Chapter 766: Mediating (1)

Kang Jin-Ho quickly returned to his usual lifestyle.

The events in China nearly succeeded in destroying his life back home, but the two countries were separated by international borders. Thankfully, entering Korea was enough to block out China's influence to a large degree.

Staring at the dust pollution blowing in from the west triggered the memories of the events in China, but Kang Jin-Ho had no problem coping with such 'side effects'.

However, returning to his old lifestyle meant he had to face the extremely familiar torture instead.

'...I don't have anything to do.'

This was a dilemma still plaguing Kang Jin-Ho.

Even though he was officially the Korean Martial Assembly's Assembly Master, Kang Jin-Ho remained as uninvolved as humanly possible in the organization's daily operations.

People like Lee Jung-Geol and Bang Jin-Hun practically grew up performing the Assembly's administrative duties. No wonder they held in-depth knowledge of the inner workings and hidden details of the Assembly's operations. And they were also good at issuing the right sort of commands and utilizing the manpower at their disposal.

However, Kang Jin-Ho took over the Assembly Master position through nothing but his brute strength.

What a nice-sounding title that was, the Assembly Master. Even though Kang Jin-Ho's administrative abilities were no better than that of a baby-faced employee fresh off a university. No, that wasn't quite right. Those employees might be better than Kang Jin-Ho!

At least those people graduated from universities with graduation papers to prove their qualifications. All Kang Jin-Ho could write on his resume was half a year spent in university, working in his father's cafe for a bit, and finishing off the mandatory military service. That was about it.

Even if Kang Jin-Ho's university happened to be well-known for all the right reasons, the Assembly seemed well-stocked with talented folks qualified enough to laugh at the mention of Jaegyeong Uni.

In short... There wasn't a lot Kang Jin-Ho could do.

Kang Jin-Ho rocked up to Lee Hyeon-Su's office to shoot some breezes, but...

“...How are things going?”

Lee Hyeon-Su curtly replied without even bothering to look back at Kang Jin-Ho. “I'm busy, sir.”

“Huh? But, uh, I only wanted to know how things are going...?”

“I said, I'm busy, sir!”

Kang Jin-Ho instantly grew dejected. Back when he wasn't the Assembly Master...

When Lee Jung-Geol—or, for that matter, Bang Jin-Hun—was still the Assembly Master, he enjoyed authority fitting his job title. Regardless of how competent he was, or whatever he was aiming to achieve, simply reaching the seat of the Assembly Master was enough to foster an atmosphere of respect.

But now, what about Kang Jin-Ho? Wasn't he like...

'Right. It's like I'm a third wheel, no? Maybe a wet blanket?'

Using such a sacrilegious term like a 'third wheel' to describe Kang Jin-Ho, the one and only Assembly Master and the undisputed leader of the demon cult, was being disrespectful, but that was basically his current situation.

That didn't mean he could openly express his dissatisfaction, though.

While busily rushing over here and there like a madman, Lee Hyeon-Su could be seen endlessly munching on vitamin pills and nutritional supplements like they were delicious candy.

Kang Jin-Ho had half a mind to ask why a man doing administrative work would need to run around like that. However, even he could tell that the disbelieving glare that silently screamed, 'Oh my god, how can someone be this clueless? And he's supposed to be our Assembly Master...?' would painfully burrow into his face.

Hence, Kang Jin-Ho was unwilling to disrupt Lee Hyeon-Su.

This story remained largely the same with Chang Min. Knowing how the demon cult's oldest surviving elder operated, he could have tried everything in his power to console Kang Jin-Ho's heavy heart. Unfortunately, even he was too busy to mind the situation of a third wheel (?) like Kang Jin-Ho.

These demonic cultivators lived their entire lives in China, so acclimatizing to life in another country would never be painless or straightforward. And they weren't on a group tour of South Korea or something. In other words, there were no guides to make their life easier. And no one had prepared facilities for their convenience, either.

Kang Jin-Ho's authority had largely suppressed their dissatisfaction, at least for the time being, but minor incidents kept rearing their heads.

Chang Min's job was to rush to the scenes of said incidents with eyes ablaze and sort them out as quickly as possible. His methods included much pacification and appeasement, occasional ass-kicking, and even dashes of threats and intimidation.

“Urgh! Euuuuuh... Those stinking immature bastards!” Chang Min roared in barely contained torment.

Those who had done it before would know how physically and mentally exhausting it was to soothe, threaten, and beat up stubborn fools. As an example, parents with unruly kids dreaded the weekends the most, didn't they!

Chang Min didn't need long to realize all those years he spent waiting for the demon emperor on a nameless mountainside had been a blessing in disguise, not a torturous self-imposed exile!

“M-my liege! I swear, I will never get married!”

Kang Jin-Ho almost yelled, 'How can you even talk about marriage at your age?!', but the dazed, soulless look on Chang Min's face stopped the yell from breaking free of his mouth.

When Kang Jin-Ho asked if he could assist with something, Chang Min unequivocally declined the offer, saying that he wouldn't dare force the noble demon emperor into doing sundry chores.

Even though Kang Jin-Ho repeatedly said it was fine, Chang Min was adamant about rejecting the offer while yapping on and on about how the demon emperor's authority and prestige touched the heavens and stuff.

Kang Jin-Ho read the subtle hints of 'You butting in will only make things more complicated for me, so please, please! Sit still and do nothing, please!' from Chang Min's desperate gaze.

...And so, all Kang Jin-Ho could do was take his frustration out on the blameless ground with a few aimless kicks.

'I'm completely useless, huh...'

“Okay, that's enough.”

Kang Jin-Ho heard enough. It seemed he had made a huge mistake by not seeing through Chang Min's real personality. He genuinely thought Chang Min operated more or less according to common sense, but no! Then again, having common sense didn't automatically mean someone was sane, now did it?

The demon cult was like this in the past. And it'd continue to be like this in the future, too.

“O-okay, so what were you doing?” Kang Jin-Ho asked Vator again.

“Going around putting out various fires, that's what. The demon cult elders have been causing too much friction with the rest of the Assembly. As you can imagine, we're facing a flood of issues right now. Wiggins is trying to mediate various situations as much as he can.”

“I see. Good work...” Kang Jin-Ho grimaced and sheepishly turned his head away when Vator glared at him with a face full of dissatisfaction.

Vator wasn't done, however. “Master! You knew you were about to accept a large number of people into the organization, so how could you fail to make adequate preparations beforehand?”

“But you also agreed to do this, didn't you?”

“I figured you'd have made at least the bare minimum of preparations!”

Kang Jin-Ho ruefully smacked his lips.

'The bare minimum preparations, you say?'

Of course preparations had been made ahead of time. Unfortunately, those preparations didn't work as well as Kang Jin-Ho had hoped. And the man responsible for those preparations was stuck behind his desk, busy issuing various orders through five separate phones while subsisting himself mostly with convenience store hot dogs!

Anyone willing to criticize such a man for the lack of preparations should check their humanity first to see if it hadn't expired already. Kang Jin-Ho might be a demonic cultivator, but he still cherished his humanity!

“By the way...” Vator cocked an eyebrow. “Why are you here lounging around instead of resting at home, master?”

Although the accusation of 'lounging around' got on Kang Jin-Ho's nerves... Vator hadn't embellished anything, now did he? Actually, it'd be more correct to say that the truth was getting on Kang Jin-Ho's nerves instead!

Since time immemorial, it was fact, not blade, that hurt the most as it stabbed through a person's heart.

Kang Jin-Ho grimaced a little. “Well, staying at home right now is a bit...”

“What is it?”

“Since I haven't called home for over a week and all, it's kinda...”

Vator wordlessly stared at Kang Jin-Ho. However, that was fine. The big man's eyes said all the things that needed to be said, after all. And there were lots of things...

While sensing his dignity as a human being crumbling a little, Kang Jin-Ho silently pulled out a cigarette and mouthed it.

'Yup. I need to learn more about administration.'

Doing so should weaken the intensity of people's criticizing glares!

Kang Jin-Ho figured that asking Lee Hyeon-Su now for some guidance would only worsen the poor man's hectic workload. In that case, should he call Jo Gyu-Min once the chaos had quietened down a little?

Just as his thoughts reached that far, Kang Jin-Ho's phone suddenly began ringing inside his pocket.

“Mm?”

Kang Jin-Ho frowned at the number he didn't recognize appearing on the phone's screen. He was thinking of ignoring the call as it could be spam, but...

That number belonged to a mobile device. So, Kang Jin-Ho decided to answer it and see who could be calling him.

“Hello?”

-Is this Kang Jin-Ho?

Kang Jin-Ho frowned a little.

'Chinese?'

Indeed, the person on the other side of the line spoke Chinese. And it sounded like it was coming from a native Chinese speaker, no less. In that case, who could it be?

“Who am I talking to?” Kang Jin-Ho asked curiously, only for his expression to freeze a little at the reply.

-I'm sure you've heard of my name before. I am Cai Kechang.

The stiff-faced Kang Jin-Ho slowly enunciated every word.

“Sorry. Don't know who you are.”

-...

“...?”

The atmosphere grew a little chillier just then.