Have They All Gone Mad? (6)
"Of course I am."
“……”
Hyun Dang’s face twisted ever so slightly.
"You said you were the Sect Leader of Mount Hua?"
"I did."
"Hah."
He let out a derisive snort and spoke with a greasy smile.
"How strange. An unappointed man calling himself Sect Leader. When did the laws of Mount Hua, handed down through the centuries, sink so low?"
"……"
"Do you truly think you’re qualified to call yourself Mount Hua’s Sect Leader? You were never acknowledged by your master, never once trusted by the elders of the sect, and not even your fellow disciples recognized you. By what right do you put yourself forward as Mount Hua’s Sect Leader?"
Hyun Jong, who had been listening in silence, smiled faintly.
"Sahyung."
"You were calling me by name just a moment ago, and now it’s Sahyung. What is it? Has the situation finally dawned on you?"
"You haven’t grown at all."
"……What?"
Hyun Jong shook his head, as though he truly found it laughable.
"It seems the harsh turns of the world have not lifted Sahyung any higher. You look every bit as childish as you once seemed lofty."
"Y-you insolent—"
"You asked who Mount Hua’s Sect Leader is, did you not?"
Hyun Jong’s voice was utterly calm.
"Mount Hua’s Sect Leader is me, Hyun Jong. That is a fact no one can deny."
"The previous generation named me Sect Leader."
"That was only the will of the previous generation."
"So you mean to reject the previous generation’s will?"
Watching Hyun Dang grind his teeth, Hyun Jong wore a smile too faint to read.
"Sahyung."
"……"
"If Sahyung had come to Mount Hua just three years earlier, I might have listened to you. Even if my disciples had tried to stop me and my fellow juniors had coughed up blood in protest, I might have returned the position of Sect Leader to you and gone back to being an ordinary disciple of Mount Hua."
"……And now?"
"But not anymore."
Hyun Jong’s shoulders straightened, broad and unyielding.
"Now I know. There is no one in this world more qualified than I am to be Mount Hua’s Sect Leader. And there is no one who can develop Mount Hua more than I can. So…"
He spoke with firm conviction. No, he declared it.
"Even if it goes against the will of the previous generation, even if it goes against propriety, I will not step down from the position of Mount Hua’s Sect Leader. Because this is the path that serves Mount Hua."
"Hah!"
Hyun Fa, who stood at Hyun Dang’s side, burst into loud laughter.
"Fine words, but in the end, are you not simply saying you’ll defy the previous generation’s wishes and make Mount Hua your own?"
It was a remark that pierced straight to the bone, but Hyun Jong did not so much as frown.
"It seems my meaning was not conveyed properly."
"……Not properly?"
"When I told the two of you to take your families and leave Mount Hua, and not to set foot on our threshold, I did not say that for my own sake. I said it entirely for yours."
"……Hm?"
Hyun Dang and Hyun Fa exchanged looks, both utterly unable to make sense of what they had heard.
"For our sake?"
What in the world was that supposed to mean?
The two of them had gone silent, caught off guard by the absurdity of it, and Hyun Jong only gave a light smile.
"But it seems you have no intention of doing that. Very well, then. Do as you please. Take over the halls, instruct the children—go on, see how far you can get."
Hyun Fa’s eyes flashed fiercely.
"Before that, you insolent brat, step down from the Sect Leader’s seat—"
"Enough."
At that instant, Hyun Dang reached out and stopped him. Then he smiled politely at Hyun Jong.
"Sect Leader. My words were harsh, I admit, but as I have said before, I only wish to devote this body to Mount Hua."
"……"
"It seems further discussion today would benefit neither side, so I shall take my leave. Please take care of yourself."
Hyun Dang rose, with Hyun Fa in tow, and turned away.
Bang!
"Gwah!"
The moment the door flew open, the Baek generation and Cheong generation disciples of Mount Hua, who had been crowding around the Sect Leader’s quarters and straining to listen, tumbled backward in a heap.
"Goodness, goodness. Tsk tsk."
Hyun Dang’s brow furrowed deeply.
"For disciples of a sect to be eavesdropping on their elders’ conversation! How far has Mount Hua’s discipline fallen? This is exactly why I said it cannot be left solely to Hyun Jong!"
The disciples staggered upright and glared at him with obvious displeasure.
Hyun Dang clicked his tongue over and over, clearly dissatisfied with their looks.
"There is no discipline left in this sect whatsoever! At this rate, what will the world say about Mount Hua?"
"A very fine point."
"Hm?"
Hyun Dang turned his head.
Baek Cheon, the Righteous Sword of Mount Hua, looked at him quietly and said,
"That is, if it were not coming from the mouth of someone who abandoned Mount Hua and only returned thirty years later."
"You little—!"
Before Hyun Dang could even finish, Hyun Fa exploded in rage.
"How dare a bunch of ignorant children speak so arrogantly and without restraint!"
His rebuke rang with pure indignation.
But there was not a trace of fear on the faces of the Mount Hua disciples. If anything, they were now openly showing a hostility that had not been there before.
"It is true that we turned our backs on Mount Hua for a time, but we are still senior members of the sect. And yet you dare insult your elders?"
"That’s exactly why we’ve been holding back."
"……What?"
"But remember this. Elder or not—"
Baek Cheon’s voice was sharp enough to sound like spat blood.
"We will not tolerate anyone who dares challenge the authority of the Sect Leader. Whoever it may be, I will not allow it. Neither will Mount Hua’s disciples!"
At that voice, chilled with killing intent, Hyun Fa unconsciously stumbled back a step.
Only after did he realize how he had reacted. Red with shame, he ground his teeth.
"These wretches dare—"
"Enough."
"But, Sahyung!"
"I said enough. Have we not our own sins?"
Hyun Dang raised a hand to restrain him, then spoke to Baek Cheon in a low voice.
"But soon enough, you too will learn who Mount Hua’s rightful Sect Leader is."
"I already know."
"Hah. Minds are always changing. Come."
"……Yes."
Hyun Dang turned and departed, with Hyun Fa following after him.
Watching their backs, Baek Cheon trembled all over. His teeth ground together so hard they seemed ready to crack.
"Those senile old bastards!"
"Sasuk! Are you really going to keep holding back?"
"……They insulted the Sect Leader."
"I can’t take it anymore. Don’t stop me!"
Baek Cheon nodded heavily.
"I’m done holding back too. I tried to stay within the lines, but they crossed the line first. If that’s how they want to play it, then we should give them the treatment they deserve."
"But we don’t really have a way, do we? The Sect Leader already allowed them to stay at Mount Hua…"
"If they won’t leave on their own, then we’ll make them leave by force!"
Just as Baek Cheon’s eyes began to glint with murderous light—
"Sasuhyuuuuuuuuung!"
From far away, Baek Sang came running with a face drained white, screaming at the top of his lungs.
'Huh?'
Had something happened?
He had sprinted as if his soles were on fire, and now, panting so hard he couldn’t catch his breath, he cried out,
"S-something terrible has happened! H-he’s coming!"
"Who?"
"I-I’m telling you, he’s coming!"
"So who is it?"
Since no one could understand a thing, Baek Sang thumped his chest twice and shouted,
"That bastard Chung Myung is climbing the mountain!"
"What?"
Baek Cheon’s pupils shook as though an earthquake had struck them.
"N-no way…"
He wasn’t mentally prepared yet.
What do I do?
If that bastard Chung Myung came up the mountain and saw this mess, wasn’t it obvious what would happen?
That was exactly why they had been trying to finish things before he arrived!
"W-what do we do?"
"We’re doomed! Completely doomed!"
The other disciples, too, looked as if their souls had been knocked clean out of them.
Baek Sang asked Baek Cheon with a face gone paper white.
"W-what do we do?"
"Uh… um…"
No, don’t ask me that…
Even Baek Cheon was still flailing, unable to find his footing, when—
"Who’s coming?"
Someone slowly poked their head out from inside the Sect Leader’s quarters.
It was Hyun Young.
Baek Sang looked as though he had just met a savior and shouted,
"E-Elder! Chung Myung is climbing the mountain! I saw him with my own eyes!"
"……I see?"
Hyun Young tilted his head, wearing a slightly odd expression.
"I see. So Chung Myung is coming? Chung Myung?"
Then, perhaps having heard him, Hyun Jong stepped out of the quarters with a hardened face.
"Oh-ho. So that little Chung Myung is already on his way back. Then, for now…"
Unfortunately, he did not get to finish.
Grasp.
Grasp.
Hyun Sang and Hyun Young seized Hyun Jong’s arms tightly as he tried to step outside.
"Why are you doing this?"
Hyun Jong turned to them, puzzled.
But instead of answering, Hyun Young only nodded with a deeply satisfied smile.
"Please go back inside for a moment."
"……Hm?"
"Sahyung."
"Right!"
At Hyun Young’s command, Hyun Sang seized Hyun Jong as though he were hugging him and began dragging him back inside.
Hyun Jong cried out in confusion.
"N-no! Why are you doing this, you brat? Let go! What in the world do you think you’re doing? You little—!"
Hyun Young casually looked at the scene, then stepped back outside as though nothing had happened and closed the door. Hyun Jong’s voice faded into the distance.
"……"
All the Mount Hua disciples could do was stare blankly at Hyun Young.
"Ahem. So, Chung Myung is coming?"
"……Yes."
Hyun Young nodded.
"Baek Cheon."
"Yes, Elder."
"From this moment on, I must conduct an important meeting with the Sect Leader. Therefore, do not allow anyone near the area around the Sect Leader’s quarters."
"……Pardon?"
"Anyone! Do not allow anyone near! Do you understand?"
At once, Baek Cheon caught on to Hyun Young’s intent and nodded with a slightly dazed expression.
"U-understood."
"And…"
Hyun Young smiled with quiet triumph.
"Be sure to tell Chung Myung everything that has happened at Mount Hua while he was away. He might be curious, after all."
"……"
"Tsk. With these so-called 'outsiders' staying at Mount Hua, the situation has gotten most unpleasant. Hmph!"
Clack.
Having said his piece, Hyun Young also went back inside the Sect Leader’s quarters.
"……"
A strange silence settled over the disciples.
"Sasuk. It seems…"
"……Yes."
Baek Cheon nodded solemnly, as though he had come to a decision.
"At this point, there’s no helping it!"
Killing intent surged blue in Baek Cheon’s eyes.
"We’re going to Chung Myung!"
Glug, glug, glug.
"Kaaaahhhhh!"
As he climbed Mount Hua, Chung Myung took a refreshing swig of liquor and let out a satisfied cry. Packed into the bundle on his back was a load of expensive Yeohahong.
"This is why you’ve got to build up a name for yourself."
Compared to the time he had come up Mount Hua looking like a beggar, it was like night and day.
Of course, from Chung Myung’s perspective, it was only a pitiful recovery of a tiny sliver of the fame he once had, but even that tiny sliver changed the quality of treatment he received.
No wonder even the so-called gentlemen of the past had risked everything on earning a name for themselves in the world.
"Tsk. I was gone too long. No doubt these bastards have been making a total mess of things without me."
It felt strange.
He had been living well enough outside, being treated with respect everywhere he went, so he should have wanted to stay a little longer. And yet, before he knew it, his heart had raced straight back toward Mount Hua.
Even while he was climbing now, he found himself wanting to hurry all the more, which only proved that he was, after all, a Mount Hua man through and through.
"All right, now then… hmm?"
Then Chung Myung spotted something odd, stretched his neck, and rose onto his toes.
"……What the hell is that?"
A strange cloud of dust was rising near the mountain gate, and then Mount Hua’s disciples came pouring out in a rush. They were sprinting toward him as though struck by lightning.
"Huh?"
Before he could even make sense of it, they came charging up and shouted all at once.
"Chung Myung!"
"Chung Myung! Something terrible happened!"
"Eh?"
Chung Myung tilted his head.
Something terrible?
What kind of disaster could have happened in that short a time…?
Baek Cheon, who had rushed ahead of the others, ran right up to Chung Myung’s face and gasped,
"Chung Myung! Brace yourself and listen. There’s been a, a problem."
"……What now? Did someone from Shaolin come or something?"
"If it were Shaolin, we’d be grateful!"
"Then what? Stop wheezing and speak properly."
"Fine. So, the thing is…"
The disciples, crowding around Chung Myung, began explaining everything that had happened.
"Those bastards insulted the Sect Leader!"
"And they kept interfering with our training, one thing after another!"
"They even said they were the rightful lineage!"
"And that he had no right!"
They reported every little detail, and yet even after doing so, they still seemed unable to cool their anger, each of them tossing in their own outraged comments.
After hearing everything, Chung Myung’s head began to tilt at a very dangerous angle.
"So…"
And then, at last, he spoke.
"Some bastard who threw away the Sect Leader’s seat and ran off thirty years ago has come back and is throwing a tantrum, demanding the seat be handed over to him?"
"That’s right!"
"……And he’s been at it for days?"
"Yeah!"
Chung Myung’s head tilted a little farther.
"Hah, seriously."
Glug, glug, glug.
He tipped the liquor in his hand straight into his mouth, then gave the empty bottle a little shake.
After that, he clamped a hand around the bottle’s neck.
"Have they all gone mad?"
A dark, eerie voice leaked out between his lips.
"Where are those bastards?"
"The, the Plum Blossom Pavilion! They’re in the Plum Blossom Pavilion!"
The moment those words left Baek Sang’s mouth, Chung Myung broke through the disciples blocking his path, flinging them aside in all directions as he charged straight ahead.
"C-come with him!"
"Keep up! Hurry!"
Those who had predicted this exact outcome hurried after him.
Chung Myung’s charge toward the Plum Blossom Pavilion was, quite literally, like a bolt of light.
And then—
Kwaaaaaaaaaang!
The instant he arrived, Chung Myung kicked the door of the Plum Blossom Pavilion clean off its hinges. White vapor burst from the corner of his mouth.
Step. Step.
"Who goes there!"
As Chung Myung slowly entered, one of the people guarding the Plum Blossom Pavilion stepped in front of him.
"Who are you? Where did you come from, that you’d dare act so rudely in front of the sect’s elders?"
"……Where from?"
"That’s right! Who the hell are you—"
At that moment, the liquor bottle in Chung Myung’s hand traced a gorgeous arc through the air, then slammed into the middle-aged man’s head.
Clang!
The crystal-clear ring of impact rang out. The bottle shattered on contact, spraying shards everywhere.
Thud.
After taking the blow to the head, the man collapsed to the floor, frothing at the mouth.
"What!"
"W-what are you doing—!"
Everyone else jolted upright in alarm, tense and wary. Chung Myung hurled the now neck-only bottle aside and bared his teeth.
"You ask where I came from?"
Heh.
Heh heh heh. These bastards?
"I came from hell, you bastards!"
He looked, without exaggeration, as though he had just climbed straight out of the underworld.
Chung Myung rolled his eyes back and lunged forward.