Mount Hua Will Be in Total Chaos (2)
At the very moment Hyun Jong was speaking with Unam, the people who had gathered after the morning training stood outside the dining hall, staring blankly up at the distant eaves with food laid out before them.
Two figures in white and black were leaping over the roofline of the great hall, shouting at the top of their lungs.
“Hey, stand still for a second!”
“Nope.”
“No, we need to discuss this! You said we’d talk it over!”
“I said we would.”
Chung Myung answered lazily as he bounced from eave to eave.
“But if I drag this out, my conditions’ll only get better, so why the hell would I discuss it now?”
“Aaaagh! You damned monster!”
Im So-byeong came tearing after Chung Myung like a gale.
Mount Hua’s disciples, none of whom had anything to do with the whole mess, just stared at the chase unfolding before them.
“……Well, damn.”
“Didn’t they say that man was the Green Forest King?”
“They did.”
“Isn’t the Green Forest King supposed to be a really important person?”
“I think so?”
“……I see.”
“Well, it’s Chung Myung.”
“Right. I mean, it is Chung Myung.”
It was an absurd sight, but none of them thought it strange. They were only briefly distracted before going right back to their meals as if nothing had happened.
“Forget about it and eat.”
“……Yes, senior brother.”
“If you don’t look at it, it’s basically the same as not existing.”
“……Senior brother. I think you’ve attained some measure of enlightenment lately.”
“If I didn’t, I’d be dead from frustration by now.”
But Chung Myung was not their only problem.
“No, seriously, this bastard!”
Unable to hold it in any longer, Jo Gul shot to his feet in outrage. Yoon Jong gave him a sidelong glance and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Look at this guy!”
Yoon Jong quietly looked where he pointed. Baek Ah was sitting proudly on the table, holding the chicken leg that had been set aside for Jo Gul’s portion with both little forepaws and gnawing at it with all its might.
“Hey! That’s mine……!”
When Jo Gul reached out to reclaim the stolen food, Baek Ah fluffed up its fur until it stood on end and scratched at him furiously.
“Ow!”
At that terrifying display, Jo Gul yelped and recoiled.
Kiieeek!
Baek Ah even hissed at him threateningly, and Jo Gul shot it an indignant look. Yoon Jong shook his head slowly too.
“……How does it manage to be exactly like its owner?”
“Right…….”
Jo Gul looked ready to cry.
“We’re already covered in dirt from training, so we can’t even go inside the dining hall and eat—we have to sit out here, and now it’s stealing my food too.”
How unfair.
Wasn’t taking someone else’s meal while leaving its own alone exactly the sort of thing that revealed a person’s character?
Baek Cheon, who had been watching the scene, let out a quiet snort.
“Let it be. It’s probably not in a good mood right now.”
“Huh? Does a beast even have moods? What happened?”
“It tried to steal some of the leftover Jaso-dan and Chung Myung caught it red-handed.”
“…….”
A beast stealing spiritual medicine?
At this point, could it still even be called a beast?
“S-so then?”
“Why are you asking? It must have had a hard time crawling back up from the cliff. Ferrets are quick, yes, but Mount Hua’s cliffs are no joke.”
“…….”
He threw it.
Right. He really did throw it.
Jo Gul couldn’t help but laugh.
He doesn’t discriminate between people and beasts at all.
How could anyone be so fair? Our sect brother.
“A beast stealing spiritual medicine, and a human tossing that beast off a cliff…….”
“Like owner, like beast.”
In the end, Jo Gul swallowed his tears while looking down at his half-empty tray.
We’re already working ourselves to death, and now they’re stealing our meals too.
It had been three days since training with the senior disciples began. On the first day, it had been manageable enough, but now they were starting to get hit more and more often.
Jo Gul’s body was as tough as they came, so a few strikes from a wooden sword wouldn’t hurt him, but the real problem was that he kept getting pushed back farther and farther.
They’re getting stronger way faster than I expected.
Day by day, the effects of absorbing the Jaso-dan were becoming visible. Add the power of Liquid Sky Essence to that, and it was obvious they would grow to be at least twice as strong as they were now before long.
By then, they won’t be any weaker than the warriors of North Sea Ice Palace.
No—if anything, they would become even stronger.
If that happened, then Mount Hua would, for the first time since the war against the Demonic Sect, possess a complete force worthy of making its name known throughout the world again.
“Aah! That damned ferret stole my chicken leg!”
“I-I’m telling you, touch it and I’ll kill you! I really will! Hey! You little punk!”
“Someone just turn that thing into a scarf already!”
“…….”
Of course, the problem was that those glorious disciples of Mount Hua were being thoroughly toyed with by a single ferret.
And that ferret’s owner was…….
“Damn it, seriously!”
Chung Myung, who had rushed over to the dining tables, kicked Im So-byeong squarely in the back when he came after him again.
“Let me eat! I’m trying to eat!”
But as if he had never been kicked away at all, Im So-byeong instantly closed the distance again.
“You can eat any time, can’t you!”
“Damn it. Why the hell did I bother giving you medicine? You’re way too healthy.”
“Cough! The cold still hasn’t completely left my body…… Cough!”
“There he goes again. Again.”
In the end, unable to stand it anymore, Baek Cheon sighed and stepped in.
“Chung Myung. Still, his illness hasn’t fully healed, has it? You said so yourself. You said he was still suffering from the Three Yin Severed Meridians.”
“A person who goes from North Sea to the Mongolian steppe would think it was warm! If he went from Three Yin Severed Meridians to One Yin Severed Meridians, it’d be weird if he didn’t go flying!”
“……Well, when you put it that way.”
The comparison was so oddly convincing that Baek Cheon gave Im So-byeong a doubtful look. Chung Myung shuddered and glared at Im So-byeong.
“Anyway, I’m eating, so don’t you dare touch this. Even dogs don’t get bothered while they’re eating!”
“The altar isn’t a dog.”
“…….”
“Ah. Is it?”
“Seriously, what’s wrong with this guy?”
“Sigh. That’s why I’m asking you to finish things quickly. My insides are not at ease right now.”
“What kind of bandit are you, being this clingy?”
“I’m a bandit, so of course I’m clingy! If I wanted to live cleanly, why would I climb a mountain in the first place? I grab hold of people trying to run away and hang on; I chase after people who are trying to leave! That’s what bandits do!”
Oh?
Now that he thought about it, that did make sense.
Chung Myung blinked at him, and Im So-byeong thumped his own chest.
“And all the while, we’ve no idea what might be happening in the Green Forest!”
“If something was going to happen, it would’ve happened already. And really, if something happens to bandits, isn’t that good for the world?”
“Khe…… ughgh.”
As Im So-byeong clutched his chest and groaned, Baek Cheon steadied him by the shoulder.
“Calm yourself. If you try to deal with that bastard according to normal common sense, you’ll die before your time.”
“I—I don’t exactly have a long life to spare as it is.”
“That remains to be seen.”
Chung Myung cut in again, his tone sharp as ever.
Baek Cheon found himself snorting despite himself. Come to think of it, those two somehow matched each other perfectly—especially in the way neither of them thought too highly of himself.
The “Green Forest King” was the title given to the leader of the Green Forest, one of the Five Great Forces of the world. Even if one were to judge harshly, he would not be all that far below the level of the sect leaders of the Nine Sects and One Gang.
And yet it was astonishing that such a man could be so easygoing.
“Aaaagh! I’m telling you, eat your meal properly and then let’s talk!”
“Why are you guys all acting like this is some big deal!”
“…….”
He was so easygoing that it became a problem.
With a sigh, Baek Cheon was about to look away again when he suddenly narrowed his eyes.
“Hm?”
Turning around, he saw someone rushing toward them from the mountain gate.
What is it?
“Sasukkkkk!”
The man came running hard, then shouted the moment he spotted him. Sensing immediately that something had happened, Baek Cheon’s expression turned serious as he asked quickly, “What is it?”
“S-someone has come to the mountain gate.”
“To the mountain gate?”
Baek Cheon frowned.
Of course, because Mount Hua was so difficult to reach, visitors rarely came. But that didn’t mean there were no guests at all, so there was no reason to get this worked up just because someone had arrived at the mountain gate.
“And?”
“The, their appearance is extremely strange. You should come see for yourselves.”
“Hm?”
“They…… no matter how I look at it, they really seem like b-bandits…….”
Bandits?
Everyone’s gaze turned at once toward a single person.
Im So-byeong, now bearing the full weight of those stares, clicked his tongue.
“Tsk tsk. Does Mount Hua have bandits now too?”
“……Has this guy completely lost his mind? They came to see you!”
“Huh?”
Startled, he twisted around toward the mountain gate.
“Ah, right!”
“……I still can’t tell if he’s smart or just an idiot.”
“C-Chung Myung, still, he is the Green Forest King, so maybe you should speak a little…….”
“What kind of Green Forest King are you if I have to show you respect!”
Even Baek Cheon couldn’t bring himself to argue with that.
Honestly, he agreed.
“In any case, let’s go!”
Im So-byeong and Mount Hua’s disciples sprinted toward the mountain gate.
At the sight beyond the wide-open entrance, everyone’s eyes widened in shock.
“Beon Chung!”
Beon Chung, the man they had once encountered at the bandit stronghold alongside Chung Myung’s group, sat there with a pained expression, gasping for breath. His clothes were stained red in several places, and dried blood crusted his exposed skin. One look was enough to tell that he was in grave condition.
“Huh? Heuk Ya-ho? Kwak Min?”
Yoon Jong recognized the man standing behind Beon Chung and cried out.
Heuk Ya-ho was in no better condition than Beon Chung.
His pale face looked almost corpse-like, and blood overflowed from his shoes, trailing behind every step he had taken.
Im So-byeong’s face hardened.
“……So they’ve made their move.”
At that, Heuk Ya-ho gave a strained nod, and Beon Chung dropped to his knees and bowed deeply.
“Please kill me! We couldn’t protect the Green Forest Main Fortress.”
“……Who did this?”
“The only one I personally confirmed was Mad Ox Blade.”
“……Mad Ox Blade. Dae-byeol Bandit Band, then.”
Oddly enough, there was no excitement on Im So-byeong’s face.
“If it was Mad Ox Blade, he wouldn’t have been able to move alone. He’s too dull to act with that kind of rapid, coordinated precision. At the very least, three or more bandit groups must have moved together.”
He muttered softly, then looked to Heuk Ya-ho again.
“The situation?”
“The brothers of the Green Forest still don’t know what’s happened. The Green Forest Main Fortress has completely fallen, and the Ten Shadows have scattered.”
“I understand.”
Im So-byeong answered curtly and looked at Chung Myung.
“Altar.”
“Hm.”
“Now you need to make your decision.”
Im So-byeong’s expression was starkly different from anything they had seen before. The playfulness and aggrieved look that usually lingered on his face had vanished without a trace, leaving behind only a cold expression, as though a sheet of ice had been laid over him.
“If you won’t help me, then I must leave this place at once.”
“And go do what?”
“Whether I can do it or not, this isn’t something I can simply abandon. It’s something I have to do, even if I have to die fighting.”
“Urgh.”
Just as Chung Myung was about to speak, his mouth opening on a retort—
“What happened?”
“Sect Leader!”
“We greet the Sect Leader.”
Those who noticed Hyun Jong walking toward them all clasped their hands and bowed.
Hyun Jong lightly waved them off and took in the scene at the mountain gate with his eyes.
“It seems…… something has happened.”
“Yes, it’s just…….”
“Soso.”
“Yes, Sect Leader!”
When Dang Soso answered quickly, Hyun Jong said, “Take the guests to the Medicine Hall. They all look to be in grave condition at a glance.”
“Is that all right?”
“We do not turn away those who seek shelter beneath our eaves from the rain. No matter who they are, would it be right for Mount Hua to be so cold-hearted as to send injured people away without even a glance? Mount Hua is not such a place.”
“Yes, Sect Leader! I’ll do that.”
Dang Soso hurried over, checked the patients’ condition, and shouted, “There are people who can’t move, so please carry them to the Medicine Hall, senior brothers!”
“Understood!”
The Cheong-generation disciples rushed in and began helping the injured.
“Be careful not to worsen the wounds! If they open up any more, it could really endanger their lives!”
“Understood!”
As Beon Chung watched the Mount Hua disciples taking hold of his arms, he turned his head toward Im So-byeong.
“I-I…….”
“Get treated first.”
“…….”
“That information is enough. I’ll take it from here.”
Beon Chung was silent for a moment, then nodded quietly.
“Yes.”
Once Beon Chung had also been carried off to the Medicine Hall, the remaining people exchanged looks with one another.
“Very well.”
Hyun Jong regarded Im So-byeong with grave, thoughtful eyes, then spoke.
“Would it be all right if this poor one asked the Green Forest King for the details?”
Im So-byeong let out a short sigh.
“I’ve already told this story to some people…….”
After glancing briefly at Chung Myung, he met Hyun Jong’s eyes squarely.
“But now it seems this is no longer something that can be solved by persuading just one person. I’ll tell everyone, so please help me, Sect Leader.”
“……Then let us go inside first.”
“Yes.”
As Hyun Jong turned, he said to Baek Cheon and the others, “You all come as well.”
“Yes!”
With Hyun Jong leading the way, Im So-byeong and the rest followed him toward the quarters.
An unsettling sense of impending storm hung in the air.