Descent of the Demon Master

39;t even get a drink whenever you want, either.
No wonder everyone's all stressed out.

“That's why you hear about all sorts of accidents and incidents happening in the army.
Everyone's pissed and irritated, but they can't quite figure out why.
That’s why even something trivial will set them off.
Just like what happened with you.”

Kang Jin-Ho rubbed his chin.
He could somehow latch onto this concept, but it still didn't seem understandable yet.
What the assistant instructor said certainly sounded logical, but the rigidity of military life didn't stress Kang Jin-Ho out, so it was difficult for him to empathize with the inner turmoil of his fellow recruits.

After silently mulling it for a while, Kang Jin-Ho raised his head.
“In short, are you saying that I must be more understanding and mindful since everyone's on edge?”

The assistant instructor cocked his eyebrow ever so slightly.
“If you summarize it that way, then yeah.”

“Understood, sir.”

“Really? Did you really understand it, recruit?”

“Yes, sir.”

The assistant instructor tutted softly while looking at Kang Jin-Ho.

'Man, this kid is a dumbass…'

The heavens allegedly would never grant everything to one person.
And that maxim turned out to be true—Kang Jin-Ho boasted excellent physical specs, but even a blind could see that his sociability score was rock bottom.

Even worse, guys like this would inevitably become what was commonly referred to as a 'blue falcon.’ A blue falcon with high specs like him would end up as a bigger source of headache for everyone than, say, someone with rocks for brain.[1]

The assistant instructor ruefully chuckled.

'This kid's gonna have a hard time in his base later on.'

The instructor could already tell what Kang Jin-Ho's future looked like, but this was as far as he could go for this oblivious recruit.
He found his situation pitiful and wanted to help, but talking to a recruit that couldn't hear or understand him properly wasn’t a constructive way to waste his time.

The assistant instructor patted Kang Jin-Ho's shoulder.
“Recruit, you should go back to your barracks now.”

“Yes, sir.”

The sergeant watched as Kang Jin-Ho walked back to his living quarters and quietly tutted away.
“Looks like you've got some bumpy roads ahead of you, kid.”

***

Kang Jin-Ho opened the door and stepped inside.
The noisy interior seemed to slightly cool down in an instant.
He didn't pay any mind to that and walked up to the tattooed recruit from earlier.

“What do you want?” The recruit in question glared sharply when their eyes met.

Kang Jin-Ho stared straight back.
“What are you dissatisfied with?”

The tattooed man shot up from his seat.
“You f*ck…
You pickin' a fight with me? Is that it?”

“No.” Kang Jin-Ho raised his hand a little and stopped the recruit.
“I'm simply asking you.
What are you dissatisfied with?”

“Why do you wanna know? What will you do about it?”

“If my actions harm you somehow, I'll have to change my ways.
That's why I'm asking you.”

The tattooed man was taken aback slightly and stared at Kang Jin-Ho weirdly.
“Uh, you wanna know what you did to us?”

“Yes…”

“Sheesh. You're also a nutcase, ain'tcha? I thought you were just crazy, but I never knew you were batsh*t crazy.”

Kang Jin-Ho's brows quivered slightly.

'No, hold it, Kang Jin-Ho.
Just one more time…'

The firm requests his father and Park Yu-Min made were repeating themselves in Kang Jin-Ho's mind right now.
He reminded himself to be patient.
If he couldn't hold it anymore, it shouldn't be too late to deal with this recruit properly then.
“I'm warning you ahead of time.
One more insult from you, and I won't hold myself back.”

“Hah? This motherfu—”

“This is my last warning.”

The tattooed man immediately clamped his mouth shut.

'Huh? What's going on?'

He didn't stop himself just now, but his mouth automatically closed shut on its own.
It was as if someone had grabbed his face and forced his jaw shut.
However, there was clearly no external force applied to him.

In that case, why did his body react on its own? He found it—it was his instincts.
The tattooed recruit instinctively realized that finishing his sentence could result in something terrible.

'Wait, what? Am I…
scared?'

Scared by the punk in front of him? The tattooed recruit, Ju Yeong-Gi, could only blink his eyes in sheer disbelief.

They were in the army, and that was why he had been patiently holding himself back.
However, if they weren’t here…
Half of the idiots inside this room would have been wrecked by him already.
Go to the city of Daegu and mention the name 'Ju Yeong-Gi,’ and the thugs around his age would instantly recognize it.
That was how infamous he was back in his hometown.

But now, a man with such infamy was scared of some weak-looking punk that he even had to clamp his mouth shut? His wounded pride opened the floodgates, and blood began rushing to his head.
“You son of—”

“If I stood out too much and made your lives difficult, then I'll stop doing that in the future.” Kang Jin-Ho abruptly cut him off before turning around to return to his spot.

Ju Yeong-Gi just stood there like an idiot, his lips bobbing up and down.
He was dumbfounded.
Nay, flabbergasted would be more correct.
“Hah… Seriously…”

“H-Hey, Yeong-Gi, dude.
I think that's enough.
He said he'll stop, right? You'll be the only one who’ll get punished for starting something now.
If you get kicked out of the boot camp, who knows when you'll get drafted again?”

“He's right, Yeong-Gi.
You should be the bigger man here.”

“Yeah.
Why don't we get out of here and get some coffee or something?”

Ju Yeong-Gi listened to his peers, then wordlessly exited the room.
That prompted other recruits on friendly terms with him to quickly follow after him.
Ju Yeong-Gi strutted ahead with wide-open shoulders and a straight back, but his mind was currently occupied with replaying a certain scene.
He couldn't forget that brief glimpse of Kang Jin-Ho's sharp glare.

'How can a person have such a look in their eyes?'

That thing about figuring someone out through the look in their eyes? Ju Yeong-Gi used to think that was horsesh*t.
It didn't matter whether his opponents were glaring or looking away in fear, a well-placed fist in their faces would always result in those punks squeezing their eyes shut and sobbing pathetically.
So he thought his 'older brothers' in his line of work were simply putting on airs whenever they talked about the 'look in their eyes.’

'But that guy… something's different about him.'

Indeed, something felt off about Kang Jin-Ho—really off.
The look in his eyes wasn't the same as the nonsense the older thugs were talking about.
Even though Ju Yeong-Gi had only caught a glimpse of that glare for the briefest of a brief moment, he mistakenly thought his throat was being torn apart during that instance.

Ju Yeong-Gi growled once again.
“F*ck.
I feel like sh*t.”

“Dude.
Be the bigger man.
What will you gain by wasting your energy on that idiot?”

Ju Yeong-Gi normally would have been pleased to hear that, but today? For some reason, his dissatisfaction level was rising up again.
“Did you just call that guy an idiot?”

“Yeah.
That Jin-Ho is an idiot, isn't he?”

“Jesus, holy f*ck.” Ju Yeong-Gi suddenly growled in irritation, forcing the other recruits minding his mood to hurriedly shut their mouths.

Ju Yeong-Gi was about to say something, only to replace it with a lengthy groan.
He retrieved cheap coffee from the vending machine.
Despite the rising steam indicating how hot it was, Ju Yeong-Gi still drank the coffee down in one go, then crumpled the paper cup before tossing it away.
“Hey, I'm leaving first.”

He then turned around and headed back to the barracks first.

“What's gotten into him?”

“How should I know?”

The recruits he left behind could only stare in confusion at his back, unsure of what just happened.