No One Can Stop Me! (4)
With a cup of tea in one hand, Hyun Jong slowly stepped outside and settled down on the wooden porch.
Somewhere in the distance, birds sang from the mountain, and a cool breeze brushed against his fingertips.
Holding the steaming teacup, Hyun Jong gazed up at the far-off sky with a benevolent expression.
How peaceful.
It was a pure and tranquil place. Today’s Mount Hua seemed to suit that phrase perfectly; the crisp, clear air had settled over the silent depths of the mountains.
Even Hyun Jong’s heart was sinking into a rare and genuine calm...
Huh?
Wait a moment.
Calm?
Hyun Jong’s head tilted slightly to the side.
It’s peaceful?
Mount Hua?
His head snapped around. Even after listening again, all he could hear were birdsong.
No booming cries from the disciples, no familiar screams of people on the verge of death.
It was so quiet it felt as though Mount Hua had been emptied out completely.
This isn’t peaceful.
No, it was eerie. This enormous Mount Hua was as quiet as the grave.
This can’t be right.
Of course, Mount Hua wasn’t always noisy. When that brat Chung Myung took the disciples out, there were still moments of quiet now and then, even if not to this extent.
But Chung Myung was here right now, wasn’t he?
Chung Myung and silence were about as compatible as oil and water, or the sun and the moon rising together in the same sky.
Th-there’s no way...
Hyun Jong, gooseflesh rising over his body, shot to his feet.
“That brat didn’t sneak out of Mount Hua, did he?”
Just in case, he had stationed multiple people to keep watch. The people left in Mount Hua might not be able to stop that monster outright, but they could at least tell if he had slipped away. If anything had happened, someone would have already come to report it.
“...Then he didn’t leave Mount Hua.”
After a brief thought, Hyun Jong’s face hardened.
“No. No, I need to see for myself.”
He threw down his teacup, no longer caring about peace or silence, and hurried off. In an instant, he stormed into Baekmae Hall and flung the door open.
The Cheong-generation disciples who had gathered in the living room and were whispering among themselves jumped in shock at the sight of Hyun Jong.
“S-Sect Leader!”
But that only lasted for a moment. Soon they all rushed at him with tears welling in their eyes.
“Sect Leadeeer!”
“Sect Leadeeeer! We’re terrified! Please do something!”
“I’m so scared I can’t digest anything!”
Flustered, Hyun Jong widened his eyes and asked, “What happened?”
“Chung Myung! Chung Myung is acting strange.”
“He looks like he’s on medicine!”
“He looks like he’ll die any second!”
“What?”
What on earth was that supposed to mean? On medicine and about to die?
“W-Where is Chung Myung?”
“In his room...”
“Move aside!”
Shocked, Hyun Jong rushed up the stairs.
“Chung Myung!”
He threw open Chung Myung’s door, then immediately flinched and staggered back.
“W-What... w-what is this...”
His mouth gaped open.
The room was absurdly clean. So clean it was hard to believe that brat Chung Myung even existed inside it.
And sitting in that spotless room was Chung Myung, dressed neatly from head to toe, not a speck of dirt on him.
“Ah, Sect Leader.”
“W-What?”
“You’re here.”
Seeing Hyun Jong, he rose and bowed with perfect formality.
That made Hyun Jong’s face go even paler.
He was bowing properly?
That brat Chung Myung?
Hadn’t he always tilted his head at such a sharp angle that people had begun to suspect he literally couldn’t bend his neck forward? And now he was greeting someone with such proper posture?
And so respectfully?
This is creepy.
A chill ran down his spine.
If anyone else had done that, he would have been overjoyed and thought, At last, this kid’s grown up. But Chung Myung wasn’t exactly a normal person, was he?
“W-What are you doing?”
“I was reflecting on myself for a moment, Sect Leader.”
Reflecting on himself?
You?
No way! I’m already busy running around like mad, okay? Reflection? Self-refle—what was that word? If you’ve got time for that, you should be swinging a sword one more time! By now the bastards from Zhongnan and Wudang are probably sharpening their blades too!
...He definitely used to say that.
Did I hear him wrong?
Hyun Jong blinked several times, then looked at the book spread open beside Chung Myung.
“What is that?”
“Ah, this is...”
Chung Myung lifted the book and answered politely.
“The Dao De Jing.”
“...What?”
“The Dao De Jing, Sect Leader.”
There were many things that looked out of place in Chung Myung’s hands, but if one had to choose the single least fitting object, it would unquestionably have been either a Daoist classic or a Buddhist sutra.
And yet there the Dao De Jing was, in Chung Myung’s hands.
“W-What on earth are you planning to do with that...?”
He wasn’t trying to burn Baekmae Hall down, was he?
Then Chung Myung spoke. His voice was truly solemn.
“I think I’ve been too careless in my cultivation these past few days. Mount Hua is a Daoist sect, is it not?”
“Th-that’s... right?”
“As a disciple of a Daoist sect, that is, as a Daoist priest, I should not have neglected the Dao while focusing only on the sword. I finally understand what has been lacking in me, Sect Leader.”
Let it be said again: if any other disciple had said this, Hyun Jong would have wept with joy.
But when those words came out of Chung Myung’s mouth, they didn’t inspire joy so much as send chills skittering over his whole body and twist his innards into knots.
It would be less bizarre to see an asura risen from hell gently petting a kitten and smiling, calling it cute. What in the world was this ridiculous nonsense?
“You actually looked at it?”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
“...Chung Myung.”
“Yes.”
Hyun Jong’s face contorted miserably as he raised his voice a little.
“N-No matter what you’re trying to do, I’m not going to let you go. There’s no need to put on this act!”
It was clearly a scheme.
He was pretending to behave just to get Hyun Jong to lower his guard so he could run after the Five Swords at the first opportunity.
But contrary to Hyun Jong’s expectations, Chung Myung only shook his head calmly.
“No, Sect Leader. Please don’t misunderstand this disciple’s intentions.”
What’s with that tone? Just go back to calling everyone bastards like usual, damn it!
“Then you’re saying you don’t intend to follow them?”
“The beginning of the Dao lies with people.”
“......”
“And the beginning of a sect can be said to lie in trust.”
“Uh...”
It was frightening.
It was so unnerving that Hyun Jong actually felt his knees weaken. Those were the sort of words Yoon Jong would say when he was being serious, yet now they were coming out of Chung Myung’s mouth.
“If I truly care for Mount Hua, I should have trusted my martial siblings. But I trusted only my own meager talents and failed to trust them.”
“......”
“Only now does this foolish disciple understand the Sect Leader’s profound intention. Letting go of attachment is the beginning of the Dao. Seeing that I had not yet let go of my attachments, the Sect Leader enlightened me. How could this disciple ever repay such kindness...”
“S-Stop! Stop!”
In the end, Hyun Jong could not bear it any longer. He rushed forward and grabbed Chung Myung’s hands tightly.
“Ch-Chung Myung! I was wrong! Don’t do this!”
“I don’t know what you mean, Sect Leader. This too must be your way of teaching me...”
“D-Don’t dooooo it!”
Hyun Jong, who had just come face-to-face with a fear he had never experienced in his life, was defeated at last.
Time passed.
...
Hyun Jong stared at Chung Myung with hollowed eyes.
He had thought it would stop after a little while.
If Chung Myung was only pretending, his true intentions would show through sooner or later. People did not change so easily.
But even after three full days had passed, Chung Myung remained exactly as strange as before.
Swish, swish, swish.
Chung Myung was sweeping the ground in front of the mountain gate when the Cheong-generation disciples came rushing over in a heap.
“Ch-Chung Myung, stop this! We’ll do it!”
“What are you talking about, martial brothers? I’m the youngest in Mount Hua, so of course I should do it.”
“Y-You’re not the youngest! It’s So-so!”
“So-so isn’t in Mount Hua right now, is she? So by rank, it’s proper that I do the menial work.”
“Ch-Chung Myung...”
“If my martial brothers have anything you want me to do, just tell me.”
“Us?”
“Yes, martial brothers.”
“You?”
“Yes. Is something strange?”
The Cheong-generation disciples writhed in anguish, unable to decide whether to laugh or cry.
Just hit us, please! Please!
Why are you torturing people like this? You really do have endless ways of making people miserable!
I feel sick. This indigestion won’t go away.
And the faces of the elder generation watching that scene were twisted just as strangely.
“What in...”
Hyun Sang, uncharacteristically hesitant, finally spoke.
“Could he be sick?”
“......”
“Maybe the shock was so great it scrambled his head.”
“Watch your words! Scrambled? He’s perfectly straight and fine!”
“...Have you considered that might be the problem?”
“What problem? It’s good if a child straightens up.”
Hyun Young, who would probably still call Chung Myung cute even if he ripped out all his own beard hair and made a wig out of it, seemed unable to see the abnormality before him.
Straightened up.
A faint look of despair entered Hyun Jong’s exhausted eyes.
Turning Chung Myung into a proper person had been his greatest goal and task as the Sect Leader of Mount Hua. But it was also something so difficult that, perhaps even more than restoring Mount Hua to its former glory, he had never dared to truly aim for it.
And Hyun Jong did not know it, but making Chung Myung into a proper human being had been the greatest objective not only in his generation, but in every previous generation of Mount Hua as well.
Yet now...
Seeing this ultimate, once-unthinkable task accomplished before his eyes, Hyun Jong did not feel nearly as happy or rewarded as he had expected.
It feels like staring at a thunderclap with a lit fuse.
No, it felt more like he was holding the thunderclap in his own hands.
“Ahem. He does seem a little lacking in energy.”
“He does, doesn’t he? You see it too, right?”
“Maybe we should brew him some tonic...”
“...”
In the end, Hyun Sang turned his head away. Chung Myung was one thing, but he now also felt that this one was a serious problem too.
“Sect Leader.”
After a sigh, Hyun Sang looked at Hyun Jong.
“Wouldn’t it be better to send him after all, even now...”
“Th-that won’t do.”
“Yes, Chung Myung does cause trouble, but his trouble has never actually harmed Mount Hua, has it?”
“It isn’t simply because Chung Myung makes things bigger. Think about it. If I stepped down and Unam or Baek Cheon became Sect Leader, wouldn’t they start deferring every single decision to Chung Myung?”
Just imagining that scene made Hyun Jong scowl.
Even Hyun Jong himself was already wavering whenever he had to make a decision without Chung Myung’s opinion. How much worse would it be for those younger and lower in rank?
“Though if he became the Sect Leader, that’d be another matter.”
“Eh?”
“What?”
“...No, I meant maybe, not that I’d make him do it.”
“Phew. I thought for a second...”
“I thought the Sect Leader had finally resolved to ruin Mount Hua this time for real.”
Seeing even Hyun Young say that, it truly seemed like this was not a matter to be taken lightly.
“In any case, since that isn’t happening, someone else has to hold Mount Hua together as Sect Leader. To do that, they need to be able to make important decisions without Chung Myung around, so this is practice. Especially Baek Cheon must learn to do that before Unam does.”
“...So that’s why you didn’t send Chung Myung.”
“Exactly. Baek Cheon will understand my intention too.”
With a resolute face, Hyun Jong looked up at the distant sky.
He’ll do well.
It wasn’t as though he wasn’t worried about sending them out without Chung Myung. Even now, he couldn’t fully relax, thinking of the disciples he had sent away...
“Chung Myuuuuung!”
“We’re cleaning Baekmae Hall, I said! Please! Please put that rag down!”
“Ah, I told you not to dooooo that!”
But, children.
Sorry, but...
things are more of a disaster here.
Come back quickly.
Please...