Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1892

The red wine filled the glass with a soft, gurgling sound.

After waiting for it to fill, Cheongma slowly lifted the glass and lightly swirled it.

The red liquid flowed smoothly around the glass.

Cheongma took a sip of the wine, a strange light in his eyes, and then set the glass down.

“An interesting taste.”

“…It’s not exactly a good vintage, though.”

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t really know much about the taste of wine.”

Cheongma smiled faintly.

“I just say it’s good as a matter of course when I get a good wine. To be honest, I don’t really know the difference between cheap wine from the supermarket and wine that costs tens of millions of won a bottle. I just drink it.”

Liu Yang looked at Cheongma with a slightly bewildered expression.

He had served Cheongma for quite some time, but this was the first time he had heard this.

“To me, that sounds like you don’t enjoy wine at all. Then why do you bother drinking it?”

“It’s suitable.”

“…Yes?”

Cheongma gave a peculiar smile.

“Alcohol evokes a certain mood.”

It was a seemingly incomprehensible statement.

For anyone else, it might be understandable, but a martial artist who had reached an unprecedented level would not be intoxicated by mere alcohol.

However, Liu Yang understood what Cheongma was saying.

The mood he spoke of did not come from intoxication but from memories.

“If I drink other kinds of alcohol, it brings back old memories. Beer is too easy.”

Cheongma shook his head lightly and turned to look at the TV.

A huge screen, filling one wall, was repeatedly showing a tall building engulfed in black smoke.

“Hmm.”

Cheongma chuckled as if amused.

“It’s a headache. I told them to do as they please, and they really did do as they pleased.”

Those who never listened to him normally were now following his words like loyal subjects. He couldn’t help but smile wryly.

“Should we restrain them?”

“Words should carry weight. Of course, when I need them to.”

Cheongma smiled faintly as he looked at the screen.

“Isn’t it fun?”

“What’s burning there isn’t just that building. It’s a scene where more than what meets the eye is burning.”

Including the rules that those in power had created until now.

“It’s interesting.”

Thinking about the faces of those who would be flustered made him laugh. By now, the Chinese government, the Hong King faction, and even the foreign countries watching must all be in a state of panic.

“Who went there?”

“It’s Shin Chang.”

“Shin Chang… He doesn’t seem like it, but he’s quite radical.”

He thought someone else would make the first move…

Those who had been preempted would start moving for greater achievements.

“It’s going to get a bit overheated.”

“I don’t think they’re the type to do that, but if they lose their composure, problems could arise. I think we need to restrain them appropriately to minimize the damage.”

“It’s okay.”

Cheongma chuckled.

“Not taking damage isn’t a method or a principle. Those who are prepared to stab their opponents to death must also be prepared to risk their own lives.”

“Yes!”

Liu Yang immediately shut his mouth.

Simple suggestions were allowed for him. No, even more than that was allowed for him. In fact, Cheongma was someone who didn’t restrict his subordinates’ authority or actions as long as they didn’t greatly disobey his orders.

This line was drawn by Liu Yang, not Cheongma.

He shouldn’t speak about things he knew but still did. Comparing his brain to Cheongma’s was meaningless. If he could reduce the forgetfulness and mistakes that he, as a human, inevitably had to endure, that was enough.

“And…”

Cheongma shrugged.

“If you try to protect everything, you end up losing everything. What I learned from him is that those who don’t have the courage to shed blood can’t do anything.”

“Are you talking about the Demon Lord?”

“That’s right.”

Cheongma chuckled.

In the past, he was twice as cautious as he was now. He knew how to accept appropriate damage to corner his opponents, but he had clearly drawn a line even for that.

He would shed blood, but he wouldn’t take risks. That was Cheongma’s theory in the past.

But not now.

He had learned from watching Kang Jin-ho. Kang Jin-ho had done several things that seemed reckless to him, and as a result, he had achieved results that were incomparable to what he had expected.

He had learned by watching that.

“There’s a saying, ‘a hero sent by heaven.'”

“…Yes?”

“There is such a thing, isn’t there? Those who study hard, learn military strategy, and calculate everything with all their might become known as decent generals. But sometimes, those who don’t know anything about military strategy or anything else do things that are incomparable to the elites, achieving tremendous feats.”

“Did Xiang Yu become the Hegemon-King of Western Chu [a title of a powerful warlord] because he knew military strategy?”

“No, he didn’t.”

Contrary to the general image, Xiang Yu was more interested in military strategy and the operation of the army than in personal strength. But his power, which remained in history, could not have come from learning.

“The same goes for the one on the other side. There’s no need to discuss it only in China. Genghis Khan, Subutai, or even Alexander the Great and Napoleon are the same. Even though they learned the same things, they produced different results. Why do you think that is?”

“…I don’t know.”

Cheongma pressed his finger against his head.

“Those people have a screw loose here.”

“Everyone is afraid of dying. And when they are no longer in a life-threatening situation, they become afraid of losing things. First, they try to protect their lives, then their power, and finally their names.”

“…I think I understand what you mean.”

“But these people aren’t interested in such things from the start. They don’t know how to cherish their lives, they aren’t afraid of losing everything in defeat, and they have no interest in how their names will be remembered in later generations.”

Cheongma shrugged.

“They are the embodiment of desire and also pleasure addicts. They seem rational, but when they should be most rational, they commit crazy acts without hesitation based on momentary feelings. A hero sent by heaven is such a being.”

“…The Hong King is also such a person.”

“You’re wrong.”

Cheongma said firmly.

Then he glanced at Liu Yang.

“Don’t misunderstand. It doesn’t mean that I’m inferior to those people who have existed until now. But it also doesn’t mean that I’m particularly greater than them.”

“…Then?”

“How many people with the qualities of a hero do you think would appear in the same era?”

“…Wouldn’t it be about one? I think that’s the Black King.”

“My opinion is different.”

A bitter smile appeared on Cheongma’s lips.

“At least ten, maybe even a hundred.”

“…Yes?”

Liu Yang’s eyes widened at the unexpected words.

That there would be a hundred people like the Black King in one generation? Even though it was his own words, it was an unbelievable statement.

“Why are you so surprised?”

“But… isn’t that an illogical statement?”

It was not something he would dare say to the Black King, but Liu Yang couldn’t understand.

“If that’s the case, you’re saying that there should be at least ten people in this world who are comparable to the Black King, but even if we’re generous, it doesn’t seem like there are more than five…”

“It’s not five.”

“Yes?”

“One. Two at most.”

Cheongma laughed softly as Liu Yang closed his mouth.

“You don’t understand what I’m saying. Didn’t I say that there are that many people born with the qualities of a hero?”

“…That’s right.”

“And I said that most of them have a screw loose in their heads.”

“Yes.”

“Then…”

Cheongma laughed softly.

“How many of them do you think are still alive?”

Only then did Liu Yang understand what this meant.

‘They are not afraid of death, and they are not afraid of losing things.’

That meant they died easily and lost easily.

The qualities of a hero didn’t make them avoid death, nor did they protect what they had to lose.

In other words…

“…Are you saying that the heroes sent by heaven that the Black King thinks of are those who are not in their right minds and who have survived until the end?”

“That’s right.”

Cheongma smiled as if he was finally getting through.

“It’s not necessary to survive until the end, but at least they have to survive until they leave something obvious for anyone to see. So, there is no such person in our era. No one has reached that point yet.”

Those who lived in this era would also leave their names in history.

But there was clearly no one who could stand on the same level as those who were talked about before.

“Heaven gives the qualities, but not the destiny. And those who achieve that destiny are those who do not step down from that path until the very end.”

Cheongma smiled.

To Liu Yang, that smile felt even more eerie today.

“So, I can’t be afraid of losing. I can’t be afraid of my neck being squeezed. I’d rather die trying to be a hero than live as an ordinary person.”

Cheongma’s hand lightly waved as if he was slightly excited.

“Well, I used the word ‘hero’ because I didn’t have a suitable word, but it’s not that grand.”

“You are qualified enough to be called that.”

“I said not yet.”

Cheongma laughed softly.

“But it will be soon.”

He slowly got up from his seat and approached the large TV. Standing in front of the TV, he fixed his gaze on the burning building on the screen.

“No, it has to be more than that. I have to achieve something that no one has ever achieved before.”

The energy he emitted slowly subsided.

Cheongma, who had quickly composed himself, turned around with a smile.

“If you try to draw a dragon, you’ll at least draw a snake, right?”

“I’m hungry after talking so much. Let’s have dinner.”

“…May I ask you just one thing?”

“What’s so difficult about that?”

“…A little while ago, the Black King said that there is one person in this era who is comparable to him.”

“In such cases…”

“As far as I know…”

“There has never been a case where both have survived.”

Liu Yang closed his mouth.

That was also true as far as he knew.

“So, I’m advising you not to confront him, to protect what you want to protect. The moment he becomes afraid of losing, he will no longer be my opponent.”

“Fighting to protect. As long as you keep spouting such childish words, we can remain friends forever.”

A strange heat flickered in Cheongma’s eyes.

“I’ll show you a fire that you wouldn’t dare to protect anything from.”

Liu Yang swallowed hard as he looked at Cheongma staring out the window.

‘But Black King.’

That means…

If he stops being afraid of losing again, doesn’t that mean he and the Black King will be equal?

Liu Yang couldn’t bring himself to say those words.

He couldn’t.