Who Came, You Say? (4)
“What do we do, Senior Brother?”
“……”
“Senior Brother.”
Go Hong looked at Yu Gong with desperate eyes.
“Didn’t you say there’d be no support? That’s why you said we had to get off a sinking ship, remember?”
“……”
“But if a bunch of people suddenly show up like that…”
Unable to stomach Yu Gong’s silence any longer, Go Hong finally raised his voice.
“If they really end up helping the alliance hold off the Evil Tyrant Alliance, then we…”
“Don’t talk nonsense!”
Yu Gong glared at him.
“Do you think the Evil Tyrant Alliance is some dog’s name you can just swat away because a few people came? You think that’s enough to stop them?”
“But they must have thought this through. They wouldn’t have come all the way to Hainan without any plan, would they? Besides, rumors have already reached Hainan that the Heavenly Friends Alliance is so formidable it’s threatening even the Ten Great Sects…”
“Pointless drivel.”
Yu Gong cut him off at once.
“So what if they’re threatening the Ten Great Sects? What’s so great about that? This is Hainan Island. A place even Shaolin can’t reach. What on earth do you think the Heavenly Friends Alliance can do here?”
“……That may be true, but still…”
“No need to worry. At most, they’ll just show their faces and leave.”
“Would they really come all this way just for that?”
“It’s still better than doing nothing.”
“I suppose…”
Irritation darkened Yu Gong’s face.
This is turning into a damn mess.
The timing was absurdly unfortunate. If they had arrived just one day earlier, he could have watched the situation and delayed his decision. And if they’d come after the typhoon had passed, they could have quietly severed ties and gotten out.
But instead, they had arrived while everyone was half-mired and half-trapped, and now an awkward coexistence no one wanted had become reality.
Why now, of all times?
The defecting disciples were already under cold eyes.
And now, in the middle of all that, people had come all the way from distant lands to visit Hainan. Naturally, the gazes aimed at the disciples who had demanded expulsion grew even colder. Even those who had previously thought it couldn’t be helped in practical terms were now looking at them with frozen expressions.
Well, how could they not?
Even Yu Gong, if he were on the other side, would have pointed and cursed. People from other sects understood loyalty, too. If those who had received Hainan’s grace didn’t know gratitude, he would have called them beastly things and spat in their faces.
“Se-Senior Brother…”
“What.”
“What if there’s even a one-in-a-thousand chance… no, one in ten thousand…”
Go Hong spoke carefully, fear creeping into his voice.
“What if Hainan… no, what if our sect receives their support and manages to stop the Evil Tyrant Alliance, even if it’s only that tiny chance… what happens to us?”
Yu Gong had no answer.
What would happen? Did that really need thinking about?
The instant that happened, every disciple who had asked to leave would be branded traitors. They would be openly shunned in Hainan, a place whose standing would soar after repelling the Evil Tyrant Alliance.
To be excluded by the Hainan Sect meant having no place left to stand on Hainan Island. At the very least, the Hainan Sect’s influence here was greater than the Tang Clan’s in Sichuan or the Namgung Clan’s in Anhui.
“Senior Brother. Maybe it’s still not too late to cancel the expulsion…”
“Shut up with that idiotic nonsense!”
Yu Gong snapped irritably.
“How do you expect a few lousy bastards to stop the Evil Tyrant Alliance!”
“……”
“In this situation, not even those people—not even the Five Great Heroes who supposedly stopped the Demonic Sect a hundred years ago—could stop the Evil Tyrant Alliance.”
“I know, but still…”
“And! If we cancel the expulsion, what changes? You think that makes any difference? The river’s already crossed. At best, we’ll just end up called spineless cowards who flip between loyalties whenever the wind changes.”
Go Hong let out a long, heavy sigh. Truthfully, he knew it too. Even if they changed their stance now, the stigma already carved into them wouldn’t vanish.
Once they had spoken the words that they would leave the sect, they could never again truly return as Hainan disciples.
“So don’t worry about it.”
“……”
“Once the typhoon stops as planned, we’ll carry out the expulsion ceremony and go down the mountain. Then we’ll spend the rest of our lives forgetting Hainan ever existed.”
Go Hong lowered his head.
Watching him, Yu Gong sighed and said, “Go Hong.”
“……Yes, Senior Brother.”
“Think of the old mother waiting at home. She’s frail enough as it is—how would she live if you went and died in some ridiculous fashion?”
“……Yes.”
“Unlike me, you haven’t done anything wrong. You don’t need to hang your head like a sinner. The mountain temple may be important, but can it really be more important than the parents who gave birth to you?”
“Senior Brother, don’t you have a child too?”
“……I’m just scared.”
Yu Gong gave a bitter smile.
“Maybe it’s because I grew up without a father, but I’m afraid of my own child growing up to hear people call him a fatherless brat.”
“Senior Brother…”
Yu Gong turned his head and quietly watched the wind and rain battering the island.
Hainan suffered typhoons often. But that didn’t mean people ever got used to them. No matter how many times they experienced them, typhoons were still terrifying. A sudden storm over the southern sea could turn a calm ocean into hell in an instant.
How many people had that hell swallowed over the years?
“When my child was born, I told myself I’d raise him properly, better than I’d ever been raised. I didn’t want him spending his life pining for a father whose face he couldn’t even remember.”
“I understand. No, everyone would understand.”
“……Understand, my ass.”
Yu Gong let out a short, self-mocking laugh.
“It’s nothing but an excuse. I’m just too cowardly to die. But what’s so wrong about that? Everyone’s scared of dying.”
“……”
“So if we’re leaving, let’s not leave anything behind.”
“Yes, Senior Brother.”
Go Hong nodded heavily.
Though he had said those things, Yu Gong himself did not feel at ease. What gnawed at him most was the question Go Hong had raised.
What if Hainan somehow, miraculously, managed to stop the Evil Tyrant Alliance?
Then what?
Would Gwak Hwan-so?
No, the senior brother would never seek revenge. He was hot-tempered, yes, but he was also broad-minded.
But what about the others?
Would they really tolerate the disciples who abandoned their sect in its hour of crisis and ran away just to save their own skins? No matter how much Gwak Hwan-so tried to hold them back, wouldn’t they find some way to make things unpleasant?
He could bear any abuse directed at himself. No, that was only right. But… what would he do about the suffering his child might face for years to come?
Yu Gong, growing increasingly uneasy, asked carefully, “So… what are the outsiders doing now?”
“They seem to have settled their baggage in the guest quarters for now. It’s already quite late, isn’t it? The formal meeting with the sect leader will probably be tomorrow morning.”
“Is that so?”
Yu Gong thought about something for a moment, then stood up.
“Let’s go.”
“……What?”
“We should at least see why they came. Sitting here like this will only make us stew in our own heads.”
“B-but, Senior Brother. There are other people there too…”
“My face is already sold. What, are we going to hide in our room until the typhoon passes?”
“……”
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
Yu Gong shoved the door open. Rain was pouring down in sheets, but now was no time to care about that.
No matter how thoughtless those fools may be, they can’t possibly not know how bad things are in Hainan right now. They won’t try to make any big moves immediately. They’ll keep their distance and put on a proper show of manners.
That was the part Yu Gong was focused on. If the visitors’ intentions were as he expected, then they would also need someone to testify to the Heavenly Friends Alliance’s goodwill even after Hainan fell.
If things go well, maybe we can even build a connection.
With that resolve hardened in his chest, Yu Gong stepped out without hesitation.
“……Senior Brother.”
“……”
“Um, Senior Brother?”
Yu Gong didn’t even hear the call. He only stared blankly into the guest quarters, because the scene unfolding inside had already gone far beyond common sense.
“Kwahahahahaha!”
One man threw back a hearty gulp of liquor and slammed his cup down with a bang.
“What is this? Did they dilute the booze with water here? It’s so weak! Pathetic! Completely pathetic!”
“……Cheong Myeong. Liquor is originally made with water.”
“Oh, really?”
People were strewn about everywhere. Some of them Yu Gong had never seen before, while others he knew all too well. In other words…
“Uuuugh… dying…”
Why is that bastard lying there like that?
What shocked him most was the fact that Lee Ja-yang, the man whose sharp personality kept everyone at a distance except Gwak Hwan-so, was practically crawling across the floor in a drunken stupor.
No, everyone else was the same.
So not only the outsiders who had come to visit Hainan, but even Hainan’s own disciples were sprawled about in a state of near-unconsciousness.
The scene was so pitifully chaotic, with emptied wine jars rolling everywhere, that it didn’t take much to guess what had happened here.
“……They drank?”
No, of course they could drink. It was perfectly natural to serve guests food and liquor when they came.
What was truly incomprehensible was why Hainan’s disciples were the ones rolling around in the very room where those guests were supposed to be eating and resting.
“Th-that red-haired bastard… can… really drink…”
“You should… untie your tongue… before you talk…”
And in the middle of that drunken heap, two men were seated across from each other, swaying as if they might tip over at any second, each gripping a wine cup.
“……Senior Brother?”
“T-that guy looks like the Mount Hua sect leader disciple I saw at Shaolin before, doesn’t he? Why are the two of them…?”
Gwak Hwan-so and Baek Cheon stared fixedly at the cups in their own hands, their eyes unfocused. Then, as if by prior agreement, they tipped them back in one go.
Gulp! Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!
“Th-ther…”
“I…”
Thud!
At the exact same time, both men toppled sideways.
The sound of snoring, sleep-talking, and someone groaning in misery filled the guest hall in a bizarre, dissonant harmony.
What in the world is going on here?
Only half a day ago, this place had been razor-sharp with mutual distrust. And now, in such a short time, how had it become this loose and unruly?
And with the very outsiders who had come to Hainan for the first time, no less.
Just as Yu Gong tried to make sense of how things could possibly have gone so far off the rails,
“What? They all collapsed already? Damn, the kids here can’t hold their liquor at all. Tsk!”
Someone leaning against the wall and sipping liquor swiveled his loose eyes left and right.
“Oh.”
Then he spotted Yu Gong and Go Hong standing at the doorway and broke into a grin.
“You two want a drink too?”
Yu Gong lost his words for a moment. That was when Go Hong hastily whispered, “Senior Brother. Th-that’s the Mount Hua Divine Dragon. I remember him clearly.”
“……The Mount Hua Divine Dragon?”
That bastard?
“Don’t stand on ceremony. Come on in and have a drink. It’s lonely without anyone to drink with. You’ve got to treat your guests properly, don’t you?”
“……”
“Senior Brother…?”
Yu Gong’s expression hardened. Then he walked inside and sat down across from the Mount Hua Divine Dragon.
“I’m Yu Gong.”
“Cheong Myeong.”
Cheong Myeong grinned and lifted the wine jar.
“You came late, so let’s start with three cups.”
Without a word, Yu Gong raised his cup.