Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 70

“Ugh…”

“Tell me. If you talk, I’ll let you go.”

Park Hyuk-gi desperately tried to speak. But with his throat constricted, there was no way he could. He tried with all his might to pry the arm off, but the arm holding his neck was as firm as a pipe wrench.

No matter what he did, it felt like this arm wouldn’t budge an inch.

“Talk.”

Park Hyuk-gi desperately tried to shout. But his voice only came out as a weak groan.

“I can’t hear you.”

Crack!

Park Hyuk-gi’s eyes widened as he felt his wrist twist, and he screamed. But his scream only remained inside his throat, unable to escape.

“Talk.”

“Ugh….”

“I can’t hear you.”

Crack!

Park Hyuk-gi’s shoulder broke.

Tears streamed down Park Hyuk-gi’s face. The pain of a bone shattering while fully conscious was unbearable.

“Tell me.”

“……”

“Do you understand?”

“Ugh…”

“Do you think you know what it’s like to have to talk but not be able to?”

Park Hyuk-gi nodded frantically.

He didn’t even know what he was answering. But he knew that now was the time to nod.

“No, you still don’t know.”

Crack.

Park Hyuk-gi’s collarbone shattered.

Park Hyuk-gi’s whole body convulsed.

A collarbone fracture is one of the most painful fractures.

“Park Hyuk-gi.”

“……”

“Answer me.”

Park Hyuk-gi desperately opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Filled with injustice, fear, and pain, he burst into tears. Kang Jin-ho stared at Park Hyuk-gi for a moment before speaking.

“Do you know your mistake?”

“……”

Park Hyuk-gi nodded frantically.

Kang Jin-ho released his grip on Park Hyuk-gi’s neck.

Thud!

Park Hyuk-gi fell to the floor with a loud crash.

Kang Jin-ho spoke.

“Tell me.”

“Hah… hah… why are you doing this…”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

“No.”

Crack.

Kang Jin-ho’s foot stomped on Park Hyuk-gi’s leg.

Park Hyuk-gi’s mouth opened wide.

But no sound came out of his mouth.

Was the pain too extreme for him to speak?

Kang Jin-ho spoke again.

“Tell me, what is your mistake?”

“I… I… the children… I didn’t properly…”

“No.”

Crack.

Another chilling sound of bone breaking echoed in the room.

Kang Jin-ho whispered softly into Park Hyuk-gi’s ear.

“That’s not it, Park Hyuk-gi.”

Park Hyuk-gi nodded mindlessly with unfocused eyes.

“No, that’s not it. Your mistake is that…”

Kang Jin-ho grabbed Park Hyuk-gi’s hand.

“You touched me.”

Crack, crack, crack.

All his fingers were broken.

Kang Jin-ho continued calmly.

“I can’t find and punish everyone who makes a mistake. I don’t need to. I’m not a hero of justice, nor am I a judge. If what you did wasn’t related to me, I wouldn’t have cared. Do you understand, Park Hyuk-gi? What your mistake is?”

“Hah… hah…”

Park Hyuk-gi nodded, his face covered in blood and tears.

“Tell me.”

“Kang… Eun…young…”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled.

“You shouldn’t have touched her.”

“I… I’m sorry…”

Park Hyuk-gi desperately begged for forgiveness.

“It’s too late.”

Park Hyuk-gi’s face was filled with terror.

“It’s too late, Park Hyuk-gi. For you, and for me, it’s too late.”

Park Hyuk-gi gasped for breath.

“Maybe this is too much for you. It’s not just your fault. But you’re the representative of all of it, aren’t you? The children’s mistakes, the staff’s mistakes, it’s the representative’s job to take responsibility for all of it.”

“Hah…”

“If you’ve benefited from that position until now, shouldn’t you also pay the price?”

“Plea… please… forgive me…”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

“I don’t forgive. I just make deals.”

“Deals…”

“Yes, I just make deals. You get back the pain you gave, that’s my deal. Listen carefully, Park Hyuk-gi. When you wake up, nothing will have happened. You might think you just had a dream. That’s fine. I’ll come find you again. Listen carefully, Park Hyuk-gi. You have to experience what you did. Prepare ten billion won in cash by this time tomorrow. If not, you’ll have to make another deal with me.”

“T-ten billion?”

“Yes. In cash.”

Kang Jin-ho brought his face close to Park Hyuk-gi’s and whispered.

“Did you understand? Or should I explain it again?”

Park Hyuk-gi nodded frantically.

No sane person would want to hear that explanation again. If he could just get out of this situation, he felt like he could give ten billion won without hesitation.

“Don’t forget. The moment you believe it’s a dream, you’ll have to make a deal with me again.”

In the darkness, Kang Jin-ho, no, the Demonic Heavenly Sovereign’s smile shone brightly.

“Hah!”

Park Hyuk-gi jumped up from his seat.

“Hah! Hah! Hah!”

Park Hyuk-gi looked around frantically, as if he had lost his mind.

“A… a dream?”

Park Hyuk-gi looked down at his hands.

His broken fingers, leg, and collarbone were all fine.

What on earth was going on?

“What…”

A dream?

It was too vivid to be a dream.

The pain was something he couldn’t dismiss as a dream. He had never felt such terrible and vivid pain before. How could he feel such a thing in a dream?

But there was no way to explain his perfectly fine body. If it wasn’t a dream, how could a person’s body be so broken and then be fine again?

“…Was it a dream?”

It felt like he could hear a vivid voice again.

“Don’t forget. The moment you believe it’s a dream, you’ll have to make a deal with me again.”

Park Hyuk-gi’s body trembled.

What on earth was it?

Was it a dream, or not? Park Hyuk-gi couldn’t make sense of it. After trembling for a while, not knowing what to do, Park Hyuk-gi grabbed his shoulders and said as if spitting out the words.

“It’s a dream! It’s a dream!” Park Hyuk-gi concluded.

He must have had this dream because of the memory of that damn Kang Eun-young’s brother grabbing his neck during the day. That look in his eyes was so unpleasant that it must have stuck in his memory.

It was a really dirty dream.

He had never had such a terrible and vivid nightmare in his life.

“Damn it!”

Park Hyuk-gi shuddered and roughly took off his suit jacket. He was so sweaty that his body felt damp. He needed to cool off.

Park Hyuk-gi sat back in his chair.

‘It seems like my body has weakened…’ Park Hyuk-gi’s body froze.

The suit jacket he had thrown off.

There was something strange inside it. Park Hyuk-gi stared blankly at the suit.

He could see a red dot on the inside lining of the suit. Upon closer inspection, he could see something red that was still wet.

‘Blood?’

The shape and color.

A small drop of blood was there. Park Hyuk-gi reached out his hand towards the drop of blood.

Uncoagulated blood.

He could feel the sticky blood on his finger.

But there were no wounds on Park Hyuk-gi’s body where blood could have come from.

Then….

What on earth was this blood?

Park Hyuk-gi’s body trembled.

“What… what’s going on?”

Park Hyuk-gi muttered, as if he had lost his soul.

* * *

Kang Eun-young’s transfer to a new agency was carried out swiftly.

As soon as Chairman Hwang Jung-hoo gave the order, requests for cooperation came from the Jae Kyung Group, and there was no place in Korea that could ignore the request of a leading company like Jae Kyung. Thanks to this, Kang Eun-young signed a contract with a new agency in a daze, and this time, Jo Kyu-min himself attended to eliminate the risk of unfair contracts.

“Then, please take good care of her.”

“Don’t worry. But…,” Lee Jin-gun, the CEO of Code Entertainment, asked Jo Kyu-min cautiously.

“Who is that girl that the Jae Kyung Group is so interested in?”

Jo Kyu-min scratched his head, looking embarrassed.

“It’s difficult to say.”

“Could it be?”

Jo Kyu-min knew what Lee Jin-gun meant.

“It’s not that. Our chairman doesn’t have any hidden children. Of course, she’s not a hidden granddaughter either. You know that our chairman is the type to reveal things openly, not hide them and do something behind the scenes.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“But it’s definitely true that she’s at least as important as that.”

“A-as important as that?”

Jo Kyu-min smiled wryly as he watched Lee Jin-gun interpret the meaning of those words with a shocked expression.

When you think about it, being Kang Jin-ho’s sister was more dangerous than being Hwang Jung-hoo’s granddaughter.

“Please take good care of her. I know that the entertainment industry isn’t always a clean place. But if she gets involved in any scandal, Code won’t be safe either.”

“…I will keep that in mind.”

“This isn’t a threat. I’m just stating the facts. If something happens to her, it will be difficult for us to handle.”

“Yes.”

Lee Jin-gun swallowed hard. What did ‘us’ mean? Jo Kyu-min in front of him?

Or perhaps…

The Jae Kyung Group?

Was he saying that it would be difficult for the Jae Kyung Group to handle?

What was that girl’s identity that would lead to such a statement?

‘Is she a blessing or a curse… Anyway, I’ve taken on a troublesome kid,’ thought Lee Jin-gun.

“Then, we’ll just say hello today. Someone is unhappy that we spent too much time at the previous agency.”

“Please do. But can I ask you one more thing?”

“Please do.”

“Starwiz is now…” Jo Kyu-min answered lightly.

“It will probably be dissolved.”

Lee Jin-gun gasped.

Even though Starwiz wasn’t a huge agency, it was a company with a long history in the entertainment industry. And now, that company was going to disappear overnight.

“It would be fortunate if it ended there.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s nothing.”

Jo Kyu-min’s light words felt heavier than any threat to Lee Jin-gun.

“You don’t have to worry. At our agency, the kind of scandals that people talk about will never happen.”

“I believe so too. No, it has to be that way.”

Jo Kyu-min got up from his seat.

Lee Jin-gun also got up and saw Jo Kyu-min off.

As soon as Jo Kyu-min left, Lee Jin-gun picked up his phone.

“Hey, it’s me. We need to increase the number of road managers. What? No, we need to add more. Keep a close watch on the kids so they don’t cause any trouble! If we mess up, we’ll get struck by lightning!”

The biggest crisis of Lee Jin-gun’s life was approaching.