Wouldn’t It Be Better Than Dying of Frustration? (2)
Hyun Jong glared at Chung Myung with his eyes narrowed to slits.
But Chung Myung, even under that sharp stare, only wore the expression of a fat, well-fed puppy.
“Heehee.”
“……”
“Khp. Kheup. Heehee!”
“……”
He had devoted himself to the Dao for decades.
Through countless crises and hardships while leading the ruined Mount Hua Sect, Hyun Jong had never once wavered, yet at this very moment, the calm he had maintained all his life was cracking with a sharp, brittle sound.
I’d have no regrets if I could just smack the back of his head once.
Primordial Heavenly Lord, why on earth did you send someone like that to Mount Hua? What sin have I committed!
They said misfortune and blessing came together, and he was exactly that sort of case. To think Mount Hua’s greatest blessing was also Mount Hua’s greatest disaster—where on earth had there ever been a case like this?
“Khp. Sect Leader. Thank you……. Kheuhup!”
Chung Myung bent forward as if unable to contain his laughter and rubbed at his chest.
Watching that scene, Hyun Jong felt a thousand fires blazing in his gut.
It’s not because I’m reluctant! Not because I’m reluctant!
This was outright robbery!
Something he could have given willingly if they’d only asked nicely, and they had gone and seized it like this—right out of the Sect Leader’s hands?
“Krrrgh!”
When Hyun Jong clearly failed to hide his discomfort, Hyun Young shot him a subtle look.
“Sect Leader.”
“I know, I know!”
Hyun Jong, having snapped at Hyun Young for no reason at all, ground his teeth and said to Chung Myung,
“...This will not be an easy task.”
“Kuuuuh. Don’t worry, Sect Leader! What’s there to worry about when we’ve got Honwon Dan?”
“……”
Is that brat doing that on purpose?
Just one whack on the back of the head! Seriously, just one!
But that was an impossible dream.
“Kheuhm.”
Realizing he had become too agitated, Hyun Jong let out a heavy sigh and coughed loudly.
“Chung Myung.”
As soon as he heard the Sect Leader’s voice turn serious, Chung Myung straightened at once.
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
“I feel uneasy that I keep asking you all to take on difficult tasks.”
Chung Myung lifted his head and looked at Hyun Jong.
“Sect Leader.”
Then he smiled faintly.
“Isn’t that just how it is?”
Just how it is, he said.
For some reason, the tension in Hyun Jong’s shoulders loosened, and he ended up laughing.
Sometimes Chung Myung would irritate him to no end; sometimes he would pull off things so outrageous they were impossible to bear. And yet, despite everything, Hyun Jong could never hate him. Perhaps it was because of this very quality.
That strangely enlightened attitude.
At times, he seemed childish beyond his years, yet at other times, he felt older than Hyun Jong himself.
His oddness never goes away, does it?
How could one person contain so many different faces?
Hyun Jong let out a dry laugh and went on,
“Yes, you’re right. That is how it is. But there is nothing I can do about this feeling of guilt.”
“Don’t worry. Besides the distance being a bit much, there’s nothing else to be concerned about.”
“All of the Five Outer Palaces are known for their isolation and eccentric temperaments, but among them, I’ve heard the people of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace are especially strange and rough—so much so that Middle Kingdom etiquette doesn’t work on them at all.”
“It’ll be fine.”
Chung Myung smiled with obvious satisfaction.
“Do you have another method?”
“Hehe. You know the answer.”
He lightly tapped the sword at his waist.
“……”
Ah. Well, yes, that was true. It had been the answer to many things since ancient times.
But this was the Daoist school……
Hyun Jong shut his eyes tightly.
If he were going to start worrying about doctrine, then he should never have let Chung Myung out of the temple in the first place.
As if understanding Hyun Jong’s feelings, Baek Cheon stepped forward a little and spoke before Chung Myung could say anything else.
“Sect Leader. Please don’t worry too much.”
“Oh?”
Look at him.
That noble bearing.
After looking at Chung Myung and then at Baek Cheon, the pain in Hyun Jong’s heart seemed to melt away like snow under the spring sun.
“Though it is the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace, they are not all people who cannot communicate. We will do our best to resolve things through discussion. If we approach them sincerely, they will…….”
“They’ll cut off our heads and stick them on spears.”
“Yes, what a fine…… Wait, I’m talking, you punk!”
“Then say something that sounds like words! If everything could be solved by talking, why would wars happen in the first place?”
“Wars happen because there are idiots like you! Because of idiots like you! If the world were full of people like you, do you think it would be a place fit for human beings? It’d be a living hell, wouldn’t it?!”
“Want to make Mount Hua into a living hell today?”
“……”
Watching Baek Cheon and Chung Myung bicker back and forth, Hyun Jong shook his head.
He was ruined too.
The old Baek Cheon, once so noble and upright, had long since been dyed by Chung Myung and disappeared.
At this rate, what will become of Mount Hua’s future……?
It seemed bright, and yet dark at the same time. It was confusion itself.
“Kheum. In any case, I’ll stop this fellow from running wild as much as I can, so please trust us.”
Hyun Jong nodded gravely.
“Listen well, Baek Cheon.”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
“From this moment on, you will act in my stead. What you say in the South will be my words, and your will will be the will of Mount Hua.”
In other words, he was being given full authority.
Baek Cheon, understanding the weight of those words, let out an involuntary sigh.
“That is too heavy, Sect Leader.”
“You can do it.”
Hyun Jong smiled gently.
Experience was exactly that sort of thing. When faced with something one had never done before, fear naturally came first. Only by carrying that fear and taking each step one by one could one’s world finally grow larger.
“Then we’ll be off.”
“I pray for your success.”
Baek Cheon bowed deeply where he stood. The others followed suit, bowing to Hyun Jong before gradually taking their leave.
The group was unchanged from when they had gone to Namyung.
Baek Cheon, Chung Myung, Yoon Jong, and Jo Gul. And Yu I-seol.
In other words, these were the people whom Mount Hua’s core trusted most. Of course, Chung Myung didn’t exactly fit the word “trust,” but that was another matter.
As he watched them leave the mountain gate, Hyun Sang spoke up in a slightly worried tone.
“Shouldn’t someone escort them?”
“Hmm.”
Hyun Jong let out a low sigh, as if Hyun Sang’s words had troubled him as well.
“The previous trip to Namyung was a task for the children alone. But this time is different. Sending children into dangerous terrain without anyone going with them is too risky. Let me go instead. I…….”
“Hey, Martial Brother. Don’t go shoving your butt in where it doesn’t belong.”
Hyun Sang turned a sour face toward Hyun Young.
Hyun Young’s expression was so blasé it was practically sulky.
“What would change if we went along to escort them?”
“Come on. At least we’re adults, aren’t we?”
Hyun Young snorted.
“As adults, what have we done all this time? Ruined Mount Hua and brought it to the brink of taking down the signboard, is that not it?”
“Kheuhm.”
Hyun Sang turned slightly red and coughed loudly again.
Hyun Young clicked his tongue at that.
“Old men see the young and worry about everything. That’s only natural. But if you interfere with every little thing, you’ll only end up tying the children’s growth down by the ankles.”
“Since when have you trusted children so much?”
“I don’t trust them. How could I trust those brats?”
“Then?”
At Hyun Sang’s question, Hyun Young smirked.
“I don’t trust them, but I at least know they’re better than me.”
Hyun Sang fell silent.
Then Hyun Jong, who had quietly been listening all this time, nodded slowly.
“Children in your arms, hm…….”
When you hand them over, you worry. When you merely watch them, you worry too. That is what children are.
But that does not mean keeping them tucked in your arms is the way for them to grow. Sometimes they must go through rough places and be hurt in order to become stronger.
“The sages of Mount Hua will protect those children.”
Hyun Jong had no idea that the very one who used to torment those sages was tucked among the children, of course.
And a little while later.
“A guest has arrived! Friends of Mount Hua, do not send us away so coldly—just give us a cup of cool water!”
“Hmm?”
Hyun Young, who had been keeping order in the increasingly uneasy Mount Hua, turned at the loud voice ringing out from the mountain gate.
A guest?
What guest?
Was someone actually visiting Mount Hua today?
Since there were no guards posted at the gate, there was no one to receive the visitor. In the end, Hyun Young went to the mountain gate himself and pulled the closed door open.
A beggar?
Outside the gate, some beggar was sitting on the ground.
“Aigoo! Why is this mountain so steep and rough? I thought I was going to lose my breath climbing up.”
“Who are you?”
“Ah!”
The beggar sprang to his feet.
“I’m Hong Dae-gwang of the Beggars’ Sect!”
As the beggar clasped his fists, Hyun Young hurriedly returned the salute, still dazed.
“F-first, have some cool water!”
“……”
“Kuuuuuuh!”
After gulping down the cool water in one go, Hong Dae-gwang lifted his head with a friendly smile.
“Aigoo, thank you for such a warm welcome. Sect Leader! I’m Hong Dae-gwang, the one in charge of the Beggars’ Sect’s Luoyang branch.”
“Hoho. I am Hyun Jong, the Sect Leader of Mount Hua.”
“Please forgive my rudeness in coming here without notice.”
Hong Dae-gwang bowed low right there on the spot. Hyun Jong panicked and waved his hands.
“Why are you doing that? Please, get up.”
At that, he keenly felt how different his position had become.
By the knot tied at his waist, this Hong Dae-gwang was clearly a 7-Knot Beggar.
The Beggars’ Sect indicated status through knots.
Ten knots meant the Beggar Chief.
Nine knots meant a retired former Beggar Chief or retired elders.
Eight knots meant elders.
And seven knots were the knots tied by the leaders of the various branches or the important figures of the main branch.
In other words, Hong Dae-gwang, a seven-knot beggar, was a practical heavyweight within the Beggars’ Sect and could even be considered a candidate for the next Beggar Chief. For such a man to be bowing so profusely like this—it would have been unimaginable in the past.
“So, what brings you here?”
“Haha. It’s nothing else, really. I’ve been appointed branch leader of the newly opened Beggars’ Sect branch in Hwaeum.”
“Ah, in Hwaeum?”
When Hyun Jong looked at him in slight surprise, Hong Dae-gwang looked even more surprised and asked back,
“Didn’t Mount Hua Divine Dragon tell you?”
“...That child is, well.”
“Hmm. Right. I suppose he wouldn’t.”
Thinking of Chung Myung, Hong Dae-gwang immediately understood and nodded. Chung Myung was the sort of person who could do anything and make it feel perfectly normal.
“Anyway, since we’ve opened a branch in Hwaeum, I came to pay my respects to Mount Hua, which is the master of Hwaeum, so to speak.”
“That is good news.”
Hyun Jong smiled with pleasure.
For the Beggars’ Sect to open a branch in their front yard was basically a declaration that they intended to siphon information from Mount Hua, but sects generally welcomed that more than they disliked it.
After all, it meant they could obtain more information themselves and build friendly ties with the Beggars’ Sect.
“So I’ll be visiting from time to time from now on. Ah, and at Mount Hua Divine Dragon’s request, beggars will also be stationed in Namyung. If there’s anything you need sent to Hwayeong Gate, we can pass it along for you.”
“...Would you really do that?”
“Haha. Of course, Sect Leader. If we can maintain good relations with Mount Hua, I’d be glad to do this much. And if you ever need information from the Beggars’ Sect, just ask. If it’s within my ability to handle, I’ll relay as much as I can.”
“I am truly grateful.”
At Hyun Jong’s words, Hong Dae-gwang scratched the side of his nose.
The Sect Leader seems like an ordinary man.
Still, it was a relief that Mount Hua wasn’t full of lunatics like Mount Hua Divine Dragon. Even knowing better, he had felt uneasy all the way up the mountain, hadn’t he?
“I look forward to working with you in the future.”
“The pleasure is ours.”
Warm congratulations passed back and forth in the friendly atmosphere.
Then Hong Dae-gwang suddenly seemed to remember something and asked,
“By the way…… where is Mount Hua Divine Dragon? We’ve gone through a fair bit together, so it’s odd not to see his face at all.”
“Ah…… the children left on some business just now.”
“Business? They haven’t even been back long.”
Hong Dae-gwang tilted his head.
“Then when are they coming back?”
“Well…… Yunnan is rather far away.”
“Y-Yunnan? They went to Yunnan? N-no! You call a man here and then why the hell does he go all the way out there himself? Then what am I supposed to do?”
“……”
Why was he taking that up with them here?
“Th-this is outrageous! I did everything that brat told me to do, and even dragged the beggars here! And the one who actually gave the orders has gone off to Yunnan! When did he leave?”
“Just now…….”
“Aaaaargh! Mount Hua Divine Dragon! You damned bastardaaaaaaaa!”
Hong Dae-gwang dashed outside in a panic.
The door slammed shut, and Hyun Jong’s hair was blown back all over again.
He stared at the closed door in disbelief before finally bursting into a hollow laugh.
“Hahahahaha.”
Why did everyone Chung Myung brought with him end up the same way?
In any case, Hyun Jong couldn’t shake the feeling that Mount Hua had gained yet another headache.