I Thought He’d Come Back as a Dragon (2)
Bang!
“Whaaa! We’re here!”
“Mount Hua!”
“Oh, Mother of mercy!”
The disciples of Mount Hua burst through the main gate of their sect almost as if they had kicked it open, then stood there staring at the buildings with eyes brimming with emotion.
They had raced up the treacherous slopes of Mount Hua in one go, yet instead of feeling exhausted, they seemed to be overflowing with energy.
“Ahh.”
“Mount Hua…”
They looked as though they might burst into tears at any moment from sheer feeling.
Hyun Jong smiled faintly.
Are they that happy?
Come to think of it, it was hardly strange.
Most of Mount Hua’s disciples had never been away from the mountain for long. After being gone for more than two years and finally coming home, it was only natural that they would be overcome with emotion.
Hyun Jong’s heart warmed at the sight.
In other words, didn’t this mean the disciples of Mount Hua regarded this place as their own home? As the sect leader, how could he not be pleased……
“Sniff! It’s a roof! A roof!”
“I’m getting emotional.”
“No more getting bitten by bugs in my sleep.”
“Goodbye to waking up on a patch of grass with my back soaked through!”
“Food! I can eat real food! Food!”
“……”
Hyun Jong covered his mouth with a fist and let out a light cough.
Well, that’s embarrassing.
Mount Hua had now risen to the point where it could be called a fairly prosperous sect, and yet its disciples were shedding tears at the very thought of being able to sleep in a building with a roof. Even the Beggars’ Sect probably didn’t react like this…….
Of course, once you knew the circumstances, it was perfectly understandable.
They had gone deep into the mountains to avoid the eyes of outsiders and trained there in seclusion. Put nicely, it meant they had trained like immortals in a secluded mountain valley; put bluntly, it meant they had wandered around like beggars in the wilderness.
For so long they had swung their swords like madmen from morning to night, eaten whatever they could scrounge up, and collapsed onto dirt floors to sleep. Given that life, it was no wonder they were moved to see a place where they could live like human beings.
They had stayed at the Eunha Merchant Guild for a while, but even there, things probably hadn’t been especially comfortable for the disciples.
“Beds! Let’s lie down on the beds!”
“Move it! I’m first!”
“I wonder what’s in the dining hall?”
“What would there be? It’s been empty for years.”
“Still, maybe…….”
Just as the disciples were about to lose the last of their reason, Mount Hua’s disciplinarian stamped his foot.
Thud!
The disciples all turned their heads in the same direction.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
Hyun Young clicked his tongue and looked over the disciples.
“No matter how rushed you are, there are things that need to be done.”
Then he pointed his chin toward the buildings.
“See that?”
“Pardon?”
When the disciples looked blankly at him, Hyun Young kindly explained.
“Do you see the pale dust piled up on those buildings?”
“……”
“I’m not asking for anything impossible. In my heart, I’d like us to finish even the repairs today, but I’m still a man, so I won’t demand that much. But!”
Seeing everyone’s faces turn white, Hyun Young grinned.
“We should at least clean the dust that’s built up while the place was empty, right?”
Devil!
So inflexible!
He has zero flexibility, seriously!
As though he could hear the disciples protesting in their hearts, Hyun Young shrugged and asked, “Got a problem with that?”
“N-no, sir!”
“Of course not!”
“We’re completely on board!”
However much their martial skills had improved, no one had yet grown the guts to talk back to Hyun Young.
Hyun Young nodded in satisfaction and shouted, “Good. Move! Let’s knock this out quickly!”
“Yes, sir!”
The disciples of Mount Hua shot off like arrows.
“Wow……”
Hong Dae-gwang, who arrived a little later, stared blankly at the scene unfolding inside Mount Hua.
If the higher-ups of the Beggars’ Sect saw this right now, what would they say? They’d probably start talking about the need to reconsider the business sectors that each sect was expected to handle in the martial world.
“Hurry up and carry it!”
“Coming through! Move!”
“There, there! That one’s for there, there!”
The disciples of Mount Hua were cleaning the sect at a terrifying speed. This wasn’t just sweeping and wiping. The Mount Hua disciples, each carrying water buckets the size of a person, were running down to the stream below, hauling water back, and literally washing the buildings.
With dozens of water buckets carried in rapid succession and water splashing everywhere, it looked as though rain were pouring down from the sky.
“……Incredible.”
It had been the same when he saw the Tang Family. Didn’t martial artists really just waste away as escorts or guards? If you put them to work on construction, each one of them could probably do the job of ten skilled laborers…….
The buildings, pale with accumulated dust, quickly regained their original color.
Come to think of it, where’s the Mount Hua Sword Hero?
Leaving the others aside, that man hardly seemed like the type to work hard at cleaning…….
“You missed a spot!”
“Eek!”
Just then, Chung Myung came into view, mercilessly kicking his senior brother in the backside.
“The ancestral tablets! Dust has settled on the ancestors’ tablets! And you’re just going to wipe them halfheartedly and move on?”
“N-no, I said I cleaned it properly……”
“Here! You don’t see the dust here? Here?”
“……Chung Myung. Even I can’t see that.”
“If even a speck of dust is left here today, every one of you senior brothers is dead. Hurry up and clean!”
“A-alright.”
Chung Myung, who had occupied Okcheon-won, rolled his eyes and let out a lion’s roar.
Then he grabbed a clean cloth himself and began enthusiastically polishing the ancestral tablets until they shone.
“Hoh! Hoh!”
Scrub. Scrub.
“Hoh! Hoh!”
Scrub! Scrub!
Seeing him glare wide-eyed while polishing the tablet engraved with Thirteenth Sect Leader of Great Mount Hua, Chung Mun, Baek Cheon shook his head.
Even his hand movements while cleaning the tablet seemed manic.
Is that brat disrespectful, or just excessively dutiful?
He had no qualms about kicking his senior brothers, yet he treated the ancestors, whom he had never even seen, with such scrupulous reverence. Just what was twisted so badly that this terrifying creature had been produced?
Crack!
“Hiek! The, the tablet cracked! Aaaah! Senior Brother Sect Leaaaaader! G-glue! Glllllueee!!!”
“……Crazy bastard.”
Baek Cheon stopped thinking and shook his head back and forth. Hong Dae-gwang did the same.
Flash. Flash.
In barely an hour, Mount Hua had regained its full appearance. The roof tiles that had been dulled and stained now shone with their original color, and the pillars and walls that had looked faded and lifeless had become crisp and clear, as if oiled.
The bedding hung on the long clotheslines swayed gently in the wind.
It was a scene of utter peace.
“Now, then…….”
Hyun Young scanned the area with sharp eyes.
The disciples, tense as bowstrings, couldn’t take their eyes off him. Their fate depended on what came out of that mouth.
“Well, this is…….”
Though he wasn’t completely satisfied, Hyun Young nodded as if this was still acceptable. Everyone silently cheered.
“Sect Leader.”
“Yes.”
“The children have had a hard time of it, so I think it would be best to let them eat and rest comfortably today.”
“A fine idea, but does Mount Hua even have any food right now? We sent all the cooks away, so there wouldn’t be anyone to prepare it.”
“On the way up, we stopped at a tavern in Hwayeom and ordered the food in advance. We just need to go down and bring it back.”
“You really have thought of everything, haven’t you? Hoho.”
Just as Hyun Jong was about to nod in good spirits, he caught sight of Chung Myung sneaking up behind Hyun Young and whispering to him.
“Elder-nim. Liquor, liquor……”
“You—! Hey, you little punk! You got thoroughly beaten up for drinking, and now that word is coming out of your mouth again?”
Hyun Jong shouted at once, and Hyun Young frowned.
“That’s one thing, this is another! The kid could be a little thirsty for liquor!”
“Grrrr……”
Just as Hyun Jong was about to scold him again, a voice came from behind.
“The liquor is here.”
Everyone instinctively turned their heads.
The closed mountain gate of Mount Hua opened slowly, and a man came into view. Holding a white flask in one hand, the middle-aged man was dressed entirely in green.
“Oh!”
Joy flooded Hyun Jong’s eyes.
“Family Head!”
“Father!”
Those who spotted Tang Gun-ak couldn’t hold back their delight and called out loudly as well. At such a welcome, Tang Gun-ak smiled gently.
He strode through the gate, then bowed deeply to Hyun Jong.
“I greet Alliance Leader.”
“Please, don’t do this, Family Head.”
Hyun Jong quickly took both his arms and helped him up.
“I am the sinner here, unable to fulfill my duty as Alliance Leader and instead forcing this burden onto Family Head. I cannot accept a salute like this.”
Tang Gun-ak smiled faintly.
“It does not seem to me that you have failed in your duty.”
“But…… how did you arrive so quickly?”
Hyun Jong asked in surprise, and Tang Gun-ak answered with a slightly embarrassed expression.
“As soon as I received your letter, I rushed here at once. When I heard that Mount Hua had lifted its closure, I was so restless I could hardly endure it.”
“You are very welcome indeed. Truly, very welcome.”
Relief and guilt rose at the same time in Hyun Jong’s eyes.
He already knew well how much Tang Gun-ak had suffered while Mount Hua remained in seclusion. And amid all that, the man had come running all the way from distant Yangtze River in a single breath—how could he not be grateful?
“Hngh. Some people get a warm welcome, and others just get told to haul baggage.”
Then Im So-byeong came in through the gate and grumbled theatrically.
“Green Forest King?”
“You’ve arrived?”
Hyun Young greeted Im So-byeong with a bright smile.
“It’s been a long time, Elder-nim.”
“Have you been well?”
“Well…… I suppose I can only answer that after you look over the ledgers I brought. If they pass inspection, then it means nothing bad happened.”
“Ha-ha-ha. Then naturally, nothing bad must have happened.”
Hyun Young firmly clasped Im So-byeong’s hand as the man continued his flamboyant chatter. There was clear trust in that grip.
“That.”
At that moment, Chung Myung sidled over to Tang Gun-ak. His gaze was fixed on the flask in Tang Gun-ak’s hand.
“That looks like seriously good liquor…….”
The color of the flask and the landscape painting on it were no ordinary thing. Liquor carried in a flask like that could hardly be ordinary liquor.
“Of course it is good liquor.”
Tang Gun-ak smiled faintly and nodded.
“I picked it out carefully so I could have a drink with a friend I haven’t seen in a long time.”
“Hah. That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day.”
Just as Chung Myung was about to grin broadly, Tang Gun-ak’s gaze darkened slightly.
“However…….”
“Yes?”
“There is something I must confirm first.”
Stepping a little away from Hyun Jong, Tang Gun-ak stood straight and looked directly at Chung Myung. A heavy, thick aura rolled out from his body.
“Hup.”
“……”
The faces of the Mount Hua disciples stiffened at once.
An overwhelming pressure worthy of the head of the Sichuan Tang Family bore down on the surroundings.
“A friend who vanished without a word for several years……”
“……”
“Before I decide whether I’ll enjoy this drink, I think I should first see what he’s brought back during all that time. What do you think?”
Tang Gun-ak’s sharp eyes settled on Chung Myung. Unrestrained, his presence was exactly as formidable as rumors claimed.
But Chung Myung, receiving that gaze head-on, only grinned in return.
“A confirmation, huh…….”
Chung Myung curled the corner of his lips and looked his old friend straight in the eye.
“If you want to confirm that, one flask of that liquor won’t be nearly enough.”
And at that moment, the same smile appeared on Tang Gun-ak’s face as well.