Descent of the Demon Master

Inside a bar somewhere...

"You wanna know how to get along with someone you don't agree with? Like, uh, a compromise?" Park Yu-Min asked back while tilting his head.

Kang Jin-Ho coolly nodded. "Mm."

However, that only prompted Park Yu-Min to stare weirdly at his friend before chuckling slightly. "You know, Jin-Ho? Sometimes I think that you…"

"Mm?"

"You sure like to bring us all sorts of problems to solve."

Ju Yeong-Gi butted in just then. "It's not all sorts of problems, but more like Jin-Ho's personality is too crappy to let go of stuff other people don't have any problems with."

Park Yu-Min tutted in disapproval. "...Come on, now. You're not supposed to assault a friend with facts, you know?"

Kang Jin-Ho was left speechless.

Ju Yeong-Gi noticed the look on Kang Jin-Ho's face and clicked his tongue. "Look, look! See what I'm saying? Look at his I'm-so-innocent face, man! I'm telling you, this dude always makes that face!"

Kang Jin-Ho firmly shook his head in denial. "I never do that."

"I already pity the people who have no choice but to work with you," said Ju Yeong-Gi with a firm shake of his head.

Park Yu-Min nodded animatedly to indicate his agreement. "Yup, that's what I feel, too."

"…!"

Kang Jin-Ho really had nothing to say after not just Ju Yeong-Gi but even Park Yu-Min came out like this.

'But, you are both wrong!'

Although, Kang Jin-Ho still felt aggrieved by his friends' accusation!

If they had been talking about Azure Demon, then… Yes, Kang Jin-Ho had no excuses to offer. He now knew how much Azure Demon had to suffer back then because of a terrible boss, after all!

In terms of one's abilities to handle office work, Azure Demon was like Wiggins and Lee Hyeon-Su combined times ten. He was practically a walking, talking office work machine! Even then, Kang Jin-Ho remembered seeing large dark circles below Azure Demon's eyes every now and then.

Back then, Kang Jin-Ho didn't think too much of it. Now that he had developed a different perspective on things, though? He understood how extraordinary the circumstances leading to those dark circles were!

After all, Azure Demon was also a top expert who had reached a quasi-True Demon realm.

Thanks to how insanely strong Kang Jin-Ho was back then, most people often forgot that Azure Demon was also skilled enough to rank within the top five experts under the heavens. No, maybe he was even stronger than that!

Now that Kang Jin-Ho started remembering his past, he couldn't quite recall anyone among the top-tier martial artists ganging up to kill him being stronger than Azure Demon.

Yet, a super-expert like that still walked around with dark circles below his eyes. Didn't that indicate he was under tremendous workload and stress that no living human could handle?

'Yup, I better reflect on myself.'

Kang Jin-Ho admonished himself once more and sincerely prayed for Azure Demon's peaceful afterlife. At least he made sure Azure Demon's final moments were not violent, so…

Actually, no. Kang Jin-Ho was a bit violent back then, wasn't he? Still, Azure Demon was killed for sure in that encounter, so he should be relaxing in the afterlife without inhuman levels of work and stress tormenting him.

'...Nope, I can't say that, now can I? Azure Demon must've ended up in Hell, after all!'

It seemed Azure Demon was destined to suffer even in death!

"Look, Jin-Ho. That's what it's like to live with other people, okay?" Park Yu-Min smiled brightly at Kang Jin-Ho. "Everyone has different opinions. Learning to accept that and working together with everyone is what makes us human, you know?"

Kang Jin-Ho pouted a little. "I get that. However, it's just that I have difficulty compromising my opinions to match the others."

"You can't? Jin-Ho, I don't think that's the issue."

"Huh?"

Kang Jin-Ho's confused head-tilting was answered by Ju Yeong-Gi instead. "Come on, dude. Life is not some math equation, you know? What I am saying is, there aren't always neat cut-and-dry solutions to everything."

"There aren't?" Kang Jin-Ho frowned deeply.

He couldn't agree with that notion at all. Every problem had a solution, didn't it? It was just the question of whether one could find that solution or not.

Kang Jin-Ho used to find those solutions solely through his strength. But in this life, that was not feasible. Strength alone wasn't going to cut it anymore.

That was why he tried to talk with others. And pondered a lot more than before, too. Unfortunately, he realized pondering wasn't going to help him figure this particular problem out. So, he sought out his friends' advice, but this…

Ju Yeong-Gi tutted again. "It's obvious why you think there's an answer to everything. You must've already thought of all the outcomes to a problem, haven't you? And what's tripping you up is that other people just don't wanna agree with your opinion. How right am I?"

Kang Jin-Ho clamped his mouth shut.

He couldn't help but think that his friend might as well get a crystal ball and start working as a psychic because of how scarily accurate he sometimes was.

It wasn't as if he obsessively studied Kang Jin-Ho's behavior or life story, yet Ju Yeong-Gi had this knack for hitting his friend where it hurt the most.

"Hey, Jin-Ho? You know what's a dictionary?"

"...Yeah. What about it?"

"Hold on for a sec…" Ju Yeong-Gi muttered while pulling out his phone. Then he googled an online dictionary before searching for a word. "...Here it is."

Ju Yeong-Gi raised the volume of his voice higher while reading the dictionary search result.

"So, compromise is… An agreement or settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making con… What the hell is up with this long-winded explanation?!"

Ju Yeong-Gi exploded in irritation all by himself, and Park Yu-Min slowly shook his head, unimpressed, at this sideshow. Of course, Kang Jin-Ho wholly agreed with Park Yu-Min on this one.

"Okay, so! What I'm trying to say is that you don't even know the meaning of compromise, Jin-Ho! With you, everything is either black or white. Isn't it?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Kang Jin-Ho blinked his eyes in genuine confusion.

"To you, it's either you're right or I'm right. If you're right, then I'm wrong, and vice versa. Is it not?"

"...Mm? Isn't that how it's supposed to be?"

"Really, dude?" Ju Yeong-Gi groaned while scratching his head.

Kang Jin-Ho's mind still hadn't even considered the possibility of all the answers being right. To him, it didn't matter whether a question was multiple-choice or an essay type since there could be only one possible answer.

He had grown as a person to the point of admitting that he could be wrong on things. But he still didn't understand that everyone, including himself, could be right about something. Or be wrong at the same time.

"I'm telling you, this kid… He's not fully human in some ways." Ju Yeong-Gi groaned loudly. However, he wasn't trying to insult Kang Jin-Ho here. This was genuinely the impression he got.

It felt like Kang Jin-Ho lacked certain basic things for a person to live like a human being in society. That made Kang Jin-Ho such a bundle of frustration and indecipherable mystery once in a while.

When Ju Yeong-Gi and Park Yu-Min stared at him with the same look on their faces, Kang Jin-Ho fell into deep contemplation.

'Hang on… Am I really that way?'

When they explained like this, it sounded convincing enough. However, Kang Jin-Ho had a persuasive argument of his own, too!

'But, how could there be two or more answers to a problem?'

Kang Jin-Ho's life had always been intense. Especially his second life; it rarely, if ever, gave him a moment to stop and think.

If he encountered a problem, he had to find a solution right away. Whether that solution was right or wrong didn't ultimately matter. He had no choice but to push through resolutely and make sure his solution was right after all was said and done.

His second life would've been cut short if he had hesitated even for one moment.

Kang Jin-Ho wouldn't call his second life a success story, but there was no doubt that he managed to live the longest during that time. Effectiveness and utter, sheer bloody focus—those two things were Kang Jin-Ho's proof of being right.

Ju Yeong-Gi snorted and crossed his arms. "So, stop beating around the bush and tell us straight, Jin-Ho. Why are you all being shy and stuff when you're talking to your best friends? We already know everything about each other, right?"

Kang Jin-Ho frowned a little. "...Not really. I still think some things are meant to be private?"

"Nah, dude. Okay, fine. Maybe not you, but me? You know everything about me. In that case, don't you think it's unfair that only you get to keep stuff to yourself? So, spit it out, man."

"Isn't your logic a bit... I don't know, suspect?" Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head, but what Ju Yeong-Gi said had this mysterious persuasive power.

Kang Jin-Ho groaned loudly before explaining his situation. Of course, he had to omit the details regarding the Martial Assembly and the actual incident involving the Japanese. Even so, he managed to convey what he wanted to convey.

"Okay, so…" Ju Yeong-Gi muttered, although his voice sounded a little heated for some reason. "You wanna do something your way, but the whole group of folks said no?"

"Mm…"

"However! No matter how much you rack your brain, you keep thinking that your idea is the correct one?"

"That's right."

"Sooo, you want to keep pushing for it, but your pretext went out the window after everyone opposed you. Am I right so far?"

"Yes, you are." Kang Jin-Ho weightily nodded.

"Aha. So, it's like…" Ju Yeong-Gi roughly scratched his head. "Your crappy personality…"

"Mm?"

"No one can handle your crappy personality, dude!" Ju Yeong-Gi muttered in lamentation. "So, what you're saying is that you think you're right, even if everyone else in the world says you are not. But you don't have a good enough justification to persuade others, so you backed off and said yes for now.

"And you're here because you still can't accept why everyone's opposing you. You wanna find a way to make everyone agree with you."

Kang Jin-Ho ponderously nodded. His friend sounded very antagonistic right now for some reason, but none of what Ju Yeong-Gi said was wrong, so he let it be.

"Oh, dear Lord…" Ju Yeong-Gi fiercely rubbed his face. Such was his intensity that even Kang Jin-Ho flinched.

Ju Yeong-Gi stopped rubbing his face just as abruptly and then emptied his mug of beer in one go. After putting the mug down, he intensely stared at Kang Jin-Ho. "Listen, my dear friend."

"…?"

"I really, genuinely, seriously care about you, okay?"

"Huh? I was merely…"

"However! I must still tell you that you act like a bloody loon sometimes. No, I'll be more honest. It's not sometimes, but almost every freaking time!"

"…"

Kang Jin-Ho was feeling very aggrieved right now. He believed his behavior was exceedingly logical, so why was his friend slapping him with an evaluation this poor?

Ju Yeong-Gi continued to explain. "Yeah, democracy may not be the best or the rightest way to solve things, but doesn't it usually result in the most acceptable outcome for everyone involved? So, when everyone says yes and only you scream no, no one's gonna acknowledge you as someone special. No, they are gonna label you a bloody wackjob!"

"...Well, yes. That could be true."

"So, that's why!"

"But that doesn't mean something clearly wrong is suddenly right."

Ju Yeong-Gi groaned loudly. Kang Jin-Ho had a valid point, but…

It was Kang Jin-Ho's turn to explain. "If me accepting their point of view and backing off could lead to a good result, I will do it. However, no matter how much I think about this, their way is wrong. I keep thinking my idea is the right one in this situation, but there isn't much I can do when everyone disagrees with me."

"...Uh-whew. If you're so convinced about being right, why don't you keep pushing until you get your way?"

"Well, that's because…" Kang Jin-Ho groaned in slight frustration. "I get why everyone is saying no, you see? And that makes it tricky for me to keep pushing them to agree with me. I know they are doing it out of good intentions."

"Why is everything so complicated?" Ju Yeong-Gi threw his hands in the air and gave up.

However, Park Yu-Min swooped in to save the day with a gentle smile on his face. "Listen, Jin-Ho."

"Yeah?"

"The way I see it, I don't think this is a big problem."

"...Why do you think that?"

"Well…" Park Yu-Min casually shrugged. "I think I figured out why you feel so stuck and frustrated with this situation. You think it's cumbersome and difficult to match and change opinions while talking to other people. Am I right?"

"Mm? I don't think that's the case, though?"

"Didn't you bring up compromise earlier?"

"I did," Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded.

"You see, compromise isn't about people putting forward their opinions and then choosing who is right. Everyone puts forward their opinion, concedes a little, and backs off when necessary, and eventually, they find a better alternative. That's what compromising is actually all about."

"Mm…"

"I think I can help you with this one, Jin-Ho. I do it every day, you know?"

"Mm? Every day?" Kang Jin-Ho's eyes gleamed in the light of curiosity as he stared at Park Yu-Min.

"You know I'm a pro gamer."

"Yeah?"

"And the game I play is a team game. Five players form one team. And the issues arising from that are…" Park Yu-Min smiled meaningfully. "Even though all five of us are playing the same match, we have different views on how to win. And it's the same story during the post-match debrief, too. The feedback we give makes it sound like everyone has been playing five different matches."

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head. How was that even possible?

"Why did that happen?" Kang Jin-Ho curiously asked.

"That's because different people interpret the same situation differently, Jin-Ho. There are lots of reasons for that. Personalities, tendencies, even how much info you have… The point is, people interpret the game's situation differently. And that usually leads to serious problems."

Park Yu-Min briefly paused there and quenched his thirst with beer.

"So, uh, where was I? Right, the game. Win or lose, we must debrief the team and the director on what went down during the match. Things aren't hectic if we win, but when we lose? We gotta talk about why we lost, and that's when all sorts of things get brought up."

Kang Jin-Ho animatedly nodded away. Even he could empathize with this story. After all, didn't he devote his entire being to mastering computer games after Park Yu-Min utterly crushed him back then?

To a twenty-something young man, not many things in life were as humiliating as getting an ass-whooping in video games!

"Think about it, Jin-Ho. A bunch of kids with egos the size of a planet must explain why they lost. I'm sure you can already imagine how crappy the mood is gonna be. In the early days, everyone kept fighting each other precisely because of this. It was Hell, I tell ya."

"...I guess so."

"You know how we dealt with that problem?"

"No. How did you do it?" Kang Jin-Ho stared expectantly at Park Yu-Min.