Descent of the Demon Master

Chapter 777: Stabilized (2)

Those eyes could only be described as confused. And when Kang Jin-Ho was confronted by those eyes, he had no choice but to flinch and shudder. At the very least, the person before him should not make such a face while staring back at Kang Jin-Ho!

That person's head slowly cocked to the side. And then, his brows furrowed. However, such simple gestures were still more than enough to let Kang Jin-Ho know what kind of words would register in his hearing next!

“Who are you?”

“…”

“Who are you, mister?”

“…Uh-whew.” Kang Jin-Ho sighed under his breath. “I’m sorry for not calling you earlier.”

“No, hang on, mister. Please tell me who you are first. Do we know each other?”

“Come on, man. I’m sorry, okay?”

Ju Yeong-Gi narrowed his eyes even more while peering closely at Kang Jin-Ho before loudly clapping his hands. He even theatrically nodded as if he could remember everything!

“It’s Kang Jin-Ho.”

“Yes, that’s it. That was the name… I’m sorry, young man. Maybe because I’ve gotten older, it’s difficult for me to recall the names of people I haven’t seen in years.”

Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly looked up at the pizzeria’s ceiling.

‘I can’t even talk back since I’m in the wrong…’

It seemed the people of this world valued the idea of phone calls more than the person's actual presence. Back in Zhongyuan, exchanging letters once a year was sufficient enough for people living a little distance away from each other. But now! To think the modern-era folks would behave as if their relationships had ended just because of one month of zero phone calls…!

“So, what brings you here, young man?” Ju Yeong-Gi snarkily asked.

“I’ve come to see my friend, old sir.”

“Your friend, is it? Your friend… I see, I see. Why don't you take a seat, young man? You bringing up your friend has reminded me of something…”

Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly settled down on the chair pointed out by Ju Yeong-Gi.

Ju Yeong-Gi weakly plopped down on Kang Jin-Ho's opposite side like a tired old man, rested his chin on his hand, then began his story. “Friends, friends… Yes, that is a wonderful notion. Once upon a time, I was also blessed with a friend. A really wonderful friend, actually. Met during my mandatory military service, too. And I used to think I wouldn't mind doing whatever for that friend…”

“Now hold on for a sec…”

“If only that friend was still alive! You two would've gotten along so well… Goodness me. It seems I've been rambling just now. So… Who is the friend you've been looking for?”

Kang Jin-Ho’s expression became even more cramped. “I said I’m sorry.”

Ju Yeong-Gi slowly raised his middle finger. “If apologies can solve everything, there wouldn’t be any wars in this world, you punk.”

Hot steam gushed out from Ju Yeong-Gi’s blaring nostrils. “Fine, fine. It’s all good, I say! I understand that being preoccupied makes it harder to call your friends. Since I know your social skill is as barren as a lone half-dried oasis in the middle of the Sahara Desert, an event like this shouldn’t come as a surprise. That’s right, I should be more understanding. Sure. However!”

Ju Yeong-Gi's eyes gleamed dangerously as the volume of his voice grew. The killing intent gushing out from those eyes even forced Kang Jin-Ho to flinch and back off. What a historical moment this was, the one and only demon emperor retreating from an opponent in fear!

“I considered all that and sent you DMs, yet you ghosted them all? On all three occasions, no less?”

“…”

“Now, listen well, my friend. No, my former friend. Three Consecutive Ghosting signifies the end of people's relationships. It's the same as declaring that you're closing the book on this particular relationship and people should not contact you anymore. Do you understand that?”

“There's no way it's that bad?” Kang Jin-Ho frowned while tilting his head.

Ju Yeong-Gi suddenly asked a customer enjoying her food at the next table. “What do you think, miss?”

“Yes, it's the same as ending the relationship for good.”

“Well, you heard the lady.”

Kang Jin-Ho was rendered speechless when the woman didn't even take one second to consider her response. But how was he supposed to know that human relationships could break off by not responding to a handful of brief messages?

Just how meticulously "considerate" was he supposed to be in the modern era, anyway?!

“...It seems I’ve made a big mistake, Yeong-Gi,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“Mistake?” Ju Yeong-Gi extended his hand far out, then slowly waved it from left to right. “Listen, my friend. No, my former friend.”

“Can you, like, stop saying that…?”

“A mistake is when something you didn't intend happens. What you intentionally did can no longer be classified as a 'mistake', okay? And ghosting someone is not a bloody mistake!”

‘...Did someone die while I was away?’

Kang Jin-Ho couldn't help but wonder if it was fair to be treated like a murderer when all he did was read DMs but not answer them.

“So, why do you wish to rekindle this forgotten friendship after all this time, oh the traveler from a distant land?”

“...Let’s stop that here. Please?”

Kang Jin-Ho groaned. He was dizzy from all these verbal assaults.

Ju Yeong-Gi chuckled helplessly. “Should I say, as expected of you, dude?”

Kang Jin-Ho's groan deepened. “If I do something that's expected of me one more time, I might as well jump in a lake and drown.”

“Yup. I’m not surprised. You must be getting dragged over the coals by everyone.”

“Mm…”

“This is all your fault, dude. Human relationships are like flower pots, you know?”

“Flower… pots?”

Ju Yeong-Gi sagely nodded. “Yeah. You gotta keep taking care of it, give it enough water, and let it soak in enough sunlight. Only then you'll see some flowers bloom. When you think you don't have to bother with the flower pot and leave it unattended on a remote corner somewhere because you've given it plenty of water and nutrients once… Dude, that's when the flower will wilt and die.”

This was the moment that forced Kang Jin-Ho to view Ju Yeong-Gi in a completely different light. Someone else saying the same thing wouldn't have surprised Kang Jin-Ho much, but when it was Ju Yeong-Gi? Something about this picture simply didn't feel right!

“Uh…” Kang Jin-Ho faltered, not knowing how to continue.

Ju Yeong-Gi shook his head. “I know what you want to say, so don’t bother.”

“Got it.” Kang Jin-Ho dazedly nodded away.

‘So, humans are supposed to grow and mature, huh…’

Kang Jin-Ho got a stark demonstration of how this Ju Yeong-Gi was so different from the Ju Yeong-Gi he met back in the military.

Back then, Ju Yeong-Gi had nothing to show other than his attitude fueled by pride and much hot air. But now? He had grown to become someone wise enough to offer advice to Kang Jin-Ho.

‘Have I changed a lot, too?’

Kang Jin-Ho couldn’t objectively tell. Humans were unable to pass honest and accurate judgment about themselves, after all.

Kang Jin-Ho felt like he had changed a lot, but did he really? He had no confirmation of if he had really changed or if the direction of his changes was right or wrong.

“Hah. Look at your expressions, dude…” Ju Yeong-Gi tutted before getting up. “You're in a pizzeria, so enjoy some pizza, okay? I bet you haven't eaten anything before coming here.”

“Uh… Mm.” Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded.

“So? What should I get you?”

“Yu-Min is supposed to join us, so I’ll wait until he gets here.”

Ju Yeong-Gi frowned. “Park Yu-Min this, Park Yu-Min that… Gee whiz. You're gonna wear him out at this rate. What the hell, stop looking for him all the time, will ya? Is he your wife or something?”

“Who are you calling my wife now?” Kang Jin-Ho chuckled helplessly.

‘This is such a weird feeling, isn’t it?’

Why did this encounter feel like he was dealing with his own mother who scolded him for causing a scene outside but still told him to eat something before getting some rest?

Kang Jin-Ho had been focusing on the Assembly's matters lately, which meant he had less and less time to spend with his friends. If the metric was either the time spent together or the influence exerted on his life, Jo Gyu-Min and Lee Hyeon-Su should be seen as more 'important' to Kang Jin-Ho than his friends.

Even then, they couldn’t replace Ju Yeong-Gi or Park Yu-Min from Kang Jin-Ho’s life. The thoughts and feelings brought on by the word ‘friend’ were starkly different from what Kang Jin-Ho felt while hanging out with Jo Gyu-Min or Lee Hyeon-Su.

“Hey, look over there. Right on time, like the devil himself,” said Ju Yeong-Gi.

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled at his friend’s sense of humor. Sure enough, the pizzeria’s door was pushed open, and Park Yu-Min stepped inside.

Ju Yeong-Gi waved his hand. “Over here, Mister Celebrity.”

Park Yu-Min cocked an eyebrow. “...What are you talking about?”

“I saw you a lot on TV lately. That’s what.”

“Oh, that. That’s not something new, though?”

“Although, you sure are hated by the cameras, aren’t you? I thought I was looking at a goblin or something… Oops.” Ju Yeong-Gi grimaced and quickly backed off when Park Yu-Min glared back, clearly aggrieved by that joke.

Ju Yeong-Gi’s attempt to diffuse this situation involved even more humor.

“This kid… I see your personality has gotten worse after playing all those games about killing people and stuff. Look at how he's glaring at me!”

“What? I've killed more things in the old game, you know!”

“Yup, I thought as much. Would you look at this brat's temper!”

Park Yu-Min groaned and shook his head while taking a spot opposite Kang Jin-Ho. “Stop reminding me, okay? I die a little inside every time my face pops up on TV screens…”

Plenty of people looked different on camera compared to their real selves, but for some reason, Park Yu-Min seemed especially unlucky in this regard.

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled and asked, “What will you have today?”

Park Yu-Min spread open the menu, but it seemed Ju Yeong-Gi had a change of mind in the meantime.

“This ain't right. Since we're all here, we shouldn't settle for a pizza, guys. Hang for a sec, okay?” Ju Yeong-Gi pulled off the do-rag on his head. “How about we go somewhere else?”

Park Yu-Min blinked his eyes in surprise. “Really? But your pizzeria is still open, though?”

“I'm the boss here, so who's gonna stop me when I want to leave! Just wait here, will ya!”

Ju Yeong-Gi confidently waltzed inside the pizzeria's kitchen. That sight only made Kang Jin-Ho and Park Yu-Min anxious for some reason, though!

“I think he’s gonna get scolded…?” Park Yu-Min frowned.

“You think so, too?”

Sure enough, they could hear a woman's high-pitched yell coming from the kitchen.

“What?! You wanna go where now! Don’t you know what time it is? Yet you want to abandon the pizzeria?! And you call yourself the boss!”

“I-it’s not like I do this all the time, though! I don’t even go on vacations, so can’t you just let me off the hook today? My friends are here, you know?”

“Why would you need vacations?! All you do is lounge around every day doing nothing! Besides, you can't even get the customers' orders right! So why! Do you! Need vacations! And, and! Why do you want to leave when we don't even have enough time to breathe while dealing with the flood of customers?!”

“But we have our employees, no? Don't worry, I'll speak to them before leaving and make sure there won't be any mishaps in the dining area while I'm not here. Pretty please? Ng?”

“Fine! Leave! And don’t you ever come back! Get out, now!”

“W-what…?”

Kang Jin-Ho silently closed his eyes while listening to those yells. And Park Yu-Min was responding broadly similarly.

A short while later, Ju Yeong-Gi making a triumphant face emerged from the kitchen. “Alright! Fellas, let’s hit the road!”

“...Sure thing.”

“I told you, I can go whenever I want! Nothing to worry about here!”

“Hey, Yeong-Gi?”

“What?”

“We heard everything.”

“...Really?”

Ju Yeong-Gi’s shoulders powerlessly slumped.

***

“She's a tigress.”

Ju Yeong-Gi sounded sincere as he put the beer mug down. However, his voice clearly lacked energy.

“And I thought she was a cute little rabbit, you know? No, actually… I did think she had this crafty fox-like side to her, too. But, uh… That's kinda alluring in a way, right?”

Park Yu-Min grimaced a little. “...It depends.”

“But when her rabbit mask came off, it's not a fox but a bloody tiger, guys. Forget nagging; she's flailing me alive lately! I won't have any back skin left if this keeps up…!”

To say Ju Yeong-Gi was whining like a kid, he sounded too somber. Since Park Yu-Min hadn't experienced anything even remotely similar to his friend's situation, he wasn't sure how to empathize with it. As for Kang Jin-Ho, though…

“...I hear you, Yeong-Gi. I hear you.”

Unsurprisingly, he fully sympathized with his friend. He could easily guess what it felt like to be ‘harassed’ by a tiger-like girlfriend. After all, hadn’t he already reached that point with…

‘…! I b-better call her soon.’

At least Kang Jin-Ho could endure his family and friends scolding him for not contacting them sooner. However, he knew he wouldn’t last ten minutes of Choi Yeon-Ha’s pointed nagging digging into his tender flesh!

“Still, you look happy, Yeong-Gi,” Park Yu-Min commented while chuckling away.

Ju Yeong-Gi sheepishly mumbled quietly. “Well, uh, how I feel is like…”

“Eh?”

“It's difficult to explain, but… Okay, so, let's say I freaking love cakes covered in whipped cream.”

“Okay…?”

“But I hate raisins.”

“…?”

“So, it feels like raisins are stuck inside this incredibly delicious cake. Since it tastes so good, I enjoy eating it, but these raisins are making me… You know.”

“Oh. I think I get it now,” Park Yu-Min animatedly nodded. He got a pretty good picture now.

“Yeah. Even then… I still like this cake, you know?” Ju Yeong-Gi roughly scratched his head. “Only someone with a personality like that can tolerate dating me, right? Your average kind girls wouldn’t be able to handle me, anyway.”

Park Yu-Min tilted his head. “What do you mean? There’s nothing wrong with you.”

“Nah, it's fine, you brat. I know what I'm like, okay? I know I'm full of hot air but don't have much substance to back it up.”

“Really? For a dude with no substance, aren’t you doing well for yourself? Your pizzeria is always packed with customers, too.”

“I can’t take all the credit for that, you know?” Ju Yeong-Gi chuckled sheepishly.

Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded while listening.

‘He really has changed.’

The Ju Yeong-Gi from the past would've said it was all due to his abilities while his nose punched right through this pub's ceiling. But now…

“Now that we’re talking about this topic…” Ju Yeong-Gi chuckled while awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

“Yeah?”

“I'm thinking of proposing to her.”

The eyes of Kang Jin-Ho and Park Yu-Min nearly fell out of their sockets.