Still, I Walk With Them (1)
"You little mudskipper!"
Chung Myung jolted and looked ahead.
His senior brother Chung Mun was glaring at him, his beard trembling with rage.
Man, seriously. It’s always me he picks on.
Chung Myung’s mouth jutted out a full hand’s breadth. But even with that reaction, Chung Mun’s anger showed no sign of cooling.
"What did I tell you?"
"...Geez. You nagged me so much, I don’t even know which part I’m supposed to answer first."
"You little—!"
Chung Myung flinched and turned his head away.
Far off to the side, his martial siblings were looking over with amused expressions before quickly snapping their heads away.
What, those bastards?
Trying to die?
Crack!
"Ow!"
Chung Myung clutched his head and shot Chung Mun a resentful look.
"Again! Again!"
"Grrrghhh!"
Chung Myung trembled all over.
Who was Chung Myung?
He was the Mount Hua Sect’s once-in-a-century prodigy, the one who would one day be called the greatest martial artist in Mount Hua’s future.
Of course, those who were jealous of him liked to sneer and call him Mount Hua’s dead-end root, or Mount Hua’s calamity—but weren’t those just the bitter lies of the incompetent?
Not only his martial siblings, but even his martial uncles avoided laying a hand on him.
And yet there was only one person.
Only Senior Brother Chung Mun did not hold back against him even a little.
"Didn’t I tell you not to hit the younger disciples?"
"No, I wasn’t trying to—"
Chung Myung pouted.
"Those bastards started it first."
"And why on earth would they pick a fight with you? If you’ve got even a shred of sense, use it before you speak!"
"…."
Huh?
Somehow that was unfair, but he couldn’t exactly refute it.
"You little brat!"
Chung Mun’s face darkened.
"It’s not just the younger disciples! Even the junior disciples start backing away the moment they see you, don’t they?"
"No, those ungrateful little— They come running to me first every time they get beaten up somewhere else and spill every last detail! But then when it’s time like this, they say I’m scary and all that!"
"Quiet!"
"…tch."
Chung Myung stuck out his lip.
He wasn’t wrong.
How many times had he been the one cleaning up the mess those disciples made? And every time, they’d gone on about how grateful they were, how there was no one but Senior Brother—only to go scurrying to tattletale the instant they got smacked around a little.
Honestly. No one in this world is worth trusting.
The moment Chung Myung decided he would absolutely get his revenge someday, Chung Mun let out a long sigh.
"Come with me."
"Huh?"
"I said come with me!"
"…."
Chung Mun led him up Nagan Peak. And all the way up, he said not a single word.
Once they reached the peak, Chung Mun called Chung Myung over and made him stand beside him. Beneath their feet, the grand scenery of Mount Hua spread out below.
Is he planning to push me?
Wouldn’t kill me, though.
Chung Myung thought idly as he gazed at the familiar view with a lazy expression. That was when Chung Mun finally spoke.
"Chung Myung."
"Yes, Senior Brother."
"What do you think Mount Hua is?"
"…Huh? What kind of sudden question is that? It’s not like you’re asking me to do some Daoist meditation or something."
Ah. Well, actually, wasn’t that exactly what it was? We are Daoists, after all.
"Then let me ask you differently. What do you think a sect is?"
"Well…."
Chung Myung tilted his head.
"If I use Mount Hua as an example, it’d be something like this: Daoists who couldn’t adapt to human society and went out into the world to study the Dao ended up drifting here because it was remote. As those social misfits gathered one by one, they built halls and made all sorts of things, and then decided they needed a name for themselves—that’s how Mount Hua got started, no?"
"…."
Chung Mun stared at him, his eyes twitching.
"…No?"
"W-well, I suppose you could put it that way."
So I was right.
Did I hit a sore spot?
"But that isn’t all."
Chung Mun shook his head.
"Chung Myung."
"Yes, Senior Brother."
"Humans cannot live forever."
"…."
It was obvious enough, but this time Chung Myung did not snark back. There was something in Chung Mun’s words that carried an unreachable profundity.
"You were born with talent. Looking at all of Mount Hua… no, perhaps even across Mount Hua’s entire history, there may never have been another born with talent like yours."
"Hehe. You’re praising me all of a sudden, Senior Brother. You’re making me blush."
As Chung Myung wriggled around, Chung Mun’s face twisted.
Put your hand down, Senior Brother.
If you push me here, I still won’t die.
"But that is all."
"…What?"
"No matter how strong you are, what changes? In the end, there are things you cannot achieve alone, and places you cannot reach alone."
"…."
"If the Ancestor had not founded Mount Hua and had lived alone in lofty solitude, would the world remember him? Would his will, his martial legacy, have passed down to the world?"
Chung Myung frowned.
"I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t think I need to make that my goal. I just want to live this life well enough and then die. I don’t really want to leave anything behind."
"That’s because you have not yet come to crave it."
"…Crave it?"
Chung Mun nodded slowly.
"Someday, you will come to wish for it too. That your disciples, your junior disciples, and your descendants will carry on your will and preserve what you left behind. A sect is such a thing. It is not only about living well together. What matters more is carrying on my will."
"That sounds difficult."
"Yes. Perhaps it is still difficult for you now. But just because it is difficult does not mean you may behave however you please."
Chung Myung nodded lightly.
He didn’t fully understand what he meant, but for some reason, it felt like he should agree.
"So look after your disciples a little more. To you, those boys probably seem hopeless across the board. And I likely seem no better to you. But someday, those very same hopeless people will become the most precious beings in your life."
"Ah, no. That’s not it."
Chung Myung said with sudden seriousness,
"The disciples are idiots, sure, but I’ve never once thought you were hopeless, Senior Brother."
"…."
Chung Mun let out a long sigh as he looked at Chung Myung’s face, which was practically shouting, See? I did well, right?
"Stop grinning. You’ll make me attached, you brat!"
"Getting attached is a good thing."
Chung Myung grinned, slippery as oil, and Chung Mun shook his head before speaking again.
"Chung Myung."
"Yes."
"Do you know what the scariest thing in the world is?"
"The disciplinary rod?"
"…Regret."
"…."
Chung Mun spoke quietly.
"I am not so afraid of the children keeping their distance from you. But I am afraid that someday, you may come to regret that. The regret you suffer will be several times deeper and heavier than the regret others suffer. So even if you do not understand it now, remember what I’m saying. It will one day lighten the burden you have to bear."
"…So you’re saying not to hit the kids."
"Yes, you little—!"
"All right, all right. I get it. Man, your nagging really is endless!"
"Hmph!"
Chung Mun spun around.
He’d rather preach sutras to a cow!
"O-oi! Come with me! Senior Brother!"
Chung Mun glanced back at the sound of Chung Myung running after him and slowly closed his eyes.
This child was born with too much.
It was a blessing, but not only a blessing. From the moment he picked up a sword, from the moment he could sketch plum blossoms at the tip of his blade, the other disciples could only seem like fools to him.
How much suffering must it cost to be the one who lives alone in a world full of fools?
To guide such a Chung Myung properly was the duty of a senior brother.
"By the way, Senior Brother, I think I understand a little of what you’re saying."
"Oh?"
"So what you mean is, just as I follow Senior Brother, the sect kind of follows me too, right?"
"Ha…."
Chung Mun laughed despite himself.
"That’s different, you brat. How could that possibly be the same?"
"Ah. That’s hard."
It was not easy. But someday, Chung Myung would understand his meaning. It would take a long time, but still.
And when that day came—
The world will meet Mount Hua’s true swordsman.
If this free-spirited child could truly understand the meaning of responsibility, and still remain free even while bearing it.
Then the world would witness Mount Hua’s winds sweeping across it.
"But…."
"Yes, Senior Brother."
"Baek Gong martial uncle seems to have been avoiding you lately. Did something happen?"
"Uh… n-no. Nothing… uh, nothing happened."
"…Did you beat him up?"
"N-no, I didn’t beat him or anything. It was just… uh…."
Ancestor.
What am I supposed to do with this brat? What am I supposed to do!
"From today, you’re fasting for four days."
"What?! That’s too much!"
"Quiet, you little brat!"
Chung Mun grabbed Chung Myung by the head and hauled him under his arm.
"You mudskipper-looking little punk!"
"Agh! That hurts! I said it hurts, Senior Brother!"
As Chung Mun and Chung Myung bickered their way down the mountain path of Mount Hua, the plum blossoms that had bloomed behind them quietly smiled.
* * *
Chung Myung sat up.
"…."
After glancing around, he fell silent for a moment at the strange sense of incongruity in the unfamiliar space.
Ah.
It was a dream.
Chung Myung closed his eyes again.
I haven’t had a dream like that in a long time.
He shook his head slightly.
As he brought Chung Mun’s face back to mind, vivid enough to touch, a strange emotion rose in his chest.
But Chung Myung knew this much.
The past was the past.
He was the one living in the present. He didn’t know why such things happened only to him, but Chung Myung wasn’t stupid enough to let memories of the past shake him so hard that he lost the present.
"What were you trying to say, Senior Brother?"
Why now, of all times?
Chung Myung shook his head and got to his feet.
It was overthinking. A dream was just a dream. Maybe not getting anything from the Sword Tomb had been gnawing at him mentally, and this was how it had come out. Yeah, that had to be it.
"Damn it! I should’ve gotten my hands on the Honwon Dan no matter what!"
Chung Myung ground his teeth.
Several days had already passed, but the frustration still wouldn’t settle.
The Honwon Dan was not just some ordinary spiritual pill.
The Honwon Dan’s refinement method was something Mount Hua, now having lost its alchemical arts, absolutely needed. That was why the regret ran so deep.
"Grrrgh. I can’t just make something out of nothing."
After agonizing for a long while, Chung Myung finally gave up and shook the lingering frustration out of his head.
As for the alchemy method, he would get it somehow. For now, it was time to leave the past behind and think about what came next.
And above all else, today was….
Chung Myung opened the door and stepped outside. On the main veranda leading into the courtyard, his martial siblings were already packing their bags and waiting.
"You’re up?"
"Yeah."
"Why did you sleep so long? Are you not feeling well?"
"Nothing like that."
Chung Myung shook his head.
"That’s a relief."
Baek Cheon slung his travel bundle over his shoulder and got to his feet.
Today was the day they left for Mount Hua.
But Chung Myung still couldn’t quite let go of what he wanted, and with a sigh, he looked up at the sky.
The bonds that are meant to continue will eventually continue. If they don’t continue, then they were never bonds at all.
No, come on. You say that so easily!
Why did I even tear myself apart over it? That stupid Honwon Dan wasn’t even that necessary to me!
I’ve been doing all this for the sake of saving Mount Hua, and you say it like that? Huh?
It is all your fortune.
"Grrrghhh."
Chung Myung scratched his head hard enough to mess his hair up.
"What kind of sin did I commit in my past life… no, no, that’s not it. I did commit a lot of sins, didn’t I."
So that was why Senior Brother told him not to hit the disciples.
The sins he had committed back then had come back around like this.
"Sigh."
Seeing Chung Myung sigh in exasperation, Baek Cheon let out a small laugh.
"Why do you have so much lingering attachment? Let go of what needs to be let go. It’s time we returned already. To Mount Hua."
"…Yeah."
Chung Myung nodded and looked up at the sky again.
Damned if this isn’t gorgeous weather.
It was perfect weather for setting out on a long journey.