Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 185

“I always feel this whenever I see it, it’s truly magnificent.”

“I agree.”

“…Just thinking about going in there gives me the creeps.”

Park Yu-min, Kang Jin-ho, and Joo Young-gi swallowed hard as they looked at the huge building in front of them. It might just be a building to others, but to them, this building was like a giant dungeon.

A place where they had to wander around without a single window, among the endless clerks who harassed them and the countless items on display.

The name of the last dungeon created by modern civilization was the department store.

The three fashion terrorists could only gulp in front of the imposing gray-white rectangular building that seemed capable of accommodating tens of thousands of people.

This was uncharted territory.

“Well…”

Joo Young-gi shouted spiritedly.

“Shopping is supposed to be done at department stores! There are so many shiny and pretty things here.”

As someone with his own fashion philosophy, Joo Young-gi didn’t want to be treated as the same level as the others.

“If you look carefully, you can find good value items even in department stores. It’s a good place to find things. If you look for sales, you can find good value items.”

Park Yu-min only categorized items based on their sturdiness, regardless of their design.

Both of them were talking nonsense, but Kang Jin-ho couldn’t refute them at all. He was already struggling to distinguish between pants and shirts, so he didn’t have the ability to understand what their conversation meant.

“Can you guys please be quiet and not act like country bumpkins?”

Kang Eun-young kept looking around, as if afraid that people around them might hear them.

She was heavily armed with sunglasses and a hat, just in case someone recognized her, but she was still uneasy. After all, she was a celebrity, and it would be humiliating to let others know that she was shopping with these people.

“You guys were here.”

At that moment, Baek Hyeon-jeong, who had finished parking, waved her hand.

“Okay, let’s go inside.”

“…Yes.”

The three of them answered weakly and started to enter the department store with Baek Hyeon-jeong and Kang Eun-young.

‘They look like cows being led to the slaughterhouse.’

Park Yu-min, who was at the back, shook his head as he watched his friends’ slumped shoulders and followed them.

“Oh my, customer! This looks so good on you. Would you like to try it on?”

“No.”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head firmly.

“Come on, please try it on. Clothes look completely different when you wear them compared to just looking at them. This particular outfit is made of such high-quality fabric that it would match your sophisticated image perfectly.”

“I said I’m not trying it on!”

“Please, just try it on!”

Kang Jin-ho wanted to escape this hell right away.

But the guards of hell were too powerful. His mother and Kang Eun-young were glaring at him, preventing him from escaping.

‘If we had come in the morning, I might have really jumped through a wall.’

He had managed to convince them that they should at least have lunch before shopping so that they could have a perfect course of going out for dinner after it was over. Just thinking about what would have happened if he hadn’t was terrifying.

No matter what Kang Jin-ho was thinking, the clerk didn’t seem to have any intention of letting go of the prey in front of her.

How long had it been since she had seen such a perfect hanger for designer clothes? The clerk at the clothing store’s goal was to sell, not to find clothes that suited the customer. That’s why they sometimes had to flatter customers by saying that clothes that didn’t suit them looked good, just to sell them.

Having lived with that kind of stress, she couldn’t help but get excited when a perfect example of someone who could make anything look good appeared in front of her.

“Oh my, customer! This outfit is practically made for you. Trust my eyes and just try it on. You’ll look really great.”

“I said I’m not trying it on!”

Kang Jin-ho resisted stubbornly, but his resistance was quickly suppressed.

“Jin-ho.”

“…Yes?”

“Go in and try it on. It doesn’t seem polite not to try it on when they’re asking so nicely.”

“Yes, customer! You can just try it on. You don’t have to buy it, just try it on.”

Kang Jin-ho eventually sighed and took the clothes, heading to the fitting room. Kang Eun-young turned her head at the sight.

‘Even if my brother is okay with this…’

What about the others?

Joo Young-gi was glued to the men’s suit section, harassing the clerk.

“Don’t you have anything shinier?”

“Shiny?”

“Hey, mister. How are you going to sell clothes if you can’t understand what I’m saying? Something that sparkles! Like silk, silk!”

“…Sir, those kinds of materials aren’t really popular these days. This fabric is a bit like that…”

“This level of shine isn’t enough to make me look good.”

Joo Young-gi frowned, looking dissatisfied, and then asked again.

“Then, do you have any shirts?”

“We have some prepared over here.”

“Not those, do you have any with floral patterns? These are too plain.”

“…Are you looking for Hawaiian shirts?”

“No, not those… I’m asking if you have any floral patterns, floral patterns.”

While the clerk was harassing Kang Jin-ho, Joo Young-gi was harassing the clerk over there.

‘What about Yu-min oppa?’

“Is this sturdy around the neck?”

“It’s triple-stitched, sir. Our brand is famous for being sturdy.”

“Hmm, the fabric doesn’t look very strong.”

“No, sir. It’s all imported fabric. It’s really sturdy.”

“Is that so?”

Park Yu-min nodded as if he understood and continued.

“Then, how much can you discount this?”

“Excuse me?”

The clerk replied with an awkward smile.

“Sir, our prices are fixed, so we can’t negotiate. Moreover, that product is currently 20% off.”

“Come on, there’s nothing that can’t be done in Korea. Just give me a 10,000 won discount.”

“Sir, that product costs 20,000 won.”

“Then 8,000 won.”

“No, I think you misunderstood me, we don’t give discounts.”

“They all give discounts.”

“S-sir.”

Kang Eun-young couldn’t bear to listen anymore and turned her head.

‘Someone might recognize me.’

Kang Eun-young tightened her glasses and mask and quietly moved a little further back. She needed to secure enough distance to be able to deny that she was with those people if anyone recognized her.

‘This is hell, hell.’

She had come along because her brother had asked her to, but she should have been more aware of the dangers of shopping with these people.

In the meantime, Kang Jin-ho had finished changing and came out of the fitting room.

“Oh my, oh my~! Customer! It looks so good on you.”

“…R-really?”

The clerk approached Kang Jin-ho, making a fuss.

“Wow!”

Indeed, Kang Jin-ho looked so good in the suit that even Kang Eun-young was speechless. He always wore stretched-out t-shirts, so the change was dramatic.

“As expected, my son takes after his mother, he looks so handsome.”

Baek Hyeon-jeong was very pleased to see Kang Jin-ho’s appearance.

“It’s stuffy.”

“Oh my, customer. Stuffy? This is a very comfortable product. If you feel stuffy in this, you won’t be able to wear suits in the future.”

“Hmm…”

Kang Jin-ho nodded and turned around.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to change back.”

“Without buying it?”

“Yes.”

Baek Hyeon-jeong frowned.

“It looks so good on you, why don’t you buy one?”

“Next time. I don’t have any reason to wear these clothes yet.”

“Still, a man should have at least one suit when he becomes an adult.”

“Yes, customer! If you try to buy it when you need it, there won’t be any nice ones then. That’s how the world works.”

“That’s right, what this person is saying is right. A man should have at least one suit. I’ll buy it for you, so just buy it.”

“It’s okay.”

“If your mother says she’ll buy it for you, you just buy it.”

“…Yes.”

Joo Young-gi, who hadn’t found anything he liked, came over to where Kang Jin-ho was, his face twitching.

“Huh?”

Joo Young-gi stared at the suit Kang Jin-ho was wearing, alternating between looking at Kang Jin-ho’s face and the suit.

“What?”

Joo Young-gi turned to the clerk next to him and said confidently.

“Give me that one too.”

His audacity was endless.

Joo Young-gi, with shopping bags in both hands, got on the elevator with a happy face. Kang Jin-ho, with a shopping bag in one hand, got on the elevator with a tired face, and Park Yu-min, who was hugging shopping bags to his chest, followed behind them with a very burdened expression.

Joo Young-gi also picked out a few more clothes after being vetted by Kang Eun-young and Baek Hyeon-jeong. However, he refused to accept the serious advice to give up on the same suit as Kang Jin-ho.

“Why? It looked good on me too.”

That was the end of it.

Those who had given up on persuading Joo Young-gi finished their shopping and got on the elevator.

“Now that we’ve done our shopping, let’s go eat something delicious on the way back.”

“Okay, Mom. I’m hungry.”

“I agree.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded enthusiastically.

Kang Jin-ho didn’t usually enjoy eating out, but since Baek Hyeon-jeong had started feeding him, he was now enthusiastically welcoming the fixed-portion meals.

Because he could eat one serving.

“I’m happy that I went shopping with my son for the first time, but it would have been nice if we had looked around the casual section a bit more.”

“Oh, there’s always another day.”

“I guess so?”

Baek Hyeon-jeong looked a little disappointed, but she thought that if she pushed him any further, Kang Jin-ho would never come to the department store with her again, so she loosened the leash a little.

After all, fishing is not about force, but about push and pull.

“Yu-min, don’t you have any more clothes to buy?”

“Oh, no, I don’t!”

Park Yu-min was startled and shook his hands, almost dropping the shopping bags he was holding.

He had just planned to tag along and buy a couple of things and go home, but Baek Hyeon-jeong had dragged him around everywhere and forced basic clothes on him.

He had tried to refuse, but he had no choice but to surrender when Baek Hyeon-jeong said with a determined expression, ‘To think that we’re at a point where you feel burdened by this, it breaks my heart.’

“Really! Seriously! For real! It’s enough!”

“Is that so? Then that’s good. Let’s go shopping together again next time for fall.”

“A-again?”

Baek Hyeon-jeong smiled brightly, unaware that she was unknowingly giving her son and his friend department store phobia.

‘I have to run away next time.’

Kang Jin-ho sighed, feeling a mental fatigue he had never experienced in countless battles and fierce fights. The stuffiness was even worse because the elevator was packed with people.

It seemed like it would take a while to reach the first floor. The elevator stopped from time to time, and people rushed out and then back in.

‘There are so many people.’

He couldn’t understand why there were so many people in this stuffy place.

Kang Jin-ho, who was seriously wondering if he was the strange one or if these people were strange, suddenly stiffened his face at a strange sensation.

A prick.

Something sharp was touching his back.

Very slowly, threateningly.

A small voice that only Kang Jin-ho could hear reached his ears.

“Did you enjoy your shopping, Kang Jin-ho?”