Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1338

“Speak.”

“Could you wait just a moment?”

Just as Kang Jin-ho was about to speak, Chen Hui cut him off.

“It’s not to stall for time. This is also a good thing for Mr. Kang.”

Kang Jin-ho slightly narrowed his brows.

At that moment, he sensed someone approaching.

Bang.

The door opened, and several people entered. Kang Jin-ho turned his head to see who was coming in and chuckled.

“…I apologize.”

Lee Hyun-soo walked in with his hands raised. A gun was pointed at his waist.

“I heard that important matters are discussed with the person involved, so I brought him along to make your decision a little easier.”

“I appreciate the gesture.”

Kang Jin-ho took out a cigarette from his pocket and tossed it to Lee Hyun-soo. Lee Hyun-soo accepted the cigarette with a stiff expression.

“Put the guns away.”

“Leave.”

At Chen Hui’s command, the soldiers with guns moved with disciplined precision and exited. Lee Hyun-soo, finally free from the gun pointed at him, sighed and took out a cigarette.

He needed to smoke one.

“First, I apologize. It’s not easy to get in contact with Mr. Kang Jin-ho.”

“Difficult to contact?”

“Yes. Mr. Kang Jin-ho may not know it, but you are one of the most difficult people to meet in the world right now. Of course, maybe not as much as the President of the United States, but…”

Chen Hui scratched his chin.

“In some cases, it might be even more so. All eyes from the Hong, Black, and Chang factions are on you right now.”

Kang Jin-ho stared at Chen Hui with a blank face.

But unlike his unchanging expression, he was feeling quite a bit of unease inside.

It was difficult to contact Kang Jin-ho because the three factions were watching him.

In other words, they were trying to avoid the eyes of the three factions.

“You’re right to assume that.”

Chen Hui smiled.

“Now that we’ve come this far, what’s the point of hiding it? We don’t share the same goals as them.”

Lee Hyun-soo’s face contorted.

“You expect me to believe that?”

“Now, now, I brought him to help, and he’s just making things worse. Of course, you should believe it. Did you really think this vast country of China could be neatly divided into just three factions? This isn’t a game, young man.”

“Even a once-unified nation can split depending on the circumstances. Do you really think something could be maintained so firmly with just implicit influence?”

He wasn’t exactly wrong.

“Then what should we call you? Did some Gold King appear?”

“I admit that name is terribly childish. But please don’t mock it. I’m still Chinese, and seeing a Korean run his mouth makes me want to tear it apart.”

Lee Hyun-soo quietly closed his mouth.

“There isn’t really a name for us. If you must call us something, you can call us this.”

Chen Hui snapped his fingers.

“The People’s Republic of China.”

“…China?”

“We are not a faction. We are China itself. To be precise, we are the center. In the past, you might call us the imperial family, if you understand?”

Lee Hyun-soo narrowed his brows.

But Kang Jin-ho understood the analogy perfectly.

‘They’re a political and military force not affiliated with the three factions.’

Just as the imperial family of the past did not interfere with the martial world, they were running the country while keeping their distance from the three factions.

“It’s a bit ambiguous to call them the political world.”

“Well, you’ll learn about that in time. It’s not that important right now.”

Chen Hui gave a friendly smile.

‘That bastard’s eyes aren’t smiling?’

The eyes that occasionally flashed within his wrinkled face were emitting a chilling light.

“Mr. Kang Jin-ho, you’re a martial artist, so I don’t know if you’ll understand, but the state doesn’t like martial artists.”

“It never has.”

“In fact, from the state’s perspective, martial artists are a huge headache. They’re like warlords in the modern era. It’s completely anachronistic.”

Kang Jin-ho admitted that fact.

The coexistence of the state and the martial world was an extremely uncomfortable one.

“But it’s not easy to wipe them out either. Because they do things for us. If you kill all the ants because they’re swarming in your house, cockroaches will come in. That’s why the state tries to keep a moderate number of ants alive. Even if they sometimes bite the feet of sleeping people and contaminate food.”

He didn’t like the comparison of martial artists to ants or cockroaches, but it was an accurate analogy.

“But it’s an uncomfortable coexistence. And if those ants start climbing onto people’s bodies, we can’t just sit back and watch.”

“If you don’t have teeth, your gums will ache, right?”

Chen Hui clapped at Lee Hyun-soo’s words.

“Exactly. That’s exactly it. That’s why we haven’t been able to do anything until now. In fact, if we mobilized the army, wiping them out would be no problem at all.”

“Are you planning a civil war? You’re crazy.”

“When I say the army, I don’t mean using ordinary soldiers. You martial artists tend to overestimate your abilities, but you are nothing in front of modern weapons.”

“Keep going.”

“Alright. Anyway, it was a good analogy. We’ve been putting up with it because we were afraid our gums would ache without teeth. There are three rotten teeth, and at first, it was bearable, but it’s getting more and more painful. And because something went wrong, they’re now colliding with each other and causing pain.”

Chen Hui pressed his lips as if he didn’t want to imagine it.

“But when I went to the dentist, he told me this: Don’t be foolish and put up with it, get implants.”

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Chen Hui clapped three times as if he was moved.

“That’s a great solution. The implants that have come out recently are even better than teeth. They’re not from my body, but if they can replace the original ones, there’s no reason not to use them.”

Kang Jin-ho scratched his head slightly.

“I’ve heard all sorts of things in my life, but I never thought I’d become an implant.”

“I admit the analogy is crude. But it was appropriate in some ways, wasn’t it?”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled.

So…

These guys wanted to push out the three factions and put an outside force, the General Assembly, in their place. To be precise, they wanted to bring in the General Assembly, led by Kang Jin-ho.

“What’s the difference?”

“There’s a difference, a big difference. This is China. No matter how strong you are, there are limits to your activities in China. You can operate and manage, but you can’t dominate.”

Lee Hyun-soo nodded.

It was the same with Japan.

Even after achieving a complete victory and pushing into Japan, there were constant rebellions. Even if they suppressed all the unrest, it was impossible to dominate Japan in the long term.

They had already made that judgment.

But China?

‘That’s impossible.’

It was a land they couldn’t even think of managing. If they stepped in to provide support, they could gain legitimacy and manage it, but that was it. Creating a General Assembly force in China and taking power was a pipe dream.

“Then we can just scratch the itch. Is there any need to unleash three tigers to guard a house? One decent wolf would be enough to deter any thief.”

“More like a dog than a wolf.”

“I apologize if I offended you. But this is a deal that benefits you as well. Isn’t that right?”

Kang Jin-ho held out his hand. Lee Hyun-soo passed him a cigarette and lit it with a lighter.

“Hoo.”

Kang Jin-ho exhaled a long stream of smoke and narrowed his brows.

“There’s something to gain?”

“A huge amount of money, control over the martial world in China, and the absolute safety of the Korean General Assembly.”

Chen Hui smiled.

“There are countless other minor things, but these three are the most appealing, aren’t they? If you join hands with us and push out the three factions, East Asia will become a no man’s land. Your businesses in China will have to be managed, but you can do whatever you want in Korea and Japan.”

The cigarette smoke that had filled his lungs slowly escaped through his mouth.

His mind felt a little clearer.

“Hearing it, it’s not a bad offer.”

“I also value my life. Do you think I would have appeared before the Demon King with a half-baked proposal?”

He was slick.

But he was also relaxed.

He was a different kind of unsettling person than Chai Ke-chang.

“I have a few questions.”

“Ask away.”

“Was the coup also a lie?”

“No, it was just a bit exaggerated. I don’t know how much you know about North Korea, but coup attempts happen quite often there. However, they are usually suppressed before anything can be achieved. This time, we just protected that guy a little. And we called him in at the right time, that’s all.”

Chen Hui spread his arms wide and shook his body exaggeratedly.

“And voila, we met like this, didn’t we?”

Lee Hyun-soo let out a hollow laugh.

‘He’s insane.’

They did all this just to bring in Kang Jin-ho?

Was this the scale of the continent, or the crazy actions of psychos?

Kang Jin-ho looked at Chen Hui with interest.

“Everything starts with a meeting. No matter how much the working-level staff talks, nothing will happen without a meeting. It was a bit rude, but if we can achieve good results together, it can be resolved with a small penalty, right?”

He knew why this guy was here.

This guy knew how to manipulate people. He skillfully tightened and loosened the reins.

“Was the reason for choosing this place to avoid the eyes of the three factions?”

“That’s correct. In fact, the concept of an ‘underground’ doesn’t really exist in China. But there are times when we need to avoid their eyes. Don’t worry. This place is beyond the reach of the three factions. When Mr. Kang Jin-ho returns, no one will suspect anything.”

Chen Hui glanced back.

“Though it’s a bit sad for those who died…”

It seemed that all those who had escorted Ri Gi-gwang were dead.

Lee Hyun-soo was feeling both emptiness and absurdity at the same time. The government and the General Assembly had risked everything for this meeting.

‘No. It’s not absurd.’

This was power.

Kang Jin-ho, Lee Hyun-soo, and even Kim Myung-chan had never imagined it. If China set its mind to it, manipulating the situation in North Korea was nothing.

‘The three factions aren’t the only ones we have to deal with.’

His vision had narrowed because he was a martial artist.

The three factions were ultimately part of China. Where was the guarantee that the state wouldn’t intervene in a fight between martial artists?

Unwritten rules?

Unwritten rules were unwritten because they were not set in stone. They could change at any time.

“So, what do you think, Assembly Head?”

The formality of the title had slightly increased.

“I believe it’s not a bad offer. You also…”

“So…”

Kang Jin-ho cut off Chen Hui’s words.

“What if I refuse?”

Chen Hui’s eyes slowly sank.