Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1301

Information is power, and a sword.

But the words that often came up in the mouths of those who handled information were not such obvious sayings.

The only maxim about information that Lee Jong-wook always kept in mind was this:

‘Information is poison.’

Yes, poison.

There was no more accurate word to describe information.

Information can be power, it can be a right, and it can be a weakness. But for an informant, information is like a poison that could destroy them at any moment.

Just knowing that they possess valuable information, informants are always targets of those seeking information and are subject to surveillance.

Therefore, one must keep in mind:

An informant who has given away all their information cannot survive.

Like a viper with its fangs removed, there is no value left for one who has lost the last bastion to protect themselves.

The last one.

The last piece of information that can protect one’s life must be kept secret at all costs.

No matter how severe the torture, no matter how much the brutal truth serum tramples on the mind, one’s lifeline is something that cannot be given up.

But today, Lee Jong-wook realized something.

The reason why his seniors failed in their missions and revealed information that they should never have disclosed. It wasn’t because they were stupid that they couldn’t protect their own lives.

‘What did I just say?’

The sweat that had trickled down his eyebrows and onto his eyelids seeped into his eyes. His eyes stung, but he couldn’t even think of closing them.

His thoughts weren’t connecting properly.

‘Is this even possible?’

It felt like he had been rambling on mindlessly, but he couldn’t remember the content. It was something not even a three-year-old would do.

But Lee Jong-wook was actually experiencing that situation.

Realizing the situation he was in, Lee Jong-wook subtly raised his head and looked ahead.

Kang Jin-ho, with his legs crossed, was leisurely smoking a cigarette, lost in thought.

He swallowed hard.

But his parched mouth had nothing left to swallow, so his throat ached as if it were tearing.

Then, Kang Jin-ho, who had been smoking with his eyes closed, slowly opened them.

Chills.

Lee Jong-wook, who made eye contact with Kang Jin-ho, shuddered.

It is said that a human who encounters a beast at close range freezes up, unable to even think of running away. Just like seeing a dump truck rushing towards them and being unable to move, standing still in place.

But that was only for a moment.

“Guild Leader.”

When Lee Hyun-soo called out softly, Kang Jin-ho’s expression changed. With that simple change, he became the ordinary young man he had been a moment ago.

“Haa…”

The sound of air escaping flowed from Lee Jong-wook’s mouth.

As his whole body lost strength, he quickly became as heavy as a waterlogged cotton ball. But even while sweating profusely, Lee Jong-wook tried hard not to show his weakened state.

This place was still a death trap.

“So…”

Kang Jin-ho took the cigarette out of his mouth and flicked off the ash.

“The North Korean security is getting tighter, and China is also providing support. But you have no idea how this series of events unfolded?”

Lee Jong-wook bit his lip slightly.

“I-I’m sorry to say, but that’s correct.”

“Hmm.”

Kang Jin-ho leaned back on the sofa.

“How should I put it? It’s very…” Kang Jin-ho chuckled.

“Predictable.”

The directors’ reactions were similar.

“It’s typical.”

“I thought we’d get through this easily this time. There’s no way.”

Lee Jong-wook stared blankly at Kang Jin-ho and the directors at their calm reactions.

‘Are they not grasping the situation?’

No, he clearly heard from Kang Jin-ho’s mouth what the situation was, but they were reacting like this?

As if to answer Lee Jong-wook’s curiosity, Lee Hyun-soo opened his mouth.

“It seems the information that we’re going in person hasn’t been leaked yet. Otherwise, it wouldn’t end like this.”

“That’s probably it.”

Wiggins shrugged his shoulders.

“But we shouldn’t be so sure. It’s better to set a trap behind the scenes than to make a big show of preparing.”

“That’s true.”

“There’s only one key point.”

Wiggins quietly looked at Lee Jong-wook.

He didn’t seem to be putting pressure on him, but strangely, he felt suffocated.

“How reliable is their information?”

Lee Jong-wook’s face hardened, and Wiggins waved his hand, joking.

“Ah, don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying that you’re intentionally sending us false information, but that we can’t trust your information gathering ability…”

Wiggins tilted his head and turned to Lee Hyun-soo.

“Korean is difficult. I think I made a mistake.”

“…D-Don’t pretend to be a foreigner only when you need to. Do you have no conscience?”

“Difficult is difficult.”

Wiggins smiled wryly.

“It’s not that I want to blame you. It’s not easy for any country to get information about China.”

“Not even the Round Table?”

Kang Jin-ho asked casually.

“Yes, it’s not easy. It’s not closed off, but the population is large and the land is vast… Conversely, even if the population is small and the land is narrow, it’s not easy to investigate. Moreover, given the nature of the Round Table, it’s not easy to operate there unless you train dedicated informants.”

“Hmm.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

Come to think of it, the Round Table had also made quite a few blunders when they first reached out to Korea.

That connection led to the recruitment of the Chevaliers [a group of knights] and Wiggins, but looking back, it was laughable how ignorant the Round Table was about the East.

“In any case, no matter how hard the Korean informants try to gather information, it will be almost impossible to monitor China.”

Lee Jong-wook bit his lip slightly.

There was nothing wrong with what Wiggins said.

They were also trying, but it was impossible to completely monitor China. In fact, they couldn’t even properly access the deeper parts.

But…

As if noticing Lee Jong-wook’s expression, Lee Hyun-soo quietly opened his mouth.

“You might feel bad, but we risk our lives to work.”

“I know that you also risk your lives. So you know how dangerous unconditional trust is.”

The taste was bitter.

But he had no choice but to nod.

“I don’t know how hard you worked to gather information, but to be honest, it’s natural that we can’t trust all of your information, isn’t it? There will be misinformation, and there will be wrong information. It’s our job to take all of that into account and make this work.”

One thing was certain.

‘They didn’t trust me from the start.’

They were speaking quite nicely, but they had no intention of accepting the information he brought from the beginning.

“If you’re going to give us information…”

Lee Hyun-soo glared at Lee Jong-wook with a chilling gaze.

“Please, just give us perfect and reliable information. Information that we can trust unconditionally.”

Lee Jong-wook quietly nodded.

“Then what about this mission?”

“Of course…”

Lee Hyun-soo glanced at Kang Jin-ho and continued.

“We’ll proceed. Variables always exist, and we’ve already assumed that variables of this magnitude would arise.”

“Isn’t trust born from faith in the other party’s ability? In that sense, it seems like you’re the ones who don’t trust the other party.”

A low sigh escaped from Lee Jong-wook’s mouth.

It was a clean defeat.

He tried to shake up the General Assembly a little, but instead, he was played by Lee Hyun-soo and Kang Jin-ho.

‘No. It’s not even that.’

They had no intention of shaking up Lee Jong-wook. But just by passing by, a whale can shake a minnow as if it had encountered a typhoon.

Lee Jong-wook was exactly like that minnow.

But, what should he say…

He didn’t feel bad.

Rather, he felt a little different from when he came here.

‘This place is more terrifying than I thought.’

Every time he saw Prime Minister Kim Myung-chan groveling before the General Assembly, he couldn’t understand it at all. The power of the Prime Minister of South Korea was by no means small. Especially within South Korea.

It was hard to understand how he could be swayed by these people even with that much power, but after meeting them, he could see why Kim Myung-chan was so cautious.

‘It feels like I’m carrying a bomb in my stomach.’

These people live in South Korea.

Together with ordinary people who know nothing, who do not understand the existence of the Unmanned [people with special abilities].

It was even more surprising that no accidents had happened so far.

However…

If he just put aside the uncomfortable points, it was also true that they were reliable right now. If Kang Jin-ho stepped forward himself, it seemed like there would be no difficulty in succeeding in the mission, no matter how much North Korea or China tried to stop them.

“Director Lee Jong-wook.”

“Ah, yes.”

Lee Jong-wook snapped out of his thoughts and raised his head.

‘Damn it…’

To get lost in thought in a place where the other party is leading. It was a day when he was making mistakes one after another, something he had never done since joining the National Intelligence Service.

“Have you said everything you wanted to say?”

“More or less.”

“Then now, you need to have a conversation with me about something we really need to discuss.”

“…Yes?”

Was there anything left? No, he said everything he had to say, so what was this…

“Methods of receiving information, ways of seeking cooperation, those kinds of issues are secondary. They’re not particularly important.”

“Then?”

Lee Hyun-soo smiled gently.

“In modern society, what’s really important is something else.”

“What is it?”

“We’ve discussed various things, but the most important thing hasn’t been resolved. So, while you’re here, let’s finish it up.”

Lee Hyun-soo smiled with an incredibly kind face. Lee Jong-wook, who witnessed that smile, began to feel uneasy.

“What are you talking about?”

“Give me a card.”

“Yes?”

“A laundered card, if possible.”

Lee Hyun-soo shrugged his shoulders.

“I was going to mention it earlier, but the living expenses and activity funds haven’t been deposited. You know that it’s not cheap to have this many people staying in China, right?”

Lee Jong-wook’s eyes shook.

‘You guys are rich. And you’re going to take more activity funds? This is taxpayer money, you bastards!’

But Lee Jong-wook couldn’t bring himself to say the words that were rising to his throat.

“Okay, okay, it doesn’t seem like this is the place to talk about that, so let’s talk separately. Guild Leader, I’ll take Director Lee for a moment.”

“…Okay.”

“Come on, this way. Hurry.”

Lee Hyun-soo grabbed Lee Jong-wook and pulled him away. Lee Jong-wook could only be dragged along helplessly.

Thud.

As the two left and the door closed, Bang Jin-hoon opened his mouth with a blank face.

“That bastard would survive even if he was thrown on a deserted island.”

“He’d probably live by scamming wild animals.”

Even Bang Jin-hoon, who had shown intense antipathy towards Lee Jong-wook, looked at the door he had been dragged out of with a slightly pitiful gaze.

Lee Jong-wook might be a beast in other places, but here, he was just a rabbit, nothing more than prey. The only future left for a rabbit dragged away by a hyena was one.

“I hope at least the bones remain.” A pitiful sigh followed.