Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1791

Click.

Kang Jin-ho, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, gazed at the General Assembly’s scenery outside the meeting room.

It was a view he knew well, yet today, it felt different. Perhaps it was because his own heart had shifted slightly.

“…That was quite grand.”

“You know it well.”

Kang Jin-ho slowly turned his head, a wry expression on his face.

Lee Hyun-soo was grinning at him, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Kuh, let’s ponder together! Kuh!” Should I throw him?

Even if it’s Lee Hyun-soo, he probably wouldn’t die if I threw him out the window from here.

Seeing Kang Jin-ho’s shoulders twitch, Lee Hyun-soo quickly composed himself, his face turning serious as if he was about to die from laughter.

“That was amazing, Assembly Leader.”

“Only now?”

Does he think that will save him?

“No, no. I was genuinely impressed. I never imagined such words would come from your mouth, Assembly Leader.”

This was the truth.

It was true that Kang Jin-ho sometimes showed a sharp side, but that was always about immediate matters. It was rare for him to look so far into the future.

“It’s definitely a difficult issue.”

But it was an unavoidable one.

“And the timing is right.”

They had been running too frantically until now. But they couldn’t keep running like that anymore.

“Even if you want to keep running, anyone has to stop when the road ends, right?”

“The road has ended, huh…”

Kang Jin-ho gave an awkward smile.

It was a strange thing to say.

Kang Jin-ho had definitely reached this point once before. He had led the Demonic Cult and almost dominated the world. If the Azure Demon hadn’t betrayed him, his struggle might have ended there.

But what he felt back then and what he felt now were vastly different.

“Is there nowhere else to go?”

“It’s not exactly that.”

Lee Hyun-soo quietly looked at Kang Jin-ho and said,

“Maybe the moment has come when running at full speed becomes meaningless.”

Signs of that were already beginning to show in this meeting.

In the past, there would have been a long discussion about how to respond to incoming enemies and how to attack if they had to. And they would have put their heads together to figure out how to train the members to face the enemy.

But in this meeting, those issues were not the main agenda.

“It might not be now. There will still be those we have to face.”

“That’s right.”

“But that situation will definitely come someday. A time when we no longer have to fight.”

Kang Jin-ho slowly nodded.

“From the perspective of running the General Assembly, it’s definitely a problem. Until now, those guys just had to train hard. How empty will they feel when they’re told they can’t do anything with that anymore?”

“I guess so.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly nodded.

“But…”

Lee Hyun-soo glanced at Kang Jin-ho and said,

“What about you, Assembly Leader?”

“Huh?”

“Actually, this isn’t just about the General Assembly. In a way, it applies to you the most. A world where there’s no meaning in striving for higher places as a martial artist, isn’t that an incredibly empty world for you?”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled softly.

“I can’t deny that.”

The reason Kang Jin-ho had fallen into a long period of lethargy was precisely because of that.

“I did think about it a bit.”

“So, have you resolved it?”

“Resolved is a bit of a stretch. The aftereffects are still there.”

He would inevitably be different from the past.

“But I had this thought.”

“What…?”

“Am I really just a nobody without martial arts?”

Lee Hyun-soo smiled slightly as he looked at Kang Jin-ho.

“…Isn’t that right?”

“You little…”

Kang Jin-ho clenched his fist, and Lee Hyun-soo raised both hands and stepped back.

“Well, it’s confirmed that you have no sense of humor.”

“I think you’d develop a sense of humor after a few beatings…”

“Hey, you’ll kill someone.”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled and lowered his fist.

“Actually, it’s funny that I fell into lethargy. It’s like denying everything I’ve done so far.”

Kang Jin-ho didn’t want to live as a martial artist. What he wanted was to live an ordinary life like others. Of course, he didn’t achieve that wish, but at least he didn’t live a life where he was nothing without strength, like he used to.

He met people who liked him as a person, not as a martial artist who they respected, and he lived with those who wanted him for who he was, not for his strength.

He had a family he didn’t have before, friends, and someone he loved.

And even if Kang Jin-ho, the Assembly Leader of the General Assembly, disappeared, Kang Jin-ho, the chairman of the Seongsim Welfare Foundation, and Kang Jin-ho, the chairman of MK, would still remain.

Could he say that all of this was meaningless?

At least, Kang Jin-ho didn’t feel that way.

“It’s just a little scary, I guess.”

“Huh? Scary? You, Assembly Leader?”

“I’m not some kind of non-human…”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled.

“It was something I could do because I was strong. But now, I have to be able to do it even if I’m not strong, so I’m a little scared and anxious.”

Lee Hyun-soo wore a subtle smile.

It was the first time he had seen Kang Jin-ho say such vulnerable words.

But it wasn’t strange.

Watching Kang Jin-ho calmly reveal his inner thoughts, he felt a different kind of strength than before. If the old Kang Jin-ho felt like looking at a high wall that would never crumble, the current Kang Jin-ho was like a vast ocean.

“It’s a bit out of the blue, but…”

“Hmm?”

“You’ve really changed a lot, Assembly Leader.”

Lee Hyun-soo joked.

“When I first saw you, you didn’t even seem like a human. I couldn’t believe that this person used the same words as me and ate the same food as me. You were like a person carved out of a knife.”

“You’re exaggerating too much.”

“Seriously.”

Lee Hyun-soo shook his head as if he didn’t even want to think about it.

“But that hasn’t been the case recently. You’ve been changing continuously since then. And you’ll continue to change in the future.”

Lee Hyun-soo shrugged and continued,

“Of course, that goes for me too, and the other directors as well. And the General Assembly too. So…”

Lee Hyun-soo, who had been quietly looking at Kang Jin-ho, curled up the corners of his mouth.

“Isn’t there no need to be bothered by the fact that we’re changing? It’s such a natural thing.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly nodded.

“That’s obvious.”

“Yes. It’s obvious.”

But sometimes, the truth lies within the obvious.

Everyone changes.

He, the General Assembly, and his people too.

A car sped down the dark road.

Listening to the music playing, Kang Jin-ho quietly fixed his gaze on the road.

‘Changing, huh…’

It was a natural thing.

Kang Jin-ho also wanted that. At the end of his second life, nothing was left for him. Others might see it as a great life, but Kang Jin-ho didn’t think so.

Life isn’t determined by achievements or what you’ve accomplished.

It’s determined by how satisfied you are with yourself at the moment you close your eyes.

In that sense, Kang Jin-ho’s life was a failure. At the moment of his death, nothing was left for him. He couldn’t even feel intense regret.

He didn’t want to live that kind of life again.

This life.

At least in this life, he wanted to be satisfied with himself at the moment he closed his eyes.

Whoooom.

Kang Jin-ho’s car turned into an alley.

Kang Jin-ho, who had parked the car in the garage, slowly walked out and put a cigarette in his mouth.

Click.

The end of the cigarette burned bright red.

Kang Jin-ho, who had been quietly looking at the end of the cigarette, raised his head and looked at the sky.

A black sky.

A sky where no stars could be seen.

For him, that sky was like a symbol of the modern world. How painful it was for him during his second life that he could never escape the star-filled sky.

‘It’s funny.’

Now that he was used to this sky, he sometimes missed the sky he used to see in the Central Plains [a region in China], a sky that seemed to be pouring down stars.

Sometimes, he even felt like leaving for the northern peninsula [Korean peninsula] with its clear air.

“Humans are ultimately selfish.”

Kang Jin-ho slowly inhaled the cigarette smoke.

That’s right.

It was time to settle things now.

“Come out.”

His voice slowly came out, calmly without any particular emphasis.

But the voice didn’t reach anywhere and scattered into the air. Like the cigarette smoke he exhaled.

“I don’t intend to kill you, so come out.”

A small silence flowed…

▲ Sss

■ —■ — 才、•

A man slowly revealed himself from the darkness in the middle of the alley.

A plain impression.

Someone you might encounter anytime while walking down the street, an extremely ordinary person.

He glanced at Kang Jin-ho and knelt on one knee.

“Please forgive my rudeness.”

“It’s fine.”

Kang Jin-ho waved his hand indifferently.

“You were just following orders. I’ll commend you for not approaching my house.”

“I was ordered not to go against you.”

How kind of them.

Kang Jin-ho smiled bitterly.

Even if he didn’t want to know, he couldn’t help but know. No matter how hard he tried to hide it, it was impossible to hide the demonic energy from him, who was like the ancestor of demons.

For Kang Jin-ho, the traces of demonic energy emanating from the man’s body were too clear.

It was different from the cult’s.

It wasn’t the demonic energy of the Demonic Cult that had already been mixed with impurities and become murky. But it was also different from the demonic energy of the time when he was the cult leader.

It was strange, but perhaps it was natural. Everything in the world changes. Today was a day when he realized that ordinary truth several times over.

“Is it the Black King?”

No answer came.

But it didn’t matter.

Whether the opponent was the Black King, the Azure Demon, or even a ghost, it didn’t matter anymore. He had regained his place.

“Go tell your master.”

“Yes.”

“I’m ready. Don’t send any more useless kids and tell him to come directly. I’ll face anything.”

The man bowed deeply.

“I will convey your message exactly.”

“Add that I appreciate their consideration.”

“I will convey that as well.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded lightly.

“Tell them not to send anyone unless they’re coming themselves.”

“Yes!”

“Go.”

The man bowed deeply and stood up. Then, he slowly disappeared into the darkness.

Kang Jin-ho stared blankly at the place where he had disappeared and opened his mouth.

“How was it?”

“I’m not sure.”

Swoosh.

The Blood Demon, who had appeared from the darkness on the opposite side, smiled with a playful face.

“I could follow him if I wanted to… but I’m not confident I’d come back alive. Should I go?”

“It’s fine.”

Kang Jin-ho waved his hand slightly.

“That guy probably knew about your existence too.”

“Yes. That’s why he didn’t even come close to your house.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled faintly and turned around.

“Keep a close watch.”

“My stakeout is getting a little long…”

“So?”

“I won’t let a single ant get close.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled and headed into the house.

‘If I have to change, then I will.’

But even if everything changed, there was one thing that would never change. No matter who it was, anyone who touched his surroundings would never die a peaceful death.

‘I hope they know that.’

If not?

Kang Jin-ho bared his teeth and smiled faintly.