Descent of the Demon Master

lowly nodded.
“I'll have a word with Eun-Yeong later.”

“You will? That's great.” Kang Yu-Hwan broke out in an unfatherly grin that could only be described as gloating.
That was because he knew Kang Jin-Ho's threats were far more effective than anything he or his wife could come up with.
Kang Yu-Hwan could already picture his daughter's sulky, tearful face as she whined away.

“Alright.
Let's dig in, then.”

Kang Yu-Hwan was leisurely enjoying his breakfast with his family, but then a thought suddenly popped up in his head, and he had to do a double take on the feast.

'Wait a minute.
Such a feast as breakfast?'

Hadn’t his wife nonchalantly tossed him a single slice of bread every morning while saying, “You're not the only one working in this family, dear!” until yesterday? Not only that, but hadn’t she been yelling at him about how other wives around her age wouldn't even bother to do that? After recalling that scene, Kang Yu-Hwan sneakily dabbed away at the corners of his eyes because suddenly found himself becoming a bit teary.

For some reason, it felt like his wife was getting more crotchety with age.
How unfortunate it was for Kang Yu-Hwan, though, as he knew Baek Hyeon-Jeong wasn’t wrong.
Nowadays, she was playing a far more active role in running the cafe than him.
The truly vile, vicious attack involving facts left Kang Yu-Hwan unable to even squeak out a word of complaint.
He could only sit there and appreciate the precious presence of his son.
By sticking close to Kang Jin-Ho in any way possible, Kang Yu-Hwan should at least be able to enjoy some warm food for the next few days.

“Okay, so.
Jin-Ho, I—” Just as Kang Yu-Hwan was about to say something, Kang Jin-Ho suddenly got up with his empty bowl in his hand and headed to the rice cooker.
“…Mm?”

Kang Yu-Hwan was only on his second mouthful of food, yet his son had already emptied out his bowl of rice.

“Jin-Ho? Your appetite seems to have improved after joining the army, son.”

“It seems that way, Father,” Kang Jin-Ho replied while bringing a mountain of rice back to his seat.
After settling down, he began literally shoving food into his mouth.

Kang Yu-Hwan cleared his throat.
“Ahem. Anyway, having you around is great, son.
After all, I get to eat warm food like this in the morning.”

“Having a simple breakfast is for the best, Father.”

‘Jin-Ho, you're on your second helping.
Besides, let's see if you'll think the same once you get to my age.
Let's see if you’ll still think having a simple breakfast is great or not.’

Kang Yu-Hwan was about to express his dissatisfaction, but he lost his timing when Kang Jin-Ho got up from his chair.

“Again?” Kang Yu-Hwan's eyebrows rose up.

Three helpings for breakfast? Did his son get possessed by the spirit of gluttony?

Something seemed a bit weird, but Kang Yu-Hwan wondered if his son's appetite had grown 'organically' after experiencing a hard time in the army.
But then, Kang Jin-Ho polished off the third bowl of rice in the proverbial blink of an eye and began scraping the bottom of the rice cooker for some more as if he hadn’t had enough.

Cold sweat trickled down Kang Yu-Hwan's back.
“Son, did you starve yesterday?”

“No, Father.”

“Then, why…?”

Kang Jin-Ho didn't reply to his father's question.
Instead, he turned his attention to his mother.
“Excuse me, Mother?”

Baek Hyeon-Jeong replied while blinking her eyes nonstop, “Y-yes, son?”

“Do we have some instant rice here?” Kang Jin-Ho asked with a slightly expectant face, even though he had already emptied out the rice cooker.

“Yes, we do have some.
Let me warm one up for you right away.”

“Ah, no.
It's fine, Mother.
Please tell me where it is, and I'll take care of the rest.”

“It's in the cupboard over there.”

Kang Jin-Ho nodded and headed straight to the cupboard near the sink.
He quickly found two packets of instant rice there, then shoved them in the microwave.

“Son, didn't you say you wanted a simple breakfast?” Baek Hyeon-Jeong muttered in a dumbfounded voice, but Kang Jin-Ho feigned ignorance of his parents staring at him.

***

After breakfast, Kang Jin-Ho had to stoically endure Kang Yu-Hwan's scolding as a loving father about how his appetite might obliterate the family's fortunes.
He saw off his parents as they left for work, then changed into streetwear himself.

“Mm…”

It wasn't as if he had things to do outside, but he figured staying put in the house the whole day wasn't the right way to enjoy his leave.
Resting at home might be a good way to recover from fatigue, but Kang Jin-Ho could simply circulate his qi to refresh himself in one go.
As such, staying at home doing nothing would be too boring for him.

'Mm…
Where should I go?'

The place he thought about going to was his university, but that didn't mean he had someone to meet or talk with there.

“Wait, school?”

He suddenly remembered someone when he thought about school, so he picked his phone up and dialed a certain number.

A short ringtone later, Han Se-Yeon's voice came from the other side of the line.

– Are you on vacation?

“Yeah.”

– When did your vacation start?

“Maybe three days ago?”

– Is that so?

Kang Jin-Ho thought that Han Se-Yeon's voice sounded stiffer just now.
“I was wondering if you wanted to meet up.”

– I'm busy during the day.
I might be available in the evening, though.
Will that be fine?

“Yeah, it's fine.”

– Where should we meet, though? I don't mind if it's near your house or the campus.

“I'm also fine either way.”

– I see.
Then, how about that place near the campus? I often hang out there, so they know me pretty well, you see.

“Got it.
At what time, though?”

– At six.

“Alright.
I'll see you then.”

– Okay.

The call ended there, and Kang Jin-Ho pocketed the phone without giving too much thought to the conversation that had just ended.
Even so, something didn't feel quite right.

'Did something happen to her?'

For some reason, her voice sounded cold.
Had she always sounded that way? Considering how good Kang Jin-Ho's memory had become, he wouldn't have felt this way if Han Se-Yeon had always sounded so cold and distant.
He kept thinking that something was off, but he brushed that feeling aside and quickly stepped out of his house.

'Hmm.
Should I go and wait for her on the campus?'

Kang Jin-Ho didn't have anyone in the university he thought of as a friend, but he figured it might be a good idea to show his face at least once there.
But then, he remembered it was Saturday today, so he could only groan loudly.

Now that he thought about it, his circle of acquaintances was extremely small.
Park Yu-Min and the Three Musketeers, which included Jeong In-Gyu, were the extent of his friend’s list.
Other than Park Yu-Min, it felt a bit too awkward to hang out with the rest of them.

Which meant the only people Kang Jin-Ho could potentially meet up with were Park Yu-Min and Han Se-Yeon.

“Hmm…”

Kang Jin-Ho carefully weighed his options until he realized that…
he didn't have that much of a choice.
After a lengthy groan, he slowly trudged over to the garage.

***

Kang Jin-Ho rode on the Golden Elephant for a long while before arriving at the Seongsim Orphanage.
After parking his ride in the usual spot, he stepped inside the building while thinking he was spending more of his vacation time in the orphanage than in his home.
However, what choice did he have?

The kids weren’t even showing much of a reaction anymore even when he entered through the doorway as if his presence had become a normal fixture around here.
It was as if the overly enthusiastic welcome Kang Jin-Ho had encountered on the first day had been his imagination.

While feeling like his status had rapidly fallen from that of a super-rare loot to a miscellaneous item in an RPG, Kang Jin-Ho walked past the disinterested children and headed to Park Yu-Min's private room.

Unfortunately, even Park Yu-Min stared at him with a somewhat unimpressed expression.
“You're here again? Don't you have any other places to go, Jin-Ho?”

“Well…” A cramped smile formed on Kang Jin-Ho's face.
He couldn't help but feel just a tad bit miserable.

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