Descent of the Demon Master

“...This must be hell.” Han Jin-Seong loudly groaned after school was over for the day.

This time of the day was usually his favorite, and he couldn't wait to get out of here, but not for today. He was definitely not looking forward to it!

Knowing what waited for him later in the evening made him less than motivated about heading home.

“Yup, yet another crazy something will start tonight, no doubt...”

For some weird reason, Kang Jin-Ho's greatest asset and what made him so terrifying happened to be the same thing. And that was his inhuman drive. His momentum was truly unstoppable!

Once something caught his attention, Kang Jin-Ho didn't know how to procrastinate. While not giving a toss about if his actions caused unintended side effects or not, Kang Jin-Ho would bulldoze straight through until reaching the desired conclusion.

“And we can't even complain since the conclusions are pretty great...” Han Jin-Seong groaned again. And again.

He heard somewhere that workers under a capable superior would suffer untold misery. Even though Han Jin-Seong was still some way off from joining South Korea's workforce, he could already appreciate the meaning behind that old saying. It was a grave misfortune!

Without a doubt, Kang Jin-Ho would've prepared a colorful solution to the latest crisis. Han Jin-Seong would learn what that might be after reaching the orphanage. And it should be very logical and quite perfect, too. So far, so good. However...!

“...I don't want to study, though!” Han Jin-Seong loudly cried out.

His classmates around him clicked their tongues in disapproval.

“Would you listen to this spoiled brat?”

“We already have a social dropout here. A deadbeat! Yup, it's a great thing.”

“Shut up, you bastards!” Han Jin-Seong heatedly defended himself.

“Kekekeke!”

His friends kept teasing him, but Han Jin-Seong roundly ignored them and headed outside the class.

“Oi, Jin-Seong? Where are you going? Let's stop by the PC Room like I told you earlier! You said you don't wanna study, so why are you so dead-set on going home?”

Han Jin-Seong loudly groaned. “I don't have a choice. I gotta go.”

“Did you stash something cool at home or something?”

“...That'd be nice, actually. No, it's just a gate to Hell waiting for me back home. That's all. Uh-whew... See you tomorrow, guys.” Han Jin-Seong waved his hand at his friends and left the classroom. While walking down the corridor, he rubbed his face in dread. 'Right. I can raise my voice like this solely because of the big bros...'

Once Kang Jin-Ho stepped up to the plate, the transformation was immediate and dramatic. Just a small trigger was all it needed to change Han Jin-Seong's life beyond recognition.

The chief bully, Yun Da-Bin, was utterly destroyed, and his pals stopped approaching Han Jin-Seong with nefarious intentions. The rest of the class sensed the subtle shift in the power dynamics and grew noticeably friendlier with Han Jin-Seong.

For a while there, Han Jin-Seong was disgusted by their attitude. However, it didn't take long for him to realize that his classmates had also been oppressed by Yun Da-Bin just like him. And that helped him to ease up a bit around them.

Kang Jin-Ho didn't do much, but it was still enough to grant a peaceful school life to Han Jin-Seong. When looked at that way, Kang Jin-Ho's abilities were really something quite remarkable, but...!

'But, the problem is that Jin-Ho hyung is directionally challenged!'

Kang Jin-Ho's incredible abilities would no doubt be directed toward making Han Jin-Seong's life a living hell! If he could help it, Han Jin-Seong wanted to distance himself a bit from all this 'academic' stuff, but would Kang Jin-Ho accept that? Of course not!

Han Jin-Seong groaned loudly again while walking past the school gate.

***

“...As I thought,” Han Jin-Seong quietly muttered.

The sight greeting him as he entered the orphanage was his fellow kids packing the living room. Only the high school-age kids were here, meaning anyone younger than middle schoolers wasn't invited to this... shindig.

Also, the kids with disabilities who attended special-needs schools were excluded. Only those attending regular high schools were here, but...

'...But why are there so many of us?'

Han Jin-Seong was freshly reminded of how many children currently called the Seongsim Orphanage their home. The place was always bustling with lots of kids. But the steady financial support meant it could start accepting more children from other struggling orphanages. And now, it'd be quite difficult to call the number of children in Seongsim 'small' anymore.

Like how an in-game village would be upgraded to a town after its population increased past a certain number, the Seongsim Orphanage was also gradually increasing the number of its occupants and social influence.

The last place Han Jin-Seong's gaze drifted toward was Jo Mi-Hye. “...Hey you.”

“Ng?” Jo Mi-Hye glanced back at Han Jin-Seong.

“What are you gonna do about this crisis?”

“What are you on about?”

“Why couldn't you let things be? You knew how our hyungs would react if you said those things.”

“I didn't say anything wrong, now did I?”

“Listen here!”

“Enough!” Jo Mi-Hye firmly cut Han Jin-Seong off. “I said what needed to be said. I study my butt off every day but can't catch up to others who go to cram schools and get private tutoring, so what else can I do?”

“Then, blame your rock-hard brain, will ya!”

“Don't make me laugh. If I was as dumb as you, I wouldn't have gotten my current grades, oppa! Everyone stopped talking about how you can be a top student by studying hard with only textbooks for years now, so how long do you expect me to keep slamming my head against the wall?”

“...”

“Besides, I wouldn't have said anything if I thought oppas won't be able to help us. However! Who are our oppas? They can definitely find a way for us!”

“What? Don't you know you're making life difficult for our hyungs!”

“You dumbass! I need to get good grades to succeed in life, and that's the only way I can be of any help to our oppas! Don't you want oppas to get married and start their own families?! You still want them to come running whenever kids here need help? Is that it?!”

Han Jin-Seong flinched and backed off. Jo Mi-Hye's fierce aura had overwhelmed him completely.

“Since you got so much from them, shouldn't you be thinking about repaying them back somehow?! Don't you know that the best way to say thank you to oppas is to succeed in life and help out with the orphanage!”

“...N-no, hang on. I was just...”

“Jin-Seong oppa, you need to grow up! You think you can afford to whine like a little kid about studying?! Other kids around your age from regular families are already working their butts off trying to get into good universities, so why are you wasting time messing around like this? Why is your head still stuck up in the clouds?! I'm warning you right now, if I see you grow up to become a bum and still ask oppas for help...! I'm gonna tear your hair out with my bare hands!”

Han Jin-Seong was mercilessly shot down like an enemy jet. All he could do was clamp his mouth shut, lower his head and slink off to a remote corner of the living room. Other kids near him patted him on the shoulder.

“Geez, dude. Why did you have to get on her nerves like that?”

“You know no one can win against Mi-Hye.”

“Right, right. Still, let's be honest. Jin-Seong hyung, you do laze around a bit...”

Several kids said what could be either words of comfort or finishing body blows, depending on how one looked at them.

However, Jo Mi-Hye wasn't done yet. “You lot should listen up, too!”

“Eh?”

“Humans should have morals. Morals! Since they helped you out so much, shouldn't you be thinking of showing how grateful you are? Let's be real here, okay! How good have Jin-Ho oppa and Yu-Min oppa been for us? They are better than most parents, you know!”

“Y-yeah, that's true.”

Jo Mi-Hye's eyes burned fiercely as she clenched her fists. “But some among us take that for granted. Do you know who I hate the most in this world?”

“...I dunno. Who?”

Han Jin-Seong automatically thought of the word 'Parent.' The trauma of being abandoned by their biological parents and ending up here was like an inescapable divine punishment for them.

The ones they wanted to see the most, but also the ones they hated the most... That was parents for these children.

However, what Jo Mi-Hye said next was completely out of Han Jin-Seong's expectations. “Those who never come back to visit us, not even once, after graduating.”

“...!”

Not just Han Jin-Seong, but everyone else listening felt like they had been hit hard on the head.

“Just how hard did Yu-Min oppa and Jin-Ho oppa work for our sakes? Just how much of their own money did they spend to make our lives better? But those stinking bastards took that for granted! They are worse than animals, you know that? After graduating, they are too busy searching for their own lives and have forgotten all about everyone here. A human being should not be like that! No matter what, you should do your best to repay all the favors you received along the way. You gotta succeed in life somehow and try your best to lighten the burden on our oppas!”

Han Jin-Seong nodded in agreement without even realizing it. He didn't want to agree since all the stinging insults were still fresh in his mind, but... But Jo Mi-Hye was not wrong.

“That's why I'm gonna become a success. Even if I have to ask more from our oppas now, I'm gonna... Definitely come back here as a success story! And then, and then...! I'm gonna make it so that oppas don't need to come here every single time. I don't care if it's with my salary or volunteer work... I'll make it happen!”

A slightly poignant silence descended in the living room. None of them had suspected that Jo Mi-Hye was thinking about something this weighty until now.

The orphanage children couldn't help but wonder if they had been too lackadaisical with their lives. Regret, self-rebuke, and worries related to their new-found perspective churned like slow-moving currents in the living room.

Jo Mi-Hye suddenly shifted her glare back to Han Jin-Seong. “That is why! We gotta create an environment for us to get good grades even if it's gonna make life difficult for our oppas! Just coasting along because you don't wanna inconvenience oppas will only lead you to become failures who can't help oppas later on. Do you get what I'm trying to say here?”

Han Jin-Seong testily stared back at Jo Mi-Hye. “...Why are you picking on me again?”

“That's because you're the worst out of us! Other third-year oppas are trying to study as much as they can, so why can't you do that?”

“...Well, uh, I was planning to get a job in a factory as soon as graduating high school, that's why.”

Jo Mi-Hye scoffed at that. “That's the last option after all else fails, oppa!”

“N-no, hang on a minute...”

Before Han Jin-Seong could say something, the door leading to the kitchen opened, and Jo Gyu-Min stepped into the living room along with Kang Jin-Ho and Park Yu-Min.

“Okay, everyone. Please take a seat,” said Jo Gyu-Min. The orphanage kids settled down in a circle around the living room. Jo Gyu-Min slowly scanned them one by one while rubbing his chin. “Hmm, I'm not sure where I should start... Oh, right. Who brought this matter up first? That it's getting harder to study?”

Jo Mi-Hye quickly raised her hand high.

“Okay. Being the first one to raise the alarm doesn't mean you gotta take responsibility, but... It could mean you have thought about this matter the most among everyone here. In that case, can you tell us what the problems are?”

“It's everything,” said Jo Mi-Hye. She didn't mince her words and got right down to it. “Everything is a problem. From start to finish.”

“Can you explain to us in detail?”

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“Yes,” Jo Mi-Hye cleared her throat with a couple of quick 'hmph, hmph!' before explaining the situation. “First of all, trying to buy just one workbook takes too long. Unless we're buying it with our pocket money, we gotta speak to the orphanage teachers about them, and once they approve the budget, someone has to go and buy the books in question and then give them to us, but this process can easily take over a week.”

“Hmm...” Jo Gyu-Min slowly nodded. Indeed, that seemed like a problem.

“And then... other kids aren't just self-studying with workbooks at home, you see? They go to cram schools and even receive private tutoring at home, so... Our school teachers adjust the curriculum to match those kids, so it's getting harder for us to catch up to the rest of our class.”

“I see. What about time? Do you have any problem with that?”

“No, I think we're doing okay as far as time is concerned. If we can decrease the time needed to commute to school, we might get to study a bit more, but... Everyone else has the same problem, so it shouldn't really matter.”

“Okay, got it.” Jo Gyu-Min nodded in understanding. “Rather than serious, this problem is complicated in nature. The simplest solution is to send you all to cram schools and help you buy the books you need as quickly as possible, but that's like healing the wound but leaving the scars behind. That won't help you close the already-existing gap, after all.”

“Yes, Chief Jo.”

“In other words, we need a more specialized response…” Jo Gyu-Min slowly rubbed his nose. “The issue with that is some among you won't be... too motivated to keep up with this specialized response. I honestly think that a well-thought-out learning system and a high-level education designed to help you reach greater heights will be a boon to those who want to be a part of it. However, for those who don't want to be a part of it? It'll be like a torture.”

“...?”

“Different people have different aptitudes, right? Trying to drag along someone who doesn't have the aptitude for studying will only harm everyone else while discouraging those willing to teach you. So, before we come up with a plan, I'd like for those who earnestly want to study to remain,” said Jo Gyu-Min, his expression determined, focused. “Only those who wish to improve their grades by any means possible, please remain in the living room. We'll pop outside for about five minutes. And then... We'll assume that those remaining here when we come back earnestly want to participate in whatever we come up with. Remember, five minutes.”

Jo Gyu-Min didn't drag out his explanation for too long. Trying to explain more was not much different from demanding the children to stay, so he didn't.

After leading Kang Jin-Ho and Park Yu-Min outside the living room, Jo Gyu-Min leaned against the doorway and sighed at length. “Looks like there are lots of things to be done.”

Park Yu-Min cautiously asked, “How many do you think will remain, Chief Jo?”

“I'm not sure.” Jo Gyu-Min shrugged his shoulders. This thing called studying was not something that could be forced upon those unwilling. If the children weren't interested, the right thing was to find what did interest them. Life wasn't all about studying, after all.

“Please don't get your hopes up, thinking that lots of them will remain in the living room,” sighed Jo Gyu-Min. “That would be like blaming those who left, you see. Our job is to help the kids who want better grades study more efficiently, not drag around those who aren't interested.”

“As expected of you, Chief Jo...!” Park Yu-Min stared with respect at Jo Gyu-Min.

A content grin floated up on Jo Gyu-Min's face without him being aware of it. It had been too long since someone looked at him this way!

“That is why you must never change your expression when we go back inside,” said Jo Gyu-Min. “And never show them you are disappointed as well. Okay, you two?”

“I won't.”

After getting Park Yu-Min's assurance, Jo Gyu-Min reached for the door knob. “In that case... Shall we go back inside?”

When he slowly creaked the door open, though...!

“W-what the heck?”

An unexpected situation was waiting for them beyond the doorway.