Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1917

Everyone makes mistakes.

Who in this world lives without making errors or committing faults?

And naturally, mistakes come with consequences.

Appropriate punishment for errors helps a person grow. If one commits a wrong and does not receive proper punishment, they will repeat the same mistake, eventually ruining themselves.

Shin Chang was one who agreed with this idea.

He does not avoid his mistakes. Nor does he make excuses.

If he had committed a wrong, if he had made a mistake that should not have been made, he was willing to accept any punishment.

However…

Right now, Shin Chang’s face was ashen white.

Was it because of his deep injuries?

No.

The injuries he sustained from the Red King were indeed severe. But those injuries were not what was weighing him down now.

What was suffocating him was the presence of the person in front of him.

“Hmm.”

The red wine in the glass swirled gently.

The Black King, having lightly shaken the round glass, took a leisurely sip of wine and quietly looked at Shin Chang.

And as Shin Chang met that clear gaze, his heart began to pound as if it would burst.

In an instant, the back of his head became damp, and his sweat-soaked clothes clung to his back.

He was afraid.

Yes. He was terrified of this situation.

He was afraid of having to report his mistakes and failures to the Black King, and he was also terrified of facing the presence before him in this situation.

But what frightened him the most was that there was no way to predict what kind of punishment he would receive.

Reward and punishment must be reasonable.

To grow an organization, and to make subordinates follow their superiors, appropriate rewards and punishments are necessary. This is common sense for those who lead an organization.

But the Black King was a being who deviated from such common sense.

He was a being who was not bound by anything.

Sometimes, he would simply laugh off mistakes that were unforgivable, and other times, he would inflict the most horrific death imaginable, making someone endure all the pain a human could possibly experience for a minor mistake.

That decision was entirely up to the Black King’s whim.

It was something that would diminish the reputation of others, but the Black King turned even that into his own charisma.

An absolute being who is not bound by anything sometimes transcends the realm of understanding.

“So…”

The Black King opened his mouth quietly.

“Pa Kwon and Nang Gon are dead…”

“And you barely managed to escape, is that what you’re saying?”

Shin Chang’s body trembled.

There was no particular emotion in his voice. Considering the meaning behind those words, it could be said that his voice was rather terribly calm.

That was why he was afraid.

He could not even begin to guess what intentions were hidden behind that calm voice.

“What do you have to say?”

“I…”

All sorts of thoughts flashed through Shin Chang’s mind in an instant.

He knew.

No matter what excuses he made, no matter what persuasion he offered, it would be meaningless. The Black King was like a solid mountain of rock. No matter how much one pushed or struck him, not even a scratch would appear.

“…I have nothing to say.”

The Black King silently stared at Shin Chang.

“It was an unavoidable situation for me. If you are to blame me for not saving them, I will accept it, but even if I were in the same situation, the best I could do would be to save myself.”

“Hmm.”

There was still no change in the Black King’s gaze.

But Shin Chang did not bother to add any more excuses.

There was no point in saying anything more anyway. He was not a human being who was deluded by the ridiculous arrogance that he could change the Black King’s mind with his own tongue.

Humans do not try to change gods.

Perfection is something that does not waver.

If the Black King was like a god to him, then he should not dare to question that divinity.

“Get up.”

“Yes!”

Shin Chang jumped up from his seat and faced the Black King.

“How was he?”

“What do you mean…”

“I mean him.”

The corners of the Black King’s mouth curled up slightly.

“Did he look happy, or did he look serious? No, I guess not. He probably had his usual expressionless face, making it impossible to guess his true feelings.”

“…I was not close enough to see his face. If I had been that close, no matter how hard I tried, I would not have been able to escape his grasp.”

“You’re wrong.”

The Black King shook his head.

“Distance is meaningless. The reason you came back alive is simply because he was not interested in you.”

“He’s always been like that. He has no mercy for what’s in front of him, but he’ll leave the fresh prey right in front of him to take care of the wounded beast far away. He has no flexibility.”

The Black King muttered as if amused.

“That’s why he’s a Demon Lord. Yes, that’s why he’s the Red Demon.”

One thing was certain.

The Twelve Flying Blades [elite warriors of the Black King faction] were the Black King’s limbs, gathered with great care. In other words, the situation where two of the Twelve Flying Blades had lost their lives was no different from the Black King having two of his arms cut off.

Yet, strangely, the Black King did not seem to be in a bad mood.

“He’s become more daring than before. In the past, he would cut off the head of anyone who hit him, and he would chase after fleeing enemies to stab them in the back, but he never had the concept of moving first before being hit.”

That was complete arrogance.

Moving first meant not falling into a crisis. At least, when one had the will not to be in a disadvantageous situation, one would consider a preemptive strike.

But the Kang Jin-ho of the past did not have such a concept.

No matter what situation came, he did not think it was a crisis, and no matter what situation came, he did not think it was disadvantageous.

He was someone who lived with the absurd confidence that he could face the whole world with his own power alone.

Kang Jin-ho himself called it the reckless behavior of someone who had no fear of death, but in the Black King’s eyes, it was the manifestation of excessive arrogance.

‘Well…’

Those who have nothing to lose have the right to be arrogant. Because they are the only ones who bear the risk of that arrogance.

That Kang Jin-ho moved first.

To save the Red King, who he had fought in the past, no less.

“It’s a world of change…”

The Black King leaned back in his chair and quietly looked at the ceiling.

Everyone is bound to change in the end.

That was a universal truth that applied to him as well.

But watching Kang Jin-ho’s change with his own eyes and hearing it with his own ears brought a strange feeling to the Black King that was hard to describe.

He felt nostalgia for the unchanged parts of Kang Jin-ho, and he felt the fleeting passage of time in the changed aspects of Kang Jin-ho.

“He ended up choosing, after all.”

The Black King’s gaze turned to the distant window. Beyond the full-length glass window, lush forests could be seen.

“In the end…”

That forest was not much different from the past or the present. But the person who walked through that forest could no longer be the same person from the past.

When a person changes, their position changes, and when their position changes, the path they walk changes.

“In the end…”

The Black King could not accurately diagnose his own feelings. It was a very rare occurrence for him, but right now, complex emotions were swirling within him.

He wanted to meet him as an enemy.

But he did not want to meet him as an enemy at all.

He did not want to kill him, but if someone had to kill him, he thought it could only be himself.

Fate or ill-fate.

Friendship or hatred.

They discussed the principles of the world and the flow of history, but the human heart is something that cannot be known.

“If you’ve made a choice, there’s no need to look back anymore.”

The Black King’s voice became resolute.

“Shin Chang.”

“Yes.”

“Suspend all operations. Summon all the remaining Twelve Flying Blades here.”

“Including those attacking the outskirts?”

“Yes.”

“Understood, my lord!”

“Tell them to hurry.”

“Yes!”

His intentions were unknown.

But there was no need to know his intentions. They were his limbs, simply those who carried out his orders.

Shin Chang, with a face that had barely regained its composure, bowed deeply and went outside. Then, Liu Yang, who had been watching the situation from behind, cautiously asked.

“Will you not punish Shin Chang?”

“Why would I?”

The Black King chuckled.

“Failure is failure. If you do not punish him, it will not set an example for the other Twelve Flying Blades.”

“That may be so.”

The Black King said indifferently.

“But somehow, I don’t feel like it. It’s not like I’m forgiving him because I’m in a good mood. It’s just… well, let’s just say I don’t feel like it.”

“Yes.”

Liu Yang did not ask any more questions and stepped back.

If one were to discuss logic, there might be more to say. But if this was the conclusion the Black King wanted, there was nothing more to add.

“Hmm.”

The Black King quietly pressed his temples and nodded.

“I see.”

“It seems that, at least to me, the part where he brought news of that person and pleased me is greater than the ugliness of him running away after losing Pa Kwon and Nang Gon. It doesn’t feel particularly pathetic, seeing as how it is.”

“…Now that the Assembly has moved, the battles will be more difficult than before.”

“That’s right. But…”

The Black King quietly closed his eyes.

“Somehow, I feel relieved…”

The image of Kang Jin-ho from the past flashed through his closed eyes.

No, rather than Kang Jin-ho, it was the Heavenly Demon Lord. Yes, the image of that magnificent being.

And behind that, the image of the current Kang Jin-ho appeared, overlapping with the image of the Heavenly Demon Lord.

‘Are you feeling it too?’

Is the one he has to face now Kang Jin-ho, or the Heavenly Demon Lord?

Is the one facing him the Black King, or the Azure Demon?

The two are ultimately one. But they are never one.

“Living two lives is…”

“Yes.”

“It’s not about dividing one life into two. Death is ultimately a severance. No matter how much you are reborn with the same memories, you cannot be the same as before.”

“That’s why it might be something to long for. People reminisce about the past as they get older, but those who have returned reminisce about their past selves.”

The Black King smiled faintly.

“That’s why I can’t let go, I guess.”

“He knows me, and I know him. We are the ones who have faced those times that no one else in this world can know or understand. That’s why he is my mirror, and I am his mirror.”

When mirrors face each other, an endless world is created within them.

The relationship between Kang Jin-ho and him was bound to be like this.

“Demon Lord.”

The Black King hummed and waved his hand.

“The battlefield for you and me will inevitably be in the midst of a burning world. Isn’t that right?”

The preliminary skirmish was over.

Now, the conflagration that he and Kang Jin-ho would create would engulf the world.

A conflagration that would never be extinguished.