Descent of the Demon Master

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“…I think I know why models get paid so much for just one commercial, Father.”

Who knew that making poses and changing facial expressions could be so hard? Lee Jae-In was making a face of a sated cat while looking into her DSLR ’s screen.
She had finally acquired a cache of photos of Kang Jin-Ho making various facial expressions.
This was a treasure trove no one else on this Earth possessed!

She could barely suppress her grin.
“T-this is like a treasure among the illustrators drawing webnovel cover pages.
I, I should be paying you the modeling fees…”

“You buying our coffee is more than enough, miss.” Kang Yu-Hwan coolly nodded.

‘…Father.
Why does it feel like you ’re claiming all my hard work for yourself? Am I…
just imagining things? Is that it?’

“I ’m really, truly grateful!” Lee Jae-In quickly trotted over to Kang Jin-Ho and tightly held his hands.
“Once I get paid for the next commission, I ’m gonna thank you properly!”

“No, it ’s fine.” Kang Jin-Ho shook his head.

“No, it ’s not.
A person should know when to repay the favor, you know?” Lee Jae-In clenched her fist in determination.

Watching her response made Kang Jin-Ho chuckle inadvertently.
He could sense her passion for her work—her craft.
It was pure and wonderful to behold.
And it seemed to be rubbing off on him as well, as he also felt a little more energized than before.

“Oh, no! Look at the time! I wanted to go home after finishing up today ’s work, but it ’s already so late! Looks like I ’ll only get home in the middle of the night…” Lee Jae-In hurriedly packed her belongings.
Something about her movement seemed a bit scatterbrained, but it was heartwarming to watch nonetheless.

She shoved her DSLR camera and the notebook PC inside her bag with enough force to nearly break them.
After slinging the bag over her shoulder, she deeply bowed her head to say goodbye.
She kind of reminded Kang Jin-Ho of an elementary school kid carrying a huge schoolbag that was way too big for her little frame.
“I ’m really grateful.
I promise, the next illustration of you will be amazing!”

’

“No problem.”

“Well, then! See you later!” Lee Jae-In happily trotted away and exited the cafe.

Kang Yu-Hwan smiled gently as she disappeared from view.
“…It ’s nice to see someone like that, isn ’t it?”

“Yes, I agree.” Kang Jin-Ho nodded along.

“I ’d love to have a daughter like that, son.”

“Mm? What about Eun-Yeong, Father?”

“Well, she is my daughter, but…
Hmm, she ’s not exactly adorable…”

“Father, I ’m going to tell Eun-Yeong later.”

“Would you like some cake, son? How about some fried chicken?”

The power of fried chicken was the truth, no matter the occasion.

***

“Son, I ’m going to stop by my friend ’s place for a bit, so go on and head home first.
You didn ’t come in your car, right? I do want to drive you home, but, uh…
I’m kinda running late, you see.” Kang Yu-Hwan looked troubled as he spoke.

Kang Jin-Ho shook his head.
“It ’s okay, Father.
It ’s practically around the corner, anyway.
I can walk home from here.”

“Didn ’t you hear about the homicide? Grab a taxi, son!”

“But, Father.
Do you really believe the murderer will target me?”

“Well…”

‘Obviously not.
Unless the murderer wants a royal beating, that is,’ Kang Yu-Hwan muttered inwardly

Kang Jin-Ho joining the cafe resulted in an extreme decrease in the number of rude customers.
Women behaved all nice and prim to make sure that Kang Jin-Ho wouldn’t get a bad impression of them, while male customers saw their anger management issues forcibly addressed.

“Still, no one knows what will happen, son.”

“I ’ll be careful.”

“Okay, I got it.
I ’ll be going now, son.” Kang Yu-Hwan finished closing up the cafe, then turned the ignition on his car.

Kang Jin-Ho leaned into the driver ’s door.
“Please don ’t drink and drive, Father.
If cops stop you for DUI, we ’re going to sell this car.”

“…I didn ’t know I had a policeman for a son?” Kang Yu-Hwan chuckled good-naturedly, then drove away while waving his hand at his son.

Kang Jin-Ho watched his father ’s car in the distance, then turned around to leave.

’Homicide, huh… ’

Indeed, he had noticed fewer people walking about on the street.
Back when he was a resident in Zhongyuan, people dying wasn ’t something shocking.
Unless it was some kind of serial killing, the level of panic a murder raised was no greater than a house break-in.
That was how cheap human life was back then.
But in this era, people were not jaded about murder.

’

From Kang Jin-Ho ’s perspective, the modern-era people were the weird ones, but…
But, even he knew that the one in the wrong was him, not everyone else.
Kang Jin-Ho should be matching their sensibilities, not the other way around.

He entered a garden trail located between apartment buildings, then looked around.
Wasn ’t there a smoking area before the entrance of the…

That was when his movements came to a sudden stop.

’Smell of blood…? ’

It was really faint, but he could definitely smell it.
The stench of blood was coming from somewhere in the trail.
Kang Jin-Ho shoved the cigarette packet back into his pocket and began running deeper into the garden.

’Is it this way? ’

The presence of blood didn ’t necessarily mean there was trouble.
However, the fact that he could smell blood despite the distance could only mean that the bleeding had to be serious.

Kang Jin-Ho jumped across the bushes without hesitation.
The stench of blood was coming from there.
He arrived at the rest stop built within the garden, but he couldn ’t see anything.
Not initially, at least.
He glared at the spotless garden giving off the impression that nothing had happened here, then slowly raised his head.
He quietly bit down on his lower lip, hard.

Even his body began shuddering slightly.
Was it because he was scared? Terrified? It was neither.

There was a pair of eyes.
Those eyes were staring back at him—eyes with no focus left in them.
And those eyes…

Those eyes used to contain so much life and passion toward her work not too long ago.
But now, they couldn ’t contain anything else, simply staring into the distance, lifeless.
As for the DSLR camera, it hung loosely from her neck.

Kang Jin-Ho reached out and switched on the camera in a daze.
The screen on its back revealed the photo of a man making an awkward face and a pose.
He recognized who that was.
How could he not? That was him, after all.

Kang Jin-Ho could guess what she had to have been doing before this happened to her.
It had to be enjoyable.
She would have been checking out the photos again and again while thinking about hurrying back home to illustrate new drawings.
The almost-depleted battery was proof of that.

But now…

She was hanging upside down on the garden ’s pavilion, her face cold and pale.
Her hands hanging loose from the edges were so cold, so lifeless.
He couldn ’t sense any warmth from her.

She was Lee Jae-In.
Lee Jae-In—who had been taking his pictures and was having a good time in the cafe not too long ago—had become a pale corpse hanging upside down in the middle of nowhere.

“Once I get paid for the next commission, I ’m gonna thank you properly!”

“Eugh…!” Kang Jin-Ho ’s quivering intensified until he was powerfully shaking like a lone leaf against stormy winds.
“Eugh…
Ahhhh…!”

And like an enraged beast, he began clawing at his chest and roared into the night.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahk!”

1.
“DSLR” is an abbreviation of Digital Single-Lens Reflex, which is a type of digital camera.
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