Descent of the Demon Master

iled smugly as if he was doing a big favor.

Kang Jin-Ho tutted.
“Do not forget our wager.”

“I should be the one reminding you, not the other way around.”

“Is that right?” Kang Jin-Ho began leisurely striding forward while lightly tapping the ball.

“Kekeke.” Hwang Jong-In couldn't hold back his laughter.

Now, that was a sight only someone rubbish at sports could produce.
Look at how Kang Jin-Ho was kicking the ball! It was easy to estimate his skill level by how he kicked the ball with the tip of his shoe rather than the inside or outside of his foot.

On top of that, their goal was empty, the other player was standing awkwardly in front of the opponent's goal, and finally, the way Kang Jin-Ho kicked the ball…
All these things demonstrated that they had no clue about how to play a game of futsal.

'I'm gonna humiliate you today!'

Hwang Jong-In had no plans to just score five goals and end the game there.
No, he wanted to make a fool out of Kang Jin-Ho until the latter's face turned crimson from anger.
He jogged over to Kang Jin-Ho and stood in front of him.
“Look here, dude!”

“…?” Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Hwang Jong-In, then continued to leisurely dribble the ball forward.

“Hey, man! Do you know what will happen if you dribble a ball like that?”

“What will happen?”

“This, obviously!” Hwang Jong-In rushed in to intercept as soon as Kang Jin-Ho lightly kicked the ball forward.

That was what he thought… Unfortunately for him, Hwang Jong-In's foot simply took a wild swing at the empty air.
It was because the ball had almost magically returned to Kang Jin-Ho through the vicious backspin.

“I'm still waiting.
What will happen?” Kang Jin-Ho disinterestedly asked.

Hwang Jong-In's expression crumpled.
“You…
Did you just make fun of me? And I was thinking of letting you off lightly!”

“Hey.
I'm asking you again,” Kang Jin-Ho leisurely asked, his head cocked to the side.
“What will happen?”

Hwang Jong-In's face went red from anger.
“You motherf…!”

He madly dashed forward to tackle the ball away.
Kang Jin-Ho watched as his opponent rushed toward him while maintaining his leisurely pace.
Hwang Jong-In's sliding foot approached the ball near Kang Jin-Ho's feet.
But then…
Nothing else happened.

It was as if the ball had a mind of its own.
It spun back seemingly by itself and returned to Kang Jin-Ho's left foot.

Hwang Jong-In faltered at this sight.
“…W-What the hell?”

Kang Jin-Ho stared back and asked with a shrug, “Is that all you got?”

“…!” Hwang Jong-In's expression crumpled even more.
He had never seen a ball spin or behave like that before.
He did hear that some freestyle footballers relied on tricky spins similar to what he had seen just now.
However, you had to be a world-class footballer at the top of your game to make the ball behave that way on the field.
Yet, such a thing was happening right in front of his eyes!

'Maybe it's just a coincidence…'

However, what if it wasn't? Hwang Jong-In suddenly got nervous.
If what happened wasn't a coincidence, something horrible might happen to him! He gritted his teeth.
“Fine.
I'm gonna get serious now.”

“Suit yourself,” Kang Jin-Ho replied disinterestedly.

Hwang Jong-In rushed over once again, and Kang Jin-Ho casually pulled the ball back.
But this time, Hwang Jong-In wasn’t targeting the ball.

Thud!

Hwang Jong-In's large physique of almost 190 cm in height slammed into Kang Jin-Ho.
His plan was to use his shoulders to ram Kang Jin-Ho away and steal the ball.
Although vicious, this kind of tackle wasn't against the rules.
Unfortunately for Hwang Jong-In, the result he got was the opposite of what he wanted.

“Kuk?!” Hwang Jong-In felt an impact akin to crashing into a boulder as he bounced off and rolled around on the floor.
He looked up at Kang Jin-Ho in a daze and gasped in confusion.
“Huh?”

The peanut gallery around the futsal field burst into raucous laughter at this spectacle.

“What is that guy doing?”

“Why did he tumble to the ground after tackling Kang Jin-Ho?”

“He must be all talk and no bite, then!”

Since Hwang Jong-In had two functioning ears, he could hear them all.
His face turned totally red and he hurriedly got back up to his feet.
“You…!”

Kang Jin-Ho cocked his head again.
“What are you doing?”

“What?”

“This is getting boring.
Stop messing around and get serious.”

“I'm gonna make you eat your words!” Hwang Jong-In growled like a wounded beast.

However, Kang Jin-Ho shook his head in pity.
“You're not very bright.”

“Are you insulting me now?!”

“I'm merely stating the truth.
To think that you were this slow to analyze your situation…
Consider yourself lucky for being born in this era.”

“What bullsh*t are you talking about?!” Hwang Jong-In roared angrily, but all of a sudden, Kang Jin-Ho began to leisurely step forward again.
Hwang Jong-In found himself unable to move as he dumbly stared at the latter for some reason.

'W-What's…
going on here?!'

He should be responding.
Even if his head didn't, his body should have responded by tackling the opponent dribbling past him, or trying to kick the ball away.
He had been training his body to react that way after all.
But for some weird reason, Hwang Jong-In's body didn't do anything even as he watched Kang Jin-Ho brush past him.

What happened was simple—in that brief moment when Hwang Jong-In was crying out, and their 'auras' were clashing, Kang Jin-Ho dug into the latter's mental defense with just a tiny bit of his qi.
Of course, Hwang Jong-In would never realize that.

“Huh?”

While Hwang Jong-In stood on the same spot like an invalid, Kang Jin-Ho leisurely strolled to the opposing side's goal with the ball in tow.
The peanut gallery obviously didn't let that go.

“What is that guy doing?”

“Is he a moron? Why is he just standing there watching?”

Jeong Seong-Gu hurriedly rushed out of the goal to stop Kang Jin-Ho.
He had to shut down the angle of attack, otherwise…

Just as that happened, though, Kang Jin-Ho lightly pushed the ball to the side.
It accurately rolled toward Park Yu-Min standing in front of the now-empty goal.

Jeong Seong-Gu cried out.
“Ah, crap!”

Park Yu-Min watched the ball roll toward him before kicking it into the open goal.
However, it sailed over the post.

“Ah…” Park Yu-Min nervously shuddered before glancing at Kang Jin-Ho sheepishly.
“I'm sorry…”

Kang Jin-Ho shook his head.
“Roll it in.”

“Eh?”

“Don't kick it and just roll it in.
No need to kick it too hard.”

“I-I got it.”

All of this happened so naturally that nothing seemed out of place.
Hwang Jong-In, now flabbergasted, could only stare agog at Kang Jin-Ho.
What on earth was going on here? He had played in so many matches before, but he never felt anything even remotely close to this.

“It's our ball, right?” However, Jeong Seong-Gu seemed as if he didn’t feel the same as his friend since he picked up the ball and passed it as if nothing was wrong.
“Here, Jong-In.”

Hwang Jong-In stopped the ball rolling toward him and trapped it under his foot.
He looked up and glared at Kang Jin-Ho before him.
“You! How long have you been playing soccer?”

“Today is my first since my high school freshman year.”

And another fifty-plus years after that, but Kang Jin-Ho didn't feel the need to add that part.

Hwang Jong-In glared at him even harder.
“I'm gonna get serious now!”

Kang Jin-Ho muttered in a mocking tone, “Didn't you say that already?”

His mocking grin ignited Hwang Jong-In's rage until it reached its boiling point.
With his face flushed red, Hwang Jong-In angrily rushed at Kang Jin-Ho.

“You bastaaard!”

Kang Jin-Ho simply welcomed him with a relaxed expression.