If You Lose to Those Bastards, You’re Dead. (1)
The Mount Hua disciples, who had been running as if they were about to lose their breath at any second, came to a frantic halt on the spot. Unluckily, they had stopped at the very point where they were practically nose-to-nose with the Southern Edge disciples.
Beside the third-generation disciples, who were all wheezing hard, Chung Myung tilted his head at Sama Seung.
"Huh?"
He wore a face that said he didn’t understand a thing. Seeing that expression, Sama Seung filled his eyes with cold malice.
"I asked what you just said."
"Ah, that."
But instead of answering, Chung Myung kicked Jo Gul square in the shin beside him.
"Agh!"
"You trying to die? Run properly!"
"I’m your sahyung, you punk!"
"Ah, right. Forgot for a second."
Chung Myung scratched his head hard, then grinned at Sama Seung.
"Looks like he heard you. How embarrassing."
"……."
Sama Seung glared at him with murderous eyes.
He was not so clueless as to miss who that remark had been aimed at. There was no reason to be fooled by this childish pretense.
"You……."
Just then, someone lightly tugged at Sama Seung’s sleeve. He had been about to bark an order, but stopped and glanced back.
Jin Geum-ryong leaned in and whispered, "Elder. There’s no gain in lowering yourself to a child’s level."
"Hmph."
Sama Seung gave a low hum and nodded.
No matter how angry he was, he was still an elder of Southern Edge. There was too great a difference in status for him to exchange words with a little brat like that. If word ever spread that a Southern Edge elder had quarreled with a third-generation Mount Hua disciple, there would be no greater humiliation.
Jin Geum-ryong stepped forward as if to scratch the itch for him.
"Who is the little dojang?"
"Me? You’d know if you heard it?"
"……."
Jin Geum-ryong stared at Chung Myung with a blank expression.
He had never once met anyone who answered his words like this. It was more than irritating; it was almost enlightening in a grotesque sort of way.
With a short laugh, Jin Geum-ryong smiled thinly and spoke again with feigned patience. "Perhaps I might know your name already. So why don’t you tell me?"
"Nothing difficult. I’m Chung Myung."
"Chung Myung?"
The always-gentle face of Jin Geum-ryong stiffened at once.
A familiar name.
Wasn’t the Mount Hua disciple who had humiliated Southern Edge at the Eunha Merchant Guild named Chung Myung?
Jin Geum-ryong narrowed his eyes and looked at Chung Myung.
He’s younger than I thought.
Just looking at him, it was absurd.
Because of Chung Myung treating Hwang the merchant lord at the Eunha Merchant Guild, the guild had nearly cut off all trade with Southern Edge and instead begun dealing with Mount Hua.
For Southern Edge, losing trade to Mount Hua after bungling relations with one of Shaanxi’s ten great merchant houses was a humiliation too shameful to even speak of.
Because of that, the sect leader had been enraged, and the elders had turned upside down. And yet the one who had dealt them that disgrace was this child, who looked like the blood on his head had barely dried.
"I see. So you’re Chung Myung, dojang. But from what I can tell, you don’t seem to have learned manners very well."
It was an openly critical remark about his attitude, but Chung Myung just picked at his ear twice and blew air out through his mouth.
"Sorry, but I can’t hear too well. Could you come closer and say that louder?"
"……What did you say?"
"Are you hard of hearing? Come over here and say it. Can’t hear you?"
Jin Geum-ryong’s face hardened.
What exactly is he relying on to act like this?
If it was true that he had been sent flying in the match against Yi Song-baek after taking a single blow and coughing up blood, then his martial ability couldn’t be that high. So what was he relying on, to stand there with his neck so stiff and spout nonsense in front of him?
He must truly have no sense of danger.
If it were up to him, he’d draw his sword right this instant and cut down this insolent wretch in front of him.
But this was Mount Hua, not Southern Edge. He could not afford to make a scene recklessly. That was not Jin Geum-ryong’s role.
Grinding his teeth slightly, Jin Geum-ryong said in a low voice, "You are a third-generation disciple of Mount Hua, are you not?"
"I am, yeah."
"Mount Hua and Southern Edge have shared ranking and seniority since long ago. In that case, I would count as something like your sasu. Wouldn’t it be more proper for you to come closer than for you to order a senior around? If you know even a little bit about manners, that is."
"Oh, really?" Chung Myung grinned. "Then how about you say that to your Elder over there? Me ordering a sasu around seems a whole lot more polite than a Southern Edge elder ordering our sect leader around. Don’t you think?"
Jin Geum-ryong froze and quickly shut his mouth.
He had clearly meant to rebuke Chung Myung, yet it had turned into a direct accusation against Sama Seung’s own discourtesy.
I made a mistake like that?
No, it wasn’t a mistake.
That brat had steered the conversation exactly where he wanted it to go, without saying anything outright himself, until Jin Geum-ryong tripped over his own feet.
"You……."
Just then, Sama Seung, who had been watching the exchange, spoke up.
"That child’s mouth is no ordinary one."
"Elder."
"Step back."
Biting his lip, Jin Geum-ryong gave Chung Myung one hard glare and then withdrew without another word.
Sama Seung’s mouth curled faintly upward.
"I will overlook this once, since your heart was apparently in the right place, thinking of the sect leader."
"Yes, thank you."
"But remember this well. Your rudeness and my rudeness are not the same. Do you know why?"
"……I’m not sure."
"Because of strength."
Sama Seung spoke in a low voice.
"Rudeness only becomes rudeness when someone with the power to do so points it out. If no one points it out, it merely passes by. And the authority to point it out comes from strength. Your rudeness, lacking strength, is rudeness. My rudeness, possessing strength, is not."
Chung Myung’s face twisted into a nasty scowl.
"Before manners, you should probably learn how to speak in a way normal people can understand."
"……You’re simply a madman."
Sama Seung turned and bowed his head slightly toward Hyun Sang.
"I apologize for my earlier discourtesy."
"Ah, no. Elder, why would you—?"
"That child pointed out my manners, so at this point it would no longer be discourtesy, would it? Naturally I must apologize."
Hyun Sang looked utterly at a loss.
The person who had committed the offense was apologizing, while the one receiving the apology was growing increasingly uncomfortable.
Smiling at that sight, Sama Seung turned back to Chung Myung.
"Youthful arrogance is easily forgiven. But one day, that arrogance will sever your throat. Remember my words."
With that, he turned away.
"Let us go."
"Yes, Elder."
Under Hyun Sang’s guidance, they began walking again, leading their disciples onward.
In the midst of it, Yi Song-baek gave Chung Myung a slight bow.
Chung Myung returned the greeting with a brief nod, and Yi Song-baek smiled faintly before moving farther away.
Once the Southern Edge disciples had gone a little distance, Jo Gul spoke up with a face gone pale.
"Are you crazy? What the hell are you trying to do?"
"What?"
"That was a Southern Edge elder! Southern Edge! Southern Edge!"
"Damn it!"
Chung Myung kicked Jo Gul’s shin again. The same spot as before. Jo Gul clutched his shin and rolled on the ground.
"Aaaagh!"
"You bunch of Mount Hua disciples just stand there and take it when some ragged-looking bastard insults the sect leader, huh?"
"Do you think we enjoy taking it?" Yoon Jong stepped forward with a hardened expression. "I’m angry too, but that man’s words are not wrong. One without strength has no right to point out another’s rudeness."
"Who says we don’t have strength?"
"……Huh?"
Chung Myung suddenly whipped his head around and stared at the retreating Southern Edge disciples.
Those bastards have the nerve.
It was already annoying enough that a gang of thieves had walked right into Mount Hua on their own, and now they had the gall to insult the sect leader?
Even though Hyun Jong could not truly be the same sect leader as the one Chung Myung had known, he was still Mount Hua’s representative. That did not change the fact that he was someone Chung Myung had to protect.
Insulting the sect leader meant insulting Mount Hua itself.
Chung Myung’s eyes began to burn.
"I was trying to do this nicely, but these bastards decided to flip the table from the start. Fine. So that’s how you want it?"
"N-no, calm down a little—"
"Chung Myung, I’m begging you. Please, think before you move."
The third-generation disciples scrambled to grab him, aghast. They knew better than anyone what kind of damage he could do once his eyes turned wild.
Then Chung Myung snapped his head around.
"You sahyung saw that, right?"
"……Saw what?"
"What those bastards are doing. They’ve got no shame. Are you going to just let that pass?"
"……No, we don’t want to let it pass either. But what are we supposed to do……?"
"Listen carefully, sahyung."
Fury blazed in Chung Myung’s eyes.
"If you lose to those bastards, you’re dead."
"……."
The faces of Yoon Jong and the other third-generation disciples all soured at once.
Chung Myung’s eyes flickered with rage.
"It’s fine to lose anywhere else. Get beaten around out there and I’ll let it slide. But I can’t, no matter what, watch you lose to Southern Edge! Anyone who makes me watch that kind of disgrace had better be ready. The person who makes other people bleed tears of blood will someday bleed tears of blood themselves!"
That’s not how you use that saying, you punk!
You’re using it backwards!
You’re the one making us bleed tears of blood right now.
"Why aren’t you answering?"
With eyes alight like a lunatic’s, Chung Myung licked his lips. Just watching him made a chill run down their spines.
"N-no. We don’t want to either. But we’re not sure that we……."
"What? Not sure?"
Chung Myung strode toward the third-generation disciples, his eyes wildly glinting.
"You don’t think you can win?"
"Th-that’s not exactly—"
"So you do have the confidence to die, then?"
"……."
"Go on. Lose once. Just once. Fine, then. We all die together. You die. I die."
"……."
The Hwajong Jihoe.
An event meant to strengthen the friendship between Mount Hua and Southern Edge.
But that Hwajong Jihoe was now gradually being stained red by one man’s fury.
"That brat……."
Jong Seo-han glanced back over his shoulder. Jin Geum-ryong, walking beside him, asked quietly, "Does he bother you?"
Jong Seo-han replied in a low whisper, careful not to let Hyun Sang hear him ahead. "Bothered? It’s more that it’s absurd. He doesn’t know his place."
"Ignore him."
Jin Geum-ryong’s voice was flat.
"Running wild without knowing one’s place is the privilege of the weak. Only a colt that does not know how high the sky is can run about without restraint."
"That may be true, but……."
"There’s no need to regret it. If he’s bold enough to behave that insolently, he’ll naturally appear at the Hwajong Jihoe. There will be a chance to punish him later."
"I’d like to see whether he can keep mouthing off after I tear his mouth apart."
Jin Geum-ryong smiled faintly.
"Not something a righteous disciple should be saying."
"They were the ones who picked the fight first."
"Yes. That’s right."
Strictly speaking, it was their side that had picked the fight, but Jin Geum-ryong saw no need to point that out.
"Don’t concern yourself with it."
At that moment, Sama Seung, who had sent Hyun Sang ahead of them, spoke in a low voice.
"In the end, martial artists speak with their swords. No matter how much those mouths flap, nothing changes."
"Yes, Elder."
"Strength is not everything in the martial world. But the martial world is also a place where nothing can be done without strength. You must not forget that."
"I will keep it in mind."
Sama Seung narrowed his eyes.
"This Hwajong Jihoe will be quite entertaining. Judging by how arrogantly they act, those boys must have some backing. Crush that backing completely. Do you understand?"
"Yes! Elder."
Sama Seung snorted softly and nodded.
Quite an amusing brat.
Still, there was something to admire about him. Even an elder of Mount Hua would not dare open his mouth carelessly under the pressure, and yet that child had stepped forward without fear…….
Sama Seung stopped where he was and abruptly looked back.
The disciples following behind him all halted in surprise.
"Elder?"
"What is it?"
He glared back with terrifying eyes for a moment, then relaxed his expression and shook his head.
"No. Nothing."
With a light wave of his hand, he turned forward again.
But his face had stiffened into something quite serious.
Chung Myung had clearly pointed out Sama Seung’s fault. That he had been rude to the sect leader.
Then did he hear what I said from that distance?
From a distance where even Sama Seung himself had failed to detect Chung Myung’s presence?
No, that can’t be.
There must have been some mistake.
I must be more on edge than I thought. To come up with such ridiculous ideas.
Letting out a low laugh, Sama Seung quickened his pace.
Yet his steps, unlike before, had grown just a little heavier.