Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1851

Kang Jin-ho chuckled, his gaze settling on the man lying on the bed.

Jang Min.

The man before him was a far cry from his usual, impeccably groomed self.

Bandages, stained crimson with seeping blood, wrapped his body, and metal rods held his two broken legs in place. It wasn’t just his body that was battered.

His face was also swathed in bandages, leaving only one eye exposed. He looked more like a monster from a horror film than a patient.

However…

The gaze from his single, unbandaged eye made it clear that he was a person, not a monster.

“I can’t even tease you about how pathetic you look.”

Jang Min’s lips twitched slightly as he quietly stared at Kang Jin-ho. Seeing this, Kang Jin-ho reached out and cut the bandages around Jang Min’s mouth.

Perhaps because half of his teeth had been knocked out, Jang Min couldn’t speak for a while even after the bandages were cut. His parched throat cracked every time he opened his mouth, making him moisten it with blood.

“Mmm… My… throat…”

“Is that your first word?”

Jang Min’s eyes landed on the wounds on Kang Jin-ho’s body.

Wounds made by his own hands.

The Demonic Lord.

He had wounded the body of the Lord who had revived the fallen cult and bestowed glory upon its followers.

Compared to the pain from that fact, the pain from his crushed body was nothing.

“I… I…”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled, seeing Jang Min unable to continue speaking.

“How was it, now that we’ve actually fought?”

“It shouldn’t have been that far off, right?”

Jang Min’s eyes wavered.

“Is it that you can’t win, or that you shouldn’t win?”

“Either way…”

The corners of Kang Jin-ho’s mouth curled up.

“That’s why winning has meaning, isn’t it?”

Jang Min’s eyes slowly closed.

The reason didn’t matter.

Whether he was possessed by a demonic influence or went berserk, he had fought against Kang Jin-ho and wounded his body.

Was that something that could be tolerated?

This?

If another cult member had done the same thing, Jang Min would have cut off their head without hesitation.

No, perhaps he wouldn’t have killed them instantly, but made them suffer for the rest of their lives, unable to die or live. To him, this was more than just blasphemy.

And yet…

The one who committed this outrageous sin was himself.

How was he supposed to deal with this?

“D… Demonic… Lord…”

“Speak.”

“Kill… kill… me…”

“What a load of crap.”

Kang Jin-ho laughed.

“If I was going to kill you, I wouldn’t have saved you in the first place. I went through the trouble of fighting and saving a guy who would have just withered away on his own, and now you want me to kill you again?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Jang Min.”

Kang Jin-ho stared straight at Jang Min.

“If you think you’ve committed a sin, then you have to atone for it. Dying isn’t paying the price. I’ve already told you that, haven’t I?”

“Atoning means enduring, not running away.”

“I…”

“So, heal up first.”

Kang Jin-ho clicked his tongue lightly.

“And I don’t see how it can be a sin when I, the one who was attacked, am fine with it. Is the loyalty you talk about moving according to your own will against my wishes?”

“…No, it is not.”

“Then it’s settled.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded and said,

“First, recover. It’s not too late to talk about the next steps after that.”

“But…”

Jang Min’s voice gradually became clearer. It was as if it was the mental shock, not the physical damage, that had made his voice hoarse.

“With this body…”

“There will be aftereffects.”

Kang Jin-ho scratched his chin.

It wasn’t a situation where he could hold back. If he had tried to just subdue him while holding back, he would have had to send Jang Min’s corpse, who had exhausted all his energy, to the crematorium.

So, he chose to knock him unconscious in a short time, even if it meant some damage…

‘It was a bit much.’

Looking at Jang Min’s appearance, even Kang Jin-ho sighed. No matter how much a martial artist’s recovery ability surpasses that of an ordinary person, a completely broken body cannot recover to its original state unless a person is a lizard.

Of course, it wouldn’t be to the point where it would hinder his martial arts training, but the wounds he had now would hold back Jang Min’s martial arts from progressing further.

“It’s better this way.”

“…Demonic Lord?”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled.

“Either way, once you break through the wall, these kinds of wounds will heal on their own.”

“Now, you have no choice but to undergo a metamorphosis.”

“That’s…”

Jang Min closed his mouth.

It wasn’t something he could dare say to the Demonic Lord. Whatever came out of Kang Jin-ho’s mouth had to be accepted as truth itself.

However, Jang Min had unknowingly contradicted Kang Jin-ho’s words.

Jang Min couldn’t accurately diagnose whether this was because Kang Jin-ho had said something so absurd that even he couldn’t accept it, or if his faith in Kang Jin-ho had diminished that much.

“Jang Min.”

Kang Jin-ho stared intently at Jang Min.

“I am not a god.”

“Whether you think of me as a god or not, I am neither a god nor a demon. I am just a person.”

“Demonic Lord…”

“And a person can’t do anything alone.”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

“What I need right now isn’t just someone who blindly believes in me and follows me. Maybe that was enough until now. But now, that’s not enough.”

“Climb up to where I am.”

Jang Min’s eyes glowed with a blue light as he stared at Kang Jin-ho.

“Even if that means… that I… doubt and deny the Demonic Lord… even then?”

“Is that a bad thing?”

Kang Jin-ho met Jang Min’s gaze without flinching.

“Without doubt, you will eventually rot. What I want is not blind obedience.”

“Aren’t you the same?”

Jang Min shook his head.

“Demonic Lord.”

“I cannot do that.”

Jang Min’s voice was clearer than ever.

“After hearing the Demonic Lord’s words, I am even more certain. I cannot deny it.”

“That is something I cannot abandon.”

Kang Jin-ho sighed softly.

He knew.

How difficult it was for a person to abandon what they had protected their whole life. Moreover, Jang Min’s life was even longer than Kang Jin-ho’s.

Unlike Kang Jin-ho, who had started over several times, Jang Min had endured his long hardships based on his firm faith. It would be impossible to abandon such faith in an instant.

“But…”

Kang Jin-ho looked at Jang Min with a different expression at that voice.

“I have understood one thing. That me doubting the Demonic Lord, infringing on the Demonic Lord’s divinity, and damaging its perfection… could actually be something that benefits the Demonic Lord.”

“If the faith is damaged the moment I deny the Demonic Lord, then it is nothing more than a shallow faith.”

Jang Min’s eyes held a strange heat.

“That true faith is something that does not waver even if I acknowledge that the Demonic Lord is not perfect.”

Kang Jin-ho let out a hollow laugh.

It was different from the direction he had wanted, but Jang Min had also come up with his own answer. Breaking through the wall meant changing from his old self.

Kang Jin-ho didn’t know if this answer would actually help him break through the wall. But… it was definitely more likely than before, when he couldn’t escape his past self.

“Demonic Lord.”

Jang Min said with piercing eyes.

“Please… please move me to the training room.”

“It’s too much right now.”

“No. It has to be now!”

“Even if what has hardened has loosened, it will harden again if time passes. It has to be now… right now.”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

‘Jang Min was a martial artist too.’

To him, Jang Min was more of a believer than a martial artist. He was someone who prioritized the cult over his own strength.

But now, Jang Min definitely had the eyes of a martial artist.

“Alright.”

Kang Jin-ho picked up Jang Min and left the sickroom.

“L-Lord!”

Someone who saw the scene rushed over in shock.

“L-Elder’s condition is more serious than it looks right now.”

“I know.”

“If you overdo it, I can’t guarantee his life. I’m not talking about ordinary people! Even if he is an Elder…”

“I know that too.”

Kang Jin-ho gestured with his chin for him to move aside.

The person who had been blocking the way sighed and slowly moved to the side.

Thud.

Kang Jin-ho walked out with a hardened expression, carrying Jang Min.

In the middle of the underground stone chamber, Jang Min, who was sitting cross-legged, was breathing heavily. And Kang Jin-ho watched the scene with slightly pitiful eyes.

Red blood flowed from his legs where the metal rods had been removed, soaking the bandages.

“Are you going to be okay?”

“Demonic Lord.”

Jang Min raised his head and looked at Kang Jin-ho.

“I have never once put myself before the cult.”

“Everything was for the cult, and even my faith in the Demonic Lord may have been for the cult.”

“So, just once…”

Jang Min smiled. If you could call his distorted face a smile.

“I might have wanted to put everything down and think only of myself.”

“If I don’t gain something here, I will die.”

“Jang Min.”

“I will not die.”

“I won’t say things like ‘please take care of the cult.’ Demonic Lord, please forgive this incompetent one for leaving your side at this important time.”

Jang Min bowed deeply on the spot.

“I will repay this sin by meeting the Demonic Lord’s expectations.”

Jang Min and Kang Jin-ho’s gazes met in the air.

Kang Jin-ho, who had been quietly looking at Jang Min, nodded slowly. His light nod was full of his trust in Jang Min.

“Jang Min.”

“Yes, Demonic Lord.”

“Come out alive.”

Jang Min smiled brightly.

“The Demonic Lord will never know what meaning it had in my life to meet you.”

“Please believe in me.”

“I do.”

Kang Jin-ho slightly moved his lips and then opened them again.

“I have never doubted you even once.”

Jang Min nodded as if that was enough.

Kang Jin-ho, who had been quietly looking at Jang Min, turned his body and left the stone chamber.

Krrrr.

The moment the thick door closed, the inside of the stone chamber was filled with darkness.

That darkness.

In the utter darkness, Jang Min’s single eye sank deeper and deeper.

‘Forget it.’

Everything.

The sense of duty to the cult, the worries about the future of the cult, the faith in Kang Jin-ho, and the distrust in himself.

If he couldn’t throw them away, he could just forget them.

After all, letting go was the same either way.

Jang Min’s consciousness sank deeper and deeper into himself.

Into the deepest…

Into the deep abyss he had never reached before.