Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1407

“I am….”

Kim Myung-chan muttered blankly.

An unavoidable death.

A sentence already passed.

For him, there was no escape. Not as long as this demon, who had appeared so casually in his solitary cell—a place no one could access—was looking down at him.

“I am…”

Kim Myung-chan laughed emptily.

“Yes, I did it…”

Everything was started by Kim Myung-chan.

And all of this was caused by Kim Myung-chan.

None of the stories that spread throughout the world were fabricated. It was Kim Myung-chan who requested Kang Jin-ho’s death in China, and it was none other than Kim Myung-chan who bribed North Korea to kill Kang Jin-ho.

Soon, that fact would probably spread too.

And the same goes for everything else.

The bribes, his family’s corruption, even his dirty deeds from the past… none of it was untrue.

Kang Jin-ho had merely exposed Kim Myung-chan’s flaws to the world.

“Am… I wrong?”

Kim Myung-chan asked in a daze. Kang Jin-ho stopped at that question.

“Answer me… Kang Jin-ho, am I wrong? Is that why I’m being punished?”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled. It was a ridiculous question.

“No. You weren’t wrong.”

“You were just weak.”

Kim Myung-chan’s body trembled slightly. Kang Jin-ho spoke as if spitting out the words.

“If you had been a little stronger, strong enough to have done all of this perfectly, you would be celebrating outside right now. You just weren’t strong enough.”

Kim Myung-chan laughed.

More than any criticism he had ever heard, and more than any words of comfort, these words brought solace to his heart.

It was ironic that the one who spoke those words was the one he feared the most, the messenger of hell who had come to deliver his death.

“After all, the world is…”

“A jungle.”

“Yes… I was weak. That’s why I’m being devoured. I understand… I understand.”

Any words or reasons were just excuses in the end. Kang Jin-ho’s words neatly pierced through the truth of the world.

If he had been a little stronger, he could have locked Kang Jin-ho in prison and slept soundly.

He couldn’t because he was weak, because he was weak.

Kim Myung-chan looked at Kang Jin-ho with a strange expression.

“…I was weak.”

“You know it well.”

“Then what about them?”

Kim Myung-chan’s face took on a strange glow.

“Then why are they still living so well? If I was weak, they should have been weak too? Why am I the only one stuck here to die like this? They didn’t give up anything, so why me? Why? Why!”

Kang Jin-ho quietly looked at Kim Myung-chan before opening his mouth.

“Are you asking because you don’t know?”

“They are also weak. But they are at least stronger than you. The weakest individual in the group is the first to be hunted. Whether it’s because they are young, old, or sick.”

“Hah…”

Kim Myung-chan, who was about to say something, clutched his stomach violently.

“Cough! Cough! Ugh… Cough!”

Kim Myung-chan, who was coughing as if he would spit out his lungs, wiped his mouth and looked back at Kang Jin-ho.

“…So they aren’t safe either.”

“Maybe.”

Kang Jin-ho tilted his head slightly.

“If you’re full, there’s no reason to hunt, is there?”

“That’s a joke.”

Kim Myung-chan glared at Kang Jin-ho with madness in his eyes.

“You’re not full. You’re always hungry. If I made a mistake, it was not knowing that you are a demon who always craves blood. Isn’t that right?”

“Maybe.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled ambiguously.

“What does it matter? You’re going to end here anyway?”

“Matter, matter… Hehehehe.”

Kim Myung-chan laughed as if he had lost his mind. His disheveled hair shook wildly.

“I… I have lived my whole life for a cause.”

Kim Myung-chan trembled as he stood up.

“But now, I have nothing left. The things I tried to grasp have turned their backs on me and spat on me. All that’s left is this wretched body and the hatred that burns my flesh.”

Kim Myung-chan emitted a distorted aura.

Like a fierce flame on a pile of garbage.

“…So, wouldn’t it be okay to indulge in my petty hatred for once?”

Kim Myung-chan forced his reluctant feet to move. He headed towards a desk in the corner of the cell. Kim Myung-chan took out a bundle of papers from under the desk and returned to Kang Jin-ho.

Kang Jin-ho looked at the bundle of papers with interest.

“What is it?”

“It’s everything.”

Kim Myung-chan chuckled.

“All my filth and baseness. All the ugliness of those people that I’ve remembered is here. With this, it wouldn’t be hard to destroy them all.”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes darkened.

“Are you trying to make a deal?”

“A deal? A deal? Hahahaha!”

Kim Myung-chan laughed like a madman. He laughed so intensely that tears streamed down his face.

“A deal? A deal? You’re crazy, you’ve gone mad. Kang Jin-ho, a deal! What do I have left to make a deal with you? Can you undo all of this? Yes, a deal. Let’s make a deal, Kang Jin-ho. I’ll give you this, so please, kill me. Please… please kill me. Please…”

Kim Myung-chan collapsed to the floor, tears streaming down his face. Kneeling on the floor, Kim Myung-chan clutched the manuscript and sobbed.

“…I can’t sleep, and I can’t open my eyes. I’m scared… I’m so scared, Kang Jin-ho. I’m so scared of tomorrow.

Every time I close my eyes that won’t shut and try to sleep that won’t come, I pray that I won’t open my eyes tomorrow… I… I’m so scared of living now.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly looked down at Kim Myung-chan.

He was gone.

The Kim Myung-chan, the Prime Minister of South Korea he knew, was not here.

All that remained was a human who had grown old in a wretched way.

So human that anyone would want to turn away, only a naked human remained here.

“I’ll give it back.”

Kim Myung-chan slowly raised his head. Kang Jin-ho smiled at the sight.

“I can do it.”

“…You?”

“Don’t underestimate me, Kim Myung-chan. If I set my mind to it, I can reverse this situation at any time. I can even restore all your honor and position. You must have some idea, right?”

Tears of blood streamed down Kim Myung-chan’s face.

The devil was tempting him.

Whispering in his ear.

To abandon everything and fall into depravity, to throw the three letters of the name Kim Myung-chan into a pile of dung and become a beast that craves wealth.

“Hand it over.”

“I’ll give you everything back. In exchange for making them all like you.”

Kang Jin-ho grinned, baring his teeth.

“After all, humans survive by stepping on each other, don’t they? They abandoned you. So you can abandon them too. Then you will have all the glory and honor they possess. It’s a simple thing. Isn’t it?”

Kim Myung-chan looked at Kang Jin-ho with tears in his eyes.

His mouth hung open as if something had snapped, looking pathetic and miserable.

“You know… you know, Kang Jin-ho…”

It felt like his heart was being torn apart.

Kim Myung-chan said, sobbing.

“You know that I can’t… You know it. That’s why you’re giving me a chance. Because I have to kick away the only lifeline that can get me out of hell with my own hands. Because there is no greater pain than that.”

He knew.

Why Kang Jin-ho was reaching out to him.

Knowing that, Kim Myung-chan had no choice but to throw himself into the fires of hell.

Would he suffer as Kim Myung-chan while dying?

Or would he live and enjoy glory as someone who was not Kim Myung-chan?

Others might make different choices, but there was only one thing he could do.

Rip.

Rip.

Kim Myung-chan tore the bundle of papers he was holding to shreds.

“Aaaaaaaah!”

Screaming, wailing, and shedding tears of blood, he tore them apart. Even as his fingernails broke and flipped over, he tore and tore as if he wouldn’t leave a single piece.

“Aaaaaaaah!”

The torn pieces of paper fluttered like snow.

When there was finally nothing left to grab, Kim Myung-chan collapsed to the floor.

The last thing that had been holding him together had all fallen away.

Yet, he had protected one thing.

His pride.

“…I won’t sell it.”

A very faint sound.

So small and insignificant that no one but Kang Jin-ho would have heard it.

“I… I won’t sell it. Even if I fall into hell…”

Kim Myung-chan glared at Kang Jin-ho with his bloodshot eyes.

“Even if no one acknowledges it, I am me. I am Kim Myung-chan. No matter who you are, you can’t corrupt me.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly nodded.

“Excellent.”

This was not sarcasm. It was pure acknowledgment.

Even if the whole world cursed him, even if the sins he had committed covered the sky, Kang Jin-ho could respect Kim Myung-chan for this one choice alone.

But….

“I’ve had that thought before.”

“I wondered if my heart had softened, because recently I’ve been forgiving people more often. So I was curious. Would I forgive you?”

Kang Jin-ho smiled gently.

“But it seems I haven’t changed at all.”

He slowly walked towards Kim Myung-chan.

Then, he grabbed Kim Myung-chan’s convulsing face and slowly lifted it.

“It seems I have no desire to forgive you at all.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled.

Like a demon smiling.

“Look at me, Kim Myung-chan. I haven’t done anything yet. The hell I’m going to show you starts now.”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes turned red.

“Look at me.”

Kim Myung-chan stared blankly into Kang Jin-ho’s eyes. The blood-red eyes grew larger and larger.

Then, the red color, which had grown to an unbelievable size, dyed the entire world red.

‘Is this death?’

It was different from what he had imagined.

It was even a little comfortable.

‘What does it matter?’

Any pain was fine. If he could just end this life now. If he could end a life he couldn’t end with his own hands, even with someone else’s help, Kim Myung-chan would have nothing more to wish for.

But he didn’t know.

What true malice was.

How cruel a person could be.

Thud.

Kim Myung-chan regained consciousness with a sharp pain in his buttocks. He raised his head and saw Kang Jin-ho, who had returned to his normal appearance, looking down at him.

With a faint smile on his face.

“…I seem to be alive?”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled.

Incredibly cruelly.

“There’s no way I’d kill you.”

“No. You will not die now, Kim Myung-chan.”

Kim Myung-chan’s eyes trembled.

What on earth was he talking about?

“I’ve placed a curse on you. You can’t even commit suicide now. And I’ve extracted the turbidity from your mind. You can’t even go crazy now. Can you feel it?”

Kim Myung-chan’s eyes widened.

It was clear.

The world became clear, and his mind became clear. Everything felt clearer than in his youth.

“Th, this is…”

“I’m giving you a chance.”

Kang Jin-ho laughed as if he couldn’t hold back.

“Someday, I will return. Then, I will give you one more chance to make the same choice as now. Until then, stay alive. With the pain you have now, and the regret that you threw away the chance to get out of here and regain everything.”

Kang Jin-ho turned his body.

“I don’t know when that will be.”

Only then did Kim Myung-chan understand the situation. He screamed and rushed at Kang Jin-ho, grabbing his pant leg.

“N, no. No! Please! This can’t be! Please! Pleeease!”

He would rather die.

And he would rather go crazy.

To endure the current days with a clear mind was a punishment worse than hell for Kim Myung-chan.

And to give him hope?

To have the absurd hope that Kang Jin-ho would come back someday and get him out of here and restore everything?

And to feel the regret that he had kicked away that chance with his own feet?

No one could be this cruel.

Thwack!

Kim Myung-chan tumbled from Kang Jin-ho’s kick. But Kim Myung-chan didn’t even feel the pain, he just wailed.

“Kang Jin-ho! Kang Jin-hooooo! I was wrong. I! I was wrong. Don’t go! Please kill me instead! Don’t leave me here alone. Kang Jin-ho! Kang Jin-hooooooooo! Aaaaaaaah!”

Kang Jin-ho glanced back at Kim Myung-chan and took out a cigarette from his pocket.

Kang Jin-ho lit the cigarette and threw the remaining cigarettes and lighter at Kim Myung-chan.

“It’s a gift.”

Kang Jin-ho exhaled smoke and turned away with a bitter smile.

“Next time, I won’t come to forgive you.

Someday.”

Kang Jin-ho’s figure disappeared into the darkness.

Kim Myung-chan, left alone in the cell, screamed and wailed until his throat was torn.

All night long.