Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 223

Kang Jin-ho was staring out the window with a slightly dazed look.

There weren’t many customers, so he came home early today. As soon as evening arrived, his father sent him home.

He had tried saying that he had nothing to do even after work, but he had to accept the fact that there was nothing for him to do here either.

‘He’s dead.’

It was half expected, but he still felt a little disappointed.

‘He shouldn’t have died so easily…’

He felt a sense of frustration.

What he felt after seeing so many murderers was that when a person committed a crime beyond imagination, there was almost no way to adequately punish that crime.

If someone like Adolf Hitler had survived without committing suicide, how should he be punished?

At best, the modern judicial system would give him the death penalty.

Could one death compensate for so many deaths?

Kang Jin-ho didn’t think so.

So, he inflicted pain.

He inflicted physical pain and took away light and sound. And since he told him that he would come back again, the outsider would have trembled in fear in a world full of darkness until the moment he died.

One minute must have felt like a year.

Kang Jin-ho shook his head to clear his mind of thoughts about the outsider. Whether that punishment was appropriate or not, it was already in the past.

The old Kang Jin-ho wouldn’t have dwelled on things that had already passed. But why did this particular incident keep coming back to him?

Was he getting weaker?

Was he bothered by having toyed with a murderer?

Or was it….

He kept feeling like something was missing.

‘I’m tired.’

Kang Jin-ho quietly closed his eyes.

He felt a wave of fatigue. Since it was unlikely that Kang Jin-ho would feel physical fatigue, it must have been mental exhaustion.

It was something he couldn’t understand.

There had been many incidents recently, but compared to the life-or-death battles he had experienced in the Central Plains [a region in China often depicted in martial arts stories], they were nothing. But why was he feeling this fatigue?

Then, his phone rang with a ‘buzz’.

“Hello?”

[Jin-ho, it’s me.]

“Yeah, what’s up?”

[Are you busy?]

Kang Jin-ho sat in the cafe, waiting for Park Yu-min. Not long after, Park Yu-min opened the cafe door, came inside, and waved at him.

“It feels like it’s been a really long time?”

“We saw each other last time.”

“Still, it feels strangely like it’s been a long time.”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled and nodded.

“Why did you want to meet?”

“Hmm.”

Park Yu-min leaned back on the sofa and looked at Kang Jin-ho with a dissatisfied expression.

“…Why?”

“I know you’re a busy man, but still, it’s a bit sad that I need a reason to see you… It makes me feel like this is a sad reality.”

“Um…”

Kang Jin-ho scratched his head awkwardly.

Park Yu-min was right. They used to be the kind of friends who could just call each other to hang out when they were bored, but since he had been discharged from the military, it was true that he hadn’t felt that same level of closeness.

‘I need to reflect on this.’

Human relationships don’t mature if left alone; they rot and decay.

Unless they are family, or even if they are family, people become awkward if they don’t meet and talk regularly.

“Why the long face? I was just joking.”

“Um.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

Although it didn’t sound like a joke.

Park Yu-min took the drink he had ordered and sipped it.

“Are you busy these days?”

“I’m busy doing nothing.”

“You must be busy. Aren’t you in the middle of preparing to open a new store?”

He felt a pang of guilt.

What would he say if he told him that he hadn’t paid any attention to that at all, had left everything to Cho Gyu-min, and had been killing time working part-time at the cafe?

“I was just wondering if anything was going on these days. It’s a bit awkward to talk about it over the phone, and I thought it would be good to see your face if you had time, so I called.”

“Yeah, good call.”

“The kids seem to miss you too.”

Kang Jin-ho sighed softly, avoiding Park Yu-min’s gaze.

‘I can’t handle anything.’

It felt like just yesterday that he was so passionate about the orphanage and even tried to establish a foundation, but now he hadn’t paid any attention to the orphanage because of a few things that had come up.

Thinking about how much the children of Seongsim [likely the name of the orphanage] were waiting for him made him feel like he had committed a great sin.

‘It’s not easy.’

He thought he had adapted a lot by now, but maintaining relationships and living among people was still not easy for Kang Jin-ho.

He was stumbling around, unable to handle even the things happening around him, so he wondered if he could ever become the kind of person who could reach out to others, as the head nun had said.

Kang Jin-ho quietly closed his eyes.

‘What have I been doing?’

Going to China, working part-time, helping his father with his work, preparing to start a business.

He was doing a lot of things, but none of them were hitting the core. The most important thing he should be focusing on now was not those things, but becoming someone who could reach out to others.

‘Did I forget?’

He hadn’t forgotten.

He had just postponed it.

Something that shouldn’t be postponed.

Kang Jin-ho let out a hollow laugh and looked at Park Yu-min.

“Why?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

What would have happened if he hadn’t met Park Yu-min?

If he hadn’t met Park Yu-min, hadn’t known Seongsim, hadn’t known the head nun… what kind of life would he be living now?

There was no guarantee that what Cha In-cheol had feared wouldn’t have happened.

The monster was still living in Kang Jin-ho’s heart, and that monster was still screaming to come out.

Park Yu-min was clueless about Kang Jin-ho’s reaction.

He would never have guessed that his one word had dulled Kang Jin-ho’s nerves, which had been as sharp as a knife.

“Shall we go?”

“Huh?”

“I mean Seongsim. You said the kids miss you?”

“Hey, it’s not like I’m begging for praise. If you go to Seongsim now, it’ll look like I dragged you out when you were having fun. No, no. Next time, let’s go next time.”

“You said the kids miss me?”

“Can you see them just because they miss you? It’s okay.”

“Is that so?”

Kang Jin-ho lowered his restless butt with a slightly dissatisfied look.

Because of his personality, once he felt like he had to do something, he had to do it right away, and he couldn’t just wait quietly. But Park Yu-min’s words made sense, so he had no choice but to endure it for now.

“You haven’t even stopped by the school once, have you?”

“Um…”

Park Yu-min smiled as Kang Jin-ho awkwardly turned his face away.

“The great Kang Jin-ho is making that kind of face. It seems like adapting to society isn’t easy?”

“What about you?”

“Me?”

“Yeah. What are you doing?”

“I’m preparing to go pro.”

“Is it not going as well as you thought?”

He had heard him say that he was preparing last time, but it didn’t seem like he had made much progress.

“Well, I can’t just start without a plan.”

“Why? You started out as a pro gamer without a plan the first time.”

“It’s a bit different from that… um.”

Park Yu-min opened his mouth, looking a little embarrassed.

“When I first became a pro gamer, no one had any expectations for me. Except for you, no one thought I would succeed in the world of pro gaming. So, I just had to meet your expectations. And even if I failed, you wouldn’t have blamed me.”

“That’s right.”

“But now the situation is a bit different. I’ve gained quite a few fans while living as a pro gamer. But when I said I was switching to a different game, the opinions were divided. There were expectations that I would do as well as I did in the old Galaxy, and there were also voices wishing for me to fail miserably for betraying them.”

Kang Jin-ho slowly nodded.

He felt like he could understand.

“I don’t mind starting from the bottom, but since there are people who believe in me, I want to do well from the start. That’s why I’m practicing more. I want to hear people say, ‘Park Yu-min is still Park Yu-min, no matter what he does.'”

“…Isn’t it just that you want to do well in both?”

“You’re sharp?”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled softly.

‘He’s steadfast.’

Unlike Kang Jin-ho, who was being swayed this way and that, Park Yu-min knew exactly what he had to do and was moving forward accordingly. Whether the result was good or not, it was undeniable that his attitude toward life was much more mature than Kang Jin-ho’s.

After seeing that in a kid who hadn’t even lived half his life, he felt an unknown sense of shame.

‘I need to pull myself together.’

Kang Jin-ho took a sip of his coffee.

“What about food?”

“I’m okay. You must have already had dinner, right?”

“Um…”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

“I’m okay with food, let’s go play some games.”

“Games?”

“Yeah. You’ve been living a very busy life these days. But are you relieving your stress?”

“…Stress?”

“No matter how much of an iron man you are, people have a hard time if they don’t relieve their stress.”

Was that it?

Kang Jin-ho narrowed his brow.

But he hadn’t had any problems before, so why was he feeling tired now?

“Not today, but stop by the orphanage sometime. I’m not saying you should come to work, but it might be a comfortable place for you too.”

“…A comfortable place?”

“The kids there don’t want anything from you, they just like you. That can be comforting to people sometimes. It’s not a perfect comparison, but it’s like having a puppy?”

Park Yu-min chuckled.

Kang Jin-ho stopped walking and quietly raised his head.

‘Was that it?’

After the head nun passed away, he had consciously avoided going to the orphanage.

It was heavy and burdensome.

What she had left for Kang Jin-ho was so heavy, and he wasn’t sure if he could achieve it.

Perhaps Kang Jin-ho had been comforted by those little ones all along.

Apart from friend or foe, from those who could just look at him.

Something different from family, something else.

“Park Yu-min.”

“…Yeah?”

“Before the head nun passed away.”

Park Yu-min slowly nodded.

“She told me to become someone who could hold the hand of the weak.”

“Yeah.”

Kang Jin-ho stopped talking and quietly spent some time.

But Park Yu-min didn’t rush him.

“Can I become that?”

Park Yu-min nodded without hesitation.

“You can.”

“Think before you speak.”

“There’s no need to waste time on something that doesn’t need thinking. Because…”

Park Yu-min grabbed his shoulders as if he was cringing and shuddered.

“I’ve already seen you reach out your hand. You did it then, so there’s no reason why you can’t do it now.”

“I reached out my hand?”

“Yeah.”

“When?”

Park Yu-min chuckled. Then, he raised one hand and pointed at himself with an exaggerated gesture.

“Me.”

Park Yu-min’s smirk was so blatant that Kang Jin-ho couldn’t help but laugh.

“So, don’t worry about useless things and get ready to get your butt kicked in the game today.”

“…You’ve grown a lot, Park Yu-min.”

“Shall we play a round of Galaxy after a long time? The loser pays for the game?”

“Did you make a lot of money?”

“Let’s go.”

Watching Park Yu-min walk ahead, Kang Jin-ho quietly smiled.

‘I feel a little more at ease.’

When he looked up at the sky, it was as if the head nun was smiling at him.

‘I’ll try a little harder.’

Let’s walk without wavering.

Then, someday, he will be able to reach it.

To a place where he can stop doubting himself.