Life Is Pain, After All (3)
"Kraaaahhhhh!"
A dust-covered Daoist staggered forward with great difficulty and finally made it into Jiujiang.
"T-this is Jiujiang?"
Hyun Jong quickly looked around.
This must have been terribly hard on them!
If Chung Myung had arrived in time, there would have been no danger at all. But even so, their opponents were the Yangtze River Water Bandits. This was no force that could be handled by just a handful of waterways.
"Everyone, come at once!"
"Yes, Sect Leader!"
But they were no longer a small force.
The main body of Mount Hua, brought all the way from Shaanxi, had just arrived here in Jiujiang with him!
Of course, Mount Hua Sect alone could not take on the entire Yangtze River Water Bandit Sect. But a fort or two? They could sweep those away without much trouble. Mount Hua was no longer the weak, third-rate sect of Shaanxi!
Seeing the disciples standing solidly behind him, Hyun Jong's eyes flashed with fierce light.
"If they've laid hands on our children, they'll pay the price! Move!"
"Yes, Sect Leader!"
The disciples of Mount Hua Sect surged forward, their killing intent blazing as they marched into Jiujiang with heads held high.
"...What did he say?"
"Ah. It's already all over, Sect Leader."
"Already...?"
"Yes. They say they wiped them all out."
"...."
Hyun Jong blinked dumbly. The beggar who had brought the news watched him with a somewhat pitiful expression.
"...Was that fort perhaps very small?"
"How could it be? It was one of the Eighteen Water Forts of the Yangtze River."
"Is that so?"
"It was Daegyeong Fort, which even has a name among those forts."
"Dae-byeol Fort?"
"Dae-byeol Fort is in the Green Forest! Daegyeong Fort, I said, Daegyeong Fort!"
"...Why do they all name these forts and bandit camps so strangely? It's not like some kind of fried vegetable platter."
"Well, I suppose... they probably just named them without thinking."
"Who did?"
"How should I know? I have no idea."
The beggar was getting frustrated trying to talk to the dazed Hyun Jong and waved his hand dismissively.
"Anyway, that Daegyeong Fort was smashed to pieces. Not only Daegyeong Fort, but one of the newly built water forts was destroyed too. Jiujiang is in an uproar because of it."
Hyun Jong blinked again.
"...They did that?"
"Yes."
"To a water fort?"
"I told you, yes!"
"Can you explain exactly what happened?"
"Ah. Well, it happened like this...!"
A short while later, after hearing the full story from the Beggars' Sect member, Hyun Jong's mouth fell open.
"...You brought Green Forest bandits with you?"
"Yes, Sect Leader."
"...Green Forest bandits?"
"Yes, that's right."
Hyun Jong's jaw hung open as if it might drop off at any moment.
So... a Daoist had brought bandits to beat up water bandits?
What in the world is this supposed to mean?
No, he could understand it... given that the bastard was Chung Myung, he really could understand it... but still.
While he was trying to force himself to accept this thoroughly incomprehensible logic, he heard whispers from behind him.
"That sounds exactly like Chung Myung."
"Honestly, doesn't that suit him better?"
"Better? No, it suits him a lot better!"
"At the end of the day, a Daoist and a bandit are both just people who live on a mountain, aren't they?"
What do you mean, same thing, you idiots!
Caught between absurdity so intense it felt like his stomach would burst and a strange swell of pride rising in spite of himself, Hyun Jong finally remembered the very first question he should have asked.
"So where are the children now?"
"Ah. Well, that's the thing..."
Seeing the beggar's reluctant expression, a strange unease settled over Hyun Jong's face.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Hyun Jong stared across the river at the island visible in the distance. A confusion beyond words flickered in his eyes.
"What... are they doing over there?"
"Looks like they're building something."
"No, it also looks like boats are gathering there."
"Why over there, of all places?"
"Well... knowing them, they're probably up to some ridiculous nonsense again."
At times like this, youth was truly enviable.
The disciples of Mount Hua didn't seem all that surprised by the bizarre sight. They had already seen enough of Chung Myung to understand him, and they had suffered long enough to accept him.
Why is it that I still can't get used to this?
Just then, a boat on the far side began approaching them.
"...It's a boat."
"No, maybe it's not a boat? Can a normal boat move that fast?"
Before long, a familiar face appeared at the bow of the vessel hurtling toward them at an absurd speed.
"Sect Leaaaaader!"
"Ugh... hmm. Yes, Baek Cheon."
Baek Cheon practically flew off the boat, landing right in front of Hyun Jong before bowing deeply with great respect. His face was bright with delight.
"It is an honor to meet you, Sect Leader."
"You must have had a hard time. None of you are hurt?"
"Thanks to your concern, Sect Leader, all the disciples are unharmed."
"Good. That is a great relief. Truly... yes, a relief, but..."
As Hyun Jong trailed off, Baek Cheon cautiously gauged his mood. Both he and everyone standing behind him already knew what he was about to ask.
As expected, Hyun Jong gave a light nod toward the distance and asked, "What exactly is that...?"
"...That is..."
Baek Cheon also chose his words carefully, but in the end he couldn't bring himself to explain it.
"You'd be better off seeing it yourself..."
"...Very well. Let us do that."
Hyun Jong hadn't exactly expected much to begin with. The only ones in Mount Hua who could ever hope to rein Chung Myung in were Baek generation disciples like Baek Cheon and Yu I-seol, but even that was only in the most literal sense of the word reining in.
"We board that boat, then?"
"Yes, Sect Leader. We'll take whoever can fit for now. Another boat will come."
Hyun Jong nodded weakly.
As the boat drew near, Hyun Jong and several of the disciples immediately climbed aboard. The vessel then spun in place and shot toward the island.
Hyun Jong had not spent much time on the water, but even he could tell that the boat's speed was anything but ordinary.
"...It doesn't seem windy, so how is it moving so fast?"
"People are rowing from below. They all happen to be martial artists, so they're really fast."
At Baek Cheon's explanation, Hyun Jong leaned over the railing to look down. Sure enough, the oars were moving at a frightening speed. More than that, the oars they were using were not wooden oars at all, but iron ones forged from metal.
"...They're all martial artists, and they're rowing that?"
"Yes, Sect Leader."
"...."
Hyun Jong could not bring himself to ask why so many martial artists were rowing beneath the boat. By now, he could make a rough guess.
And with his trained ears, he could clearly hear the groans and cries of agony rising from below.
"Row! Row faster, you bastards! If you're late, you're really going to get beaten to death!"
"What the hell is the ghost doing! Why isn't it hauling that bastard away?"
"I don't know what the ghost is doing right now, but I know it'll be dragging us away if we're late! Shut up and row!"
"Lord Dragon King! Please, just that bastard! Aaaaargh!"
Hyun Jong slowly pulled his head back and closed his eyes.
I heard nothing.
It must have been an auditory hallucination.
Yes, a hallucination...
When he opened his eyes again, the shape of the island began to come into view.
No, not exactly the island itself, but the boats anchored in a straight line along its front.
It was an extremely bizarre sight.
When boats were anchored, they usually sat around the island's perimeter, but the vessels Hyun Jong could see were lined up in a dead straight row from the island toward the river.
That alone was strange enough, but those boats were all bound tightly together with massive chains, and between each vessel, huge wooden planks had been laid across like bridges.
"Th-that..."
At the end of the bizarre bridge of boats, a group of people clung like ants, shouting at the top of their lungs.
"Hey! Damn it, hold it tight over there!"
"Link them properly, properly! Bind them with chains and drive in the wooden pegs!"
"If this shakes, our lives shake with it too!"
They were all men with their upper bodies stripped bare, gripping the gaps between the boats as if trying to force them together while screaming themselves hoarse. It looked as though they were trying to fix the boats in place by fastening them together, but the current here was so violent that every wave sent the hulls lurching.
"Aaaaaaagh! We're falling!"
"Aaaaagh!"
In the end, the boats that had only just been forced together parted again, and the people holding them in place tumbled one after another into the river.
Plunk! Plunk! Plunk!
"Aaaaaagh! Help meeee!"
"I'm being swept awayyyy!"
The men who fell into the water were carried off by the swift current, screaming as they disappeared into the distance, but those still on the boats didn't even glance at them as if this were an everyday occurrence.
"Closer! Pull them closer! Tighten the chains!"
"I said hold it tight! If you fall again this time, the boss said he'll throw us into the water himself!"
"Kraaaah! Hurry! Pull faster! Before my arms fall off!"
As those clinging with both hands to the boats screamed for their lives, the vessels drew closer, and the men with the chains hurried across the narrowing gap, eventually binding the two boats together somehow.
"That..."
Hyun Jong opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again. It wasn't that he had nothing to say, nor that he was simply flustered.
Something even worse was happening before his very eyes.
"Pwoooaaaaaah!"
"Hiiiiiik!"
"A-atmos..."
From within the violently flowing river, another group of people suddenly burst up and began panting desperately, as if they had not breathed for ten years.
"I can't... anymore..."
"You fool, keep your wits about you! If you pass out here, you'll really drown!"
"C-c-change over! Please, someone take my place! Please... I feel like I'm freezing to death..."
"Mother..."
It was a sight too dreadful to behold.
Hyun Jong stared wordlessly, blinking, then turned to look at Baek Cheon.
Baek Cheon's gaze had already drifted off somewhere far away.
"...Baek Cheon."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
"Who are those people?"
"Water bandits."
"...."
Ah. Water bandits, then.
The water bandits are drowning to death in the water. Heh...
"What are they doing right now?"
"...They're doing two things."
"Two things?"
"Yes. First, they're digging beneath the water to firmly secure the anchor. The current here is so strong that a normal anchor won't hold the boats in place..."
"...."
"So they're digging into the riverbed and installing specially made anchors. They connect those anchors with chains to secure the boats."
"...And the other?"
"They're recovering the supplies they need from the ship that sank during the naval battle before."
"...."
Hyun Jong's gaze shifted to the water bandits.
Like drowned mice... no, that was too much. Like drowned dogs... no, that wasn't quite right either...
At any rate, the water bandits had become something drenched and pathetic, with faces as blue as drowned ghosts. Even they had probably never imagined they would end up looking like that beneath the water.
"...You're making the water bandits do that work?"
"Yes. Every one of them is precious labor..."
Yes, that made sense. Things could happen like that in life. Especially if Chung Myung was involved, it made even more sense.
But what Hyun Jong truly could not understand was not the water bandits being forced into labor by bandits and Daoists, but the gleaming something wrapped around their ankles and extending all the way to the island.
"Baek Cheon."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
"Why are those people wearing those things on their legs?"
"Ah, well..."
Apparently unable to say it while looking the Sect Leader in the face, Baek Cheon lowered his eyes.
"That brat Chung Myung said that if you just let the water bandits loose in the water, it was basically the same as cheering them on to run away, so we had to make sure they couldn't escape..."
"So you tied those chains around their legs?"
"...Yes."
Hyun Jong asked no further. He simply looked up at the blue sky in silence.
For once, the sky was unbelievably clear and blue.
"Heh... heh. I sent them to rescue people so they wouldn't become slaves, and instead they're making slaves out of water bandits and Green Forest bandits. Heh... hehhehe..."
After laughing like a madman for quite some time, Hyun Jong turned to Baek Cheon with a much brighter face. That expression, in fact, made Baek Cheon flinch. It was somehow even scarier than seeing him upset.
"More or less, I understand what you're all doing."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
"So let us return to the fundamental question."
"...Yes."
"Why on earth are you doing this?"
This time, Baek Cheon also looked up at the sky in silence.
Water shimmered in his clear eyes.
Sect Leader.
That... that's the question I've been most curious about too.