Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1649

Wham!

Was it ever said that reality is always beyond imagination?

Lee Hyun-soo was in the process of realizing the meaning of those words to his very core.

‘This is driving me nuts, seriously!’

His ears felt like they were about to be torn apart.

The noise spewing from the jet engine far exceeded Lee Hyun-soo’s imagination. The deafening roar that felt like it would burst his eardrums was pounding and pounding.

And that wasn’t all.

The air rushing at his face felt like it would tear his skin off any moment, and the frigid air was passing by like a typhoon, causing his body temperature to drop rapidly.

“Ugh!”

His stomach churned, and his head felt like it was about to explode.

‘I’ve gone crazy.’

Lee Hyun-soo, who had belatedly realized that airplanes were for riding, not hanging from, glanced down.

All he could see was clouds.

Endless white clouds stretched out, and Lee Hyun-soo was flying above them. At this point, it was impossible to feel any sense of reality.

‘No. I can’t lose my sense of reality.’

The only saving grace was that there was more oxygen than he had expected. If he had been suffocating in this situation, he might have had a seizure before even reaching China.

Ah, or would he suffocate first?

Anyway, right now….

At that moment, Lee Hyun-soo smelled a pungent odor through his nose. Lee Hyun-soo, who reflexively raised his head, yelled.

“How can you smoke a cigarette in this situation, a cigarette!”

“Huh?”

Kang Jin-ho, who was holding the wire rope connected to Lee Hyun-soo with one hand, turned his head slightly to look at Lee Hyun-soo, holding a cigarette in his other hand.

‘Why isn’t that thing going out!’

Should he curse that man for calmly smoking a cigarette even in this situation, or should he curse that cigarette for calmly emitting smoke even in this strong wind?

‘Whatever it is, it’s not normal!’

Kang Jin-ho chuckled at Lee Hyun-soo’s appearance.

“You’re going to die like that, you know?”

“That’s why I said I wouldn’t come!”

This was no joke.

Lee Hyun-soo’s face had already turned pale, and his lips were already a dark red. The rapidly approaching hypothermia was quickly sapping Lee Hyun-soo’s strength.

“We, we have to go for two more hours, and if you’re already like this…”

Kang Jin-ho shrugged his shoulders as he looked at Lee Hyun-soo.

‘Is that man really okay?’

Lee Hyun-soo was in a situation where he had to worry about his life right now, but Kang Jin-ho looked like he was out for a stroll. The sight of him holding a rope with one hand and smoking a cigarette looked like a veteran sergeant watching his juniors work while smoking a cigarette behind them.

“Please do something!”

“Do what?”

“I, I’m really going to die! Please save me.”

Only then did Kang Jin-ho chuckle and lightly wave his hand.

‘Ah!’

At the same time, the raging wind bypassed Lee Hyun-soo. To be precise, the air split in front of Kang Jin-ho, preventing it from reaching Lee Hyun-soo.

“Hoo…”

Lee Hyun-soo took a deep breath.

The temperature was still low, but just the absence of wind made it several times more comfortable. It was like the difference between turning on the air conditioner and turning on the air conditioner and a strong fan at the same time.

Since the wind wasn’t rushing at him, it felt much easier to breathe. Only then did Lee Hyun-soo start to look around at the situation.

“Where are we?”

“…We’re probably over Russia right now.”

Lee Hyun-soo let out a hollow laugh at the situation he was in.

Hanging from a Russian fighter jet and passing through Russian airspace. Does that make any sense?

‘Russian fighter jet or whatever, just hanging on is not something a human should do.’

He had thought lightly of it because it wasn’t his job, but now he was the one taking the brunt of it. Is that why they say people should live kindly?

“I hope the other directors are okay?”

“I don’t think that’s something you need to worry about?”

Lee Hyun-soo turned his head to look at the other fighter jets in the distance.

They were keeping their distance as much as possible because flying in formation would increase the probability of being detected by radar. However, they were maintaining a distance that could be identified with the naked eye to prevent them from scattering.

‘First, we need to safely enter Chinese airspace.’

The best-case scenario was to enter China without any problems and have everyone gather in one place. The second-best scenario was to succeed in detaching from the fighter jets but scatter because they had misjudged the landing point.

And the worst-case scenario?

‘What else, an aerial battle, of course.’

If China took this situation sensitively and scrambled fighter jets, then it would be a disaster.

What?

No matter how much it was China, would they really go that far?

‘Just recently, our country also fired at a Russian fighter jet!’

There was nothing China couldn’t do.

You always had to consider the worst-case scenario. He could only hope that such a thing wouldn’t happen.

However, the problem was….

Wham!

The ear-splitting noise and the heat from the jet engine above made it impossible to think properly.

It was a strange thing.

Clearly, a huge amount of heat was pouring down from above, but his body was feeling cold. It felt like he was forcibly experiencing the flu.

“How far have we come?”

“We should be over Mongolia!”

“That’s fast.”

Of course, it’s fast. It’s the fastest mode of transportation in the world.

Kang Jin-ho threw away his cigarette butt and put a new cigarette in his mouth. If that cigarette butt fell near someone, what would they think?

A cigarette butt falling in the middle of the Mongolian steppe, where there was nothing. They might think that a god was smoking a cigarette in the sky and threw away the butt.

Kang Jin-ho, who lit his cigarette by rubbing his fingers, looked at the clouds spread out below with sunken eyes.

“It would have been nice if we had come during the day.”

“Are you thinking about that now?”

“…Is it not?”

“I agree, but…”

Lee Hyun-soo smiled bitterly and looked down. Endless white clouds stretched out. If he had seen this view during the day, it would have been amazing. But the clouds, darkened by the night, gave off a gloomy feeling rather than a beautiful one.

It was as if it was telling them that the situation they were about to face would not be easy.

As Lee Hyun-soo swallowed hard, looking nervous, Kang Jin-ho quietly opened his mouth.

“Relax your shoulders.”

“…In this situation?”

“The more it is like this, the more you shouldn’t be nervous.”

“So, in this situation?”

“If I get nervous…”

“In this situation, right?”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes twitched slightly. But Lee Hyun-soo didn’t flinch, instead, he leaned back as if telling him to go ahead and do his worst.

“Hit me! What, do you think I have anything to fear right now! You’re dragging me around while hanging from a fighter jet, and now you’re going to hit me too?”

“…It seems like you’ve relaxed.”

Yeah. I’ve relaxed, you blockhead.

Kang Jin-ho, seeing Lee Hyun-soo’s eyes rolling, turned his head slightly.

“You were the one who said you’d hang on.”

“Did you think I would actually go?”

“Your personality…”

“Ugh…”

Lee Hyun-soo sighed deeply.

But even if they joked and talked, the tension didn’t disappear. Moving quickly was a good thing. Except for the fact that the place they were going was half a death zone.

‘It’s not a special express train to hell, it’s a special express fighter jet to hell.’

It’s so refreshing and great, so great.

“Chief, over there!”

At Lee Hyun-soo’s words, Kang Jin-ho turned his head. The sea of clouds, which seemed to stretch endlessly, was showing its end. The fighter jet quickly broke through the sea of clouds.

Then, below them, a vast prairie that was refreshing to look at spread out.

“…It would be good to develop it as a tourist course?”

“Yes. After the tour, your life will end too. Please say something that makes sense… Aaaaaaaack! I’m sorry!” Kang Jin-ho, hearing Lee Hyun-soo’s grumbling, released the barrier he had put up in front of him. Then, a terrible gust of wind began to hit Lee Hyun-soo’s body like crazy.

“Please save me!”

“Tsk.”

Kang Jin-ho put up the barrier again. As the wind subsided, Lee Hyun-soo took a deep breath.

“We’ll be entering the Chinese border soon. I hope there won’t be any problems…”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled.

“It would be nice if that were the case, but things in this world always tend to go in an unwanted direction.”

“…You’re jinxing it.”

“Hmm.”

Kang Jin-ho looked at the prairie below and wore a subtle smile.

“Bator must be feeling a new kind of emotion right now?”

“Yes. The fighter jet pilot who is carrying Bator must also be feeling a new kind of emotion.”

“It must feel like carrying an elephant.”

“Not that much…”

“Then I’ll correct it to a bear.”

Even Kang Jin-ho couldn’t argue with that expression.

Anyway.

Looking down at the prairie where he lived from this high in the sky must be an experience that he wouldn’t easily have. Bator, in particular, must be feeling a different kind of emotion.

But unfortunately, the time to enjoy that emotion was not given for long.

The prairie quickly disappeared from their sight. Then, a desolate land, as dry as it could be, began to greet them.

“We’ve crossed the border!”

It was questionable whether this voice would be heard, but Lee Hyun-soo shouted as loudly as he could.

“We’ll arrive at the destination in twenty minutes! We have to detach as soon as we get the signal! A one-minute difference will create a distance of several tens of kilometers!”

It was already a matter that they had been briefed on, but Lee Hyun-soo raised his voice again.

If even one person was delayed in detaching and was left tens of kilometers away, they would be isolated in enemy territory where Changwang’s subordinates were swarming like a pack of dogs. Unless it was Kang Jin-ho, it was unlikely that anyone could survive there.

‘Damn it, it’s a really dog-like plan, even though I came up with it.’

And it wasn’t just the plan that was dog-like.

“They’re coming!”

“Huh?”

Lee Hyun-soo’s eyes widened.

They’re coming?

What is?

At that moment, Lee Hyun-soo also began to see something.

In the distance, in the sky.

Something began to faintly shine in the night sky covered in darkness.

Not one, but several.

No, not several, but dozens.

“Those bastards!”

Lee Hyun-soo yelled.

As soon as they crossed the border, fighter jets were swarming as if they had been waiting. This could only mean that information had leaked from somewhere.

“Where the hell from!”

“If you think about it logically, it would be Russia.”

“Ah!”

Lee Hyun-soo gritted his teeth.

Korea had already blocked China’s information once, and the United States was a potential enemy of China. Then the only one left was Russia.

Even though they had accepted the request from the US military, there would naturally be pro-China factions within the Russian military.

‘Hoo, let’s calm down.’

Lee Hyun-soo took a deep breath.

Even though fighter jets had been scrambled, it didn’t necessarily mean that a battle would break out. If they discovered a foreign fighter jet that had violated their airspace, it was basic protocol to scramble a response force.

They would push the enemy aircraft out of their territory through threats.

‘If that many fire at the same time, the fighter jet could crash. No matter how thoughtless the Chinese bastards are, they wouldn’t want to go to war with Russia, so they wouldn’t go that far!’

It was the first time in Lee Hyun-soo’s life that he had placed infinite trust in the country of China.

And of course….

That trust was shattered in an instant.

In the moment, faint sparks seemed to appear from the formation of fighter jets flying in, and then something passed by the fighter jet that Lee Hyun-soo was hanging from at a terrifying speed.

Tu-tu-tu-tu!

The sound arrived later.

At the same time, sparks began to fly from the fuselage of the plane he was hanging from.

“30mm autocannon?”

They’re firing?

Before he could even process it, more autocannon rounds began to pour down.

Whoosh!

Before he could even recognize it, a bullet grazed past Lee Hyun-soo’s face.

Even though he wasn’t hit, the wind pressure alone tore his skin, and blood began to fly into the air in droplets. Lee Hyun-soo stared at the fighter jets with wide eyes and then yelled reflexively.

“You crazy Chinese bastards! Are you all out of your minds!”

It was a mistake to trust China.