We Have Returned (1)
Faaaat!
The scenery warped and blurred.
The disciples of Mount Hua raced over the mountains like bolts of black lightning.
Baek Cheon’s gaze remained fixed on Chung Myung, who ran at the front the whole time.
“Sasuk.”
Only when Yoon Jong called out did Baek Cheon turn his head slightly. Yoon Jong’s expression was a little sour.
“Why did Maninbang just let us go?”
“...”
Baek Cheon frowned faintly, thinking it over. He couldn’t give a clear answer to that either.
“I don’t know.”
“They’ve already fought a war with us once. If it were me, I’d never have let them leave...”
Jang Il-so had visited Mount Hua to congratulate them on the founding of the Heavenly Alliance, but that did not mean Mount Hua and Maninbang had made peace.
They were still enemies.
Baek Cheon let out a bitter smile.
“How are we supposed to know what someone like the Paegun is thinking?”
It really was strange. Normally, the impression a person left faded each time you met them again.
No matter how overwhelming someone’s presence was, repeated encounters would make it familiar in time. Familiarity bred comfort, and comfort stripped away intensity.
But Paegun Jang Il-so was the opposite.
Compared to the last time they had seen him, his presence today was twice as intense. His smiling face, every one of his lazy gestures—none of it would leave their minds, as though it had been carved right there in front of them, and it remained cold and sticky at the nape of the neck.
In all his life, this was the first—no, the second—time he had ever seen someone with such a terrifying presence.
“Still, we were lucky.”
“...I suppose.”
“Huh?”
Baek Cheon’s eyes drifted toward Chung Myung’s back.
If this hadn’t been such a situation—if they had met Jang Il-so somewhere they could move without restraint—would Chung Myung have backed off without crossing swords like this?
No. Probably not.
He was the kind of bastard who didn’t know how to retreat when an enemy stood in front of him. He might hesitate for the sake of the others’ safety, yes... But even so, he wouldn’t have backed off so easily.
There was only one reason.
Baek Cheon’s gaze fell to the bundle Chung Myung had slung over his shoulder.
He couldn’t endure it.
He wasn’t the sort to fear death. What he feared was that the remains he had finally recovered would be abandoned again in this faraway land.
To prevent that one situation, he had accepted a bargain as humiliating as it was.
Baek Cheon could barely imagine what Chung Myung was feeling right now.
“What kind of relationship do you think it was?”
Jo Gul slipped into the conversation. He was short of breath from running so fast, but curiosity had gotten the better of him.
“If he was a Thirteenth-Generation Disciple, doesn’t that mean he fought in the war against the Demonic Sect back then?”
“...I suppose so.”
Baek Cheon had clearly seen that many of the bones were darkly stained black. They had seen that before, too. It was the classic sign of someone struck by demonic arts.
“What kind of relationship could that kind of person have had with Chung Myung?”
“...An ancestor, perhaps?”
At Baek Cheon’s words, Jo Gul’s brows drew together slightly.
“I mean, Mount Hua doesn’t forbid marriage, and it’s true you can marry whoever you like freely, but... even so, during a war that desperate...”
“You’re saying something strange. A Thirteenth-Generation Disciple from that era would have been elder level. He’d be old enough to have grandchildren by now.”
“Ah...”
Jo Gul nodded as if he understood.
“Then it wouldn’t be strange if that bastard Chung Myung was his descendant. He did try to explain his ties to Mount Hua when he first came here, after all.”
But Jo Gul still seemed to have trouble with something, because he tilted his head again.
“Then why did Chung Myung come to Mount Hua?”
“Hm?”
“The others left Mount Hua of their own accord, so there’d be some awkwardness, sure. But if he was that man’s descendant, then there wouldn’t be much of that...”
“How should I know?” Baek Cheon shook his head. “If an ancestor gave his life for Mount Hua, that doesn’t mean his descendants stayed with Mount Hua to the very end.”
“...That’s true.”
“Maybe even though he was the descendant of someone like that, he couldn’t bring himself to return for a long time because he felt guilty for having left Mount Hua. As for Chung Myung, that’s ancient history to him, so it probably doesn’t matter much.”
Then Yoon Jong frowned as well.
“But no matter how filial a person is, can they really cry like that just because they found the remains of an ancestor who died a hundred years ago?”
“...”
“This was the first time I’d seen Chung Myung like that. No... I can’t even imagine he’d be capable of that. It’s just... I really can’t...”
“...”
Baek Cheon couldn’t make sense of it either, and could only stare at Chung Myung’s back.
He didn’t know.
What sort of story that bastard had, what on earth could have made him show such a side.
And yet...
“He’s still my sahil.”
At that moment, Yu I-seol abruptly spoke.
As the three of them looked over, she kept her face as unreadable as ever and said, still running with her eyes straight ahead,
“Would it change anything if we knew?”
“...No, Sago. That’s not what I meant.”
“No matter what his story is, he’s my sahil.”
Baek Cheon’s mouth curved at that.
She was an odd one, but every now and then she hit the nail so squarely on the head it made a person feel strangely at ease.
“I see.”
Baek Cheon cleared his throat once and went on.
“Yes, I’m the same. Whatever story the kid has, he’s my sahil. Even if he’s the descendant of those who abandoned Mount Hua and left, or the descendant of someone who committed some great crime against Mount Hua and fled, or some murderer who killed hundreds of people and ran to Mount Hua to hide...”
“Sasuk. Please reconsider the last one.”
“Have you lost your mind?”
“...”
Ah, had he gone too far?
“Ahem. Anyway.”
Baek Cheon cut himself off firmly.
“Whatever comes out of that kid’s mouth, I won’t be surprised. I don’t even want to think about it. Just dealing with him as he is already keeps me more than busy—how am I supposed to worry about his story too?”
“...That much is true.”
“So stop worrying about useless things. For now, getting back to Mount Hua comes first.”
“Yes.”
Yoon Jong answered calmly, then stole a glance at Chung Myung’s back.
The descendant of those who fled, huh.
Honestly, that was probably the most reasonable assumption.
But Yoon Jong knew it. No—everyone knew it, really.
Chung Myung’s hidden story was not nearly that simple.
Maybe what they had just seen was the reason for the strange heaviness Chung Myung occasionally carried.
We’re still not enough, I guess.
Yoon Jong bit his lip lightly.
If Chung Myung had thought they were reliable enough, he would surely have told them whatever story he carried. The fact that he still hadn’t said anything meant they were still lacking.
So Yoon Jong decided not to badger him.
Someday...
If that bastard Chung Myung ever reached a point where he could trust and rely on them completely, then he would surely tell them.
He had to.
“Don’t fall behind, Jo Gul!”
“Yes, sahyung!”
The disciples of Mount Hua ran on, each carrying their own thoughts.
Chasing after Chung Myung’s back.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Hmm.”
Once the disciples of Mount Hua had grown so distant they were no longer even visible, Jang Il-so curled the corners of his mouth in amusement.
“Soul, huh...”
After chuckling to himself again, as though he had heard something funny, Jang Il-so covered his mouth. Mocking laughter leaked out between his pale fingers.
“Soul, carrying a stinking pile of bones! I thought he was at least a smart one... but no, he’s unbelievably entertaining.”
“Alliance Leader!”
Unable to hold back any longer, Ho Gamyeong raised his voice.
“We can’t let them go like this! Don’t you understand? That man is a tiger cub!”
“Gamyeong.”
Jang Il-so clicked his tongue, his brows arched as if he felt sorry for him.
“Why are you getting so worked up? What’s so special about a tiger cub?”
“Alliance Leader!”
Ho Gamyeong clenched his teeth so hard his jaw ached.
“Anyone who sees a tiger cub wants to raise it. But in the end, they nearly always get bitten to death by the grown tiger.”
“...”
“Of course, you’re not an ordinary man, Alliance Leader—but that tiger cub is no ordinary one either. One day, those fangs may bury themselves in your throat! What’s the use of regretting this decision later?”
Even with Ho Gamyeong’s fierce and desperate cry, Jang Il-so’s expression remained maddeningly indifferent.
“So?”
“Let me pursue them! I’ll kill that bastard and return! Alliance Leader, if you chase after grand plans and neglect your own safety, what greater blunder could there be? Even now, that bastard should be...”
“Gamyeong.”
Ho Gamyeong, mid-sentence, flinched and fell silent.
Jang Il-so’s voice was colder than usual. No... colder wasn’t quite right. It felt as though something was low and boiling beneath it.
“You said safety?”
“...Alliance Leader?”
Jang Il-so slowly turned to look at Ho Gamyeong.
When Ho Gamyeong saw the madness rippling in those eyes, he forgot to breathe.
“You’re right. Someday, that tiger—no, that monster—may well take my head and kill me.”
“...”
“I know that. Any man with a brain would kill him here and now. To let an enemy tiger cub loose on the field without killing it is stupidity at its finest. No matter how weak or insignificant it may seem, you cut out the roots and remove future trouble.”
“Then why...”
“Gamyeong.”
Jang Il-so’s tone was as soft as ever, but beneath it there seemed to be the growl of some beast.
“What is safety to me?”
“...”
“The moment a man with a blade starts worrying about his own safety, he loses any right to live by the blade. Once you start climbing a cliff, there’s no road back down. Stopping halfway is impossible too. Anyone clinging to a cliff has only one choice: keep climbing, and keep climbing!”
Jang Il-so spread both arms wide. The broad silk sleeves of his robe fluttered magnificently. There was not another man under heaven who could make such an exaggerated gesture look so natural.
“Tell me! Who am I to you? Who do you want me to be? Do you want a pig, holed up in some corner to protect his life and refusing to climb any higher, or do you want a wolf who would rather risk his life on the cliff and die falling from it?”
“Alliance Leader...”
“Answer me!”
His voice rang like a bell. Jang Il-so’s eyes stared at Ho Gamyeong as though they would tear him apart and devour him.
“Who am I!”
Ho Gamyeong closed his eyes.
That was not refusal, but a kind of understanding that had settled into his bones.
“You are...”
A groan-like voice escaped him.
“...the Paegun... Paegun Jang Il-so.”
That was enough.
Jang Il-so grabbed at his own face as though he wanted to rip it apart, bent forward to the waist, and laughed under his breath.
Not yet.
Unable to contain himself, laughter kept trying to burst from him.
It’s not time to flip the board yet. Not yet.
The Mount Hua Divine Dragon still had a role to play.
Safety? Life?
Of course those were important. He would do anything to preserve this life.
But what mattered more to him than life was value.
What he could never tolerate was merely surviving an unchanged, cheap little life.
This isn’t enough.
Five Hegemons of the Jianghu?
Maninbang?
Paegun?
What a joke.
He would never be satisfied with something so small. He had been born that way. Even if he devoured this entire world and stuffed it into his belly, he still would not be satisfied.
He could do anything to sate this maddening hunger. Even if it meant severing his own throat with his own hands.
Jang Il-so slowly licked his lips with his red tongue.
This is only the beginning.
At the memory of Chung Myung’s sharp glare, Jang Il-so laughed loudly.
In the eyes of Ho Gamyeong and the Maninbang men who looked up at him, fear and reverence mingled in a way that could not be hidden.