What Are You Impersonating? (5)
"Hmm. It really isn’t easy to match formations."
"Still, can’t effort and grit overcome anything?"
"Right. That’s how it goes. If you keep at it slowly and steadily, day after day, you’ll get used to it."
"Agreed."
Those were Baek Cheon, Jo Gul, Yoon Jong, and Yu I-seol, respectively.
Just listening to what they said, it sounded perfectly reasonable—exactly the sort of attitude a martial artist ought to have. But the people hearing them did not react well at all.
"Why are you the one saying that, Sasuk!"
"Sahyeong! Do you even have a conscience?"
"What kind of guy sneaks up and smacks the guy next to him like that?"
"Just because you said it doesn’t make it true!"
At the fierce criticism raining down from every direction, the Mount Hua Five Swords all turned their heads away at once, as if looking anywhere but here would save them.
"We did work hard, in our own way."
"Don’t just work hard—work well! The most infuriating thing in the world is a person who makes a mess and still tries hard."
"...Still, I’m your Sasuk. You could at least be a little..."
"That’s exactly why it ends here. Because you’re Sasuk!"
Watching the Cheong-generation disciples glare with murderous eyes, Baek Cheon looked up at the sky with a pitiful expression.
The old days were better in some ways.
Back then they had been poor and miserable, yes, but the moment he so much as barked at the kids, they’d fold like paper. Now, not only the Baek generation but even the Cheong generation was flashing killing intent and shouting at him like he was the one in the wrong.
Even so, he couldn’t really fire back. Baek Cheon and the rest of the Five Swords knew very well what they had done.
Baek Sang glared at them with his face twisted in irritation.
"Didn’t the hall leader tell you to synchronize your breathing?"
"..."
"You’re practicing a formation, and the moment it starts, one of you just goes ahead and sprays sword energy everywhere for no reason."
Baek Cheon flinched and averted his eyes.
"Th-that... I’m sorry. I guess it’s become a habit."
"And then in the middle of a formation, somebody suddenly stabs his sword in between someone else’s lines!"
"There was a gap."
"Does that matter? Does it matter right now? The enemy’s not even dead yet, and the guy swinging his sword beside you is about to get shocked into a heart attack and die from it!"
With bloodshot eyes, Baek Sang glared at Yu I-seol, but she lifted her chin stubbornly. Though even she seemed to have a little conscience left, because the angle of that chin was just slightly off from directly facing Baek Sang.
"And you! Why do you keep jumping forward during formation practice?"
"...My blood got hot, so..."
"You’re the one criticizing other people’s swordwork, but you still can’t even use your own properly!"
"...I’m sorry."
Baek Sang’s face turned bright red.
"And one more thing!"
His head snapped to the side.
"Why are you suddenly pulling out your spear and spitting during sword formation practice?"
"I thought that would be more helpful than swinging a sword."
"Then is that a sword formation? Huh? Is it?"
"..."
Feeling like his stomach had been punched through, Baek Sang clutched his solar plexus. His eyes grew damp with tears.
How is it that not a single one of these people is helpful?
These were the Mount Hua Five Swords.
They were the famous ones, the ones who were supposed to be leading Mount Hua’s rise—but somehow not a single one of them could properly perform a sword formation.
"How have you people survived this long? The way you were going today, it looked like you’d kill each other over clashing spoons at mealtime."
"..."
"And another thing!"
Baek Sang practically spat fire from his mouth.
"If that’s how it’s going to be, then gather among yourselves and practice your own formations! Why are you barging in on the other kids and interfering so they can’t even train properly?"
At that, Baek Cheon spoke up, sounding wronged.
"Sang-ah."
"What!"
"...Let’s think about this sensibly."
"Pardon?"
"...If the five of us trained a sword formation among ourselves, what do you think would happen?"
"..."
Even Baek Sang, who had been shouting like thunder, lost his words for a moment. And then the answer came from the others gathered around them.
"It’d be a miracle if nobody died."
"Only one person dying wouldn’t be enough to count as a miracle?"
"That sounds about right."
"It wouldn’t even be something you could call training."
"With their personalities? Yeah, good luck."
Watching the disciples nod and murmur as if that settled it, Baek Sang squeezed his eyes shut.
I really wish they’d all just disappear.
If they’d always been like this, fine. But they hadn’t.
Baek Cheon used to be a little unlucky, sure, but he had always tried to set an example for the other disciples. Yu I-seol, too, had been quiet then as well, but she hadn’t been the kind of person who stood out like this. In fact, she had been so quiet it had been its own problem.
Yoon Jong had been the very picture of exemplary conduct, and Jo Gul had always had some issues, but at least he knew how to read the room.
And now those people had collectively lost all sense of what it meant to be proper, what it meant to have any sort of standards at all. Of course his stomach was turning inside out.
Thinking of the one responsible for all of this, Baek Sang let out a long, despairing sigh.
"Anyway, whether you train separately or together, don’t interfere with the kids’ training. If you really can’t help it, then don’t train at all! Even counting Chung Myung, there are only six of you. What’s the problem if one is missing?"
"...If possible, I’d like to learn too."
"I said don’t!"
"I am still the great disciple of Mount Hua. Surely I cannot fail to know what the other disciples are learning."
"..."
Baek Cheon smiled faintly.
"When you train together, there will naturally be things that feel frustrating, and things that leave you wanting. That’s why you fill in each other’s shortcomings and encourage one another. That is what it means to be fellow disciples, isn’t it?"
"...That’s a very admirable thing to say, but doesn’t the person saying it also happen to be the one who’s lacking, frustrating, and wanting?"
"What can I do? You’ll simply have to understand."
Baek Sang gripped the hilt of his sword so tightly his knuckles went white.
If only he weren’t my sahyung...
No—why, of all things, was the one sahyung in the sect that man?
The realization that there had once been a time when that had seemed wonderful only made him feel even worse.
And then there was the sight of the rest of the Five Swords, looking as though they were about to applaud Baek Cheon’s words. It felt like someone was dumping salt on his already ruined stomach and setting it on fire.
"Ugh..."
The voice that saved Baek Sang, who was one breath away from collapsing, came from somewhere nearby.
"Great Sahyung!"
"Hmm?"
"Elder Hyun Young is looking for you! He said Yu Sago, Yoon Jong, Jo Gul, and Soso should come too."
"...Huh?"
Baek Cheon’s eyes narrowed.
The lineup he’s calling for is awfully suspicious.
After a brief moment of thought, he shook his head and said,
"Then let’s finish the formation practice—"
"Ah, what are you doing? It’s an elder’s summons. You need to go now!"
But Baek Sang cut him off sharply.
"...Sang-ah. You’ve gotten rather harsh with me lately."
"If you don’t want to see harsher, go now!"
"Still, I am your sahyung..."
"If you don’t go, I’ll use the authority of the Finance Hall Deputy Chief to cut off all the money that gets paid to you."
At that, Baek Cheon shouted with a grim expression,
"What are you all standing around for? The elder is calling us!"
The Five Swords’ faces twisted with open dissatisfaction.
These days... they kept thinking that man had become incredibly exasperating.
"Pretending to be someone else?"
After hearing the full explanation, Baek Cheon let out a dry laugh.
No, what kind of idiot pretended to be Mount Hua when there was nothing to pretend with in the first place?
"That’s a strange fellow. If you’re going to impersonate someone, at least do it properly. He’s pretending to be Mount Hua all the way out in Jiangxi, a place with nothing to do with Mount Hua?"
At Jo Gul’s words, Yoon Jong clicked his tongue.
"You idiot. If you impersonate someone where there is a connection, you’ll get caught immediately!"
"Ah... that’s true too."
"Impersonation is something you do where the real person can’t come. That way the chance of being found out is lower."
Jo Gul nodded as if he understood.
Just from the situation alone, Baek Cheon could understand Mount Hua’s position entirely.
Right. We can’t just let a fraud like that run loose.
Mount Hua’s name was echoing across the world. They could not allow even the tiniest blemish to remain.
But there was one thing that bothered him.
"Elder. I understand everything you said. But there’s one part I’m having trouble understanding..."
"What is it?"
"...Why is that guy so angry?"
"...How would I know?"
Baek Cheon glanced again at Chung Myung, who was gathering his qi in a corner, and flinched as if he had just seen something horrifying.
"Could it be... that guy’s one of the ones sent by Jongnam, or maybe by Wudang..."
"I haven’t heard anything like that."
"Then why is he like that...?"
"So I ask again—how would I know?"
At that moment, Chung Myung glared and shouted,
"Enough!"
"..."
"We don’t have time to stand around asking questions, so hurry up and get ready. If it were up to me, I’d already have gone by myself, but the sect leader insisted so earnestly that I’m waiting to drag you, Sasuk, along."
Chung Myung.
Didn’t the fact that the words "the sect leader insisted earnestly" were coming out of a disciple’s mouth already mean the whole situation had gone completely off the rails?
The sect had been turning upside down for a day or two now, but it had become so natural that it was starting to frighten him.
Then Hyun Young leaned toward Baek Cheon and murmured quietly.
"As you can see, that brat is particularly suspicious this time."
"He’s always been suspicious, Elder."
"That may be true, but this time he’s especially suspicious."
"...It does look that way."
Hyun Young glanced at Chung Myung, who was grinding his teeth as if he might bite through them, then asked in a low voice,
"Have you learned the formation?"
"Not properly yet."
"Hmm... Then perhaps it would be better to have you learn a bit more before departing. In case of emergency, you could at least use the formation to..."
Excuse me? Elder?
Was that the reason for learning the formation? To subdue Chung Myung?
It was obviously a joke, but when one considered Chung Myung’s destructive power, it was not a joke that could be dismissed lightly.
"In any case, given the situation, we can’t waste time. Leave at once."
"...Understood."
It was an assignment he found rather unpleasant, but as Hyun Young had said, it wasn’t something they could delay. He was worried about what the impersonator might do in Jiangxi, but even more than that...
"Arararara..."
"What? There’s still a dog left?"
"It was always there, you mad dog."
Baek Cheon let out a long sigh.
Will we make it back safely?
The enemy was inside.
He was feeling that truth in his bones.
"...I’ll be back."
"Have a safe trip!"
"Take your time, Sasuk!"
"If you stop for a little sightseeing on the way back, nobody will blame you! You’ve finally reached the age where you should enjoy life!"
"..."
Receiving such an enthusiastic sendoff, Baek Cheon’s expression turned blank.
It was touching, in a way, that everyone had come out to see them off—but unlike before, it felt like there was something deeply impure hidden in it.
"Sang-ah."
"Yes, sahyung."
"Did you practice the sword formation one more time?"
At that, Baek Sang said nothing and merely glanced to the side.
The bruised faces and the clothes torn to pieces all over the place made them look less like people who had been training than like they had been in a street brawl.
"...The kids have so much spirit, you see."
"If it spills over twice, someone’s going to die."
"..."
Baek Cheon sighed.
It wasn’t his place to worry about the pot cracking from the outside, but thinking about what these idiots might do while he was gone made him feel like someone had tied a heavy weight to his ankles.
"...Anyway, always be careful not to get hurt."
"Yes. Don’t worry."
"And the hall leader’s..."
"Ah, we’ll handle it ourselves. So please go already, would you?"
"...What a rotten brat."
He used to be such a cute disciple, trailing after him and calling him sahyung, sahyung, all the time. How had he turned into some pitch-black wolf like that?
Then Baek Sang glanced left and right, stepped close, and quickly shoved something into Baek Cheon’s chest.
"I set aside some of the extra money from the Finance Hall and prepared plenty for travel expenses. Don’t go hungry."
"...Sang-ah."
"Make sure you get some tasty food too."
So they really were brothers after all.
Baek Sang shoved at Baek Cheon’s back as Baek Cheon looked at him with eyes full of emotion.
"All right, all right. Now hurry up and go. Quickly. Move it."
"Fine."
Baek Cheon nodded and turned around. He saw Chung Myung, both arms being held in place, twitching like a horse about to bolt the next second.
"..."
Heaven and earth above us.
Please. Please, let us return safely... no, let us return without anything happening at all.
Baek Cheon cried out in prayer.
"Let’s go!"
"Yes!"
As if that were a signal, Chung Myung took off like a racehorse that had had its reins cut.
"You little bastard! I told you not to run full speed!"
"Keep up! Hurry! Keep up!"
The Five Swords yelped and dashed after him in a panic.
Once their figures vanished from sight, the Mount Hua disciples all let out a collective sigh.
"...Is this really a good idea?"
"Aren’t we more afraid of those guys causing trouble than the impersonator?"
"...The sect leader must have his reasons."
"Let’s do our best too. At least we should."
Its standing had risen, but nothing else had improved.
That was Mount Hua.