We’re the Ones Not Beside Him (1)
The river simply flowed on.
No matter what happened in the world, the river only moved with quiet dignity. What changed was the person standing watch over it.
Cheong Myeong sat alone by the riverside, fully exposed to the wind blowing in off the water.
To his right sat the usual snow-white wine jug, but unlike always, it was still full, taking up space by itself in lonely silence.
He had even refused the wine. He only stared wordlessly across the river. The depths of his lowered gaze were so dark that it was impossible to guess what he was thinking.
Slowly, he dragged a hand over his face.
Only when his palm stopped at his jaw did Cheong Myeong lower the hand marked with scars and wounds, then stare down at it absently.
And before he knew it, a short laugh escaped him.
When he had first returned to this world, how startled had he been to see those small, unscarred hands of his? And yet, not many years had passed before they had become no different from the hands of the Plum Blossom Sword Saint in his past life.
It left a bitter taste in his mouth, as if life itself were telling him that people never really changed.
After staring at his own hand for a long while, Cheong Myeong once again turned his gaze across the river, as if drawn there.
Even while he sat there, his stomach felt as if it were being torn apart. Just imagining that those cursed bastards were on the other side made his mind go blank and his chest boil with fury.
Cheong Myeong pressed a rough hand hard against his own chest.
Have I changed?
Had he really become different from before?
Maybe the answer was yes. The Cheong Myeong of the past would never have sat here so quietly. The moment he heard the words Demonic Sect, he would have thrown aside everything around him and crossed the river with his own eyes set on the situation.
But the Cheong Myeong of now sat here, motionless.
So could he say he had changed from the past? Truly?
What the hell is...
Before he knew it, blood had seeped from his bitten lip.
What the hell changed?
If he had truly changed, then it shouldn’t feel like this. He shouldn’t feel as though his soul was being ripped apart just from hearing the two words Demonic Sect.
The fact that this deep-rooted hatred he felt toward them had not changed meant, in the end, that Cheong Myeong had not moved even a single step beyond that wretched past.
But... how was he supposed to move beyond it?
How the hell was he supposed to forget it?
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw them one by one—those who had died frozen to death in the cold of the 100,000 Great Mountains, unable even to close their eyes before they died. He could almost feel the hearts of those who had to meet their end without leaving behind so much as a trace.
How could he possibly change?
Cheong Myeong quietly clenched his knees.
His nails dug into his flesh, but he didn’t even feel the pain. He simply gritted his teeth and stared somewhere across the river.
And not all that far away, the O Sword were watching him intently.
Jo Geol, unable to hide his unease any longer, glanced sidelong at Baek Cheon. But the moment he saw Baek Cheon’s expression, he swallowed back the words that had nearly burst out of him.
There was no way he could speak to his frozen, ice-cold sahyung like this.
“What?”
But Baek Cheon must have noticed Jo Geol’s hesitation, because he spoke first.
“If you’ve got something to say, say it.”
“No, it’s just that...”
After a moment’s hesitation, Jo Geol spoke carefully.
“...if we’re going to stop him, wouldn’t it be better to get a little closer, sahyung?”
“...”
“If that bastard makes up his mind and starts running for the river, there’s no stopping him.”
Baek Cheon’s brows twitched slightly.
“And if you go closer, do you think you can stop him?”
“That’s...”
Jo Geol shut his mouth.
Baek Cheon wasn’t wrong. Even if they surrounded him, if Cheong Myeong truly set his mind on it, there was no way to stop him.
With his skill, he could break through the combined efforts of everyone here and still force his way out.
“No... still...”
Jo Geol kept sneaking glances toward the place where Cheong Myeong sat, clearly unwilling to give up.
“Honestly!”
At that moment, Dang So-so could not hold back any longer and raised her voice.
“Why is sahyung like this?”
“...”
“The Demonic Sect. I know. It’s hateful. The Dang Family was almost destroyed because of the Demonic Sect, too. There isn’t a single martial artist in the world who doesn’t hate them.”
“So-so.”
“No. Of course I know Mount Hua suffered the worst because of the Demonic Sect. But... Mount Hua has already overcome most of those old wounds, hasn’t it?”
“...”
Jo Geol closed his mouth without answering.
“Then why is sahyung acting like this? What kind of grudge does he have against the Demonic Sect that the moment he hears their name, his mind just about flies out of his head?”
“Enough.”
Baek Cheon cut her off in a firm voice.
Dang So-so stared at him with a face that said she could not understand any of this.
“The one who got angriest over sahyung’s incomprehensible behavior was sahyung, wasn’t it?”
“...It isn’t because his behavior is incomprehensible.”
Baek Cheon paused, then bit his lip lightly.
“Everyone has their own story. And everyone has a reverse scale they can’t let others touch.”
“Then he should just tell us.”
When Dang So-so grumbled, Baek Cheon looked at her quietly.
“Do you tell us every single story you have? Every thought you’ve ever had?”
“That’s...”
Dang So-so’s words trailed off.
Of course she didn’t. Every person had something they could not reveal to others. Even if those others were family. No, perhaps especially if they were family, there were still things one could not show.
Baek Cheon said evenly, “I don’t care in the slightest what you did before you came to Mount Hua.”
“...”
“If someone has to know every thought and every piece of their past before they can understand that person, then that isn’t understanding. It’s just pretense wearing the name of understanding.”
“...Then why did you get so angry?”
Baek Cheon losing his temper over Cheong Myeong was nothing new. But everyone here knew that this had been the first time he had truly been angry at Cheong Myeong from the heart.
Baek Cheon looked at Cheong Myeong’s back and said, “...It’s not because I don’t understand.”
There was anger again, briefly flashing across his profile.
“It’s because he’s the kind of bastard who won’t even try to make others understand. He’s the kind who decides he can’t explain it, can’t make anyone understand it, so he’ll just shoulder everything himself. That attitude is what pisses me off.”
“...”
“If he’d just said, ‘I don’t care about the reason, I’m not going to explain anything, so shut up and follow me to Jiangnan,’ I might have cursed him out a bit—but I would’ve followed him without hesitation.”
At those words, Yoon Jong and Jo Geol nodded immediately.
Baek Cheon let out a small sigh, then said, “My family is in Zhongnan.”
The statement came so abruptly that everyone looked at him with slight surprise.
“My father is an elder of Zhongnan, and my brother is their chief disciple. But that bastard would’ve mocked me with it, sure—he never once used it against me. He’d bare his teeth and have a fit just hearing Zhongnan mentioned, but because I’m a Mount Hua disciple, he never cared about my past at all.”
Yoon Jong exhaled slowly and said, “...Wasn’t that only natural, sahyung?”
“Then let me ask you this.”
Baek Cheon turned to him with a serious face.
“If my family were in danger, and I ran to Zhongnan Mountain to protect Zhongnan—if my family were murdered by someone and I ran to Zhongnan to take revenge—what do you think that bastard would have done?”
“Well...”
There was nothing to think about.
The Cheong Myeong they knew would have drawn his sword and charged up Zhongnan Mountain before Baek Cheon even asked for help. They were Baek Cheon’s family before they were Zhongnan people. His blood relatives.
And the same was true for the others here.
“He would have. Of course he would have.”
“...”
“And yet that obvious thing... that perfectly obvious thing, he never asks it of us.”
At that, everyone fell silent.
“What I’m really angry about, what I’m worried about, isn’t that that damned idiot might go and get himself killed doing something stupid. It’s that when he does something stupid and gets himself killed...”
Baek Cheon bit down hard on his lip.
“...I’m not there. We’re not there.”
“...”
“I... yes. That’s what makes me angry.”
Blood vessels stood out sharply in Baek Cheon’s clenched fists.
Watching him, Dang So-so slowly lowered her head.
“...I’m sorry, sahyung.”
“No... no, there’s nothing for you to apologize for.”
In the end, even Dang So-so’s words had come from worry for Cheong Myeong. Everyone knew that, and no one would blame her for it.
“He’s like a child.”
Yu I-seol, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke in her usual blunt tone. She always sounded more or less like this, but for some reason, today there was a faint edge to her voice.
“Stupid.”
“...”
Baek Cheon only let out a long, helpless sigh in silence.
Damn bastard.
He knew it. He knew that the way they looked at Cheong Myeong and the way Cheong Myeong looked at them were not the same—that there was a difference in temperature there.
He knew it, but this was the first time that difference had been laid so bare.
That vivid disparity made Baek Cheon feel like he could no longer bear it.
“Sahyung.”
Then Yoon Jong spoke. Unlike the others, whose faces were anxious and uncertain, his gaze remained calm and clear.
“May I ask you something?”
“...What is it?”
“Going to Jiangnan right now is an extremely dangerous matter. We cannot guarantee anyone’s life.”
“Right. Of course that’s...”
“And the one thing Mount Hua cannot afford to lose is not Cheong Myeong alone. In the present Mount Hua, perhaps the person more important than that bastard is sahyung himself.”
At that, Baek Cheon closed his mouth.
“So I’ll ask you plainly. If Cheong Myeong tells you to come with him to Jiangnan, what will you do? Will you walk straight into that death trap after him?”
Baek Cheon thought he understood why Yoon Jong’s gaze was the only one that remained so clear.
While everyone else was looking at Cheong Myeong’s troubled back, Yoon Jong alone was coldly looking at Mount Hua’s future. That was why he was asking Baek Cheon this question.
So there was no way to answer it carelessly.
“I...”
Just as Baek Cheon’s lips were about to move—
“Sect Leader is coming!”
At Jo Geol’s urgent cry, everyone turned around. Hyun Jong was approaching with Hyun Sang and Hyun Young at his side.
The O Sword postponed their conversation and bowed to Hyun Jong.
“We greet the Sect Leader.”
“...”
Hyun Jong received their greeting with only a small nod. His expression, unlike usual, was tightly frozen.
His gaze had already passed over them and come to rest on Cheong Myeong’s back.
After staring that way in silence for a moment, Hyun Jong strode forward.
The O Sword stood stiffly, not knowing what to do, until Hyun Jong’s low voice reached their ears.
“You all should follow as well.”
“...Yes, Sect Leader.”
The O Sword set their faces and followed after Hyun Jong toward Cheong Myeong.