Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 2108

It was strange.

Or perhaps, it was only natural.

The more he pondered and the more he reflected, the more he returned to the fundamental question.

Why do people reject each other?

The reason he couldn’t easily answer that question was because Kang Jin-ho himself had divided people into friend and foe, and had never shown mercy to his enemies.

To him, an enemy was someone to be defeated, someone to be killed, never someone to be embraced. Unless they were worthy of submission, he had never tried to understand others.

After returning to the modern world, he had questioned his own life and tried to change himself, but…

‘Have I really changed?’

He couldn’t easily answer that question.

“It’s strange, isn’t it?” Kang Jin-ho chuckled and took a sip of his coffee.

“Actually, I’m the most idle person in the world right now. No one asks me to do anything.”

“Because you’ve done enough.”

“…Maybe so.”

But Kang Jin-ho didn’t think that was all there was to it.

What those who knew him wanted from Kang Jin-ho was for him to solve the problems they couldn’t solve themselves. That was the role of someone in his position.

Lee Hyun-soo, the directors… no, beyond the General Assembly, the Round Table and the Hongwang Group. And all the martial artists who knew him might be expecting that from Kang Jin-ho.

No. The person who was most strongly demanding that Kang Jin-ho solve all of this was none other than Kang Jin-ho himself.

But Kang Jin-ho’s approach was just vague.

“You said earlier,”

“Yes?”

Kang Jin-ho turned his head to look at Choi Yeon-ha’s voice.

“Why do people fight?”

“The answer is so simple it’s embarrassing to say. The reason is too simple. Because they are different.”

Choi Yeon-ha shrugged.

“They clash and fight because they are different. If everyone in the world were the same, there would be no reason to fight or argue.”

“…That’s true.”

“But that’s not a bad thing, is it?” Choi Yeon-ha said, looking at the distant sea.

“A world where everyone thinks the same would be so boring. The same day would just repeat itself.”

“Because different people live… they can meet, laugh, and face each other, right? Of course, they might argue a little in the process. But… that’s not everything.”

Kang Jin-ho closed his eyes.

“You and I, Jin-ho, are sitting here together like this because we are different. If you were the same as me, there would be no need to pay attention to each other.”

“Because we are different…”

“It’s like a jigsaw puzzle.”

“…A puzzle?”

“You know, putting together a puzzle. Think about it. If you had to put together a puzzle, but all the pieces were the same square shape, how fun would that be?”

“Because each piece is a different shape, there’s the fun of putting it together. Of course, if there are too many pieces, it can be hard, and they can get worn out from being handled… but the more that happens, the more joyful and happy you are when you find the perfect piece, right?”

Kang Jin-ho looked at the incoming waves.

“I think now is the time to find those puzzle pieces. When you first spill out the puzzle, it’s vague and difficult. Do you know what you should do then?”

“…I don’t know.”

“You pick up one puzzle piece.”

“If you start like that, and keep going one by one, there will come a time when all the pieces fit together. Then, you feel like all the time and effort you’ve put in is rewarded at once. People can’t forget that feeling, so they do puzzles.”

Kang Jin-ho slowly nodded.

“The problem is,”

“Yes?”

“The Jin-ho I know isn’t someone who wouldn’t know this.”

Choi Yeon-ha narrowed her eyes and looked at Kang Jin-ho.

“Usually, you might worry, but you’re someone who tries things out first, but this time you’re not acting like yourself at all. What are you so afraid of?”

“Failing?”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

“It’s not that I’m afraid of failing.”

“Then?”

“…It’s that the price to pay for that failure might be too high.”

“And that the attempt might not help at all. That I might just be spinning my wheels. And while that’s happening, the situation will get worse.”

Choi Yeon-ha sighed deeply.

“…Goodness.”

“Yes?”

“What on earth happened in China that my man has become like this? You were someone who had nothing but drive.”

“…No. That’s a bit…”

“Hey, Jin-ho.”

“Yes?”

“How many times do you think the waves have crashed while we’ve been sitting here?”

“…I don’t know?”

Who would be counting something like that?

Even as they were talking, the waves kept coming in and receding.

“Countless times, right?”

“Right?”

“Do you see that? That pier over there?”

“Yes?”

Kang Jin-ho slightly turned his head at the sudden question and looked at where Choi Yeon-ha was pointing.

“I can see it, since I have eyes.”

“Here, you know. Originally, the beach stretched all the way to the front of that pier.”

“..Huh?”

Kang Jin-ho blinked. If what Choi Yeon-ha said was true, then the beach had been eroded by tens of meters.

“Then why?”

“The waves eroded it. I don’t know if it’s because the water flow changed or the terrain changed, but anyway, it happened slowly over decades.”

“Then how many times do you think the waves have crashed during that time?”

Kang Jin-ho closed his mouth.

Then Choi Yeon-ha smiled.

“So… are you afraid of going back after being pushed back once?”

“The Kang Jin-ho I know isn’t someone who is so afraid?”

Kang Jin-ho let out a hollow laugh.

Only then did Choi Yeon-ha slightly change her tone.

“You might not be able to do anything.”

“You might just waste your energy and, as you said, only suffer damage. The situation might get worse.”

Choi Yeon-ha looked at Kang Jin-ho with calm eyes.

“So, are you just going to stand by and watch? Slowly die? Slowly get worse?”

“No.”

“Jin-ho.”

Choi Yeon-ha smiled.

“It was really hard when I first tried to seduce you, you know?”

“…Ah, no, why are you suddenly talking about that?”

“It’s true. I’ve never seen anyone like you in my life. You didn’t seem like a pushover, but you didn’t show any interest in people, we couldn’t communicate, and you were clearly annoyed.”

“But we’re together now, after all.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly looked at Choi Yeon-ha.

“That’s how it will be. Someday. Everyone.”

A smile appeared on Kang Jin-ho’s lips.

“Why are you smiling?”

“No.”

Kang Jin-ho said with a fresh expression.

“I’m just glad you’re here.”

“…You’ve become shameless. Saying things like that to my face.”

Choi Yeon-ha, who had given him a jab, slightly turned her head. Kang Jin-ho stared for a long time at Choi Yeon-ha’s slightly flushed face before turning his gaze to the incoming waves.

‘Because we are different…’

Choi Yeon-ha was right. People fight because they are different. They get angry because they are different, and they fail to understand each other because they are different.

“…Even if I fail, even if I regret it deeply.”

Choi Yeon-ha, hearing Kang Jin-ho’s mumbling voice, inadvertently looked at Kang Jin-ho. Kang Jin-ho’s gaze was fixed on a distant point in the air.

“It’s not the end.”

“It’s worth trying again.”

That wasn’t something he was saying to Choi Yeon-ha. It was something Kang Jin-ho was muttering to himself. Choi Yeon-ha quietly closed her mouth so as not to disturb Kang Jin-ho’s thoughts.

“Then someday…”

Kang Jin-ho said as if muttering to himself.

“There will come a day when we overcome failure and understand each other.”

Having said that, Kang Jin-ho couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.

It wasn’t because the words felt like some absurd, pie-in-the-sky idea.

‘This is my story.’

That was what Kang Jin-ho had been doing all along.

He had constantly revisited the failures he had made. He had tried again, corrected his wrong choices, and worked and worked until he had finally come this far.

So perhaps it wasn’t so different.

His life and the flow of this world.

“…Start with the small things.”

All of those stories pointed to only one thing.

Small things. Something he had failed at once. Something he had deeply regretted. But… something that would eventually make different people understand each other.

That was already something Kang Jin-ho possessed.

“I understand now.”

“…Yes?”

“What I need to do.”

Kang Jin-ho no longer hesitated.

As Choi Yeon-ha had said, perhaps his decision would make the situation worse. If he just covered it up and moved on, he might greatly shake up a world where everyone would soon live as if nothing had happened.

But…

So what if that happened?

Turning a blind eye to something he knew would happen in the future was not Kang Jin-ho’s way.

“I know why it bothered me.”

“Yes?”

“I told Cheongma [a martial arts master] that dividing the world into martial artists and non-martial artists and making martial artists live within that boundary was creating a non-existent paradise and causing martial artists to wither away. That it wasn’t the path for martial artists. That eventually, martial artists would live in their own world and become obsolete.”

“But what I’ve been watching now is not fundamentally different from that. I just didn’t draw a boundary line.”

“Jin-ho?”

“I have to change it.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled brightly.

“I forgot that there’s only one way to break down walls. That we can only understand each other by getting to know each other better.”

Kang Jin-ho slowly got up from his seat.

He was no longer looking at the sea.

“Let’s go.”

“…Already?”

“Yes. I’m okay now.”

“Okay, then.”

Choi Yeon-ha took Kang Jin-ho’s outstretched hand without complaint.

Of course, she wasn’t okay. She had already found a restaurant for dinner and booked a place to stay until the morning.

But…

‘It’s okay anyway.’

Because Kang Jin-ho was smiling again.

If she could see Kang Jin-ho regaining his energy, nothing else mattered.

No matter how the world changed, even if the world she knew no longer existed, as long as she could hold this hand, nothing else mattered.

Choi Yeon-ha, with a soft smile, walked with Kang Jin-ho.

The footprints left by the two of them stretched out long on the beach.

Slightly crooked, but still nice to look at.

“By the way.”

“Yes?”

“…What are you planning to do?”

“You’re not going to cause trouble, are you?”

“Jin-ho?”

“…No, answer me, you old man. You can at least tell me what you’re planning to do… Jin-ho? Jin-ho? Hey! Kang Jin-ho! Where are you going!”

Choi Yeon-ha chased after Kang Jin-ho, who was silently running towards the car.

The sun was slowly setting over the endless sea.