Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 673

Humans find themselves in all sorts of situations.

Sometimes they’re joyful, sometimes they’re sad.

But right now, Dabaao couldn’t quite put a name to what he was experiencing.

‘So, this is like…’

He’d seen something similar in a documentary.

A lion in the savanna playing with a newborn fawn.

The lion bats the fawn around, seemingly enjoying itself, but soon tires of the game and crushes the fawn to pieces.

Wasn’t his current situation exactly like that?

Dabaao kept his head facing forward, his eyes slightly turned to the side.

‘I’m going to lose my breath, seriously.’

A lion was sitting right next to him.

And naturally, Dabaao was the fawn. A fawn destined to be eaten by the lion.

So, what about him?

Should he take comfort in the fact that he wouldn’t be eaten?

‘Damn it, there’s no way that’s comforting.’

If you had to choose between being eaten by a beast and being killed by a human?

Neither was a good option, but if forced to choose, which would you pick?

Most people would choose the latter.

But Dabaao wanted the former.

Because he knew how cruel humans could be when they were set on killing someone.

This man exuded that kind of aura.

An aura that only those who knew could recognize.

An aura usually expressed through the smell of blood.

Even for a normal person, it would be better to be torn apart by a lion than to be executed by this kind of human.

But unfortunately, Dabaao had no choice.

He could only hold his breath like a fawn pinned under a lion’s paw.

‘Those damn bastards.’

Dabaao was the strongest of the three.

That was the problem.

They knew they couldn’t beat Dabaao one-on-one, so they made an unspoken agreement to attack him together, forcing him to his knees.

Thinking about the happy expressions of those guys who threw themselves off the cliff with Kang Jin-ho’s permission, he still felt a surge of anger.

Without their internal energy [qi or life force], they were just slightly stronger than average people. Falling from that cliff, their survival was not guaranteed.

They could die instantly, or worse, they could suffer a slow, agonizing death.

Yet, they had such liberated faces.

Faces that said they didn’t care if they died as long as they got away from Kang Jin-ho. It was too, too…

‘I’m jealous.’

That should have been me.

If they had just asked, he was confident he could have dived off the cliff more spectacularly than anyone else, damn it.

But unfortunately, Dabaao didn’t get that chance. Instead, he was given the privilege of sitting next to Kang Jin-ho and traveling.

It would be better to die.

Dabaao sighed quietly.

Even so, he was careful not to offend Kang Jin-ho.

‘But why is he taking me?’

He couldn’t understand it.

From this Korean’s perspective, Dabaao was clearly not a useful asset. So why bother taking him?

If he needed a toy to play with, there was no need to throw away two of the three and only take one.

Dabaao stopped thinking.

No matter how much he pondered, he wouldn’t be able to figure out Kang Jin-ho’s intentions. Those who had surpassed a certain level in martial arts were all illogical people.

Whether martial arts made people that way, or whether it was because they were that kind of person that they could reach that level, he didn’t know.

Anyway, if he kept thinking like this, his head would surely explode. Or he would go crazy before that.

Dabaao cursed his own rash decision to approach Kang Jin-ho and closed his eyes.

But if Dabaao had known one thing, he might have been a little relieved. That there was someone in this car who was even more confused than he was.

‘No, why is he taking him too!’

Han Eun-sol wanted to cry.

The things he had seen today had exceeded his brain’s capacity to process. Now, the things he had seen with his eyes and heard with his ears were no longer being stored in his head.

His brain, which had started to overload when Kang Jin-ho threw people off the cliff, completely crashed when those guys fought each other and the winners jumped off the cliff with smiles on their faces.

Now, he was still breathing, but he didn’t even know what he was doing.

“Ah, I’m freezing to death, seriously! Hey! Drive a little slower!”

“Yes.”

It must be cold.

It wasn’t a cold day, but it must be cold. Because there was no front windshield. As they drove, the wind rushed into the car, so of course it would be cold.

Even he, a man, was cold, so how much colder must Choi Yeon-ha be?

Han Eun-sol sighed.

‘I don’t know anymore.’

The sights he had seen today didn’t feel real. He could tell instinctively.

It was better to just forget about this. If he tried to figure something out carelessly, he wouldn’t have enough necks even if he had ten.

He needed to forget what he had seen and return to reality as soon as possible.

But…

Han Eun-sol glanced at the rearview mirror.

‘Get out of my sight so I can go back to reality!’

How could he return to reality when that guy and Kang Jin-ho were riding together in the back seat?

It was like he had closed his eyes and opened them to find a dragon breathing fire.

Han Eun-sol wondered if he should throw himself off a cliff to wake up from this dream.

‘There’s no way it’s a dream.’

His hand, which he had pinched, was still throbbing, so this was definitely not a dream.

And…

“Hey, do you have a blanket? I’m freezing to death!”

That woman wasn’t in her right mind either.

The fact that Choi Yeon-ha could act no differently than usual, even though an unidentified Chinese man who had been wielding a knife was riding behind her, showed that she was no ordinary person.

‘I’ve been underestimating my sister.’

He had thought she was the most ill-mannered person in the world, but he still thought she was within the realm of common sense… Turns out, she was a drug addict who didn’t need drugs.

If she wasn’t in her right mind normally, why would she need to take drugs?

Han Eun-sol was seriously considering quitting his job as her manager.

The car continued on, carrying Han Eun-sol’s sadness and worries. Thanks to Choi Yeon-ha’s occasional shouts that she was cold, they couldn’t go very fast, but they still managed to reach their destination, the hotel, eventually, leaving behind the lesson that even if you go slowly, you can still reach your goal if you keep going steadily.

“Ugh, I need to soak in some warm water.”

“Yes. Please be careful going up.”

“Are there any people who will have dinner with you tonight?”

“Hmm…”

Kang Jin-ho scratched his cheek.

“I think I need to ask my companions when they come…”

“You can just bring your companions out.”

“They’re a bit conspicuous…”

Kang Jin-ho smiled wryly. If he went into a restaurant with Bator, there was no way he could avoid people’s eyes. If he wanted to live a normal life, Bator was the first person who needed to learn Night Wiggens’ stealth techniques.

Of course, he would say that he didn’t need such petty skills.

Wasn’t Bator the type to be meticulous in unnecessary places but emphasize his masculinity in necessary ones?

“Hmm, then there’s no helping it. I’ll eat dinner on my own.”

“Yes.”

“By the way, when are you going back to Korea, Mr. Kang Jin-ho?”

“I don’t have any plans. But I can’t stay here forever. I’m planning to move to another place in a few days.”

“Really? Are you going sightseeing?”

“I have things to do in China.”

“Ah, I see.”

Choi Yeon-ha didn’t bother asking Kang Jin-ho what he was going to do. She knew that sometimes those kinds of questions could make their relationship awkward.

The important thing was that this person was Kang Jin-ho. Not what he did.

“Then, play with me a lot before you go.”

“…Excuse me?”

“I’ll be a little lonely and sad when you leave, Mr. Kang Jin-ho.”

“…I understand.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled awkwardly.

‘Her character seems to have changed a bit?’

In the past, Choi Yeon-ha never lost her aloofness even when she was being friendly. She was the type of person who wouldn’t even touch something that could slightly damage her pride.

But now, she was saying these things so casually.

Was it because her hidden inner self was coming out as their relationship progressed, or had Choi Yeon-ha changed?

It didn’t matter which one it was.

Because it wasn’t bad.

“Then, I’ll be going.”

“Yes. See you tomorrow.”

Watching the two people exchange greetings so casually, Han Eun-sol and Dabaao had the same thought.

‘They’re having fun.’

‘They’re having a good time.’

After parting with Choi Yeon-ha, Kang Jin-ho entered another hotel with Dabaao in tow. Dabaao didn’t say a word and followed behind Kang Jin-ho. And Kang Jin-ho also didn’t bother to speak to Dabaao.

He didn’t even tell him to follow. He just walked ahead as if it was natural for Dabaao to follow him.

‘Should I try to run away?’

Dabaao thought to himself and chuckled.

Run away?

It wasn’t like a deer didn’t run away from a lion because it didn’t have legs. It was because it knew that the moment it turned around, the lion’s teeth would sink into its neck that it gave up on running.

Because there was nothing more dangerous than showing your back to a beast.

The moment he got into the elevator, he gave up on everything.

His situation seemed to have changed a little. So, his current situation was like… yeah.

He was like a live fish on a cutting board.

And this Korean guy was a chef holding a sashimi knife.

When Kang Jin-ho got out of the elevator and opened the hotel room, Dabaao closed his eyes tightly and followed him inside. Then, the moment he opened his eyes, Dabaao’s eyes widened twice as much.

‘Ba, Bator?’

He couldn’t not know.

There were about seven billion people in the world, but there could only be one person with that kind of physique. It was that Bator he had seen once from afar a long time ago.

But why was Bator here?

“Have you arrived, Master?”

Bator got up from his seat. A clear posture of welcoming a superior. Dabaao’s mind began to spin furiously.

That Bator’s superior?

Then, a member of the Hongwang Group [a fictional criminal organization]?

Could it be?

If not…

No matter how hard he tried to stay calm, he couldn’t. In fact, if he thought about it rationally, his situation wouldn’t get any worse no matter what kind of status Kang Jin-ho had, but that’s not how people’s minds work.

“Did you say you wanted to see Guo Liqin?”

At Kang Jin-ho’s words, Bator’s gaze turned to Dabaao.

A nonchalant gaze.

A nonchalant gaze, like looking at a fly that had flown into the window, made Dabaao realize the reality.

“It seems like you know each other, why don’t you say hello?”

Kang Jin-ho walked towards a door on one side of the living room. Then, with a nonchalant hand, he grabbed the doorknob and turned it.

Dabaao looked inside the door with slightly nervous eyes.

Immediately after that,

“…”

Dabaao’s body trembled. Familiar to his eyes…

But the figure of a person who was completely unfamiliar came into view.

‘H, how…’