Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1375

It didn’t take long to realize that Jang Min’s hacking talk wasn’t just talk.

“I don’t have the skills to hack myself. But I can contact those who can.”

How he made those connections was the question, and Jang Min answered Kang Jin-ho’s question simply.

“The Cult has covered up countless crimes in China and cleaned up after many people. In other words, the Cult and its members know the most about the dark side of China. Contacting those who professionally hack other countries for profit is easier than eating a piece of cake.”

As Wiggins had repeatedly said…

To borrow an expression that was now stale and even smelled old, it was clear that everyone at the General Assembly still hadn’t properly grasped the capabilities of Jang Min and the Demonic Cult.

“Contact them?”

Kang Jin-ho could recall what it felt like to be speechless for the first time in a long while.

“What should we do?”

“Well, let’s try it first…”

“Uh, um…”

Even Wiggins and Lee Hyun-soo couldn’t properly respond to this absurd situation.

“Is it even possible in the first place?”

“Don’t underestimate Chinese hackers. They’re the ones who can break into the Pentagon.”

“That was just once a long time ago.”

“With the skills to break in once a long time ago, they could probably break into the Korean National Intelligence Service, right?”

“Uh…”

Lee Hyun-soo hesitated to answer.

He should say yes, but for some reason, he felt a surge of resistance to readily admitting it to Jang Min, who was Chinese.

“It doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” Wiggins said, stroking his chin.

“If we don’t get harmed… we might be able to get some information. Honestly, I don’t think we’ll get any good information even if we break into the National Intelligence Service or anything, but it might be of some help, right?”

“Ah, no, wait a minute.”

Lee Hyun-soo waved his hands, trying to stop the two of them.

“So, you’re saying we should hire Chinese hackers to dig into the National Intelligence Service or government databases?”

“Is there a problem?”

Lee Hyun-soo spoke with a bewildered expression.

“No, of course, I’ve never thought of myself as a good guy, but I’m still a bad guy from Korea. The idea of hiring Chinese guys to hack the Korean government is just… I feel a sense of resistance…”

Wiggins looked dumbfounded.

“A guy who kills people without a second thought is looking for morality and law here. I’d like to study how your sense of morality is structured.”

“I know I deserve to hear that… No, really, I just feel a strong sense of resistance…”

Kang Jin-ho and Bang Jin-hoon stared blankly at Lee Hyun-soo. Lee Hyun-soo clicked his tongue at their reaction.

‘Don’t these guys have any patriotism?’

Especially Kang Jin-ho, that guy even served in the military, how can he be like that?

“I’m against it.”

“Why? Because of that patriotism?”

“That too, but if the National Intelligence Service or the government gets hacked, all that information will be passed on to the hackers. Those guys have no morals and will do anything for money, so there’s no guarantee they won’t sell that information to China separately. So, we’d be paying with our own money to give Korean information to China, which is not only unpatriotic but also kind of messed up.”

“Oh!”

Jang Min nodded as if impressed.

“You could think of that too. Unexpected.”

“No…”

“But it’s a shallow thought. The capabilities of China’s internet response command surpass those of hackers. It’s not that they can’t hack it, it’s that they don’t touch it. They might have already hacked it all and left without a trace.”

Steam was coming out of Lee Hyun-soo’s head.

‘I need to set aside some time to study IT.’

Since he was completely ignorant in this area, he couldn’t tell what was right and what was wrong.

“Anyway, I’m against it.”

Lee Hyun-soo cleanly waved his hand.

“If there’s something big to be found, I’ll take the risk. But it doesn’t seem like anything will come out of digging into this. Taking risks for something like that is stupid.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

“I’m not particularly drawn to it either.”

“But, Lord.”

“It’s not about patriotism. Kim Myung-chan doesn’t seem like the type to leave such things as data.”

“Hmm.”

Wiggins was about to say something but closed his mouth.

‘Surprisingly, those things often come out.’

People are more meticulous than you think, but they are also more foolish than you think.

Scandals that shake the world or upheavals that overturn countries often start from surprisingly lax management.

He certainly thought it was worth digging into, but…

‘If the Lord refuses, there’s no need to keep pushing it.’

Wiggins neatly organized his thoughts and took a step back.

“I understand. But I think some investigation is necessary. As Lee Hyun-soo said, please allow us to use Jang Pil-jae, a former National Intelligence Service agent, to access information.”

“Do as you please.”

Kang Jin-ho didn’t object to that.

“Then, is that roughly settled?”

“Yes.”

“And there’s still no movement from their side?”

“There’s nothing particularly noticeable.”

Kang Jin-ho narrowed his brow slightly.

“Wouldn’t they know that I’ve returned to Korea?”

“They will.”

Wiggins said firmly.

“Lord, do you remember those words?”

“What words?”

“That Park… Park… what was it? That North Korean…”

“You said it was Park Sang-cheol.”

“Yes. That Park Sang-cheol. That guy said something like this. ‘This is worth the money.'”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes darkened.

Wiggins glanced at Kang Jin-ho and opened his mouth.

“Those words mean that they received money from someone in exchange for attacking you, Lord.”

“…I suppose so.”

“Then, who is the entity that gave the money? There are probably a lot of people who want to kill you right now, Lord.”

“A lot?”

“The strong always have many enemies.”

“…Keep going.”

“Yes.”

Wiggins cleared his throat slightly and continued.

“But among those many people, there are only two who can contact North Korea. One is China, and the other is…”

“Korea.”

“Exactly.”

Kang Jin-ho took out a cigarette.

It was something he already knew, but every time he heard it, he felt a subtle ache in his gut. He had already experienced being rejected by a nation when he was in the Central Plains [a historical region in China], but this felt different.

“And China doesn’t need to give financial compensation to move North Korea. Especially not for this matter. So, that leaves only one place.”

“So…”

Kang Jin-ho lit his cigarette, took a deep drag, and exhaled the smoke.

“The Korean government paid North Korea to kill me?”

“That’s probably correct.”

“Is that possible?”

Wiggins glanced at Lee Hyun-soo without answering. Lee Hyun-soo sighed deeply.

“It would be harder to find a reason why it’s impossible. Korea has had several precedents. They’ve given money to North Korea during election season to attack Korea… and there have been many other things.”

“And whether they gave money or not isn’t important. What’s important is that he said those words in front of us. As if he wanted us to hear it.”

Kang Jin-ho narrowed his brow.

He wasn’t stupid, but sometimes he had a hard time understanding what Wiggins or Lee Hyun-soo were saying.

“You’re saying it was intentional?”

“Yes. They’re letting us know that it was the Korean government that ordered it. Whether it’s true or not.”

“Why?”

“So that we’ll fight each other.”

Lee Hyun-soo shrugged.

“If that’s what they want, there’s no reason why they wouldn’t inform the Korean government that the Lord has escaped. Even if they don’t know, by now, everyone who needs to know probably does.”

The end of the cigarette burned down.

Kang Jin-ho, who had taken a deep drag and slowly exhaled the smoke, lightly shook his head.

“And yet, there’s no reaction…” The answer was Lee Hyun-soo’s responsibility.

“In reality, there’s nothing they can do.”

Kang Jin-ho met Lee Hyun-soo’s gaze.

“Now that you’ve entered Korea, Lord, they have no way to stop you. It’s impossible to mobilize the military in the city, and it’s impossible to send troops here. Considering the military power, at least a mechanized division would have to move to strike the General Assembly, but the moment a mechanized division moves around the capital without a special reason, the country will be turned upside down. South Korea has a trauma about that.”

“Oh, Q.”

Wiggins chimed in.

“In the end, this war is already over. There’s no longer any way to stop you, Lord, with physical force. Unless, perhaps, they negotiate with the Three Kings [powerful figures in the Demonic Cult] and bring one of them. But the Three Kings can’t leave China. The moment they leave their posts, the remaining people will never stay still.”

Kang Jin-ho narrowed his brow.

“To stop you, Lord, they should have stopped you before you returned to Korea. The moment you entered Korea…”

Wiggins held out his hand as if placing something down.

“Checkmate.”

“The war is over. What remains is the aftermath. But this aftermath is more complicated and dirty than you think. The guys who clearly led the war will demand evidence and make nonsense, and they’ll push others as scapegoats and slip away.”

Wiggins shrugged.

“Whether Kim Myung-chan is the mastermind or not is uncertain, but he’s probably desperately trying to figure out how to get out of this situation. If he’s more meticulous, he’s probably already moving according to a pre-arranged scenario.”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes lowered.

At first glance, Wiggins’ words seemed correct.

But Kang Jin-ho couldn’t shake off the feeling that those words were bothering him.

‘The war is over?’

Wiggins was building his logic on the premise that Kim Myung-chan would admit defeat. If Kim Myung-chan judged that he could no longer do anything to Kang Jin-ho, then those words would be correct.

But…

‘For someone who has caused such a big incident to back down so easily…’

Kang Jin-ho chuckled quietly.

The malice of people can sometimes easily shatter the common sense of the same people.

And… that malice never stops.

When Kim Myung-chan first targeted Kang Jin-ho, he probably wasn’t a monster. But as Kang Jin-ho continued to thwart his intentions, Kim Myung-chan was likely gradually consumed by malice.

What about now?

‘By now, he would have become a monster.’

Kang Jin-ho was suddenly curious.

An enemy of a type he had never encountered before.

When an enemy with the power of authority, not violence or schemes, tried to defeat him with all their heart, how would they come out?

He took a long drag of his cigarette. The acrid smoke filled his lungs and slowly exhaled.

“Don’t take your eyes off Kim Myung-chan.”

“Yes, Lord.”

“Let’s wait and see. Let’s see how they come out.”

There’s one thing they need to know.

‘The hunt is on our side.’

No matter what Kim Myung-chan and his people do, they are nothing more than struggling prey.