I’m So Damn Irritated, I Could Explode! (5)
“Well… don’t you all always say you’re handling everything just fine on your own?”
At Hyun Young’s words, Hyun Jong answered with a sharp glare. Hyun Young flinched slightly and averted his eyes.
“...Don’t look at me like that.”
“Tsk!”
Hyun Jong clicked his tongue again and again.
“Your disciple goes and stirs up trouble, and instead of stopping him, you’re over there beating the drum for him?”
“If Chung Myung is playing the flute, then someone’s got to beat the drum!”
“Enough!”
As Hyun Jong barked, Hyun Sang laughed softly and tried to calm him down.
“Sasuk didn’t start this carelessly. Besides, hasn’t it been about time Mount Hua made its name known beyond Shaanxi?”
“Tch.”
Though Hyun Jong clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction, he didn’t really refute it. Then Hyun Young added quietly, almost as an afterthought.
“And we get to make money while we’re at it…”
“That’s the real goal, isn’t it!”
“It’s while we’re at it. While we’re at it.”
“Ugh.”
Hyun Jong let out a groan.
His feelings toward Hyun Young now were much like those of a parent watching a child who had only just escaped poverty and could not stop stuffing his face with food.
He was so fed up with the way the man lunged at money whenever he saw it that he could hardly stand it, and yet when he thought about why he was like that, not a single scolding word could quite make it past his lips.
Hyun Young grumbled.
“If anyone listened, they’d think the Sect Leader hated money.”
“Bah, you little brat! Who doesn’t like money? It’s just that even if you’re going to make money, you have to look at the circumstances! Just because the result is the same doesn’t mean you can ignore the process! And you call yourself a Daoist.”
Hyun Jong was just about to go on with his lecture when—
“...What is that?”
“Hm?”
At Hyun Sang’s sudden question, Hyun Jong turned toward the direction he was pointing.
A cloud of dust was billowing up behind the main hall.
“...What is that?”
Dust, all of a sudden? On such a clear, sunny day?
“And there...”
“Looks like it’s coming from the Sect Leader’s residence?”
The corners of Hyun Jong’s eyes began to twitch.
Had this been the old days, he would have first asked himself what in the world was going on, but now there was no need for that.
“Ch, Chung Myung, you brat!”
Hyun Jong shouted and started sprinting toward his quarters. The elders behind him nearly jumped out of their skin and followed in a panic.
Hyun Jong raced with all his strength and arrived at the back of the residence, where he stared in stunned disbelief.
An utterly bizarre scene lay before his eyes.
“Throw it this way!”
“Hey, stop dumping dirt everywhere! It’s all spilling over here!”
“Move it outside, outside!”
“Sacks! Somebody bring sacks! We need to pack this up!”
The disciples of Mount Hua were all swarming the hill behind the residence and carrying out some kind of massive construction project.
Some were digging into the mountain like madmen, while others shoveled the excavated earth into piles and hauled it away. Still others were clustered around a huge boulder that had been exposed by the digging.
“What kind of rock is this, it’s huge!”
“Be careful!”
“Tie it down properly!”
The disciples had efficiently lashed the boulder with thick hemp ropes and were now straining to drag it out.
“Heave-hooo!”
“HRAAAAHHH!”
With each roar echoing through Mount Hua, sweat beaded across Hyun Jong’s brow. He was so dumbfounded that for a while, he couldn’t even speak.
So now, at this point…
It wasn’t as if Chung Myung causing trouble was anything new, but lately the scale of it had become completely unmanageable.
“J-Just what do you think you’re doing!”
Only after standing there with his mouth opening and closing for a long time did Hyun Jong finally shout, his voice ringing across the mountain. The disciples digging out the hill all turned to look at him at once.
“Greetings, Sect Leader!”
“Forget the greetings! What in the world is going on here?”
The answer was obvious, of course.
At Hyun Jong’s question, the disciples all exchanged a glance instead of answering. And where they looked, as if by prior arrangement, was Chung Myung.
Chung Myung, who had even dragged over a lounging platform and was half-reclining on it, jolted upright and patted the spot beside him.
“Sect Leader! Want to sit here?”
“...”
Was he feeling faint?
Why was he suddenly getting dizzy?
“Chung Myung, you brat! What in the world are you up to this time? Why are you digging up the mountain all of a sudden?”
“Ah, I’m trying to pull something out from underneath it.”
“Underneath? What’s underneath— under...?”
What was beneath it again?
N-No way!
Hyun Jong’s eyes flew wide open.
“T-The... the vault? Don’t tell me you’re trying to pull out the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron vault right now?”
“Kek! As expected of the Sect Leader! You catch on so fast these days!”
“Y-You...! You brat! That’s a Mount Hua secret! And you’re dragging all these kids into this...!”
“Come on, what secret? Everyone already knows.”
“Uh... well, that’s true, but...”
Hyun Jong had already once opened the vault himself while leading the disciples. Hadn’t Chung Myung cut the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron then?
It had been such a symbolic event that now nobody in Mount Hua didn’t know there was a vault behind the Sect Leader’s quarters.
“If you’re not using it anymore, you should put it to a good use.”
“What in the world are you planning to do with all that cold iron? Don’t tell me you’re going to sell it! Absolutely not! Not while there’s dirt in my eyes! That was the vault handed down by Mount Hua’s former sect leaders! You brat, if it comes to that, you might as well sell me instead!”
Hyun Jong was on the verge of wailing his lungs out when Hyun Sang’s face twisted.
“You little— Chung Myung!”
And then he roared like thunder.
“First you say he’s done well, done well, and now you’re crossing the line! How can you decide something like this on your own without even consulting the Sect Leader? I won’t put up with this either! Just what are you planning to use that vault for...”
“To make swords?”
“...What?”
Hyun Sang froze for a moment, and Chung Myung looked at him with the pitiful eyes of a puppy before muttering dejectedly.
“I mean... this time it was really dangerous... and the Plum Blossom Swords got pretty damaged too. We might run into even more dangerous enemies from here on out, and if the seniors are using weak swords and their blades break, then their lives are at risk... I thought if I made swords out of the cold iron, the seniors would be a lot safer...”
Chung Myung looked up at Hyun Sang, his face utterly wilted.
“But if you’re just going to say we should keep using weak swords, then I’ll bury it all back where it was.”
“...You were trying to make cold-iron swords?”
“Yes.”
“...For your martial uncles and seniors?”
“Yes.”
Hyun Sang, his face stiff and solemn, said firmly, “Even so, you should have asked the Sect Leader for permission first!”
“This disciple was short-sighted.”
“Ahem. Fine. Then that’s that.”
Hyun Jong, who had been listening silently, suddenly whipped his head around.
“That’s that?”
“Hohohoho. Isn’t it touching? Chung Myung wanted to make swords for his seniors. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“...”
Has he lost his mind?
Hyun Jong turned his head the other way.
No, wait. Hyun Young is over there? Why is it that this idiot really is Hyun Sang?
“Cold-iron swords. Cold-iron swords, you say. Why didn’t I think of that! Tsk tsk tsk! They say your mind grows rigid when you get old, and it seems that’s true.”
“H-Hyunsang, you idiot. T-That’s something the ancestors bestowed upon us...”
“Hoho, Sect Leader. Would Mount Hua’s ancestors really object if the children wanted to carry cold-iron swords?”
“...”
“If it makes the children safer, what does tradition matter? Tradition, my foot— the future comes first!”
“N-No, you can’t! Hey, you little brats! That’s Mount Hua— no, forget it. I’ll buy the cold iron myself!”
“Hahahahaha. You think that’s something you can just get because you’ve got money? What a joke. Hahahahaha!”
Hyun Sang grabbed Hyun Jong by both shoulders and started dragging him away.
“Chung Myung! Go on then, continue! It seems the Sect Leader has given his permission too!”
“What permission? I never—! Mmph! Mmmph!”
Still laughing, Hyun Sang covered the Sect Leader’s mouth with one hand.
“Now, now. We’re all doing this for Mount Hua’s sake. Hahahaha.”
Hyun Jong barely managed to pry the hand away from his mouth and let out a heartbroken scream.
“You bunch of brats! I’m the Sect Leader! You damn Mount Hua lunatics! Heaven will strike you down, heaven will strike you down!”
“Hahahahahaha!”
Hyun Sang laughed heartily and vanished behind the hall with the Sect Leader in tow.
The disciples of Mount Hua stared blankly after them.
“What are you all standing around for?”
Then Hyun Young tilted his chin toward the hill with a cool expression.
“The sun will set. Hurry up and pull it out.”
“Yes, Elder!”
After a brief hesitation, the disciples of Mount Hua once again set to digging into the mountain.
Covered in dirt and grime, Baek Cheon and the others smiled in satisfaction and wiped beneath their noses.
It’s over.
This sect could never go back to the way it had once been.
Never again.
“Grrrrrraaah!”
“HEAVE-HOOOO!”
At last, from beneath the great hole in the ground, the vault wrapped in hemp ropes was hauled up.
“Why is this thing so heavy?”
“It’s light! For something that size, anyway!”
“Is it?”
Either way, it was hard work all the same.
But whether it was because they had exhausted themselves to the last drop of strength or not, the full shape of the vault soon came into view.
Rumble!
“Huff! Huuuff!”
“We did it!”
“Now we can make cold-iron swords! Cold-iron swords!”
Greed overflowed in everyone’s eyes. The supposedly pure Daoist hall was filled with dirt and dust, and the Daoists who ought to have recited scriptures with eyes free of desire were now drenched in raw ambition.
“That was seriously hard.”
“Who knew it’d take three whole days! For this thing!”
“Man. We practically dug up a mountain and made a new one.”
Everyone looked exhausted as they stared at the dirt mound that had formed beside where the mountain used to be. Just how much dirt had they dug out for the pile to end up like that?
“Still, we did it!”
“Chung Myung! So now it’s done, right?”
Chung Myung nodded as he looked at the newly unearthed vault.
“Yeah. Now we just need to move it down the mountain properly.”
“...”
Everyone, who had been brimming with excitement just a moment ago, froze in place.
...This?
Move it?
Everyone’s gaze drifted toward the cliffs beyond the wall.
Just imagining this vault being moved down beneath that sheer drop made their heads reel.
Someone muttered in a voice steeped in grief and resentment.
“...Why did the ancestors build the hall on a mountain like this...?”
“My exact thought!”
But it was too late to turn back now. It had to be done, didn’t it?
“Alright, stop complaining and let’s do it! It’s not like this is helping some outsider— cold-iron swords are ending up in our hands!”
At Baek Sang’s shout, the light slowly returned to the disciples’ eyes.
They were the disciples of Mount Hua, after all— people who had been dragged to hell and back by Chung Myung’s schemes. Of course, they had gained plenty in return, but if you asked them what had actually landed in their hands right then and there...
Honestly, it was basically just meat!
But wasn’t this something that would benefit them immediately?
Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron was a rare treasure that most sects wouldn’t even dare to dream of. If that was going to fall into their own hands, what on earth was there not to do?
“Ohhh!”
“Let’s move it! Down the mountain!”
Just as everyone was once again burning with enthusiasm and about to throw themselves at the vault—
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“...Huh?”
Chung Myung spoke in a bored tone.
“Moving it comes later. First, we need to restore everything.”
“...What?”
“You’re just going to leave it like that?”
Chung Myung pointed at the ravaged mountain. The black, gaping hole in it looked utterly hideous.
“Fill it back in.”
“...”
“Hurry up.”
The light in the Mount Hua disciples’ eyes died once more.
* * *
“I’m going to go visit the Tang Family.”
“...”
Hyun Jong looked at Chung Myung with a soul-drained expression.
“We need to make the cold-iron swords anyway, and I’m thinking of stopping by Ghost Sect on the way too.”
“...”
“Hehe. Besides that, I’ve got a few things to take care of. I’ll be back as fast as I can!”
Watching Chung Myung grin, Hyun Jong’s head drooped weakly. A hollow, lifeless voice leaked from his mouth.
“...Do as you please.”
“Hehe. Yes, then...”
Bang!
But then the door to the Sect Leader’s quarters flew open so hard it nearly broke off its hinges. A booming voice rang out.
“Sahyeong! You’re going to the Tang Family?!”
“Huh? Where’d you hear that from...”
It was Dang Soso who burst into the room.
“Hey, you jerk! You’re going to the Tang Family, and you didn’t tell me? Are you the Tang Family’s son or something? I’m the daughter here!”
“Then come with us.”
When Chung Myung said it so casually, Dang Soso immediately whipped her gaze toward Hyun Jong like a streak of lightning.
“Sect Leader, I can go too, right?”
“...”
Hyun Jong looked at her weakly for a long moment, then slowly nodded.
“...Do as you please.”
“Thank you!”
Then Hyun Sang, who had been standing nearby, spoke up.
“But Chung Myung.”
“Yes?”
“I know you have things to do, but if you leave like this, what happens to Baekmae Hall?”
“Ah, don’t worry about that.”
“Hm?”
Chung Myung shrugged.
“I asked Hall Master, and he said it should recover a fair bit in about ten days. It’ll take at least that long to prepare everything anyway, so once he’s recovered, we’ll leave right away.”
“...Ah, I see.”
“But!”
Chung Myung’s lips curled into a wicked grin.
“For those ten days, I’m going to work them like dogs until they want to die. So you don’t need to worry too much. Who do you think I am? I’m Chung Myung, of course.”
“...”
Hyun Sang shuddered for some reason, feeling a chill run down his spine. And from behind him came a weak voice.
“...Do whatever you want... Do whatever you want.”
The Sect Leader.
He’s going to ascend one of these days.