Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 250

“Oppa-ah-ah-ah!”

Kang Eun-young sprang from the sofa and rushed towards Kang Jin-ho.

Kang Jin-ho frowned as he caught Kang Eun-young, who had jumped to hug him.

“Can’t you greet me normally?”

“Hehe.”

Kang Eun-young patted Kang Jin-ho’s back and then opened her mouth.

“Did you have a good date?”

“How far did you go? A kiss?”

“You wanna get hit?”

“Aww, you didn’t do anything.”

Kang Eun-young turned away with a disappointed look and said to Baek Hyun-jung.

“Mom, I think your son is hopeless.”

“You need to find your own answer first.”

“…I’m a lost cause, Mom. I’ll just live with you forever.”

“Who said they’d live with you?”

At Baek Hyun-jung’s cold reply, Kang Eun-young slumped into a corner of the sofa, looking shocked. However, Baek Hyun-jung didn’t pay her any mind and asked Kang Jin-ho.

“Did you eat?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Go wash up quickly.”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-ho took a quick shower and came back to the living room.

“Was it fun?”

Kang Eun-young pounced on him with eyes blazing.

“Do you even know where I went?”

“You went on a date with Choi Yeon-ha, didn’t you?”

Kang Jin-ho frowned.

“How do you know that?”

“How do I know? Of course, I should know.”

“Do you keep in touch with Choi Yeon-ha?”

“Didn’t you know? We’re besties [best friends].”

“Ugh.”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head. The thought that every little thing he did would reach Kang Eun-young’s ears made him feel even more burdened.

“Choi Yeon-ha?”

Baek Hyun-jung’s eyes widened.

“Are you talking about that actress, Choi Yeon-ha?”

“Yeah, Mom. My brother went on a date with Choi Yeon-ha today.”

“How did you meet Choi Yeon-ha? She’s a celebrity.”

Kang Eun-young looked at Baek Hyun-jung with a blank expression.

“Mom, I’m a celebrity too…”

“You’re just a celebrity, but Choi Yeon-ha is a famous celebrity.”

“…Mom, I’m famous too.”

“Whatever.”

Baek Hyun-jung cut her off, and Kang Eun-young turned to Kang Jin-ho with a dazed look.

“Oppa, your sister is being treated like this, aren’t you going to defend me?”

“Huh?”

“…Never mind.”

Kang Eun-young hugged her knees.

‘Does my family not watch TV?’

She had once chuckled at an article about a handsome male actor who was treated like a servant at home, and she was exactly like that.

Her mother was one thing, but this guy had seen with his own eyes the crowd he had gathered in front of the store, yet he was still so indifferent. What was that about?

“So, you went on a date with Choi Yeon-ha?”

“…It’s a bit much to call it a date.”

“What did you do?”

“We ate, had tea, and went for a drive.”

“That’s a date.”

“It’s definitely a date.”

Kang Jin-ho clamped his mouth shut at the double attack. He knew that if he tried to counterattack clumsily, he would get hit even harder.

“Oh my god, Choi Yeon-ha? Are you talking about the Choi Yeon-ha from that drama?”

“Yeah, Mom. It’s that Choi Yeon-ha.”

“My son went on a date with Choi Yeon-ha.”

Her mother’s eyes glazed over.

Kang Jin-ho coughed uncomfortably under that burdensome gaze.

“No, that’s not right.”

But his mother snapped back to reality.

“Why would my son be inferior to Choi Yeon-ha? He has a good education, lots of money, a handsome face, and a good personality!”

“That’s right, Mom!”

“Son, your mother doesn’t really like the idea of a celebrity daughter-in-law. They seem like they’d have a strong personality.”

“That’s right, Mom!”

Watching her delusions reach their peak in real-time, Kang Jin-ho sighed quietly.

“That’s not going to happen.”

“You never know.”

Baek Hyun-jung said firmly.

“How many people meet someone thinking they’ll marry them from the start? You get attached as you meet, and then feelings develop.”

“…It sounds like you want it to happen?”

“Hehehe.”

Baek Hyun-jung covered her mouth and laughed.

“It might be a bit annoying, but it would be cool to say, ‘I’m Choi Yeon-ha’s mother-in-law.'”

“…Ah, okay.”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head and got up from his seat.

“Are you sleeping?”

“Yes.”

At that moment, Kang Eun-young reached out and grabbed Kang Jin-ho’s hand tightly.

“Oppa!”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not ready to be an aunt yet. You need to be careful about that.”

“You, come out here for a second. I need to talk to you.”

“I don’t want to.”

Kang Eun-young giggled and stuck close to Baek Hyun-jung. Baek Hyun-jung nodded with a stern face.

“Yes. That should be planned.”

“…I’m going in.”

Kang Jin-ho went into his room looking like he had aged ten years, and Baek Hyun-jung and Kang Eun-young looked at each other and laughed.

“Do you think it’ll work out? What do you think?”

“There’s not much of a chance, right? When has Oppa ever been interested in women?”

“So, he’s not interested, but Choi Yeon-ha is asking him to meet?”

“That seems to be the case. He was adamant that he wasn’t interested last time, but you never know with people.”

Baek Hyun-jung tilted her head as if she couldn’t understand.

“But what does Choi Yeon-ha see in Jin-ho that she likes?”

“What does she see?”

Kang Eun-young grinned.

“He’s handsome.”

“…That’s true, but…”

“I don’t know either. I guess those kinds of people have weird taste in men.”

“That’s strange.”

Baek Hyun-jung turned her head and looked at the door Kang Jin-ho had entered.

Joo Young-gi was seething as he looked at the deserted hall.

“You need to have at least a few flies buzzing around to try and bring in some frogs. At this rate, it’s like a swarm of flies has swept through. The frogs will die from being hit by the flies.”

Park Yoo-min also sighed as she looked at the empty hall.

“It seemed like business was doing pretty well at the beginning.”

“I thought we didn’t get the opening boost, but it turns out we did.”

“I know, right?”

Joo Young-gi turned to look at Kang Jin-ho.

“Boss.”

“Hmm…”

“We need a plan. There’s no hope like this.”

“Umm…”

Kang Jin-ho scratched his head.

Thanks to Kang Jin-ho’s pizza, they weren’t completely out of customers, but they couldn’t just rely on regulars in the middle of a busy street.

“Should we do some tastings?”

“Tastings?”

Joo Young-gi showed interest in Park Yoo-min’s suggestion.

“Still, everyone who’s tried Jin-ho’s pizza says it’s delicious.”

“That’s true.”

“Then, wouldn’t it be better if we did a tasting event? People who have tried it might come back.”

“Boss, what do you think?”

Kang Jin-ho quietly shook his head.

“I think there’s a more fundamental problem.”

“A fundamental problem?”

“Hmm…”

Kang Jin-ho nodded and continued.

“The fact that so many people came but so few are returning means there’s something wrong.”

“That’s true. So, what’s the problem?”

“I don’t know.”

“…”

“I know there’s a problem, but I don’t know what it is. I need to figure it out now.”

Joo Young-gi smiled contentedly.

“How can you all be so useless, you wonderful bastards?”

It was an undeniable truth.

‘But what was that about the place being packed with customers starting today?’

Choi Yeon-ha had spoken so meaningfully that the thought naturally came to mind. Kang Jin-ho didn’t completely believe Choi Yeon-ha, but he was also bothered by the fact that the woman he knew wasn’t one to talk nonsense.

“Boss.”

“…Can’t you just call me by my name?”

“I thought maybe we don’t have customers because there’s no hierarchy.”

“Please, calm down.”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head and looked at the clock.

‘Is it 9:30?’

They had to close the store in about an hour. Kang Jin-ho sighed quietly as he thought about today’s sales.

‘It’s not easy to make money from other people.’

Everyone who starts a business dreams that their business will do well. They come up with their own strategies and differentiators, and they are confident that even in the worst case, they will be able to make ends meet.

However, Kang Jin-ho was keenly aware of the consequences of a poorly planned business venture.

South Korea has an extremely high rate of self-employment.

He had jumped into a market where everyone was fiercely competing to make a living without a proper vision, so perhaps the result was predictable from the start.

‘I need to be more organized in whatever I do.’

Thinking about it, he realized that he hadn’t calmly considered things much, even when he was in the Demonic Cult [a fictional martial arts sect].

Usually, Kang Jin-ho lived without paying attention to anything, and when something happened, he would impulsively solve it. The fact that he didn’t ruin the Demonic Cult as its leader was thanks to his overwhelming power and Cheongma’s devoted sacrifice. It was a realization that struck him anew.

‘If there’s a place called the afterlife, I should apologize to Cheongma.’

He had betrayed and killed Cheongma with his own hands, but the more he lived in the modern world, the more he understood how much Cheongma had suffered in the past. Modern Kang Jin-ho had a friend who could correct him from an equal position, but the past Demonic Heavenly Demon Lord had no such person.

How stressful must it have been for Cheongma, who couldn’t stop him and was ignored even when he spoke his mind?

‘I thought I treated him well, but looking back, I was the epitome of an incompetent and stubborn boss.’

Kang Jin-ho sighed deeply, realizing that he would have deserved to be fragged [killed] in a war zone. The excuse that everyone was like that back then didn’t work. He was a modern person who had gone to the past.

“It’s quiet, isn’t it?”

Kang Jin-ho got up from his seat.

Just then, two people were entering from the entrance.

“Welcome!”

Joo Young-gi quickly grabbed a menu and ran over.

“What time do you close?”

“If there are customers, we’ll stay open until morning.”

Joo Young-gi had neatly ignored the set closing time.

While Joo Young-gi was taking the order, Kang Jin-ho put on his hat and got ready. Now, when the order came in, he had to make an amazing pizza.

“…Huh?”

But something strange happened. The woman who was looking at the menu suddenly raised her head, fixed her gaze on Kang Jin-ho, and didn’t move.

“Ma’am?”

“Um…”

The woman pointed at Kang Jin-ho, and her companions, who were looking at her with puzzled eyes, also turned their heads to look at Kang Jin-ho.

“Why?”

“Isn’t that, that person?”

“That person?”

“Yeah, that person! The one who was on there today!”

“Huh?”

Then, the two of them stared blankly at Kang Jin-ho.

‘What is it?’

Kang Jin-ho frowned, not understanding what was happening.

“I think it’s him?”

“Ask him! Ask him!”

The woman, having composed herself, cautiously asked Kang Jin-ho.

“Excuse me, are you perhaps the person who was on the drama?”

“Drama?”

Kang Jin-ho tilted his head, and disappointment appeared on the customers’ faces.

“I guess not.”

“…Is it just someone who looks like him? No, but he looks exactly like him…”

Joo Young-gi, having grasped the situation, casually dropped a hint.

“Hey, you… aren’t you talking about that drama he filmed with Choi Yeon-ha?”

“Was it already broadcast?”

At that moment, the customers’ bodies trembled.

Then, they got up from their seats and slowly approached Kang Jin-ho.

“Excuse me, could you take a picture with us?”

“A picture?”

“We’ll order an expensive pizza. No, we’ll order two! We can take one to go.”

“No, I…”

He was about to say that he didn’t take pictures, but before he could, someone covered his mouth and said softly.

“Of course, we’ll take a picture. How should we take it?”

Park Yoo-min, even you…

While Kang Jin-ho was seething with betrayal, Joo Young-gi happily took the phone and took pictures of the women clinging to Kang Jin-ho on both sides.

‘I can’t live like this, really.’

Kang Jin-ho shook his head and went into the kitchen after taking the pictures.

“So that’s what it meant…”

It seemed that the saying about the place being packed with customers starting today meant this. But unfortunately, those two were the only customers who recognized him today.

It was said that neither actors nor directors could predict the success of a show, and it seemed that the drama hadn’t done as well as expected.

But Kang Jin-ho didn’t know.

He didn’t know what kind of storm the single picture he had just taken would bring back.