Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 925

Wiggins and the Master left the airport and got into a car.

Although the government had prepared a car, the Master got into the car brought by Wiggins from the General Assembly. Park Hak-gi got chewed out again because of that issue, but that was a matter for later.

‘Where are you planning to take me?’

The Master spoke to Wiggins, who was sitting in the passenger seat.

Wiggins smiled and replied,

‘I’ve prepared a secluded place.’

‘That’s a scary story. Riding in a black sedan to a secluded place, it’s like a film noir. What’s prepared there? A drum can? Cement?’

Wiggins chuckled.

‘Do you watch film noir?’

‘There’s something people forget when they look at old people. That old people also had their youth. Do you think I didn’t have any hobbies?’

‘Perhaps we didn’t have enough conversations.’

‘We can have them now.’

Wiggins turned his head and looked ahead. Seeing the vast ocean seemed to ease his mind a little.

After driving for a while, the car arrived at a cafe on the beach.

Thanks to Lee Hyun-soo’s efforts in renting the place, the cafe was deserted.

Only Wiggins and the Master entered the cafe. The Master’s attendants stood at the entrance, preventing others from entering.

‘Would you like some coffee?’

‘I don’t know if they have milk tea.’

‘Then I’ll order milk tea.’

After placing the order, Wiggins sat across from the Master and waited quietly.

Once the ordered drinks were served and the barista left the cafe, only the two of them remained inside. Then, Wiggins finally spoke.

‘You must be tired from your long journey.’

‘It was a long trip.’

‘I always thought the Round Table would contact us, but I never imagined that the Master would come in person. And in this way.’

‘When you get old, sometimes you want to surprise people.’

The Master quietly sipped his milk tea.

The slightly sweet taste lingered on his tongue, and he felt a little revitalized. The fatigue of travel couldn’t bring down a martial artist’s body, but it couldn’t resolve mental fatigue either.

What resolves mental fatigue is sleep and sugar.

Wiggins quietly looked at the Master.

Watching him sip his milk tea without a word, it felt like they were on some coast in England.

A cafe on a secluded English coast, and an old man drinking milk tea, reminiscing about his life.

It was an extremely peaceful scene.

On the surface, that is.

But this wasn’t England, and the old man in front of him wasn’t an ordinary old man.

The Master was clearly one of the figures who moved the world.

One word from this small old man could shake the world. Perhaps even more than the revealed rulers of the world.

‘Alright.’

The Master put down his cup and looked directly at Wiggins.

Facing those clear eyes made him flinch for no reason.

‘You look well.’

‘I’m not doing badly.’

‘Where did you sell your arm?’

‘Haha…’

Wiggins’ prosthetic arm creaked as it moved. The Master made a humming sound, as if he found it interesting, as he watched the freely moving fingers.

‘It looks interesting.’

‘It was hard work putting in the circuits, but it seems better than my original arm in some ways. I don’t have to carry tools around, for one thing.’

‘Share the circuit design with me.’

‘Are you planning to get research for free?’

‘If I don’t get it for free, I can give you something in return. But what can I do for you now?’

It was a subtle distance.

Wiggins was slightly lost in thought.

Just a few months ago, the Master was someone he could call a mentor. He wasn’t a master who directly taught him martial arts, but he learned more from the Master than from martial arts.

But now, a distance had grown between the two of them.

‘I didn’t realize it before.’

He realized it only after the distance had grown.

How great this person was.

Even just sitting across from him, without any particular intention, he felt like his nerves were being gnawed away. The words he threw out as if probing were draining his energy.

‘Wiggins.’

‘Yes, Master.’

‘Still, I’m glad you look well.’

‘……Yes.’

The Master nodded with a bitter expression.

‘When you suddenly left for Korea, I was very heartbroken. It felt like I had lost half the world.’

‘I’m sorry.’

Wiggins lowered his head.

‘I thought it was proper to explain everything to you. I still think that way. But at that time, I had no choice but to handle things that way. If I had tried to explain everything, I would never have been able to leave the Round Table.’

‘That’s probably true.’

He wouldn’t have let him go.

It wasn’t about holding him back and pleading.

The Knight knew too much about the Round Table. A Knight who left the Round Table had to be eliminated. Otherwise, information about the Round Table could leak to other countries.

‘It wasn’t my intention to send the Chevaliers [Knights].’

‘Please don’t worry about it. I already knew it wasn’t what the Master wanted. And even if the Master had wanted it, I wouldn’t have any complaints.’

Wiggins sighed.

It was something he wanted to forget, but he had done something terrible to the Master.

He had abandoned his favor and come to Korea. Even though he knew how difficult it would be for the Master. No matter how much he apologized, he wouldn’t be able to repay his debt to him.

‘Wiggins.’

‘Yes, Master.’

‘If we’re done with the useless talk, let’s get to the point. Neither you nor I have much time.’

‘Yes.’

Wiggins nodded.

Then, he stuck out his tongue and licked his lips. His lips were parched. He couldn’t help but feel nervous, thinking that the relationship between the Round Table and the General Assembly would be determined by how he responded here.

‘First, there’s something you need to explain to me, right?’

‘Yes, that’s right.’

‘Why did you abandon the Round Table and choose the General Assembly?’

It was direct.

It was a little different from the Master’s usual way of speaking. But this was better. A slow, drawn-out way of speaking would only exhaust each other.

‘Master.’

‘Hmm.’

‘I like things to be clear.’

‘Huh?’

The Master raised his eyes at the slightly roundabout answer.

‘If there is something, I prefer to clarify the cause and effect of that thing. Not only for others, but also for myself.’

Wiggins took a sip of coffee and continued with a small smile.

‘This is the same. I want to clearly explain why I made that choice. But unfortunately, I can’t explain it clearly either. To explain it, I need to know the reason for sure, but the truth is, I don’t know either.’

‘I admit it. It was an impulsive act, not planned. You could say I entrusted myself to a moment’s emotion. I can confidently say that this has never happened in my life. Only that time, impulse and emotion overcame my reason. And this is the result.’

The Master’s eyes were gradually sinking. His body slowly leaned back.

‘It might be a foolish choice. But now I’m satisfied with my choice at that time. Even if I went back to that time, I would make the same choice. But I can’t answer that I made that choice in the past because I’m satisfied with my current life. I’ll answer. I don’t know why I made that choice back then either. Because it wasn’t the result of a rational judgment.’

‘Just…’

‘Just?’

‘Yes, Master. I just believed that I could develop more here. I didn’t have a clear plan or see a definite route. It was just a foolish act of believing that the end of this road, at the starting point of a road with thick fog where I couldn’t even see what was right in front of me, would be the end of the world, and running towards it.’

Wiggins shrugged his shoulders.

‘And this is the result.’

‘Hahaha.’

The Master burst into a hearty laugh.

It wasn’t the answer he wanted. But he couldn’t deny that the answer was very sincere.

‘You’ve changed quite a bit.’

‘Isn’t that how people are?’

‘Yes. The old you wouldn’t have said that. You’ve changed. Everything changes.’

‘Haha…’

The Master said with a soft smile.

‘But listen, Wiggins.’

‘Yes, Master.’

‘People change. Yes, they change. Even if the same person is in the same situation, the answer is not always the same. The me of a year ago is different from the me of now. I may have seen more and improved, or I may have become stubborn and regressed. Yes, that’s what people are.’

‘That’s right.’

‘That’s why we need something that never changes. As you know, the world is so diverse. It’s impossible for human power to respond to all those diverse things one by one.’

‘That’s why…’

The Master’s tone changed like a blade.

‘We need rules.’

Wiggins’ eyes also sank.

The good talk was over.

‘Are those rules the Round Table?’

‘That’s right.’

‘Master.’

Wiggins sighed.

He thought he would eventually say these words. But the timing was faster than Wiggins had expected.

‘The Round Table is outdated.’

‘Times have changed. Every day is different. You can’t fit principles set hundreds of years ago into the present.’

‘Foolish words.’

The Master clicked his tongue.

‘Do you think that humans can come up with perfect answers every time the times change? There are no perfect answers anyway. Then it’s better to at least stick to the principles. Then at least no one will be wronged.’

‘That’s just the Master’s delusion.’

‘……What did you just say?’

‘I’ll say it again clearly. That’s just the Master’s delusion.’

The Master took his back off the backrest.

He straightened his shoulders and glared at Wiggins. The blue eyes visible through the mask pressed down on Wiggins.

‘Are you mocking me now?’

‘No. I didn’t mock the Master. What I’m denying isn’t the Master.’

‘It’s the Round Table.’

‘Listen, Wiggins.’

‘Yes, Master.’

‘Why didn’t you just mock me?’

‘You can’t deny the Round Table. Because the Round Table is perfect. If you deny the Round Table, it means that the General Assembly also denies the Round Table, right?’

‘That’s not what I meant.’

‘Then explain it. Explain why you denied the Round Table. If that explanation doesn’t convince me…’

The Master placed his hand on the table.

His anger could be guessed from the way he slightly pressed down on the table.

‘The General Assembly, and you, will face me and the Round Table as enemies.’

A cold air settled between them.