Descent of the Demon Master-Chapter 1400. Making A Deal (5)

Kim Myeong-Chan’s eyelids closed on their own.

I’m... tired.

He wasn’t sure when it all started, but this fatigue had become a persistent companion he could no longer overcome. That made sense, though, considering he hadn’t slept properly for quite a while now.

Forcing himself to sleep only rewarded him with intense nightmares. Closing his eyes filled his head with that man’s terrifying glare.

Kim Myeong-Chan forced his bloodshot eyes open before dripping a single drop of artificial tears inside. Unfortunately, his hands trembled a little too much, and he couldn’t aim properly. The liquid landed just outside his eye and trickled down his cheek instead.

Only after wasting several more drops did he finally moisten his eyes. Kim Myeong-Chan blinked several times and frowned. His eyes still felt dry and coarse.

If he looked inside the mirror now, the eyes staring back at him must be eerily crimson.

I’ve gotten old, haven’t I?

There was a time when not getting enough sleep for a month wouldn’t have fazed him at all. Back when something hot and passionate burned deep within his heart, even as the regime’s Agency for National Security Planning doggedly chased him down! That passion compelled him to keep resisting even as the tear gas filled his lungs, but now...

Where did that burning passion disappear to these days?

Kim Myeong-Chan glanced outside the window of the luxury car. “Mm? Who are those people?”

His secretary, currently riding shotgun, quickly replied. “You don’t have to mind them, sir. They are protesting about some random things.”

Protesting about random things? Kim Myeong-Chan chuckled hollowly. There was no such thing as random things to protest about.

All these people were desperate enough to come this far and shout as loud as they could on their own volition. That applied to Kim Myeong-Chan once upon a time, too; his tortured cries demanding for democracy must’ve sounded like some random protest to the decision makers back then.

Despite thinking this way, Kim Myeong-Chan still didn’t feel the need to rebuke his secretary. Because he knew he had strayed far too much from those days to rebuke anybody in good conscience.

If his car hadn’t traveled past here, he wouldn’t have known about this protest, too. He had far too many things requiring urgent solutions first, after all. And there were far more important matters to attend to, too.

...Excuses continued to swell in number until this tidal wave had swallowed up Kim Myeong-Chan, turning him into someone else.

When did that happen, though? When did this wave douse the hot passion burning in his heart? Until not even its ashes remained?

Kim Myeong-Chan sank deep into the cushions of the car seat. He couldn’t remember when his office chair and this car seat started feeling a little more familiar than his own bed.

While his body aged and grew more frail every day, his title on the business card got more and more impressive instead. Even though Kim Myeong-Chan himself hadn’t changed at all.

But the world kept saying he had changed. That having power had changed him into someone else. Someone unrecognizable.

Pah! What an absurd notion that is!

Humans didn’t change that easily. They just couldn’t. Kim Myeong-Chan knew that, so he also knew he had not changed at all. No, it was more likely that everyone else had misunderstood him.

Depending on where you stood, your view on things would shift. Now that Kim Myeong-Chan had climbed to such a lofty position of power, others were finally witnessing the side of him that had not been noticeable until recently. That had to be it.

“Prime Minister, sir! We’ve almost arrived.”

“I see,” Kim Myeong-Chan coolly nodded.

However, what was this event he was about to attend, anyway? Someone must’ve told him about it, but he couldn’t quite recall. Not because of his advanced age had affected his memories, however.

As South Korea’s Prime Minister, far too many people and far too many occasions wished for his presence. That meant that, at times, he would just smile and go with the flow without ever figuring out what kind of event he was even attending.

The story must be the same this time as well. Attending this event wouldn’t change anything, but people would still appreciate him showing his face.

For this event, his job was not to act as the Prime Minister the person but the Prime Minister the trophy, so to speak. Leaving behind a headline about the Prime Minister attending the event, and therefore bringing more prestige to it, would be a job well done in his book.

Kim Myeong-Chan’s eyelids lazily drooped until they closed, only for them to shoot open again.

Kang Jin-Ho’s glare still haunted his memories whenever he closed his eyes, even now.

Is this that Soul Enslavement thing or whatever it’s called?

It felt like he was withering day by day.

Kim Myeong-Chan could instinctively feel it. Unless he completely buried Kang Jin-Ho... That glare burned deep into his memories would persist, never to disappear. Not just for the sake of this country, but for Kim Myeong-Chan’s own survival, Kang Jin-Ho must be driven to a dead-end where making a comeback would be utterly impossible!

However, Kim Myeong-Chan also knew that he mustn’t push too hard. Otherwise, he’d have the absolute worst catastrophe to deal with instead. The catastrophe of Kang Jin-Ho finally running out of patience and flipping the table, that was!

Indeed, this was a precarious balancing act, one where his life and everything else were on the line. Just one misstep would mean Kim Myeong-Chan would fall into an endless abyss.

Thankfully, though, he hadn’t put a foot wrong yet. It was just that he had gotten too old to enjoy the thrill of this balancing act anymore.

Kim Myeong-Chan chewed on his lips. Right. This probably will be my last balancing act.

If... If he handled this matter with Kang Jin-Ho well, nobody would stand in Kim Myeong-Chan’s way from that moment on. As long as he could succeed, he’d get to wield unrivaled power as the true authority in South Korea’s politics till his dying day!

“Hah. Thirst for power, at my age...?”

A helpless chuckle leaked out of Kim Myeong-Chan’s lips.

Some people said that old farts obstinately clinging to their power was unsightly to behold. However, that was a truly stupid notion.

What else could an old man like Kim Myeong-Chan thirst after besides power? When wealth was pointless to him?

What about honor and glory, you ask?

Glory and whatnot was only worth an extra line of text added to one’s tombstone. To an old man whose senses had dulled from experiencing far too many things, the sole remaining source of enjoyment was power. Yet none of them seemed to understand that.

Kim Myeong-Chan sank into his seat again while the car carried him past the cordoned-off street. Usually, this part of the city should have been teeming with traffic. Yet, his authority meant the roads had been blocked off, allowing him to enjoy a relaxing journey.

Unless one had experienced such a privilege before, they would never understand the charm of it. No first-class cuisine or wondrous sights offered by Mother Nature could surpass an experience of this level. Not even abusing powerful narcotics would be enough to match this... this ecstasy!

Kim Myeong-Chan glanced at his secretary. “Any messages from that prison?”

“No, sir.”

“Is that so...?”

Kim Myeong-Chan rested his head against the pillowy headrest, then wound the windows down a little. He mouthed a cigarette and rummaged his pockets for a lighter.

For some reason, thinking about Kang Jin-Ho made him hanker for a smoke break. Was it because the sight of Kang Jin-Ho smoking away had left a deep impression on Kim Myeong-Chan? Or was it because the very existence of Kang Jin-Ho frustrated Kim Myeong-Chan to no end?

So, what’s your next move, Kang Jin-Ho?

Both men had reached the crossroad by now. It was time to decide.

However, Kim Myeong-Chan thought the outcome was already set in stone. He simply couldn’t make another move yet, since Kang Jin-Ho hadn’t made his move until now.

It seems already too late for you, though?

After all, there was no method to turn this around, as far as Kim Myeong-Chan could tell.

If Kang Jin-Ho decided to lash out, the aftermath would be too great to handle, even for him. MK would crumble, while the Martial Assembly would get cut off completely from the surface world. Not even Kim Myeong-Chan would be able to use force to push Kang Jin-Ho and his goons back if that happened.

Regardless of what, though, the outcome would still be the martial artists holing themselves up where the Martial Assembly HQ was and setting up a little kingdom of their own. And gradually rot away in the prison of their own making.

Your little MK has become the poison, hasn’t it, Kang Jin-Ho?

The Martial Assembly of the past might not have been cornered so badly by a situation like this one. Now that it had consolidated its source of income to MK, though? Simply putting pressure on MK should be enough to plunge the Martial Assembly into an extreme shortage of funds.

That would mean their only other reliable source of income would be Japan, but bringing funds from another country would not be an easy task without the government’s protection.

The administration would subtly tighten the noose around their throats and patiently wait until the martial artists collapsed on their own. However, what if they tried to take Kim Myeong-Chan out in the meantime?

That was a distinct possibility. However, the outcome of such a move would be a hollow victory. Or a Pyrrhic victory that led to the complete and utter ruination of everyone around Kang Jin-Ho.

Knowing Kang Jin-Ho, he’d never choose that path.

For the first time in a long, long while, a smirk of victory formed on Kim Myeong-Chan’s waning face.

Yes, this is my win!

Not even the mighty China and Japan could stop Kang Jin-Ho, yet Kim Myeong-Chan had done that. He had defeated one of East Asia’s Kings by himself!

This hair-raising excitement sent shivers down every inch of Kim Myeong-Chan’s body.

That was when the secretary addressed him in a slightly shake voice. “Sir...?”

“Yes, yes. I know it’s too early to pop the champagne.”

“Sir?”

Kim Myeong-Chan fake coughed. “No, it’s nothing. I was day-dreaming about something else. Have we arrived at our destination, then?”

“N-no, sir. It’s not that, but...”

“...? What is it?”

The secretary cautiously presented his phone to Kim Myeong-Chan. Of course, the Prime Minister didn’t miss his secretary’s trembling hands.

“Did something happen?”

“You need to see this for yourself, sir.”

Kim Myeong-Chan tilted his head a little. This must be the first time his secretary acted this way. No matter how severe the situation was, the secretary never lost his composure and decorum, so why...?

While frowning a little, Kim Myeong-Chan accepted the phone, then glanced at the news broadcast currently being streamed online, only for him to...

Squeeze!

Kim Myeong-Chan gripped the phone hard enough to almost break it.

“What... What is the meaning of this!?”

Kim Myeong-Chan’s eyes quaked powerfully, his gaze swimming around the car’s interior in sheer fluster. His hearing grew numb for a moment there as his heart pounded away madly.

“What?! This... This...!”

Kim Myeong-Chan’s breathing became shallow and ragged while he tried to control his trembling body.

“W-which news station is this!? How dare they spew this... this libellous nonsense?! Which station is this!”

The secretary replied, his face also deathly pale. “It’s... It’s not only that station, sir! Everyone is reporting on it as breaking news!”

“How does that make any bloody sense?! This is breaking news?! How is that even possible! It’s not like reporters in every station share the same source, so how?!”

“I confirmed it just now, and...” The secretary tried to explain, his voice unmistakably quivering in dread. “The Chinese President has personally announced it live on air via their CNTV, sir! The source or whatnot is not the issue here. It came from China’s official...”

“That, that doesn’t make any goddamn sense?!”

Kim Myeong-Chan angrily threw the phone at the secretary. It missed the target and clattered into the front windscreen instead before landing on the floor.

“Huff, huff! Huff!”

Kim Myeong-Chan hyperventilated as if he was on the verge of having a heart attack.

“You... Gag the media, now!”

“But, sir...”

“How dare they broadcast willy-nilly some nonsense like this without calling me first!? I, I will sue all of them! For slander! Tell them to stop broadcasting if they don’t want to end up in court! Call them, now!”

The secretary bit his lip. “But, sir. The news has already reached every corner of the country. It’s too late to stop it at this stage. My recommendation is to hold an emergency press conference and explain yourself to the...”

“Explain myself?!”

Kim Myeong-Chan stared dazedly at the secretary. Explain himself?

Sure, that seemed logical. Indeed, very logical. However...

What was he supposed to say to clear his name?

Kim Myeong-Chan’s trembling hands pulled out his phone from his pocket. He accessed the phone’s internet browser, then confirmed the headlines on his news feed. He sat there, trembling in stunned silence.

“B-but... How...”

Kim Myeong-Chan believed this was over, that he had won. Because the other side shouldn’t have a way out of this. As long as he and the administration controlled the government and the judiciary, Kang Jin-Ho shouldn’t be able to escape.

...As long as the situation was contained within South Korea, that was!

However, what if it was no longer contained within this country? What then?

“Kang Jin-Ho! Kang Jin-Hoooo! Uwaaaaaah?! Kang Jin-Ho, you bastard!”

After finally figuring out what had happened, Kim Myeong-Chan began roaring like a madman while slapping his own thigh in fury.

“That abominable bastard dare bring China into this?! You dare... You dare drag in outsiders?! When this matter involves our country?! You sh*t-eating stinking bastard! Uwaaaaaaaaaahk!”

Kim Myeong-Chan raged on and on, completely unaware of what he was even ranting about.

The secretary’s expression crumpled in misery at this sight. “S-sir, for now, we...”

Before he could finish his sentence, however... Their car finally reached their destination. And that was when a large crowd suddenly began mobbing the Prime Minister’s car.

Kim Myeong-Chan freaked out. “W-what’s this?!”

“Sir! They are reporters!”

“Reporters?! What are they even doing here?!”

“We’ve overlooked this possibility, sir! They must’ve learned about your attendance today and waited for your arrival!”

Click, click, click!

Camera flashes went off nonstop just beyond the heavily tinted windows. It was as if Kim Myeong-Chan was staring at bright fireworks. The reporters’ muffled shouts reached his hearing next.

“Prime Minister Kim! Please give us your statement!”

“Is China telling the truth?”

“Sir! Over here! Your statement, please!”

Kim Myeong-Chan bit his lip, then glared at his driver. “Get us out of here!”

“B-but, sir... There are people on the...”

“I don’t care! Drive over them if you have to! Hurry!”

The driver could only bite his lip after noticing the half-insane look on Kim Myeong-Chan’s face. He then stepped on the accelerator.

The reporters hurriedly moved away from the car while crying out in alarm. That created enough room for the luxury car to break free from the crowd and viciously charge into the road.

“Where should we go next, sir?”

Kim Myeong-Chan rested his head on the headrest, a look of stupefaction now forming on his face. Where to go next? Indeed, where should he go now?

Even before his thoughts could finish forming in his head, his mouth responded first.

“...Take me to the prison where Kang Jin-Ho is.”

“Sorry, sir?”

“Hurry up!”

“Y-yes, sir!”

The luxury sedan urgently sped down the road.