Descent of the Demon Master

daring to harm me walk away unscathed.
Do you understand what I ’m telling you?”

“…Yes, I do.” Hwang Jeong-Hu replied while closing his eyes shut.

A monster was growing inside Kang Jin-Ho.
And that monster was clamoring to break free from Kang Jin-Ho ’s restraints even now.

’It ’s not possible to change his mind, huh. ’

Maybe Kang Jin-Ho had been expanding an unimaginable amount of effort to maintain his current lifestyle—far more than what Hwang Jeong-Hu could imagine.
In that case, telling Kang Jin-Ho to respond the same way as he would with his acquaintances when a group of people dared to attack him—or even turn a blind eye in such a case—would be simply too unreasonable.

“If you ’ve made up your mind about this, then…
Do remember this,” said Hwang Jeong-Hu.

Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly stared at him, and their gazes collided mid-air.

“Failing to set a clear boundary between the normal and abnormal will eventually lead to the abnormal swallowing up your normal life.
If you ’re truly set on staying on this side of the world, then your priority should be on protecting the boundary no matter what.”

Kang Jin-Ho cocked an eyebrow.
“Is that advice?”

“Let ’s just say I ’m making a request.”

“I see…” Kang Jin-Ho nodded, then asked in a polite tone.
“Is that all, sir?”

And just like that, Kang Jin-Ho had transformed back into his ’normal ’ self.
A slight feeling of futility washed over Hwang Jeong-Hu, and he could only reply rather weakly, “Yes, we ’re done.”

“Thank you.
I ’ll think about what you ’ve told me.”

After clapping his eyes on this ’Kang Jin-Ho,’ the ’Kang Jin-Ho ’ of a few seconds ago seemed like a well-crafted illusion to Hwang Jeong-Hu.
However, he knew that it had been no illusion or a dream.

Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded.
“Well, then…
I ’ll be on my way now.”

“Do stop by more often, Jin-Ho.
If you keep being a stranger like this, I ’ll end up visiting you instead.
Once you reach my age, there aren ’t all that many people you can talk to, you see? Especially someone like me.
I rarely have anyone to share an earnest talk with.”

“Mm…” Kang Jin-Ho grinned.
“In that case, we should go on a fishing trip together next time.”

“Alright, then.
It ’s a promise.”

“Well, then.
Until next time.” Kang Jin-Ho leisurely got up and exited the office.

Hwang Jeong-Hu watched the young man leave, then mouthed a cigarette.

’

’Not easy at all, isn ’t it? ’

Even the ones watching him found it difficult, so how much harder would it be for Kang Jin-Ho? The weight of anguish he had to lug around had to be unimaginable.

“I sincerely hope that pressure won ’t blow up in the wrong direction…”

It seemed that Hwang Jeong-Hu should order Jo Gyu-Min to make the reports even more in-depth pretty soon.

“Then again…” Hwang Jeong-Hu helplessly smirked when he suddenly realized something.
“Those people wouldn ’t have provoked that guy first unless they are a bunch of idiots.”

***

“Hold on, please let me go and—”

“Kkyaaahk~! Look at his biceps! They are like steel!”

“N-no, wait…” Kang Jin-Ho grew nearly tearful when customers started clinging to his arms.

’Who knew running a business would be this hard…! ’

No one could have predicted that the business of selling pizzas would blow up to the stratosphere like this.
Even worse, this blow-up seemed far more serious in nature than when Kang Eun-Yeong was here to put on a concert.
The influx of customers showed no signs of abating any time soon!

Park Yu-Min muttered in a tired voice, “Jin-Ho? The store next door says the queue is blocking their entrance, so they want us to do something about it…”

“Can ’t we make the queue move to the other side instead?”

“But…
That ’s what we did when the other store complained earlier, you know?”

“Give me a break…” Kang Jin-Ho groaned while scanning the jam-packed dining area.
Having no customers was a problem, but having too many was also a problem in itself.
The sole comfort in this situation was Park Yu-Min mobilizing the kids in the orphanage enjoying their school vacation to work here as part-timers, thereby helping with a quicker turnaround time for each table.

Park Yu-Min groaned and asked in a rebuking voice, “Just how long will this madness continue, Jin-Ho?”

“Mm…” Kang Jin-Ho kept quiet.
He couldn ’t reply to a question he had no answer for.

Park Yu-Min continued to complain.
“It ’s great to have lots of customers, but I can ’t even get a moment to breathe for myself.
Is it really okay for things to continue this way every single day?”

“Hey! Stop saying something so ungrateful!” Ju Yeong-Gi walking past the duo yelled at Park Yu-Min in dismay, “You and Jin-Ho started making money way too easily when you were still too young! And that ’s why you don ’t understand the value of money! You should be getting ready to offer a sacrifice or two to express your gratitude toward the heavens for all this great business, but you wanna whine about having too many customers instead?! Wanna die?!”

“Sorry…”

“Yes, I ’m sorry.”

’

“Yu-Min! Send out one of the kids and reorganize the queue to a different side! And you, Jin-Ho! Smile more when taking pictures with the customers!”

Kang Jin-Ho groaned loudly.
“That ’s not as easy as it sounds.”

“Then, look in the mirror and practice! These people might be here to see you, but they are still nominal customers here to buy our pizzas! At the very least, you should be thanking them properly!”

“You ’re right.” Kang Jin-Ho sighed, but he still nodded in agreement.
He knew that Ju Yeong-Gi was a hundred times—no, a thousand times correct in this case.

Although the flood of customers was getting kind of old at this stage, a merchant should never have this kind of mindset.
As such, Kang Jin-Ho quickly corrected his wavering mind.

***

The closing time eventually arrived, but the queue of waiting customers didn ’t want to decrease at all.
Only by spending one extra hour of hard work did the pizzeria rid itself of all the customers in the dining area.
And by the time they sent every single person still waiting in the queue outside home and tidied up the dining area that resembled a disaster zone, the clock was already pointing at twelve o ’clock midnight.

“Urgh…
It ’s finally over.
For today, at least.”

“Yeah, thankfully…”

The trio collapsed on the nearby chairs and tried to soothe their exhausted bodies.

Park Yu-Min started complaining again.
“Holy cow.
This is no joke, guys.
Why do we still have so many customers?”

“Didn ’t you hear that the TV show went viral?” Ju Yeong-Gi retorted with a groan.

“Even then, this is a bit too much.”

Just as the complaints began flying back and forth, someone abruptly knocked on the pizzeria ’s door.

Park Yu-Min glanced at the doorway.
“Who could that be?”

“I don ’t care; just tell them that the store ’s closed for the day.
Who wants a pizza at this hour, anyway?!” Ju Yeong-Gi yelled.

Park Yu-Min nodded in agreement and got up to open the door.
“…Uhm, we ’re closed for the day, you know?”

“Yes, I know…”

However, the person knocking on the door coolly ignored Park Yu-Min and stepped inside the pizzeria.

“W-wait, you can ’t just come inside—.” Park Yu-Min tried to stop the person, but his hands came to a stuttering halt after he confirmed the intruder’s identity.
“Huh? What are you doing here at this hour?”