Descent of the Demon Master

“My lord. We've finished sorting out the situation,” said Wiggins as he leisurely stepped inside the office before taking a seat opposite Kang Jin-Ho.

However, Kang Jin-Ho didn't say anything and continued to silently study Wiggins.

“...My lord?” Wiggins tilted his head when he thought Kang Jin-Ho was looking at him weirdly.

Eventually, Kang Jin-Ho broke his silence. “I can smell blood on you.”

“…! Oh.” Wiggins gasped in surprise. “My apologies.”

Wiggins hurriedly got up and sneakily turned away before casting magic on himself. He ‘washed’ himself with water and wind magic spells, then returned to the seat, his expression one of embarrassment.

Kang Jin-Ho tutted quietly. “You’re letting your guard down, Wiggins.”

“...My apologies.”

Kang Jin-Ho’s withdrawn eyes studied Wiggins. With the war over, there could only be one plausible reason for the smell of blood.

“You should be more cautious, Wiggins.”

“It seems I got too excited, my lord. Please forgive me.”

“Mm…” Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded away, but his withdrawn eyes remained locked on Wiggins.

Gulp…

Wiggins nervously swallowed his saliva.

‘...And this is exactly why I can’t, Chadwick.’

Chadwick's insight exceeded Wiggins' expectations. The original plan was to keep Chadwick around and exploit him for the foreseeable future, but his prediction of Wiggins' likely actions proved too accurate. That necessitated the sudden change of plans.

‘Right. I underestimated him, didn't I?'

Even though Wiggins knew that one's martial prowess did not represent that individual's overall competency, he still made light of Knight Chadwick's capabilities. He only looked at Chadwick's combat strength that fell well short of a true Knight representing a country and forgot that the latter's insight was keen enough to rival his own!

Even then…

‘You’re still wrong about one thing, Chadwick.’

Wiggins was incapable of betraying Kang Jin-Ho.

If he was being honest… Wiggins did entertain that idea in the early days after joining the Martial Assembly. Since Kang Jin-Ho didn't seem to be the type to make rational decisions, Wiggins figured tagging along and helping him out would eventually lead to some… ‘amusing’ things.

But now, he held no such thoughts.

Chadwick's insight might be useful, but it proved a bit useless, too. He certainly had accurately assessed Wiggins but failed grandly to evaluate Kang Jin-Ho.

Lee Hyeon-Su and Wiggins were different characters.

Lee Hyeon-Su was a born schemer. He was talented in cooking up schemes and managing an operation but lacked the quality to become a king.

However, Wiggins wasn’t like that. He could become a king if he wanted to. Even so, he did not dare dream of such a thing. Why was that?

The answer was simple: Kang Jin-Ho’s calm, uncluttered eyes staring back at Wiggins!

Those eyes, with not a speck of uncertainty or confusion, perfectly and completely suppressed Wiggins merely by looking at him dead-straight.

‘Chadwick, you only evaluated me but didn’t think to do the same for my lord. If only you knew what my lord is like… Suffice to say, you wouldn’t have thought about me that way.’

Betraying Kang Jin-Ho? What a laughable notion that was. Wiggins’ head would go flying the moment he harbored any thoughts of betrayal!

People unfamiliar with Kang Jin-Ho mistakenly thought of him as nothing more than an extraordinarily powerful martial artist. But Wiggins knew the truth. He knew how terrifying Kang Jin-Ho actually was. And no, that terror wasn’t from how Kang Jin-Ho unhesitantly killed people.

Without doing anything, Kang Jin-Ho still somehow seized control of his surroundings. It wasn't intentional on his part, either. The people in the surroundings instinctively admired and looked up to him.

‘I can never emulate what he’s achieved.’

It didn't matter what the task was, Kang Jin-Ho always actively participated in it. One could even argue that nobody had shed more blood for the Assembly than Kang Jin-Ho at this point! No wonder the people of the Assembly, including Wiggins, were so eager to follow Kang Jin-Ho.

A man who naturally instilled loyalty in his followers, even though that wasn't his intention. A man who didn't have to oppress others to make them follow him! How would Wiggins dare harbor any untoward thoughts against such an existence?

Not only was Wiggins not interested in betrayal, but even if he did? How was he supposed to pull that off?

The Martial Assembly's loyalty toward Kang Jin-Ho could be described as obsessive. Obviously, none of its members would join Wiggins even if he were to go ahead with this suicidal idea. That meant he'd have to do it alone, but that sounded just as implausible.

Actually, no—the Assembly’s members would go berserk and try to kill Wiggins before anything could happen in the first place!

‘Wow. I don’t even want to imagine that.’

Just thinking about Vator, Bang Jin-Hun, Chang Min, and Yi Myeong-Hwan charging toward him in a berserk state sent chills down Wiggins' back.

However, such a worry was ultimately a waste of time. After all, Kang Jin-Ho would've personally removed Wiggins' head from his body if the latter decided to raise the flag of rebellion!

Whether it was individual combat strength or the power of domination, Wiggins fell well short in every regard compared to Kang Jin-Ho. So, how was he even supposed to cook up a betrayal in that case?

More importantly, though…

Wiggins couldn’t help but smirk.

‘It seems I’ve changed a lot, too.’

He might respect people, but staying loyal to people was not really Wiggins' style. However, here he was, thinking that following Kang Jin-Ho around would be more fun than taking over the latter's position.

Considering his mindset back when he first joined the Martial Assembly, even Wiggins could see he had changed a lot.

Kang Jin-Ho calmly muttered, “Looks like you have a lot on your mind.”

Wiggins shook his head. “Yes. I had a few things to organize in my head, my lord. But it’s fine now.”

“I see…” Kang Jin-Ho disinterestedly nodded before mouthing a fresh cigarette. He lit it up and lazily puffed away.

‘...That’s rather stirring to look at, now isn’t it?’

Kang Jin-Ho's state could only be described as wretched. Dried blood and painful-looking burns pockmarked various parts of his body. And all the wounds on his body were enough to make Wiggins grimace.

However, the way Kang Jin-Ho leisurely leaned back against the couch to smoke away reminded Wiggins of a scene from a noir film. It stirred something, perhaps a manly admiration, awake deep inside Wiggins' heart.

“So? What’s the situation like outside?” Kang Jin-Ho casually asked.

“I’ll make my report now. However, before that…” Wiggins glanced at the doorway. “It seems others are about to join us.”

Knock, knock!

“Come in,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

The door opened, and a crowd led by Lee Hyeon-Su stepped inside the office.

Lee Hyeon-Su was the first to greet Kang Jin-Ho. “Please excuse us.”

Behind him were Vator, Chang Min, and Bang Jin-Hun. The four men found their spots on the couches and settled down without too much fuss.

After seeing this scene, Wiggins couldn't help but think that they were back in the Martial Assembly HQ's conference room, not on the other side of the planet!

“...Excuse me, Assembly Master, sir?” Bang Jin-Hun asked with a grimace while looking at Kang Jin-Ho's injuries before Lee Hyeon-Su could say anything. “Shouldn't you, you know, go to a hospital first?”

Bang Jin-Hun thought that Kang Jin-Ho's injuries looked grave enough to be fatal. Ordinary people getting injured that badly would mean they should think about calling hearses instead of ambulances! That was what he felt, but...

Kang Jin-Ho casually replied, “No, it's fine. This is a small price to pay for what happened, anyway.”

“Well, sure. That’s, uh, true…” Bang Jin-Hun quietly mumbled, eventually opting to not finish his sentence.

Small price to pay, he said. In a way, Kang Jin-Ho was right.

Even Bang Jin-Hun had to concede that killing all those monstrous Elder Knights or whatever they were called at the cost of getting injured like this was a bargain of the year.

“Still, sir! It kinda feels like you’ve been putting your body on the line way too often lately. What if you slip up just one time? There’s no turning back from that, you know?”

“Mm…” Kang Jin-Ho grunted at Bang Jin-Hun’s worried voice.

He wanted to say such worries were unnecessary and end this discussion right here. However, he couldn't do that after sensing Bang Jin-Hun's earnest concern in his voice.

For a man more accustomed to bitterly complaining to express his feelings like this? It seemed Bang Jin-Hun was genuinely worried.

Kang Jin-Ho nodded. “Got it. I’ll be more careful next time.”

“No, sir. It's not a matter of being careful or not. The problem is with how it was handled, you know! Those f*ckers ganged up on you ten to one, so why did you have to face them alone? We all should've jumped on those as*holes together and beat the living sh*t out of them!”

Kang Jin-Ho was about to put an end to Bang Jin-Hun’s grumbling but was interrupted by Chang Min jumping into the conversation without any warning.

“My liege! This old fool can only express his reverence at your divine might! However! The injuries to your noble self do not just affect you. Your defeat will signal the end of the cult as well!”

“Mm…”

“Yes, I know you're a martial art expert. And it's unthinkable for an expert to cast aside their competitiveness. However, my liege! Countless lives depend on you now. Please think about their lives first and be more considerate of how you treat your own body.”

Rather than his usual mischievousness and over-the-top outpouring of his emotions, Chang Min spoke with a surprising amount of rebuke in his voice instead.

Kang Jin-Ho wanted to brush all their complaints aside, but… They weren’t saying anything wrong, so he sighed and nodded away. “Got it. I’ll remember it next time.”

Chang Min didn’t say anything further and backed off. However, it was easy to see his dissatisfaction level hadn’t gone down from his tightly clenched lips and deeply furrowed brows.

Kang Jin-Ho ruefully smacked his lips.

‘To think I’d get nagged to death after a fight…’

Something like this never happened when Kang Jin-Ho was still referred to as Heavenly Crimson Demon Emperor. Back then, everyone was too busy exalting Kang Jin-Ho’s godly might to criticize him.

Even so, Kang Jin-Ho wasn't displeased by this situation.

The thing was, those people back in Zhongyuan didn't care about how badly hurt Kang Jin-Ho was. They believed the one as mighty as Heavenly Crimson Demon Emperor would know how to deal with injuries of this level.

However, such beliefs were another form of irresponsible disinterest. After all, it was the legend of Heavenly Crimson Demon Emperor they had placed their faith in, not Kang Jin-Ho. As such, they had no reason to care about Kang Jin-Ho's injuries.

Those people only cared about how strong the leader of their cult was. They were so proud of how easily Heavenly Crimson Demon Emperor swept aside all enemies standing in the cult's way. However, the matter of grievous wounds potentially threatening the life of the human, Kang Jin-Ho, didn't even enter their minds.

Even the original Demon Flames back then behaved that way, didn’t they? However, these Assembly people were…

“Master, you think someone will give you a medal if you deliberately kill yourself during a fight?” Vator grumbled unhappily.

Lee Hyeon-Su chimed in right afterward. “Everyone's right, sir. It was a bit too much this time. There could have been other solutions. Even though we were able to resolve this crisis thanks to you personally stepping in, you always taking care of things every time something happens will not be good for the Assembly. Please consult with us next time.”

Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded. Indeed, these people were different.

They didn't care about how much godly might their Assembly Master showed off in a battle. No, that wasn't right. They did care, and they certainly felt proud about it. However, they focused more on how badly Kang Jin-Ho might get hurt in the process instead.

Their unhappy grumblings couldn’t hide how much they cared about him.

While enjoying this ticklish feeling coming from somewhere inside his body that he couldn't quite locate, Kang Jin-Ho sheepishly scratched his cheek. “Sure. Got it. I will rem…”

Vator suddenly muttered loudly. “We know you won’t listen, anyway.”

Kang Jin-Ho promptly clamped his mouth shut.

That was when Lee Hyeon-Su chimed in again. “Indeed, sir. Even though we pleaded with you, we know you'll ignore us again and not bother to control yourself next time. After all, you're the type who stops thinking rationally as soon as the blood rushes to your head.”

“…!”

Bang Jin-Hun decided now was the best time to deal extra critical damage to Kang Jin-Ho's psyche. “Why did you drag so many people here if you were thinking of ending things this way? I mean, look at Yi Myeong-Hwan and the boys. They didn't even get to fight properly, you know? It's like we weren't even needed here.”

“…”

“Ohhh, my liege!” Chang Min yelled in his trademark emotional voice. “My liege! You are a king! Since time immemorial, no king has ever led his army from the front! Even if events so far required you to take charge, we must change our ways from now on! A king must be prudent, my liege. A king must know how to carry himself with more weight. This servant implores you to let us handle all the sundry chores, my liege!”

...And just like that, a festival of complaints got off in earnest.

The incessant nagging wiped clean any thoughts of the current era being better than the past from Kang Jin-Ho’s head.

‘Yup, at least it was less troublesome back then!’

At the very least, Kang Jin-Ho didn’t have to worry about getting floored by incessant nagging while suffering from injuries in those days!

Kang Jin-Ho abruptly raised his hand to stop the nag train once and for all, then groaned loudly. “Let’s talk about that later, okay? We have something else more important to discuss.”

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Wiggins, prompting the latter to weightily nod. “Indeed, my lord. That topic is urgent… However! It’s also true that you went overboard this time. Everyone is offering you their sincere and loyal advice. Perhaps it’s a good idea to spare some time to listen.”

“...M-mm?”

Those wise-sounding words opened the floodgates of nagging once more.

Wiggins grinned in amusement at the scene of Kang Jin-Ho gradually sinking deeper and deeper into the couch’s cushions.

‘Chadwick, you had no idea.’

This was why Wiggins wouldn’t dare dream of disloyalty.

While grinning away, Wiggins also joined the festival of complaints with his own takes.