Descent of the Demon Master-Chapter 1403. Reversal Of Fortunes (3)

Kim Myeong-Chan roared desperately.

“Why?! Why can’t we stop this!”

His aide tried to explain. “Sir, the Chinese are simply refusing to cooperate with us. Even the request made by Mr. President is being completely ignored.”

“But why?! Why are they helping Kang Jin-Ho?! Don’t they know they are creating bad blood with South Korea in the process?!”

The aide bit down on his lip. He might not know why the Chinese were helping Kang Jin-Ho, but he knew that Kim Myeong-Chan was incorrect about one thing.

They were not creating bad blood with South Korea by doing this.

It was an unfortunate story for Kim Myeong-Chan, but the Korean government wouldn’t step up for him and punish the Chinese for acting this way.

First of all, how was the Korean government supposed to lodge its complaints? Not only was China a global powerhouse, but it also answered to no one. Once the strong decided to do whatever it wanted, not even justifications would be enough to stop it.

Worse still, the South Korean government didn’t have a justification, either.

How was it supposed to demand the Chinese government to cover up a crime committed by its high-ranking official? Anyone with a modicum of shame would never think of doing that.

Also, what if the Korean side haphazardly attempted a negotiation, only for the Chinese side to reveal the contents of said negotiation to the world?

That would lead straight to the destruction of the current administration.

Kim Myeong-Chan’s matter was already a scandal of unprecedented proportions. So, imagine what would happen if the word of the administration trying to protect him got out! It wouldn’t be strange to see an impeachment proceeding initiated against the current President.

“What... What is Mr. President doing?! Shouldn’t he be handling this right now?!”

The aide bit his lip again. The Prime Minister, he... He’s lost his mind!

Kim Myeong-Chan would’ve never said that if he had been thinking straight. He should know better than anyone that the moment someone higher up the food chain intervened, the deeper his quagmire would get.

“Why are you making that face?!”

That yell snapped the aide out of his thoughts, and he raised his head to stare at Kim Myeong-Chan.

What greeted him was a pair of bloodshot eyes belonging to a face covered in coarse, scabby skin.

Kim Myeong-Chan’s hair, usually combed neatly backwards, was a disheveled mess now. His eyes continued to dart around in anxiety, perhaps searching for something comforting to look at. Meanwhile, his parched and cracked lips parted before clamping shut repeatedly.

The “Kim Myeong-Chan” the aide used to know was nowhere to be seen in this office.

Kim Myeong-Chan yelled again. “So?! What’s the plan? What’s our counterattack here? You’re supposed to come up with stuff like that, you incompetent fool!”

The aide couldn’t help but sigh deeply. “Sir, allow me to be frank with you. We are out of options this time.”

“You... How dare you say that to me! Me!”

“We’ll do everything in our power, but... We could have done something had this situation been limited to within our borders. However, China is not an opponent we can do something about. You already know this, sir.”

Kim Myeong-Chan angrily scratched a spot below his eyes. “So? So what?”

“...”

The aide was rendered speechless just then.

Kim Myeong-Chan shot up to his feet and roared in anger again. “Are you telling me to suck it up?! To take this on my chin?! You think I did this for me? No! This was all for this country! But now, the country is... The country is...?”

The anger in his voice quickly petered out, and Kim Myeong-Chan dazedly stared at the ceiling of his office.

“The country... has... abandoned me...?”

Plop.

Kim Myeong-Chan collapsed on the couch and dazedly muttered to the ceiling. “So... So this is how it feels like? Kang Jin-Ho... This is it. The... The feeling of being abandoned by... your... country...”

The aide bit his lip again, his scowl deepening.

He knew instinctively that Kim Myeong-Chan was done. A checkmate, so to speak.

Even now, the media was covering this story nonstop. Since the Chinese government and the Blue House, South Korea’s Presidential Office, had not announced anything new, this story should have run out of steam, at least to some degree, by now. Yet the vultures in the media were still obsessively attacking it from every angle.

Which could only mean the public’s interest hadn’t waned at all.

With their situation like this, the only remaining tactic was to drag out the court proceedings for as long as possible until the public had lost interest, then get a slap on the wrist before calling it a day.

In other words...

My career is effectively over, too.

Who would want to hire a former aide associated with a criminal? The only reason the aide was still reporting to Kim Myeong-Chan was because of a sliver of loyalty he still had to his former boss, not because he saw hope.

Kim Myeong-Chan hurriedly sat up. “R-right! Call the party leader, right now! Our political party might be able to...”

The aide shook his head. “Sir, the party had already held a press conference earlier in the day. It’s considering your expulsion from the party ranks.”

“Ex... pulsion?”

“Yes.”

“Expulsion?!” Kim Myeong-Chan roared as sparks shot out from his eyes. “Who the hell they think they are, trying to kick me out like this?!”

“Prime Minister...”

Kim Myeong-Chan urgently yanked his phone out. Despite his shaking hands, he still managed to dial the private number of the party leader and pressed the phone to his ear.

Only after a long wait did the other side finally answer the call.

—Yes? What is it?

“Party leader, this is Kim Myeong-Chan speaking.”

—Ah, yes, Prime Minister. How are you? I heard you’ve been going through a lot lately.

“And I heard that the party is considering my expulsion? Is this true?”

—Yes. Unfortunately, that’s how things worked out, Mr. Prime Minister. The public perception is not very good at the moment, you see? However, there’s nothing to worry about here. It’s only a temporary measure. Once you clear your name, the party will welcome you back right away.

“But what’s the point of returning to the fold by then? Shouldn’t you be stopping the expulsion process instead?”

—Mr. Prime Minister, you know as well as anyone that even the party leader can’t arbitrarily make rules as he sees fit nowadays. As long as the party members demand it, I must humor them. I simply don’t have the power to say no here.

“T-then, what? Are you saying you won’t do anything about this?!”

—Hmm...

Kim Myeong-Chan’s half-yell was met with a displeased grunt from the other side.

—Mr. Prime Minister, please get a hold of yourself first. Don’t forget that as long as you keep your wits about you, you can even survive a tiger’s den.

Kim Myeong-Chan loudly gritted his teeth. Keeping one’s wits about them after getting dragged into a tiger’s den? Didn’t that mean one would more likely get devoured while still being conscious?!

“Party leader! Please don’t forget how much I’ve helped you out over the years!”

—Of course I will never forget, Mr. Prime Minister. However, if I remember correctly, haven’t you said that it was all for our country? Not for our personal benefits?

“...!”

—I will fully assist you if that will help our country. However, I’m sure even you’d agree that a political party shouldn’t butt into a personal scandal.

“A personal what?! Goddamn it, man! Where do you think the money I sent to China came from?! You think pleading innocence now will get you out of trouble?!”

—Mr. Prime Minister? What do you mean by that? What money are you even talking about?

“What?! You...!”

Kim Myeong-Chan shivered in sheer rage.

—In any case, Mr. Prime Minister. I will pray for a favorable outcome for you. Oh, and please, don’t call me for a private matter like this in the future. I’m a public servant, after all, who is in charge of a large political party. That means I am sometimes forced to look beyond individual friendships for the greater good of everybody. Well, good day to you, sir.

“W-wait! Wait!”

Kim Myeong-Chan tried to say something, but the line had already gone quiet by then. His hands powerfully trembled, and eventually, he angrily threw the phone on the floor in rage.

“You! You stinking sons of b*tches!”

Kim Myeong-Chan’s face reddened up considerably.

“I! I didn’t do this for my benefit, okay! When I took the lead in this, you all praised me for making a brave decision for our country! But now, but now?! You dare! You dare abandon me like this! You dare sacrifice me, so you all can survive?! You think I’ll go down alone?! Ah?!”

The aide squeezed his eyes shut just then. This man before him was just another old fart who had lost his mind to fear and rage. The determined rebel who fought against the merciless dictatorship of the past was no longer here, replaced by this... this desperate, pitiful old man.

How did things end up this way, though?

Kim Myeong-Chan shot a glare at the aide. “Get my car ready! Hurry!”

“Sir?”

“I need to speak to him right now! He’s the only person who can fix this situation! Before it’s too late, I must... I must!”

It was obvious who “he” Kim Myeong-Chan was talking about.

The aide shook his head. “Sir, you know that’s impossible.”

“Now’s not the time to argue what’s possible or not! Hurry up so I can...”

“Please get a hold of yourself, sir! Have you forgotten that Mr. President isn’t even in the country?! He’s not even in the Blue House right now!”

“...!” Kim Myeong-Chan dazedly stared at the aide. “Huh? Why? Since when? For what?”

“...”

The aide was convinced now. Kim Myeong-Chan had lost what little remained of his sanity.

“Prime Minister,” the aide chewed his words out. “What I’m about to say is my last piece of advice as your aide. My final act of goodwill for you.”

Kim Myeong-Chan’s brows shot up, and he glared at the aide with his bloodshot eyes.

“Sir... Stop struggling and just take the fall.”

“What... did you say?”

“You know this, sir. You know how heartless politics can be. Stop making such threats, even in private. When a man driven to a dead end starts talking about how he won’t go down alone... You know what will happen to him.”

“...!”

“Yes, you don’t have anyone to rely on anymore, but that doesn’t change the fact that your only lifeline is still the administration. However, if you push the administration into abandoning you, too...! There will be only one future remaining for you. In order to avoid that future, you must avoid harming them as much as possible and take the fall, sir. Only then will you have any hope of returning to the party’s...” 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Smaaaack!

The ashtray, thrown by Kim Myeong-Chan, tumbled to the floor noisily. As for its target...

Fresh blood trickled down the aide’s forehead.

Kim Myeong-Chan roared, “You dare utter crap like that to me?! To me?!”

“...But, sir.”

“Get out! Get out of my sight! Now!”

The aide wordlessly got up before staring intently at Kim Myeong-Chan. After what felt like an eternity, he finally broke his silence. “As I’ve said before, this will be my last advice to you. There isn’t much I can do at this point, after all.”

“You... You!”

“Soon, the state prosecutors will summon you as a part of their investigation. You must decide before then, sir. Most likely, I’ll also get summoned soon. Don’t worry, I’ll just testify that I don’t know anything.”

Even before Kim Myeong-Chan could say something, the aide bowed deeply and turned around to leave.

Now left alone in his office, all Kim Myeong-Chan could do was stew in his rage.

“You... You want me to take the fall? All by myself?”

A hollow chuckle left his lips.

“Hah... Hahaha.”

As a matter of fact, this laughter proved to be unstoppable.

“Hahaha. Hahahaha!”

“You need to bite the bullet. Please take the fall. For this country.”

He must’ve said that to others in the past. In fact, now that he thought about it, hadn’t he said it numerous times before? But now, he was on the receiving end of all those things he said to others once upon a time.

Unfortunately, all those people who heard Kim Myeong-Chan say that... Their end had all been pitiful. Wretched. Ignoble.

Kim Myeong-Chan’s trembling hands searched for a fresh cigarette.

The prosecutors will come for me?

After lighting the cigarette up, Kim Myeong-Chan dazedly stared at the ceiling again.

What should he even tell them?

The once-unstoppable laughter had stopped now. It wasn’t funny, after all.

For obvious reasons, he couldn’t tell the prosecutors the truth. Even if it’d mean the end of his life and career, he must still craft a cock-and-bull story that minimized harm to the current administration.

No, maybe they had already prepared a script for him to read off of.

“Huh. Huhuhuh...”

Kim Myeong-Chan’s eyes grew bloodshot again, before thick pus-like tears trickled down.

It was over. Everything was over.

“Huh. Huhuhuhuhuh!”

Kim Myeong-Chan slowly crumbled. Everything he had built was crumbling down to match his crumbling life.

His brain kept replaying the warning Kang Jin-Ho had left behind during their last meeting.

“Soon, you’ll experience it. Do your best to endure. We’ll talk again at the end.”

The end, he said. So, was this the end?

No... It can’t be.

If that warning was interpreted the other way, Kim Myeong-Chan still had things left to lose since Kang Jin-Ho hadn’t shown up for a chat yet.

Only after Kim Myeong-Chan had lost everything would Kang Jin-Ho stand before him. Just to gift Kim Myeong-Chan with an unavoidable, most painful death imaginable!

“Heuh-euh...”

Kim Myeong-Chan’s weak laughter subsided. In its place, a quiet little sobbing echoed in the office.