Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 26

Jo Gyu-min felt his strength leaving him. Hwang Jung-hoo’s words were simple, but they carried a great deal of meaning.

The old man before him was Hwang Jung-hoo.

A legend who had built the Re-Kyung Group from the ground up to its current position, he was the Re-Kyung Group itself. The Re-Kyung Group did not just represent accumulated wealth and goods. The Re-Kyung Group was this man, and this man was the Re-Kyung Group.

With Hwang Jung-hoo awake, nothing else mattered.

The moment the shareholders heard that Hwang Jung-hoo had awakened, they would all side with him, and the directors, who were now divided into three factions, would all gather under Hwang Jung-hoo’s banner.

Even if they didn’t, the situation wouldn’t change.

Hwang Jung-hoo had the power to regain control with just his own shares.

With Hwang Jung-hoo awake, everything was over.

Even if Hwang Min-jae knew that Hwang Jung-hoo had awakened, there was nothing he could do. Jo Gyu-min sighed.

If Hwang Jung-hoo already knew everything, there was no way he would forgive the presidents. Even if they were his own children, Hwang Jung-hoo was the type of person who would cut them off without batting an eye.

And he and Kim Seung-hwan, who had been listening to their orders and monitoring Hwang Jung-hoo, were now finished as well.

Jo Gyu-min lowered his head with a blank look on his face.

“You small fry who followed the orders of those incompetent sons…”

Hwang Jung-hoo leaned back on the sofa and continued.

“I don’t think I need to bother with you.”

It was as good as a death sentence. Just as Jo Gyu-min closed his eyes in despair, an unexpected voice reached his ears.

“If it were me in the past, I wouldn’t.”

Jo Gyu-min’s eyes snapped open.

Hwang Jung-hoo’s words left a lingering taste.

Jo Gyu-min’s mind began to race.

Hwang Jung-hoo was giving him an opening. If so, what did he need to do to survive?

“But I need hands right now.” Jo Gyu-min knelt on the spot.

He had found a way to live.

“Chairman!”

Kim Seung-hwan looked at Jo Gyu-min with a bewildered expression.

But Jo Gyu-min didn’t have time to explain to Kim Seung-hwan.

Depending on how he moved now, his life would change.

This was a crisis and an opportunity that had come to his life. A clear fork in the road was now unfolding before his eyes.

“I will be your hands and feet.”

Hwang Jung-hoo’s eyes pressed down heavily on Jo Gyu-min.

A powerless old man.

An old man who, just yesterday, seemed like he could die at any moment.

That old man’s eyes were putting pressure on Jo Gyu-min. Jo Gyu-min didn’t even think about wiping the cold sweat that was dripping from his forehead, and silently endured the pressure.

The era when violence ignored the law. The era when the law knelt before power. Even the era when the law was hostile to corporations. The eyes of the giant who had overcome countless waves of modern history held a weight that ordinary people could not even imagine.

“You?”

Jo Gyu-min swallowed.

Hwang Jung-hoo had just gotten out of bed. The directors, who he had believed would stay by his side until the day he died, had all left Hwang Jung-hoo’s side to find their own way, and although he had received reports from Director Baek Young-gi, he probably hadn’t grasped exactly what was going on.

In order for Hwang Jung-hoo to return to the front lines, he needed someone to be his hands and feet. Not old colleagues who were united by loyalty, but a loyal dog who could bring him information.

Jo Gyu-min took a gamble on that.

If his analysis was correct, he would be able to survive. No, he might not just survive, but he might be able to grab a new and strong lifeline.

If the giant in front of him judged him to be useful!

Then what should he say now?

“I will find out what you want, Chairman.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.”

Hwang Jung-hoo clicked his tongue and chuckled.

“That was too much.”

“……”

Jo Gyu-min’s body stiffened.

“Did you think that someone like you could do what I want?”

Jo Gyu-min couldn’t answer.

It was a situation where he couldn’t say ‘yes’. In his haste, he had said he would find out, but he had no idea how high-level the information Hwang Jung-hoo wanted would be.

‘Was it a mistake?’

His last hope was fading away.

“But I like that you’re quick to judge.”

“Then?”

Jo Gyu-min raised his head. Hwang Jung-hoo put out the cigarette he had in his mouth and got up from his seat.

‘What the hell…’

Hwang Jung-hoo walked to the window. It was a sight that he couldn’t believe even when he saw it.

Was it possible that he had recovered overnight?

If not…

‘Was it an act?’

The most likely possibility was that Hwang Jung-hoo had recovered a while ago and had been watching the situation unfold until now.

…That was nonsense.

Living as a sick person was not as simple as ordinary people thought. For someone who could move to not move and spend the whole day was more painful and agonizing than one might think.

How could he endure and withstand that? But what if that was true?

‘Scary.’

Jo Gyu-min couldn’t even begin to fathom how ruthless the small old man in front of him was.

Of course, it was a misunderstanding. Hwang Jung-hoo had barely opened his eyes this morning.

But from Jo Gyu-min’s perspective, who didn’t know that, he could only think that way.

Hwang Jung-hoo, who had been looking out the window, opened his mouth in a low voice.

“Ashtray.”

“Yes!”

Jo Gyu-min ran to grab the ashtray and took it to Hwang Jung-hoo by the window. Then, he took out another cigarette, carefully handed it to Hwang Jung-hoo, and lit it for him.

The old man in his patient gown slowly inhaled the cigarette and leisurely exhaled the smoke.

“Three days.”

Jo Gyu-min looked at him with questioning eyes at Hwang Jung-hoo’s blunt voice.

But his gaze was not on Jo Gyu-min.

Somewhere far away outside the window.

The place where Hwang Jung-hoo’s gaze was fixed was somewhere that Jo Gyu-min could not see.

“I will put everything back in its place within three days.”

Three days.

It wasn’t a long time.

But if Hwang Jung-hoo set his mind to it, it wasn’t an impossible time. That was what Jo Gyu-min was doing now.

Even he, who had been Hwang Min-jae’s right-hand man until Hwang Jung-hoo collapsed, was simply surrendering in the face of Hwang Jung-hoo’s name.

For those who knew Re-Kyung and had lived in Re-Kyung, the three syllables of Hwang Jung-hoo’s name were that revered.

Hwang Jung-hoo, with movements that were not at all fast, stubbed out the cigarette that had barely been smoked in the ashtray and slowly turned his body. Then, he looked straight at Jo Gyu-min and gave an order.

The first order that Jo Gyu-min had to complete no matter what.

“Call Baek Young-gi.”

A storm was about to begin from this hospital room.

* * *

“Ugh…”

Choi Myung-gil, the chairman of the Dongmyung Foundation, looked at his grandson, Choi Young-soo, with a distorted face.

“Young-soo!”

“Grandfather…”

“Young-soo, why are you doing this! You rascal!”

“H-he’s coming.”

Choi Myung-gil shuddered.

“Who the hell is coming! You rascal!”

Choi Young-soo looked around several times with a terrified face. His appearance was like that of a drug addict in a movie, which made Choi Myung-gil’s heart burn.

Where had his grandson, who was once full of spirit, gone?

“Young-soo! You rascal!”

Choi Myung-gil kept calling out to Choi Young-soo out of frustration.

“……Ho, Kang Jin-ho, that bastard is coming!”

“What the hell are you talking about! Why would that bastard come here!” Choi Myung-gil clutched at his chest. He only had one grandson.

After his son and daughter-in-law divorced, he had cherished his grandson, worried that the young boy might be hurt. Despite that, he had grown up to be a good and diligent grandson.

That grandson was now falling apart. And in such a miserable state.

“Young-soo! Who is coming! Who the hell is coming! This is your house! Who is coming to your house!” Even with Choi Myung-gil’s words, Choi Young-soo did not calm down. He kept looking around with fearful eyes.

“He’s, he’s coming!”

“Young-soo!”

Choi Young-soo glared at Choi Myung-gil with bloodshot eyes.

“You’re not going to believe me anyway!”

“Young-soo, please!”

“Hehe, it’s all useless! You’re not going to believe me anyway! Do you think I don’t know?”

“Haa…”

Choi Myung-gil slumped down in his seat as if his legs had given way.

“Chairman!”

The secretary, who had been watching the situation, rushed over and supported Choi Myung-gil.

Choi Myung-gil looked at Choi Young-soo with a face mixed with anger and pity.

Everything had started to go wrong when Choi Young-soo fought with a guy named Kang Jin-ho a while ago. It was fine when he first admitted him to the hospital and suspended Kang Jin-ho. But after that, Choi Young-soo suddenly started saying strange things.

When he heard that he had been assaulted by Kang Jin-ho while out playing, Choi Myung-gil was furious.

Even when Kang Jin-ho presented a perfect alibi, he hadn’t been able to find out the truth, but he had never doubted that Choi Young-soo was lying.

But the next day, Choi Young-soo came running to Choi Myung-gil, saying that he had been assaulted by Kang Jin-ho in his room.

Just in case, he checked the CCTV, but there were no traces of anyone entering from the outside. He thought that he was hallucinating because he was weak.

But that was the beginning of everything.

After that day, Choi Young-soo started saying strange things every three days.

He started saying strange things like Kang Jin-ho comes at night, and that he was going to die. No matter how much he told him that it couldn’t be true, it was useless.

Choi Young-soo started to lash out, saying that Choi Myung-gil didn’t believe him.

He didn’t want to admit it, but Choi Young-soo was starting to become strange.

Choi Myung-gil eventually took Choi Young-soo to a neuropsychiatrist. But even the psychiatrist couldn’t give a clear answer. They only said that it seemed to be a type of post-traumatic stress disorder, but they couldn’t find an exact cure.

“You’re not going to believe me anyway! Only me! Only me… Only I am suffering like this. Only me…”

Choi Young-soo shouted hysterically and then slowly sobbed.

Choi Myung-gil’s heart felt like it was being torn to shreds as he watched the scene.

“Young-soo…”

“H-Kang Jin-ho… I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I won’t do it again. I…”

Choi Myung-gil’s eyes hardened coldly. His only grandson was begging someone who wasn’t even there in such a humiliating manner.

“Kang Jin-ho!”

He didn’t think that he had done anything particularly wrong. But the fact that he had touched his grandson was an unforgivable sin. However, the punishment for the incident that Choi Young-soo was first involved in was already sufficient. In principle, he wouldn’t have brought up a case that had already been closed. But Choi Myung-gil needed a place to vent his anger.

Choi Myung-gil turned his head and shouted at his secretary.

“Connect me to the principal!”

“Which principal are you talking about?”

“You stupid fool! Dongmyung High School, where else would it be!”

Seeing Choi Myung-gil shouting at the top of his lungs, the secretary quickly lowered his head, feeling like he had been burned. ‘Ouch, that’s hot.’

“Yes, I understand.”

The secretary quickly took out his phone and dialed the number.

Watching the scene, Choi Myung-gil distorted his face and muttered quietly.

“I won’t let you get away with this, Kang Jin-ho.”