Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1267

“No……”

Airports are always crowded.

Despite the economic downturn, the number of people traveling abroad continues to increase. That’s why Incheon Airport is always overflowing with people, just like now.

But this was a slightly different case.

“Have a safe trip, Oppa!”

“Hyung, you have to win!”

“The pride of Seongsim! The standard-bearer of Seongsim!”

Park Yu-min smiled with a very awkward expression.

It felt like there were more children from the orphanage than fans who came to the airport.

“Hyung.”

“Oh, Jin-seong.”

Park Yu-min turned to Han Jin-seong with a bewildered look.

“Why did you bring all the kids?”

“I didn’t exactly plan to….”

Han Jin-seong scratched his head and laughed.

Today was the day Park Yu-min was leaving for overseas. The winners of each league gather in one place for the New Year to compete for the world championship. Naturally, Park Yu-min’s team, the Korean champion, would participate in the world championship as the Korean representative.

He had specifically told them not to come to see him off, but he thought one or two might show up. They were such rebellious kids. But he never expected most of the orphanage to come to see him off.

“Yaaayyyy!”

Park Yu-min, who was looking at something fluttering, turned to Han Jin-seong with a listless face.

“……Did you make a banner too?”

“Uh… well, I tried to stop them, Hyung.”

Park Yu-min stared blankly at the banner. It seemed to be handmade, not made by a company. Looking at the banner with the crooked letters that read ‘Park Yu-min, Fighting!’, he didn’t know what to say….

“Sorry. Is it embarrassing, Hyung? I’ll tell them to take it down.”

“No. Wait a minute.”

“Huh?”

Park Yu-min rummaged in his pocket and took out his cell phone, then started taking pictures of the banner.

Then, after checking if the pictures came out well, he put his phone back in his pocket with a satisfied look.

“Why did you take pictures of that?”

“I’ll look at them when I get nervous.”

“••••••Huh?”

“It’s not easy to find something funnier than this.”

Park Yu-min curled up the corners of his mouth.

“You really have to give it to Hyung.”

Han Jin-seong slightly turned his head and looked behind him. Looking at the children who were buzzing around, his face flushed.

Han Jin-seong might have gotten angry out of embarrassment. Even though he knew it wasn’t right. But Park Yu-min seemed to be happy that the children had come.

‘How embarrassing.’

Han Jin-seong sighed.

Looking at Park Yu-min, he seemed to understand what it meant to be an adult.

“Thanks, Jin-seong. It feels like I’m getting strength from everyone coming. You must be busy.”

“Busy? And I didn’t bring them. That guy brought them.”

At Han Jin-seong’s nod, Park Yu-min’s gaze turned.

Slurp.

Kang Jin-ho, sitting on an airport bench and sipping an iced Americano, came into his view.

“That hyung doesn’t seem to feel cold.”

“He’s always like that.”

Park Yu-min smiled and approached the children. After talking to each child and thanking them, Park Yu-min waved his hand and approached Kang Jin-ho.

“Why bother?”

“Me, or you?”

“You.”

Kang Jin-ho shrugged.

“Not really. I was going to come anyway, and I just chartered two buses on the way.”

“That’s a bother.”

“It’s okay.”

Kang Jin-ho looked at Park Yu-min’s face and smiled lightly.

Park Yu-min’s face, which had been stiff when they first met, was now relaxed.

“Are you feeling less nervous?”

“I guess so.”

Park Yu-min gave a wry smile.

‘He’s like a ghost.’

The team members would think that Park Yu-min wasn’t nervous at all. He actually pretended not to be nervous. But the body is honest. For the past few days, Park Yu-min had been suffering from stomachaches.

When he was a pro gamer before, there was no concept of a world championship. There were world championships held as events from time to time, but they had no authority, and they weren’t really considered part of a career, so he could participate just to relax.

But now it’s different.

Now, even if you dominate domestically, you will be undervalued if you don’t achieve results in the world championship. It was an unfamiliar situation even for Park Yu-min, who had a long career.

At first, he thought nothing of it, but as the departure date approached, his stomach started to hurt. No one might think so, but representing the country was a stress that was hard for Park Yu-min, who had a timid side, to handle.

It seemed that the stress was relieved when he saw the children’s faces.

“Do you see?”

“Huh?”

“Them?”

Park Yu-min turned his head and looked at the children.

“Do you think they’ll be disappointed or angry if you don’t win?”

“……No.”

They weren’t the kind of kids who would do that.

The children at the orphanage were just cheering for Park Yu-min. Even if Park Yu-min couldn’t play on the winning team, even if he was a pro gamer who was criticized for his lack of skill, they wouldn’t be any different from now.

“Then isn’t that enough?”

Park Yu-min curled up the corners of his mouth.

“I guess so.”

Park Yu-min glanced at Kang Jin-ho.

He felt relieved.

He couldn’t say that he had completely gotten rid of his nervousness, but he knew what to think about when he got nervous.

‘Still, this is unusual.’

It was funny that Kang Jin-ho was saying this.

If it were the old Kang Jin-ho, he wouldn’t have cared about Park Yu-min’s nervousness, or he would have told him to overcome it with willpower.

‘He’s become more sensitive.’

Thinking about when his relationship with Kang Jin-ho first started, so much had changed.

“Hyung, the coach says it’s time.”

“Ah, okay.”

When Park Yu-min looked, Kang Jin-ho nodded quietly.

“Go quickly. Be careful.”

“Jin-ho.”

“Huh?”

“I know you’ll do well, but please take care of the kids while I’m gone.”

“Don’t worry.”

“And……”

Park Yu-min said with a slight smile.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I can leave without worry. It would have been hard without you.”

“You’re talking nonsense.”

“I thought I should say it once.”

Park Yu-min smiled at the children.

“I’m a little sad that they seem to like you more than me these days.”

“It’s probably the difference in effort.”

“Ugh…… I can’t deny it. I shouldn’t make excuses about being busy and should go more often.”

Park Yu-min smiled brightly.

“I’ll come back with a win.”

“Okay.”

Kang Jin-ho waved his hand and quietly watched Park Yu-min head to the departure gate.

The hesitation in his walk had disappeared. He seemed to have relaxed.

Han Jin-seong spoke quietly.

“Will he be okay, Hyung?”

“What do you mean?”

“Yu-min hyung can’t eat if it’s not Korean food.”

He had a picky side in strange areas.

Han Jin-seong shrugged.

“But he seems pretty amazing. He’s going as a representative of the country, after all.”

“That’s right.”

Kang Jin-ho also felt very strange.

That Park Yu-min was representing the country.

‘It’s strangely interesting.’

It wasn’t that he was looking down on Park Yu-min. It was just amazing that Park Yu-min had grown up so much.

Well.

Time is like flowing water. Just because the time that has passed accumulates, it doesn’t feel like that time is long. There isn’t much difference between the time that has passed for a twenty-year-old and the time that has passed for a seventy-year-old.

The important thing is not the time that has passed.

“Yu-min hyung is leaving.”

Kang Jin-ho, who saw Park Yu-min entering the departure gate, nodded lightly.

“It’s time to go.”

U o »

Huh.

Han Jin-seong went to get the children.

But Kang Jin-ho didn’t go towards the children and quietly turned his gaze to the departure gate.

‘Overseas……’

Coming to the airport made him feel a little strange.

Ever since he thought about Hong Wang a while ago, he couldn’t get him out of his head.

‘Is it a competitive spirit?’

Or is it a desire to compete against a strong person?

Or, to put it coldly, it might be a desire to make up for a battle that could only be seen as a defeat.

Whatever the reason, Hong Wang was stubbornly holding Kang Jin-ho back.

‘It’s okay.’

Kang Jin-ho cut off his lingering feelings and turned his body.

Either way, he and Hong Wang would have to fight again. It wasn’t a matter of the General Assembly and the Hong Wang faction. It was a matter between him and Hong Wang.

As long as Hong Wang knew him, and he knew Hong Wang, they would clash fists again anytime, anywhere. That was the essence of a martial artist who couldn’t tolerate anyone stronger than himself under the sky.

‘How much stronger has Hong Wang become?’

What he felt while facing Hong Wang’s martial arts with his whole body.

That was that Hong Wang was very immature.

It might sound a little funny.

If Hong Wang was immature, it meant that Kang Jin-ho couldn’t even handle that immature person. But this was the truth.

The reason was simple.

Hong Wang had not met an opponent worthy of him.

Hong Wang’s martial prowess was enough to aim for the best even in the past Central Plains [a historical term referring to the central region of China, often considered the cradle of Chinese civilization], but unfortunately, Hong Wang lived in modern China.

Even though the lineage of martial artists is still continuing in China, it is difficult for a strong person like Hong Wang to find an opponent who can properly display his martial arts.

The other three kings, who should be his opponents, cannot engage in a match with Hong Wang because of their power. Even if they were to compete, it wouldn’t be a life-or-death match.

In the end, Kang Jin-ho was the only one who had ever fought Hong Wang with all his might.

While others might need several battles, someone like Hong Wang can gain a lot from just one match. Perhaps Hong Wang learned from Kang Jin-ho how a martial artist should fight in a real battle.

He broke through the wall.

He must have become stronger.

That Hong Wang…….

“Hyung?”

“••••••Hmm?”

“Why are you smiling?”

At Han Jin-seong’s words, Kang Jin-ho raised his finger and brushed his lip.

He wasn’t aware that he was smiling.

“Did something good happen?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

“That’s strange.”

Han Jin-seong tilted his head and pointed forward.

“The kids are all ready. Hyung, are you going to take the bus with us?”

“Hmm, I should.”

“Then let’s go. But it’s about time we got hungry, can’t we feed the kids something before we go?”

Kang Jin-ho smiled.

“Tell them to choose whatever they want to eat. I’ll buy it for them.”

“Kuh, that’s why I follow you around, Hyung. Okay. Just wait a bit!”

Kang Jin-ho smiled as he watched Han Jin-seong run back.

It was different from before.

Unlike the Heavenly Demon [a powerful and often ruthless figure in martial arts stories] who had nothing to lose even if he died fighting, Kang Jin-ho must not die now. Perhaps he would never be able to enjoy a pure match like in the past again.

But…….

‘It doesn’t matter.’

Because he had gained more than he had lost.

Kang Jin-ho smiled and walked towards the orphanage children. Then he picked up a small boy.

“Let’s go eat.”

“Pizza!”

“Beef!”

“I want ramen!”

“……No ramen.”

“Ramen is good……”

“We’ll eat ramen next time, let’s eat something else today.”

Kang Jin-ho, who smiled lightly, glanced back and moved his feet.