Descent of the Demon Master

a working member of society now.
So, you need to get your nutrition right.”

‘…Mother, I ’d like to inform you that I didn’t eat this much, even in the military.’

“Your father just loves to do useless things, doesn ’t he? Why do you even need to work part-time, anyway?! It ’s not like you ’re hurting for money, is it? And you just got discharged from the army, too.
Yet your father was practically dying to make you get a job! Eh-whew. Just thinking about it is stressing me out, son.”

“Father ’s intentions are coming from the right place, Mother.”

“So what?! The end result is not ‘right,’ now is it?”

Kang Jin-Ho could only smile wryly while scooping a spoonful of jeongol ’s broth.
It seemed that he should get out of the house soon and head to the cafe.

Baek Hyeon-Jeong worriedly looked at her son.
“How was your work, Jin-Ho? Wasn ’t it hard?”

Kang Jin-Ho nodded while munching on his food.
“No, it was fine.”

“I heard that working in a delivery warehouse can damage your body, though.”

“I ’m really fine, Mother.”

“How can you be fine? You ’re just putting on a brave front, Jin-Ho…” Baek Hyeon-Jeong muttered in an even more worried voice.

A weird feeling bloomed inside Kang Jin-Ho ’s mind just then.
He was being honest here, so why wouldn’t his mother believe him? It wasn ’t as if he could film himself working and use that as proof.
Then again, taking one gander at such footage could make his mother demand he quit that part-time job right away.
She was that kind of a person, after all!

“Enjoy your food, son.
And eat lots, too.”

“…Yes, Mother.” Kang Jin-Ho grinned at her, then began shoving the food down his gullet.
Baek Hyeon-Jeong watched on contentedly before heading back to the kitchen.
And it was then…

Beep, be-be-beep.

“Mm?!” Kang Jin-Ho ’s head shot up in fright at the sound of the rice cooker lid opening.
That sound had to be the scariest thing in the world to him.

***

“My, my gut…!” Kang Jin-Ho groaned in pain while clutching at his tummy.

His physique still wasn ’t at the level of total immunity from ten thousand poisons, but it should still be safe from hundreds of different status ailments.
Yet, here he was—suffering from overeating—of all things!

’

’I don ’t remember mother being like this in the past, though…? ’

The ’Baek Hyeon-Jeong ’ he remembered from his first life certainly loved her children and cared a lot about them, but she definitely wasn’t the type to torture people with food like this.

’Maybe my memories of her aren ’t extensive enough, and that ’s why I had no idea…? ’

Kang Jin-Ho was still a high school student when his parents passed away in a car accident in his first life.
This meant that he didn ’t get to share a lot of memories with his mother.
Baek Hyeon-Jeong was also working, so she was often not at home.

’Now that I think about it, I…
I didn ’t know much about my own parents back then. ’

With the Kang family finding some financial leeway these days, they got to spend more time together and learn more about each other along the way.
Kang Jin-Ho thought that this was one of the joys of living a new life.
And he also had to reflect on his past at the same time.
Just how busy had his family been in the past that he didn ’t even notice such personalities in his own family members until now?

’It seems that…
the act of reaching out isn ’t just for total strangers, then. ’

If only Kang Jin-Ho of the past had enjoyed a closer relationship with his parents, he might have known more and understood them better.
Those thoughts made Kang Jin-Ho automatically reflect on how stupid he was in the past.

“Urgh…”

Having said all that, he still wasn ’t so keen to know about his mother ’s tendency to overfeed him!

Kang Jin-Ho trudged his way to Kang Yu-Hwan ’s cafe while still clutching his aching tummy.

***

“…Mm?” Kang Jin-Ho ’s eyes opened wide at the huge throng of people crowding in front of the cafe.
What was the meaning of this?

“Heeey! Stop pushing, will ya!”

“People inside haven ’t come out for too long now! Isn ’t it about time they start leaving already?! Are they paying rent or something?! How long are they thinking of staying in there after ordering just one cup of coffee?!”

“Hey! I told you to stop pushing!”

This was no longer a queue of people waiting for their turn to enter.
No, it would be more apt to describe this chaotic scene as an ocean of people! Kang Jin-Ho stood on the pavement in sheer stupefaction before sobering up quickly.
He then decisively broke through the crowd toward the cafe ’s entrance.

“H-hey! What are you doing?! You can ’t cut in line like that!”

Kang Jin-Ho flatly responded, “I ’d like to go inside.”

“Can ’t you see the queue behind you?!”

Kang Jin-Ho began wondering how he should deal with this situation when someone suddenly cried out.
“Oh? Hey, isn ’t he Kang Se-Ah ’s oppa?”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, it ’s him! The dude from the clip! Yeah, it ’s that Chad!”

“You ’re right! Wow, he ’s actually better looking in the flesh?”

Back when he was the cult leader of the demon cult, Kang Jin-Ho neither panicked nor lost his composure even as tens of thousands of cultists stared at him in adulation.
But for some unfathomable reason, he felt his face turning red from all the curious gazes landing on him right now.

’

“Let ’s make some room for him, everyone!”

“Yeah.
Make room.”

The crowd parted left and right, creating just enough path for Kang Jin-Ho to enter the cafe.
This scene was straight out of Moses parting the Red Sea, and a sense of shame sucker-punched Kang Jin-Ho in the gut as he trudged his way inside.

Once inside, he was greeted by the scene of a jam-packed cafe.
Not a single table was empty.

“What on Earth is going on here…?” Kang Jin-Ho muttered.

“Jin-Ho! You ’re finally here!”

“Oppa! Finally!”

Kang Yu-Hwan and Kang Eun-Yeong welcomed him almost at the same time.

Kang Jin-Ho blinked his eyes a few more times before muttering, “Can anyone tell me what ’s going on here?”

Kang Eun-Yeong sighed as if something was troubling her, then whispered into Kang Jin-Ho ’s ear, “The customers in the morning must have posted on social media that I ’m working part-time here.
This huge crowd just showed up out of nowhere, and well…
As you can see.”

“Hmm…” Kang Jin-Ho scratched his head; he felt troubled as well.

’Even if that ’s true, isn ’t this a bit… ’

Obviously, Kang Jin-Ho was well aware of social media ’s impact on modern society.
But he still couldn ’t understand how so many people showed up here just because of some random post on a social media site.
It was also a shock to his system to learn that these many people were willing to come here in the middle of a workday just to get a glimpse of his little sister.

Kang Jin-Ho groaned softly.
“With things like this, working part-time will be difficult, won ’t it…?”

“What will be difficult, son?”

“…?” Kang Jin-Ho saw that happy-go-lucky smile on his father ’s face and felt an ominous foreboding pop into his head.

“Isn ’t it wonderful to see so many customers in my cafe? Hahaha.
Jin-Ho, why don ’t you help your father out by hanging this on the door.”

“…Sorry?” Kang Jin-Ho blinked his eyes, then took a look at the piece of paper his father had handed over to him.
This A4-sized paper had the words ’One drink per person.
One extra drink order compulsory after exceeding 30 minutes of stay’ written on one side.

Kang Jin-Ho looked up at his father.
“…Father?”

“What? What are you trying to say here, son?! I get to sell more coffee, so it ’s great for me.
The customers get to see Eun-Yeong, so it ’s great for them.
And Eun-Yeong gets to experience society and life, so it ’s great for her, too! Isn ’t this a win-win situation for everyone involved?” Kang Yu-Hwan suddenly became rather defensive.

Kang Jin-Ho ’s suspicious gaze remained locked on his father, then he asked a question that had been bugging him.
“Father, do you have a social media account by any chance?”

“…”

Kang Yu-Hwan chose to plead the Fifth on this one.

1.
Jeongol is a Korean-style hot pot.
☜