Damn, It’s Good to See You! (3)
Stretch.
“……”
Streeeetch.
“……”
Streeeeetch.
“Hey—”
Unable to bear it any longer, Hyun Young frowned in obvious irritation.
“You’re really gonna pull my neck right off like this!”
At the rebuke, Hyun Jong, who had been craning his neck out the window, quietly drew back.
“Ahem, ahem!”
He coughed awkwardly, then sneaked a glance at Hyun Young and Hyun Sang. Silence settled for a moment.
“Th-that is—”
But Hyun Jong, as though he simply couldn’t stop himself, spoke up anyway.
“Isn’t it... a little too late?”
“The North Sea isn’t the next neighborhood over. How the hell would they be back already?”
“Still, our kids have been to Yunnan and come and gone from Sichuan like it was their backyard… If it’s taking this long, doesn’t that mean something happened?”
“Why do you keep saying useless things like that? Are you trying to invite bad luck?”
“Grrrrr.”
Hyun Jong clutched his teacup with trembling fingers. Normally he was so devoted to tea ceremony that he wouldn’t even glance at tea that had gone cold, but now, in his distracted state, he was blowing on ice-cold tea and drinking it anyway.
“Hey, hey! It’s going in your nose! That’s your nose!”
Hyun Young frowned at him.
Just a little while ago, Hyun Jong had still been holding himself together, but over the past few days he had kept muttering that the children were late, over and over, until it had come to this.
Hyun Jong, whose trembling hand had spilled nearly half the tea, shot him a glare utterly unbefitting a Taoist priest.
“You, you’re not worried at all?”
“Why would I be?”
Hyun Young let out a derisive snort.
“If those bastards screw up, Mount Hua’s gonna be in a complete mess anyway. I can just charge over there, light the place on fire, and then drop dead myself. Problem solved.”
“……”
What the hell. Was this guy insane?
No—on second thought, this one was even scarier.
Then Hyun Sang, who had been listening to the exchange, gave a dignified cough and spoke.
“They will return safely. There is no need to worry so much. Our children are not so fragile that they would come to harm so easily—”
“There you go again, talking like it’s all fine and dandy!”
“Just stay out of it for once, sahyung! Honestly, what do you know?”
“……”
Wait, but who exactly were these people supposed to be?
With a groan, Hyun Jong finally gave up on dignity altogether and rubbed both hands over his face.
“Ugh. My stomach feels like it isn’t a stomach anymore. Now I finally understand what people mean when they say your insides are rotting.”
“Good to know there’s still something left to rot, then.”
Hyun Young grumbled. But even in his eyes, a faint thread of worry remained.
At this point, shouldn’t they be back already?
If they went by the original schedule, they should have returned no later than seven days ago. That Chung Myung bastard would never tolerate wasting time on the roadside, so they must have been delayed at the North Sea Ice Palace.
“In the worst case…”
Hyun Sang glanced at the other two’s faces, then opened his mouth. After hesitating as though struggling over the words, he spoke slowly.
“I mean, this is only in the worst case, but…”
“Faster! Say it faster!”
“Don’t drag it out! Ugh, I’m gonna die from this frustration, seriously!”
“……”
Still, these were supposedly the people who had cultivated the longest in Mount Hua—could they really behave like this?
Hyun Sang, now seriously considering his words, continued.
“So… if the children were to be injured, for instance…”
“I’m gonna rip that mouth right off—”
“Are you out of your mind? Why would you bring something that cursed up?”
Hyun Young… I’m your sahyung…
Even if they were growing old together…
Yet another sigh escaped Hyun Jong’s lips.
“Ugh. At this rate, I’m going to die first.”
“Please don’t make it obvious, Sect Leader. If you’re anxious, the children will get anxious too.”
“Quite right.”
“And stop sneaking out in the dead of night to peer up the mountain path! The children know all about it!”
“Th-they do?”
At Hyun Young’s scolding, Hyun Jong muttered awkwardly.
“I thought I was being careful…”
“They’re not the same kids they used to be! In the old days, fooling their eyes was a chore, but now every single one of them is like a ghost, isn’t that right?”
“...Yes, I suppose that’s true.”
The children of Baekmae Hall had grown by leaps and bounds compared with the past.
With the elixirs Chung Myung had brought back, and Un Geom’s guidance as he rebuilt their foundations from the ground up, they were improving day by day.
“The children who went to the North Sea aren’t the only children we have, you know. For a day or two, the Sect Leader staring after them would make for a touching story about how much he cares for his disciples, but if it drags on much longer, even the kids will start feeling a little hurt.”
“Ugh. Fine. I’ll restrain myself.”
Having secured Hyun Jong’s promise, Hyun Young let out a small sigh.
“They say old age turns people into children, and that seems to be true enough.”
What kind of man was Hyun Jong? He was someone no one could even hope to match in patience. Even during the years when Mount Hua had been at its most difficult and miserable, he had led the sect steadily without ever once showing how hard it was on him.
Yet now he looked like an anxious child. It was understandable, of course, but someone still had to stop him with a harsh word when necessary.
Hyun Jong gave a quiet cough and nodded to himself before looking back out the window. His gaze had grown a little calmer.
Yes. For the children’s sake, I must stay calm—
“Sect Leader! Seeeeect Leeeader!”
At that moment, a loud voice came booming in from outside.
“Huh? Oh!”
Hyun Jong shot to his feet, sensing something instantly.
“H-Hyun Young… huh?”
He turned to call for Hyun Young in a hurry, then blinked in surprise. Hyun Young had already stormed outside barefoot and was now grabbing the collar of Unam, who had come running to deliver the news.
He just told me to calm down.
“What is it? Have the children arrived? Is it the children?”
“A-a messenger pigeon came up from below! They’re telling us to bring all the children and come down!”
“W-who said that?”
“Ch-Chung Myung…”
“Hahahahahaha! That Chung Myung bastard’s back! What a cheeky punk, ordering his elders around! Ordering us around, is he? Yes, that’s right! That’s the Chung Myung I know! Hahahahahaha!”
And at that instant, Hyun Jong shot out of the room like a bolt of lightning, practically shoving his feet into his shoes as he ran toward the mountain gate.
“Sect Leader! Sect Leader! They said to bring the children too!”
“Ah—right!”
Fortunately, there was no need to waste time. As if he had already heard the news, Un Geom was leading the disciples up in a cloud of dust.
“Sect Leader! Did you hear?”
“Y-yes! Let’s go! Let’s hurry!”
Hyun Jong answered breathlessly and bolted straight for the gate.
“Follow the Sect Leader!”
Hyun Young, too, shot out at speed, grabbing the doorframe as the daoist hall whipped backward behind him.
“Baek Cheon sahyung is back!”
“Yoon Jong sahyung too!”
“Chung Myung came back.”
“Ah, that part’s a little…”
The Baek generation and Cheong generation disciples following behind them were all unable to hide their joy. The martial siblings they had lived with like family had gone all the way to the distant North Sea and were only now finally returning.
Watching them race through the mountain gate while shouting as if they were headed into battle, Hyun Sang could only laugh softly.
“Well now. Mount Hua has truly changed a great deal.”
That was hardly how a sect leader should act, and hardly the sort of behavior expected of an elder of the sect. But he felt no urge to scold them at all.
“Heh heh heh. Mount Hua really has changed.”
Hyun Sang smiled as well and began descending the mountain with his hands clasped behind his back. Yet despite his leisurely posture, his feet were moving with frightening speed.
“Hyahaaaaa!”
“W-we’re falling, sahyung!”
“This much is nothing!”
Mount Hua’s slopes were wickedly steep. They were so treacherous that even those who fancied themselves seasoned climbers could slip and tumble at any moment, and there were plenty of cliffs where a single misstep meant death.
And now Mount Hua’s disciples were sprinting down that fearsome mountain as though it were flat ground. Since they trained by climbing cliffs whenever they had a free moment, they had all become nimble enough to rival flying squirrels.
But today, they learned something new. Before their eyes stood a true flying squirrel. Comparing themselves to it in the past now felt embarrassing.
“Out of the way, you bastards!”
There wasn’t the slightest hesitation in Hyun Young’s feet as he raced along the cliff face.
“Woah.”
“My goodness.”
Watching the Hyun generation disciples flash downward with their eyebrows flying in the wind, everyone’s mouths fell open.
“B-but the elders don’t even train on cliffs…”
“Isn’t that obvious? The Sect Leader and the elders have lived in Mount Hua for more than fifty years.”
“Ah. Right.”
The elders and disciples poured down the mountain in a blur. As the Mount Hua disciples raced along the road leading to Hwaeum, they finally saw the huge carts standing at the entrance.
“T-that!”
Everyone who saw the carts was shocked all at once.
“That’s all baggage?”
“The cart held all that?”
“A human being dragged that all the way here?”
No one could quite agree on what part was most unbelievable, but unbelievable it certainly was.
“W-where are the kids? Where are they?”
“R-right, where are they?”
Then several heads poked out from behind the carts.
“W-what? You’re already here?”
“Hey, hey. Move the booze, booze!”
“What about the meat? What about the meat, uncle-Disciple?”
“The meat’s fine! Just move the booze!”
We can hear you. Kids, tragically, we can hear everything.
“You little punk, Chung Myung!”
Hyun Young spotted Chung Myung peeking out from behind the carts and ran over in a flash. Then he grabbed both of Chung Myung’s cheeks and yanked them outward.
“Aaagh! It hurts!”
“You brat! You little brat! You’ve gone and split your face in half! How little did you eat? Good heavens, how harsh must the road to the North Sea have been for a perfectly fine child to be reduced to skin and bones like this! Baek Cheon, you little punk! I told you to take care of the children properly!”
“……”
Now hold on, Elder…
If that face is split in half, then what was it before—full moon-sized?
“Get out of the way, you punk!”
At that moment, Hyun Jong rushed in and kicked Hyun Young’s rear end, sending him flying. Then he looked over each child’s condition one by one and burst into tears.
And really, there was good reason for it—their clothes were all torn and frayed, and their shoes were almost beyond recognition.
Of course, in the middle of it all, Baek Cheon’s robes remained freakishly clean, and Chung Myung’s shoes looked almost brand new, but Hyun Jong made a point of ignoring that.
“Sect Leader!”
Baek Cheon cupped his fists toward Hyun Jong.
“This junior disciple, Baek Cheon, together with the disciples of Mount Hua, has safely completed the mission and returned to Mount Hua.”
“Yes. Yes!”
Hyun Jong nodded repeatedly and patted Baek Cheon on the shoulder.
Baek Cheon looked even more dependable than he had before he left, and that made Hyun Jong’s eyes sting for no reason at all. He didn’t bother hiding the tears.
“You’ve truly endured a great deal. Truly, a great deal.”
“It was only right as disciples of Mount Hua.”
“Yes. Yes.”
The other disciples had grown stronger as well, and their gazes were far deeper than before. More than that, whatever they had gone through had made them far calmer than they used to be.
Hyun Jong opened his mouth, about to say more, but the Mount Hua disciples behind them couldn’t hold back any longer and broke into cheers, cutting him off.
“Sahyung! Welcome back!”
“Uncle-Disciple! Sahyung! You must have suffered so much!”
“How was the North Sea? Is it really that cold, just like they say?”
“Tell us what happened!”
Receiving everyone’s enthusiastic welcome, Baek Cheon smiled quietly.
“Ugh. And here I thought kicking a man would be enough.”
Hyun Young, who had been flung aside by Hyun Jong, dusted off his backside and staggered back over.
“You all worked hard.”
“Yes, Elder.”
“So why did you call everyone down here?”
“Ah, it’s nothing much.”
Baek Cheon glanced at the mountain of luggage and spoke.
“Baek Sang.”
“Yes, sahyung!”
As Baek Sang popped out energetically, Baek Cheon gestured toward the baggage with his chin. Then he smiled at his junior disciple with visible satisfaction.
“Carry it.”
“Pardon?”
“I said carry the luggage.”
“……”
Baek Sang’s gaze slowly, very slowly, drifted to the piles of baggage stacked up like hills. His face went pale as if the blood were draining straight out of him.
“...All of it?”
“Yes.”
“Up the mountain?”
“Yes.”
“...All of it?”
“Yeees.”
“……”
“We’ll go up with the elders first, so you lead them and move everything without missing a single item, then put it all into the storehouse.”
“Sahyung, Hwaeum already has our own storehouse—”
“Baek Sang.”
“...Yes?”
“Move it.”
“...Y-yes, sir.”
With the most troublesome matter settled, Baek Cheon smiled brightly at Hyun Jong.
“There’s much I need to tell you. Let us go.”
“Y-yes, let us.”
He walked toward Mount Hua with the elders, and the disciples returning from the North Sea followed behind them in a loose, swaying line.
“Don’t forget a single thing.”
“Get it up before sunset.”
“If even one thing’s missing, I won’t let it slide!”
“Start moving already.”
“……”
Did they all leave their humanity in the North Sea or something?
But then Chung Myung, moving dead last, clicked his tongue.
“Tsk tsk. Heartless, all of you… Baek Sang sahyung.”
“Hm? What, what is it, Chung Myung?”
“Take the cart up too.”
“……”
“Bring it carefully. Don’t damage the cart.”
“……”
“Ha. Nice and warm. Feels like I can live again.”
Watching Chung Myung stroll away with his hands clasped behind his back, Baek Sang smiled warmly.
Why on earth did you come back?
Good times never lasted very long.