No, But Those Bastards? (4)
"This way."
"My thanks."
"Think nothing of it. Then please rest comfortably. I’ll inform you of the schedule separately around evening, but there will likely be a Sect Leader’s meeting tomorrow. And if you should need anything, just tell the person in charge of guiding you."
"Understood."
"Yes, then."
The Shaolin monk assigned to guide them pressed his palms together, bowed, and left.
Once he was gone, the Mount Hua disciples looked around their surroundings.
"At least they’ve given us a guest quarters all to ourselves."
"So they do give gold tokens separate lodging. Looks like silver tokens have to stay together in a bigger hall."
At Hyun Young’s words, Un Geom nodded.
Thanks to Chung Myung’s rampage in wringing out a gold token, they had managed to avoid the inconvenience.
If they’d been sent into one of those massive shared guest halls with multiple sects crammed together, there would have been far more to keep an eye on.
"Still, this is Shaolin, all right."
"No kidding. It can’t be easy to house this many people, and yet they give us a whole guest quarters like it’s nothing. I can’t even imagine how many halls and Buddha chapels they must have."
Even today, they had been surprised by Shaolin’s wealth more than once.
"I hear the sect leaders’ meeting is scheduled for tomorrow, and the tournament itself will begin the day after."
"Makes sense. Even if the martial competition is the real event, they’ve wrapped it in the form of a Heavenly Grand Tournament, so they have to make it look the part."
Hyun Jong gave a wry smile.
In truth, form was usually good for very little, but it was extremely useful when it came to dressing up the substance.
Hyun Jong would also have to help smooth out that wrapping paper as best he could.
That way, those children’s accomplishments will shine a little brighter.
They had come all this way; it was only natural to feel intimidated. And yet none of them showed even the slightest sign of backing down—they stood there proud and fearless…
No, actually, they look kind of cocky.
Watching those children standing there like a band of bandits who’d come to rob an offering box filled Hyun Jong with a strange mix of pride and sorrow.
"Hyun Young."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
"Let the children unpack and rest. I’ll take a little walk around."
"Yes, Sect Leader. Don’t worry."
After Hyun Jong left, Hyun Young looked at the children and said,
"Unpack your things in your rooms for now. We’ll rest until dinner today, so don’t cause any trouble. Baek Cheon! Yoon Jong!"
"Yes, Elder!"
"At your command!"
Baek Cheon and Yoon Jong stepped forward, and Hyun Young said with grave solemnity,
"As the senior disciples of your generations!"
"Yes!"
"Do not leave Chung Myung’s side for even a moment!"
"…."
Uh…
Ah, yes…
That does sound like a very important duty.
At that moment, Chung Myung widened his eyes and asked,
"Why me?"
"Chung Myung."
"Yeah?"
Hyun Young smiled gently.
"I have no doubt about you, but this is not a place for making a name for yourself. It is a place where one must think of face and dignity. Keep that in mind, and keep it in mind well. Do not cause any trouble."
"Come on, Elder. I’m not a kid."
"If you were, I wouldn’t be worried."
The problem was that he wasn’t a kid. If he were, how much trouble could he possibly cause?
It was because Chung Myung was not a kid that they worried.
"In any case, the leading figures of every sect are gathered here, and the hot-blooded disciples of all the various sects are swarming around. So all of you be especially careful not to let anything happen. Understood?"
"Yes, Elder!"
"Good."
Hyun Young nodded and picked up his bundle. He, too, needed time to sort out his belongings.
"You should find a room as well, Un Geom."
"Yes."
After the elders went upstairs, the children each grabbed their bundles and set off.
Even as they wandered in search of empty rooms, their mouths did not stop moving.
"It was so crowded when we came up, but this lodging area is actually pretty quiet."
"They’re keeping the pilgrims out. There are already plenty of itchy-fingered lunatics in here; if you add a crowd on top of that, a knife fight is just a matter of time."
"Fair enough, I guess?"
"Seriously. So stay sharp. You saw the looks on the guys we ran into earlier, right? Those brats were downright vicious…"
Baek Cheon, listening from behind them, stared at them in disbelief.
Do they not realize what they look like?
To understand how one looked, one needed a point of comparison.
The Mount Hua disciples, who had spent all their time holed up on the mountain practicing swordsmanship, seemed to have no sense whatsoever that they themselves looked fierce.
Should one call them innocent?
And yet, even while people around them were clearly beginning to keep their distance, they didn’t seem to have the slightest awareness that the reason might be them. That, too, was a problem.
After roughly unpacking their things, the Mount Hua disciples gathered again in the first-floor common room.
"Looks like the two Elders and Martial Uncle Un Geom stepped out for a bit," Baek Sang said.
Baek Cheon tilted his head. "Where did they go?"
"Well…"
Then Chung Myung suddenly spoke, as if possessed by a ghost.
"Let’s go."
"Go where?"
"We’re going out!"
Baek Cheon’s face twisted sharply.
"What are you talking about? Didn’t you hear what the Elder said?"
"What about the Elder?"
"He told us not to cause trouble!"
"Tsk, tsk. This is why people need to listen properly when others speak. What exactly did the Elder say?"
"Huh?"
Baek Cheon blinked.
"He said not to leave my side and not to cause trouble."
"Exactly! Good, you heard right!"
"Where in that does he say we can’t go out?"
"…Huh?"
Eh?
Come to think of it…?
"Tsk, tsk, tsk."
Chung Myung clicked his tongue and openly began condemning Baek Cheon.
"Being able to understand the words of one’s elders is a virtue of a disciple. Martial Uncle, you still have a long way to go."
That little bastard?
Baek Cheon’s eyes rolled slightly. Of all people, to have that one lecturing him about "the virtue of a disciple"—what greater humiliation could there be?
"In any case, no!"
"No what?"
"You can’t go out! Don’t even dream about it."
At the firm refusal, Chung Myung sent him a look of utter pity.
"Martial Uncle."
"What now? I said no, didn’t I?"
"No, no. Just listen to me first, Martial Uncle."
"…."
"Look, this is Shaolin."
"It is."
"When are we ever going to come back to Shaolin? This might be the last time we ever see it. And you want us to come all the way to Shaolin and then just stare at the walls of this guest quarters before going home?"
"…."
Baek Cheon’s eyes wavered slightly.
"Think about it, Martial Uncle. Isn’t that just cruel?"
The others around them began to stir.
"Well, I mean, we did come all the way to Shaolin…"
"I saw those other sects wandering around earlier."
"We’ve been put through hell in Mount Hua and come all this way… To have to go back after seeing nothing but walls? That’s too harsh."
Baek Cheon stood there like a mute who’d been fed honey, unable to say a word.
It was true—while it might not matter much for Chung Myung, it was a bit cruel to the other disciples.
And so Chung Myung licked his lips and began to tempt him further.
"Think about it, Martial Uncle. You’re stuck glued to my side no matter what, right? If I stay in here the whole time, then you’ve gotta stay in here the whole time too!"
Startled, Baek Cheon’s eyes shook violently.
"You want to see it too, don’t you? Honestly, you’re curious. Why does everybody keep talking about Shaolin like it’s something so great? What’s the big deal about just stepping out for a quick look around? Hm?"
This little fox-faced bastard!
The problem was that he wasn’t wrong.
Baek Cheon was a human being, so how could he not be curious?
He had come to Shaolin, the Big Dipper of the martial world, and he wasn’t even allowed to look around? It was little different from torture.
"Martial Uncle. If I don’t cause trouble, then it’s fine, right? Right? Think it through. If you’re stuck right next to me, what could possibly happen?"
From behind, Yoon Jong and Jo Gul whispered to each other.
"He’s almost got him, right?"
"His leg’s already bouncing."
Before the Baek Cheon who was right on the verge of giving in, Chung Myung wore the most innocent expression in the world. It almost seemed as if a fox tail were swishing behind his backside.
"…But you absolutely cannot cause trouble."
"Hehe. Of course."
"Hrrngh."
It felt like he was being tricked somehow, but…
I can’t exactly keep that bastard locked up here without the Elders around anyway.
In that case, it would be better to let him do what he wanted and try to keep him under control in the meantime.
Comforting himself with that thought, Baek Cheon rose to his feet.
Then he whirled to face everyone.
"But all of you are coming too."
"Huh? Why all of a sudden…"
Baek Cheon turned and looked at Chung Myung.
"I can’t stop him on my own."
"…."
Everyone looking at Chung Myung nodded.
"So we’re going together! No objections!"
At first glance, it seemed like a perfectly reasonable decision.
But even then, Baek Cheon had no way of knowing.
He had no idea just how disastrously wrong that reasonable decision would turn out to be.
"Ohhh. How old-fashioned."
"That hall looks like it’s at least a few hundred years old."
The Mount Hua disciples began roaming around in a noisy pack. Fortunately, unlike the mountain gate, where pilgrims had been packed in like lunatics, the inside of the temple grounds was not so crowded.
Here and there, busy Shaolin monks could be seen hurrying about, and among them were a few disciples from other sects who were also touring Shaolin’s interior, just like the Mount Hua disciples.
"Senior Brother! There’s a Buddha statue here!"
"You idiot! That’s called a stone Buddha!"
"Isn’t a stone Buddha a Buddha statue? How’s it different?"
"It’s different!"
Watching the Mount Hua disciples cheerfully and noisily babble away, Baek Cheon smiled wryly.
Embarrassing.
It was fortunate there was no one around. He did not want this scene seen by anyone else.
Baek Cheon was prouder of Mount Hua than anyone in the world, but even a beautiful jade could have a flaw—and no one liked showing off that flaw to outsiders.
"How is a temple this huge? It’d take forever to get to the end."
Mount Hua is big too, you idiots.
Why are you exaggerating like that?
"Eek. That hall could probably fit a hundred people!"
Mount Hua has places that size too.
Kids, please calm down.
Baek Cheon let out a sigh.
Well, I guess it makes sense.
In truth, they weren’t reacting this way because Shaolin was so enormous. It was probably because this was the first time they’d ever been to another sect outside Mount Hua, and everything was novel.
They were probably prepared to be shocked by a passing cat, too.
But apparently, there were people who found their behavior rather intolerable.
"What are those guys?"
"Are they country bumpkins?"
At the voices boring into their ears, the Mount Hua disciples all turned at once.
"Huh?"
Apparently they hadn’t expected that little whisper to be audible to everyone in the group. The boys who’d muttered about country bumpkins flinched and clamped their mouths shut.
Baek Cheon smiled thinly.
They do look the part.
Still, they were about to let it pass without making a scene when—
"…Mount Hua?"
Seeing the plum blossom pattern embroidered on their chests, the others wore strange expressions. And those expressions quickly turned into blatant sneers.
"So that’s who it was. You’re from Mount Hua, are you? I never imagined Mount Hua would receive an invitation as well. They say Shaolin’s compassion is boundless, and I suppose that isn’t a lie after all."
Baek Sang stared at them in disbelief.
"What are those idiots?"
"Huh? Sa, Senior Brother. Those guys…"
"Hm?"
Baek Sang narrowed his eyes.
Huh?
His gaze caught the wave pattern stitched onto their right chests.
Three wave crests embroidered in blue.
There was only one sect in the world that used that symbol as its emblem.
"Three Waves! The Hainan Sect!"
At the words Hainan Sect, the faces of the Mount Hua disciples hardened all at once.
Of all the sects in the world, the one Mount Hua disciples hated most was, without question, Zhongnan.
But the sect they wanted to beat the most in the world was a different one.
That sect was Hainan.
"Hm? Why do all your faces look like that?"
When Chung Myung tilted his head, Baek Cheon answered without even turning to look at him.
"It’s Hainan."
"So?"
"The Hainan of the Nine Great Orthodox Sects."
"The Nine Great… Hainan Sect is one of the Nine Great Orthodox Sects?"
Baek Cheon nodded.
"After Mount Hua fell out, it was Hainan that took its place among the Nine Great Orthodox Sects."
"Oh?"
Now that he thought about it, he vaguely remembered hearing something like that. He had erased it from his mind because he’d never cared.
Thinking of it that way, he could understand the disciples’ reaction. Hainan was the sort of place that, by its very existence, dragged Mount Hua’s reality back into view.
Tsk. Over something like that.
It was a seat they could reclaim whenever they restored their strength—there was no need to show such hostility now…
That was when it happened.
"What the hell! What’s going on?"
"Hey! Go call the others!"
Seeing dozens of people gathered in front of their fellow disciples, the Hainan disciples came rushing over in a swarm.
"Huh?"
And just like that, a standoff was born.
Unease flickered across Baek Cheon’s face.
Uh-oh. This is bad…
The Elder had told them not to cause trouble. So had the Sect Leader.
The situation had escalated more than expected, but they had to end it somehow, and end it well.
But then the Hainan disciples began whispering among themselves.
"What’s going on?"
"Senior Brother, those are Mount Hua bastards."
"What?"
The one they called Senior Brother fixed them with a hawk-like glare.
Baek Cheon let out a low sigh.
Why the hell are you looking at us like that?
If anyone should be angry, it should be this side. You stole someone else’s place, and yet you still want to act hostile too?
Well then.
"It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m the second-cla—"
"You bastards from a ruined sect crawled all the way here because there was something to scrounge up?"
"…disciple… what the hell, man? Hey. You. Get over here."
Just as Baek Cheon’s temper flared, Yoon Jong and Jo Gul hurriedly placed hands on both his shoulders.
"Martial Uncle."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa."
"Hrrngh."
Baek Cheon, irritated, let out a sigh at their restraint.
But the other side showed no sign of stopping.
"If you got kicked out of the Nine Great Orthodox Sects, you ought to be ashamed and take down your signboard. Instead, you crawl all the way here without even knowing shame. How did Mount Hua, once so famous under heaven, end up in such a state?"
"Hahahahahaha!"
"Don’t be like that, Senior Brother. They say they’ve been starving all this time, so doesn’t just hearing about temple food make your mouth water?"
"The dining hall’s over there. Hurry up and go. There might still be some cold rice left!"
Baek Cheon’s body trembled.
Not from anger.
Though their words had clearly crossed the line, Baek Cheon wasn’t so poorly disciplined that he’d lose his temper over something like this… no, all right, maybe he had flared up just a tiny bit, but still, this was something he could endure.
The problem was…
"No, but what the hell is wrong with those bastards?"
There was a fellow among them who had no patience for enduring such words.
And not just any fellow—the most dangerous one of all.
Baek Cheon slowly turned his head. As expected, Chung Myung’s eyes had gone completely feral, bright and crazed.
"…Chu, Chung Myung."
Chung Myung grinned, sticking out his tongue to lick his lips.
"Don’t worry, Martial Uncle. I’m not gonna cause trouble."
"Right. You need to hold it in."
"But."
"…Hm?"
"If those bastards insult our sect and someone still holds back, do they even deserve to eat Mount Hua’s rice?"
"…."
"Those bastards insulted Mount Hua."
"…."
Slowly, Baek Cheon turned his head forward again.
And somehow, his own head was tilted at the same crooked angle as Chung Myung’s.
"Hey."
"Hm?"
At Baek Cheon’s words, the Hainan disciples’ gazes all shifted toward him.
"Who in Hainan are you calling country bumpkins?"
"…That bastard?"
"Has he lost his mind?"
"Enough."
Baek Cheon waved his hand.
"Let’s not cause unnecessary trouble. There’s no point in running our mouths here; it won’t do either side any good."
Yoon Jong and Jo Gul let out breaths of relief.
Yes, as expected of Senior Brother Baek Cheon…
That was when it happened.
Thwip!
Baek Cheon drew the sword at his waist, sheath and all, and drove it straight into the floor.
"So if you’ve got a problem, come on out. I’ll make sure you crawl all the way to Hainan."
"…."
Yoon Jong and Jo Gul turned to look at each other.
…Right. Come to think of it, this guy wasn’t sane either.
They kept forgetting because of his usual image…
The two of them found themselves freshly confronted with that undeniable truth.