Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 29

Kang Jin-ho, with Park Yu-min on the back, headed towards the Seongsim Orphanage.

Kang Jin-ho’s bicycle, which usually sped along as if it were a motorcycle, was today wobbling weakly from side to side as it climbed the hill.

Well, perhaps the fact that it was even making it up the hill at such a slow pace was more impressive.

Clunk, clunk.

Kang Jin-ho, looking like a drowned rat, leaned on the handlebars and slowly pedaled.

“Ummm…”

Park Yu-min, who was watching Kang Jin-ho from behind, broke out in a cold sweat and spoke.

“You said it’s only been two weeks since you started playing games properly, right?”

“…Yeah.”

“Then you’re really good. I was surprised.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really!”

Kang Jin-ho smiled brightly and turned to look at Park Yu-min.

“But I didn’t win even one game out of ten?”

“No, that’s because I…”

“I only played my main race, and you were playing random?”

“No, that’s…”

“Sometimes I saw you doing other things?”

“…Sorry.”

At Park Yu-min’s apology, Kang Jin-ho looked up at the sky.

Defeat.

If the last game was a defeat he suffered because he hadn’t adjusted after returning to the modern world, this time it was a defeat he couldn’t overcome even though he tried his best.

“It’s just a game anyway…”

Park Yu-min’s muttering tore apart Kang Jin-ho’s last remaining pride.

Kang Jin-ho, who was about to say something, lowered his head powerlessly.

The loser has no words.

It was one of the truths that hadn’t changed from the past until now.

“You were good.”

At Kang Jin-ho’s words, Park Yu-min scratched his head awkwardly.

“It’s just that I don’t know how to do anything else, so I ended up like that.”

“When did you practice so much?”

“Because my legs aren’t good.”

“Huh?”

“It’s hard to do things outside. It’s hard to exercise, and I’m not good at studying because I’m not smart… But computers are fair because you can do it as long as you have arms while sitting in a chair.”

“I see.”

“Fortunately, there was someone who donated several computers to the orphanage. The director gave me one for my exclusive use because I’m the oldest.”

“So you’ve just been playing games with it.” Park Yu-min said with a slightly stiff face.

“It’s a secret from the director.” Kang Jin-ho smiled.

“Are you thinking of trying to become a pro gamer or something?”

“No.”

“Why? The kids say you’re good enough.”

“That’s because they don’t know much. Even if the ratings are the same, there’s a huge difference in skill between pros and amateurs. Pros live together, plan strategies, and practice, but I just play games with other people. Even if it looks similar, the difference is huge when you actually play.”

“You’re talking like you’ve tried it?”

Park Yu-min hesitated for a moment before continuing.

“Actually, I had some talks with a semi-pro guild a while ago, but I had to live in a dorm and it cost money to join. So I just gave up.”

“Hmm…”

It seemed more like the situation wasn’t right rather than his skills being lacking. It seemed like he gave up because he couldn’t leave the Seongsim Orphanage.

“I see.”

Kang Jin-ho put strength into his legs.

His bicycle began to climb upwards again, powerfully.

“Huh? You’re too fast!”

“It’s okay.”

Kang Jin-ho cut through the wind and went up.

“If the situation gets better…”

“Huh?”

“If the situation gets better, would you think about trying it? Being a gamer.”

“…”

“Just hypothetically.”

Park Yu-min shook his head.

“No, not really.”

“Why? You don’t like doing it seriously?”

“Is it because you don’t want to feel so bad if you give up from the start?”

Park Yu-min sighed.

“The situation doesn’t allow it.”

“That’s why I’m saying, if it gets better.”

“I would like to try it if the situation allows it. It’s what I’m best at, and what I like the most.”

“Okay.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled.

Going to school, meeting friends, playing together…

Playing games, getting frustrated from losing games…

The emotions that had been in his distant memories were coming back to life.

Even though he had summoned the Demonic Heavenly Sovereign from his memories, Kang Jin-ho’s life was getting closer to the past.

The memories of Kang Jin-ho who lived in the modern world. And the memories of the Demonic Heavenly Sovereign who ruled the Central Plains.

‘Both are me.’

It was wrong to try to suppress one side. He had to acknowledge both. He shouldn’t try to become the Kang Jin-ho of the past, but adapt to his current life as the new Kang Jin-ho.

“I feel strangely at ease.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I don’t know.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled.

The ordinary life he had dreamed of was welcoming him.

It was still precarious, like walking on thin ice, but Kang Jin-ho was slowly living the life he wanted.

* * *

– Chairman Hwang Jung-hoo is back!

The rumor started very small.

When the rumor first started circulating through the stock market, people scoffed. It was absurd that a person who had been bedridden for nearly two years had gotten up, and it was even more ridiculous that the timing was so perfect.

If Hwang Jung-hoo had recovered enough to return to the front lines, he wouldn’t have let the company be split up until now.

Usually, when a big change is coming, there are always speculative forces trying to take advantage of the anticipation, and everyone thought this rumor was just another one of those false rumors.

However, before the first rumor could die down, a second rumor broke out.

That Chairman Hwang Jung-hoo had frozen the inheritance that would be passed down to his three sons.

People began to be half-convinced.

And when the third rumor broke, everyone was shocked.

Hwang Jung-hoo’s three sons had been removed from their positions as presidents.

This time it wasn’t a rumor. News flashes began to break out simultaneously on TV, the internet, and in newspapers.

As the situation progressed this far, those who had been watching the situation began to move. The stock market was in a frenzy, and soon the related stocks of the Jae Kyung Group began to skyrocket.

Hwang Jung-hoo’s return.

If it was true, the Jae Kyung Group’s stock price, which had fallen, would surely rebound. Investors who were aiming for that point began to buy Jae Kyung Group’s stock without asking any questions.

The stock market fell into chaos, and the media flocked to the Jae Kyung Group like ants.

And the world was on tenterhooks, watching the movements of Hwang Jung-hoo, the cause of all this chaos.

Jae Kyung Group headquarters, chairman’s office.

Hwang Jung-hoo looked at the three people in front of him.

The people in the company called the people in front of him the presidents of the Jae Kyung Group. And the people of the world called the three in front of him the princes of the Jae Kyung Group.

But Hwang Jung-hoo did not call the three in front of him by those titles.

Sons.

Hwang Jung-hoo looked at his only three sons and smiled coldly.

“Do you have anything more to say?”

Hwang Min-jae.

Hwang Jung-hoo’s eldest son and president of Jae Kyung Electronics.

A second-generation chaebol [a family-owned conglomerate] that everyone in the world envied.

He was now sweating profusely.

“Father, I…”

Hwang Min-jae felt like he was dreaming.

Hwang Jung-hoo’s doctor had said there was no hope. He didn’t know how much longer he would live, but he said that even communication would be difficult until the moment he died.

Even if a miracle happened, there was no chance that Hwang Jung-hoo would return to the front lines. But Hwang Jung-hoo was now in front of him. And he was even more vigorous than before he collapsed.

“I was trying to protect the company…”

“Protect the company?”

When Hwang Min-jae hesitated, the second son, Hwang Min-soo, shouted urgently.

“Father, if we hadn’t done this, the company’s management rights could have been taken over by foreign capital! That’s not what you wanted either, is it?” The youngest, Hwang Min-guk, also chimed in with Hwang Min-soo.

“It was an unavoidable choice to save the company.”

Watching his younger brothers trying to persuade Hwang Jung-hoo, Hwang Min-jae shook his head powerlessly.

It was a futile effort.

There was a considerable age difference between the eldest son, Hwang Min-jae, and the second son, Hwang Min-soo. Hwang Jung-hoo had remarried after his first wife passed away, and had Hwang Min-soo, so there was an age difference of almost ten years.

That’s why their views of their father were different.

Hwang Min-jae had assisted Hwang Jung-hoo since Jae Kyung Group was still a small business. So he knew well how cold Hwang Jung-hoo could be when necessary. Hwang Jung-hoo was such a cold person that he had to feel fear even though he was his father.

But when Hwang Min-soo participated in management, the foundation for the company as a large corporation had already been laid. So Hwang Min-soo had only been able to see a relatively gentle father.

That difference divided their reactions. Hwang Min-jae closed his eyes with a resigned expression, but Hwang Min-soo and Hwang Min-guk desperately clung to Hwang Jung-hoo.

“Save the company?”

Hwang Jung-hoo’s voice grew louder.

“Is splitting the company into pieces to fill your own bellies the way to save the company?”

“But Father…”

“Shut up!”

Hwang Jung-hoo’s voice echoed loudly.

“I thought of you as my sons.”

“We are your sons, Father.”

“Sons? What kind of sons don’t visit their father who has been bedridden for over a year?”

“And then you file a lawsuit in court to get your inheritance?”

“That’s… because the company was too busy…”

Hwang Jung-hoo smiled.

“So being busy was the problem.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Then it’ll be fine if you’re not busy anymore. Get out.”

“Ah, Father!”

Hwang Min-soo was horrified and called out to Hwang Jung-hoo.

They were Hwang Jung-hoo’s sons.

They were the people who would inherit a huge fortune if Hwang Jung-hoo died. Hwang Jung-hoo was not a petty person who would illegally inherit his fortune to avoid inheritance tax, and thanks to that, their assets were practically non-existent.

Even while working as presidents, they received minimal salaries to improve the company’s performance, and they didn’t really think about saving the money they occasionally made.

Why would those who were going to inherit trillions of won be obsessed with one or two hundred million won?

If they were to step down from their positions as presidents, they would really become penniless. The severance pay stipulated by law would barely be enough to maintain their livelihood.

“Drag them out.”

“Father! Please forgive us just once…”

Bang!

The door closed, and their voices could no longer be heard.

“Tsk tsk…”

Hwang Jung-hoo clicked his tongue.

“Hey, Young-gi.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

“Did I fail to educate my children properly?”

“No, you didn’t.”

“If not, why are they all so incompetent?” Baek Young-gi smiled awkwardly.

“How many people can maintain their composure in the face of money? Even though they are your sons, they cannot become Chairman.”

“It stings.”

Baek Young-gi didn’t say everything that was on his mind.

The reason they couldn’t become like Hwang Jung-hoo was because they were Hwang Jung-hoo’s sons.

Unlike Hwang Jung-hoo, who had fought against all the hardships of the world, his children had grown up in a greenhouse where not even a breeze could enter.

The bigger Hwang Jung-hoo grew, the more they could live in a greenhouse where not even a breeze could enter.

Of course, it wasn’t that Hwang Jung-hoo had done anything wrong. He was just busy growing the company, and on the surface, Hwang Jung-hoo’s sons seemed to be growing up diligently.

Hwang Jung-hoo leaned back in his chair and said.

“Did you handle the work well?”

Director Baek Young-gi slowly opened his mouth with a tense face.

“All of the Chairman’s assets that your sons could access have been frozen. We can handle it slowly. I’ve told the security guards to ban them from entering the company, and we plan to dispose of the house that is in the Chairman’s name.”

“Will that be enough?”

“It seems that they each have assets of several hundred million won, but we cannot legally touch anything more than that.”

“Just because we can’t legally touch it doesn’t mean we can’t touch it, right?”

Baek Young-gi sighed.

“Still, they are your sons. I think you’re being too harsh.”

“No. It’s not too harsh.”

“Chairman…”

Hwang Jung-hoo looked at Baek Young-gi with a displeased expression.

Baek Young-gi also had to step down from his position as director because of them. Nevertheless, Baek Young-gi was defending them.

The fact that Baek Young-gi, who judged everything based on whether it benefited Hwang Jung-hoo or not, was saying this meant that there was something to think about.

“Tsk, I’ll let it go this time because of what you said.”

“Thank you!”

The directors who had watched the whole situation were chilled to the bone by Hwang Jung-hoo’s coldness.

They were still his sons, was he going to bankrupt them?

Hwang Jung-hoo turned to look at the directors.

“There are other culprits here.”

At Hwang Jung-hoo’s words, the atmosphere in the chairman’s office began to cool down.