Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 861

“Ughhh!”

Joo-gang strained under the weight of the sacks he was carrying.

‘How many of these sacks are there? It feels like they never end!’ he thought, his muscles screaming in protest.

Even though they were martial artists, far surpassing the physical capabilities of ordinary people, the harsh reality of manual labor remained unchanged.

The reason was simple.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The sacks were piled onto specially made A-frames.

“No….”

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Before he could even finish his sentence, a dozen more sacks of cement were added to the already towering pile.

“We’re still human…” Joo-gang muttered, his breath coming in ragged gasps.

“We can do it, we can do it,” one of his fellow cult members encouraged, though his voice was strained.

“No, even so…” another replied, his face pale with exhaustion.

“We can do it,” the first insisted, his eyes fixed on some distant point.

There was no reasoning with them. They were driven by a force beyond logic.

While skilled laborers carried one or two sacks at a time, the Demonic Cult’s workers, led by Joo-gang, were tasked with carrying a dozen sacks at once. It was a brutal display of their supposed superhuman strength.

‘I’m going to die,’ Joo-gang thought, his body aching in every conceivable way.

Martial artists weren’t made of steel. They could get hurt from overuse, and they could get sick from overexertion. But in the eyes of these people, martial artists seemed like all-purpose workers who could be exploited without any consequences. They were seen as tools, not as people.

“Ughh…” Joo-gang groaned, but he silently shouldered the A-frame, his muscles screaming in protest.

His eyes burned with determination. He had to keep going.

‘It’s not much further,’ he told himself, trying to find some solace in the thought.

What makes people suffer isn’t the labor itself, but the reality. No matter how hard the work is, if there’s hope that it will improve one’s reality, people can endure it. It was the promise of a better future that kept them going.

Isn’t that why people endure working at large corporations that give them hellish workloads? Even if they handle the same amount of work, their perception of it differs depending on how much of a future they see in it. It was all about perspective and hope.

In that sense….

“Hyaaaah!” Joo-gang yelled, jumping up from his spot, his body suddenly filled with a surge of adrenaline. This was nothing. He could handle this.

‘The Demonic Master is moving,’ he thought, his heart pounding with anticipation.

Anyone with eyes could see it. Unlike when they first came to Korea, now it was clear that the Demonic Master was working tirelessly. The change was palpable.

The elders were dying off day by day. Not literally, but their old ways were being challenged and discarded.

With the belief that if those who teach don’t learn properly, the results are obvious, the Demonic Master was still roasting the elders like beans. [A metaphor for intense training and criticism.]

It couldn’t be easy for people of that age to learn something new. Moreover, the way they were learning didn’t allow them to save face. Seeing the elders getting hit, broken, and rolling around, Joo-gang felt sorry for them. It was a humbling experience for them.

Yet, the elders didn’t express any dissatisfaction. No, they were even more enthusiastic. They seemed to thrive on the challenge.

The old men, over seventy years old, had eyes that sparkled like three-year-olds. It was as if they couldn’t resist the joy of being hit and rolling around. They were like children discovering something new.

Were the elders all crazy?

No, that wasn’t it. There was something more to it.

“This is a demonic art I’ve never seen before,” one of the elders exclaimed, his voice filled with awe.

“I thought it would be extraordinary since it was given by the Demonic Master, but this is beyond that,” another added, his eyes wide with wonder.

“With this demonic art! With this demonic art, we can achieve a thousand years of glory for the Demonic Cult!” a third declared, his voice ringing with conviction.

It must be painful and difficult. But they saw hope in the demonic art given by the Demonic Master. The hope that their future would change, and the future of the Demonic Cult would change. It was a beacon in the darkness.

‘It must have been hard,’ Joo-gang thought, his heart filled with a mix of pity and admiration.

Joo-gang was also despairing about his situation. He was tired, sore, and questioning his place in all of this.

Not only him, but all the members of the Demonic Cult were in deep despair. But looking back, their despair was nothing compared to the despair of the elders. They had been carrying the weight of the cult’s stagnation for decades.

They had other options. They were young and could adapt.

They could leave the Demonic Cult and live ordinary lives, or they could join a new sect. It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t impossible. They had choices.

But it was impossible for the elders to leave the cult. How could they leave the sect they had devoted their entire lives to? Being old, it was also impossible for them to choose a new life. They were trapped by their past.

So, it must have been more miserable. Their situation was far more dire.

Accepting a future that wouldn’t get better, a situation that was only getting worse, and a life where they could only cling to past glories. It was a bleak existence.

Joo-gang, who had spent less than twenty years in the Demonic Cult, felt such deep despair, so how could he even imagine the feelings of those who had spent their entire lives in the Demonic Cult? He couldn’t even begin to fathom their pain.

Then, the demonic art given by Kang Jin-ho fell before those elders. It was a lifeline thrown to them in their darkest hour.

It should be called hope rather than a demonic art. It was a chance for them to change their fate.

Seeing the elders, covered in dirt, smiling without any regard for their dignity, made him feel emotional. It was a powerful display of resilience and hope.

Yes, that must be it. He finally understood.

A harsh life with hope is better than a comfortable life without hope. It was the promise of a better future that made all the difference.

“Hyaaaah!” Joo-gang put strength in his legs and ran up the stairs, his body moving with renewed vigor.

“Move slowly! You’ll break something!” someone shouted, but Joo-gang ignored him.

“We need to hurry!” he replied, his voice filled with excitement.

Joo-gang put down the A-frame and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He was exhausted, but his spirit was soaring.

Come to think of it, this work was also changing their reality. When this place was completed, the ones who would use it would be the members of the Demonic Cult. It was a tangible sign of their progress.

Not much had changed yet. They were still in the midst of the storm.

They hadn’t become stronger, and they weren’t living better lives than when they were in China. Rather, their training time had decreased, and they might be living a more barren life than in the past. They were sacrificing their comfort for the sake of their future.

Even so, there were hardly any complaints now. The grumbling had stopped.

Despite their recent explosive momentum, as soon as the Demonic Master started moving busily, everyone’s complaints disappeared. What they wanted wasn’t a more comfortable life, but a life where they could see the future, even if it was a fierce one. They were willing to fight for their dreams.

“Hey! They’re telling us to come down!” someone shouted from below, breaking Joo-gang’s train of thought.

“Huh?” Joo-gang replied, his brow furrowing in confusion.

Joo-gang peeked his head out at the voice from below.

“They’re saying this is over as of today,” the voice repeated, the words echoing in the air.

“……What?” Joo-gang asked, his mind struggling to process the information.

Over?

Joo-gang scanned his surroundings. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

The building frames were mostly done, but the interior work and exterior finishing weren’t finished yet. It seemed like they would need to work much longer, but they were saying it was over as of today? It didn’t make any sense.

It was a bit absurd, but Joo-gang wasn’t flustered. He had a feeling that something big was about to happen.

Rather, his heart was pounding. He was filled with a mixture of anticipation and excitement.

They had already heard that they wouldn’t be continuing this work. They knew this was just a temporary measure.

They needed to prepare properly for martial arts training, so they were told to help build the place where they would live in the meantime. It was a necessary step in their journey.

That was the Demonic Master’s order. It was a command they all obeyed without question.

But this work was over? What did that mean?

‘Is it starting?’ Joo-gang thought, his heart racing with excitement.

That meant that training would start now. The moment they had all been waiting for had finally arrived.

“Let’s go down!” Joo-gang shouted, his voice filled with urgency.

“Okay,” the others replied, their voices echoing his excitement.

The others seemed to have guessed the meaning as well, and they quickly started running down. Joo-gang also ran down the stairs, half nervous and half excited. He couldn’t wait to see what was in store for them.

The guys who were working here and there all came running out. When they gathered in the center, their numbers were enormous. It was a sight to behold.

And this wasn’t all of them. There were still more members scattered throughout the area.

It wasn’t just people with construction skills who were here. Those who had nothing to do were also mobilized to do simple tasks as laborers. Everyone was contributing in their own way.

But even then, there were still people left over, and they were scattered in various places. The Demonic Cult was a large and diverse group.

If everyone from other places gathered, their numbers would be much greater. They were a force to be reckoned with.

“Alright, alright!” The foreman shouted loudly, his voice booming across the construction site.

“You’ve all worked hard! The order is to go up to the main building!” he announced, his words carrying a sense of finality.

Someone translated and shouted, and everyone started moving with their own reactions. Some were excited, others were curious, but all were eager to see what was next.

As the Demonic Cult members, like an army of ants, left the construction site and started moving along the road, the foreman looked at the scene with a slightly new feeling. He had never seen anything like it.

“Foreman, what about today’s work?” one of the workers asked, breaking the foreman’s reverie.

“Let’s just finish up the extra work and clean up. The laborers are coming in from tomorrow,” the foreman replied, his voice filled with a mix of relief and exhaustion.

“How long will it take?” the worker asked, his brow furrowed in concern.

“How long…” The foreman fell into thought for a moment, his mind trying to grasp the enormity of what had just happened.

“Wouldn’t it take about as long as it has so far?” he finally said, his voice filled with a hint of disbelief.

“What? We’ve mostly finished it now?” the worker asked, his eyes wide with surprise.

“That’s what’s strange. Originally, it should have taken much longer. Those guys worked at an unbelievable speed,” the foreman replied, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I guess so,” the worker said, his voice filled with awe.

The foreman chuckled as he looked at the densely packed buildings. He couldn’t believe how much they had accomplished in such a short amount of time.

They weren’t very tall, so it didn’t feel that impressive, but from a construction perspective, something unbelievable had happened. It was a feat of engineering and human endurance.

They had shortened the construction period by more than half a year. It was an unprecedented achievement.

Construction is like that. Even when building a large complex, it’s hard to work in multiple places at the same time. You have to start from one side and build one building at a time, moving forward. It was a slow and methodical process.

In the meantime, various reasons cause delays, and the construction period tends to drag on endlessly. It was a common problem in the industry.

But the laborers here had shortened that time to an unbelievable level. They had defied all expectations.

While the concrete was hardening on one building, they would build the next one. They were like a well-oiled machine, working in perfect harmony.

They worked tirelessly, as if they didn’t know what fatigue was. Since that kind of work was happening in multiple places at the same time, the construction couldn’t help but be fast. It was a whirlwind of activity.

The supervisors were on the verge of collapsing from overwork, so how could it not be? They were pushed to their limits, but they had managed to keep up with the pace.

“It’ll take a long time to do the interior work and exterior finishing on those buildings. And that’s not all. We have to do the really important things too,” the foreman said, his voice filled with a mix of exhaustion and determination.

“Yes, that’s right,” the worker replied, nodding in agreement.

“Still, we’ve saved a lot of time,” the foreman said, trying to find a silver lining in the situation.

“But foreman,” the worker said, his voice filled with curiosity.

“Hmm?” the foreman replied, his brow furrowing in confusion.

“What were those people, anyway?” the worker asked, his eyes filled with questions.

The obvious question came back. It was the question that had been on everyone’s mind.

“They all look like Chinese. Not even Korean-Chinese, but real Chinese… There are a lot of Chinese laborers in this industry, but I’ve never seen so many people move at once,” the worker said, his voice filled with disbelief.

“Hmph…” the foreman grunted, his eyes narrowing in thought.

“And their strength isn’t normal. I was surprised many times. No matter how I look at it, they’re not ordinary…” the worker continued, his voice filled with awe.

“Hey,” the foreman cut off the words that were coming out, his voice sharp and commanding.

“……Yes?” the worker replied, his voice filled with apprehension.

“Don’t be interested, and don’t think about it,” the foreman said, his voice firm and unwavering.

“No, but still…” the worker protested, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“Didn’t I tell you? Do you know how much the penalty is if the information you see and hear here leaks out?” the foreman asked, his voice filled with a hint of menace.

“……I know,” the worker replied, his voice barely above a whisper.

“So, even if you know, you don’t know. We didn’t see anything,” the foreman said, his voice leaving no room for argument.

The foreman shuddered slightly. He had a bad feeling about this whole situation.

It was the first time he had to keep secrets while doing this kind of work. He had never experienced anything like it before.

There were cases where they would order shoddy construction and try to hide it when the construction industry was still done haphazardly, but there had never been a case where they tried to keep the construction itself a secret and block what was seen and heard. It was a strange and unsettling experience.

‘I don’t know what’s going on,’ the foreman thought, his mind filled with questions.

Even if they pushed him to go around and blab, he had no intention of doing so. He had a feeling that he shouldn’t get involved with this kind of place. Moreover, thinking about the eyes of that Lee Hyun-soo or whatever his name was, who came to inspect the situation from time to time, gave him goosebumps even in his sleep. He was a man who inspired fear.

Those eyes that looked at him like a snake. They were cold, calculating, and utterly terrifying.

Just thinking about those eyes made him feel like his lifespan was shortening. He wanted nothing to do with that man.

‘What does it matter?’ the foreman thought, trying to rationalize the situation.

They just had to do the construction and get paid. As long as they were paid the promised amount, it didn’t matter if the client was a human or an alien. He was just there to do his job.

“Don’t think useless thoughts, and think about what you have to do in the future. Once the new laborers come, it’s going to be a headache again for a while,” the foreman said, trying to refocus his attention on the task at hand.

“Come on, foreman. It’s not like we’re doing this for the first time,” the worker replied, trying to lighten the mood.

“Do it properly, and then talk! Why aren’t you working?” the foreman shouted, his voice filled with mock anger.

“I’m going! I’m going!” the worker replied, quickly scurrying away.

As the surroundings cleared, the foreman let out a quiet sigh. He was exhausted, both physically and mentally.

‘I’m experiencing all sorts of strange things,’ he thought, shaking his head in disbelief.

They hadn’t finished all the work they had to do yet. The construction rate could be said to be about 80%, but considering that the laborers would be replaced and the construction would proceed at a normal pace, the progress was only about 50% now. There was still a long way to go.

Even so, the foreman felt like he had overcome a big hurdle. It was like he had been wandering in a dream and had now returned to reality. He was glad that this phase was over.

“Well, they’ll probably give us a hefty bonus,” the foreman said, a hint of greed creeping into his voice.

They seemed to have a lot of money. They were spending it like it was nothing.

Looking at the snacks and support that were being delivered to the laborers, the client must have been an incredibly wealthy person. They were living in luxury.

So, the hush money would probably be substantial as well. He was looking forward to the payday.

“That’s good enough, I guess,” the foreman said, trying to convince himself that everything was fine.

The foreman put his hand inside his hard hat and scratched his head as he walked towards the site. He had a lot to think about.

“Hey! Are you not going to clean up properly over there?” he shouted, his voice echoing across the construction site.

And so, the Demonic Cult’s village was slowly being completed. It was a testament to their hard work, dedication, and unwavering hope for the future.