Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 262

Seeing a corpse is never a pleasant experience.

And it’s even more unsettling when that corpse belongs to a colleague who was just talking and moving around with you moments ago.

Usually, in such situations, anger would be the first emotion to surge. According to Chun Tae-hoon’s common sense and experience, he should be furious to the point of losing his reason right now.

But surprisingly, he didn’t feel anger.

What he felt was fear.

And terror.

The fear that he too would become a headless corpse the moment he opened his mouth was preventing even a single finger of Chun Tae-hoon from moving.

The trembling had stopped.

Perhaps because the fear had reached its peak, he no longer trembled. Instead, his body was stiffening like a wooden block.

“Didn’t you understand what I said?”

Words?

Chun Tae-hoon’s mind began to spin desperately. But he couldn’t figure out what Kang Jin-ho had said.

Fortunately, Chun Tae-hoon didn’t need to find the answer. Kang Jin-ho wasn’t talking to him.

“W-wait a moment! Just give me a little time.”

Lee Jung-gul replied with a pale face.

“If you give me a little time, I’ll find the answer you want. So, just a little!”

Kang Jin-ho stared at Lee Jung-gul for a moment, then nodded.

“I’ll give you five minutes.”

“Then, in the meantime…”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes landed on Chun Tae-hoon.

Chun Tae-hoon flinched as their eyes met. It was as if a cat that had been playing with a mouse had shifted its attention. Unfortunately, Chun Tae-hoon probably looked like nothing more than a mouse to Kang Jin-ho.

“You.”

Chun Tae-hoon nodded frantically.

It was an involuntary action.

“How did you know I was a returnee?”

That single sentence contained a lot of information. This guy might be strong, but he clearly didn’t know anything about the power dynamics in South Korea. That was the most obvious piece of information he could gather.

“Since it’s neither the General Assembly nor the Yeongnam Association, the only ones who could intervene in this matter would be returnees.”

“As a faction, or as an individual?”

“B-both.”

Kang Jin-ho frowned at Chun Tae-hoon’s answer.

“So, you guys are aware of the returnees’ power?”

“Of course.”

“Tell me about it.”

He didn’t know why he was explaining this. But the moment Kang Jin-ho opened his mouth, all his words felt like a direct order to Chun Tae-hoon.

“…Unlike ordinary martial artists, returnees maintain their own independent communities. They still lack influence compared to the Yeongnam Association or the General Assembly, and they don’t engage in much external activity.”

“Hmm.”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes lit up with interest.

“I see. So?”

“This matter involves both the General Assembly and the Yeongnam Association. So, other minor groups wouldn’t know about it, and even if they did, they wouldn’t dare send anyone. Someone of your caliber wouldn’t belong to such a place. That leaves only the returnees.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded slowly.

‘As I thought.’

It seemed that the returnees in this world also couldn’t live among the martial artists. In a way, it was only natural. Even Kang Jin-ho, who was trying so hard to assimilate into this era, still had a hard time sometimes. There was no need for those who didn’t have to assimilate to make such an effort.

Unless the returnees’ faction didn’t exist or they hadn’t contacted him. Hadn’t Kang Jin-ho been contacted by them since the beginning of his return to this world?

‘I should look into it.’

Kang Jin-ho realized once again that unlike the outside world, where he could get most information through Jo Gyu-min, information about the martial artists’ world was not easy to obtain.

“Is it five minutes yet?”

“Not yet…”

“I’m getting bored. Now, tell me. I’m not going to wait any longer.”

Lee Jung-gul swallowed hard.

The young punk in front of him was incredibly arrogant. Considering the age difference, he shouldn’t be acting like that. But if he was a returnee, he couldn’t be judged by his appearance alone. There were returnees who looked young but had lived for hundreds of years.

“I-I can offer you all the support of the General Assembly.”

“Support?”

“I don’t know what you want. But you must want something, or you wouldn’t have accepted Hyun-joo’s offer, right? Whatever you want, I promise it in the name of the head of the General Assembly.”

Kang Jin-ho stared at Lee Jung-gul for a moment, then slumped back in his chair.

“That’s boring. I’m not interested.”

Lee Jung-gul’s face turned ashen.

It was impossible to make a satisfactory offer without knowing what the other party wanted in the first place. From Lee Jung-gul’s perspective, he had offered everything he could. If the response was like this, what else could he do?

Kang Jin-ho slowly turned his head and looked at Chun Tae-hoon.

“Tell me.”

“…Yes?”

“What do you mean, ‘tell me’?” Kang Jin-ho chuckled.

“If these idiots are fighting to take over the leadership, then the General Assembly must be a joke.”

“You guys must also want to kill that old man to take over the General Assembly. So, tell me. If I let you do that, what will you do for me?”

At that moment, Chun Tae-hoon’s eyes widened.

The smiling Kang Jin-ho looked like a devil.

Lee Hyun-joo stared at the building with anxious eyes.

It had been a long time since Kang Jin-ho had gone inside, but nothing had changed. There wasn’t even the sound of fighting. She thought she had heard faint screams earlier, but she wasn’t sure if they were real screams or just illusions created by her desperation.

‘How long do I have to wait?’

She wanted to listen to Kang Jin-ho if possible. But the anxiety was too great to just wait here quietly. Perhaps Kang Jin-ho and her grandfather were no longer of this world.

“Haa…”

She took a deep breath to calm herself and looked at the building with a determined face.

Perhaps things might go wrong because she was going in now. With that thought, Lee Hyun-joo, trying to comfort herself, began to approach the building with a firm face.

Lee Hyun-joo, who had reached the front of the building with cautious steps, looked at the entrance with a slightly frightened face.

‘Will it be open?’

She carefully reached out and grabbed the doorknob, turning it.

Creak.

The handle turned with a low friction sound. Lee Hyun-joo, calming her mind with a deep breath, opened the front door with a trembling heart.

It was her grandfather’s house. She already knew the internal structure. If she opened this door, there would be a wide living room. That living room…

Lee Hyun-joo, who had opened the door and looked inside the living room, narrowed her eyes.

Darkness.

The lights were all off, so she couldn’t see inside well. But one thing was very clear.

The smell of blood.

The smell of blood, which she couldn’t get from her eyes, was so distinct that it was almost surreal. The thick, intense smell of blood rushed into her lungs, causing nausea and a violent urge to vomit.

‘W-what is this?’

She had a feeling that something unusual had happened inside, but she couldn’t back down now. Lee Hyun-joo forced her trembling legs to move forward. She stepped inside the entrance, leaning against the wall, and turned on the light with a trembling hand.

At the same time…

“Uwaaaah!”

Lee Hyun-joo, bending over like a shrimp, lowered her body to the floor and vomited. She had nothing in her stomach, so only bitter liquid came up, but she vomited violently as if she would throw up her insides.

“Huuu, uwaaaah! Uwek!”

She couldn’t come to her senses no matter how hard she tried.

The scene that entered her eyes was far beyond her imagination.

The whole world was red.

From the floor to the walls to the ceiling… it had turned so red that she couldn’t even guess what the original color had been. There was no need to explain what had created that red color.

And that wasn’t all.

“Ah… ah…”

Lee Hyun-joo, who had been vomiting, realized what was rolling around at her feet. She fell on her backside and crawled backward.

What was all this?

The room, now lit, clearly revealed its appearance to Lee Hyun-joo.

Thick, flowing blood had pooled as if forming a puddle, and the blood that had reached the entrance was dripping down. And on top of that puddle of blood, severed human limbs were scattered like pieces of meat.

Lee Hyun-joo couldn’t bear to look any longer and closed her eyes.

‘I’m going crazy.’

No one could kill people like that unless they were insane. Perhaps she was the one who had caused all of this. But…

‘I brought in a devil.’

Lee Hyun-joo finally realized where Kang Jin-ho’s terrifying aura had come from.

Kang Jin-ho wasn’t someone who threatened his opponents. He was someone who actually had the power to dismember people. He could instill such fear because he treated her like a mere plaything or a toy that he could tear apart at any moment.

Perhaps…

When she first met Kang Jin-ho, if her actions had been slightly more wrong, she might have ended up like this. The thought made her legs feel weak.

She was so weak that she was grateful she hadn’t wet her pants. She was experiencing the full meaning of the phrase ‘her whole body was drained of strength’.

‘I need to pull myself together.’

There was no time to be like this.

That devilish guy had probably gone to find her grandfather. And if things had gone well, she would have already received a call from him.

That meant that at this moment, her grandfather and Kang Jin-ho were facing each other.

Lee Hyun-joo, forcing herself to stand up, struggled to move her trembling legs. Her grandfather was probably on the second floor, and that devil was probably with him.

As she climbed the stairs with trembling steps, she saw a half-open door and light leaking from inside.

‘He said the price hasn’t been decided yet.’

So, there was no need to be grateful.

At the time, she didn’t know what that meant, but after seeing this scene, it became clear.

Kang Jin-ho didn’t come to help her.

As she clearly recognized that fact, she knew what she had to do.

The price hadn’t been decided. That meant that if he didn’t like the price, he might not help them. Then why did he come here?

Because there was another side.

If he didn’t like the price, he would get the price he wanted from the other side. Kang Jin-ho was someone who was capable of doing that.

Lee Hyun-joo bit her lip until it bled.

She had to make a deal with the devil.

She had to succeed in making a deal that could satisfy the devil. Only then could she and her grandfather survive.

To avoid being crushed by this terrible situation, which she was experiencing for the first time in her life, she grabbed her thigh. As her nails dug in, she felt a sharp pain and a sense of clarity.

Lee Hyun-joo took a deep breath and walked into the room with the open door.