Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 656

A soft thud. The sound of a door closing.

Stimulus.

It was a stimulus.

Guo Liqin’s dry eyes, which had been deprived of any stimulation for a while, moved desperately.

‘Who?’

It didn’t matter who it was.

Please, please…

Just be there.

You don’t have to talk to me. You don’t have to let me out. So please, just be there. Please!

Guo Liqin cried out desperately in the darkness.

Though no sound escaped his throat, Guo Liqin was making the most desperate plea he had ever made since birth.

If his body could have moved even a little, his face would have been covered in tears right now.

He didn’t know.

That such terror existed in the world.

He thought he had been through a lot, but this was on a different level. He would rather watch his fingers being cut off one by one than endure this.

Darkness.

The bathroom with the lights off was darkness itself. Even sounds were hard to hear.

Imagine being stuck in a bathtub in a dark bathroom, unable to move a finger, unable to make a sound, unable to even turn your eyes as you please.

If he hadn’t been a martial artist, he would have gone crazy in a few hours.

No, he would rather go crazy.

If he went crazy, he wouldn’t be able to feel his situation so vividly.

‘Please, please!’

Just kill me!

Don’t leave me here like this. Please!

Anyone would do.

Anyone.

He felt like he could endure it if someone was just next to him. They didn’t have to release his paralysis or talk to him… just not leave him alone here.

His eyes, filled with desperate will, trembled violently.

But all he saw was still darkness.

Nothing, absolutely nothing.

Just like the sound of the door opening a moment ago was a delusion, like it was a hallucination…

‘Hallucination?’

Can he say it wasn’t?

Was that really something that happened in reality?

Maybe he had gone crazy?

Is that why he was hearing hallucinations and seeing illusions?

He didn’t know if it was fortunate or unfortunate that tears weren’t flowing. He didn’t even know if he was alive or already dead.

One thing was certain… if he was dead, he had fallen into the most miserable hell. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t imagine a worse hell.

Even if he fell into Avici hell [the deepest level of Buddhist hell] and was tortured by the demons of hell, he would be able to scream. Wouldn’t that much freedom be allowed? Even if he fell into a fire hell and his whole body was burned, he would be able to struggle.

But now he couldn’t do anything.

He was dead while alive, and alive while dead.

This absurd contradiction tormented him again and again.

At that moment.

“I’m having second thoughts.”

A voice.

A low, subdued voice pierced his ears.

Hallucination?

No.

It was too vivid to be a hallucination. His cells, which had been relaxed from not feeling any stimulation for a while, felt like they were being pulled taut.

He wanted to scream.

That he was here.

Please talk to me more.

But his voice couldn’t escape at all. The intense emotions that made him want to jump up, roll on the floor, and harm himself were only expressed as a slight twitch.

Even so, at this moment, Guo Liqin was feeling overwhelming joy.

Someone was there, someone.

Then, something appeared in the air.

Seeing something change visually, not just hearing a sound, made him feel so relieved that his body went limp.

Two dots appeared in the air.

No, they weren’t dots.

They were eyes.

Red eyes.

Red eyes that were so eerie that just looking at them could stop your heart floated in the air.

“I’m wondering if it’s right to ask you something. Maybe I’m giving you pleasure right now.”

Affirmation.

Negation.

He couldn’t express either.

And even if he could, he wouldn’t have. He was ready.

If the one who spoke to him wanted affirmation, he would affirm, and if they wanted negation, he would negate. If they just spoke to him.

If they gave him that stimulation, more intense than any divine grace, Guo Liqin would offer his soul.

“The greatest punishment I can give you would be to leave you like this.”

“…”

“It would be a repetition, time like this. Left alone in a world with nothing… you would slowly die over an eternity. In a time where you can’t even distinguish between reality and dream. Thirst or hunger would be welcome. Because that would be proof that you’re alive.”

He imagined it.

And then he shuddered.

To be left like this?

Like this?

Terror.

Intense terror.

The terror that felt like his head was burning just from imagining it instantly took over him.

‘Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please!’

Even the voice of atonement praying to a god who descended on the last day of the world wouldn’t be more desperate than this. Guo Liqin squeezed out everything he had.

“Ugh…”

“Hmm?”

A very small groan, as if it had been suppressed and suppressed.

That was Guo Liqin’s scream, directed at the world and at him.

Kang Jin-ho watched the scene and smiled languidly.

“I’ll think about it.”

Kang Jin-ho’s voice had no inflection. It was as stiff as a machine.

“About how to make you suffer more.”

Guo Liqin was crying.

Though he couldn’t shed tears or even groan, he was definitely crying.

Why?

Why was this happening to him?

Death?

He was always prepared for that. One who deals with the death of others must know that they can die at any time. If death was the price for the sins he had committed so far, Guo Liqin was confident that he could accept that punishment with a smile.

Without being servile.

Rather, with mockery.

But wasn’t this too much?

He thought he had met a monster.

He thought he had met a demon.

He thought he would die more miserably than he could imagine.

But not once! Not once had he imagined this kind of suffering.

If he hadn’t come here…

If he hadn’t met that demon…

If he had refused to look after that brat from the beginning!

Then he wouldn’t be in this state now.

“I was going to let you go.”

Thunder struck in his head.

Every word from Kang Jin-ho was shaking Guo Liqin.

“Because I have something to hear from you. But looking at you now, I’m having second thoughts. Giving you that freedom seems like too great a reward.”

Guo Liqin felt that a person’s heart could stop just from hearing someone else’s words. Every syllable that Kang Jin-ho uttered made his body scream internally.

“So, what should I do?”

A leisurely voice.

A voice that was never in a hurry.

A voice that seemed to enjoy the pain, fully understanding the worst suffering Guo Liqin was experiencing.

A voice that only a demon could make.

Guo Liqin knew.

This guy was a demon.

He was fundamentally different from the dirty and cruel ones he had seen so far.

He was different from those who tried to threaten others by surrounding themselves with cruelty and evil. This guy was evil to the bone.

A low laugh.

The low laughter that was subtly revealed every time his voice flowed proved it. Laughing like this while watching human suffering was not something a human could do.

What was even more infuriating…

Was that the demon’s voice sounded like heavenly harmony to Guo Liqin’s ears right now. Because whether it was a demon or anyone else, they were talking to him. At least he could hear something.

It was absurd, but it was true.

Then, a low voice was heard in his ear.

“Get up.”

Guo Liqin’s body twitched.

He was moving.

He was moving.

His body, which had been as stiff as a stone for over a day, began to move again.

Guo Liqin raised his body as if possessed.

Without any expression of joy or fear, his body stood straight.

His whole body screamed.

In that short time, his muscles felt like they had completely loosened. Just giving strength to his loosened muscles brought a pain that felt like he would scream, but Guo Liqin gladly accepted even that pain.

He stood up.

But Guo Liqin’s mouth did not open. He was just doing his best to raise his body, as if that was his supreme command.

He knew.

The one in front of him did not allow him to speak.

If he was told to stop breathing, he had to stop. If he was told to stop living, he had to die.

Not even a shred of his soul was his own. At this moment, Kang Jin-ho controlled everything about Guo Liqin, literally everything.

Kang Jin-ho’s lips curled up as he watched Guo Liqin tremble but desperately try not to fall.

“Now, you must have something to say to me.”

Kang Jin-ho’s voice, like overflowing black flames, pierced Guo Liqin’s ears. Guo Liqin’s body twitched.

His mouth gaped open.

Intermittent spasms.

And desperate gestures.

He thought and thought again. As if he was going to use up all the brain he would use in the future at this moment, Guo Liqin focused solely on thinking.

Then he raised his head.

The answer he had to give was already decided.

“…Any…thing…”

A hoarse voice.

A voice that was cracked and cracked again, sounding like scraping metal, leaked from Guo Liqin’s mouth.

“Anything… you want… I will tell you… anything, anything… whether it’s something I know or something I don’t know. No matter what it is…”

Guo Liqin spoke desperately, as if each word was difficult.

If someone had been watching him, they would have turned their head away, unable to watch any longer.

Overwhelming fear and overwhelming powerlessness.

Like a child standing in front of an oncoming tidal wave with nowhere to run, Guo Liqin groaned.

“I will tell you. I will… I will tell you. Anything, whatever it is… so… so please… please…”

Guo Liqin’s body began to twitch.

The emotions that had been suppressed for so long flowed out through his body.

“So… so please…”

After muttering ‘please’ dozens of times, Guo Liqin looked at Kang Jin-ho’s red eyes and said,

“So… please kill me. Please, me… please kill me. Don’t throw me back into that hell, please kill me. I’ll tell you anything.”

Hot tears flowed from Guo Liqin’s eyes.

Once released, the emotions escaped control and began to flow like a flood.

“Huuu… huu, hu…”

Kang Jin-ho showed his white teeth and smiled as he watched Guo Liqin cry like a child.