What, You Think Anything in This World Is Free? (3)
Warm steam rose from the teacups sitting on the table.
As the gathered Mount Hua disciples began to drink, the village chief secretly watched Chung Myung’s face.
With the instincts of a man who had seen a long life, he had already figured out, without needing any explanation, who he was the one facing.
“So... what exactly is it you want to hear?”
Chung Myung answered with obvious boredom.
“Isn’t it plain? The North Sea Ice Palace.”
The moment the words Ice Palace were spoken, the skin around the chief’s eyes twitched. His tension was written all over him.
“Th-that...”
The chief gave an awkward smile and shook his head.
“I’m nothing more than a country old man. I know almost nothing about the Ice Palace.”
“Oh, come on. Look at this old man trying to wriggle out of it.”
But Chung Myung wasn’t so easy to brush off. The way he rolled his neck from side to side didn’t look particularly peaceful.
“A person feels one way on the way to the latrine and another way coming out, you know? So now that everything’s been treated, you’re suddenly cured of your memory too?”
“Goodness, of course not! Even beasts know gratitude; how could a person not?”
“Then start talking already.”
At Chung Myung’s urging, the village chief let out a long sigh.
From the standpoint of someone who had received kindness, he couldn’t very well refuse. But at the same time, speaking too freely about the North Sea Ice Palace seemed to weigh heavily on him.
Seeing that, Baek Cheon quietly stepped in to help.
“You needn’t speak only of the Ice Palace. You may begin by telling us why the village has come to be in such a state.”
Dang Soso also backed him up.
“Why have everyone stopped going outside?”
“That is...”
After glancing at Baek Cheon, the chief finally opened his mouth as if he had no other choice.
“It wasn’t always like this.”
Now that he had begun, he let out a sigh that sounded almost like a groan, as if the story itself already choked him.
“Originally, the Ice Palace was like a trustworthy elder to the people of the North Sea. When there was trouble, they would come running at once to help. When things were difficult, they would be the first to step forward and solve it. Because of that, the North Sea people trusted and followed the Ice Palace with all their hearts.”
The chief’s voice was painfully serious. There was sorrow and lingering affection in it as well.
But Chung Myung merely waved a hand impatiently.
“No, no. Skip that part.”
He had already heard more than enough of that from Han Yi-myung.
“What do you mean people suddenly started disappearing?”
At that question, the chief glanced around the room. Even with Mount Hua disciples sitting right in front of him, his instincts still made him check his surroundings.
At last, the old man carefully spoke.
“...About half a year ago, people started disappearing all of a sudden.”
Everyone’s eyes narrowed a little.
“People? What kind of people...?”
“It didn’t matter if they were old or young, men or women.”
The chief let out a deep sigh.
“At first, we thought it was just an accident. As you must have seen on the way here, the North Sea is a barren land. The beasts here are fierce and savage too. People who went out and didn’t come back because of accidents were not uncommon, so we thought this time was no different, but...”
As he spoke, his eyes kept drifting uneasily toward the door, as if expecting someone to burst in at any moment.
Seeing that, Chung Myung eventually shifted a little closer to the door himself, as if to say he’d flatten whoever came through it first.
The old man continued.
“But the number of missing people kept growing, one after another. And the bigger problem was... there wasn’t any trace left behind. If a beast attacked someone, there would always be some sign of it. But this time, no matter how hard we looked...”
Chung Myung’s face twisted slightly.
So they were taken away by people?
“Hmm.”
Scratching his cheek lightly, he asked, “And the Ice Palace?”
“...”
“Surely they couldn’t just sit there while people were disappearing. What did the Ice Palace say?”
But at that question, the chief shook his head.
“The Ice Palace only said it was the work of beasts and told us not to spread unnecessary rumors. They said they would surely execute anyone who stirred up trouble without cause...”
The faces of the Mount Hua disciples darkened.
It was the common folk who actually hunted and dealt with those beasts. No matter how impressive the Ice Palace might be, how could it know the habits of those animals better than the people who lived among them?
And yet they sent them away with words like that, which made their intent all too obvious.
The one whose face hardened the most was Dang Soso.
“Are you saying the Ice Palace really responded like that?”
“...Why would I lie to you, Doctor?”
Dang Soso looked sick with disbelief and bit her lip hard.
“They’ve lost their minds.”
Those who ruled over a region were never supposed to turn the people against them.
Of course, the Sichuan Tang Family had a reputation for being wicked even among righteous sects, but they would never threaten the people living in Chengdu.
They understood all too well that once public sentiment turned against them, the Tang Family’s power would weaken.
And yet in this barren place, instead of helping people, they were threatening and crushing them...
“What a mess.”
Chung Myung clicked his tongue.
If the North Sea Ice Palace had always been like that, it would never have ruled the North Sea for hundreds of years.
This meant that the new palace lord who had led the rebellion definitely had problems.
Then Baek Cheon asked with a stiff expression, “How many people have disappeared?”
“...Over thirty, in our village alone.”
“Thirty...”
A groan slipped out of someone’s mouth.
“There must be other villages around here as well, right?”
“Yes. As far as I know, they’re all in much the same situation as us.”
The chief lowered his head slightly, his wrinkled lips pressed tightly together.
He seemed to be suppressing some surge of emotion.
“And what was that you said before, about demons roaming around...?”
“Those very demons.”
The old man’s voice trembled as if it were being strangled.
“Ever since those demons started appearing more often, people began disappearing all of a sudden. Even if I try not to suspect them...”
“Hmmmm.”
Chung Myung frowned.
“So in other words?”
“It sounds like it’s connected, doesn’t it?”
The Mount Hua disciples exchanged looks and nodded.
Those black-clad demons would naturally be Demonic Sect members.
The Ice Palace wore white as its symbol, pure as snow. So in a land completely controlled by the North Sea, there would be no reason for them to wear black robes just to hide their identity.
“So to sum it up...”
Chung Myung tapped the table lightly.
“A few months ago, guys in black started showing up all of a sudden, and at the same time, people began disappearing?”
“...Yes.”
“And then, because you were trying to avoid those black-robed bastards, everyone just stayed shut inside their homes and ended up sick with some weird plague. On top of that, under normal circumstances you’d at least have traded with the Central Plains to get some fresh food, but that wasn’t possible either.”
As he pieced it together, Chung Myung let out a low snort.
The way the world moved was truly strange. Separate incidents twisted together, becoming the cause of an utterly horrible situation like this.
As he sorted through his thoughts, Chung Myung suddenly noticed something he had missed and whirled back toward the chief.
“You said there were other villages?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then what about them? If their situation is similar, they’re surely dealing with the same plague, too.”
“As far as I know, they’re not much different...”
Before the chief could even finish, Dang Soso jumped up from her seat.
“Then they need treatment right away—!”
Thunk!
But before she could finish, Chung Myung reached out and flicked her on the forehead.
“You don’t need to run off like an idiot. I can treat them, so calm the hell down.”
“But still...”
“There’s no reason to panic like this out of nowhere.”
Chung Myung’s eyes were calmer now as he held Dang Soso back.
This situation may be even worse than I thought.
The other Mount Hua disciples seemed focused on the fact that the Ice Palace was threatening the common folk, but the point Chung Myung cared about was a little different.
A martial sect could not abandon the ordinary people who protected its land.
In the first place, a martial sect was like a leech sucking at the blood of the common folk. That was reality, regardless of whether one belonged to the righteous, demonic, or evil paths.
Those who spent their days holed up in the mountains swinging swords without ever plowing a single field could do nothing if there were no people living by the soil.
Even if the current Ice Palace Lord was a lunatic, he had supposedly risen through the ranks of the North Sea Ice Palace. There was no way someone like that wouldn’t understand such a basic truth.
Which meant...
The North Sea Ice Palace has completely lost control.
The palace lord might already be nothing more than a puppet of the Demonic Sect.
I need to check for myself.
Since a moment ago, he’d had the unsettling feeling that something slimy was crawling up from deep in his chest.
Almost like...
“Chung Myung?”
“Hm?”
At the call, Chung Myung, who had been lost in thought, looked at Baek Cheon.
“What?”
“N-no... your expression...”
Baek Cheon seemed about to say something, then closed his mouth again. He couldn’t quite find the words.
Strange? Or maybe...
Scary?
It was an expression he had almost never seen on Chung Myung before.
Of course, there had been a few times when Chung Myung looked unusually serious whenever he was angry or dealing with something grave, but this was different from that.
“Hmm.”
Under Baek Cheon’s gaze, Chung Myung quickly smoothed out his expression as if nothing had happened. Then he gave a casual nod and looked back at the chief.
“So, what did you do?”
“Pardon?”
“The Ice Palace gave you that ridiculous answer. You didn’t protest or anything?”
“Goodness... how could we dare protest to the Ice Palace? If we did, our heads would roll.”
Chung Myung narrowed his eyes and let out a small sigh.
“Was it the same everywhere else?”
“Yes. Yes, it was.”
“...Right. I understand, for now.”
After Chung Myung nodded, Baek Cheon and the others asked cautiously, “Chung Myung, about this matter...”
“Hmm.”
But the answer was practically already decided. Chung Myung’s face had turned utterly indifferent again.
“Well, we’re not going to reach a conclusion until we go to the Ice Palace anyway. We’ve done everything we can here, so let’s head there soon.”
“What about the other villages?”
“It’s just a matter of feeding them something fresh, isn’t it? Back when we didn’t know how to treat this, it couldn’t be helped. But now that we do know, there’s no reason for us to stay here. If it’s really such a big problem, we can just catch a few more fish before leaving.”
“M-more fish? Amitabha! Amitabha!”
Hye Yeon, who had been silent until now, suddenly gasped in alarm and cried out, “S-sir! Please leave me out of it this time!”
“Why? Is it hard? I’d think a monk of Shaolin who wants to save all sentient beings wouldn’t mind stepping into icy water.”
“That is not the issue.”
Hye Yeon shook his head with a grave expression.
He might be a bit dramatic, but for a martial artist like Hye Yeon, entering icy water wouldn’t pose any serious problem. The real issue lay elsewhere.
“No matter that it is to save people, the fish I catch are also living beings. To take up Buddhism and yet commit slaughter...”
“You’re the one who catches them; I’m the one who hauls them up. And you’re not the one killing them anyway.”
“Even so, it is difficult for me to deceive my own heart. Amitabha.”
Hye Yeon repeated the Buddha’s name over and over.
“I will do anything else, but please understand me on this one point, sir.”
At his earnest plea, Chung Myung tilted his head as though he truly couldn’t understand.
“You don’t want to do it because killing things makes you uncomfortable?”
“That is correct.”
“...Isn’t that already meaningless the moment you started wearing a bear skin?”
“...”
“What monk in this world goes around draped in animal skin? Have you ever heard of a monk like that?”
Hye Yeon’s mouth dropped open and his eyes widened.
“A-Amitab...”
“Amitabha, my ass. If the bodhisattva of compassion saw a monk walking around wearing beast skin, she’d probably smack your jaw with the Tathagata Divine Palm. So where the hell are you finding Amitabha now?”
“Hiiik.”
Hye Yeon looked genuinely flustered. His gaze kept darting between the bear pelt wrapped around him and Chung Myung’s face.
“Now that you mention it, it is strange. I never noticed at all.”
“...If some other monk had worn it, I’d have noticed immediately that something was off.”
Even among the Mount Hua disciples, none of them had realized how strange the sight was. A monk wearing beast skin, and they’d all thought nothing of it.
“...We’re family.”
“Yeah. I guess that’s why he feels so familiar.”
“And kind of round and cute.”
It was only then that the Mount Hua disciples realized, with some surprise, that Hye Yeon had fully been absorbed into Mount Hua by now.
“Ugh. Wh-what am I doing!”
As Hye Yeon hastily tried to peel off the bear pelt, Yoon Jong grabbed his shoulder and shook his head.
“...Isn’t it better than freezing to death? I’m sure the Buddha would understand.”
“...”
Watching Hye Yeon slump down in despair, utterly at a loss, Chung Myung clicked his tongue.
Then, all at once—
He froze.
Just as he was about to start grumbling at him, Chung Myung suddenly shut his mouth. Then, with a sharp glint in his eyes, he snapped his head toward the door.
At that abrupt reaction, everyone was still puzzled—then, in the very next moment, Chung Myung muttered under his breath.
“That bastard?”
He kicked the door open and shot outside. He moved so fast that by the time the others rushed out, he was already a distant speck.
“Chung Myung!”
“W-what the hell! What’s wrong with him all of a sudden?!”
“After him!”
Without hesitation, everyone charged after Chung Myung. As they chased his rapidly vanishing back, a cold tension began to creep across their faces.