Descent of the Demon Master

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“However! Finding a suitable business location will be difficult even for you.
Yes, solving the location issue and the legal side of things will be difficult without help, Mister Jin-Ho! So, we shall provide assistance on those aspects! All you have to do is simply run the shop well for six months and then return the initial startup funds.
That ’s all.
You won ’t find a more favorable condition than this anywhere.”

“Well, I can ’t find my willingness to do this anywhere either.”

“I, I ’m not done yet! Why are you being like this, Mister Jin-Ho!” Jo Gyu-Min laughed while grabbing Kang Jin-Ho ’s shoulders.
His grip contained his determination to never let Kang Jin-Ho escape from here.
“So far, I ’ve been telling you about conditions, not merit.
Allow me to explain that part to you.”

Kang Jin-Ho leaned back on the couch.
“Okay.
What merit are you talking about?”

“Your university credit, Mister Jin-Ho.”

“…I ’m sorry?” Kang Jin-Ho stared at Jo Gyu-Min in a daze.
Credit? Where did that even jump out from?

Jo Gyu-Min smiled meaningfully.
“Jaegyeong Uni has a system of field experience as well.
A learner can choose to work in a field they are majoring in.
Three months of field experience earns you three credits.”

“Mm?” Kang Jin-Ho ’s brows quivered.

“Which means six months of field experience will net you six credits.
Unfortunately, that ’s the maximum attainable credit.
This excellent system is based on the wonderful business philosophy of our chairman, who believes that the theories learned in classrooms are meaningless if they are never applied in the real world, so we—”

“That ’s enough of useless banter, Gyu-Min.
Get to the point,” said Hwang Jeong-Hu with an unimpressed tut.

“Understood, Chairman.” Jo Gyu-Min licked his lips, ruing the missed opportunity to butter up to Hwang Jeong-Hu.
“In any case.
Mister Jin-Ho, you are enrolled in Jaegyeong ’s Business Management course, so working for six months as a branch manager or even president would get you six credits for your major.”

“That ’s not a bad system,” said Kang Jin-Ho while nodding away.

Jo Gyu-Min smirked triumphantly.

’That means you can graduate sooner, isn ’t it! ’

Kang Jin-Ho didn ’t have much attachment to studying at a university.
The only reason why he decided to go was to answer his family ’s expectations.
Especially when Kang Yu-Hwan ’s view on education was simple yet explicit.
And his view was that no matter how wealthy one was, poor education would make them just another nouveau riche.

’

So, Kang Jin-Ho had to waste time receiving an education he didn ’t really need.
In that case, a chance to graduate sooner from the university would no doubt hold a ’major ’ appeal to him!

Kang Jin-Ho nodded again.
“This sounds like a great system.
But why wasn ’t I told about it until now?”

“It ’s actually unsurprising that a business major doesn’t know about it.
The criteria won ’t be satisfied unless you ’re running your own business, you see.
Being an intern or a part-timer won ’t be enough to say you have learned a lot about managing a business, after all.
But then, trying to create and run a business for a short period like six months isn ’t really feasible either.”

Kang Jin-Ho continued to nod away.
In that sense, one could say that Kang Jin-Ho was ideally positioned to exploit this system.
“I get that it ’s a great system.
However, I can ’t help but get curious about something.”

“I see.
Please ask away, Mister Jin-Ho.” Jo Gyu-Min smiled and waited for the question, believing that he had successfully half-convinced Kang Jin-Ho by now.

“Can you tell me the advantage of doing this over, say, taking vacation classes? I heard doing that also gets me six credits.”

“…???” Jo Gyu-Min instantly fell into stupefaction.
“Eh?”

“The summer vacation is not going to work due to the timing of my return, but that ’s not the case for the winter vacation, right? Winter vacation classes can net me nine credits in total, so why should I go out of my way to get only six this way?”

“Oh…” Jo Gyu-Min dazedly asked, “…You were planning to attend classes during the winter vacation?”

“Of course.”

“…Aha.
So, that ’s what you were thinking…”

Kang Jin-Ho looked wholly unimpressed now.
“If I need credits, I can always earn them during the vacation.
In that case, wasting six months just to earn six credits seems like a pretty inefficient use of my time, I think.
Isn ’t this why not many people know about this system? And why it only has a small number of applicants?”

The eyes of Hwang Jeong-Hu listening silently began to burn hotter and hotter like boiling magma.

Jo Gyu-Min urgently raised his voice.
“B-but! This field experience isn ’t counted toward the maximum credit for a year! Even if you include all the vacation classes, you can only earn up to 48 credits per year, but using our system, you can earn up to 54!”

“Mister Gyu-Min, I can ’t earn the maximum available credits this year anyway, since I was absent during the first semester.”

“Ah, you ’re right.
Aha, hahaha…” Jo Gyu-Min, now too mentally damaged to continue, slumped on the couch and began to weakly chuckle away.

Kang Jin-Ho smirked a little while shaking his head, then got up to leave.
“Well, then.
I ’d like to get going, everyone.”

Hwang Jeong-Hu blinked his eyes.
“Mm? You ’re leaving already?”

“I thought our business here is already finished?” Kang Jin-Ho bowed toward the dumbfounded-looking Hwang Jeong-Hu and his bobbing lips.
“Well, have a good day.”

Hwang Jeong-Hu remained dazed as he watched Kang Jin-Ho exit his office.
However, he sobered up soon enough and sent his killer-like glare to Jo Gyu-Min next.

“…Chairman, sir.
T-the thing is—” Jo Gyu-Min faltered and muttered weakly.

’

“You know this, don ’t you?” Hwang Jeong-Hu growled like a predator.

“I ’m sorry?”

“I don ’t need a dissertation from you.
I also don ’t need any excuses.
Now that things have gotten to this point, there will not be any retreat.
Do you hear me? Do whatever is necessary to make Jin-Ho start that business!”

’…Should I just quit? ’

Jo Gyu-Min ’s previous fighting spirit that chose to be next to Kang Jin-Ho for an exciting life over a peaceful one had disappeared somewhere.
In just one day, he was already regretting yesterday ’s decision.

Hwang Jeong-Hu roared.
“Do whatever it takes! If you fail, there will be no place for you to return to! Come back to work only after you succeed, Gyu-Min! Got that?!”

“…Sir, should I take that as a paid vacation for me?”

”Gyu-Min, have you heard about the term ’infinite unpaid leave ’ before?”

“That ’s…
getting fired, sir.”

“Indeed.
So, do your best!” Hwang Jeong-Hu got up and headed to his desk.

Jo Gyu-Min lifelessly stood up, bowed his head, then exited the chairman ’s office.
He scanned the surroundings with a slightly stupefied face before dejectedly heading toward the stairwell.

“Looks like Chief Jo is heading to the stairs again.”

“I guess the chairman chewed him out again…”

Jo Gyu-Min heard people whispering among themselves behind him but had no energy left to defend himself.
He eventually reached the deserted stairwell and slowly pulled out his phone.
He scrolled through the contact list and tapped on the familiar number.

– Gyu-Min? Calling me so early in the morning and all? What happened, son?

“Mom, I ’m being serious here, so can I ask you something?”

– Getting fired will mean you ’re also expelled from the family register.

“…I just wanted to hear your voice, Mom.”

Jo Gyu-Min sighed again.
It seemed that he would continue sighing in the foreseeable future.