So You Should Be Consistent, a Person. (3)
Life was…
What was life, anyway…?
Lying on his bed, Im Sobyeong stared blankly up at the ceiling.
Every now and then, when he lay like this and looked at the ceiling, he would feel unbearable pain as his consciousness grew hazy, his vision blurred, and a creeping chill closed in on him.
But now…
It’s warm.
Warmth filled his body. Just not having to shiver from the cold felt like he had been given a new life.
Even the patterns on the ceiling looked so vivid they might spring out at any moment. Energy surged through the body that had always been weak and depleted, and he felt like he could wrestle a bear and win.
It was a change he had never even dared to dream of. It was, quite literally, the fulfillment of something he had desperately, desperately wished for.
And yet…
Why do I keep crying?
Tears rolled down from his eyes as he stared at the ceiling.
How can a person’s fate be this miserable?
Human beings, after all, never feel regret or sorrow for what they never had in the first place. Only when they lose something they possessed do they finally learn what longing is.
So how great would the emptiness be, the moment this feeling and this vitality vanished from him?
This is a drug.
The more he thought about it, the more fucked the situation seemed.
He had found out what this felt like. So how in the world was he supposed to escape Chung Myung’s grasp now?
Im Sobyeong was very good at self-awareness. He knew better than anyone what he would do once the effects wore off and he returned to his old body.
“Nghhhhh!”
Of all the possible outcomes…
Why, of all people, had he been caught by that demon?
Of course, building a connection with Chung Myung, establishing some kind of relationship, had been exactly what Im Sobyeong had wanted.
But that had meant a relationship built on mutual benefit, on an alliance between peers. He had never wanted this—one side surrendering all the leverage while the other ran things however he pleased.
And if the side surrendering that leverage was him, then that was even less acceptable.
If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve held back on the posturing at the end.
Half-lidded, Im Sobyeong stared at the ceiling and sighed.
And through it all, why the hell did his body keep buzzing with vitality like this…?
“Nngh. I really did meet a demon.”
If he had known this would happen, he would have listened to his subordinates when they tried to stop him from coming to Mount Hua. He had kicked aside everyone who blocked his path just to end up in this kind of humiliation.
“Suffering is worse than death… huh?”
Then, at the noise rising from outside, he frowned slightly.
“What’s all that racket?”
There was a sick person here—no, a former sick person—and people had no manners at all.
With a mildly annoyed motion, he pulled back the blanket.
“Mother of—!”
But the blanket he had just lifted suddenly slammed into the wall. His body, still unused to this sudden rush of vitality, couldn’t regulate its strength properly.
Instinctively looking around, he put the blanket back where it belonged and trundled outside.
And then—
“Kyaaaaaaaah!”
BOOOOM!
“…….”
The instant he opened the door, someone flew at him like a cannonball and smashed into the wall of the main hall. Im Sobyeong blinked.
Scrape, scrape.
The person embedded in the wall slowly slid down and collapsed. Judging by the Mount Hua uniform, he seemed to be one of the disciples.
What the hell?!
An ambush? Who the hell had attacked Mount Hua…?
Shaken, Im Sobyeong quickly looked ahead after confirming the person sprawled on the floor.
The Mount Hua disciples were all fighting like madmen, their eyes bloodshot as they swung their swords.
“Aaagh! Die! Dieee!”
“You think that’ll kill me?!”
One disciple, charging in with terrifying momentum, took a wooden sword blow to the waist and flew backward like a kicked ball.
Dead?
He should be dead from that, shouldn’t he? Even if it was only a wooden sword, if you got hit properly, bones still broke and flesh still split the same, didn’t they?
Even if it wasn’t a real blade, a hit that hard should at least have killed him out of respect.
And it wasn’t just happening in one place.
As he looked closer, the same thing was going on all over the training yard.
“Graaah! Please die! Senior Brotherrrr!”
“And who the hell do you think you are?!”
Im Sobyeong stood there, staring blankly at the scene before him.
That man is clearly Righteous Sword of Mount Hua Baek Cheon…
Among the group called the Mount Hua Five Swords, he was the one who took the lead. He had even posted decent results in the last Heaven-Acknowledged Young Elite Tournament.
He was also certain to become Mount Hua’s next sect leader someday.
And yet.
“Get lost!”
“Kyaaaaoo!”
One disciple who got soundly smashed by Baek Cheon’s wooden sword spat blood as he rolled across the ground. The crisp thwack of impact made even Im Sobyeong’s shoulders twitch.
But the ones charging at Baek Cheon didn’t seem the least bit intimidated by what they saw.
“Stab him!”
“Forget whether he’s your senior brother or your grandfather! One clean hit is all we need!”
“Attack from behind! Behind!”
The disciples in the same uniform surged toward Baek Cheon, exuding murderous intent. It was as though they were facing a sworn enemy in battle.
And Baek Cheon, as if it were only natural, kicked and battered the charging disciples without mercy.
“You think you can take me down with that? You’re ten years too early!”
“God, you’re annoying!”
“Which bastard said that? Come here!”
Watching the Mount Hua disciples attack one another as if they meant to kill each other on the spot, Im Sobyeong clicked his tongue in stunned disbelief.
This is training?
They were insane.
Green Forest training was famous for being harsh, too. Because the sect lacked a strong sense of belonging and its members were difficult to control, they had to instill discipline somehow—even if it meant beating it into them during training.
But even Green Forest’s brutal training wasn’t like this. This was practically… blatant, open season on people.
“T-this…!”
Just then, someone struck by Jo Gul’s sword went flying, coughing blood.
“That’s a real inju—!”
But before Im Sobyeong could finish,
Bang!
The one who had been flung to the ground, spitting blood, suddenly sprang back to his feet as if he had never fallen at all.
“What the—”
“You bastard?”
And then, gripping his wooden sword again, he unleashed a stream of vile curses and charged Jo Gul once more.
“I’ll kill you and die with you! Aaaagh!”
“…….”
Im Sobyeong’s mouth slowly fell open.
What the hell is going on here?
It made no sense to him. Not this brutal training that showed no regard for the body, nor the Mount Hua disciples who bounced back to their feet again and again through it all.
“You’re out?”
“Huh?”
At the sudden voice, Im Sobyeong hurriedly looked up.
Chung Myung was sitting on the eaves, looking down at him with utter calm. In one hand, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he held a wine bottle.
I didn’t feel his presence at all…
The area was noisy and chaotic, yes, but there was no way he should have missed someone’s presence this easily.
Has he gotten stronger again?
How many months had it been since they last met…?
Heaven really doesn’t care.
He already had enough trouble dealing with this demon, and now the bastard was getting stronger and stronger, like he meant to punch straight through the ceiling of the world. How the hell was anyone supposed to handle that?
Still, that was that. For now, he needed to ask something else.
“Is it really all right to train like that?”
“Do you think I’d tell them to do something that isn’t all right?”
“Yes. If it’s you, absolutely.”
“…….”
Chung Myung looked at him sourly.
Im Sobyeong looked back just as sourly.
This bastard?
What? What? Am I wrong?
They exchanged opinions with their eyes, then both put on bright, polished business smiles again. It was a sight that would have made even a seasoned merchant who had spent decades in the commercial world stop and applaud.
“Well… that’s not entirely wrong, but it’s fine for now. At that level, there’s no problem.”
“The human body isn’t nearly as strong as you think, Sect Leader.”
“It’s fine. My kids are tough. Ahem!”
Chung Myung puffed out his chest with a genuinely proud expression. Im Sobyeong shook his head as if there was no hope for him.
“You’d be better off becoming a bandit, Sect Leader…”
“Pardon?”
“No… nothing.”
Chung Myung took a long swallow of wine, wiped his mouth, and snorted.
“What, you saw it with your own eyes and still don’t get it?”
“Pardon?”
“Look carefully. No one’s injured, so what’s there to worry about? That doesn’t suit the Green Forest King.”
At his relaxed tone, Im Sobyeong turned his gaze back to the Mount Hua disciples training below.
Come to think of it…
The attacks being exchanged were enough to drop anyone else a hundred times over, and yet not a single Mount Hua disciple was lying on the ground. Even when one fell briefly, he would get his bearings back and throw himself back into the fray with grim determination.
“It’s not like I fed them those elixirs for nothing.”
“Then… did they all take the same elixirs I did?”
“Yes. Better ones… no, uh… yes. They took them.”
“…….”
Im Sobyeong’s resentful glare shot toward Chung Myung, but Chung Myung only looked away and pretended not to notice.
“This isn’t the first time, then.”
“Nope, they’re all on their second one.”
“Hmm.”
Im Sobyeong’s mind began to spin rapidly.
The greatest effect of an elixir, by any standard, was the increase of inner energy. The second was that it corrected the balance of the body and strengthened it.
And now, looking closely at the training, he could see it with his own eyes.
Their toughness and recovery are already beyond the level of ordinary experts.
In terms of swordsmanship and cultivation, they might still be lacking. But at least in terms of physical completion, Mount Hua’s disciples had already leaped far beyond the Nine Great Sects and One Gang.
Well, if you think about it, that’s only natural.
What sect in the world would feed its disciples two elixirs apiece? If there had been a sect that could do that, it would have conquered the world already.
Not even Shaolin, where wealth overflowed to the point of rotting, nor Sichuan Tang Family, which ruled the world with only a handful of direct descendants, could even begin to imagine such a thing.
Im Sobyeong’s expression slowly hardened.
Mount Hua, through Chung Myung’s existence alone, had already achieved a level of development that other sects wouldn’t even dare dream of. The fact that the name Mount Hua, which had barely even been mentioned in the jianghu just a few years ago, was now echoing across the world made that clear enough.
And the core of that rise was precisely these Baek and Cheong generation disciples.
Those who had once had no names at all had made their reputation at the Heaven-Acknowledged Young Elite Tournament and then held back the attacks of Maninbang. Even if one searched every corner of martial history, it would be hard to find another case where the young disciples of a sect had made such a steep and dramatic ascent as a group.
And they’re still getting stronger?
Training is ultimately defined by how much a person can endure. No matter how incredible a training method one knew, it meant nothing if the person receiving it couldn’t bear it.
But the Mount Hua disciples before him were enduring training that even Im Sobyeong couldn’t have imagined, with every inch of their bodies.
Their physical endurance and mental resolve had already long since surpassed ordinary common sense. So how could they possibly not become stronger?
I’ll have to recalculate.
The Mount Hua he had pieced together from bits and scraps outside was a completely different place from the Mount Hua he was seeing with his own eyes.
Im Sobyeong thought to himself:
Maybe Mount Hua was a far greater sect than he had ever believed.
“So.”
That was when Chung Myung asked lazily,
“Have you figured everything out?”
“……Figured what out?”
“Oh, come on.”
At his answer, Chung Myung smiled as if to say don’t play dumb.
“Surely the Green Forest King didn’t charge all the way to Mount Hua and flop down here just to get an elixir? You really just wanted to see Mount Hua for yourself under that excuse, didn’t you?”
“…….”
“You’ve seen enough by now to get the gist of it, so what’s your impression?”
A bitter smile touched Im Sobyeong’s lips.
He really is a demon.
Because of Chung Myung’s eccentric behavior, many people assumed he acted without thought, impulsively throwing himself into things.
But at least Im Sobyeong never missed it. Beneath that personality of his lay calculations so deep that ordinary people couldn’t even begin to guess at them.
That was why he was so difficult and so unpleasant to deal with.
Still—
Those who rise to the top are usually like that.
Rolling his shoulders, Im Sobyeong gave Chung Myung a slightly sharper look.
“And what’s in the Sect Leader’s head?”
“What about it?”
“What is Green Forest to you? A place you can use as disposable cannon fodder and then throw away?”
“You seem to be mistaken about something…”
“Pardon?”
“I never use anyone as cannon fodder. I know exactly how filthy that kind of thing is.”
As Chung Myung muttered softly, a chilling air briefly spilled out from him. Im Sobyeong shuddered all over.
Then Chung Myung, as though nothing had happened, suppressed his aura and looked off into the distance for a moment before continuing.
“There are two kinds of allies. Friends, and the ones pretending to be friends.”
“…….”
“Which is Green Forest?”
Im Sobyeong regarded him quietly and said, “The world doesn’t run on feelings alone. Just as Mount Hua finds it awkward to join hands with Green Forest, Green Forest also bears a heavy burden in joining hands with Mount Hua.”
“Hmm. Fair enough.”
“However.”
Im Sobyeong smiled faintly.
“True friends are not bound by circumstances.”
And he boldly extended a hand upward.
“How about we start there?”
Chung Myung looked down at the hand in silence, then broke into a grin.
“Nah, I haven’t said I want to be friends yet.”
“…….”
“Being friends with a bandit is a little awkward, and I do still have a reputation to maintain.”
“…….”
“Never mind that.”
“Wh-what do you mean, never mind that…?”
“Tell me about the job.”
“Hm?”
Chung Myung’s eyes gleamed.
“You didn’t come here empty-handed if you said there was a mountain stronghold that needed dealing with. And it’s not some nobody outfit, either. Even if you’re the son of the former Green Forest King, Green Forest is a place where the law of survival of the fittest rules, isn’t it? So there must be people resisting you.”
Im Sobyeong’s expression turned sour.
…That bastard really is a ghost.
But Chung Myung merely laughed lightly, as though talking about something insignificant.
“Speak. It won’t be a bad story for either of us.”
In the end, Im Sobyeong let out a long sigh and nodded.
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