Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 927

“Did the conversation go well?”\n\n”……Hmm, it’s always like that.” The attendant opened the car door.\n\n”The knight?”\n\n”I sent him back. We can handle the driving ourselves. They were thoughtful enough to set the navigation in English, so there shouldn’t be any problems. We’ve also finished checking for any possible eavesdropping devices.”\n\n”He’s not that petty.”\n\n”Knight Wiggins can be trusted. But those others cannot.”\n\n”Is that so?”\n\nAs he got into the car, the Master gave a wry smile.\n\n’It’s strange.’\n\nFrom their perspective, Knight Wiggins is a traitor who betrayed them once, while the others in the General Assembly have never harmed them.\n\nSo, if they were to be wary, they should be more cautious of Wiggins. But their perception was the opposite.\n\n’Perception is a scary thing. Or it could mean that Wiggins’ popularity within the Round Table is higher than I expected.’\n\nEither way, it wasn’t a good outcome.\n\nThe Master leaned back in his seat in the car.\n\nHe was tired.\n\nComing to this distant country was tiring, but the meeting with Wiggins had only added to his fatigue.\n\n”Let’s go to the hotel for now.”\n\n”Yes, Master.”\n\nAs the car started, the Master turned his head to look out the window. The sea stretching along the coast looked incredibly peaceful.\n\n’It’s unlikely, though.’\n\nThis place was a powder keg.\n\nChina and Japan were intertwined. And right above them was a country that the world was most wary of. This country was a place where war could break out at any moment.\n\nThe threats of the world that were visible on the surface felt insignificant in comparison.\n\nThe Master closed his eyes and pondered.\n\n’What if the conversation goes wrong?’\n\nEverything had to be considered from the worst-case scenario. If Kang Jin-ho was truly someone who would stain the world with blood, and if he had to prevent that terrible outcome, what should he do?\n\nIt wouldn’t be too difficult to deploy troops and purify South Korea.\n\nSouth Korea was strong.\n\nIt was no longer a country that could be ignored like before. But the Round Table was even stronger.\n\nEven Wiggins didn’t know the true power of the Round Table.\n\nThe Round Table’s power was the power to protect.\n\nThe only one in the world who truly knew the depth of that power was the Master. That was why the position of Master was so important.\n\nWithin the Round Table, he was just one person with a slightly larger voice, but the Master had the real power to wield the Round Table’s strength.\n\n’Wiggins should have understood that meaning.’\n\nIf Wiggins was judging and using the Round Table’s power based on what he knew, he was making a big mistake.\n\nThen what should he do?\n\nWas it practically possible to purify South Korea with the Round Table’s power?\n\nThere had been countless such cases.\n\nHe acknowledged Wiggins’ words to some extent.\n\nThe number of villains the Round Table had killed to protect the world might be more than the total number of people those villains had killed in their lives. Although they had become more restrained in modern times, the Round Table of the recent past was a ruthless oppressor and a heartless cleaner.\n\nIt was common for them to wipe out the entire martial arts community of a country.\n\nOf course, the martial arts world was a place that could never be completely cleaned up, and no matter how thoroughly they cleaned, it would eventually revive. So, it couldn’t be said that they had completely cut off the lineage, but they had inflicted damage that would prevent them from ever regaining their former strength.\n\nThen what about South Korea?\n\nCould they do the same to South Korea?\n\n’It’s not easy.’\n\nToo many things were intertwined in South Korea. If they entered South Korea carelessly, it would provoke Japan and China.\n\nEast Asia was a place where excessive power was concentrated in a small area, and it could explode at any moment. What if the Round Table’s power was added to that?\n\nA war that could lead the world to destruction might start here.\n\nBut…\n\n’If I don’t act because I’m afraid of that, then I can no longer be called the Round Table.’\n\nJustice doesn’t mean what is right.\n\nJustice is the power wielded in the right direction.\n\nThat meant that justice without power was just an empty cry.\n\nPower was about enforcement.\n\nIf you don’t wield power without hesitation in the direction you believe is right, then it can no longer be called justice.\n\n’It’s the same this time.’\n\nThe Master’s eyes grew cold.\n\nThe fact that he was hesitating was proof that he was getting old. If it were him in the past, he wouldn’t have had even a moment of hesitation.\n\nIf purifying South Korea was the only solution to this situation, he had no intention of looking for other methods. Even if that resulted in a more terrible outcome.\n\nNo one could know the future.\n\nPeople living in the present could only choose the path that could lead to the best outcome.\n\nEven if they found out in the future that their choice was wrong, it was worse to postpone the choice because they were afraid of that.\n\nWhoooosh.\n\nA black sedan sped past the Master’s car as it headed towards Seoul.\n\nThe Master turned his head slowly towards the sedan and sighed.\n\n”I’m having so many worries, and they’re on a date, how carefree.”\n\n”……Master?”\n\n”No, it’s nothing. I wasn’t talking to you.”\n\nThe Master shook his head.\n\nA strange sense of resentment was building up.\n\n”You’re having a hard time.”\n\n”Yes?”\n\n”No, it’s nothing.” Kang Jin-ho shook his head.\n\n”What’s wrong? We’re together, but you’re thinking about something else.”\n\n”No, it’s not that…”\n\nKang Jin-ho’s mouth opened and closed.\n\nWhat should he say?\n\nThe guy in the car that just passed was the Master, the head of a very powerful group from Europe, so he couldn’t help but be concerned? So, this was justified?\n\n’Let’s just take the blame.’\n\nA guy who was thinking about other things while driving was better than a crazy guy who was spouting nonsense.\n\n”I’m sorry.”\n\n”It’s okay. I’m in a good mood today.”\n\nChoi Yeon-ha smiled brightly.\n\nShe really seemed to be in a good mood. But there was a slight problem.\n\nKang Jin-ho turned his head to look ahead.\n\n’She’s pretty.’\n\nHe couldn’t get used to it.\n\nIt had been a while since he had seen Choi Yeon-ha. She was a pretty woman even with a blank expression, but seeing her with such a bright face made her radiance even more intense.\n\n”Did the filming go well?”\n\nThe radiance disappeared from Choi Yeon-ha’s face.\n\n”If I ever step foot on Chinese soil again, I’m not human. Those people are really…”\n\n”I really wanted to smash their heads with a heel! I held back because I wasn’t in my own country. If I were in Korea, I would have smashed their heads.”\n\nAh, that’s right.\n\nThis woman, this was the kind of woman she was.\n\nHe was quickly getting used to it. He had been momentarily fooled by her appearance.\n\nHe felt a little more at ease.\n\n”So, how did it end?”\n\n”I finished it and came back. I had a contract. But thankfully, the filming went smoothly at the end. If it hadn’t, it would have taken a few more months. If I had stayed there for two more months, I would have really gotten depressed, seriously.”\n\nKang Jin-ho chuckled softly.\n\nStill, she was admirable.\n\nWhen she went to China before, Choi Yeon-ha was in really bad shape. If she had stayed there a little longer, her health would have been severely damaged. Even though Kang Jin-ho had helped her recover, it wouldn’t have been strange if she had given up and returned after going through such an ordeal.\n\nBut seeing that she had finished the filming, Choi Yeon-ha’s professionalism might be more than Kang Jin-ho thought.\n\n”Then what about the broadcast?”\n\n”It’ll be soon. It’ll take time because they have to do post-processing and editing. And their system is a bit strange, so once they make the final version, they have to get it reviewed by the authorities again. That takes time too.”\n\n”Ah!”\n\n”Even in Korea, it’s not uncommon for reviews or inspections to take months, so how much worse would it be in China? I heard that it’s common for a drama to take over a year to get reviewed.”\n\n”A year?”\n\nKang Jin-ho’s eyes widened.\n\nA year? That was a bit too much. The filming period didn’t even take a year, but the review took a year.\n\n”But the production company is quite powerful, so it won’t take that long. Well, they’ll probably bribe someone to get it done quickly. That’s how they do things.”\n\nRecently, Kang Jin-ho had been wanting to put Choi Yeon-ha together with Lee Hyun-soo. He was too curious about what kind of scene would unfold if the two worst critics he knew were to have a conversation.\n\n”So, I guess you won’t be going overseas anymore?”\n\n”I think so. I got burned too badly this time.”\n\nChoi Yeon-ha shuddered.\n\n”They say that leaving home is suffering, and going abroad makes you a patriot, and I know what that means now. Honestly, I thought I looked a bit exotic?”\n\n”Exotic? Why?”\n\n”Because of how I look.”\n\nChoi Yeon-ha had a talent for making people speechless.\n\n”Anyone can tell that I look like I should be twirling pasta in Paris.”\n\n”……Pasta is from Italy.”\n\n”Don’t they sell pasta in Paris?”\n\n”They probably do.”\n\n”Then it’s fine.”\n\n”……Right.”\n\nRight. Then it’s fine. They sell pasta in Paris, after all.\n\n”But when I actually went abroad, I realized I was completely Korean. I almost died because the food didn’t suit my taste.”\n\n”Haha…”\n\n”Eun-sol did her best to get some other things, like steak and hamburgers, but I couldn’t live on that. I’d rather eat Chinese food.”\n\n”Ah, so…”\n\nKang Jin-ho nodded.\n\nAs soon as he got in the car, Choi Yeon-ha started chanting about kimchi stew like a rapid-fire rapper. She was about to blow up the car if he didn’t take her to a kimchi stew restaurant right away.\n\nThey went to a nearby restaurant, ordered kimchi stew, and she devoured two bowls in a row before she came to her senses. And now they were on the move.\n\n”Kang Jin-ho, don’t even think about going abroad carelessly. Koreans should live in Korea.”\n\n”Hahaha…”\n\nKang Jin-ho laughed awkwardly.\n\nHe agreed with that, but in fact, Kang Jin-ho had lived more days eating Chinese food than Korean food. So, he didn’t really suffer because of the food during this trip to China.\n\nThe taste was a little different from before, but it wasn’t that different. The basics were the same.\n\n”Well, that doesn’t matter!”\n\n”Yes?”\n\nChoi Yeon-ha leaned slightly towards the driver’s seat.\n\nKang Jin-ho flinched.\n\n”Kang Jin-ho.”\n\nChoi Yeon-ha leaned closer to the driver’s seat. She stretched her neck out. As Choi Yeon-ha came closer, until he could feel her breath on his skin, Kang Jin-ho shrank back a little more.\n\n”Yes? Yes?”\n\n”I have something I’m curious about.”\n\n”……Please, go ahead.”\n\nHe could say it.\n\nBut why was she getting so close?\n\nWhy?\n\nChoi Yeon-ha smiled lightly. When he saw her face right in front of his eyes, Kang Jin-ho couldn’t maintain his composure at all.\n\n”Kang Jin-ho.”\n\n”……Yes?”\n\nChoi Yeon-ha looked at him with soft eyes, with incredibly soft eyes, and whispered softly.\n\n”Didn’t you miss me?”