Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1840

A Koan.

It’s a word with many complex meanings, but simply put, it’s the beginning of a story. In other words, a clue.

This clue has now been thrown to Bator.

For the first time in his life, Bator, who had encountered a wall that he couldn’t overcome with his physical body alone, was sitting in meditation with his eyes closed, which was unlike him.

‘Surpass it.’

Yourself.

And what you have been adhering to until now.

It’s a funny thing.

People have tendencies. What has supported Bator until now was his perfect confidence in his own body and his unwavering belief in the path he was walking.

But Kang Jin-ho tells him to break all of that.

Think about it.

If you told someone who has lived their whole life as a lawyer to give up their law license and enter medical school for a better life, how many people would actually try it?

If you told someone who has lived their whole life as a fisherman that they need to start gathering medicinal herbs in the mountains to become a better fisherman, who would move their feet onto land?

The koan thrown to Bator now had this meaning.

You can’t overcome the wall by taking one more step on the path you’re walking now, or by cleaning the path you’re walking a little more.

That’s why it’s a wall.

It’s a wall that can’t be overcome unless you throw yourself into the hellfire and burn everything away. Those who have overcome that incredibly harsh wall are the ones who have reached the pinnacle and shed their human skin.

Twitch.

Bator’s face twisted subtly.

‘My body is perfect.’

That was a conviction and a belief. A fact that no one could deny.

‘But my body is not perfect at all.’

What is perfection?

The absence of imperfection. If his body were truly perfect, no sword could pierce his body, and no strong energy could harm his body.

But his body was broken, pierced, and fractured.

It’s not perfect.

Again, perfection is the absence of imperfection. Being better than anyone else does not mean being perfect.

Then, what should one do to get closer to perfection? What should one do to achieve a perfect body that no one can invade?

Bator’s face contorted.

‘I don’t know the way.’

He thought that if he took one step at a time, he would eventually reach it. But at some point, he realized. No matter how much he removed imperfection, he could never reach perfection.

The beginning of everything is acknowledging oneself.

Bator’s beginning is recognizing that he was walking a path that was endlessly twisted and had no end.

Those who stand at the beginning of a path cannot know the end of that path. They can only guess where the end might be. Only by taking one step at a time and reaching a place close to the end can they see where they were going.

It’s a foolish and stupid thing, but those who haven’t walked don’t even have the chance to find a new path.

In that sense, it can be said that Bator has finally grasped the qualification to walk a new path with his own two hands.

But…….

‘Where should I go?’

It’s not visible.

Neither the path nor the place to go.

It’s like groping through a world surrounded by endless fog, where you can’t see even an inch ahead, with only your fingertips.

‘The Master… and the Three Kings have already gone through this process?’

I think I know where their endless strength comes from.

Those who box as a hobby do not understand the strength of a champion. No matter how much they know the theory and watch the matches, they only understand the opponent superficially, and there is no way to truly feel the opponent’s strength.

Only those who have jumped onto that path themselves and walked a path where their bones are broken and their flesh is torn can truly feel how strong those above them are.

Bator was the same.

He knew that the Three Kings were strong, and he knew that Kang Jin-ho was strong, but he thought that their strength was ultimately a level that could be reached somewhere on the path he was walking.

But now, standing at the end of the path, he realizes. Why they are strong, how they became so strong.

‘Baek Yeon-hong must be the same.’

Those who have completely abandoned themselves once, and found a way to go further after countless trials and errors, groping through the fog with their fingertips.

In religion, they are the enlightened ones, and in philosophy, they are the sages who have completed their own philosophy after a long period of learning.

‘So that’s why.’

Now I understand what Kang Jin-ho said.

Enlightenment is completed in doubt and agony, and philosophy finds its path through fierce self-examination.

Sticking to the way things have been is no different from rotting away.

So…….

‘Doubt it.’

From yourself.

So that you can break everything and be reborn.

Bator closed his eyes.

Emptying. One by one.

Everything he has achieved so far.

Kong Young-gil stared at Bator with a blank look.

And that bewildered look appeared not only in Kong Young-gil’s eyes but also in Lee Myung-han’s eyes.

“Hey… Young-gil.”

“Why?”

“I’m wondering if my eyes are a little weird, but it seems like Bator-nim’s body has shrunk a bit?”

“…Something’s wrong.”

“Right?”

“It’s not just shrunk, it’s almost like a deflated balloon.”

Kong Young-gil doubted his own eyes and looked at Bator several times again.

‘No, what’s going on?’

Bator’s body is shrinking.

Of course, his height is the same, but his body, which used to be like a solid circle, now felt so thin that it looked like a long oval.

“Isn’t there something wrong with his health?”

“You crazy bastard, you need to say something that makes sense.”

Lee Myung-han also knows that what he’s saying doesn’t make sense. Even if it were someone else, it’s absurd that Bator would get sick and become thin.

He’s the kind of person who would burst cancer cells with his fighting spirit. It’s unimaginable that disease would take hold of his body.

But if that’s not the case, how else can this situation be explained?

What further solidified his conviction was Bator’s complexion.

His complexion is so different from Bator’s usual one. The expression that used to make you feel his strength just by looking at it was nowhere to be seen, and his dark complexion and blank face made you even doubt if this was really Bator.

“…Why the hell?”

“Is the training too hard?”

“I’m telling you to say something that makes sense!”

Lee Myung-han sighed as he watched Kong Young-gil shout angrily.

Normally, Lee Myung-han wouldn’t have accepted such sudden anger, but for Kong Young-gil, Bator was not just a director of the General Assembly. He was a mentor who had led him until now.

How could he maintain his composure when there was a problem with such a mentor?

“Let’s check it out… What? Why is that person like that again?”

Kong Young-gil and Lee Myung-han’s eyes widened.

They saw Jang Min walking towards the training ground. But Jang Min was not the Jang Min they knew either.

“What’s with that old man…”

His hair, which was always white but full of luster, was now dry and brittle, and his face, which was firm without a single wrinkle, was collapsing as if he had regained his age.

Even his arms and legs were so thin that they looked like they would break at any moment.

Lee Myung-han opened his mouth blankly.

“Is there really some kind of plague going around?”

“That makes sense…”

Kong Young-gil, who no longer had the strength to argue, let out a hollow sigh.

‘Is the training that hard?’

I understand. Kang Jin-ho literally pushed them to the brink of death. If Kong Young-gil or Lee Myung-han had received the same intensity of training, they would probably have been on a one-way train to the afterlife before even thirty minutes had passed.

But they are still directors of the General Assembly, and they are going towards the pinnacle of martial arts, where there is no higher place to go.

No matter how I think about it, it didn’t make sense that they would look like this just from that training.

“Wh, what about the others?”

Wi Gwin-se and Bang Jin-hoon, who had just arrived, did not disappoint their expectations either.

Of course, compared to Bator or Jang Min, they still looked somewhat human, but Wi Gwin-se’s eyes, which always seemed deep and profound, were gleaming like those of a madman, and Bang Jin-hoon’s expression, which always seemed nervous, was listless, as if he had been punched in the face.

Lee Myung-han stared at them blankly and mumbled weakly.

“No, why are they all…”

“It’s a Simma.”

“Huh?”

Lee Myung-han turned his head sharply to look at Chun Tae-hoon.

Chun Tae-hoon opens his mouth sullenly with a swollen face. Normally, it would have been a cool tone and posture, but with his swollen face, it didn’t look cool at all.

“It’s a Simma.”

“Si, Simma. Does that actually exist?”

“Wouldn’t it be like that if it existed?”

Simma.

The process that those who have reached the wall must go through to overcome it. Those who have reached Simma are said to experience the collapse of everything they have built up until now, and suffer tremendous mental pain in the process.

“Th, then is it a good thing?”

“Why?”

“…Being in Simma means you can move on to the next stage, right?”

“That’s right.”

Chun Tae-hoon nodded.

“Nine out of ten people become cripples, or commit suicide, or even if they don’t, they never regain their original strength… Well, if you can overcome it, you’ll definitely become stronger.”

What the hell.

Then it’s not a good thing.

Lee Myung-han, who was flustered, looked back and forth between Chun Tae-hoon and the directors.

“Then why…”

“There’s no other way, you bastard. Let’s say there’s a place you absolutely have to go, and the only way to get there is a single log bridge over a thousand-foot cliff. You can’t fly, and you can’t go down the cliff. The only way is to cross the log bridge.”

“Those who say they must go there have to take that risk. Right now, those people have stepped onto that log bridge.”

Chun Tae-hoon mumbled.

“We can’t even dare to step on it,”

Lee Myung-han and Kong Young-gil looked at the directors with worried eyes.

In other words, they were now gambling everything they had. If they couldn’t overcome the Simma, they might lose their martial arts or become cripples.

But could they stop them?

No one could dare to do that. What words could they use to dissuade a martial artist who is seeking their own path? Even if Lee Myung-han had made the same choice, he wouldn’t want anyone to stop him.

“Still…”

At that moment, they saw Kang Jin-ho walking towards them.

Kang Jin-ho, who had arrived at the training ground, looked over the directors.

Kang Jin-ho, who had confirmed with his own eyes that they were in a terrible state, slightly curled up the corners of his mouth.

“You guys are a mess.”

“But I’m not going to go easy on you. Let’s start.”

At that moment, a demonic hatred appeared on the directors’ faces.

“Hwaaaaaaaap!”

The directors, who were truly emitting killing intent, screamed as if they were spitting blood and rushed at Kang Jin-ho all at once.

‘Good!’

Kang Jin-ho bared his teeth as he watched the directors rush at him.

‘Baek Yeon-hong gave me a good gift.’