Descent of the Demon Master-Chapter 1313. Setting Off (3)

“Thank you all for coming, even though you must’ve been busy,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“No, sir! We are not busy at all.”

“Yes, sir! He’s right! We are not busy.”

“We have nothing to be busy about, sir. We should thank you for summoning us here instead!”

Kang Jin-Ho couldn’t help but think, You shouldn’t be grinning while saying all that.

Although the contents of their revelations invited much pity, the expressions of the people saying them were filled with so much enthusiasm.

Kang Jin-Ho couldn’t understand their reactions and made a weird face.

But Lee Hyeon-Su was different. He fully understood why these people responded this way. After all, they must’ve felt like they had been abandoned.

Even though they had walked out on their own, the shock from severing the lifelong tie they had with the Martial Assembly must’ve been still incredible. These former members all acted as if they were doing okay, but in reality? They must’ve been feeling like kites with their strings cut.

But then, out of the blue, they were summoned by not the Assembly, but Kang Jin-Ho the Assembly Master himself. No wonder they felt excited. Hopeful. Wasn’t this proof that they were still connected to the Assembly despite having left it on their own volition?

“Of course we must come, sir! You’re summoning us, after all!”

“Yes, thank you for calling us here!”

“Uh... Mm, sure.”

Kang Jin-Ho scratched his head. He didn’t expect to receive such a passionate welcome.

“You must be thirsty sitting around like this. How about some coffee...?”

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Seong Ju-Chan not too far away.

Seong Ju-Chan’s complexion paled in an instant. “B-but, sir. If I provide free coffee to all these people, I’ll go bankrupt...”

“Don’t worry. I’ll pay for them.”

“...! I’ll bring out their coffee faster than a vending machine! Please wait for a bit!”

“...”

Lee Hyeon-Su was inwardly impressed by the sight of Seong Ju-Chan swiftly taking out containers of whipped cream.

Look at that bastard! Is he thinking of brewing the most expensive coffee in this place?

Then again, that was how one should run their business, anyway. Otherwise, how was one supposed to survive the competitive world of baristas?

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled before shifting his attention back to the crowd. “I summoned you all here today because... I thought you must be having a hard time after leaving the Assembly.”

Everyone’s expression stiffened a little.

Kang Jin-Ho shook his head. “Living in an ordinary society is not as easy as it sounds, after all.”

“Sir? Is that the case for you as well?”

Someone bravely asked that to Kang Jin-Ho.

“Well... You know how I started a new company called MK recently.”

“Yes, sir. The Assembly went legit, didn’t it?”

“Yeah. And the whole thing is killing me.”

The crowd burst into genial laughter. They could tell from Kang Jin-Ho’s expression that he wasn’t kidding.

“Trying to do something I’m not good at is harder than it looks. But I guess you all already know this by now,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“Yes, sir!”

“Honestly, I don’t know what I should do to make a living, sir.”

“All we know is how to do that thing, you know? So, finding a different line of work has been...”

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled again. These replies pretty much matched what he had been expecting.

He asked Lee Hyeon-Su to investigate the situation for the former Assembly members, and the investigation revealed a far grimmer reality than he had initially thought.

Excluding those who got their cultivation sealed away after committing various crimes, most of the former members were struggling to live like ordinary people.

It was easy enough to predict that, if nothing was done, their outcome might end up the same as the criminals.

Kang Jin-Ho’s expression became a little withdrawn.

“All of you have quit the Assembly.” 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

“...”

“According to the rules, you no longer have any ties to the Assembly. In other words, we don’t have a reason to worry about your welfare.”

Everyone here had to concede that Kang Jin-Ho was right. And that was why they didn’t resent the Assembly, despite their lives falling deeper and deeper into a quagmire.

Resenting an organization they had willingly walked away from was being too shameless, after all!

“It’s just that...” Kang Jin-Ho shrugged, but an awkward expression was still etched on his face. “Even though we can’t financially support you, nothing is stopping us from working together.”

“Working together, sir?”

Kang Jin-Ho briefly pointed with his chin, prompting Lee Hyeon-Su to get up. Unlike when he first entered the cafe, he was acting quite demurely right now. Whatever happened outside the cafe must’ve been rather effective, then!

“We’ve summoned you all here to make you an offer. Although the Assembly Master has said that...”

Lee Hyeon-Su pouted as if he was not all that happy about this situation.

“The Assembly Master is worried about you morons starving to death after failing to find proper work, so he wishes to use the Assembly’s resources to establish a franchising business. And you are to manage those franchises.”

“F-franchises, sir?!”

“W-what kind of franchise is it, sir?”

“Oii! Can it with your questions, you sons of... Kuh-hum, everyone.” Lee Hyeon-Su waved his hand in irritation. “For now, we’ll be starting off with a cafe franchise.”

“Cafe? Like this one, sir?”

“Yes and no. Our cafes won’t be a dumpster fire like this place.”

Seong Ju-Chan froze in the middle of brewing coffee and stared at Lee Hyeon-Su, his expression one of deep hurt. However, Lee Hyeon-Su cleanly ignored Seong Ju-Chan.

“But, sir? Can we even manage a cafe?”

“No need to worry about that. I know better than anyone how pathetic and incompetent you all are. As such, our franchises will be easy enough for even kindergartners to run.”

“S-sir, comparing us to kindergartners is a bit...”

Lee Hyeon-Su tutted loudly. “You’re right. That’s unfair to kindergartners. At least they won’t beat up customers and get dragged to police stations.”

“...”

The former Assembly members realized they couldn’t even refute that comparison.

“Besides...” Lee Hyeon-Su scanned the crowd and continued with his briefing. “Cafe won’t be our only franchise. Most likely, we’ll try several other business types. We’ll notify you once we have a more concrete plan of attack. But our first franchise business will be a cafe.”

Everyone began studying the cafe’s interior with renewed interest. When they first came here, they only took a cursory look while thinking that how this place was run was none of their business.

Now that they realized they could one day run a place like this one, though... The look in their eyes changed drastically.

“Then... What about the start-up cost, sir?”

“It’s a franchise, right? You just pay us the joining fee upfront. And then, you share the revenue with the headquarters.”

“Aha, a franchise.”

“It’s just that, well...” Lee Hyeon-Su glanced at Kang Jin-Ho before sighing deeply. “I’m sure you can already guess that the boss of this franchise will be our Assembly Master. But he’s not all that interested in making money. So the plan is to re-invest every dime you guys pay us. At least, for the time being, that is.”

Everyone here could feel Lee Hyeon-Su’s unyielding desire to not run the franchise in this manner forever when he said, For the time being.

Even so, the gathered former Assembly members displayed fairly positive reactions.

They were all thinking along the lines of...

Well, if the one in charge is the Assembly Master...

I mean, that dude wouldn’t start something like this to scam us, right? It’s not like this business will make a fortune, anyway.

Yeah, doesn’t this sound like a jackpot?

The former members had a pretty good idea of how wealthy the Martial Assembly was. And they also knew that the Assembly was basically Kang Jin-Ho’s private property. So, for him to start a franchising business to make money? That didn’t make much sense at all!

Even though humans were creatures of endless greed that simply had to pick up a ten-thousand Won banknote lying on the ground despite having millions in their wallets, this business venture still sounded like a bad idea. So much so that trying out other business ventures instead should be more profitable.

Everyone here already knew that Kang Jin-Ho was like a saint with zero greed. Although he drove around in an expensive car, that was more to do with his unique quirk of needing to drive a super-responsive vehicle. Also, didn’t he usually wear faded, stretched tracksuits most of the time?

Someone like that wouldn’t try to scam others just to make a quick buck.

“Chief Lee? What if we don’t have enough money for the joining fee?”

Lee Hyeon-Su’s jaw fell. “What? Why wouldn’t you have enough money? When you’ve received all those salaries over the years and a sizable severance pay?!”

“Kuh-euh~, well, someone here just had to donate his money to help out his struggling neighbors, sir. From what I hear, he donated to several casinos in Macau.”

The guilty one yelled desperately. “H-hey?! Don’t say that out loud!”

“Macau???” Lee Hyeon-Su menacingly growled, his cheeks twitching ominously. “Which stupid motherf*cker gambled his money away in casinos?! Come over here, now!”

The guilty one sheepishly got up. “B-but, sir. The thing is, I could’ve recouped everything ten times over with just one jackpot. Just one....”

“...Shut up and go plant your goddamn forehead in the corner over there!”

“Yes, sir...”

Lee Hyeon-Su facepalmed as a migraine began pummeling his head.

Kang Jin-Ho was right; these idiots had all the hallmarks of future unemployed bums if left alone to their devices. Lee Hyeon-Su used to wonder if such a business venture was even necessary, but such thoughts and subtly bubbling dissatisfaction got vanquished right out of his mind after this exchange.

“In any case... Aaaargh! Seriously, that dumbass! How could he be that stupid?!” Lee Hyeon-Su yelled, his body trembling in indignation.

How thoughtless one had to be to gamble away their severance pay in casinos?! And that was not a trifling amount of money, either!

“You stinking useless trash...!”

When Lee Hyeon-Su glared murderously, everyone hurriedly averted their gazes, their expressions weird.

“Has anyone else here frittered away their severance pay like that stupid bastard?”

No one replied. Of course, Lee Hyeon-Su didn’t miss several people in the crowd trying very stealthily to gauge his mood just then.

Gimme a goddamn break!

Lee Hyeon-Su groaned grandly. Even though he prided himself on always planning for absolute worst possibilities, he was still reminded of the unfortunate fact that below the bottom of the abyss lay the proverbial basement. In other words, a situation could always get even worse. Like this one, which turned out to be worse than he had hoped!

“A-Assembly Master...? Help?” Lee Hyeon-Su desperately asked after realizing this was not something he could resolve.

“Mm...” Kang Jin-Ho chuckled hollowly as if he, too, was troubled by this development. “It can’t be helped, then. If you don’t have enough to pay the joining fee, the Assembly will have to loan you the money. We can recoup the cost by making you pay a higher percentage of revenue to us.”

Lee Hyeon-Su’s head snapped back toward the crowd as he loudly gritted his teeth. “I swear I’ll make you cough up all the interest! Got that, you bunch of useless trash?”

While serving coffee, Seong Ju-Chan sneakily glanced at the two executives from the Martial Assembly. In moments like this, he couldn’t quite figure out if Kang Jin-Ho and Lee Hyeon-Su were cold-hearted people or generous pushovers.

Who in their right mind would want to loan money to this group of morons? They didn’t have jobs, and since they had to borrow money, didn’t that also indicate they didn’t have any assets to their names? Worse still, there was also no guarantee of these people earning an income in the future, either!

It was already surprising to see someone willing to open franchise branches for these people, yet this person even wanted to loan them money on top of that?

Right. The history’s most generous pushovers are right here!

Unfortunately, though, almost everyone inside this cafe possessed zero financial sense. As such, they couldn’t understand how generous Kang Jin-Ho and Lee Hyeon-Su were being right now.

“Hey, don’t you think it’s doable in that case?”

“But, uh... I don’t even know how to brew coffee.”

“Ah, that’s right. That’s the problem, isn’t it...?”

Lee Hyeon-Su groaned deeply before addressing the others. “As I’ve said earlier, we do not trust you morons.”

“...”

“That’s why! We’ve prepared a training program for those signing up to become franchisees. A training program that will push you to the limit! We will definitely mold you all into passable franchise managers!”

Lee Hyeon-Su gritted his teeth as he spoke. Chills ran down on the spines of the former Assembly members.

What the f*ck? Is he gonna train us as if we’re back in the Assembly?

W-well, that’s an effective training method, alright. Didn’t I learn that, even if I don’t get it initially, getting beaten up will help me understand?

The mere thought of going through the Assembly’s hellish training methods triggered a flood of cold sweat to break out on everyone’s skin. They might have longed for the good ol’ days they had spent in the Martial Assembly after quitting the organization, but this was that one thing from their past they would rather forget!

“In any case...!”

Lee Hyeon-Su summarized what he said so far.

“The Martial Assembly, or more correctly, MK, is planning to launch a franchise business for your sake. If you’re in the middle of doing something independently, then you don’t have to join us. However...!”

Lee Hyeon-Su’s probing glare stabbed into the faces of several people in the crowd.

“You all probably don’t have anything lined up, anyway. And...”

“...”

“And you certainly don’t have the abilities to do anything.”

“...”

“You stinking unemployed human wastrel who are doing nothing but lounging around at home until all the money in your bank account runs out... Join this business venture instead of throwing your money away on some hair-brained get-rich-quick schemes.”

The crown began chatting among themselves.

Lee Hyeon-Su narrowed his eyes. “Any questions?”

“...”

“Ask me if you’re curious about something, instead of spewing nonsense later. Don’t worry, I will answer you.”

“Uhm, sir...?”

Someone in the crowd cautiously raised his hand.

“Yeah? What?”

“Since we’re gonna go through a training program... Will our instructor be a professional barista?”

“Are you asking if your instructor will be from the surface world?”

“Y-yes, sir. Honestly, we...”

“No need to fret. Yes, your instructor will be a regular person with no cultivation.”

Everyone’s complexion brightened in an instant. At least a training program run by a regular person should be...

“Our Assembly Master’s father is a professional barista. He will personally oversee your education,” said Lee Hyeon-Su.

“...!”

Why don’t you just tell us to kill ourselves?!

Why don’t you!