Descent of the Demon Master-Chapter 1319. Working Together (4)

“I’m gonna teach him a lesson,” said Choi Yeon-Ha.

“...?”

Kang Jin-Ho sneakily turned his head to look. What happened in the economy class for her to say that?

Even as she sat down on her seat, bone-chilling air gushed out from Choi Yeon-Ha. Kang Jin-Ho flinched for no reason and continued to observe her cautiously.

“Yes... If you let people misbehave once, they will keep misbehaving till the end of time itself. So, I better set a date and discipline him properly soon...!”

“...”

Choi Yeon-Ha was gnashing her teeth now. In order to avoid getting sucked into this life-threatening blizzard, Kang Jin-Ho leaned further away from Choi Yeon-Ha. He had zero desire to get involved in this disciplining session. For now, he must preserve his...

“Mister Jin... I mean, Mister Cheol-Su?”

Kang Jin-Ho promptly replied, “Yes, ma’am?”

Choi Yeon-Ha deeply frowned. “Does Chief Lee always goof around at work?”

“...?”

Goofing around...? Kang Jin-Ho became confused by what he heard. Now there was a concept that did not fit Lee Hyeon-Su. At all! To be more precise, that accusation could never be made against that man who was called the Yeongnam Group’s devil once upon a time.

But now...?

Why can’t I deny it these days?

Kang Jin-Ho reflexively nodded while thinking that the description “goofing around” seemed rather fitting for Lee Hyeon-Su’s current conduct. “Yes, he does. A little bit.”

“Hnnnnng?” Choi Yeon-Ha snorted ominously. “This won’t do! And here I was, thinking that I should be nicer to him, too!”

Kang Jin-Ho silently turned his head away and stared outside the window.

Yup, let’s pretend I don’t know her.

He didn’t want to get sucked into this crisis and get beaten up black and blue. Lee Hyeon-Su was an adult, so he should mop up after his own mess!

“I mean, their superiors are going somewhere far away to do important things, yet they are busy gossiping behind our backs?! When they are supposed to help us instead?!”

“...”

Choi Yeon-Ha shot a sharp glare at Kang Jin-Ho. “Don’t you think it’s wrong?”

Kang Jin-Ho flinched nastily. “S-sorry?”

“Don’t you think so, too?!”

“Of... course.”

“Really now?”

“...”

“Then can I ask you something? Why are you heading to China, Mister Cheol-Su?”

“I’m sorry?”

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head slightly before realizing that he hadn’t told her the purpose of his trip.

“There’s... something I have to do.”

“And what is that something?”

“It’s, uh... Mm.”

I’m going there to kill someone. But I can’t say that, so...

I’m going there to handle an assignment the Korean government has given me.

Nope, that’s not right, either.

Kang Jin-Ho’s brow furrowed as he failed to think of a convincing excuse. Thankfully, though, someone came to his rescue in the nick of time.

“Is there anything we can help you with, sir?”

A smiling flight attendant walked closer, prompting Kang Jin-Ho to welcome her with a bright expression.

“No, I’m fine. Thank you for asking.”

“We’ve prepared simple snacks and fruits for you to enjoy. We also have a variety of refreshments available to order, so please let us know.”

“I see. Then well... Mm?”

Kang Jin-Ho scratched his cheek.

“Can I have a glass of coke, please?”

“Of course. I shall bring you a cup of refreshing cola and a selection of simple snacks.”

“Thank you.”

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Choi Yeon-Ha next after making his order. She was ordering wine from another flight attendant. Unlike when she was talking to him a minute ago, she had stopped gnashing her teeth and was putting on a brilliant business smile.

She is beautiful.

Kang Jin-Ho couldn’t help but think that the smiling Choi Yeon-Ha was dazzling to behold. He was simply being amazed, of course; no other emotions involved in his observation this time!

“What are you looking at?” Choi Yeon-Ha asked after the flight attendant left.

“I’m sorry?”

She smirked softly. “I caught you glancing at me, that’s why.”

“Oh. That’s because you are pretty.”

“...!”

Choi Yeon-Ha clamped her mouth shut, then turned her head the other way. Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head in confusion.

How could he be so masterfully unpredictable like this?

Choi Yeon-Ha’s face burned up, belatedly remembering that Kang Jin-Ho had a talent for landing a critical hit when least expected.

After failing to control her flushed face, Choi Yeon-Ha sighed deeply and glanced back at Kang Jin-Ho. “You’re not going to drink anything? Wine, maybe?”

Kang Jin-Ho shook his head. “No, I don’t enjoy alcohol, you see.”

“That’s strange. Are you weak against alcohol?”

“No, it’s not that. But...”

Kang Jin-Ho sheepishly scratched his head.

Rather than being weak against alcohol, it was more like he was too strong against it. Even if he didn’t circulate internal energy to purify all the alcohol entering his system, his perfectly honed body would still automatically break it down.

He could keep drinking forever and still not get drunk. Which meant he must enjoy the taste of alcohol itself for him to drink. Since that was the case, he figured he’d rather drink sodas and other refreshments instead.

Of course, he wasn’t the only martial artist who didn’t like drinking for this reason. In fact, one could say there were quite a lot of them.

Besides, martial artists not drinking is a good thing from the Assembly’s perspective, anyway.

Most martial artists were supposed to be strong against alcohol, but in reality, ordinary martial artists couldn’t perfectly purify alcohol entering their body like Kang Jin-Ho. In other words, they would get drunk sooner or later if they kept dumping alcohol into their system.

So, then. A martial artist getting drunk? Now there was a horrifying prospect.

Incidents of drunk cultivators causing various scenes happened often back in ancient Zhongyuan. Which shouldn’t come as a surprise, since ordinary people also caused problems after getting drunk. But for obvious reasons, the incidents created by drunk cultivators didn’t end as mere incidents.

Knowing this, martial artists of the past and present tried their best to stay away from alcohol. One wrong drunken move could end their life, after all!

“Sir, please allow me to set the table.”

The flight attendant smiled brightly while bringing out snacks and a can of Cola on a trolley. She then began placing them smartly on the small table before Kang Jin-Ho. Something similar also happened to Choi Yeon-Ha, but with wine instead.

Kang Jin-Ho grew slightly uncomfortable with this development.

Even though I thought of this as par for the course in the past...

During his reign as the cult leader in Zhongyuan, Kang Jin-Ho could just gesture with his finger if he felt thirsty, and female servants would urgently bring him refreshing water. However, after his return to the modern era, he found it awkward to have someone else do things that he was fully capable of doing himself.

“Thank y... Mm?”

Just as he was about to thank the flight attendant, his hearing picked up a slightly tense voice of another flight attendant.

“Would you like your peanuts on a plate? Or do you prefer them still sealed in a bag, ma’am?”

“...”

Kang Jin-Ho and the flight attendant serving him silently turned their heads in the direction of that tense voice, their expressions weird. They spotted Choi Yeon-Ha glancing at a packet of peanuts, then smirking subtly at her flight attendant.

She asked, “What does your training manual say?”

The flight attendant stuttered a little. “T-the manual states that we must follow our customers’ instructions.”

“Really? Eiii~, that’s no fun,” said Choi Yeon-Ha mischievously. She giggled while waving her hand. “Don’t worry, let me. I have perfectly functioning hands, you see?”

“I-I see! Then, here...”

“But I’m guessing some people don’t have hands~?”

The flight attendant forced a smile on her cramped expression. “If you need anything else, please don’t hesitate and summon us by pressing the bell, ma’am.”

“Thank you. I’ll do that,” said Choi Yeon-Ha playfully. Once the flight attendants had gone away, she leaned closer to Kang Jin-Ho and whispered quietly. “Those ladies, did you see how subtly freaked out they were at the mere mention of peanuts?”[1]

“...”

Kang Jin-Ho sighed deeply, then glanced at the red Cola can. Now there was a sight he hadn’t seen in a while.

His mood became tricky to explain while staring at this can of fizzy drink.

Every person going through what Kang Jin-Ho had gone through would miss and long for different things from the modern era. It all depended on the individual. But to Kang Jin-Ho, Cola symbolized the “modern era” itself.

That was why he used to drink several cans of Cola every day after his return. Not because he enjoyed the taste, but... It was more like a ritual, so to speak, to confirm that he now existed in the modern era, that he wasn’t dreaming of this life.

However, once some time had passed, and he got used to the modern era, he grew distant from this symbolic fizzy drink.

Did that mean he had forgotten all about his resolution? The one he used to hold after his return? However, even if he did forget about it, did it really matter now?

Pshhhhuhheee!

Gas escaped from the can as Kang Jin-Ho popped its lid. He then poured the drink into a cup filled with ice. Looking at the bubbles busy popping off the surface made him chuckle. Maybe his mood was greatly affected by the fact that he was heading to China, of all places.

He gulped down this refreshingly cold drink, then gently put the cup down.

Choi Yeon-Ha tilted her head. “Is it that good?”

“Yes,” Kang Jin-Ho nodded contentedly.

Choi Yeon-Ha was slightly surprised by that response. After all, Kang Jin-Ho never really cared about what went into his mouth. Maybe it was more correct to say his sense of taste had not been developed properly?

He didn’t have a lot to say while he and Choi Yeon-Ha went around enjoying high-class dishes in the past. Yet here he was, smiling happily away after taking a sip of Cola?

Choi Yeon-Ha believed she had a pretty good understanding of Kang Jin-Ho these days, but moments like this one made her realize she still had a long way to go.

Choi Yeon-Ha grinned. “Someone will think that’s a glass of super-expensive wine, you know?”

“Really? Mm... Don’t you think this is actually better than that wine?”

“Sorry? What do you mean?”

Kang Jin-Ho slightly raised his cup of Cola. “Well, the one that sells more is better, isn’t it?”

“That’s... a straightforward way of looking at things.”

For sure, when looked at that way, one could argue that Cola was a more “valuable” drink than expensive wine!

Choi Yeon-Ha lightly swirled wine in the glass before mouthing a small amount.

“But a person should have class, don’t you think?”

Kang Jin-Ho subtly cocked an eyebrow. “Does that wine taste good, though?”

“Yes, it does.”

“It must be good wine, then?”

Choi Yeon-Ha subtly raised her chin while puffing out her chest. “I don’t know which wine this is.”

“...”

But didn’t she order it just now?

Choi Yeon-Ha suddenly began whispering quietly. “If I’m being honest? All wines taste the same to me. But people will think I’m unsophisticated if I say that in public, so here I am, putting on a facade.”

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled at how serious she looked while whispering. He found this side of her rather interesting. She could be easy-going on some things, yet also could be clumsy in others. Despite that clumsiness, though, she could also be quite meticulous.

She was charming in such unexpected ways; other people couldn’t emulate her even if they wanted to.

Choi Yeon-Ha smirked. “At least I can differentiate between the bubbly and non-bubbly stuff. And I prefer the non-bubbly.”

“I’m the other way around, though?”

Kang Jin-Ho would rather have carbonated drinks if he had a choice. While thinking that, he glanced at his cup of Cola.

Wasn’t this amusing? Even though he used to possess the kind of martial prowess that could overturn the heavens, he still couldn’t dissolve carbon dioxide into sugar water. He might have tried something had he held some level of knowledge in chemistry or business operations, but he did not. To Kang Jin-Ho of the ancient Zhongyuan days, recreating fizzy drinks was an impossibility.

There was no method of acquiring information freely like in the current era back then. That was why this Cola was the modern era’s symbol to him. A stark reminder that even the heaven-defying cultivation still had its limits!

It’s still the same story now, isn’t it?

Kang Jin-Ho was trying his best to regain his strength from the past. But he knew that wasn’t quite enough, so he also did his best to nurture and improve the Martial Assembly.

However, he must not forget. He must not forget that some things could not be resolved with his strength or the power of the Martial Assembly. If he crossed the line and tried to resolve those things through force, then... Then, the Martial Assembly and Kang Jin-Ho would fall down the edge of ruin.

In that case, where was that line? The one he must not cross?

“Sir?”

Kang Jin-Ho turned his head when a flight attendant addressed him.

“We’ll soon be arriving at our destination. May I take these away?”

“Ah... Hold on,” Kang Jin-Ho emptied the Cola into his mouth, then put the empty cup down. “Here. Thanks.”

“Of course. Please excuse me.”

The flight attendant took away the plates of snacks and the empty cup before pushing the trolley away.

That didn’t take long at all.

Traveling from Incheon to Beijing only took two hours. Such a speed was unimaginable in the past.

The world gradually denied martial artists and their place in society. The things only they could do were disappearing one by one, while things they couldn’t do were increasing in numbers.

Kang Jin-Ho suddenly wondered about something. Why... Why did he return to the modern era while possessing all the inheritances from the past, when he was at the zenith of martial arts?

He didn’t believe in gods. And he certainly didn’t believe in the supernatural laws of nature. Yet he had experienced something no mere mortals should have.

It’s... difficult to figure out.

Kang Jin-Ho shook his head to get rid of all the distracting thoughts.

Right now, he shouldn’t ponder too deeply about it. He had a job to do, after all.

If he continued to resolve matters that came his way, maybe one day... His curiosity might get sated.

Kang Jin-Ho noticed the warning light for the seatbelts coming on and put on his belt.

We’re already in China.

He closed his eyes shut to force the corners of his lips from curling up on their own. However, his fingertips had been impatiently tapping on the armrest for some time now.

1. The author is referencing the infamous “nut rage incident” AKA “nutgate”, that happened on December 5th, 2014 during a Korean Air flight heading to Seoul from the JFK Airport in the USA. Please google for more information. ☜