Descent of the Demon Master-Chapter 1074. Taking Action (4)

Maybe he was seeing things?

If not, then maybe he was stuck in a nightmare?

It must be one of those. It had to be!

However, Seok Dong-Su instinctively knew the truth already. With how intelligent he was, it'd be impossible for him to keep rejecting this situation as reality, after all!

His eyes could see the “creature” too clearly to say he was alone. The bone-chilling cold assaulting his skin was too vivid to say this was a nightmare!

Indeed, he was too smart to not recognize that all this was reality.

‘Then... Then what is this phenomenon?!’

The darkness rapidly enveloped the room. At the same time, the icy cold seemingly froze the air inside the room. However, both of these things shouldn’t have been possible!

‘More importantly, though! Those eyes!’

The moment Seok Dong-Su clapped his eyes on the pair of crimson light balls, his entire being began screaming at him in fright. It told him to flee. It urged him to escape from this room right now!

‘Escape?’

To where?

Where could he possibly escape to in this cramped room?!

‘This... This stupid body of mine!’

Seok Dong-Su urgently clenched his teeth.

He had no idea what was happening before his eyes. That didn't mean he forgot about responding as calmly as possible. His experience of surviving countless hellish encounters during his journey to reach this position made him remember what he must do.

A survivor like him should be able to survive this encounter, too!

“Who... Who are...”

Taking the first step was always the hardest.

By desperately squeezing his voice out of his mouth, it felt like the invisible lock clamping his lips shut had finally come undone.

Seok Dong-Su hid his fluster as much as possible while suppressing his trembling voice.

“Who are you?”

That was the question he simply had to ask. It was also probably the most meaningless question in this situation.

Seok Dong-Su's home was surrounded by top-tier security, although not because he generally didn't trust people.

The suburb he called home was easily the wealthiest in South Korea. Houses in such locations were usually sold on the premise of enjoying water-tight security around the clock.

Forget amateurish cat burglars, even well-prepared armed robbers would think twice before approaching this suburb.

However, this... “creature” slipped past the security network and entered this room undetected by anyone. What kind of methods did this thing employ? Whatever it was, Seok Dong-Su had no choice but to acknowledge how good it was.

Then, why did he think his question was meaningless? Because someone this capable wouldn't reveal their identity for no...

“I’m Kang Jin-Ho.”

“...!”

Seok Dong-Su’s eyes powerfully quaked.

Did the creature say he was Kang Jin-Ho? That name sounded familiar. Didn’t Seok Dong-Su read that name from the report...?

‘No, hang on a second! He told me his name?’

Without a second thought? Without any worries whatsoever?!

‘Is he not worried about leaving behind loose ends?'

All the thoughts in Seok Dong-Su’s mind were thrown into disarray.

He had dealt with countless people until now. And he experienced so, so many varied and colorful events in his lifetime. Included among the people he met was a truly despicable villain who viewed human lives as worthless pebbles on the dirt road. And more than a few turned out to be disgusting perverts and weirdos he never wanted to associate with ever again.

However, none of those people managed to stun and confuse Seok Dong-Su to this degree.

‘What... What is he thinking!’

Did Kang Jin-Ho come here to continue the negotiation? If not, then what...?

Seok Dong-Su’s eyes powerfully quaked just then. He just remembered something.

There was one situation where the other party didn't have to worry about creating loose ends even after revealing their identities. And that was...!

“K-Kang Jin-Ho? T-the Assembly Master of the Korean Martial Assembly?!”

The light balls flickered eerily. The way those things flickered seemed lazy and excruciatingly slow, even though the despair-inducing darkness surrounding those light balls continued to relentlessly expand across the room.

Seok Dong-Su nervously gulped his saliva.

‘Goddammit!’

All the hair on his body stood up.

Why didn’t he remember this sooner? Even though he had been called these people thugs and lowlives until now?

‘I’ve been too drunk on my power!’

A man wielding power must always be on guard against the blades aiming at him from below.

Political power allowed one to use the others to do their bidding. For instance, to unleash violence. Unfortunately, political power itself wasn't violence.

Seok Dong-Su knew this. He also knew to remain vigilant since the ones capable of violence could show up and tear his head off at any given moment!

How could he forget that crucial fact!

These Martial Assembly people were not restricted by the law, weren’t they?

They were fully capable of resorting to violence if things didn't go their way. Any average person... no, a sane person, wouldn't even dream of eliminating a government minister hindering them permanently from the picture! However, these martial artists were not sane, now were they!

What separated humans from animals? It was their ability to adapt and conform. More specifically, it was the ability to adapt and conform to rules and regulations cooked up by humans themselves.

However, these martial artists played by different rules. They rejected societal norms and got kicked out of society for their troubles. However, that didn't deter them at all. In fact, they even created a world of their own in the shadows.

These people might be humans, yet they were not. Humans... who were inhuman! That was how Seok Dong-Su viewed the “martial artists” in his mind.

In that case, who or what was this eerie creature before Seok Dong-Su's eyes? Was he a human? Or an inhuman thing? Maybe it was neither?

At least one thing was for certain; Seok Dong-Su knew he was stuck in easily the most dangerous crisis in his entire life!

Seok Dong-Su reflexively clutched at his pounding chest near his heart.

‘You can still survive inside a tiger’s den as long as you keep your wits about you!’

At least Kang Jin-Ho could be reasoned with, which made him a far better opponent than a tiger.

“Kang Jin-Ho...! I don’t know if you are aware of this, but killing me will not solve anything!” Seok Dong-Su tried to sound forceful and confident.

“...”

“No! Your actions will only worsen the situation. If I die tonight, everyone will know you were responsible! And no one will want to deal or negotiate with you anymore! Do you understand that?”

Seok Dong-Su’s jaw continued to clatter despite his valiant effort to come across as confident and even overbearing. However, even he had to admit that his voice didn’t sound confident at all.

Terror had made him speak urgently. His enunciation was all messed up, too.

Even so, what he wanted to convey must’ve gotten through to the other party.

Seok Dong-Su clutched his hands. He didn't want this monster to notice how much his hands were shivering. Regardless of the situation, it was never a good idea to let the enemy know you were shaking in your boots!

Rather admirably, the wily politician held on to his rational mind even as the terror and anxiety threatened to rob him of his senses.

‘Even if I’m in a tiger’s den...!’

Seok Dong-Su clenched his teeth, then addressed the pair of crimson eyeballs. “If you want something from me, now is the time to speak up. There is still some room for negotiation, after all!”

He tried to control the pace. As slowly and cautiously as possible, of course. Crossing the line by moving too fast and agitating his opponent was the last thing he wanted in this situation. That was how one should dictate the pace of the conversation.

The blood-colored pair of eyeballs eerily flickered again. Almost at the same time, the voice of a man that sounded like metal scraping against another metal sharply dug into Seok Dong-Su's hearing.

“Answer me.”

Seok Dong-Su’s entire body shuddered in dread. That voice wasn’t scraping metal but directly clawing at his soul instead!

As if a saw with irregular teeth was ripping through his soft skin, his soul screamed in pain.

Seok Dong-Su reflexively stumbled back. Even though he knew revealing how scared he was ranked as the absolute worst on the list of things he could do now! His body still betrayed his control without care.

‘What did he say? What did he mean?’

Seok Dong-Su's brain finally froze. He couldn't even understand the simple-enough Korean words. Even the one thing that kept him sane until now, his intellect he was so proud of, failed to give him strength.

Without his intellect, Seok Dong-Su was nothing more than a lowly animal. A weak, aging animal that couldn't even hunt a small rabbit with his bare hands!

Seok Dong-Su was finally understanding what he was in this very moment.

“Answer me.”

The metal-scraping voice entered Seok Dong-Su’s hearing again. At least this time, he was able to understand the words contained in that eerie voice.

‘Answer him? About what?’

It felt like the gears in Seok Dong-Su's head were grinding to a halt. White noises seemed to have invaded his normally intelligent and logical chain of thought.

Thankfully, though, Kang Jin-Ho was a merciful man.

“Why did you do it?”

“...?!”

The crimson eyes flickered again.

Seok Dong-Su rapidly sucked several deep breaths. His heart pounded fast enough to rupture. His lungs failed to accept the rapid intake of oxygen.

Even then, he still succeeded in thinking of the best reply in this situation.

“I, I... I don’t... know what answer you... want from me...”

Blood trickled down when he bit hard on his lip.

“I... I can’t answer you in this... state. If you want to hear... stop... whatever this... is.”

The crimson light flickered yet again. However, it felt different from before. If Seok Dong-Su's intuition was correct, it seemed that flickering could be interpreted as a display of “interest.”

“Interesting,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

The darkness suddenly began receding. Almost at the same time, the choking pressure and icy coldness ruthlessly crushing down on Seok Dong-Su immediately disappeared.

Seok Dong-Su hurriedly panted and wheezed like an air pump.

“Huff, huff! Kuk!”

Only after a lengthy spell of heavy panting and wheezing did Seok Dong-Su's mind start functioning properly again. He wiped the drool off his jaw, then cautiously raised his head to look around.

His surroundings had changed. It reverted back to how it was. The darkness dyeing the room black was gone, and the mood lighting illuminated the interior once more. Even though he thought those damn lights stopped working a few seconds ago!

More importantly, though...!

‘That’s... a man?’

A man was leisurely walking out from the darkest corner of the room. With steps that could only be described as unhurried, this man revealed himself and settled down on an empty spot by the couch. He even reclined relaxedly against the cushion, too.

“I’m Kang Jin-Ho.”

“...And I’m Seok Dong-Su,” said the politician while gulping more saliva.

‘Goddammit!’

The phase where the two sides tried to pressure the other through physical means was over. Now, it was time to verbally pressure the other side, something Seok Dong-Su was deeply confident of. Or, that was how it should have been.

Unfortunately, things had gone wrong for him since the beginning.

The two men shared the briefest of all brief greetings. However, all conversations started off from somewhere. And Seok Dong-Su had already acknowledged that he was on the back foot by trying to speak overbearingly earlier.

In that case, should he change his

approach before it was too late? No. Doing so at this stage would only backfire on him.

“...You are really Kang Jin-Ho? The one I’ve heard about? The boss of the Korean Martial Assembly?”

“That I am.”

“What are you here for?”

Kang Jin-Ho suddenly smirked weirdly.

What an unnervingly unnatural sight that was. A person's words contained their will, while their expressions should contain their emotions.

However, Kang Jin-Ho’s expression didn’t contain any discernible emotion. A smirk where every other part of the face remained still was too bizarre to be called a smirk!

“You seem to be mistaken about something...” Kang Jin-Ho calmly muttered, his voice no longer sounding like metal scraping against metal. Even then...!

The unnerving eeriness in his voice remained the same.

Seok Dong-Su suddenly realized he had not escaped from the immediate danger. Not even remotely close!

As a matter of fact, nothing had changed for him. He was still stuck inside the tiger’s den, and the hungry tiger was finally baring its fangs at him.

‘As long as I keep my wits...!’

Just as Seok Dong-Su’s thoughts reached that far, Kang Jin-Ho suddenly got up. Even though his movement was leisurely, it still completely suppressed Seok Dong-Su.

The politician realized something else just then.

‘No, I was wrong!’

This man was not something as simple as a tiger. That thing wasn't even a 'creature' of logic that would bleed to death from a knife stab.

From the get-go... Seok Dong-Su's assumptions had been wrong!

Clomp.

Clomp...!

Kang Jin-Ho leisurely approached Seok Dong-Su. But the latter couldn’t do anything to defend himself. All he could do was think. And then, think some more.

Where did things go wrong? Where did he make the wrong choice that led to this monster standing before his eyes?

The wise old “they” always said that opportunities would eventually come around to those who wait. However, the same people would never say that... you would also encounter life-ending danger at the same time!

A heaven-sent opportunity was bound to be accompanied by a crisis just as impressive and deadly. Those who got entranced by the pristine water and jumped inside would often forget that clear the water, the shallower it'd look!

And now, Seok Dong-Su’s feet were slowly but surely submerging deeper and deeper into the quagmire.

Clomp, clomp...!

Kang Jin-Ho finally arrived before Seok Dong-Su. The corners of his lips curled up weirdly again.

Seok Dong-Su felt his heart shrink and wither instantly at that eerie smirk.

And then, Kang Jin-Ho leisurely reached out toward Seok Dong-Su’s face.