The Unexpected Kindred Spirit
“...My, oh my.”
“He actually beat Iron Divine General...”
The bandits of Daeho Fort stood there with their mouths hanging open, unable even to think about closing them.
One of the Green Forest's Ten Shadows had been defeated?
Well, in theory, yes. The name of the Ten Shadows was a symbol of strength in the Green Forest, but it wasn't an absolute one.
Still, this was different. Iron Divine General had been broken in the one thing that mattered most to him: strength.
Who was Beon Chung, after all?
Among the countless bandit forts scattered throughout the Green Forest, and the countless bandits who swarmed through each one, he was the sort of man who could claim first place in raw power without a trace of shame. And yet this small Taoist had crushed him completely in a contest of strength.
“...”
At last, the bandits, who had been staring blankly at Beon Chung in confusion, came back to their senses one by one. They hurried toward him in a panic.
“Iron Divine General!”
“S-someone fetch a stretcher! Quickly!”
With his back twisted out of shape and foam bubbling at the corner of his mouth, he looked, no matter how generously one judged it, to be seriously injured.
But at their uproar, Chung Myung only said with a bored expression, “You don't have to make such a fuss. He's just unconscious. I controlled it so he wouldn't get hurt too badly.”
“But his waist—!”
“He just strained a muscle or two. Nothing serious, so don't worry about it.”
“Ah... I see, then.”
The bandits nodded over and over. Since Chung Myung had fought him directly, he would know Beon Chung's condition better than anyone.
“Amazing, Young Taoist.”
They looked at Chung Myung with eyes full of admiration.
Anyone who had learned martial arts knew how hard it was to control a strength contest so the opponent wouldn't get hurt. Yet he had even shown that kind of spare room while facing Beon Chung.
“Not at all. It's nothing special.”
“No, no! That is truly incredible! Good heavens! Where in the world does such godlike strength come from?”
“Hehe. It's really nothing.”
“They say true divine strength is granted by Heaven! You, sir, must be a divine general sent down from the heavens.”
Chung Myung scratched the back of his head awkwardly and grinned.
Then the bandits, who had been holding back until now, surged forward all at once and surrounded him.
“Good grief, his body isn't even that bulky.”
“What do you mean, isn't bulky? Look at these arms! Look at those steel-hard forearms!”
“Whoa! I'm pushing, and it won't even budge.”
“Amazing! To think you'd need this much to defeat Iron Divine General in strength! A body isn't everything!”
As praise and cheers poured down on him, the corners of Chung Myung's mouth kept twitching upward.
This is a new flavor.
It wasn't the first time he'd been cheered, of course, but this kind of praise felt a little different. Compliments about pure strength, not martial skill, stirred up something in a man.
“Vajra! Vajra!”
“Hehe.”
“Strength is what makes a man! Strength!”
“Hehehehe.”
“Krrr! The number one divine warrior in all the world is right here! The number one divine warrior!”
“Hee...”
Maybe because they were bandits, their excitement was utterly ferocious.
As the bandits swarmed around Chung Myung in a frenzy, Yoon Jong tilted his head.
“...No, even so, one of their own just had his waist broken, and that's their reaction...”
Im So-byeong laughed bitterly. “I already told you. In the Green Forest, the law is the strong eat the weak.”
“Even so...”
“Don't think of the Green Forest as if it were some ordinary sect.”
Im So-byeong unfolded his fan.
“The Green Forest's forts are scattered across the world. In other words, most of them will go their entire lives without ever seeing the faces of the others, even though they all belong to the same Green Forest.”
“Ah...”
A faint heaviness settled in his eyes.
This, in fact, was the Green Forest's greatest problem.
The Green Forest was a huge force, but it was also a coalition of many separate forts. The authority of the Green Forest King was real, yes, but it was only the authority of the Green Forest King. Between forts, whether strong or weak, there was no true binding force.
Where the Beggars' Sect, spread across the whole world, created a strict hierarchy from first-class beggar to tenth-class beggar and clearly separated superiors from subordinates, the Green Forest had only its own patchwork ranks within each fort.
Because of that, when their territories overlapped or problems arose, it wasn't uncommon for forts to go to war with one another.
The reason the Green Forest King of every generation had to wander the world as though he had no home fort of his own was to settle disputes among forts and strengthen the fragile bonds that held them together.
“For the Green Forest, the idea of allies isn't very strong. They're only business partners, really. The concept that binds the Green Forest together is simply this: the strong take our side. If a stronger person becomes one of ours, life gets a lot easier, doesn't it?”
“I still don't really follow...” Yoon Jong said, looking a little embarrassed.
Im So-byeong grinned. “When righteous sect disciples first go out into the jianghu, where do they usually head?”
“Krrrkhm.”
At that, Baek Cheon gave a loud cough.
“Come to think of it, Righteous Sword also...”
“Th-that...”
When he had gone out into the world with Chung Myung to practice the ways of a wandering hero, he'd gained the title Righteous Sword by defeating bandits and ruffians.
It had seemed like something to be proud of, but standing now in front of a bandit chief—if chief was even the right word—made the situation awkward.
“It's fine. There's no need to explain yourself. That's a good thing.”
“...Khmm.”
Baek Cheon turned away with an awkward expression, and Im So-byeong shrugged his shoulders.
“And those kinds of forts are usually just small camps that aren't even officially part of the Green Forest.”
“Ah, I see.”
“But even a large fort that can't be compared to them at all still can't fully escape that threat. There are plenty of people who'd love to make a name for themselves by storming a fort, just like Righteous Sword did.”
Jo Gul nodded hard.
“If you put it another way, being a big force just means each individual part is weaker.”
“Exactly.”
Im So-byeong looked at Jo Gul with approval.
“The seventy-two forts of the Green Forest are frightening, but plenty of people think, 'A single fort? I can handle that.' To be blunt, if a supreme expert caused a ruckus in a fort, what could anyone do about it? You can't report it to the authorities, and there's nowhere to call for help.”
“...”
“That's why the men of the Green Forest worship strong backers who can protect them. They're not simple-minded bandits who worship strength for its own sake. They want to build ties with the strong because the strong can protect their lives.”
“Hmm.”
Yoon Jong nodded. Hearing it explained like that, he could understand why the reaction had been so fervent.
Im So-byeong smiled at Chung Myung with an expression that seemed almost amused by the whole thing.
“In that sense, Young Taoist, you really are no ordinary man.”
“Hmm?”
“You naturally struck up conversation with the Green Forest men who were wary of approaching you, cracking jokes and making it clear you weren't their enemy. If you'd returned in silence after the match was decided, do you think this scene would have happened? It means you know exactly what needs to be done.”
“Uh...”
“Thinking about your position as a Taoist, it can't be easy to talk so casually with bandits, and yet you twisted the whole atmosphere with just a few words... Truly, a man among men.”
“...”
The Mount Hua disciples exchanged glances while sneaking looks at Im So-byeong.
He was always like this...
I think he's misunderstanding something serious.
Chung Myung was the sort of guy who'd practically faint if he heard nothing but praise, even at that vicious orthodox sect martial arts tournament. Bandit or whatever else, if you praised him, he'd always be like this!
“In any case... then things worked out well?”
“Yes. They did. Very...”
Im So-byeong trailed off slightly, then continued firmly.
“Overwhelmingly well.”
A subtle gleam shone in his eyes.
To think he'd crush them purely through strength.
They might worship strength, but even that worship had nuance. If their reverence for strength came from a rational survival instinct, then preferring someone with monstrous power was, in its own way, a Green Forest taste.
Chung Myung had succeeded in seizing their hearts in the most perfect form possible.
And this fact would soon spread through every bandit fort in the world. Im So-byeong would make sure of it.
“Long live!”
“Long live the Mount Hua Divine Dragon!”
The people he had planted in advance were stirring up the mood.
But looking at it now, that may not have even been necessary. What Chung Myung had done alone would have created this atmosphere naturally.
Satisfied with how things were going, Im So-byeong nodded with an air of deep contentment. Then he stood and shouted, “Right, let's drink! After something big is finished, you drink to wash away the filth! Here! Bring the wine—cough! Hehe! Cough!”
“...You're coughing up blood.”
“Ah. Don't worry, it's not contagious—cough! Ugh... I'm dying. Cough! Cough!”
Baek Cheon and the others quietly backed away from Im So-byeong, who was coughing as if he were about to spit out his innards. Then they looked over at Chung Myung, who was surrounded by bandits.
Yoon Jong spoke weakly. “...I don't know if I'm the only one who feels this way.”
“I was just thinking the same thing.”
“You too, Sasuk? Wow, me too!”
Baek Cheon stared at Chung Myung with lifeless eyes and muttered, “...I can't even tell who's the bandit and who's the Taoist anymore.”
“They really do suit each other. He looks like he was born to live here.”
“Right?”
They all let out a synchronized sigh.
The bandits' cheers and Chung Myung's shrill laughter rang out together through the air.
The bonfire blazed.
Above the sizzling flames, an entire pig was being roasted, and wine jars flew from one side to another. The bandits sat in small groups, drinking heartily and noisily.
Hong Dae-gwang's eyes twitched.
Why does this scene feel so familiar?
Was he imagining it?
No, not imagining it, and yet...
Whatever his broad experience, how would he know what sort of feast bandits held inside their forts?
So when someone said the feast at Mount Hua felt like the way bandits threw one, that had only been a figure of speech...
“It really is exactly the same, isn't it?”
No, if anything, Mount Hua's version looked more like the original. At the very least, these bandits weren't stripping off their shirts and drinking straight from the jar.
Ah, though there were some things that looked exactly as if they'd been copied and pasted over.
“Hahaha! Who would've thought I'd live to see the day I drink with a monk! Have some! Drink, monk!”
“Amitabha. It seems benefactors are quite unused to grain wine. Drinking grain wine from a cup is not the proper way to honor drink.”
“Huh? Look at this monk?”
“Here, put the cups away. Let's drink properly for once.”
Soon enough, Hong Dae-gwang silently turned his head away and looked up at the distant sky as Hye Yeon cheerfully started chugging straight from the bottle.
Head Abbot.
Why on earth did you send that monk to Mount Hua?
What in the world were you planning to make him see?
Hye Yeon had already been thoroughly dyed in Mount Hua's colors.
Hong Dae-gwang sighed deeply. A Shaolin monk, unrolling the yellow robes that symbolized his temple and drinking until he dropped—no matter how you looked at it, he seemed like a defrocked monk who had sinned and run away from Shaolin.
And then...
“You're tipping over!”
Thud.
“Krrr...”
Another person was added to the bodies rolling on the ground.
Jo Gul slammed the wine bottle down as if throwing it onto the floor, then clicked his tongue at the fallen man. With half-lidded eyes, he said, “Tsk. Anyone here know how to really drink? What kind of fort is this?”
“M-move! I'll do it! I'll take him on!”
“Good, good. Come on, then! Let's drink!”
Hong Dae-gwang squeezed his eyes shut.
Over there, Jo Gul was beating the bandits at drinking.
He didn't think Mount Hua was usually the sort to drink this well. In a place without a tiger, the fox became king; without a drunkard like Chung Myung, even Jo Gul seemed to have a decent appetite for alcohol.
“...”
How should he put it?
This was definitely Daeho Fort, and yet the ones taking charge of the drinking were the Mount Hua disciples. It looked more like Mount Hua had set up a bandit fort and was receiving guests.
“Seriously, what a bunch of weirdos.”
Shaking his head, Hong Dae-gwang's gaze drifted toward one side.
No matter what, the strangest of them all was still that man.
“Have a drink.”
Im So-byeong lifted his crushed hat a little and smiled thinly. Then he held out a wine bottle to Chung Myung.
“Hmm.”
Chung Myung also smiled faintly as he took the drink. After he tipped the liquor into his mouth, Im So-byeong said, “Thanks to you, things worked out nicely.”
“Ah, don't mention it. It was thanks to you, Green Forest... no, Scholar Byung, for putting in the effort.”
“What did I even do?”
“Then I'll say you used your head.”
“Hmm.”
As though he didn't dislike the flattery, Im So-byeong's lips curled upward.
“Haha. If you think about it, my judgment wasn't bad.”
“Of course, of course.”
“And Young Taoist, you're every bit as clever as they say.”
“Hehe. I do have that side to me.”
The faces of Yu I-seol and Yoon Jong, who had been standing guard beside them, gradually soured.
Aren't you even embarrassed?
Those two are going to climb all the way to heaven if nobody stops them.
Even without anyone else cheering them on, the two of them looked ready to climb to the edge of the world by themselves.
“Hahaha. I never thought I'd see the day I drank with a Taoist like this.”
“Same here. I never thought I'd be throwing a banquet with a Green Forest man.”
Im So-byeong laughed brightly and poured more wine into Chung Myung's empty cup.
“What does where we come from matter, so long as our hearts are aligned?”
“Right, right. It's the will that matters. And...”
At that moment, a faint chill gleamed in Chung Myung's eyes.
It was only the briefest brush of coldness, but Im So-byeong didn't miss it.
“At the very least, we can be comrades. As long as Maninbang exists.”
The corner of Im So-byeong's mouth twisted.
“The enemy of my enemy, then.”
As Chung Myung nodded and emptied his cup, more liquor was poured.
The cup was filled, and Chung Myung took the bottle and poured an equal measure into Im So-byeong's cup.
The two men raised their cups.
Then they smiled brightly, as though they were so fond of each other it was almost embarrassing. Yoon Jong and Yu I-seol looked so worried about them getting too close that they nearly started to sweat.
But unlike their bright expressions, the thoughts beneath them were a little different.
That bandit bastard!
That Taoist bastard, so obvious!
The two of them grinned widely while silently understanding each other through their eyes.
“To friendship!”
“To comrades!”
Clink!
Their cups struck in the air.
“Hahaha. To think I'd meet someone whose heart fit mine so perfectly.”
“I know. It's amazing to me too.”
Exchanging satisfied smiles, the two men thought the same thing.
You walked right in of your own accord, so I'll make sure to use you properly.
I'll strip you down to the bone. You picked the wrong guy to meet!
It was the moment when the two most devious people in the world each became convinced that they alone were deceiving the other.
