Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 179

The cafe was packed every day.

As the number of customers increased, so did the size of my father’s grin.

“Hehehehe.”

Seeing the people lining up from early morning before the store even opened, my father smiled with satisfaction and a hint of slyness.

“Dad.”

“Huh?”

“You’re making me do this for social experience, right?”

“Y-yes, of course.”

“I’ve been having some strange thoughts lately, though.”

“Don’t you trust your dad?”

Whatever Kang Ji-hwan’s intentions were, the cafe continued to thrive.

Usually, when a place that wasn’t very popular suddenly gets crowded, the quality of the coffee drops or the service suffers. But that wasn’t the case at Kang Ji-hwan’s cafe.

“Jin-ho.”

Kang Jin-ho ignored Park Yu-min’s gaze.

“Well, it’s true that I don’t have much to do these days…”

Park Yu-min looked down at the apron she was wearing and sighed.

“Well, we should help each other when it’s busy.”

“I’ll make sure to pay you double.”

“Thanks…”

Kang Jin-ho, having urgently brought Park Yu-min into the kitchen, sighed and changed his clothes.

“We’re open!”

As soon as the doors opened, people rushed inside. Kang Jin-ho sharply counted the number of people entering, and when the place was full, he lowered his arm, blocking anyone else from entering.

“We’re full. Please wait a bit.”

“Aww, that’s too bad.”

The man who couldn’t get in glanced longingly into the cafe, his eyes fixed on Kang Eun-young, who was coming out in her uniform.

Kang Jin-ho put up the waiting sign and went inside.

‘Okay, here we go.’

Tension filled Kang Jin-ho’s face.

At first, it seemed like over 90% of the customers were men, but now, the cafe was divided, with men on one side and women on the other.

Fifty-fifty.

No, were there slightly more women?

It wasn’t that strange. Cafes usually had more female customers than male ones.

The problem was…

“Kyaa!”

“Please take my order! Order!”

“Can I take a picture?”

Kang Jin-ho sighed and pointed to the sign on the wall.

No Photography.

“Hey! They’re taking pictures and giving autographs over there!”

“Please give us autographs too.”

Kang Jin-ho turned his head to see Kang Eun-young already taking selfies with customers while taking orders.

“We’re paying the same amount, so it’s weird if they get to take pictures and we don’t!”

He had no argument.

Kang Jin-ho nodded weakly and replied,

“I’ll take pictures when your drinks are ready after you order…”

“Kyaaaa!”

Kang Jin-ho, having taken the orders, headed to the kitchen, gritting his teeth.

‘Cho Kyu-min, you!’

Cho Kyu-min was the cause of all of this.

The video Cho Kyu-min released had a bigger impact than expected.

When a broadcasting accident happens during a live broadcast, the related videos circulate all over the internet. And this wasn’t just any broadcasting accident; he had taken the live streamer with him, so it was only natural that the online communities went wild.

In that situation, when the personal broadcast video that Cho Kyu-min bought spread across all sites through a comment army, it had the benefit of reducing the negative public opinion about Kang Se-ah, but it also had the side effect of a surge of interest in Kang Jin-ho.

And this was the result.

Kang Jin-ho grabbed his head, looking at the women squealing at him.

‘I can’t understand it.’

He wasn’t a singer or an actor. He wasn’t a celebrity, so he didn’t know why they were acting like this.

“This too shall pass.”

His father patted Kang Jin-ho’s shoulder, comforting him.

“It’ll pass soon, right?”

“Actually, from my point of view, it would be great if it lasted a long time. Why don’t you go to the salon? If you fix your hair, your popularity will go up even more! Your popularity is our sales.”

“…Father.”

Regardless of how Kang Jin-ho felt, Kang Ji-hwan was gleeful.

Kang Jin-ho and Kang Eun-young couldn’t stop their father.

But even Kang Ji-hwan had his nemesis.

Clang.

The door opened, and someone came inside.

“We’re full… Honey, you’re here?”

Kang Ji-hwan started to fidget, seeing Baek Hyun-jung enter the cafe.

Without a word, Baek Hyun-jung came inside and checked the orders first. Then, she glared at Kang Ji-hwan with narrowed eyes.

“There are this many orders, and what are you doing instead of making coffee?”

“I-I was just about to make it.”

“You don’t seem to be processing orders quickly these days. You should know that you might get kicked out if you keep doing that.”

“I’m doing it now.”

“And didn’t I tell you not to bring Jin-ho out from the morning? You’re making him work in the morning after he worked the night shift unloading packages and got off work at dawn. Are you even a father?”

“…Well, where else would he get to experience this if not now? They say that suffering in youth is something you should buy.”

“Is that something you should say to someone who served in the front lines in Gangwon-do? You were in the defense corps, weren’t you?”

“D-defense corps! I was a short-term soldier!”

“That’s the defense corps.”

“H-honey.”

“Be quiet. Make coffee quickly. Jin-ho, you sweep the front of the cafe for now.”

“Yes, Mother.”

Kang Ji-hwan’s iron-fisted rule came to an end with Baek Hyun-jung’s appearance.

Park Yu-min, who had been watching the whole situation, sighed deeply.

‘Should I call this a harmonious family?’

It was definitely an interesting family.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

“J-Jin-ho, please lower it slowly. We’re people too, how are we supposed to handle it if you keep bringing things like that?”

“Slowly?”

The foreman rushed over and yelled.

“What do you mean slowly! Jin-ho, don’t worry about it and keep working. Don’t worry, don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”

As Kang Jin-ho went to get more packages, the foreman started scolding the other employees.

“If the packages pile up, just leave them and work! Why are you trying to stop the guy who’s doing a good job from working!”

“…But foreman, we’re working our butts off, and the packages keep piling up instead of decreasing. It’s demotivating.”

“Demotivating? Did you say demotivating? What’s more motivating than getting off work three hours early!”

The employee who was complaining nodded without realizing it.

It was true that work finished quickly because of Kang Jin-ho. Before, work would end at five even if they finished early, but these days, it was usually four, and sometimes even three.

“But aren’t there too few part-timers these days, foreman?”

“Too few part-timers?”

“Yes. The number of people has decreased a lot.”

“Then you should ask the higher-ups to add more people since work ends at three, because there aren’t enough part-timers.”

“Ah…”

If he did that, they would probably just tell him to reduce the number of people even more.

“It’s good that we finish early, but I don’t know if my back will survive this.”

“Why are you worrying about your back when you don’t even need it? It’s okay if it flies away, so just get to work.”

“Aww.”

“Look, Jin-ho is coming.”

Kang Jin-ho was approaching, carrying a stack of cement bags on his back.

“…Was he a pyramid laborer in his past life?”

Usually, if you stack them that high, the packages would fall over regardless of the weight because of the imbalance, but he managed to keep his balance even with the stack towering over his head.

At this point, it was almost like a stunt.

“He’d probably be better at a circus, I don’t know why he’s working here.”

“He said he wanted to do it, so what can we do?”

The employees sighed as they watched Kang Jin-ho walk towards them.

“The packages are going to pile up again.”

“Jin-ho, you worked hard today.”

“Yes.”

“Here’s your pay for today.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Kang Jin-ho bowed his head after receiving the envelope.

“Please take care of us tomorrow too.”

“Actually, I have something to say about that.”

“Huh?”

The foreman’s eyes widened. If he was saying that at this timing, the next thing he would say was obvious.

“A-are you quitting?”

“Yes. I’ve had enough experience, so I’m going to do something else…”

“Are you short on money? Then I’ll give you an extra 100,000 won.”

“No, it’s not that…”

“Then I’ll give you double. Your daily pay will be 600,000 won!”

The mouths of the employees who were listening opened wide.

“Wow.”

“If he works for a whole month, that’s 18 million won. Is he a lawyer?”

“He’s the Warren Buffett of physical labor. He’s going to be rich.”

They had been in this industry for a while, but they had never heard of anyone getting 600,000 won a day. Not even most skilled professionals would get that much.

“It’s not about the money. I’m sorry.”

“Why are you doing this! This job is your calling! You were born to carry packages!”

“Foreman, calm down. That’s a curse.”

“R-really?”

Kang Jin-ho closed his mouth with a troubled expression, and the foreman scratched his head.

The foreman sighed and said,

“Okay, then there’s nothing we can do. But if you leave, we’ll have to hire a new part-timer, and people will die in the next few days. I’m sorry, but can you work for three more days?”

“I can do that much.”

“Okay. Then let’s have you work for three more days.”

“Yes. Then.”

Kang Jin-ho bowed his head and headed to the parking lot, and the foreman sighed.

“So, the rising star of the delivery industry is falling.”

Vroom.

With a low engine sound, the Lamborghini that Kang Jin-ho was driving headed towards the main gate. There was a bus, but since work ended early every day, he never had to take it, so Kang Jin-ho ended up commuting by car.

“See? Why would a guy who drives a Lamborghini keep unloading packages? I told you he wouldn’t last long.”

“But the meaning of ‘not last long’ has changed. You said he wouldn’t last long because it was hard, but I think he’s saying he’s gained enough experience and is moving on to the next stage?”

“Now that I think about it, what is he planning to do next?”

“Is he going to Africa to hunt lions or something?”

They were curious about Kang Jin-ho’s next part-time job, even though it had nothing to do with them.

“Okay, let’s go home.”

“Yes.”

The foreman sighed as he watched Kang Jin-ho’s Lamborghini drive away.

“Oh my, how many more people do I have to hire?”

He had been working comfortably, so now it was time to work properly. The foreman, who could no longer leech off Kang Jin-ho, sighed and headed to the office.

“A part-time job?”

Cho Kyu-min, who had placed a cup of coffee in front of Kang Jin-ho, chuckled.

He said he was unloading packages, but it seemed like he had mastered it and was moving on to a new part-time job.

“Actually, it’s hard to find a job that’s more physically demanding than that. There might be some, but I don’t think simple labor has much meaning for Kang Jin-ho.”

“Hmm…”

“You might find something more interesting if you went to sea, but that’s beyond the scope of a part-time job. So, I was wondering… there’s a very interesting job, would you like to try it?”

“An interesting job?”

Cho Kyu-min chuckled.

“It’ll be very interesting. It’s a unique job.”

Kang Jin-ho looked at Cho Kyu-min with a strange expression.