Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1609

“I’ve done it!”

“Oh?”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes snapped open.

Of course, it wasn’t the kind of look one would give to someone bursting through the conference room door, but his words smoothly erased even Kang Jin-ho’s smallest annoyance.

And even if there were any lingering complaints, they would vanish upon seeing his appearance.

“Did you sleep outside?”

Bang Jin-hoon’s face contorted.

“What are you talking about! Sleeping outside?”

“How long has it been since you went home?”

“About fifteen days?”

“When was the last time you showered?”

“I don’t quite remember…”

Kang Jin-ho grinned.

The dictionary definition of a homeless person is someone who lives without a home, but what’s the difference between someone who has a home but doesn’t go to it and doesn’t shower properly?

“Anyway, that’s not important right now.”

“…It seems important to me.”

“It’s not important, I tell you!”

Bang Jin-hoon thrust the stack of A4 papers he was holding toward Kang Jin-ho.

“What’s this?”

“The completed martial arts manual!”

Kang Jin-ho stared at the stack of A4 papers, dumbfounded.

The times have changed; now, even martial arts manuals are treated like this.

Back in the Central Plains [a historical region in China, often associated with martial arts], if anyone had scribbled a manual on a piece of paper like this, they would have been torn to shreds.

Kang Jin-ho picked up the manual… no, the stack of A4 papers, thinking that he might be turning into an old fogey.

“Couldn’t you at least have stapled it?”

“It’s too thick, it wouldn’t work.”

“Then at least punch it.”

“Is that what’s important right now?”

Kang Jin-ho flinched at Bang Jin-hoon’s outburst.

If not, then just say so, why get angry?

Kang Jin-ho sighed and began to read the manual quietly. Due to the vast amount of content, it took him quite a while to read through it.

“Hmm.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded repeatedly as he read the manual.

“How is it?”

“Not yet. I’ll tell you after I finish reading.”

“…Yes.”

Bang Jin-hoon anxiously watched Kang Jin-ho reading the manual.

‘Please.’

It was certain.

This manual would be the greatest achievement of Bang Jin-hoon’s life.

Wouldn’t it be possible to create a better manual as one’s mastery increases?

That’s not necessarily the case.

Just as a writer’s later works are not always highly praised, or researchers don’t always leave their greatest achievements in their later years.

Just because one’s mastery increases doesn’t mean they will create a better manual.

Mastery is something one embodies, while a manual is something one must unravel with their mind. It’s not exactly like that, but the probability of Bang Jin-hoon creating a martial art beyond this is almost nonexistent.

That’s how much of Bang Jin-hoon’s everything is contained in this martial art.

That’s why Bang Jin-hoon is so nervous right now.

“Hoo.”

A martial art is like a large building.

If even one part is wrong, the entire building collapses.

If the exterior has a problem, it can be supplemented and repaired, but if there is even a small flaw in the pillars, the entire manual must be discarded.

For that reason, Bang Jin-hoon couldn’t take his eyes off Kang Jin-ho, his face tense.

“Hmm.”

Kang Jin-ho put down the stack of A4 papers and looked at Bang Jin-hoon.

“There are many minor problems.”

“…Th, then?”

Kang Jin-ho shrugged.

“But it’s excellent for this level.”

“Ah!”

Bang Jin-hoon slumped down in his seat, looking like his soul had left his body.

“It seems like it will be perfect with just a few supplements.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled.

‘Something better than I expected has come out.’

Kang Jin-ho could also create a righteous martial art. After all, martial arts all lead to the same destination. He was a grandmaster of demonic arts, but he wasn’t completely ignorant of righteous arts.

However, the righteous martial art that Kang Jin-ho would create would inevitably be based on demonic arts. Using a single martial art independently wouldn’t be difficult, but to establish the martial arts of the entire Assembly and create a series of flows, he couldn’t take the easy path right now.

That’s why he limited his role to just giving advice to Bang Jin-hoon this time, but Bang Jin-hoon brought something better than he had expected.

‘Basically, various things have been mixed into the righteous martial arts that the Assembly has been using.’

The base is righteous martial arts.

But it didn’t stay within the confines of righteous martial arts until the end.

Kang Jin-ho’s demonic arts, Bator’s external arts, and even Wiggins’s pragmatism.

It was a manual that contained the essence of everything Bang Jin-hoon had seen, heard, and learned in the changed Assembly.

Of course, just because many things were incorporated doesn’t mean it’s a great manual, but it succeeded in maintaining balance and harmony while appropriately maintaining moderation.

Kang Jin-ho looked at Bang Jin-hoon’s manual with a strange look in his eyes.

‘So this is how martial arts progress.’

The fact that the environment surrounding Bang Jin-hoon also influenced his martial arts was a very interesting fact.

“Th, then how much supplementation?”

“It seems like it’ll take about two hours?”

“Th, that fast? I’ve been agonizing over it for months?”

“If I were to create this, it would have taken me months too. It’s always easier for someone watching from the sidelines to give advice.”

“Too much demonic energy shouldn’t be mixed in.”

Bang Jin-hoon said firmly.

“It’s not that I’m trying to reject demonic energy, but if the entire Assembly’s martial arts flow in a style similar to demonic energy, diversity will disappear. That’s just looking at the immediate future!”

“Don’t worry. I have no intention of mixing in my martial arts.”

Kang Jin-ho agreed with Bang Jin-hoon’s words.

“And there’s no need to mix it in. It already seems practical enough.”

“Then… then that’s a relief.”

Bang Jin-hoon took a deep breath.

As the tension eased, the fatigue he had accumulated all at once seemed to come crashing down. His eyes kept closing, and his body felt languid.

“You’ve worked hard. Now go back for a bit.”

“Aren’t you going to work on it right away?”

“That’s right.”

“Then I’ll stay and watch until it’s completed.”

“The file…”

“I’ll send it to you by email.”

Now, we’ve reached an era where even martial arts manuals are exchanged by email. Will there be a cloud service exclusively for the Assembly later?

Don’t bother searching through the archives; now, conveniently access manuals from the cloud service.

…It’s really going well, really.

While Kang Jin-ho was unable to adapt to the changed world, Bang Jin-hoon simply settled down in his seat.

“You must be tired, why don’t you go wash up?”

“I’m fine.”

“…It’s because I’m not fine.”

As Kang Jin-ho openly frowned, Bang Jin-hoon’s eyebrows twitched.

“Why are you being so picky with another man!”

“Don’t men have noses?”

“These are all glorious wounds for creating the manual!”

“I get it, so go get treated!”

Bang Jin-hoon looked at Kang Jin-ho with a shocked expression.

No, this guy wasn’t usually so quick-witted? When did his language skills improve so much?

“It’s bothering me, so go wash up and change your clothes. Isn’t this the moment a masterpiece of your life is being born?”

At the word “masterpiece,” Bang Jin-hoon snorted and nodded.

“Understood. I will go and purify myself, so please perfect it in the meantime.”

As Bang Jin-hoon strode out, Kang Jin-ho let out a deep sigh.

“What am I even doing?”

Kang Jin-ho opened the email and the file that Bang Jin-hoon had sent, and placed his hands on the keyboard.

‘Well, it’s a good thing I did this beforehand.’

Kang Jin-ho was someone who couldn’t adapt to modern things. He couldn’t even properly use a smartphone until recently. The fact that he had gained the typing speed to use Word was all thanks to games, when you think about it.

“So, there’s no such thing as a useless thing in the world.”

Kang Jin-ho’s gaze focused on the monitor.

Turning the pages one by one, Kang Jin-ho’s hands began to tap on the keyboard.

“Is it done?”

“Almost.”

Kang Jin-ho sighed and pressed print.

“…I think I need to put in a new stack.”

Because there were so many formulas, it came out to be almost the thickness of a dictionary.

“I should have reduced the font size.”

“It’s not like we’re studying, if the readability is bad, it’s meaningless.”

The two of them looked at the printer in silence.

“Assembly Head.”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you.”

Kang Jin-ho frowned slightly.

“For what?”

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have even imagined something like this. I would have either died bickering with Lee Joong-geol or bickering with Kim Seok-il.”

“You could have defeated both of them.”

Actually, he thought the probability of that was quite high.

“Then I would have died at the hands of the Japanese.”

Ah….

That’s a dead end.

Bang Jin-hoon rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking slightly awkward.

“Well, there’s a chance things could have worked out better than I thought, but in the end, nothing would have changed much. I didn’t have the power to stop them.”

“But thanks to you, Assembly Head, I’ve been able to create this martial art and see the Assembly develop. Thank you.”

“Why are you being so formal?”

“There are times when people need to say such things.”

Kang Jin-ho sighed softly.

It seemed like he had been hearing a lot of praise lately.

“It’s all printed.”

“Yes!”

Bang Jin-hoon went to the printer and grabbed the stack of A4 papers. Then, he sat on the sofa and began to read the manual carefully.

He completely immersed himself, visualizing the contents of the manual in his head. Kang Jin-ho made a cup of coffee and sat across from Bang Jin-hoon.

How much time had passed?

“Hoo-oo-oo-oo!”

Bang Jin-hoon let out a long sigh. Then, he raised his head.

“This is…”

Bang Jin-hoon hesitated several times, as if he couldn’t find the words, and then said with a sigh.

“You’ve created this.”

“Director Bang created it.”

“I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you, Assembly Head.”

“That’s not important. This is an area that Director Bang would have eventually reached if he had pondered it alone. But I can’t create this.

So, this manual is entirely Director Bang’s.”

Bang Jin-hoon closed his mouth tightly.

He didn’t completely agree, but those words seemed to reward his hard work.

He couldn’t believe that this rising martial art had come from his hands.

“Please give it a name.”

“Me?”

“Yes. Because you are the Assembly Head.”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled.

“You should name what you created yourself; it’s not my place to interfere.”

Bang Jin-hoon stared at the manual for a long time before quietly opening his mouth.

“I will call it Harmonious Art.”

“Harmonious Art (調和功) [Harmonious Art, a name suggesting balance and integration]?”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-ho expressed a slight dissatisfaction.

“That’s a bland name.”

“That’s good. I don’t want this to become something special that symbolizes the Assembly. I want it to become the base that any member of the Assembly should naturally learn.”

“The name is bland, but the meaning is grand.”

The corners of Kang Jin-ho’s mouth curled up.

It wasn’t a bad name.

And perhaps, Bang Jin-hoon’s own consideration was embedded in that name.

Although he created it, the fact that this martial art could be born was thanks to the help of Kang Jin-ho, Bator, Wiggins, and Jang Min of the Assembly. It would mean that it was a martial art that harmonized all of those things.

What an inflexible person.

“I hope the transmission is expedited.”

“Yes, Assembly Head.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled unconsciously as he watched Bang Jin-hoon clench his fist and suppress his joy.

It was the moment when another martial art that would lead the Assembly to a higher place was born.