Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1950

Kaga-ga-gak! The thin wires dug into the cracks all over his body. No matter how tough his skin was, the flesh underneath couldn’t be as strong. The wires, filled with sharp energy, tore through the Blood King’s muscles, and the demonic energy that followed surged into his entire body.

“Kkeureuk, kkeureureureuk…”

The Blood King’s body twisted backward. His bloodshot eyes glowed red even without bloodlust, and blood foam filled his open mouth. The sensation of his entire body being torn apart was excruciating.

He could endure the feeling of the wires, sharper than razor blades, digging into his body and cutting him. If he didn’t have that much endurance, the Blood King wouldn’t have reached his current level. But that wasn’t the problem. The demonic energy flowing through the wires and into his body created a pain so terrible it couldn’t be described. It felt like each and every cell in his body was being pricked with sharp needles.

It’s said that the burning pain of the whole body is the most intense pain a human can feel, but someone like the Blood King could ignore the pain of his body burning. But the pain that was now swirling around his entire body was something that even the Blood King couldn’t endure.

“Kkeureuk, kkeureureureuk.”

Thick blood flowed from his torn throat. Unable to escape his mouth or flow down his throat, the blood pooled in his mouth, bubbling and boiling. The pain was like billions of centipedes biting at every blood vessel in his body. Faced with an overwhelming pain he had never felt before, all he could do was groan and convulse.

His vision turned black. It took him quite a while to realize that the reason his vision was turning darker was because of the black demonic energy that was engulfing his body as if burning it.

“Kkeureureureuk!”

At least for this moment, the Blood King regretted turning his body into a zombie with tears of blood. Regeneration. The flesh burned by the demonic energy, the flesh torn by the wires, somehow repaired itself and regenerated. But for the Blood King now, that was not good news at all. For him, who couldn’t even move a finger due to the pain and pressure of the demonic energy, the fact that his body was regenerating and recovering only meant that the time he had to feel this pain was prolonged.

If he were still human, he would have cut off his inner energy [internal life force] and escaped this terrible cycle of pain, but unfortunately, he was no longer a being that could be called human. His zombified body moved on its own, regardless of his will, and recovered his body. Therefore, this pain never ended. The Blood King, his entire body covered in black demonic energy, collapsed to the floor with a choking groan.

Thud.

The sound of his body, which had lost its power, falling to the floor was no different from any other, despite his former strength. Thud, thud. Kang Jin-ho, gripping the wires attached to his hand, slowly approached the Blood King. He stared at the Blood King with emotionless eyes, then reached out and grabbed the Blood King’s hair.

Thwack.

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes turned red as he roughly pulled up the Blood King. A red more vivid and intense than the Blood King’s eyes. The Blood King twitched at the sight of those eyes. Thump. After staring at the Blood King for a while, Kang Jin-ho threw the Blood King’s body to the floor. Then, he shook off the wires attached to his hand and turned his head.

Gong-ryeong stared at Kang Jin-ho with a stiff face. “What… did you do?” His gaze shifted between Kang Jin-ho and the Blood King, who was convulsing on the floor in front of him. He could sense it instinctively. That Kang Jin-ho just did something to that Blood King.

“It’s nothing much,” Kang Jin-ho said as if it was no big deal. “I just gave him back what he did to me.”

“…What he did to you?”

“He turned people into zombies.”

Could it be? Gong-ryeong’s head snapped towards the Blood King. A slightly open mouth, unfocused eyes, and a body that was constantly convulsing.

“You…”

“My theory is simple,” Kang Jin-ho curled up the corners of his mouth. “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”

“It might be natural for the powerful to mock the weak. But…” Kang Jin-ho’s gaze turned to the zombies lying far away. To the zombies who were still breathing, thanks to their enhanced bodies, despite being caught up in this terrible battle. “Those who kill people must be prepared to die themselves, and those who mock people must be prepared to suffer the same fate.”

Twitch. Twitch. The Blood King, lying on the floor, convulsed incessantly. Gong-ryeong, watching this, bit his lip until it bled. “…It doesn’t seem like that’s all, though?”

“I didn’t say I’d give it back exactly the same. That would be unfair,” Kang Jin-ho’s sunken eyes turned to Gong-ryeong. Gong-ryeong flinched at the eye contact and opened his mouth. “What… what did you do?”

“I told you, it’s nothing much,” Kang Jin-ho said indifferently. “I just made him feel the pain he was feeling forever.” The corners of Kang Jin-ho’s mouth twisted. “It’s hard to make someone feel a pain they don’t know, but it’s easy to make them experience what they already know.”

…Forever? Gong-ryeong vividly recalled the Blood King’s reaction a moment ago. The sight of the cruel Blood King unable to even scream, spitting out blood foam. He probably felt unimaginable pain at that moment. And he has to experience that forever? Gong-ryeong’s body trembled involuntarily. Zombies don’t die easily.

If a normal human had to endure without drinking a single drop of water, they wouldn’t last a week. But a martial artist could easily last a month, and a superhuman might last a year. But a zombie can endure for ten or twenty years without putting anything in their mouth. If that’s the case for an ordinary zombie, how long could that Blood King live? Maybe he could endure for over a hundred years. And he has to spend that long time in that hellish pain?

This was a punishment worse than falling into hell and burning forever. “Blood King…” Gong-ryeong didn’t like the Blood King. No, no one could like the Blood King. He was a being who evoked an unbearable sense of disgust just by existing in the same space. Gong-ryeong himself had felt the urge to tear the Blood King apart more than once or twice. Perhaps if he hadn’t met Kang Jin-ho here, one of Gong-ryeong and the Blood King would have met their end at the other’s hands someday. That’s how much Gong-ryeong hated the Blood King.

But… Even to Gong-ryeong, who hated the Blood King so much, the punishment the Blood King was receiving now was too cruel. ‘How can a human…’ There’s no way he has any respect for humans. He’s someone who doesn’t really distinguish between the value of a human life and the value of a person’s life. But even he was horrified by the sight, it was so terrible.

The movement of the Blood King’s body, lying on the floor, gradually disappeared. It seemed he didn’t even have the strength to convulse anymore. But the Blood King’s pupils, still shaking endlessly even though they had lost focus, clearly showed that his hell was still continuing. Gong-ryeong clenched his teeth.

Swish. Wires extended from his fingertips and wrapped around the Blood King’s neck. Since there’s no way he could save the Blood King, he was trying to at least end his life and free him from that terrible hell. If the Blood King had any sanity left, he might have shed tears of gratitude at Gong-ryeong’s attempt. But unfortunately, the mercy that Gong-ryeong might have shown for the first time in his life did not come to fruition.

Clang! The middle of the wire snapped, and the tightly pulled wire drooped. Gong-ryeong’s trembling gaze turned to Kang Jin-ho. Click. Kang Jin-ho, who had already taken out a cigarette, lit it and looked at Gong-ryeong. The white smoke half-covered Kang Jin-ho’s face, creating an indescribable decadent atmosphere.

“Is he even pitiable?”

“You…” Gong-ryeong clenched his teeth. “You’re not a judge, and you’re not a magistrate. No matter what the Blood King did, you have no right to punish him!”

Kang Jin-ho laughed lowly. But Gong-ryeong, as if he didn’t see the laughter, raised his voice even louder and shouted. “What right do you have to criticize and insult the Blood King? You’ve killed more people than the Blood King has!”

“Are you going to say that killing without causing pain is good?” Kang Jin-ho chuckled, as if it was very amusing. “You seem to be mistaken…”

“Mistaken?”

“I only said I’d give it back as it was, I never judged him. I just crushed him because he was annoying.”

“If you’re not happy with that, you can crush me. If you can.”

“How dare you…”

“Someday, you’ll be crushed by someone stronger than you,” Kang Jin-ho said in a whisper. “Those who wield a sword without that resolve are fake. Isn’t that right?”

Gong-ryeong closed his mouth because he was persuaded by Kang Jin-ho’s logic. Because he realized that any conversation with this man was meaningless. “Don’t worry,” the corners of Kang Jin-ho’s mouth curled up. “I’ll kill you a little more comfortably.”

It was a tearfully grateful thing to say, but Gong-ryeong didn’t even have the strength to express his gratitude with words. Thud. Kang Jin-ho moved the cigarette from his mouth to his hand and slowly walked towards him. The cigarette smoke from his mouth spread out into the air, white.

Death. Death was approaching. Humans are ultimately beings who cannot escape death. No matter how strong they become, no matter how much wealth they accumulate, no matter how great their achievements, humans are ultimately equal before the absolute existence of death. An absolute result that can never be avoided. That clear death was approaching Gong-ryeong.

Thump. Kang Jin-ho threw the cigarette on the floor, stepped on it, and let his hands hang down. “Heuk…” Gong-ryeong pulled up his last bit of inner energy. He knew that the result was already decided. But at least he had to make a final struggle. Accepting death with his hands down was not respectful to his life, which he had lived so fiercely!

Just as Gong-ryeong was about to grit his teeth and shout. Whoooom! Right next to Kang Jin-ho, Wiggins appeared. Wiggins, who had landed on the floor, didn’t even glance at Gong-ryeong and looked at Kang Jin-ho. The moment Kang Jin-ho saw Wiggins’ pale face, he sensed that something was wrong.

“What is it?”

“Lo, Lord… I think you should see this.” Wiggins held out something in his hand. A tablet PC? Kang Jin-ho, about to say something incomprehensible, closed his mouth. The screen of the turned-on tablet PC showed the face of someone he knew very well.

“…Cheongma [Blue Demon],” Kang Jin-ho, uttering a voice filled with a faint tremor, clenched his fist without realizing it.