Please Understand This, Part 1
Baek Cheon bit down hard on his lip.
What am I supposed to do?
Everyone had a reverse scale—some place that must never be touched. The moment it was struck, even the most composed person would bare a fury they could not control.
For Cheong Myeong, that reverse scale was clearly the Demonic Sect.
The problem was that Cheong Myeong’s reaction when that scale was touched was on a level no one else could even compare to. The moment he heard the words "Demonic Sect," he became someone else entirely.
Baek Cheon did not know why, exactly, Cheong Myeong reacted so violently to even hearing that name. But right now, understanding was not what mattered. Response was.
"Cheong Myeong. This is…"
Baek Cheon tried to say something, anything, to keep the conversation from tipping over, but Cheong Myeong’s cold voice cleanly sliced through his words.
"Answer me, Sasuk."
Cheong Myeong’s gaze was chilling.
"What do you mean, something appeared?"
The killing intent leaking from him was cold beyond measure. Even Baek Cheon, who knew that it was not aimed at him, shivered for an instant.
"Cheong Myeong. First, just… calm down."
"Answer first."
"Cheong Myeong."
For a moment, Cheong Myeong’s face twisted with rage. He was nearly at the point of exploding.
Then someone gently tugged at his arm.
Cheong Myeong turned his eyes toward the one holding him. Yu I-seol was staring at him intently, her expression as unreadable as always.
"Calm down."
"…"
"Calm."
At her unshaken, steady voice, Cheong Myeong finally let out a long breath of his own. The blood returned little by little to his tightly bitten lips.
"…Fine. I’m calm, so talk."
"…"
"Sasuk."
Baek Cheon let out a heavy sigh.
Keeping it hidden would not solve anything. In the end, Cheong Myeong would find out anyway.
Baek Cheon turned to Jo Geol, wordlessly telling him to explain. Jo Geol looked back and forth between Baek Cheon and Cheong Myeong before scratching the back of his head and speaking up.
"Uhh. Well… I don’t know the full situation yet either, but… it looks like an envoy came from the Evil Tyrant Alliance."
"The Evil Tyrant Alliance?"
"That’s what I heard."
Cheong Myeong’s eyes sank a little further.
"Go on."
"…The envoy said he wanted to see the Sect Leader and that he’d come to report that the Demonic Sect had raised its head in Jiangnan."
All the while he spoke, Jo Geol kept watching Cheong Myeong’s face. But it was hard to read anything from that expressionless stillness.
"And?"
Jo Geol shook his head.
"That’s all I heard. Sasuk Joonsaeng took him to the Sect Leader, so if they also brought up Patriarch Dang, they’re probably all together right now."
He glanced at Cheong Myeong once more, then muttered in a voice lacking confidence.
"So… if it’s something we need to know, won’t they tell us soon enough?"
"…"
Cheong Myeong said nothing for a moment, simply looking at Jo Geol and the other disciples before turning and starting to walk away. Baek Cheon shouted after him in a panic.
"Hey! Where do you think you’re going?"
Without looking back, Cheong Myeong answered.
"I’m going to check."
Fortunately or unfortunately, he did not say he was running straight to Jiangnan. But what he said next was enough to send Baek Cheon scrambling after him in horror.
"With the bastards from the Evil Tyrant Alliance."
"Hey, you mad bastard!"
Baek Cheon sprinted with all his strength and clamped a hand onto Cheong Myeong’s arm.
"Why the hell would you check with the Evil Tyrant Alliance, you idiot!"
"…"
"Just calm down for now! This isn’t something you can solve by charging in!"
"Charge in?"
Cheong Myeong turned to look at Baek Cheon. The instant their eyes met, Baek Cheon almost let go of the arm he was gripping. For a fleeting moment, Cheong Myeong’s eyes felt terribly unfamiliar. They were certainly Cheong Myeong’s eyes, and yet somehow not the ones he knew.
"Sasuk."
"Y-yeah?"
"Do you know what the Demonic Sect is?"
Baek Cheon closed his mouth.
Of course he knew. He had already lived through the Demonic Sect once.
But he could not answer that question. He knew that having seen the Demonic Sect a little more than others did not mean he could claim to understand its true nature.
"Let go."
"…No."
Baek Cheon shook his head, biting his lip.
"Not happening. You’ve lost your head."
"I said let go."
"Damn it! Why can’t you understand a single thing I’m say—!"
Baek Cheon grabbed Cheong Myeong by the collar just as he was about to bellow. But at that very moment—
"What are you doing!"
A loud bark of a voice drove into their ears. Baek Cheon flinched, loosened his grip on Cheong Myeong’s collar, and turned around.
Hyun Young was glaring at them with a face twisted in anger.
"You two are really making a fine mess of things."
"…Sasuk Joonsaeng, this is…"
Baek Cheon, suddenly at a loss for words, let the rest trail off. Hyun Jong, who did not bother hiding his own fury as he glared at the two of them, said coldly,
"Come with me."
When neither of them moved at once, Hyun Young clicked his tongue.
"The Sect Leader is calling for you."
Baek Cheon glanced sideways at Cheong Myeong. When the silent Cheong Myeong began walking toward Hyun Young, Baek Cheon finally let out a relieved breath and followed after him.
The other disciples, who had been holding themselves taut with tension, exhaled in unison as well.
Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, Jo Geol could not hide his unease as he looked to Yoon Jong.
"What happens now, Saje?"
"…I’m not sure."
Yoon Jong’s face, fixed on Cheong Myeong’s back ahead of them, was tighter than usual.
"For now, we need to meet the Sect Leader. We have to find out how things are unfolding."
"…Yes, Saje."
Hearing Jo Geol’s somewhat unsettled reply, Yoon Jong let out a short sigh.
A heavy silence settled over the room.
Dang Gun-ak sat beside Hyun Jong, whose face was darker than usual, while the leading figures of Mount Hua and the Tang Family gathered on either side.
What made the atmosphere in the room so heavy was not Hyun Jong or Dang Gun-ak. It was Cheong Myeong seated across from them. With his face locked in a hard expression and not saying a word, no one dared open their mouths first.
It was a scene that made plain just how much influence Cheong Myeong held over this Heavenly Friends Alliance.
"Alliance Leader."
"…Yes."
Perhaps sensing that the silence had stretched too long, Dang Gun-ak pressed him subtly. Hyun Jong finally spoke in a solemn tone.
"The Evil Tyrant Alliance has…"
He stopped again for a moment and closed his eyes tightly. Only after everyone had sighed two or three times did he continue.
"The Evil Tyrant Alliance has sent news of the situation. It seems those suspected to be of the Demonic Sect have appeared in Hangzhou."
"…The Demonic Sect."
Someone let the words escape like a groan.
Whether they stayed silent or breathed out a helpless sigh, their feelings could not have been all that different. The two characters "Demonic Sect" carried a weight that was anything but light for anyone.
Especially…
"The Demonic Sect…"
The reaction of the Mount Hua disciples was incomparably more intense than that of the Tang Family. That was only natural. Mount Hua’s feelings toward the Demonic Sect were necessarily complicated and dark.
"Was there anything else?"
At Hyun Sang’s question, Hyun Jong shook his head.
"For now, that was all, they said. They also said they would send any further details separately."
Hyun Sang nodded gravely. This time, Hyun Young spoke up.
"If that message came from the Evil Tyrant Alliance, it would have been Jang Il-so’s order, wouldn’t it? Can we really trust that? It may all be one of Jang Il-so’s tricks."
But Dang Gun-ak shook his head.
"The odds of that are not high, Elder."
"Why do you think so?"
"Because the place said to be in upheaval is Hangzhou."
Dang Gun-ak spoke as though forcing the words from lips that did not want to part.
"Those from Mount Hua should know this especially well. The Demonic Sect does not discriminate between martial artists and commoners. That is precisely why they became public enemies, is it not?"
Hyun Young nodded in silence.
But to be honest, he had not known those details all that well. Mount Hua’s decline had not merely made them forget their own history. It had also left behind very little information about the Demonic Sect.
"It’s Hangzhou. A place crowded with countless people. More than anything, Hangzhou is where people pour in from every corner of the world. If the Evil Tyrant Alliance’s report is true, then it won’t take more than a few days for that news to spread everywhere."
"Hmm. I see…"
"Jang Il-so wouldn’t bother with a trick so obvious it would be exposed at once."
Thinking Dang Gun-ak’s reasoning made sense, Hyun Young nodded.
Besides, if Hyun Jong’s account was accurate, the Evil Tyrant Alliance had not actually demanded anything in particular. They had merely reported the situation, had they not? No matter how much one detested Jang Il-so’s schemes, it was too early to suspect him outright.
"Then…"
At that moment, Tang Pae spoke with a somewhat reluctant expression.
"Doesn’t that mean the information they sent is likely to be true?"
"…"
No one answered him.
"Ahem."
Hyun Jong cleared his throat loudly to change the mood.
"In any case, that is the situation as we’ve received it. So… for now, I intend to inquire through the Beggars’ Union to confirm what is happening in Jiangnan, and then decide the alliance’s next course."
Everyone nodded. In this situation, it was clearly the only proper course of action.
But even after saying it, Hyun Jong still looked troubled. His gaze was fixed on one person seated across from him.
"Cheong Myeong."
At that quiet call, Cheong Myeong opened the eyes he had been closing and looked at Hyun Jong. His gaze had sunk to something almost eerie.
Hyun Jong let out a soft breath and asked,
"Do you have something else to say?"
Cheong Myeong remained silent for a while before answering one way or the other.
"I don’t know whether saying something will change anything."
Only after being called once more did he finally speak. His voice was sharper than usual.
"If you understood what the appearance of the Demonic Sect means, you wouldn’t say you’ll leisurely wait for information here."
"…What do you mean by that?"
"The Heavenly Demon does not distinguish between martial artists and commoners. You said that yourself."
Cheong Myeong’s gaze shifted to Dang Gun-ak this time. It had indeed been Dang Gun-ak’s words. Slowly, Dang Gun-ak nodded.
"…I did."
"Did you understand what that meant when you said it?"
Before Dang Gun-ak could ask back, Cheong Myeong spoke first.
"Today, it was Hangzhou."
"…"
"Tomorrow, it’ll be Suzhou."
Dang Gun-ak could not bring himself to say anything.
"After that, it’ll be Wenzhou, and then Fuzhou."
His voice held no warmth at all. But colder still was the meaning buried in those words.
"Villages will be erased."
Someone swallowed dryly.
"Cities will be erased."
"…"
"Everything living will be erased."
Hyun Jong’s fingertips began to tremble of their own accord.
"In that single day the Sect Leader says we should wait."
Cheong Myeong stared straight through Hyun Jong.
"Lives will be lost by the hundreds, not the dozens, but by the thousands."
"…"
"That’s why!"
Cheong Myeong’s voice rose for the first time.
"…There were those who fought with their lives on the line even while knowing that the people behind them were trying to cut their losses and run."
Grit.
The sound of Cheong Myeong grinding his teeth rang through the silent room.
"Cheong Myeong…"
"I’m not blaming you. I’m only asking you to understand, Sect Leader."
"…"
"Understand what the cost is for one day of standing still and waiting like that."
For a moment, Hyun Jong felt a wave of dizziness and closed his eyes.