Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 587

Watching Kang Jin-ho walk in, Lee Hyun-soo was momentarily stunned.

“You seem a bit refreshed?”

“Just did some warm-up exercises.”

“There’s blood on you, though?”

“It’s not my blood, so it’s fine.”

Lee Hyun-soo simply closed his mouth.

Of course, it wouldn’t be *your* blood. But the fact that there’s blood on you means someone else shed it, and how can you just brush it off like that?

There were many things he could say. There were always many things to say.

But if words don’t change the situation even when spoken, they’re just empty echoes.

“…Did you hit them hard?”

“They’re all fine. They’ll be okay by evening.”

“That’s a relief. It’d be a problem if the people we need to use get too hurt.”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes gleamed.

“Use?”

That meant the time for them to move was not far off.

“The preparations?”

“Of course, they’re finished. All those who need to gather have gathered.”

“Hmm.”

Kang Jin-ho looked at Lee Hyun-soo with a knowing gaze.

‘He’s similar, after all.’

In the past, Chungma [a strategist or tactician] used to handle things this way. He would keep hinting that something was about to happen, and then, when the time came, he would suddenly move at a point where even Kang Jin-ho couldn’t grasp everything.

After moving mindlessly according to Chungma’s words, the results were always beyond what was expected.

At the time, Kang Jin-ho didn’t have any particular complaints about the situation, but it wasn’t the same now.

“Explain properly.”

He had no intention of being swayed anymore.

“Here it is.”

As if Lee Hyun-soo had no intention of controlling Kang Jin-ho either, he took out a ledger from a drawer and handed it to Kang Jin-ho.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a list of names.”

“A list of names?”

“To be precise, it should be called a death list.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled at the chilling nuance of the term ‘death list’.

“You’ve done something interesting.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Lee Hyun-soo responded to Kang Jin-ho’s smile with a grin.

“Since when have you been preparing this?”

“From the beginning, of course.”

Lee Hyun-soo said as if it were obvious.

“I don’t trust humans. To be precise, I trust humans, but I don’t believe they’ll be good and obedient. Humans who have had their things taken away will never accept it. They’ll grind their teeth to get it back.”

“So you’ve been watching them? Until they move?”

“No.”

Lee Hyun-soo flicked his finger.

“Watching is meaningless. If I did that, I’d have to take all the half-hearted malcontents with me. I don’t prefer organizations that are just bloated like that. The parts that need to be cut off must be cut off properly so that the remaining parts become fresh. For a necrotic organization, amputation is the answer.”

“You’ve released the bait.”

“I just poked them a little. If you want to move old men with heavy butts, you have to poke their sides.”

Kang Jin-ho let out a hollow laugh.

“You still haven’t fixed your bad habits.”

“If you wish, I’ll be reborn as a good and kind child. It’s a subordinate’s duty to match their superior’s tastes. But… do you want that?”

“No.”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head firmly.

As long as he was sure they wouldn’t betray him, it was better for his allies to be villains. Good allies make people tired. If there were allies who would use any means necessary for their goals, he could make things easier by simply controlling them appropriately.

Just like now.

Kang Jin-ho threw the ledger back to Lee Hyun-soo without even opening it.

Lee Hyun-soo accepted the ledger from Kang Jin-ho.

“Aren’t you going to look at it?”

“I don’t think I’ll know anything by looking at the names there. I only know one person.”

“Well, I think there’s one more familiar name?”

“A familiar name?”

“No. That’s also part of the fun.”

Lee Hyun-soo smiled and approached Kang Jin-ho, offering him a cigarette.

“Would you like one?”

“Thanks.”

As Kang Jin-ho put the cigarette in his mouth, Lee Hyun-soo lit it.

“How much are you planning to do?”

As Kang Jin-ho slowly exhaled the cigarette smoke, Lee Hyun-soo sat across from him and said,

“If I had my way, I’d cut them all off, but there are also those who joined without even thinking about what they were doing. I prefer strict punishment, but… well, the martial arts world in Korea is quite factionalized. If we just kill them all, it will affect the subordinates as well. Blood ties are scary.”

“So?”

“We’ll only deal with those who need to be dealt with.”

“And the distinction?”

“Hmm…”

Lee Hyun-soo quietly looked at Kang Jin-ho.

“I’ve personally set a standard, but I don’t know if this standard will please you. If you check it and don’t like it, I’ll set a new standard.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded quietly.

“That standard won’t mean anything anyway.”

“Yes?”

“Who is it that we must kill?”

Lee Hyun-soo quietly looked at Kang Jin-ho, as if trying to figure out what he meant by those words.

Finally, the answer came.

“It’s Lee Joong-gul.”

“I see.”

Lee Joong-gul…

Kang Jin-ho smiled with a subtle expression.

“That’s a familiar name. How unfortunate.”

“Are you really unfortunate?”

“I don’t know what you mean by that.”

“It’s nothing.”

Lee Hyun-soo gave a knowing smile.

‘Sometimes, this guy is dark inside.’

It was obvious why he hadn’t dealt with Lee Joong-gul properly. Yet, he was acting like that, which was just amusing.

“The preparations?”

“Those who follow Bang Hwe-ju, the friendly forces of Yeongnam, and Night Wiggins and Bator have agreed to step forward.”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Is there a need to be so flashy?”

“This is a show of force.”

“A show of force?”

“Yes. First, we need to properly show Kang Jin-ho’s power once again to those who are just lingering without properly understanding the situation. We need to show that Kang Jin-ho’s power is no longer just personal power but has now become a solid force.”

“And the second?”

“We need to show it to the outsiders as well. To show that there’s no more room to dig into the General Assembly [likely a governing body or organization].”

“It’s complicated.”

Kang Jin-ho scratched his head.

This side of things was not to his liking. He didn’t want to attach various reasons to fighting.

The only reason he had to fight was one.

Because the enemy was there.

As long as the distinction between enemy and ally was clear, it didn’t matter what kind of enemy they were or what they were fighting for. What reason was needed in the midst of killing and being killed?

“When can we start?”

“Well, that’s a bit of a concern… the sooner, the better. To be honest, we can’t say that the preparations are perfect right now. But it might be better to strike when they don’t expect it rather than waiting for perfect preparations.”

“When is that?”

“Yes. Tonight.”

Kang Jin-ho closed his mouth.

It was just a word to make them nervous, but it had become a reality.

“So suddenly?”

“If we’re sudden, they’ll be sudden too. The conditions aren’t bad. And… if it’s an unprepared fight, we’ll have the advantage.”

Kang Jin-ho turned his head and looked out the window.

The sun was still high in the sky, but the time it would take for the sun to set wouldn’t be long.

Night was coming.

In a slightly different sense, night was coming after a long time. Kang Jin-ho stuck out his tongue and licked his lips.

Lee Hyun-soo trembled at the sight.

Those who hadn’t seen it wouldn’t know how eerie Kang Jin-ho’s expression was at times like this.

“It’s truly bizarre.”

Among all the people Lee Hyun-soo had seen so far, the craziest one was, without a doubt, Kang Jin-ho. Even the former heretic didn’t feel as crazy as Kang Jin-ho did now.

At least that guy was clearly crazy.

He wasn’t a monster like Kang Jin-ho, who went back and forth between the path of the inhuman and a normal life with a straight face.

This man was now craving blood.

Yet, in the outside world, he was preparing to help children without parents. The fact that neither side was hypocrisy nor villainy made Lee Hyun-soo shudder.

“Kang Jin-ho.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly turned to look at Lee Hyun-soo.

“This will probably be the fuse.”

“The fuse?”

“Once this is over, Korea will be completely organized. Then there will be nothing left. Once the internal organization is finished, it will inevitably expand outward. Other countries know that too.”

“Hmm.”

“The moment the organization is finished, the forces that are trying to destroy us will move. More fiercely and powerfully than now. That flow cannot be denied.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded quietly.

“You understand…”

“Those who use their heads say stupid things from time to time.”

“……Yes?”

Kang Jin-ho reached out and put a cigarette in his mouth. Then, he slowly inhaled the cigarette smoke.

“If you have the mind to worry about the future, focus on doing the current task perfectly. If you look too far, you won’t see the details.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Kang Jin-ho slowly got up from his seat.

“Then I’ll go get some fresh air. There’s still time.”

“Yes.”

“Oh, and…”

“Yes?”

Kang Jin-ho scratched his head.

“Be careful.”

“……What do you mean?”

“I didn’t know this would happen, so I’ve been keeping them on edge. I thought they’d be useful after a few days when the poison wore off a bit, but I didn’t expect things to happen so quickly today.”

Lee Hyun-soo’s face hardened.

He knew who Kang Jin-ho was talking about. He was probably talking about the demons that Kang Jin-ho had just smashed.

“Be careful?”

Kang Jin-ho wasn’t the type of person to say such things.

He hadn’t even said that when facing Bator. But the fact that he was saying it now…

“I didn’t know I’d be unleashing so many mad dogs like this. They’ll be out of control, so be careful. It’s fine if I’m there, but if I’m not, you’ll probably… know what it’s like to have allies who are more terrifying than enemies.”

“……Please make sure they don’t go in a different direction.”

“I’ll try.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled and went outside.

*Thud*

Hearing the sound of the door closing, Lee Hyun-soo wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“Why doesn’t everyone know?”

Lee Hyun-soo sighed.

It wasn’t something you couldn’t figure out if you just thought about it a little. That they were being played in the palm of his hand. Even Lee Hyun-soo couldn’t escape Kang Jin-ho’s palm, so what kind of guts did they have to try to oppose Kang Jin-ho?

Of course, they must have something to believe in.

Maybe there was something that Lee Hyun-soo couldn’t even imagine.

But they didn’t know.

The Kang Jin-ho they knew hadn’t shown all of himself either. The only thing those who couldn’t gauge the size of their enemy could have was certain death.

Lee Hyun-soo quietly looked out the window.

Soon, this peaceful scene would disappear, and darkness would fall.

And…

“I’ll get to smell blood to my heart’s content.”

Lee Hyun-soo closed his eyes, watching the sun slowly move westward.