Stop Talking and Listen to People! (1)
"Damn it, there are too many of them!"
Jo Gul clenched his teeth so hard his face twisted with strain.
The masters of the Water Bandit Sect, who had been hanging around the chieftain’s boat, were closing in around Chung Myung, and the remaining bandits were surging toward them all at once.
"S-Sahyung! There are way too many of these bastards! More is better, my ass!"
"You idiot, we’re outnumbered! Outnumbered!"
Even in the middle of all this, Yoon Jong shouted in exasperation, as if he was about to burst a blood vessel. Strain was beginning to show on his face too.
Dammit. There are too many. Way too many.
Both the Water Bandit Sect of the Yangtze River and the Seventy-Two Bandit Forts of the Green Forest were treated as roughly equal powers among the Five Hegemons of the Jianghu. In other words, one water fort was said to possess the strength of four or five ordinary mountain forts.
Of course, that was only possible because the water forts enjoyed a terrain advantage by rarely leaving the Yangtze, but even so, the fact remained that a single water fort was on par with three respectable mountain forts.
Mount Hua had mobilized nearly every disciple to subjugate the Dae-byeol Bandit Band. Leaving aside the masters, it had been impossible for the Five Swords alone to face a water fort that could rival even Dae-byeol by numbers and combat strength alone.
But whining about it won’t help!
That was when Yoon Jong grit his teeth.
"Aaaagh! What are you doing! Monk! Hurry up and blast them all away in one shot!"
"N-no…"
Hye Yeon’s face had gone red as he protested in wounded disbelief.
"My internal energy isn’t an endless spring! I can’t keep firing off powerful strikes without end, benefactor!"
"What the hell are you talking about? Why would a Shaolin monk run out of internal energy!"
Tears welled in Hye Yeon’s eyes.
What a load of crap…
Apparently, these people thought he had been living off elixirs the same way they did.
No matter how carefully Shaolin had raised him as one of its prized disciples, they hadn’t fed him several Great Rejuvenation Pills just to build his internal energy. He had received exactly one.
Shaolin had been running out of spiritual medicines, yet still reluctantly bestowed that one precious pill upon him. So when he’d accepted it, he had cried tears of gratitude for his sect’s generosity—only to see what those Mount Hua lunatics were like in person and feel resentment toward Shaolin suddenly surge up in his heart.
If only they’d given me one more…!
Then he wouldn’t have to stand here listening to that infuriating bastard’s nagging.
"You should’ve just given me a Purple Heaven Pill to begin with!"
"How dare you covet another sect’s elixir! I didn’t think you were that kind of man!"
"He’s right."
"You really are drowning in greed."
…Those damn Mount Hua bastards.
Even in the middle of this brutal fight, the way they teamed up so smoothly just to torment someone else made him want to turn around and run, water bandits or no water bandits.
"Aaaagh! Just hit them already!"
"Uwaaaah!"
Grinding his teeth, Hye Yeon drew out his energy.
"Taaat!"
Kwaaaaaaaah!
A torrent of fist force roared out like a waterfall, but this time there was definitely a slight lack in the aftermath compared with before. Watching the fist strike rise like a dragon only to fade like a loach, the Mount Hua disciples turned to Hye Yeon with unreadable expressions.
"…Ah, no…"
Then they turned their eyes away again.
In the end, tears slipped from Hye Yeon’s eyes.
I hope you all rot in hell, you accursed Mount Hua bastards!
"Shut your mouths and concentrate!"
At that moment, Baek Cheon swept his sword wide and plunged into the opening Hye Yeon had created. At the same time, he bit down on his lip.
Dammit!
Baek Cheon knew they weren’t shouting because they couldn’t focus. They were trying to act cheerful, to say anything they could to keep their spirits up as the situation grew steadily worse. They were trying to pretend it wasn’t happening.
Even if they were in perfect condition, taking on all of these enemies would have been impossible. And now they had been poisoned on top of everything else—how bad did the situation have to be?
They hadn’t lost all their strength yet, but seeing the wave of bandits bearing down on them was enough to leave anyone stunned.
"Careful, Sahyung!"
"Huh?"
At Yu I-seol’s warning, Baek Cheon whipped his head around.
Five chillingly sharp harpoons were flying straight at him at once.
"Tsk!"
Baek Cheon ground his teeth and swung his sword. He might not be able to avoid all of them, but he had to deflect at least two or three…
And then it happened.
"Nooooooooo!"
A voice both wonderfully welcome and absolutely horrifying burst from the front.
Kwaaaaaaang!
At the same time, the bandits lunging at Baek Cheon were blown away like dry leaves.
"Chung Myung!"
Baek Cheon shouted in relief, and Chung Myung’s voice stabbed into his ears like a dagger.
"What, have all you people been living on boiled rice gruel or what? What, did the Sect Leader stop giving you pocket money so you starved to death? How are all these so-called sword masters this pathetic? Do you think if you die like this, the Primordial Lord will pat your shoulder and say, ‘Nice, good job’?"
Ah… I feel like my soul’s leaving my body…
While Baek Cheon’s head spun from the storm of lecturing, Jo Gul shouted back in fury.
"There are too many, you bastard!"
"So what if there are? They’re just bandits. Ever seen a tiger get scared because there are too many rabbits?"
Clicking his tongue, Chung Myung swept his sword and twisted his body around.
"Now, let me show—"
And then his eyes filled with endless ranks of bandits in blue uniforms, pouring toward them like a tide.
"…"
…Huh. That is a lot.
Uh…
No, damn it. Not just a lot—way too many.
Chung Myung whipped around to look behind him again.
"Hey, is the emperor some kind of complete idiot right now?"
"What the hell are you babbling about now, you bastard!"
"Aaaagh! Cover my ears, my ears! I didn’t hear that."
Chung Myung tilted his head, genuinely puzzled.
"No, seriously, how do you have this many men even if you’re just bandits? It’s not like you raise them in nets the way you’d raise fry."
"It’s the Water Bandit Sect! The Water Bandit Sect! Of course there are a lot of us!"
"…Hah, the end of the world has really come."
Bandits flooding everywhere like this. What in the world was society coming to?
At that moment, a sharp harpoon shot toward Chung Myung’s face.
"Hey, you bastard!"
Chung Myung slapped the harpoon aside with the back of his hand and kicked the attacker square in the crotch. As the bandit collapsed without even managing a scream, he shot the scene a fierce glare.
"Come on! So what if there are a lot of you? What are punks like you gonna do? I’ll send every last one of you to the underworld!"
"C-Chung Myung!"
"Ah, don’t worry about it! I’ll handle it, I said! I can fight all day!"
"That’s not the point, you bastard!"
"Huh?"
"Behind you, behind you! The boat!"
"Hm?"
With obvious reluctance, Chung Myung looked toward where Baek Cheon was pointing. The bandits behind them were making a wide detour around the Mount Hua disciples and rushing toward the cargo ship.
"Why are they going for that boat? Idiots. We’re not running away anyway."
"There are civilians on that ship!"
"Civilians?"
"Yes! The people on the boat!"
"Ah, civilians? I thought you said…"
Chung Myung smiled brightly—then rolled his eyes up.
"But why are you just standing there? You idiots! Stop themmmmm!"
"To hell with this!"
"Pick one thing! Just one thing, you bastard!"
Jo Gul and Yoon Jong dashed desperately toward the cargo ship to block the bandits’ path. Dang Soso shouted out as well.
"Sahyung! But there are way too many of them! Can we really do this by ourselves?"
"Hmm."
Chung Myung stroked his chin and said,
"Want me to be honest?"
"Yes!"
"No way in hell."
"…Then don’t be honest, you jerk."
"You told me to be honest."
Chung Myung smiled pleasantly. Dang Soso had to clamp down hard on the urge to drive the spear in her hand straight into his face instead of into the bandits.
"Honestly, the Water Bandit Sect is already stronger than most of the Nine Great Sects. One water fort alone is probably worth at least one full combat division of the Nine Great Sects."
"Right."
"So how are the seven of us supposed to beat that without taking losses? Use your head!"
"…Sasuk. Can I really just poison them once?"
"No."
Baek Cheon let out a sigh and leveled his sword forward, threatening the bandits.
"Chung Myung. Which means, if we’re willing to accept losses, we can still win, right?"
"Yeah. That was true before we found out there were civilians on that cargo ship. But can we just let those people die?"
"…No. Absolutely not!"
"That’s why righteous sects are such a pain."
Chung Myung shrugged.
From a practical standpoint, they would need to reevaluate their calculations. But now that the bandits had smartly begun targeting civilians, their odds of victory had dropped to less than half.
That was before accounting for the fact that they had been poisoned. If Chung Myung had joined them in perfect condition, it might have been different.
"So there’s no way?"
"Ha. I’m really…"
"Yeah, well, you’re not a god or anything. If there’s no way, then there’s no way."
"That’s not what I meant."
"Fine! Then all we can do is fight like hell."
"No, listen to what people are saying!"
Chung Myung shouted sharply, as if he were growing impatient. And everyone watching him thought the same thing.
At this point, isn’t he basically a trainer?
I want to learn how to do that.
Chung Myung ground his teeth and snorted.
"There’s no way this body would be unable to solve something like this. I had everything prepared!"
"Prepared?"
"That’s why it took so long."
"…So while you were running here, you were doing other things too?"
Was he even human?
Everyone stared at him in disbelief, and only then did Chung Myung puff out his chest with a proud humph.
Yes, that was the look. They had to look at him like this!
"If we can’t handle it with just us, then we just drag in more help!"
"N-no way…!"
Baek Cheon’s eyes widened.
"The disciples arrived? With the seniors?"
"What are you talking about."
"…Huh?"
Chung Myung scowled and said crossly,
"If those old men could get here by this time, why the hell would I be busting my ass? I’d just build myself a little hut on Mount Hua and spend my days acting like a sage!"
Ah… so that’s what you plan to do someday…
No, that wasn’t the point!
"Then?"
"What I’m saying is, Mount Hua isn’t the only place in the world with useful people. They should be getting here any moment now."
Chung Myung grinned and looked up at the cliff.
He had flung Plum Blossom Sword Qi all the way up there just moments ago while unleashing his sword technique, so if that bastard had seen it, he would have found the place by now.
"Hey, idiot! What’re you doing? You gonna show up after everyone’s dead?"
Chung Myung shouted loudly toward the top of the cliff. Everyone else looked up too, hope rippling through their eyes. Even the bandits who had been closing in, threatening them and narrowing the distance, jerked in surprise and turned their heads.
On the cliff?
Wh-who came?
Tension instantly hung in the air.
"…"
"…"
A strange silence stretched for a moment…
"There’s nobody there?"
"What the hell."
The bandits looked back at Chung Myung in annoyance. Even the Mount Hua disciples gave him flat looks and asked,
"Did you dream it?"
"That bastard, of course."
"Th-this can’t be right…"
Chung Myung’s eyes wavered in confusion.
"Hey! You bastard! Are you not coming out? You’re not coming out right now?"
"…Cut it out, Chung Myung. It’s embarrassing."
"If you’re gonna die, at least die with some style. What the hell was that?"
"Who’s dying!"
Chung Myung barked the words out.
"Hey! You wanna make that lung disease flare up again before you come to your senses? Are you not gonna show your face right now?"
"I’m coming, aaaagh!"
At that sudden shout, everyone’s gaze snapped back up to the cliff. The urgent, booming yell had clearly come from above.
No way…
High on that distant cliff.
A man was sprinting breathlessly before stopping to clutch his stomach and bend over.
"Huff! Huff! Huff! What in the world is this boat, faster than a person running?"
The boat was, in fact, faster than a person running—but that, too, depended on the person.
Baek Cheon, who had recognized him, gaped before he even realized it.
"G-Green Forest…"
No, why are you coming out here?
"Green Forest King?"
Im So-byeong straightened his back and unfolded his fan.
"It is usually taboo to fight bandits on water."
Then he began fanning his face lazily. His complexion had improved a great deal from before, but even now, his skin still held a pale cast—and his face was full of self-satisfied confidence.
"But at the riverbank, things get a bit murky, don’t they? Right, everyone?"
"Yes!"
"Go on. Before that gentleman loses his temper, let’s make the bandits taste some blood."
Im So-byeong smiled crookedly and pointed ahead with his fan. At the same time, dozens of thick ropes dropped down the long cliff like festival banners strung with ceremonial cords.