Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 812

“Hey, hey! Look at this!”

“Ugh.”

“Look at these fish, they’re not normal. Why do they look like that? They’re so ugly.”

‘Maybe the fish feel the same way about you?’

Kang Jin-ho had learned a thing or two about the world.

He knew that not saying everything that popped into his head was a survival skill.

“Hey! I’m telling you, they’re really ugly!”

Fortunately, Jo Mi-hye eased Kang Jin-ho’s burden.

“Oppa, oppa.”

“Yeah?”

“Have you looked in a mirror lately?”

Han Jin-sung’s eyes twitched.

“Why would I? I’m good enough!”

“I’ve heard that all men think that way, but I never thought it was actually true.”

“It’s not like I’m ugly, okay?”

Jo Mi-hye silently pointed a finger at Kang Jin-ho’s face. Han Jin-sung’s body trembled as he followed her finger and looked at Kang Jin-ho’s face.

“It’s cheating to come here with that face!”

“Oppa.”

“What!”

“You’ve been sticking to Jin-ho oppa since earlier, haven’t you?”

“…Yeah.”

“Didn’t you see people glancing at us?”

“They looked like they were thinking, ‘Why is that squid out of the water in this aquarium?'”

Han Jin-sung slumped.

‘I wondered why they kept staring.’

I thought they were looking at Kang Jin-ho. It’s not easy to see a face like that anywhere.

Even when I thought the attention was on Han Jin-sung, I thought it was just my imagination.

“Hey, stay away from me!”

“Why are you picking on Jin-ho oppa when you were the one who stuck to him?”

“It’s unfair!”

“Your face?”

“Kaaak!”

Han Jin-sung flared up and shouted.

“Even so, isn’t the face part of the body? To be treated like a squid just because I’m standing next to someone who looks like that! Isn’t the world too unfair?”

Before anyone could answer, Han Jin-sung pushed his head towards Kang Jin-ho and confronted him.

“If you’re going to use it like that, give me that face! You look like the type to catch a black porgy [a type of fish] and boil ramen with it!”

Jo Mi-hye patted Han Jin-sung’s back as he ranted.

‘Hmm…’

Kang Jin-ho chuckled as he watched the scene. She was patting his back, but it was more like a gentle caress.

‘He seems to be in a good mood.’

At first, some of the kids complained about going to an aquarium, saying it was childish, but once they entered, they all seemed amazed and satisfied.

Especially these two, they were practically on a date.

“Jin-sung.”

“Yeah? Hyung?”

Han Jin-sung quickly regained his composure.

“Is everything okay on the other side?”

“I’ll check.”

Han Jin-sung, standing at attention, opened his messenger app and sent a message. Kang Jin-ho saw the replies flooding in as soon as Han Jin-sung sent the message.

“Everything is fine.”

“…Is that so?”

The reporting system is amazing.

I want to introduce it to the Assembly [referring to a governing body or organization].

‘I’m not kidding.’

People who are older and used to corporate culture don’t easily accept new things. Most corporate cultures have their reasons, but sometimes they just get used to the old ways and fail to change what needs to be changed.

‘I should bring the kids sometime later.’

I was curious how the Assembly’s system would look in these kids’ eyes. Especially Han Jin-sung, who always complains, would point out the Assembly’s problems without hesitation.

“Everyone has arrived.”

«Okay.»

Kang Jin-ho nodded quietly.

‘They’re probably better than me.’

Actually, when I think about it, it was impossible for Kang Jin-ho to lead all the kids by himself. Maybe the old Kang Jin-ho could have, but the current Kang Jin-ho would probably have a mental breakdown just trying to take care of toddlers.

‘It’s probably the same for others.’

There was no reason for them to come out on a holiday to take care of the kids. People want to rest on holidays. The kids are like little devils even inside the orphanage. They upgrade to big devils when they go outside.

I was grateful to the childcare teachers who brought the kids out without complaint.

“Jin-sung.”

“Yeah? Hyung?”

“What do the childcare teachers like?”

“Money.”

Kang Jin-ho and Jo Mi-hye stared at Han Jin-sung. Kang Jin-ho looked bewildered, while Jo Mi-hye was filled with contempt.

“What! Did I say something wrong?”

Han Jin-sung put his hands on his hips and stuck out his stomach.

“Who in the world doesn’t like money! Even Marx was obsessed with money! It’s good to like people, and it’s good to like money. People in our country believe that those who are great in character are indifferent to money! That’s all just a facade. They do it for appearances.”

“Cash is the best gift. And it’s best to give it in a wad of bills, not through a bank account.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded heavily as he watched Han Jin-sung give a thumbs up.

“I agree.”

“…I agree too.”

Even Jo Mi-hye surrendered.

If you don’t care about appearances and formalities, there’s no better gift than crisp cash.

“Okay, I got it.”

“Hyung! I want some allowance too!”

Whack!

Han Jin-sung, who had been hit on the back, squirmed while holding onto the aquarium tank and got a scolding from a safety guard. He would be fine if he stopped at the right time, but he always went one step further and invited trouble.

“Let’s go quickly. We’ll miss it.”

“You made my back like this.”

“Should I hit you one more time to make you normal?”

“I’m going now.”

Jo Mi-hye and Han Jin-sung went ahead, but Kang Jin-ho hesitated slightly.

“Hyung?”

“Oppa?”

Kang Jin-ho, receiving their gazes, shook his head.

“No, it’s nothing.”

Kang Jin-ho followed Jo Mi-hye and Han Jin-sung, slightly frowning.

‘What is it?’

I feel uneasy.

To be precise, it’s not that I’m uneasy, but something keeps bothering me.

‘It’s not like someone is here…’

Just in case someone was targeting him or the kids, he spread his energy to check the surroundings, but there was no one suspicious around.

He spread his energy wide to scan the entire aquarium, but it was the same.

It was impossible to target Kang Jin-ho from that far away. So, it didn’t mean that someone was preparing an attack.

‘Then what is it?’

Kang Jin-ho’s senses were extremely sharp.

He could hear a needle falling 10 meters away. Moreover, his senses had improved even further after his recent experiences and escaping the demonic realm.

It was now impossible for anyone to deceive Kang Jin-ho’s eyes and infiltrate his surroundings. Even the Red King couldn’t do it.

Yet, the unease didn’t go away, so he checked twice, three times, but the result was the same.

“Oppa, is something wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Kang Jin-ho waved his hand and followed Jo Mi-hye.

‘Let’s observe a little more for now.’

He didn’t want to overreact when he couldn’t identify the source of his unease.

Maybe it was a side effect of entering and leaving the demonic realm, or maybe Kang Jin-ho’s senses had become more sensitive than before, causing him to feel this unease.

“Wow, look here.”

Han Jin-sung and Jo Mi-hye’s eyes turned upwards.

A tunnel was built through the water. As they walked through the acrylic tunnel, they were surrounded by fish above and below.

The sight of colorful fish of unknown species swimming around was enough to make them forget reality for a moment.

“…Wow!”

Even Kang Jin-ho was speechless and stared blankly at the scene.

It felt like walking in the middle of the sea.

“This is amazing.”

“Pretty, right?”

“Hey, that fish looks like you.”

“…Do you want to be thrown in there?”

Han Jin-sung ran away from Jo Mi-hye and was caught by a safety guard again and warned.

“…Why is he like that?”

“I don’t know, oppa. It seems like his brain is at the squid level, not just his face.”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

Han Jin-sung was very cheerful when he was young. But he became a little more serious as he got older. And he thought he had become a person who could control himself when he became a senior in high school…

‘I was wrong.’

As they say, a leopard can’t change its spots. Han Jin-sung, who had let go of the pressure of being a senior in high school, was running wild.

Han Jin-sung, who had been released from the safety guard, pouted.

“How can they tell people not to run? It’s like telling a bird not to fly.”

Jo Mi-hye glared at Han Jin-sung with cold eyes.

“Oppa.”

“Yeah?”

“If you cause trouble and embarrass me one more time, I’ll break your legs.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Han Jin-sung, looking dejected, took the lead.

Kang Jin-ho couldn’t help but smile at the scene.

‘It’s fun.’

The sight of the fish and the recreation of the sea didn’t give Kang Jin-ho any emotion beyond ‘amazing’. It wasn’t the kind of external stimulus that could stir Kang Jin-ho’s emotions.

What made him happy was the sight of the kids enjoying themselves in the aquarium.

Not many kids expressed their emotions as intensely as Han Jin-sung, but most of them couldn’t hide their joy.

‘I’m glad I came.’

There wasn’t much he could do for the kids. He also knew that giving them constant affection and attention was much more important than showing off like this once in a while.

Still, he was doing what he could right now, and the results were good, so Kang Jin-ho was also a little excited.

“Welcome. This is the central aquarium that our Sea Paradise Aquarium is proud of.”

Kang Jin-ho, who had passed through the connecting passage and entered a slightly larger hall, saw a huge tank that completely filled one wall.

“Wow!”

“It’s really big.”

Kang Jin-ho also nodded.

‘It’s big.’

The visible part wasn’t everything. Beyond the acrylic, a scene that looked like a piece of the sea was unfolding.

Numerous schools of fish were swimming smoothly through the filled seawater.

At the same time, Kang Jin-ho clenched his fist tightly.

“Shark?”

“Yeah. It’s a shark, hyung.”

“…That?”

Kang Jin-ho looked dejected.

It was a shark, but it was a little different from the shark he had expected.

“There are no great white sharks here!”

“Ugh.”

Disappointed, Kang Jin-ho turned his head and his eyes widened.

“Huh? That?”

A large shark, similar to the one he had seen on TV, quickly passed in front of him. Kang Jin-ho flinched and stood in front of the kids.

“It’s a tiger shark.”

“Tiger? A tiger shark?”

“I guess that’s what it’s called.”

“Oh!”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes sparkled. Han Jin-sung, seeing this, covered his mouth.

‘I can’t figure out this hyung.’

Kang Jin-ho’s reaction to seeing the shark was like that of an elementary school student. The kids were also amazed, but not as much as Kang Jin-ho.

Kang Jin-ho showed unexpected sides of himself like this from time to time.

“Hyung, they say there are orcas if you go behind there.”

“Hmm.”

His reaction was different from when he had spoken a little while ago. He seemed to be excited after seeing the tiger shark in front of him.

“Isn’t that a person inside there?”

“Wow, it is. There are sharks inside, is it okay to go in there?”

“They wouldn’t have gone in if it wasn’t okay. Not everyone lives thoughtlessly like you, oppa.”

“…You’re hitting me in the solar plexus even at this timing.”

It was the moment when Han Jin-sung and Jo Mi-hye were joking around.

Crack.

Kang Jin-ho’s head turned sharply at the strange sound he heard in his ear.