Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 368

“…This is a terrible thing to do, too.” Lee Hyun-soo sighed softly.

The building was completely empty.

After evacuating everyone who had taken refuge in the basement, he sent out those who were still breathing and in pain, judging that a healer could help them. Those who had no hope, Lee Hyun-soo ended their lives himself.

He had no right to control human life and death, but Lee Hyun-soo believed that it was more respectful to help those who were suffering and dying slowly without any help, rather than abandoning them.

Thanks to that, he was now the only one left in the building.

No…

To be precise, there were three people left, and soon there would be two.

‘Maybe there will be one soon.’

Kim Seok-il, who was screaming so horribly that anyone who heard it would want to cut off their own ears, was as good as dead. The one who was causing the screams would never let Kim Seok-il live.

And Lee Hyun-soo was as good as a corpse.

Lee Hyun-soo was the one who had actually planned the thing that had angered Kang Jin-ho the most, and Kang Jin-ho’s hunger would not end with just Kim Seok-il.

Lee Hyun-soo knew very well that he would soon be in the same state as Kim Seok-il.

And…

‘No, maybe…’

One who was as good as a corpse and one who would soon be a corpse.

And Kang Jin-ho.

If that was the case, then there were no humans left in this building. A corpse is not a human, and Kang Jin-ho was not a human either.

A thought came to him that there were only those who were alive but could not be called human coexisting, and he couldn’t help but laugh.

But the laughter didn’t last long.

“Kkkkkkk… ahh… uhuhu…”

The sound, a mix of screams and sobs, echoed through the empty building.

Lee Hyun-soo’s body trembled.

‘Kim Seok-il, it’s Kim Seok-il.’

Who was Kim Seok-il?

He was a self-made man who had created and grown the Yeongnam Association by standing up against the General Assembly with his bare hands. Of course, it couldn’t be said that he had no outside help, but help was only meaningful to those who could use it.

If it had been someone other than Kim Seok-il, could they have created the Yeongnam Association just because China had helped them?

No. It would have been absolutely impossible.

Lee Hyun-soo hated Kim Seok-il’s inhuman and dirty side, but paradoxically, he acknowledged the greatness of the man Kim Seok-il.

He was living proof of the saying that you wouldn’t bleed even if you were pricked with a needle, and that you had to be ruthless to succeed.

That Kim Seok-il was now sobbing like a child.

That fact was terrifying to Lee Hyun-soo beyond what he could bear.

The Kim Seok-il he knew was someone who wouldn’t even blink an eye if his limbs were cut off or his body was sawed in half. He was someone who would laugh even as he watched his own flesh being cut away.

That kind of person was now begging, shouting, and crying.

How much pain must he be going through for that Kim Seok-il to cry like a child?

He couldn’t see it with his own eyes.

Even Lee Hyun-soo didn’t have the courage to go into the president’s office where Kim Seok-il was suffering. He didn’t want to see the devil who was revealing his sadism with his own eyes.

It was enough to imagine the devil. No one would want to actually see a devil.

‘Kang Jin-ho.’

In many ways, the person Kang Jin-ho was beyond his imagination.

Every single step of the process of him invading the Yeongnam Association and solving everything was not what Lee Hyun-soo had expected.

From Lee Hyun-soo’s point of view, who enjoyed predicting the opponent’s reactions and setting traps, it felt like a natural enemy had appeared in front of him.

‘Well…’

What would change even if he predicted it?

He was someone that the entire Yeongnam Association couldn’t stop even if they all attacked him. He was not an opponent that could be stopped with schemes or strategies. He had mobilized all the power he could, and used all the methods he could, but Kang Jin-ho had solved everything by himself.

The screams echoed eerily in the empty building.

The strength was gradually draining from the screams.

Lee Hyun-soo quietly closed his eyes.

They were connected by a bad relationship, but he had spent a long time with Kim Seok-il. So, Lee Hyun-soo couldn’t just be indifferent to his death.

A small sob.

And a broken voice.

A scream that he tried to let out with all his might but couldn’t get out of his throat.

And…

Silence.

A low silence.

A deep silence that made even the sound of breathing sound as loud as thunder filled the inside of the building.

Creak.

And then, the sound of a door sharply broke the silence. Lee Hyun-soo, who knew what that sound meant, calmed his mind.

‘I’ll see it soon.’

The idea that people see a grim reaper when they die was just a superstition, but Lee Hyun-soo would be able to see the grim reaper. That grim reaper was now coming to him.

There was only one way to the president’s office, and Lee Hyun-soo was standing in that way.

‘Why am I here?’

Lee Hyun-soo suppressed the rising question.

Could he run away?

No matter how great Kang Jin-ho was, if he was distracted by Kim Seok-il, it wouldn’t be difficult to escape from the Yeongnam Association.

The foolish General Assembly guys were already busy suppressing those who had lost their will to fight after lifting the siege.

But why wasn’t he running away?

Of course, Kang Jin-ho could come after him.

Considering Kang Jin-ho’s skills so far, even if he ran away, he would be caught someday. There was no way to escape from Kang Jin-ho’s hands, who could control both the General Assembly and the Yeongnam Association.

Unless he left Korea quickly.

But…

‘Wouldn’t that itself be meaningful?’

Even if he was caught, he could escape from Kang Jin-ho’s hands for now.

And the time he could live would increase, even if only a little.

Then wouldn’t that be valuable enough?

He wanted to run away.

Right now.

If he ran away without looking back and lived in a secluded mountain, maybe he wouldn’t have to face that monster.

But…

Lee Hyun-soo laughed in vain.

‘That’s what’s scary.’

Seeing Kang Jin-ho was a terrifying thing.

What would happen to him by facing him was even more terrifying.

But the most terrifying thing was living in fear that Kang Jin-ho might appear in front of him someday if he ran away from this place.

Lee Hyun-soo didn’t have the confidence to endure such a life.

If someone saw him, they might praise him for facing his end with dignity instead of living a wretched life, but that was what Lee Hyun-soo was feeling inside.

And…

The grim reaper slowly revealed himself.

Kang Jin-ho, who was covered in blood, slowly walked out from behind the half-open door.

‘He didn’t have to go this far…’

Lee Hyun-soo would be terrified enough just by seeing Kang Jin-ho’s clean appearance. In that sense, Kang Jin-ho’s current appearance was a bit excessive.

It was like a tiger would be enough to make you piss your pants, but they had painted blood on the tiger’s face and made it hold the neck of a torn deer.

Drop.

The sound of blood dripping from Kang Jin-ho’s fingertips onto the floor was very clear.

It was easy to know who the owner of that blood was without having to think about it.

Drop, drop.

From his fingertips and from the ends of his wet, drooping hair, drops of blood were dripping down.

In that red scene, white eyes slowly lifted.

The moment Lee Hyun-soo felt Kang Jin-ho’s gaze on him, he had to feel a strange sensation that his whole body seemed to be a little more comfortable.

Like… what should he say?

Like a terminal cancer patient with no hope, who barely endures the terrible pain all over his body with painkillers and drugs, and then feels the pain go away at some point?

It would be a similar feeling.

Physically, he was fine, but Lee Hyun-soo’s mental state was already as devastated as a terminal cancer patient. He had to calmly face the inevitable death that had already been decided.

And now.

He met the eyes of death.

Lee Hyun-soo had lived the past few months repeating the name Kang Jin-ho so much that he had developed a neurosis, but this was the first time he had faced Kang Jin-ho directly.

And Lee Hyun-soo could tell.

‘I didn’t know.’

No one would know.

No one.

This person was someone who could never be understood just by hearing about him or seeing him from afar.

Unless you have faced the murderous and crazy eyes head-on, you cannot properly understand even 10% of how monstrous this person is.

Even Lee Hyun-soo, who was confident that he had grasped the person Kang Jin-ho more accurately than anyone else with a lot of information and cases, was overwhelmed with a sense of futility.

‘It was too obvious that I would lose.’

He didn’t know the enemy.

Since the evaluation of the strongest and most terrifying enemy was not done properly, it was too obvious that he would be defeated without even being able to try anything. It was a belated realization, but it was.

Kang Jin-ho’s gaze slowly scanned him up and down.

It felt like a snake was crawling on his body. Kang Jin-ho glanced at Lee Hyun-soo, who was trembling, and silently stared at him without saying anything.

‘What should I say?’

He hadn’t expected this situation.

Lee Hyun-soo, who had thought that Kang Jin-ho would rush at him the moment they made eye contact, was being crushed by Kang Jin-ho’s gaze that was silently looking at him.

It was a very strange experience to learn that a person’s body could be crushed just by their gaze, but it was a pity that he couldn’t purely admire that experience.

“I…”

Lee Hyun-soo opened his mouth, thinking that he had to say something. But what could he say when his mind had gone completely blank?

Lee Hyun-soo, who was hesitating, saw Kang Jin-ho’s hand slowly rising.

That hand would probably lead Lee Hyun-soo to hell.

He thought that his hand would reach out and cut off his neck, but Kang Jin-ho’s hand did not reach out to him. Kang Jin-ho’s hand went to his own face.

Kang Jin-ho, who raised his hand and wiped away the blood that kept flowing down his eyes, frowned slightly and opened his mouth.

“Is there a shower here?”

Lee Hyun-soo’s face was filled with bewilderment.

A shower?

Was he looking for a shower right now?

‘Is this guy… out of his mind?’

What kind of situation was this, and how many people had died, and yet he was calmly looking for a shower?

In an instant, something welled up inside him.

Lee Hyun-soo, unable to hold back his misplaced anger, shouted.

“Y-yes, there is!”

“Guide me.”

“…Yes.”