Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 376

“Really?”

“Yeah…”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes turned cold.

This was absolutely unacceptable.

He got hit? He got beaten up!

“Jong-su did it?”

“Looks like it.”

“Let’s go!”

“Where to?”

Kang Jin-ho replied with a blank face.

“We need to catch the bastard who did it.”

“J-Jin-ho, calm down!”

Park Yu-min was horrified at the murderous aura emanating from Kang Jin-ho. This guy had a tendency to get overly serious about strange things.

“He got hit, right?”

“Of course, he got hit. I wouldn’t say he got hit if he didn’t. But Jin-ho, isn’t it a bit much for an adult to get so worked up over an elementary school kid getting hit?”

“…If being calm in this situation is what makes you an adult, then I won’t be one.”

“Still, catching the guy who did it is really not the way to go. Calm down and sit down. It’s 10 PM!”

“Hmm…”

Kang Jin-ho looked at the clock, frowned, and then sat down.

Park Yu-min sighed deeply, seeing Kang Jin-ho’s attitude, which seemed to say, ‘It’s not that I’ve given up on catching that guy, but it’s too late today, so I’ll let it slide. But if you don’t properly convince me, I’m going to run to Jong-su’s school tomorrow, so don’t stop me.’

‘I shouldn’t have said anything.’

He thought Jin-ho had the right to know about the situation at the orphanage. If Jin-ho found out about this later, he would surely be angry that they had hidden it from him.

Still, he thought Kang Jin-ho would show a somewhat mature response, but this was even worse than Park Yu-min.

“Okay, tell me exactly what happened.”

When Joo Young-gi even brought a chair to sit down, Park Yu-min sighed and began to explain.

“Well, it’s like….”

“So…”

“He got beaten up by kids at school?”

“And it was a gang beating?”

“Yeah.”

Kang Jin-ho looked like he didn’t need to hear any more, and Joo Young-gi clicked his tongue.

Looking at their reactions, Park Yu-min realized once again that there was no one around him who could give proper advice.

‘These guys are no help at all.’

He was the only one with any common sense. If he didn’t stay sharp, he would be pushed out of his position as the only sane person.

“So, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to visit the school first.”

“What are you going to say at the school?”

“I’ll have to tell them that the kid got beaten up and ask them to do something about it.”

Joo Young-gi scoffed.

“You idiot, does that even make sense? So, if the teacher catches the kids who did it and tells them not to do it again, do you think they’ll listen?”

“…But that’s the only way, isn’t it?”

“Hey, you idiot. That’s just going to make things worse. I used to beat up kids a bit, and when that little brat snitched to his mom, she came to the school, and the whole teacher’s office was turned upside down. The teachers all ganged up on me. I got beat up a lot then.”

“So, what happened?”

“As soon as the teachers left, I beat the crap out of the snitch.”

“…Well, thanks for the vivid experience.”

Park Yu-min sighed deeply.

It wasn’t that Park Yu-min didn’t know the situation. He was the one who had experienced it. If it wasn’t for Kang Jin-ho, Jong-su would have been bullied even more than he was beaten up.

Park Yu-min knew very well that there were no adults who could reach out to them in that hopeless situation.

“Don’t underestimate those little brats. No, you shouldn’t underestimate them even more because they’re kids. Adults are despicable, but kids are fearless. Adults know that they’ll be screwed if they cause trouble, so they know how to put on the brakes, but kids don’t have that. Frankly, minors don’t get punished even if they kill someone, so what are they afraid of?”

“That’s true.”

“And don’t think kids are innocent. Looking back now, it’s cute how they play, but they have their own hierarchy, and they know who they can bully and who they can’t touch. If you try to interfere and twist that, the kid will just get isolated.”

“I know, but…”

Park Yu-min grabbed his head.

“But we can’t just sit back and do nothing. But we can’t go and beat them up like Jin-ho said either.”

“…That’s right.”

Joo Young-gi sighed.

‘This is a real pain in the ass.’

School violence has been a social problem for a long time, and despite the efforts of many people over that long period, there is still no clear solution.

“Wouldn’t it be okay to reason with them? If we make them understand how bad it is to bully others…”

“If they were the kind of kids who would understand that, they wouldn’t be bullying others in the first place, you idiot.”

“…I guess so?”

“You tend to see people too positively, you idiot. Hey, you idiot. This is a world where everyone learns ethics for an hour a day at school. Does that mean crime disappears? People aren’t reformed by education, but by learning how much they’ll be punished if they commit a crime. If teaching them would work, this place would be paradise, not hell.”

“I know, but…”

Park Yu-min looked at Joo Young-gi with a troubled face.

“And… adults getting involved is really not a good idea. Right now, Jong-su is an easy target, and if an adult gets involved, he’ll become an easy target who snitches to adults. It’s obvious that the kids who are leading the bullying will have a firm grip on power. If they can’t touch him directly, do you think they won’t bully him?”

“Probably not.”

“Kids these days are cunning. When we were in school, we tended to hold back because we didn’t want to get beaten up, but kids these days don’t see teachers as teachers. If they don’t get hit, what are they afraid of? They’ll just get a scolding. Then what do you think will happen?

They’ll find ways to bully people without getting scolded. That’s what hurts people more.”

Park Yu-min looked at Kang Jin-ho with a sullen expression.

Kang Jin-ho scratched his chin and opened his mouth.

“Let’s start with the root of the problem. Why did he get beaten up?”

“Why?”

“Yeah. They wouldn’t have hit him for no reason.”

“That’s…”

When Park Yu-min couldn’t answer properly, Joo Young-gi got angry.

“Hey, you frustrating human!”

Joo Young-gi pointed at Kang Jin-ho and shouted.

“What did you hear me say? There’s only one reason why people bully others, you idiot.”

“What is it?”

“Because they’re easy targets!”

Joo Young-gi said, annoyed.

“Other reasons are just excuses. Let’s say someone threw dirty mop water on you.”

“Hmm…”

“If the guy who threw the mop water is so good at fighting that you can’t do anything about it, you’ll just laugh it off and say, ‘It happens,’ but if the guy who made the mistake is an easy target, you’ll punch him right away.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded quietly.

‘That’s a familiar saying.’

Kang Jin-ho, who had survived in the jungle-like Murim [a martial arts world], couldn’t help but agree. Humans treat the same situation differently depending on who the other person is.

They can come up with many reasons, but the real reason hidden at the root is that they are easy targets, which is an undeniable fact.

“Because the kid is frail, because he’s an orphan, because his clothes are shabby, because he’s hesitant. The underlying meaning is just one thing. He’s just an easy target. Because the kid looks weak, they think they can mess with him without any problems, and because he doesn’t have any overprotective parents, they think they can mess with him without any repercussions.”

Joo Young-gi crossed his arms and leaned back.

“What other reason do you need? Those bastards think Jong-su is just an easy target. And!”

Joo Young-gi said, as if he was getting heated.

“It’s probably not just Jong-su. Jong-su is still young, so he told you, but there are definitely other kids who are going through the same thing. Min-gi is fine because I’m taking care of him, but…”

Park Yu-min’s face darkened.

In the past, many children from the orphanage ended up on the wrong path. Many became bullies, caused trouble, or went astray, but recently, the situation was a little different.

It’s not an era where you can take the lead just by being a little more rough or aggressive. Not having parents is now just a weakness, and it’s a reason to be subtly shunned or openly ostracized.

“Especially these kids from the orphanage, they’re all like that guy, so they’re as bland as water. If kids without parents are like that, it’s natural that there will be kids who try to mess with them.” Joo Young-gi sighed and said.

“That’s how people are. They try to backstab you first. If you don’t get angry and punch them, they think it’s okay. Then next time, they’ll punch you in the face, and if you still put up with it, they’ll kick you next.”

Kang Jin-ho’s face grew increasingly stern.

“Put up with it? If you put up with it, you become a pushover. The way to solve everything isn’t to put up with it, but to make them realize, ‘That guy will never tolerate unfair treatment.’ If you can’t do that and keep putting up with it…”

Joo Young-gi’s face hardened as if he was remembering a bad memory.

“Anyway…” The reason is just that. The kids are easy targets. So, the solution is to make them not easy targets, but if you just stop it by getting the teacher involved, like you’re doing, they’ll just bully them out of sight or the bullying will get worse.”

“I know, but…”

Kang Jin-ho jumped up from his seat.

“Jin-ho?”

“Talking amongst ourselves here won’t change anything.”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

“Young-gi is right. It would be good if it was just Jong-su, but it’s unlikely that Jong-su is the only one going through this. So, let’s go to the kids first. We need to find out if other kids are going through the same thing, and if so, how bad it is.”

“Okay.”

Park Yu-min also thought Kang Jin-ho was right.

“Let’s go.”

“Alright.”

Joo Young-gi and Park Yu-min quickly cleaned up the store. They had to go to the orphanage quickly before the kids fell asleep.

“…Damn it, those little bastards.”

Joo Young-gi cursed as he turned off the lights. He had grown fond of the kids, so he couldn’t feel good about them getting beaten up.

“If I had my way, I’d really!”

It wouldn’t be difficult to catch all the kids who bullied them and show them hell.

But Joo Young-gi also knew that it wouldn’t be a fundamental solution.

“This isn’t something to solve emotionally.”

“I know, you idiot.”

Kang Jin-ho followed Joo Young-gi, who was annoyed, to the car.

‘This isn’t something to take lightly.’

Kang Jin-ho sighed and headed to the car.

Most of the problems he had faced so far could be solved with force. If he had power, there was nothing he couldn’t do. But this problem wasn’t something that could be solved just by catching the perpetrators and beating them up.

Feeling his heart grow heavy, Kang Jin-ho got into the car and looked out the window.

The darkness, which always felt comfortable, felt uncomfortable today.