Descent of the Demon Master-Chapter 1358. Enraged (3)

After crushing the empty cigarette packet, Kang Jin-Ho rummaged through his pockets. That was when he realized he had no cigarettes left.

Should I have brought more?

He always carried one extra packet, just in case, but even that wasn’t enough this time. It seemed he was about to quit smoking involuntarily, at least for a little while.

That was when Lee Hyeon-Su took out a still-sealed packet of cigarettes from his pocket and lightly tossed it at Kang Jin-Ho.

After catching the packet, Kang Jin-Ho stared weirdly at Lee Hyeon-Su.

“I’m always prepared, sir.”

Lee Hyeon-Su grinned while taking out several packets of cigarettes from his pockets.

“...”

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled helplessly while pulling the vinyl wrap off the packet. Should he say Lee Hyeon-Su was simply being sensible or lacked common sense?

He used a lighter to light up the cigarette, and the unhealthy smoke stabbed the nerves in his throat as it rushed down into his lungs. After inhaling all that smoke, Kang Jin-Ho held his breath for a little while longer than usual before lazily exhaling out.

This all seemed... rather relaxed. There hadn’t been a moment’s respite since breaking into the safe house. And now, it felt like they could finally take a break for a bit.

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Lee Hyeon-Su. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m doing okay, sir.”

Lee Hyeon-Su sounded rather indifferent just then, but he couldn’t hide his wane complexion. His pale skin and thick dark circles below his eyes were enough telltale signs of his current state.

Kang Jin-Ho wasn’t even remotely surprised. This was what it meant to get pursued by enemies, after all. Even if one held the upper hand, the knowledge of enemies chasing you down still rapidly drained away one’s mental and physical energy. Considering Lee Hyeon-Su’s stamina, this ordeal must’ve been incredibly taxing on him.

This situation reminds me of the past.

Kang Jin-Ho recalled the time when he attempted a desperate escape after getting branded as the number one enemy of the orthodox faction. Back then, enemies came at him from seemingly every direction.

When he thought he had lost them, enemies were blocking his path. When he thought he was free of their pursuit, he suddenly found himself surrounded on all sides.

For over ten days, he kept running and running without drinking even a tiny sip of water. He eventually suffered from auditory and visual hallucinations.

While his dried throat cracked and threatened to split apart, his heart continued to pound away madly. To make matters worse, the fear of enemies’ blades raining down on his back plagued him constantly.

Simply recalling those unpleasant memories stiffened his muscles.

Now I feel like crap.

Kang Jin-Ho was being pursued now, but it didn’t feel as bad as back then. There was a place to escape to this time, after all. Having a place to run to would always feel different from having nowhere to go.

Kang Jin-Ho took a deep puff, then glanced at his subordinate. “Lee Hyeon-Su.”

“Yes, sir?”

“Now that you heard what Yi Jong-Wuk had to say, who do you think is our enemy now?”

“It’s... still one of the two, sir,” said Lee Hyeon-Su with a sigh. “If Yi Jong-Wuk is serious about providing an escape route, it’s safe to assume he’s an ally. On the other hand...”

“...It’ll be Kim Myeong-Chan, then.”

“Yes, sir,” Lee Hyeon-Su awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “However, that’s still not a certainty yet, sir. After all, the Prime Minister might not be doing this out of his own will.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s a politician, sir. Not only that, a politician who’s a part of a larger organization, too. If someone higher up the food chain orders him to, he won’t have a choice but to obey.”

Someone even higher up the hierarchy than the Prime Minister...?

Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly nodded. Even he had to admit that saying this out loud was a big deal. There could be only one person higher in the hierarchy than the Prime Minister of South Korea, after all!

“Assembly Master?”

When Lee Hyeon-Su cautiously called out, Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head.

“What is it?”

“Do you mind if I ask you a question, sir?”

“You don’t need my permission for that.”

“Yes, indeed. I don’t, but...”

Lee Hyeon-Su chuckled awkwardly. The thing was, though... The question in his mind shouldn’t be thrown around carelessly. The weight of this question and the potential response scared him to no end, after all!

“If the Prime Minister has indeed betrayed us...”

Lee Hyeon-Su chose to let the end of his sentence drift away, but there was no visible change to Kang Jin-Ho’s expression. He simply stared at the distance, his eyes withdrawn.

“What will you do, sir?”

Sizzle...

The end of Kang Jin-Ho’s cigarette burned brightly. Lee Hyeon-Su remained silent to let his boss organize his thoughts. He was planning to follow whatever Kang Jin-Ho decided to do, anyway.

“There’s no need to think about this, is there?”

Kang Jin-Ho didn’t need long to decide. Maybe he didn’t even weigh his options at all.

“I won’t try to make a case about how this is a betrayal and whatnot.”

The way Kang Jin-Ho saw it, he and Kim Myeong-Chan—the Martial Assembly and the current administration—were not close enough to accuse each other of betrayal. They had never promised to help each other till the end, and they certainly had not signed a nonaggression pact, either.

They were nothing more than strangers temporarily walking together after their path had converged.

Since that was the case, it was too naïve to bring up loyalty and betrayal.

“However...”

Kang Jin-Ho’s eyes coldly flickered.

“That doesn’t change the fact that they have targeted me. And they will pay the price for it.”

Lee Hyeon-Su nodded. Kang Jin-Ho’s response was simple enough, but it still contained everything he wanted to say. The price Kang Jin-Ho talked about could only mean one thing, after all.

“Sir, will you designate everyone as your enemy?”

“Only those involved, yeah.”

“...Understood.”

If the Prime Minister was involved, then that would be where the price-paying would end. However, if it was someone higher up...

Lee Hyeon-Su subtly bit his lip. Honestly? He dreaded the idea. He didn’t even want to think about it. Going even higher up meant they would be dealing with not just the Prime Minister, but the ‘government’ itself, after all!

Lee Hyeon-Su could sense all those things he had been suppressing all this time slowly rearing their ugly heads.

Kang Jin-Ho cocked an eyebrow. “Is there a problem?”

“No, sir. It’s just that...” Lee Hyeon-Su hesitated before sighing deeply. “Whether it’s the situation in South Korea or here in China... The things I’ve been worried about are beginning to happen for real, sir.”

“Things you’ve been worried about?”

“Yes, sir,” Lee Hyeon-Su grimaced while swallowing nervously. “I had a feeling that something similar to this would happen eventually. We were simply maintaining the precarious balance until now, after all.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded. He didn’t need an in-depth explanation to understand what Lee Hyeon-Su meant just now.

This thing called the coexistence between nations and the martial world was an incredibly tricky problem to resolve. Kang Jin-Ho was one of those few people who fully understood how... cumbersome this coexistence could get.

“The only reason the government didn’t eliminate the martial world was because we were seen as useful,” said Lee Hyeon-Su while wetting his dry lips. “Useful as in getting rid of trash, cleaning up the backstreets, or handling unsavory work they didn’t want to soil their hands with. For these purposes, the governments and martial world have been maintaining a secretive relationship. A coalition, if you will.”

“Like us?”

“Yes, although we entered this game later than everyone else.”

Lee Hyeon-Su understood how this situation worked. Rather well, in fact. And that was why he couldn’t get over this gnawing suspicion in the back of his mind.

“My uncertainty is with how the Korean government will act once they deem us unnecessary. There shouldn’t be an issue in places like Europe or Japan since the martial societies there have already taken over their political spheres. However, in China or South Korea...”

Kang Jin-Ho contemplatively nodded in silence.

He and Lee Hyeon-Su had already seen it, hadn’t they? The Chinese government wanted to get rid of its own martial society completely, and sweet-talking Kang Jin-Ho was merely a part of their grand scheme.

“Useful tools will keep getting used, sir. However, even such tools will get disposed of for two reasons. One, it’s no longer useful, which I don’t think is possible. The government doesn’t want to lose face, you see? However...”

Lee Hyeon-Su began chewing on his lips as a realization finally dawned on him.

“If they have access to a better tool, the older, more cumbersome tools will get replaced, sir. Even if the so-called better tool doesn’t offer any improved performance.”

Such a thing would happen because doing so would make the life of the user more convenient.

Kang Jin-Ho focused on the idea of ‘better tools’.

“Are you saying the government has others to replace us?”

“I think it’s a strong possibility. But, to be more correct...”

A bitter grin spread across Lee Hyeon-Su’s face.

“I think they must’ve nurtured suitable replacements. And nurturing even more as we speak. We aren’t the only people possessing the knowledge of martial arts, after all.”

“Mm...!”

Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded. Now there was something he should have considered before.

Back when he ruled Zhongyuan as the demon cult’s leader, the imperial court also nurtured imperial cultivators. Although their side lacked a systematic approach of nurturing talents from a young age, like the sects and clans of Murim, which resulted in the strength of those cultivators being inefficient at best...

Still, those warriors reached a certain level of strength, didn’t they?

Nothing stopped the modern day governments from emulating what happened in the past. Actually, now that Kang Jin-Ho thought about it some more, such a task should be even easier now.

“So, you think China and South Korea have been nurturing martial artists?”

Lee Hyeon-Su rubbed his chin. “I’m not sure about South Korea, sir. Considering how the Korean government left us alone until recently, they probably didn’t have enough leeway to nurture our potential replacements. However, I’m convinced that China has.”

“Mm...!”

Lee Hyeon-Su’s guesses could be right.

However, an army of martial artists? This was not as simple as a nation having martial artists as soldiers. No, it meant the boundary separating the martial world from the surface world was disappearing.

A nation’s army was that nation’s strength. And a nation was a “symbol” in the surface world. Two most important elements of the human race were about to intermingle, and that would make the maintaining of that boundary utterly impossible.

Kang Jin-Ho always thought that the unstable boundary would crumble sooner or later, and as it turned out, it was already crumbling.

Lee Hyeon-Su cautiously asked, “What do you think, sir?”

“About what?”

“...You know, about what I told you.”

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled softly. “What do I think about that? Not much, I guess?”

“I’m sorry?”

Kang Jin-Ho dragged in a deep puff of the cigarette. “Nothing will change even if I rack my brain over it, right?”

“...?”

When Lee Hyeon-Su’s jaw fell slightly in stupefaction, Kang Jin-Ho chuckled again. “I’m sure someone else will worry about it for me.”

“B-but, sir? If it’s not you, who will...”

“Hold on, now,” said Kang Jin-Ho, his chuckling growing louder. “Look, I’m not a superhuman, okay? And I’m certainly not a prophet who can see into the future. I’m merely some guy who’s trying his best to survive the now.”

“...”

“Sure, it’s all good and well to worry about the events that might happen decades into the future. However, for me? Dealing with what’s in front of me is much more important. We can worry about stuff like this later, when we have plenty of time. If we can even remember it, of course.”

Lee Hyeon-Su could only chuckle in dismay. What an easy-going attitude this was. Then again, this mindset suited Kang Jin-Ho so perfectly, didn’t it?

Besides, the Assembly Master isn’t wrong, anyway.

Their feet were on fire right now, so yapping on and on about the worlds’ boundaries and whatnot sounded like he got his priorities all mixed up.

Lee Hyeon-Su spoke as his expression stiffened. “Then, the first order of business is getting out of this situation in one piece.”

“Glad to hear you finally get it.”

Kang Jin-Ho lightly chided Lee Hyeon-Su for saying something that was unnecessary right now.

However, just as the sheepish-faced Lee Hyeon-Su tried to say something, Kang Jin-Ho pressed his index finger against his lips. He clearly wanted his subordinate to keep his voice down.

Lee Hyeon-Su held his breath and turned his head to stare in the same direction as his boss.

Shuffle, crack...

He could hear someone approaching them now.

Ordinary people might not be able to pick up such faint sounds, but Lee Hyeon-Su’s five senses were far sharper than them, thanks to being a martial artist. Since that was the case, these noises must’ve sounded like an elephant stomping its way closer to Kang Jin-Ho’s hearing.

Okay, so...

Lee Hyeon-Su sucked in a deep breath.

Who could it be? An enemy, or...?

A short while later, Lee Hyeon-Su spotted a dark silhouette of a person emerging from the darkness of the bush. He clenched his fists tightly and glared at this unknown figure.

Crunch, crack...

Only after the sounds of human feet stepping on leaves became quite loud did the dark silhouette fully reveal itself.

“...Uh?” Lee Hyeon-Su opened his eyes wider. “Is that you, Mister Chang Piljae?”

“Shh!” Chang Piljae used both his hands in a gesture to cover his mouth.

Lee Hyeon-Su tilted his head. “Could it be that you’re the only Korean spy in China?”

“Of course not. There are many of us. But the question is, how many of them can we actually trust?”

Chang Piljae scanned the surroundings with tense eyes, then beckoned at the two.

“Come with me. I’ll take you somewhere safe.”