Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 315

“Obsession?”\n\n”Yes.”\n\nHwang Jung-hoo looked at Kang Jin-ho with a face that said he didn’t understand.\n\n”Obsession? Are you saying my attitude of trying to live right is wrong?”\n\nKang Jin-ho shook his head, looking frustrated.\n\n”I feel like I keep saying this, but it’s not that it’s wrong. There’s no one in the world who would say that Chairman Hwang Jung-hoo’s life is wrong. You have lived more righteously than anyone, and you will continue to do so.”\n\n”Then what’s the problem?”\n\n”That’s why it’s hard and lonely.”\n\nHwang Jung-hoo couldn’t refute that. Kang Jin-ho was hitting Hwang Jung-hoo’s core. He had a thousand things he wanted to say in his head, but none of them came out of his mouth.\n\nThe weight of Kang Jin-ho’s words pressed down on him.\n\n”People can’t live doing only what’s right. Because they can’t do only what’s right, those who do are called saints.”\n\n”It’s like the devil is tempting me. It suits you very well… do you know that?”\n\nHwang Jung-hoo was slightly changing the subject.\n\n”How you live is not really important to me. However, what I feel is that your obsessive personality is making things harder for you.”\n\n”Obsessive? Think about what those bastards did. If I hadn’t woken up in time, Jae-kyung would have been ruined.”\n\n”That might be true.”\n\n”Jae-kyung isn’t just mine. It’s a place where the blood and sweat of everyone who worked together and spent their youth together is embedded. Do you know how many people make a living at Jae-kyung? I almost cut off the livelihoods of so many people, and you’re telling me to forgive that?”\n\nKang Jin-ho asked as if he really didn’t understand.\n\n”Why can’t you forgive them?”\n\n”Look here, Jin-ho!”\n\n”What did they do wrong?”\n\n”What?”\n\nKang Jin-ho looked at Hwang Jung-hoo calmly and said,\n\n”We don’t punish murder and attempted murder as the same crime. Almost ruining Jae-kyung and actually ruining Jae-kyung are clearly different things.”\n\n”If it weren’t for you, the obvious result would have happened.”\n\n”Just because a murder would have occurred if the police hadn’t intervened, we don’t punish someone for murder. There is no legal responsibility, only moral responsibility remains. And how much to punish them is entirely your choice. No matter what decision you make, no one has the right to criticize that choice.”\n\nHwang Jung-hoo looked dumbfounded.\n\n”It’s just my choice?”\n\n”That’s right.”\n\n”Look here, Jin-ho. I’ve already made my choice. Cutting ties with those bastards is my choice.”\n\n”You did.”\n\nKang Jin-ho lit a cigarette.\n\n”Actually, I don’t care about any of that.”\n\nHwang Jung-hoo’s eyes were filled with questions.\n\n”I just want to say one thing. Whatever choice you make, it’s your responsibility. It’s your responsibility to take your children back and teach them a lesson, and it’s your responsibility not to forgive your children for their mistakes. However…”\n\nKang Jin-ho paused slightly.\n\n”I hope that choice isn’t influenced by anything else.”\n\n”Anything else?”\n\n”The path you’ve walked.”\n\nKang Jin-ho’s voice carried weight. It was not fast, but slow, yet clear.\n\n”People live with the path they’ve walked on their backs. They tend to think that’s how it should be. But when they feel that what they really want is different from the path they’ve walked, they can’t easily make a choice.”\n\n”I live to be happy. The reason I try to live an ordinary life is simple. I’ve already had enough of living differently from others. Such a life requires bearing something more than an ordinary life. Now I know that even living an ordinary life isn’t easy.”\n\nKang Jin-ho smiled faintly.\n\n”I can throw away anything that gets in the way of the happiness I seek. As long as I don’t harm others, there’s no principle I have to stick to. But you’re living bound by too many principles. You need to let go and look back at least once.”\n\nKang Jin-ho quietly got up from his seat.\n\n”I’m sorry for saying presumptuous things. I won’t bring this up again.”\n\n”Wait a moment.”\n\nHwang Jung-hoo called out to Kang Jin-ho, who was about to turn around.\n\n”…Why are you saying these things to me?”\n\nKang Jin-ho looked into Hwang Jung-hoo’s serious eyes and slowly opened his mouth.\n\n”Because I want you to be happy.”\n\n”Happy?”\n\n”Yes, happiness. Now I seem to have the 여유 [yeoyu – leeway or mental space] to think about other people’s happiness, not just my own. And when I thought about who was the most unhappy person around me, it was you.”\n\nHwang Jung-hoo let out a hollow laugh.\n\nUnhappy?\n\nThat meant he was miserable.\n\nKang Jin-ho was probably the only person who could say that the great Hwang Jung-hoo was miserable. No one else would dare say such a thing in front of him.\n\n”Are you saying I’m unhappy? This Hwang Jung-hoo?”\n\nHwang Jung-hoo glared at Kang Jin-ho as if his pride had been hurt. Perhaps his words were denying everything about Hwang Jung-hoo.\n\n”Having achieved a lot doesn’t mean you’re happy.”\n\nKang Jin-ho said firmly.\n\n”Sometimes, having achieved a lot can make you unhappy. Because you keep trying to fill what can’t be filled from other places.”\n\n”Why am I unhappy?”\n\nKang Jin-ho quietly closed his eyes. Then he slowly opened his mouth.\n\n”There was a time when I thought I had everything in the world.”\n\nHwang Jung-hoo quietly listened to Kang Jin-ho’s words. The resonance coming from Kang Jin-ho’s words even made him hold his breath.\n\n”I was in a situation where I could have everything if I just reached out my hand, but what I truly wanted, I couldn’t get no matter how much I reached.”\n\nA bitter look appeared on Kang Jin-ho’s face.\n\nThat was how it was back then.\n\nEven though the entire Central Plains was bowing at his feet, he wasn’t happy at all. He realized then that achieving something doesn’t make you happy.\n\n”The answer you need to find might be different from the answer I found. But that was the answer I found.”\n\nKang Jin-ho smiled lightly.\n\nHwang Jung-hoo thought that the smile Kang Jin-ho was making now was the brightest he had ever seen him.\n\n”There are things that can only be filled by family.”\n\nKang Jin-ho smiled at Hwang Jung-hoo and bowed his head.\n\n”Then.”\n\nIt wasn’t that he didn’t want to say more, but Hwang Jung-hoo was not someone who needed it. Hwang Jung-hoo was someone who could make ten out of one thing Kang Jin-ho said. So, this was enough.\n\n”I…”\n\nKang Jin-ho quietly turned his head when he heard someone running out from behind him.\n\n”Yes?”\n\nIt wasn’t Hwang Jung-hoo, but his housekeeper who was calling him.\n\n”This…”\n\nThe housekeeper held out a glass bottle of juice.\n\n”Yes?”\n\nLooking at Kang Jin-ho, who didn’t know what was going on, she quietly opened her mouth.\n\n”Thank you.”\n\nShe said with a slightly regretful expression.\n\n”They’re not bad people. They were just all starving. Because their father wouldn’t acknowledge them if they didn’t produce results, they were obsessed with having to produce results somehow. They must have thought the same thing at the end. That they had to take control of the company with their own hands.”\n\n”I don’t think I need to know that story.”\n\n”Yes, you’re right. I’m just grateful that you said those things. So, please take this.”\n\nKang Jin-ho quietly looked at the juice in his hand and bowed his head.\n\n”I’ll be going.”\n\n”Please be careful.”\n\n”Yes, then.”\n\nKang Jin-ho left the house without any regrets. Then he came out of the gate and looked back.\n\nThe large house came into his view.\n\nHwang Jung-hoo’s house overlapped with the tall, large palace he used to live in. It looked magnificent on the outside, but there was nothing inside….\n\nKang Jin-ho quietly shook his head, recalling that desolate palace where not a single trace of warmth could be found.\n\n‘I’ve done all I can do now.’\n\nThat’s what family is like.\n\nThey can understand and accept each other no matter what mistakes they make, but sometimes they can completely break apart over small issues.\n\nAnd when time intervenes in a small rift, it becomes even harder to turn back. Time is a strange thing that makes it harder to reach out the more it accumulates.\n\nSo, someone needs to push them from behind. All Kang Jin-ho did was that.\n\nHwang Jung-hoo would judge how big their mistakes were and whether those mistakes could ever be forgiven.\n\nEven if they don’t reach out again, it would be good if the lump in their hearts could be relieved even a little.\n\nKang Jin-ho turned his head and walked slowly.\n\nWhatever choice he made, he would respect Hwang Jung-hoo’s choice.\n\n‘But…’\n\nHis last words were sincere.\n\nThere are things that can only be filled by family.\n\nKang Jin-ho sighed softly and took out his car keys.\n\n”Hey.”\n\n”Huh?”\n\n”Anyone would think you’re a successful young entrepreneur.”\n\n”…Why?”\n\n”Oh my, the boss is coming to work late, what can we say, who are just getting paid? We’re just dumb sheep who have no complaints as long as we get paid on time.”\n\nKang Jin-ho stepped back, taken aback by Joo Young-gi’s banter.\n\n”Hey, you’re 30 minutes late.”\n\n”Oh, look at this guy!”\n\nJoo Young-gi looked at Kang Jin-ho with a ‘tsk!’ face and asked Park Yu-min.\n\n”Hey, Yu-min.”\n\n”Yeah?”\n\n”What happens if you’re 30 minutes late at a company?”\n\n”Well? I don’t know since I’ve never worked at a company, but if you’re 30 minutes late for practice at our practice room, you can expect a funeral that day.”\n\n”But there’s someone who says it’s only 30 minutes late. Look closely, Yu-min. That’s an owner. The power of an original gold spoon!”\n\n”Wow, it’s dazzling.”\n\nKang Jin-ho became a wimp and slowly retreated to the corner.\n\nThere was no room for excuses. He had been going out a lot lately and hadn’t been paying attention to the store. It was his store. It was something he started, but it was Joo Young-gi and Park Yu-min who were actually paying more attention to the store.\n\n”I’m really sorry. I’m really grateful to you guys…”\n\n”Don’t! It’s cringey!”\n\nJoo Young-gi shuddered.\n\n”Has he been eating only good things lately? He’s oozing butter from his mouth?”\n\n”Jin-ho, don’t do it. I got goosebumps.”\n\n”…Sorry.”\n\nPark Yu-min chuckled and patted Kang Jin-ho’s shoulder.\n\n”Let’s get ready quickly. It’s almost opening time.”\n\n”But Yu-min.”\n\n”Yeah?”\n\n”Don’t you have to practice? You’ve been preparing for a long time.”\n\n”There’s a time and place for everything.”\n\n”Really?”\n\n”There’s still a long time before the next season starts. I won’t be here even if you cry and beg me then, so don’t worry. Get ready quickly.”\n\n”…Okay.”\n\nKang Jin-ho smiled faintly as he was pushed by Park Yu-min towards the pantry.\n\n‘There’s one more place, though.’\n\nA place that can be filled.