Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 208

“Could you take one more picture for me, rather than the coffee?”

“……No.”

“Oh, come on.”

Kang Jin-ho sighed.

“Why do you need so many pictures anyway?”

“Fan love?”

“……I’m not a celebrity.”

“And because I need them.”

“Pardon?”

The woman smiled faintly. Then, she reached into her bag and pulled out a business card from her wallet, handing it over.

“I’m actually in this line of work.” Kang Jin-ho took the card and read it silently.

The card read, ‘Illustrator Lee Jae-in.’

“Illustrator?”

“Yes. To be precise, I’m someone who draws anything that makes money. These days, I’m doing web novel covers.”

It was a unique profession in Kang Jin-ho’s eyes.

“But what does that have to do with my picture?”

“Would you like to see?”

Lee Jae-in turned her laptop towards Kang Jin-ho and opened a picture file.

Kang Jin-ho stared at the picture with a dumbfounded expression.

A man was depicted standing in the rain with a melancholic look in his eyes. But no matter how he looked at it, the man’s face was exactly like Kang Jin-ho’s.

“C-Copyright.”

“I’m buying coffee from you! Three cups a day! That’s fifteen thousand won a day! Forty-five thousand won a month! Five million four hundred thousand won a year! Where else would a regular person get paid this much for their likeness!” [Won is the currency of South Korea]

“Father! Cancel that free coffee from earlier!”

“I already made it, you brat!”

Kang Ji-hwan smiled and brought over the coffee, placing it down.

“Come to think of it, that’s a lot of money in a year.”

“Boss! Please make some coupons. One free cup for every ten you buy.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Lee Jae-in said with a faint smile.

“Still, thanks to you, I’ve been making some money lately, so I’m glad I can afford coffee.”

“Thanks to me?”

“Yes. Actually, when doing covers, it’s important how handsome the male character is. Since I mainly do romance covers, I’ve been told that my drawings are good, but the male lead isn’t attractive. But after I started using your face, everyone agrees to do it even if I charge a bit more. Of course, there are downsides too.”

“Downsides?”

Lee Jae-in looked dejected and opened a website to show the comments.

= Wow, the cover is amazing! This golden hand has done it again.

= Look at the quality of the male lead! I might become a fan. I never thought I’d be a fan of a cover.

= But isn’t this person also appearing here?

= The ultimate playboy has arrived. He’s appearing in all three of the most popular romance series recently.

= He’s going to overwork himself.

“They say all the male leads look the same.”

Well, that’s because they were all drawn the same.

After Kang Jin-ho read the comments for a while, Lee Jae-in explained the situation.

“That’s why I need pictures. I want to see your face from different angles. But last time, you refused when I tried to take pictures with my DSLR, so I’m trying to take several with my phone camera.”

“I see.”

Kang Ji-hwan, who had been listening to Lee Jae-in’s story while sitting down, nodded.

“But the reason why they say the male leads look the same isn’t just because the drawings are the same, but because the expressions are all the same, right?”

“That’s… unavoidable.” Lee Jae-in looked dejected and took out her phone, opening the gallery. When she opened the folder labeled ‘Our Model,’ it was filled with pictures of Lee Jae-in and Kang Jin-ho together.

As she clicked and scrolled through the pictures, Kang Ji-hwan’s expression began to harden.

“Huh, is this a composite?”

Lee Jae-in’s clothes and poses changed every time, but Kang Jin-ho maintained the same expression and pose as if he had been pasted into a blank space. Since he was wearing his uniform, it looked like a copy-paste job.

“Then there’s no point in taking pictures…”

“Exactly!”

Lee Jae-in jumped up from her seat and began to criticize Kang Jin-ho.

“The reason why I’m being criticized for drawing people’s faces the same is all because of you, Kang Jin-ho!”

“That’s right! This is too much!”

“No…”

Kang Jin-ho felt very wronged.

“I just took pictures with you because you asked me to…”

“How can a person be so expressionless?”

“Yeah, you! Even though I’m your dad, I get chills every time I look at your face!”

“Apologize!”

“I-I’m sorry.”

As Kang Jin-ho apologized in a daze, Lee Jae-in grinned and said,

“I’m just kidding. Thanks to you, I’m making a good living. I can’t thank you enough.”

“Hey, that’s not true.”

Kang Ji-hwan shook his head firmly.

Lee Jae-in had expected some modest praise like, ‘It’s all because you’re good at drawing,’ but she didn’t know Kang Ji-hwan well enough.

“Honestly, what has he done for his face? It’s all thanks to me for giving birth to him well.”

“……I admit it.”

Kang Ji-hwan smiled as he watched Lee Jae-in bow her head in gratitude. Kang Ji-hwan turned to Kang Jin-ho and began to speak in a slightly firm voice.

“Jin-ho.”

“Yes.”

“This person is a VIP regular at our store!”

“……Yes?”

Kang Ji-hwan’s face was resolute.

“If you keep drawing the same face and they say you can’t draw, your income will decrease!”

“That’s right!”

“Then you won’t have money to buy coffee!”

“That’s right!”

“Then our store’s sales will decrease! I can’t stand to see that!”

“You are absolutely right, boss!”

“So, what I’m saying is… you, try to make some different poses and expressions over there!”

“I’ll take good pictures.”

“……What is this.”

Kang Jin-ho had no choice.

As Kang Jin-ho slumped into a chair with a dazed look, Kang Ji-hwan smiled and filled a glass with ice and a cool carbonated drink, handing it to him.

“Good job.”

“……I see why they get so much money for filming just one commercial.”

Who knew that posing and changing expressions would be so difficult?

Lee Jae-in looked at her DSLR with a satisfied expression, like a cat that had eaten well. She had obtained pictures of Kang Jin-ho with various expressions that no one else in the world possessed.

“T-This is like a treasure among cover artists. I should pay you a model fee…”

“Just drinking coffee is enough.” Father.

I’m the one who’s suffering, but it seems like my father is taking all the credit… Is it just my imagination? Right?

“Thank you so much.”

Lee Jae-in ran over and held Kang Jin-ho’s hand tightly.

“I’ll definitely repay you when I get paid this time!”

“It’s okay.”

“No. A person should know how to repay kindness.”

Kang Jin-ho looked at Lee Jae-in and smiled faintly without realizing it. He could feel the passion she had for her work. And it was so pure.

That’s why he felt energized just by looking at her.

“Oh my, look at the time. I was going to finish up today’s work and go home before sunset, but at this rate, I’ll be going home in the middle of the night.”

Lee Jae-in began to pack her things in a hurry. She seemed a bit clumsy, but it was still nice to watch.

Lee Jae-in, who had stuffed her DSLR and laptop into her bag, looked like a child carrying a large backpack that didn’t fit her body, with her head bowed low.

“Thank you so much. I’ll definitely draw you beautifully.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Then!”

As Lee Jae-in hurried out of the cafe, Kang Ji-hwan smiled gently and said,

“……That’s nice to see.”

“It is.”

“I wouldn’t have any regrets if I had a daughter like that.”

“What about Eun-young?”

“……Well, she’s my daughter, but she doesn’t have that cute charm…”

“I’m going to tell Eun-young.”

“Do you want cake? Should I order chicken? Chicken is always the truth.”

“I’m going to see some friends, so you go home on your own. You didn’t come by car, right? I’d like to give you a ride, but I’m a bit short on time.”

“It’s just around the corner. I’ll walk.”

“There was a murder. Take a taxi!”

“Would a murderer target me?”

Probably not.

Not if they didn’t want to die.

After Kang Jin-ho started working at the cafe, the number of troublesome customers drastically decreased. The female customers acted nicely so as not to displease Kang Jin-ho, and the male customers were forcibly having their anger management issues cured.

“Still, you never know.”

“I’ll be careful.”

“Okay, then. I’m going now.”

His father closed the store door and started the car.

“Don’t drink and drive. If you get caught for drunk driving, I’ll sell your car.”

“……What kind of house has a police officer in it?”

His father joked and waved his hand as he drove away.

Kang Jin-ho watched his father’s car disappear into the distance and then turned around.

‘A murder case, huh…’

He could definitely feel that there were fewer people on the streets.

In the past, when he was in the Central Plains, the death of a person wasn’t a particularly big deal. [Central Plains refers to the historical heartland of China, often used in martial arts novels to denote a place of conflict and power]

Unless there was a series of murders, it wasn’t considered much different from a house being robbed.

That’s how easily people died back then. But in this era, people were not immune to murder.

From Kang Jin-ho’s perspective, it felt a bit unusual, but he also recognized that it wasn’t these people who were wrong, but himself.

Kang Jin-ho had to adapt to them.

Kang Jin-ho, who had entered the walking path between the apartments, looked around.

He thought there was a smoking area before entering the walking path…

At that moment, Kang Jin-ho’s movements stopped.

‘The smell of blood?’

It was very faint. But he could definitely feel it. The smell of blood was coming from inside the walking path.

Kang Jin-ho shoved the cigarette he had taken out back into his pocket and began to run towards the inside.

‘Is it this way?’

The smell of blood didn’t necessarily mean that something had happened. But if the smell of blood was coming from this distance, it meant that there was a lot of bleeding.

Without hesitation, Kang Jin-ho jumped into the bushes by the side of the road.

The smell of blood was coming from inside.

But even when he arrived at the resting area inside the bushes, there were no traces of anything.

Kang Jin-ho, who was looking at the quiet and clean park as if nothing had happened, slowly raised his head.

Then, Kang Jin-ho bit his lip.

His body began to tremble.

Was it because he was scared? Afraid?

No.

The eyes.

The unfocused eyes were looking at him. Blankly, as if they couldn’t focus.

Those eyes were…

Just a little while ago, they were full of life and passion.

Now, those eyes were blank and unfocused, unable to hold anything.

The DSLR hanging around her neck was drooping down powerlessly.

Kang Jin-ho blankly reached out and turned on the DSLR.

The image of a man posing with an awkward expression appeared on the screen on the back of the camera.

It was someone he knew.

He couldn’t help but know.

The man posing was Kang Jin-ho himself.

Kang Jin-ho could tell what this person was doing before she met her end.

She must have been happy.

She must have looked at the camera again and again, thinking that she had to go home quickly and draw new pictures based on these photos. The almost depleted battery was proof of that.

But…

She was hanging upside down on the roof of the park pavilion with a bloodless face.

Her slender hands were so pale.

There was not a single trace of warmth. Lee Jae-in.

Lee Jae-in, who had been happily taking pictures in his cafe just a little while ago, was now a pale, faded corpse hanging here.

“I’ll definitely repay you when I get paid this time!”

Kang Jin-ho’s body, which had been trembling slowly, began to shake like a tree in a storm.

“Uaaaaa…”

Like an enraged beast…

Kang Jin-ho began to tear at his chest and wail.

“Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”