Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 2087

“Achen!”

Even now, if he closed his eyes, he could hear it clearly.

His father’s voice calling him. But… Cheongma knew. What his father left him was never a heavenly punishment or a curse.

“Achen, listen to me carefully. Never even dream of revenge!”

“Forget everything you’ve learned, abandon your family name and your given name, and just live as an ordinary person! There is no place for martial artists in this world anymore.”

“Remember how I died. Do not suffer the same end as I did. Live by tilling the land with those hands. That… that is the right path. Remember that!”

What his father said was not so different from what Kang Jin-ho had said. He wanted Cheongma, Yang Chen, to escape this cursed cycle.

Perhaps in his last moments, what he envisioned was Cheongma living an ordinary life, free from everything.

It was Cheongma who rejected all of that.

No one forced him.

No one ordered him to walk this path.

It was simply Cheongma’s choice.

“Heh heh heh.”

Cheongma’s laughter was tinged with self-mockery.

‘Really, do I have nothing?’

How should he answer that question?

“…I do.”

Cheongma slowly opened his eyes.

“Yes, I do… Cult Leader.”

For Kang Jin-ho, the life in the Central Plains might have been nothing but suffering. But for Cheongma, the Central Plains of the past was a land of opportunity.

A time when everything had not yet begun. When martial artists and ordinary humans had not yet drawn lines between their territories and started to threaten each other.

At that time, it might have been possible to prevent the tragedy that would come later.

Yes.

That time was still vivid in Cheongma’s mind.

At least, the Cheongma of that time had the possibility of turning back. There was a reason to strive. Even if there was no possibility of confirming the result with his own eyes….

“That time is still clearly within me.”

It felt as if he had broken free from the chains that had bound his entire body. It felt as if he had escaped from the prison he had created himself, a prison without a single ray of light.

He felt like he could do anything, achieve anything.

Because there was someone who would walk that path with him.

But….

Everything was already over.

Everything he had to reclaim had already sunk into the past.

No. Even if all of that was not yet over, Cheongma would not cling to the past.

Kang Jin-ho rose to his feet.

The two men, who had struggled to stand, faced each other.

“Cult Leader.”

Cheongma slowly opened his mouth.

With a faint smile, perhaps the first genuine smile since this fight began.

“As you said… maybe I do have something.”

Cheongma looked up at the sky.

“No, even if I don’t have it yet… maybe I can start filling it from now on.”

Kang Jin-ho silently looked at Cheongma.

Because he seemed to understand.

He seemed to know what he was about to say.

“But you know, Cult Leader.”

Cheongma shook his head.

“I don’t want that.”

Kang Jin-ho clenched his fist.

“If I let go… yes, maybe I could be happy.”

“Cheongma…”

Cheongma smiled like a child.

“You’re right. Because it’s empty. It might not be difficult to fill it.

Chatting idly with like-minded people, lounging on the sofa, blankly watching TV that I don’t even care about.”

“…Games aren’t bad either.”

“Well, that would be good too. If it’s a game, I’d be better than you. You’re a tech idiot.”

Cheongma chuckled and shook his head.

“Yeah… living by tilling the land as my father said wouldn’t be bad either. Though it’s unlikely, if I met someone I liked and had children, maybe I could learn things I don’t know now.”

“Yeah. Maybe in the distant future, I could laugh at how foolish I was now. Just a little step back, and this kind of life is waiting, but I didn’t know how to do it, so I went that far.”

Cheongma’s expression looked more relaxed than ever.

Peace settled on his messed-up face. A deep peace that he never seemed to be able to find.

“It’s not difficult, Cult Leader. Really… it’s a difficult yet not difficult thing. It’s just a matter of taking one step back.”

Cheongma quietly looked up at the sky.

The volcano of evil that had plunged the world into fear… was just being hit by the lonely rain.

“But Cult Leader…”

A calm face.

That was why Kang Jin-ho felt sorry for that face.

“I can’t do that.”

“I could run away to find my happiness. But… somewhere, another me will be born.”

Kang Jin-ho closed his eyes.

“Do you see?”

Cheongma’s voice was clear. It was as if he was telling Kang Jin-ho to open his closed eyes and see reality.

“This is the world that surrounds us.”

Standing.

On this vast land, the two of them.

And martial artists surrounded them, and cold gun barrels and muzzles were aimed at those martial artists.

The martial artists centered around them, and the blades of the world surrounding those martial artists.

He knew.

Kang Jin-ho also knew. That there was not much land left for them to stand on.

“The only reason those guns aren’t firing is because I’m here. And because you’re here.”

“If we didn’t exist, this place would already be filled with blood. That’s the world now, Cult Leader. They… will no longer tolerate us.”

Kang Jin-ho bit his lip.

“If you’re here… what will change?”

“I know, the world isn’t something that can be changed so easily. That it’s the right path to join hands with them and slowly change things, as you say. But Cult Leader…”

Cheongma smiled faintly.

“That’s not my role. The only thing I have to do is let them know.”

“…That there is someone who will fight to the end without giving in.”

A soft tone.

A small voice, as if just telling a story. That was why that voice penetrated Kang Jin-ho more than ever.

“That there is someone who will fight to the end without giving in. That there is at least one beast that will not fear the guns aimed at us and will sink its teeth into their necks.”

“Cheongma…”

“Respect comes from fear, Cult Leader. I will become a symbol of fear for them. I need to make them realize that the moment they antagonize us, I can be reborn into the world at any time.”

“It’s something someone has to do. Isn’t it?”

Cheongma said soothingly.

“But if I stop here… someone else other than me will have to do this.”

“Is there any reason why that shouldn’t be the case?”

“Don’t be stubborn, Cult Leader.”

Cheongma shook his head. As if he was troubled.

“You know. If someone other than me has to do this… they will have to suffer more than I would.”

“So…”

Cheongma smiled faintly.

“I know, you’re right. But… Cult Leader. There isn’t only one path in the world. Just because you’re right doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”

Kang Jin-ho silently looked at Cheongma.

“Isn’t that right?”

With those words, Cheongma stopped talking.

As if waiting for something. That was why Kang Jin-ho knew what he had to say.

His lips wouldn’t move.

The moment he uttered these words, it felt like everything would be decided.

Like nothing could ever be turned back.

But….

There are such moments in the world.

Moments that you have to do, even if you don’t want to, even if you don’t wish for it… moments that you have no choice but to do.

“Okay, Cheongma.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled back at Cheongma.

Like when they sat facing each other with drinks in the past.

“You too. Yes, you too…”

With a faint pain as if tearing his lips, Kang Jin-ho’s words flowed out.

“You weren’t wrong either.”

Cheongma smiled faintly at those words.

He somehow understood.

‘Maybe I’ve been waiting until now to hear these words.’

The recognition of others is meaningless.

The only person in the world who can acknowledge him is one person.

“That’s enough, isn’t it, Cult Leader?”

Kang Jin-ho slowly nodded his head.

But….

“We’ve come full circle.”

“But it’s different.”

“Yeah… it’s different.”

It wasn’t because he didn’t understand.

Now Kang Jin-ho understood Cheongma. Perhaps Cheongma also understood Kang Jin-ho. That was why they were just acknowledging it. Knowing that the paths they were walking were not wrong.

But that was all.

Kang Jin-ho would not back down. And Cheongma would not think of backing down either.

“Could things have been different?”

“I don’t know.”

Cheongma shook his head.

“You know, Cult Leader. Because it’s you, and because it’s me, we know.”

“There’s nothing more foolish than clinging to what can’t be undone.”

Those words hurt Kang Jin-ho.

‘Maybe it was the opposite.’

If Cheongma had returned to a time when he could rewrite his life, and Kang Jin-ho had returned to a time when he could not turn back his life… maybe Kang Jin-ho would have been standing in Cheongma’s place now.

That small difference, which was nothing, created the two of them now.

Red Demon and Azure Demon, Kang Jin-ho and Yang Chen.

The two people, like mirrors reflecting each other, looked at each other for the last time.

“Cult Leader.”

“…Speak.”

“I’m saying this now…”

Cheongma smiled brightly.

“Even though I complained about being betrayed, I never once hated you.”

Kang Jin-ho let out a low laugh.

“…Same here, you bastard.”

That was the end.

The two men stared at each other silently.

Because they knew.

That they had no strength left anyway. That everything would end with the last blow.

Perhaps only one person would be left standing.

That was why neither of them could move easily. As if they were hesitating to reach the end of their long, long relationship.

But nothing lasts forever.

Now… yes, now it was time to finish everything.

The sound of rain could be heard.

Only the sound of rain falling on the quiet earth slowly filled the space between the two men.

‘Cheongma.’

At that moment, black demonic energy bloomed in Kang Jin-ho’s fist.

Demonic energy that barely covered one fist, all of his last strength squeezed out, remained in his fist.

Cheongma was the same.

Cheongma, who had pushed all the remaining demonic energy into his outstretched hand, faced Kang Jin-ho with a calm gaze.

The two men took a step as if they had made a promise.

‘Maybe….’

The image of Cheongma standing in front of him for the first time came to Kang Jin-ho’s mind.

‘Maybe it was from that time.’

Eyes meeting.

Toes almost touching.

Towards each other’s hearts.

Towards the place where a person’s heart might be, the two men’s hands reached out.