Descent of the Demon Master-Chapter 1249. Coming to Visit (4)

Ju Yeong-Gi noticed the change in Kang Jin-Ho’s expression and backed off slightly.

“Don’t mind me, I’m just being a nosy friend.”

“No, wait.” Kang Jin-Ho hesitated before urging Ju Yeong-Gi on. “Keep going.”

“I’m telling you, no need to take it so seriously, dude. It’s not like we know everything there is to know. What right do I have to tell you what to do with your life?”

Ju Yeong-Gi tried to back off again, but Kang Jin-Ho continued to stare at his friend, his expression somber.

“Please. I need to hear this.”

Judging from his atmosphere, it seemed he was on the verge of enlightenment from what his friend had said.

Ju Yeong-Gi shrugged casually, then glanced at Park Yu-Min. When the latter silently nodded, the former resumed talking to Kang Jin-Ho.

“I’m not saying you’re like that right now. It’s just that I’ve seen plenty of such stuff in the past, okay? You know this already, right? I... well, I guess you wouldn’t know. The back streets are... How should I put it? Things move really fast in that part of the world. People change quickly, because if they don’t, they rot just as quickly.”

Ju Yeong-Gi rubbed his nose.

“Folks who act like charismatic leaders full of ideas and stuff morph into trashy geezers once their position solidifies a bit. I used to wonder why they would do that. And I figured out why after watching them for a while. That wasn’t the case of people changing, but more like... When you’re moving up the hierarchy, acting like a bulldozer works. You can be as unreasonable as you want and go at it as hard as possible. Doing whatever it takes to get that slice of the pie will make you a winner, you see?”

Kang Jin-Ho silently nodded.

“However, what happens after you got the slice? When there’s no more slice left? That’s when the story changes. From then on, you gotta share what you have, and being a bulldozer ain’t gonna work anymore. So, you get more and more dissatisfied.”

Kang Jin-Ho thought he could understand what Ju Yeong-Gi was saying.

A siege warfare was different from a defensive battle. Just as ‘conquest’ differed from ‘reign’.

Kang Jin-Ho curiously asked. “Even though people haven’t changed, the demands of the job have? Is that it?”

“Yeah, that’s it. When you’re determined to move up in the world, being forceful and unyielding could be a better bet. But such attitudes will become a problem when you don’t have anyone to fight against.”

Ju Yeong-Gi gulped his cola to quench his thirst.

“Humans can be so weird, right? They know they gotta change when that happens, but they can’t.”

Kang Jin-Ho frowned slightly. “That makes sense.”

Becoming a legend implied that one’s methods of success had been correct. And humans matured through experiences.

‘Nothing stimulates humans more than experiencing success.’

Exploring another path when they had already achieved success with the old path would be impossible for ordinary people. Why should they change their ways when they had not failed until now?

“This whole idea about successful people becoming corrupt in the end? That’s just a misconception. The folks I’ve been using as examples had always been corrupt. It’s just that their corrupt methods worked while they were trying to rise through the ranks, that’s all.”

Ju Yeong-Gi spoke as if he was about to wrap up his lesson and stared straight at Kang Jin-Ho.

“And you’re like that, a bit.”

Kang Jin-Ho cocked an eyebrow. “...? Mm?”

“You pretend to be all ears to other people’s opinions, but your mind is already all made up and stuff. You just act like you’re heeding their advice, but at the end of the day, you do whatever you want, don’t you?”

“...?” Kang Jin-Ho’s eyes opened wider. “Huh...”

Ju Yeong-Gi loudly tutted. “This punk...! Look at him acting all shocked and stuff!”

Park Yu-Min chuckled at this sight. “He’s not pretending, though?”

“...”

Kang Jin-Ho’s face grew flushed in an instant. Despite how he rarely revealed his emotions on his face, he couldn’t help it this time. It felt like his innards had been completely exposed, after all.

“Hey, Jin-Ho?”

When Park Yu-Min called out to him, Kang Jin-Ho dazedly nodded.

“It’s not like we’re sages who know everything, okay? But we can notice some things while watching you from the sideline.”

“Mm...”

“Something like this also happens in the esports scene. When you’re trying to make it in the scene and training like crazy, you’re open to advice and quick to take on new ideas. To win, you don’t mind trying out everything there is to try and even change your play style. However, once you start winning? You stop going out of your way to find other methods, even if you’re training just as intensely as before. Because you think you have found a playstyle that works for you.”

“I see. That makes sense.”

“But your results will grow worse by doing that. Other teams would have analyzed your style and habits by then. Those who keep winning for a long while are players who keep altering their playstyle little by little all the time.”

Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded.

This story applied to Park Yu-Min, didn’t it? He had stood at the top once upon a time. Despite that, he successfully adapted to a completely different game.

Even though his debut had been successful, Park Yu-Min still sought Kang Jin-Ho out before the finals and worked hard to alter his playstyle.

‘When I look back... Yeah, Yu-Min’s an extraordinary kid, isn’t he?’

It couldn’t have been easy for a man who had reached the finals to think about changing how he played. But Park Yu-Min did that as if it was par for the course and even emerged victorious in the end.

Clap!

That was when Ju Yeong-Gi suddenly clapped.

“Hey, hey! Come on, now. It’s getting a bit too serious here, fellas. You know how much I hate this kinda atmosphere.”

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled softly. To think Ju Yeong-Gi would say he hated the serious atmosphere when he was the one who created it in the first place!

“Oii, my brother,” Ju Yeong-Gi muttered.

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at his friend. “Yeah?”

“You are smart.”

“...?”

“I’m sure you already know what we want to say to you without us ambling on and on about some other stuff.”

Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded again. He had already figured out what his friends were worried about. And their advice this time helped him out greatly.

This was why he enjoyed hanging out with his friends like this.

Even though they had not spent a lot of time together recently, Park Yu-Min and Ju Yeong-Gi still could see things about Kang Jin-Ho that others could not. And they earnestly advised him and cheered him on.

If the most important thing he earned after returning to the modern era was his family, then these two could be described as the most helpful.

“Okay, so, that’s enough of a serious chat... Are you gonna go through with it? This franchise thing?” Ju Yeong-Gi asked.

“Of course,” Kang Jin-Ho replied, his eyes containing his unshakable determination.

“Heh. Still stubborn as always.” Ju Yeong-Gi smirked.

But this was how Kang Jin-Ho operated, anyway.

“I’ll help you out as much as I can, as long as it’s something I can do. But I don’t need some fancy-sounding job, okay? Friends are asking for favors here, so how dare you talk about making me the president and whatnot! Don’t worry, I’ll work for you as long as you ask me nicely, so use me as you see fit.”

Kang Jin-Ho grinned softly when Ju Yeong-Gi confidently declared.

“Thanks, man.”

“However! Don’t forget to pay me properly, okay? There ain’t no such thing as free labor in this world.”

“...”

That didn’t quite match what he said earlier, now did it?

Park Yu-Min grinned brightly while staring at Kang Jin-Ho. That smile put a bit of pressure on Kang Jin-Ho’s shoulders, and he ended up fake-coughing.

He asked sheepishly, “Why are you looking at me like that, Yu-Min?”

“Mm, well... It’s kinda hard to explain. I guess because I’m proud of you both?”

“...!” Ju Yeong-Gi suddenly backed off while his complexion paled. “I don’t lean that way, so you two enjoy yourselves, okay?”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“I also don’t lean that way!”

Park Yu-Min and Kang Jin-Ho immediately shouted back. Rather uncharacteristically of him, Park Yu-Min sharply glared at Ju Yeong-Gi while explaining himself.

“It’s just that I remembered something, you know? Whenever Jin-Ho is being stubborn about weird things, it’s usually because he thought of a way to help other people out, not because he wants to make money or something.”

Ju Yeong-Gi tilted his head. “...Help people out? Really?”

“That’s the feeling I get. Am I wrong?” Park Yu-Min asked while staring at Kang Jin-Ho, prompting the latter to sneakily look away.

Helping people out, was it...? 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

“It’s not like that, though.”

“Oh? It’s not?”

“Rather than helping out...”

Kang Jin-Ho turned his head and scanned the interior of the pizzeria.

This place had begun from nothing. Looking back, it was easy to see how fortunate they had been. They were a bunch of oblivious, naïve idiots who decided to just have a go at this pizzeria business. Look how far they had managed to come.

Thanks to this pizzeria, at least Ju Yeong-Gi gained stability in life. Ju Yeong-Gi’s life was now tied to this place. His future rested with this pizzeria.

Kang Jin-Ho wanted others to feel what that was like.

The emotions and thoughts one would feel when they were cast into an unknown world all alone and had to fend for themselves by any means possible... Kang Jin-Ho knew those feelings better than anyone.

Those people might have quit the Assembly, but Kang Jin-Ho didn’t want to treat them coldly for that reason.

“...Let’s say I feel responsible,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

Park Yu-Min grinned. “That’s almost the same, Jin-Ho.”

“Maybe. But not quite.”

What compelled Kang Jin-Ho to do this wasn’t sympathy.

Without him butting in, the Korean martial artists wouldn’t have experienced all these changes. Of course, they might have fought in the war between the Martial Assembly and the Yeongnam Group. Or defend the country from the Japanese invasion. Or one from China. However, that future was not set in stone.

Maybe, they could have lived in peace. Just like before all the changes had happened.

Kang Jin-Ho was responsible for swooping in and shaking up their future into something more uncertain. Martial artists lost their way of life all thanks to his interference and now found themselves cast into the surface world.

That was how he viewed this situation. And that was why he wanted to compensate them somehow.

Ju Yeong-Gi tutted. “Gotta hand it to him, this punk just loves being a generous saint.”

Kang Jin-Ho cocked an eyebrow. “What did I do now?”

“I’m the witness to all your shenanigans, okay?”

“...”

Kang Jin-Ho was rendered instantly speechless by Ju Yeong-Gi’s rebuttal. Because it was true. He also had jumped into his friend’s life and changed it.

Park Yu-Min watched Kang Jin-Ho bickering away with Ju Yeong-Gi and smiled gently.

‘He’s still the same.’

Kang Jin-Ho had always been like this. He had certainly gotten a lot mellower these days, but in the past? He lacked any semblance of humanity. Even then, he had this habit of being unable to turn a blind eye to anyone in his circle of acquaintances needing help.

He might say one thing, but he was dying to help people out anyway he could. That was just who Kang Jin-Ho was. And that hadn’t changed even now.

He might be talking about responsibilities right now, but inwardly? He just wanted to help, because he now had the financial leeway and enough power. He wanted to try a little harder than before to bring happiness to other people.

‘People can see that, and that’s why they like you and follow you, Jin-Ho.’

This must be why neither Park Yu-Min nor Ju Yeong-Gi was vigorously opposing Kang Jin-Ho right now. If he had been pursuing his interests only with all the power he had, some people would’ve undoubtedly spoken up against his self-centeredness.

However, Kang Jin-Ho never looked at himself. Instead, he was always on the lookout for the people around him.

That was how he was with Park Yu-Min’s situation, then with Ju Yeong-Gi’s. Of course, with the Seongsim Orphanage’s children, too.

They all had received Kang Jin-Ho’s help, hadn’t they?

One by one, these things added up. People receiving his help grew fond of Kang Jin-Ho and remained in his life. Because they knew Kang Jin-Ho didn’t do it for some ulterior motive, they could relax and talk to him as a fellow human being.

And so, Kang Jin-Ho’s world continued to expand like this. Even though it had made him even busier than ever before, and his life had gotten much more hectic recently!

Park Yu-Min gently called out to his friend. “Hey, Jin-Ho?”

“Yeah?” Kang Jin-Ho stopped bickering with Ju Yeong-Gi and turned his head to look.

Park Yu-Min continued to smile gently, but that smile eventually deepened. “Are you happy?”

“...?” Kang Jin-Ho got flustered and stuttered slightly. “W-what do you mean? Why so suddenly?”

“I was just curious.”

“...I’m not sure what to say.”

Park Yu-Min saw Kang Jin-Ho’s inability to find an answer and chuckled brightly away.

“Wouldn’t it be great if you were happy? I mean, it’s the end of the year, after all. Right?”

“Mm...”

Kang Jin-Ho stared at his friend as the corners of his lips gradually curled up.

Although the filter-less honesty of Park Yu-Min could fluster Kang Jin-Ho at times, he never felt uncomfortable being around his friend. That was because he knew Park Yu-Min was being earnest.

“You’re right. It’d be great.”

Ju Yeong-Gi suddenly freaked out and got up. “I...! I gotta get out of here!”

Park Yu-Min cried out, “Hey?! Where are you going?”

Rather than replying to his friend, Ju Yeong-Gi addressed the pizzeria’s workers instead. “Everyone, listen up! We’re closing early! No more customers tonight! Instead, turn on some carols and stuff! And tell the kitchen staff to bring out pizzas for all of you! Let’s drink and party tonight!”

The workers cried out in elation.

“Wow! Manager Ju, you’re awesome! Hooray!”

“Nice! You’re the best!”

“Can’t you just let us go home early instead?”

“Of course not, you dumbass!”

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled as the pizzeria had gotten even livelier than before.

How should he describe this? This warm feeling that welled up in his chest?