Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1525

Kang Jin-ho wore a strange expression as he looked at Jung Myung-chul standing before him.

Uh….

What should he say about this?

Kang Jin-ho scratched the back of his head.

‘This feels a bit off.’

Kang Jin-ho didn’t particularly want to deal with Jung Myung-chul. It was true that what he had done annoyed Kang Jin-ho, but when he thought about it calmly, it wasn’t something he needed to handle personally.

However, he did want to make him pay the price to some extent.

That’s why Kang Jin-ho chose education.

If he was just a piece of human trash alive, and he couldn’t kill him, he had to somehow turn him into a decent human being so that he wouldn’t cause trouble for others.

That’s how it started, but….

‘I told them to make him a good guy, but why did they make him look so pathetic?’

The feeling he got from Jung Myung-chul at first was nowhere to be found.

His muscular, solid body was now skin and bones, and even his hair seemed to be falling out.

His clothes were so worn that he looked like a refugee, and his eyes were hollow above his overgrown beard.

Those eyes were constantly and anxiously scanning his surroundings.

‘He looks like a war slave…’

It was amazing how a person could change so drastically in just a few days.

How much did they torment him….

Even Kang Jin-ho, who never forgave anyone who touched him, couldn’t help but feel sorry for Jung Myung-chul’s miserable state.

“Here.”

“Hiiiieeeeeeek!”

As Kang Jin-ho slightly reached out his hand, Jung Myung-chul cowered on the spot, covering his head with both arms.

“Please spare me! Please spare me! I was wrong! I was wrong!”

“If you spare me, I’ll do anything! Please spare me!”

Kang Jin-ho’s gaze shifted from Jung Myung-chul to Sung Joo-chan, who was standing behind him.

Cold sweat was pouring down Sung Joo-chan’s forehead.

“Did you beat him?”

“…I feel a bit wronged.”

“Did you beat him?”

“I did touch him a little, just a little, but it wasn’t as much as you think. I’m really wronged.”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled.

“By whose standards is that ‘a little’?”

“I definitely didn’t beat him by a martial artist’s standards. I didn’t use any internal energy [a concept in martial arts referring to the energy within the body], and I only hit him where it wouldn’t hurt.”

“With those hands?”

Sung Joo-chan looked down at his hands, which were like pot lids, and then slyly hid them behind his back.

Kang Jin-ho sighed.

‘It’s strange.’

Jung Myung-chul was a very strange enemy to him.

Killing him seemed too much, but leaving him alone was annoying.

Pushing him around was boring, but beating him was pitiful.

It seemed that Sung Joo-chan had tried to maintain that strange line, but the result was not good.

Well.

The body was a secondary issue.

Who could accept being dragged to a place they had never seen before, surrounded by monsters, and being pushed around and beaten?

“His mind broke down before his body did, huh?”

“I did consider that these guys’ bodies were weak, but I didn’t expect their mental strength to be so fragile…”

I guess so.

People usually don’t consider that.

Kang Jin-ho glanced at Jung Myung-chul.

“So, did you push him around enough?”

“It’s been a week, so I think this is enough…”

“Are you satisfied?”

“I can’t push him around anymore because I feel sorry for him. I think he’s paid his dues. There are still some who are annoyed, but most of them are saying it’s time to let him go…”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

If the store owners who suffered direct damage thought so, then Jung Myung-chul had paid his dues.

The problem was Jung Myung-chul’s current state….

“What do you think?”

“Huh?”

“Does the price you’re talking about include him living like this in the future?”

“…No. This is really my mistake.”

“So, it’s not included.”

“I’m sorry.”

“There’s no need to be sorry.”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled and approached Jung Myung-chul.

As Kang Jin-ho approached him, Jung Myung-chul trembled.

“S-spare… spare me…”

Jung Myung-chul was shivering as if he was about to die, but Kang Jin-ho fearlessly approached him and grabbed his head with one hand.

“Ugh…”

Then, he infused his energy, instantly blowing away the murky energy that filled Jung Myung-chul’s mind.

Kang Jin-ho, who had taken his hand off Jung Myung-chul, who still hadn’t regained his senses, put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it.

“Hoo…”

Kang Jin-ho slowly smoked his cigarette, then took another cigarette from the pack and put it in Jung Myung-chul’s mouth.

Jung Myung-chul slightly lifted his head.

His face was still bewildered, but the light had returned to his clouded eyes.

“Smoke.”

Jung Myung-chul took the cigarette with his trembling hand and put it in his mouth.

Click.

Kang Jin-ho, who had lit the cigarette, put the lighter in his pocket and curled up the corners of his mouth.

“How does a cigarette taste after a week?”

“…It’s the worst.”

Jung Myung-chul’s voice was low, but it was clear, unlike before.

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

“That’s right.”

“When you keep smoking, you don’t know that the taste of cigarettes is disgusting. But if you quit for a while and then smoke again, you’ll know. How disgusting it is, how toxic it is.”

Kang Jin-ho laughed.

Even so, people can’t quit smoking, but at least they know what they’re doing.

“Now you know, too, what you’ve been enjoying while living.”

“And you need to know one more thing.” Kang Jin-ho met Jung Myung-chul’s eyes, who was sitting on the floor.

“How pathetic you are as a human being when you take away your family background.”

Jung Myung-chul’s eyes trembled slightly.

“Hoo…”

Kang Jin-ho exhaled a long stream of cigarette smoke and then squatted down to meet Jung Myung-chul’s eye level.

“Smoke.”

Jung Myung-chul took the cigarette with his trembling hand and slowly inhaled. Then, he gagged a few times as if his throat was hurting.

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes darkened.

“It would be good if you became a new person.”

“But that’s not really important. Even if you go out of here and go back to your old ways, I won’t care. You’ve paid for what you did. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Jung Myung-chul quickly nodded.

His nod was filled with urgency.

“But!”

Kang Jin-ho slightly distorted his face.

“Don’t get involved with us.”

“I don’t think you’ll talk about what happened here, or get involved with us again. Can I trust that?”

“Y-yes, of course.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled.

“It would be okay to try to get revenge.”

“I, I would never…”

“It’s okay. Go ahead.”

“It would be cleaner for us too. If you try that again, we won’t hesitate to cut your throat. I’d rather you do that.”

Jung Myung-chul shook his head violently.

This wasn’t just a lie to get out of this situation.

He had already seen enough.

How monstrous these people were, and how terrifying Kang Jin-ho, who reigned at their peak, was.

The people of the world were being deceived by this man.

The Kang Jin-ho on TV wasn’t the real one.

The Kang Jin-ho as a businessman wasn’t the real one.

The real Kang Jin-ho was right here.

Fight against these people?

‘That’s crazy.’

He couldn’t do anything with what he had.

The power of his family?

It would be meaningful if money could block a knife. But in front of these people, money was just a piece of paper.

“I, never! Never will that happen. Never! I, absolutely!”

Kang Jin-ho stared at Jung Myung-chul for a moment and then nodded.

Kang Jin-ho got up from his seat, stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, and nodded.

Then, Lee Hyun-soo stepped forward.

“Mr. Jung Myung-chul.”

“Yes? Ah… Ah, yes!”

“You’ve been through a lot.”

Lee Hyun-soo smiled gently.

“I’ll take you to Seoul, so please go home. You’ll have to cover your eyes a bit on the way, so there might be some discomfort. Please understand.”

Jung Myung-chul stared at Lee Hyun-soo with a horrified look.

Looking at that kind face, his whole body felt as cold as if he had entered an ice cave.

That man would kill someone with that smiling face and not even blink.

“Before that, I’d like to tell you a few things to keep in mind.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s talk on the way. This way.”

Lee Hyun-soo grabbed Jung Myung-chul’s sleeve and pulled him.

Jung Myung-chul followed Lee Hyun-soo, not knowing what was going on. As the two left the room, Sung Joo-chan, who had been watching, looked at Kang Jin-ho.

“Is it okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“…People don’t change that easily. He’s keeping his mouth shut now because he’s been through so much, but he might change his mind in a few days.”

“So?”

“It’s not my place to say, but if you think about the safety of the Assembly…”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled.

The reason he wasn’t angry was because these words came from Sung Joo-chan, who could no longer share the benefits of the Assembly. It meant that he was only saying it out of concern for the Assembly.

“There’s one principle.”

“…May I ask what that is?”

“It’s that you shouldn’t treat people based on ‘it seems like it’ beforehand.”

Kang Jin-ho continued calmly.

“Most of them start like that. It seems like it. I’m sure of it. It’s obvious without even looking.”

“When someone in power starts punishing people for things that haven’t even happened, corruption begins. And in the end, it eats away at themselves.”

Sung Joo-chan looked at Kang Jin-ho with a new perspective.

They.

No, not just the people who had left the Assembly, but even the ordinary martial artists of the Assembly didn’t think deeply about Kang Jin-ho.

It was true that he led the Assembly, but most of his abilities came from his martial prowess, and they thought that the direction of the Assembly was actually decided by the directors or Lee Hyun-soo.

But the words coming from Kang Jin-ho’s mouth now were enough to change Sung Joo-chan’s mind.

“I don’t want to kill people to avoid trouble.”

“Because the moment you take that step, many things will change.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled lightly.

“He might keep his mouth shut, or he might think differently. But so what? We’ve come this far to overcome all those situations. We can handle that much.”

A hint of regret flickered in Sung Joo-chan’s eyes.

It was because he realized that he wasn’t included in the ‘we’ that Kang Jin-ho was talking about.

‘Should I have held on a little longer?’

Sung Joo-chan had never regretted leaving the Assembly, but at this moment, his heart ached faintly.

Kang Jin-ho saw Sung Joo-chan’s face and patted him on the shoulder.

“Affiliation isn’t that important.”

“Huh?”

“MK is also part of the Assembly. It’s just a different direction.”

The corners of Sung Joo-chan’s mouth twitched.

It was an obvious thing to say, but strangely, it was comforting.

“So, did you throw away the electric grinder?”

Sung Joo-chan’s eyes wavered.

“Ah, I left only the part-timers behind…”

“Didn’t you teach the part-timers to use the manual grinder?”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes twitched.

“You, retraining.”

“Go to Lee Hyun-soo and ask him for retraining.”

Sung Joo-chan squeezed his eyes shut.

‘No. It was right to escape from here after all.’

It was Sung Joo-chan’s misfortune that his escape wasn’t complete.