A Feral Scramble (4)
“What is that...?”
“......”
“It came?”
His head slowly tilted to the side.
At the sight, Hyun Jong squeezed his eyes shut without thinking. By now, he knew all too well what that bastard was thinking whenever his neck twisted like that.
“Ahem. So, anyway...”
“Yes.”
“A message came from Shaolin.”
“Ah, Shaolin.”
“R-right. Shaolin.”
“Is that the Shaolin I know? The one up there on Songshan, where all those shiny bald heads cram together like insects?”
Hyun Jong’s gaze hurriedly swept the room.
He was checking whether another shiny bald head might be hiding here, but fortunately, every person in the room boasted a full head of hair... and...
Full... ha...
“What’s wrong?”
When Hyun Jong’s eyes lingered on Hyun Young for a long moment, Hyun Young cocked his head in confusion.
“Th-that...”
“Yes?”
“Ah, no.”
Swallowing the words he could not possibly say aloud, Hyun Jong quietly averted his eyes. The corners of his eyes turned moist.
That poor child. Working himself to the bone his entire life only to end up...
“Cough, cough.”
With a loud fake cough, Hyun Jong forced his gaze back to Chung Myung.
“Yes. That’s right. Shaolin.”
“What?!”
Chung Myung put on an exaggeratedly shocked expression.
“That Shaolin is sending us a message? Good heavens! I thought the only thing we’d ever share was warm fists and cool sword slashes, and now they’re sending a message? The civilized attitude of trying to solve problems through discussion is something between us and those bastards...?”
“N-no. Chung Myung. No matter what, it’s not like we can’t send each other a single letter...”
“Whaaaat?”
Chung Myung’s eyes widened as he asked,
“No, Sect Leader! A letter?”
“That letter...”
“A letter is something written in words, isn’t it?”
“Eh? Y-yes. It is. But why does that...”
“Sending something written in words means they understand language. There’s no way those Shaolin bald bastards understand language, so how the hell are they supposed to send a letter?”
“......”
“If they understood words, they wouldn’t have been acting like that all this time! How could hairless bastards read characters? They’re both black, aren’t they!”
Chung Myung rattled off insults so vicious that if Beop Jeong had heard them, he might have foamed at the mouth and collapsed on the spot.
In the meantime, Hyun Jong was deeply grateful that there were no outsiders here.
“......Fine. Somehow, they really did send us a letter. So, I was hoping we could at least discuss what it says.”
“Do we have to?”
“......Please.”
When Hyun Jong spoke with such a pleading face, Chung Myung folded his arms and nodded.
“Well. I’ll hear it out.”
“Yes, yes. Good idea...”
“There’s no way I’m refusing to hear even a dog bark, so why would I refuse to hear a monk bark?”
“......”
Hyun Jong reminded himself yet again that the best way to deal with Chung Myung was simply to get to the point as quickly as possible, then hurried on.
“It’s a message sent in the name of Shaolin’s Abbot, Beop Jeong. It’s not addressed to Mount Hua, but to the Heavenly Alliance.”
“And the contents?”
“Mm.”
Hyun Jong wore a slightly troubled look as he explained.
“They say the movements of the Four Hegemons Alliance in Gangnam are too unusual to ignore, and they wish to discuss the matter. They request that the Heavenly Alliance Leader attend as well. And...” He hesitated. “Your name is specifically mentioned as well. They ask that you make time to come to Shaolin.”
As soon as he finished, Hyun Jong hurriedly watched Chung Myung’s expression. He fully expected him to start frothing at the mouth and convulsing.
But strangely enough, Chung Myung didn’t react much at all. Arms still folded, he only nodded lazily.
That left Hyun Jong a little puzzled, and he asked carefully,
“...Are you all right?”
“Huh? With what?”
“No, well...”
It’s a little hard to say that with my own mouth...
“Well, it sounds like a good idea.”
“A... good idea?”
“Yeah. In the end, they’re telling the Sect Leader and me to come to Shaolin, right?”
“Th-that’s right.”
“Then of course it’s a good idea.”
Chung Myung smiled brightly.
For a moment, seeing that clear, innocent smile, Hyun Jong finally began to relax and nod.
“I’m glad you think so...”
“If they’re inviting me because they want their heads cracked open, why the hell wouldn’t I go? You damned bald bastards! Fine, I’m coming right now!”
“Where do you think you’re going, you bastard!”
As Chung Myung tried to leap up, the Five Swords, who had been waiting for exactly this, shot forward like streaks of light and clamped onto his limbs. Their response was so fast, so perfectly coordinated, it was enough to inspire genuine admiration.
“Let go? You won’t? I’ll kill you!”
“W-where the hell are you going, idiot!”
“Where else would I go? To Shaolin, obviously!”
“Why Shaolin!”
“Because they told me to come! That grand bald bastard told me to come, and now they’re inviting me, so what the hell’s the problem?”
Chung Myung rolled his eyes.
“Did this bastard lose his senses after being decent for three years? Fine, good! I’ll show you why I spent three years training! If I tattoo a plum blossom on that polished head of yours, maybe he’ll finally become a Buddha!”
“I-it’s Shaolin!”
“Exactly! That’s what I’m saying! Why do you think I trained for three years!”
Huh? Wasn’t it because of the Sapa bastards?
Hyun Jong clutched his throbbing head and let out a long sigh, and Hyun Young casually spoke up.
“Sect Leader.”
“...What is it?”
“I think we need to think this through.”
“Think?”
“Yes, Sect Leader. What do you plan to do?”
“Mm.”
After a moment’s thought, Hyun Jong answered.
“Even if Shaolin and we are not the same as we once were, they’ve sent a personal letter concerning the Four Hegemons Alliance. Wouldn’t it be proper for us to go at least once?”
“I see it a little differently.”
At Hyun Young’s words, Hyun Jong looked mildly surprised and gave him a look that said, Then explain.
“As we saw during the Sapa bastards’ recent rise, Shaolin doesn’t think very highly of us.”
“......”
“And yet they still go out of their way to invite us. Doesn’t that suggest they’ve got some other scheme in mind?”
It had already become plain to most people that Shaolin, the head of the Nine Great Sects, kept its distance from the Heavenly Alliance. They just didn’t say it aloud.
Then a blunt voice dropped into the room like a sack of rocks.
“What scheme? They’re just in trouble and desperate.”
“Hm? In trouble?”
Hyun Young turned to Chung Myung. Chung Myung shook off the disciples hanging off his limbs and curled his lip in disgust.
“If the Nine Great Sects or the Five Great Families had actually responded properly, do you think Shaolin would’ve bothered looking our way? They’re only sending us a letter because those bastards won’t listen.”
“......”
“They’re probably hugging a Buddha statue and bawling their eyes out right now. Hihihihihi!”
“Chung Myung. Rejoicing in another’s misfortune means you still haven’t awakened to the Dao...”
“Wow, then every one of those Shaolin bastards is going straight to hell! In hell, wouldn’t the Buddha be like, ‘Fine, you bastards! I came down here personally to wait for you!’ and then smack them all with a sutra?”
“......”
No, I should just stop talking.
Hyun Jong fell silent, stunned anew by the apparently bottomless depravity of his disciple. At that moment, Baek Cheon tilted his head.
“But, Chung Myung.”
“Yeah?”
“If what you’re saying is true, isn’t this exactly what you wanted?”
“That’s true.”
“Then why are you so angry?”
“No!”
Chung Myung’s eyes, which had just begun to calm down, went wild again.
“That uppity monk bastard is telling our Sect Leader to come and go as he pleases!”
“......”
“Does he still think his words carry that much weight? Even if he came running barefoot and flung himself on the ground begging, I’d still be deciding whether to go once, and he says he ‘requests attendance’? I’ll kill him!”
“......”
While Baek Cheon was left speechless, someone else vigorously nodded.
Junior sister?
No, why are you agreeing with that too...
Even then, Hyun Jong, never forgetting the duty of a Sect Leader, steadied the increasingly chaotic situation.
“Please, everyone, just quiet down...”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
“If you put it that way, it’s unfair, Sect Leader. Only one idiot opened his mouth, so why are we the ones getting— Agh!”
Jo Gul, who had foolishly inserted himself into the conversation and promptly been smacked by Yoon Jong before being hurled into a corner, looked up with the wounded eyes of a drenched puppy and tried to express his grievance, but no one even spared him a glance.
“......Since it was sent to the Heavenly Alliance, we will need to send a reply. What do you think we should do?”
“Ignore it.”
“Just burn it.”
“Come now. Why are you all like this? Let us politely decline.”
“Couldn’t they just come here instead?”
In the end, tears welled in Hyun Jong’s eyes.
They were finished. Completely and utterly finished. The sort of people no one could even recycle if they were thrown out.
“Sect Leader.”
At that moment, Baek Cheon spoke up with unusual seriousness. Hyun Jong, who still retained a shred of hope in him, brightened.
“Yes, Baek Cheon. Go on.”
“It is true that Shaolin has made a request, but there is no reason we must comply.”
“Y-you think so?”
“Yes, Sect Leader. If we look at this coldly, Shaolin has always ignored our requests or attached conditions to them. Why should we go along with their wishes now?”
Hyun Jong nodded at the reasonable point. Yet even so, the concern in his eyes did not fade.
“But I’m worried. Looking at the situation, war may soon break out...”
“War doesn’t break out that easily.”
It was Chung Myung who said that.
“Even if people are growling and fighting, war isn’t something they can just launch so easily. Especially not for those with something to lose. Shaolin or whoever else—those people all don’t want to take damage.”
“......”
“One of the reasons the Nine Great Sects or the Five Great Families don’t listen to Shaolin probably has to do with that.”
“You mean they won’t gather because they’re afraid a real war might break out?”
“Yes.”
Jo Gul raised a hand, looking puzzled.
“But if they keep holding back, war still isn’t going to just not happen, right? Jang Ilso won’t stay content in Gangnam forever.”
“Jang Ilso hasn’t moved yet. No matter what people know is inevitably coming, they always want to put it off a little longer.”
“Mm.”
That did make sense. Jo Gul nodded.
“Come to think of it, I stole liquor once, and even though I knew I’d get caught anyway, I still wanted to hide it one more day...”
“Aaaagh! Why are you hitting me!”
“You stole liquor!”
“That was before! Back then! Not this time! I already got beaten for that one!”
“Then get beaten again!”
Ignoring Yoon Jong, who had grabbed Jo Gul by the collar and was now shaking him like a rag, Baek Cheon said,
“So even if we do not listen to Shaolin this time, nothing major will happen for the time being?”
“Right.”
“But your concern is also reasonable, Chung Myung. Shaolin is taking such an active role. The atmosphere is not normal.”
“Sasuk.”
“Hm?”
“If Mount Hua had been one of the Nine Great Sects, do you think we’d have gone out and fought just because Shaolin told us to?”
“That is...”
Baek Cheon trailed off, his expression turning a little strange.
In the past, he might have answered yes. But now, his answer was already decided.
“People are all the same. Shaolin being called the head of the Nine Great Sects is a matter for times of crisis. On normal days, everyone does everything they can to beat Shaolin even once, don’t they?”
“...True.”
“When people are already carrying resentment from day to day, do you really think they’ll suddenly obey Shaolin in perfect formation in a situation this ambiguous? Hah. Ridiculous. By now, that old monk Beop Jeong probably has at least a hundred more relics in him.”
When he finished speaking, Chung Myung gave a bitter smile at the memory that suddenly surfaced.
Those crazy bastards.
Even with the Demonic Sect on their doorstep, they still argued over who should advance and who should fall back. Their mouths never shut. If those bastards had worked together properly, casualties would have been cut in half.
Having already learned how petty people could become when life and gain were on the line, Chung Myung could easily see what was coming.
“Then what about the Yangtze?”
“They’ll probably give up a bit and pull back.”
“...Even if that means the honor of the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families falls straight into the dirt?”
“There aren’t many people willing to risk their lives for honor the way you’d think. Honor can be restored later, but once you lose your life, that’s the end. They’ll probably make excuses that as long as they can crush the Four Hegemons Alliance in the end, they can recover everything no matter what they give up.”
“Hmmmm.”
“That’s why war is not something you can solve through meetings. Usually, it takes one crazy bastard...”
Chung Myung, who had been rambling on, suddenly clamped his mouth shut.
Then his eyes slowly widened, and he gaped in a flustered daze.
“W-what is it?”
When Baek Cheon asked in alarm, Chung Myung turned to him with a blank look.
“Sasuk.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“...This might actually turn into a war.”
“What?”
Chung Myung tilted his head to the side and muttered,
“If it goes like this for a bit longer...”
His expression turned strange as he remembered the bomb they had all forgotten about.
“Shaolin might actually catch fire.”
“What the hell are you talking about, you idiot!”
“I-I need to check something first! Where’s that beggar ajusshi? Beggar ajusshi!”
Before he could offer any proper explanation, Chung Myung kicked open the door and stormed out, leaving everyone else staring after him blankly.
“What’s he thinking about now?”
“How would I know...”
“I’m hungry.”
A synchronized sigh escaped from everyone’s mouths.
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