Descent Of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 926

Wiggins rubbed his face.

‘Was I a bit too much?’

His emotions had gotten the better of him. It was a problem that could have been resolved more smoothly.

‘No, no.’

It was better this way.

Sometimes, being emotional is better.

Logic might become weak, but the sincerity would be properly conveyed.

‘Master.’

‘Speak.’

‘A little while ago, Master, you said that adhering to principles is the way to prevent the creation of the wronged. Isn’t that right?’

‘I did.’

‘That’s wrong.’

‘The reason is simple. The Round Table’s principles are only for the Round Table. Those who are subject to those principles don’t even know that they are being subjected to the Round Table’s principles.’

‘One…’

‘The reason why laws and rules are fair is because those laws are open to everyone. And because they are notified. But what about the Round Table? They monitor the world, and if they find someone who violates the Round Table’s principles, they eliminate them. Of course, they could inform them. They could hold a knife to their throat and say, ‘You violated the Round Table’s principles,’ and then cut their throat. That’s also informing them. But who would accept that?’

‘Listen, Wiggins.’

‘No, Master. That’s wrong.’

Wiggins’s voice became a little more intense.

‘Yes, it’s wrong. It was wrong from the start. The Round Table protects. It protects the world. It does everything under the guise of maintaining world peace without revealing itself.’

‘Are you even going to deny the Round Table’s efforts?’

Wiggins shook his head.

‘No. I know better than anyone how painful that process is. I’ve experienced it myself. But Master.’

Wiggins quietly looked at the Master and said,

‘Watching someone to see if they violate the principles without revealing their identity and then punishing them.’

It was just one sentence.

That one sentence contained everything that Wiggins denied about the Round Table.

‘That’s not protection. People in the world call that domination.’

‘Thinking that only they are right, forcing their old ideas, and punishing those who don’t follow those ideas and go against their eyes with power and force. The world calls that fascism.’

‘Wiggins!’

‘My words were a bit harsh. I admit that.’

Wiggins reached out, grabbed a glass of cold water, and gulped it down.

‘But it’s just a difference in nuance. I think Master also knows that what I said isn’t that wrong.’

The Master’s eyes turned cold.

‘Are you saying that after experiencing the Round Table?’

‘I’m saying it because I’ve experienced it.’

‘You should know. How ruthless those martial artists are. Don’t you think about how many people would have shed blood if it weren’t for the Round Table’s efforts?’

The Master’s voice gradually rose.

‘There’s some truth in what you say. It’s also true that the Round Table’s methods are coercive and violent. But what other way is there to control the martial artists other than that method?’

‘Have you not considered that controlling them is wrong in itself?’

‘So, are we supposed to just let them loose in their natural state?’

‘Is there any reason why we shouldn’t?’

‘Then why does the world have laws! People should also be left in their natural state. Humans are evil! They are more evil than you think. Humans, when they gain power, will try to oppress others with that power. If we leave those people alone, what will happen to the world?’

‘Master.’

Wiggins shook his head.

‘Has a place where the Round Table’s power doesn’t reach been destroyed?’

‘You can see it just by looking at East Asia. The Round Table can only do so much here. But has this place been ruined?’

‘It was just luck.’

Wiggins sighed.

It wasn’t a matter of who was right and who was wrong.

Values are not something that can be compromised to find an answer. The only way is to prove what each believes is right.

Until then, they would forever run parallel.

‘It doesn’t matter. The reason I left the Round Table isn’t because I dislike its coercive methods. It’s because I was disillusioned with a system that can no longer develop.’

‘The Round Table’s system is perfect.’

‘Master, there is no such thing as perfection in the world.’

‘But there are things that are close to perfection.’

Wiggins shook his head.

‘Master, something that is perfect means it has stagnated.’

‘The Round Table is perfect. But the Round Table’s perfection is only perfection within it. There will be a house that perfectly pleases its owner in the world. If it gets a little old over time, it can be remodeled. But to expand the house and accommodate more people, the house must be demolished and rebuilt. Otherwise, you can only think about how to utilize the same space.’

The Master bit his lip.

Wiggins’s words had hit the Master right in the heart.

The Round Table’s system is perfect.

That’s why it can’t move forward. It was not fully responding to the changing world.

He could boast that there was no system better than the Round Table yet, so this was the best, but he could not deny that there were fundamental limitations to the Round Table’s system itself.

‘Then.’

The Master decided not to defend anymore.

‘Does it exist here? The developed and different system you talked about.’

‘No, it doesn’t.’

Wiggins said firmly.

Then the Master was at a loss for words.

‘It doesn’t?’

‘Yes, it doesn’t. We’re just barely coping with things in a makeshift way. Every time an agenda comes up, everyone is tearing their hair out. In terms of a system, it’s not just backward, it’s terrible.’

‘No…’

The rising annoyance disappeared.

Then, that annoyance was filled with bewilderment.

Then what on earth was he thinking, criticizing the Round Table so harshly? He should just do his job well.

‘Then why did you choose this place?’

‘There is potential here.’

‘Potential?’

‘Yes. A powerful leader. A omniscient leader who can do everything according to his will listens to others. Even if I don’t mention Plato, Master knows how great this is.’

‘The reason I came here is one. It’s because I believed in Lord, Kang Jin-ho. I saw the future in that person. And I saw vitality. I saw a flame that could engulf the world. I thought that I could also move forward with this person. But…’

Wiggins shook his head.

‘The current Lord is more than that. He is strong but doesn’t wield it, arrogant but not conceited. And he is coercive but democratic, harsh but gentle.’

Wiggins chuckled.

‘He’s a person who can’t be explained in words. To explain what the General Assembly is like and what Korea is like, you have to explain that person in the end. That’s why it’s difficult. Because Lord is a person you can’t know unless you see him directly, unless you experience him directly.’

‘Lord, huh…’

That word was piercing the Master’s heart.

Not just Master as a simple title, but the word Lord, which he created himself, was fully showing Wiggins’s respect for Kang Jin-ho.

‘So, in the end, I have to meet Kang Jin-ho.’

‘That’s right.’

‘……Then what was that earlier?’

Wiggins smiled slyly.

‘It’s really hard to explain, but it was a coincidence piled upon coincidence. It just so happened that the person Lord had to pick up entered the country with Master.’

‘……Good grief.’

The Master shook his head.

‘And it was me who made that coincidence a necessity.’

‘Hmm?’

‘Isn’t it fortunate that you saw him once first?’

The Master frowned slightly.

And he was glad that he was wearing a mask now. He didn’t want to show Wiggins his reaction to Kang Jin-ho. Of course, someone like Wiggins would already be able to guess what kind of expression the Master was making now, but seeing it with your eyes and imagining it are different.

‘Indeed… I can’t deny it.’

‘How was it?’

‘Are you asking for my impression?’

‘Yes.’

‘Impression…’

The Master’s head tilted slightly upward.

It was as if he was recalling something.

‘It was like seeing avant-garde art.’

It was a unique expression.

‘Or should I say I saw a painting. It was like a painting drawn in a very destructive style.’

The Master shook his head.

‘The reason why art is valuable is because it can intuitively convey emotions that cannot be expressed in words. That man was the same. It’s too difficult to express the feeling I got from that man in crude words. If I had to summarize it in one word, there would only be one left.’

‘If it’s one word?’

‘Dangerous.’

‘……That’s appropriate.’

He thought it was a really appropriate expression. It fit perfectly with the Kang Jin-ho that Wiggins was thinking of. There would be many expressions, but if you erased even the slightly distant ones one by one, that one would remain in the end.

‘He was a dangerous man. In many ways.’

‘I can’t deny that.’

‘You know it too, right?’

‘Yes?’

‘How much you, the General Assembly, and that Kang Jin-ho are shaking the world right now.’

‘The reason I can come here and talk to you like this is, paradoxically, because you have become such a dangerous existence. If you had just remained a traitor to the Round Table, I wouldn’t have been able to come here. But now, you are not just a traitor to be eliminated. You have become like a fuse for a huge war that might start in East Asia. So, I can put aside old feelings and talk to you.’

‘Should I say that’s fortunate…’

Wiggins smiled bitterly.

‘I’ll ask you one thing first.’

‘Yes, Master.’

‘You know why I’ve been putting up with you so far, right?’

‘Yes. I know.’

He knew the Round Table’s methods to the point of being sick of them.

Soft conversations come and go.

But if a moderate conclusion doesn’t come at the end of that soft conversation, they will try to destroy the General Assembly like machines.

By any means necessary.

The conversation is soft, but the handling is certain.

That was the Round Table’s method.

‘From the impression I got of that Kang Jin-ho, it doesn’t seem like a conversation would work at all. Do you think that by talking to him, I can see something different?’

‘Of course, Master.’

Wiggins smiled brightly.

‘Master, I can’t compare to Master, but I’ve experienced many people.’

‘That’s right.’

‘But Lord is different from anyone I’ve ever experienced. Master will also find out. When you meet him. That there are people in the world who cannot be judged by common sense.’

‘Hmm?’

‘And…’

Wiggins hesitated slightly.

Did he really have to say this?

Wiggins, who bit his lip, opened his mouth. This was not loyalty to the General Assembly. It was loyalty to the Round Table.

‘Don’t try to evaluate him. It’s not him who is being evaluated, but Master and the Round Table.’

‘If you forget that fact, you will never get good results.’

The Master got up from his seat without a word. Then he turned his body.

‘Inform me when the schedule is set.’

‘Yes, Master.’

‘……You’ve changed too much.’

Wiggins didn’t answer. As he watched the Master leave the cafe, Wiggins let out a low sigh.