Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 3

The Setting Sun (3)

“Why are you standing there?”

“……Um.”

“Sit down.”

“That’s right.”

Kang Jin-ho sat next to the child. Then, he looked at the cola in his hand.

He stared at the cola with a serious expression for a while before raising his hand and grabbing the tab of the can.

*Tss!*

The tab opened with a refreshing sound.

“Hmm…”

The child watched Kang Jin-ho staring at the cola with a serious expression and burst into laughter.

“Hahahaha! Is this your first time seeing cola? Why are you looking at it like that?”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

“It’s been a while.”

“You really look like an alien.”

‘An alien…’

Kang Jin-ho thought that maybe that was true. The Murim [a martial arts world] he had been in was so different from the current world that it was not an exaggeration to call it another world.

“The carbonation will go away. Drink it quickly.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded at the child’s words and slowly brought the cola to his mouth.

*Gulp.*

Then, he took a sip and swallowed it.

“*Cough!*”

He had certainly drunk it in the past, but the unfamiliar sensation that flowed down his throat felt like something he was experiencing for the first time. His throat was stinging, and it felt like the gas that was boiling inside was coming out of his nose and mouth.

“Haa!”

Kang Jin-ho let out a rough breath and looked at the cola.

‘Did I used to drink something like this?’

The child looked at Kang Jin-ho’s distorted face and laughed as if she would fall over.

Kang Jin-ho smiled wryly and took another sip of the cola.

Perhaps because it was the second time, he was now able to savor the taste with a somewhat familiar sensation.

‘It’s sweet.’

How long had it been since he had eaten something so sweet?

Kang Jin-ho looked at the cola with strange eyes.

“Why are you looking at it with such curious eyes?”

“I was wondering who came up with this idea.”

“What idea?”

“How did they dissolve carbon dioxide in water? Who thought of that?”

“You’re really weird, mister.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly looked at the cola.

It was probably hard for the child to understand. But Kang Jin-ho, who had lived in an era without science, couldn’t help but think about how much was contained in this one cola.

‘But…

Mister?

Kang Jin-ho looked at the child with fresh eyes. Come to think of it, the child’s gender was clearly closer to female. Was she about ten years old?

“What about school?”

“Look who’s talking.”

“I see.”

“Did you get hurt somewhere, mister?”

“Car accident.”

“You don’t seem to be in much pain? Are you pretending to be sick because you don’t want to go to school?”

“They won’t let me get discharged.”

“That’s strange. This hospital is famous for discharging patients quickly.”

“I know. What about you?”

“I have a heart problem.”

“Heart?”

“They say it’s some kind of disease, but I don’t know exactly.”

Kang Jin-ho looked at the child’s chest. As he stared, he clearly felt something was off.

“Where are you looking!”

“……Huh?”

“Pervert!”

“……”

Kang Jin-ho glanced at the sky and then sipped his cola.

To be called a pervert for looking at a ten-year-old’s chest.

No, was he a pervert for looking at a ten-year-old’s chest?

Kang Jin-ho, feeling like he could hear something clanking in his ear, changed the subject.

“Is it very painful?”

“I’m okay now. But when it hurts, it really hurts terribly. It’s okay if it hurts at home or somewhere else, but if it starts hurting during class, it’s really…”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

It would certainly be a problem.

“You must be sad that you have to go to school.”

“Not at all.”

“Why?”

The child stuck out her tongue.

“They just make fun of me anyway. I wish I didn’t have to go if I could.”

Kang Jin-ho didn’t miss the dark look that flashed across the child’s face.

The child was precocious.

Children with illnesses tend to become precocious compared to their age. A child who is accustomed to trials and pains that they shouldn’t have to experience from an early age is bound to imagine things that children of that age cannot.

But that is not necessarily a good thing.

A child is best when they are crying.

“Aren’t you getting surgery?”

“It’s difficult to operate. It’s not an easy surgery to begin with, but they say it’s even more difficult because I’m young and my heart is small… I don’t know, really.”

“I see.”

At that moment, a voice calling for the child was heard from afar.

“Ji-eun~! Ji-eun!”

“That’s my mom!”

The child jumped up from her seat.

“I have to go!”

“Okay.”

“Take care, alien mister!”

Kang Jin-ho spoke to the child’s back.

“I’ll pay you back for the cola.”

“It’s okay. It’s just a thousand won. It’s a gift for coming to Earth!”

The child was embraced by the woman running towards her.

“I told you not to go outside!”

“I just came out for a bit because I was stuffy.”

“Why don’t you ever listen!”

The child and her mother bickered as they headed back into the hospital.

Kang Jin-ho watched the scene and leaned back on the bench.

‘Just a thousand won?’

The child was mistaken.

He had never failed to repay a grudge. No matter how trivial the grudge, he never forgot it, and he did not hesitate to return it dozens of times over.

And…

Kang Jin-ho drank the cola in his hand.

A stinging sensation traveled down his throat, and a refreshing sensation flowed through his entire body.

“I’ve never forgotten a favor either.”

Kang Jin-ho threw the empty can into the trash can and got up from his seat.

“That’s strange…”

The doctor tilted his head, looking at Kang Jin-ho’s wound.

“Is something wrong, doctor?” Kang Jin-ho’s mother asked the doctor, startled.

“No, it’s not that. Rather, it’s very good. The stitched area has almost healed. It usually doesn’t heal this quickly. Moreover… it was a wound that had opened up once in the middle…”

Kang Jin-ho avoided the doctor’s gaze, which seemed to be reproaching him.

“Then can he be discharged now?”

“The prognosis is good, but I don’t think there’s a need to rush the discharge. What’s important is not the stitched area but the internal healing.”

“Yes, I see.”

“Well, if he recovers this quickly, he might be able to be discharged earlier than expected.”

“Thank you, doctor.”

“And Kang Jin-ho.”

“Yes.”

“Even if the prognosis is good, you shouldn’t move too vigorously. You could have internal bleeding again!”

“Yes.”

“Sigh, even though I told you so…”

Kang Jin-ho listened to the doctor’s words absentmindedly.

“Anyway, please refrain from vigorous movements, at least while you’re hospitalized.”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-ho’s answers were always simple and clear.

As the doctor finished his rounds and left, his mother got up from her seat.

“Son, can you be alone?”

“Yes.”

“I need to go home for a bit. The house is a mess. I can’t trust your father at all.”

“Don’t worry, go ahead.”

“Okay, son. As the doctor said, you absolutely must not move vigorously.

I put the money in the drawer, so buy whatever you want to eat, and don’t go outside because the air is cold these days.

The nurses were very insistent about that. I’ll be back by dinner, so call me if anything happens before then, and as I said before…”

His mother’s nagging went on endlessly.

Kang Jin-ho’s back began to sweat. He never knew that having to listen to someone’s words unilaterally could be so painful.

It felt like it would be better to fight against hundreds of elite warriors from the Nine Factions [a reference to a common trope in martial arts novels].

“Got it?”

“Yes!”

“Then, Mom will go now.”

“Yes, Mother!”

“Mom!”

“……Yes, Mom.”

His mother smiled slightly and left the hospital room.

Kang Jin-ho smiled wryly.

He thought that he would be able to live a comfortable life now that he had returned to the modern world. But he was faced with an unexpected obstacle. His mother’s nagging was several times worse than what he vaguely remembered.

Listening to it made his head spin.

*Throb!*

Kang Jin-ho looked down at his wound as he felt a pain in his side.

It was frustrating.

He had circulated his inner energy a little to help the wound heal faster, but there was a limit to that method. If it had been him in the past, he would have shaken off this kind of wound in two days.

‘Should I heal it?’

If he decided to heal it, it would be nothing.

If he created a dantian [an energy center in the body] and gathered external energy to supply the wound, his body would heal itself.

But Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

It was something he could do anytime he wanted, and it was simple, but it was something he shouldn’t do.

Returning to the modern world, he had decided to live an ordinary life.

If he created a dantian, he could live a slightly more comfortable life, but it would be difficult to live an ordinary life. He had considered hiding himself from others after creating a dantian.

But a needle in a pocket is bound to be revealed someday, and those with power are bound to be tempted to use it.

Kang Jin-ho gave up all of that for the sake of an ordinary life.

‘I don’t need it.’

In fact, what use was martial arts in this world?

There was no need to fight someone for his life, and it was not an era of savagery where murder was committed casually.

In such a world, the only advantage of having martial arts was that you could move faster when walking. Perhaps it would also prevent you from getting sick?

Kang Jin-ho pressed his side gently.

*Throb!*

*Throb!*

Pain was transmitted.

This pain was proof that he had begun to live an ordinary life.

‘I’m going to live an ordinary life.’

It was something he had always dreamed of.

Now he had finally seized the opportunity.

Kang Jin-ho decided not to rush. Now was the time to adapt to the modern world rather than trying to do something.

It would take some time, but if he lived an ordinary life, he would be able to adapt without any problems.

Humans are bound to adapt to the place where they live.

Kang Jin-ho, who had lived in the modern world, had eventually adapted to the Murim, so there was no reason why he couldn’t adapt to a place he had lived in once before.

Kang Jin-ho lay down on the bed and looked at the TV.

If there was one thing he had newly realized during his days in the hospital, it was that the TV was a truly omnipotent box.

Compared to the past, where the only forms of entertainment were watching Peking opera or riding boats, the TV was overflowing with information and entertainment no matter which channel he turned on.

Among them, Kang Jin-ho watched the news the most.

There was nothing better than the news to increase his understanding of the era and the knowledge that had become blurred while he was far away from the modern world.

The parts related to politics were boring, but the other parts were extremely interesting.

Even in the news he was watching now, something that was very interesting to Kang Jin-ho was coming out.

[Breaking news. The suspect in the recent serial murder case injured a police officer while confronting the police and fled. During the pursuit, it was confirmed that the suspect was shot, but his whereabouts have not yet been found. In this regard, the police authorities have urged residents in the relevant areas to refrain from going outside to prevent further damage…]

‘Serial murder, huh…’

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes slightly narrowed.