Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 562

“The Chairman?”

“Yes.”

Jo Gyu-min anxiously awaited Hwang Jeong-hu’s reaction.

‘This isn’t good.’

First of all, the tip of the cigarette Hwang Jeong-hu was holding was burning rapidly. This was definitely not a good sign.

“So, you’re saying you want me to take the chairman position of the foundation you’re creating?”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-ho’s answer was as concise as ever.

But today, that fact was fueling Jo Gyu-min’s anxiety.

‘You need to explain more!’

How could he persuade anyone like that?

Hwang Jeong-hu reacted exactly as Jo Gyu-min had predicted.

“No way.”

“Please reconsider.”

“I said no way.”

Hwang Jeong-hu waved his hand dismissively.

Then, he took the cigarette out of his mouth and stubbed it out in the ashtray.

“I know what you’re saying. It’s a good thing. I don’t want to spoil a good cause. But it’s not for me.”

“Chairman.”

Thinking that this wouldn’t do, Jo Gyu-min took over.

“Of course, we know that you’re not interested in this kind of thing. But we’re not asking you to actively do anything. We just need your name on it, and we’ll take care of everything else.”

“No.”

Jo Gyu-min desperately tried to hold onto the fraying thread, but Kang Jin-ho calmly lit his lighter and burned the thread away.

‘Please, just a little!’

Jo Gyu-min felt a surge of frustration, but before he could vent it, Kang Jin-ho drove the point home.

“It would be better if you could be active as well. It will be helpful, Chairman.”

“Hmm…”

Hwang Jeong-hu looked like he didn’t like the idea at all.

“What help could I possibly be?”

“It will be helpful.”

Hwang Jeong-hu reached into his pocket and pulled out another cigarette, putting it in his mouth.

Click.

“Let’s all have a smoke. It feels weird if I’m the only one smoking.”

At Hwang Jeong-hu’s jest, Jo Gyu-min and Kang Jin-ho also took out cigarettes. As the cigarettes were lit, acrid smoke began to fill the chairman’s office.

After smoking one cigarette, Hwang Jeong-hu seemed a little calmer and began to speak with a slightly more relaxed expression.

“I know what you guys are saying. It’s important. A welfare foundation… There are limits to what the government can do, so in the end, those who make money have to help those who are struggling. I get it.”

Even as he said this, Hwang Jeong-hu was clearly showing his dissatisfaction.

“But I guess I’m just an old-timer. I understand it in my head, but my heart doesn’t feel it.”

“It’s because you don’t know.”

At Kang Jin-ho’s words, Hwang Jeong-hu frowned slightly.

If anyone else had said such a thing in front of him, they would have been severely reprimanded. But not Kang Jin-ho. It wasn’t about his abilities. It was because Hwang Jeong-hu knew that Kang Jin-ho possessed something beyond his own experience and wisdom.

“Because I don’t know?”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

“There’s no case where the head knows but the heart doesn’t. It’s because you haven’t understood it.”

“Then…”

Hwang Jeong-hu leaned back leisurely on the sofa.

Kang Jin-ho’s words were slightly provocative, but he showed no intention of being swayed by them.

“Can you persuade me?”

Kang Jin-ho also looked like he had nothing to lose.

And in the face of the two giants’ confrontation, Jo Gyu-min felt insignificant.

‘Why did I even come here?’

It seemed like all he could do was cheer, ‘May our side win!’

‘Did my calculations go wrong?’

The plan he had made before entering the chairman’s office was that Kang Jin-ho and he would plead, and Hwang Jeong-hu would get annoyed, but Kang Jin-ho was tearing up the script.

Having become a failed dealer, Jo Gyu-min could only blink.

“The reason why you should do this is very simple. It’s because there are people who need you.”

“……Huh?”

Hwang Jeong-hu’s eyes widened as if he had heard something completely unexpected. His eyes were filled with bewilderment.

“My friend, there are countless people who need me.”

“Where are they?”

“Well…”

Hwang Jeong-hu closed his mouth, which had been about to speak.

‘Are there really any?’

People who truly needed him.

In the past, he could have said with certainty that there were. Among those working in the business world, there was no one who didn’t acknowledge Hwang Jeong-hu’s abilities. Just considering them, he could confidently say that countless people wanted him.

But now?

Hwang Jeong-hu couldn’t find them.

People who truly and desperately wanted him.

Seeing Hwang Jeong-hu unable to speak, Kang Jin-ho whispered softly.

“I used to think that it was natural to live doing what I wanted. I would have said that to anyone. But as I lived, I realized that wasn’t always the case.”

“……What are you talking about?”

Kang Jin-ho smiled slightly and said,

“There are times when choosing what others want me to do, rather than what I want to do, can actually lead to a better outcome.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

“Of course, it’s possible.”

Just as Hwang Jeong-hu was about to object, Kang Jin-ho preempted him.

“You have lived a life where what you wanted to do and what others wanted you to do were the same.”

Hwang Jeong-hu had no choice but to nod.

What he wanted was to grow Jaekyung, and everyone else wanted him to do that as well.

“But what if you had wanted to be a painter?”

“Huh?”

“Let’s think about it now. Which would have been a better life, being a painter or working at Jaekyung?”

“……Hey, my friend. Does that even make sense? Me, a painter?”

“Let’s just assume it.”

“If we assume it, I might have been happier as a painter. Because it’s what I wanted.”

“Then is being the chairman of a large corporation an unhappy thing?”

“……”

Hwang Jeong-hu couldn’t answer.

This was quite a complex issue. What one desires and what one can achieve.

“It’s the same problem. Humans can’t let go of their desire for achievement. And right now, there’s a field where you can perform best.”

“You think I can do well in that?”

“Because you’re a businessperson.”

Kang Jin-ho lit another cigarette.

“Don’t think of it as welfare. Think of it as managing a company. Think of maximizing profits and distributing those profits to shareholders. If you look at it that way, you can create a different kind of efficiency than a typical welfare foundation.”

Hwang Jeong-hu also stubbed out his cigarette and immediately lit another one.

“Of course, I have that pride. I’m not dead yet, and if I put my mind to it, it’ll be different from how those rich upstarts run things with their charity.”

“I think so too.”

“We’re back to the fundamental question. But why should I do it, that’s what I’m saying.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly looked at Hwang Jeong-hu.

Hwang Jeong-hu also didn’t avoid Kang Jin-ho’s gaze.

“I won’t stop you if you want to keep clinging to a job you’ve lost interest in and waste your time.”

Hwang Jeong-hu’s face hardened rapidly.

This was not something that could be tolerated, even from Kang Jin-ho.

“You’re being too harsh.”

“Maybe I am. But sometimes, harsh words are necessary.”

“……Hey!”

Kang Jin-ho looked directly at Hwang Jeong-hu and said,

“The moment you said that you don’t have much to do at this company anymore, your career ended. Now you’re just filling a position as an honorary title.”

Hwang Jeong-hu clenched his fist.

He wanted to refute it, but he couldn’t. Because he felt it himself.

“The bigger problem is… you already feel that you’re not really helping this company. Whether that’s a problem of reality or a problem of passion.”

Hwang Jeong-hu’s face flushed.

Kang Jin-ho was piercing through the innermost thoughts he didn’t want to reveal.

“That’s why I’m saying this. Let’s work together.”

“……Didn’t you say it was a different problem?”

“No, it’s the same problem. It can’t be anything but the same problem for you, Chairman Hwang Jeong-hu, even if it’s different for other entrepreneurs.”

“Why?”

“Why did you build Jaekyung?”

Kang Jin-ho looked at Hwang Jeong-hu with sharp eyes.

“You don’t have any material desires. You don’t particularly want to show off your wealth. Yet, you’ve been working tirelessly, even sacrificing sleep. What’s the reason for that?”

Hwang Jeong-hu couldn’t answer.

Because he didn’t even know himself.

He had lived passionately.

He had been running until now with the sole determination to make Jaekyung the best company in the world.

But what would change if Jaekyung became the best in the world?

He had already accumulated enough wealth to last him until he died. There was no real benefit for him if Jaekyung grew any larger.

“Fame… no, it’s strange to call it fame.”

“Because you don’t care about what others think.”

“Right. In the end, all that’s left is a line of evaluation. What good would it do me if that evaluation was adorned with more flamboyant words?”

Hwang Jeong-hu closed his eyes.

Neither Kang Jin-ho nor Jo Gyu-min wanted to interrupt Hwang Jeong-hu’s contemplation.

“I wanted to live well.”

Hwang Jeong-hu, who had been thinking for a long time, opened his mouth.

“Everyone was poor after the war. It was hard to even get a bowl of gruel. It was a time when we had to eat tree bark and suffer from bloody diarrhea to survive. So, I wanted to live well. I wanted to make money so that the poor could have a warm meal. Not just me, but everyone together.”

“That’s grand.”

“……Yeah, maybe it is grand.”

Hwang Jeong-hu smiled bitterly.

“I can’t say that I’m living with that kind of heart now. I’m a materialist too, and I change too. But that’s how it was in the beginning. I wanted my family to live well. And Jaekyung was my family. I thought that if I led them by getting angry and cursing, my family would earn even a penny more, but…”

Hwang Jeong-hu’s voice became bitter.

That’s how it was in the past, in the past.

But now, everyone had changed. And in the midst of that, he had already lost his original intention.

“It’s the same thing.”

“……The same thing?”

Kang Jin-ho smiled lightly and said,

“What I’m trying to do now is the same thing. There are people who are hungry and struggling. I want to help those people. Isn’t that what you wanted most?”

“It’s just a different form. If the heart is the same, it’s the same thing. That’s why I said you were needed. You know best what those people need, and you know best how to help them.”

Hwang Jeong-hu’s eyes wavered.

It seemed he finally understood what Kang Jin-ho was trying to say.

“But…”

Hwang Jeong-hu hesitated several times.

It was clear that Kang Jin-ho’s words had struck a chord in his heart. But there was still a part that he couldn’t accept.

“I’m against it. No matter how much I think about it, this is not going to work.”

Hwang Jeong-hu said in a firm voice.

“Why should I give money to people who don’t even work?”