Nice to See You Again, You Bastard! (4)
“So…,” Chung Myung said, picking at his ear, “you want the two of us to beat the hell out of everyone here?”
“That’s right.”
“And if that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, you can always stand in the back and watch while we do it, then come scrape up whatever crumbs are left over?”
“Exactly.”
Jang Il-so laughed and nodded. At that, Chung Myung turned around with a vague look on his face.
“You know,” he said.
“Hm?”
Baek Cheon and the rest of the Mount Hua Five Swords stared at him with uneasy faces.
What the hell is he about to say now…?
“Sounds like a pretty good propo—”
“Aagh! Shut the hell up!”
“I told you not to!”
“Please! Please, you bastard!”
Watching Chung Myung’s face as if he was genuinely tempted by the offer, the Five Swords all screamed at once.
“Tch. Seriously.”
Frowning, Chung Myung turned his head and looked at Hyun Jong. Unlike the Five Swords, who were violently objecting, he simply watched Chung Myung with calm, profound eyes.
Those eyes seemed to say: Do whatever your heart leads you to do. Mount Hua will always support your decision.
That was the trust Hyun Jong showed Chung Myung.
Hah.
But Hyun Jong didn’t know.
That the very gaze carrying such unshakable faith was precisely what kept Chung Myung from moving carelessly.
Chung Myung glanced up at the distant sky.
Senior Brother Sect Leader.
If the one standing here were Chung Mun, and Chung Myung were behind him, Chung Myung would have certainly told him to just kill every rotten bastard from the Orthodox sects while they had the chance.
If Chung Mun had snapped at him to shut up, Chung Myung would have yelled right back, but even then, he would have tried to force himself to accept those words.
But the place Chung Myung stood in now was not behind Chung Mun.
It was Chung Mun’s seat.
This really makes a person reflect.
To lead a sect was to lay oneself down for its sake.
To abandon the grudges in one’s heart, the laws of the world, the surging impulses, and live a life devoted only to Mount Hua.
Only now did he understand how heavy that had been.
“Hmph.”
Still looking up at the sky, Chung Myung let out a brief sigh and turned back to Jang Il-so.
Jang Il-so was watching him with eyes so deep they seemed to dare no one to look into them.
“Do I need to explain myself two, three times before you idiots understand?” Chung Myung said with a snort. “I told you I’d ram my fist down the throat of anyone spouting bullshit.”
“……”
Jang Il-so’s face twisted slightly.
“Bullshit?”
“This is why I can’t stand mixing with scum like the evil sects.”
Chung Myung casually rubbed his cheek and stared at Jang Il-so.
“Of course I’m sick of those so-called righteous sect bastards. And sure, if I had my way, I’d be tempted to beat them all to death right here and now.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“The problem is, you bastard—”
Chung Myung ground his teeth, his voice sharpening with menace.
“No father kills a man in front of his child! And no elder brother tells his younger sibling that it’s fine to kill people as long as the goal is achieved.”
“……”
“My way of life is mine. It isn’t Mount Hua’s! I’m not about to make Mount Hua follow my way. That would be hell.”
“……Agreed.”
“Even if you tried, you couldn’t copy it.”
“Ugh, disgusting.”
“……”
When Chung Myung glanced back, the Five Swords coughed awkwardly and looked away.
After glaring at them with a sour expression for a moment, Chung Myung turned back to Jang Il-so and fixed him with an even sharper stare. Fury and contempt flashed across his eyes.
“That’s the kind of way a human being is supposed to uphold. You evil sect bastard who doesn’t even know what decency is.”
The one who led a sect had to be an example to those who followed him.
Senior Brother Chung Mun would definitely have said it like this.
And the most perfect sect leader he knew was, without question, Chung Mun.
“Decency isn’t something you keep because you expect others to return the favor. And just because everyone else doesn’t uphold it doesn’t mean you’re allowed not to. A Daoist is someone who polishes himself through discipline. What matters most isn’t other people’s eyes—it’s whether you can stand upright before yourself!”
“……”
“If I had to choose between shaking hands with evil sect scum and shaking hands with a stray dog, I’d take the dog. At least it’s cute. Right?”
Jang Il-so, who had been staring at Chung Myung in silence, slowly opened his mouth.
“Decency?”
“Yeah, decency.”
“I thought there might actually be some room to talk, but now you’re just spouting nonsense. Decency? What possible meaning does that have?”
Jang Il-so’s lips curled.
“Decency is the refuge of the have-nots! The comfort of the powerless! Nothing more than a coward’s excuse. Those who hold the world in their hands never speak of decency. Only those without the courage to seize the world submit to it and call that submission decency!”
At those words, Chung Myung didn’t argue. He simply nodded slowly.
“Well… yeah.”
“Hm?”
“You’re not exactly wrong.”
Jang Il-so stared at Chung Myung, clearly unable to follow.
“……Then why do you reject what I say?”
“You seem to be misunderstanding something. What I just said is what I have to say.”
“……”
“What I want to say is something else.”
Schrrrk.
Chung Myung slowly drew his sword from its scabbard. Then he pointed the tip directly at Jang Il-so.
“Quit acting friendly, you goddamn bastard. Indifference is disgusting. Ignorance is ugly. But… neither the sins of the indifferent nor the sins of the ignorant can compare to yours.”
Flames lit in Chung Myung’s eyes.
“The moment that my martial uncle’s arm was cut off by Maninbang, Mount Hua and Maninbang could no longer live under the same sky. I’d sooner cut off my own wrist than join hands with the likes of you.”
“Heh…”
Jang Il-so snorted, his red lips twisting with obvious amusement.
“How petty. You’d throw away this opportunity over a private grudge?”
“Of course I’m petty. I’m the most viciously petty bastard in the world. So…”
Chung Myung’s eyes shone with murderous intent.
“I’ll make sure you feel that petty grudge of mine in every bone in your body.”
A sneer settled on Jang Il-so’s mouth.
Foolish…
Of all people, Jang Il-so knew.
He knew the savage hatred burning in Chung Myung’s eyes. And he knew that hatred was not aimed only at Maninbang.
No, if there was a grudge at all, it might even be deeper toward the people down below.
He had joked and bantered like it was nothing, spoken as if reciting a decision already made, but even during that brief span of time, Chung Myung’s mind must have gone through hellish torment.
And yet there was only one reason Chung Myung had reached this conclusion.
“A sect, huh… Is that thing really so important?”
To Jang Il-so, Maninbang was nothing more than a tool to achieve his own ends. But to Chung Myung, even Chung Myung himself was merely a tool to raise Mount Hua.
If he had intended to use Mount Hua to settle his own grudge, he might have joined hands with Jang Il-so. But Chung Myung had set aside his own hatred for the sake of his sect.
Even if he had to walk through the fires of hell himself, he was determined to make Mount Hua a sect that would always walk the righteous path.
It was understandable, and yet impossible to accept. It was practically an obsession, a chain-like compulsion.
“What a pitiful fool.”
To hold in his hands the courage and standing that could shake the world, yet be unable to wield that power freely.
Pitiable. Pathetic.
“And just as foolish.”
With eyes full of contempt, Jang Il-so looked at Chung Myung and laughed.
“A sect exists because of me. The only thing that matters in this world is me.”
“Ah, right. I used to think that too.”
Chung Myung twisted the corner of his mouth.
“But now I know. There are things in this world more important than me. Maybe a dumb bastard like you will never understand that in your entire life.”
It was something he could never have understood if he had never lost it.
Only after losing it did he come to realize.
No one, and nothing in this world, would ever take Mount Hua away from Chung Myung again. Not if they were the last person alive!
“There’s no point talking to you.”
Jang Il-so clicked his tongue with exaggerated disappointment.
The two of them were undoubtedly alike. But they were also viciously different.
Even Jang Il-so couldn’t say where that difference had come from.
“Disgusting.”
“Yeah. I’m disgusted by you too.”
Chung Myung’s eyes blazed as he glared back at Jang Il-so.
If he had never entered Mount Hua, never met Chung Mun, never learned the warmth of his martial brothers or the preciousness of walking alongside others—if he had grown up in back alleys as an orphan with nowhere to belong—he might well have become someone like Jang Il-so.
That was why he couldn’t bear to look at that sight any longer. It was disgust for Jang Il-so, and disgust for himself.
Mount Hua used to be the most suffocating thing in the world to me.
For him, Mount Hua had been everything and also a shackle. More than once, he had felt as though the chain of Mount Hua was tightening around him, binding him tighter and tighter.
If not for Chung Mun, he would have kicked that damned sect away and left long ago.
But…
Only now do I understand.
The Mount Hua that once felt so suffocating had not existed because it had been wrong; it had existed because it made him ache so much to think of it gone.
This was disgust for Jang Il-so, and disgust for his own past self.
So that’s why my insides twist every time I look at that bastard.
It wasn’t just resentment toward Un Geom after all.
“Enough talking. Come at me. I’ll cut off that head of yours.”
“Hahahahaha!”
Jang Il-so burst into loud, delighted laughter.
Man Geum Daebu let out a dry chuckle beside him.
“Looks like this isn’t going as planned.”
“It’s hardly anything serious.”
Jang Il-so waved a hand dismissively.
“If this were the Heavenly Alliance, it would be one thing, but Mount Hua alone can’t even count as real force. I merely wanted to take a slightly easier route, that’s all…”
Now when he looked at Chung Myung and Mount Hua, Jang Il-so’s eyes held nothing but boredom.
“If you refuse the good wine and insist on drinking punishment wine, then it can’t be helped. We’ll just have to twist your neck and pour it down your throat.”
Jang Il-so gave a light jerk of his chin toward Mount Hua.
“Kill them all. Along with the ones below. Don’t let them interfere.”
“Yes, sir!”
The martial artists of Maninbang, who had been waiting behind the cliff, roared and began running along the cliff face.
Their destination was Mount Hua.
“They’re coming!”
At Chung Myung’s shout, the disciples of Mount Hua drew their wooden swords in unison.
“Sect Leader!”
“Mm.”
Hyun Jong nodded and raised his voice.
“Repel these wicked men! Mount Hua does not compromise with injustice!”
“Yes, Sect Leader!”
Unam quickly followed with a shout of his own.
“Cut the fuse attached to the explosives! We must prevent them from blowing up the cliff!”
The instant those words ended, Chung Myung shouted, “Martial Uncle! Sago! Senior Brother!”
“Got it!”
“Ready.”
“Now?”
“You’re already getting restless!”
Chung Myung bared his white teeth in a fierce grin.
Whatever.
For now, having them behind him was enough.
“We’re going straight in! Follow me even if you have to die doing it!”
Chung Myung burst toward the edge of the cliff. Behind him, Baek Cheon, Yu I-seol, Yoon Jong, and Jo Gul followed as if they were one body.
Senior Brother Sect Leader.
He understood now.
Chung Mun had not been an unbending man, either.
He had been human, after all; there was no way he had never been shaken by his own desires or tormented by impulses.
And yet Chung Mun had to remain utterly upright.
Because Chung Myung and the other disciples had been there, watching his back from behind.
And now… now it was Chung Myung who walked that path.
“Let’s gooooo!”
Chung Myung kicked off the cliff and soared upward, and from the tip of his sword, a red plum blossom bloomed like a dream.