No One Can Stop Me! (2)
“Grrr. This is mutiny.”
Chung Myung’s face twisted of its own accord.
“Aigoo, what a miserable fate I have. Now I’m in the position of being bossed around by a bunch of bright-eyed descendants and not even allowed to come and go as I please. Ohhh, woe is me!”
After grumbling for a good while, he suddenly spun around to look at Cheong Jin’s grave.
“Hey, what do you think?”
A grave couldn’t answer. Cheong Jin’s grave could only sit there in silence….
“What, you not gonna answer, you bastard? You zoning out on me?”
If Cheong Jin were watching this from the Immortal Realm, he would probably be frothing at the mouth and hurling every curse he knew. Of course, since he was one of the people who knew Chung Myung best, he might be grateful Chung Myung wasn’t kicking the grave itself.
“Agh! I—damn it, this—ugh!”
Chung Myung couldn’t even put the mess in his head into words and could only keep groaning miserably.
Come to think of it, wasn’t Hyun Jong a descendant so distant it might as well be a different world?
No matter that he was the sect leader of Mount Hua, if the legendary Plum Blossom Sword Saint himself stood in front of him, the proper etiquette was to flatten yourself against the ground first and ask questions later.
And yet here he was, Chung Myung, being kept from doing what he wanted because of Hyun Jong’s order. What in the world could be stranger than that?
“Hngh. Everyone’s grown too big.”
Back then, what had it been? Everyone had just been innocent little fools, singing “Chung Myung, Chung Myung,” over and over….
“Ugh… that’s creepy, too.”
Chung Myung let out a long sigh.
“Hngh. It’s good that everyone’s started having opinions and all, but… if I just go along with all of them, I won’t be able to do anything myself….”
What exactly is there to do, other than cause trouble?
“What the hell was that? Whose side are you on?”
Haha. Not yours, obviously, if I’m human.
“Hey! The two of you, stop teaming up on me!”
It was enough to make his blood boil when one of them chimed in; now there were two of them at it!
Should he perform an exorcism or something?
“Hngh. No, this isn’t the real problem.”
Chung Myung folded his arms.
He had spoken lightly, but this was actually a sensitive issue.
Was he to respect the current Hyun Jong as the sect leader, or regard him as a descendant and lead him forward?
Until now, he had kept a rough middle ground. There were things he needed to guide, but he also had to respect the Hyun generation elders who had devoted their whole lives to protecting Mount Hua in his absence.
But he had a bad feeling that collisions like this would only happen more and more from now on.
“What am I supposed to do….”
Lost in thought, Chung Myung stared up at the sky, and the corner of his mouth slowly twitched.
“Whatever. I’ll think about that later!”
He shot to his feet.
“Not this time. No one can stop me!”
The grave, now overgrown with a thin patch of grass, silently watched as Chung Myung skipped merrily down the mountain.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“What?”
Why wasn’t it there?
“I definitely left it here.”
Chung Myung flung the contents of the wardrobe out one after another. There wasn’t much in it to begin with—just a few sets of Mount Hua robes—so before long, the closet was already empty.
“That can’t be right.”
His pupils trembled.
“Did I… put it somewhere else? Is my memory already going bad? At my young, blooming age?”
If you counted both lifetimes together, he was old enough for senility to be expected, but this body was supposed to be brand-new(?), wasn’t it? And yet he was already forgetting things….
“Looking for this?”
Whip!
At the sudden voice, Chung Myung jumped and turned around.
There, standing at the doorway, were familiar faces led by Baek Cheon. In Baek Cheon’s hand dangled a pitch-black garment.
“My, my night clothes!”
“Your intentions are obvious. Confiscated.”
“Confiscated?”
At the word he had never expected to hear, Chung Myung’s eyes spun.
Confiscated? His things?
He was so shocked his mouth practically fell open.
Across both lifetimes, Chung Myung had stolen from others plenty of times, but he had never once had his own belongings taken away. And now they were talking about confiscation?
“Sasuk.”
“What.”
“Looks like you’ve lost your edge.”
“I know that, you bastard! That’s why I’m doing this!”
Baek Cheon’s face twisted with irritation as he barked at him.
“Don’t play dumb. The sect leader told you not to go, so how exactly do you think sneaking after us in night clothes is supposed to solve anything, huh?”
While Chung Myung stood there, dumbfounded and searching for words, Jo Gul snorted with laughter.
“See? I told you this would happen.”
“...Hmm. Good work.”
Yoon Jong, unusually enough, reached out and patted Jo Gul on the head. Jo Gul’s face promptly lit up with smug satisfaction.
Baek Cheon looked ready to shoot fire from his eyes, while Yu I-seol stood beside him with equal resolve. Baek Cheon said sternly,
“No matter what you did before, I tolerated it!”
“Ah, Sasuk. That wasn’t tolerance, that was just being unable to lay a hand on me….”
Clench.
“...No. Yes, right, tolerance. Yes, that’s what it was.”
The moment Yoon Jong’s hand, which had been gently stroking him, closed around Jo Gul’s head, Jo Gul hastily changed his answer.
“But this time, no! Even if it’s you, you can’t ignore the sect leader’s order! You’re the one who said if a sect turns upside down, everything goes to hell, weren’t you? A man shouldn’t say one thing with one mouth and another with the second.”
“...I say three things with one mouth, though?”
“....”
No, seriously. That wasn’t something to brag about, and yet he kept saying it like it was.
“No, Sasuk!”
“What!”
“Do you really think things will go fine without me?”
“They might go to ruin.”
“Then why are you doing this? In that case, you should be helping me convince the sect leader, too….”
“And yet!”
Baek Cheon cut him off decisively.
“Sometimes failure is better than success. Better to suffer a painful failure while obeying the sect leader’s will than to force a success by ignoring it; for the sake of Mount Hua, that is the better path!”
Chung Myung flinched and took a step back before he realized it.
Even the world’s Chung Myung couldn’t find a rebuttal to that flawless logic.
“Even if you die because you weren’t taken along, I will not regret it!”
“R-really?”
“...”
For a moment, Baek Cheon lost the thread and his lips moved as if he wanted to say something.
At that, the Mount Hua Five Swords in the back began whispering among themselves.
Looks like you’ll regret it anyway.
Honestly, of course he would. Does that even need to be said?
Geez, at least keep up the bravado within reason….
Baek Cheon shot them a glare with bloodshot eyes, and the Cheong generation disciples instantly stiffened and looked away.
“...Of course I might regret it. But that doesn’t change the fact that this choice is right! So stop resisting and obey the sect leader’s decision.”
“What the hell….”
Yoon Jong backed Baek Cheon up.
“Yes. This time, it would be best to do as Sasuk says.”
Jo Gul quickly took Yoon Jong’s side as well.
“Yeah, you bastard! No matter how you look at it, the sect leader gave the order. You can’t just ignore that and still expect to go around telling the rest of us to listen, can you? Have some conscience.”
Yu I-seol also frowned and added,
“You’ll get scolded.”
“....”
“A lot.”
Slowly, the spirit drained right out of Chung Myung.
So it wasn’t just the Hyun generation causing trouble.
Now even the bright-eyed Baek generation and Cheong generation were ganging up on him, one after another.
Sasuk! Sect Leader Sasuk!
And you expect me to just take this lying down? Huh? Me—the Plum Blossom Sword Saint, Chung Myung—being treated like this by a bunch of greenhorns…!
The sect leader’s order means you obey, you brat! If you spent your past life looking down on him, maybe this time you should at least listen a little!
“When the hell did I look down on him? I did everything I was told!”
“Why are you suddenly shouting?”
“...Ah, no, that’s not it.”
Just as Chung Myung hurriedly tried to say something, flustered, Baek Cheon brought the matter to a firm close.
“In any case, this time absolutely not. If you secretly follow us, we will stop moving immediately and return to Mount Hua. And if you still ignore the sect leader’s command and go to the Yangtze by yourself after that, I will personally request that the sect leader lock you in the Chamber of Repentance for an entire year!”
“What? Sasuk, have you lost your mind?”
“I’m saying this because I haven’t lost my mind, because I haven’t! It’s you who’s crazy! Ignoring the order given by the leader of your own sect however you please! Don’t you even know what betraying teacher and ancestors means?”
“B-betraying teacher and ancestors?”
“Yes, betraying teacher and ancestors!”
Chung Myung was now so furious he felt like his insides were being rubbed raw.
You bastards….
What you’re doing now is betraying teacher and ancestors. You people are the ones betraying teacher and ancestors….
Good heavens.
“I won’t say this twice! Stop wasting time and stay here like good little disciples!”
Leaving the utterly dazed Chung Myung behind, Baek Cheon turned away as coldly as he could.
Yoon Jong quickly followed and whispered,
“Will he be all right?”
“This was something he had to learn. By now, even that bastard should be able to tell the difference between what he wants to do and what he has to protect.”
Baek Cheon strode off decisively, though he kept stealing little glances back over his shoulder, as if he couldn’t quite stop worrying.
“Well, he’s not the sort to get crushed by this.”
The Five Swords shrugged and left Chung Myung’s room. Soon after, the other Cheong generation disciples, who had been too intimidated to step outside their own rooms, began to trickle out one by one and peer toward Chung Myung’s room.
Seeing Chung Myung sitting motionless on the edge of the bed as if his soul had left his body, they clicked their tongues and offered a comment or two before moving on.
“Looks like Chung Myung’s finally hit his limit.”
“Yeah, I guess it was about time he ran out of steam.”
“It’s really only Sasuk now. We should all get closer to Sasuk early.”
“Come to think of it, the next sect leader is Baek Cheon Sasuk or Yoon Jong Sa-hyung anyway. When you think about it, that guy doesn’t really have power to begin with.”
“Huh? Why didn’t I realize that until now?”
Sahyung. Sect Leader Sahyung….
The kids really have grown up. They really have….
And yet why…
Why am I tearing up?
Heh. Heh-heh-heh.
Mount Hua. Yes, Mount Hua Sect….
Go straight to hell! Damn it all!
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Then we’ll be on our way, Sect Leader.”
“Y-yes.”
Hyun Jong nodded heavily, then looked at the disciples lined up before him.
Baek Cheon, Yu I-seol, Baek Sang, Yoon Jong, Jo Gul, Dang Soso, and even Hye Yeon.
It was a familiar group, if there ever was one. Whenever trouble arose, these were the Mount Hua disciples who… no, these were the Mount Hua disciples and one disciple from another sect who would go out on such journeys together.
And yet why…
Why does it feel so unfamiliar?
Only one person was missing, and yet somehow his heart felt unsettled, unable to calm itself.
“Th-there’s, um, a matter….”
Hyun Jong stumbled over his words as if trying to find something to say, then couldn’t help looking around.
Where did he go?
Why couldn’t he even see the bastard’s shadow?
Honestly, if he could at least see that sulky face, he might feel a little better. But this guy was obviously seriously offended and hadn’t even bothered to show his face here.
Giving up, Hyun Jong composed his expression and looked at the disciples.
“As you know, this matter is… extremely sensitive, so….”
“Yes, Sect Leader. We will watch carefully and then watch even more carefully to make sure nothing goes wrong.”
“Good.”
Baek Cheon’s firm, resolute face should have filled him with complete confidence… and yet somehow it didn’t.
Hyun Jong almost bit his index fingernail without thinking.
“A-and if any problem comes up, don’t try to solve it yourselves—run immediately.”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
“The water bandits are treacherous beyond measure. Stay on guard at all times.”
“Yes.”
“And absolutely do not try to handle everything among yourselves. I’ve already informed the Beggars’ Sect, so report your situation regularly, and if anything happens, request support at once.”
“...Yes.”
“Eat properly. If the water doesn’t agree with you, you may get stomach trouble, so be careful what you drink, and also, if you catch a local illness….”
“At this rate, dawn will break before you finish!”
“...Oh. Right.”
In the end, it was Hyun Young’s irritation that burst out, and Hyun Jong gave a small nod.
Ever since earlier, his face had kept growing hot and his heart had been pounding, and he simply couldn’t settle down. It felt almost as though he were sending disciples out for the first time all over again.
“Sect Leader, please don’t worry. We will be cautious, and cautious again! Please trust us.”
“Yes.”
Hyun Jong shut his eyes tightly. If his disciples said such things, how could he, as sect leader, not trust them?
“Be careful on your way.”
“Yes, Sect Leader!”
After bowing in unison to Hyun Jong, they turned and left through the mountain gate.
“Take care, Sa-hyung!”
“Be careful!”
“Come back healthy! And give those water bandits a good beating!”
Baek Cheon glanced back and nodded, then finally looked around once more.
“...I don’t see him.”
“Looks like he’s not here.”
“He isn’t secretly trailing behind us, is he?”
“Come on. We already said that much—he wouldn’t go that far.”
Baek Cheon let out a quiet sigh.
This is our first trip without Chung Myung.
It was true that he was tense, but he had to do his best. This was their chance to prove that they could stand on their own even without that bastard Chung Myung.
Don’t be too hurt, you punk.
Taking Mount Hua’s scenery into his eyes, Baek Cheon turned his head and stepped forward with determination.
“Let’s go!”
“Yes!”
The disciples of Mount Hua marched out through the mountain gate with all the dignity they could muster.