Ungyu Sect Disciple, Baek Sang-ah (3)
Standing with his hands clasped behind his back, Sect Leader Un gazed down from Ungmudae, the highest point in Ungyu Sect.
The pond spread out beneath the platform was so clear it looked like glass, and even the red carp glimmering beneath the lotus leaves were visible through the water.
Before I knew it, lotus flowers had bloomed all across the pond.
Lotus blossoms symbolized stillness, the quiet peace of the water’s surface.
It was fair to say they symbolized Ungyu Sect itself as well—a sect tucked away by the sea, far from the mortal world, living in secluded silence.
“At first, it was only a gathering of mountain hermits, and who would have thought it could flourish like this? There’s still so much that’s lacking, but for some reason, with Senior Baek here, it feels like somehow it will all work out.”
Ungyu Sect had only just begun to resemble a proper cultivation sect.
From the body-tempering training grounds came the shouts of Qi Refining disciples, ringing out in fierce rhythm.
At Cheongsimnu, where mindfulness was cultivated, the place itself was quiet, but within its halls the disciples were strengthening their minds with unshakable resolve.
And Hyeongeuk, who had reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, was training in Ogak Hall to grasp the principles of the five elements, so the sect’s foundations were slowly taking shape.
“What a profoundly enlightened person she is.”
Of course, the humans were not the only ones who lived in Ungyu Sect.
In the lodgings just behind the main gate, mole demons lived there, and deeper inside the main compound stood the magnificent quarters of a beast-race cultivator suspected to be at least at the Nascent Soul stage—more luxurious even than the sect leader’s own chambers.
Beast-race cultivators and human cultivators were not supposed to get along, so this was the sort of scene that could only be found in Ungyu Sect.
Still, there are far too many things missing.
Even so, the sect still lacked people—far too many people.
Only nine human cultivators, and barely a dozen mole demons.
Since a sect’s strength and weakness were determined by both the number and the level of its cultivators, they needed some way to bring in more talent, even if only a little at a time.
What cultivator would ever want to join Ungyu Sect?
While Sect Leader Un was deep in thought, Dam So-dam soon climbed the stairs and approached him.
“Sect Leader!”
“What could be so urgent that you’re running about like this?”
Once she reached Ungmudae, Dam So-dam bent over, hands on her knees, gasping for breath before finally managing to speak.
“Sect Leader, you’re not leaving, are you?”
“What?”
“I-I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop on purpose. I went looking for you because I had something to tell you, and then I happened to overhear….”
“You mean the conversation Senior Baek and I were having?”
“Huh? Ah, yes. I didn’t catch all of it.”
Dam So-dam lowered her eyes, looking embarrassed.
Sect Leader Un narrowed his brow at her confession that she had been listening in, but he did not rebuke the girl.
He simply wasn’t in the mood for it right now.
“Hmph. I’ll let it pass this once, but from now on, don’t eavesdrop on adult conversations. If it had been anyone other than Senior Baek and me, your safety might have been at risk.”
“I’m sorry, Sect Leader.”
At that, the corners of Sect Leader Un’s mouth moved just barely.
“You say you didn’t hear everything? Then you must not know what Senior Baek said, either.”
“Huh? What did she say?”
For a moment, Sect Leader Un’s brows twitched as he recalled Baek Sang-ah’s words.
“She said that what a baby shark needs isn’t a big shark with sharp teeth, but a mother shark.”
It sounded simple enough on the surface, but Sect Leader Un found countless layers of meaning hidden within it.
Of course, Baek Sang-ah had not intended any deep significance at all.
When the speaker has no intent, the listener may still find meaning. It was only natural for a cultivator, who could pry dozens of meanings from a single principle.
“Senior Baek may seem simple-minded at a glance, but when you look closely, she’s truly a profound person, isn’t she?”
“W-What does that mean?”
Dam So-dam blinked repeatedly, clearly unable to follow him.
“Even if I don’t have the strength to protect all of you, she is saying that you still need this old man.”
“O-Of course you do. Sect Leader Un, you’re practically the father of all the disciples and me.”
Sect Leader Un nodded.
“Yes. These are the children I took in—who else would I entrust them to? Since that person refused the position of sect leader, what I must do is care for all of you until this old life runs its course.”
Dam So-dam listened quietly, then suddenly seemed struck by curiosity and asked, “Then what about sister? What does she plan to do?”
A petal drifted through the wind. The pale pink blossom danced in the air before landing lightly on Dam So-dam’s shoulder.
Sect Leader Un said, “She said that being the foremost white shark of Ungyu Sect would be enough. If those were her words, then they must have some meaning.”
Dam So-dam pinched the lotus petal resting on her shoulder between her index and middle fingers and muttered softly, “It sounds like something sister would just say without thinking….”
The two of them—no, the two people speaking of one shark—could not have seen her in more different ways.
……
……
……
A few days later.
Baek Sang-ah was floating lazily on her back in the central pond before the main hall of Ungyu Sect.
The hem of her white robe had soaked through, revealing glimpses of her pale skin, and her plump tail twitched idly beneath the water.
Then Inyeong’s voice echoed in her head.
[You fool, why in the world did you agree to such a proposal?]
Huh?
[The vessel of this place is far too small to contain one such as you.]
It seems bigger now. They built new buildings, and it’s super-duper huge. Just like me.
[That is not what I mean! If you, who received my instruction, left this place at once, you could go to the foremost sect of the Sea Dragon Clan. Why remain in such a place that offers you nothing?]
At the bear phantom’s roar, Baek Sang-ah’s shoulders gave a little twitch, and she slapped the water with her tail in obvious irritation.
Hmph. Do you really think the Sea Dragon Clan sect would accept this child’s talent and special traits? If anything, a secluded cultivation sect like this is better for focusing entirely on training.
[Nonsense! Is it not because of your crude method that this child has barely reached the middle stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm?]
Is it not true that a cultivator’s training goes far deeper than the crude cultivation of beast folk? Do you not know that the depth of that principle exists on an entirely different level?
And so, in Baek Sang-ah’s mind, a furious debate began between the manifestations of the Immortal Fighting Sage and the Great Immortal.
The two phantoms, having forgotten even the rules set by the homeowner, threw themselves into a joyous argument of I’m right, you’re wrong, making so much noise they might as well have been stomping on the floor above.
Amid that strange situation—outwardly calm, inwardly chaotic—Baek Sang-ah thought, Internet broadcasting must be really hard. This must be what it feels like to get donations, huh?
It was so similar to a voice popping up at random, telling her what to do and how to do it, then judging every action she took.
But unlike internet broadcasting, where the streamer could block viewers, Baek Sang-ah could not.
Especially since the two voices nagging her now were the manifestations of immortals whom all cultivators were supposed to serve, which made it even more troublesome.
Still, there was one fortunate thing: Baek Sang-ah had found a way to ease the residents’ noise complaint.
“There’s a mole.”
That was to simply ignore it.
That happened because a mole demon had just burst up through a hole in the ground in front of the pond.
“Eek! Eek!”
Ordinary animals had no facial expressions and their emotions did not shift much, so it was hard to tell what they were feeling.
But as a beast-race cultivator, Baek Sang-ah could gauge the emotions of other beasts through their consciousness.
The mole, who had urgently burst out of the earth, brushed dirt from its snout and rushed over in a hurry.
It had a wooden token in its hand.
Written on the wood were the words:
Help!
Baek Sang-ah squinted one eye and examined the intent radiating from the mole demon.
The feelings she sensed there were fear, terror, and anger. What that meant was simple.
“A labor member has disappeared?”
One of the mole demons had gone missing.
The mole holding the wooden token—whom Baek Sang-ah decided to call Deoji—nodded frantically.
After Baek Sang-ah finished speaking with Deoji in the language of animals, what she learned was this:
“Eek.”
“Kraang, kraang.”
Deoji and the other labor comrades had been digging the earth as usual, eating the essence hidden within the soil.
“Eek!”
“Kraang, kraaang.”
But when they’d finished their quota for the day and returned to their lodgings in Ungyu Sect, hadn’t the group of five mole demons somehow become only four?
“Kiiiiing!”
“Krrng, kraang.”
So Deoji had taken matters into his own paws and started digging through the earth to find the missing comrade, but no matter how hard he searched, the one in question never appeared.
“Kiiiing!”
“Krrng?!”
After digging through the ground for a long while, he finally found a clue left by the missing mole—but, maddeningly, that clue was on land.
The trail of the labor member had abruptly broken off on dry ground, in a dark cave of all places, and the case had quickly plunged into mystery.
More importantly, mole demons almost never went aboveground.
In other words, if the trail ended there, something had happened.
“It’s a case. This is.”
Baek Sang-ah’s eyes flashed in a cross-shaped glint.
The time had come for her plump tail and her detective pouch to get to work.
She climbed out of the pond, flicked the water from her body with a spell, and crouched down in front of Deoji.
“Get on my shoulder, Comrade Deoji.”
As a fellow labor comrade and a comrade who had once dreamed of revolution, she couldn’t pretend not to know Deoji.
She lifted the tiny mole demon onto her shoulder and said, “Comrade Rangi.”
Then—
“Kruuung!”
Rangi, the giant tiger demon whose body had grown even larger than before, leaped down from the roof of Ungyu Sect’s main hall and stood before Baek Sang-ah.
Baek Sang-ah quickly climbed onto Rangi’s back. Deoji rode on Baek Sang-ah’s shoulder.
She said, “The truth is always only one. So we’ll find it soon.”
“Eek!”
“Roar!”
“We’re off.”
Of course, Baek Sang-ah still needed more manpower, so on the way she did not forget to stop by Cheongsimnu and replenish the force behind her search.
“Wait, Senior Baek? Lady Rangi?”
Hyeongeuk, who had been given no explanation whatsoever, widened his eyes in shock as he was seized by Baek Sang-ah and hauled up onto Rangi’s back.
“You looked idle.”
“W-What is going on?”
Thus, with the addition of the bewildered Hyeongeuk, the Red Labor Search Squad was formed to find the missing mole demon.
No way—Lady Rangi is carrying me!
Simply being allowed to ride on Rangi’s back made Hyeongeuk agreeable to everything.