The Disciple Is Fine! (3)
“...Did he go?”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
Hyun Jong let out a long sigh.
“Ugh. He gets harder to handle by the day.”
At that grumble, Hyun Young snorted.
“Chung Myung hasn’t changed one bit, past or present. It’s just that Sect Leader’s expectations of him keep getting higher.”
“...Is that so?”
Hyun Jong seemed to consider it for a moment, then nodded in reluctant agreement.
It was true.
The old Hyun Jong had never expected anything from Chung Myung. He had only been a pretty little kid who had come to Mount Hua of his own volition and asked to become a disciple.
But now everyone, even without saying it out loud, expected Chung Myung to do something for them, to take care of something for them. And Hyun Jong was no different.
“Sect Leader. I think you may have gone a little too far this time.”
Then Hyun Sang spoke cautiously.
“You told the children not to go with them for their own sake, and then this time you told him to go help. From Chung Myung’s point of view, it would be hard not to be dumbfounded.”
“I know.”
Hyun Jong exhaled again, weariness etched across his face.
“But I’m not some great man, am I?”
“...Sect Leader.”
“I did my best to find the best path for everyone, but my heart didn’t keep up.”
“Even so, this matter is...”
“Was I not being unreasonable?”
“Pardon?”
Hyun Sang asked back, unable to make sense of the sudden remark, and Hyun Jong replied with a bitter smile.
“I have never once seen that boy truly rest.”
“...”
At those words, Hyun Sang and Hyun Young’s expressions stiffened slightly.
“When we started dawn training this time, I realized it all over again. That boy begins training earliest in Mount Hua and ends it latest. During the day, he watches over the children’s training, handles matters with the other sects whenever he can, and even oversees nearly all of Mount Hua’s businesses, does he not?”
Hyun Young thought it through one by one, then nodded.
“That’s true.”
There were people handling the practical work, yes, but without Chung Myung, none of it moved at all.
“Even if others were to divide up that work, ten people wouldn’t be enough. In a situation like that, if we keep relying on him for every matter outside the sect, when is Chung Myung supposed to rest?”
“...”
Hyun Young opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again.
It became so natural that I didn’t even realize how serious it was.
Looking back, the work Chung Myung was carrying was far beyond what one person should ever have to handle.
And yet the reason they had never treated that as truly serious was probably because his responsibilities had increased little by little until they reached this point, and because of the carefree look Chung Myung always wore.
No one would look at him lying on the eaves, sipping wine, and think he was living a life so frantic he didn’t have time to breathe.
“We have to learn to do our own work—us, and the children too—without depending on Chung Myung. This isn’t for Mount Hua. It’s for Chung Myung.”
“...When did you start thinking that?”
“When I saw him running back and forth to the Finance Hall even while learning the divine art.”
“...”
“Learning a divine art is important enough that, from a martial artist’s point of view, it demands everything you have. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And yet that boy, who should have been pouring everything into his own martial arts, tried to take care of Mount Hua’s every little matter at the same time. I don’t think that is right.”
Something was certainly twisted here.
There was no one in this place who didn’t know just how deep Chung Myung’s affection for Mount Hua ran.
But to Hyun Jong, that affection had become something excessive, beyond common sense. In fact, lately it had seemed to grow even worse.
Ever since he sorted through the legacy left by our ancestors, he’s been trying to see more, take in more.
If anyone else changed like that, it would be a welcome thing. But not Chung Myung. The things he was doing were already too much.
“Was that also part of why you didn’t send Chung Myung?”
“The fact that he pays especially close attention to the people who went out this time is something everyone knows. I thought that if I kept him a little farther away, Chung Myung would be able to look after himself as well. And if we gradually increased that sort of thing and repeated it, I thought Chung Myung might be able to find a little peace.”
“Sect Leader...”
Hyun Sang gazed at Hyun Jong, his face growing a little darker.
As someone who held the position of elder, he should have understood Hyun Jong better than anyone, yet even he had failed to grasp this much.
“Then...”
That was when Hyun Young tilted his head.
“Why did you send Chung Myung again? I mean, if it came to that, why not send him with the main force?”
“...I have a bad feeling.”
“Pardon?”
Hyun Jong’s expression hardened.
“It’s true that water bandits sometimes captured people and sold them as slaves, but how many times have they ever seized an entire ship like this?”
“...”
“If such things had happened before, we would have known. This is beyond the level of what can be tolerated. The whole world would have heard of it, and the authorities would have been tearing their hair out trying to wipe out the bandits.”
“Then Sect Leader thinks this was not done simply for money?”
“I can’t sit here and foresee everything that happens on the Yangtze River. But this time, something feels off. If we’re careless, the children who went to the river may be placed in grave danger.”
“So...”
The two elders’ expressions darkened further. Hyun Jong continued in a low voice.
“For now it’s only a concern, but the feeling is poor, so hurry the preparations for the expedition. We have to leave as soon as possible.”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
Leaving the sect empty and leading the disciples out was not as easy as it sounded. There was much to prepare, and above all they had to make sure Mount Hua’s affairs kept running smoothly even with so many disciples absent.
But time was short now. For the moment, they had no choice but to send Chung Myung ahead.
Is it still too difficult?
Hyun Jong slowly closed his eyes.
If it were Chung Myung, he would probably have guessed at the thoughts behind this decision. Even so, his sulking would have been his own protest that the time wasn’t right yet.
But Chung Myung...
A sect could never become a person’s entire life.
It was a good thing that Mount Hua grew famous and excellent thanks to Chung Myung. But the most ideal direction Hyun Jong could imagine was not Mount Hua becoming great because of Chung Myung, but Chung Myung finding peace because of Mount Hua.
In the end, Hyun Jong couldn’t help but let out a sigh.
How difficult.
It was still an unbearably difficult road. For now, at least.
“But someday, it’s something that has to be done. Even for his sake.”
Shaking his head, Hyun Jong looked toward the south. Worry filled his eyes.
I hope nothing happens.
As his heart grew heavier and heavier, a long breath slipped out of him.
* * *
Fwaaaaaaah!
Chung Myung’s speed as he ran without stopping was truly monstrous.
It was beyond anything he had shown when leading the Five Swords in the past. He crossed mountains in a single step and leaped over rivers in two.
“Haa, haa, haa! M-Mount Hua Divine Dragon! Let’s go together!”
The face of Do Un-chan, the leader of the Ghost Sect, who was following behind him, had already gone pale as paper.
Is this even real?
The Ghost Sect might be weak in martial prowess, but its footwork was known as unmatched under heaven, and Do Un-chan himself was the sect leader of that very Ghost Sect.
So naturally, when it came to footwork, he had confidence that he wouldn’t lose to anyone. In terms of movement arts, maybe only the Beggars’ Union’s Thousand-Mile Beggar, said to be the greatest in the world, could be faster than him.
But right now, just keeping up with Chung Myung, who was running ahead, was a struggle. His breathing had already rushed to the tip of his throat, and it felt as though his dantian was turning upside down.
How is this possible...
It was absurdly fast.
But what was even more shocking was that he had maintained that terrifying speed without the slightest wavering from the moment he set off until now.
How deep must his internal energy be...?
Of course, the fame of the Mount Hua Divine Dragon now shook the Four Seas.
He was no longer classified as some mere junior expert. By now, everyone in the martial world knew the famous story that the Mount Hua Divine Dragon had fought and defeated a Mount Wudang elder in a spar with Wudang.
So there had never been any doubt about his martial prowess, but even taking that into account, this far exceeded his expectations.
“M-Mount Hua Div— Mount Hua Divine Dragon!”
After calling out several times in a row, Chung Myung, who had been running like lightning, finally twisted his head around.
“What?”
“P-Please slow down just a little... Y-You’re too fast!”
“This?”
Chung Myung tilted his head as if he genuinely didn’t understand.
“I’m already holding back for your sake, Sect Leader.”
“...T-This is you holding back?”
Looking at Do Un-chan, whose face was now completely drained of color, Chung Myung shrugged.
“Sorry, but I’m kind of busy right now.”
“...”
“Anyway, our destination’s the same, so let’s just meet there.”
“...Pardon?”
“See you.”
Chung Myung smiled brightly, waved a hand, and then shot forward at a speed even greater than before, vanishing into the distance.
“M-Mount Hua! Divi—”
He tried to shout something after him, but Chung Myung had already become a speck and disappeared.
“...Is he even human?”
Do Un-chan, who had stopped dead from the shock, stared toward the direction Chung Myung had gone and muttered in a daze.
* * *
“How did it go?”
“...It’s much the same.”
Baek Cheon frowned slightly.
They had already been investigating for several days, but nothing of note had turned up.
“And the merchants?”
Yoon Jong let out a small sigh, then shook his head.
“The same. It feels like the number of water bandits has increased somewhat recently, but there don’t seem to be any known incidents of them harming people. There was a ship that vanished completely not long ago, and an investigation has been opened over that, but there are no other signs.”
“Vanished?”
“Ships sinking is something that happens from time to time, isn’t it? If a ship sinks in the middle of the Yangtze, even the most skilled swimmer among the crew can’t make it back to shore.”
“Hmm.”
It was unfortunate, certainly, but not something worth focusing on at this point.
Baek Cheon gave a faint groan and looked at Dang Soso.
“And the common people as well?”
“Yes. It doesn’t seem like there’s been any robbery or anything like that. They live by the Yangtze, but most of them farm along the riverbank or go out fishing, and their pockets are empty enough that the water bandits don’t seem interested in them either.”
“I see.”
Come to think of it, that was only natural.
Bandits didn’t prey on commoners. In the first place, the people who crossed mountains with travel money for a long journey weren’t really commoners anymore. Ordinary commoners rarely ever left the places they were born.
By that logic, it was obvious why water bandits wouldn’t bother the common folk living along the riverbank. There was nothing to be gained by robbing them anyway.
Why would they bother stripping the poor ashore when money-laden people were already sailing by all over the river?
“What about rumors of their lairs?”
“That part seems unclear too. Even though it’s the Yangtze, there are so many rough areas around it that there aren’t many places where people actually live.”
“Right.”
The Yangtze was famous for its magnificent scenery. Which meant, in other words, that it was full of harsh, uninhabitable terrain.
“The water bandits pick those rough places to set up their lairs, and apparently they regularly load up their household goods onto boats and move around.”
“So there isn’t really a fixed base to speak of.”
“Yes. That seems to be the case.”
This was more troublesome than expected. Not only was it impossible to identify which lair had targeted the escort ship, they couldn’t even determine the lair’s location in the first place.
I thought they’d be like mountain bandits, but I was completely wrong.
Then again, if he thought about it the other way around, the reason they had been able to find and strike the mountain bandit stronghold so easily was probably because Im So-byeong had been on their side.
“What does the Beggars’ Union say?”
“Even the Beggars’ Union’s information doesn’t seem to reach onto the river. They say they have no way of knowing what happens out on the waterways.”
“...Huh?”
Baek Sang scratched the back of his head apologetically.
“Well... if you think about it, it’s actually obvious. The Beggars’ Union’s intelligence comes from beggars spread all across the Middle Kingdom, but what beggar is going to travel by boat?”
Baek Cheon, struck dumb, looked at Baek Sang and then sighed.
“...Yes, now that you mention it, that makes sense.”
His head ached.
“I wondered why the water bandits were sometimes attacking not only merchant ships but government vessels too, and still no one could wipe them out.”
Finding a lair that kept shifting around in this vast Yangtze was like finding a needle in a desert.
What do we do?
They had failed even to find the trace of the missing ship.
If they searched this much and still found nothing, then there were only two possibilities: the ship had truly sunk and everyone drowned, or the people aboard had been taken prisoner and dragged off to a lair.
To find out which, they needed to identify the lair that had attacked the escort ship and confirm its base.
“Senior Brother.”
“Hmm?”
Then Yoon Jong said with a serious expression,
“I think this won’t work if we keep doing it this way.”
“...”
“Is it even possible to find water bandits who move between land and river in the first place?”
At that, Jo Gul, who had been listening quietly, interlaced his fingers behind his head and grumbled.
“Tch. If I were rich, the water bandits would come find me on their own just because I’d be riding a boat. Since I’m broke, I have to go looking for them.”
Then suddenly Baek Cheon shot Jo Gul a look and asked quickly,
“What did you just say?”
“I said it’d be nice if I had money.”
“No, before that.”
“Huh? Ah... I said if I were rich, the water bandits would come find me on their own...”
Baek Cheon muttered to himself for a moment, then his face brightened and he broke into a grin.
“Even dog shit can be useful as medicine.”
His face, which had been wrapped in gloom all this time, suddenly shone with energy.
“We change the plan.”
“How?”
“Just like Jo Gul said. If we can’t find them, then we make them come find us.”
At once, the disciples shivered with an inexplicable unease. The smile on Baek Cheon’s lips looked far too much like that bastard Chung Myung’s.