Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1593

Squeak, squeak.

Kang Jin-ho gently pushed the swing.

‘It’s making noise.’

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes sharply turned upwards.

‘I need to oil it.’

Besides that, there are other places that need attention.
The fence around the swing was faded, and the paint was peeling off here and there.

‘I need to repaint that too.’

The more he looked, the more there was to do.

Kang Jin-ho, who had been examining the orphanage with a hawk’s eye, couldn’t help but smile slightly.

‘This used to be my routine.’

Every weekend, he would ride his bike up the hill to the orphanage and wander around to see if there was anything to do.

Park Yu-min always looked troubled by that sight…

‘Head Nun.’

– Jin-ho, you’re here?

It was as if he could hear a welcoming voice.

“What are you thinking about?”

Looking down, Choi Yeon-ha was looking at him.

“Just thinking.”

Kang Jin-ho closed his mouth slightly and then opened it again.

“I was just thinking about the old days.”

“The old days? You mean the orphanage before we moved?”

“Yeah.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

Seeing an expression on his face that she hadn’t seen before, Choi Yeon-ha’s eyes lit up with interest.

“You must have liked it there?”

“Huh?”

“The old orphanage.”

“It’s not that I liked it…”

Kang Jin-ho smiled slightly.

“I had a lot of memories there.”

“For example?”

“Because there are people who aren’t here anymore.”

At Kang Jin-ho’s words, Choi Yeon-ha nodded.

“Like that Head Nun?”

Kang Jin-ho turned his head to look at Choi Yeon-ha with a slightly surprised look.

“You know her?”

“I don’t.”

“Then how?”

“It’s the kids’ favorite saying.”

Choi Yeon-ha chuckled.

“Whenever something happens, they say, ‘If the Head Nun were here, you’d be in trouble,’ or ‘What would the Head Nun think of you?’ or ‘The Head Nun is watching over you.'”

Kang Jin-ho looked up at the sky without saying anything.

The dark sky looked down at him.

“I thought she was an amazing person. Even after so many years, those kids still remember her like that.”

“‘Amazing’…

It’s a little different.

The Head Nun that Kang Jin-ho remembers was not so much amazing as…

“She was a good person.”

“A good person?”

“Yeah. Just a good person.”

A good person without any specific reason.

A person who made you feel at ease just by being next to them.

A person who was calm even when facing death.

‘It’s difficult.’

Kang Jin-ho’s vocabulary was too poor to describe the Head Nun in words.

“Hmm.”

Choi Yeon-ha nodded as if she understood.

“I see.”

“Huh?”

“I thought you were interested in the orphanage because of Yu-min, but that’s not it?”

“I did think it was a bit strange since you kept making things bigger and bigger. It didn’t seem like a field you were particularly interested in, and you didn’t seem like a very charitable person, and your empathy is practically non-existent.”

Why is she suddenly throwing jabs?

What?

“It was strange that someone like that would build an orphanage, send kids to academies, and then build another orphanage.”

“…”

Kang Jin-ho scratched his cheek.

It wasn’t entirely wrong. Kang Jin-ho was usually indifferent to others.

He wasn’t particularly interested in sacrificing himself for the happiness of others. Especially if they weren’t his people.

But what he was doing now was bringing people who had nothing to do with him under his influence. It was something that Kang Jin-ho would never normally do.

“Is it like a sense of obligation?”

“No.”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

He did feel regret.

If Kang Jin-ho had been a little stronger back then… he might have been able to prevent the Head Nun from dying.

But that didn’t mean he was carrying a burden in his heart.

Because she wasn’t that kind of person.

If Kang Jin-ho felt obligated, she would have been angry and upset.

“I don’t know how to express it…”

“Yeah.”

«…»

M…•

Kang Jin-ho scratched the back of his head.

The feeling he had for the Head Nun was difficult to define clearly. If he had to pick the closest one…

“It’s closer to admiration.”

“Admiration?”

Choi Yeon-ha’s eyes widened.

“You?”

“…Why are you so surprised?”

“Well, basically, you’re the kind of person who looks down on people.”

“I’ve been wondering about something lately.”

“Yeah.”

“Lately, you’ve been stabbing me with words, but why are you dating me with all my flaws…”

“Because you’re handsome?”

Choi Yeon-ha chuckled.

“It’s because I care about you that I tease you. Because I care.”

“…Thank you.”

“Let’s stop with the jokes. You’re not someone who pays much attention to others. People like that don’t usually want to be like others or think they’re great… So, it’s a bit unfamiliar, or awkward, to hear you say ‘admiration’?”

Kang Jin-ho smiled wryly.

“I don’t know what to say.”

It wasn’t easy to explain.

The Head Nun was the person who changed his world.

‘She was different.’

Kang Jin-ho was someone who was obsessed with strength.

A strong person can live without being swayed by the world. Only the strong can influence others.

But the Head Nun was a person who stood completely opposite to Kang Jin-ho’s life.

“It just means there are people like that in the world.”

Choi Yeon-ha looked up at Kang Jin-ho without saying anything.

“Completely different, yet still strong.”

“She must have been an amazing person.”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

“She wasn’t amazing.”

“That’s why she’s amazing.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I don’t know.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled.

Choi Yeon-ha chuckled and got up from the swing.

“Then I should be grateful too. It seems like the only human parts of you were created by that Head Nun and Yu-min.”

“Ugh…”

It didn’t seem entirely wrong.

“So…”

Choi Yeon-ha turned her head to look at Kang Jin-ho.

“Is everything you’re doing now because you want to be like that Head Nun?”

“It’s not like that.”

He wasn’t trying to imitate her.

He wouldn’t even dare to. No matter how hard Kang Jin-ho tried, he could never be like her.

But…

“It’s just…”

Kang Jin-ho made an awkward expression.

“It bothers me.”

“Huh?”

Kang Jin-ho, who had hesitated subtly, said with a sigh.

“I just don’t want to be ashamed. I want to hear that I tried, even if I do everything wrong. She wouldn’t scold me even if I did something wrong, but…”

Yeah.

Maybe that was all it was.

That I tried.

That I tried to keep your words.

Maybe he just wanted to say that one thing proudly.

Choi Yeon-ha, who had been looking at Kang Jin-ho with a strange expression, reached out and stroked his back.

“Oh, you’re so admirable.”

Kang Jin-ho turned to look at Choi Yeon-ha with a disgruntled expression.

“Why? Didn’t you want to be praised?”

“No, that’s…”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I’ll praise you.”

Well, it feels a little different…

Choi Yeon-ha, who had been stroking Kang Jin-ho’s back, smiled brightly.

Seeing that smile, the corners of Kang Jin-ho’s mouth curled up without him realizing it.

“Anyone can say they’re trying, and anyone can say they’re volunteering in their hearts.”

“But not many people actually step up and try. You’re doing a good job.”

“Do you think so?”

“Yes. That’s what I think.”

“At least, the Kang Jin-ho I know isn’t someone who would do this kind of thing for show. That’s why I can trust you more. You’re doing something really difficult.”

Kang Jin-ho looked up at the distant sky.

He didn’t know why he was expanding the orphanage and taking in more children.

He wasn’t doing it because he knew why in his head.

It was just…

At some point, he was naturally moving that way.

‘Atonement?’

No, it wasn’t.

You can’t repay killing someone by taking care of people.

To repay the sins Kang Jin-ho had committed, he would need to build thousands of orphanages, not just ten.

In the first place, the sin of a person killing another person cannot be washed away.

It was just…

It was just, what should he say…

“Someone…”

“Yeah?”

Kang Jin-ho hesitated slightly.

Kang Jin-ho, who had closed his open mouth and been lost in thought for a long time with his eyes lowered, slowly opened his mouth.

“I think I’m really lucky to have found this orphanage.”

“If I hadn’t met Yu-min, I wouldn’t have come here, and then I wouldn’t have met the kids, and I wouldn’t have met the Head Nun.”

“That’s right, isn’t it?”

Then…

What kind of life would Kang Jin-ho have lived?

All the happiness that Kang Jin-ho was now holding onto and trying to protect had started from that small choice.

“But that was really a coincidence.”

If he had made a different choice just once, Kang Jin-ho’s life would have been completely different.

Maybe…

Bang Jin-hoon, Lee Hyun-soo, and Wiggins would all have died by his hand.

And he wouldn’t have met Choi Yeon-ha either.

Then what would be left?

Nothing would be left.

Then it would just be a repeat of his previous life. The Red Demon King, not Kang Jin-ho, would be living in the modern world, protecting not only himself but also his family.

What would be different?

Perhaps in a different world, a blood-soaked Kang Jin-ho would be walking around the world with a blank face.

A Kang Jin-ho who only thinks about protecting what’s in his hands…

That was too terrible.

But the current Kang Jin-ho was different. Here, he had gained ‘difference’. He was able to gain it because he came here.

“So…”

Kang Jin-ho said in a slightly dazed voice.

“I wish there was at least one more person who could have the same opportunity as me. Maybe that’s the debt I have to repay to the world.”

Choi Yeon-ha looked at Kang Jin-ho without saying anything.

It was a little strange.

She had seen Kang Jin-ho countless times, but this was the first time she had seen him with this kind of face.

A little awkward, a little trembling, and yet more resolute.

Choi Yeon-ha, who thought that maybe this was the deepest part of Kang Jin-ho that she had not yet seen, smiled without realizing it.

“That’s enough.”

“Because you’re doing well. That’s all that matters.”

Kang Jin-ho closed his eyes.

Choi Yeon-ha wrapped her arms around Kang Jin-ho’s shoulders.

‘Am I doing well?’

He wanted to ask that sometimes.

To the person who had held his hand when he was wandering on the long road of life, a road where he couldn’t see the direction.

Am I doing well?

Am I living well?

Maybe he would never hear the answer.

But…

Kang Jin-ho looked up at the sky.

Kang Jin-ho, who had drawn the face of the Head Nun in the distant night sky, watched it with lowered eyes before closing his eyes again.

‘Head Nun, I…’

It’s not about protecting.

It’s not about following.

Now, those words had become Kang Jin-ho’s life.

‘I want to be someone who can reach out first.’

The dawn air descends.

The silence-filled darkness is cozy.

In that cozy darkness, Kang Jin-ho felt Choi Yeon-ha’s warmth and closed his eyes for a while without saying anything.