Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1802

“So, what I’m saying is…”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

Seeing this, the directors all subtly turned their heads, avoiding Kang Jin-ho’s gaze. Even Jang Min, who always kept his eyes glued to Kang Jin-ho’s face, looked at the ceiling as if embarrassed.

“You haven’t done anything?”

“You’ve been resting comfortably?”

“Ahem.”

Wiggins coughed as the representative.

“…Lord, it’s not that I’m trying to make excuses, but saying we’ve been doing nothing is a bit…”

“Then what have you been doing?”

“Haha… Shall I make you a cup of coffee?”

The directors, who had been harboring a little hope, all glared at Wiggins, grinding their teeth.

‘If you’re not going to get anything out of it, at least keep your mouth shut.’

Kang Jin-ho put a cigarette in his mouth.

Crack.

The sound of bones echoed as his fingertips rubbed together. It was a sight he often saw, but today, it felt strangely eerie, and it wasn’t just Lee Hyun-soo’s imagination.

“Assembly Head, that’s…”

Lee Hyun-soo, who was about to say something, quickly shut his mouth when he saw the smile on Kang Jin-ho’s lips.

‘Zip it up.’

No matter how you look at it, now is not the time to speak.

The flame that ignited from his fingertips lit the cigarette. The pure white smoke that came from Kang Jin-ho’s mouth slowly spread like the dark smoke rising from the depths of hell.

“So, what I’m saying is…”

Kang Jin-ho’s gaze, unusually intense today, was fixed on the directors.

“You guys, who are supposed to be board members and get paid a hefty salary, have been having a very comfortable time?”

“You haven’t done what you were told to do, you haven’t done what you said you would do, and you’ve left what you should be doing unattended?”

Kang Jin-ho curled up the corners of his mouth into a smirk.

“Very reliable. Huh?”

Cold sweat broke out on Lee Hyun-soo’s forehead.

‘I told you to do it earlier!’

There’s a limit to how much you can ignore people!

‘I knew it from the start when you guys were just slacking off because the Assembly Head wasn’t paying attention!’

Kang Jin-ho sighed lowly.

“Even if a person… is away for a bit, things should run smoothly on their own so I can live in peace. Are you guys just going to play around when I take my eyes off you for a moment?”

“…No, it’s not that we were playing around.”

“Then?”

Bang Jin-hoon quickly closed his mouth again.

They had done something, but it was clear that they hadn’t done even half of what they would have done when Kang Jin-ho was watching them with his eyes wide open.

“Well, that is…”

“Shut up, you punk! Who are you to add commentary?! You’re not my sister-in-law!”

Bang Jin-hoon glared at Lee Hyun-soo with wide eyes.

Then, Lee Hyun-soo flinched and turned his head slightly.

“You were playing around too…”

“What kind of slander is that! When did I? I worked really hard!”

Lee Hyun-soo protested as if he was wronged, but no one paid attention to his words.

Even….

“Lee Hyun-soo.”

“Yes?”

“If you thought something wasn’t working properly, shouldn’t you have managed it?”

“Me?”

Lee Hyun-soo turned his head slightly and looked at the directors.

“These people?”

“Of course?”

Lee Hyun-soo, who seemed about to say something, just smiled.

“I’m the one to blame, Assembly Head.”

It would be better to tell a puppy to manage a tiger. No matter how skilled Lee Hyun-soo is, how could he manage these people?

‘But I didn’t know they would just let go like this.’

As he grasped the situation, Lee Hyun-soo’s mouth dropped open. What used to take three days to finish was still not properly resolved.

It was a mistake to trust that they would take care of it on their own.

A new realization.

‘These guys, the reason they worked so hard was because the Assembly Head was glaring at them.’

It was a mistake to think that people who had reached the pinnacle in their field would take care of their own work without any pressure. Who knew these guys would be so helpless?

‘No, even so, how could they not have done any work?’

Kang Jin-ho, also having the same question as Lee Hyun-soo, opened his mouth with a strange look on his face.

“Okay, let’s hear what you’ve been doing.”

Kang Jin-ho’s gaze turned to Bator.

“What have you been doing?”

“O.w
M •

Bator opened his mouth with a slightly flushed face, unlike his usual self.

“Master, in this war…”

“Hmm?”

“Some white phosphorus and other chemical flames splashed on my body from above…”

“…And?”

“I got burned.”

Kang Jin-ho tilted his head slightly to the side.

It couldn’t be that Bator was bedridden because of a burn, so why was he talking like this?

“What are you talking about?”

“I got burned, Master! By some measly chemicals!”

Only then did Kang Jin-ho understand Bator’s words, and his mouth fell open slightly.

“This is an unbearable disgrace! My body cannot be broken by sword energy! Or sword force! But by some chemicals! I cannot bear this humiliation without repaying it!”

Seeing Bator roar like a lion… no, like an angry bear, Kang Jin-ho covered his face.

“…Calm down for now.”

“Master, I need more training! Now that it’s come to this, give me time to focus on training for a while…”

“Please just shut up…”

Kang Jin-ho pressed his temples.

“So, what did Wiggins do?”

“Lord, this might sound a bit presumptuous, but I would appreciate it if you didn’t treat me the same as Bator. I was doing something a bit more constructive.”

“Constructive?”

“Yes.”

Wiggins said firmly.

“In the meantime, I have been focusing on the destructive aspects and usefulness of magic, but through this war, I realized that blocking the opponent’s magic might be more important.”

“So, on that note, I started some research on magical interference, and it’s more complicated than I thought. But if successful, it could bring a huge transformation to the existing magic system. First, I’m interpreting magic itself as a wave and trying to interfere with it, but first, mana…”

“…Please just shut up.”

Seeing Wiggins excitedly explaining, Kang Jin-ho pressed his temples even harder.

He looked at Bang Jin-hoon with cloudy eyes.

“Those two idiots aside, what about Director Bang?”

“That’s a misunderstanding, Assembly Head.”

Bang Jin-hoon shook his hands.

“I worked hard in my own way. But the kids also suffered, so we can’t just tell them to train and practice right after the war, can we?”

“…That’s true.”

“So, I just told them to rest well. People need to rest enough to work again.”

“…Then what about Director Bang?”

“Did you see that, that thing?”

“What?”

“That Crown Prince bastard’s martial arts… Man, it’s a bit different. Should I say it’s on a different level from what we’ve seen so far? It’s incredibly practical.”

“The Crown Prince bastards have some of that, but it has a different flavor from demonic arts. I think if we incorporate that, we could come up with something good… But, how should I say it, it’s not quite clicking?”

Kang Jin-ho turned his head and looked out the window.

“So, what I’m saying is, can you reproduce that bastard’s martial arts? If I get a hold of it, I think I can come up with something new…”

“Sure. Should I break your neck for you?”

“Hehe, not that far.”

Seeing Bang Jin-hoon, who was sweating and backing away, Kang Jin-ho let out a sigh that seemed to sink the ground.

‘Anyway, these martial artists…’

Kang Jin-ho, who had already climbed all the mountains, could turn his eyes elsewhere, but those who still had mountains to climb could not turn their eyes elsewhere.

‘I understand. I understand, but…’

‘No, they should at least do it in moderation.’

How long has it been since the war ended, and these martial arts fanatics are already obsessed with martial arts again?

Kang Jin-ho laughed in disbelief. Well, I guess.

War is a space where each person can display their honed martial arts to the best of their ability in a real battle. If you exclude the fact that lives are at stake, it’s like a festival where you can witness the martial arts of others that you wouldn’t normally see.

They are probably too busy trying to internalize what they saw and felt with their own skills.

It was the same in the past.

When a war is raging, there are losses in manpower, but the survivors become stronger and more elite through their combat experience.

That experience is not limited to simply going through life-or-death battles. How much you absorb from the martial arts of others is also an important factor.

Normally, these things would happen a little later in the post-war process after Kang Jin-ho had given them tasks, but since Kang Jin-ho was gone, it all exploded at once.

“Ugh, what about Jang Min?”

“I have completed everything that the Demon Lord has ordered.”

“Huh?”

Kang Jin-ho opened his eyes wide and looked at Jang Min.

“I have drafted the treatment of the cult members and a new training process. Of course, I have also compensated the cult members who lost their lives and sent their remains back to their hometowns.”

“I haven’t found an answer to the future of the General Assembly that you mentioned, but I have had an open conversation with the elders about the future of the cult. Now, I intend to send those who have grown enough to live as martial artists on their own back to China, without forcing them to stay here.”

“To China?”

“Yes. If the Hongwang faction completely takes over China, the situation may change. Those who return to China can be wary of the Hongwang faction and monitor their movements in their respective regions.”

Kang Jin-ho stared at Jang Min with a dumbfounded look.

Jang Min, who usually caused the most trouble, was so reliable at times like this.

“…You’ve worked hard.”

“I consider it the greatest honor of my life to simply follow the Demon Lord’s orders!”

Ah….

This guy was never really interested in martial arts in the first place.

While martial arts are the goal itself for others, for Jang Min, martial arts are just a means to prosper the cult.

“But is it okay to send them back like that? Won’t the power decrease?”

“It’s not a problem, Demon Lord. Those who want to return are not deeply loyal to the cult anyway. There is no need to keep such people in the main group. There is no need to pointlessly increase the number of cult members or over-propagate. We will only lead the faithful.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

More than anything, the fact that there is no need to increase the number of cult members is really pleasing. He had been worried about what to do if Jang Min tried to accept more cult members and expand the power now that the situation had stabilized.

But he took the initiative to say that.

Kang Jin-ho smiled contentedly.

‘On the other hand, those guys…’

Kang Jin-ho glared, and the directors turned their heads slightly.

‘Why is that old man suddenly like that?’

‘He’s trying to save himself!’

‘How petty!’

Kang Jin-ho gritted his teeth as he looked at the directors.

“Martial arts are good. Very good.”

“Thank you for understanding…”

“But if that’s the case, why don’t you just go hide in the mountains and train by yourselves? Why are you working here and getting paid? Do you think the company is a joke?”

“…No, sir.”

“We’ll have another meeting tomorrow. If you don’t bring proper results by then, I’ll make you train so much that you’ll be sick of it.”

“Understood?”

“…Yes.”

Seeing the red aura surging in Kang Jin-ho’s eyes, the directors closed their eyes tightly.

It was the moment when the General Assembly was neatly normalized.