Damn, It’s Good to See You! (4)
Slap-slap-slap-slap-slap!
Slap-slap-slap-slap-slap!
The cheerful sound of food being stuffed into mouths rang out bright and clear.
Glug-glug-glug-glug-glug!
Gulp-gulp!
Even the sound of liquor going down their throats chimed in like a song, keeping perfect time.
It wasn’t anything particularly unusual. In Mount Hua, this was a common sight.
That was, if you ignored the fact that the sound was coming not from the dining hall but from the Sect Leader’s quarters, and that the people drinking like water weren’t Chung Myung but Baek Cheon and the rest of that lot.
“Kuaaaah! I feel human again!”
“Sahyung! Sahyung! Give me some more wine over there!”
“More meat.”
The sight of those bright-eyed Daoist disciples greedily devouring wine and meat before the Sect Leader was outrageous enough to make one gasp, yet Hyun Jong’s face was full of nothing but pleased delight as he watched.
“Eat slowly. You’ll choke.”
As soon as the children came up Mount Hua, Hyun Young had quickly ordered out the wine and meat he prepared every morning, saying just in case.
At first they had still been careful, but hunger was stronger than manners. Once they’d had a few bites and sips, they’d loosened their waist cords as if they’d never hesitated at all.
“Ugh, I’m finally full.”
“We told you to stop by an inn on the way!”
“We ate after arriving, so what’s the problem?”
At that moment, Hyun Young, who had been casually slipping sweets into Chung Myung’s mouth with practiced fingers, asked in a low voice,
“Should I bring out another table?”
“No, Elder.”
“We’re fine now.”
“Good, good. If you’re still hungry, there’s more food in the dining hall, so eat as much as you like. Tsk tsk. Look at these poor things, all hollow-eyed and worn out.”
With an expression of pity, Hyun Young clicked his tongue at everyone.
Once it seemed the disciples had more or less filled their bellies, Hyun Jong quietly spoke up.
“So, did you handle the matter with the Ice Palace well?”
“There is much I must report.”
Baek Cheon discreetly hid a wine bottle behind his back and answered with a serious expression.
“I think it will be a rather long story.”
“Then tell me tomorrow. For now, rest a little.”
“No. I don’t think this is something that should wait until tomorrow, so I’ll tell you now.”
Baek Cheon took a small breath and slowly began.
“In the North Sea…”
And so, for quite some time, a long story flowed out. What they had seen upon reaching the North Sea, the situation in the Ice Palace, and even the battles they had fought against the Demonic Sect.
Even as he spoke, he found himself realizing just how much they had gone through.
By the time Baek Cheon’s story finally came to an end, the faces of the elders had gone cold enough to freeze over.
“...The Demonic Sect, you say...”
Unlike Hyun Jong, who could not even bring himself to continue speaking, fury began to smolder on Hyun Young’s face to a degree that seemed excessive.
“You lunatics!”
Then a thunderous roar burst out.
“The Demonic Sect? Did you even know what the Demonic Sect was before you went to war with them on your own? What were you thinking, going and getting yourselves killed like that?”
“...It wasn’t a situation where we could retreat. The North Sea was in far too grave a state...”
“Who cares about the North Sea! In this world, is there anything more precious than your lives? If something had happened to you, did you think anyone would praise you for it?”
“Sajil, calm yourself.”
“How am I supposed to calm down now!”
“I said calm down.”
As Hyun Sang held him back, Hyun Young shut his mouth with a deeply dissatisfied look. But the anger on his face still hadn’t gone away.
The Mount Hua disciples, struck by a bolt from the blue, all lowered their heads. They knew exactly why Hyun Young was saying such things, and so they could not even make excuses.
“Baek Cheon.”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
“As the Sect Leader of Mount Hua, I should praise you, and all of you.”
“...”
“How could I possibly blame you for not losing your sense of righteousness even in that far-off foreign land, and for doing your utmost for the people of the North Sea? Since Mount Hua claims the righteous path, I ought to praise you properly and reward you.”
“Sect Leader...”
“But I cannot bring myself to do that.”
Hyun Jong slowly shook his head.
“My feelings are no different from Hyun Young’s. If you had come to harm there, I would have spent the rest of my life regretting the decision I made. Even if people said I was unfit to be the Sect Leader of Mount Hua, I will not praise you for this.”
“I’m sorry, Sect Leader.”
Baek Cheon bowed his head and spoke in a heavy voice. Hyun Jong closed his eyes and nodded.
“You’ve suffered.”
“...”
“You truly suffered.”
When he understood what lay beneath Hyun Jong’s words, Baek Cheon felt the corners of his eyes grow hot.
If he had been praised for doing wonderfully, he would have felt only happiness, but he would not have felt this way.
For the Mount Hua disciples, that one sentence from Hyun Jong made it feel as though all the hardships they had endured in the North Sea had been repaid.
“I told you to go to the North Sea, not a demon den!”
But Hyun Young still couldn’t hide his irritation.
“You should’ve refused when that damn Shaolin monk started running his mouth!”
“That damn monk?”
“That Abbot of Shaolin, Beop Jeong or whatever the hell his name was!”
“H-Hyun Young!”
Hyun Jong was startled and glanced at Hye Yeon.
“Mind your language! It’s not just us here—”
“Ah, it’s fine.”
“Huh?”
Chung Myung, who had been silent the whole time, grinned.
“That one’s fine. Go ahead and curse all you want.”
“...”
“He was cursing too.”
“W-When did I ever do that, benefactor!”
Hye Yeon turned around in panic as if looking for help, but the Mount Hua disciples were only telling what they had seen and heard.
“I heard it too.”
“Me too.”
“Ugh, he was tearing into him pretty viciously...”
“...”
Hye Yeon’s lips opened and closed in a deeply wronged expression. But the Mount Hua disciples merely teased him as though it were nothing.
Hyun Sang and Hyun Jong exchanged a glance and nodded.
It should be fine.
Seems that way.
It looked as though Hye Yeon and the Mount Hua disciples had grown even closer after the trip to the North Sea.
Once that little non-problem had been neatly settled, Hyun Young shouted again.
“You say you were told to investigate because the Demonic Sect was sighted, but that’s no different from shoving people straight into a demon’s den! If we’d known the North Sea was in that state, who in their right mind would have set foot there? Honestly, someone should set fire to the Great Hero Hall and wake those idiots up!”
“A-Amitabha! Amitabha!”
Hye Yeon kept reciting Buddha’s name over and over as if to cleanse the foul words he’d heard with his own ears. Yet even then, he did not say the words were wrong.
“Sect Leader.”
At that moment, Hyun Sang spoke up quietly.
“This is no ordinary matter.”
“Hmm.”
“Even if they are not the main force of the Demonic Sect, and even if they are people who split away from the cult, the fact that they were bold enough to scheme about reviving the Heavenly Demon means that the other Demonic Sect forces must have gathered considerable strength as well.”
“Most likely.”
“It’s fortunate our children stopped their plan. If everything had gone as they intended, a great calamity might have descended upon the Jianghu once more.”
“Mm.”
Hyun Jong nodded grimly.
Who in Mount Hua would understand the horror carried by the name of the Demonic Sect better than they did?
“This is not something for us alone to discuss. It concerns the entire Jianghu.”
“Yes. I think so too.”
“For now, we should inform Shaolin and demand that they devise countermeasures.”
Hyun Jong, closing his eyes as he murmured the Dao, lifted his head and looked at the disciples before him.
“Yes. I understand now. We’ll continue the rest after you’ve all rested properly. You must be exhausted, so for today, go back and rest.”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
As Baek Cheon bowed and rose, everyone else got up as well.
“Chung Myung, you stay behind for a moment.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
Chung Myung sat back down awkwardly, and Baek Cheon shot him a brief, uneasy look before heading outside.
“Hmm.”
When the sound of the door closing came, Hyun Jong, left alone with Chung Myung, let out a low murmur. He seemed about to say something, but at that very moment Hyun Young lunged at Chung Myung like a bolt of lightning, grabbed his cheeks, and stretched them hard left and right.
“You little punk, you went and did something reckless again! Honestly, you brat!”
“Auhh... It hurrts.”
“You rotten little bastard! You little bastard!”
“It hurrts...”
“Tsk!”
Hyun Young let go of Chung Myung’s reddened cheeks, then frowned in obvious displeasure. After that, he said in a deliberately stern voice,
“Don’t you ever do something this stupid again! Do you understand?”
“How am I supposed to do that if it’s not up to me?”
“This brat still dares—”
Seeing Hyun Young look as though he was about to flip Chung Myung over and start spanking him, Chung Myung quietly scooted backward.
In the end, Hyun Sang sighed and restrained his junior brother.
“Enough lecturing. Come sit here. The Sect Leader kept Chung Myung behind because he had something to say, didn’t he?”
“Yes, Sahyung.”
Once Hyun Young returned to his seat, Hyun Jong smiled gently at Chung Myung.
“You must have suffered greatly.”
“What suffering? It was nothing.”
“And how is your relationship with the Ice Palace?”
“There shouldn’t be any problems for a while.”
Chung Myung answered in a clean, clear voice.
“A contract is a contract, but more importantly, we’ve built trust. Now that they know we’ll always do our best to protect them, there shouldn’t be any problems in the relationship.”
Hyun Jong nodded happily.
“The gain may be small in profit, but to win a person’s heart is to gain something far greater. You have brought back something truly valuable.”
At those words of praise for Chung Myung, a deeply satisfied smile blossomed across Hyun Young’s face.
“Exactly. That’s our Chung Myung.”
Hyun Jong also seemed to agree with Hyun Young’s praise, nodding along.
“So your journey to the North Sea was certainly meaningful, but the situation on your return seems anything but ordinary. On a sea where storms are raging, the most important thing of all is to keep a firm hand on the rudder.”
“I think so too.”
“So I must ask you this.”
He looked at Chung Myung with calm eyes.
“What should we do from here?”
“...”
“Speak frankly.”
Chung Myung fell silent, his face uncharacteristically thoughtful. While he sorted out his thoughts, everyone waited without pressing him.
At last, Chung Myung lifted his head and quietly looked at Hyun Jong.
“Sect Leader.”
“Yes.”
“A person can’t do anything alone.”
“...”
“If my uncles and sahyungs hadn’t been there this time, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything either.”
“Hmm.”
“Mount Hua is the same. In a situation where we don’t know when the Demonic Sect might bare its fangs again, it’s difficult to prepare for calamity with just our own strength.”
“...The Heavenly Alliance.”
“Yes.”
Chung Myung nodded.
“We need to formalize the Heavenly Alliance, which is still only a name, and bind everyone together more tightly. A ship is safer the larger it is.”
“How fitting.”
Hyun Jong looked at Chung Myung with an odd expression.
Originally, the reason Chung Myung had gone to the North Sea was to have the Heavenly Alliance recognized by the established powers, with Shaolin at their head.
And yet after returning from the North Sea, the need for the Heavenly Alliance had only grown stronger. How could that not be fitting?
“We should send word to the Tang Family and settle the matter of the sect founding as well.”
“Yes. That would be good. I also have a few separate matters I’d like to discuss with the Tang Family.”
Hyun Jong nodded slowly.
“Mount Hua must not stop moving forward either. Though Mount Hua’s reputation is rising, it is still only faint.”
“That’s true.”
“It is difficult.”
As worry settled on Hyun Jong’s face, Chung Myung glanced at him and spoke up.
“Well, it’s not impossible.”
“Oh?”
“Everyone’s working hard, after all. We just have to keep doing what we’re doing now. It’s slow, but it’s the most certain path.”
Hyun Jong looked at Chung Myung without speaking. Warmth lingered in his kind eyes.
How pleasing.
Chung Myung had always been someone who lived in constant motion.
From the side, it had been impossible to understand why he drove himself and everyone around him so hard, as though the world itself were pressing in on him.
And yet that same Chung Myung was now talking about slowness before them.
No, not slowness.
This was trust.
The trust that even if he did not shout and rage, Mount Hua and his senior brothers and junior brothers would not stop striving.
This was something the Chung Myung before his journey to the North Sea had not possessed.
“Will you lead?”
“We’re going together.”
The two of them exchanged a strange, wordless understanding and smiled at each other.
“You’ve brought back a great deal from the North Sea as well.”
“It was just cold, that’s all.”
“Hohohoho.”
With a hearty laugh, a gentle smile bloomed at the corners of Hyun Jong’s mouth.
“Yes. That’s enough.”
Once more, Hyun Jong’s laughter rolled out loudly beyond the hall.
And then...
At the foothills of Mount Hua, where the lingering winter was finally giving way to the warm breath of spring, the first plum blossom of the year quietly unfurled its petals.
Spring had come to Mount Hua.
A spring warmer than any before it.