I Don’t Know. (3)
"Stand up straight."
"⋯⋯."
"I said stand up straight, didn’t I?"
Hyeong-uk looked utterly dazed. Every person had their own sense of common sense, after all. Anyone would be flustered when faced with something so far outside it.
Of course, if he were broad-minded enough, he might just barely have managed to make sense of it.
Those terrifying figures who had cut down the Evil Tyrant Alliance’s villains in a single stroke were suddenly beating up their own comrade like he was some pest they’d found in the grass, and the one doing the beating was the youngest-looking of the whole group… yes, somehow, that too could be explained away.
But…
This is still a bit too much, isn’t it?
The fact that the youngest-looking one was now barking at someone else in front of him no longer felt especially shocking.
What was shocking was that the target of his scolding wasn’t even a person, but a beast.
"If you wander off halfway, you’re dead."
"⋯⋯."
"If you think you can run at a leisurely pace and rest whenever you want, then I get a nice little scarf out of it. You know what that means? We either live together or die together!"
"Cheong Myung. It’s live together or die together."
"Same thing!"
"It’s really not⋯⋯."
"Anyway!"
Cheong Myung glared at Baek Ah as though he might eat him alive, then pulled something from his robes and shook it in front of the black nose.
"This is that thousand-li tracker thing the Beast Palace lord gave us⋯⋯. Or was it a thousand-li chaser⋯⋯? Whatever. He said you can smell it from thousands of li away, so if you’re even a little late, then you’re really dead. Got it?"
"⋯⋯."
"Got it, I said!"
Baek Ah, a tiny bundle tied around his neck, lowered his head with a sullen expression.
"Tch."
Cheong Myung clicked his tongue and gave the marten a dubious sidelong glance.
"I swear, you can’t trust anyone!"
Even with such an absurd sight unfolding before them, the others around them remained calm as if this were perfectly normal.
"Well… can’t be helped. Set off."
Kiik!
Baek Ah whirled around.
"I’m seriously telling you, stand up stra— Hey! I’m not done yet! Hey!"
Baek Ah didn’t even look back. He sprinted off at full speed and vanished from Cheong Myung’s sight in an instant.
"Whoa, look at that speed."
"He’s really fast."
"He could probably be back in a day. What’s got him in such a hurry?"
"⋯⋯I’m guessing he’d rather just run than keep listening to that lecture. I’d do the same."
"Agreed."
Watching Cheong Myung shake his fist at the already distant Baek Ah and shout after him, everyone else only shook their heads.
Cheong Myung clicked his tongue, apparently disappointed at having lost his favorite victim, then suddenly turned and looked at Im So-byeong. Im So-byeong jerked in alarm and quickly rubbed at his bruised, purplish eye socket.
Cheong Myung opened his mouth.
"You too! If—"
"If we fail to rescue them properly, I’m supposed to understand that I’ll be dead, right?"
"That…"
"And if I hear even one word that those filthy Sapa bastards treated the villagers badly, I’m supposed to peel their skin off, right?"
"Are you—"
"And since the cliff we came over would be hard for ordinary people to cross, I’m supposed to have written in the letter that they should take another road instead, right?"
"⋯⋯."
Cheong Myung was left speechless. Im So-byeong smiled smugly and unfolded his fan.
"Heh-heh-heh! Who do you think I am? I, the Green Forest King Im So-byeong, faithfully carrying out the orders of the Mount Hua Sword Hero’s right hand man—kyah!"
Struck squarely between the eyes by a flying sword sheath, Im So-byeong rolled across the ground.
"Who’s your right hand man, huh? You filthy Sapa bastard! How dare a bastard who uses the character for evil try to possess the sacred body of a Daoist? In the past, I’m the kind of guy who wouldn’t even share a meal with Sapa trash, let alone drink water within five li of them!"
As Cheong Myung once again scolded Im So-byeong like he was chewing out some stray pest, Baek Cheon let out a long sigh. Then, deliberately looking away from the whole mess, he said to Hyeong-uk,
"Please don’t mind them."
"⋯⋯Yes."
"More importantly…"
Composing his expression, he went on.
"No matter how late it gets, the people who will take you with them should arrive within five days at the latest, so please just wait until then."
Hyeong-uk looked up at Baek Cheon with an uncertain expression.
"Warrior… I’m really… I’m truly sorry. I didn’t mean it that way when I said it…"
"I know."
But Baek Cheon simply shook his head with quiet composure.
"It wasn’t that I was forced to act because you blamed me. It was only that I learned something I hadn’t known before, and corrected myself."
"How could we ever repay this kindness…"
Hyeong-uk couldn’t even finish his sentence, tangled up in gratitude, guilt, and embarrassment all at once. Baek Cheon only smiled silently in response.
"If you truly wish to thank us, then please tell the people in Jiangbuk what you told us here. If they ask why, please tell them exactly as it is, without adding or taking away anything."
At that, Hyeong-uk’s face went a little pale.
He could already imagine the looks he would receive if even the comrades of these warriors learned of his shameless act.
But Baek Cheon, as though he had guessed the worry, shook his head.
"They’re not the sort of people who would do that."
"⋯⋯."
"The reason I ask this of you is because they, too, need to know what kind of hardships the people suffering in Jiangnan are enduring, and how they’re forced to live through them."
"Warrior…"
"We aren’t as great as you might think. We’re simply people who can swing a sword better than others. You may believe that if we know something and still turn away, then we’re doing it deliberately, but in truth there are many things we simply cannot help because we don’t know."
"Ah…"
Hyeong-uk nodded, as if he understood what Baek Cheon meant.
"So please tell them exactly as it is, without any embellishment or omission. That alone will be enough in return."
Hyeong-uk nodded again, his face stiff with resolve. Even if he were pointed at and condemned for it, he seemed determined to keep that promise.
Seeing that solemn expression, Baek Cheon smiled faintly.
"Then we’ll be on our way. We’re pressed for time."
"I’m an ignorant fool who hasn’t learned much, but I know that you’re not people to be held back by polite words. So I’ll just sincerely wish you peace and safety."
"Yes."
The others who had been listening from behind smiled at Hyeong-uk, then turned away.
"Take care!" Dang Soso called brightly, waving her hand.
The villagers who had received food from them came out to the entrance and watched the Heavenly Alliance group depart, but they still couldn’t manage to answer or return the greeting. They only stood there, awkward and uncertain, staring on.
Dang Soso, however, bowed lightly with an unruffled face and then turned away. She knew that if they kept looking, it would only increase the burden those people felt.
"Let’s go!"
"Right."
The Heavenly Alliance group quickly receded into the distance.
Those who had stood there dazedly watched the road they had taken, then looked back and forth between it and the grain piled in the center of the village.
In the silence, a complicated expression—something difficult to name—spread across their faces.
"Hyeong-uk, you…"
"Say nothing."
Hyeong-uk let out a heavy sigh.
"I kept cursing the Sapa bastards, saying they were animals… but when it came down to it, I think I’m no different from a beast myself."
"⋯⋯."
"Haa…"
With his shoulders slumped, Hyeong-uk headed toward the house where his father lay. The villagers watched his back with troubled faces.
Fwoosh!
With Im So-byeong at the front, they shot forward like the wind.
They had lost time because of an unexpected incident. To make up for it, they would need to increase their speed, even if it meant taking a little more risk.
After running in silence for quite a while, Baek Cheon sneaked a glance at Cheong Myung running beside him. Cheong Myung kept his eyes fixed ahead, his face blank as always.
Baek Cheon gave a short sigh and looked forward again. There was no excuse for this. It was his fault, plain and simple.
Because his field of vision had narrowed too much, he hadn’t even thought of using someone who was already right beside him. As the one leading the group, and as Mount Hua’s Acting Sect Leader, that was a disgrace.
But there was something else that truly troubled Baek Cheon.
This time, they had the Green Forest King with them, so they’d managed to find a solution somehow. But if the same situation had arisen without the Green Forest King at his side, what then? Would there really have been any answer at all?
"You’re thinking too much."
Then a lazy voice cut into Baek Cheon’s ear. Before he knew it, he let out a sigh. This bastard never missed even the smallest thing.
Cheong Myung said,
"You don’t need to overcomplicate it."
"⋯⋯."
"Things in this world are never as simple as people think. There’s no such thing as a perfect answer that leaves everyone satisfied."
"⋯⋯."
"But the one leading has to come up with an answer anyway. That’s what makes it hard."
Baek Cheon nodded.
"You were wondering what you should have done if the Green Forest King hadn’t been there, weren’t you?"
"⋯⋯How did you know?"
"Tch. Dong-ryong, Dong-ryong. Why do you keep overestimating yourself like that?"
"⋯⋯."
"There’s no one whose thoughts show on their face as clearly as yours, and yet you act like you’re some deeply serious man who keeps everything hidden inside."
"Ugh."
Cheong Myung snorted and shrugged.
"What answer do you expect there to be?"
"⋯⋯."
"Trying to find an answer to a problem that doesn’t have one is just stupid."
"Then…"
"What matters isn’t finding an answer that isn’t there. It’s not creating that kind of problem in the first place."
"Huh?"
Baek Cheon asked in confusion, and Cheong Myung exhaled slowly.
"That’s what Mount Hua is for. That’s what the Heavenly Alliance is for."
"⋯⋯."
"Just because you became Acting Sect Leader doesn’t mean you should fool yourself into thinking you have to shoulder everything and make the right decision by yourself. It’s not because you’re lacking, Sahyung. No one in all of history has ever managed to do that."
Baek Cheon pressed his lips together tightly.
"Whether it was our ancestors or the generations before them, they knew that was difficult, so they made sects and gathered people on purpose. And even that wasn’t enough, so they joined forces with more sects and pooled their opinions. One more person lending strength means they can accomplish that much more."
Baek Cheon, listening quietly, slightly widened his eyes.
He already knew that. No, he knew it all too well.
And yet he had completely forgotten it.
"It wasn’t something you could do because the Green Forest King was there. It was only that the Green Forest King was the only one there, so that was all he could do. If the Ghost Sect had come along too, it would’ve been faster. If a few major sects had joined as well, then those Saperyeon bastards wouldn’t have been able to run wild in the first place."
"⋯⋯I see."
"The answer you’re trying to find is where you’re going now, Sahyung. Acting with righteousness isn’t the whole thing. If you make more people believe in that righteousness and act on it, then you’ll create a world where problems without answers don’t exist in the first place."
Cheong Myung had been speaking quietly, but then he suddenly clicked his tongue in irritation.
"So stop wasting time on useless thoughts and just run. If you keep running, the day will come when you find that answer."
"⋯⋯You little brat, just babbling the right thing for once."
"Yeah."
"And now you’re getting cocky in front of the Acting Sect Leader!"
"We should put this punk in line once, seriously!"
"Oh, really?"
Playful voices burst out from behind them in a cascade. Baek Cheon smiled faintly. He thought he understood the meaning behind Cheong Myung’s words.
Thinking about it isn’t the mistake.
The important thing was not to stop at thinking, but to firmly carry one’s own path through to the end. If acting with righteousness were truly that easy, then why would the characters for righteousness be fading out of the world little by little?
It was a path he had chosen himself, a path he believed in himself. So the only thing left was to push forward with more conviction.
The people running behind him now, and the people watching over him from afar, would help him.
"⋯⋯There’s no time to waste on useless talk, so let’s hurry!"
"Yes!"
Baek Cheon kicked off the ground first and shot ahead. The Mount Hua disciples and the young sect heirs of the other schools hurried after him.
Watching their backs as they ran on ahead, Cheong Myung laughed.
"They really are a handful."
Ta-aaat!
And then he, too, sprinted to catch up with the group.
The destination was south.
The farthest place from the Central Plains—Hainan.