Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 577

“Then what should we do?”

Hwang Jung-hoo sounded annoyed, as if he was displeased. “What have you been listening to this whole time!”

“Pay them properly. That’s how you gather talented people. Character? Sure, character is good. But do you know when character comes out?”

“……I’m not sure?”

“Character comes out when you’re at ease. Think about it. If you’re always struggling with money at home, and you’re exhausted from work, do you think you’ll have kind words when the kids act up?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Don’t blame the system’s problems on people’s character. Everyone is the same. Of course, some people will work harder. It’s your job to pick those people.”

Hwang Jung-hoo looked directly at Kang Jin-ho and said,

“You think you’ve done a lot for the orphanage, don’t you?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you!”

Hwang Jung-hoo chuckled and took out a cigarette.

“A guy with nothing better to do drops by and throws around some of his overflowing money, of course the kids will like it. But do you think you’ve done anything great for them? Nonsense! The ones who raised those kids are the childcare teachers working there for peanuts. If you really wanted to do something for the orphanage, you should have started by raising their salaries. Did you even think about that?”

“……No.”

Kang Jin-ho’s voice was a bit subdued.

He had nothing to say.

He had been going to the orphanage since he was a student, but Hwang Jung-hoo had grasped the problem just by looking at a few documents, something he had never even considered.

“Don’t act like you’re doing something great! Those who don’t do their jobs properly are the ones who act like they’re doing the most.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s say you’re going to expand the orphanage. Are you going to be there 24/7? Are you going to be changing diapers and feeding kids who can’t use their hands?”

“……No, I’m not.”

“You’re not the one raising the kids. The childcare teachers are. If you really wanted to create a proper orphanage and raise the kids well, you should have thought about how to attract good talent before spouting nonsense.”

Kang Jin-ho finally surrendered.

“Okay, I was wrong.”

Hwang Jung-hoo finally relaxed his voice.

“Tsk, tsk, you’ve been walking around with your shoulders puffed up lately… You seem worse than before. You used to have some spark.”

“I…”

“What?”

“About earlier… you said you’d call me ‘hyung’ [older brother or respected older male].”

“Forget it.”

“……I figured as much.”

Kang Jin-ho lit the cigarette he hadn’t been able to light.

He felt a pang in his gut.

He knew that Hwang Jung-hoo’s ability to manage his organization was different, but he didn’t think it would be this drastically different.

He wasn’t the type to take care of the details, but he was confident in setting the overall direction. Looking back now, he was just a clueless kid.

Even at his age.

“In the end, it’s all about money.”

Hwang Jung-hoo said firmly.

“If you want the kids to live in good facilities, spend money. And if you want to hire good childcare teachers to have a positive influence on the kids, you need to spend money. If you want to bring good teachers to the school, you need to spend money, and if you want to feed the kids good food, you need to spend money.”

“Yes.”

“It’s always been said that even the king can’t help the poor. Look now. How well is everyone living? Everyone is living so well that we couldn’t even dream of it back then. Where were cell phones in our time? Who even dreamed of such good food? We couldn’t even eat rice, let alone barley rice, so we wandered the mountains looking for kudzu roots [a starchy root used as a food source during famines]. But now everyone is living so well. Do you know what I’m saying?”

“……Everyone’s got a full belly?”

Hwang Jung-hoo leaned back on the sofa. Then he started rubbing his face with both hands.

“I’m going to have to deal with these guys… I think I messed up my answer.”

Kang Jin-ho started fidgeting.

‘How long has it been since I felt like this?’

It felt like decades since someone had scolded him like this. His palms were getting sweaty. He could control his body almost perfectly, but he couldn’t stop the sweat from forming.

“Even though the country has become so prosperous, the poor haven’t disappeared. That’s how difficult the work you’re trying to do is. Even a country that spends hundreds of trillions of won a year can’t save all the poor. But you’re stepping up to take care of a small number of them. You need to know how hard that is.”

“I’m prepared.”

“Tsk, tsk.”

Hwang Jung-hoo clicked his tongue as if he was displeased.

“Once you start, there’s no turning back. Providing a good environment for children is a scary thing. Because if you can’t maintain it anymore, the kids will go back to their original environment. Someone who has never tasted meat won’t crave it, but those who know the taste of meat will go crazy if they can’t eat it.”

Cho Kyu-min chuckled and said,

“There are vegetarians in the world, though…”

Hwang Jung-hoo grabbed the ashtray without answering.

“Okay, I was wrong.”

“You, organize all those documents today before you leave.”

“……Yes.”

Cho Kyu-min sighed deeply, having failed to lighten the mood with a joke.

“This kind of discussion isn’t that important. What’s important is whether you really have the will to do it. You’re taking this too lightly. This is too heavy a task to start just because you want to do it.”

“It’s okay.”

Kang Jin-ho answered calmly, and Hwang Jung-hoo raised his eyebrows.

“There could be kids who become unhappy because of you. You’re thinking about that when you say that, right?”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-ho’s answer was still calm.

He had been fidgeting when he was being criticized on the details, but he seemed to have regained his composure the moment the big picture came into view.

“What makes you so confident?”

“Is it a happier life to not eat meat at all, just because you can’t eat it often?”

“Hmm…”

Kang Jin-ho said with clear eyes.

“Is it right to not give a bottle of water to a child dying of thirst in Africa just because they can’t get clean water? Is that what’s best for them? I don’t think so. Of course, as you said, Chairman, there might be a situation where the kids have a harder time because of what I did. But even if it’s harder later, I think it’s wrong not to improve their environment now.”

There was strength in Kang Jin-ho’s words.

Hwang Jung-hoo smiled as he looked at Kang Jin-ho’s unwavering eyes.

“You’re good with words. You used to be like a mute.”

“You don’t know how to give a sincere compliment.”

“What crazy person compliments an elder?”

Hwang Jung-hoo started to organize things.

“So, roughly…”

“No. Wait a minute, Chairman.”

But Cho Kyu-min still seemed to have something to say.

“I understand what you’re saying. But there are some legal issues. First of all, there’s the issue of school attendance. It’s impossible to build a school and make it exclusive to certain people. Even if you could, you can’t block support.”

“Just make it happen.”

“It’s a legal issue. Just because you want to do it…”

“Change the law, you idiot!”

“……Excuse me?”

“What’s the big deal about the law? It’s made to make life better for people, right? If the law is a problem when you’re doing something good, then you have to change the law.”

“Ah, yes…”

Cho Kyu-min nodded, speechless.

He didn’t even have the strength to object anymore. That man was on a different scale than him from the start.

“Good point. You, go investigate how many laws are in conflict with this. I’ll give a heads up to the legal team, so look into it thoroughly.”

“Yes.”

Work was slowly piling up.

‘Will I even be able to go home today?’

Cho Kyu-min shuddered at the premonition that by the end of this meeting, he might be worrying about working overtime not just today, but for the whole week.

“What do you think?”

Kang Jin-ho nodded at Hwang Jung-hoo’s question.

“I think it’s a good idea.”

“Yeah, I guess so. When an organization gets bigger, there are a lot of things to take care of, but once it passes a certain size, it starts moving on its own. Then you just have to set the direction. It’ll be easier for you to manage that way.”

“The management is up to the Chairman…”

“Don’t work me to the bone without paying me properly.”

“I will pay you.”

“I don’t need it, you!”

Hwang Jung-hoo scoffed.

Hwang Jung-hoo, who had taken out a new cigarette and put it in his mouth, looked at Kang Jin-ho with a serious look, different from before.

“Jin-ho.”

“Yes.”

“A thousand.”

“Yes?”

Hwang Jung-hoo exhaled a deep puff of smoke and said,

“Through this annoying, frustrating, messy, and money-guzzling work, you can only help a thousand kids.”

“How many kids in Korea do you think need help, even by your standards? If the first orphanage works out, can you stop there?”

“I don’t think it’ll be easy.”

“Yeah, because you’re that kind of guy. You’ll eventually have to grow. But if you start doing this kind of work in earnest and start expanding it, you won’t be able to handle it even if you pour all of my assets into it, not just yours. You have to face reality.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded silently.

“So what I’m saying is…”

“I understand what you mean.”

“Huh?”

Kang Jin-ho looked at Hwang Jung-hoo and said,

“So you’re saying that I should gather all the money I can, by any means necessary. If I can get support from the government, I should get as much as possible, and I should gather all the money I can from around me, and I should also work my butt off to earn money, is that what you’re saying?”

“……No, I’m saying you should do it moderately. Then others will follow suit, so you don’t have to do it all…”

“If I do it bigger, others will follow bigger.”

Hwang Jung-hoo’s face started to pale slightly.

‘I think I made a mistake?’

When he first saw Kang Jin-ho, he was like a blade. But these days, Kang Jin-ho had become quite soft, unlike before. But in Hwang Jung-hoo’s eyes, it wasn’t that he had become soft, but that he had lost his goal.

People who have things they have to do but don’t have things they want to do tend to have that kind of face.

But now, the spark was returning to Kang Jin-ho’s face.

“Let’s take it slow, slowly…”

Kang Jin-ho nodded and got up from his seat.

“First, please investigate all the problematic areas when we start the project.”

“Ah, yes.”

As Cho Kyu-min nodded, Kang Jin-ho walked out without hesitation and opened the door.

“Uh, where are you going?”

Kang Jin-ho slightly turned his head, a subtle smile forming on his lips.

“I’m going to make money.”

Clack.

The door closed, and Hwang Jung-hoo and Cho Kyu-min looked at each other silently.