Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 340

“Is, is it here?” Jo Gyu-min urgently dropped to the ground, feeling around. There was no way he could feel anything by doing that, but that was how desperate he was right now. He had clearly seen it with his own eyes. The ground had been heaving. Perhaps the loosely settled soil was subtly collapsing and sinking. ‘No!’ Jo Gyu-min desperately denied the bad thoughts that popped into his head. If that were the case, the same phenomenon wouldn’t occur multiple times in the same spot. “Kang Jin-ho! Ughhh! Kang Jin-ho!” “L, let’s calm down first!” Bang Jin-hoon’s voice was trembling as he shouted. “How can I calm down right now?” “Ha, damn it.” Bang Jin-hoon cursed and looked around. He was sure there had been movement around here… “Ah, damn it! What are you doing?” “Huh?” “Try to sense that energy or whatever! That’s how you found Kang Jin-ho in the first place!” “Ah!” Bang Jin-hoon nodded urgently and sat down on the spot. Martial artists who had reached a certain level could sense the energy of others without having to sit in a lotus position, but Bang Jin-hoon had not yet reached that level. Bang Jin-hoon closed his eyes and sat in a lotus position, then quickly released the posture and shook his head. “T, the surrounding energy is too erratic…” “Huh?” “…This is about sensing external energy. But because of the explosion here, the external energy is too chaotic.” It was hard to understand what he was saying, but it was clear that Bang Jin-hoon was useless. “Damn it!” Giving up on getting help from Bang Jin-hoon, Jo Gyu-min began to dig the ground with his bare hands. “What are you doing?” “Then shut up and dig! We might get lucky and find him.” Bang Jin-hoon gritted his teeth and rushed to Jo Gyu-min, joining him in digging the ground. He knew how foolish this was, but he couldn’t stand it. The thought that Kang Jin-ho might be buried underneath made him restless and unable to stay still. “No! No! Wait a minute!” Bang Jin-hoon yelled. “What if we miss the movement while doing this!” “Ah…” Jo Gyu-min nodded as if he understood that could happen. “T, then Bang Jin-hoon, you watch from behind.” “Huh?” “I’ll dig!” Bang Jin-hoon looked at Jo Gyu-min with an astonished face. Jo Gyu-min’s hands were already covered in dirt. There were also traces of blood here and there, indicating that he was just digging without thinking. ‘What kind of person is he?’ No matter how urgent the situation was, he should still think. If he dug the ground with his bare hands like that, his nails would break and his skin would tear. But Jo Gyu-min started digging as if he didn’t have time to talk. It was hard to believe that he was the same person as the sharp-edged Jo Gyu-min he had seen not long ago. “No, calm down a bit!” “Ah, damn it! I should have brought a shovel! You stupid bastard, you have no brains!” “…Ah, really.” That guy was hopeless. It seemed like he couldn’t think rationally right now. Bang Jin-hoon took a deep breath and focused his eyes. If Kang Jin-ho had almost made it out but lost his strength and couldn’t overturn the last bit of soil, he wouldn’t stay still. ‘Just one more time!’ If he could just muster his energy one more time and heave, they could find him and dig him out. At that moment, Bang Jin-hoon saw the soil heaving. It was right behind Jo Gyu-min. “Ugh! Get out of the way! Get out of the way!” Bang Jin-hoon rushed at Jo Gyu-min as if he didn’t have time to explain, pushing the obstructive Jo Gyu-min away. Jo Gyu-min fell to the ground with a thud, but he didn’t care. “Kang Jin-ho! Kang Jin-ho!” His hands, filled with inner energy [a martial art concept referring to the energy within the body], began to dig through the ground like tofu. “I, is it here?” Jo Gyu-min, who had quickly stuck to him, asked urgently, and Bang Jin-hoon nodded vigorously. “It twitched here. I saw it!” “Okay!” Jo Gyu-min also started digging the ground urgently. “Aish, really!” Bang Jin-hoon became irritated as Jo Gyu-min’s hand pushed in from the side. If his hand, filled with inner energy, touched Jo Gyu-min’s hand, his fingers would break like a reed. But he couldn’t push away a person who looked like he was about to cry. Bang Jin-hoon, looking around, found a flat stone next to him and handed it to Jo Gyu-min. “Don’t dig with your bare hands, use this.” “Huh?” “How much can you dig with those hands! Even if you hit Kang Jin-ho with it, he won’t die, so dig hard!” “Yes!” Jo Gyu-min grabbed the stone that Bang Jin-hoon handed him and began to dig the ground wildly. Bang Jin-hoon also dug into the ground. ‘I can’t see him!’ At this point, he was starting to doubt if they were digging properly. They had already dug as deep as an adult man’s waist, but there was no sign of Kang Jin-ho. In his desperation, Bang Jin-hoon increased his speed. What if Kang Jin-ho had lost his strength and was buried in the soil? It would be good if he could secure a way to breathe, but if soil was pushed into his nose and mouth, making it impossible to breathe, he would die if they didn’t get him out within three minutes. Kang Jin-ho was a martial artist, but a martial artist who had lost consciousness was not much different from an ordinary person. He could hold out a little longer, but his limits were clear. Moreover, there was a high chance that he was injured. “Ah, damn it. A backhoe!” He regretted not having the heavy equipment on standby instead of withdrawing it. He had controlled the area so that other people wouldn’t make a fuss if they saw Kang Jin-ho coming out, but now he regretted it. “Shut up and dig faster!” “You, you bastard… just wait until we save Kang Jin-ho!” Bang Jin-hoon’s anger exploded when the young man kept getting on his nerves. “Say that after we save him!” “Wow, I…” The children of the Assembly [referring to a group or organization] would shed tears if they knew that he was being treated like this by a young kid. No, come to think of it, he was already being treated worse by Kang Jin-ho, so maybe they wouldn’t care? ‘What am I thinking!’ Bang Jin-hoon gritted his teeth and dug the ground forcefully. The dug-up soil scattered over his head, and he kept digging, throwing the stones that got in the way behind him. Now, a large pit had been created, so big that he couldn’t reach the bottom even when lying on his stomach. “Damn it!” Bang Jin-hoon jumped into the pit without hesitation and began to dig the soil while crouching. “No! No! Not yet!” It wasn’t time to give up yet. The Kang Jin-ho he knew was not someone who would die in a place like this. He had a lot of things to do, and he had a lot of things to help him with. Even if he put everything else aside, losing Kang Jin-ho here would be too great a loss. His urgent hands continued to dig, and a large pit that could bury several people was created, but Kang Jin-ho was still nowhere to be seen. Jo Gyu-min’s face began to turn pale as he realized that quite a bit of time had passed since they started digging the pit. “Dig harder!” “…Can’t you see that I’m sweating and digging?” “Damn it, what kind of martial artist is so weak?” Bang Jin-hoon couldn’t tell if the heat rising in him was from using his body too much or from Jo Gyu-min. “No, you…” “Huh!” Bang Jin-hoon, who was about to curse, sharply tilted his head down at Jo Gyu-min’s urgent voice. He tilted it so sharply that it felt like it could break. “What? Why!” “Ah, no, it just twitched here?” “Ugh, damn it!” Bang Jin-hoon cursed and dug the ground. His mouth tasted sweet, and his fingertips began to hurt. How long had it been since he had moved his body so much that his mouth tasted sweet? Bang Jin-hoon, who could dig a hole that would take an hour with a shovel in less than five minutes with his bare hands. It was almost to the point where the sky looked yellow, but at Jo Gyu-min’s words, he started digging the ground again with all his might. Bang Jin-hoon, who had been digging the ground with both hands, now began to scoop out the soil with both hands alternately like a dog. Bang Jin-hoon’s eyes widened as he dug into the ground, cursing all the while. Something had touched his fingertips. When he felt something soft and warm at his fingertips, Bang Jin-hoon screamed. “H, here! It’s here!” “Dig faster!” This time, he wasn’t angry. Bang Jin-hoon began to dig the ground more urgently than Jo Gyu-min. The soil flew out of the pit like a fountain. After scooping out the soil a couple more times, something clearly came into Bang Jin-hoon’s sight. A hand reaching upwards. A hand that had lost its strength and was half-folded came into his sight. There was no need to say who the owner of that hand was. “Ughhhhh! Kang Jin-ho!” Jo Gyu-min rushed over and grabbed the hand. Then, he pulled the arm with force. “Ah, damn it! Do you think he’ll come out like that! Dig around him! Quickly!” “Ugh… ugh…” Jo Gyu-min seemed to have lost half of his reason. As if the emotions he had been holding back had exploded, tears were streaming down his face. Jo Gyu-min, covered in dirt, began to dig the ground while shedding tears. In an instant, Kang Jin-ho’s arm was revealed. ‘Just a little more.’ He wouldn’t be able to pull him out like this, but if he roughly dug around his head, he could pull him out. Bang Jin-hoon squeezed out his last bit of strength and dug the soil. Thinking that he had roughly dug around his head, Bang Jin-hoon stood up and grabbed Kang Jin-ho’s arm. “M, me too!” “Get out of the way! You’re in the way!” Bang Jin-hoon kicked Jo Gyu-min away and put strength into both arms. “Come out!” Crack. A dull sound echoed from Kang Jin-ho’s arm. If he pulled like this, his shoulder could dislocate, but Bang Jin-hoon thought it was better than dying, so he pulled mercilessly. “He, he’s coming out!” Kang Jin-ho’s body began to emerge from the soil. ‘Damn it, why is he so heavy?’ Even though he was covered in soil, Bang Jin-hoon found it strange that it took so much strength to pull out one person. And his question was soon answered. He had expected Kang Jin-ho’s face to come out, but what emerged from the soil was the back of Kang Jin-ho’s head. And below that, he could see that Kang Jin-ho was hugging and protecting someone. ‘Even in this situation…’ It was a situation where his own life could be in danger. No, if Bang Jin-hoon hadn’t been here, Kang Jin-ho would have surely died. But even in that situation, he was hugging and protecting someone else. He couldn’t tell if he was amazing or stupid. “Kang Jin-ho! Ugh! Kang Jin-ho! Open your eyes! Ugh!” Jo Gyu-min, shedding tears, grabbed and lifted Kang Jin-ho. Then, he put his ear to Kang Jin-ho’s nose. “H, he doesn’t seem to be breathing?”