Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 329

“I feel uneasy.”

“What is it?”

While driving home, Park Yu-min looked out the window with a sullen expression.

“Hey, you. How many times do I have to tell you that even though my car looks like this, it runs well?”

“Not that!”

Park Yu-min sighed.

Of course, it was a bit unsettling. The fact that this car was running felt like a testament to the progress of the Korean automotive industry. While there are many old cars overseas, it’s rare for those old cars to have internal parts that are still the original model.

In that sense, the fact that this car was running was a testament to how much the Korean car repair and manufacturing industries had developed.

“…Aren’t you going to change your car?”

“It runs well!”

“You and Kang Jin-ho are a bit similar in a different way.”

“Is that an insult?”

Park Yu-min shook his head.

They were very similar in that they didn’t care whether a car was expensive or cheap. They completely disregarded other functions of a car and only focused on driving as its sole purpose.

‘Should I buy a car too?’

Now that all the guys around him were driving cars, he couldn’t help but think that way. He had saved up money from his gaming career, so it wouldn’t be difficult to get a car.

‘Nah, what car?’

It wasn’t the right time yet. Besides, if he went back to living in the dorms soon, he wouldn’t have any use for a car.

“But are you really practicing?”

“Yeah.”

“From what I hear, it’s not something you can achieve by just practicing in your spare time? Even the guys who used to sing about wanting to become pro gamers end up practicing so hard that they don’t even want to look at games once they become pro gamers, right?”

Park Yu-min nodded.

“Isn’t that how it is for everyone?”

“Huh?”

“How many jobs are there where you can really enjoy your work? Everyone is just gritting their teeth and doing it because they need to make money.”

“I’m having fun at the pizza place right now?”

“…You should definitely inherit this pizza place.”

“Come on, man. What makes you think I’m the type to do this kind of work?”

‘You’re a perfect fit.’

At first, Park Yu-min also thought that Joo Young-gi walking around in an apron would be a cringe-worthy sight, but Joo Young-gi actually looked great in an apron.

It was like how a menacing-looking celebrity wearing an apron creates an indescribable cuteness. It also seemed to have the effect of reducing his usual menacing aura.

But if he said that out loud, Joo Young-gi would get angry.

Park Yu-min wisely chose not to create any unnecessary conflict.

“Kang Jin-ho is a bit of a weirdo.”

“Huh?”

Joo Young-gi suddenly started talking.

“Even if it’s something he doesn’t usually like, it looks fun when he does it. Would you or I have ever tried doing something like serving at a pizza place if it weren’t for Kang Jin-ho?”

“…That’s true.”

“He has a knack for drawing people in. The problem is, he has multiple chances to get back up even if he falls, but we don’t. Especially you, it’s worse for you.”

“You don’t look too bad either.”

“Hey, man… no matter how hard I work now, where else would I earn as much as you do now? I’m in a period of preparing step by step, and you’re in a period where you need to reap the rewards quickly.”

Park Yu-min nodded.

Joo Young-gi’s words made sense.

The career path of a pro gamer is different from others. The density of the time Park Yu-min was spending now might be several times that of others.

“It’s good to help Jin-ho. It’s fun to hang out together. I’m having fun going to work these days too. But you have to keep a certain line. It shouldn’t interfere with your life. I don’t have anything else to do right now even if I don’t do this, but it’s not the same for you.”

“I know.”

Joo Young-gi glanced at Park Yu-min’s face.

Even though it was clearly not pleasant to hear, there was not a hint of displeasure on Park Yu-min’s face.

‘At least think about it, you pushover.’

Joo Young-gi had received a great favor from Kang Jin-ho. It was a favor that was practically equivalent to having his life saved. But even though Park Yu-min hadn’t received such a favor, his gratitude towards Kang Jin-ho seemed to be even deeper than Joo Young-gi’s.

‘Even if he ruins his life helping Kang Jin-ho, he probably wouldn’t regret it.’

He would just laugh and say, ‘Well, it can’t be helped.’

It was Park Yu-min’s attitude that made Joo Young-gi sigh. That attitude of being able to give everything without a shred of regret if it was related to Kang Jin-ho.

It wasn’t something that anyone could do just because they had received a favor. It was a truth that even a twenty-year-old could understand, that the world wasn’t a place where you could return as much as you received, or receive as much as you gave.

It was just Park Yu-min’s nature.

“I know too.”

“Huh?”

“I know I can’t keep going on like this. I’m not stupid enough not to know that.”

“Then why?”

“It’s just…”

Park Yu-min hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth.

“Everyone says it, right? That even friends who were closer than siblings back then, it becomes hard to see each other even once a year after they get jobs and stuff.”

“Well, yeah…”

“I think that someday we’ll end up like that too. So, I just want to delay that time a little bit. My life is important, and making a lot of money is important too. But I want to earn a little less and spend a little more time like this. It’s not just because I want to help Jin-ho.”

“Hmm…”

Joo Young-gi nodded.

‘I definitely think that way too.’

He wanted to keep this time going a little longer. The moment one of them was gone, they wouldn’t be able to spend such enjoyable time anymore. It might be considered youthful recklessness, but that’s how they felt.

“So, what’s making you uneasy?”

“Well, I don’t really know. I just feel strangely restless.”

“You’re being silly.”

Joo Young-gi looked at the road illuminated by the headlights.

‘Just a little longer, like this.’

***

“Is he entering?”

“It seems so.”

“Keep your voice down.”

“…We’re 3km away from here. No matter how strong Kang Jin-ho is, if he can hear us from here, is he even human? Not even an animal can hear this.”

“So?”

Jo Myung-soo just shut his mouth at the sight of Lee Hyun-soo’s sunken eyes.

‘That crazy bastard, really.’

Lee Hyun-soo’s eyes were not the same as usual.

What should he say about Lee Hyun-soo usually? He was like a calm lake.

A calm lake that made you feel at peace when you looked at it.

But the unfathomable depth of the lake somehow made the observer feel uneasy and eerie.

But the current Lee Hyun-soo was completely different from usual. It was as if the water in the lake was violently surging, extremely turbulent.

Jo Myung-soo quietly lowered his head.

Even a three-year-old would know that he shouldn’t provoke Lee Hyun-soo right now.

“We only have one chance. You know how crazy this is, right?”

‘No, it’s a relief.’

When he first heard this plan, Jo Myung-soo thought Lee Hyun-soo was crazy. It wasn’t something a person with a normal way of thinking could do.

There is such a thing as common sense in the world.

To kill a person, you could use a baseball bat, a knife, or a gun if you went overseas.

Recently, the barrage of rifles to catch Kang Jin-ho was already a crazy act, but Lee Hyun-soo had gone one step further.

‘Is this really going to be okay?’

If it was effective, he could do anything, but the problem was whether the aftermath could be handled.

“Can this really be handled without any problems?”

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

“…Well, yes, but still.”

“It’s my and the chairman’s job to handle it so that no problems arise. You just do as you’re told.”

Jo Myung-soo shut his mouth.

‘Easier said than done.’

This wasn’t something that would end with the news. Even if you shot a car with a machine gun and blew it up to kill someone, you could hide it if you cleaned up the car and erased the traces, as long as there were no witnesses.

But what Lee Hyun-soo was trying to do now was something that they couldn’t handle on their own. The media would swarm like a pack of dogs, and it would cause a political uproar. How were they supposed to handle this?

“Ignore any minor noise.”

“But…”

“Then either stand by and watch those Japs run wild.”

“That can’t happen.”

As a Korean, Jo Myung-soo also had a basic hostility towards Japan. Moreover, the hostility of the Murim [martial arts world] towards Japan was more deeply rooted than that of the visible world.

There were probably far more Murim people who died resisting Japan than ordinary people who were mobilized and died during the Japanese colonial era. The Japanese Murim viewed the Korean Murim not as subjects of domination but as targets for extermination.

Wasn’t it a hidden secret of history that the vermin extermination project was actually designed to capture and kill Murim people who were studying martial arts in the deep mountains, rather than the tigers that lived in each mountain?

‘He’s not wrong.’

If Kang Jin-ho continued to live and move around, they wouldn’t be able to properly deal with the Japanese because they would be busy checking the General Assembly and Kang Jin-ho.

He didn’t have any particular grudge, but Kang Jin-ho had to die now for the sake of the country.

“He’s going in.”

Lee Hyun-soo’s eyes followed Kang Jin-ho as he entered the tunnel.

“Should I press it?”

“Wait!”

Lee Hyun-soo swallowed hard as he watched the screen transmitted from the CCTV installed at the entrance.

‘If there were people around, they would definitely notice.’

It was impossible to hide the presence of people from Kang Jin-ho.

‘But there’s something called science in modern times, you ignorant bastard.’

No matter how skilled Kang Jin-ho was, he wouldn’t notice that someone was watching him through CCTV.

Considering the speed at which the bicycle entered, Lee Hyun-soo, who estimated that Kang Jin-ho had reached the deepest part of the tunnel, shouted.

“Press it!”

KWA-AAAAANG!

The sound was like thunder. It was a huge sound that made his ears go numb for a moment.

Kang Jin-ho widened his eyes and looked up.

It’s collapsing.

The ceiling of the oval-shaped tunnel cracked and split, and boulders and piles of earth began to pour down. The scene was so clear and slow in Kang Jin-ho’s eyes.

‘Collapse?’

The tunnel was collapsing.

As soon as he realized that, Kang Jin-ho reached out and pulled Choi Yeon-ha towards him. Choi Yeon-ha, who had grasped the situation, couldn’t even scream and just stared blankly at the collapsing ceiling of the tunnel with her mouth open.

‘Too late!’

No matter how fast he ran now, he wouldn’t be able to get out of here before the tunnel collapsed. Kang Jin-ho’s face was terribly distorted.

“Damn it!”

Kang Jin-ho, who shouted as if the tunnel would burst, grabbed Choi Yeon-ha and threw himself.

And the tunnel collapsed indifferently.

Black clouds of dust rose incessantly from the debris of the completely collapsed tunnel.