Descent of the Demon Master

“Have you lost your bloody mind?!”

The Republic of Korea was famous for being the Land of Courtesy in the East.

Since Korean society placed so much importance on courtesy and politeness, being respectful toward one's superiors and elders was seen as non-negotiable. Even if one didn't have a speck of respect toward the older person, one still had to act respectfully as much as possible.

That was what it meant to live within Korean society. And Jo Gyu-Min had mastered the art of living in such an environment. After all, didn't he start his career as a secretary for one of the Chairman's scumbag-like sons? Then, somehow converted his job as a bodyguard, of all things?

At this point in life, Jo Gyu-Min could proudly say he had entered a realm of sages when it came to smiling at crap situations and being polite when that was the last thing on his mind.

But this phone conversation instantly shattered Jo Gyu-Min's facade that had been carefully constructed through a dozen-plus years of living in this society.

-I know it sounds absurd, but no, I have not lost my mind.

Lee Hyeon-Su tutted through the phone.

“Really? Doesn’t sound that way to me, though?”

“If you’re really sane, why are you asking me to do this? Why?!”

-Come on, dude. Things are desperate here. Help your big brother out, please? I’m begging you, Gyu-Min.

“Referring to yourself as a big brother during a business call can make things rather awkward, Chief Lee.”

-...Of course, Chief Jo. Please do me this favor. I wouldn’t be asking you like this if things weren’t bad.

“Why should we? It's not like Jaegyeong has opened a daycare center, you know? Please ask me something that's feasible, okay! You want me to take some chicks, train them until they become full-grown chickens, then bring them home afterward? What? Sorry, but Jaegyeong isn't into running poultry farms!”

-Aww, come on! It's not like I'm asking you to do it for free! We'll reimburse you. With money! I'm telling you, we'll give you appropriate compensation, okay? Chief Jo, don't you think this offer is worth considering as long as we are on the same page about money?

“Huh. Well, I'll be…” Jo Gyu-Min chuckled hollowly. “Really now? I had no idea that the Martial Assembly has more money than sense. It's not like you're an Angel of Donations or something, yet you keep trying to pour money into Jaegyeong's coffers for some reason. At this rate, we might record one of our highest quarterly earnings in history, you know? Maybe we should set up a department exclusively dealing with the Martial Assembly from now on?”

-We’re not doing this because we’re drowning in money, but people are drowning in work! Real people, Chief Jo! And yes, I’m talking about me here! I’m dying!

Jo Gyu-Min slowly shook his head.

‘Stop spewing nonsense, will you!’

To think Lee Hyeon-Su just requested for Jaegyeong to take in a group of office workers from the Martial Assembly and put them through a new recruit training program! What an absurd request that was!

If a rival company to Jaegyeong requested this, Jo Gyu-Min would've told his counterpart to get the person responsible for this hair-brained idea a sanity check. At least the Martial Assembly was a “company” not in any direct competition with Jaegyeong. So, it didn't hurt to at least listen to this request. However, that was about it, really.

“Is the situation on your side that bad?”

-Yeah, it is. We're about to become a legal entity, so the situation has gotten seriously bad here. At this rate, I might have to use the cloning jutsu or something just to cope!

“Eh? That’s a real thing?”

-Of course not, you dummy!

“...I’m not surprised.” Jo Gyu-Min sheepishly scratched his head.

Although the request was absurd, Jo Gyu-Min thought about it some more, and… It didn't seem so bad, after all. New recruit training programs were always in operation, anyway. Adding a few extra people into one shouldn't create too much of an issue.

“So… How many people are we talking about here?”

-The first batch? I’m thinking of around three hundred people.

“I’m going to ask you this one more time, but… Chief Lee, have you lost your bloody mind?”

-I’m telling you, I’m sane, you dumbass!

Jo Gyu-Min slowly shook his head. Since no insane fool would admit to being insane, he must assume that Lee Hyeon-Su indeed had gone crazy. A man with a functioning, sane mind would never come up with a request like this, after all!

“Three hundred people! That's at the level of creating a separate training team specifically for your people, you know! And what you want isn’t fostering workplace harmony or instilling Jaegyeong's corporate culture but administrative work! Which dumb company in this world would teach office workers from another company how to do their jobs?!”

-And that’s why I keep saying we’re gonna financially reimburse you! You dummy! I’m talking about hard, cold cash!

“Please stop! Throw away that rotten, antiquated mindset of solving everything with money, Chief Lee! Money isn’t everything in this world, you know!”

-...Oh, really?

“Well, uh… It’s almost everything. But!”

Of course, money wasn’t completely everything in this world!

After quickly organizing his thoughts, Jo Gyu-Min wanted to confirm something and cautiously asked a question. “I’m guessing… This wasn’t Mister Jin-Ho’s idea?”

-Yeah, it wasn’t. You know that dude has zero interest in office work.

In that case, this must've been Lee Hyeon-Su's original idea. A man who should know better was being unreasonable like a child.

Before irritation ruled his mind, Jo Gyu-Min couldn't help but pity Lee Hyeon-Su.

‘Things must be really crappy on that side, then…'

Jo Gyu-Min knew that Lee Hyeon-Su was fighting a lonely battle at the Martial Assembly. When it came to one’s eagerness to work and the preference to personally get things done, Jo Gyu-Min and Lee Hyeon-Su had a lot in common.

The difference between them, though, was that Jo Gyu-Min had others to take over his work if he had to vacate his post for some reason… But Lee Hyeon-Su didn’t.

“Can't you just hire new people from outside? It's not like your… company is short on money, right? Promise them good salaries and benefits, and I'm telling you, you'll be overflowing with CVs from hopeful applicants in no time at all. Don't forget that our country is going through a youth unemployment crisis right now. How about you give that option a shot first?”

-Why would I be talking to you if that was feasible? Sure, we could hire new people for stuff on the surface, alright. But you know our special circumstances. There are things we just can’t afford to be exposed to the public.

“...Well, yes. There's that, I guess.”

It made sense that Lee Hyeon-Su was having a hard time over there. After all, his job was to clean up after the mess created by superhumans capable of soaring through the sky. Doing a sloppy job would only lead to an even greater mess.

Since that was the case, the people of the martial world could only employ those who already knew about the… special quirks of this part of the world.

-Yes, I know this is all absurd and stuff, but that’s how desperate I am. That’s why…

“I get what you’re trying to say, Chief Lee. But this problem is above my pay grade, unfortunately. I don’t have a choice but to discuss with the Chairman first.”

-...Damn. That Chairman, eh?

Lee Hyeon-Su’s pained groan leaked out of the phone’s speaker.

Jo Gyu-Min wryly chuckled.

‘Well, that makes sense.’

Lee Hyeon-Su probably never knew what defeat tasted like in all things business-related… Until Chairman Hwang Jeong-Hu swooped in to pick everything clean, even the bones, right off Lee Hyeon-Su.

Hwang Jeong-Hu basically extorted a figurative arm and a leg as the price for letting the Assembly on a plane headed to Britain. The amount was so high that Hwang Jeong-Hu wouldn't have any excuses even if people accused him of being a scammer!

“We can start right away if the Chairman gives us his go-ahead. But I understandably can't predict how he will view this situation. Since he is rather sensitive toward matters affecting Jaegyeong's operations, there is a good chance he will say no to this request.”

-I guess so. Still, please do me this favor and ask him, okay?

“I’ll try. I’ll give you a call after I report this matter to him.”

Jo Gyu-Min ended the call and groaned loudly.

‘Why does it feel like requests coming from the Assembly are getting weirder and weirder?’

The Martial Assembly and Jaegyeong had been in a secret cooperative relationship for a while now.

The requests the Assembly made at the beginning of this relationship were still sensible and not too outlandish. But lately? Jo Gyu-Min couldn't help but feel that the Assembly's requests these days were fast becoming more and more absurd for some reason.

Jo Gyu-Min got up and headed to the Chairman’s office. He was also rather curious about how Hwang Jeong-Hu would react to this request.

***

Hwang Jeong-Hu stopped caring for a bonsai tree and lazily yawned before glancing at Jo Gyu-Min.

“Sure. Why not.”

“…!” Jo Gyu-Min was slightly flabbergasted by that simple response.

‘What the heck? I didn’t know this matter could be decided that quickly!’

After loosening his tie a little, Jo Gyu-Min tried to smile. “C-Chairman, sir. I don’t think this issue is simple enough to…”

“Hmm? What’s not so simple about it, Gyu-Min?”

“...First of all, I have no idea how to explain this situation to employees tasked with running the training program.”

“It's fine. Tell them we're hoping to form a cooperative relationship with a newly established company, so we're sharing a training program with their newbies.”

“S-sir?”

“Stuff like this was commonplace way back when. Whenever I went to overseas construction sites, I'd often teach folks who didn't speak a lick of Korean how things were done in our company. I did all that, so I don't see what the problem is with training our fellow Koreans.”

“B-but, uh…”

“What’s the matter? Is there another problem?”

Jo Gyu-Min frowned while scratching his head. “Honestly, sir? I'm not convinced. Yes, I know I'm involved in both worlds. But my loyalty toward Jaegyeong is just as strong as my fondness toward the Martial Assembly, you see…”

“Hah. You dare brazenly say that to my face?”

“My apologies, sir.”

“No, it’s fine. No need to deny the truth, after all,” Hwang Jeong-Hu smirked while leaning back. “Besides, I’m the one who needs a bridge between us and the other side, anyway.”

Hwang Jeong-Hu chuckled while his head slowly lowered. It was as if he was thinking about something.

“So? What do you think is the problem, Gyu-Min?”

“Sir. I agree there is no problem as long as we receive appropriate compensation. However, the real issue is that Jaegyeong is turning into the Martial Assembly's go-to problem solver. If we keep doing favors for them, sooner or later, we'll be forced into drawing a line. Rather than waiting until that point and letting our relationship sour, maybe we…”

“Why should we draw the line?”

“...Sir?”

Hwang Jeong-Hu tutted away. “What are you, Gyu-Min?”

“I… don’t follow, sir.”

“I'm asking what you do for a living, man."

“I, uh, I’m Jaegyeong’s employee…?”

“Don’t give me that nonsense.”

Jo Gyu-Min hurriedly clamped his mouth shut. He couldn’t figure out what Hwang Jeong-Hu was trying to say here.

“Listen, Gyu-Min. This is a company, right? And a company is a workplace where people selling stuff come to work. Simply put… Employees are merchants. So, you are a merchant, aren't you?”

“...Yes, sir.”

“A merchant shouldn't behave like a politician. Sure, you should try to look ahead, see where the winds are blowing. However, the purpose of doing so isn't to manage the company but to figure out how to make more money. So, what harm could fall on us by getting in bed with them?”

“Oh, uh…?”

“They have lots of money. But they don’t exactly do anything with it. In short, they have no clue what to do with all that money lying around. Since they want to send their people over here to get trained and set up a system similar to our own… Wouldn’t that mean they’ll rely on us even more in the future?”

“Yes, sir. That’s correct.”

“Take a closer look, and you'll soon see that they have no idea what to do. They are running around like headless chickens. If we sneakily help them out here and there, sooner or later, they'll rely on us more and more for all business-related matters. And that'll mean more money for us.

“Better still, those idiots don't know the true value of money and have never bothered to negotiate with us. In other words… You will never find pushovers easier to take advantage of than them in this world!”

“…”

Jo Gyu-Min had to admit that Chairman Hwang was… totally right.

Hwang Jeong-Hu smirked deeply. “A bunch of rich idiots who don't know where to throw their money away are busy looking for a spot to dump their cash. Not taking advantage of that situation would be foolish, wouldn't you say? Beside, Gyu-Min… Think about it, okay?

“You can pretty much pay anyone to train your workers. It doesn't have to be us. You think the other side won't have options just because you said no? That fella, Lee Hyeon-Sun, or whatever his name was, I didn't take him for a fool, okay? He's simply pushing this task on us to save himself some hassle. That's it.

“Don’t blow this chance to make money just so that you can gain the upper hand in the relationship, Gyu-Min. That’s what I’m trying to teach you here, okay? That’s not what a merchant should be doing!”

“I’ll engrave this teaching to my heart, sir!”

It felt like Jo Gyu-Min's mind was instantly cleared of all doubts just then.

“Also, a merchant shouldn’t just accept the terms offered by the other side. You should learn how to put forward more advantageous conditions for yourself, too.”

“Sir?” Jo Gyu-Min tilted his head.

That was when a suspicious smirk suddenly formed on Hwang Jeong-Hu's face. “This is perfect. I've been waiting for a chance like this for the past few years, you see? And now, the other side kindly decided to get the ball rolling for me. Good. Very good!

“Gyu-Min, I want you to call that Lee Hyeon-Su fella and tell him my terms. Tell him that, to strengthen the cooperative relationship between the Martial Assembly and Jaegyeong, all training courses will be free of charge!”

Jo Gyu-Min's eyes widened. This was not what Hwang Jeong-Hu said a minute ago! Didn't he lecture Jo Gyu-Min about how merchants should rip off as much money as possible from gullible pushovers? So why the sudden…

“However!” Hwang Jeong-Hu roared at the top of his lungs. “Companies working together is undoubtedly important for both parties. That’s why the bosses must understand what is what! That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Gyu-Min. So, our condition is simple. That fool, Kang Jin-Ho! He must join the training program… Or else!”

“…!”

Jo Gyu-Min figured out what Hwang Jeong-Hu meant by he had been waiting for the past few years.

After all, didn't Hwang Jeong-Hu try to teach business management to Kang Jin-Ho several times, only to fail? He had to sit here and watch the dumb pizzeria become successful, too!

“Tell Lee Hyeon-Su that as long as Kang Jin-Ho is participating, I'll make sure the training course will be top-notch! The best there is! And if some people still need more education, we'll also offer full-on after-sales service, too! However!” Hwang Jeong-Hu chewed out his next words. “We won't do it if Kang Jin-Ho isn't interested! No ifs and buts!”

Jo Gyu-Min dazedly nodded away.

Hwang Jeong-Hu's ace, which had been hidden up his sleeve for a good few years, finally became a deadly blade pointing straight at the jugular of the Martial Assembly.