Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 725

“Tianjin is not feasible.”

The elders’ voices were full of fervor.

“Although Tianjin is the closest port to here, departing from there requires passing between Yantai and Dalian.

This is too risky.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded quietly.

“What’s the alternative?”

“We are considering Qingdao. The land route is long, but it’s the most realistic option.”

Kang Jin-ho, who had been looking at the map, nodded. If safety was the priority, it would be better to escape through the South Sea rather than the East Sea. However, that would take too much time, and there would be too many variables during the move.

They needed to find the closest and most stable departure point.

“Qingdao, huh…”

Just as Kang Jin-ho was about to speak, a rebuttal came.

“I’m against Qingdao. Yancheng would be better.”

“Why?”

“Qingdao has numerous small islands. But these islands cannot be used as assembly points or intermediate stops. The islands are either too small, or the larger ones have naval garrisons. That also means the territorial waters are farther away. It’s more realistic to use Yancheng, which has no islands and a shorter distance to international waters.”

“Hmm.”

Kang Jin-ho didn’t have much to say. Lee Hyun-soo had also left the choice of sea route to them. The ship Lee Hyun-soo had prepared was already heading to the West Sea.

Once the departure point was decided, they could simply adjust the ship’s location.

Ultimately, the departure point had to be their choice.

“Jang Min.”

“Yes.”

“What do you think?”

“I want to avoid places with islands. Moreover, the distance from the coast of Qingdao to the islands is over 50km.

Realistically, swimming that distance and then going an additional 20km is nearly impossible. The ship needs to come closer…”

“There’s a naval garrison?”

“Yes.”

“Then it’ll be difficult.”

The people they needed to avoid most in this operation were the public security forces and the military.

The regular army was a formidable opponent. To a capable few, the military might seem like scarecrows, but for the majority, there was no more frightening opponent than a military that could form a firing line from a distance.

Most martial artists couldn’t even resist.

Moreover, at their level, they would be swept away without even being able to retaliate.

There was a reason why martial artists infiltrated the city’s night streets. If martial artists and the military faced each other in an open field, they would have to worry about ‘how to escape’ rather than ‘how to fight.’

In that sense, they wanted to avoid places with military presence.

“If we go to Yancheng, what’s the problem?”

“The land route becomes too long,” Jang Min replied with a stiff face.

“It’s not up to ten thousand, but it’s still a huge number. If we move this many people by land, we won’t be able to go unnoticed.

Even if we mobilize chartered buses, we’ll need at least a hundred.”

‘A hundred…’

Kang Jin-ho rubbed his face.

That hundred was also a calculation that barely considered human rights. According to that calculation, each bus would have to carry at least sixty people.

If a bus with a capacity of 44 people carried 60, it would be packed like a can of sardines.

Even so, a hundred….

“Will it be a problem?”

“What problem are you referring to?”

“I’m asking if mobilizing about a hundred buses will cause a problem.”

Finding the answer difficult, Jang Min looked at the other elders. There were many who knew how the world worked better than him, so he didn’t need to answer everything.

“It might not be a big problem.”

“Hmm?”

The one who answered was Li Xiaoyu.

“Actually… that, somewhere, that island in Korea…”

“Jeju Island?”

“Yes. It’s common for about three thousand people to go on a cruise to Jeju Island at once. If we disguise ourselves as a travel agency and say they are group tour buses, there shouldn’t be any problems.”

“Is it really that okay?”

“There might be some minor issues, but we can probably get through it by greasing some palms.”

“Then is there a problem?”

Jang Min sighed and said,

“Although we’ve tried to move discreetly, it’s unlikely that they haven’t noticed our movements.

They ignore and despise the Demonic Cult, but they have a pathological hysteria about the Demonic Cult gathering.”

It was quite modern for a 180-year-old man to use such words, but Jang Min was an early adopter, so it was understandable.

“So, what’s the conclusion?”

No one opened their mouths.

While everyone was watching Kang Jin-ho’s reaction, Bator was the one who spoke up and made a conclusion.

“Master, even if we stay here, those guys won’t just wait for us. The Red King is impatient.”

“Hmm…”

“It’s better to move as soon as possible, whether it’s a success or a failure. If it doesn’t work out, we can just push through the public security forces and jump into the sea.”

“Is that what you call wise?” Bator said firmly.

“Sometimes, trying to respond perfectly to every situation can actually make things worse. Master, you know this too.

No matter how much you prepare, preparation can never be perfect.”

“That’s true.”

“Then it might be better to just charge in without any preparation. At least we’ll gain one thing.”

“One thing?”

“Time.”

Bator snapped his fingers.

With a snap, everyone’s gaze focused on him.

“What’s most important to us right now is time. We can’t waste even a second. Instead of wasting time in this meeting, it’s better to just gather as many buses as possible,

load those guys up with a backhoe, and dump them into the West Sea. At least, that’s what I think.”

It was an unrefined statement, but somehow….

“That makes sense.”

Kang Jin-ho had no choice but to acknowledge Bator’s opinion.

Moving this many people was not an easy task. That’s why he tried to be careful. If it were the Kang Jin-ho of the past, he wouldn’t have made these preparations.

Moving people was not his role.

In the Central Plains, Cheongma took on this role, and in Korea, Bang Jin-hoon and Lee Hyun-soo did it. Kang Jin-ho only had to give instructions.

‘The problem is that I can’t do that.’

The fact that Kang Jin-ho was moving directly meant that Kang Jin-ho himself did not trust Jang Min and the elders’ handling of things at all.

It wasn’t because they were incompetent. When working with others, he had time to observe them. But now, Kang Jin-ho didn’t have time to observe them.

So, he couldn’t trust them.

Then….

“Bator.”

“I’m listening, Master.”

“I’ll give you full authority.”

Kang Jin-ho said calmly.

“Bring me the best result you can achieve.”

“What about time?”

“If what you say is true, the faster, the better.”

“Hmm, Master.”

Bator curled up the corners of his mouth.

“It’s good that you trust me, but I’m just going to produce results. I don’t care about the process.”

“I’ll leave that to you as well.”

“Good.”

Bator smiled and looked at everyone.

“Now, let’s begin, Demonic Cult members. The most urgent and interesting transport operation in the history of the Demonic Cult.”

The elders’ faces began to show anxiety as they looked at Bator’s expression.

“…Are we riding?”

“Yes.”

Joo Kang tilted his head, looking at the ‘thing’ in front of him.

“Riding?”

“Yes.”

This wasn’t a communication problem.

This was a problem of language ability.

In Joo Kang’s opinion, or rather, based on the common sense of this world, the act of placing one’s body on this machine in front of him was not referred to as ‘riding.’

Ah, of course, if one were to climb on the front part, it would be ‘riding.’ But if one were to climb on the wide and magnificent back part, it should be called ‘being loaded’ rather than ‘riding.’

‘No, I’m climbing on my own, so what should I call it? Loading?’

He prided himself on not lacking language skills, but he couldn’t find the right word to express this bizarre situation.

But Joo Kang was human.

The greatest thing about humans was that when they encountered something they couldn’t solve on their own or something they couldn’t understand with their own knowledge, they could ask for help from others.

“Um…”

“What?”

“It looks like a truck to me?”

“That’s right.”

“And what’s on top of it looks like a large container.”

“You’re exactly right.”

“But you’re saying we’re riding in it?”

“Yes.”

“People?”

The elder lightly shook his head.

“You’re not people. You’re members of the Demonic Cult.”

“It would be impossible to load ordinary humans in here. It’s not just for an hour or two, and if they had to move packed like sardines in a dark container without any light, it wouldn’t be strange if they developed mental illness.”

“You know it very well.”

“But you are the proud subordinates of the Demon Lord and the members of the Demonic Cult that has lasted for a thousand years. You won’t get mental illness from that.”

Were members of the Demonic Cult not human?

Joo Kang had never once thought that the existence of a human rights association would be of any help to him. And given the nature of China, he had never thought that human rights were that important.

But at this moment, Joo Kang felt like he knew what human rights meant.

Human rights were what allowed people to live like people.

The moment a person was treated like container cargo,

humans lost their dignity.

No matter how harsh the world was, how could humans lose their dignity?

Joo Kang wanted to shout out the cry of his innate human rights burning within him, but his desire was easily suppressed.

“Is there a problem?”

“No, sir.”

No, there wasn’t. Absolutely not.

Even if there was, there wasn’t.

The reason the problem that existed disappeared was not because he obeyed the elder’s authority. It was because he saw someone’s solar plexus in his line of sight.

He wasn’t short either. But when he turned his head, he could see someone’s solar plexus, which was impossible unless it was a dream.

Unless someone brought a chair and stood on it.

But the one who made that unrealistic thing possible was talking to him.

“What are you doing?”

“I, I’m going to get in now.”

Without another word, Joo Kang jumped into the container.

Human rights?

More important than human rights was the right to survive. Even a three-year-old could understand that it was safer to experience the life of a commuter groaning on the subway in a narrow container without any light than to complain in front of Bator.

“Are you all in?”

“Yes.”

Bator smiled at the elder’s reply.

“What bus?”

They were running out of time, so what was with the bus? Whether it was people or cargo, they had to gather everything that could be loaded and finish loading… no, boarding, as quickly as possible.

“Finish everything within thirty minutes.”

“Yes.”

Bator nodded as he watched the rapid loading taking place all around.

“It’s what the Master ordered. We have to do it perfectly.”

One of Kang Jin-ho’s thoughtless orders was escalating the situation.