Don’t Worry! I’ll Make Sure You Win! (4)
“Grrrrr.”
“This is seriously impossible.”
The third-generation disciples trudged through the mountain gate, groaning all the way.
Business in Huayin was torture for them. They were Daoists, people meant to cultivate inner peace through practice. Dealing with the worldly, money-grubbing masses was far harsher than any ascetic training on the mountain.
“I mean, it’s all fine and dandy, but…”
Of course, they understood that much.
They knew better than anyone how important money was, and how hard it was to earn. Hadn’t they themselves lived on thin rice gruel not so long ago because they had no money?
Just because they trained on the mountain and practiced martial arts didn’t mean they could survive by gnawing on bark. Whether on a mountain, on the plains, or in a city, people needed money to live.
So there was no complaint there.
The problem was something else entirely…
“Can’t we just get a room in Huayin? What the hell is this pointless crap?”
“Having to go down Mount Hua every morning and evening and come back up again is seriously killing me, Sahyung…”
Yoon Jong squeezed his eyes shut.
If it had been any other day, he would have sharply told them to stop whining. But now even he couldn’t say that, because he was breathing hard enough to feel like his lungs were about to burst.
“…Think of this as training too.”
“What kind of training is this…?”
“Then why don’t you go complain to the senior uncle-masters yourselves?”
“……”
They all shut their mouths.
Not because they were afraid of their superiors. It was because, compared to the hardship the senior uncle-masters were enduring, their own suffering was nothing.
They could at least survive the day, but the senior uncle-masters still hadn’t returned to Mount Hua because they had to prepare for business the next day.
“Sahyung. We don’t have time to train these days.”
“We came here to learn martial arts, not to run a business. If it were going to be like this, I’d have just stayed home and worked as a shop assistant instead of joining Mount Hua.”
Yoon Jong let out a deep sigh.
“I know what you’re all trying to say. But life doesn’t always go the way we want, does it? This is the same. It’ll be resolved soon enough, so just bear with it until then.”
“……Yes, Sahyung.”
“Understood.”
At least his words seemed to carry some weight, because they all nodded.
Yoon Jong let out a sigh where no one could hear.
I say that, but when exactly is this situation going to improve?
There was no telling.
No, it wasn’t even just that there was no telling. To Yoon Jong, the situation wasn’t improving at all; it only seemed to be getting worse by the day.
Without the quiet help of the merchants who had sided with Mount Hua this time, it wouldn’t have been strange if a few of the businesses had already gone under.
If things were going to get better, there had to be at least some sign of improvement. But all he could see were bad omens.
The Sect Leader must have some kind of plan.
As Yoon Jong followed that thought, he suddenly flinched.
I’m actually worrying about Mount Hua.
Until not long ago, that had been almost unthinkable. He was the eldest among the third-generation disciples, yes, but he had never once seriously worried about Mount Hua’s future. If Mount Hua collapsed, he had thought, he could simply leave.
But somewhere along the way, even Yoon Jong had started truly worrying about Mount Hua.
It was all because of that one bastard who had shown up and dragged everything into motion…
“Sahahhyyyuuuunnng!”
Yoon Jong squeezed his eyes shut again.
Everything else has changed for the better, so why does that idiot seem to get less mature by the day?
Yoon Jong stared at Jo Gul, who came sprinting toward him with a face drained of all color.
“Sahyung! Sahyung! Something terrible has happened!”
“Calm down. You’re a Daoist, and you’re still this coarse—”
“Che, Chung Myung…”
Chung Myung?
The moment that name came out of Jo Gul’s mouth, Yoon Jong’s face also went white.
It was genuinely impressive, the way Chung Myung could make a person pale before they’d even heard what had happened.
“N-no! Just come see for yourself! Hurry!”
Jo Gul took off at once, and Yoon Jong followed without a word.
What kind of trouble has that bastard caused now?
There was no time to think. Yoon Jong ran at full speed through the mountain gate and followed Jo Gul into Baekmae Hall. Soon they arrived outside Chung Myung’s room, and Jo Gul shoved the door open roughly.
“He’s not here?”
But Chung Myung wasn’t in the room.
“Where the hell did he go?”
“No, that’s not it! Look at this, Sahyung.”
“Hm?”
This?
Yoon Jong turned his head toward where Jo Gul was pointing and narrowed his eyes slightly.
Paper?
There was a single sheet of paper laid on Chung Myung’s bed. Yoon Jong stepped closer and read the words written on it.
I’m out for a few days because something came up. Figure out the explanation yourselves. And if you skip training, I’ll bend your waist backward, so don’t you dare skip it.
“That crazy bastard.”
Yoon Jong’s hand, clutching the paper, trembled.
What did he mean, he’d be back in a few days?
Was this lunatic really under the impression that a third-generation disciple could just disappear from the main sect for several days because something came up?
“W-what do we do? Sahyung?”
Yoon Jong let out a long sigh.
“First, keep the others’ mouths shut.”
“……If we get caught doing that, we’ll be in even bigger trouble.”
“If we tell them outright, we’ll be in trouble either way. He said he’d be back within a few days, so until then we have to hide this however we can.”
On any other day, the elders wouldn’t care enough about a third-generation disciple as lowly as Chung Myung to pay attention. If they were lucky, maybe they could get away with it.
“And if we get caught, what then…?”
“That’s what you’re worried about?”
“Huh? Aren’t you worried, Sahyung?”
“……I’m worried about something else.”
“What?”
Yoon Jong let out another deep sigh and said,
“I’m worried about what in the world that bastard has gone off to do for several days. I’m worried about how huge a mess he’s trying to make now.”
“……”
Jo Gul could only nod in fierce agreement.
* * *
“Hah! Hah! Hah! Damn it. Let me catch my breath!”
Chung Myung sat down against a tree stump nearby and caught his breath.
After sprinting all the way from Mount Hua to Xi’an in one go, he felt like his head was spinning and his mouth was full of the taste of dried wood. It seemed he had overdone it a little.
“Damn it, back in my day, what?”
He used to be the kind of man who could leap over mountains in a single step, huh? With a couple of swipes, he could even cross the Yangtze!
Back then, it wouldn’t have taken him even an hour to get from Mount Hua to Xi’an. And he would have done it leisurely, as if taking a stroll.
But he didn’t have that kind of ability now, so he had no choice but to run like a madman until his dog feet were soaked in sweat.
“Aigoo… If I could just have one cool glass of cold water right now, I’d have no regrets.”
Whenever he said things like that, his age always showed through despite his best efforts to hide it.
After catching his breath enough to stand, Chung Myung lifted his head and looked toward Xi’an.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been here too.”
Huayin had developed into a decent place in its own right, but it couldn’t compare to Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi.
Xi’an was the great city closest to Mount Hua. Because of that, whenever there had been a need to visit a city in the past, it had always been the first place considered.
Chung Myung clicked his tongue and stood up.
“There were sure a lot of things here too.”
Mount Hua’s disciples had never liked coming to Xi’an.
The reason was simple. The great sect closest to Xi’an was the Southern Edge Sect.
Mount Zhongnan, where the Southern Edge Sect was based, was only a little more than fifty ri from Xi’an. Because of that, the Southern Edge disciples were always popping up in the city whenever they got bored.
What happened if a Mount Hua disciple went to Xi’an and ran into those Southern Edge bastards?
One of the two of them gets broken that day, guaranteed.
The Southern Edge Sect and Mount Hua did not get along.
No, saying they didn’t get along was too mild. Mount Hua and the Southern Edge Sect were practically mortal enemies.
Were there not plenty of sects in the world that disliked each other?
Even the Namgung Clan and the Hebei Peng Clan, both famous for their mutual dislike, would click their tongues and point fingers at the sight of the Southern Edge Sect and Mount Hua snarling at one another.
Why were they so hostile?
That was the wrong question. The real question was: what reason was there for them to get along?
Just as neighboring countries rarely stayed friendly, great sects that stood side by side could hardly be expected to be on good terms. For one thing, their interests overlapped, and even taking in disciples became a competition.
And above all else, the moment the question of who was stronger—you or we—came up, there was nothing left to do but draw blades. It was a matter of pride.
Moreover, Mount Hua and the Southern Edge Sect were both Daoist sects. As Daoist sects, they shared the trait of having a stronger worldly streak than most, and even their primary martial arts centered on the sword.
The founders who established the Southern Edge Sect and Mount Hua may have thought,
“Hoho. Since their natures are similar, if we set the sects close together, their descendants will get along like brothers.”
But in reality, the descendants had ended up regarding each other as mortal enemies, not brothers.
That was why Mount Hua had always felt awkward about running into disciples of the Southern Edge Sect, and why they naturally avoided coming to Xi’an.
That had been the case until Chung Myung appeared.
As everyone knew, Chung Myung had a nature that made him itch to try whatever other people avoided, and the more his fellow disciples tried to stop him, the more often he came and went through Xi’an.
Picking fights?
Of course he did.
Unluckily for the other side.
I sure beat a lot of them up.
This was something that needed a proper explanation. Chung Myung had never once gone looking for the Southern Edge bastards just to beat them. He wasn’t that free with his time. He had better things to do, like tearing off another piece of meat and taking another drink of liquor.
He barely had enough time to enjoy a bit of drinking and carousing without the Sect Leader catching him—where in the world would he find time to go bother those bastards?
But the Southern Edge bastards seemed to prefer brawling to drinking and partying. After getting hit by Chung Myung once or twice, they would foam at the mouth the instant they heard he was in Xi’an and come charging at him.
Only to get beaten every single time, of course.
Come to think of it, Chung Myung was amazing for beating them every time they came, but the Southern Edge bastards were equally amazing for charging back in after being smashed to bits.
Even Chung Myung respected their tenacity. These idiots seemed to enjoy getting beaten, because after being thrashed within an inch of their lives they’d still go red-eyed and rush at him again the moment they met him.
That stubbornness was probably what made the Southern Edge Sect what it was now.
After all, even while Mount Hua was falling apart, the Southern Edge Sect was still threatening the title of the world’s greatest sword sect, wasn’t it?
Though that would only last a little longer.
“So, um…”
Chung Myung glanced down at his clothes.
In his rush, he hadn’t had time to change out of his robes. The plum blossom pattern embroidered on his chest looked especially bright and polished today.
“If I run into them, it might turn into trouble…”
Maybe he should buy some clothes and change first?
After a bit of thought, Chung Myung shrugged and shook his head.
“Nah, no way.”
What were the odds he’d run into Southern Edge bastards in this huge city of Xi’an? It wasn’t like the Southern Edge disciples were out there with their eyes red, searching for him like they used to.
What’s the worst that could happen?
As long as he got to Eunha Merchant Guild quickly, he wouldn’t even need to see those Southern Edge bastards.
“And if that happens, then the money’s mine.”
Chung Myung grinned wickedly and strode through the gates of Xi’an.
He had no idea just what kind of storm was about to come crashing down because of it.