Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 154

“Jin-ho?”

Kang Ji-hwan couldn’t help but tilt his head, seeing Kang Jin-ho lying on the sofa, groaning. He had expected his son to come to the store after being discharged, but when he didn’t hear from him by evening, he closed the store early and came home.

But why was his son in such a state?

“Why is your stomach like that?”

Kang Ji-hwan shuddered at the sight of Kang Jin-ho’s bulging belly.

His son had developed a potbelly after joining the military. Kang Jin-ho’s body was originally near perfect. Looking at the perfect six-pack under his large pectoral muscles, even as his father, he couldn’t help but feel envious.

But now, Kang Jin-ho’s belly was protruding, as if to show the laziness of a soldier nearing the end of his service.

Kang Ji-hwan turned his head, looked at Baek Hyun-jung, and sighed.

“How much did you feed him?”

“Did I feed him? He ate it himself.”

“Ha…”

Kang Ji-hwan shook his head.

“Did you take some digestive medicine?”

“Yes.”

“…Okay, you’ll feel better soon.”

But Baek Hyun-jung seemed to think differently.

“Jin-ho, you haven’t had dinner yet, have you?”

“Stop feeding him! Are you trying to turn your son into a cow?”

“Does eating that make him a cow?”

More than a cow!

Kang Ji-hwan, unable to stand by and watch his son’s body gain more fat, was about to say something more when the door burst open.

“Oppa-ah-ah-ah!”

Kang Eun-young rushed in and jumped on Kang Jin-ho.

“Ugh!”

Kang Jin-ho clutched his mouth, feeling everything in his stomach surge upwards.

“Oppa! I missed you!”

“G-get off me.”

“Huh?”

“…Get off me quickly before this becomes the worst sibling reunion ever.”

“Okay.”

Kang Eun-young stepped aside, looking confused, and Kang Jin-ho staggered towards the bathroom.

“Why is Oppa like that?”

Kang Ji-hwan shook his head.

“Anything in excess is poison. Whether it’s food or affection.”

Kang Eun-young, still clueless, just tilted her head and stared at the bathroom.

A small discharge celebration was held.

Kang Ji-hwan seemed happy about his son’s discharge and even brought out some whiskey. Baek Hyun-jung nagged a bit, but she didn’t stop him, thinking it was a special occasion.

“So, what are you planning to do about going back to school?” Kang Ji-hwan asked, pouring alcohol into Kang Jin-ho’s glass.

“I’m still thinking about it. There’s still time.”

“Hmm, that’s right.”

It was still April, so there were almost five months until he had to go back to school.

“Since it’s April now, you could go back to school right away if you wanted to, right? I think you can go back to school until April.”

“I’m not thinking about it that urgently.”

“Okay. These days, graduating early isn’t necessarily a good thing. Do as you see fit. But do you have anything in mind?”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

“I haven’t really thought about it yet. However…”

“However?”

Kang Jin-ho quietly opened his mouth.

“There’s a place I need to visit.”

“Where?”

“China.”

Kang Eun-young raised her hand.

“Permission to speak granted.”

“Me too! I want to travel too! I want to go to Europe!”

“You may go. Now, continue with your son’s statement.”

“Dad! I’m your daughter too, give me some attention!”

“You talk to your agency! It’s not like I can send you just because I want to.”

“Pout.”

Kang Ji-hwan, having quickly suppressed Kang Eun-young’s rebellion, asked Kang Jin-ho again.

“What for in China?”

“There’s something I want to find.”

“It doesn’t sound like a short trip. How long will it take?”

“If it’s short, a week, if it’s long…”

Kang Jin-ho seemed to hesitate before speaking.

“It could take more than a month.”

Baek Hyun-jung was shocked.

“A month in China? The security there isn’t good, are you planning to stay that long?”

“China isn’t like the old China anymore. The security is pretty decent.”

“How can you say that so easily!”

Kang Ji-hwan flinched as Baek Hyun-jung’s eyes blazed.

“No, I just meant…”

“Don’t you know that people who speak the truth die young?”

“…I was wrong.”

Baek Hyun-jung glared at Kang Ji-hwan once and then spoke to Kang Jin-ho.

“Jin-ho, I don’t know what it is, but isn’t it too long? If you want to travel, there are many other good places.”

“It won’t take long.”

Baek Hyun-jung looked displeased, but she knew that Kang Jin-ho wouldn’t change his mind, so she eventually nodded.

“Be careful.”

“Yes.”

“It’ll take some time to make a passport and get a visa. What are you going to do before that?”

“I don’t have anything planned right now. I’ll just laze around for a bit.”

“Okay, you need to rest.”

Kang Ji-hwan raised his glass and drank.

“Still, I’m glad you were discharged without any major incidents.”

“Yes.”

It wasn’t exactly without major incidents, but the family didn’t know, so there was no need to bring it up.

“Okay, you must be tired? You should rest now.”

“Yes.”

After that, there was some back-and-forth between Kang Eun-young and Baek Hyun-jung, who were eyeing the whiskey, but otherwise, the conversation was unremarkable. Kang Jin-ho soon got up from his seat.

“I’m going to go in and rest first today.”

“Okay, go to sleep quickly.”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-ho went into his room and lay down.

He felt strangely tired. Because of that, he just wanted to sleep soundly today without doing anything.

But sleep didn’t come easily.

He turned off the light and lay down, but Kang Jin-ho’s mind was filled with complex thoughts.

‘Why haven’t they contacted me until now?’

There must be a reason why those who seemed like they would contact him immediately were silent.

The most likely reason was that they were divided into several groups, and the military unit where Kang Jin-ho was stationed was in the territory of different returnees from the ones he first contacted.

If so?

Now that he was out of the military, they would approach Kang Jin-ho.

Kang Jin-ho smiled lightly.

They didn’t have any particular reason to be hostile towards him, but if they were, Kang Jin-ho would have to make a choice. This trip was preparation for that.

It was also out of personal curiosity.

Kang Jin-ho slowly closed his eyes.

Trying to fall asleep, even though it wouldn’t come.

“You quit?”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes were filled with bewilderment.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

It was an unbelievable thing. After all the effort he had put in to support him so he could continue his professional gamer life, he was saying that he had quit. How could he not be surprised?

Park Yu-min said, looking a little embarrassed.

“Um, to be honest…”

“Yeah.”

“It’s not like I wanted to quit…”

Kang Jin-ho slowly nodded.

Well, there had been a gap.

In the world of professional gamers, where even a single day off could noticeably decrease one’s skills, it would be incredibly difficult to recover his skills after such a long break.

Still, he thought that Park Yu-min could do it, but it seemed that Kang Jin-ho had had too high of expectations.

“It can’t be helped.”

“Yeah. Well, it can’t be helped.”

“Don’t be disappointed. It’s inevitable that your skills would decline after a break.”

“No, that’s not it…”

Park Yu-min waved his hand as if to say, “What are you talking about?”

“It’s not because of my skills.”

“…Then?”

If it wasn’t because of his skills, then why did he quit?

“The league disappeared.”

“…Huh?”

“I said the league disappeared.”

“Huh?”

“Uh, so…”

Kang Jin-ho took a sip of his Americano and tried to sort out his confused thoughts.

“It’s not that strange. Actually, Galaxy is already a game that’s been out for 10 years.”

“Definitely.”

No matter how popular it was, it was still just a game. It couldn’t be like classic sports like soccer or baseball.

As time passed, the graphics would become outdated, and it was the fate of e-sports to give way to new games.

“It had a long run, I guess. But thanks to it, I won a couple more championships.”

“Yeah, I heard.”

Come to think of it, it seemed like the TV broadcasts had stopped, and the popularity had really died down.

He remembered trying to find out about Park Yu-min’s competitions after hearing about them in the military, but he never got to see them.

“So, did you wrap things up well?”

“Yeah. The game team was disbanded, so there wasn’t much for me to do. It was just a ‘bye-bye’ atmosphere, and I just went with the flow.”

“Hmm…”

“The other guys were living in the dorms, so they were busy finding places to live, but I had a room available at the orphanage, so I went there for now.”

“Hmm.”

Kang Jin-ho’s expression became a little heavy.

“Are you still going to school?”

“I’m on a leave of absence, but I should start preparing to go back soon. I’m glad I listened to you. If I had just gone all-in on being a professional gamer, I would have been in a really bad spot.”

Kang Jin-ho sighed in disappointment.

If Park Yu-min had debuted when the competitions were still in full swing, he would have made a fortune. Professional gamers already had short careers, but the game’s lifespan ended before Park Yu-min’s career did.

“You must be worried.”

“Actually, I’m not that worried.”

“Really?”

“From the beginning of my professional gamer career, I knew it wouldn’t last long. It was already in decline back then.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded heavily.

Park Yu-min, who was directly involved in that world, would naturally be more aware of the information and atmosphere than Kang Jin-ho, who was just watching from the outside. If he had been aware of it, he would have prepared for it.

“So, what are you going to do now? Graduate and get a job?”

“That’s one option.”

“It sounds like you have other ideas?”

“Um…”

Park Yu-min scratched his cheek and gestured to Kang Jin-ho.

“Do you want to come with me?”

“Huh?”

Park Yu-min took Kang Jin-ho to a nearby PC cafe, turned on a computer, and started connecting to something.

“What are you doing?”

“There’s a trend in the world.”

“Huh?”

“This is the popular game these days.”

Kang Jin-ho tilted his head, looking at the game on the screen.

To him, it looked completely different from the Galaxy game he and Park Yu-min used to play. The biggest difference was that instead of moving multiple units, you moved a single character.

“It has great potential, and there’s already a league, and most of all, it’s fun. People flock to fun games. It’s already number one.”

“Hmm…”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

“But even if you’re a former professional gamer, can you excel in a different game?”

“Actually, even though I was a champion, I wasn’t the best in Galaxy.”

Park Yu-min continued as Kang Jin-ho nodded.

“But I think I can do it here. I’m already in the top 10 in the rankings.”

“Hmm…”

Kang Jin-ho patted Park Yu-min on the shoulder.

“Let’s go.”

“Huh?”

“I need to try it myself to know.”

“…Huh?”

Park Yu-min moved aside with a subtle expression, and Kang Jin-ho started logging into the game. Park Yu-min’s cheeks started to twitch as he watched Kang Jin-ho queue up using Park Yu-min’s account.

“J-Jin-ho, this game is….” But the game had already started.

And a disaster occurred.