Where Are the Others Now? (3)
His consciousness slowly sank into deeper and deeper waters.
Down, down, drifting without end, until body and mind were separated, growing farther and farther apart.
His thoughts were hazy, not quite cut off, like the drifting blur of a dream, and kept groping after something without pause.
“Sect Leader...”
Thwack!
“Aaaagh!”
At the sudden spike of pain, Chung Myung jerked awake and clutched his head.
“Ow! Which bastard was that!”
“Me.”
“……”
He had been about to flip his eyes and go into a fit, but once he saw who was sitting in front of him, he shut his mouth at once.
“Chung Myung.”
“Yes?”
“People do sometimes fall asleep in the course of life. I can understand that much.”
“Yes, well. It’s not exactly some extraordinary thing.”
“Exactly. But…”
The one sitting before him—
Cheong Jin, the great sword of Mount Hua and its sect leader’s direct disciple, wore an expression of indescribable emptiness.
“I may not have lived a short life, but this is the first time I’ve ever heard of someone dozing off while being lectured, you little brat!”
“How is that my fault! You were just going on and on with obvious nonsense, Sect Leader Senior Brother…”
“What was that, punk?”
As Chung Mun looked ready to foam at the mouth, the disciples who had been watching the scene—Cheong Jin among them—yelled in alarm.
“Please calm down, Sect Leader Senior Brother!”
“You can’t hit him!”
At that heartwarming sight, Chung Myung smiled with satisfaction.
They usually talked to me however they wanted, but still, those bastards do respect me quite a bit, after all…
“Then we’re the ones who’ll get hit later!”
“If you’re not going to stop that too, then don’t hit him! We’ll get beaten twice as hard!”
“Why don’t you just kick us out of Mount Hua already! Not like you’re going to do it anyway!”
“……”
I’ve got my eye on the bastard who said that last part. I don’t care about the others—you’re dead for real.
Clutching the back of his neck, Chung Mun let out long, exhausted sighs.
“Are you a Taoist, or what? Hm? Are you a Taoist?”
“Looks like our senior brother’s eyesight’s gone bad. I’m clearly wearing Taoist robes, aren’t I?”
“Does putting on a robe make you a Taoist, you little shit?!”
Chung Mun roared.
“I sent you out to wipe out the bandits tormenting the common people!”
“And we did wipe them out. We smashed every last one of them, just like you said. In that case, instead of this, you should be praising us!”
“Fine. You did well, my junior brother.”
Chung Mun smiled in satisfaction and asked,
“So what did you get from the common folk who were thanking you?”
“Huh?”
“You seem to have received something.”
“Ah. That?”
Chung Myung scratched the back of his head with an awkward, sheepish grin.
“Well, I was about to leave, but they just kept thanking me… They said that if it weren’t for me, a lot of them would’ve been bloodied by those bandits.”
“And?”
“So they said they were grateful, that they really wanted to repay me, and I figured it’d be rude to trample all over that sincerity, so, uh…”
He smiled awkwardly and glanced aside for his reaction.
“I just accepted a little something as trouble money…”
“Aaaagh!”
Chung Myung dropped flat to the floor, narrowly avoiding the inkstone that came flying like lightning. It skimmed past his head by a hair’s breadth and buried itself in the wall with a heavy thunk.
“What, are you trying to kill me now?”
“If you died from that, I wouldn’t have to suffer like this, you damn brat!”
Chung Mun grabbed the tea table in front of him and hurled it outright.
Chung Myung rolled his body to the side and dodged, and Chung Mun’s eyes lit up with fury.
“You dodged? You dodged? Fine, then today we die together, you and I! Cheong Jin! Go get the disciplinary rods!”
“Y-yes, sir!”
“You. Go on then, bring them.”
“……Yes.”
“I said get the rods!”
“Yes!”
“Think carefully. Really think carefully.”
Caught between the two giants—no, between one giant and one demon—Cheong Jin was helpless, torn between obedience and survival. After agonizing over it for a moment, he finally looked at Chung Mun and said,
“Um… Sect Leader Senior Brother.”
“What?”
“I think… my legs cramped up from kneeling too long, so maybe you should send someone else…”
Chung Mun shot him a glowering look, but Cheong Jin only lowered his head and avoided his gaze.
Authority was far away, but fists were close.
If Chung Myung got his calves roasted later, there was no doubt Cheong Jin’s jaw would be roasted too. If he was going to get hit, it was better to be hit by Chung Mun; that man really went at it without mercy, but at least the situation would be less serious than with that one.
“Grrr…”
Looking at the disciples who all avoided his eyes one after another, Chung Mun let out a groan.
“These are common people already worn to the bone by the bandits, and you go and take money from them? You couldn’t even pour money on the road as you came back?”
“Then what, should we refuse if they insist on giving it? Come on. It’s rude to trample all over someone’s sincerity, too, you know. Haha.”
“Ugh.”
Chung Mun clutched the back of his head as a sharp throb shot through it.
“Now, Sect Leader Senior Brother!”
“Please calm down! You’ll collapse at this rate!”
“Why are you getting so worked up over something that happens every day?”
That bastard’s been piling on nonstop since earlier.
Just you wait. You’re really dead later.
Chung Myung shot dirty looks at the disciples. Unable to contain his temper, Chung Mun reached out—and then realized the tea table had already been thrown aside, so he barked at Chung Myung again.
“Water! Cold water!”
“Yes, sir!”
Chung Myung answered quickly and whipped his head around.
“What are you standing there for? Run, you bastards!”
“You go get it, you bastard! You! You…”
“Aigoo, I told you to calm down.”
“Come on, take a deep breath. Slow, slow. That’s it.”
As Chung Mun began making a rough choking sound and tipping backward, Chung Myung hurried outside.
He came back almost instantly with water and held out the cup. Chung Mun took it and was just about to gulp it down when he froze.
“……”
Staring dumbly down at it, he saw steam curling up from the cup.
“……Chung Myung.”
“Yes?”
“Why is this hot water?”
“Uh… because if you drink something cold too fast, you might get an upset stomach. I did well, right?”
“……”
“……”
A thick emptiness settled into Chung Mun’s eyes.
He really couldn’t kill this one.
Primordial Lord of Heaven, why are you doing this to me…?
His lips twitched as though he were about to say something, but in the end he gave up and shook his head weakly.
“Chung Myung.”
“Yes, Senior Brother.”
“Why did you accept money?”
“Well, because… they were giving it…”
“Be honest!”
“Hmph.”
Chung Myung stuck out his lower lip in displeasure and grumbled.
“Honestly, I really don’t get it.”
“Get what?”
“To put it bluntly, that was supposed to be the government’s job in the first place. We were the ones making time to go all the way there and help.”
“That’s true.”
“Then shouldn’t there be a price for it?”
“……”
“It’s a problem, too, to keep thinking someone else will handle things whenever trouble comes up. The world works because if something is given, something also comes back. It’s not like I took some huge sum, either. It was just a few pennies.”
A sigh slipped out of Chung Mun all on its own.
“Is it really such a huge matter to you to beat up a few bandits?”
“……No, not really.”
“Exactly. It was something you could finish in a single meal’s time, wasn’t it?”
“Whether it took one meal or one hour, I still did the work.”
Still staring at Chung Myung, who plainly showed no comprehension whatsoever, Chung Mun asked,
“If I were the one in danger from bandits, would you save me and then demand trouble money too?”
“Come on. How could you compare me with those people, Senior Brother? Don’t worry. If you were attacked by bandits, I’d chop those bastard bandits into pieces. What kind of bandits think they can get away with dying like that!”
Chung Myung solemnly swore his resolve. Chung Mun looked at him quietly and let out a long breath.
What am I supposed to do with him…?
Forcing Chung Myung’s behavior was not that difficult. He’d grumble, sure, but in the end he usually obeyed Chung Mun’s words.
But that wasn’t enough.
This was the Daoist gate. This was a place where one had to act according to one’s own heart. So what Chung Mun needed to do was not control Chung Myung’s actions, but turn his heart.
I sent him there precisely so he could feel the hearts of the powerless.
If that extraordinary talent could be joined with a true sense of righteousness, there would be nothing more to ask for. But heaven never gave one person everything.
“Chung Myung.”
“Yes?”
“Do you know why Mount Hua emphasizes righteousness?”
“Because we’re a righteous sect.”
“Then do you know why righteous sects emphasize righteousness?”
“……No idea. Because it looks good?”
Chung Mun shook his head.
“Because we are people who wield swords.”
“……”
“We are people who seek to become stronger through training. Of course, that training is also a means to understand the Dao, but whatever the case, the essence remains the same: we are those who grow power.”
“That’s true enough.”
“And… once a person takes up a sword, they will want to swing it. Once they gain power, they will want to use it. The meaning is that anyone who has resolved to hang a sword at their waist will one day inevitably draw that sword.”
Chung Myung quietly nodded.
Chung Mun was right. In truth, almost no one spent their whole life training within their own sect and then simply died that way. The force built up in one form or another always found expression.
“Who is it that receives that power?”
“……”
“They are people too, Chung Myung.”
Chung Mun’s eyes grew solemn.
“Power without direction becomes oppression and evil. The reason we must establish righteousness is not because of pity. It is so we can set our own path correctly. Power that forgets rightness will, in time, destroy itself.”
“Er… so…”
Chung Myung shrugged.
“You’re just saying we should beat up the bad guys.”
“……”
“All right, all right. Fine, I won’t take the trouble money. It’s not like it’s much anyway. I’ll be careful from now on.”
At Chung Myung’s answer, Chung Mun let out a long sigh.
As expected, Chung Myung would do as he was told. But that was never because he understood. It was simply because Chung Mun wanted it.
What Chung Mun wanted was not that.
If he had wanted Chung Myung to live only as Mount Hua’s sword, that alone would have been enough—but what he truly wanted was for Chung Myung to stand properly as a person of the Dao.
Even if that was an absurdly difficult thing to ask.
“Chung Myung.”
“Yes?”
“Fine. You may forget everything else. But remember this one thing.”
“Yes.”
“You cannot do everything with your own strength alone.”
“……”
“No matter how strong you become, no matter how high a realm you reach, there will still be things you cannot do by yourself. Someday, if you ever find yourself in such a situation, you may find yourself desperately wishing for someone else’s help.”
“Me?”
Chung Myung tilted his head, unable to follow.
Right now, he wouldn’t understand. Not now.
Those who had never lost anything, those who had never felt the desperation of lack and been driven to despair, could never understand the worth of the warmth hidden in a hand stretched out to them without selfishness.
“When the day comes that you feel powerless, when you despair before something you cannot do on your own, then you will understand. You will understand the hearts of the common folk you helped.”
“……”
“And when that day comes, can you promise me that you’ll put righteousness into your sword?”
“Hmph.”
Chung Myung scratched his head, still looking like he didn’t quite get it.
“Honestly, I don’t really know, Senior Brother.”
“That’s all right. It wouldn’t be easy for you.”
“But, well…”
Still, he nodded obediently.
“Yes. If I feel it… if I really realize it, then I’ll do it the way you said. But I can’t promise anything.”
“That is fine. That will be enough.”
Chung Mun smiled warmly and nodded back.
“Now go and return the money you took.”
“……Uh, about that…”
“I know you spent it all on drinking.”
“……”
“Take the money you stashed away and return every last coin.”
“……”
“Your answer?”
“Y-yes, sir.”
Chung Myung pouted, but Chung Mun only smiled.
“Good.”
“Then I’ll be going.”
Chung Myung turned on his heel. Then Chung Mun added quietly to his back,
“Ah, and…”
“Yes?”
“Give the common folk all the property you swiped while looting the bandits.”
“……”
Chung Myung froze in place like a statue.
A moment later, when he turned back slowly, utter despair was written all over his face.
“H-how am I supposed to do that…?”
“Cheong Jin.”
“……Yes.”
“Follow him and make sure he doesn’t pocket a single coin. And Chung Myung, if you steal even one more thing this time, I’ll hang you upside down for real, so behave yourself!”
“……”
“Don’t sit there wondering whether it’s better to be hanged or to keep the money. I’ll take the money back and hang you too.”
“……A ghost.”
“Tsk.”
With a sullen Chung Myung dragging his shoulders and leaving the room first, Cheong Jin let out a sigh and asked carefully,
“Sect Leader Senior Brother. Aren’t you asking too much of Chung Myung Senior Brother? He isn’t like ordinary people like us, is he?”
“I know. It won’t be easy. But…”
Chung Mun wordlessly looked at the door Chung Myung had just closed behind him.
But someday…
Someday, Chung Myung would understand the meaning behind those words.
After all, he was Chung Myung.
A warm smile quietly bloomed at the corners of Chung Mun’s mouth.