Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 341

“What?” Bang Jin-hoon’s face became urgent. Startled, Bang Jin-hoon laid Kang Jin-ho on the ground. Then, he tried to pull the person Kang Jin-ho was holding away from his chest. Or rather, he tried to. But Kang Jin-ho’s arms were as unyielding as steel, not moving at all. “Ah, it’s safe now! Let go of this, you old man!” Seeing Kang Jin-ho still clinging to someone even in this situation, a curse word naturally came out. When Bang Jin-hoon forcefully twisted Kang Jin-ho’s arm, a slender figure slipped out of Kang Jin-ho’s embrace with a cracking sound. ‘Wow, this…’ Strangely, it seemed like Kang Jin-ho had taken off his top, but it turned out that Kang Jin-ho’s top was wrapped around the woman’s face. He had instantly covered her face with his clothes to prevent dirt from getting in. “Seriously, this is no joke.” It might seem like a small thing. But Bang Jin-hoon was more thrilled by the fact that Kang Jin-ho could think of someone else in such a desperate situation than by the fact that he had crawled all the way up from below. If he were in the same situation, could he have shown such resourcefulness? Absolutely not. To think of tearing off his clothes and covering someone else’s face at the moment when dirt was rushing in from all sides and filling his own nose and mouth, that was something impossible for an ordinary person to do. ‘Anyway, he’s a person who surprises me in many ways.’ Fortunately, the woman who came out of Kang Jin-ho’s arms was breathing. After confirming that her chest was rising and falling, Bang Jin-hoon looked away from the woman and stared at Kang Jin-ho. “Kang Jin-ho! Kang Jin-ho!” Jo Gyu-min, in a panic, grabbed and shook Kang Jin-ho. “Get out of the way!” “He’s not breathing! He’s not breathing!” “Ah, damn it! Of course not! Get out of the way!” Bang Jin-hoon pushed Jo Gyu-min aside and placed his hand on Kang Jin-ho’s chest. ‘Ugh, I’m going to die.’ He had used so much energy digging through the ground that his true energy wasn’t gathering well. If the higher-ups heard that he had collapsed from digging, they would all fall over laughing. Bang Jin-hoon pulled energy from the depths of his stomach and pressed down hard on Kang Jin-ho’s chest. Kang Jin-ho’s body twitched. “Ugh!” As he pushed the energy into his chest, Kang Jin-ho’s neck trembled. He pressed down hard once more, and Kang Jin-ho’s mouth opened, and a lump of black dirt gushed out. “Cough!” At the same time, Kang Jin-ho started coughing. “Kang Jin-ho!” Jo Gyu-min rushed to Kang Jin-ho and brushed away the dirt that had spilled from his mouth with his hands. After coughing several times and spitting out all the dirt that had entered his airways, Kang Jin-ho opened his eyes and looked around. “K, Kang Jin-ho! Are you feeling a little better?” Kang Jin-ho, who had been staring blankly at Jo Gyu-min, sighed. Jo Gyu-min’s appearance was a mess. Despite wearing a suit, he was covered in dirt, and his face was a mess, wet with tears. “Did a war break out or something?” “Kang Jin-ho! H, how many fingers do you see?” Seeing Jo Gyu-min holding up his fingers, Kang Jin-ho grabbed his head. It was hard to get used to seeing someone who was usually so cold and composed acting like this. It was nice to be worried about, but… “H, how many do you see?” Kang Jin-ho ended up bursting into laughter. After chuckling to himself for a while, Kang Jin-ho lay down on the ground and looked up at the sky. Looking at the blue sky, Kang Jin-ho murmured. “I didn’t realize the sky was so beautiful.” The first thing Jo Gyu-min did after regaining his senses was to take Choi Yeon-ha to the hospital. He contacted Jae-kyung Hospital and made sure to keep her identity hidden, ensuring she received treatment as quickly as possible. Fortunately, Choi Yeon-ha had not yet been reported missing, so it was able to be handled quietly. It was possible because she wasn’t starting a new project and wasn’t currently active. Later, he found out that Choi Yeon-ha’s side hadn’t taken it too seriously. Choi Yeon-ha often turned off her phone and went off the grid for days when she wasn’t working. As a result of a quick examination, it was found that she was very exhausted and needed to rest for a few days, but there were no major abnormalities. And… “No, you need to get a check-up.” “…I’m fine.” “What are you made of, Kang Jin-ho, some kind of dragon bone? There’s no way someone who was trapped in there for days is okay. Choi Yeon-ha also has a psychiatric consultation scheduled. If you’re really okay, at least get a psychiatric consultation. You do know how scary trauma can be, right?” “…No, I’m fine.” “You really don’t understand. Listen carefully. I’ll explain it again from the beginning.” Currently, Kang Jin-ho was suffering from a hellish nagging. It wasn’t the fact that he was trapped in the tunnel that was causing him trauma, but rather Jo Gyu-min was making him develop a fear of humans. Jo Gyu-min was relentlessly pushing Kang Jin-ho, as if he had realized for the first time that Kang Jin-ho wasn’t Superman because of this incident. Thanks to that, Kang Jin-ho was drowning in a barrage of nagging that he hadn’t even heard from his parents. “You really won’t get a check-up?” “Yes.” When Kang Jin-ho said it firmly, Jo Gyu-min wore a bitter smile. “Well, fine. If that’s what you want, Kang Jin-ho, do as you please.” “Okay.” “But!” Jo Gyu-min opened his mouth decisively. “Then, what are you going to tell your parents about this situation?” “…Huh?” “You must have prepared a good excuse for disappearing for days without contacting them, right?” Kang Jin-ho’s eyes shook greatly. He hadn’t thought that far. Kang Jin-ho, who had only thought about getting out of the tunnel, had no way of preparing such an excuse. “If you’re going to be this uncooperative, Kang Jin-ho, I won’t help you anymore. If you think you can convince your parents without my help, you wouldn’t be able to do this to me, would you?” «Kuh ha. Kang Jin-ho bit his lip. “I, I’ll get it.” “What?” “I’ll get a check-up.” It was Jo Gyu-min’s hard-earned victory after a long time. “So…” Go Myung-deok seemed to be pondering how to explain this situation. “So…” He pushed up his glasses, looked at the chart again and again, tilted his head, and then turned to look at Kang Jin-ho. “So, you had an accident recently?” “Yes.” Go Myung-deok narrowed his brow slightly. ‘Those damn higher-ups.’ He didn’t know where this golden spoon [a term for someone born into wealth and privilege] came from, but he was tired of these guys’ ‘Don’t ask about the situation, just deal with the phenomenon that has appeared’ attitude. He had experienced it terribly in other places. That’s why he had transferred to Jae-kyung Hospital. Jae-kyung was the only hospital in Korea that would answer ‘So what?’ to external pressure or the influence of the privileged class. But even at Jae-kyung, this was happening. He swallowed hard as he looked at this young man who was getting a priority check-up, pushing back the existing appointments, because the director had called in a panic. “There doesn’t seem to be anything seriously wrong with you.” “Yes.” “…Are you really okay?” “Yes, well…” Go Myung-deok scratched his head with a disgruntled look. ‘You should explain the situation and talk about it!’ Even if a person’s physical condition is the same, it is a matter of course that the severity and response will differ depending on whether the injury occurred ten days ago or today. But they just wanted him to look at the body and tell them the condition. ‘These guys have watched too many cartoons.’ Go Myung-deok turned the chart screen toward Kang Jin-ho. “You see this faint line on your arm here?” “Yes.” “It looks like it was fractured, but it’s almost healed?” “Yes.” “If this was a recent injury… well, that usually wouldn’t happen. It’s difficult to get an injury of this level. Even if it’s a fracture, it’s not easy to create such a minor fracture. So, we should see this as a healing process…” Go Myung-deok scratched his head and said. “Has it been about two weeks?” Jo Gyu-min sighed with a look of utter despair. ‘That was three days ago, doctor.’ “Oh, and you had severe bruises on your legs… they’ve healed well. Well, that can be treated well.” Go Myung-deok said in a solemn tone. “However, the fact that the skin regeneration hasn’t progressed more than that in two weeks means that it hasn’t been properly managed. Normally, even if the wound was deeper, it should have already scabbed over. If you dress it properly and manage it, it will be fine in a day or two. It won’t interfere with your daily life.” ‘That was three days ago, doctor!’ Jo Gyu-min looked at Kang Jin-ho’s X-ray with a look of utter injustice. He was still a human, but was it even possible for a fractured arm to heal so perfectly in two days! ‘An alien, an alien.’ But Jo Gyu-min didn’t give up his lingering feelings. “H, is there any sign of pneumonia or anything like that? He had dirt in his mouth.” “Huh? Pneumonia?” When Go Myung-deok clicked a few times on the computer, a picture of Kang Jin-ho’s ribs with a pure white lung appeared in front of them. ‘Wow, even his ribs are handsome.’ Go Myung-deok delivered the final blow to Jo Gyu-min, who was dumbfounded, thinking, ‘There are cases like this too.’ “It’s very clean. It’s as clean as if it was photoshopped. It would be great if we could preserve this lung as it is. Don’t smoke, just in case. Your lungs will deteriorate quickly.” ‘That guy is a chain smoker, doctor.’ He’s a chain smoker. He was looking for a cigarette as soon as he came to his senses. He took the car to the hospital after smoking a pack! Jo Gyu-min wanted to run out, open the window, and shout, ‘The king’s ears are donkey ears!’ [a Korean idiom expressing that a secret is widely known] The world is rotten! Jo Gyu-min, who couldn’t find any more ways to pressure Kang Jin-ho, groaned, and Kang Jin-ho bowed his head deeply to Go Myung-deok. “Thank you for your hard work.” “Ah, well, it’s not really hard work. There’s not much to treat.” “Thank you.” “Okay, then.” As Kang Jin-ho got up from his seat, bowed his head once more, and went outside, Go Myung-deok looked at the door with a curious expression. ‘This golden spoon isn’t so bad, is he?’ Usually, a golden spoon of that age, especially one that made the director of Jae-kyung Hospital rush over with a pale face, would treat even the person treating them like a subordinate. Go Myung-deok, who would feel his stomach twist at the sight of that, didn’t feel any aversion to Kang Jin-ho’s attitude. And it didn’t seem particularly fake. “Are the golden spoons from Jae-kyung different?” A strange misunderstanding was being created. “Hehe.” “…Okay.” “Hehehe.” “I said okay!” Jo Gyu-min snapped irritably. There’s a limit to how unfair the world can be. How can someone who was trapped in a tunnel and buried in dirt be so fine? “What’s the method?” The deal was already done. So Kang Jin-ho was entitled to demand the conditions that Jo Gyu-min had presented. Jo Gyu-min sighed and opened his mouth. Kang Jin-ho’s eyes slowly began to widen as he heard the words.