A Good Person Is One Who Feeds You Well! (5)
Wheeeeeeeeee—!
A fierce blizzard was raging.
Night had fallen so darkly that even the wind seemed to erase the world; with visibility swallowed by the storm, it was the sort of darkness in which a person could open their eyes and still see nothing at all.
Swish.
Within that merciless blackness, where even beasts would have feared to tread, a figure in nightclothes darker than the night itself moved like a ghost across the Ice Palace’s blinding white wall.
Thud.
Hidden at the corner of the fortress where the battlements jutted out, he slowly raised both arms in an exaggerated motion and wrapped them around himself as though to embrace his own body.
“Grrr... I’m freezing my ass off!”
He’d brought the nightclothes, but he hadn’t expected the cold.
Inside the mask, Chung Myung’s teeth chattered nonstop, making a clacking sound all by themselves.
“What the hell was I thinking, coming out here for some stupid grand luxury or whatever...”
He had once shivered so hard under a bear pelt that he’d nearly turned into a block of ice; now he was outside in the dead of night wearing nothing but thin clothes. How miserable could it possibly get?
“Kiik!”
“Shut up, will you?”
Baek Ah, tucked inside those thin layers, poked its head out beneath Chung Myung’s chin as if it simply could not endure the cold, and trembled all over.
“Kiik! Kiik!”
And it fixed him with a resentful look, as if to ask why on earth he was dressed like this.
“You’re the one who lives in the cold and you’re whining this much?”
That was a ridiculous thing for a martial artist to say while shaking from the cold himself, but Chung Myung had always been generous with himself and merciless toward everyone else.
He shoved Baek Ah’s head back inside and wrapped his clothes tight again.
“Ugh. Let’s get this over with fast.”
With the firm resolve that the moment he got back he’d stuff his nightclothes with cotton if he had to, Chung Myung moved.
Thud-thud-thud.
His foot kicked off the smooth outer wall of the fortress. The stone was frozen and slippery as sin, but for Chung Myung—who could scramble over Mount Hua’s sheer cliffs as if they were flat ground—it should have been no problem at all...
Shraaaak!
...Except it was.
The small noise of his foot slipping made a guard patrolling inside the fortress frown and crack open a window.
Wheeeeeeeeee—!
But the blizzard that tore through the opening made him slam it shut again in a panic.
“What kind of storm is this...”
Snow slapped again and again against the solid wooden window. Tsking in annoyance at the rattling sound, the guard frowned.
“This winter really does feel colder than usual.”
And just like that, he dismissed his suspicions and resumed his patrol.
Meanwhile, having confirmed the interior situation for himself, Chung Myung pressed himself against the wall and slowly climbed again.
“Ugh.”
Normally, climbing a fortress like this would have been nothing, but the damn blizzard hammering at his back was the real problem. This wasn’t snow anymore; it was basically hail.
If I ever come back to the North Sea, I’m not human anymore!
At last, after nimbly scaling the wall, Chung Myung reached the highest point of the fortress. He tucked himself as close as possible to the side where the blizzard was weakest, then leaned his ear against the wall.
And there, just as he’d hoped, a voice he already knew drifted through from inside.
Oh?
He’d gotten lucky—just like that?
He’d planned to search from the top down, but it seemed the Ice Palace Lord preferred high places. Convenient for Chung Myung, at least.
“Ki...”
“Shh.”
He pressed a finger hard against Baek Ah’s head, and with a crooked smile he killed off his own presence as much as possible and stretched his senses outward.
The voices inside became clearer.
Two people.
And, as expected, one of them was the Ice Palace Lord.
“What about those men?”
At Seol Cheon-sang’s question, the Ice Palace’s first elder, Cold Wall Guard, answered at once.
“They’ve shut themselves in their quarters.”
“Hmm.”
A faint darkness entered Seol Cheon-sang’s eyes.
“Interesting men. Especially that one called the Mount Hua Divine Dragon.”
At his generous assessment, Cold Wall Guard furrowed his brow.
“Isn’t he far too insolent? To act so stiffly in front of you, Palace Lord. He’s young, but now that he’s gained a bit of fame, he seems to think there’s nothing above him.”
There was anger in Cold Wall Guard’s voice, but Seol Cheon-sang merely laughed lightly.
“Do you really think so?”
“...Do you think otherwise, Palace Lord?”
He stroked his chin and spoke in a low voice.
“Arrogance without ability is just conceit. Arrogance backed by skill is confidence. To my eyes, that boy didn’t look arrogant at all.”
“...Even so, he’s only a junior.”
“Would the Beast Palace Lord bother introducing someone who was only a mere junior?”
“That...”
Cold Wall Guard had no answer.
Beast Palace Lord Maeng So.
The five outer palaces had maintained contact with one another all this time, both to stand against the Central Plains and to survive in those harsh lands. So Seol Cheon-sang knew Maeng So well enough.
“Maeng So is not someone to look down on.”
Seol Cheon-sang said it flatly.
The fact that that Beast Palace Lord had singled out the Mount Hua Divine Dragon and introduced him to the North Sea could only mean that the man was no ordinary figure.
However...
The new era, huh.
A strange expression touched Seol Cheon-sang’s face.
“He was spouting childish dreams.”
The Beast Palace, which lay in the warm south, could never truly understand the situation in the North Sea. They were forced into cooperation under the name of the five outer palaces, but the Beast Palace of Yunnan and the Ice Palace of the North Sea were fundamentally different in every way—environment, culture, and all else alike.
“Just treat them appropriately. Don’t make unnecessary trouble.”
“Yes, Palace Lord.”
Outside the building, Chung Myung pressed down on his trembling chin and pulled a face.
Quit wasting time on useless crap and say something helpful.
Honestly, people in high positions were all experts at dragging things out with worthless chatter.
Fortunately, before Chung Myung froze to death, Seol Cheon-sang finally said something worth hearing.
“How are they behaving?”
The moment “they” was spoken, the air inside the room changed entirely. Chung Myung, pressed against the exterior wall, could feel it clearly.
“They, too, have not shown any movement.”
“Hmm.”
“However...”
“However?”
Cold Wall Guard’s face hardened.
“Lately, I’ve sensed that they’re under excessive tension. They were always gloomy bastards to begin with, but now they’re like a marten gone mad with poison.”
“A marten gone mad with poison, is it.”
Seol Cheon-sang frowned.
“Damned vermin...”
Cold Wall Guard stole a glance at Seol Cheon-sang before speaking again.
“Palace Lord. I still don’t know if it was truly wise to bring them in. They’re too dangerous.”
“Enough.”
“But—”
“I said enough, didn’t I?”
As Seol Cheon-sang’s cold aura surged in an instant, Cold Wall Guard hurriedly lowered his head.
“I was presumptuous.”
Even as Cold Wall Guard apologized more than enough for both of them, Seol Cheon-sang’s expression did not soften.
“There are two kinds of things in this world.”
“...”
“One is something you can choose. The other is something you can’t.”
“...I’m sorry.”
Even Cold Wall Guard knew it: that matter was not one Seol Cheon-sang had been able to choose. It had been unavoidable. But as his subordinate, he shouldn’t be poking at the wound like this...
“There’s nothing to apologize for.”
At that moment, Seol Cheon-sang let out a sigh and covered part of his face with one hand. Between his pale fingers, his eyes glinted with a ghostly, sinister light.
“Because that was entirely my choice.”
“...”
The corners of Seol Cheon-sang’s mouth twisted. The friendly smile he had worn before the disciples of Mount Hua was nowhere to be seen.
It was a warped, twisted smile—one that sent a chill down the spine of anyone who saw it.
“My older brother was a splendid palace lord.”
“...”
“But that was all he was. In this damned frozen land, a splendid palace lord changes nothing. Soon, even the people of the North Sea will come to understand that.”
“Of course, Palace Lord!”
Cold Wall Guard bowed low where he stood.
Seol Cheon-sang, his voice laced with frigid killing intent, spoke on.
“If that is what it takes, then I’ll do anything. Even if it means joining hands with those maggot-like scum of the demonic path.”
At the palace lord’s icy voice, Cold Wall Guard trembled.
“But, Palace Lord...”
“...”
“Their savagery is going too far. The people of the North Sea are afraid to go outside because of them, and a strange illness is spreading through the villages. At this rate, won’t public sentiment turn ugly?”
It had already turned ugly long ago, but Cold Wall Guard didn’t dare report that truth directly to Seol Cheon-sang.
“...You mean that matter of people disappearing?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Seol Cheon-sang’s face twisted.
Those damned bastards.
He didn’t know exactly what they were plotting either. What they had demanded in exchange for lending him their power was land to settle on, and...
“For now, leave them alone.”
“But...”
“I’ll warn them. But if we pressure them without solid evidence, it could cause unnecessary trouble.”
“...”
Cold Wall Guard looked a bit displeased, but Seol Cheon-sang did not bother rebuking him for the rudeness.
“What about the Ice Crystals?”
“We’re increasing output as much as possible. But their demands are far too excessive...”
“Hmm.”
Seol Cheon-sang lowered his eyes and thought for a moment before saying decisively, “Then mine more, even if you have to overwork the people.”
“...Yes, Palace Lord.”
There were, in truth, many practical problems with that order, but Cold Wall Guard could not say so. Seol Cheon-sang was not issuing that command because he didn’t understand the situation.
Damned vermin.
Seol Cheon-sang’s eyes gleamed coldly.
“There isn’t much time left. The day my martial arts are complete, those bastards—and those arrogant Central Plains dogs—will all be forced to kneel at my feet.”
“We will endure and endure, waiting for that day alone, Palace Lord.”
“Hmph.”
Seol Cheon-sang sprang up from his seat.
“If the Central Plains fools start stirring up trouble in the Ice Palace, it could become a problem. For now, draw their attention and make sure they can’t move recklessly.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
“Those worthless...”
Then Seol Cheon-sang paused, turned his head to the side, and listened. Cold Wall Guard stared at the palace lord in confusion.
“...Palace Lord?”
In the next instant, Seol Cheon-sang fired a palm strike straight at the wall without hesitation.
BOOM!
The wall exploded clean through, a portion of it shattering apart and flying outward.
“P-Palace Lord?”
Through the fist-sized hole punched into the wall, the blizzard poured in. Seol Cheon-sang watched the scene with sharp eyes for a moment, then gave a light shake of his head.
“I must have been overreacting.”
“...”
“Tell the subordinates to repair the wall.”
“Yes!”
He shot the wall one more glance, then strode out of the room with wide steps.
Left alone, Cold Wall Guard let out a long sigh and stared at the blasted hole.
The Palace Lord is getting sharper by the day.
He understood that much, but...
“Hoo.”
With another sigh, he too left the room.
And then...
Whoa, that was close.
Pressed flat against the wall beside the hole, Chung Myung patted his chest.
Damn, that old guy’s sharp.
In weather like this, with the wind howling and the snow tearing through the air, to detect his presence at all?
That meant Seol Cheon-sang’s level was even higher than Chung Myung had expected.
“Brrr! Freezing!”
Whatever else could wait, he was about to freeze to death first.
Chung Myung scrambled along the wall and approached the gaping hole. Pressing his eyes to it, he looked inside and quickly spotted documents laid out on the desk.
“Hey. Get out here.”
“Kiik?”
He reached into his coat and pulled Baek Ah out. Baek Ah immediately clung to Chung Myung’s clothes with both front paws, resisting with every bit of strength it had as though it absolutely refused to go outside.
“...Ah, my neck’s been a little cold lately. I could use a scarf.”
At the threat, Baek Ah flinched.
Then, with a resolute expression, it nodded.
Baek Ah leaped from Chung Myung’s hand and shot through the hole like a bolt of lightning.
Thud.
In an instant, it came back out with a document in its mouth, handed it to Chung Myung, then quickly burrowed back inside his clothes.
“Hmm.”
Chung Myung tucked the papers away neatly and smirked.
So you really aren’t on such good terms with the Demonic Sect, huh?
He’d gotten quite a lot of information.
And of it, the part that had stirred him most was one thing.
If the Central Plains fools start stirring up trouble in the Ice Palace, it could become a problem. For now, draw their attention and make sure they can’t move recklessly.
“Oh, so you don’t want us poking around, huh?”
Heh.
When people put it that way, how could he possibly not poke around?
“Isn’t that right, Sahyung? Heh heh.”
—Aren’t you cold?
“Holy crap, I’m freezing to death.”
Chung Myung’s body began to drift downward like a ghost, then lower still.
Tap!
The moment his feet touched the ground, he was just about to turn when—
“Who goes there?”
Huh? I’ve been caught—!
CRASH!
“Aaaaaaaaaaagh!”
Chung Myung stared blankly back and forth between his fully extended leg and the Ice Palace warrior who was screaming as he flew through the air.
Ah...
I should’ve thought before I kicked. My foot moved first.
That was really a bad habit.
“An intruder!”
“Infiltrator!”
Shouts began echoing through the blizzard.
A little flustered, Chung Myung looked around, then lifted his gaze.
So our lodging is...
Ah! There.
As if startled by the uproar, Baek Cheon’s face appeared at just the right moment as he stuck his head out of the window.
The blizzard was raging, but through it, Chung Myung’s masked eyes and Baek Cheon’s eyes met perfectly.
Good. For now, I’ll go—
Then.
Baek Cheon, who had been looking at Chung Myung, smiled faintly and reached out to grab the window frame.
And then...
Clack.
He shut it without the slightest hesitation.
“...”
Chung Myung’s eye twitched as he stared at the firmly closed wooden window of their lodging.
“Wow...”
Did that bastard really just do that?