Alone Against All
"Those three are trash!"
Beom Undae ground his teeth as he watched the scene unfold from within the crowd, and with every passing second his gaze grew darker, more venomous.
"Hmph. Fine then, Yeop Pung!"
With that roar he shoved his way out of the throng. Every eye followed him as he stepped forward to provoke Yeop Pung once more.
"Tell me — what did those three say today that was wrong? Weren't you the one who used to swagger around like the world belonged to you, arrogant beyond all measure? Years have gone by, and far from reflecting on any of it, you've only grown more vicious. The filth that just came out of your mouth was enough to make anyone want to cover their ears. Is that how you treat your fellow disciples?"
"That's right.... We almost let Yeop Pung overwhelm us!"
The crowd stirred, snapping back to their senses.
Yeop Pung had been far too arrogant. For a moment they had forgotten that all of this had been his fault to begin with. They'd only chimed in with a word or two — what was so wrong with that?
Beom Undae drove straight at that point, determined to bury Yeop Pung's name completely.
"Yeop Pung, if you'd sincerely apologized to everyone today for your past mistakes, things never would have come to this. Instead you come out acting like you're above us all — are you trying to make every last one of us despise you?"
Beom Undae was a truly repulsive creature. He couldn't crush Yeop Pung with force, so he meant to destroy his reputation instead — to make sure Yeop Pung could never again set foot in the Cheonun Sect with his head held high.
"Yeop Pung, if you truly wanted to be accepted by all of us today, this is not how you should have acted! An insolent, savage brute like you ought to spend the rest of his life facing a wall in repentance!"
Stirred by Beom Undae's incitement, a fresh wave of condemnation erupted from the crowd.
Yeop Pung stood as if caught in a tidal wave. In that instant he seemed to have become the enemy of every person present. Anyone else would already have crumbled under the pointing fingers of a thousand people. They wouldn't have dared remain standing where he stood.
But Yeop Pung only smiled — a cold, thin smile — and arched an eyebrow. He looked across at Beom Undae, then at every face arrayed against him, and spoke in a low voice.
What?
The crowd blinked, bewildered.
The cold on Yeop Pung's face only deepened.
"Who ever said I wanted your recognition? Whether I face a wall in repentance or join the hunting tournament is none of your damn business!"
"Yeop Pung... you!!"
Beom Undae had never dreamed Yeop Pung would dare stand against more than a thousand people and simply ignore every last word of their condemnation.
"Me, what?"
Yeop Pung looked at Beom Undae with a gaze full of mockery.
"Beom Undae, the reason you stirred up this whole circus was to make everyone hate me, wasn't it? I'll be honest — I think you're impressive. Dragging even Yo Yeong-chun into this, a guy who can barely string a sentence together. Truly impressive...."
What? Every gaze in the crowd swung toward Beom Undae as one.
Had all of this been his doing? If so, that changed everything.
"Don't be ridiculous!"
Beom Undae, of course, could never admit it. He declared himself with righteous confidence.
"Yeop Pung, you are the one who earned everyone's wrath. And you're still making excuses? Do you dare claim you never bullied Mo Soo-mi in the past?"
"Yeah. I did."
Yeop Pung shrugged, admitting it without a hint of hesitation.
"I have no intention of standing here today and making excuses. Whether you hate me or like me, I don't care. It doesn't bother me. What happened in the past was my fault — that's true. If anyone still holds a grudge, come find me at Nagun Peak and we'll settle it. I'll take you on anytime. But stop chopping the story in half and slinging mud. You hear me, Beom Undae? If you've got something to say, say it with your fists like a man."
With that, Yeop Pung turned on his heel and walked back to where he'd been standing. He lifted his face to the sky and said nothing more.
This... that was it?
Beom Undae was at a loss for words. Everyone else was equally bewildered.
How had it all fizzled out so blandly?
Moments ago everyone had been condemning Yeop Pung. And somehow, after a few words from him, they'd all been struck dumb.
But Yeop Pung had already drawn the line: anyone with a grievance could come fight him. Anyone who kept running their mouth after that would look like anything but a man.
Damn it. This was infuriating.
Beom Undae in particular ground his teeth at Yeop Pung's composure. He'd dug the trap himself — and Yeop Pung's unexpected response had left him the one flustered.
What was done was done. But a grudge... a grudge could not be forgotten.
Yeop Pung was not the sort of man who let things slide. Beom Undae had chosen his own ruin. Whatever came for him now, he would have no one to blame but himself.
I should have finished that bastard off six years ago.
Cheonun Square was still in an uproar. Even after Yeop Pung had fallen silent, the talk about him showed no sign of dying down.
Today, everyone had witnessed Yeop Pung's arrogant, audacious temperament firsthand. Standing alone against more than a thousand people was not something just anyone could do.
Amid the unending mockery and laughter, a massive flying boat suddenly appeared in the distant sky.
"Look at that!"
Someone shouted.
The vessel stretched a full hundred feet from stem to stern. Its design was crude and simple — a deck and a cabin two stories high, nothing more. But the oppressive weight of Profound Qi pouring off it was vast as a mountain and deep as the sea, enough to steal the breath from everyone watching.
"It's our sect's Heavenly Spirit Flying Boat!"
A few disciples recognized the vessel at once — a symbol of the Cheonun Sect itself. At the prow stood six Cheonun elders of magnificent aura, and among them an unkempt, red-nosed Daoist held himself with brazen arrogance. He hadn't even touched the ground yet when his booming voice rolled out across the square.
Who was that?
The crowd was baffled. Since when had a figure like this appeared in the Cheonun Sect? He didn't even seem to be the Peak Master of any of the known peaks.
Only Beom Undae and Yeop Pung recognized him. Maeng Chang-haeng had come as their leader for this hunting tournament.
Yeop Pung was inwardly delighted. Now everything was perfect.
Beom Undae, on the other hand, felt like bursting into tears. That damn old geezer — he's basically Yeop Pung's nanny! How the hell did he end up here?
Everyone else was seeing this eccentric Peak Master of Nagun Peak for the first time, and they boarded the flying boat in quiet astonishment.
They had just finished bidding farewell to the disciples remaining in the square when an ear-splitting roar shook the air. The flying boat surged into the sky and left Mount Tianyun behind in an instant.
They were finally underway!
Every heart swelled with anticipation. The Autumn Hunting Tournament was truly upon them.
According to seniors who had competed in years past, it was not a contest so dangerous that you would lose your life. Even so, you had to contend not only with savage beasts but with young experts from across Fengsang Commandery, and accidents large and small never ceased from one year to the next.
From the Cheonun Sect, fewer than two hundred disciples returned unharmed each year. Just thinking about who would be the unlucky ones this time was enough to set every nerve on edge.
Aboard the spacious flying boat, the Cheonun disciples clustered in groups of three and five just as they had in the square. Many of them gathered around the dozen or so 5th Meridian Mysterious Realm powerhouses at the center of the formation, assembling their teams in advance.
Disciples who had always been popular — Wang Maeng and Beom Undae among them — drew even greater attention. Beaming faces flocked to their sides, a living measure of their standing.
Yeop Pung, as many had expected, was thoroughly shunned. He stood alone by the rail, and within ten feet of him there was not a single soul. People seemed reluctant even to look at him.
Yeop Pung, for his part, was glad of the quiet. He was turning over in his mind how best to make use of the time-travel opportunity two days from now when he felt something nudge his ankle.
"Hm? Bone? You came too?"
Yeop Pung looked down to find Bone staring up at him with a thoroughly displeased expression.
"Woof."
Bone gave a low bark and pointed toward the flying boat's only cabin, the meaning unmistakable.
"Peak Master Maeng wants to see you."
"Got it."
Yeop Pung followed Bone toward the cabin. There was no avoiding the stares along the way. People wondered why on earth that guy was being summoned by this baffling elder.
Don't tell me he's getting chewed out?
On the deck opposite the cabin, six Cheonun elders stood at ease along the rail. They seemed to have already come out on Maeng Chang-haeng's instructions. And one of them, to Yeop Pung's surprise, was an old acquaintance: Elder Han Un.
"Elder Han!!"
The moment Yeop Pung saw him, gratitude surged up from somewhere deep in his chest. He bowed in greeting from afar.
Han Un had secretly taught him the Raging Thunder Palm. Yeop Pung had carried that kindness in his heart ever since.
Han Un smiled at him from a distance but said nothing more. He simply watched Yeop Pung disappear into the cabin.
The moment Yeop Pung stepped inside, he was at a loss.
What in the world...?
In the rather cramped cabin, a pot of soup bubbled on the table, steam curling up in lazy ribbons. Maeng Chang-haeng was already seated, dipping chunks of meat into minced garlic and eating with unmistakable relish. Bone had darted to the table and was greedily wolfing down the beef meatballs from its own bowl.
So that was why the old man had looked so put out — they'd been interrupted in the middle of a meal!
Yeop Pung was speechless. Old Man Maeng was, from start to finish, a man no one could ever quite pin down.
Soup, at a time like this! Still... it smelled incredible.