Descent of the Demon Master-Chapter 1134. Getting Some Rest (4)

‘Just when will this dummy ever grow up?’

Ju Yeong-Gi’s expression was hollow as he stared at Kang Jin-Ho.

At first, Kang Jin-Ho had this relaxed face that screamed, ‘Alright, I don’t mind doing this much for my friend, Yu-Min.’ But now?

He was glaring at the monitor like a thug who just got bi*ch-slapped by some random loser! If he glared any harder, the poor monitor might really crack in half!

‘And look at his hand!’

At this rate, this PC Room might become a site of a historical event where a mouse and a mouse pad became fused together from sheer friction alone!

As for Kang Jin-Ho's other hand typing away on the keyboard... Ju Yeong-Gi couldn't even follow its movements properly.

Kang Jin-Ho’s hand was moving so quickly and so brilliantly that a top pianist about to star in a recital could learn from his example!

Ju Yeong-Gi was clueless about video games. If he was being brutally honest, looking at the computer monitor didn’t help him with figuring out who was winning or losing. He’d just go, ‘Oh, so he’s killed someone’ when Kang Jin-Ho killed his opponent and ‘Oh, so he got killed just now’ when Kang Jin-Ho grew even angrier.

Despite knowing nothing, he could at least guess what Kang Jin-Ho was doing.

Kang Jin-Ho’s eyes were burning with the intensity of a thug ready to break the monitor... No, maybe a crazed arsonist about to set it on fire or something! From the look of things, trying to talk to him might lead to someone getting killed.

‘You crazy son of a...’

Of course, Ju Yeong-Gi had no plans to judge someone for going all-in on video games. After all, wasn’t one of his best friends a pro gamer?

In a world where playing video games could make you rich, going batsh*t crazy about games should not be viewed as an act of sheer lunacy.

Since Ju Yeong-Gi roughly knew how much Park Yu-Min made, there was no way he’d belittle the profession of ‘pro gamer’. Why? Because, despite operating two pizzerias, Ju Yeong-Gi’s income was still a pittance compared to Park Yu-Min’s!

After all, Park Yu-Min was making a killing from not just his wages but earnings from his streams, too.

Even though Ju Yeong-Gi wasn’t going to belittle game-obsessed people...

‘...There’s a limit to my patience, you know?’

If passersby saw Kang Jin-Ho now, they might freak out and start having seizures on the spot. Look at how Kang Jin-Ho’s head snapped this way and that! Look at all the afterimages left behind by his hands!

‘Aha. So that’s what the three-headed, six-armed monster looks like.’

Ju Yeong-Gi slowly shook his head.

‘I’m telling you, idiots who can’t do anything properly always try to stand out the most. I mean, look at Yu-Min. He’s so calm and... Huh? Yu-Min?’

Park Yu-Min, who had been reclining relaxedly while playing until not too long ago, began leaning closer and closer toward the monitor with every passing minute. And Ju Yeong-Gi could only squeeze his eyes shut at this sight.

My dear friend, please don’t copy weird things from other people. Please.

***

‘I knew it.’

Park Yu-Min tightly gripped his mouse. He could feel the perspiration soaking his palm.

This wasn't a pro match but a solo rank game played in a PC Room. That was why he was so amazed by how tense and nervous he got. Especially considering Park Yu-Min played games for a living!

Park Yu-Min peered closely at the monitor. He could see Kang Jin-Ho’s character rampaging around.

How crude, unsophisticated that was. But it was also aggressive. Visceral. Violent.

As a pro gamer, Park Yu-Min could see plenty of openings in Kang Jin-Ho's actions. However, his in-game opponents seemed too flustered to know what to do.

Thanks to teaming up with Kang Jin-Ho, Park Yu-Min’s Elo rating had fallen a bit, but he still got matched up with other players boasting familiar IDs.

Since they were matched up with Park Yu-Min, those players had to be some of the best in South Korea. Yet such people were still freaking out from what Kang Jin-Ho was doing.

Park Yu-Min wasn’t all that surprised, though.

Whatever the field was, this logic still applied. At first, one’s instincts and feelings would play a crucial role in your progress. However, once you reached a certain level of proficiency, your actions must be supported by sound reasoning.

To become a pro gamer, one must not just 'predict' how their opponents might behave. No, one must instantly analyze the level of opponents' skills compared to theirs, then how good the match-up was, and consider the movements in the surroundings. Only then would one find the best course of action in that moment.

In the game of go, one's instincts could help the player win up to a certain level. But in a high-level match, the victory would go to a player who was repeatedly faster at calculating the moves. A similar logic also applied in esports.

However, it was clear Kang Jin-Ho did not calculate anything.

He rushed at his opponents with timing and forcefulness that must've looked utterly ridiculous to high-level players. The logic said he'd end up dead meat by doing that, but no! He'd usually survive the encounter and return to base after successfully killing the enemy.

That was why the other side’s carefully laid plans all went awry.

‘I mean, just take a look!’

Whenever Kang Jin-Ho's in-game avatar moved, three, no, four opponents would freak out and retreat.

‘That aggressiveness and unpredictability!’

Park Yu-Min thought he could just about figure it out.

Rules were clearly defined for everyone to follow. However, something called ‘unspoken rules’ also existed in this world.

No one had set a rule that you must behave in certain ways, but for convenience's sake, everyone still set these unspoken rules and followed them.

Once they became used to following these rules, people would forget that such things even existed. Like how humans often forgot that air filled the space around them!

However, when an irregular something disrupted and upset the status quo, these people would suddenly start noticing all the unspoken rules they had missed until now. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Kang Jin-Ho was that something in this game.

‘He was like this too in the past, wasn’t he?’

In the game, Galaxy Craft, something called ‘builds’ played a crucial role. One must build bases, produce units, and start attacking at the perfect timing.

You were judged based on how perfectly timed your build was and how perfectly you utilized it. At least, that was how it was supposed to be. In a professional tournament setting, though, such builds were never relied on.

Because, opponents would’ve also known about those tactics and appropriate ways to counter them!

That was why the best players would always cook up new builds for upcoming tournaments as the ace in their sleeve.

These builds would only be used once and then discarded. Although such builds were deemed imperfect trash compared to the tried-and-true builds, one-time-use trash like that usually came in handy in a tournament setting where one move could determine the outcome.

Didn’t Park Yu-Min also stay awake many nights to experiment and practice various builds solely meant to blindside the opponents during his Galaxy Craft days?

In the so-called grand scheme of things, one could say this game was not so different in that regard.

You could become a first-class pro by mechanically and perfectly pulling off moves others also knew by heart. However, becoming the best of the best that way would be totally impossible.

‘Ah. So that's what I've been doing lately.’

Here was the reason why Park Yu-Min’s recent results had been so poor.

Park Yu-Min was good at video games.

That was no exaggeration. Objectively speaking, Park Yu-Min really was great at video games. He had enough skills to stand out even among the top pro gamers in the esports scene.

However, that was about it, really.

Park Yu-Min had gotten more mature, his play style becoming a little cleaner than before, while going through the season. However, that meant his sharpness had become duller, too.

As the season wore on, he began playing more and more like a textbook offering stock answers.

However, that was the wrong approach.

‘Do the best basketball or soccer players stick to playing in the so-called right way?’

Of course not!

Those people took the abnormal and forcibly turned it into the new normal.

Being able to force others into accepting the outlandish play as the new standard qualified them to be the best in the business. It was as simple as that.

In other words, just Kang Jin-Ho right now...

‘...Nah, not really. Jin-Ho’s a bit too extreme for that.’

Thanks to Kang Jin-Ho’s outlandish antics, each match had been a breeze for Park Yu-Min.

The opponents couldn’t help but focus their attention on Kang Jin-Ho, which allowed Park Yu-Min to not worry about interference and pretty much do whatever he wanted. No wonder things had been smooth sailing so far! Not only that, but...

-WTF, you ins*ne f*ck, are you high or something? Who plays like this, anyway?

-Yes, next-in-line 070? Calling from another country?

-Hah? Why don’t you go against that ins*ne f*ck, then?

-Yes, next loser in line.

-Forget it. You guys have fun. I’m out.

An internal conflict suddenly broke out within the opposing team.

Not only were the matches going well for Park Yu-Min, but the other side was disintegrating mentally, too!

‘If this had been a best-out-of, the other side would have become nervous wrecks by now.’

In a best-out-of-five type match, messing with the opponent team’s psyche was a valid and important tactic. And if you could utterly crush the opponents mentally through your play, you'd basically already won the match.

Park Yu-Min’s eyes gleamed dangerously.

‘Aggressiveness...!’

He already had the experience of copying that play style once before. Didn't he take notes from Kang Jin-Ho in order to shore up his lack of aggressiveness back when he was trying out for a spot in the team?

However, it seemed that once wasn’t enough.

Park Yu-Min was naturally not an aggressive person. When left alone, his aggressive streak would gradually seep out of him all on its own.

Like how a car regularly needed to be topped up with fuel, Park Yu-Min also needed someone to help him refill his aggressiveness now and then.

‘And now, I’m going to take everything in.’

And then, he must use what he learned as the foundation to re-establish his play style.

In the next two days, no less!

***

Park Yu-Min asked first. “Wanna take a short smoke break?”

Kang Jin-Ho rubbed his chin. “Mm? Should we?”

Park Yu-Min didn’t smoke. However, he figured Kang Jin-Ho might hanker for a cigarette about now.

However, Kang Jin-Ho briefly shook his head. “After one more match, though.”

“Oh, okay. Let’s do that, then.”

The still-excited Park Yu-Min reached for his mouse again.

‘Four matches, two wins, eh...?’

That win ratio wasn't bad at all. But that wasn't important in Park Yu-Min's view. He wasn't playing to win, after all.

As long as he could learn more by observing Kang Jin-Ho's play style, he'd still be 'winning' even if his side lost.

So far, things had been going rather well.

With every passing minute, Kang Jin-Ho was getting more and more aggressive and assault-focused. Initially, he only beat up the enemy champions found in his lane, but now? He charged in like a madman to where a crowd of enemy champions were!

Was he winning, though?

‘Nope, he keeps getting beaten the living daylights out of him.’

Obviously, he would never win against four opponents. This was a video game, after all!

Ordinary people wouldn’t dare stand up against multiple opponents in real life, but they might do that in a video game setting. However, Kang Jin-Ho did that the other way around!

He could beat up multiple people in real life regardless of how many there were. However, even someone like him couldn't surpass the limitations of the game world.

Of course, that was fine with Park Yu-Min. While Kang Jin-Ho was getting pummeled to death, his teammates were scoring big in other lanes, after all!

Kang Jin-Ho had done more than his share by perfectly distracting four opponents simultaneously.

However, it seemed Kang Jin-Ho didn’t seem willing to accept that, judging from his frowning expression!

“Hmm, why do I keep losing?”

Park Yu-Min grimaced a little. “Jin-Ho, listen... You can’t win against four opponents. That’s logically impossible.”

“No, I can win.”

“...Sure, but not in this game.”

“No, there must be a way.”

A cramped smile formed on Park Yu-Min’s face.

‘Yup, and that’s one of your good points, Jin-Ho. You do what you want.’

Of course, as his friend, Park Yu-Min fully understood that this was how Kang Jin-Ho had always operated.

Unfortunately, not everyone was as understanding as Park Yu-Min, it seemed!

-WTF?! Did you really replace your brain with rocks?! Why do you keep rushing into where everyone is and get yourself killed?! You useless piece of **** mother******!

Kang Jin-Ho’s brows twitched ominously at the latest message.

Park Yu-Min urgently spoke to him. “T-turn off the chat window, Jin-Ho. Hurry.”

However, Kang Jin-Ho would never shy away from a fight!

At least he could understand his enemies trying to curse and insult him. And he was gracious enough not to raise his hands at the enemies cursing him after he killed them. Punching a corpse wouldn’t bring him much joy, after all!

However, what he couldn’t understand was allies insulting him! Like this gamer!

Kang Jin-Ho testily typed his reply.

-Do you have a problem?

...And the other player responded right away.

-Do I have a problem? No, it’s you who has a **** ton of problems, you piece of ****! Piece of ****, why do you keep playing like ****? Which dumb mother****** taught you to play *** like this?!

The game’s automatic swear filter had this mysterious power to piss off Kang Jin-Ho even more.

-Stop swearing.

-And what will you do if I don’t? Wanna have a go at me?

-Where are you?

-Gimme a break. You come here, and I promise you, you will be ****ting blood for weeks, okay? This big bro is not a little pushover, okayyyy? A little brat like you? I will send you to the netherworld with my pinky so that you can say hi to your great-great-great grandparents!

-I said, where are you?

-Wanna know? It’s Seocho-dong’s Wegen PC Room. Come if you have the balls.

Kang Jin-Ho opened the internet browser and typed in the name of the PC Room’s name on the search bar. And then...

“Mm?!”

His eyes dangerously flickered, while Park Yu-Min’s jaw fell.

“It’s... right next door?”

-I’m on my way.

-Sure, sure. Come if you dare, you piece of ****.

Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly pushed himself off the chair.

Naturally, Park Yu-Min freaked out. “J-Jin-Ho, wait! You mustn’t beat people up!”

“I’m not going to beat anyone up,” said Kang Jin-Ho flatly. Indeed, he only wanted to see the face of this player for himself. That was all!

A human being should have manners. How dare that fool insult someone’s family just because they weren’t sitting face-to-face? His rude behavior needed a bit of fixing, now didn’t it!

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Ju Yeong-Gi. “Let’s go.”

“Nice!” Ju Yeong-Gi cried out in excitement while shooting up to his feet. “Keuh-euh~! Good thing I stuck around! To think I’d experience something fun like this at my age! This is great, man. Great! It’s like I’m back in my old days.”

Unlike Ju Yeong-Gi, who was clearly raring to go, Park Yu-Min was freaking out even more.

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at his pale-faced friend. “You should stay here, Yu-Min.”

“N-no, I should go with you, too.”

“It’s better for you to stay.”

“If I don't go with you, you’re gonna cause a scene, Jin-Ho! That’s why I have to go with you, no matter what!”

Kang Jin-Ho groaned softly, then exited the PC Room. He confirmed the signboard ‘Wegen PC’ hanging on the next building, then rushed up that building’s stairs.

“H-hey, wait for me!”

Park Yu-Min hurriedly chased after Kang Jin-Ho.

After yanking the door open and stepping inside this Wegen PC Room, Kang Jin-Ho rapidly scanned the monitors, but there were too many people here for him to get a good look.

Realizing that it was impossible to find who he was looking for this way, Kang Jin-Ho furrowed his brow while raising his voice. “Who is nimeogarisunsak?”[1]

“Say what?”

A sharp yell came from deeper inside the PC Room.

“What the f*ck? This dumbass actually showed up? Do you want to die that badly? Actually, this is great. I was getting pissed off, you see? Imma beat your sorry ass up and... Eh?”

The man marching arrogantly toward Kang Jin-Ho stumbled to a halt as his jaw fell to the floor.

“A-Assembly Master?!”

Even Kang Jin-Ho’s eyes opened wider in surprise. “Yi Myeong-Hwan?”

“...”

“...”

The temperature in the Wegen PC Room suddenly dropped to below the freezing point for some reason just then.

1. That ID can be translated literally to “Your noggin will get deleted instantly.” Couldn’t think of a catchy way to shorten that, so here we are. ☜