Descent of the Demon Master

Vrooooooom!

“What in the blazes is going on here?”

Uncle Choi energetically stepped on the bus’s accelerator.

“I’m supposed to get a day off during weekends, so why…”

Even though he was grumbling, his expression wasn’t as unhappy. Then again, he was a freelancer, anyway. Or, a day laborer if he wasn’t being fancy about job descriptions!

Would there be such a thing as 'weekends' to a man subsisting on daily wages, though? If there was work, that would be his work day. No work? Then, that would be his weekend. And for Uncle Choi, who was a 'freelance' bus driver, weekends were usually the busiest time of the week, anyway. A tour bus usually saw more punters' bums during weekends compared to the middle of the week, after all!

Usually, Sundays for Uncle Choi should be booked solid by social clubs and school alumni associations wanting to go hiking on a mountain trail or visit a beachside resort. Today was different, though, and Uncle Choi had no bookings whatsoever.

What could he do when there was no work? Might as well kick back and relax at home.

‘Good thing I didn’t touch that booze!’

Since he had no work, and the weather was behaving nicely today… Uncle Choi had been seriously considering cracking open that bottle of soju. In hindsight, what a good thing he didn't!

Touching alcohol would’ve meant he’d miss out on this sudden booking, after all! He couldn’t drink and drive, now could he?

Also, what a good thing it was that his destination wasn’t too far from his own residence. It meant he didn’t need to break the speed limit while trying to get there. Since his hiring fee didn’t amount to much, getting a speeding ticket would put him firmly in the red for the day.

‘By the way… Why would that place suddenly require a bus today?’

Uncle Choi’s destination today was an orphanage.

Such an institution requiring the services of a bus wasn't surprising or uncommon. Unlike how things were like in the past, orphanages nowadays emphasized the importance of orphans experiencing society. With the government's help, these orphanages took the children in their care to various places to experience life-related programs.

Uncle Choi had never participated in a program like that before but still heard all about it from some of his bus-driving colleagues who went to orphanages to pick the children up.

‘I get all that, but why Sunday?’

He couldn't understand two things in this situation. The usual date reserved for such life-experience programs was either Friday or Saturday. The caregivers and tutors needed to take Sundays off to get some rest, after all.

Even if the orphanage had set up such a program for this Sunday, suddenly hiring a bus like this was still rather unusual. Wouldn't the normal thing be booking your transport several days in advance?

‘Well, it's not like I care, anyway.’

Uncle Choi's job was to drive the bus and get paid for it. He should be grateful for work when it looked increasingly likely that today would be an unproductive day for him.

Vroom…

Uncle Choi drove the bus a little more cheerily and eventually spotted a large building in the distance.

‘Is that it?’

Uncle Choi narrowed his eyes. The satnav said that building was his destination, but something didn’t quite feel right.

‘Why is the place so… clean?’

Indeed, the building looked way too pristine, as if it had been constructed not too long ago. Even at a casual glance, anyone could tell a lot of money was poured into the construction of that orphanage.

Of course, an orphanage using a new, expensive-looking building shouldn't be seen as strange. No one said that an orphanage must be dirt-poor, after all. However, Uncle Choi still found it odd because all the orphanages he saw until now happened to operate out of old buildings.

‘I guess the foundation running it is rich?’

That didn’t make much sense, though. Why would someone flush with cash start running a welfare foundation? No, that came out a bit wrong. A rich man running a welfare foundation sounded right. However, would someone like that be willing to splurge on a bunch of orphans he didn’t even know?

Screeeech…!

Uncle Choi stopped his vehicle some distance away from the orphanage. He then wordlessly exited it.

Click…

He mouthed a cigarette and lit it up with a lighter.

These days, one should be careful about where they smoked. It didn’t take a genius to guess that smoking was prohibited inside an orphanage, so a smoker like Uncle Choi needed to get his fill of nicotine ahead of time.

While savoring the unhealthy smoke, Uncle Choi glanced at the orphanage building, his gaze a little pensive.

‘A bunch of thieves.’

Once upon a time, he naively believed that orphanages were operated by only good people. However, now that he was a bit older and had gotten slightly wiser to the worldly ways, these filtered lenses covering his eyes didn't want to come off.

This world was filled with too many folks who lined their pockets under the guise of doing something good. Wasn't there a newspaper article recently about a foundation solely operated through donations holding a year-end bonus-giving party for its workers? And that some of them even enjoyed a worldwide cruise on top of that?

No one would want to see donations they made with altruistic reasons ending up in the pockets of some rotten foundation employees.

Sure, Uncle Choi understood that people needed to be paid their wages. Even so, the sight of the welfare foundation workers going on a cruise with the money meant for something else was not a good look.

“Tsk, tsk…” Uncle Choi roughly sucked in the cigarette smoke.

‘Yup, you can’t trust anyone in this world.’

It hadn't been that long ago when people trusted and relied on each other, yet it felt like everyone was getting more distrustful with every passing year.

Did that mean the world had become a heartless, immoral place, though? No, that couldn’t be it.

All the corruption in orphanages should have been worse in the past. It was just that no one bothered to dig up the truth and expose all the findings. Which meant there were no reforms to speak of.

With the media making a big fuss these days, and with more eyes watching everything now, the world was surely getting cleaner bit by bit, little by little. Even then, people's mistrust of each other bloomed even brighter. That seemed like a cruel trick of irony.

“Hah. I’m thinking of some weird things.”

Uncle Choi stubbed his cigarette and then climbed back inside the bus. The large vehicle chugged forward weightily while slipping past the orphanage's front gate.

Two more buses could be seen parked on the spacious athletic field just beyond the front gate. Uncle Choi glanced at his watch to confirm that he wasn't late and breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

He parked his bus in line with the other two buses and then climbed out of the vehicle.

‘Who am I supposed to talk to in this place?’

Uncle Choi shifted his gaze over to the people already present on the athletics field. That was when his brows arched up ever so slightly.

‘Huh?’

He could see orphans and a handful of adults who seemed to be caregivers and tutors. And something seemed a bit weird with these kids.

‘Huh? Isn’t this supposed to be an orphanage?’

Uncle Choi sneakily turned his head to glance at the building's entrance. He could clearly see 'Seongsim Orphanage' carved into the cement above the entrance.

‘Huh. Why are these orphanage kids… dressed so nicely?’

Maybe it was unfair to stereotype orphans this way, but… It was normal to think that orphans grew up in a less abundant environment than kids living in ‘normal’ households.

However, these Seongsim Orphanage kids were wearing clothes that didn't look worn down or dirty. As a matter of fact, these kids looked practically the same as every other kid commonly found everywhere.

Actually, that was not quite right. They looked… a bit better off?

‘That’s so weird…’

What reinforced the ‘bit better off’ impression was the expressions plastered on the faces of these kids. Seeing how bright and worry-free their smiles were, even Uncle Choi’s mood began improving without him realizing it.

‘Hah. I guess I was an idiot, eh?’

Uncle Choi chuckled good-naturedly.

Growing up without parents and within this institution didn't automatically mean these kids would be gloomy social outcasts. Uncle Choi was getting a first-hand lesson on that truth. Other than growing up in a slightly different environment, these kids were practically indistinguishable from their peers in the same age group.

Uncle Choi muttered quietly. “That’s nice and all, but who am I supposed to…”

“Come on, now! How long are we supposed to wait here? Huh?”

Uncle Choi’s gaze quickly shifted to his side.

‘What was that?’

One of the drivers who had arrived before Choi was unhappily raising his voice.

“I've been waiting for thirty minutes already! Let's get going already! Buses are here, so why do I have to wait like this? Every bus is supposed to go to different places, so why can't I depart a bit sooner?”

Uncle Choi frowned deeply.

‘What the f*ck? That punk!’

Drivers for hire, like taxi drivers, were considered a part of the so-called service industry these days. Even couriers were polite to their customers, so being polite and considerate to passengers should obviously be considered a crucial part of a driver-for-hire's skillset.

A person hired to do a job should never raise their voice like that to their customer. That rude driver should be well aware of this mantra, too. However, he was still being rude and obnoxious, indicating that he was looking down on these kids and the orphanage personnel.

‘Should I teach him a lesson?’

Uncle Choi scanned the rude driver from top to bottom. It was fairly easy to guess what that rude punk was thinking right now.

Since an orphanage wouldn't have the financial leeway to hire buses, the local government or another sponsor must've footed the bill this time. In that case, the rude driver probably thought he didn't need to be polite to the orphanage folks.

If not, he probably thought his job was simply to ferry passengers around and get paid for the troubles. People like him should absolutely not get a job in this industry, though! Either way, Uncle Choi couldn't just sit back and do nothing here.

‘One or two sh*theads like him are more than enough to mess up our industry’s image!’

So, so many bus drivers did their best to serve their passengers as politely and professionally as possible. However, public image was a fragile thing, and random idiots like this rude driver could easily shatter it into a million pieces.

Uncle Choi figured he shouldn’t leave this incident alone and decided to step up. But then…

“Can you please wait for a little longer? Some kids still aren’t finished getting ready, you see?”

One of the children politely addressed the rude bus driver.

‘Oh…?’

Uncle Choi reflexively nodded, impressed by the kid's forthright attitude. This girl was polite but was definitely not scared or cowering.

Unfortunately, the rude bus driver didn’t seem to agree with Uncle Choi’s assessment of the girl.

“How long are you going to make me wait?! If this is how you wanna play it, you better pay me extra or something, okay! You think a driver like me has all the time in the world to waste? Hey! Who's your supervisor here? I want to speak to that person!”

“What the hell? This brat...!” Uncle Choi scowled unhappily, unable to hold himself back anymore. Just before he could lose his temper, though…

The orphans began laughing for some reason.

‘Huh? They are… laughing?’

An adult was shouting at them, yet these kids were still laughing without a care in the world? Their laughter was a bit strange, too. How was Uncle Choi supposed to describe this subtle emotion contained in their laughter? It wasn't quite right to call it ridicule, but…

“Over there,” said one of the kids while pointing to a spot in the distance.

‘Mm?’

Uncle Choi’s eyes chased after the child’s pointing finger and… spotted a man near the orphanage’s outer wall. This man was squatting there, with a cigarette dangling between his lips.

‘Who the heck is that now?’

That man looked rather young. In fact, he seemed only a few days past his twentieth birthday. Even so, Uncle Choi reflexively nodded at the young man’s appearance.

‘Yup, that’s what I’m talking about.’

Look at that young man’s bedraggled hair. Look at his worn-out tri-stripe light-blue tracksuit! And the pair of cheap slippers that put the finishing touches to his get-up!

A young man with an appearance that screamed, ‘Yeah, I’m a local hoodlum,’ disinterestedly turned his head in the rude bus driver’s direction.

‘Well, that kid definitely looks like he belongs in an orphanage.’

That young man perfectly embodied the vague image of an orphan inside Uncle Choi’s head. Although it was unfortunate that he was a bit on the older side for an orphanage dweller, Uncle Choi was still prepared to award the young man 99 points out of 100 for effort alone!

“Oppa!” The girl from earlier called out to the young man.

“...Yeah?”

“This driver is looking for you, oppa!”

“Huh?”

“Hurry up and come over here!”

“Sure…”

The young man replied a couple of times without much energy or motivation before pushing himself up to his feet with a grunt. And then, while dragging his slippers, he trudged toward the group of waiting kids.

Once he got there, he glanced at the girl. “What now?”

“This driver wanted to speak to our supervisor,” said the girl.

“...Huh?” The young man glanced to his side.

Flinch!

The rude driver flinched a little when his gaze met the young man’s.

Uncle Choi frowned slightly.

‘Why did he flinch like that?’

He couldn’t readily understand that reaction. What was so frightening about locking eyes with someone?

‘No, hang on. I guess it makes sense to get scared.’

That young man looked like a local hoodlum, after all. Finding someone who fitted the bill so well roaming the streets nowadays wasn't as easy as it sounded. Even if the pretenders got the attire right, getting the 'right' sort of expression and all the hints of annoyance and languidness visible from mere gestures were practically impossible to imitate.

Hoodlums like this young man should not be provoked. They had nothing to lose, after all!

The young man scanned the rude driver from top to bottom, then casually asked, “Is there a problem here, mister?”

“...W-when are we supposed to set off?”

“That was your problem?” The young man asked back, evidently unimpressed by the nature of the complaint.

That seemed to hurt the rude driver’s pride, though, and he quickly raised the volume of his voice again. “Hey! If you’re gonna do something, hurry up and do it already! With how slow you all are, it’s no bloody wonder you brats are living in a crappy place like this! I don’t wanna speak to you, so call an adult over here! An adult!”

That was when the young man’s brows twitched ominously. He silently stared at the rude driver for a second or two before saying something.

“A crappy place, you say?”

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