wrong?”

“Oh… what’s your name?”

“I’m Deputy Manager Kwak Hyun-tae.”

“Ah, that’s right. You come up too.”

“Yes?”

Kwak Hyun-tae’s face quickly soured. But Lee Hyun-soo was merciless.

“I said, come up.”

“…Yes.”

Bae Jae-min looked at Kwak Hyun-tae with a look of relief.

At least he wasn’t going to die alone.