More Than Enough (1)
On the side of the path that led to the training grounds, Namgung Dowi, who had been watching the situation unfold in the arena, turned to Dang Pae with a blank expression.
“……What in the world is going on here?”
“Well… it seems like it isn’t Baek Cheon taking over as sect leader, but Un Am.”
“Un Am?”
Namgung Dowi blinked.
So the one called Un Am is…
His gaze moved to Un Am, who was standing beside Baek Cheon with his shoulders trembling.
That was him.
To Namgung Dowi, the situation could only feel a little bewildering. Whether the Mount Hua disciples saw him differently or not, Un Am simply had no real presence to speak of in Namgung Dowi’s eyes. No—in fact, not just Un Am, but the entire Un generation of Mount Hua lacked much of a presence to him.
Is this really all right?
Of course, by common sense, when the senior generation stepped down, it was only natural for the Un generation to take the sect leader’s seat.
But what kind of position was Mount Hua’s sect leader? It was a burden most men could no longer bear, and in truth, it even carried the weight of the Heavenly Friends Alliance’s leader as well.
And yet now they were saying Un Am would become sect leader, so bewilderment came first.
“……I don’t know.”
Dang Pae muttered in the same vein. His gaze on Un Am’s back was subtle.
It was hard for either Namgung Dowi, who would become the Namgung Patriarch, or Dang Pae, who would become the Tang Patriarch, to deny that Baek Cheon was much easier to communicate with than Un Am. So for now, all they could do was watch cautiously.
“Still…… he really is the sect leader.”
Dang Gun-ak, who had been quietly observing the situation until now, nodded as if he understood the choice.
“I never expected it, but…… yes, it is the right choice.”
At that, Dang Pae asked carefully, “Father…… do you think it is better for that man to take Mount Hua’s sect leader seat?”
“This is not a matter of better or worse.”
Dang Gun-ak smiled as he spoke.
“Of course it is important who can lead Mount Hua better from that seat.”
“Yes, that is true.”
Dang Pae nodded. That was precisely why he had thought Baek Cheon should become sect leader. He did not know Un Am well, but considering Mount Hua’s standing in the world and its relations with other sects, there was no talent more suited to the position than Baek Cheon.
“But…… the sect leader’s seat cannot be decided by that alone. It is just as important what one has done for the sect until now.”
“…….”
“If you choose the sect leader only by talent and reputation, then who will devote himself to the sect, and who will strive for it? A sect leader must make room for those who shine in the bright places, but at the same time, he must not overlook those who have worked quietly in the shadows.”
Dang Pae nodded at that. Dang Gun-ak felt a quiet admiration rising in him.
“Even I had forgotten that…… and yet the sect leader did not let it slip. For Mount Hua to remain Mount Hua, this was the most natural choice of all……”
Dang Gun-ak’s eyes shifted to one side. At the end of that gaze, Cheong Myeong was grinning from ear to ear.
Anyone who didn’t know better might think he was just an immature junior delighted that Baek Cheon had been pushed back a step……
The one who would have noticed this before the sect leader did would be the Mount Hua Divine Dragon.
After all, the Mount Hua Divine Dragon had steadily opposed Baek Cheon’s appointment as Acting Sect Leader.
And yet now, even though Baek Cheon had taken the very same position, he seemed pleased beyond measure.
Rules were meant to be followed. The reason rules had to be followed was because they contained all the things necessary to define the very identity of a sect.
The things that the sect’s forebears had agonized over for years and years, only to leave behind with the plea that these must be preserved. How could one dismiss such things as nothing more than stale old words?
Whether he understood it by reason or by instinct, the Mount Hua Divine Dragon knew that truth. So then……
“Heeheeheehee……”
“…….”
“Heh-heh-heh. Serves him right!”
“……No?”
“Huh?”
“Ahem.”
Dang Gun-ak shook his head, brushing away the faint but clear sound of Cheong Myeong’s voice. His ears were annoyingly good enough to catch nonsense like that.
“But will this be all right? That one…….”
“There is no reason it would not be all right. The newly appointed Acting Sect Leader will handle the sect leader’s authority, and the new sect leader will focus on internal affairs. That is not so different from Baek Cheon taking up the role of Acting Sect Leader alone, is it?”
“Ah…….”
Dang Gun-ak smiled as he looked at Hyun Jong.
“The external matters that Baek Cheon was to handle will remain his responsibility, and the internal administration of Mount Hua, which the sect leader had been handling, will be entrusted to the new sect leader. For us, there is no real difference. Yet he has secured both justification and propriety. By stepping down from the sect leader’s seat a little early, that is.”
At those words, everyone looked at Hyun Jong with new eyes.
It was nothing more than a simple choice, and yet hearing it explained made it sound immensely reasonable. What was even more impressive was that he had brought about that result by choosing to step back first.
“……That feels almost enlightened.”
“Perhaps that is because he is a Daoist. We never would have imagined it.”
Dang Gun-ak nodded.
“That is why Mount Hua is a sect of swords and of Dao, both.”
The gazes of the three men turned toward Un Am and Baek Cheon. Toward the two who would lead Mount Hua into a new age.
“Sect leader…… I……”
Before he knew it, Un Am found himself speaking toward Hyun Jong. He knew this was not the place for it, but he simply could not keep his mouth shut.
Yet Hyun Jong did not rebuke him. Instead, he received the words with a warm voice.
“Why? Do you lack confidence?”
“……This isn’t the time to be talking about something like that. I’ve already told you my intentions……”
“Yes. You certainly did.”
Hyun Jong looked at Un Am with benevolent eyes.
“But Un Am, my heart does not agree.”
“Sect leader. I am far too lacking to be Mount Hua’s sect leader.”
“Is that so?”
Hyun Jong turned his head and looked at Baek Cheon beside him.
“Baek Cheon, what do you think? Do you also think Un Am is lacking to be Mount Hua’s sect leader?”
“How could that possibly be, Sect Leader?”
The answer came without the slightest hesitation.
“Sasuk is the one most fitting to be Mount Hua’s sect leader. He cannot even be compared to someone like me. If Sasuk had not stubbornly refused, and if the situation had not been so urgent, I would have naturally asked him to take the sect leader’s seat.”
“There you have it.”
“Sect leader…….”
Watching Un Am look lost, Hyun Jong smiled.
“Un Am.”
When Un Am raised his head with a questioning look, Hyun Jong spoke. There was not a trace of insincerity in his expression, his voice, or anything else.
“The moment when I would not be lacking never comes.”
“…….”
“What matters is not whether one is lacking, but whether one has the resolve to bear responsibility despite that lack. Did Baek Cheon not show you that?”
“……Sect leader.”
“I was the same. I felt endlessly insufficient, endlessly incomplete. I was truly afraid of becoming sect leader.”
Un Am bit his lip. The words his master had once spoken rang clearly in his ears.
“But I know this. You are qualified for it.”
“…….”
“You said it yourself. This is not that kind of age anymore. This is the time when not the one who protects, but the one who steps forward, should take the sect leader’s post.”
“……Yes.”
“Perhaps those words are right. Perhaps they are even the more rational choice. But Un Am, my heart does not say the same.”
Rationality was the act of discarding what must be discarded and choosing what must be chosen.
But sometimes, in that rationality, countless values were buried and forgotten. Hyun Jong did not want that. No one understood better than he did how those buried beneath reason looked out upon the world.
“If following the heart is righteousness, and looking honestly at that heart is the Dao, then I am now upholding righteousness more than anyone, and following the Dao more than anyone. Even if that is, as Mount Hua’s sect leader, a somewhat poor choice……”
Hyun Jong glanced sideways at Cheong Myeong and shrugged lightly.
“So what? I’ve spent my entire life as Mount Hua’s sect leader suppressing myself. Surely I have the right to let my final choice follow my own greed, don’t I? Even the ancestors cannot fault me for that.”
“Sect leader!”
“To be perfectly honest, I have far more to say to the ancestors than they have to say to me.”
Hyun Jong laughed with mischievous delight.
Un Am felt both unfamiliarity and closeness in that sight. It was a side of Hyun Jong he had never seen before, and perhaps…… it was also a side he might once have had the chance to see.
“So do this for me. If you take the sect leader’s seat, I think my heart will finally be at ease.”
Un Am lowered his head silently. A long silence fell.
Hyun Jong did not urge him. He simply waited.
The Mount Hua disciples, too, waited for Un Am’s answer without a single wavering motion for quite some time.
Only after a long while did Un Am slowly raise his head.
“Disciple dares to ask the sect leader.”
“Go ahead.”
“Does this disciple have the ability to bear the burden of Mount Hua’s sect leader?”
“You do.”
“Then is it truly right for this disciple to take Mount Hua’s sect leader seat?”
“More than enough.”
“Then is it truly for the good of Mount Hua that this disciple takes the sect leader’s seat?”
Hyun Jong smiled faintly and answered.
“That is not for me to decide.”
Hyun Jong lifted his gaze and looked at the disciples.
“I ask you!”
The Mount Hua disciples subtly lowered their stances. As if they had already prepared their answer even before the question was spoken. As if they were ready to give their truest answer with the loudest voices in the world.
“Is it for the good of Mount Hua that disciple Un Am take the sect leader’s seat?”
“It is, Sect Leader!”
The moment the question ended, a huge roar burst out as if it would split the heavens.
Un Am’s shoulders began to tremble without his meaning to.
“So I ask again.”
Hyun Jong’s gaze returned to Un Am.
“Will disciple Un Am, as the sect leader of the Great Mount Hua Sect, protect Mount Hua’s spirit and lead the disciples with his life on the line?”
Un Am bowed his head. His forehead nearly touched the ground, and a trembling, moisture-laden voice slipped from his lips.
“Disciple…… disciple Un Am……”
And at last, he lifted his head.
“Dares…… dares to shoulder that grave responsibility.”
Hyun Jong nodded, and in one smooth motion he unfastened the Purple Sunset Divine Sword from his waist.
“Then I, Hyun Jong, as sect leader of the Great Mount Hua Sect, appoint Mount Hua’s first-generation disciple Un Am as the new sect leader of Mount Hua and proclaim this matter to the world.”
Hyun Jong drew the Purple Sunset Divine Sword, raised it high above his head, then sheathed it again and held it out with both hands to Un Am. Un Am lifted trembling hands and received the sword with the deepest reverence.
“Disciple! I will devote my life to carrying out the office of Mount Hua’s sect leader!”
At that exact moment, an enormous cheer exploded across the grounds.
The Mount Hua disciples who had hoped for Baek Cheon to take the seat, yet could never quite let go of their pity for the Un generation in the depths of their hearts, were finally able to rejoice with abandon.
Amid that uproar, Cheong Myeong snorted with a laugh.
“……What a mess.”
There was no decorum, and no formality.
The sect leader succession ceremony he knew was not supposed to be like this. There was no ritual to pay respect to the heavens and the spirits of the earth, no prayer offered to the sect leaders of old. There wasn’t even a proper procedure or a solemn vow.
But…… he didn’t particularly feel like nitpicking it.
For all its glaring lack of everything, the succession ceremony he was seeing now felt far more to his liking than any he had ever seen before.
Right, Sahyung?
Looking up at the sky, he could almost see Chung Mun smiling brightly back at him.