Life Is Pain, After All (4)
"Your hands are getting lazy, you bandit bastards!"
A roar like the cry of a lion thundered across the shore.
The same thing Hyun Jong had seen was happening on the opposite side of the island as well.
The only difference was that Chung Myung was here.
It might have seemed like a tiny difference, but the results that tiny difference produced were enormous.
"Ughhh...."
"M-my arms don't have any strength left."
Some of the men who had been clinging to the ships and grunting along slowly crept toward Chung Myung, who stood at the water's edge with his feet planted.
"What?"
When Chung Myung glared, the bandits all dropped flat to the ground like they had been flattened by a hammer.
"Please, Daoist sir! At this rate, we're all going to die!"
"Just this morning alone, more than thirty people were washed away after falling into the water!"
"We're all completely exhausted. Holding onto the ships so they don't drift away is harder than you could imagine."
As the complaints kept pouring out, Chung Myung tilted his head as if he genuinely couldn't understand.
"So?"
"...Pardon?"
"So?"
"...."
The language was understood, but not the meaning. Words only carried meaning when both sides understood them. Unfortunately, there was no one here who could truly understand what was being said.
The bandits, who had been about to say, "Let's give up on this task if we can," saw the genuinely baffled look on Chung Myung's face—like he was thinking, "What the hell are these guys talking about?"—and quickly changed their tune.
"W-we should at least rest a little...."
"What? Rest?"
"A break...."
"Brrreeeeaaak?"
Chung Myung's eyes spat sparks.
"What, were you all holed up in the mountains playing immortal while your brains were left up there? You’ve got perfectly good arms and legs, and you want to rest in broad daylight? Rest, my ass!"
Hey now... normally, aren't people who hole up in the mountains and play immortal called Daoists? If you say that Mount Hua's Daoist sir is the one playing immortal like a bandit... well....
And we've been working all through the night yesterday too....
"Daoist sir, everyone's exhausted...."
"Exhausted?"
Chung Myung's head tilted slightly, in obvious displeasure.
"You guys who can scamper around mountains like they're nothing say you're tired after doing that much? No wonder the Green Forest's in the sorry state it's in! What, you want me to show you what real exhaustion looks like?"
"N-no, that's not it...."
"Honestly, you people have no grit. No grit at all! And I guess that’s why you ended up living as bandits in the first place! Fine, I’ll tear that rotten attitude right out of you right now! Get back to your spots and work, you hear me?"
"Hiiiiiik!"
Watching Chung Myung glare and kick the bandits in the backside, Elder One quietly spoke to Im So-byeong.
"Um... Green Forest King...."
"Hmm?"
Im So-byeong, who had been sitting in the watchtower leisurely sipping tea while admiring the scenery, looked over at the elder as if to ask why he was being called.
"...Are you really just going to let him do that?"
"Why?"
"He seems to be talking a bit too harshly...."
"Ah, that?"
Im So-byeong set his teacup down gracefully on the small table and smiled faintly.
"Is he wrong?"
"...."
"The truth is always a little bitter, after all. By now, Elder One, you should be able to swallow a little hard talk."
Left speechless, Elder One felt the bridge of his nose sting.
There was definitely something wrong if that kind of guy was the Mount Hua Divine Dragon. The fact that the famed prodigy of the younger generation, the one everyone said was destined for the position of the strongest in the world, was this sort of person was surely a great misfortune for the martial world.
But from the Green Forest's perspective, the bigger problem was that this man was their Green Forest King.
What the hell is the martial world coming to?
It was a horrible situation where a proper bandit like him was sincerely worrying about the future of the martial world.
Then, from a ship that had sliced through the water and approached at speed, a group of people leaped ashore.
"Doooooaaaasaaaaannng!"
"Hmm?"
The joyful cry they shouted as soon as they landed rang out brightly as they ran toward Chung Myung.
"The White Thunder Cannon! We recovered all six White Thunder Cannons!"
"Hngh! That was really hard."
"Those water bandits nearly died. They somehow all survived, but... no, that's not the point. Anyway, we found every last one exactly as you ordered!"
"Oh?"
Chung Myung's expression softened for the first time in a while.
"You found them all?"
"Yes, Daoist sir! Hngh! It was truly... truly awful. Since the chains were short, we had to hold onto them and go into the water ourselves, and that—"
"Good, good. You worked hard."
He casually let the torrent of complaints about their misery wash over him and smiled with satisfaction. Then, as if something had just occurred to him, he asked again.
"But how many did you say?"
"Six, sir."
"Ah, really?"
At that moment, Chung Myung shot forward like lightning and sent a flying kick into the bandit.
"Kyyaaaak!"
With a pig's slaughtered squeal, the bandit rolled backward across the ground.
"You bastards, do you think my eyes are plugged with mud? What was that? Six? Six? I clearly counted the number of cannons on those sunken ships with my own eyes while we were fighting! Six? Six whaaat?"
The bandit's body, face-down on the ground, began to tremble.
That vicious bastard... he had counted them even while fighting that savagely.
"Ah, so because you're a stupid bandit, you can't count, is that it? Fine! I'll teach you how to count properly starting right now!"
Chung Myung sprinted over, jumped on top of the bandit, and started flailing his arms like a windmill.
"One hit! Two hits! Five hits! Ten hits! You dumb bastard, count the hits as they land! If the number at the end is wrong, I'll start over and hit you from the beginning!"
"Aaaah! Aaaaaaah! Please spare me! Daoist sir! I was wrong! I was just too tired and misspoke!"
"Too tired? Then die and you won't be tired, you bastard! Just die!"
The faces of the bandits and water bandits gradually went pale.
Bandits, by nature, couldn't do a thing against the strong.
It wasn't because they obeyed the law of strong preying on weak, but because they weren't people who followed ordinary morals or laws to begin with; they simply had no way to resist the oppression of those stronger than themselves by any means other than strength.
What could they possibly do?
A bandit was going to talk morality with someone stronger than him? A water bandit was going to report someone to the authorities?
In that sense, Chung Myung was practically the bane of all bandits.
To begin with, he was a Daoist—well, sort of—one from the righteous sects, so he at least had legitimacy on his side, and on top of that, he was absurdly strong. With a guy like that glaring daggers and pushing them to their limits, there was simply nothing they could do.
"Damn it all!"
Chung Myung tore his eyes away from the collapsed bandit and looked around.
Everyone who met his gaze flinched and lowered their eyes.
"What kind of thieves expect to be treated like people? A bunch of useless worms who won't do anyone any good even if they live—I ought to toss the lot of you into the riverbed!"
There he was, the man in charge of these bandits, cursing at bandits and throwing a tantrum.
"And don't even think about eating until every single White Thunder Cannon has been recovered!"
"Th-then what are we supposed to eat?"
"Catch some fish and stuff your faces with that! There’s plenty of meat floating around here!"
"...."
"Also, don't even think about sleeping until every ship is put back together!"
"...."
"Stop straightening your backs and work! Don't straighten your backs! If you slack off in little bursts, it'll only make you more tired! Finish everything in one go and rest all at once! If you keep that mindset, there’s nothing a person can't do!"
The nagging was so relentless it felt like their ears might bleed.
I want to go back to the mountain.
Honestly, getting yelled at by the fort lord would’ve been better.
But unfortunately, this place was an island.
The bandits couldn't flee here without evading Chung Myung and Im So-byeong's eyes, and the water bandits all had heavy iron shackles on their legs. No matter how skilled they were in water work, the idea of escaping Chung Myung while dragging around those iron weights sounded like a fairy tale, didn't it?
What's slavery if not this?
Ugh... my miserable fate....
The faces of the slaves... no, the bandits went black with despair.
Chung Myung had never really shown mercy to ordinary people in the first place, and as for bandit trash like these wicked types, he simply couldn't understand why anyone would treat them like human beings at all.
By his very nature, even someone like Chung Myung—who would happily hack bandits to pieces, boil them, and eat them if he could—was enduring all this according to Mount Hua's teachings, and yet these random scum were living however they pleased under the banner of banditry. On what possible grounds should he tolerate that?
"Honestly, you bastards need a few more beatings before you'll come to your senses!"
"Chung Myung."
"What! You—"
Huh?
Mid-insult, Chung Myung slowly turned around.
"Huh?"
Why was that face here?
He tilted his head, then awkwardly softened his expression.
"Uh... when did you arrive, Sect Leader?"
"...Just now."
"Ah... well, if you came, you should've at least sent word fi—"
No, wait. Of course he sent word.
If he hadn't, how would he have found this place?
Chung Myung leaned his head slightly to one side and spotted Baek Cheon hiding behind Hyun Jong.
"...And I called that guy my martial uncle...."
"Ahem."
Chung Myung muttered through clenched teeth, then instantly changed his expression and beamed at Hyun Jong.
"Sect Leader, you must have had a hard time coming all this way. Please, come in—ah! Aah! Ear, my ear! Ah! My ear! Sect Leader's ear! My ear's going to fall off!"
"Come here."
"My ear! My ear! Ah, please let go! Aaaah!"
Despite Chung Myung's exaggerated protests, Hyun Jong simply smiled warmly and pulled on his ear even harder.
"I ordered that you stop the commoners from being sold off as slaves, and yet here you are, personally using bandits and water bandits as slaves. I suppose we should go and have a calm little talk about what exactly is going on here."
The tyrant was dragged across the sand, leaving a long trail behind him. Even then, he shot a venomous glare at Baek Cheon, but Baek Cheon only turned his head away slightly and ignored it.
"Aaaah! Baek Cheeeeoon! Jin Dong-ryoooon! How can you drag in an elder without even saying anything? That's just cheap! Hey! My ear! Sect Leader! My ear! Aah... I think it's torn now! No, seriously, it really is—ow!"
"Keep your mouth shut and follow me! You're embarrassing me!"
"Sect Leaaaaader!"
The bandits stared in absolute disbelief as the disgracefully dragged-away Mount Hua Divine Dragon disappeared down the beach.
"...The Mount Hua Divine Dragon is being dragged away?"
"And by the ear?"
Everyone here had witnessed Chung Myung slicing through the fort lord of Daegyeong Fort into two pieces in an instant, or running across the water and cutting down ships with his sword.
Watching that terrifying man being dragged away while screaming made the whole thing feel less like reality and more like his soul had left his body.
"...That man is the Mount Hua Sect Leader...."
"Good heavens... just how powerful must he be to restrain that monster so easily?"
"Ahem."
Baek Cheon cleared his throat very softly.
It seemed like an unnecessary misunderstanding was developing, but... well, there was no need to correct it, was there?
"That brat won't be able to go outside for a while, so everyone should get some rest while he's occupied."
"T-thank you, Daoist sir!"
"Hngh... we can finally rest!"
"Long live the Sect Leader! Long live the Sect Leader!"
The bandit bastards, who should naturally have been at odds with a righteous Daoist, began praising Mount Hua's Sect Leader in unison.
Anyone who didn't know the full story might have thought they were witnessing a historic moment of harmony between righteousness and evil, but the truth inside that moment was so pitiful and tearful it was almost painful.
"But why did that man come all the way here in the first place?"
"Who knows... but it looks like he brought a whole lot of Mount Hua people with him."
"Maybe he predicted this situation in advance and came to seize the place?"
"Nah. Surely not... humans aren't omniscient."
"No, no. Think about it, and that makes sense. The Mount Hua Divine Dragon may be the top prodigy of the younger generation, but he's still just a third-generation disciple, isn't he? It doesn't make sense for a third-generation disciple to make a decision like taking over a place like this and establishing a branch all on his own."
"Oh? Now that you mention it, that does make sense."
The bandits looked at one another.
"Then Mount Hua's Sect Leader predicted all this in advance and...."
"Indeed. They say Daoists of deep cultivation can read the movement of heaven's secrets. Amazing."
"...Maybe I should start believing in Daoism too."
"Primal Heavenly Lord."
"Boundless Life Buddha!"
Baek Cheon's eyes squeezed shut.
I'm sorry.
He didn't have the nerve or the courage to correct them.
Well... whatever the intention, the result was good, wasn't it....
Primal Heavenly Lord....
A weak Daoist invocation slipped from Baek Cheon's lips.