No One Can Stop Me! (5)
“Huff! Huff! Huff! Huff!”
Beads of sweat flew on the wind, and damp hair whipped behind him.
Baek Cheon, dressed in immaculate white robes, kept running and running. With every step, his resolve seemed to harden into steel; the faint crease between his brows held nothing but determination—
“Ah, wait! Wait a second!”
“Hm?”
At Baek Sang’s shout, Baek Cheon turned his head back without the slightest drop in speed.
“N-no! Just stop for a moment!”
“Huh?”
Only then did Baek Cheon come to a stop.
The instant he halted, Baek Sang and Dang Soso both collapsed face-first onto the ground where they stood.
“Haaah! Haaah! Haaaah!”
“Good heavens… oh, I’m going to die.”
After gasping for a long while, Baek Sang stared at Baek Cheon with a face full of disbelief.
“No, Sahyung! Who’s chasing us?”
“……”
“Chung Myung isn’t even here, so shouldn’t we just take it easy for once? Why are you running like a foal with its tail on fire?”
At that, Baek Cheon awkwardly wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“Well… it’s become a habit, I suppose.”
Jo Gul and Yoon Jong exchanged awkward looks and nodded in agreement.
“If we go too slowly, I start feeling uneasy.”
“We aren’t dragging anything along, so it somehow feels like we’re being careless… like we should be carrying something.”
Baek Sang was left speechless. All he could do was stare at them as if to say, What on earth is wrong with these people? Yet even so, the three of them were on the better side. Yu I-seol tilted her head, wearing an expression that plainly said, “Why? What’s wrong with going fast?”
No, then doesn’t that make it meaningless to have left Chung Myung behind?
If they were going to act the same way whether he was there or not, then why had they bothered splitting up?
“I know the situation is urgent, but there’s no need to run ourselves into the ground like this.”
“I know. I do, but….”
“Yes?”
Baek Cheon glanced around with a restless look on his face.
“Somehow, if we go slowly, I feel uneasy. I just can’t feel at peace.”
“……”
“I keep thinking we need to get there fast and finish the work quickly.”
Jo Gul nodded vigorously in agreement.
“I don’t know why, but I keep feeling anxious and restless. It’s like someone’s following us from behind.”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
Watching the three of them cast nervous glances around as though they’d come down with some kind of nervous collapse, Baek Sang squeezed his eyes shut.
It’s not like they’ve got some ghost clinging to them.
They had gone to the trouble of leaving Chung Myung behind, and yet these people still had not escaped his shadow in the slightest.
“But Sahyung, if we keep running this hard, I’m going to be done in, and so is Soso. Please, try to take it a little easier….”
“No!”
Then, from below them, a voice rang out, and Baek Sang jumped in alarm.
Dang Soso, who had been lying face-down in the dirt and panting, suddenly snapped her head up and ground her teeth together. The glare in her eyes was so fierce it looked as though even a tiger would tuck its tail and flee.
“We’re going like this!”
“S-Sajae! You’re going to suffocate yourself like that.”
“Then I’ll suffocate.”
Dang Soso clenched her teeth audibly.
“Do you think I don’t know?”
“Hm?”
“That lately you’ve been using me only as a physician and not expecting much from me as a swordswoman!”
Baek Cheon and Yoon Jong both flinched. Her blade-like glare had landed squarely on them.
“Right now I’m just a step behind, but if this keeps up, you know I’ll end up becoming dead weight.”
“Soso. We’ve never once thought of you that way. You are our precious—”
“You think I’m going to let myself be fooled by that act? Keep running! If I can’t run on two feet, I’ll crawl after you. If I have to, I’ll grab onto your hair from behind and drag myself along!”
Baek Cheon shut his mouth and let out a wry smile.
Well. There it was.
Where exactly was there room for warmth in Mount Hua?
“Ugh!”
Dang Soso planted trembling hands on the ground and dragged herself upright. It looked as if fire were bursting out of her eyes.
“Let’s go!”
“No. We should probably rest a little longer before—”
“Don’t worry about me, Sasuk! I’ll cling to you no matter what, so don’t mind me and keep going!”
“N-no. Not you.”
“Huh?”
Dang Soso turned her head to the side.
There was Baek Sang, sitting down with a face that said, Kill me if you want, boil me if you want, but I’m not running another step. Leave me here or drag me along, do what you like.
Dang Soso stared at him with a look of profound contempt.
“What! Why! I’m office staff, okay!”
“……What a bat-like bastard.”
Baek Cheon sighed and muttered under his breath. He was the Finance Hall’s office staff when it suited him and a proud Mount Hua swordsman when it didn’t. Truly a magnificent little opportunist, wasn’t he?
He wasn’t always this bad, was he?
Then again, thinking about it, who in Mount Hua was the same as they used to be? Everyone had changed far too much.
Lost in thought for a moment, Baek Cheon quietly turned his gaze to Yoon Jong.
“Why are you looking at me?”
“No….”
At Yoon Jong’s question, he shook his head lightly.
“I was just thinking the ones left behind in Mount Hua must be having a hard time.”
Yoon Jong let out a small laugh.
“I’m sure they are. There’s no one to stop them, after all. But still, with the Sect Leader and the senior martial uncles there, it shouldn’t come to anything serious.”
“They may not cause any real trouble, but just thinking about how much that bastard will sulk because he wasn’t allowed to come is chilling.”
“Haha. That is true.”
The Mount Hua disciples, who had been smiling at one another, let their awkward smiles fade and cast a glance toward the faraway direction of Mount Hua.
“……Let’s finish this quickly and go back.”
“Yes, Sasuk.”
“Let’s move!”
“A-ah! I told you, let’s rest just a little—”
“Enough whining and get up, you brat. We’re almost there. The Yangtze River is just ahead.”
“……It’s still a full day’s run to get there, though?”
“A day passes in no time.”
“What?”
That was when Baek Sang realized it.
He had never noticed it when Chung Myung was around, but now that Chung Myung was gone, it was crystal clear. Mount Hua’s problem was not just that one bastard Chung Myung.
“Ugh!”
With a pained groan, Baek Sang got to his feet and started running again.
“Huff! Huff! Haaaah! Damn it, I’m really going to die!”
Even while panting for breath, he could feel Baek Sang’s footsteps laboring hard behind him, and Baek Cheon smiled faintly.
“Come on, let’s pick up the pace a little more!”
“Hey, you—!”
Something rough and boisterous seemed to be flying up from behind, but Baek Cheon did not bother paying it any mind.
“It’s the Yangtze River.”
“Mm. So it is.”
Baek Cheon, who had finally made it to the Yangtze River, let out a long breath.
Every time he saw it, the sight was nothing short of magnificent. For the Mount Hua disciples, who had all come from Shaanxi and rarely ever saw a river this vast, the impression was even stronger.
Under normal circumstances, they would have gazed at the immense waterway with pure admiration, but now that same boundless, endless river only filled them with helplessness.
We’re supposed to search this whole place?
It was hopeless.
The Yangtze stretched long enough to cut across half of the Central Plains, and its width was so broad it called the sea to mind. Searching a place this vast with only the people they had was almost impossible.
“Baek Sang.”
“……”
“Baek Sang?”
When no reply came, Baek Cheon turned his head. What he found was not Baek Sang standing at his side and answering briskly as usual, but Baek Sang sprawled on the ground in a starfish shape, convulsing.
“……Are you all right?”
“……If it weren’t for Sahyung, I’d really—”
“Hm?”
“Urgh.”
With obvious effort, Baek Sang pushed himself upright. Then, with his face dust-covered, he replied sourly,
“What is it?”
“……Where exactly was it that they said the Ghost Sect disciples disappeared?”
Baek Sang snapped his head away as if to say, How should I know?
“Didn’t you hear? Somewhere on the Yangtze, wasn’t it?”
Crack.
Slowly, Baek Cheon curled his fist.
Seeing the veins bulge on his once-handsome forehead, Baek Sang hurriedly added,
“I mean… Jiujiang. Yes. They said it was around Jiujiang. They were attacked while crossing near Poyang Lake.”
“……”
“Ah, right! I said Jiujiang. The place where the others disappeared is around here too.”
“Who asked you?”
Baek Cheon released his fist.
Well, it was true Baek Sang had every reason to be angry.
He had been dragged all the way here without even a chance to catch his breath, and then expected to make sense of things on top of that. If he was going to be questioned, at least let him rest a little first. Honestly, what a cold-blooded—
So Baek Cheon studiously ignored Baek Sang’s grumbling, which was little more than a murmur.
“Poyang Lake, then… We’ve come to the right place.”
Squinting at the expanse of water stretched out before them, Baek Cheon narrowed his eyes.
The Yangtze connected to enormous lakes in many places. And those lakes were the perfect hunting grounds for water bandits.
For one thing, because they were lakes, the current wasn’t strong, making it easy for boats to escape. And because the places where water flowed into the lakes were far wider than ordinary rivers, while the lakes themselves were so vast they might as well have been seas, pursuing water bandits was no simple matter either.
“Then we’ll start by searching around Poyang Lake.”
“……Sasuk. It’s too wide. Can we really search this whole place on our own?”
“If we just wander around blindly, we’ll get nowhere.”
At Yoon Jong’s question, Baek Cheon nodded lightly.
“Yoon Jong.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve already sent word to the Beggars’ Union, so ask the Beggars’ Union branch in Jiujiang for support. See if they can check whether anyone has recently brought in injured people.”
“Yes, Sasuk. Understood.”
“Baek Sang, take Jo Gul and ask around through the local merchants. This didn’t happen to us alone. First find out whether any merchants were recently attacked by water bandits.”
“……Sahyung.”
“Hm?”
“I’ll go to the Beggars’ Union. I can’t work with this one.”
At Baek Sang’s words, Jo Gul protested in wounded disbelief.
“No, Sasuk. That’s a terribly hurtful thing to say! How little do you think I usually respect and follow you?”
“You should be grateful this isn’t the age of Confucius. If Confucius saw you, the Three Great Sects of the Central Plains would change from Buddhism, Daoism, and the secular schools to Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism.”
At those words, the same image formed in everyone’s mind: Confucius himself, raising a folding fan and smashing Jo Gul’s skull without mercy. The thought made them all shudder.
That would be an utterly bizarre sight indeed.
“Anyway, if that won’t do, then just send me to the Beggars’ Union alone. No matter how close our alliance with them may be, they’re an intelligence organization. When we had no power and no money, it was fine for them to be lenient with us, but now we should pay a proper price. Since this is a matter of money, I’ll go.”
“Mm.”
“And as for speaking with merchants, Jo Gul, being a merchant’s son, would be better at it than I am….”
“What?”
“No way.”
“Come on, now, that’s a joke.”
At the absurdly dismissive reactions that suddenly came pouring down on him, Baek Sang looked quietly at Jo Gul. Jo Gul had already backed a step away and was staring at the distant mountains, pretending not to notice a thing.
Serves him right.
He felt no pity at all.
“Very well. Let’s do that.”
When Baek Cheon nodded, Jo Gul grumbled and moved to stand beside Yoon Jong.
“Then let Yoon Jong handle that. Sago, take Soso and check with the locals whether they’ve heard any rumors of water bandits around Poyang Lake. In particular, we need to find out whether there are any newly formed bandit dens, not just the old ones.”
“Yes.”
When Yu I-seol answered, Dang Soso immediately pressed herself against her side and linked their arms together, tugging. Yu I-seol’s expressionless body tilted slightly with the pull.
Ordinary villagers might find Yu I-seol a little frightening, but with Dang Soso beside her, she would manage just fine.
“Sasuk. Then where do you plan to go?”
“I….”
Baek Cheon turned his head and looked toward the Yangtze.
“I think I’ll have to go out onto the river myself.”
“Won’t that be dangerous?”
“It never hurts to experience things firsthand. Anyway, time is short, so move out right now. And when you gather information, remember that the first priority is to find the missing people.”
“Yes, Sasuk!”
“Yes, Sahyung.”
“Let’s move.”
As the Mount Hua disciples dispersed, Baek Cheon slowly turned and looked again toward the Yangtze.
Something feels off.
He had an ominous feeling that the situation might be even worse than they had thought.
“We’ll know once we check.”
Baek Cheon started walking slowly toward the river.
Was it because they were all exhausted? Or because Chung Myung’s absence had left their concentration scattered?
None of the Mount Hua disciples noticed the dark gaze watching them from afar.
None of them did.