The One Who Broke Mount Hua Was Me? (1)
"Huuuu—"
Un Geom stared at Chung Myung, his eyes blank with bewilderment.
If you only looked at him, he seemed like an ordinary kid.
But this child was anything but ordinary.
Is he really okay?
The thick training robe on him was soaked through with sweat. Even while standing still, droplets ran down the sleeves and fell one after another. His face, flushed red from the rush of blood, looked ready to burst, and his legs trembled with sheer exhaustion. Even his lips were quivering.
"Ah, do you want to sit?"
Un Geom, who treated courtesy and discipline as if they were his life itself, unconsciously offered Chung Myung a seat.
He couldn’t help it.
Seeing a puppy drenched in the rain was enough to make anyone want to reach out a hand. In all honesty, Chung Myung looked even more pitiful than a wet puppy right now.
"Ah, I’m fine. More importantly, some water... "
"Someone go fetch water! Now!"
"Yes, sir!"
One of the children, who had been sneaking cautious glances, hurried off to get water.
"Right. That..."
But Un Geom closed his mouth again.
What am I supposed to ask?
He had called them over, but now he had no idea where to begin. This kind of absurd situation was a first for him.
"What exactly is going on here?"
So he could only ask the obvious.
At Un Geom’s question, Chung Myung glanced around and answered with complete ease.
"It’s nothing."
"...What?"
"We all agreed to do early-morning training starting today, but I guess we forgot it was the first day and overdid it a bit. I’m sure everyone was just too fired up."
Too fired up?
Un Geom shot a sideways glance at the children behind Chung Myung. They were clamping their mouths shut and frantically waving their hands.
But the moment Chung Myung tilted his head and looked back, those waving hands shot down in a hurry.
Well, well?
It was ridiculous beyond words. He didn’t know exactly what was going on, but one thing was clear: all of the third-generation disciples were thoroughly cowed by this one kid.
Un Geom was not a man who missed what was right in front of him. He had spent nearly ten years dealing with children alone. By now, just from the way their eyes rolled, he could read most situations.
No, even without reaching such a level, anyone who saw this scene and failed to realize what was happening would be the real idiot.
The Mount Hua disciples, of all people...
They were scared of a newcomer?
Un Geom’s head tilted slightly to one side.
No, no, that’s not right.
Come to think of it, these children’s abilities were by no means low. Most kids their age from ordinary martial schools wouldn’t even be able to lift their heads in front of them.
Even spoiled grain was still grain, and this was Mount Hua, after all.
So it wasn’t that those kids were pathetic. It was this one who was strange.
"You said morning training?"
"Yes, that’s right."
"You little..."
Un Geom said firmly,
"Baekmae Hall has its own rules. Who told you to cut into sleeping hours and train whenever you please?"
Even after a touch of stern reproach, Chung Myung’s expression didn’t change. He still looked perfectly calm as he replied as if it were nothing.
"Then I won’t do it."
"...Huh?"
"I thought it would help the training. But if you say no, then I won’t."
"... "
No, this wasn’t what he expected.
Un Geom was slightly flustered. This was not the reaction he had been hoping for.
"Y-you thought training would help?"
"Yes."
"Why would you think that?"
A stunned look appeared in Chung Myung’s eyes.
"Then it wouldn’t help?"
"... "
"... "
An awkward silence drifted between them.
Hngh.
Suppressing an inward groan, Un Geom moved his lips. As if he understood Un Geom’s conflict, Chung Myung spoke first.
"Since martial arts are taught by the martial uncle, that should be enough, but I thought the disciples should make their own efforts too. All martial studies ultimately come from the body, so I figured that if we could strengthen the body, it might help the sword as well."
It was the right answer.
A perfect, irrefutable argument.
"Your words are correct."
Un Geom readily acknowledged that much.
"However, can training born of coercion truly be called right?"
"Coercion?"
Chung Myung glanced back and gave a faint snort.
"Come on, Martial Uncle. How could I possibly coerce my senior brothers? I said I’d train, and they just wanted to come along."
Nonsense.
It was an obvious lie.
But to challenge that lie, he would have to say, Didn’t you threaten your senior brothers and drag them out here?
And yet...
I can’t say that.
That would be the same as asking everyone to die together.
The third-generation disciples would become idiots who had been beaten down and dragged out by a newcomer they couldn’t handle, while Un Geom himself would become the supreme idiot who had taken it upon himself to teach that idiot.
And Chung Myung, all by himself, would turn into a villainous brat who’d bullied and intimidated his senior brothers despite being the youngest.
If he said it out loud, everyone would be ruined.
"W-well..."
Just as Un Geom was searching for words, Chung Myung hurriedly continued.
"If it doesn’t interfere with other training, it could be a good method. At the very least, I think we’d see results in about a month."
Oh?
He was speaking about training, but the hidden meaning was a little different.
A month.
It meant: leave us alone for about a month. Then I’ll show you clear results.
Look at this kid?
That didn’t sound like something a child would say. He was speaking like a seasoned river-veteran, hiding meaning between the lines.
Un Geom, who had begun to feel a little interested, prodded him gently.
"A month, you say. That might be possible. But the training itself doesn’t seem simple. Can the children really keep it up for a whole month?"
"The senior brothers’ willpower is high enough to make me want to follow their example. Even though the training is harsh, not one of them has complained."
He’d tested them once, and none of them had opened their mouths. That meant he’d already made sure they couldn’t complain, so there was nothing to worry about.
No, where did this guy even crawl out from?
While Un Geom struggled to hide his disbelief, Chung Myung spun around and smiled at the third-generation disciples.
"Isn’t that right, senior brothers?"
"...W-well, yes."
"We can work hard. Really hard."
"...I worked hard today too."
Chung Myung turned back around again.
"With senior brothers this dedicated, how could the results of training possibly be bad?"
Their faces are already twisting in the back, you punk.
Un Geom was so stunned he couldn’t even speak. But even in the middle of that, his mind began to turn quickly.
So what Chung Myung was saying was that, although only one day had passed, he had already completely taken control of the third-generation disciples, and he intended to use that control not for nonsense, but for training them.
And if he had any other intentions, that would become clear after watching him for about a month.
Goodness.
The more he heard, the more absurd it sounded. Where had this monster of a kid suddenly come from, to subdue the children like this?
But...
From my position, this isn’t exactly bad news.
As Baekmae Hall’s leader, his biggest problem was securing enough time for training.
Mount Hua was always short on manpower.
Under normal circumstances, even Baekmae Hall was not something he could handle alone. He needed at least ten instructors. But the number of people currently helping him devote themselves to Baekmae Hall was only three.
As a result, his entire day was spent dealing with the children’s errands, and his own growth as a martial artist had stagnated. If this brat could take over the task of controlling the children, it would obviously be a huge help.
"One more question."
"Yes."
"It can’t be easy for you either, so why insist on training from dawn?"
Chung Myung tilted his head.
"Disciple doesn’t understand what Martial Uncle means."
"Hmm?"
There was no way this kid could suddenly fail to understand him like this.
"To enter Mount Hua means to learn the sword, and to learn the sword means to become stronger. If you want to become stronger, then training is only natural. To carve out a greater level of swordsmanship, and then make Mount Hua’s name shake the world—that is the natural duty of a disciple who has received Mount Hua’s grace."
"R-right."
"Of course, I know I can become stronger even with only the teachings Martial Uncle gives us. But if effort is added on top of that, I think the pace will only increase. And if we want to make enough effort, then isn’t it natural to cut into our sleeping time?"
"...Right."
In other words, why should training need any other reason?
So that’s it. The Sect Leader said he wouldn’t accept any more disciples, and then suddenly took in new students. I wondered what on earth had changed his mind.
If it was a kid like this, he could be worth raising.
He still hadn’t checked the child’s talent, but with this much drive, even if he lacked talent, he could still produce good results. And even if he never became the greatest master in the world himself, simply influencing the other children positively would be a worthwhile thing.
"...The training looks awfully hard, though."
"That’s because it’s the first day."
"It still looks hard."
"People get tougher the more they’re worked."
The corners of Un Geom’s mouth twitched.
This one’s the real deal.
Wasn’t this perfectly in line with his own philosophy? A kid with that kind of mindset would be fine to back for a while. Besides, even in the past, there had always been an unofficial hierarchy among the children that had nothing to do with generation rank.
"What’s the most important thing when dealing with senior brothers?"
"Courtesy. I’ll obey the words of the eldest senior brother as if they came from the heavens."
In other words, he wouldn’t look down on those above him too much, and he would respect the eldest senior brother to preserve the hierarchy. Every answer was pleasing.
Un Geom nodded deeply, then looked around. The children, still unable to understand what was going on, were staring at him with trembling eyes.
"Ahem."
Clearing his throat to dispel the awkwardness, Un Geom averted his eyes slightly and said,
"I am deeply moved that you have all taken part in training of your own free will from dawn."
"M-Martial Uncle!"
"Hall Leader!"
Shouts filled with panic and shock rang out, but Un Geom deliberately ignored them.
"If you continue training steadily from now on, you will surely achieve good results. It seems this child knows the training method well, so do your best."
We’re doomed.
Wow, he’s just throwing us away like this.
Look at him refusing to meet our eyes.
Realization of Un Geom’s thoughts spread despair across the disciples’ faces.
"Then eat your breakfast without delay and come to the morning training session. I’ll be going now."
Just as Un Geom began to turn away, he stopped.
"Ah, right!"
Of course!
He was still the leader of Baekmae Hall. Surely he wouldn’t just abandon people like that...?
"Since it would interfere with training, you don’t need to come for morning greetings anymore. Training comes first. Yes, that’s right."
Un Geom chuckled heartily, then turned and strode away.
The disciples hurriedly reached out without thinking, but Un Geom vanished like an unreachable mirage.
"... "
Crack.
At that moment, an eerie sound of a neck being twisted rang out.
It was Chung Myung.
He slowly turned around. Then he smiled.
It was clearly a gentle smile, but the veins bulging on his forehead made even that smile impossible to interpret.
"Martial Uncle, please save me?"
"... "
"Seriously, senior brothers, I’m not trying to kill you. Hurry up and go inside before breakfast. I have something important to say inside Baekmae Hall."
"... "
"Now."
"...Yes."
It was the moment hope and dreams disappeared from Mount Hua.