Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1472

After throwing a few punches and raising his voice a couple of times, Kang Jin-ho finally got Jang Min to say, ‘Let’s discuss this again later,’ and let out a deep sigh.

To think he’d be getting nagged about marriage at work, something even his parents didn’t do.

Kang Jin-ho sighed heavily and looked at Jang Min.

For him, Jang Min occupied a rather unique position. Jang Min was undoubtedly his subordinate, but also undeniably his elder.

If the standard for being an elder was being born earlier, Kang Jin-ho could argue that he was older than Jang Min. However, if it was about living longer, even Kang Jin-ho, who had lived three lives, couldn’t compare to Jang Min.

Because of that, even Kang Jin-ho couldn’t completely ignore Jang Min’s words.

Besides, wasn’t Jang Min the one who had held onto the crumbling Demonic Cult and endured those harsh years until Kang Jin-ho arrived?

It would be strange if Kang Jin-ho didn’t feel sorry for Jang Min.

‘If only his personality was a bit more mature…’

Kang Jin-ho gritted his teeth.

Anyway, every time they had these meetings, he felt like it was hard to find a single sane person among the higher-ups of this General Assembly.

“First of all, it’s encouraging that the income we can get from Japan has increased more than expected,” Lee Hyun-soo said, summarizing the situation.

“Elder, you’ve really worked hard,” Jang Min said, crossing his arms and acting as if it was nothing.

“There’s no winning against a beating.”

In another situation, such an attitude and words might have made him look admirable, but how could a person with a clearly visible blue bruise look cool saying that?

Everyone just forced down the sighs that were about to escape.

“Old man, please act your age.”

“Do you want to get hit too?” Bator sighed.

‘I can’t believe I can’t do anything about that old man…’

Bator was someone who had faced Hong Wang without fear. Because of that, he often sparred with Jang Min. However, even though Bator had become incomparably stronger than in the past after receiving demonic martial arts from Kang Jin-ho, he still couldn’t beat Jang Min.

The reason?

Simple. Jang Min was getting stronger just as fast as Bator was.

Jang Min had joined the cult during its decline. After that, he had spent his entire life watching the cult weaken. He was Jang Min, who had overcome those terrible years and become strong enough to control all the cult members.

But conversely, it meant that Jang Min had no superiors to look up to, no strong figures to use as a standard. He had only learned and researched the lost demonic martial arts on his own, building his current martial prowess.

Then, Jang Min met Kang Jin-ho.

Kang Jin-ho was literally a treasure trove of demonic martial arts.

He was like a walking demonic martial arts dictionary. For ordinary Demonic Cult members, he could only choose and improve the demonic martial arts that were least affected by demonic energy, but not for Jang Min. He was already mostly free from the influence of demonic energy.

Thanks to that, Kang Jin-ho was able to teach Jang Min high-level demonic martial arts without any burden, and thanks to that, Jang Min was getting stronger at a rapid pace even at this moment.

Enough to make Bator’s growth rate pale in comparison.

“What’s with that look?” Jang Min glared.

“…If you’re that old, isn’t it time to step down?”

“Tsk tsk tsk, you young’un are just greedy. Considering the years I’ve lived, you should be grateful that you can even exchange blows with me.”

He had a point, but…

Bator shook his head as if he didn’t like it.

“Then…”

Kang Jin-ho, thinking that the conversation was going off on a tangent, cut off the two of them.

“Is that it for Japan?”

“Continuous management is necessary. It’s hard to establish a system, but maintaining it is even harder. However, from now on, it won’t require as much power as it has until now,” Lee Hyun-soo said, hesitating slightly before speaking.

“The Demonic Flames can return immediately, and I’d like about half of the Demonic Cult elders to return to the General Assembly. And the remaining elders should be replaced by members of the General Assembly over time.”

To put it nicely, it meant that the Demonic Cult members would be sent home, but to put it badly, it was no different from saying that the General Assembly would take what the Demonic Cult elders and Demonic Flames had achieved.

However, even though he understood the hidden meaning of those words, Jang Min didn’t express any particular dissatisfaction.

What was important to him was to properly collect money from the land occupied by the ‘Demon Lord’ and make it a definite territory of the Demon Lord. Who managed it and collected the money was a secondary issue.

“Jang Min, is that right?”

“Yes, Demon Lord. They will not dare to resist.”

Jang Min hesitated slightly before speaking.

“I have properly informed those who resisted of their situation. Those who resisted in an organized manner have all been annihilated. Even if there are those who have infiltrated and are plotting rebellion, they will not be able to act for at least a few years.”

“Looks like you went overboard again.”

“I only gave them a just punishment.”

Of course.

The problem was that what was considered a just punishment by the standards of the Demonic Cult was excessive and horrifying by the standards of ordinary people.

“…Good job.”

However, he had no intention of blaming Jang Min. He had sent Jang Min knowing that in the first place.

In fact, Kang Jin-ho hadn’t intended to conquer the Japanese martial arts world. He had just fought back because they had attacked him, and he had killed the leader because they had started a fight.

What he was doing now was just a process of recovering from the damage caused by the war with Japan. If they had come forward first and promised massive compensation, Kang Jin-ho would have attacked Japan…

No, honestly, he would have attacked anyway! Honestly!

But it could have been more moderate. So, they had to take responsibility for this whole situation.

“What about the Japanese government?”

“They haven’t reacted much. They can’t mobilize the Self-Defense Forces, so they’ll probably just observe for a while. If the exploitation gets too severe, they’ll try to cut off the Yakuza’s money supply by directly arresting them, but that won’t be easy.”

Basically, the Yakuza were providing massive funds to the Japanese political world. If they were thinking of the country, they would have to push out those funds and annihilate the Yakuza, but well…

That was impossible.

If it had been possible, would the name Yakuza have become so famous that it had spread to other countries? Japan had been aware that the Yakuza was a social problem for decades, but they had left it alone.

In any country, there were always people who valued their own pockets more than the fate of the nation. As long as such people existed, a large-scale annihilation of the Yakuza would be impossible.

And even if they did go into annihilation with a strong heart, the places where the Yakuza disappeared would be filled by new people. The General Assembly could just wait and then re-recruit them.

‘This is what happens when a country’s martial arts world completely collapses.’

Even though martial artists from other countries openly infiltrated and took control of the underworld, the country couldn’t do anything about it. They had no justification to mobilize the military, and the police couldn’t deal with martial artists.

So, there was no way to resist.

They might come up with another method if time passed, but for a while, things would go as the General Assembly wanted.

“Then, we can consider Japan to be stabilized now.”

“That’s right.”

“Is that it then?”

“Ah, no, it’s not.”

Lee Hyun-soo waved his hand.

“Subjugating Japan wasn’t just about getting tribute from the Yakuza. Basically, we plan to do business under the name of MK. We’re also preparing a few other things, but I’ll report separately when they’re confirmed.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

Then, he looked at Jang Min with a somewhat uneasy look.

“Jang Min, return to Korea.”

“I will follow the Demon Lord’s command. I was already thinking that I needed to return since the discipline of the cult members is starting to slacken. I will rearm the minds of the cult members within three days.”

There’s going to be a lot of wailing again.

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

It was practically a tradition of the Demonic Cult to catch and beat the cult members and trainees like rats. Well, considering where that tradition started, Kang Jin-ho had nothing to say.

‘I left behind a strange tradition.’

If the Demonic Flames had heard that, they would have shouted, ‘Is that something the Cult Leader should say?’ and coughed up blood, but fortunately, Lee Myung-han wasn’t here.

“Then, Lee Director, please take care of that part.”

“Yes, Cult Leader.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded and tried to change the subject. However, Jang Min was staring at Kang Jin-ho with a gaze that seemed like it would pierce through his face.

It wasn’t exactly a glare of dissatisfaction.

But its intensity was no less than a glare.

Kang Jin-ho smiled wryly and opened his mouth.

“You’ve worked hard in Japan.”

“Demon Lord, how can I talk about hard work! All of this was solely for the glory of the Demon Lord and the cult! If it can benefit the Demon Lord, I will not hesitate even if my bones are crushed!”

Then don’t act like you’re doing me a favor.

Kang Jin-ho was momentarily confused whether he was not practicing what he preached, or if he was practicing it too much.

“Anyway, let’s move on from Japan…”

“Ah, there’s one more report.”

“…What now?”

Kang Jin-ho asked with a sulky face, and Jang Min quickly opened his mouth.

“The training for the Demonic Flames has also been completed. Of course, it can’t compare to when the great Demon Lord directly trained them, but their martial prowess has also shown a tremendous increase.”

“Hmm?”

Kang Jin-ho glanced at Jang Min.

Confidence was evident on his face.

‘Indeed.’

Kang Jin-ho had only given martial arts to his former guards and pushed them, but Jang Min had been teaching Demonic Cult members his entire life.

He probably noticed the parts that Kang Jin-ho had missed and was able to train them.

And there was probably a reason why he was saying this.

“They’re not going to the cult.”

“They have learned demonic martial arts, but…”

“Still no.”

“Ummm…”

Jang Min looked at Kang Jin-ho with a very regretful face. He looked like a big dog looking at him, which was incredibly horrifying.

“…Demon Lord, they are the ones who have inherited the lineage of the cult. It’s not just a matter of power, but they are also necessary for the stability of the cult.”

“They were originally from the General Assembly.”

“Affiliations are bound to change.”

Kang Jin-ho sighed.

“Then, let’s decide that when those guys come.”

“That is a wise decision!”

Kang Jin-ho’s brow furrowed. The fact that he agreed immediately meant that the Demonic Flames’ hearts had already leaned towards the cult. At least, Jang Min clearly believed that.

‘It’ll work out somehow.’

Kang Jin-ho waved his hand to appease Jang Min and turned his head to look at Wiggins.

“That’s enough for Japan. Wiggins.”

“Yes, Lord.”

“Report.”

“Yes.”

Wiggins looked at Kang Jin-ho with a determined gaze.