Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1486

“Anyway, thanks.”

Kang Jin-ho let out a deep sigh.

Thanks to Joo Young-gi and the others contacting him quickly, he was able to prevent the problem from escalating. He couldn’t imagine what would have happened if they hadn’t been there.

‘I almost ruined my business.’

Kang Jin-ho was well aware of how important first impressions were.

If the first impression of his newly opened cafe was that it was a place swarming with such hulking figures, it would have been a disaster.

There would be chances to recover, but it was best not to create a situation that needed recovery in the first place.

“But why did you go there in the morning?”

“[Did I go? Ugh! Park Yu-min, that bastard, called people out in the morning saying he had something to do… Hey, am I just playing around? Am I? I was trying to rest after working until 10 PM yesterday. Should I abandon my own store to boost the sales of someone else’s?]”

Why are you getting mad at me?

It was Park Yu-min who did that.

“[Anyway, you have to give that bastard credit for his meddling. He’s the second biggest busybody I know.]”

“Who’s the first?”

“[Do you even need to ask, you punk?]”

Kang Jin-ho quietly shut his mouth. Right. I shouldn’t have asked.

“[Anyway, handle it well. We’re leaving now. I need to prepare for my business too.]”

“Thanks.”

“[You’re saying all sorts of weird things, you punk.]”

The call ended, and Kang Jin-ho chuckled.

‘This is a strange feeling.’

It had been a while since he’d been cursed out like that, but he didn’t feel bad. Now that everyone he met was cautiously approaching him, it felt strangely comfortable to talk to Joo Young-gi.

Maybe this is what friendship is.

Friends are different from family and colleagues. They’re not connected by blood, nor do they look at each other’s backgrounds. They’re just people who can be together because their hearts align.

Kang Jin-ho realized that he had been quite neglectful of his friends recently.

He had gone to the US to see Park Yu-min’s match recently, but he hadn’t actually spent more than 30 minutes with him. He couldn’t use being busy as an excuse.

‘I should see them soon.’

Kang Jin-ho thought he should make time to meet Park Yu-min before the new season started.

“Anyway…”

Kang Jin-ho let out a deep sigh.

“I wonder if Director Lee will do well.”

Maybe he should have consulted with Lee Hyun-joo instead of Lee Hyun-soo.

RRRRR.

Just then, Kang Jin-ho’s phone rang.

“Hello?”

“[What are you doing?]”

“I’m at the company.”

“[Which company?]”

“The General Assembly.”

“[Are you in your right mind?]”

“Huh?”

Choi Yeon-ha’s slightly agitated voice came through the phone.

“[What day is it today? Why are you there? Come up to Seoul quickly.]”

He didn’t know what day it was, but he felt like he shouldn’t refuse.

“Should I go to the company?”

“[No. Come to Gangnam.]”

“Huh?”

Kang Jin-ho’s face went blank.

“Yes, goodbye!”

Lee Yeon-sil slightly raised her head and watched the customer leaving the store.

“What day is it today?”

Strange customers had been visiting since earlier.

And…

“Excuse me…”

Even now, a menacing-looking hulk was slowly entering the store.

But Lee Yeon-sil wasn’t flustered at all. If this was the first time this had happened today, she would have been flustered, but unfortunately, this was the fifth customer like this today.

“Yes. Are you perhaps looking for clothes that will allow you to sit comfortably in a cafe?”

“Wow, how did you know?”

“How…

Well, I’m curious myself. How do I know such things?”

“Similar people have already come by a few times.”

“Oh, that’s not good. I can’t be late either…”

Lee Yeon-sil sighed deeply.

“Um, I’m just saying this just in case…”

“Yes?”

“Are you all going to similar places?”

“That’s right.”

“Then is it okay to wear similar clothes?”

The hulk’s face slightly contorted.

“Just a moment.”

The hulk took out his phone and went outside. After talking for a while, he came back inside.

“They said it shouldn’t be similar.”

“…I figured.”

Lee Yeon-sil’s worries deepened.

‘This is like Mission Impossible.’

Even though this was a clothing store and there were clothes everywhere…

‘I have to coordinate the outfits of similar-looking hulks with similar hairstyles so that they look natural and not awkward, yet different from each other.’

The problem was that these guys were so burly that the clothes they could wear naturally were very limited.

This was a new challenge.

“Hoo, sir.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s try on a few outfits first. I think I need to see you wearing them to get a feel for it.”

“Do I have to change a lot?”

“…First, to the fitting room!”

“Yes.”

The hulk sighed deeply as he headed to the fitting room.

‘What am I even doing?’

He resented his superiors.

“Are you crazy?”

“Well, I don’t care since they’re paying me… But you’re paying to bring your sister out, and it’s to a cafe?”

“…Can I ask you one thing?”

“What?”

“Don’t open your mouth. It’s annoying.”

“I don’t want to sit across from you either.”

Gong Hyuk-joon clutched his thigh.

‘I’m going to die.’

He was currently sitting at a branch of the newly opened MK Cafe. Originally, he was supposed to fill the seats with members of the General Assembly, but an emergency order had been issued in the morning.

—Don’t sit together with those dark figures, dress properly and bring a woman! Family, relatives, friends, part-timers! Anything is fine. Just bring a woman!

Even mothers were okay.

There was a commotion about defining the concept of ‘dressing properly,’ but that was somehow resolved. The problem was the ‘woman’ part.

Gong Hyuk-joon understood.

The dark… no, it wasn’t that the men were dark, but the men of the General Assembly were really dark.

Anyway, it wouldn’t look good if the intimidating employees of the General Assembly were sitting around in groups.

It would be much better if they could pretend to be couples.

But the problem was that the men of the General Assembly were the main culprits for the extremely low marriage rate in Korea, and their relationships with women were extremely strained, making them relationship destroyers.

Girlfriend?

There was no way they would have one.

That was a mythical creature. Gong Hyuk-joon believed that the concept of marriage or a girlfriend was an illusion created by society.

Anyway, he had to somehow get a woman to sit across from him. The problem was that he didn’t know any women.

Thanks to that, Gong Hyuk-joon had to acknowledge that the XX chromosome creature living in his house was a woman.

So he confidently went and said,

“Let’s go to a cafe together.”

And the response he got was all too predictable.

“Are you out of your mind? Get lost!”

Ah, right. That was inevitable.

Thanks to that, Gong Hyuk-joon had no choice but to promise that damned creature a hefty sum of 200,000 won to go to the cafe with him.

‘I’d rather throw money on the ground.’

To have to come to a cafe with that thing(?) while paying her, this was like some kind of punishment game.

“But this place is nice.”

“…Is it?”

“It doesn’t suit you, with your gloomy vibe.”

“I said I have a favor to ask.”

“What? To shut my mouth?”

“Yeah. Please.”

“You brought me here for a reason, didn’t you? Can I just keep my mouth shut and use my phone?”

“Ughhhhh.”

Gong Hyuk-joon scratched his head. His gaze swept around.

‘It’s a mess.’

It would look normal from the outside. If you looked inside through the cafe’s front window, it would look like people were sitting and chatting.

But as they say, life is a comedy when viewed from a distance, but a tragedy when viewed up close. The scene inside was a complete mess.

The members of the General Assembly, who were awkward with their younger sisters or older sisters, didn’t know what to say…

No, those guys were better off.

‘There are even guys who came with their real mothers.’

That was like walking into hellfire on their own two feet.

In the first place, the members of the General Assembly were people who had given up on life for the sake of martial arts. There was no way such people could be normal.

Think about it.

This cafe business was also started by Chairman Kang Jin-ho to help those socially maladjusted people who couldn’t adapt to the normal world to somehow make a living while acting like human beings.

The General Assembly members were pathetic people who would quickly squander hundreds of millions of won and fall into the abyss of life if they couldn’t use their martial arts. How could such people have good relationships with their parents?

Gong Hyuk-joon could see the nagging coming at them like a machine gun. Normally, they would have made some excuse and left, but today they had no choice but to take the nagging as it was.

‘Hang in there.’

He wasn’t in a great situation either, but at least he was better off than those who came with their mothers.

“Your friends came a lot, oppa [older brother].”

“But why Gangnam, it doesn’t suit you?”

“It’s not like I wanted to come.”

He didn’t know why he was assigned to Gangnam when his home was in Seongnam, but thanks to that, he had a chance to see Gangnam again after a long time.

“Do you think this place will do well?”

“I don’t know. The coffee is good, but a cafe can’t survive on just the coffee. The interior has to be good, and it needs to get some word-of-mouth… But by my standards, it’s not bad? If it was near my house or company, I’d come often.”

“Really?”

Gong Hyuk-joon nodded as if relieved.

He was worried that MK might mess it up, but it seemed to be passing the mark. His opinion didn’t mean anything, but his sister was evaluating it like that.

Come to think of it, customers had been coming in quite a bit since earlier. It seemed that the strategy of filling the inside was somewhat successful.

‘What a formidable mobilization power.’

Today, Gong Hyuk-joon had to visit five cafes.

Lee Hyun-soo had shown his prowess by planning out their courses by the hour. At least for today, the members of the General Assembly would fill half of the seats in these cafes.

“When the seats are full, don’t awkwardly hang around, get out quickly. And when you see customers leaving, go back in!”

‘He’s a devil.’

But he didn’t have any particular complaints. He knew that the General Assembly wasn’t doing this to make money.

Rather, he was grateful.

It meant that they were trying to find a way for them to make a living even if they couldn’t endure the tough training of the General Assembly and had to quit. Seeing this made their loyalty deepen.

Lee Hyun-soo probably hadn’t thought that far.

That was when it happened.

Clang.

The cafe door opened, and two people came inside.

Gong Hyuk-joon’s eyes popped out like a frog’s.

One man, one woman.

They looked like a couple.

It wouldn’t be anything special for a couple to come into a cafe, but the problem was that the people who had just come in were not ordinary couples.

“Ch, Ch… Chairman… Chairman?”

No, why is hyung [older brother/respected male] here?

Gong Hyuk-joon froze on the spot when he saw Kang Jin-ho and Choi Yeon-ha enter the cafe.