Descent of the Demon Master-Chapter 1314. Setting Off (4)

Clink~

The doorbell went off as Lee Hyeon-Su and Kang Jin-Ho exited the cafe. Only then did the former Assembly members finally release their bated breath. First, they sighed and gasped. And then...

“I gotta be honest, dude. I have no idea what just happened.”

“Hah?! They want to open a store for us, you dumbass!”

“Why would the Assembly Master open stores for us, though?”

“He’s gonna do the interior fittings and supplies and stuff. In return, we share the revenue with him. We gotta pay the joining fee first, though. That’s what a franchise is!”

“And how do you even know that when you’re an idiot?”

“Why, you...!”

Heavy breathing reminiscent of angry bulls came from various places in the crowd.

Lee Hyeon-Su might keel over from high blood pressure if he knew the truth, because... Most of the folks inside this cafe had no clue what he had told them!

Somewhat fortunately, though, they all possessed that crucial ability to read the room. Which told them to nod along animatedly, as if they could understand what Lee Hyeon-Su said!

Now that Lee Hyeon-Su wasn’t around, the crowd hurriedly began asking their peers for a clarification.

“Sounds like it’ll be a good idea, don’t you think?”

“I dunno. Who can tell what’s gonna happen in the future? If only we had an already-open branch somewhere to take a gander first. At least we’d have some idea of what we’re dealing with. But they are asking us to jump in totally naked, so...”

“But it’s our Assembly Master, you know?”

“Right. And that’s why it’s worth considering, don’t you think? If someone else said all this, I probably kicked that person’s ass for being a con artist.”

“Someone else? A con artist?! Hey, watch your goddamn mouth! Maybe losing all your teeth will help your brain out with choosing your words more carefully?!”

“What’s the matter with you?! I wasn’t talking about our Assembly Master!”

“And you better keep it that way, got that!”

“Yeah, I got it, so relax, man! Stop clenching your fists, will ya?”

The crowd continued to discuss among themselves before their attention eventually shifted over to Seong Ju-Chan.

“Hey, man. Ju-Chan?”

Seong Ju-Chan testily replied, “What is it?”

“What do you think?”

“About what?”

“I mean, you’re already running a cafe, right? That means you have some ideas about what’s what, doesn’t it? You think we should do this?”

“Mm, he’s right, you know? So... Huh? What’s that?”

Seong Ju-Chan blinked his eyes. “What’s what?”

“That thing in your hand, man.”

Seong Ju-Chan’s expression became sheepish as he sneakily hid the documents in his hand under the counter. “O-oh, this? It’s... nothing.”

“I can see it’s not nothing, okay? What is that?”

“I’m telling you, it’s not...”

One of the former members got up and strode around the counter. When he silently demanded to take a look, Seong Ju-Chan making a cramped face unwillingly placed the documents in this man’s hand.

The man’s jaw fell in dismay as he confirmed the contents of the documents, and he shot a sharp glare at Seong Ju-Chan. “What the hell, man! Isn’t this a franchisee contract?!”

“N-no, it’s not. It’s merely a provisional contract. The real one isn’t finished yet.”

“What the f*ck? How the hell do you know that?! Besides, how did you get this contract already?!”

“...”

“This son of a b*tch?! You goddamn traitor!”

That was when Seong Ju-Chan’s expression suddenly changed into a scowl. “Shut the f*ck up, okay! The first store in the franchise will be mine, you hear me?!”

“You bastard, you’ve finally revealed your true colors!”

Seong Ju-Chan continued to yell. “Think about it, you stinking bastards! I worked my ass off to get this barista license and crawled like a bug just to get this far! You think I’ll just stand there and watch you bunch of trash open up franchises and live a nice life?! Hell no! I’ll die of jealousy first!”

“Holy cow! You piece of human trash!”

“Still, I gotta admit that you have a point!”

“If that was me, I’d have shown up in one of those stores and throw a hissy fit or something!”

Although what Seong Ju-Chan said could be constituted as a subhuman-like utterance, pretty much everyone in here also suffered from the same problem of “questionable personalities.” As such, they had no issue accepting his utterance!

“I’m gonna do it even if I have to run myself into the ground in the process, okay?! So stop asking me about it and decide for yourselves!” Seong Ju-Chan yelled. “Because you will blame me instead of the Assembly Master when your store goes belly-up, saying I egged you on to do this sh*t!”

“You think we’ll just blame you? No! We’ll beat the living sh*t out of you, too!”

“That’s right! We’ll beat you up within an inch of your life!”

Seong Ju-Chan helplessly shook his head. Trying to understand the Assembly’s martial artists with society’s common sense was next to impossible. Even though he was also one of them, he still had to admit that these people walked about two paces removed from what the rest of humanity considered rational!

“So? Who’s gonna sign up?”

The former members silently scanned each other, waiting for someone to step up first.

Hah, what a biiig surprise. Seong Ju-Chan chuckled weakly.

Of course, he knew this was not something these people could decide on a whim. Opening a store meant their rise or fall would be decided not overnight, but potentially over the period of several years. Knowing this, how could anyone make this decision on the spot?

“I’m gonna do it.”

...Nope, Seong Ju-Chan was wrong. As it turned out, someone could make this decision on the spot!

Everyone’s attention focused on that person.

“Sang-Gil hyung?”

Choi Sang-Gil, the target of Lee Hyeon-Su’s verbal abuse earlier, coolly shrugged. “I mean, let’s be real, okay? I don’t have any technical skills or academic abilities. And it’s not like I’ve studied a lot, either... If I don’t join this franchise business thing, what else can I do to put food on my table?”

“But, hyung...”

“Besides, I’m not getting any younger, right? If I want to find a nice girl and start a family, I gotta settle my rocky life down as quickly as possible.”

Seong Ju-Chan frowned. “Wait a minute, hyung. Rather than finding a girl, methinks you should consult a plastic surgeon first.”

“Hey, Ju-Chan? I guess you don’t mind getting your cafe trashed beyond repair?”

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“Tsk!” Choi Sang-Gil tutted, then glanced at the crowd. “Here’s my advice. Anyone who’s still not decided yet? You better wake the hell up.”

“But, Sang-Gil hyung. This is not that simple, you know?”

“No, it is simple, you idiots. You literally don’t have anything going on in your lives that makes this complicated, okay? It’s not like you’re all smart enough to rack your brains and make money. So, don’t overthink it. Between you trying something to make a living, and simply sticking to the plan the Assembly Master and Chief Lee have cooked up, which one do you think is better?”

“Of course it’s the latter.”

Choi Sang-Gil tutted loudly. “Then, what is there to think about, you idiots?”

“...He’s right, you know?”

Everyone here already knew how useless they were, and that only Kang Jin-Ho and Lee Hyeon-Su could dig them out of this hole.

“At least Seong Ju-Chan’s life worked out...”

“This is depressing. My life is depressing, man!”

“Yeah. I’m a good-for-nothing, anyway. What can I even do on my own...?”

The atmosphere inside the cafe turned depressed in the blink of an eye.

Seong Ju-Chan’s jaw fell ever so slightly. What the hell? Did these idiots develop mass depression after leaving the Assembly? Is that it?

This couldn’t be a side effect of not using martial arts for a while, so why were these people trying to welcome darkness like their old friend every chance they got?!

Choi Sang-Gil summarized the situation for them.

“It’s your life, so you decide what to do with it. Don’t just blindly follow cuz someone you know is doing it. In any case, I’m gonna do this. Isn’t a franchise business all about giving a pro your money for help since you don’t have the confidence to do it alone?”

“Well, I guess so?”

“In that case, where would you find a better pro than Chief Lee? Or our Assembly Master? Do you think they are the types of people who’d waste their time running a measly cafe franchise?”

“Hyung, uh... I think you’ve strayed a bit from your original argument, but yeah, we get what you’re trying to say.”

Even though this business venture had not been vetted yet, and it certainly was not Lee Hyeon-Su or Kang Jin-Ho’s specialty, the former Assembly members could not imagine those two messing it up. In their view, those two men were totally capable of building Dubai Number 2 after being dropped in the middle of a nameless desert.

“Besides, you idiots! You think our Assembly Master would do this just to scam us? He’s going through all these hoops just to make sure his useless ex-subordinates don’t starve to death. We should be busy kissing the floor he had walked on and expressing how grateful we are.”

“You’re right, hyung. Totally agree,” said Seong Ju-Chan while chuckling away.

How could these people be so... well aware of how hopeless they were?

Most men at their age should be filled with baseless confidence while busy boasting about how they could achieve anything if they put their minds to it. But not these folks. They all objectively understood their shortcomings. Maybe that was why they could make that tough decision to quit the Assembly.

Choi Sang-Gil grunted. “Whatever. I’m doing it, so you guys do whatever you want.”

Others began breaking their silence.

“Then... I’ll do it, too.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Wait, didn’t Chief Lee say there will be other franchise types beside cafes? Wouldn’t it be a bad idea for everyone to sign up now?”

“I’m sure he’ll assign us whatever franchise is available once we sign up. There’s no difference, right? Since we know jacksh*t, anyway.”

“Yeah, you have a point there.”

In all honesty, everyone in the cafe didn’t have much of a choice. The option Lee Hyeon-Su had presented them with was probably the best one on the table, and they all knew it.

Even then, they still couldn’t decide right away because of the anxiety of potentially sealing their fates with this one decision.

As they had already tasted how bitter a failure could be, they couldn’t help but be cautious.

Seong Ju-Chan calmly addressed the crowd. “Whether you lose everything or not, you all better remember this.”

“Remember what?”

“Assembly Master has already hired people and has sunk a huge amount of money into this venture, okay? Just so that he can keep you bunch of useless human trash alive. Despite how busy he is, he’s still making time just for you guys. Do not ever forget that.”

The atmosphere grew somber just then.

“Well, I’ll be,” Choi Sang-Gil jokingly muttered after failing to endure this somber atmosphere. “Don’t you think our Assembly Master can be such a weirdo?”

“Argh! Watch what you say, hyung! Otherwise, we’re gonna beat your ass up!”

“...You know, sometimes I can’t figure out if you’re super respectful or totally disrespectful.”

Choi Sang-Gil groaned deeply.

***

Click!

Lee Hyeon-Su used his lighter to light up the cigarette dangling between Kang Jin-Ho’s lips before lighting his own.

“Sir, the overall reaction seems positive enough.”

“Mm...”

Kang Jin-Ho contemplatively nodded.

If he was being honest, the reaction he saw went beyond the level of “Positive” and straight into the realm of “Explosive Fervor”. He even got taken aback, somewhat, by how eager the former Assembly members were.

Kang Jin-Ho curiously asked, “I don’t understand. What do they see in us?”

To him, this franchising business was merely one of several business ventures he was involved in. It going under wouldn’t present too many problems for him. However, that wasn’t the story for those people inside the cafe.

They simply had no choice but to bet their whole lives on this business venture. So how could they be so positive about it when they haven’t even begun yet?

“That’s because they trust the Assembly, sir.”

“...?”

“To be more precise, they believe in you, sir,” said Lee Hyeon-Su.

Kang Jin-Ho furrowed his brow a little. “Me? Why?”

“Well, that’s because they have witnessed what you’ve achieved so far.”

“...”

Lee Hyeon-Su chuckled slightly. “I’m guessing you don’t dwell too much on your prior achievements. But other people do, sir. And they become confident of their future because of it.”

“Why?”

“It’s like... You use your previous self as your yardstick, don’t you? But the Assembly members use Lee Jung-Geol as their yardstick to evaluate you.”

“Is that how it is?”

“Yes, sir. Things must seem ‘Greatly Improved’ compared to how they were during Lee Jung-Geol’s reign. And then... Mm.”

“And then?”

“These people have never been treated like human beings before, so...”

“...”

It seemed he heard a tragic tale just now, but Kang Jin-Ho tried his hardest to pretend that he heard nothing.

“In any case, sir... That’s why they believe in you.”

“That puts a bit of pressure on my shoulders, doesn’t it?” Kang Jin-Ho muttered while sighing deeply.

He started this venture while thinking he’d be doing something good. But as proven time and time again, sticking to his original determination was rather difficult. That was because...

As events progressed, “burden” associated with them would also increase in weight. What Kang Jin-Ho felt while facing all those hopeful faces inside the cafe wasn’t happiness or relief, but this enormous pressure of knowing that their lives now depended on him.

It was almost the same story as the Seongsim Orphanage. At first, Kang Jin-Ho frequented that place without too much pressure on his shoulders, but now? What would happen to the orphanage if he stopped caring about that place altogether?

Would it revert to how things were like before Kang Jin-Ho had shown up? Would that be the end?

No, it wouldn’t be.

This was what relationships were like; if one wanted to enter someone’s life, they better resolve themselves to maintain the relationship to the best of their abilities.

The corners of Lee Hyeon-Su’s lips subtly curled up as he watched Kang Jin-Ho sighing away.

What a strange person his Assembly Master was.

Everyone took the Assembly Master’s quirks for granted these days, but when Lee Hyeon-Su thought about it some more, he had to admit that the person called Kang Jin-Ho had some seriously peculiar ways of doing things.

He financially supported an orphanage. Not only that, but he also was in the middle of launching a welfare foundation. And to top that off, he was about to start a business venture solely meant to keep the former Assembly members fed, too!

Kang Jin-Ho qualified for the label of a saint when looking at all these things, but plonk him in the middle of a battle, and he’d morph into a bloodthirsty lunatic who unhesitantly slaughtered his enemies.

Which of the two was the “real” Kang Jin-Ho? Even someone like Lee Hyeon-Su, who had observed Kang Jin-Ho for quite a while now, couldn’t confidently answer that question.

No, maybe... Trying to figure that out is the wrong approach.

Maybe both of them were Kang Jin-Ho’s real self. The two sides simply presented different aspects of Kang Jin-Ho’s personality. That could be the more correct answer.

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Lee Hyeon-Su. “Ok. Let’s go back inside.”

“Yes, sir.”

The two men stubbed their cigarettes on the ground and stepped back into the cafe.