Descent of the Demon Master

The Master of the Round Table silently stared outside the plane's window.

Not too long ago, all he could see were the endless expanses of blue skies pockmarked by drifting white clouds. But now? His eyes could only see all the man-made structures densely packing the landscape below.

'It's been a long time…'

He couldn't remember the last time he got on a plane like this.

The Round Table's purpose of global stability meant its executives' view must encompass the entire planet. In reality, though...

Knights and the Master of the Round Table almost never left their own home countries. Events requiring their hands-on approach were rarer than hen's teeth, after all. So rare was the sight of the Master going somewhere that some people in the organization jokingly said the most useless expense in the Round Table's annual budget was the maintenance and repair cost for the Master's private plane!

As such, it would've been understandable for the Master to get excited about his first international trip in such a long time. However, he was in no mood to enjoy his current situation.

For regular people, getting on a plane for a risky journey to an exotic locale might feel like an exciting adventure, but not for the Master. Only a grave matter would be enough to force him to leave his home, after all! That was why feeling excited about going to another country was out of the question for someone like him.

The Master furrowed his brow a little while scanning the endless ocean of gray buildings below.

This would be the Master's first visit to that country… A country that, in his mind at least, was nothing more than a minor player wedged in between China and Japan.

'And that's such an outdated mindset…'

Of course he knew reality wasn't like that. He understood that he must stop underestimating South Korea as a nation.

However, he spent his entire life observing China and Japan represent the might of East Asia's martial societies. Breaking down and rebuilding the perception of a man like him was never going to be a simple affair.

At least the Master could thank this knowledge for helping him accurately diagnose his current condition.

'I've gotten too old.'

The Master knew he had gotten too old now. And no, he didn't strictly mean his age. One's physical age didn't mean much to a top-tier martial artist, anyway.

No, the Master evaluated himself as "too old" because he found it harder and harder to accept new concepts and realities lately.

The world was changing at a break-neck pace. However, back when he first took on the Master's position? The changes weren't this fast. Of course, that still meant he had plenty of new things to learn back then. And plenty more caused him countless headache-filled days, too. Even so, the flow of worldly events still maintained a pace he could follow without any issues.

However, things were no longer the same. The pace of changes had finally surpassed what the Master could keep up with. Changes that would have taken years in the past only needed less than a year now. In fact, he'd sometimes wake up in the morning to find out that the world had changed overnight.

No wonder he thought it was getting harder to stay up-to-date with everything. In fact, the Master was… beginning to feel the toll on his mind.

'It must've been the same story for my predecessors, too.'

No one would willingly admit that they had gotten old. And that included the Master, too. The resignation of needing to acknowledge his age and the lingering desire to continue with his role co-existed uneasily inside him.

All the predecessors must've felt this way while handing down the Master position to their replacements. Unwilling, thinking it's too early, yet knowing it had to be done. After all, it'd be too late to hand over the position by the time the Master realized they could no longer keep up with the demands of the role.

Then again, such a mindset was expected of the people occupying the position of the Master of the Round Table.

Only those with a calm, logic-driven mind could become a Master. As such, each Master understood full well they must hand the position over to someone younger before they got too old to do an effective job.

The previous Master succeeded in doing that, but not the current one. That was perhaps the biggest difference between him and his predecessor.

'A successor, is it…?'

The predecessor enjoyed the existence of a successor to whom he could entrust the role of the Master of the Round Table. Moreover, it was a successor he could take his time teaching the ropes, too.

However, what about the current Master? Didn't he fail spectacularly in nurturing his successor?

'...Wiggins.'

Merely recalling that name made the Master's body sag like a wet sponge.

Wiggins betrayed the Master. He cast aside everything he had and everything he could have had.

Didn't he already boast the prestigious, glorious status as a Knight of the Round Table? And he also stood a decent chance of becoming the next Master!

Even if Wiggins was still lacking in many areas, the Master still saw him as the strongest candidate for the Master position, didn't he?

The Master narrowed his eyes while scanning all those densely packed buildings. This was the region Wiggins chose after throwing away everything that made him, well, him.

What the Master could see here was vitality. Vitality he couldn't see back in his hometown seemed alive and kicking in this place.

A city still expanding and growing, and a country that was also growing...

'I have to admit, this isn't… exactly the most heartwarming sight, now is it?'

Recognizing that something you lost over time was now with somebody else was always going to be a bitter pill to swallow. It'd subconsciously make you remember the glory of the past you could never get back.

The Master thought he could figure out why Wiggins abandoned the Round Table and chose South Korea instead without hearing the reason from the horse's mouth.

After all, stability… could be one of the most boring things in the world.

The Round Table's system was time-tested and complete. Not perfect, but still complete in its own right.

Obviously, no system created by humanity could claim perfection. Still, the Round Table's system had gone through extensive corrections, numerous modifications, and additions over the centuries until no more could be done to improve it. In short, it was as complete as a system of governance could be.

In a "perfected" system like that, even people would become the cogs of a machine. However, people were unstable. Even those with the most rock-solid rational minds would still get taken over by their emotions at times. That was what being a human entailed, after all.

The Round Table demanded its members to cast aside such emotions, however. It demanded its people to be even more perfect than anyone. Even more rational. And be fairer. And that was why…

'...It can also be quite suffocating.'

Even the Master was not spared from this system. After all, it was meant to control everyone's behavior.

Under the Round Table's all-encompassing system, even its leader was reduced to nothing more than a cog in the massive machine's operations.

The Round Table offered honor and glory to its people… for the price of their freedom.

The Master didn't ask for the Round Table's approval for this trip to South Korea. He simply used his privilege. And that was perhaps the most notable deviation from the "script" the Master had ever done since joining the organization.

Something as innocuous as a visit to another country was a cumbersome process for a member of the Round Table, including the Master. In that case, how much worse would it be for everyone else?

All those people who knew about the Round Table… And all those people who wished to join the Round Table… They all dreamed of becoming the Master one day. However, how would they react after learning the truth about this position?

A strange smirk floated up on the Master's face when his thoughts reached that far.

This was why the Master could never hate Wiggins. Resent him? Yes. But definitely not hate.

Wiggins was still too young to handle the incredible weight of the Master position, not to mention the stifling lack of freedom. It was possible that what Wiggins wanted wasn't a new life, a new start, but… A new system.

The Master thought he could understand after taking in the view of this city. As far as his eyes could see, the city below was a hodgepodge of everything. The way it looked indicated there wasn't any discernible order to things. And only the vitality-fueled chaos ran rampant in this place.

That was why it had a future.

The younger generation sometimes wanted something incomplete over something stable. Rather than integrate with an already perfect system and coast along, the young people wished to create something new, something better, with their own hands.

That was why the Master could guess the motivation for Wiggins abandoning the Round Table and choosing a region still in turmoil.

Wiggins should know that creating something new was not as easy as it sounded on paper. An ideal was just that, an ideal. And someone chasing after ideals was bound to fail at overcoming the wall of reality and eventually would get consumed by despair.

Reality wasn't kind enough for an idealist to achieve their dreams and goals. There was a reason why so many people starting off as dreamers and idealists eventually became jaded realists.

Obviously, Wiggins should know all this. As a Knight of the Round Table, he must know about the harshness of reality better than anyone. At least, that was what the Master thought.

In that case, didn't Wiggins' presence here indicate that, even after taking all those things into consideration, he still saw enough worth in this place for him to mount a fresh challenge?

The Master wanted to see what that worth was for himself. To confirm what was so special about this country!

He wanted to find out what formed the basis of the Martial Assembly's continued growth and South Korea's capacity to shock the world. Or, if he were to stop beating around the bush…

'I will meet Kang Jin-Ho and see for myself!'

The naked truth was that… The Master wished to confirm who or what Kang Jin-Ho was, not what this country had to offer.

The Master silently clutched at his chest.

'Hmm. I'm not acting my station.'

What needed to be acknowledged should be acknowledged.

The Master was fully aware that this boiling blood in his heart contained his pride as a man. Why was his blood boiling like this, though?

That was because Wiggins did not acknowledge the Master. Or, more correctly, he gave up on the idea of walking in the Master's path. And chose to bet his future on a martial artist from a minor nation.

The Master's head understood it, but his heart didn't want to agree. What was better about Kang Jin-Ho? Just what did Wiggins see in that man that he'd willingly forsake the Master and the Round Table?

Holding on to emotions like these must not be allowed. The Master was well aware of that. Especially when he was about to face Kang Jin-Ho, a man who had proven beyond doubt that he must never be underestimated! Everything he had achieved served as indisputable proof.

At the very least, Kang Jin-Ho was the undisputed ruler of a country.

The Master must remember that he was about to deal with a man who was at least a ruler of a nation and perhaps even the entirety of East Asia. So, holding any type of preconceived hostility was absolutely prohibited.

He worked quite hard to suppress his competitive streak trying to rear its head whenever he recalled Kang Jin-Ho's face.

'Doesn't this mean… It's still safe for me to lead the organization?'

Being competitive against someone proved that the Master's heart still housed burning flames of passion.

The Master quietly massaged the bridge of his nose.

Since he was still passionate, now could be the best time to do this. Before those flames eventually petered out to nothing, while the Master was still capable of looking at something with ambition and passion…!

He must meet the monster called Kang Jin-Ho.

"Master, sir?"

That was when a polite voice called out to him. The Master erased all semblance of emotion from his face and looked up. With a mask covering his face already, he didn't really have to put on a facade like that. But it was like a ritual for him at this point.

"Sir, we'll be arriving in South Korea soon. The plane might experience slight turbulence."

"I see."

"If you're unhappy about something, please let us know."

The Master didn't say anything and simply nodded back, prompting the flight attendant to return to their post.

'Hmm… It might not be a bad idea to reduce the expenses.'

It felt like a waste of resources to maintain something that he only used maybe once or twice in many years. The Master pondered if he should get rid of his private plane once he wrapped up his business in Korea and went back.

After watching the plane fly past the city and reach the blue ocean, the Master closed his eyes and leaned against the seat.

'He should be waiting for my arrival…'

Would it be Kang Jin-Ho or Wiggins, though?

Since the Round Table informed the Koreans of the Master's arrival, there should be some kind of response from them. While wondering whose face he'd see after reaching the Korean airport, the Master grinned mysteriously.

'You better be at the top of your game, Wiggins.'

If… If South Korea and the Martial Assembly didn't match up to the Master's standards…! If he found that Wiggins and Kang Jin-Ho conspired to destroy East Asia's delicate balance out of petty ambition and desire…!

The Master swore not to hesitate in using his full power to subjugate the Koreans.

After all, that was the Round Table's method, wasn't it? Of course, there was no need for the upcoming meeting to be violent from the get-go, now was there?

The Master glanced at the cooler box next to him and chuckled slightly.

'I hope he likes my gift, then.'

The Master thought about the perfect gift to bring to Wiggins and eventually settled on the pale ale. He heard that the Korean beer didn't taste all that great, so Wiggins should be glad to have some proper ale from home.

'And I hope what's about to happen will be worth the value of this gift, Wiggins.'

The Master smirked deeply.