Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1316

“This doesn’t seem like a place tourists would come to.”

“That’s where the real hidden gems are.”

“Does that mean the taste is guaranteed?”

“No. It’s not very good here.”

Lee Hyun-soo’s forehead twitched slightly.

The person sitting across from him was clearly a local. However, he was speaking fluent Korean.

“Then why did you come here?”

“Hey, you guys really don’t get the situation. Did we come here to eat? This is the most inconspicuous and quiet place, that’s why.”

That was true.

It was a run-down place with no people, but it had a private room. There was no better place around here.

“The owner is hard of hearing and can’t hear well. So you can speak comfortably. He doesn’t understand any Korean.”

“Looks like you’ve been here a few times.”

“When you’re active in Beijing, it’s basic to secure a few spots like this.”

Lee Hyun-soo’s eyes lit up.

It was strange.

The image was so different from the agent Lee Hyun-soo had in mind. If you were part of the National Intelligence Service [South Korea’s primary intelligence agency] and dispatched to China, you were basically an elite of the elite in South Korea.

But the man in front of him now…

“Is it very different from what you imagined?”

“…Uh, well.”

The agent smiled when Lee Hyun-soo didn’t answer right away.

“It’s okay. Most people are like that. Koreans have a strange image of spies. Black suits, long trench coats, sunglasses, and briefcases?”

“Wouldn’t that be too conspicuous? I’m not James Bond. The guys in the movies can get away with it because they can just shoot everyone if they get caught. I’ll die if I get caught, so I have to go around like this.”

The agent grinned, revealing his yellowed teeth.

“…Those teeth, are they also…?”

“Yes. They’re dyed.”

At that moment, Lee Hyun-soo had a question, but he hesitated, wondering if it would be rude. He couldn’t hold back his curiosity and finally opened his mouth.

“Are you married?”

The agent lowered his head without answering, and Lee Hyun-soo grabbed his thigh [a gesture of surprise or disbelief].

“How old are you?”

“I’m just past thirty.”

Even if the country’s affairs were important, to get plastic surgery and dye his teeth to look older…

The lives of agents who infiltrated foreign countries were more painful than Lee Hyun-soo had imagined.

“No, do you usually go this far?”

“You’ll do anything to survive. And I can’t just not do it.”

“You could just say you can’t do it. It’s not like they’ll kill you for it these days.”

“If I don’t do it, someone else has to.”

His casual words struck Lee Hyun-soo’s heart. Nothing could shake Lee Hyun-soo more than those words in this situation.

“And…”

The agent made a circle with his thumb and index finger [a gesture indicating money].

“They pay a lot.”

“Plastic surgery can be redone, and teeth can be pulled and replaced with implants. If I return alive, I’ll be rich. Then I won’t even spit in the direction of the National Intelligence Service.”

How strangely realistic, this guy.

Give me back my emotion.

“So…”

Kang Jin-ho interrupted their conversation.

“What’s the information you need to convey?”

The agent’s face turned serious.

“The target has entered through Beijing Airport.”

Lee Hyun-soo narrowed his eyes.

“Does he have enough power to enter China through the airport so openly? And the Party can’t stop him?”

“He followed the procedures requested by China, so they can’t touch him. They’re probably racking their brains right now. They can’t just kill him because they’re not confident they can win, and even if they succeed, they can’t handle the aftermath.”

“So, it’s best if he dies somewhere else?”

“Is it the best? It’s just the only way.”

The agent shrugged.

“There are about twenty people accompanying him. And about thirty more joined him from the airport. They’re all keeping their distance and providing security, so it’s hard to tell the exact number. Twenty is certain, but I don’t know how much the thirty behind him will increase.”

Thirty and more…

“The grandeur of the continent, they say…”

To be able to assign over fifty guards to someone who moves Beijing was truly amazing.

It was even more amazing considering that each of those guards was close to a killing machine.

“What about the number of martial artists?”

“We can’t figure that out.”

The agent sighed.

“We don’t know how much information they’ve gathered. If they’ve found out that the General Assembly is involved, they’ve definitely mobilized martial artists. But if not, it could be different.”

“Looks like we’ll have to see with our own eyes.”

Lee Hyun-soo shrugged.

“You?”

“No, the Clan Leader. What would I know if I went?”

Kang Jin-ho and the agent’s eyes narrowed. But Lee Hyun-soo confidently straightened his shoulders.

“Is it a sin to be incompetent?”

A sigh escaped.

“Anyway, that’s the current situation. He arrived this morning and moved to a hotel. But we can’t guarantee that this is his accommodation. High-ranking officials who enter China from North Korea change their accommodations once a day. Some secretly hide in the Party’s safe houses, while others use hotels on the main streets. It seems like the latter for now, but we don’t know when he’ll move to a safe house. Maybe we should hurry a bit.”

“It would be better if he went to a safe house?”

“Definitely better.”

The agent stared at them blankly.

“You don’t seem to understand, I mean he’s hiding in a safe house made by the Chinese Communist Party. The security will be even tighter, and it’s a place where ordinary people can’t even approach.”

“So, isn’t that a good thing?”

“Huh?”

Lee Hyun-soo shrugged as if asking why he didn’t understand.

“You said ordinary people can’t approach it, right?”

“…That’s right.”

“Then doesn’t that mean we can work without worrying about other people’s eyes? We’re more afraid of the eyes of passersby than the police or soldiers…”

At that moment, the agent felt the insurmountable wall between ordinary people and martial artists. He couldn’t understand this way of thinking at all.

“Anyway, there’s a possibility that he’ll continue to stay at the hotel.”

“Hmm.”

Kang Jin-ho put his hand in his pocket and took out a cigarette.

Then he paused slightly.

“You can smoke. This is China.”

I like this one thing.

As Kang Jin-ho put the cigarette in his mouth, Lee Hyun-soo quickly lit it for him. Kang Jin-ho took a deep drag and slowly exhaled the smoke.

“He’s currently staying at the Prime Millennium Luxury Beijing.”

“Pri…?”

“Prime Millennium Luxury Beijing.”

“The name of the hotel in China is a bit… It sounds good, doesn’t it?”

I don’t know.

Kang Jin-ho thought he was quite familiar with the Chinese way of thinking, but it wasn’t this flashy before…

‘No, it was flashy.’

The imperial palace was even more so, never less. Wasn’t there a time when even the toilets were covered in gold?

The agent spoke with a slightly nervous look.

“Honestly, I’m just following orders, but objectively speaking, I don’t think assassination is possible unless it’s a sniper attack. If you can break through that many people and security, there’s no one in the world you can’t kill.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly puffed out smoke.

“So, the scenario prepared here is to target him during transit. It’s inevitable that attention will be dispersed during transit. During transit…”

“No.”

Lee Hyun-soo cut off the agent’s words.

“It’s impossible to disguise it as a natural death during transit. An accident is meaningless. If an accident happens and the person who caused the accident disappears from the scene, who would see it as a natural death?”

“But realistically…”

“Realistically…”

Lee Hyun-soo smiled.

“It’s okay. This side isn’t exactly realistic.”

Kang Jin-ho sighed as he looked at Lee Hyun-soo.

“Don’t talk like you’re going to do it.”

“Let me show off a little. When else can I flex my shoulders if not now?”

The agent stared at the two of them with a dumbfounded look.

‘Don’t these people have any sense of tension?’

It felt like they had no idea how huge of a thing they were about to do.

Otherwise, they couldn’t be so calm.

“What are you going to do?”

Kang Jin-ho took a deep drag of his cigarette and opened his mouth.

“The condition was to disguise it as a natural death without getting caught, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Kang Jin-ho turned his head and looked at the agent.

“When can we start?”

The agent gave up on trying to understand these two. Come to think of it, there were phrases in the order like ‘let them move as they wish’ and ‘do not force our opinions on them’.

“If I had to pick the right time, I’d say about two days from now. The tension is high right after arrival, and they tend to refocus when things are wrapping up. About two days after arrival, after the meeting with the Standing Committee member, there will be a gap.”

“Two days from now…”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

“If that’s the case, we’ll secure the escape route. To prevent information leaks, we’ll deliver the escape route one hour before the execution.”

“If we need to use it.”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled.

“Okay, I understand. Then, just make sure to find out where they’re staying on the day two days from now.”

“May I say something?”

Kang Jin-ho quietly looked at the agent. The agent, feeling Kang Jin-ho’s gaze, swallowed hard and opened his mouth.

“It might be presumptuous, but I think it’s better not to be too optimistic about the situation. China’s power is beyond imagination. Especially in this field, China is second to none in the world. They’ve always fought against the threat of assassination. There’s no country as thorough as China in protecting key figures.”

“You should always assume the worst-case scenario and act accordingly. This matter involves not only your lives but also the fate of your country. If something goes wrong…”

Kang Jin-ho said indifferently.

“Is this the kind of thing where success or failure depends on the level of determination?”

“Don’t worry. We’ll handle it for sure.”

As if he was done talking, Kang Jin-ho got up from his seat. Then Lee Hyun-soo also got up from his seat and smiled.

“Thanks for the concern, but your qualifications as an informant are quite lacking.”

The agent was about to get a little angry, but Lee Hyun-soo crushed him with his words.

“Understanding the opponent is only half the battle. To become a proper informant, you should also understand the strength of this side. That last remark was very presumptuous.”

Lee Hyun-soo’s eyes were cold.

The agent was overwhelmed by his force and couldn’t say anything.

“You’re working hard overseas, so you should eat a lot. You can have all the beef noodles you ordered.”

At that moment, Kang Jin-ho flinched slightly.

Lee Hyun-soo stared at Kang Jin-ho with a blank face and opened his mouth.

“Were you going to eat it?”

“Should we eat and go?”

Kang Jin-ho found the Chinese food he hadn’t had in a while quite to his liking.