Nice to Meet You, Really. (1)
Gulp.
He swallowed hard without meaning to.
The fingertips of his chilled, tension-ridden hand trembled so badly they had gone numb. He had already given up on calming the hammering in his chest.
All he could hope for was that, when he opened his mouth, his voice wouldn’t shake too much.
“Your Holiness.”
The Law Enforcer slowly, very slowly, lifted his head and looked down at the Bishop’s feet.
There was the Bishop’s foot, and the leg of an old, worn-out chair.
It was an absurdly shabby chair for someone of the Bishop’s exalted rank to sit on.
The chair carried the same pious message every day: that a man who had not been granted an audience with Heavenly Demon did not deserve the luxury of comfort. Normally, it instilled in him steadfast faith and devotion.
But now, fear weighed far more heavily than faith. Who could possibly understand the feelings of a man who had to report failure to someone so merciless that he was harsh even on himself?
“Th-there has been a problem.”
“……A problem?”
The Bishop’s foot shifted slightly.
At that tiny movement, the Law Enforcer dropped his head at once as if struck by flame.
“Y-yes, that is so.”
“Speak.”
It sounded calm enough at first glance, but the voice pressed down on a person with unbearable weight. The Law Enforcer forced himself to report as steadily as he could.
“The Ice Palace has fallen.”
No answer came.
Even so, the Law Enforcer continued at once.
“The forces that had followed the former Palace Lord gathered their strength and attacked the Ice Palace. Seol Cheon-sang was beheaded, and the former elders of the Ice Palace, who had once been driven out, used Seol So-baek, the former Palace Lord’s son, as their banner and seized the palace. It happened just yesterday.”
When he finished, the Law Enforcer swallowed.
Still, there was no reaction.
Not even the faintest acknowledgment. The heavy silence pressed down on his back.
After a long wait, a low voice finally slipped out.
“And so……?”
“Yes! Your Holiness.”
“What of the Ice Crystal?”
The Law Enforcer jerked his head up reflexively. But the instant he met the Bishop’s indifferent gaze, he quickly lowered it again.
“Th-the Ice Crystal…….”
He paused for a moment, struggling to hide the tremor in his voice.
“We checked the Ice Crystal mine, but they say no more Ice Crystal is being produced there. It seems the man who had visited the mine before and freed those trapped there swept away every last piece that remained.”
“…….”
Silence.
After that brief silence, the Bishop’s low voice sounded again.
“Who was it?”
“……It seems to have been people from the Central Plains.”
“The Central Plains?”
“Yes. Th-they were…… the ones who entered the North Sea some time ago…….”
The Bishop’s eyes sank dark and bleak.
“Those filthy hounds of the Central Plains are obstructing us to the very end.”
Swish.
The soft sound of fingers brushing his beard stabbed into the Law Enforcer’s heart like a dagger.
But the response he received was a little different from what he had expected.
“Leaving everything to the likes of Seol Cheon-sang was a mistake. If there was truly work to be done, I should have done it myself.”
With those words, the Bishop rose to his feet.
“Lead me to them.”
“Y-your Holiness!”
The panicked Law Enforcer slammed his forehead to the floor.
“This one’s incompetence has caused this. Grant me just one more chance! I will recover the Ice Crystal myself, I swear it.”
“Absurd.”
But the answer that came back was cold.
“This is a grand design we have waited a hundred years for. If things have gone astray and you still stand here pointing fingers, then with what face am I to meet the resurrected Heavenly Demon? Move.”
Thunk!
The Law Enforcer banged his head against the floor again.
“Think of your body! Do not forget the great plan that has waited a hundred years! If Your Holiness is weakened over something so trivial, then the sect’s long-cherished wish will become nothing but foam on the water! I beg you, do not forget why we came all this way.”
The Bishop clenched his teeth.
As if suppressing the surging anger and wrath within him, the fingers brushing his chest trembled faintly.
“Go.”
“Yes!”
“Lead the followers and recover the Ice Crystal. As for those who resist, tear out their hearts and make them pay for their sins in blood.”
“I will obey the order! May the Heavenly Demon return, and may the ten thousand realms rejoice!”
The Law Enforcer sprang up and ran out.
Watching that back as it vanished, brimming with resolve, the Bishop slowly sat down again. His brows were tightly furrowed, and his hand still clenched at his chest.
“Those Central Plains bastards…….”
Merely hearing the words “Central Plains” made fire surge up inside him.
That day.
The memory of that day—of the heavens being ripped from his sect—remained painfully vivid in his mind.
He had only just inherited the Bishop’s seat after the previous Bishop died a martyr’s death in the war, and he had been far too young. What happened that day had been too horrific for a child to endure.
A hundred years had already passed, yet he still had not escaped the scene of that day.
And yet…….
But now, soon…….
“The sect’s unextinguished hellfire will burn you all.”
Madness roiled in his eyes.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Chung Myung looked at Seol So-baek with a sullen face.
Then he let out a bitter snort and spoke.
“That chair looks like it’s gonna eat somebody.”
Seol So-baek met him with a slightly awkward expression.
The large chair reserved for the Palace Lord was decorated with white bear fur and brilliant jewels, making it look magnificent beyond words. That only made Seol So-baek, sitting in it, appear even more out of place.
It was too much chair for a boy still in the bloom of youth.
It’s exactly like looking at what happened to that kid.
Against his own will, he had been forced to sit in the Palace Lord’s seat, and that probably wasn’t a particularly good outcome for Seol So-baek. At least, that was Chung Myung’s opinion.
“Hmm.”
Yeo Sa-hon, standing beside Seol So-baek, looked at Chung Myung with an expression of immense relief. There was both gentleness and caution in his eyes.
Earlier, when he had called them benefactors, Yeo Sa-hon had not been rude, but right now his posture was far more respectful than before.
And why shouldn’t it be?
Chung Myung had charged alone into enemy lines, beheaded Seol Cheon-sang, and ended the war. Of course, Yeo Sa-hon’s people had done their part too, and the other Mount Hua disciples had been brilliant in their own way, but without Chung Myung, victory would never have come at such a low cost.
No. They probably wouldn’t have won at all.
When the Ice Palace disciples failed to rise in response to his words, the result had already been decided. And yet that young warrior from the Central Plains had overturned it all by himself.
As a martial artist, he deserved respect; as a man of the Ice Palace, he could only be admired.
Yeo Sa-hon spoke to Chung Myung with utmost deference and gratitude.
“So, are you feeling any better?”
“Do I look better to you? What, your eyes bad or something?”
“…….”
Yeo Sa-hon’s admiration diminished a little.
“……It seems the injuries are quite severe.”
“You look fine for an elder, though.”
“…….”
Yeo Sa-hon’s admiration diminished a little more.
“What a world, what a world. The one who came from far away is out there fighting while getting stabbed, and the ones who rushed in to reclaim their own home are all somehow perfectly fine? Good grief. My bones hurt so bad I can’t even stand straight.”
“……Th-that…….”
Yeo Sa-hon’s face went red.
He had not meant to, but in the end, he could not refute those words. After all, the truth was that Yeo Sa-hon himself was basically unharmed.
He even briefly considered shamelessly showing off the bruises where the force of the palm strike had left him black and blue, but the moment he opened his mouth, he had the feeling he’d end up with less than nothing, so he decided to keep quiet.
“And!”
Chung Myung barked again as if he still had more to say, his face twisting.
“People ought to have some conscience! If somebody gets hurt fighting for you, the least you can do is bring a physician over instead of leaving them to patch themselves up! And it’s not even anything else—treatment, of all things?”
Well, no, you said you’d do exactly that yourselves…….
There was plenty he could have said. But Yeo Sa-hon couldn’t bring himself to say any of it. He had a conscience too, after all.
“If you can’t even treat them properly, then at least hand over some pills you’ve been hoarding! That’s what it means to live like people! Hah, the North Sea sure is stingy and cold and—”
“Ah, Father.”
As the grumbling went on and on, Seol So-baek finally spoke, looking slightly exhausted. Han Yi-myung quickly corrected the young Palace Lord.
“You should call him Chief Officer Han, Palace Lord.”
“Yes, Chief Officer Han. Do you happen to have any, uh, pills left in the Ice Palace?”
“……There is one we recovered from Seol Cheon-sang’s quarters.”
“Th-then hurry up and give it to me.”
“…….”
“Quickly.”
“I’ll have my men bring it at once.”
Only then did Chung Myung smile in satisfaction, like a well-fed cat.
“No, I mean, I wasn’t exactly asking you to take care of me. I was just saying it, you know… but now I feel a little embarrassed.”
The corner of Yeo Sa-hon’s eye twitched.
Just saying it?
He had looked ready to pull a sword and come charging the moment no pills were handed over.
But before he could say anything, the Mount Hua disciples stepped in first.
“Kheh, look at our Chung Myung. Ain’t he sharp?”
“Exactly, exactly. You should take what’s yours. He’s hurt, after all.”
“Smart.”
Baek Cheon turned to look at them in bafflement. But they only lifted their chins, shameless as could be.
“…….”
Outnumbered, Baek Cheon turned his head back weakly.
It’s over.
We’re all done for.
Whether he knew of Baek Cheon’s despair or not, Chung Myung just looked at Seol So-baek with a calm expression.
“So?”
The young Palace Lord seemed a little startled by the abrupt question.
“How does it feel, sitting in that seat?”
Seol So-baek finally understood only after Chung Myung repeated himself, and he quickly nodded, swallowing hard.
“I still don’t really know. Everything happened so suddenly.”
Chung Myung snorted softly.
“Yeah, figured.”
But just as he seemed about to say more, he shook his head.
“Whatever. That’s not important. So…….”
His gaze shifted to Yeo Sa-hon beside him.
“When are you leaving?”
“Leaving? What do you mean?”
“You’re not asking because you don’t know.”
Under Chung Myung’s probing stare, Yeo Sa-hon hesitated slightly, then finally let out an understanding sound as if he had just remembered.
“Ah. You mean that.”
“Yeah, the Demonic Sect.”
Chung Myung’s voice grew darker when he said the Demonic Sect.
“I don’t think we have the luxury of wasting time, so shouldn’t you be starting soon?”
“Hmm, yes. But…….”
A troubled look flickered across Yeo Sa-hon’s face.
“Tell me, Daoist. I don’t know whether you’re aware, but the Demonic Sect are not easy prey.”
“I know.”
He knew very well. Too well, in fact—that was the problem.
“And we’ve already spent our strength in a war. Facing an opponent we could not beat even at full power in this condition is by no means easy.”
“I know that too.”
At Chung Myung’s short answer, Yeo Sa-hon awkwardly continued.
“So I was thinking…… since you’re all from the Central Plains anyway, why don’t you return there and bring reinforcements while we hold the line? Then we could wipe out those evil Demonic Sect bastards much more thoroughly, couldn’t we?”
Chung Myung, who had been quietly watching Yeo Sa-hon’s face, smiled faintly. Then he looked at Seol So-baek.
“You heard that?”
“……Pardon?”
“This is the kind of people around you right now.”
His voice chilled little by little.
“The reason the North Sea suffered isn’t because of Seol Cheon-sang. It’s because they lived like this. Remember that well.”
A coldness began to sweep through the Palace Lord’s chamber, as if it might freeze everything in an instant.