Now the Sect Is Finally Running Properly! (4)
“...Hold your arm up properly.”
“...”
“Your arm!”
Cheong Myeong, whose arm had been slowly drifting down, shot it back up again. Seeing the deep scowl on his face, Hyun Jong let out a groan.
I don’t know how I ended up with someone like that.
To put it plainly, a man who could beat down even the Demonic Sect’s cult leaders had no reason to struggle over something as trivial as holding up an arm. If he wanted to, he could probably keep it raised for three months and fifteen days without breaking a sweat, yet there he was, putting on such a pitiful act that it made Hyun Jong’s insides ache.
“Cheong Myeong.”
“...”
“Cheong Myeong!”
“...Yessir.”
At the sight of those pursed, petulant lips, Hyun Jong clutched his chest as if his heart might explode.
“What on earth are you so dissatisfied about?”
“...”
“What could possibly make you so unhappy that you’re beating up your harmless grand-sajus? And not your sajils, either—your grand-sajus!”
“No, I mean...”
“They’re about to become elders of the sect! It’s not as though you don’t know better, either. If you keep going around flaying them alive in front of everyone else...”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying! That’s exactly what I’m saying!”
At that, Cheong Myeong’s eyes lit up. But Hyun Jong was not about to give him an inch.
“Don’t sneakily lower your arm. Lift it back up.”
“...Yessir.”
Cheong Myeong reluctantly raised the arm he had just tried to lower. Even so, his mouth never stopped moving.
“Seriously, Sect Leader! Does it make any sense at all that those guys are Mount Hua’s elders? They’re barely dry behind the ears!”
“...You’re the youngest one here, you know that...”
If they were barely dry behind the ears, then you were the one still bleeding all over the place. Cheong Myeong, I truly wish you’d realize how old you are...
“A sect has its solemn laws and rules, and those have to be upheld! No matter what the situation is, how can you let those green little punks get away with it? Tsk! Back in my day, it wasn’t like this!”
Without a word, Hyun Jong clutched his upper stomach.
Where did I put the stomach medicine?
Every time he talked to this boy, it felt as if his dearly departed master might burst out of his grave in outrage.
“The situation is what it is, isn’t it?”
Still, drawing on the patience he had cultivated over decades of practice, Hyun Jong coaxed and soothed him as best he could. It was the very picture of adult, dignified conduct, but Cheong Myeong shot back with his eyes blazing.
“Sect Leader! A situation is a situation! This time, we had no choice! But if you keep breaking the rules for reasons like this, then in the end the sect’s laws become lighter than a sheet of paper! Then the rules collapse! Morality collapses! The family collapses! The nation falls into ruin!”
“...Does that really go all the way to the nation’s ruin?”
“Of course it does! Why wouldn’t it!”
“...”
Cheong Myeong glared and went on.
“Sect Leader!”
“What now...”
“It’s not that I hate my grand-sajus or don’t trust them, all right!”
“Really?”
“Uh... well... to be completely honest, there is a little... some of that too...”
How honest. Yes, yes, a Daoist should be honest first and foremost. Our Cheong Myeong is quite the Daoist, isn’t he? Come to think of it, there was a time when I looked at you and thought you’d bring glory to Mount Hua’s name...
“In any case, what kind of sect is Mount Hua!”
“...What kind of sect, indeed?”
“It’s the grand Taoist sect Mount Hua! Mount Hua! A renowned sect of Shaanxi! A Taoist sect with history and tradition, that’s what!”
Hyun Jong’s hand tightened around his upper stomach. Had he ever imagined that, at his age, he would be bullied into becoming the grouchy old man himself?
“Huh? That Mount Hua! Huh? The one whose lineage was founded by bandits, and by bandits who founded it, no less! What kind of absurd family tree is that? And now you’re making youngsters who’ve barely even reached thirty the Sect Leader? Skipping over the proper generations and everything!”
“It’s Acting Sect Leader...” Hyun Jong muttered weakly. “Acting Sect Leader. Not Sect Leader...”
“That’s the same thing! Good heavens, I’ve lived long enough to see everything... If Mount Hua’s ancestors heard this in the immortal realm, they’d be saying Mount Hua isn’t being ruined by the Heavenly Demon at all, but by those bastards, and they’d kick open their coffins and come running straight here!”
“...It was fine when you entered the sect, though, wasn’t it?”
“What?”
“Ah, no. Cough.”
Hyun Jong cleared his throat awkwardly and, with a sigh, asked, “So what is it that you want to do?”
“You need to stop this ridiculous nonsense right now! How can you...!”
Hyun Jong stared at him with a hollow look in his eyes and asked, “Then if I ask you to do it, would you still lie down and oppose it to the very end?”
“Th-that!”
Cheong Myeong faltered for a moment and rolled his eyes around wildly. It wasn’t that he was avoiding Hyun Jong’s gaze because things were difficult; rather, a thousand different thoughts in his head had begun to war with one another.
“I would... no, even so... but then if Sect Leader says it... no, but still? Huh?”
“...”
“If... if you say so, then, um... I’ll obey. Um. Yes. I should obey. I’ll obey, but...”
As reason and instinct collided fiercely, white steam began to seep out of both of Cheong Myeong’s ears. Hyun Jong said in a voice laced with a sigh, “...You’re going to burst at this rate, Cheong Myeong.”
“Urgh... if you order me to, I have to obey.”
“...Thank you.”
Hyun Jong burst out laughing.
Every time he saw him, he felt it: this boy’s way of thinking was bizarre. How could a mad dog who lunged at every chance to bite people like Beop Jeong or Jang Il-so obey Mount Hua’s Sect Leader’s orders so faithfully? There were times when Hyun Jong even suspected it was some sort of compulsion.
Just then, Cheong Myeong muttered in obvious dissatisfaction. “But if I obey, don’t go thinking I’m doing it because I like it!”
“...I would expect no less.”
Even then, still unsatisfied, he began grumbling under his breath.
“If you’re the Sect Leader, then at least you should preserve the sect’s proper order. If you’re going to overturn the family tree yourself, how is that supposed to make any sense...”
“I can hear you.”
“Cough!”
Cheong Myeong looked away. Hyun Jong let out a long sigh.
Of course he understood. For all that he talked like this, Cheong Myeong would support Baek Cheon better than anyone else. The reason he had appointed the young Baek Cheon as Acting Sect Leader, and the reason he could resolve to hand over the Sect Leader’s seat as soon as possible, was entirely because he trusted Cheong Myeong.
If Cheong Myeong was there, Baek Cheon would never act rashly. And even if he made a mistake, it could still be corrected.
But the fact that Cheong Myeong’s dissatisfaction showed so clearly was a problem. It might have been overcautiousness, but since they would soon be leaving for Hainan, Hyun Jong wanted to settle this matter as much as possible before then.
“Cheong Myeong.”
Cheong Myeong pretended not to hear him. Hyun Jong called him again, gently this time.
“Cheong Myeong.”
“...Yes.”
Seeing that, Hyun Jong couldn’t help smiling.
This child would probably still be like this even a hundred years from now. That thought oddly reassured him. If this boy did not change, then Mount Hua would not change either.
“I understand how you feel.”
“...”
“And I know you are not wrong. But, Cheong Myeong, I can only keep repeating that the situation is what it is.”
“...”
“All things have their proper course. And we must know how to let them flow as they will, mustn’t we? We are those who follow the Dao. So we should follow what is natural...”
“No, I get that.”
At that moment, Cheong Myeong said irritably, “I just never understand it when I hear that.”
“Hm? What do you mean by that?”
“You say Daoists should follow nature as it is and not be swayed by human artifices, right?”
“Yes. That’s what nature is.”
“But aren’t people nature too?”
“...What?”
“Aren’t people part of nature too?”
Hyun Jong blinked. Taken off guard, he fell silent for a long moment before speaking again.
“People are also part of nature... yes. I suppose people are part of nature as well.”
“Then doesn’t that make it strange?”
“What does?”
“If following the Dao means following nature as it is, then since people are also part of nature, couldn’t following a person’s heart also be called the Dao?”
“...”
“They say one must exclude human artifices in order to attain the Dao, but that’s basically the same as saying we should follow a nature that leaves people out entirely. We are people, so I don’t understand what meaning there is in trying to resemble a nature without people in it.”
Hyun Jong thought about it carefully and said, “So what you’re saying is... people are part of nature.”
“Yes.”
“To follow nature is the Dao.”
“Yes!”
“Therefore... to follow the way people’s hearts move is also the Dao.”
“Yes, Sect Leader!”
“So... you can do whatever you want. That’s what you’re saying?”
“...”
“What kind of twisted logic is that, you brat! Then wouldn’t anything people do be the Dao?”
“...Ah, dang, you caught me.”
“You little—!”
“Aigoo! I completely forgot I was supposed to be training!”
The moment Hyun Jong exploded, Cheong Myeong bolted for the door like a shot.
“Get back here! I’m not finished speaking yet, you brat!”
“I haven’t finished preparing to leave yet! Your disciple will make sure to prepare thoroughly so that I can carry out the mission entrusted to me perfectly!”
“You little brat!”
Cheong Myeong, who had vanished through the wide-open door, peeked his upper body back in and grinned.
“Hey, don’t worry. I’m the Acting Sect Leader, after all, so I’ll still give you the proper treatment!”
“...”
“Well then!”
And just like that, Cheong Myeong disappeared again. Hyun Jong clicked his tongue before he even realized it.
Worried. He was worried.
After letting out a long sigh, he soon burst into a lonely laugh all by himself.
“What nonsense...”
To think that following the human heart was the Dao... human beings...
Hyun Jong’s gaze drifted up to the ceiling. And for a long while after that, he remained silent, staring only at the ceiling.
The sun hanging overhead sank lower, the twilight deepened, and darkness spread across the world until, at last, it was time for the group heading to Hainan to depart.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Is everything ready?”
“What’s there to get ready? It’s the same as always.”
In response to Baek Cheon’s question, Yoon Jong shrugged.
“We go so far away so often now that I can pack my bags with my eyes closed.”
“True.”
“...Sago. I packed Sago’s bag.”
“...”
“Sago? What are you looking at? Sago?”
Baek Cheon let out a faint chuckle. “That’s true enough. A pointless question. But... where did Jo Geol go?”
“He’s done packing.”
“Done?”
“He got hit by Cheong Myeong during the day, and he still hadn’t really recovered, so I laid him down for now.”
“In bed?”
“No. On the floor.”
Yoon Jong... That’s not laying him down, that’s abandoning him. Sometimes I really don’t know you. I think I understand you, and then I don’t...
Just then, Yoon Jong asked calmly, “Rather than worrying about us, Sago, are you ready?”
“Hm?”
“Didn’t Sect Leader say he’d formally appoint the Acting Sect Leader in a proper ceremony before departure, if only briefly?”
“Ah, yes, he did.”
A trace of long-forgotten tension swept over Baek Cheon’s face.
Even someone like him, who wouldn’t lose nerve in the face of a formidable enemy, felt tense at the thought of being officially elevated to the position of Acting Sect Leader before everyone’s eyes.
“There’s nothing in particular to prepare. If anything is needed, it’s only resolve.”
“Then that’s why I’m asking. Have you prepared yourself?”
At that, Baek Cheon smiled faintly.
“Of course.”
With that decisive answer, Yoon Jong grinned and nodded.
“Then let’s go. Everyone’s waiting.”
Baek Cheon gave a heavy nod and took a step forward. When he opened the door and walked out, Mount Hua’s disciples filled the training yard before him. Every single one of them was looking at him.
“Hoo.”
Taking that gaze over his entire body, Baek Cheon let out a short breath.
A little excitement, and an immense weight besides. Feeling all of it at once, he stepped forward. Toward Hyun Jong and the elders waiting in front of him.