More Than Enough (5)
Everyone looked at Im So-byeong with fresh eyes.
It was something they often forgot because of the way he usually carried himself, but this man was one of the Six Unorthodox Sects, the King of the Green Forest who ruled every mountain in the Central Plains.
How dangerous could a mountain path be when it was guided by a man like that?
“But hasn’t the Green Forest already withdrawn from Jiangnan?”
At Tang Pae’s question, Im So-byeong smiled leisurely and fluttered his fan.
“What problem would that be?”
“Pardon?”
“The men may have withdrawn, but the mountains haven’t disappeared. And in all the world, no one knows mountains better than the Green Forest does.”
He clenched the hand he had just spread open.
“There’s no one who knows the mountains in Jiangnan as thoroughly as I do. No matter how wildly the Evil Tyrant Alliance thrashes about, they’re no match for me in the mountains.”
“……I see.”
It wasn’t impossible if Im So-byeong’s cunning and the Green Forest King’s knowledge were combined. Just as everyone was about to admire him for it, a dry voice came from one corner.
“So in other words……”
It was Cheong Myeong. On his face was an expression that seemed to ask, You’re making a big deal out of that kind of crap?
“You’re dressing it up nicely, but in the end it just means those bandit bastards are used to running for their lives and hiding the second government troops show up. So they know how to move like rats without getting spotted, that’s all.”
“B-but the terrain of the mountains and the hidden trails……”
“So that’s what I’m saying.”
“The Green Forest, which rules every mountain in the Central Plains……”
“Rule my ass.”
Cheong Myeong snorted as if it were all nonsense.
“It’s not like they rule every mountain in the Central Plains. They just loiter around the ones nobody else uses. If they really ruled all the mountains in the Central Plains, why don’t they set up a bandit camp on Mount Song? I bet those bald Shaolin bastards would be overjoyed to have neighbors while they were lonely and miserable.”
“……”
Before long, the people who had been admiring Im So-byeong began whispering among themselves.
“Come to think of it, that does sound a little exaggerated.”
“A little? I don’t think it’s just a little. There aren’t any bandit camps on Mount Wudang or Mount Hua either. Not on Mount Zhongnan, either……”
“Now that you mention it, the famous mountains really don’t have bandit hideouts.”
“Of course not. The famous mountains are all occupied by powerful sects. How could bandits possibly get in there?”
“Then that is kind of funny. They can’t even set foot on renowned mountains like the Five Great Mountains, and they only set up camps in mountains nobody else goes into, but they call that ruling every mountain in the Central Plains……”
Namgung Dowi met Im So-byeong’s eyes and smiled faintly. Im So-byeong’s hand began to tremble.
“Cough! W-well, not every mountain, of course, but I have a firm grasp on the mountains in Jiangnan.”
“A firm grasp?”
Cheong Myeong let out a snort.
“You’re saying that while you were so scared of getting caught you had other people front for you and hid in the background? Have you even been there yourself?”
“……”
“I don’t know why every time those Sapa bastards open their mouths, they’re so desperate to brag. If they’d just cut down on that damn bluffing, the average lifespan of the unorthodox might’ve gone up by ten years. Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
Baek Cheon tilted his head slightly and asked, “Then isn’t that a good thing?”
“Huh?”
“It means the unorthodox die sooner.”
“Uh……?”
Cheong Myeong looked at Im So-byeong again, as if that made a certain kind of sense. Im So-byeong’s face twisted in fury.
“And you still call yourselves righteous! You’re even more vicious than anything the unorthodox would use!”
“What are you talking about?”
As expected, Cheong Myeong ignored him cleanly and fixed his gaze on the map Im So-byeong had spread out.
“Anyway, the bottom line is this.”
“……Yes.”
“Crossing through Jiangnan is much more dangerous than taking other routes, but in exchange we can get there absurdly fast, right?”
“……That’s correct.”
“A dangerous, fast route?”
“……”
“Yeah, yeah. Dangerous and fast. That’s what you’re saying.”
Muttering to himself, Cheong Myeong began to grin. At the same time, deep unease settled over everyone’s faces. In the end, the one they desperately turned to was Baek Cheon, the Acting Sect Leader of Mount Hua.
Do something about this.
He’s your sect’s kid!
If you’re the Acting Sect Leader, then act like it!
Unable to withstand the silent pressure, Baek Cheon forced an awkward smile and spoke toward Cheong Myeong.
“Cheong Myeong, I…… I can roughly guess what you’re thinking, but…… there’s no need to choose the dangerous route, is there? Right?”
“Come on, Sasuk. I’m not some idiot.”
“Hm?”
“You really think I’d go that far?”
“T-that’s true, isn’t it?”
Relief brightened Baek Cheon’s face. A sigh escaped him before he could help it; maybe this brat had finally grown up a little.
But in that instant, he caught sight of Cheong Myeong’s grinning face. It was bright in the most ominous way.
“Yeah. Going around is the right move.”
“……Right? I was thinking the same……”
“I don’t care either way. If you want to take the easy road, what complaint would I have? Of course, after circling around by sea or by land and suffering through all that trouble, the thing waiting for us when we arrive at Hainan might be a Hainan that’s been stripped down to the beams—but so what? It’s not really such a big problem.”
“……”
“We can take our time, then. Judging by Jang Il-so’s personality, once things settle down he’ll probably start by peeling the skin off the Hainan bastards. Especially if he hears we split from Shaolin, he’ll think it’s perfect and burn the whole place to the ground. But that has nothing to do with us, right? A sect is supposed to defend itself with its own hands.”
Cold sweat ran down Baek Cheon’s spine.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry. A sect can still recover. Mount Hua burned all the way down once and still rose again, so why couldn’t Hainan? Don’t worry. Because Hainan is on the sea, its halls won’t be dried out to kindling like Mount Hua’s were, so at least some of the pillars might still be standing.”
Now cold sweat was beginning to bead on everyone else’s foreheads as well.
“It’s nothing. Let it fall into a third-rate sect for a hundred years and then rebuild it. If there are only about ten disciples left, the atmosphere becomes so family-like—it’s great.”
“……”
“Ah, of course, people will point fingers and say that Sasuk, who half-threatened the Sect Leader into making him Acting Sect Leader, and the former Sect Leader, who stepped down after hearing all that talk about righteousness and the future, were both the most pathetic fools in the world. And in the meantime, the Heavenly Friends Alliance will probably get called a bunch of cowards and idiots too, but do we really need to take such a risk just because we don’t want to hear that?”
“P-please stop……”
“Come on, Sasuk. It’s no big deal. Hm? Righteousness? That’s just something you say with your mouth in front of other people! That’s how the world works, isn’t it? You go around saying you’d even risk your life for righteousness when people are watching. Who’s going to keep that up when nobody’s looking? If you just put on a half-decent show, people will still say, ‘Ah, at least those bastards tried to do something!’ Isn’t that—”
“Let’s go by land!”
“Across the Yangtze, damn it!”
“Straight to Hainan! Straight!”
“Everyone shut up! We’re taking the fastest route!”
Frantic, they began badgering Baek Cheon at once.
“Acting Sect Leader! Let’s go by the mountain path!”
“N-Namgung Young Patriarch, please calm yourself first……”
“How can I calm down now? If we fail to save Hainan in time, the Namgung Clan’s honor will be buried in the ground. Who’s going to bear that? You, Acting Sect Leader?”
“……”
“And now that I think about it, wasn’t that exactly why they told us to send out people strong in martial arts in the first place? If someone gets killed on the way to Jiangnan by the Evil Tyrant Alliance, that’s not the Acting Sect Leader’s fault—it’s the fault of the fools who volunteered for this even though they can’t even run away properly! So let’s go!”
“No…… when did you become so extreme……”
“I’m not extreme. I’m being reasonable!”
Since when? Since when the hell had that been reasonable?
“Hmm. The words are rough, but he isn’t exactly wrong.”
Im So-byeong was the one who quietly pressed Baek Cheon.
“Ordinarily, the safest route would be the best choice, but if we’re being honest, the very decision to head for Hainan in the first place was never all that ordinary.”
“That’s true.”
“It is a lunatic thing to do.”
“And the one who said to do it was the Acting Sect Leader, wasn’t it?”
Everyone’s eyes turned to Baek Cheon all at once. A little flustered, he jerked backward a step.
“And now you’re hesitating over this and that?”
“There are always people like that. Their plans are grand, but when it comes time to carry them out, they start edging their asses backward.”
Baek Cheon’s tightly clenched fist trembled.
Of course, the reason he was angry wasn’t because of the sect leaders subtly goading him. It was because Cheong Myeong and Jo Geol were hiding behind their backs, only half-showing their faces as they chattered nonstop, saying, “Sasuk’s scared,” over and over again.
“Sasuk.”
At that moment, Yoon Jong, who had been silent and deep in thought, spoke up.
“I understand why you’re hesitating. But if you think about it, this isn’t something worth agonizing over. No matter how good a decision we make, if everything is already over by the time we reach Hainan, wouldn’t all of it be meaningless?”
“……That’s true.”
“We didn’t choose the trip to Hainan because of the Heavenly Friends Alliance’s rising power, and we didn’t choose it because of each sect’s interests. We chose it because of righteousness, because we couldn’t just leave Hainan to wait for the day it collapsed in isolation, did we not?”
At that, Baek Cheon nodded.
“In my opinion, Sasuk has already reached your conclusion. But I also understand why you’re still torn at the last moment. So let me speak as your junior disciple.”
“……”
“Remember what you said. Righteousness that does not take risks itself is not righteousness. Put another way, those who wish to practice righteousness must naturally accept the risk.”
“Amitabha.”
Hye Yeon nodded and joined in.
“Venerable Yoon Jong is correct, Acting Sect Leader.”
“……”
“Decide.”
Everyone stared at Baek Cheon alone.
In truth, he was not the highest-ranking person here. No matter that Baek Cheon was Mount Hua’s Acting Sect Leader, there was also the leader of the Green Forest, the patriarch of the Namgung Clan, and even the leader of the North Sea Ice Palace here. In terms of rank, Baek Cheon was inevitably below them.
But not a trace of hesitation remained in the way they looked at him. Everyone had tacitly accepted that the decision for this group belonged to Baek Cheon.
And Baek Cheon, accepting that responsibility without flinching, nodded.
“Let’s go to Hainan.”
“……”
“By the fastest route.”
At those words, a grin spread over everyone’s lips. Just as Baek Cheon was about to smile back at them—
“He really took it.”
“I think he’s lost his mind.”
“A man like that’s going to become Mount Hua’s Sect Leader? The future of Mount Hua is obvious.”
No, you bastards? Weren’t you the ones who said to take that road?
“Well…… there’s nothing for it. If we’re told to do it, we do it, don’t we.”
“If anyone dies, it’s all Sasuk’s responsibility.”
“Tsk. What a hard time this is, getting saddled with that because we met the wrong Sasuk.”
Even Ogeom clicked his tongue and turned away. Baek Cheon opened his mouth in disbelief, but before he could even find the words, Cheong Myeong took over and settled the matter.
“Anyway, then it’s decided. Green Forest King.”
“Yes.”
“Make sure the route is properly guided.”
Cheong Myeong’s gaze turned cold and sharp for an instant, like a blade that could pierce right through a man. Im So-byeong wiped the smile from his face and nodded firmly.
“I’ll do my utmost.”
“Good. Then let’s move.”
Everyone’s gaze shifted to the broad expanse of the Yangtze River and the land beyond it. From this moment on, that was where they would be going.
Namgung Dowi nodded and asked, “Then where do we arrange the boats?”
“Boats? What boats?”
“……Don’t we need boats to cross the Yangtze?”
“What kind of pampered nonsense is that? Why? So you can go shouting all over town that we’re sailing into Jiangnan?”
“……Then?”
Cheong Myeong pointed at the river with a lazy tilt of his chin.
“Swim.”
“……”
“As quietly as possible. Softly. Don’t let anyone notice.”
“……”
“Set off.”
Everyone who had been staring at the yellow-brown waters of the Yangtze River simultaneously let their shoulders sag.
The road of righteous action had always been long and hard.