Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 14

Going to School (6)

He was a friend whose face and name I knew, but we hadn’t really talked much.

Kang Jin-ho, having stopped Park Yu-min from licking the floor by stepping in, spoke to Choi Young-soo.

“Stop it.”

“What the hell is this guy?”

Choi Young-soo looked at Kang Jin-ho with a dumbfounded expression.

‘What’s with this fearless bastard?’

Kang Jin-ho grabbed Park Yu-min by the scruff of his neck, who was still on the floor, and pulled him up.

“Uh…”

Park Yu-min got up.

“Go sit down.”

Park Yu-min hesitated and looked back at Choi Young-soo.

“You cripple, are you crazy? Getting up as you please?”

“Go.”

Park Yu-min awkwardly looked back and forth between the two of them.

“No, you son of a bitch. I’ve been holding back. Who the hell are you?”

Choi Young-soo glared at Kang Jin-ho.

Kang Jin-ho just stared back at Choi Young-soo.

It wasn’t like he particularly wanted to help.

In the past, he had watched all of this and turned a blind eye. Now, he didn’t have any noble thoughts of atoning or upholding justice.

Who was the worse person between Choi Young-soo, who was bullying someone, and Kang Jin-ho, who had killed thousands?

If they weren’t stupid, they would say Kang Jin-ho was the villain.

Nevertheless, the reason Kang Jin-ho stepped in wasn’t out of a sense of justice, but because he was annoyed.

For some reason, he was getting incredibly irritated.

Even though he knew it was a natural occurrence, he was still annoyed. Their bullying was almost like a game.

It was like watching someone play while tormenting a dying person.

“Just stop it.”

“Why are you taking the side of that retard? Are you a retard too?”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyebrows twitched.

He also had memories of being called a retard.

After becoming paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident, he had to listen to whispers behind his back every time he moved in a wheelchair. When he was reborn in the Murim world [a world of martial arts and cultivation], he had to limp on one leg due to an accident before he even turned ten.

Until he underwent a complete transformation later, he lived as a cripple.

Was it because of those memories?

The words coming out of Choi Young-soo’s mouth were all grating on Kang Jin-ho’s nerves.

“I don’t like repeating myself.”

“Huh… are you kidding me?”

“Go sit down.”

Park Yu-min shook his head.

“I, I’m okay, Jin-ho.”

“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

“No, this bastard, really.”

Choi Young-soo’s hand flew towards Kang Jin-ho’s chin.

Clack!

But Choi Young-soo’s hand was already caught in Kang Jin-ho’s grip.

“Huh?”

“…You.”

Kang Jin-ho looked at Choi Young-soo.

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes, with their upturned corners, glared fiercely at Choi Young-soo.

“You wanna die?”

It was nothing special.

Especially for a high school student who lived with curses on their lips.

But absurdly, Choi Young-soo felt goosebumps all over his body at that moment. The moment he met Kang Jin-ho’s eyes, he felt a chill run through his entire body as if he had entered a freezer.

‘What is this?’

Choi Young-soo was flustered.

An unknown sense of unease was warning him that he shouldn’t provoke Kang Jin-ho any further.

“This bastard…”

But Choi Young-soo couldn’t back down.

There were over twenty pairs of eyes watching.

If you included the kids who had gathered at the front and back doors of the classroom, there were over forty.

If he backed down here, his reputation would be ruined. They wouldn’t say it out loud, but they would all be laughing at him behind his back.

“You son of a bitch!”

At that moment, Choi Young-soo’s foot kicked Kang Jin-ho in the stomach.

But that was a choice he shouldn’t have made.

Kang Jin-ho had no internal energy.

His body wasn’t the same as before either.

Even so, Kang Jin-ho was a warrior who had experienced thousands of life-or-death battles.

They say that if you cut down three people with a real sword, you’re considered a master.

Then, how would you describe Kang Jin-ho, who had killed countless people?

Unless you were a professional fighter, even if your strength was more than double, Choi Young-soo was no match for Kang Jin-ho.

Kang Jin-ho slightly dodged the foot flying towards his stomach and drove his knee into Choi Young-soo’s solar plexus.

“Gasp!”

Choi Young-soo, who was suddenly out of breath, clutched his stomach and stretched his neck out.

That was the end of it.

Kang Jin-ho’s elbow struck down on Choi Young-soo’s back.

He had changed his target because he thought he might seriously injure him if he hit the back of his head.

Choi Young-soo fell to the ground without even screaming.

As he fell, his lip burst, and red blood flowed into the dirty, watery floor.

“Young-soo!”

“Hey, what did you do? You crazy bastard!”

Two of his lackeys supported the unconscious Choi Young-soo.

But Choi Young-soo had already fallen onto the dirty floor, his clothes completely stained black, and blood was flowing from his lips.

“You’ll regret…”

“Who said you could go?”

Choi Young-soo’s lackeys flinched and stopped at Kang Jin-ho’s words.

“No, we…”

“Clean it up.”

Kang Jin-ho pointed to the floor.

“You guys clean up what you did.”

“…Okay.”

Kang Jin-ho said that and turned around.

The other students in the class were buzzing as they looked at Kang Jin-ho.

Jung In-gyu quickly ran over and whispered into Kang Jin-ho’s ear.

“Why did you do that!”

“What.”

“Since when were you so good at fighting? No, that’s not important. What are you going to do? Don’t you know Choi Young-soo is the chairman’s grandson?”

“I know.”

“Then?”

“I just felt bad.”

“You’re really crazy!”

At that moment, a low voice came from behind him.

“Um…”

Kang Jin-ho turned around.

Park Yu-min, who had been bullied, opened his mouth hesitantly.

“Th, thank you.”

“For what?”

“For helping me…”

“I just did it because I felt bad.”

“Still…”

“I don’t think you look good either. So, go.”

Park Yu-min lowered his head and returned to his seat.

Kang Jin-ho frowned as he watched the whole thing unfold.

If you were to ask who was more responsible between the bully and the bullied, it would be the bully. But does that mean the bullied is completely innocent?

There are many cases, but in this case, Park Yu-min was largely responsible for being bullied. If he had just gritted his teeth and attacked Choi Young-soo even once, things wouldn’t have escalated to this point.

“Hey, this is really not a small matter. Even the teachers in this school can’t touch Choi Young-soo.”

“I know.”

Kang Jin-ho also knew that the things that would happen in the future would be annoying.

But that was all there was to it.

He didn’t regret it. If he hadn’t done it in the first place, maybe, but Kang Jin-ho wasn’t the type to regret things he had already done.

“I’ll just have to go through some trouble.”

Kang Jin-ho didn’t dwell on what he had already done.

What was bothering him was something completely different.

A moment ago, when he had used his hands on Choi Young-soo, Kang Jin-ho had been overwhelmed by the intense urge to smash Choi Young-soo’s occiput [the back of the skull] with his elbow.

The Demonic Heavenly Sovereign living inside him was craving blood.

If he hadn’t suppressed his impulse at that time, Choi Young-soo might have died. Crushing the head of an unguarded human was something even an untrained person could do.

Kang Jin-ho felt disgusted.

He thought he had returned to a normal life, but he still had one foot in that other world.

This time, Kang Jin-ho was able to suppress the impulse that came from within.

But if something really dangerous happened,

would Kang Jin-ho be able to control his impulses?

It wasn’t a problem that could be solved by worrying about it now.

But…

“Hey, this is not a small matter.”

“It’s okay.”

Kang Jin-ho said nonchalantly.

But the situation was worse than he thought.

“What the hell are you?”

Kang Jin-ho looked at the teacher glaring at him.

The student guidance counselor.

Among the students, he was known by the unpleasant nickname ‘Blood Rag’ because they said that after being hit by him, you had to wipe the blood off the floor with a rag. His name was Gong Ik-hyun.

“This bastard, where do you think this school is? You beat someone up? Are you a gangster, you bastard?”

“You, you bastard… get down, you bastard. You need to be beaten.”

If students fought each other, it was natural for him to discipline them.

Even so, Kang Jin-ho didn’t like the Blood Rag.

His words completely omitted the fact that Choi Young-soo had bullied Park Yu-min in the first place.

“But Choi Young-soo bullied Park Yu-min first, didn’t he?”

“What? Who said that?”

“All the kids in the class saw it.”

“Bring them here.”

“Bring the kids who said that.”

“Just a moment.”

“Where are you going?”

“Do you think anyone will say that? All the kids in the class said that you just beat up Choi Young-soo who was standing still?”

Kang Jin-ho glared slightly at the Blood Rag.

“Can’t you lower your eyes?”

“Don’t you know?”

“Know what?”

“Don’t you have a guilty conscience?”

“Hey, you bastard! Are you teaching me now? Get down!”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

“No.”

“Are you resisting?”

“If I did wrong, I’ll take a hundred hits. But I don’t know what I did wrong like this.”

“Huh, this crazy bastard.”

The Blood Rag got up from his seat and grabbed Kang Jin-ho by the collar.

“Do you really want to die?”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes met the Blood Rag’s eyes.

The Blood Rag, who had received Kang Jin-ho’s intense gaze, turned his head slightly as if he was feeling guilty.

“Ah, damn it! This is disgusting.”

At that moment, the door opened and the homeroom teacher entered the student guidance office.

“What’s going on, Mr. Gong?”

“This bastard beat up Choi Young-soo.”

“…Is that true? Jin-ho did?”

“Young-soo is being taken to the hospital right now. They say he just beat up Young-soo who was standing still.”

His homeroom teacher, Kim Sung-joo, looked at Kang Jin-ho and asked.

“Is it true?”

“No.”

“Then what is true?”

“I hit him because Choi Young-soo was bullying Park Yu-min.”

“If Choi Young-soo is punished for bullying Park Yu-min, I will also take the consequences for hitting Choi Young-soo. But I can’t admit that I hit him unilaterally.”

“Guidance counselor.”

“The kids are all saying that this bastard suddenly hit him.”

Kim Sung-joo felt that Gong Ik-hyun was giving him a look.

He had a grasp of how the situation was unfolding.

“Okay, I’ll take him back for now.”

“Ah, Mr. Kim!”

“I’m his homeroom teacher. Shouldn’t I be the one to talk to him first, no matter what happens later? Why are you ignoring me and doing things as you please? This is an abuse of power.”

“The principal is furious! Mr. Kim, are you made of steel?”

“If I get cursed, I’ll take it. So, let me go and talk to him first.”

“Ah, you’re really impossible. Hey, Mr. Kim Sung-joo!”

The homeroom teacher was unwavering.

He had a strong will not to stand by and watch a student who was clearly being treated unfairly.

As the two were arguing loudly, the door opened and two more people entered.

“It’s here, Chairman.”

The people who came in were the chairman and the principal.

The people inside stopped talking and bowed their heads to the two of them.

“Is this the student?”

“Yes.”

The old man, who was the chairman, shouted at Kang Jin-ho in a sharp voice.

“Did you hit our Young-soo?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I did it because Young-soo was bullying a kid.”

“Is that so? If that’s true, then Young-soo deserves to be hit.”

“Yes?”

At the unexpected words, the student guidance counselor looked at the chairman in surprise. The chairman he knew was not the type to say such things.

“If what you say is true, then Young-soo is at fault. If my grandson, who runs an educational foundation, bullied another child, then he deserves to be hit. Why are you so surprised?”

The principal tried to dissuade the chairman.

“Chairman, that can’t be true. Even if it is, that student who hit someone…”

“Are you trying to make me look like a bad person?”

The principal kept bowing his head.

The situation was turning strange.

“Did you call his parents?”

“Yes. I’ve already called them.”

“Then let’s talk when his parents come. What are we doing, four adults gathered around one kid! I’m here as a parent too, so let’s put aside our titles and talk.”

“Yes.”

After an awkward silence, Kang Jin-ho’s parents arrived.

“I am Kang Yoo-hwan, Jin-ho’s father.”