Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 79

Bang!

No sooner had the target popped up than Kang Jin-ho’s K-2 rifle spat fire.

The target fell back down as naturally as it had risen.

‘Such a hassle.’

He felt like he could hit everything even with a standing shot, so he couldn’t understand why they were training to shoot differently depending on the distance. In a real battle, it’s not like you’d lie down to shoot if the enemy was far away and stand up if they were close.

It would be more effective training to practice hitting both close and far targets in different stances, regardless of the distance.

It felt like the training here wasn’t to improve the combat skills of the recruits but rather training for the sake of training.

To make it more cumbersome, to drag out the time.

And…

‘They train us like that, but why do we actually shoot lying down?’

They spent the whole morning doing unsupported firing drills, but in reality, they were shooting with their guns fixed inside a bunker. What on earth was the point of that?

There were many things he couldn’t understand, but Kang Jin-ho didn’t bother to voice his complaints.

He remembered his father’s advice, and there was no real benefit to be gained by changing things.

Of course, despite the complaints filling his head, Kang Jin-ho’s body moved rhythmically each time the target changed.

Bang!

Perfect scores.

“Trainee number 100, perfect score!”

“Perfect score!”

Kang Jin-ho, who had hit all twenty shots, accepted his perfect score and left the firing line.

“Perfect score?”

“Yes?”

The instructor, who was recording the trainees’ scores, looked up at Kang Jin-ho and grinned.

“You’re a good shot, aren’t you?”

“Thank you.”

After leaving the shooting range, Kang Jin-ho inspected his weapon and sat down, staring blankly at it.

‘Is it because of this?’

He had never understood why so many martial artists in the Central Plains [a fictional region in many East Asian fantasy stories, often associated with traditional martial arts] were barely maintaining their lineage in modern times, but after firing a gun himself, he felt like he understood why martial artists had disappeared.

Ordinary martial artists cannot block bullets.

Of course, a martial artist of the Ascendant level [a high level of martial arts mastery] could easily block a bullet, but even when he was in the Central Plains, Ascendant martial artists were few and far between.

Moreover, the biggest advantage of a gun was its speed.

It takes at least a year to become proficient enough to cut someone with a sword.

One hundred days for a blade, one thousand days for a spear, ten thousand days for a sword.

That was the saying in the martial world. It took one hundred days to master a blade, one thousand days to master a spear, and ten thousand days to master a sword.

Kang Jin-ho didn’t agree with that saying, but he understood that it took at least one hundred days to master each weapon.

But what about a gun?

Kang Jin-ho had only received half a day of training on firearms.

He had been issued a gun before and had some understanding of its structure, but that was related to maintenance, not combat. The actual time he spent learning about guns was only half a day.

And in just half a day, Kang Jin-ho was able to master the gun as a weapon.

The others were the same.

They didn’t get perfect scores like Kang Jin-ho right away, but most of them were hitting more than half of their targets.

‘More than half, huh.’

200 meters is the distance that an arrow can barely reach. Considering that arrows are an attack that is launched at an unspecified number of people, and that it takes more time to master than other weapons, this gun was a weapon that could turn an ordinary person into a killing machine in half a day.

It was like magic.

Even a martial artist would need more than ten years of hard training to face someone who could even shoot a gun clumsily.

Ten years versus half a day.

It was a no-brainer.

Those who needed immediate power would have distributed guns, and martial artists would have been swept away by them. And when additional troops were needed, they would have thought it better to give guns than to train martial artists, and that’s how martial artists would have slowly disappeared.

‘That’s how it is logically, but…’

He could come up with a hypothesis about the mechanism by which martial artists disappeared. But the problem was that even the fact that martial artists existed in this world had completely disappeared.

History is recorded.

But the history of martial artists had been thoroughly rejected.

‘Is this a different world?’

If martial artists had existed in this world, there was no way that their history wouldn’t have been passed down. But there was no mention of martial artists in any of the literature of this world.

So, it was reasonable to think that the world Kang Jin-ho had come from was different from this one, but that didn’t solve all the questions.

‘Martial artists do exist.’

Then how should he explain the martial artists that exist in this world?

Something that shouldn’t exist does exist.

And what did exist is hard to find any trace of, as if it never existed.

The two propositions were conflicting.

Kang Jin-ho pressed his throbbing head.

He knew that no matter how much he worried, he wouldn’t find an answer.

“Hey, did you get a perfect score?”

“Yeah.”

The trainee sitting next to him looked at Kang Jin-ho as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

‘What is this guy?’

The man, who shared a bunk with him, had been observing Kang Jin-ho’s daily life and found him to be an incomprehensible being.

The training camp ran like clockwork.

But in reality, you would know how hard that clockwork was on people. It felt like the FM [Field Manual, a military training guide] wasn’t made to be followed, but rather to pretend to follow it, since it was the standard.

But Kang Jin-ho really did everything by the book.

His combat boots were always clean, and the clothes in his locker were creased so sharply that you could cut yourself on them. Even though the instructors told him that he didn’t need to crease them since that culture was gone, he said it was more comfortable for him and kept his clothes neatly creased, which was enough to give anyone goosebumps.

Every item was in its place, and there were no unnecessary items.

His daily life was the same.

When the day’s work was over, everyone wanted to rest, but Kang Jin-ho would sit cross-legged and close his eyes. Several other trainees had tried to talk to him, but he didn’t really respond.

If only that was all…

Training with Kang Jin-ho was a misfortune.

Especially for trainee number 101, who was training right behind Kang Jin-ho, it was a living hell.

He was above average compared to the others, but because he was training next to or behind Kang Jin-ho, he became the biggest idiot in the world.

How stupid would someone who hit twelve out of twenty shots look next to someone who hit all twenty?

In reality, he had passed the test, but the comparison was unavoidable.

“Hey, have you ever been to training camp before?”

“What are you talking about?”

“There are guys who get kicked out of training camp and then come back. Is this really your first time?”

“It’s my first time.”

“Really?”

Kang Jin-ho tilted his head.

“What would I gain from lying to you? Why can’t you believe me?”

‘You should do something believable before asking to be believed!’

He wasn’t a trainee, he was a soldier who was ready to be deployed overseas right away. Why was he bothering others in a place where they were doing tutorials?

“We need a balance patch.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing, never mind.”

Trainee number 101, Ji Young-hwa, sighed and looked up at the sky.

“The world is unfair.”

Games were unfair too, but they at least tried to balance things out. But the ‘military quest’ was too unfair.

At least when you’re doing the tutorial, you shouldn’t meet high-level players.

Okay, fine.

Balance might not be perfect.

When you think about how hard it is to balance 6 billion people, you can understand that much.

Then at least give us an appearance patch!

If someone’s basic stats are already different, what are we supposed to do if they’re also good-looking?

Ji Young-hwa, nursing his wounded pride, stared blankly at Kang Jin-ho, who was staring ahead with indifferent eyes.

“It’s really unfair.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind.”

Ji Young-hwa kicked his gun a few times, only to get caught by an instructor and have to roll around on the ground like crazy.

What Kang Jin-ho found most surprising about the training camp was that they got weekends off.

Even though a five-day work week was the norm, Kang Jin-ho, who didn’t think that even newly enlisted trainees would get weekends off, was frustrated by the sudden weekend break.

Usually, trainees welcome weekends off. But unfortunately, Kang Jin-ho was not one of them.

Unlike the other trainees who were happy just to be able to rest their bodies after being overworked during the week, Kang Jin-ho didn’t feel any physical fatigue.

His body was different from the other trainees.

There was no reason for him to feel tired from that level of training, and even if he did feel tired, his body would recover on its own.

So, for Kang Jin-ho, the weekend was just a time to feel boredom again.

Kang Jin-ho was sitting cross-legged, passing the time.

But it seemed that there were some people who didn’t like that.

“Hey.”

Kang Jin-ho opened his eyes at the sharp voice coming towards him.

“You… what the hell are you doing on the weekend?”

Kang Jin-ho frowned slightly as he looked at the person who was picking a fight with him.

A large man with an imposing physique was glaring at Kang Jin-ho. The tattoos that were visible above his tank top made him look threatening.

His face looked familiar.

He was probably the guy next to him. He was someone that Kang Jin-ho had seen often enough to remember his face, even though he didn’t usually pay attention to the people around him.

Kang Jin-ho tilted his head as he looked at the man who was openly showing hostility.

“What’s the matter?”

“Don’t sit there like that. Can’t you see that it’s making other people uncomfortable?”

Kang Jin-ho stared at the man silently.

When Kang Jin-ho just stared at him without saying anything, the man’s face contorted and he strode towards him.

“Why, why are you doing this!”

The other trainees rushed over and stopped the man.

“Is it just me, or is that bastard annoying? Look at what he’s doing! Even if he’s clueless, he should at least be a little bit clueless. How many people have been harmed because of that bastard?”

“It’s not a crime to be good at something.”

“Is it like we can’t do it? We’d all be comfortable if we just did things moderately, but can you say that while watching that bastard try to survive on his own? Look at him now. How uncomfortable do you think the people next to him are when he’s doing that while everyone else is resting?”

Only then did Kang Jin-ho realize what was going on, and he unfolded his legs and stood up.

“It seems I’ve caused some harm.”

“Look at the way that bastard talks. Hey, you, come here. Come here, you bastard.”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyebrows twitched.

Kang Jin-ho wanted to talk things out nicely if possible, but if he kept cursing like that, his desire to resolve things through conversation would disappear.

“What are you going to do if I go?”

Kang Jin-ho started walking towards the man.