It Could Get Even Better! (4)
Day One.
“……Sasuk. I know this is incredibly rude to say, but……”
“What is it?”
“……Could it be that they’re really going to ascend if this keeps up?”
At that, Baek Cheon looked down the mountain at Hyun Jong and the elders, their faces drained of blood as they descended in a miserable state. His eyes were full of pity.
He couldn’t help it. The contrast was far too stark between the three men, who looked as though the life had been sucked right out of them, and Chung Myung, who was following behind with a glossy, satisfied face.
“……Is he using Absorbing Star Great Law or something?”
Anyone could tell that Chung Myung looked like he was sucking every ounce of qi out of those three.
“Their color looks even worse than yesterday…… Shouldn’t we stop this?”
“……Stop it? How?”
At Baek Cheon’s helpless voice, Yoon Jong squeezed his eyes shut.
Chung Myung running around causing disaster on his own was terrible, of course, but at least if it was just him, there was always a way to stop it. The process would be harder than digging a road through a mountain with a spoon, but it was still something they could attempt.
But those three were different. No matter how difficult it might be, Chung Myung was still a person they could somehow try to restrain. Those three, on the other hand, were beyond the reach of hands and feet alike.
Stop the Sect Leader and the elders?
Who? The Five Swords?
Say something that makes sense.
They might as well try to stop those blasted Southern Edge Sect bastards. How were a mere second-generation disciple and third-generation disciples supposed to restrain the Sect Leader and elders of their own sect?
“……For now, let’s just keep watching a little longer.”
“But if this continues, something terrible is really going to happen.”
“I know…… I know.”
Baek Cheon let out a deep sigh.
“The Sect Leader and the elders have chosen to do this. We can’t step in and stop them, can we?”
“……Wouldn’t they have changed their minds by now?”
Baek Cheon looked at the faces of the three men, all drained to a sickly black, and slowly shook his head.
“Let’s wait a few more days, at least.”
“……Yes.”
Of course, even as he said that, concern still shadowed his eyes.
I hope nothing happens.
Watching Chung Myung come down the mountain behind them with that smug look on his face only made his unease grow stronger and stronger.
Day Four.
“Sect Leader! Are you all right?”
Hyun Jong stared down blankly. On the table lay the chopsticks he had been holding just moments before. And the hand that had held them was trembling uncontrollably.
“……I’m…… fine.”
He’s not fine.
He’s so not fine.
Good heavens, he doesn’t even have the strength to use chopsticks?
All the Mount Hua disciples stopped eating and stared blankly at Hyun Jong.
“……At that rate, how are you still standing?”
Then Hyun Sang, seated beside him, let out a snort. But even the chopsticks in his hand were shaking violently, like a tree caught in a typhoon.
The rice is all falling off.
Is he even eating? It looks like more is spilling out than going in.
Is he really all right? Can this even be happening?
Still, Hyun Sang at least retained some semblance of an elder’s dignity. Hyun Young, seated on the other side of Hyun Sang, had long since given up on chopsticks altogether and was shoveling rice into his mouth with his bare hands.
Practical.
Yes, very practical. Compared to Hyun Jong, who couldn’t even hold chopsticks properly, or Hyun Sang, who was daintily eating nothing but air, it was a truly efficient method.
Though, of course, that didn’t stop one fundamental question from arising: was this really something an elder of a sect should be doing?
“Um…… should we feed you ourselves?”
“……I’m fine.”
“……I can do it.”
“Eating with my hands is actually manageable. Please, just eat with your hands.”
As everyone stared in stunned misery at the pitiful scene, their gazes suddenly shifted to one side.
Chwap-chwap-chwap-chwap-chwap!
Glug! Glug! Glug!
“Kraaaah! Who made this soup today? It’s sooooo refreshing!”
“…….”
Since the Sect Leader and elders couldn’t even manage a proper meal, there was no way the Mount Hua disciples could eat with any peace of mind. Before they could even think about tact, everyone’s hearts were already aching with worry for the three men.
But……
“What? Why aren’t you eating? Full already?”
That demon bastard.
The only one in the dining hall who seemed to possess no human heart at all tore a leg off the chicken in front of him and began eating with unrestrained gusto.
“Hah. No wonder a meal after training tastes like heaven! I’m gonna get fat if this keeps up.”
Watching his boisterous eating, everyone once again turned their pitiful eyes toward the three men who looked half-dead. Seeing how gaunt they were made their eyes inexplicably grow moist.
Day Seven.
Thud.
The Mount Hua disciples’ eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
“Huh?”
Hyun Jong suddenly collapsed weakly to the side.
Everyone screamed in shock.
“Aaaah! Sect Leadeeeer!”
“Call the Medicine Hall! Someone from the Medicine Hall, come here! The Sect Leader has collapsed!”
“Sect Leader! Please, wake up, Sect Leader!”
He wasn’t a mayfly that lived and died in a day; why was he suddenly pitching over in the middle of the road?
Baek Cheon, drenched in cold sweat, lifted the collapsed Sect Leader’s head onto his knees and wiped away the sweat with his sleeve while shading him with his hand.
A moment later, Hyun Jong slowly opened his eyes.
“Sect Leader! Are you coming to your senses? Sect Leader!”
“…….”
With his face drained of all color, cracked lips, and unfocused eyes, he looked every bit like a corpse that had forgotten to lie down.
Those hazy eyes drifted slowly around before settling on Baek Cheon’s face. Pale lips parted and moved.
“Ah……”
“Yes, Sect Leader! I’m Baek Cheon…….”
“……Master.”
Huh? Who now?
“……You’ve come to take me with you, Master. I truly did my best…….”
“Aaaagh! What are you seeing? Sect Leader! Sect Leader! It’s me, Baek Cheon!”
Then, flustered, Jo Gul started throwing punches at the air and shouted,
“Shoo, begone! Begone, evil spirit! The Sect Leader can’t be taken…….”
“Hey, you crazy bastard!”
Yoon Jong’s spinning kick slammed into Jo Gul’s face.
With a howl, Jo Gul went flying backward, then sat bolt upright with a look of genuine outrage. Blood immediately poured from his nose, and he cried out in protest.
“Why are you hitting me! I didn’t even do anything wrong this time! That evil spirit is trying to drag the Sect Leader away!”
“Evil spirit? Evil spirit? You idiot! If you mean the Sect Leader’s master, that’s his own master, you moron! How are you calling the old ancestor an evil spirit?”
“……Huh?”
Was that how it worked?
While Jo Gul and Yoon Jong were brawling and yelling at each other, Baek Cheon was still desperately trying to wake Hyun Jong.
“Sect Leader! Sect Leader! You must come to your senses!”
“Ah…… Master……. Mount Hua……. If you saw Mount Hua as it is now…….”
“Move aside, Sasuk!”
At that moment, Dang Soso appeared, shoved Baek Cheon’s hand aside, and pulled a huge needle from her sleeve.
No—calling it a needle didn’t even begin to describe it…… it was huge.
“Hiyah!”
Fwoosh!
The massive needle plunged without hesitation into Hyun Jong’s crown. Baek Cheon went deathly pale.
“Hiiiiiiik!”
Fwoosh!
A small spurt of blood erupted from Hyun Jong’s head. A moment later, the dull haze in his pupils finally began to clear bit by bit.
“……Hm? Did I perhaps collapse?”
“…….”
“How shameful of me…… I’ve shown an ugly side.”
Hyun Jong sat up as though nothing had happened. The Mount Hua disciples, faces white with panic, rushed to stop him.
“S-Sect Leader! You can’t get up right now!”
“You need to rest!”
“You’ll die if you keep this up!”
“Hahahahaha.”
But Hyun Jong only laughed heartily, as if the disciples were making a fuss over nothing.
“There is afternoon training. I cannot rest. If I rest for one day, then I must work twice as hard the next. You must all remember this well.”
No, you’ll die!
You’ll really die like that!
“Hahahahaha.”
At last, Hyun Jong stood, waving his arms as he ambled away again. On the crown of his head, a tiny red spring of blood kept bubbling up.
“……Soso.”
“Yes?”
“Pull that needle out of him quickly.”
“……Yes.”
Baek Cheon covered his face with both hands.
Mount Hua is doomed.
There was no turning back now.
Day Fifteen.
“……I think.”
The faces of the Five Swords gathered in Baekmae Hall were filled with unwavering resolve.
“We need drastic measures.”
“Agreed.”
“Agreed!”
“Revolution!”
The moment Baek Cheon spoke, everyone else eagerly chimed in.
“At this rate, Mount Hua is going to lose its Sect Leader.”
“……That crazy bastard Chung Myung is finally……”
Hyun Jong, Hyun Sang, and Hyun Young had become more and more bizarre by the day. Hyun Jong, once pleasantly plump with a face that radiated both kindness and gravitas, was nowhere to be seen anymore; in his place wandered only a skin-and-bones specter haunting Mount Hua like a ghost.
“His robes were sliding off him just from standing still…….”
“I ran into him while going out to relieve myself before dawn and nearly screamed. I thought he was a ghost.”
“……He really looked ready to ascend.”
“But what can we do? Even if we beg Chung Myung that stubborn bastard, he won’t listen.”
Just then, Yu I-seol, who had remained silent the entire time, slowly rose to her feet without warning.
“Huh? Sago?”
Without a word, she drew the sword hanging at her waist.
Shick.
“Enemy of the Sect Leader. Kill him.”
“Hey, hey! Catch her! Stop her now!”
Dang Soso and Yoon Jong lunged forward and clung to Yu I-seol as she tried to rush outside.
“Calm down, Sago!”
“You can’t take him alone! Your opponent is Chung Myung!”
“Enemy of the Sect Leader!”
A murderous vein bulged on Yu I-seol’s forehead.
To her, Hyun Jong was not merely the sect’s leader. He was the master of her father’s master, like a grandfather to her, and the benefactor who had saved her when she was a child. Of course she was furious.
“Shameless! Lawless! Arrogant! Insolent! Despicable!”
“……You’re not wrong, but calm down first, Sago.”
Baek Cheon forcibly hauled Yu I-seol back and sat her down. She glared at him and protested with an indignant face.
“I’m calm.”
“Then put the sword away!”
I nearly got stabbed too, damn it!
Baek Cheon, having returned to his seat, let out a long, tired sigh.
“For now…… this isn’t something we can solve among ourselves. If you want to catch a tiger, you have to go into the tiger’s den.”
“Huh?”
Baek Cheon’s eyes flashed a fierce blue light.
“Let’s go confront Chung Myung! If all of us go together, then no matter how much of a brat he is, he’ll at least pretend to listen!”
“……He will?”
No one said it out loud, but their eyes all asked the same question: Why would you think that makes any sense, Sasuk?
But Baek Cheon did not waver. He shouted with firm conviction,
“Jo Gul!”
“Yes, Sasuk! Just say the word! I, Jo Gul, have been waiting for this day. I’ll take that bastard’s throat…….”
“Go and bring Monk Hye Yeon too!”
“……Pardon?”
With a serious expression, Baek Cheon straightened his shoulders and said proudly,
“We need to increase our numbers by at least one more.”
“…….”
“What? Why?”
“……Nothing.”
Everyone shook their heads. Baek Cheon had changed a lot, yes, but adapting to him at moments like this was still hard.
* * *
Sprawled lengthwise on a bench and lazily sipping liquor, Chung Myung looked over at the Five Swords rushing toward him, along with Hye Yeon, whose expression seemed to say, “Where am I? Who am I?”
“What?”
“……No.”
“What are you all doing, coming here in a pack? Got too much time on your hands?”
The people surrounding Chung Myung in a half-circle shot glances at Baek Cheon. Since he was the Sasuk, it meant he should speak. Baek Cheon swore inwardly.
These bastards.
They never treat him with any respect in ordinary times, but the second something like this happens, they suddenly become all polite.
“Ahem. Chung Myung.”
“What.”
“We…… well, we don’t exactly have a huge complaint about the way you’re training us……. No, we always have complaints, but that’s not the same as doubting its usefulness.”
“And?”
Having thrown out his introduction and now watching their reactions, Baek Cheon finally got to the point.
“It seems the Sect Leader and the elders are having a very hard time…… so what if we eased up on the training a little?”
“Right. It’s too much.”
“We’re young, so we can endure it, but the Sect Leader and the elders are already getting on in years!”
Buoyed by Yoon Jong and Jo Gul’s agreement, Baek Cheon added again in a stronger voice,
“If they get seriously injured, it could become irreversible.”
“Dial it back a bit, Sasuk. Please? Just a little!”
“Enemy of the Sect Leader! Mm! Mmmph!”
Yu I-seol, who had tried to draw her sword, was grabbed by Jo Gul, Yoon Jong, and Dang Soso and dragged backward.
Watching the scene, Chung Myung let out a snort of laughter.
“So you’re saying they can’t handle the training?”
“……No, that’s not exactly what we mean, but…….”
“A mouse worrying about a cat.”
“……Huh?”
Chung Myung snickered and gulped down more liquor.
“Ahhh.”
Then he sprang to his feet and sat up on the bench.
“No point saying it a hundred times. You’ll understand when you see it.”
“……What does that mean?”
“By now, it should be just about time for the effect to show.”
“……Huh?”
“Don’t be too shocked when you see it. Heeheeheeheehee.”
Baek Cheon’s face twisted horribly as he watched Chung Myung laugh with obvious delight.
What the hell is that bastard trying to do now…….
How could this sect possibly go even one day without disaster?
At this rate, I’m going to ascend first. Me!
Watching Chung Myung grin like a fool, his chest began pounding with an anxiety he could not even put into words.