Descent of the Demon Master-Chapter 1364. Northbound (4)

Wiggins furrowed his brow while scanning the distant land.

“I understand why you’d object to this idea. However, now is not the time to stick to common sense, Mister Lee. No, we must choose the most efficient route available.”

— I get that, yes. But this is...

“Well, do you have any better ideas?”

—I... No, master.

“There you go, then.”

Wiggins’ complexion was wane, to say the least. He furiously rubbed at his sunken eyes, then groaned in fatigue.

“As long as you reach somewhere south of Pyongyang, we will make it work. Contacting us will become impossible once you enter North Korea, so call us before crossing the border. We’ll decide on the location then.”

—Actually, we’ll try to get our hands on a satellite phone before doing that.

“That’s a good idea. We’ll get our preparations ready right away. In the meantime, try to call us as often as possible.”

—H-hold on, master.

“Mm?”

A bout of silence ensued on the phone before another familiar voice came through its speakers.

—Wiggins.

“My lord. I’m glad to hear that you’re safe.”

—Have you reached Korea yet?

“No, not yet. But we will reach the shore quite soon.”

—When you do, take care of my family’s protection. We don’t know what our enemies will do if things don’t go according to their plan.

“I’ve already called our people and did that as soon as the communication was restored, my lord. You can rest easy in that regard. Your family will be safe.”

—Thanks.

“No need to mention it.”

The line went dead just then. Wiggins stared somewhat weirdly at the phone.

Did Kang Jin-Ho say thanks? Had he ever thanked anyone before? The best he could do until now was “You did well,” wasn’t it?

Is it because we’re talking about his family here?

Wiggins sighed under his breath.

Thinking about his family’s safety despite the situation he was in was worthy of praise, sure. However, such a thing would only become a weakness to a man in Kang Jin-Ho’s position. And this weakness would only get worse and worse in the future.

Looks like we’ll have to pay more attention in that regard.

Before Wiggins could fall deeper into his thoughts, though, he was woken up by an irritated-sounding voice coming from behind.

“Mister Wiggins? What did Lee Hyeon-Su say?”

Wiggins glanced behind at Bang Jin-Hun. “They have safely left Beijing and are currently en route to Heilongjiang. Their plan was to head to Vladivostok and slip into Korea.”

“Those sons of b*tches...!”

Bang Jin-Hun’s expression crumpled in anger. His boss had to smuggle himself into the country not because of the Chinese government’s interference, but because they didn’t know how the Korean government would respond!

Bang Jin-Hun kicked the blameless deck after his anger briefly got the better of him.

“How could those sons of b*tches do this to us?! Even though we worked like slaves for those bastards all these years?!”

Wiggins frowned deeply. “This is how the people with power usually behave, Mister Bang.”

Accepting obedient dogs but never allowing anyone to be their equal—that was the true nature of those in power.

However, to think they would come out this strongly!

Bang Jin-Hun looked behind, at the wide expanse of the open sea, then loudly gritted his teeth. “We should’ve ripped those bastards a new one, you know? Why did you stop us, Mister Wiggins?”

“They didn’t attack us first, after all.”

“Yeah, that’s what I don’t get. Why did they surround us but not do anything?”

Wiggins casually shrugged. “This is only a theory, but...”

“Yes?”

“Maybe the Assembly Master’s position within the organization, as they have perceived from the outside, differs significantly from how we view him.”

“Huh? What do you mean? Can you make that easier to understand?”

“Simply put... Hmm...”

Wiggins organized his thoughts before resuming his explanation.

“If the navy had attacked us, then yes, it would have led to an all-out war. The only way to prevent that would be to kill every one of us to cover everything up. So that no one will ever find out what happened.”

“Well, sure?”

“But now, they must’ve calculated that, as long as they kill the Assembly Master without clashing with us, they can prevent a war.”

Bang Jin-Hun frowned even deeper than before. “That’s a load of bullsh*t. Don’t they get that?”

“It’s not a load of junk from their perspective. Why? Because the Assembly went through a regime change twice in a short period of time.”

“...”

Wiggins narrowed his eyes. “In their view, the Martial Assembly is not the Assembly Master’s personal army, but an organization of Korean martial artists. Changing its boss shouldn’t cause anything special to happen... At least, that must be what they thought.”

“If true, that’s quite stupid of them.”

“Indeed. Very stupid.”

Bang Jin-Hun and Wiggins both swore inwardly to make their enemies pay dearly for this stupid move.

“So? What are we gonna do?” Bang Jin-Hun asked. “Are we going to chase them down and kill them all as soon as we get home?”

“No, because that will lead to war.”

“Who cares! I ain’t afraid of waging some war, Mister Wiggins! Besides, they started it first, you know! Are you saying we should just obediently lie down and take the hits?!”

Wiggins sighed deeply. Not because he was disappointed by Bang Jin-Hun, but more so because he agreed with what the latter had said.

If it was up to Wiggins, he’d love to round up every single bastard connected to this situation and execute them on the spot, but...!

Wiggins usually tried his hardest to maintain level-headedness regardless of what happened, but this situation had properly angered him. Those who had never experienced being stabbed in the back by the people they trusted would never imagine how furious he was right now.

“Fuu-woo...!”

Wiggins sucked in a deep breath to calm his turbulent mind, then addressed Bang Jin-Hun.

“Look, Mister Bang. I sympathize with you. Fully. However, our enemies don’t have a place to run off to. Besides, they are our Assembly Master’s prey.”

“Mm...!”

Bang Jin-Hun contemplatively nodded.

He inwardly swore, What a dogsh*t experience this has been.

Even though his enemies were right there, he couldn’t fight them. He couldn’t pounce on them or back away. In a way, he was like a beast stuck inside a cage; all he could do was to observe and observe some more.

If only he could cut loose and fight to his content! At least Bang Jin-Hun wouldn’t be feeling this crappy.

Bang Jin-Hun slowly licked his lips. “I don’t get it. Why are they doing this out of the blue?”

Wiggins chuckled helplessly. “It’s quite simple, Mister Bang. They are scared. That’s why.”

“Eh? What do you mean? Are you saying they are scared of our Assembly Master? He hasn’t done anything, though?”

“To be more precise, they don’t fear the Assembly Master specifically, but they are afraid of the power not under their control. No one can predict how such power will behave, you see?”

Bang Jin-Hun snorted derisively. “Isn’t that why we’ve been showing them how cooperative we are?” 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

“Some people will never be satisfied by that, Mister Bang.”

Bang Jin-Hun shook his head slowly as if he couldn’t understand it. But that only amazed Wiggins even more.

That’s right, Mister Bang has always been like this.

Bang Jin-Hun stood in Lee Jung-Geol’s way not because he wanted to seize power for himself, but to stop the latter’s tyranny. Didn’t he unhesitantly relinquish the Assembly Master position to Kang Jin-Ho, even though he had finally acquired it after all those bloody battles?

Even for someone with no desire for power, relinquishing the authority they had finally seized would never be as easy as it sounded. However, Bang Jin-Hun did precisely that.

Someone like him would obviously not understand the root cause of this situation.

“In any case... As soon as we return, please get the Assembly ready. We don’t know what will happen,” said Wiggins.

“Good idea,” Bang Jin-Hun nodded.

“And we should also summon the elders back from Japan, too.”

“...When you say elders, you mean him, too?”

“I do.”

Bang Jin-Hun let out a soft groan. If Chang Min came home and found out what happened, he’d definitely throw a massive hissy fit. Just imagining that mad old fart causing a scene sent shivers down Bang Jin-Hun’s spine.

“That’s kinda frightening, Mister Wiggins.”

“Yes, I agree.”

The two grown men sighed deeply in perfect sync.

In their view, Chang Min was a genuinely difficult person to deal with. Not only was Chang Min very old, but he was also far too powerful and obsessively loyal to Kang Jin-Ho, to boot. He was a man who went into a berserk mode every time his liege was brought up, so it was easy enough to guess how he would respond after learning about this situation!

“Even so... We must summon him back,” said Wiggins.

“Yes, I guess so.”

Wiggins spotted the distant harbor and narrowed his eyes. He couldn’t immediately spot any soldiers there.

If the enemies had been serious about starting a war with the Martial Assembly, that harbor should be teeming with heavily armed soldiers by now. But the place looked empty as far as naked eyes could see.

Which means it’s one of two possibilities.

Either the enemy had the wherewithal to wage war but didn’t want to do that... Or the ones behind this event had limited authority over the Korean military.

“If it’s not that, then... The one behind this event is someone else entirely.”

Bang Jin-Hun tilted his head. “Sorry?”

“No... It’s nothing,” Wiggins slowly shook his head. “Let’s get going, then. It seems we’ll be busy for a while.”

***

“Where did you say we must go?”

Chang Piljae’s eyes trembled pitifully like a lone leaf against storm winds.

“North Korea?!”

“...”

Chang Piljae suddenly began guffawing.

“Eiii, you were yanking my chain just now, weren’t you?”

Lee Hyeon-Su could only grin bitterly. His usual self would’ve chucked in an off-color quip or two by now, but not this time. He honestly couldn’t think of one at the moment.

Objectively speaking, heading to North Korea made a lot of sense. However...

Yes, even Lee Hyeon-Su thought taking a sea route was risky. Even then, he had a good reason for not considering other alternatives.

Well, the open seas should be safer than crossing North Korea, after all!

Logic said that the terra firma of North Korea was much better than the middle of an ocean where fighting against enemies was much trickier. Ordinary people might vehemently disagree, but two of the three men present were not exactly ordinary, now were they?

“H-hang on a minute, okay? Are you serious about going into North Korea?!”

The only ordinary person in the trio started freaking out for real now.

Lee Hyeon-Su sighed deeply. “Isn’t it uncool for a highly trained operative to get scared of entering North Korea?”

“I’m not a highly trained operative, okay? I’m a mere intelligence officer, Mister Lee! My job is to gather intelligence! Besides, the northbound operatives go through completely different training programs, okay?!”

“Well, in a general sense, you could say you two are the same.”

“Who’s the same with what?!”

Chang Piljae’s brows shot up high. Only about a minute ago, he was too afraid of Kang Jin-Ho and Lee Hyeon-Su to speak properly, but the prospect of entering North Korea had been so frightening that it had scared away his fears!

“No freaking way! This is a suicide! No! This will never work! Never!”

Chang Piljae began talking animatedly while somehow not crashing the jeep.

“Do you know why no one has attacked us yet? Because we’re on a public road, okay! With people driving alongside us! Sane people would never blow up the road when it’s filled with their own countrymen! However, that’s not how it is in North Korea! They wouldn’t have hesitated to turn us into Swiss cheese! Those bastards don’t give a damn about stuff like that!”

Lee Hyeon-Su grimaced deeply. “Wait, that’s true, isn’t it...”

“That’s why I’m saying this won’t work, Mister Lee! What if the Chinese bastards order the North Korean bastards to hunt us down?! Do you think they will let us be on our merry ways? No! They’ll chase us down, no matter what, and try to blow us up to high heavens!”

Lee Hyeon-Su groaned deeply. “However, that’s the same story even if we travel by sea, isn’t it? The North Koreans will scour the ocean to find us like madmen on a mission. Worse still, there’s nowhere to hide in the middle of an ocean.”

“Yes, that’s true, but... But...”

“Also, do not forget that we’re dealing with the military here. Every square inch between international waters and the North Korean coast will be filled with Chinese warships. Then we’ll be playing dodgeball in the middle of an ocean with ships, okay? And in this game of dodgeball, one hit will kill us all.”

“...!”

Lee Hyeon-Su helplessly shrugged. “Rather than getting killed without a chance to defend ourselves... Don’t you think it’s better to have that chance to make a ruckus first?”

Chang Piljae’s jaw fell, and he began muttering in stupefaction. “This... This is insane. I’m telling you, this is insanity...!”

The prospect of entering North Korea had finally snapped Chang Piljae’s mind, it seemed.

But his mind had to snap back to reality when Kang Jin-Ho spoke in a calm yet cold voice. “Looks like you’re wrong about one thing.”

Chang Piljae clamped his slack jaw shut before asking, “I’m sorry, sir? What do you mean?”

“You said they won’t attack us on a public road, didn’t you?”

“...!”

Kang Jin-Ho leisurely got up before turning around to look at the road behind.

Chang Piljae nervously asked, “Wha-what is going on?”

The corners of Kang Jin-Ho’s lips curled up. “Looks like our enemies are just as insane as us. Since they don’t care about where we are.”

“Sorry?!”

Lee Hyeon-Su’s expression rapidly cramped up. “Listen, Mister Chang.”

“Y-yes?”

“I want you to keep your eyes on the road ahead. Do not look back, okay? Focus on driving and nothing else!”

Lee Hyeon-Su reached up and jerked the rearview mirror away.

What the hell, man! I can still see without that mirror, you know!

Chang Piljae’s eyes reflexively headed to the side mirrors instead. However, he couldn’t see anything particularly wrong with the road behind...

...Huh?

That was when Chang Piljae’s expression stiffened considerably.

There was darkness.

Something darker than the night itself was charging straight at the jeep from behind. As if it was a black tsunami wave about to crash into the shore!