Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 348

The arrival of night might be a welcome thing for some. Night is a time for rest, a time for recharging. For those worn out by work and life, the night might be a precious time, free from the intrusion of others.

However, Choi Yeon-ha could not fully enjoy that night.

As a professional, Choi Yeon-ha had rarely experienced night as a time for rest. Filming often stretched for long hours, regardless of day or night, and especially shoots on set often went well beyond 24 hours.

Choi Yeon-ha considered herself an owl, but recently, she had to admit that the night had been giving her quite a bit of rest.

At least, in the past, she hadn’t been afraid of the darkness falling.

‘How weak I’ve become.’

She had always prided herself on being a strong person.

Anyone who knew her would have to agree with her assessment. Choi Yeon-ha had clawed her way up from the bottom in the entertainment industry, resisting countless temptations, with no backing whatsoever.

Some called her a tough cookie, while others branded her a heartless bitch.

Choi Yeon-ha had never even blinked an eye, even knowing that envy and jealousy were boiling behind her back.

Because of that, everyone believed she was strong. Even she herself did. But now, that belief was crumbling.

She knew that trauma wasn’t something that could be easily overcome with mental strength, but she couldn’t help the feeling of tightness in her chest.

The wind blowing was a little chilly.

Choi Yeon-ha was standing on the hospital rooftop, feeling the wind. The sunset, sinking into the west, was beautifully red.

‘Things have been a bit strange lately.’

Choi Yeon-ha closed her eyes, quietly watching the sunset.

It was a strange feeling.

It wasn’t just a thought that came from recent events. Even if she hadn’t experienced the recent accident, Choi Yeon-ha would have had the same thought.

Until recently, her life had been moving towards a single goal.

To become a better actress.

To become a more successful actress, and to never slip off the rails she was currently running on.

Choi Yeon-ha had been running solely for that purpose.

But recently, her life had begun to distort.

She had derailed from the rails.

It was an inexcusable derailment. In the past, she would have fought tooth and nail to get back on track. But now, she was thinking, ‘So what if I don’t?’

She had come to realize that there wasn’t just one way to live.

It would be good to be more successful, but to be more successful, she would have to give up the present. When she looked back on her life in the future, would she be satisfied with just being a successful actress?

She would have been in the past. But not now.

‘Kang Jin-ho.’

She had seen him, Kang Jin-ho.

In Choi Yeon-ha’s eyes, Kang Jin-ho was a truly strange person. He seemed to have no particular interest in success, despite having all the conditions she had so desperately desired.

He was someone who could have wealth and fame if he wanted it. But Kang Jin-ho was running a pizza place with his friends, messing up the business, and on his days off, he was visiting orphanages to help out. Though it didn’t seem like he was particularly helpful.

His way of life was something she couldn’t understand at all.

“He’s a strange person, really.”

Maybe that’s why she was interested.

At first, she thought she could use Kang Jin-ho because he was handsome, but the more she got involved with him, the more she became interested in him as a person, not just his face.

It was curiosity about someone who lived a life so different from her own.

And after experiencing several incidents, one impression remained strong.

She didn’t know if Kang Jin-ho’s life was the right one. Everyone’s way of life was different, and she didn’t have the right to judge what was right or wrong.

But one thing was certain: Kang Jin-ho was fully enjoying his life.

Kang Se-ah would absolutely deny it, but that’s how it looked to Choi Yeon-ha. He was a person who enjoyed the present. He didn’t sacrifice the present for the future. He just lived as if the present was everything.

That looked incredibly dazzling to Choi Yeon-ha.

She, who had thought that enduring the present for the sake of the future was the only way, had encountered someone living a completely opposite life.

So she became conscious of him.

‘And this is the result… Sigh.’

Choi Yeon-ha was having a hard time because Kang Jin-ho’s face kept popping up every time she breathed. As her fear dulled, she kept thinking about what that man was doing, leaving her stuck here.

‘Such a heartless man.’

It was fine that he had things to do. But if he knew that she was alone in the hospital room, wouldn’t it be nice if he sent her a message every now and then?

“He really has no sense.”

She already knew that Kang Jin-ho was not considerate, didn’t express his feelings, and had no kindness whatsoever. It wasn’t that he was a bad person, but rather that he was a bit old-fashioned.

‘But still, that’s not all there is to him.’

A smile appeared on Choi Yeon-ha’s lips.

“He was a little kind.”

When she was trapped in the cave, Kang Jin-ho was a little different from the person she knew.

He kept talking to her and worrying about her.

Choi Yeon-ha had never imagined that Kang Jin-ho had that side to him.

If it hadn’t been for Kang Jin-ho, she wouldn’t have been able to endure that time. The fact that someone who worried about her and cared for her was in the same space was her only support.

“I must be crazy, really.”

Choi Yeon-ha pulled down the corners of her mouth, which kept curling up.

The fact that a woman was smiling so freely while thinking about a man kept embarrassing her. How much had she ridiculed her juniors for smiling as if they had the whole world after getting a boyfriend?

But now, Choi Yeon-ha was doing the same thing.

At least they showed that reaction after getting a boyfriend, but the thought of her being alone on the rooftop, chasing after nothing, made her laugh.

‘I need to get a grip.’

But once a thought had taken root, it didn’t easily return to its place.

“Maybe he’s a little bit of a caring type.”

Maybe he was a hedgehog type, awkward and shy, pretending to be stiff.

Come to think of it, there was no way a blunt person could play so comfortably with children at an orphanage.

Choi Yeon-ha chuckled softly, thinking that Kang Jin-ho had a cute side too.

Crack.

The sound was so clear, and also so chilling.

Nomura Ryoji clenched his fist without realizing it.

‘Something’s wrong here.’

He had heard enough of the story.

A new returnee [a person who has returned to their home country after living abroad] who appeared in Korea had killed his colleagues dispatched from Gumi. They had been dispatched to punish him and to advance into Korea, which had been postponed.

Above all, punishment was the priority.

He didn’t want to believe that warriors of the Great Japanese Empire had been defeated by a low-level Korean, but reality was reality.

Sometimes, returnees could transcend their environment and situation, so he had to accept it.

So, he had been careful.

Even if the target exceeded Korea’s level, he had gathered a group of people who could definitely handle it.

And now, the result was in front of his eyes.

His subordinate, with his neck bent at an odd angle, was being held in Kang Jin-ho’s hand, his tongue sticking out.

Instant death.

The warmth was rapidly leaving the body that had been alive just a minute ago.

It was an unrealistic sight.

‘Don’t be surprised now.’

Ryoji bit his lip.

They had come to kill people too. And the one they were targeting now was Kang Jin-ho. If things had gone according to plan, it would be Kang Jin-ho whose neck was broken by now. So, there was nothing strange about it.

But…

Why did he feel so out of place?

Thud.

When Kang Jin-ho let go, the body of his subordinate, now a corpse, fell to the floor.

‘So that’s what it was.’

Only then did Ryoji realize what the strange sense of unease he had been feeling was.

There was no one here who couldn’t kill a person. And most of them had probably experienced getting blood on their hands.

Yet, the reason he felt out of place was because he couldn’t feel even the slightest psychological resistance from Kang Jin-ho.

What kind of emotions do people feel when they kill?

Not shooting from afar, but breaking the neck of a person in their hands, what kind of emotions would a person feel?

Usually, they would feel a chill. If not, they would feel a sense of unease or at least some resistance.

Sometimes, those who were crazy about killing might feel pleasure in the process.

But Kang Jin-ho didn’t seem to feel any of that.

Naturalness, and familiarity.

He was just doing his job, excluding all emotions. It wasn’t that he had no emotions.

‘How should I put it…’

A butcher cutting meat wouldn’t feel any special emotions while cutting meat. A person picking apples in an orchard wouldn’t feel any emotions while picking apples.

That’s how Kang Jin-ho was when he killed people.

Killing seemed so natural. Kang Jin-ho was doing the gruesome act of breaking a person’s neck and turning a living person into a corpse, as if he were a factory worker tightening a bolt.

‘That guy is crazy.’

It wasn’t a matter of being strong or not.

Even if Kang Jin-ho was a weakling who couldn’t even beat a child, Ryoji would have made the same assessment. Humans should have at least a minimum of respect for other humans. When a human doesn’t see another human as a human, that human can no longer be called human.

Then…

What should he call Kang Jin-ho?

At that moment, Kang Jin-ho slowly began to move.

“Not yet.”

Crack.

The sound of bones colliding echoed as Kang Jin-ho clenched his fist.

The sound was more threatening and terrifying than any words.

“Not yet, not yet.”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes were bloodshot.

Looking at those eyes, like a beast that had been starving for at least a month and had nothing to lose, Ryoji felt the urge to run away for the first time.

He had never imagined that he would be in a position like a lamb in front of a beast’s teeth.

Kang Jin-ho slowly bared his teeth and smiled.

“You guys started it, right?”

In the mountains where the darkness had completely fallen, Kang Jin-ho’s reddened eyes were pressing down on them.

“Then I should be the one to end it.”

Kang Jin-ho slowly approached them without losing his smile.

Choi Yeon-ha’s thoughts were half right.

Surprisingly, Kang Jin-ho was showing kindness right now.

A painless death was the greatest mercy Kang Jin-ho could give them.