Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 13

“Did you go to a karaoke room?”

“Yeah.”

“Without me?”

“Well…”

“Are you even a friend?”

“You said you were going to tutoring?”

“Then you should have gone another day! How could you go to karaoke without me!”

“I see.”

Kang Jin-ho waved his hand dismissively, as if annoyed.

Jung In-gyu wasn’t a bad guy, but he talked way too much. He was like a highly useful machine that made a lot of noise. While Jung In-gyu, with his gossipy nature, was a great source of information for adapting to school, he was also exhausting because of it.

‘If only he could reduce the noise by half, he would be a valuable asset that could be sold as a hit product.’

“Let’s go together next time.”

“Why would I go with you!”

“Then?”

“You went with girls!”

“Yeah.”

“Ugh, that’s so dirty. Are you even a friend? A friend?”

Kang Jin-ho let Jung In-gyu’s chatter go in one ear and out the other as he took out his book.

Seeing the pristine textbook made his heart heavy.

He had to study.

The time left until the next exam was barely a month and a half.

In that time, he had to acquire the knowledge of a high school student. It was impossible, but he had to somehow manage by recalling his memories.

‘It might be impossible.’

Kang Jin-ho looked at the English book in front of him and seriously pondered.

Could he really fix this in a month?

He knew what the alphabet was, but he didn’t know what the words meant. It was like knowing the Hunminjeongeum [the original Korean alphabet] but not being able to read Korean. And he had to bring this up to high school level?

It was something that might take ten years, not a month.

“Are you studying?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re really crazy.”

“Yeah.”

Kang Jin-ho waved his hand to chase away this noisy mosquito.

He had even considered hitting his pressure points because he was so annoying.

‘It’s difficult to study with this textbook as it is. I might have to start again from elementary school.’

Thud!

A loud noise came from behind Kang Jin-ho, who was busy making study plans.

Kang Jin-ho glanced back.

A kid was huddled in the corner of the classroom, surrounded by three other kids.

“What’s that?”

Jung In-gyu chuckled and said.

“It’s Park Yu-min.”

“Park Yu-min?”

“Why are you acting like you don’t know? The cripple Park Yu-min.”

Kang Jin-ho’s brow furrowed slightly.

The word ‘cripple’ stung his heart.

‘Cripple?’

Come to think of it, there seemed to be such a kid. And if his memory was correct, that guy was probably….

“What? You didn’t bring it?”

“I’m sorry…”

“Seriously, I can’t believe this. Hey, you son of a bitch! Is it over if you don’t bring it? Didn’t I tell you to bring it?”

“I’m sorry. I really don’t have it.”

“Then you should steal it, or get a part-time job, or figure out how to get it, you bastard!”

If his memory was correct, the person yelling in front was definitely Choi Young-soo.

Choi Young-soo was a guy with such a strong impression that Kang Jin-ho, who didn’t remember anyone except his friends, remembered him.

He was also rough, and he was so good at fighting that no one in the whole school dared to mess with him. Above all, Choi Young-soo was the grandson of the school’s chairman, the grandson of the chairman of Dongmyung Foundation, one of the top educational foundations in the country.

On the surface, Choi Young-soo was quite a successful guy.

He was handsome, tall, and had a lot of money. He was also excellent at sports.

So, it was impossible for him not to be popular.

There was only one problem….

“Then you can just get beaten until the money comes.”

“I really… don’t have it.”

“Then you can just keep getting beaten.”

Choi Young-soo chuckled and kicked Park Yu-min.

“Ah! Ack!”

“This bastard is screaming? Are you trying to call the teacher? Okay, let’s get ten hits for every scream.”

“……”

Then, as if by a lie, Park Yu-min shut his mouth.

Park Yu-min endured Choi Young-soo’s kicks while huddled on the floor.

“If I tell you to bring it, you should just bring it, you bastard. Why are you so talkative?”

Kang Jin-ho watched the scene and then turned his head.

‘Was he being bullied?’

It was a common sight.

It was said to be a serious social problem, and that students had changed, but to Kang Jin-ho, it was just a joke.

There was bullying in the past too.

There was even bullying in the old Jianghu [a martial arts world].

It was human nature to oppress the weak, and it was an act that could be seen not only in humans but also in animals.

It might sound harsh, but in fact, it was a very natural thing.

“Young-soo seems to be in a bad mood today.”

He usually treated Park Yu-min like a toy, but he wasn’t this violent. If he had always treated him this harshly, it would have already become a problem.

At Tae-ho’s words, the informant Jung In-gyu whispered.

“He asked Han Se-yeon to hang out, but she turned him down.”

“Did he get rejected on a date?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

Choi Young-soo’s head turned.

“Who’s talking shit?”

“No, no. It’s an unrelated story. Don’t mind it.”

Jung In-gyu was startled and waved his hands.

Kang Jin-ho looked around.

Even though it was lunchtime, there were nearly twenty students in the classroom, including them, but no one stopped Choi Young-soo.

Some were watching the scene as if it were fun, and some were frowning but not stopping him for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.

It was an interesting sight.

These people would become crusaders of justice in a place where there was no threat. But no one was willing to endure the sparks that might fly at them.

That was society.

Kang Jin-ho wasn’t disappointed or disillusioned.

Even though he knew it, he missed this society.

At least here, there was no visible threat, and he didn’t have to experience the kind of malice that made him want to vomit.

Someone being bullied and harassed was not Kang Jin-ho’s business. Kang Jin-ho had experienced too much and had to endure too many terrible things to care about such things.

To put it extremely, even if someone in this classroom died in the blink of an eye, Kang Jin-ho wouldn’t care. There was no one here that Kang Jin-ho had to protect, even if it was a bother.

“You cripple bastard!”

Kang Jin-ho’s brow furrowed slightly at Choi Young-soo’s shout.

Cripple.

It wasn’t a pleasant word to hear.

Especially for Kang Jin-ho, who had experienced lower body paralysis in the past.

“Hey, Young-soo. Stop it. He’s going to die.”

“Heh heh, is he really going to die?”

The two next to Choi Young-soo laughed and looked at Park Yu-min. Those who have power are always surrounded by those who try to suck up to it.

Kang Jin-ho got up from his seat.

It wasn’t like he was going to do anything.

He didn’t feel anything special, he was just thinking of going to the bathroom before class started.

“Ah, seriously. This disabled bastard is so annoying.”

“……”

Kang Jin-ho’s feet stopped.

And Kang Jin-ho was overcome with an emotion he couldn’t understand himself. He was sure that the words just now bothered him, but he couldn’t understand which part bothered him?

“You’re a retard, you should know your place. Why are you so stiff-necked when you’re a retard? If you’re a retard, you should go to a school for the disabled. Do you think you’ll become normal by being here?”

‘Hmm….’

Kang Jin-ho turned back slightly. Park Yu-min, whose lips were bleeding, had his head down.

“Hey, how about this?”

The guy standing to Choi Young-soo’s right found something and brought a bucket from the corner.

“What’s this?”

“Looks like water used to mop the floor?”

It seemed like they had left the water used to mop the windowsills without throwing it away.

“This will be fun?”

Choi Young-soo smiled.

“Hey, cripple.”

“…Yes?”

Choi Young-soo smiled gently and held out the bucket.

“……”

“Drink it.”

“Try drinking it. Then I won’t bother you anymore.”

Park Yu-min just stared at him without answering.

“If you don’t drink it, you’ll die?”

Park Yu-min grabbed the bucket with trembling hands.

“Are you hesitating? Are you crazy? Do you need to get beaten more to act faster?”

Park Yu-min looked back and forth between the bucket and Choi Young-soo.

The dark water with dust floating in it was visible.

“I said drink it!”

Park Yu-min got on the floor and brought the bucket to his mouth. Then he slowly tilted the bucket.

But he couldn’t bring it all the way to his mouth.

Choi Young-soo, seeing Park Yu-min struggling to hold the bucket in front of his mouth, frowned and yelled.

“Ah, you son of a bitch!”

Choi Young-soo kicked the bucket.

The bucket tipped over, and the dark dirty water spilled on Park Yu-min’s face.

“Cough! Hack!”

Park Yu-min, who had accidentally swallowed the dirty water, coughed as if he had choked.

But that didn’t seem to please Choi Young-soo.

“You really want to die!”

Choi Young-soo kicked Park Yu-min’s side as he was lying down and coughing. And as if that wasn’t enough, he picked up a chair next to him and hit Park Yu-min’s back.

Thud!

“You’re a retard who doesn’t listen? Is it because only one of your legs is weird? Huh? Then, if the other leg becomes a retard, you’ll be normal. You’ll be balanced.”

“Then both legs will be retarded.”

“Isn’t that lower body paralysis? The retard of retards?”

Choi Young-soo and his group chuckled and grabbed Park Yu-min’s hair.

“You son of a bitch, do you want to die?”

“I’m, I’m sorry.”

“You’re not going to drink it?”

“……I spilled it.”

Choi Young-soo smiled and looked at Park Yu-min and said.

“Are you saying you can’t drink it because it spilled on the floor?”

Choi Young-soo stepped on the water he had spilled on the floor and chuckled.

“You can’t drink it?”

“Ah, no.”

“Then lick it up.”

“……”

“Didn’t you hear me? Lick up all the water that spilled on the floor!”

Park Yu-min’s body trembled at Choi Young-soo’s words.

“Huh? Is this bastard crying?”

“He’s so embarrassing.”

“Hey, this makes us look like bad guys?”

Choi Young-soo and his group chuckled and hit Park Yu-min on the back of the head.

Thud, thud!

The sound of hitting the back of the head spread through the classroom, and the children looked at the scene with slightly more serious faces.

It seems to be getting a bit worse?

As Park Yu-min convulsed with his head down, Choi Young-soo whispered in his ear.

“Are you crying?”

“No.”

“Then what are you doing? Lick it up.”

Park Yu-min brought his face to the floor.

He had no expectation that doing this would stop them from bullying him in the future.

But it was something he had to do to get through the situation right now.

Park Yu-min touched the floor with his trembling hand.

Splash.

The floor with the dark water was visible.

Park Yu-min wiped away his tears with his hand and brought his mouth to the water on the floor.

Choi Young-soo nodded with satisfaction as he watched the scene.

“A retard should act like a retard.”

Park Yu-min’s body trembled.

Was he really going to do this….

This?

Wasn’t anyone going to stop them?

But Park Yu-min himself knew best that such expectations were futile.

Because there was no one who would risk going against Choi Young-soo to help Park Yu-min.

In this school, Park Yu-min and Choi Young-soo were that different.

It was easier to not have expectations.

At that moment, something strange came into Park Yu-min’s view.

A foot.

A pure white shoe stepped on the dark water and appeared in front of Park Yu-min’s face.

Park Yu-min raised his head.

‘Kang Jin-ho?’