Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 495

“Have you arrived?”

Jo Gyu-min greeted Kang Jin-ho with a refreshed face. Kang Jin-ho was slightly taken aback by the bright welcome.

“Why are you looking like that?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Kang Jin-ho waved his hand dismissively, and Jo Gyu-min chuckled, saying,

“You didn’t think I’d be waiting here awkwardly, wondering if I’d said something out of line the other day, did you?”

“You’re not a good person either, Mr. Jo.”

“Hehehe, if you’re just realizing that now, I’m disappointed.”

Jo Gyu-min joked and led Kang Jin-ho to a seat.

Kang Jin-ho obediently sat in the seat Jo Gyu-min indicated.

“Would you like a cup of coffee after all this time?”

“…Shall we, after all this time?”

Jo Gyu-min smiled and approached the coffee maker. As he sat on the sofa and watched Jo Gyu-min make an iced Americano, he was reminded of his school days.

‘It’s been a long time.’

How many years has it been already?

Kang Jin-ho thought about how long his relationship with these people had lasted.

Jo Gyu-min, having made an iced Americano in a large glass, placed it in front of Kang Jin-ho. Kang Jin-ho accepted it and took a sip.

“How is it?”

“The taste is a bit…”

“It’s, it’s the difference in the machine. It’s not that my skills have decreased.”

“Let’s go with that.”

Jo Gyu-min’s pride was slightly hurt, but he didn’t dwell on it. Compared to when he was just making coffee with nothing else to do, it was natural that his skills would have declined.

“You came early in the morning.”

“Yes.”

“Can I assume that you’ve found an answer?”

Kang Jin-ho changed the subject.

“The Chairman seems to be lacking energy…”

“Hmm…”

Even though he knew Kang Jin-ho was changing the subject, Jo Gyu-min couldn’t help but follow his lead, as the matter was significant.

“He has a lot of worries these days.”

“Has he been like this for a while?”

“It’s been quite a while. It feels like he’s been even more drained since he met with his children this time. To be precise, he was full of energy right after meeting them, but it feels like that energy has rapidly disappeared…”

“Hmm.”

Kang Jin-ho let out a groan.

Hwang Jung-hoo was a very important person in his life. It wasn’t pleasant to see such a person losing his motivation.

‘It doesn’t seem like there’s a health problem…’

He had briefly examined his body, but it didn’t seem like his energy was depleted. He kept repeating that he was old, but it wasn’t time for him to say such things yet.

If that was the case, then it must be a problem of the mind, not the body.

“What could be the reason?”

“Well…”

Jo Gyu-min opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it tightly.

“It seems like you have something to say…”

“Let me organize my thoughts for a moment.”

Jo Gyu-min said that and put a cigarette in his mouth. After lighting the cigarette and pondering for a while, Jo Gyu-min nodded.

“This is off the record for now.”

“…There’s nowhere else for me to say it.”

“Ah, that’s true.”

That immediate affirmation subtly twisted his mood.

“It seems that the Chairman is currently in a major slump.”

“A slump?”

“Yes. So… it’s a situation where he has nothing to do and nothing he needs to do.”

Kang Jin-ho tilted his head, not easily understanding.

That man was someone who was called the lion of the business world. He was someone who had risen to the top with his own efforts and judgment from a land that was completely destroyed by the Korean War, without any foundation.

For such a person to be in a slump.

If he was someone who would easily lose his motivation, he wouldn’t have been able to climb this high.

“I don’t quite understand. Are you saying he’s lost his drive?”

“It seems so.”

“It doesn’t seem like that would happen easily… Why?”

“…Because it’s all meaningless, perhaps.”

“Pardon?”

Jo Gyu-min scratched his cheek.

“Actually, I have doubts about whether it’s right to apply general theories to a superhuman like the Chairman.”

“Yes.”

“People cannot continue to work without compensation.”

Kang Jin-ho agreed. That was a given.

“In the beginning, with enthusiasm and will, you can endure even if the rewards you receive are not as great as the effort you put in. Sometimes, you even comfort yourself by saying that it’s a way to prove your passion. But no one can sustain that. If someone does, it means that they are gaining great mental satisfaction from what they are doing. Mental benefits that surpass material rewards.”

“That’s probably true.”

“The problem is that the Chairman doesn’t belong anywhere.”

Jo Gyu-min tapped his cigarette ash into the ashtray.

“Money is no longer meaningful to him. Money is meaningful to the person who uses it, but to the person who accumulates it, it’s just a number, nothing more or less. Moreover, the Chairman has never been that attached to money. What he wanted was not to increase his assets, but for the company to grow.”

That was certainly true.

Hwang Jung-hoo lived in a country house on the outskirts of Seoul. He didn’t live in a grand mansion, but in an old house, and he drove a domestic car.

Usually, if someone in that position showed such a lifestyle, they would be criticized for being stingy or praised for being frugal, but in Kang Jin-ho’s eyes, it was neither.

Hwang Jung-hoo really had no interest in spending money. It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested in luxury, but that he was someone who could live without any problems as long as he had enough money for his needs.

What meaning would it have for money to accumulate in such a person’s bank account?

“Oh?”

As Kang Jin-ho raised his head as if he had realized something, Jo Gyu-min chuckled.

“Yes. In terms of financial matters, he’s the same type as you, Mr. Kang Jin-ho.”

“Hmm.”

“That’s why it’s a problem. If the Chairman was someone who was crazy about money, he would have been burning with the desire to earn more money. If he was someone who was burning with ambition for fame, he would be bothering people to enter politics by now. But the Chairman is not interested in any of that. The only thing the Chairman was interested in was Jaekyung. But… Jaekyung is now leaving the Chairman’s hands. He made it that way himself.”

“He made it that way himself?”

Jo Gyu-min replied with a bitter face.

“Thanks to his experience of being bedridden once, he realized how easily Jaekyung could collapse without him. So, he started to separate himself from Jaekyung. Even if he were to die right away, Jaekyung shouldn’t be shaken.”

Kang Jin-ho couldn’t help but feel a slight sense of sorrow at this point.

He was someone who had lived his whole life for the company. But at the last moment, what would it feel like to have to separate himself from the company with his eyes open, fearing that his death would destroy the company?

He couldn’t help but sympathize with Hwang Jung-hoo in this regard.

“So, at some point, he must have felt it. The Chairman has now reached his limits in innovating Jaekyung. He’s giving up some of his shares to the younger generation and making arrangements so that Jaekyung can grow even after his death. But then, what should the Chairman do?”

Jo Gyu-min slowly exhaled cigarette smoke. The pitiful smoke dissipated into the air.

“He’s half-estranged from his children, so there’s no need to prepare for the next generation, and there’s no need to struggle to create assets to pass on. So, the work he has to do at the company is gradually decreasing. He’s probably starting to feel like he’s becoming a useless person in society.”

“This feels like a problem of unemployment for the elderly…”

“It’s absurd, isn’t it?”

Jo Gyu-min said as if he couldn’t believe it himself.

“Of course, it’s ridiculous for me to worry about him. How dare a salaryman like me worry about the Chairman of Daejaekyung? Even if we don’t pay any attention, the Chairman’s final years won’t be miserable. He has the wealth he has accumulated so far, and the honor he has accumulated so far. Even if he ends his life like this, he will probably be remembered in history as a respected figure in the business world. However…”

Jo Gyu-min scratched his head vigorously.

“Still, I can’t help but worry. Chairman Hwang Jung-hoo is not just a boss to me, but a benefactor who opened a new path in my life, and sometimes he’s like a father who has generously passed on everything to me. Lately, when I see the Chairman’s shoulders drooping, I feel a little… yes, a little like that.”

Kang Jin-ho took out another cigarette and put it in his mouth.

‘Chain smoking, huh.’

He couldn’t help but smoke when he heard such stories.

“So, that’s why I’m saying this…”

Jo Gyu-min took a slightly awkward posture.

It seemed like he was about to make a difficult request. After hesitating, Jo Gyu-min sighed and said,

“I’m really sorry for asking you now for something I used to oppose so much, but is there any way to restore the relationship between Chairman Hwang Jung-hoo’s children and Chairman Hwang Jung-hoo? No matter how much I think about it, I can’t come up with any ideas.”

But Kang Jin-ho’s reaction was unexpected.

“Why would you do that?”

“…No. Since the situation has come this far, they should at least meet as family again…”

Kang Jin-ho leaned back on the sofa. Then, he slowly took a drag of his cigarette.

“That doesn’t seem like a solution.”

“Pardon?”

“Of course, I’m someone who thinks that people need family. That’s why I wanted Chairman Hwang to regain his family. But this is a different case.”

Jo Gyu-min’s eyes widened slightly.

No, he had said that it was important, so what was he talking about now?

“Telling him to restore his relationship with his family now is no different from telling him to retire to the back room and watch his grandchildren. That won’t be the answer for Hwang Jung-hoo. A lion cannot graze on grass.”

“Ah…”

After listening, it made sense.

This was a stopgap measure, not a solution. In the end, it wouldn’t be able to satisfy the ambition of Hwang Jung-hoo, who had roamed the business world like a lion.

“There’s only one way. He needs to run again.”

“But that’s too harsh. The Chairman is almost eighty years old now. To tell such a person to stand at the forefront of the cutthroat business world and start innovating again…”

“The place he runs doesn’t necessarily have to be the business world.”

“Pardon?”

Kang Jin-ho smiled lightly.

“If he feels useless because he has nothing to do, then we just need to create something for him to do. Something that only Hwang Jung-hoo can do.”

It was easy to say, but.

The difference between saying something and actually doing it was enormous. Especially what Kang Jin-ho had said, there were a lot of problems that needed to be solved in order to actually achieve it.

It wasn’t that he doubted Kang Jin-ho’s abilities, but this wasn’t a problem that could be solved by pushing through like a bulldozer.

“It’s perfect timing.”

“Yes?”

“There was something I was going to tell you anyway, and this might even solve Chairman Hwang Jung-hoo’s problem.”

Jo Gyu-min stared blankly at Kang Jin-ho.

Kang Jin-ho smiled as if enjoying the reaction and opened his mouth.

“There’s something I want to do. Something I really want to do.”