Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 244

He couldn’t understand what he was rambling about.

It wasn’t strange.

He didn’t even know what the other person wanted to hear. Kang Jin-ho hadn’t added anything beyond telling him to speak.

It wasn’t that he didn’t have the courage to ask what exactly he wanted. He just didn’t have the mental capacity to think that far.

Lee Jae-seok spoke and spoke, telling everything he knew.

About the Yeongnam Association, about himself, about his relationship with the Yeongnam Association, how he came to target Kang Jin-ho, and even trivial things that had nothing to do with this incident. He babbled on and on.

Desperately.

Even more desperately.

When he first started talking, he hoped that among the things he was revealing, there would be information that Kang Jin-ho wanted. But as he spoke, his thoughts gradually changed.

‘Not yet.’

His hope that Kang Jin-ho would find something in his words turned into a desperate wish that he hadn’t gotten what he wanted yet. He could sense what his fate would be after Kang Jin-ho got what he wanted.

He would surely end up like his colleagues, whose bodies couldn’t even be found.

‘Ah, no.’

It was urgent and desperate.

But he couldn’t stop talking.

He was well aware that talking was shortening his lifespan, but it was impossible to ignore the sunken eyes staring at him and hide information or not speak.

It felt like he was strangling himself with his own hands.

Lee Jae-seok thought that his current state was the most bizarre suicide in the world. If it could even be called suicide.

“Stop.”

“Kkeuek…”

The words he never wanted to hear flowed from Kang Jin-ho’s mouth.

“That’s enough.”

The corner of his mouth curled up slightly.

‘What did I say?’

He couldn’t tell what information Kang Jin-ho had gotten from his words. From about halfway through, it felt like his mouth was moving on its own, spewing out information rather than thinking and speaking.

He couldn’t even remember what he had said last.

But such things weren’t important.

What was important was that Kang Jin-ho had gotten what he wanted from him, and now he was no longer useful.

Just like his colleagues who had died before him.

“Ah, there’s still more! There’s still more!”

Lee Jae-seok shouted desperately. He had to prove his usefulness to Kang Jin-ho somehow. Otherwise, he knew all too well what would happen to him.

But Kang Jin-ho seemed to have no intention of listening to him anymore.

“What are you so afraid of?”

Kang Jin-ho smiled in the darkness.

Seeing Kang Jin-ho’s teeth shining like a clear white light in the cold darkness, Lee Jae-seok trembled like a wind-battered aspen.

“Humans are such strange beings.”

Kang Jin-ho gently tapped Lee Jae-seok’s cheek.

“You’ve killed so many people too. Then shouldn’t you think that you could end up the same way? It seems like humans always live with the illusion that only they will be okay. So, how does it feel to have that illusion shattered?”

He couldn’t understand.

He was listening, but it felt like the words weren’t entering his brain.

But the next words Kang Jin-ho spoke were perfectly etched into Lee Jae-seok’s mind.

“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you.”

Lee Jae-seok’s eyes shook violently.

“But don’t be happy either.” A smile formed on Kang Jin-ho’s lips.

The smile was so eerie that Lee Jae-seok wanted to close his eyes.

“Humans all have a line. If they don’t cross that line, they live as humans, but if they do, they become beasts… that kind of line. Like when an ordinary person stabs a robber with a knife without realizing it when they break into their house.

The line that defines human morality and norms.”

Kang Jin-ho whispered in Lee Jae-seok’s ear.

“You guys crossed that line.”

Lee Jae-seok couldn’t say anything.

What could he say in this situation?

“There are lines in this world that you shouldn’t cross. You guys crossed it. You’ll find out what the price is from now on.”

His voice was very calm.

But as he went on, the waveform of his calm voice seemed to waver. The sound was clearly distorted as if it were visible. Towards the end, it became a sinister, rough, and grating sound, like a demon groaning in the abyss, tearing at Lee Jae-seok’s soul.

“Go and tell them, that I’ll be coming soon. Tell them I’ll show them firsthand what the price is for messing with me. You’ll regret surviving this day. Because you’ll see me again. And next time, it won’t end like this.”

Beast.

What was growling in his ear was a wounded beast. A beast that had lost its reason, thinking only of tearing apart and biting the one who had hurt it.

“Watch closely how the place you call the Yeongnam Association collapses. And then, you’ll see me again. I promise. Then, you’ll know what the most terrible death in the world is. So look forward to it.”

Kang Jin-ho tapped Lee Jae-seok’s cheek.

Then, he smiled and got up.

“You’ll see me again. Don’t forget it.” Kang Jin-ho turned and slowly walked out of the factory.

Lee Jae-seok, who had been staring at his back, reached out his hand blankly towards Kang Jin-ho’s back. His hand, which had been flailing like a child, lost its strength and fell to the floor with a thud.

“You’ll see me again.”

Those words echoed repeatedly in Lee Jae-seok’s head.

“Ugh…”

Lee Jae-seok’s face was completely stained with fear and despair. Lee Jae-seok, who covered his face with both hands, a face that no human could possibly make, trembled and trembled, letting out a beast-like cry.

Thud!

Kang Jin-ho tore off the distorted factory door and went outside, lighting a cigarette.

Click.

The end of the cigarette flared up, revealing Kang Jin-ho’s face in the darkness.

“Hoo…”

Kang Jin-ho took a deep drag of his cigarette and exhaled, then looked up at the sky.

‘It’s a strange feeling.’

At first, he had almost lost his reason.

His anger was at its peak, and he felt like he wanted to destroy everything in the world. But as time passed, his heart calmed down, and his head began to cool down.

They say that when anger reaches its peak, the mind becomes as clear as a mirror. It seemed that was true. Or maybe it was because the worst-case scenario hadn’t turned out as bad as he had feared, and he was relieved.

Kang Jin-ho couldn’t tell exactly which one it was.

The only thing that was certain was this.

The Yeongnam Association had touched something they shouldn’t have, and now they had to pay the price.

“Come out.”

At Kang Jin-ho’s low voice, a person emerged from behind a tree in the corner.

“…I, I wasn’t exactly trying to hide.”

“Come here.”

At Kang Jin-ho’s words, Lee Hyun-joo, who had revealed herself, approached quickly. Kang Jin-ho looked at Lee Hyun-joo’s pale face and opened his mouth.

“How did you know to come here?”

“That’s…”

“Did you follow me?”

“No! No, I didn’t!”

Lee Hyun-joo frantically waved her hands.

“It’s not like that. Chief Jo! Chief Jo called me.”

“…Jo Gyu-min?”

“Yes! Chief Jo Gyu-min told me to come here.”

As Kang Jin-ho stared at her, Lee Hyun-joo began to ramble without being asked.

“He told me to come here! He said there was something we needed to take care of here, he told me to come here! It’s true.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly met Lee Hyun-joo’s gaze and nodded his head slightly.

He did need someone to handle things.

If someone were to discover what the inside of the factory looked like when the sun rose, that would be a big problem. It was better for these people to handle this kind of thing than Jae-kyung.

‘But…’

Kang Jin-ho’s face hardened slightly.

That meant that the events that had taken place here had to be shared with the General Assembly to which Lee Hyun-joo belonged. For Kang Jin-ho, who had never even considered joining forces with them, it was an uncomfortable situation.

‘Is he trying to use me?’

But Jo Gyu-min couldn’t have not thought of that either. Yet, the fact that he had sent Lee Hyun-joo here meant that he had decided that joining forces with them to handle this situation was the best option.

As Kang Jin-ho stared at her without saying anything, Lee Hyun-joo unknowingly clenched her thighs tightly.

He was scary.

The more she looked at him, the more monstrous he seemed.

Now, the memory of her first clash with Kang Jin-ho had become a trivial matter. She was even grateful that she had survived after going up against someone who had turned a gangster into a bug-like corpse and turned the notorious Yeongnam Association’s cleanup crew into a puddle of blood.

But she didn’t want to be in this kind of confrontation. She was worried that she might die of a heart attack if she kept facing him like this.

“We, we can handle it well.”

“Handle it?”

“Yes. This kind of thing is our specialty. We can clean it up neatly before civilians realize what’s going on. We also have connections in the upper echelons of the police, so we can prevent the word from spreading.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded quietly.

If they were going to do it without asking for anything in return, there was no need to refuse. It wasn’t like he was joining forces with them anyway.

“I’ll leave it to you.”

“Yes! Don’t worry!”

Lee Hyun-joo answered loudly without realizing it and then covered her mouth in surprise.

Kang Jin-ho watched Lee Hyun-joo’s reaction quietly and then opened his mouth.

“Is it certain that they belong to the Yeongnam Association?”

“Huh? Ah, I haven’t had a chance to check properly…”

“There’s someone inside the building.”

“I, is he alive?”

“What do you think?”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled softly.

Lee Hyun-joo felt goosebumps all over her body and shivered.

‘I’m crazy.’

She cursed the fact that she had felt a moment of liking for this person.

Kang Jin-ho was a completely insane human being in a different sense from the crazy people she had seen so far.

“He’s alive, for now.”

“…For now?”

“Yes. So check it out. And if that guy belongs to the Yeongnam Association, bring me all the information you have about the Yeongnam Association.”

Lee Hyun-joo didn’t bother asking about the price for that.

It was too obvious.

If she could bring down the Yeongnam Association just by bringing information about them, there was no better price than that.

“…What about that person?” Kang Jin-ho said casually.

“Let him go.”

“Let him go?”

“Yes. We’ll see each other again anyway.”

Kang Jin-ho left those words behind and turned to walk slowly towards the national highway.

As Lee Hyun-joo watched Kang Jin-ho’s back, she couldn’t help but fall into extreme confusion.

‘Is this really the right thing to do?’

An opportunity to join forces with Kang Jin-ho had been created, but Lee Hyun-joo couldn’t help but hesitate.

Perhaps… she was now taking the hand that the devil had extended.

That fact made Lee Hyun-joo’s heart feel uneasy.