What the Hell Are You Talking About? I’m the Strongest! (3)
Yoon Jong narrowed his eyes and looked around.
Nothing.
He couldn’t see a soul.
If it had been yesterday, the second-generation disciples would have been creeping up on them from the morning just to pick on them, but today, not one of them was in sight.
Was it true?
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Chung Myung.
Just as Jo Gul had said, Chung Myung might talk complete nonsense, but he didn’t lie.
The problem was that Chung Myung’s idea of “solving” something and the way a normal person understood “solving” were often worlds apart.
So Yoon Jong had assumed he had probably caused some sort of mess again…
But it looks like he actually handled it pretty well?
There was still plenty to doubt about the “well” part, but the “handled” part seemed certain enough.
“Sahyung. It seems like Chung Myung was telling the truth, doesn’t it?”
“……”
At Jo Gul’s tentative question, Yoon Jong found himself nodding before he realized it.
But was it really all right to accept this so easily?
He had a problem with his martial uncle, so he beat up his martial uncle to solve it? Is that the sort of reasoning that can exist in the Central Plains?
Even if the West was a place where the common sense of the Central Plains didn’t apply, wasn’t this the sort of situation where one should roll up one’s sleeves and put on the airs of a Confucian scholar to set someone straight?
The problem was that the absurd method actually worked.
Where is Mount Hua’s future going?
Yoon Jong had never thought of himself as a stubborn old fogey, but whenever he looked at Chung Myung, he found himself thinking old fogeys might not be so bad after all.
Wasn’t it a better world if old fogeys were the ones running around instead of that lunatic?
“What are you thinking about so hard?”
“……I was thinking about Mount Hua’s future and old fogeys.”
“……”
Seeing Jo Gul stare at him with an expression that clearly said, Is this guy starting to lose it too?, Yoon Jong cleared his throat quietly.
The third-generation disciples, who had been glancing around, slowly shuffled over and spoke to him.
“The martial uncles are acting strange today, Sahyung.”
“……That they are.”
“Why are they suddenly like this? I’m worried they might be plotting something else.”
“Indeed.”
Yoon Jong looked up at the distant sky.
These guys are losing their minds too.
To use the word “plotting” about their martial uncles… If this had been Mount Hua before Chung Myung arrived, it would have been unthinkable. But just as Yoon Jong had changed, and Jo Gul had changed, the third-generation disciples were also being infected by Chung Myung more and more each day.
At this rate, someday Mount Hua might be packed full of people just like Chung Myung…
Yoon Jong shuddered as though the thought itself was unbearable.
Just thinking about it is horrifying.
The problem was that the possibility wasn’t completely impossible.
“It’s even more unsettling because they’re being quiet. Should we sneak over and poke them a bit?”
“Those cheap bastards probably didn’t suddenly come to their senses. They’re probably cooking up something, right, Sahyung?”
Oh, heavens.
Where had the trust between martial brothers gone?
“Shut it. Get ready for training!”
“……Yes.”
Watching his juniors gather up their swords with sullen expressions as if to say, Why’s he throwing a fit now?, Yoon Jong let out a deep sigh.
Mount Hua was drifting further and further from the Mount Hua he knew. Of course, it wasn’t necessarily a bad change, but… to be honest, the idea of the Mount Hua of the future that Chung Myung would create was something he did not want to see with his own eyes.
“Sahyung. So Chung Myung really beat Baek Cheon martial uncle?”
When Jo Gul asked in a low voice so the others wouldn’t hear, Yoon Jong frowned.
“Why are you asking such obvious things? There’s no way that brat would lie, and if it hadn’t happened, this kind of change wouldn’t have taken place.”
“……No, it’s just that… I mean…”
Jo Gul scratched the back of his head hard.
“I just can’t make sense of it. No matter how strong Chung Myung was from the moment he joined, there’s still the difference in how long he’s studied martial arts compared to Baek Cheon martial uncle. I thought he might be able to put up a fight, but to say he beat him one-sidedly…”
Yoon Jong himself couldn’t understand this part at all either.
Does that make any sense?
No, it didn’t. But wasn’t Chung Myung always the one who made the impossible happen?
“Then Sahyung. That means Chung Myung is stronger than Baek Cheon martial uncle, right?”
“Why do you keep asking such obvious questions…?”
“Then what about compared to Mount Zhongnan?”
Yoon Jong closed his mouth.
Mount Zhongnan?
Even Yoon Jong had never really thought about that.
“If it’s Chung Myung, wouldn’t he stand up just fine even against Mount Zhongnan? He beat Baek Cheon, after all.”
“Hmm.”
Yoon Jong fell into thought with a stiff face.
“Then if Chung Myung takes the field at this Hwajong Jihoe…”
“Gul.”
“Yes, Sahyung.”
“What difference does it make if Chung Myung beats Mount Zhongnan?”
“……Wouldn’t it make a difference?”
Yoon Jong shook his head.
“It’s worth celebrating when a sect produces a master. But in Jianghu, a single master can’t do anything. He might make us famous, sure. But the moment Chung Myung disappears, Mount Hua will fall right back down, just like before.”
“……”
“If we truly want to revive Mount Hua, then instead of relying on Chung Myung, we have to become strong ourselves. Only when the disciples of Mount Hua become people no one in the world can ignore will we truly be able to declare our revival, won’t we?”
“That’s right.”
“Still, like you said, I’m curious about the Hwajong Jihoe too. That’s where it’ll be decided.”
“What will?”
“Whether Chung Myung…”
Yoon Jong took a small breath and went on.
“Will truly become the hero who changes Mount Hua, or whether he’ll become nothing more than a tyrant ruling over a small Mount Hua.”
Yoon Jong and Jo Gul met each other’s eyes with solemn expressions.
Chung Myung…
“Ah! Seriously! Would you piss off already!”
The two of them slowly turned their heads.
Chung Myung was sprinting madly while hurling insults behind him.
“……”
“Isn’t that Yu Sago?”
Yu I-seol pursued the full-speed sprinting Chung Myung with an expressionless face.
“Teach me.”
“I told you there’s nothing to teach! I already said don’t come bothering me! You damn leech!”
“Moon Lady Sword.”
“Go ask Un Geom martial uncle! I’m telling you to ask him!”
“Un Geom martial uncle is a man. Moon Lady Sword is a woman’s sword art. Un Geom martial uncle’s mastery of Moon Lady Sword is weak.”
“Am I a woman? Huh? Am I a woman?”
“Teach me.”
“Aaargh! How the hell did I end up meeting someone like this?”
Chung Myung and Yu I-seol shot past them in an instant. Yoon Jong and Jo Gul stared after them, dumbfounded.
When did those two get so close?
Has Yu Sago always talked that much? It feels like I’ve heard more words from her just now than I’ve heard since joining Mount Hua.
No, more importantly, is it really okay to talk to a sago like that?
In any case, the fellow had no common sense.
“……About what you were saying earlier. Hero or tyrant.”
“Gul.”
“Yes, Sahyung.”
“Let’s just train.”
“……Yes.”
Baek Sang’s face twisted.
“Sahyung. Are you really going to leave it like that?”
Hearing Baek Sang’s resentful complaint, Baek Cheon smiled faintly.
“Why are you so angry?”
“Aren’t those brats being insolent? Especially Chung Myung—he doesn’t look even a little remorseful. Isn’t this the time to punish him?”
Punish him?
You?
“You think you’re qualified?”
“Pardon?”
“No, nothing.”
Baek Cheon forced the corners of his mouth upward.
There wasn’t a part of his body that didn’t hurt.
His gaze drifted to Chung Myung, who was fleeing from Yu I-seol.
What a vicious bastard.
How could someone grind a person into pieces so thoroughly and still leave no visible injuries on the surface? The more he thought about it, the more absurd the bastard seemed.
Thanks to that, he had avoided being humiliated in front of others, but now he had nowhere to complain about this injustice. If he tried to grumble that he’d been beaten by a junior without a single wound to show for it, everyone would just take him for a madman.
Or a pathetic loser.
Of course, even if he had been injured, he had no intention whatsoever of admitting out loud that he’d been beaten like a dog by his martial nephew. But still, he couldn’t help feeling unfairly wronged.
“Why do you suddenly keep telling us not to touch the third-generation disciples?”
“Baek Sang.”
“Yes, Sahyung. I truly don’t understand what you mean.”
What he meant, my ass.
He just didn’t want to get hit anymore.
But he couldn’t say that plainly. Even Baek Cheon had to preserve some semblance of social dignity.
“Hwajong Jihoe isn’t far off, is it?”
“……That’s true.”
Baek Cheon deliberately put on a grave expression and said,
“I was shortsighted. Dealing with the third-generation disciples can be done anytime. But Hwajong Jihoe is different. Hwajong Jihoe is only held once every two years, isn’t it?”
Baek Sang nodded silently.
Seeing that his expression still held dissatisfaction, Baek Cheon slightly furrowed his brow.
“Handling the third-generation disciples is an internal matter, while Hwajong Jihoe is an external matter tied to Mount Hua’s honor. Internal matters are important, yes, but so are external ones. More than that, when you consider the symbolic weight of Hwajong Jihoe, right now we should set everything else aside and put all our focus on it. Don’t you agree?”
“……You’re right.”
“Our enemy right now isn’t the third-generation disciples. It’s Mount Zhongnan. You haven’t forgotten why we went so far as to enter seclusion and train, have you?”
Baek Sang let out a deep sigh and lowered his head.
“Sahyung is right. It seems I lost my head for a moment.”
It was my head that got lost.
And it still was.
Still, it was a relief that the excuse seemed to work. If Baek Sang had started asking, “Weren’t you the one who started it in the first place? Why are you suddenly acting like the good one?” he would have had no answer ready.
“Thank you for understanding. Let’s put the matter of the third-generation disciples aside for now. For the moment, we must focus entirely on Hwajong Jihoe. Go tell the martial brothers to review their skills one last time and remind them to reflect again on what they gained during seclusion.”
“Yes, Sahyung!”
Baek Sang answered briskly and ran off toward the back.
Watching him go, Baek Cheon lowered his eyes with a somewhat hollow expression.
Once Hwajong Jihoe is over, I won’t even think about the third-generation disciples’ manners anymore.
Because he would be seeing something far too absurd to care about that sort of thing.
Baek Cheon turned his head slightly and looked at Chung Myung, already receding into the distance.
And we won’t be the only ones shocked.
Mount Hua would likely be shocked, yes—but Mount Zhongnan would be even more so. As he thought that, the pain from where Chung Myung had beaten him seemed to ease a little…
No.
It hurt more.
It hurt all the way to the bone.
Damn bastard, he’d really gone and beaten the hell out of him.
Baek Cheon let out a deep sigh and turned around.
I’ll do what I have to do.
Things had gotten tangled up because Chung Myung had come out of nowhere, but ever since two years ago, his goal had been to prove himself at Hwajong Jihoe. Considering who would be coming to Mount Hua this time, he didn’t have time to stand around like this.
This time, he would prove his worth no matter what.
Only…
Baek Cheon twisted his face sharply and looked back.
“Why the hell does that bastard keep hanging around with Yu Sago?”
It was irritating as hell.
Baek Cheon shot a few furtive glances at the two of them, then forcibly suppressed the uneasy feeling rising in his chest and headed toward the training ground.
The time for Hwajong Jihoe was drawing near.