Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 529

Defeat comes with a price. That was something no one could deny. Especially in the world of martial artists. Just as the victor’s rights were absolute, so too was the price the loser had to bear. Especially in a contest where everything was on the line, the price the loser had to pay was only one thing: Death. Only death. Bator knew this well. The victorious Kang Jin-ho had the right to cut off Bator’s head with his sword. Bator did not deny this fact. He would simply lower his head and offer his neck. That was enough for the loser. A defeat without regrets? Such a thing did not exist. Defeat always left regrets. Even if one did their best to the point of feeling relieved, there would always be the regret of why they couldn’t have become stronger. It was the measure of a person to suppress that regret and accept defeat. Bator was at least not a narrow-minded man, and he was now fully acknowledging his defeat.

‘If only I had a little more time.’ The question Kang Jin-ho had given him. There is no such thing as completion. Even what one thought was complete always had room for improvement. What that statement had left him with was immense. If he had just one more chance, he could have moved forward without being satisfied with the present… Regret was just regret. Knowing that all losers had the same regrets, Bator suppressed his own. At least, he shouldn’t look pathetic in the moment of his death. That was the last bit of pride left for Bator. But Bator didn’t know yet who he had faced. If he had known what kind of being Kang Jin-ho was, he would never have had such a complacent thought.

*Swoosh.* Bator’s mouth fell open at the burning pain he felt in his body. “Kuhhh…” He tried to endure it, but the pain was too terrible. It was as if a red-hot iron had been stabbed into his skin, a terrible pain that was twisting his entire body. ‘What is this?’ Bator’s eyes snapped open. Kang Jin-ho’s sword was piercing his thigh. But it wasn’t just a stab. Kang Jin-ho’s sword was piercing at a subtle angle, tearing through Bator’s skin and flesh. “Huh?” Bator raised his head and looked at Kang Jin-ho. A subtle smile. A smile like a cat, contemplating how to cook a mouse cornered in a dead end. “Wh-what are you planning to do?” Only then did Bator realize his situation. Kang Jin-ho had no intention of simply killing him. He was planning to kill him miserably, inflicting as much pain as possible. The realization sent a shiver of terror down his spine. They had exchanged blows. They had fought. Having experienced it firsthand, he could tell. The cruelty of the man before him. No one in the world would dare to make Bator tremble in fear. But Kang Jin-ho was different. No matter how hard he tried to appear calm, he couldn’t suppress the fear that was slowly crawling up from the depths of his being. It was because he knew how much malice was twisted within this man. His jaw trembled. The muscles in his entire body contracted. But Bator tried hard not to lose his composure. His philosophy that a person’s worth depended on how they met their death was desperately calling for composure.

“Do you want to know?” “…” But his composure crumbled at Kang Jin-ho’s one word. “It was a duel!” A desperate voice burst out. “It’s the result of a sacred duel. Of course, you have the right to kill me cruelly. But… a duel is such a thing. The victor takes the honor, and the loser proves himself with a resolute death. Please, grant me the mercy of not making my end so miserable.” It wasn’t because of cowardice. It wasn’t simply because he didn’t want to suffer. It was because it went against his aesthetic that men should stake everything on a duel and accept the results calmly. To torment a defeated man to death was a despicable act, and he didn’t want to accept the disgrace of dying at the hands of such a despicable person. But Kang Jin-ho’s thoughts seemed to be completely different. “It seems that’s what the duel meant to you.” Bator’s eyes trembled. “But not to me.” Kang Jin-ho bared his teeth. “That’s why I can’t understand guys like you. I try to see the good in you sometimes, but in the end, you always get in my way like this.” Bator was dumbfounded by the intense hatred in his voice. He was the victor. A glorious victor who had endured Bator’s full power and won. But why was the victor making such a face? A face like a wounded beast. “A duel? Honor?” Kang Jin-ho’s face turned fierce. “Don’t talk such nonsense.” “…” “Those who live trapped in their own world think of everything that way. You might be like that. You fight alone, lose, and die, and that’s the end of it. But I’m not. You’re not as simple as someone like you.” Kang Jin-ho pulled the sword out of Bator’s thigh. “My death doesn’t simply end as one death. It means the collapse of my world. You might just say you were trying to kill me. But you were trying to plunge hundreds of lives into misery.”

“Wh-what are you talking about?” Kang Jin-ho glared at Bator with lowered eyes. You wouldn’t understand. A martial artist who stakes everything on their own martial arts wouldn’t understand. Even he wouldn’t have understood it in the past. Kang Jin-ho’s life now was not just his own. There were countless people relying on his shoulders. What would happen if Kang Jin-ho died? His family, his friends, the children at the orphanage, the martial artists of the General Assembly… And countless others would have been devastated by his absence. And they would have been deprived of the happiness they could have gained from Kang Jin-ho’s existence. This was a sin that the man would never understand. There was a time when he thought those who dedicated their lives to martial arts were cool. They abandoned everything for martial arts and threw their entire lives into the struggle. That was romantic, beautiful. But not anymore. Martial arts always requires an opponent. When it involves the lives of others, not just one’s own, a duel is no longer just a duel. “You can take responsibility for everything with your death. But I can’t.” Kang Jin-ho’s eyes turned cold. “So the price will be different. You can’t just end it with your own death, can you? Right?” If Bator lost, he could cleanly take responsibility with his death. But if Kang Jin-ho lost, death alone wouldn’t be enough to take responsibility for the aftermath. If the price of this unfair game was the same for both sides, it would be too unfair. So… At the very least, he had to take responsibility for almost causing pain to Kang Jin-ho’s loved ones. That was only fair. His father, his mother, his younger sibling… Park Yu-min, Joo Young-gi, Jo Gyu-min, Choi Yeon-ha… The responsibility for almost plunging all of them into misery? How could that responsibility be small? Even if he tore Bator’s entire body to pieces, this anger wouldn’t be quenched. Bator, with a terrified face, flinched backward. He couldn’t understand what Kang Jin-ho was saying. But he could clearly understand the hostility that Kang Jin-ho was directing at him, as if he was about to explode at any moment. He was feeling more hostility than when his life was threatened. ‘Why is he so angry?’ He wouldn’t understand. Not until he had something more precious than his own life. Kang Jin-ho smiled lightly as he looked at Bator’s face, distorted by fear and incomprehension. If he didn’t understand… he could just feel it with his body. Even if the direction of the emotions was different, he would make sure he understood the gravity of it.

“I feel like I’m saying this again and again…” “I’m sorry for killing you so painfully.” It seemed he didn’t understand that at all. Which meant, in other words, that he would definitely kill him painfully. “You can look forward to it.” Kang Jin-ho raised the Red Dew [likely name of a sword]. An unparalleled powerhouse. A spirit as strong as his robust body. It might have been impossible to make this man tremble in fear of death. For others, that is. But Kang Jin-ho had experienced even greater beings than this. And he had seen them beg for death countless times. It was Bator’s mistake to have challenged such a Kang Jin-ho. “You see…” Kang Jin-ho opened his mouth with a bitter face. “Those who challenge me must pay the price.” “There’s no such thing as a clean and honorable duel that you want here. You’ll find that out now.” Bator’s face turned pale as he watched Kang Jin-ho approach him. “Ugh…” Lee Hyun-soo vomited. Then he eventually turned his head away. He was once the terror of the Yeongnam Assembly. He had experienced many dirty things. Among them were things like torture, things that ordinary people couldn’t access. But this wasn’t the torture he knew. ‘Damn it, where the hell did that man come from?’ He was calm. Very calm. It was inevitable. Torture was originally carried out with a purpose. Humans only torture other humans when there is something to gain. Secrets that should not be revealed, the existence of comrades, and hidden plans, etc… Torture was carried out to obtain such things. But this had no purpose. If there was a purpose, it was only one. Only the hatred to make the opponent pay the price. The torture that was carried out with that hatred was so terrible that it was horrifying even to watch. ‘I’ll never be an enemy of that man, even if I die.’ Only then did Lee Hyun-soo realize how lucky he was to be working under Kang Jin-ho, even though he had been his enemy. If things had gone slightly wrong, he would have ended up like Bator. If he hadn’t brought down Kim Seok-il in the end and devoted everything to Kang Jin-ho, and if he had tried to beg for his life even a little… he would have been in the same state as Bator, a cold, rotting corpse by now. Bator’s appearance was so miserable that such thoughts came to mind. His entire body was covered in blood. It was as if he had to look for a single spot of flesh that was still intact. “Uh… uhh…” Bator, who had been confident in his god-like body, was probably cursing that fact now. His body, which was too strong, was enduring injuries that would have killed an ordinary person a hundred times over. That terrible vitality was only making Bator suffer more. Of course, if he had the mental capacity to curse it. Kang Jin-ho, who had taken his hand off Bator’s body, bent down and pulled out the Blue Dew [likely name of a sword] that was stuck in the ground. Then, he brought it to Bator’s neck. Kang Jin-ho, who had placed the Blue Dew close to Bator’s neck, whispered lowly into Bator’s ear. “Now, say it again. What was it about honor?” Bator’s unfocused eyes began to be crushed by fear at Kang Jin-ho’s cold voice. “Say it. Say it again. That great honor of yours.” Kang Jin-ho began to smile with a devilish face. Even the low-hanging moon hid its face behind the clouds. Kang Jin-ho, in the form of the Demonic Heavenly Demon who had once made the world tremble in fear, plunged the Blue Dew into Bator’s neck.