Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 451

Sluuuurp.

The yogurt was sucked up through the straw and into his mouth with a cheerful sound.

‘This is the problem.’

Kang Jin-ho looked at the yogurt with a serious expression. It might be an adequate amount for children, but for an adult male, a yogurt drink was far too small.

In the end, unable to resist the urge, Kang Jin-ho stopped by a convenience store, bought a pack of yogurt drinks, and stuck a straw in one.

Who was it that said that yogurt tastes best when you eat it from the bottom?

Kang Jin-ho did not agree with that statement. That was heresy. A true follower of the righteous path should drink yogurt with a straw.

Sluuuurp.

With a yogurt drink in one hand and the steering wheel in the other, Kang Jin-ho’s Lamborghini sped down the city highway.

To Elena, he might have looked like a carefree loafer without a worry in the world, but right now, Kang Jin-ho’s mind was incredibly complex.

It had been a while since he had been presented with a question to ponder.

It was the question of ‘What kind of goal should I set to make this life more fulfilling and meaningful?’

Kang Jin-ho’s brow furrowed slightly.

This was not a problem that could be solved in a day or two. And it was a problem that should not be solved that quickly. Perhaps this one question would determine the course of Kang Jin-ho’s life.

So, for now, he had to focus on the task at hand while contemplating this question.

‘The past three days have been quite fulfilling.’

He had visited the children often to play with them, and he had helped Joo Young-gi, who was busy as a bee preparing the new store. He had also encouraged Park Yu-min, whose tryout was just around the corner.

And the results were all satisfying.

The children, touched by Kang Jin-ho’s sincerity, told him that he didn’t need to visit them if he was busy. Joo Young-gi had given him a wonderful answer that brought a smile to his face, saying, ‘It’s a great help to have you around, but I need to stand on my own two feet now, Jin-ho.’

And Park Yu-min had worried about Kang Jin-ho’s health, who had stayed up with her until dawn, and told him to go home early.

Everyone was concerned about Kang Jin-ho.

They worried that Kang Jin-ho, who had nothing to do, might be busy, and they worried about the health of Kang Jin-ho, who could break world records in the Ironman triathlon.

Kang Jin-ho felt a slight warmth.

‘I should see them more often.’

Kang Jin-ho realized the truth of what he had heard before: that relationships require effort to maintain. Now that he had some time, he thought he should tighten the bonds with the people around him that had become a little loose, and Kang Jin-ho stepped on the accelerator…

‘A police car!’

…but then he slowly took his foot off the pedal.

Once bitten, twice shy. These days, Kang Jin-ho’s heart would drop just at the sight of a private security vehicle.

He feared nothing in the world, but he feared the authority of the law.

Perhaps it was the aftereffects of his first life, but even the sound of a police officer tapping on his car window would make him break out in a cold sweat.

Kang Jin-ho, who had vowed never to experience that again, started driving at a steady speed while looking at the speedometer.

He had to go and build new relationships.

The corners of Kang Jin-ho’s mouth curled up slightly.

Of course, those relationships would be a little different from the others.

“……This is insane.”

Lee Myung-hwan’s eyes were glazed over.

Two days ago, when Bang Jin-hoon had called them together, Lee Myung-hwan’s face had been set with firm resolve, like a soldier going to war.

He had left his anxiety and hesitation behind when he left his house.

It was too late to regret it. Now, all he could do was give it his best shot.

Those who were joining the General Assembly one by one seemed to have similar thoughts. Seeing their determined faces, he felt a sense of competition and a strange camaraderie, thinking, ‘I can’t lose either.’

With this feeling, he felt like he could overcome any difficult training that might be in store for them.

That was until Bang Jin-hoon entered the auditorium.

“To be honest…”

Bang Jin-hoon, who had entered, immediately got to the point. Well, it was a bit ambiguous to call it the point.

“Mr. Kang Jin-ho said that we should start two days from now.”

The people gathered in the auditorium looked at Bang Jin-hoon with suspicious eyes.

Then why were they gathered here now?

“But… hey, you guys need to think about it. What if Mr. Kang Jin-ho starts training and you guys are already panting from the beginning? What would that make us look like? Especially me, I have to talk to him separately after the training, and if he says something like, ‘These days, kids are so weak,’ how do you think I’d feel?”

He’d feel like crap, of course.

Lee Myung-hwan could completely understand what Bang Jin-hoon was saying.

“So, what am I supposed to do with you guys? I can’t just let it slide, can I? You guys know. I have a hot temper. A real piece of crap, right?”

Lee Myung-hwan smiled faintly.

This was de-authoritarianism.

But somehow, this de-authoritarianism didn’t seem to be working out well right now….

The de-authoritarianism he knew was supposed to be a good thing, but was it also applicable to a superior threatening a subordinate like a friend?

“So, let’s all win-win. You guys get to prepare in advance, and I don’t have to hear any complaints about how bad you guys are. If we all suffer a little, we can all live in a beautiful world where we can all laugh together, right?”

Someone raised their hand.

“Oh, yeah. What is it?”

“What happens if I don’t participate? I have to go feed the cats…”

“You can become cat food.”

“I’ll participate!”

Bang Jin-hoon smiled.

But to Lee Myung-hwan, it didn’t look like a smile at all.

That man was a man of action. If things went wrong, he was the kind of man who would stuff a person into a cat food can.

“Anyway, the conclusion is that I want you guys to suffer with me for two days before the real thing starts. Of course, I’m not going to sit in my office and watch you guys roll around. I read a book I received as a gift recently, and it said that the practical leader is the trend these days. So, I’ll roll around with you guys. How about it? Sounds good, right?”

Ah, so….

It’s like the division commander… no, the Chief of Staff of the Army is going to train with the soldiers. As a rifleman, not as a commander.

Rolling around with the soldiers, sharing their rations.

‘Damn it, is he crazy?’

Lee Myung-hwan vowed to catch the guy who gave Bang Jin-hoon that book and beat him to a pulp as soon as he had a little free time.

Why would he put such unnecessary pressure on someone who was just minding his own business?

Just hearing about it made him feel an unbearable discomfort.

“So, what do we start with?”

“We have to start by building up our basic stamina. Hey, even if you have guts, you need stamina to do anything. From my experience, stamina is the most important thing. If you have stamina, you can endure anything, but if you collapse because you don’t have stamina, you can’t do anything no matter how motivated you are. So, let’s just roll around like crazy for two days to build up our stamina. How about it?”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Okay. I’m glad you all understood what I said.”

“Do we start now?”

“Why waste time? Let’s just do it right away.”

“Then what do we start with?”

“We have to run, of course.”

Bang Jin-hoon reached out and pointed to the mountain peak across the window.

“Let’s go there and come back. What’s the point of just slowly covering the distance? We just have to go there and come back quickly. It should take about an hour. Of course, I’m not doing this to torture you guys, so those who come back within the time limit will get to rest. Those who don’t make it within the time limit will be judged to have lower stamina than I thought, and we’ll train them more rationally. Okay?”

“Yes!”

Lee Myung-hwan nodded his head with a loud reply.

‘He’s definitely different from the previous head.’

When Lee Joong-geol was in charge, it was impossible for ordinary members like them to have a conversation with the head of the organization. Lee Joong-geol’s authority was at a level that they could not approach.

So much so that even now, they sometimes felt that Lee Joong-geol was a higher-ranking person than Bang Jin-hoon.

In that sense, Bang Jin-hoon was a truly amazing person.

He perfectly secured his position without creating authority. He was never coercive, but he made the members respect him on their own.

His greatest achievement so far was the dismantling of this authoritarianism. Since he became the head, the atmosphere within the General Assembly had greatly improved.

Considering the things that had happened since he became the head and the events that had followed, it was an incredible feat.

‘Above all, the fact that he’s not a geezer is the best.’

Even when he gave them training or missions, he gave them rational and understandable tasks. That’s why people trusted and followed him. Compared to the old geezer directors who would always spout nonsense like, ‘I could do that with my fingers back in my day,’ he was the embodiment of rationality.

Even this training was like that.

Going to the mountain peak across the way and coming back within an hour might be an insane mission for an ordinary person, but it was just the right warm-up for them. There was no one here who couldn’t do it.

Compared to the old geezers who would give them impossible missions under the guise of intense training, how rational was this?

“Do we start now?”

“Yeah. Let’s gather at the training ground… no. I’ll follow right behind you, so just start right away without waiting. What’s the point of lining up for something like this?”

That practicality was also very much to his liking.

Everyone seemed to think so, as the person at the entrance opened the door and ran outside. No, they were about to run outside.

“Huh? Wait a minute.”

“Yes?”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m about to run, as you said.”

“Did you not hear what I said? That’s why I don’t like talking like this. It lacks clarity. I should use PPT next time.”

PPT aside, clarity… what was wrong?

“I said we’re going to do stamina training, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then you can’t use your inner energy.”

“……What?”

“You can only build up your stamina by running with your bare legs. Does using inner energy build up your stamina?”

Lee Myung-hwan smiled without realizing it.

So….

He was telling them to go to that mountain peak without using their inner energy and come back within an hour using only their physical strength.

Um, so….

If they were at that level, wouldn’t they be a little far from the human race? That was an achievement that even a mountain leopard couldn’t accomplish, right?

“And by the way…”

Bang Jin-hoon held up one finger and said,

“I’m going to run with you guys. I’m telling you in advance, if there are any guys who think, ‘How would he know if I use it without him knowing?’ then try using your inner energy.”

“It’ll be very interesting.”

Lee Myung-hwan slowly released the inner energy he had gathered in his legs.

“Huff! Huff! Huff! Huff!”

And that was the result.

His breath was coming up to his chin. And his legs were shaking uncontrollably.

Today, Lee Myung-hwan learned a new fact. Who knew that going down a mountain would be harder than going up? Running down a slope with wobbly legs was something that was difficult to do with ordinary stamina.

Especially at full speed.

“Ha, you bastards!”

Bang Jin-hoon’s annoyed voice could be heard.

“If you’re panting like this after just running this much, what am I supposed to do with you? You guys are martial artists, so you should be a little better than ordinary people. There are tons of people in mountain climbing clubs who are better at climbing mountains than you guys. Did I tell you to climb Mount Everest or Kanchenjunga? What are you guys going to do if you’re panting after climbing a small hill?”

This is a time attack, you crazy bastard!

If you give us time, we can climb Mount Everest without oxygen. But that’s not the point!

There were so many things he wanted to say, but he didn’t even have the strength to open his mouth.

After sleeping for two hours and climbing mountains for two days, he was reaching the point where the mountain was him and he was the mountain.

How could that be so easy? If he died and was buried in the mountain, he would become one with the mountain. There was nothing else to life.

“Hey, look over there.”

At that moment, Bang Jin-hoon pointed downwards.

A red sports car was slowly making its way up the road on the mountainside, looking out of place.

“You guys are dead now.”

“……”

“Hehehehehe.”

“……”