Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1961

“How did the negotiations go?” At Liu Yang’s question, the Black King wore a wry smile.

“They failed.”

Liu Yang looked at the Black King with a strange expression.

“Why?”

“It’s just that it seems like the first time I’ve ever heard you talk about failure, Black King.”

“I’m not a god, Liu Yang.”

The Black King shrugged.

“It’s not like I can succeed at everything. And this is a different kind of matter.”

“What do you mean…”

“There are two kinds of things in the world. Things where you can plan with possibilities and create perfect results, and things where there are no possibilities but you just wish for them.”

“This is the latter.”

Upon hearing that, Liu Yang sighed softly.

“It might be presumptuous of me to say this to you, Black King…”

“Go ahead. I’m also someone who misses conversation.”

“…I still don’t understand,” Liu Yang slowly shook his head.

“Until now, I could still understand. Even if you, Black King, made a perfect plan, you never know what variables might arise, and it’s always better to have one more strong ally.”

Weaklings are of no help.

But bringing in someone strong enough to kill the Twelve Flying Blades as an ally would be a tremendous boost in power.

Other groups might be reluctant to accept someone who killed a former comrade, but the Black King’s faction is an exception. They are maintained not by camaraderie but by loyalty to the Black King.

They wouldn’t even bat an eye if someone who killed a comrade, or even someone they fought to the death with yesterday, joined them today.

In that situation, Liu Yang wouldn’t have questioned the Black King’s decision either.

But the situation is different now, isn’t it?

Everything they set out to achieve has already been accomplished. Here, where it’s difficult for the enemy to attack, the Black King and the Twelve Flying Blades alone can take on the entire world.

It would be impossible to hold out forever, but they could buy enough time for missiles to be launched.

So why, now, would he try to bring in Kang Jin-ho? If he really intended to do so, it would have been better to move more actively from the start.

Of course, the Black King couldn’t have missed what he was thinking, but he was only human, so he couldn’t help but have doubts.

“But why him specifically…”

“Hmm.”

The Black King wore a strange smile.

“I explained it over the phone, but I’m not someone who’s good at creating things.”

“That’s not true.”

“I know myself best. I’m confident in breaking, destroying, and overturning the existing order, but I’m not good at creating new systems or restoring what’s been destroyed.”

“There’s no reason why you couldn’t if you set your mind to it.”

“No. It’s impossible.”

The Black King quietly shook his head.

“This isn’t something I can do with my will. I’m someone who can’t start unless it’s perfect. But creating isn’t like that. Even if you don’t have a perfect plan, you need someone who can start with what’s possible and deal with problems as they arise.”

Liu Yang closed his mouth.

Hearing those words, he also felt something.

“You have to put new wine in new wineskins. Don’t you think?”

The Black King shrugged.

“No matter how much I think about it, there’s no one else suitable. There’s no one in the world right now who can wield that much influence in the unmanned field. The rest are just duds. Or they’ve already become the Lord’s subordinates.”

“So, what can I do? If I want to prove my cause, I have no choice but to bring that man in.”

“Is that what you want, Black King?”

“Don’t misunderstand, Liu Yang.”

The Black King smiled faintly.

“What I want isn’t important. The moment I have a desire, it’s like admitting that everything I do is just from my own greed.”

“…That wasn’t my intention.”

“Small things are enough with greed. But big things will eventually fail if you lose your cause.”

The Black King started to walk.

Liu Yang murmured softly towards the Black King’s retreating figure.

“Is it really… just for the cause, Black King?”

There was no answer to that question.

“He’s definitely out of his mind,” Lee Hyun-soo’s words made everyone smile wryly.

When you see him once in a while, Lee Hyun-soo is twice as bold as they are, despite their powerful strength. Most of the people here are now overwhelmed by the Black King’s madness and scale.

But Lee Hyun-soo didn’t seem to be particularly intimidated by the Black King.

Looking at Lee Hyun-soo, Chai Ke-chang said,

“Do you know what the scariest situation in the world is?”

“It’s probably you and me sitting face to face.”

“Wrong. It’s a madman holding a loaded gun. Because you don’t know what he’ll do with it.”

“Ugh…”

“Well, that guy is beyond common sense, and the weapon he’s holding is incomparable to a pistol. My imagination isn’t enough to think of a situation that could be worse than this.”

Lee Hyun-soo shrugged.

“Let’s start by checking first.”

Chai Ke-chang’s eyes lit up.

“Is there any way to neutralize the nuclear missiles from the outside?”

“No.”

Chai Ke-chang answered decisively, as if there was nothing to think about.

“There must be a separate command center, right?”

“There is a separate command center. But it’s impossible to remotely control the missile launch sites from the command center. If that were possible, it would mean that if one place was hacked, everything would be hacked.”

“…That’s true.”

Chai Ke-chang frowned and said.

“The military or the party wouldn’t manage nuclear weapons like that.”

“If they were going to manage it so well, they should have protected it well in the first place.”

Chai Ke-chang’s face flushed slightly. But then he sighed as if there was nothing he could do.

“It’s not my fault, so there’s no point in blaming me.”

“Damn it.”

Lee Hyun-soo scratched his head as if nothing was working out.

“There are no external routes, and it’s impossible to access it remotely?”

“That’s correct.”

“Then…”

This time, Wiggins opened his mouth.

“What about a preemptive strike?”

Chai Ke-chang’s gaze turned to Bator.

“Did you say a preemptive strike?”

“The enemy is threatening with nuclear weapons. As far as I know, nuclear weapons are different from gunpowder, so they don’t explode on the spot when attacked. If we launch a nuclear attack first?”

“It’s the end of the world.”

Chai Ke-chang said indifferently.

“The moment a nuclear weapon is launched from another country, China’s defense system will be activated, and nuclear weapons will be launched simultaneously from other nuclear missile launch sites.”

“Just disarm them.”

“The Party would never disarm them. It would be giving the enemy a chance to launch an indiscriminate attack.”

“To that extent?”

“Don’t underestimate human malice. Do you think there wouldn’t be a country that would pretend to attack the other side while deliberately causing an accidental explosion, taking advantage of the gap in the nuclear missile defense system?”

At that moment, Bator’s face went blank. Would they go that far?

It sounded absurd at first glance, but it wasn’t something that could be guaranteed not to happen. There were plenty of madmen in the world.

“And this is a nuclear missile launch facility. A preemptive strike is a preemptive strike, but it also means that it’s a place that has been considered for counter-fire. In the first place, nuclear weapons are meant to target exposed areas, not to attack underground. The explosive power won’t reach the place where the nuclear missiles are.”

Considering that the basic procedure for evacuating when a nuclear bomb falls is to go underground, it was natural that the aftermath of a nuclear bomb would not reach underground.

“Then what about bunker busters?”

Wiggins interjected again.

“Nuclear weapons may not be able to penetrate bunkers, but bunker busters are different, aren’t they? The bunker where the Prime Minister was staying before was specially made to withstand bunker busters, but they couldn’t have defended the entire large missile launch facility with special metal, could they?”

“I’ve already checked that too. In conclusion, it’s impossible.”

“Why?”

“The missile launch facility is very deep…”

“I heard that the latest bunker busters can be equipped with nuclear weapons to destroy the underground in one shot? Wouldn’t it be possible to request cooperation from the United States?”

“It’s difficult.”

Chai Ke-chang shook his head.

“It’s not a matter of power. The fundamental problem is that the bunker buster itself is a projectile.”

“We don’t know what will happen if a projectile flies to the base. Even if we jam the radar, we have to consider that the person pressing the button is an unmanned being with skills that go beyond common sense.”

Chai Ke-chang glanced at Kang Jin-ho.

“The question is whether he can sense a projectile flying at supersonic speed…”

“I can.”

Kang Jin-ho answered without much thought.

“I’ve experienced it a few times before, and I could feel it before it arrived. Considering the distance, I could probably notice it much earlier.”

“No, logically, that doesn’t make any sense…”

Lee Hyun-soo muttered in disbelief, but his mind already understood.

In the first place, common sense doesn’t apply to those in this realm.

“It’s also uncertain whether a bunker buster can successfully attack. And if they notice the attack in advance, it’s also uncertain whether the bunker buster can reliably destroy the launched nuclear weapon.”

“This is too big of a gamble. If we fail, it’s not just a matter of losing our heads.”

Everyone nodded.

The risk of failure was too great.

No matter how bold they were, they couldn’t gamble with the fate of the world.

“In conclusion…”

Lee Hyun-soo shrugged.

“There’s no physical solution.”

Those words weighed heavily on everyone.

Until now, they had fought somehow. Even when the Chang King shook them, they ultimately failed to turn the situation around, but they did their best to find a way to resist.

But this time, there was no way out.

“Then what…”

Everyone’s gaze slowly turned to Kang Jin-ho.

Everyone here knew who would ultimately make the decision.

Kang Jin-ho took out a new cigarette and put it in his mouth.

Click.

Kang Jin-ho, who had lit the cigarette, leaned back in his chair and tilted his head back. White smoke slowly flowed from the burning end of the cigarette and scattered into the air.

“Let’s go back.”

“Huh?”

Lee Hyun-soo looked at Kang Jin-ho with a puzzled expression.

“Where to…”

“To Korea.”

Kang Jin-ho’s head slowly lowered again. He looked around at everyone with his sunken eyes.

“There’s no point in talking about it now. It’s better to clear our heads first.”

“Lord, this isn’t the time to…”

“It is the time.”

Kang Jin-ho said calmly. And those who heard those words couldn’t refute them.

“Because… it might be the last time of our lives.”

The words were heavy.