If You Die, You Can Rest All You Want! (3)
“Huuuuuuuum.”
“…….”
“…….”
The Mount Hua disciples, gathered after finishing all their preparations, swallowed hard as they glared at Chung Myung with deeply dissatisfied faces.
That demonic bastard is scheming again...
Look at his eyes. Look at those eyes.
Please, just live like a normal human being, Chung Myung.
But what came out of Chung Myung’s mouth was something none of the disciples had expected.
“I don’t like it, but... you did work hard. So I’m giving you about ten days off. Do whatever you want. I won’t bother you for ten days.”
“…….”
The disciples stared, eyes wide, at Chung Myung as he nodded slowly.
Not every sound that comes out of a person’s mouth counts as words. Only when someone else can hear it and understand it does it become true speech.
And right now, no one had truly understood the sound that came from Chung Myung’s mouth.
“What the hell is he saying?”
“Isn’t he just spouting nonsense like always?”
“Wait, did he just say to rest?”
“Maybe he means rest forever. In a coffin?”
It was a scene that made all too clear just how deep the gulf of distrust among the Mount Hua disciples had become.
As the disciples began muttering to one another with suspicious glances, Chung Myung’s brow twitched and he gritted his teeth.
“I said rest. I won’t bother you.”
“……You won’t bother us?”
The disciples tilted their heads again, then all leaned together and whispered furiously.
“Is he going to blow us away with palm force without even touching us?”
“If not, maybe he’ll just beat us with words.”
“Ah, that’s even worse...”
“I’d trust a ghost before I’d trust that bastard.”
Veins began rising slowly on Chung Myung’s forehead.
Fine, all right. He could live with reactions like that.
But where the hell did they get the nerve to say all that right in front of the person involved, and without even blinking?
“I’m serious this time! I’m really saying you can rest...!”
“Hey! Just hit us, you bastard! That’s better than this nonsense messing with our heads.”
“Yeah! Kill us, kill us!”
“No, but seriously, what is wrong with you people!”
Just as Chung Myung flared and was about to rush at them, Yoon Jong and Jo Gul each casually grabbed one of his arms and held him back.
“This is your own fault.”
“Honestly, can you blame them for not trusting you?”
“Grrrgh.”
Chung Myung ground his teeth and shouted.
“Anyway, from now on it’s rest, so rest or don’t rest, do whatever the hell you want!”
Then he spun on his heel and stomped off. Watching him go, Baek Cheon stepped forward with a faint, bitter smile.
“That guy’s just awkward because he’s not used to saying things like that.”
“……It would be awkward, yes.”
It would be less awkward if a rakshasa crawled up from hell and said, “Actually, I believe in Buddha.”
Baek Cheon swept his gaze over everyone and said,
“Even words grow tired if they keep running. The way to move fast isn’t to sprint without rest. It’s to know when to pause and when to focus.”
“Then why didn’t you ever say that before?”
“Huh?”
“You never said anything like that on the way to Mount Hua!”
At the sharp retort, Baek Cheon quietly looked up at the sky.
They really have gotten rougher.
It wasn’t like this in my day! Not at all!
“Ahem. In any case!”
Covering his mouth, he gave a low cough and continued.
“You’ve all built up quite a bit of fatigue, so rest well. After this, you’ll be busy again.”
“…….”
“Then.”
As Baek Cheon turned to leave with the Five Swords, the remaining disciples stared after them in a daze.
“So, uh...”
Whispers slowly spread here and there.
“He means we should rest?”
“……I think so?”
Some even naturally looked west.
“Did the sun rise in the west today?”
Of course, it had not.
* * *
Gwak Hoe looked around with a face that said he had no idea what was going on. His fellow disciples were all sprawled around the place with half-dead expressions, blinking dazed eyes like they’d lost their souls.
Not long ago they had been burning with determination against Wudang, and now that spirit was nowhere to be seen.
“Um...”
After wavering for a long time, Gwak Hoe finally opened his mouth awkwardly.
“I don’t think ‘rest’ was supposed to mean lying around like this.”
At that, everyone who had been sprawled there like the dead turned to look at him.
“Then what?”
“Well... you know. Doing things you haven’t had time to do, or enjoying something you couldn’t because you were always training...”
“Mm, right. That makes sense.”
Baek Sang nodded vigorously.
Even if Chung Myung was a madman, Baek Cheon’s idea of “rest” had definitely meant something like that.
“I know. I do, but... there’s a problem.”
“……What is it?”
Instead of answering, Baek Sang jerked his chin toward the disciples sprawled behind him. Right then, the Baek generation disciples were voicing their own empty, hollow thoughts.
“……How are you supposed to rest properly?”
Huh?
“No, seriously. What even is resting?”
Huh?
Gwak Hoe’s eye twitched.
And to make matters worse, even the Cheong generation disciples were beginning to agree with them.
“Normally, after training ends, you wash up, go to your room, and sleep. That’s resting, isn’t it?”
“But what if you can’t sleep? How are you supposed to rest then? I don’t get it.”
Staring at them in disbelief, Gwak Hoe covered his face with both hands.
We’re doomed.
These people have already been soaked through with Chung Myung’s poison to the bone.
Was it even possible, in any sane world, for people to not know how to spend time when they’d been told to rest?
“……Thinking about it, I don’t think there’s ever been a day in the last few years when we rested without training.”
“S-sahyung. To be honest, I’ve been feeling weirdly anxious since earlier. Would it be okay if I just went out and trained a little?”
At the cautious voice from behind him, Baek Sang frowned.
“Didn’t you hear Baek Cheon sahyung say not to train and to rest?”
“I-I know, but... just lying around doing nothing is making me more and more anxious...”
“Ah... if I don’t condition myself, my muscles will go slack.”
“It’s leg day for me today...”
Once one person broke the seal, the others sprawled across Baekmae Hall began one by one to rise and agree. Of course, there were also those who insisted they should follow Chung Myung and Baek Cheon’s words.
“Still, shouldn’t we be resting?”
“What the hell is that!”
“He told us to rest!”
“And how the hell are we supposed to do that!”
Watching the hall erupt into chaos, Gwak Hoe gave a faint smile.
The Mount Hua disciples had now reached a state where, if their minds rested, their bodies couldn’t; if their bodies rested, their minds couldn’t.
“Damn it! I’m just going to do some endurance training and come back!”
“I’m going to run the cliff twice and be right back!”
“I just need to swing my sword a little...”
Baek Sang jumped and shouted, trying to stop them.
“No! He said to rest, you idiots!”
“We can’t rest unless we train!”
“Huh?”
For a moment, Baek Sang lost the ability to speak and blinked.
“Rest doesn’t mean lying down! Isn’t rest supposed to mean your mind is at ease?!”
“Th-that’s true.”
“If I keep sitting here, my mind’s gonna be uncomfortable! I’d rather go work up a good sweat and come back to rest properly!”
“…….”
“Let’s go!”
“I’m in too! I’m going!”
“Ahh! I can finally breathe again!”
“I can rest as much as I want if I’m dead!”
The Baek and Cheong generation disciples dashed out of Baekmae Hall as if they’d been waiting for the order. There wasn’t a trace of lingering attachment on their faces. Baek Sang and Gwak Hoe, left behind, only blinked in silence.
Not long after, a thunderous cheer rose from outside. A helpless laugh burst from Baek Sang’s mouth.
“......Really, I don’t even know what to say.”
“Me neither.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Me? Well...”
Gwak Hoe glanced around and gave an awkward smile.
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to work on, so I think I’ll go swing my sword a bit...”
Baek Sang looked up at the ceiling of Baekmae Hall with mournful eyes.
They’re all insane.
At this point, finding someone sane would be faster than finding someone mad.
Chung Myung’s eyes were blank and unfocused as he watched the training ground.
“Hraaaaaaaaaah!”
“Krrrgh! Now that there’s some weight on my body, I feel alive again! A person’s gotta sweat!”
“Hey, if you’re done, move aside already! Did you rent this place?”
“You need ten more rounds, you punk! Come here and count for me!”
Chung Myung’s big eyes blinked. The more confusion piled up, the more his head tilted to the side.
“Dieeee!”
“This bastard’s going after sahyung!”
“Your waist! Your waist is open! What are you doing, not getting the basics right?”
“Fine! Let’s see you die today! Keep your head on straight, you brat!”
Blinding flashes of sword energy kept bursting across the training ground.
“......What in the world...”
The ones using training equipment to build endurance or practicing sword forms were at least understandable.
But what in the world was in the heads of the idiots over in the corner doing bunny hops around the training yard? Even the great Chung Myung had no clue.
“Legs!”
“A powerful sword aura from a solid lower body!”
“Ten more laps!”
Chung Myung glanced around him. Even the Five Swords and Hye Yeon seated nearby had their mouths hanging open, unable to make sense of the situation.
“......Didn’t he say to rest?”
“......I’m pretty sure he did.”
“Did the meaning of rest change when I wasn’t looking?”
“I don’t think so...”
After watching the disciples train for a long time, Chung Myung muttered,
“Seriously, did these bastards all drink boiled green frogs or something? If I tell them to train, they curse at me and fight to rest; if I tell them to rest, they insist on coming out here and swinging swords. Which damn beat am I supposed to dance to?”
Hearing his grumbling, the same thought flashed through the minds of all the Five Swords at once.
Chung Myung. Maybe this is happening because your idea of “training” and “rest” is way too extreme?
But none of them dared say it out loud.
“No, now that I think about it, I’m pissed off again! Are they rebelling against me right now?”
“They’re your martial nephews and martial brothers, you bastard!”
“No one in Mount Hua is allowed to rebel against you, punk!”
“There’s Soso!”
“Soso’s an exception!”
No one asked for an explanation of why Soso was an exception. The sky is blue and the sea is vast; Soso being an exception was simply the same kind of law.
Just then, Baek Cheon, who had been watching the disciples, let out a snort of laughter.
“I think I understand.”
“Huh?”
Chung Myung turned with a look that clearly said, What the hell are you talking about? But the answer came instead from Yoon Jong.
“Once you see how vast the world is and realize what a frog in a well you were, even lying down with your back against a mattress starts to feel shameful.”
Jo Gul’s face twisted sharply.
“Ugh. That’s a really disgusting feeling.”
“During this journey, they must have felt many things. They probably realized all too clearly the need for training and growth. So they simply can’t sit still.”
At Yoon Jong’s words, Baek Cheon nodded.
But Dang Soso still seemed thoroughly dissatisfied.
“Still, rest is important too. If you don’t let yourself recover, people fall apart.”
“Let them be for a while.”
“Sasuk!”
Baek Cheon smiled gently at Dang Soso.
“You’re a warrior too, so you know this. A person grows most when they have the will to improve on their own. Those boys probably want to internalize what they saw and felt in this war and in the martial contest with their own bodies.”
“Mm...”
As if she couldn’t deny that, Dang Soso nodded.
“Only for a while.”
“All right.”
With a pleased smile, Baek Cheon looked back at the disciples and marveled.
“If everyone’s this driven about training, Mount Hua will only grow stronger.”
“We can’t fall behind either.”
“Exactly. Now it’s about time we started too.”
“Ah. Since we’re talking about it, let’s have a match, sahyung. I felt something this time, but I can’t quite grab hold of it.”
“I think I could grab you the way a dog grabs a rat, though.”
“Oh? Then let’s do it!”
“Fine!”
The Five Swords, too, began to burn with motivation.
A scene that any teacher would dream of seeing had unfolded: all the disciples devoting themselves to training of their own accord.
But from a step back, watching it all, Chung Myung was flinching as if something was terribly wrong.
Have they all gone crazy?
Only then did he painfully realize, all over again, just what kind of monsters he had created.