Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 2

Night had fallen. Kang Jin-ho looked at his mother, who was sleeping beside him. His mother, whom he hadn’t seen in decades. He had once imagined that if he ever saw his mother again, he would be so overwhelmed with emotion that he would burst into tears. But now that he actually saw her again, he only felt a mix of bewilderment and awkwardness. While he had been adrift for decades, his mother had remained in this time, so in a way, it was only natural. The mother he had imagined had changed little by little over the years, so there would be a gap between her and the real mother. The same was true for his father. His father, who arrived at the hospital a little later than his mother, stared at Kang Jin-ho with a serious expression for a while before letting out a deep sigh and opening his mouth. “You should have been more careful.” It was the first thing he had heard from his father in decades. Kang Jin-ho almost chuckled. He could now feel the emotions he couldn’t understand before, the ones he couldn’t put into words. He could now feel his father’s heart, filled with worry and concern for his son, but unable to express it warmly, instead resorting to a blunt remark. Kang Jin-ho slowly got up. The IV needle in his right arm bothered him, so he pulled it out without hesitation. He could already picture the nurse nagging him for pulling out the IV, but he could just make up an excuse that it came out while he was sleeping. There were more important things to worry about right now. Kang Jin-ho quietly walked out of the hospital room. Then, avoiding the nurse’s desk, he went up the stairs to the rooftop. He felt a dull pain in his side, but it was hardly worth calling it pain. When he opened the door and stepped onto the rooftop, the cold night air pierced his body. Kang Jin-ho raised his head and looked at the sky. A sky without a single star. The dark night sky was all he could see. ‘I’m back.’ Kang Jin-ho finally realized that he had returned to the modern world. The sky he saw now was the modern sky he had always seen in the past. ‘Was it all a dream?’ How did he come back? Or perhaps, was everything he had experienced not a dream? Kang Jin-ho chuckled lightly. A dream? Such a dream was impossible. Kang Jin-ho reached out and grabbed at the air. He could feel the energy flowing through the air with his fingertips. If all of that had been a dream, Kang Jin-ho would never have been able to feel such a thing. What was even more incomprehensible was the fact that he had returned to the past. He had died when he was thirty-five years old. But now, he was eighteen years old. He had gone back in time by almost twenty years. ‘It’s a relief, but…’ After he turned twenty, Kang Jin-ho had never felt happiness even once. The only time in his life that had been truly brilliant was his teenage years. As soon as that ended, his family had died in a terrible car accident, and Kang Jin-ho was the only one who survived. And that too, at the high cost of being paralyzed from the waist down. Kang Jin-ho had lived in pain as a disabled person for fifteen years, and then he had taken his own life when he was thirty-five. And when he opened his eyes, he had awakened in a new world called the Murim [a world of martial arts and cultivation]. Life in the Murim was a continuous series of suffering, incomparable to his life in the modern world. It was as if fate was pushing him into suffering, and endless hardships came crashing down on him. As he resisted the pain and fought against the hardships, he had somehow become the leader of the Demonic Cult. And now, he had returned to the modern world again. Kang Jin-ho couldn’t believe this dreamlike reality. He didn’t have to worry about blades aimed at him while he slept, nor did he have to endure a barbaric era where people thought it was natural to kill others for their own gain. How much he had longed for this peaceful era. Kang Jin-ho spoke the vow in his heart. ‘To live normally…’ Like everyone else. Sometimes laughing, sometimes crying. Sometimes getting angry, sometimes fighting. He wanted to live like that, chasing happiness. Normally. Normally, like everyone else. “Haha…” Kang Jin-ho burst out laughing. It was awkward, but he couldn’t stop laughing. “Hahahahahahaha!” Kang Jin-ho’s loud laughter spread into the night sky. After laughing so hard that his stomach hurt, Kang Jin-ho realized that the reason his stomach hurt was not from laughing but from his open wound, so he pressed on a pressure point to stop the bleeding. ‘The sky…’ Kang Jin-ho turned his head to the night sky. A stuffy night sky with no stars. A polluted sky that everyone wanted to escape was there. But Kang Jin-ho felt comforted by that very sky. A smile bloomed on Kang Jin-ho’s lips. “You can eat now.” Kang Jin-ho’s face became serious. “Food?” “You’ll get a liquid diet for now. You can also have some simple drinks.” “Drinks?” “Is something wrong?” “No.” Kang Jin-ho’s face was utterly serious. “I see. Drinks…” The nurse stared at Kang Jin-ho, who kept repeating the word ‘drinks,’ with a strange look before walking away. Kang Jin-ho turned his head and stared intensely at the patient’s storage cabinet next to the bed. “Drinks.” There was definitely money in that drawer that his mother had put there for when she needed it. Kang Jin-ho got out of bed and opened the drawer. Inside the drawer, he saw a ten-thousand-won bill. It had been a long time since he had seen King Sejong [a historical Korean king whose portrait is on the bill], and his heart was filled with emotion. Kang Jin-ho picked up the bill and went outside. After staring at the elevator for a long time, Kang Jin-ho awkwardly stepped inside as other people started to get on. He was momentarily flustered by the strange sensation of his body floating, but he managed to calmly go down to the first floor. With a determined look on his face, Kang Jin-ho headed towards his goal. Then, he glared at the vending machine installed in front of the lounge. What caught his eye was a red, iron object! “…Cola.” Cola! The essence of modern civilization! Kang Jin-ho’s eyes were intensely fixed on the cola. Even in the Murim, there were plants and animals. It wasn’t that different from the modern world in terms of food. Kang Jin-ho, who had fifteen years of experience living alone, knew how to cook most dishes, so he could make whatever he wanted to eat. It was hard to make things taste good without soy sauce, but he could make grilled and stir-fried dishes well enough. But there was one thing he could never reproduce. Cola. No matter how much modern knowledge and martial arts Kang Jin-ho possessed, he couldn’t even attempt to dissolve carbon dioxide in sugar water. Hamburgers and fried chicken didn’t bother him, but only one thing! Cola was the only thing that stirred his nostalgia. Kang Jin-ho approached the vending machine. His memories were hazy, but as he began to live in the modern world again, his faint memories began to resurface. He could use a vending machine. Kang Jin-ho pushed the money into the bill slot of the vending machine. Ziiing! But the vending machine seemed to refuse to accept Kang Jin-ho’s money, repeatedly sucking in and spitting out the bill. He tried putting the money in again, but the vending machine rejected Kang Jin-ho’s money every time, like a haughty young lady. But Kang Jin-ho was a man who never gave up. Ziiing! “…” Ziiing! “…” Ziiing! Kang Jin-ho’s hand slowly began to tremble. Then, a voice came from beside him. “Ten-thousand-won bills don’t go in there.” “Huh?” Kang Jin-ho turned his head to the side. “Where are you looking!” “Huh?” Kang Jin-ho’s head lowered slightly. There, a small child, who looked to be about ten years old, was looking up at Kang Jin-ho. “Ten-thousand-won bills don’t go in?” The child tilted his head. “Are you an alien, or did you just come up from the countryside?” “Neither.” “Anyway, ten-thousand-won bills don’t go in. You have to put in one-thousand-won bills. Or change.” “I see.” Kang Jin-ho realized that he was in a crisis. The only money he had was a ten-thousand-won bill. Where was he supposed to go to change this money? Usually, there was a store or a convenience store in places like this… “Hmm…” Kang Jin-ho looked around with a troubled expression. “Don’t you have any change?” “I do not.” “The convenience store is closed today?” “Is it?” Wasn’t a convenience store supposed to be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year? A convenience store with a set day off? Was his memory not intact? Kang Jin-ho glanced at the vending machine with a regretful look and turned around. It was a shame, but today wasn’t the only day, so he would be able to eat it soon. That’s when it happened. Clang! A metallic sound was heard along with laughter. “Here you go.” Kang Jin-ho looked at the child who was handing him a cola. “I felt sorry for you staring so intently since earlier. I’ll buy it for you.” “I don’t accept favors without a reason.” “I’m doing it because I feel sorry for you. There’s a reason.” “I’m not pitiful.” “You look very pitiful.” Kang Jin-ho was a little dazed. Pitiful… He couldn’t even remember the last time he had heard that word. After learning martial arts, there was no one who dared to call him pitiful. But now, the little child in front of him was calling him pitiful. Yet, he didn’t feel bad because he could sense that there was no malice in the child’s ‘pitiful.’ Was it not pity but pure kindness? “Aren’t you going to accept it?” “I don’t accept favors without a reason…” “Then forget it. I’ll just throw it away. I don’t drink cola anyway.” “Throw it away?” “Yeah.” “That’s a waste…” “If I’m not going to drink it, what’s the waste?” “…” “Throw it away?” The child took the cola over the trash can and asked. Kang Jin-ho seemed to hesitate for a moment before reaching out his hand. “I’ll take it.” “Hehe.” The child smiled and handed Kang Jin-ho the cola. As he took the cola, which had a slight frost on it, he felt the cold touch of the metal. Clang. The child took out his juice and said with a slight smile. “You can’t drink it here. Eating and drinking is prohibited in the hospital hallway. Let’s go to the lounge.” “Ah…” Kang Jin-ho nodded. If that was the rule here, he had to follow it. But unlike what he had said to Kang Jin-ho, the child didn’t head to the lounge but walked in a different direction. “Where are you going?” “I don’t like the lounge. I’m going to drink it outside.” “Outside?” “I’m going to eat it on the bench in front of the hospital.” Kang Jin-ho nodded. “I see.” It seemed that the hospital bench with a garden would be much better than the lounge. Looking down from above, there seemed to be a gazebo as well. Kang Jin-ho followed the child. The child’s slightly wobbly walk was a little awkward and a little welcome. It was a different feeling from the Murim. A bold but not arrogant child. What was wrong with this child? He was curious, but Kang Jin-ho didn’t try to ask the child. He already knew from experience how hurtful it was to have people ask about your pain out of curiosity. The child entered the well-landscaped garden in front of the hospital and sat down on a bench.