Descent of the Demon Master-Chapter 1287. Organizing (2)

“...Now you’re here?”

Hwang Min-Su entered the cafe, only to be greeted by the unimpressed gazes of a trio of men inside. He could only smile apologetically at them.

“Sorry about that. I got a little delayed,” said Hwang Min-Su.

“That’s not really little, though.”

“...”

Hwang Min-Su awkwardly fake-coughed at that sharp retort. “I know, I know. Stop rubbing it in, please.”

“How can I stop? I mean, a man who spent the last few years like a shut-in is trying to get back up again, after all. Which is something he should’ve done much earlier.”

“Yeah, you have a point.”

One of the men grunted. “I waited and waited before eventually giving up on you. But after I found my footing, you call me out of the blue and say what? You want us to start from the bottom again?”

“Well, that’s not technically true. Since our starting foundation is rock solid.”

The man shouted, “But I’ve never heard of MK before, sir!”

Hwang Min-Su grimaced and smacked his lips. He couldn’t think of a way to explain MK to other people. Even he was flabbergasted by this company, so how could he convince others who hadn’t experienced the absurdity of this place?

Besides, Hwang Min-Su knew all too well that these folks’ complaints didn’t stem from their distrust of MK. Things weren’t as simple as that.

These men wouldn’t have hesitated to jump into the fire if Hwang Min-Su had ordered them to do so in the past. But now, they were staring at him with questioning, disbelieving gazes.

“President Hwang.”

Hwang Min-Su frowned slightly. “I’m not a president anymore, though.”

“Then, should we call you Mister Hwang Min-Su instead?”

“...Let’s stick to ‘president’ for now.”

The men all pouted in dissatisfaction. Forty-something men making such faces obviously wouldn’t be adorable at all, but Hwang Min-Su didn’t have the courage to point that out right now.

“President Hwang, it’s taken too long, sir,” said one of the men, Gu Jeong-Beom.

Hwang Min-Su tilted his head slightly. “Too long, you say?”

“Yes. Way too long,” Gu Jeong-Beom, who used to be Hwang Min-Su’s right-hand man as a director during the Jaegyeong Corporation days, sighed deeply while leaning against the couch powerlessly. “We’ve barely managed to stabilize our lives recently. No, to be honest, I... I’m still struggling.”

“I see. That... makes sense.”

Hwang Min-Su had to look away out of guilt.

Those who lost the power struggle would end up as pariahs and outcasts. This fate didn’t apply only to the royals and their cohorts, however. In South Korea, jumping into the right boat meant a quick rise through the career ladder. But when that notion was flipped around, riding on the wrong boat meant one must risk an instant fall from grace and complete ruination of one’s family.

Getting on a boat implied that one was prepared to share the fate with the boat’s captain, so they shouldn’t resent the captain for failing. But the situation for Gu Jeong-Beom and others in this room was a little more unique.

Even if Hwang Min-Su had lost in the power struggle against his brother, Hwang Min-Jae, these people still would’ve enjoyed a stable career in the company. Even Hwang Min-Jae wouldn’t be able to purge Hwang Min-Su and his people completely, after all. Distributing a suitable amount of shares and agreeing to a working relationship was the outcome everyone expected to see regardless of who won.

However, a completely unexpected variable called Hwang Jeong-Hu’s return utterly shattered everyone’s plans into pieces.

At least people at the managerial level were spared from the chop. But the people in this cafe were closer-than-close confidantes of Hwang Min-Su. Rather obviously, they could not avoid the fate of being kicked out of the company.

Hwang Min-Su sighed deeply. “I’m truly sorry for what happened.”

“Please don’t apologize, sir. No one here resents you, after all,” Gu Jeong-Beom said with a firm shake of his head. “None of us could have predicted or prepared for what happened back then, anyway.”

“...Yeah, that’s true.”

“We’re disappointed in you about something else, sir. Even if you got kicked out, you could have tried to do something else, sir. So what was that disgraceful showing?”

Hwang Min-Su sighed again. He had no excuses for that.

He knew these people had all the skills to find another avenue of employment if they tried, but they all missed their opportunities while waiting for Hwang Min-Su to pick himself up again.

If only he had expressed his position more clearly back then...

No, that’s not right. I must not avoid taking responsibility like this again.

Hwang Min-Su’s expression stiffened as he bowed deeply. “I apologize, everyone.”

Gu Jeong-Beom grew a little more flustered. “H-hang on, sir. I’m telling you, you don’t have to apologize for what happened. How could anyone stand up to Chairman Hwang, anyway?”

“No, this isn’t for that. I must apologize for responding so miserably afterward. You all saw something unsightly from me. I should have shown you I could stand back up again regardless of what, yet all I did was waste time doing nothing like a bloody idiot.”

“...”

Gu Jeong-Beom sighed deeply. He wondered why Hwang Min-Su didn’t contact him or others in this cafe earlier.

If he was being honest, watching Hwang Min-Su trying to start anew instilled this sense of relief in him. But the imposing wall of reality wouldn’t be so easy to overcome. All the time he wasted would work against Hwang Min-Su right now. Perhaps fatally so.

“President Hwang, sir,” one of the men in the cafe, Choi Byeong-Chan, asked in a quiet voice. “Has Chairman Hwang forgiven you?”

“No,” Hwang Min-Su firmly shook his head again. “This job has nothing to do with him.”

“Then, are you saying someone’s ballsy enough to employ you, even though Chairman Hwang has not forgiven you yet?”

“Indeed. Even I was surprised by it,” said Hwang Min-Su as a wry smile crept up on his face. He couldn’t help but think about how miraculous that was. “Anyways... Would you like a smoke?”

Gu Jeong-Beom shook his head. “No, thank you. I’ve quit already.”

“You... quit smoking? Really?”

Gu Jeong-Beom spoke as his face flushed slightly red in unhappiness. “An unemployed bum will get nagged out of the house if he smokes at home, sir. I didn’t have enough money to buy cigarettes, so how could I smoke?”

“...”

“Sure, things have gotten better now, but... I didn’t feel like smoking again. When I tried one not too long ago, it just reminded me of the old days, and...”

Gu Jeong-Beom couldn’t finish his sentence and let his words drift into the air. His expression amply conveyed how thorny this issue was for him.

Hwang Min-Su could also taste the bitterness from his subordinate’s expression.

A man in his forties should be busy working and building his career. But these men in their forties weren’t some common salarymen, but elites among elites who had climbed to the position of directors in Jaegyeong. Thinking about how he was responsible for destroying their lives left Hwang Min-Su with so much guilt in his heart.

Noh Tae-Gwang, another former director of Jaegyeong, grunted loudly. “Come on. Stop whining already.”

“What was that?”

Noh Tae-Gwang scowled at Gu Jeong-Beom. “You’re supposed to be a grown-ass man, so why whine like a baby? Did President Hwang threaten you to follow him with a knife or something? Since you made the choice, you better take the responsibility, too! Stop whining over what you’ve decided to do on your own, okay!”

“What the hell, you want a piece of me?!”

When Gu Jeong-Beom glared murderously, Noh Tae-Gwang smirked helplessly. “Forget it! Stop blowing your top, okay? You getting angry in the past was kinda annoying, but now? I can only pity you, man. At least get a proper wig that fits your noggin’ first.”

“What the hell, man! You can’t use that to attack me!”

“I can’t help it when it’s right in my line of sight, okay? Did you sell your hair to survive or something?”

Gu Jeong-Beom tearfully grumbled. “You... You inhuman bastard.”

Hwang Min-Su had to cover his mouth to hide his smile.

Gu Jeong-Beom’s scalp had gotten much, much shinier during the past few years they hadn’t caught up with each other. Considering that the potential reason for all the hair loss could be him, Hwang Min-Su should never laugh at this sight, but he was still a human being at the end of the day. A smile kept trying to break free from his control.

These two were always like this. Both men were Hwang Min-Su’s close confidantes, yet their enmity meant they bickered over every little thing. So much so that some people humorously suggested that any business matter these two agreed on would never fail!

The trio of men, Gu Jeong-Beom, Choi Byeong-Chan, and Noh Tae-Gwang, were Hwang Min-Su’s closer-than-close confidantes since the days of Jaegyeong. Rather obviously, Hwang Min-Su’s boat would have a lot more than three people riding on it. But Hwang Min-Su acknowledged these three as the core of his faction. Since he was about to start anew, he wanted to do so with the help from these three.

That was Hwang Min-Su’s earnest wish.

“Okay, so... What do you want us to do?”

When Noh Tae-Gwang asked calmly, Gu Jeong-Beom’s brows shot up. “What the...? Hey, man. Are you signing on already?”

“Sure. You can always chicken out if you don’t feel like it.”

“I’m just asking, okay?”

Noh Tae-Gwang casually shrugged. “Any reason why I shouldn’t join President Hwang?”

“...”

“If you don’t mind earning a salary manning a desk in a company you don’t even like, sure, keep doing what you’re doing. I can’t do that, though. That ain’t me,” said Noh Tae-Gwang in a resolute voice. “President Hwang is here, which means he’s serious about doing something. Even if starting from the bottom like this will only get us burned and back into the gutter, I will keep trying again and again.”

Hwang Min-Su faltered. “I’m telling you, we are not starting from the bottom...”

He groaned loudly, wondering if he should raise the public’s awareness of MK somehow.

Even though these men were still involved in the business world in one way or the other, they had no idea about MK. It could only mean that no one was talking about MK, not even in hushed whispers!

Unless Hwang Min-Su did something urgently—like an intense ad campaign or trying out an attention-grabbing business venture—to fix this hellish public awareness problem, MK would definitely encounter serious issues with its operations later on.

“Don’t you think so, too? Hyung-nim?” Noh Tae-Gwang turned to stare at Choi Byeong-Chan.

Choi Byeong-Chan stoically stared at Hwang Min-Su before breaking his silence. “President Hwang...”

Hang Min-Su glanced back in silence, waiting.

“I’d like to ask you something.”

“Sure. Go ahead.”

“How much are you betting on this business venture, sir?”

“...”

Hwang Min-Su hesitated with his reply. Not because he wasn’t sure of what to say, but had too many things to get off his chest, but wasn’t sure how to organize them first.

“...You must’ve had a lot to think about. And worry. Starting over is never an easy thing, after all.”

“...”

“This might sound like an excuse coming from me, but... Even if you’re worrying a lot, it can’t be compared to how much I worry.”

“I see. That sounds logical,” said Choi Byeong-Chan.

“But I’ve called you here now. Because I’ve finally made up my mind. The truth is that I’m betting my everything on this. Even my life.”

Hwang Min-Su stared at all three men with eyes burning in determination.

“There is no ‘next’ for me. Failing here means my life will be finished, too. You asked me how much I’m betting on this thing? It’s everything. Absolutely everything. I’ll even bite my tongue and kill myself if I fail this time.”

“Mm...!” Gu Jeong-Beom sucked in a deep breath.

He could sense Hwang Min-Su’s determination. More importantly, though, the light burning in Hwang Min-Su’s eyes brought back memories of the past. Those eyes weren’t the same dead-fish-like eyes of a man who got purged out of the company by Hwang Jeong-Hu. No, they matched the eyes of an ambitious young man who climbed up the unforgiving mountain called Jaegyeong with his bare hands.

“How soon do you want us to join you, sir?” Noh Tae-Gwang asked without hesitation.

Gu Jeong-Beom shouted at him. “What the hell? Hey, at least think about it a little, will ya!”

“Think about what?” Noh Tae-Gwang smirked. “You can do that for all three of us, okay? I don’t have to think about anything.”

“And that’s why you keep making mistakes, you fool!”

“I’ve done enough thinking already, you dumbass. What about you, though? Weren’t you also convinced that President Hwang would make a comeback sooner rather than later?”

“...!” Gu Jeong-Beom clamped his mouth shut.

“He got delayed a bit, that’s all. But he’s here now. So, we start over again. That will be all,” said Noh Tae-Gwang with a dismissive wave of his hand. “In any case, I’m joining President Hwang, so you do what you want, okay? You don’t have to join us, though. Not having you around will make things more convenient for me, anyway.”

“You really want a piece of me, don’t you?!” Gu Jeong-Beom yelled loudly. “Listen here! You think I’m gonna sit back and suck on my thumbs when I know you’ll be doing this thing?! Maybe if a moron like you was out of the picture, then, sure...! But knowing you, you’re gonna ruin this company for sure! How can I sit back and watch that happen?!”

“Wow, now a nice excuse you just thought of, man.”

“What? You really want some of this?!”

“That’s enough,” Choi Byeong-Chan calmly stopped the two, forcing Gu Jeong-Beom and Noh Tae-Gwang to shut their mouths up. He then turned his attention to Hwang Min-Su. “Sir?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll be honest with you. I’m still unhappy about this.”

“Yes, I understand,” Hwang Min-Su slowly nodded.

“However... Now that you asked us to join you, I know I can only make one choice here. That’s why I want you to promise us this one thing. Whatever happens, promise us that you will go all the way.”

“I give you my word.”

The trio of men made differing expressions, but they all nodded regardless. Hwang Min-Su couldn’t help but smile at this sight.

Choi Byeong-Chan curiously asked, “Then, what kind of business venture are we talking about here?”

Hwang Min-Su smiled weakly. “First of all, I’m planning to launch a franchise...”

“A franchise? Hoh-oh?” Gu Jeong-Beom leaned forward in genuine interest and scratched his cheek. “And what will the franchise be about?”

“Right here.”

“Sorry?”

“Right here. This cafe,” said Hwang Min-Su.

The trio of men simultaneously began scanning the interior of the cafe they were in.

“Aha, so... a cafe, you say? But, what kind of cafe...?”

“This cafe, guys.”

“...I’m sorry?”

Hwang Min-Su could only put on a cramped smile. “I was told to turn this cafe into a viable franchise.”

The three men did a double take of the cafe’s interior, this time much more urgently. But then, Gu Jeong-Beom suddenly got up while smiling cheerily.

“Then, I’ll see you again soon, President Hwang.”

“...”

“Oh, and... Since I’m busy and stuff, can we not stay in touch for a while? Well, then. Goodb...”

Before he could finish, though, Noh Tae-Gwang grabbed Gu Jeong-Beom and pulled him back down to his seat.

Gu Jeong-Beom yelled loudly. “What the heck?! Sir, did you lose your touch after being out of the game for a few years?! How can we turn this place into a viable franchise?! When it looks like it’s gonna go bankrupt any minute now?!”

When he heard Gu Jeong-Beom insulting his cafe, Seong Ju-Chan standing behind the counter could only groan deeply.

Should he just seal his cultivation away?

Trying to live in the surface world still proved tricky for a martial artist like him.