Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1476

Clang.

Lee Jong-wook entered the cafe and glanced around.

Of course, no one was there.

It was 3 a.m. It would be stranger if there were customers in a cafe with the lights off.

‘What a weird taste.’

He could understand being called out at this hour. The person who called him was known for having no concept of day or night.

But there were plenty of places where they could meet quietly, like an office. To call someone to a closed cafe was nothing but a bizarre preference.

Thud.

The sound of the door locking behind him. But Lee Jong-wook didn’t bother to turn around to see who closed the door. He was used to this kind of thing anyway.

It was what Lee Jong-wook had been doing until recently.

“You’ve arrived?”

A person slowly walked out from the back.

Lee Jong-wook checked the person’s face and smiled wryly.

“Congratulations on your promotion.”

“Thank you. Given the situation, I think this is the first time I’ve heard those words.”

Lee Jong-wook stared intently at the man in front of him.

Park Sung-jo.

He was familiar yet unfamiliar. Park Sung-jo was the current Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and the former head of the NIS’s overseas division team.

In other words, he was Lee Jong-wook’s superior in the past.

A long time ago.

“No matter what happened, a promotion is something to celebrate, Deputy Director.”

“Good words, very good words. It would have been even better if the former director hadn’t been promoted so disgracefully.”

Park Sung-jo smiled wryly.

Then, he extended a hand and pointed to a seat.

“Sit down.”

“Yes.”

Lee Jong-wook nodded lightly and sat on the sofa.

“Would you like something to drink?”

“It’s a cafe, but can we order at this hour?”

“We can.”

“Then, please give me something sweet. I’m running low on sugar.”

“As you wish.”

Park Sung-jo snapped his fingers, and the kitchen area began to bustle. Listening to the sound of the grinder grinding coffee beans, Lee Jong-wook quietly looked at Park Sung-jo.

“What’s the matter?”

“Why are you in such a hurry?”

“Weren’t you a busy man?”

“I’m always busy. So there’s no need to rush. It’s not like I’ll have more time if I do.”

Lee Jong-wook closed his mouth.

After a while, drinks were placed in front of him and Park Sung-jo. A hint of wariness flickered in Lee Jong-wook’s eyes as he looked at the dark coffee.

“I didn’t do anything childish like using a truth serum, so you don’t have to worry. And you’d have a tolerance, wouldn’t you?”

“Medicine is always evolving.”

“That’s also true. But I have no intention of using drugs on you, so you don’t have to worry. Or should I change your drink?”

Lee Jong-wook chuckled and took a sip of his drink.

If they wanted to, injecting him with a truth serum would be a piece of cake. They wouldn’t need to use any tricks; they could just grab Lee Jong-wook and stick a needle in him.

“I’d like to hear the reason you called me here.”

“The reason, the reason… You’ve always been a very practical person.”

Park Sung-jo shook his head slightly and opened his mouth.

“Do you have any thoughts of returning?”

“Are you joking?”

“I wish I were. But the situation isn’t easy. With this incident, one director, two deputy directors, and even the head of the planning and coordination office were all swept away.”

That was enough to consider the upper management completely wiped out.

He had expected some reform, but he never imagined they would wield the scalpel so drastically.

“Do you think that’s all? Half of Team 2 has been transferred to other departments.”

Team 2.

That was the term for the NIS’s domestic division.

Before coming to the Assembly, Lee Jong-wook worked in NIS Team 1. Team 1 was in charge of overseas affairs.

During the Kim Myung-chan incident, the NIS director and Team 2 had collaborated with Kim Myung-chan, so some damage was inevitable, but he never thought they would wipe them all out.

‘I don’t know if it’s a will for reform or an expression of anger.’

What was certain was that the higher-ups, Code One, were taking this incident very seriously.

“Thanks to that, the NIS is a mess right now. Just reassigning departments and replenishing personnel is enough to make us lose our minds. To be honest, I wish I could borrow a cat’s paw.”

“I don’t think I can be such a cute cat.”

“But you could be a capable cat.”

Park Sung-jo shrugged.

“Without even bringing up the black cat, white cat thing [a saying that it doesn’t matter what method is used as long as the goal is achieved], what we need right now is a cat that catches mice well. That means we need your abilities, someone who rose to the position of department head at a young age.”

A bitter smile formed on Lee Jong-wook’s lips.

“It may not matter what kind of cat it is. But cats are different from dogs; they don’t go back to an owner who has abandoned them.”

“Did we abandon you? It’s the opposite.”

“You don’t have to kick someone out of the house to abandon them. I don’t want to play word games.”

“Look here.”

Park Sung-jo narrowed his brow.

“The nation needs you.”

Lee Jong-wook’s eyes twitched at the word ‘nation’.

There was a time when that word alone justified all his actions. But Lee Jong-wook knew. No matter what he did, he could never go back to that time.

“May I tell you something I’ve realized?”

“Realized?”

“The NIS is not the nation.”

Lee Jong-wook said mockingly.

“The regime, the president, the NIS, none of them are the nation. They cannot represent the nation.”

“Then what is the nation? The people? Is that the obvious thing you want to say?”

“Well, I haven’t found the answer yet either. But one thing is certain: just because you support what the NIS does doesn’t mean it’s necessarily in the nation’s best interest.”

“I never thought I’d hear those words from you.”

“Didn’t you know? People change.”

Lee Jong-wook looked at Park Sung-jo with cold eyes.

“And what changes people is experience. No matter what I do, I can’t go back to being that patriotic young man you knew. I know how my patriotism is used and who it benefits.”

Park Sung-jo flinched at his cynical words.

The disappointment Lee Jong-wook held was evident in those few words.

“Everyone makes mistakes.”

“The important thing is whether you repeat those mistakes or move forward based on them.”

“Move forward…”

Lee Jong-wook laughed briefly.

“Either way, it has nothing to do with me.”

Park Sung-jo let out a low sigh.

“Then how about this?”

Lee Jong-wook’s eyes showed a hint of interest.

It was time for the main point.

“I won’t ask you to return to the NIS. But you can help us out a little, can’t you?”

“Me?”

“That’s right.”

“What help can I be, having left the NIS?”

“You can be of help. You are already in the place we are most curious about.”

Lee Jong-wook’s eyes narrowed.

“Are you talking about the Assembly?”

Click.

Park Sung-jo put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. Then, he slowly exhaled the smoke.

“I hope you don’t misunderstand.”

“We’re not trying to extract information from the Assembly to antagonize them. We haven’t recovered enough strength to do something so reckless.”

It meant they might try if they had the strength.

Lee Jong-wook sighed quietly.

“The US is putting pressure on us. They want us to increase the number of US troops stationed here and select a site for them. And coincidentally, the conditions for that site are near the Assembly.”

“Moreover, Chairman Kang Jin-ho and key figures of the Assembly recently visited the US. Am I wrong?”

“You’re right.”

It wasn’t exactly a secret.

“It’s a coincidence. As soon as Chairman Kang Jin-ho visited the US, the US started making all sorts of demands. What’s driving us crazy is that we have no idea what was said between the US and Chairman Kang Jin-ho. Those Americans aren’t even thinking of giving us information. It means we’re completely isolated.”

Lee Jong-wook nodded silently.

“We can’t do our job like this.”

“Don’t you think it’s your own fault?”

“Our own fault?”

“Yes.”

Lee Jong-wook said indifferently.

“I’ve reported several times that we shouldn’t antagonize the Assembly. But wasn’t it the NIS that ignored that and opposed the Assembly?”

“That wasn’t us.”

“Don’t try to blame everything on your predecessor. If you’re going to do that, you should have left the NIS. It’s the successor’s role to bear even the predecessor’s mistakes. Isn’t it?”

Park Sung-jo sighed with an uncomfortable expression.

He didn’t like it, but it was the truth.

“That’s why we’re trying to turn the situation around now.”

“So, what you’re doing is extracting information through an insider?”

“Look here.”

“Have you thought about what will happen to me if this gets out to the Assembly?”

“You know.”

Park Sung-jo said in a low voice.

“This is how it is. And that’s how our job is. We can’t do anything without taking risks and making sacrifices.”

“That’s why I’m asking you. I’ll prepare a generous reward. Something that will surprise you.”

Lee Jong-wook picked up his coffee cup and downed it in one go. After finishing the coffee in the large glass cup, Lee Jong-wook put the cup down with a thud and stood up.

“I’m leaving.”

“Hey, Lee Jong-wook.”

“Don’t contact me again. If you contact me one more time, I’ll have no choice but to report everything, including this incident, to the Assembly.”

“You…”

“I am now a member of the Assembly. If the NIS becomes an enemy of the Assembly, I will not hesitate to use the information I have to destroy the NIS.”

Park Sung-jo clenched his fist.

“In the end, you’ve also become corrupted.”

“Maybe I have.”

Lee Jong-wook replied with a cynical expression.

“There was a time when I thought sacrifice was a great value. I thought it would be good if I could contribute to the nation’s benefit by sacrificing myself. But not anymore. If I sacrifice myself, who will recognize my sacrifice?”

“…Hoping to be recognized isn’t a sacrifice.”

“Yes, that’s right. That’s why I can no longer work with you.”

He could be called a snob. But Lee Jong-wook had decided not to live with a distorted ideal anymore.

Kim Myung-chan had clearly shown him what the end would be.

“Have you met Prime Minister Kim Myung-chan?”

Lee Jong-wook nodded, seeing that Park Sung-jo didn’t answer.

“I guess so. That’s your way.”

He didn’t like everything about the Assembly.

But at least the Assembly didn’t abandon its own people.

‘A sense of belonging.’

What a joke.

It was better to live alone in a place that treated him well than to feel a sense of belonging and be abandoned.

“I hope we don’t have to meet again.”

As Lee Jong-wook headed out without any regrets, Park Sung-jo stood up.

“Hey! Lee Jong-wook! Lee Jong-wook! You!”

But Lee Jong-wook didn’t even pretend to hear him and went outside.

“Tsk.”

Park Sung-jo clicked his tongue and sat back down.

“What do we do?”

“Leave him be. How long can he hold out? If we put some pressure on him, he’ll eventually cooperate.”

“He seems tough.”

“Is this the first time we’ve done something like this? It’s easy to make tough guys cooperate.”

Park Sung-jo’s mind flashed through Lee Jong-wook’s relationships. Who should he pressure first….

That was when it happened.

Clang.

The sound of the door opening. Park Sung-jo raised his head, thinking that Lee Jong-wook might have come back, but his face hardened.

The person who came in was someone he knew well. To be precise, he knew his face, but this was the first time they had met.

“Should I thank you for taking good care of our youngest?”

Park Sung-jo’s lips trembled.

Lee Hyun-soo.

Lee Hyun-soo, who could be called the de facto second-in-command of the Assembly, walked in with a nonchalant expression.

“H-how?”

“Ah, don’t worry. It’s not like Lee Jong-wook snitched. Did you really think I’d trust that guy so easily and not keep an eye on him? You’ve seen me too kindly.”

Lee Hyun-soo smiled gently.

“However, from my point of view, this is very unpleasant? It seems our new Deputy Director hasn’t received a proper handover?”

Park Sung-jo desperately tried to come up with an excuse.

“O-oh, there’s a misunderstanding…”

“Shut your trap.”

A bitter smile appeared on Lee Hyun-soo’s lips.

“If you don’t know, I’ll have to teach you. What happens when you try to pull a fast one.”

Park Sung-jo closed his eyes tightly.

His mistake was taking the Assembly too lightly.