Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 390

Kang Jin-ho looked at the three of them with a slightly bewildered expression.

“So…”

‘How am I supposed to interpret what I just heard?’

“Are you saying it’s better if I don’t handle the kids?”

“Yes.”

“That’s right.”

Jo Gyu-min and Choi Yeon-ha nodded without hesitation, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Huh?”

Kang Jin-ho looked at the two of them with a puzzled expression.

‘What on earth is going on? I started this, so why should I be the one to step aside?’

“Why?”

“It’s to balance the power levels. If Kang Jin-ho gets involved, my competitive spirit won’t work, you know?”

Kang Jin-ho looked at Jo Gyu-min with a dumbfounded expression and said,

“You’re joking, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’m joking. This is for the kids, so there’s no reason for a competition to be important. The reason we said you should step aside is because you’re pushing the kids too hard.”

“Huh?”

“…Jin-ho, the boys are all dying.”

Kang Jin-ho frowned.

“They just don’t have enough grit.”

“That’s not a problem that can be solved with grit. Seriously, the kids are going to collapse at this rate.”

“Once they push past their limits…”

Choi Yeon-ha smiled brightly and said,

“See?”

“The kids are asking for help because they want to suffer less, but what’s the point of saying they won’t be tired after they’re tired to the point of death? Don’t you think so?”

Kang Jin-ho looked at Choi Yeon-ha as if he had been hit by a hammer.

He had never thought about it that way.

“But there’s nothing you can get without putting in effort.”

“Maybe so. But it’s not like you can get everything just by putting in effort. From what I’ve seen, what you’re doing is nothing more or less than abuse.”

“Abuse?”

‘I’m being incredibly gentle though?’

‘What are the standards in this world?’

Kang Jin-ho couldn’t help but be puzzled. Then, to confirm the truth, he turned to Park Yu-min.

Park Yu-min smiled awkwardly and said,

“Of course, Jin-ho, it’s not like you’re doing anything wrong… but I think, how should I put it, it’s a bit, um…”

Park Yu-min scratched his head.

“Isn’t it a bit too much for the kids?”

“It’s not just a bit too much. Even at the National Training Center, they don’t train people like that. Do you think they won’t get injured? Have you ever trained other people like that before?”

“I have.”

“And the results?”

“The results were…”

‘Good.’

His personal guard, the ‘Demon Flame’ [a group of elite assassins], was the strongest group of assassins in the martial world, made up of those he had personally taught and trained.

The members of the Demon Flame were each strong enough to be considered among the best in the Demonic Cult, and when they gathered as a group, the entire martial world trembled before their might.

If the Demon Flame had been with him at the last moment of his previous life, the Azure Demon wouldn’t have dared to plot against him. It was a mistake to hand them over so readily at the Azure Demon’s request, who said they needed them for a certain mission.

However, what should I say…

‘Was the survival rate ten percent?’

When they started training ten people, usually five would die, and four would become cripples. If one person survived, that one person would become an unparalleled master.

‘Of course, I’m not that crazy.’

Kang Jin-ho wasn’t going to put them through the same training he had given the Demon Flame. He had nerfed it repeatedly to match the children’s level, but it still seemed too much.

“Hmm…”

Kang Jin-ho nodded with a stiff expression.

He had to admit that this world and that world were different, and he hadn’t fully adapted to the concepts yet.

“Okay, I’ll lower the intensity a bit.”

“Ah, no.”

Jo Gyu-min shook his head firmly.

“It’s not about lowering it, we need an extreme measure.”

“…What?”

“It’s not that I don’t acknowledge your method, Kang Jin-ho. In fact, how should I put it, everyone knows deep down that there’s nothing better than violence to make people not look down on you.”

Choi Yeon-ha scoffed.

“What nonsense are you talking about? Who uses violence these days?”

“If you’ve ever been in a car accident and had a tattooed gangster get out of the car across from you, you wouldn’t say that. People think that violence can’t solve anything anymore, but they also know that violence is sometimes inflicted without regard for the law. So, you can’t say it’s not a threat.”

Choi Yeon-ha looked uncomfortable. But she couldn’t completely refute it, so she closed her mouth.

“…Then what do you want to do?”

At Kang Jin-ho’s words, Jo Gyu-min smiled.

“Kang Jin-ho, you can take care of the overall management. In fact, in these kinds of situations, you absolutely need someone to judge how things are going and make adjustments.”

Kang Jin-ho felt like he was being pushed into the background. He sighed, feeling frustrated.

‘It’s better to listen to them.’

Excluding his family, the people here were the ones he trusted the most. If they were all saying in one voice, ‘Please just step aside,’ then it meant they were right.

This wasn’t something he was doing to boost his ego or for his own satisfaction. It was something he was doing for the kids. If he was hindering the process of making the kids’ lives better, then he should naturally step back.

However…

“No, then does that mean we’re stopping the training?”

“No. I already told you, Kang Jin-ho’s words are also right.”

“Huh? So, we’re still doing the training?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Jo Gyu-min nodded vigorously and grinned.

“It’s better to leave this kind of thing to an expert.”

“I’m going to die, seriously.”

“Should we run away?”

“…It’s enough to just say we’re not going to exercise, why are you talking about running away? What are we going to do if we leave the orphanage? These days, they don’t even use kids for delivering jajangmyeon [Korean-style black bean noodles].”

“‘Even for delivering jajangmyeon’? Delivery drivers make a lot of money these days.”

“Anyway.”

Han Jin-sung sighed deeply.

He thought he would get used to it the more he did it, but Kang Jin-ho’s method was not something you could get used to. Just when he thought his body was starting to adapt, Kang Jin-ho would increase the intensity. His reason was that there was no point in doing exercises that were familiar and comfortable.

What he said was right, but for those who had to endure the increasingly intense exercises every day, it was a tearful situation.

‘I can’t take it anymore.’

At this point, it would be worth trying to persuade Kang Jin-ho in various ways, but…

“I can’t say it.”

“You too, hyung?”

“…I’m going to die.”

Strangely, those words wouldn’t come out when he was in front of Kang Jin-ho. He had never once thought that he would be punished or that something terrible would happen if he said something.

He knew that if he spoke, Kang Jin-ho would understand, even if he didn’t fully comprehend, and would be considerate, but strangely, the words just wouldn’t come out.

“Maybe it’s because of that.”

“Because of what?”

“Because of his eyes.”

“What eyes?”

“Well… how should I put it? It’s like he’s saying, ‘You guys can obviously do this much,’ you know? Eyes that don’t doubt for a second that we’ll succeed.”

“I haven’t seen eyes like that since the head nun was alive. I think Yu-min hyung cares about us a lot more, but Yu-min hyung is always worried about us.”

“That’s right.”

Han Jin-sung sighed.

They had rarely been expected of anything, so betraying expectations was also not easy.

‘But this is really the limit.’

They hadn’t even started yet, and his legs were already trembling. When he went home at night, he would fall asleep like a dead man. Thanks to that, Park Yu-min was having a war every morning trying to wake them up.

‘How long do we have to keep doing this?’

Han Jin-sung made a decision.

This was not right.

Today, he had to talk. If it was this hard for him, how much harder would it be for the other kids? They were really going to have an accident at this rate.

And then, the door opened, and Kang Jin-ho walked in with a stiff expression.

Han Jin-sung, who had made up his mind, gritted his teeth and looked at Kang Jin-ho.

‘I can’t do it.’

Han Jin-sung looked down with a tearful expression.

Looking at that face, he couldn’t say he couldn’t do it. No one here didn’t know how much heart Kang Jin-ho was putting into them.

Unlike Park Yu-min, Kang Jin-ho was someone who had no connection to them. One day, such a person suddenly appeared at the orphanage, and before they knew it, he had taken his place like an older brother.

Han Jin-sung, who knew how difficult and annoying it was to invest that much time and effort into people who were not related to him, couldn’t betray the care and affection that Kang Jin-ho had given them.

Whether he knew their feelings or not, Kang Jin-ho opened his mouth.

“Um…”

Kang Jin-ho, who seemed to be hesitating unlike usual, sighed and continued.

“I think I have some bad news to tell you today…”

“Huh?”

Han Jin-sung raised his head sharply.

“Bad news?”

“I don’t know if this is good news or bad news from your perspective.”

Anxiety flickered in Han Jin-sung’s eyes.

Kang Jin-ho’s face looked troubled. To Han Jin-sung, that look felt like he was expressing his disappointment in them.

‘Ah, no.’

Han Jin-sung’s heart grew urgent.

“After discussing it here and there, we’ve come to the conclusion that the training I’ve been giving you so far has been excessively harsh.”

‘Did you have to discuss it to know that?’ The absurdity suppressed even his urgency.

‘What is that man even thinking?’

“So, um… for now, I’ve decided to step away from your training.”

The children exchanged glances.

‘Nice!’

‘Yes!’

Kang Jin-ho seemed a little disappointed, but the children, who thought that surviving right now was more important, cheered with their eyes. Of course, they couldn’t show such a reaction outwardly.

“T-then, does that mean hyung won’t be looking after us anymore?”

Han Jin-sung was the only one worried that those words meant Kang Jin-ho was giving up on them.

“No, it’s not like that… according to the opinions, we’ve decided to leave it to an expert.”

“An expert?”

“Yeah. Yu-min also said that would be better. So, that must be right. For now, I’m going to leave this to the person who’s coming now.”

“Ah…”

Han Jin-sung clenched his fist tightly.

‘No. Hyung wasn’t giving up on us.’

It was just that the person who was training them was changing. Then this was a great achievement. No matter who came, they wouldn’t be as brutal as Kang Jin-ho.

‘I’m going to live now.’

And at that moment, Kang Jin-ho turned his head and looked towards the door.

“He’s here.”

The children’s bodies instantly froze like stone as they followed Kang Jin-ho’s gaze.

The person who opened the gym door and walked in had shoulders that were about twice the size of other people, and was wearing a black suit…

‘A gangster?’

‘A thug?’

‘A human weapon?’

“Let me introduce you. This is Bang Jin-hoon, the head of the Korean Martial Arts Federation, who will be in charge of your training from now on.”

‘Are you kidding me?’

‘Hyung?’

‘Hyuuung?’