Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 2068

I knew I had to answer that question.

Not through a screen.

Not with a clumsy voice over a receiver.

But with his voice, face to face.

However, the answer didn’t come as easily as I thought. It was because I felt that everything was meaningless.

“That answer isn’t for me to give…”

Kang Jin-ho quietly stared at the Black King.

Did this guy even realize how contradictory he was being?

“It seems you already have.”

“As you said, people’s values are different. It might be of great value to you, but it’s not particularly valuable to me.”

“That’s not like you.”

The Black King wore a bitter smile. Unlike his previous friendly demeanor, his expression now held an undisguised, clear mockery.

“You weren’t one to play with words.”

Kang Jin-ho threw the burnt cigarette on the floor and took out a new one, placing it in his mouth.

He snapped his fingers to light it and inhaled the smoke deep into his lungs.

“Wordplay, huh…”

Perhaps it was.

“Your rebuttals all avoid the core issue. Of course, I’m not perfect. No one can be perfect. But…”

The Black King glared at Kang Jin-ho, growling as he spoke.

“There’s nothing more terrible than saying you shouldn’t do something because you’re not perfect. It’s because we can challenge things even when we’re imperfect that we are human.”

“A hymn to humanity…”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled.

“It seems I’m not the only one who’s changed.”

“The Cheongma [Blue Horse, a name often associated with a righteous warrior] I knew wasn’t one to try and persuade people with such clumsy emotional arguments.”

Upon hearing those words, a bitter smile formed on the Black King’s lips. If anyone else had said that, he wouldn’t have even bothered to listen, but when those words came from Kang Jin-ho, there was no room for rebuttal.

They knew each other best.

“You might be right.”

Kang Jin-ho said, exhaling smoke.

“The martial world can no longer be what it once was. Now that everything has been revealed, there’s no going back.”

“That’s obvious.”

“Because of what you’ve done.”

Just as the Black King was about to say something, Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

“I’m not blaming you. I know. Even if it wasn’t you, it would have happened someday. Perhaps I might have been the one to reveal the existence of martial artists to the world, leading to their destruction.”

The Black King slowly nodded.

This wasn’t the Black King’s fault, nor was it Kang Jin-ho’s fault.

It was simply something that arose from the contradiction of the existence of martial artists.

They lived on the same land, in the same world, yet they hid their existence as if they didn’t exist.

How long could that have continued?

The world’s progress didn’t exclude even martial artists. Now, it was impossible to avoid their eyes, even if they hid in the mountains or fled to remote places.

The cracks had already begun long ago.

What the Black King did was merely drive a wedge into those cracks. So that they could no longer run away.

“I didn’t think you wouldn’t know that.”

“I couldn’t not know.”

Kang Jin-ho exhaled smoke and looked at the Black King.

“Then why are you rejecting my method?”

“Even if this method isn’t perfect, you understand that it’s the best we can do right now. You must understand that there’s too much at stake to oppose it with petty grudges.”

The Black King stomped his foot slightly harder on the ground.

“It’s because of this.”

“Because of your meaningless stubbornness, so much blood has been shed. We had to endure meaningless sacrifices. Do you really not know how much of a force those who died here would have been in a future war?”

The Black King bared his teeth.

“I can’t understand it.”

“No matter how you try to sugarcoat it, you’re just scared and running away like a dog with its tail between its legs. You’ve lost the will to fight against their weapons and their power, and you’re just choosing to live as their dog.”

Kang Jin-ho closed his mouth.

“It might seem right in the moment. It’ll spill less blood. But Cult Leader, you know this too. A wolf with its teeth pulled is just a dog, and a tiger with its claws pulled is just livestock.”

The Black King pressed Kang Jin-ho, his voice like he was spitting out the words.

“It’s fear that creates coexistence. The fear that the other can harm me, the fear that even if I can defeat the other, they can still tear off my arm. That fear…”

Firm eyes.

Eyes that never doubted their path for even a moment.

Those eyes stared at Kang Jin-ho.

“…creates respect.”

“I don’t want to be the king of the martial world. I don’t want to wield the martial world as I please. I just want to teach them how to respect us.”

“Cheongma.”

“You knew that in the past.”

“Because it was you who taught me this method. All the logic, the perfect plans, and the thorough preparation and control. All of that was meaningless in the face of the fear you created.”

Kang Jin-ho slowly nodded.

Although it wasn’t intentional, the result was clear. Victory doesn’t end a war. Control remains after victory. The only way for the minority Demonic Cult to maintain control over the absolute majority of the Righteous Sects was through one thing.

Fear.

Absolute fear.

If Kang Jin-ho had stayed with Cheongma until the end and maintained the Demonic Cult, a demonic world would have surely opened. Because no one would have dared to oppose Kang Jin-ho.

“But… you, who knows that better than anyone…”

“Now you’re trying to be their dog. You’ve lost the ability to intimidate your opponents and are now trying to lick their feet.”

The Black King glared at Kang Jin-ho with eyes like blades.

It was a ridiculous situation.

They might be friends, but they could no longer be comrades. It was none other than the Black King who had created this situation.

But now, the Black King’s eyes were not those of someone looking at an enemy. They were the eyes of someone looking at a traitor.

Why was he looking at Kang Jin-ho with such eyes?

“Was it that important?”

“The life you gained here, that safety, that warmth…”

“Was it that important to you? Enough to forget and ignore what you know?”

Life…

Kang Jin-ho chuckled softly.

“Your so-called coexistence isn’t that great. The true intentions of those who preach coexistence and peace are always obvious. They’re just afraid of losing what they have.”

“But remember this, Kang Jin-ho. No… remember, Red Demon [a title of great power and fear].”

“Your peace can only be maintained because there are those who spill blood in front of you. You, who are afraid of spilling blood, are no longer the Red Heavenly Demon Lord.”

A sharp, piercing pain stabbed at Kang Jin-ho’s lungs.

It wasn’t just logic.

The Black King had perfectly carried out what he believed in. He had thrown everything away to achieve what he believed was right, no matter the cost.

A terrible conviction.

A crushing will.

It was as if a black sun, overflowing with malice and hatred, was blazing before his eyes.

Yes. And…

‘I might have been like that once too.’

The driving force behind that black sun must have included his past self. No, perhaps it occupied even more of it than Kang Jin-ho thought.

They used each other and were used by each other.

They trusted each other and were betrayed by each other.

It wasn’t just a simple relationship. He and Cheongma were beings who filled each other’s shortcomings. Individually, they were just weaklings who couldn’t bear the weight of the world, but when their wills were united, they became a raging fire that could burn the world.

But…

Did the Black King really know?

That the fuel that burned that will was only himself.

Hostile, and full of resentment.

Kang Jin-ho, who had silently endured that emotional gaze that didn’t match the name of the Black King known to the public, slowly opened his mouth.

“Cheongma.”

It seemed difficult.

The person in front of him was no longer Cheongma. The name that suited him was clearly the Black King. Literally, a black king. Unlike his past self, who still held onto his blue, the current Cheongma had become a dark, black existence.

But…

Even so, Kang Jin-ho couldn’t bring himself to call him the Black King.

So, he had to confirm it.

If this person was Cheongma and not the Black King,

He had to ask this one question.

“I’ll ask you one thing.”

The Black King stared at Kang Jin-ho without a word.

“Depending on your answer, my answer might change.”

The Black King’s eyes narrowed slightly.

He had also noticed. That perhaps these words were the only ones that held even a little bit of positivity among all the answers Kang Jin-ho had given him since they had met.

A twisted hope.

A futile expectation that the paths that had diverged so much that they could never cross again might, for a brief moment, meet again.

“…What is the question?”

In the end, the Black King asked.

Even though he knew all too clearly that there was no room for negotiation.

“It’s a trivial question.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly looked at the Black King.

Just a calm gaze.

Unlike the Black King’s eyes, which seemed to be burning, Kang Jin-ho’s eyes were too low. As if all this conversation, all this situation, couldn’t shake him.

“As much as you want, Red Demon.”

The Black King curled up the corners of his lips.

“You ask, and I answer. That was our relationship.”

“Yes, it was.”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head as if he was bitter, then raised his head.

He had to ask.

It might be a question that had nothing to do with anything.

Even if knowing wouldn’t change a single thing.

His heart was screaming that he had to ask this question.

“I’ll ask…”

Kang Jin-ho’s lips slowly opened as he paused for a moment, looking at the Black King.

“Since you were reborn into this world…”

The Black King’s eyes looked at Kang Jin-ho’s lips.

As if he wouldn’t miss a single word.

But…

The words that finally came out of Kang Jin-ho’s mouth were a question that completely deviated from all of the Black King’s expectations.

It wasn’t a difficult question to answer. A question that didn’t even need to be considered.

As Kang Jin-ho said, a question that was too trivial and too obvious.

“Even for a single moment…”

It was a sorrowful voice.

“Have you ever felt happy?”

The Black King’s lips closed.

Silence.

A deep silence.

A silence that seemed to have stopped the world descended between the two of them.

In that deep silence, the two looked at each other.

As if they were the only two left in this world.