Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 919

The Master quietly gazed out the window. Just moments ago, all that could be seen was the clear blue sky and pure white clouds. But now, his eyes were taking in the land and the dense buildings.

‘It’s been a while.’

He couldn’t remember the last time he had been on an airplane.

Although the Round Table’s goal was to encompass the entire world, the actual Knights and Masters rarely left their own countries. There were hardly any situations that required their direct involvement.

It was even said that the most useless expense for the Round Table was the cost of inspecting and maintaining the Master’s private jet.

It was a trip he hadn’t taken in so long, so he should have been excited. But the Master wasn’t enjoying the current situation.

For ordinary people, flying to another country might be quite enjoyable, but the Master was different. When he traveled to another country, it was always because something serious had happened.

So, it was no wonder that he wasn’t happy about this flight.

The Master slightly narrowed his brow as he looked at the endless expanse of buildings.

‘Korea, huh…’

This was his first time visiting Korea.

In the Master’s mind, Korea was a small country sandwiched between China and Japan.

‘How old-fashioned.’

He knew.

He knew that the current nation of Korea was not a country to be taken lightly.

But for the Master, who had spent his entire life observing East Asia represented by China and Japan, it wasn’t easy to adopt a new perspective.

And that fact made the Master accurately diagnose his own condition.

‘I’m old.’

He was aging.

It wasn’t just about getting older. For a martial artist, age didn’t really mean much. The reason the Master thought of himself as aging was because it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to accept new concepts.

The world was changing at an incredible pace.

When he first received the position of Master, the world wasn’t this fast.

Of course, there was a lot to learn and many troublesome things, but it maintained its own pace.

But now it was different. The speed of the world was now accelerating so fast that the Master could no longer keep up.

Changes that used to take years were now happening in just one year.

He was busy trying to catch up with a world that had changed drastically by the time he opened his eyes in the morning.

The Master was starting to feel the strain.

‘The previous Master must have felt the same way.’

It wasn’t easy for a person to admit that they were aging.

Within him, there was a resignation that he had to accept his aging, and a lingering attachment to the idea that he could still be active.

The previous Master must have passed the position of Master to him with this feeling. If he passed on the position when he felt he could no longer hold on, it would already be too late.

The position of Master was such a position.

It was a position that only someone with complete reason could lead. Therefore, before he aged further and couldn’t function properly, he had to pass on the position of Master.

The previous Master succeeded in the transfer.

But the Master was currently failing to do so. The biggest difference between the previous Master and him was just one thing.

A successor.

The previous Master had a successor he could trust with his work, and who he could take the time to train and hand over the reins to. That was the Master himself.

But the Master had failed to create that successor.

‘Wiggins.’

The moment he thought of that name, he felt his whole body slump like a waterlogged cotton ball.

Wiggins had abandoned him.

He had thrown away everything he had and everything he could have had.

The brilliant glory of being a Knight was something he had. And what he could have had was the position of Master. Although he still had many shortcomings, the fact that Wiggins was the most likely candidate to be the next Master in the Master’s mind was undeniable.

The place where Wiggins had abandoned all of that and left was right here.

The Master narrowed his eyes as he looked at the densely packed buildings.

Vitality.

There was a vitality here that he couldn’t see in his city.

A city that was growing.

A country that was growing.

‘Not exactly a pleasant sight.’

It was a sad thing to see others possessing what they had lost in the past. It reminded him of the past glory that could not be regained.

Even though he hadn’t heard the answer, the Master felt like he knew why Wiggins had abandoned the Round Table and chosen this country.

Stability was sometimes too boring.

The Round Table’s system was complete. Not perfect, but complete.

Since it was a system created by humans, it was impossible to talk about perfection. But the Round Table’s system had undergone long periods of revision and supplementation, and had achieved a level of completion that could no longer be improved.

In that perfect system, even people became part of the system.

Humans were imperfect. No matter how perfect a human being was, they were still swayed by emotions. That was what it meant to be human.

The Round Table even excluded those human emotions.

The most perfect, the most rational, and the most reasonable. And therefore, the most…

‘Suffocating.’

The Master couldn’t completely escape that system either. The system controlled everything about them. Under the Round Table’s system, even the Master was just a component to run the massive system.

The Round Table took away freedom in exchange for honor.

Moving to Korea using the Master’s authority without the Round Table’s approval was the biggest act of rebellion the Master had committed since joining the Round Table.

Even this trivial thing was not easy to do.

If this was the case for the Master, what about the others?

What would happen if everyone who knew the Round Table, everyone who wanted to join the Round Table, knew the reality of the position of Master, which they all envied?

The Master smiled wryly.

That was why he didn’t hate Wiggins. He might resent him, but he didn’t hate him.

Wiggins was too young to endure the heavy weight and extreme lack of freedom that came with the position of Master. Perhaps he wanted a new system rather than a new life.

Looking at the cityscape, he felt like he could understand. This place was a mess. The appearance of the city was not organized at all.

It was just a place full of chaos overflowing with vitality.

That was why there was a future.

Young people sometimes wanted something imperfect rather than something perfect. Rather than settling down by being absorbed into a perfect system, they wanted to create something with their own hands.

Something better.

That was why he felt like he could understand.

The reason why Wiggins had abandoned the Round Table and chosen this chaotic country.

Wiggins must have known.

That creating something new was not as easy as it sounded.

Ideals were just ideals.

Those who chased ideals would eventually fail to overcome the wall of reality and become frustrated.

Reality did not allow idealists to realize their dreams. There was a reason why everyone started as an idealist, but eventually became a realist.

Wiggins was not someone who wouldn’t know that. The Knight Wiggins he knew was more aware of the harshness of reality than anyone else.

That meant that he had found something worth challenging here, even after taking all of that into account.

The Master wanted to confirm that.

What was in this country.

What was the source of the development of South Korea, which was surprising the world, and the General Assembly [a martial arts organization]?

To be more precise…

‘I want to meet Kang Jin-ho.’

In the end, what he wanted to confirm was not the country of Korea, but Kang Jin-ho.

The Master quietly pressed down on his chest.

‘How foolish.’

He had to admit what he had to admit.

The Master knew that the passion boiling in his heart right now also included his pride as a man.

Wiggins had not acknowledged him.

To be precise, he had given up on following his path. And then, he had entrusted his fate to a martial artist from a small country named Kang Jin-ho.

He could understand it with his head, but he couldn’t understand it with his heart.

What was the difference between Kang Jin-ho and himself?

What did Wiggins see in Kang Jin-ho that made him choose Kang Jin-ho instead of him?

He shouldn’t have these feelings. He knew that. The man named Kang Jin-ho, whom he had to face from now on, was by no means an easy opponent. This fact was clear just by looking at what he had achieved so far.

At least, the ruler of a country.

He had to face him as the ruler of a country, or at least as one of the rulers of East Asia. It was absolutely forbidden to have negative feelings in a meeting with such a person.

The Master suppressed the competitive spirit towards Kang Jin-ho that kept rising in his heart.

‘Maybe I’m still okay.’

Having a competitive spirit towards others was proof that the passion was still alive in his heart.

The Master raised his hand and pressed his eyes.

So, now might be the right time.

When his passion hadn’t completely crumbled, when he could still look at something with passionate eyes.

That was when he had to meet him.

The monster named Kang Jin-ho.

“Master.”

At that moment, he heard a voice calling him. The Master, excluding the emotions that were revealed on his face, raised his head. Since his face was covered by a mask, there was no need to put on a blank expression, but this was like a ritual for him.

“We will be arriving in Korea soon. The aircraft may shake a little.”

“I understand.”

“Yes. Then, please let me know if you have any discomfort.”

The Master nodded, and the flight attendant returned to her seat.

‘I might need to cut down on some expenses.’

It was a huge waste to use manpower to maintain a private jet that he only used a few times a year. The Master decided that he would have to decide what to do with this private jet as soon as this matter was over.

The Master quietly closed his eyes as he watched the plane leave the city and approach the vast sea.

‘They must be waiting.’

Whether it was Kang Jin-ho or Wiggins.

Since he had informed them that he was coming to Korea, there would definitely be a reaction. The Master smiled subtly as he thought about whose face he would meet when he got off the plane.

‘You’ll have to handle this well, Wiggins.’

If…

If Korea and the General Assembly did not meet his standards, if they were disrupting the order of East Asia because of petty greed and desires, the Master would not hesitate to use force to subdue Korea.

That was the way of the Round Table.

However, the meeting didn’t necessarily have to be rough.

The Master smiled as he looked at the cooler next to his seat.

‘I hope he likes it.’

After thinking about a suitable gift for Wiggins, the last thing he chose was this pale ale.

He had heard that Korean beer was not good, so he would be happy to see beer from his homeland after so long.

‘I hope it’s worth this gift.’

The Master smiled wryly.