Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 496

“Did you find it?”

“Yes.”

It was a confident answer.

Jo Gyu-min looked at Kang Jin-ho with a slightly intrigued expression.

He couldn’t help but wonder what kind of answer this man had come up with.

The Kang Jin-ho he knew was someone who always brought him indescribable amusement.

If such a person was bringing something with such obvious delight, it would surely pique Jo Gyu-min’s interest as well.

“I’d like to hear the answer?” Kang Jin-ho smiled, as if stalling, and quietly looked at Jo Gyu-min.

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry. I was wrong. I feel like I’m dying of impatience, so could you just give me the answer?”

“There was an answer in what you said.”

“In what I said?”

“Yes.”

There was an answer to the topic of ‘something you want to do’ that Jo Gyu-min had brought up. In his new life, there was only one area that Kang Jin-ho had said he wanted to try with his own mouth.

“It was something that could be easily thought of, but I was overthinking it, so it was difficult to find the answer. Someone told me that I’m not looking for something I want to do, but something that can help everyone. I was told that I was caught up in a petty arrogance, thinking I was responsible for other people’s lives.”

“Wow…”

Jo Gyu-min’s mouth dropped open.

In fact, Jo Gyu-min didn’t think so. But even if that were true, he had never imagined that there would be someone who could say such a thing to Kang Jin-ho’s face.

“That’s scathing.”

“It felt like I’d been hit.”

Kang Jin-ho readily admitted.

“But when I thought about it, that was right. I was thinking too hard about the simple phrase ‘something I want to do.’ When I thought about it a little more simply, I saw the answer. There was something I really wanted to do, regardless of other people.”

“I feel like I’m dying of impatience.”

Kang Jin-ho grinned.

“It’s nothing much. I just want to run a foundation.”

“…A foundation?”

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

“No, no, wait a minute. Are you talking about a foundation like a welfare foundation or an educational foundation?”

“Yes.”

“You’re going to do that?”

“Yes.”

Jo Gyu-min couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

‘No, what is he talking about?’

Of course, it was obvious that Kang Jin-ho was interested in that area, even if you only stayed around him for a few days.

A man who cuts people down like watermelons behind the scenes visits orphanages whenever he has free time and spends money on the kids like water. Wasn’t he the one who wasted his precious time on the children’s education problems just a while ago?

But now, he’s talking about a foundation…

Jo Gyu-min felt a throbbing headache. It was truly a welcome thing that Kang Jin-ho had found an answer, but the answer was too different from what he had wanted.

If Kang Jin-ho had said he wanted to conquer the world, it wouldn’t have been this absurd. Considering Kang Jin-ho’s current social influence and practical power, his answer was too small in scale.

“May I ask why?”

But he was not a leader, but an assistant. If Kang Jin-ho had decided that way, he had to at least ask for the justification of the decision.

“Do you need a reason?”

“No, no. You don’t need a reason. If Mr. Kang Jin-ho decided that way, then that’s just how it is. You don’t need a reason for something you want to do. Because it’s ‘something you want to do.’ However, I also need personal understanding. Choosing to do what you want is a personal choice, but whether those around you will follow that is a separate issue.”

“I suppose so.”

Kang Jin-ho took a deep drag of his cigarette.

Where should he start explaining this?

Kang Jin-ho, who had roughly finished organizing his thoughts, opened his mouth.

“There is injustice.”

“…Yes?”

“Let’s say someone is living an ordinary life. But one day, that person has a car accident. Their whole family dies in the accident, and the person becomes paralyzed in the lower body and can’t leave a wheelchair for the rest of their life.”

Jo Gyu-min’s face contorted. It was a situation that was hard to imagine.

“What did this person do wrong?”

“There’s nothing wrong. It’s just bad luck.”

Kang Jin-ho also nodded.

“There’s nothing wrong, but just because there’s nothing wrong doesn’t mean the pain that person has to endure disappears. What remains is a deep loneliness and an uncontrollable body. There aren’t many paths to choose from.”

“Hmm…”

“There’s another case. There’s a child who is born with a disability. This child is abandoned by their parents as soon as they are born and barely survives, wandering the streets. While some are loved by their parents and have time to cultivate themselves, this child spends all their time just trying to survive. Digging through trash cans.”

Jo Gyu-min nodded with a gloomy face.

He was probably thinking of Park Yu-min in his head. But this wasn’t Park Yu-min’s story. It was the story of Kang Jin-ho’s second life.

Perhaps Kang Jin-ho could be seen as a lucky case. How many of the countless children abandoned in the Central Plains [a historical region in China] at that time survived?

Even if he suffered his whole life, Kang Jin-ho was a successful person in that he was able to live a life, even if it was a painful one.

The moment he realized that, he couldn’t help but think of one thing.

Then what was the difference between them and Kang Jin-ho?

There was only one thing.

It wasn’t because Kang Jin-ho had an extraordinary will. What could a young child with a strong will do?

The only reason he was able to survive and continue his second life was because he met his master.

If he hadn’t met his master, his second life would have been several times more miserable. No, before it was miserable, it would have ended tragically.

So, in the end, it could be said that his life was determined by luck.

Is this really right?

“In the end, it’s luck.”

Kang Jin-ho said with a stern face.

“I don’t think everyone should live the same life. But sometimes, an excessive hardship that a person cannot handle alone comes into their life. Like the cases I just mentioned. People look at these ruined lives due to these uncontrollable variables and say this.”

Kang Jin-ho took a slight breath and said.

“Fate.”

Kang Jin-ho’s voice became a little more intense.

“It’s something that can’t be helped, and they say it’s that person’s destiny. That’s exactly what it is. Because it can’t be helped, because it can’t be reversed by human power. But should we really just package it up and pass it off under the name of fate?”

He realizes now.

What the head nun meant by what she said.

The head nun said.

Be the one who reaches out first.

For a while, Kang Jin-ho didn’t understand what that meant.

Because it’s something that can’t be helped.

Because he doesn’t know who needs help.

Then he felt that it was enough to just reach out to those who were crying out for help.

But… that wasn’t it.

In his first life, Kang Jin-ho needed help more than anyone else.

At an age where he wasn’t even an adult, he lost his entire family and was paralyzed in his lower body. Everything in the world was hopeless, and he lost meaning in everything.

So Kang Jin-ho isolated himself from the world and dug deeper and deeper inside.

But his inner thoughts were different.

Someone, please help me.

He cried out and cried out again to get him out of this hell.

But who would listen to a cry from the heart?

In the end, Kang Jin-ho chose death without holding anyone’s hand.

Would it have been a little different if that hadn’t happened?

What if Kang Jin-ho had met someone like the head nun at that time?

If someone like her, who would walk up to him without hesitation, reach out her hand without hesitation, and smile, had been around Kang Jin-ho, wouldn’t Kang Jin-ho’s first life have been a little different?

‘I shouldn’t wait for that person.’

She said.

Be that kind of person.

Be the one who can step forward first and reach out first.

She knew. That people can’t just reach out their hands when they need help. Sometimes, even if it’s too hard and painful, there are people who can only wait for someone to reach out to them.

Now he understands.

Because Kang Jin-ho was like that.

In that deep darkness, Kang Jin-ho never once cried out for help. He just endured it inwardly and rotted away.

The moment he asked someone for help, it felt like he would become a truly pathetic person. So he couldn’t say it.

“But Mr. Kang Jin-ho.”

Jo Gyu-min’s face had become serious.

He understood that the foundation Kang Jin-ho was talking about was different in nature from the welfare foundations of the rich that were just for show.

This man was really trying to start something properly.

“That’s not an ordinary thing. It might be easier to completely take over Korea using the underworld. There is always a way to attack something that has a visible form, but there is no manual for the human heart.”

“I know.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded seriously. He was not Kang Jin-ho who didn’t know what Jo Gyu-min was worried about.

“I think it will be a difficult and hard thing to do. But… you asked me, didn’t you? What is it that I want to do?”

Jo Gyu-min laughed helplessly.

Wasn’t this like digging his own grave?

It seemed like the words he had said to encourage Kang Jin-ho were slowly tightening around his own neck. No matter how much he looked back, there was no way to escape.

“Y-yes, I did.”

“Since it’s something I want to do, I have to do it.”

“Don’t say it so easily, think about it a little…”

“I’ve thought about it enough. Maybe it’s something I’ve been thinking about all along. But I didn’t think it was the right time yet. I kept putting it off. For the reason that it wasn’t the right time. Maybe I thought that this kind of thing didn’t suit me, who can’t help but get my hands dirty with blood. That part still bothers me.”

“Hey, that’s not it.”

“Yes?”

Jo Gyu-min waved his hand.

“For example, let’s say a huge criminal pretends to be good on the outside and does good deeds for people. Then should the people who received help from those good deeds ignore that help?”

“…That wouldn’t be right.”

“If Mr. Kang Jin-ho wants to be thanked by someone or looked up to by someone for what he’s trying to do, then there’s definitely a problem. But that’s not what you’re trying to do, is it?”

Jo Gyu-min was speaking calmly on the outside, but different words were coming out of his head.

‘What am I saying right now?’

He should be stopping him, but why is he pushing him on instead?

But it was already too late to regret it.

Kang Jin-ho nodded as if he was greatly impressed by Jo Gyu-min’s words. Then he slowly opened his mouth.

“So I want to try it.”

“…”

“The answer?”

“…”

Keeping his mouth shut was the best resistance Jo Gyu-min could offer.