Is That Really All? (5)
The elders’ flustered voices rippled through the hall from every direction.
“Ten men?”
“T-these are all the people here?”
“How can this be…?”
The Heaven Alliance group standing behind Baek Cheon, on the other hand, looked even more bewildered by the reaction.
“...Sahyung. Why is everyone acting like this?” Jo Gul whispered.
Yoon Jong gave a bitter smile. “They probably thought we were only the advance party.”
“The advance party?”
“There’s no way ten people would come all the way to Hainan by themselves, so… they must have assumed we brought more people with us and crossed the sea ahead of them.”
“Ah…”
Jo Gul stared at the Hainan elders with a look of dumbfounded disbelief.
Of course, Jo Gul might have found it absurd, but from their perspective, this reaction was only natural.
From the Heaven Alliance’s point of view, they had sent highly renowned figures and the heads of each faction to show the utmost sincerity. But from Hainan’s perspective, it was unthinkable that people of that rank would travel alone without attendants.
What sect master in the world would leave his own sect behind and cross straight through enemy territory by himself? It defied not only the common sense of the martial world, but the common sense of ordinary people as well.
So it was only natural for them to assume there were others with them. It was a misunderstanding born from the impossibility of fully probing one another’s circumstances.
“Then what in the world did you come here for!”
“You want us to abandon the Nine Sects and One Gang and join the Heaven Alliance? What, you’re planning to strip the last name off a sect that’s already doomed?”
“How shameless!”
The elders’ fury flared like a prairie fire and came crashing down on the group.
At that fierce reaction, more than a few people widened their eyes in shock. And more than a few others frowned. No matter how dire their situation, these people had risked their lives to come all the way here on their behalf, so such a response felt excessive.
“Enough…”
“Sect Leader! How is that any different from saying they’d skin a sick tiger even after it’s already lost its hide?”
“They won’t help us, but they’ll take our name instead! How dare they treat us like this…”
“Enough!”
In an instant, Geum Yang-baek’s voice burst out like the roar of a beast.
The elders, stunned into silence, looked at Geum Yang-baek. Even though they had stood at his side for so long as elders, this was the first time they had ever seen him so enraged.
“You so-called men of the southern seas…”
When Geum Yang-baek shot them a freezing glare, every elder bowed their heads at once.
“Even if what these people have done differs from what we expected, the fact remains that they cut through life-and-death danger to come running here to help Hainan. Isn’t that so?”
“Sect Leader…”
“There are others who should be helping us, yet you can’t say a word to them. But to the people who at least showed us consideration, you wag your fingers and accuse them of not giving enough. Human hearts may be fickle, but is this truly the disgraceful behavior worthy of Hainan’s elders?”
The elders could not bring themselves to look Geum Yang-baek in the eye and only bowed their heads lower. Watching them with a stern gaze, Geum Yang-baek finally let out a faint sigh. Turning back to Baek Cheon, he said, “I apologize for showing you such an ugly sight. Everyone is desperate…”
“Not at all, Sect Leader. We should have prepared more…”
“No. I’m only grateful that you understand.”
Geum Yang-baek smiled gently, but unlike before, there was now a clear shadow in that smile.
“I understood what Acting Sect Leader said very well.”
“Sect Leader, not yet…”
“No.”
Geum Yang-baek shook his head.
“The fact that you did not bring others along to help us did not change my mind. We simply placed needless hope.”
“…”
“Even if, like these foolish elders say, you came only to make use of Hainan’s name…”
“Ah, no, that’s…”
“Yes, I know. There’s no way that could be true. I am the Sect Leader of Hainan, but I do not think Hainan’s name is so great that it could move everyone present here.”
Geum Yang-baek let out a self-mocking laugh.
“If that were your intention, then your effort would be so excessive that I’d even consider it polite to let myself be used, merely out of respect for the trouble you went to.”
He sounded almost detached, as if he had already risen above it all. Baek Cheon bit his lip hard.
Then Geum Yang-baek slowly shook his head and said, “But, Acting Sect Leader, I’m sorry to say this, but I must decline the Heaven Alliance’s offer.”
“...Sect Leader.”
“The reason is simple.”
Geum Yang-baek lifted his head and quietly looked up at the ceiling. His eyes were on the ceiling, but what he was truly seeing was probably something else entirely.
“Hainan belonged to the Nine Sects and One Gang, yet it was never truly able to be one of the Nine Sects and One Gang. It was only hurriedly shoved into place to fill the vacancy left by Mount Hua.”
The words were self-deprecating, but his tone remained utterly calm.
“Because of that, even though we belonged to the same Nine Sects and One Gang, we were subjected to unspoken discrimination. And perhaps buried beneath that discrimination was contempt for us as island people of the southern sea.”
“That is…”
“Island people can’t be trusted. Island people have no loyalty. Island people betray others as easily as they eat, and they change their stance as quickly as the sea changes.”
Geum Yang-baek gave a low chuckle.
“Perhaps that feeling is hard for you people from the mainland to understand. And… perhaps even Palace Lord of the Ice Palace would find it difficult to understand. What those who are discriminated against must endure in order to force their way into the ranks of those who discriminate.”
Baek Cheon, still unable to understand, asked Geum Yang-baek, “But, Sect Leader, then is there not even more reason to hesitate? As you said, no matter how hard Hainan strives, becoming a true member of the Nine Sects and One Gang is a distant dream. But the Heaven Alliance does not discriminate among the sects that belong to it. Even the Green Forest is recognized as part of the alliance. So…”
As he spoke, Baek Cheon closed his mouth again.
He had thought it pointless to repeat the invitation, but more than that, Geum Yang-baek was smiling faintly. That smile bothered him.
Geum Yang-baek said, “Acting Sect Leader, what do you think loyalty is?”
“...Pardon?”
“Exactly as I said. What is loyalty?”
Baek Cheon could not answer immediately. It would have been easy enough to define loyalty, but that was not what Geum Yang-baek was asking.
Seeing his silence, Geum Yang-baek continued, “I believe loyalty is something that is proven in the end.”
“...”
“Acting Sect Leader. For a long time, Hainan was a sect they could never truly trust to the very end, a sect that might one day turn its back on them. No matter how loudly we shouted about righteousness or how much we tried to excuse ourselves, their deeply rooted prejudice never disappeared.”
“...”
“And I’m not speaking only of the martial world. Hainan itself may have strength, but the people of Hainan Island who have no strength are subjected to all manner of discrimination and prejudice simply because their skin is a different color, simply because they do not live on the mainland.”
“Sect Leader…”
“Then if we, our Hainan Sect, at the final moment, were to abandon the Nine Sects and One Gang as you suggest and take the Heaven Alliance’s hand, what would they say?”
Geum Yang-baek didn’t even wait for Baek Cheon’s answer.
“I knew it.”
“...”
“Those untrustworthy island bastards after all.”
After pausing, Geum Yang-baek slowly shook his head.
“Acting Sect Leader. We are not fools. We are not so stupid that we don’t know the sects of the Central Plains, including the Nine Sects and One Gang, have already abandoned Hainan. We knew it, and even knowing it, we had no choice.”
“Sect Leader. It was they who broke faith first.”
“Even so, what would change? In the end, all that would remain is the fact that Hainan failed to keep faith.”
A sigh slipped from Baek Cheon’s lips.
“If we were to take the hand the Heaven Alliance extends at the very end… then yes, we might be able to expose the Nine Sects and One Gang’s lack of loyalty to the world and shame them for it. But… in return, the remaining people here would only suffer even greater contempt. Do people not always magnify another’s small flaw far more than their own grave mistakes?”
Even Baek Cheon had no answer to that.
“Thank you, Acting Sect Leader. Whatever the reason, for risking danger and coming all this way to this distant land, I have nothing to say except thanks.”
Geum Yang-baek bowed deeply. Baek Cheon instinctively moved to stop him, only to draw back the hand he had half-extended.
Geum Yang-baek kept speaking in that bowed posture.
“But unfortunately, from Hainan’s point of view, I cannot accept that offer. Hainan Sect may come to an end as it is, but the people of Hainan Island must continue living afterward. Please understand that this, too, is something Hainan must take into account.”
“...Of course we understand.”
Baek Cheon said with a bitter expression.
“Then... what will you do now?”
“Who can say.”
Geum Yang-baek lifted his head and smiled with calm detachment. In fact, thanks to Baek Cheon’s suggestion, it felt as though his mind had become clearer.
“Some will leave, some will surrender, and those who remain will stand and prove themselves. My duty is to share the fate of those who choose to stand and prove themselves.”
“...”
“When I thought there was a way to survive, I considered that perhaps I could spend my whole life fighting prejudice, and that maybe it would be all right to change sides just once. But if the end has already been decided, then we should bring it to a close without shaming the name of Hainan.”
Baek Cheon lowered his eyes, his heart heavy.
I should have come sooner.
There was nothing he could do. That was why he could not say anything at all.
Whatever he said now would only insult Hainan.
“The typhoon will pass soon. If you live long enough on an island, you come to know such things naturally.”
Geum Yang-baek looked over Baek Cheon and the people seated behind him.
“When it does, leave the island. We are the ones who must be buried here, but you are not. If all of us were leaving, that would be another matter, but I doubt they’ll bother chasing down a single small boat slipping away from the island.”
Jo Gul unconsciously clenched his thigh. Those quiet words somehow stabbed straight into his chest.
“So… when you return to the Central Plains, please only tell them one thing. Tell them that Hainan kept faith with the Central Plains and the Nine Sects and One Gang, and that we fulfilled our duty as a righteous sect.”
With his eyes closed, Geum Yang-baek spoke in a low voice.
“That alone will be enough.”
For the first time, Baek Cheon tore his gaze away from Geum Yang-baek and looked back at one man. But the one who received that look only returned an emotionless stare.
Baek Cheon let out a short breath and slowly rose to his feet. Then he cupped his fists and bowed politely toward Geum Yang-baek.
“I have received the Sect Leader’s intention clearly.”
Geum Yang-baek also stood and returned the salute.
“I wish your esteemed alliance safe and peaceful fortune.”
And so, at the end of an unbearably bitter meeting, the result was total collapse.
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