Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1377

“Oh, no, what is this! An arrest?”Baek Hyeon-jeong was horrified and rushed towards Kang Jin-ho. However, her actions were immediately stopped by the detectives.”There’s no need to worry too much. We’ll investigate, and if there are no charges, he’ll be released immediately.””What did our child do to deserve this?””We cannot disclose the details. Please come to the station tomorrow morning, and we will provide a detailed explanation.”The detective’s attitude was not at all overbearing. This made it even harder to object.Kang Jin-ho slightly lowered his head and looked at the handcuffs on his hands.This much.If he wanted to, he could break these metal cuffs more easily than a rubber band.But he couldn’t break them.’I’ve been outmaneuvered.’Kang Jin-ho couldn’t help but chuckle.If Kim Myung-chan and his group had mobilized the military to target Kang Jin-ho in a place hidden from public view, it wouldn’t have been difficult to deal with. But this was a completely different situation.Something he had overlooked.It wasn’t just them who were constrained by public eyes and social perceptions. Kang Jin-ho was also not free from those constraints.What if he were to overpower the police here and break these handcuffs?He might find freedom, but he would have to live a life of freedom that wasn’t truly free. His double life, moving between the Murim world [martial arts world] and the ordinary world, would end in that instant.And the repercussions would extend not only to him but also to his family.”Oppa, what on earth is going on?”Kang Jin-ho’s eyes darkened.Seeing Kang Eun-young trembling in panic, Kang Yu-hwan with a hardened face, and Baek Hyeon-jeong looking like she was about to collapse, he felt something boiling up from deep within his stomach.”Hoo…”Kang Jin-ho took a deep breath.’This isn’t easy.’He knew he had to be patient, but his body kept twitching. Just the fact that his family had to see him in handcuffs was making it impossible for Kang Jin-ho to calm down.However…Kang Jin-ho subtly shifted his gaze.They were being kind to his family, but the eyes they turned to Kang Jin-ho were nothing short of coercive. If they knew who Kang Jin-ho was, they would never dare to look at him like that.That meant one thing.They didn’t know who Kang Jin-ho was. They didn’t even know why they were arresting him. They were just ordinary people who had received orders from their superiors to bring in a person.’They want me to knock them down and run.’The person who sent them was probably the one who most wanted Kang Jin-ho to cause a scene right now. Whether it was Kim Myung-chan or someone else.Kang Jin-ho curled up the corners of his mouth.”Let’s go, Mr. Kang Jin-ho.”The detective grabbed Kang Jin-ho’s arm.”Wait a moment.””Resistance is…””I’ll go on my own. I have no intention of resisting, so please give me a moment.”The detective nodded at Kang Jin-ho’s calm voice.Kang Jin-ho turned his gaze to Baek Hyeon-jeong.”…Jin-ho, what is going on?””It’s nothing serious, so don’t worry.””Nothing serious?””It seems there was some misunderstanding. You don’t have to worry. It’ll be resolved soon.”Baek Hyeon-jeong couldn’t accept the situation, but Kang Jin-ho had nothing more to say. He didn’t even know exactly what was going on, so what could he say?”I’ll be back soon, Father.”Kang Yu-hwan nodded heavily.He had a calm face, but the corners of his mouth were trembling, indicating that Kang Yu-hwan was also not calm.And…”Don’t cry.”Tears streamed down Kang Eun-young’s reddened eyes. But she wasn’t sobbing, so it seemed she was trying to hold back.”Contact Lee Hyun-soo and explain the situation.””Okay, I understand.””It’ll take a while, so don’t cause trouble for Mom and Dad.””Oppa… Oppa, are you really okay? You didn’t do anything wrong, did you?”Kang Jin-ho chuckled.Wrong?He had committed countless sins.But he had never committed the kind of sin they were talking about.”Let’s go.”Kang Jin-ho took a step forward, and the detectives surrounded him and moved.”Jin-ho! Jin-ho! Are you really okay? Jin-ho! Get out of the way! I’m going to talk to my son, what right do you have to stop me!””Honey, calm down.””How can I calm down right now! Jin-ho!”Kang Jin-ho bit his lip slightly as he heard the voices from behind.Kang Jin-ho leaned back in the seat of the police car parked in front of his house. A detective got in next to him, and soon the police car started moving.The scenery passing by the car window felt a little unfamiliar. Feeling a strange sensation he had never experienced before, Kang Jin-ho quietly closed his eyes.That’s right.The line had already been crossed.But this was something that should never have happened.’Kim Myung-chan.’You will never die easily.Bang!The door to the conference room was violently thrown open.Wiggins’s head snapped around. Wiggins, who was about to raise his voice at the rudeness, closed his mouth when he saw the expression of the person who had entered.”Master, no, Director.””What’s going on?””The Guild Master has been arrested.”Wiggins’s face remained stiff and unmoving.It wasn’t that he was shocked, but that the words he had heard were not being processed in his head. It was like hearing that a whale was flying in the desert.”What?”Wiggins tilted his head and asked again.Lee Hyun-soo, with a hardened face, spoke again.”The Guild Master was arrested by the police at his home a little while ago.””Did you say police, just now?””Yes.”It was Bang Jin-hoon who understood faster.Bang Jin-hoon jumped up from his seat.”What kind of bull is this! How can the police arrest that man! It’s like a rat dragging a lion!””It seems they arrested him where his family was.””Ah…”Bang Jin-hoon bit his lip slightly.”Those bastards are playing tricks!”As soon as he heard the word ‘family,’ he understood how the situation had unfolded.Kang Jin-ho, who valued his family, would never choose to knock down the police and run away in front of them.”…We were careless.”Wiggins had a troubled expression.The reason they hadn’t touched Kang Jin-ho’s family, despite all their schemes, was because they thought they couldn’t handle Kang Jin-ho’s anger.But looking back, wasn’t that a ridiculous thought?Whether they touched his family or not, those people were going to die anyway. Yet, they hadn’t thought it strange that they hadn’t used all the means at their disposal.’It’s my mistake.’Wiggins bit his lip tightly.He had become too accustomed to the Murim world [martial arts world].At the Round Table, he had maintained a balance between the Round Table and Britain, but after joining the General Assembly, Wiggins had focused only on the movements within the General Assembly and had not paid much attention to external threats.He thought that there was a limit to what the Korean political world, which didn’t know the Murim world well, could do. But he shouldn’t have done that. Sometimes, people can do things precisely because they don’t know better.”So, where is the Guild Master now?””It seems he has been taken to the police station.””Is he in a detention cell?””Probably… but he’ll be moved to a detention center soon.”Wiggins’s face hardened.”What exactly is the charge?””…I heard it was something about violating the National Security Law.””National Security Law?”Wiggins tilted his head. Wiggins, who was confident that he was ahead of others in terms of common sense and knowledge, couldn’t possibly be an expert in the laws of South Korea.”Simply put, it means he sympathized with North Korea.””Those sly bastards…”Wiggins’s face flushed red.Kang Jin-ho had entered South Korea through North Korea to survive. If they had even one way to prove that Kang Jin-ho had been in North Korea, this would become a checkmate.Because there was no way to explain why he had gone to North Korea.The only way was for the state to prove that there was no treasonous act involved, but now that state was the enemy. Now that the situation had come this far, they would never defend Kang Jin-ho.No, far from defending him, they were more likely to do everything they could to imprison Kang Jin-ho.”What do we do?”Wiggins raised his head and looked at Lee Hyun-soo.His face revealed an undisguised panic. Lee Hyun-soo, who never lost his composure in any situation, seemed to have no immunity to this kind of situation.Well, Wiggins was probably the same.’Are they trying to drag a man who lives in the shadows into the light and judge him?’A hollow laugh escaped him.”There’s no need to bother looking for Kim Myung-chan.”Wiggins stood up from his seat with a hardened face.”Director Bang!””Yes!””Start looking for a law firm. No matter how it ends, now that they’ve gone legal, we’ll have to fight them legally.””But… this is against the state. Isn’t it different from a sloppy lawsuit? No one will want to take it on.””Money can even move ghosts. Tell them we’ll pay as much as they want.””Understood.””Lee Hyun-soo.””Yes.”Wiggins turned his head to Lee Hyun-soo and said.”It seems we need internal information from their side. Find it out by any means necessary.””Understood.””And try to contact the Minister of Economy and Finance as soon as possible. We need that man to somehow…”That’s when it happened.Knock, knock, knock.Wiggins turned his head at the sound of someone knocking on the door.”Come in.”The person who opened the door and poked their head in said with a stiff face.”I know you’re in a meeting, but I think I need to tell you this no matter what.””Tell me.””Minister of Economy and Finance, Seok Dong-soo, was just dismissed. It’s breaking news.””What?”Wiggins couldn’t help but ask back.It wasn’t that Wiggins couldn’t understand the meaning of the words, but it meant that the shock Wiggins received was that great.”What’s the reason for the dismissal?””The media says they don’t know the exact reason. They’re just saying it seems to be due to the responsibility for the recent poor economy and a series of policy failures…””They’re talking nonsense.”Wiggins gritted his teeth.This was a declaration of war. The fact that they dismissed Seok Dong-soo, who could be considered pro-Kang Jin-ho, immediately after arresting Kang Jin-ho was proof of that.”It seems they’ve been sharpening their knives.””I have a bad feeling about this.”Wiggins sighed.”We have to move. We have to resolve this situation somehow. We shouldn’t be thinking, we should be running. If we can’t resolve this, something truly terrible will happen.””The Guild Master could go to prison.””No, it’s not that!””…Yes?”Wiggins bit his lip tightly.The only reason this situation could continue was because Kang Jin-ho didn’t want to break the boundary between the Murim world [martial arts world] and the outside world.But what if Kang Jin-ho eventually couldn’t stand it and overturned the situation?’Hell will break loose.’The boundary that had been maintained for so long would collapse, and the world would be plunged into chaos.That was the one thing that had to be prevented.”Move! And find out the Guild Master’s situation and apply for a visit as soon as possible! Immediately!””Yes!”Wiggins rubbed his eyes as he watched Lee Hyun-soo run out.’How far are they going to go?’One thing was certain.The path of compromise no longer existed.