Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1226

“So…”

Choi Yeon-ha touched her forehead and sat on the sofa.

“No, I mean…”

Choi Yeon-ha, with a slightly trembling hand, tried to grab the glass on the table, but seeing it was empty, she bit her lip.

“Water! Quick!”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Kang Jin-ho immediately got up and fetched water. Choi Yeon-ha took the glass of cold water and downed it in one go, then placed it on the table with a thud.

“So…”

It was the third time she’d said the same thing.

But Kang Jin-ho understood her reaction. Anyone would be flustered. Just knowing about the existence of the Murim world [a world of martial arts practitioners with superhuman abilities] would send ordinary people into a panic.

So, hearing that Kang Jin-ho, who was living his third life, was the ruler of the Korean Murim world, how absurd must it be?

“First of all, is all of this true?”

“It must be true. Of course, it’s true. It’d be easier for a cat to write King Lear than for Kang Jin-ho to make up this story.”

It felt like she’d been throwing subtle insults at him since a while ago…

Kang Jin-ho had a few things to say, but he kept his mouth shut because he knew he was in the wrong. If he said the wrong thing now, he didn’t know what he’d be subjected to.

“So, there are people in the world who use superpowers…”

“Not superpowers, martial arts.”

“Whatever!”

“…Yes.”

Choi Yeon-ha frowned and continued.

“The person in front of me uses superpowers and has died twice and come back to life?”

“And is over five hundred years old?”

“That’s not true.”

Kang Jin-ho firmly refuted.

“I lived through that era, but I didn’t live for five hundred years.”

“But you’re over a hundred years old.”

“Uh, well…”

This was a bit ambiguous to deny.

Of course, he could deny it if he wanted to. His second life wasn’t connected to his current one. Kang Jin-ho’s second life had come to a complete end with his death.

The current Kang Jin-ho was no different from being reborn. If he had to add his age from his past life just because he remembered it, who wouldn’t feel wronged? Of course, Kang Jin-ho’s case was a bit different.

“My physical age is now twenty…”

“Stop with the meaningless excuses, old man.”

It hurt.

It hurt more than being stabbed with a knife. While Kang Jin-ho groaned in pain, the cruel Choi Yeon-ha was sighing deeply.

“Is it that you’re Chairman Hwang Jung-hoo’s hidden son, or maybe the illegitimate child of a powerful politician? I was prepared for a mob boss, but what is this fantasy?”

Choi Yeon-ha scratched her head vigorously. Her long hair stood on end.

“To summarize…”

Choi Yeon-ha’s eyes blazed.

“Jin-ho, you’re the head of that Korean something-or-other meeting where those superpowered people gather, and MK is a subsidiary of that meeting, right?”

“Yes.”

“And you weren’t just a figurehead, but the real head?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, my head.”

Choi Yeon-ha pressed her temples.

“Another glass of water.”

“Yes.”

As Kang Jin-ho went to get water, Choi Yeon-ha leaned back on the sofa and stared blankly at the ceiling.

‘It feels like I just watched a movie.’

And it’s a sci-fi genre.

What? You think it’s a mystery or fantasy?

Right now, a person is in Andromeda, what genre other than sci-fi would you use?

‘Wow. This is more than I thought.’

If someone else had said these things, Choi Yeon-ha would have laughed without hesitation and picked up the phone. Then she would have called a mental hospital. Telling them to admit this person immediately.

But as far as Choi Yeon-ha knew, Kang Jin-ho wasn’t the type to tell unnecessary lies. And this was too detailed and long-winded to be a lie.

If someone could make up a lie like this, they should use that talent and debut as a novelist. Of course, Kang Jin-ho had no talent in that area at all.

‘So, it’s the truth…’

But isn’t it too outrageous to be the truth?

“Here’s the water.”

Choi Yeon-ha, who had been staring blankly, reached out and pinched Kang Jin-ho’s cheek.

“Ouch…”

“You’re a person if I can grab you…”

Choi Yeon-ha let go, took the water, and moved her lips. Her face showed that she still couldn’t come to her senses.

“Jin-ho.”

“Yes?”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you…”

It seemed like she didn’t believe him.

“It’s really not that I don’t believe you… it’s just, you know, that feeling. Like, uh… I understand, but I can’t accept it, that kind of feeling? That kind of… subtle and strange feeling, you know?”

“I don’t understand at all, but I think I do.”

“You know, right?

Right? You know? So…”

Choi Yeon-ha swallowed hard and opened her mouth.

“So, is there anything that can prove this, something that’s clearly visible? Something that an ordinary person can’t…”

At that moment, a flame flickered from Kang Jin-ho’s fingertip.

The flame grew in size, then shrank back to the size of a match flame.

“Wow, I’m… going crazy.”

Choi Yeon-ha’s mouth hung open, looking like she’d just downed three straight glasses of single malt whiskey.

It felt like too much information had entered her head at once, and she couldn’t sort it out.

‘I’m crazy too.’

To not hate Kang Jin-ho in this situation.

She had thought he was hiding some great secret, but this was not a secret, it was a bomb. She knew that Kang Jin-ho had abilities that were incomparable to ordinary people.

She had even thought of him as half-superman.

But that was just a metaphor, she didn’t think he wasn’t a real person!

Ah, no, he is a person. A strange person.

“Ah, I feel like steam is coming out of my head.”

“You seem fine…”

Choi Yeon-ha glared at him, and Kang Jin-ho coughed and subtly moved back.

His mouth was his downfall.

“I…”

“No, wait a minute. Wait. I’m still processing.”

After a few sighs, groans, and deep breaths, Choi Yeon-ha regained her composure. Her face was still flushed, but her expression had almost returned to normal.

“Haa…”

Choi Yeon-ha sighed briefly and stared at Kang Jin-ho’s face. Then, she reached out a slightly trembling hand towards Kang Jin-ho’s face.

Her hand, which seemed to be gently stroking Kang Jin-ho’s cheek, grabbed his cheek instead.

“At least pretend it hurts!”

“Ouch, ouch!”

“Damn it!”

Choi Yeon-ha took her hand off Kang Jin-ho’s face and gritted her teeth.

“Ah, I’ve been scammed. I thought I was the older one.”

‘Is that what’s important now?’

Her train of thought was going in a slightly strange direction.

“Hey, scammer.”

“Yes.”

“How could you hide something like that?”

“No, no, I couldn’t have not hidden it. If I had said it, I would have been treated like a madman.”

You know it well.

“Ah, you’re annoying. It’s frustrating.”

Choi Yeon-ha waved her hand.

“Okay. Anyway, thank you for telling me the truth.”

“…Do you believe me?”

“How can I not believe you? If you were a bit of a playboy, I’d think it was a lie, but you’re so serious, I don’t think you’d lie with that face.”

Choi Yeon-ha pouted. Actually, this wasn’t in the realm of logic.

Choi Yeon-ha knew Kang Jin-ho. She couldn’t say she knew him well because of what she had just heard, but she could tell what kind of emotions Kang Jin-ho was expressing.

The look on Kang Jin-ho’s face as he told the story was definitely not the face of someone who was lying.

Choi Yeon-ha, who had been pouting, looked at Kang Jin-ho’s face and sighed.

“Don’t make that face.”

“What face?”

“Do you think I’d be uncomfortable just because I heard that story? Why are you making a face like you don’t trust people? You’re not a child.”

Did I?

Kang Jin-ho touched his face. An ordinary person wouldn’t be able to tell his expression by touching his face, but Kang Jin-ho’s sensitive senses made it possible.

It didn’t seem any different?

It was a strange thing.

Even with precise equipment, it wouldn’t be easy to capture his subtle changes in expression, but Choi Yeon-ha did it as if it were natural.

“Don’t worry about it. You’ll get used to it soon. It’s just that you’re having trouble processing because you heard too much at once.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded quietly.

It was a relief that Choi Yeon-ha didn’t seem to be too shocked.

However…

“Ah, I’m calming down now.”

Choi Yeon-ha took another drink of cold water, wiped her mouth, and got up from her seat.

“Why…”

“Come here.”

Kang Jin-ho awkwardly stood up.

“Hurry.”

At Choi Yeon-ha’s urging, Kang Jin-ho nodded and hesitantly approached her.

When he was right in front of her, Choi Yeon-ha looked up at Kang Jin-ho. Then, she stretched out her arms and hugged Kang Jin-ho.

Kang Jin-ho instinctively squirmed.

“Stay still. Where did you learn to be so fussy?”

Kang Jin-ho froze like a statue with a tense face.

Pat, pat.

Choi Yeon-ha’s hand lightly patted Kang Jin-ho’s back.

“Sorry, I was out of it. I should have done this first, but I was a bit late.”

“You’ve been through a lot, you’ve been through a lot. It must have been hard.”

It was strange.

It was a really strange feeling.

As Choi Yeon-ha said, he had lived for a century. As his body became younger, his mind also became younger, but a century of life didn’t just disappear.

Yet, at this moment, Kang Jin-ho was bewildered by the strange emotion that welled up in his chest.

Choi Yeon-ha’s hand lightly patted Kang Jin-ho’s back.

“It’s even sadder that you told the story so casually. It must have been so hard, all alone.”

Kang Jin-ho bit his lip.

He didn’t think the day would come when he would be understood. And he didn’t seek understanding. He had done too many things to be comforted by anyone.

But what was this…

The warmth he felt on his back was caressing him.

It was soothing something that was broken.

It was a little ticklish.

It was warm.

Like the afternoon sun.

“You’ve been through a lot. It’ll be okay now.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly closed his eyes.

Ah!

I…

I wanted to hear these words.

Just these words…

A hand came to mind.

The hand that was extended to him when he was collapsing and dying on a cold winter night.

That warmth.

The warmth he thought he would never feel again in his life.

The hand his master had extended to him.

‘Sister.’

A person who could soothe the wounds of others.

A person who could cover up broken wounds.

Just…

A person who could just reach out their hand first.

A person who could reach out to someone who was terrified and pat them on the back.

It’s strange.

Now, Kang Jin-ho should be the one comforting others, but he was still being comforted by this small gesture.

Kang Jin-ho raised his hand and hugged Choi Yeon-ha.

Choi Yeon-ha, who seemed slightly flustered, smiled gently and stroked Kang Jin-ho’s hair.

“It’s okay.”

The sound of the clock ticking.

The sound of the refrigerator running.

The sound of the wind brushing against the window.

“It’s okay now, it’s okay.”

The warmth of a person was warm.

Unexpected comfort, an unexpected caress.

Kang Jin-ho melted into the warmth with a childlike face.

A little awkward.

A little warm.