Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1510

The two men who left MK didn’t speak for a while. They found a dark alley, took out cigarettes, and lit them. After a long silence, smoking one cigarette after another, Park Gyu-yeon looked at Ha Gwang-sik with bloodshot eyes.

“What are you going to do now?”

“Can’t you hear me?”

Park Gyu-yeon’s voice sharply pierced Ha Gwang-sik’s ears. Ha Gwang-sik, with nothing to say, let out a low sigh.

“What the hell were you thinking, sunbae [senior colleague]?”

“No…”

“What made you act up there? What made you go there? Damn it! Wasn’t it you who said that place might be the most dangerous place in Korea? Huh?”

Ha Gwang-sik bit his lip tightly.

“And then you go into a place with those guys, scratch their nerves, and openly reveal that you were investigating them? What the hell were you thinking? What’s in that head of yours!”

“Hey!”

“What!”

Ha Gwang-sik raised his voice slightly, but this time, Park Gyu-yeon didn’t hold back at all.

“Is your head just for decoration? Is it a hat rack or something?”

“Enough, you bastard.”

“Enough my ass!”

Park Gyu-yeon glared at Ha Gwang-sik with murderous intent in his eyes. Looking at those eyes, Ha Gwang-sik realized the gravity of what he had done.

“I thought, even though you were a bit crazy, you were still a reasonable person, sunbae. I thought you didn’t take care of yourself because you were full of justice. But seeing you today, you’re not like that. You’re just insane.”

Park Gyu-yeon’s eyes were filled with venom. Ha Gwang-sik exhaled a long stream of cigarette smoke. His hand holding the cigarette was trembling.

He couldn’t forget it. Kang Jin-ho’s gaze, looking at them with cold eyes, was imprinted like a brand and wouldn’t fade.

“…Damn it, I should have just left him to rot.”

Park Gyu-yeon also realized one thing for sure.

Kang Jin-ho’s words were not wrong. At this rate, he would end up in a terrible state, cleaning up after Ha Gwang-sik. What else is the end of someone who tries to stop a runaway train but to die with the derailed train?

Park Gyu-yeon covered his face with both hands.

“I’ll tell you, what kind of guys we are.”

Lee Hyun-soo’s last words lingered in his mind. It wasn’t even a declaration of war. They were too powerful to use the grand term of a declaration of war, and Park Gyu-yeon and Ha Gwang-sik were too weak. It wasn’t appropriate to use the word warning either. That word couldn’t explain the fear that Park Gyu-yeon was feeling, a fear as heavy as a thousand pounds.

“Damn it, my kid is just a year old.”

Park Gyu-yeon let out a deep sigh, not knowing what to do. Park Gyu-yeon knew. If they wanted to, it wouldn’t take them a day to erase him and Ha Gwang-sik from the world. Requesting police protection? A joke. The police were already acting like their dogs, so how could they stop them? From the government to the military and police, there was no place their power didn’t reach.

“Damn it, should we do a 24-hour live broadcast or something?”

Park Gyu-yeon knew that was impossible. Even if he tried to survive that way, they could deal with him whenever they wanted. And it was more of a problem if they didn’t touch him. His life would be destroyed, and his credibility as a reporter would plummet. How could he live without a private life or income?

“Calm down, you bastard.”

“Calm down? Calm down?”

Park Gyu-yeon gritted his teeth.

“Who do you think I’m in this state because of! What the hell, acting calm like it’s someone else’s problem! Damn it!”

“Those bastards will never touch us.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“We’re not worth touching.”

Ha Gwang-sik sighed deeply.

“There’s nothing to gain by touching us, and it’s annoying if things go wrong. And it’s not like we’re a threat to them.”

“Even if a fly is buzzing around, people will try to swat it.”

“That’s right. But to those bastards, we’re less than flies.”

“Well… damn, that’s hopeful.”

Ironically, this was the most positive thing he had heard since leaving MK. Ironically. Ha Gwang-sik threw the burnt cigarette on the ground and took out a new cigarette, lighting it. Even if Park Gyu-yeon didn’t act like that, he clearly understood what he had done. At least in the minds of Kang Jin-ho and that guy Lee Hyun-soo, Park Gyu-yeon might be spared, but Ha Gwang-sik would definitely be marked.

‘It would be an honor if they treated me like an enemy.’

He was probably just a buzzing mosquito. If he didn’t come close, they wouldn’t bother, but if he buzzed around, they would go to the trouble of using insecticide.

“Sunbae.”

Park Gyu-yeon looked at Ha Gwang-sik as if he had made up his mind.

“From this moment on, stop being interested in Kang Jin-ho.”

“Don’t go near Kang Jin-ho or MK. This is my last warning and request.”

“What do you mean, last?”

Park Gyu-yeon looked straight at Ha Gwang-sik and said.

“From today on, I don’t care what you chase or what you do. I’m going to live like a dead mouse.”

“Aren’t you a reporter?”

“Reporter my ass. What good is being a reporter after you’re dead? Do you think I’m a reporter because I have some great sense of mission? I’m doing it to make a living!”

Park Gyu-yeon’s voice was no longer excessively loud, but that made it sound even more cynical.

“It’s the same for you, sunbae. What great things have you done so far? In the end, you just fill the pages and get a paycheck, right?”

“Don’t talk carelessly, you bastard.”

Park Gyu-yeon didn’t get angry. He just looked at Ha Gwang-sik with cold eyes.

“Anyway, I warned you. Now do whatever you want. I’m going to erase the word MK from my mind.”

“Hey, haven’t we been threatened like this before? Why are you so scared? Those bastards…”

“We’re scared because it’s not the first time. That’s not a threat.”

“I want to live.”

Park Gyu-yeon stubbed out his cigarette. Then, without saying another word to Ha Gwang-sik, he turned and left. Ha Gwang-sik, left alone, bit his lip tightly.

‘Damn it.’

He knew it too. How many criminals had he met so far that he couldn’t tell if those words were a threat or not? He didn’t know about Kang Jin-ho, but Lee Hyun-soo was definitely someone who could kill them and get away with it.

‘And if that Kang Jin-ho really gets angry, Lee Hyun-soo is nothing.’

Cold sweat ran down his back. The sweat that had dripped from his forehead stung his eyes. Leaning against the wall of the building, Ha Gwang-sik turned his blank gaze to the towering MK building.

“What do we do?”

Kang Jin-ho looked at Lee Hyun-soo with a sullen expression.

“What do you mean, what do we do?”

“Do we bury them?”

“Why?”

“Those bastards…”

Lee Hyun-soo gritted his teeth.

‘Even if they’re ignorant, still.’

This was almost a culture shock to Lee Hyun-soo. He had never imagined that anyone could be so arrogant in front of Kang Jin-ho. Even if they didn’t know who Kang Jin-ho was or what kind of person he was, they would be careful with their words and actions when they met him directly. That was human instinct.

‘Are those bastards broken somewhere?’

To be precise, it wasn’t those bastards, but that bastard. Park Gyu-yeon still understood the situation and tried to keep a low profile. But that guy, Ha Gwang-sik or whatever his name was, seemed to have a few screws loose, calmly scratching Kang Jin-ho’s nerves in front of him.

“Sometimes, crazy people appear in the world. No, not just sometimes.”

Lee Hyun-soo shook his head.

“If you just search for rooftop parkour on video sites, you’ll see how diverse and colorful the crazy people in the world are.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled wryly.

“That guy is one of those types.”

“Is he crazy?”

“To be precise, he seems to be a thrill-seeker.”

“Addicted?”

“Yes.”

Lee Hyun-soo shrugged.

“There are people in the world who only seek out dangerous things. They’re addicted to the endorphins that surge when they’re in excessive tension. To those people, ordinary life must feel colorless. They only feel alive when they’re in danger or their lives are on the line.”

Kang Jin-ho frowned. Wasn’t that really crazy, not just a metaphor?

“He looked normal on the outside.”

“Those kinds of people are more dangerous than the openly crazy ones. At least you can avoid the openly crazy ones.”

“Hmm.”

Kang Jin-ho scratched his cheek.

“In other words, even after this much threat, there’s a possibility that he’ll come back again?”

“I think so. It’s like a drug addict who can’t quit on their own. They’ll try to restrain themselves for a while, but eventually, they’ll come back like a drug addict experiencing withdrawal symptoms.”

Lee Hyun-soo said in a cold tone.

“I’ll take care of it.”

“What?”

“That guy.”

Lee Hyun-soo’s attitude was resolute.

“Those kinds of people are persistent. They’ve lost their sense of fear, they don’t care about the consequences, and they live only for today. They probably have nothing to lose.”

“Sometimes, those kinds of people cause big trouble. It’s better to get rid of them in advance…”

“Kill him?”

“Hey, no way.”

Lee Hyun-soo quickly waved his hand.

“I’m not that crazy. Why would I kill him?”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“I need to engrave in his head that he’ll be screwed if he approaches. The reason why those parkour guys do that is because they haven’t fallen off a roof yet, and the reason why that bastard is buzzing around you is because he hasn’t been screwed yet.”

Lee Hyun-soo tapped his head with his finger.

“If I engrave in his brain like a tattoo that he’ll be screwed if he approaches, he’ll never come near this place again.”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled. He agreed that was the easiest way.

“Leave him alone.”

“Master…”

“I don’t want to threaten someone just to be a little less annoyed. If I’ve said that much, he should understand.”

“Those kinds of people don’t understand…”

“Then do as you please.”

Lee Hyun-soo nodded heavily.

“Understood.”

Kang Jin-ho walked quietly to the window and looked down. He could see Ha Gwang-sik looking up at him from inside the alley.

‘All sorts of flies are buzzing around.’

Living in the exposed world meant having to endure even this kind of thing. He was prepared for it. But Kang Jin-ho couldn’t help but feel a subtle fatigue.

“By the way, what kind of punishment do you want? Another pay cut?”

“…Please spare me.”

“Or a sparring match?”

“Please give me a pay cut.”

Lee Hyun-soo clearly knew that his life was more important than money.