Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 55

Screeeeeech!

Kang Jin-ho, who had arrived in a mere ten minutes at a distance that would take thirty minutes by car, parked his bicycle in a corner and locked it.

There might be someone who would cut the lock to take the bicycle if they recognized the model, but he didn’t really care about that.

If he worried about such things, he would end up treating the bicycle like a king. Kang Jin-ho knew what was a priority. The bicycle was just a means of transportation.

If an expensive means of transportation is treated with too much care, it ends up being prioritized over people. He had seen similar cases several times, so he wanted to avoid that.

Of course, a normal person would never think of leaving a bicycle worth over ten million won [approximately $7,500 USD] on the street, not even one worth a million won [approximately $750 USD].

Kang Jin-ho wanted to live a normal life even though he had money, but he didn’t realize that his attitude itself was far from normal.

“You’re here?”

Park Yu-min waved his hand.

“Don’t you have a match today?”

“What match at the start of the new year? The broadcasting stations need to rest too.”

“Unprofessional.”

Park Yu-min made a face at Kang Jin-ho’s sharp remark.

“Give me a break.” Kang Jin-ho chuckled.

Although he said that, he knew that Park Yu-min hadn’t been sleeping properly lately because of practice.

Kang Jin-ho hoped that Park Yu-min’s efforts would be rewarded. It wasn’t a world where effort was always rewarded. Especially in the world Park Yu-min lived in, effort and skill didn’t always align. Kang Jin-ho had already experienced the futility of such a world.

But it was also a world where you could never succeed without effort. It wasn’t that everyone who tried succeeded, but to succeed, you had to try.

It was an extremely harsh place.

“The coach told you to move into the training camp?”

“Yeah. Now that I’m graduating from school, he said I should join quickly and practice instead of wasting time.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I should do that normally, but thanks to you, I’m not sure.”

“Me?”

When he said it as if he didn’t know anything, Park Yu-min looked at Kang Jin-ho with a sulky face.

Did he really not remember?

“You applied to the university.”

“Ah!”

Park Yu-min had applied to Jaekyung University, unable to resist Kang Jin-ho’s insistence.

Kang Jin-ho had forcefully taken the application from Park Yu-min, who had refused, saying that there was no chance of getting in and that university didn’t seem like a good choice, by threatening him with a gentle voice.

“What am I going to do at university?”

“You’ll need it later.”

“And if I go there, I’ll have to…” Park Yu-min trailed off.

He seemed worried about adapting to a new environment with new people.

“It’s okay.”

“Huh?”

“Your major is business administration.”

Business administration?

Park Yu-min’s head spun.

Wasn’t it supposed to be a computer-related major?

“Huh? Me? Why me?”

“Because I put you in business administration.”

Park Yu-min was speechless at Kang Jin-ho’s audacity in choosing his major without even asking his opinion.

“Wasn’t it supposed to be engineering?”

“You’re a pro gamer.”

“Yeah.”

“Not a programmer.”

“…Yeah.”

“Do you think you can survive in an engineering department full of formulas and symbols?” Park Yu-min shook his head firmly. There was no need to think deeply about it. It was absolutely impossible.

Before even discussing his relationships with his classmates, he would drop out because he couldn’t adapt to the classes.

“So, just stick with me. I’ll explain everything to you.”

“You’re talking like you’ve already been accepted.”

“Are you talking about you, or me?” Park Yu-min’s face contorted. They were friends, but sometimes he was annoying.

“Of course, you’ll get in!”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

“You’ll get in too.”

“How do you know? I haven’t even had the interview yet.”

“I just know.”

“How?”

“It’s just something I know.”

Kang Jin-ho vaguely brushed it off.

Jaekyung University, which Kang Jin-ho and Park Yu-min were trying to enter, belonged to the Jaekyung Foundation. It wasn’t particularly difficult to find out how the school’s admissions process was going.

Normally, it wouldn’t have been easy for Park Yu-min to get accepted.

It wasn’t impossible to get him in if they really wanted to, but the problem was Kang Jin-ho’s principle that no one else should be harmed because of Park Yu-min. The average scores of those applying in the same category far exceeded Park Yu-min’s scores.

Looking at Jo Gyu-min, who had repeatedly worried and reported the situation, Hwang Jung-hoo had said, as if dumbfounded.

“What the hell are you doing? Just create another category and increase the T.O [Total number of openings].”

It was a solution that was typical of Hwang Jung-hoo, and a method that was like him.

Even Kang Jin-ho was momentarily stunned when he heard Hwang Jung-hoo’s words.

And things were resolved quickly. It was a kind of loophole that was close to corruption, but Kang Jin-ho wasn’t an idealist who hated such loopholes.

Rather, he was a realist who would achieve his goals by any means necessary. If he hadn’t been, he wouldn’t have become the Demonic Heavenly Lord, and he wouldn’t have been able to survive in the Demonic Cult.

“Hey! Kang Jin-ho!”

“Hmm?”

Han Se-yeon shouted.

“If you’re here, you should say hello.”

“Hello.”

“Okay.”

Han Se-yeon smiled and pulled him over. Han Se-yeon, who was struggling to put her hand on his shoulder, which was much higher than hers, smiled and said.

“Let’s go.”

“Where to?”

“Let’s go to a karaoke room for a change!”

“Again?”

“Again? When did we go last? You must have gone a lot when I wasn’t around?” Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

“This is a headache.”

“Headache? We can’t drink until midnight anyway, so we should play until then!”

“Midnight?”

“Didn’t you know? We’re adults from midnight! We can drink! I’ve always wanted to go to a bar from the early morning of January 1st.”

“…Okay.”

Jung In-gyu and the others cheered at Han Se-yeon’s words.

Was it that good to be recognized as an adult? Did they not know that the word ‘adult’ carried the weight of responsibility?

It was a reaction that Kang Jin-ho couldn’t understand.

“Anyway, let’s go.”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head and followed them.

‘Mother…’

Kang Jin-ho closed his eyes, searching for his mother.

‘This place is hell.’

Kang Jin-ho watched the young men and women, who hadn’t drunk a drop of alcohol, shaking their bodies with their minds gone.

What had happened to them?

Was it possible for people to have so much fun just by singing in a closed space with loud speakers?

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes were constantly shaking.

Is this how people normally play? Having been injured and becoming a shut-in before experiencing proper entertainment culture, and then going to the Central Plains and playing the geomungo [a traditional Korean zither], modern entertainment culture was hard for Kang Jin-ho to accept.

‘I’m sure the karaoke room wasn’t like this last time?’

Kang Jin-ho desperately shook off the hands that were grabbing him to come out to the stage and retreated to the corner. It was the most he could do to resist.

After having a fun time at the karaoke room, they came out before midnight.

“Let’s go quickly.”

Were they not tired?

They had been jumping around for almost three hours, and they were urging him on with such relaxed expressions. Kang Jin-ho, who had just been sitting still, seemed more tired.

“Where to?”

“The bell is going to ring. We have to go and make a wish.”

“Hurry up! You’re always the slowest!” Kang Jin-ho was dragged by the kids to the place where people were gathered.

“Why are there so many people?” Park Yu-min smiled.

“They’re going to ring the bell.”

“Ring the bell?”

“Yeah. It’s a ceremony to send off the old year and welcome the new year. They ring the bell 108 times to wish for a safe and peaceful new year.”

Come to think of it, there seemed to be such a ceremony.

In the Central Plains, they also held a memorial service when welcoming the new year.

Well, it wasn’t something that Kang Jin-ho was particularly related to.

“I see.”

But it was hard to understand that so many people would gather just for that.

The modern era was far from superstition. Were all these people here because they really believed in such a ceremony, or were they just here for fun?

Wouldn’t it be more meaningful to spend the new year with family or loved ones?

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

“It’s nothing.”

It wasn’t something that would be good to say out loud. It would make everyone who came here look like a fool.

“Do we really have to do this?”

“What? Ring the bell?”

“No, watching it here.”

“Why? It’s fun.”

“What is?”

“It’s the new year. If you’re a person, don’t you want the new year to be special and enjoyable? That’s why they come here. And they make wishes. They wish that the coming new year will be full of joy and good things, and that all worries and concerns will disappear.”

Come to think of it, it was something that Kang Jin-ho had always wished for in the past.

‘People don’t change even as time passes.’

Kang Jin-ho had stopped praying to gods at some point. He thought that it wouldn’t solve anything. But sometimes, he also wanted to find someone. Even if it was superstition and useless.

‘Do I want to find comfort?’

Perhaps the modern era was a lonelier era than the past.

“It’s starting! We have to make a wish!”

“Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven…”

“Make a wish!”

“A wish?”

“Yeah! You make it for the new year!” A wish…

Did he have such a thing?

It might not be a wish, but there was something he had always hoped for.

“Three! Two! One!”

Deeeeeng~

A loud bell rang out.

Kang Jin-ho wished for what he had always hoped for.

‘To live a normal life.’ Just like now.

Even if it was a repetition of annoying and frustrating things…

To be able to live a human life, laughing, crying, enjoying, and being sad.

The bell rang out.

Strangely, he felt at peace.

‘Not bad.’

Judging something you haven’t experienced and judging something you have experienced were completely different things.

Kang Jin-ho changed his mind for the first time.

“Did you make a wish?”

“Yeah.”

“What did you wish for?”

“Just, to keep going like this.”

“Ehh? That’s your wish? What kind of wish is that?”

“What about you?”

“You’re not supposed to say your wish.”

“Then why did you ask me?”

“I just asked, and you told me.”

Kang Jin-ho was dumbfounded.

Somehow, he always felt like he was being taken advantage of.

“Just tell me.”

“No way. I’ll never tell you.”

“No, why!”

“Let’s go!”

Kang Jin-ho turned around with a sullen face. Park Yu-min and the others were waiting for him, and Han Se-yeon was running away from him with quick steps.

Friends.

And peace.

It was what he had wanted. It was what he had longed for so much.

Kang Jin-ho had it now.

It wasn’t perfect yet. There were still many things to adapt to, and there were still things to gain.

Even so…

‘Just like now.’

A smile appeared on Kang Jin-ho’s face. A year was passing. And a new year was welcoming him.