If You Lose to Those Bastards, You’re Dead. (4)
As Chung Myung climbed the mountain, he kept glancing around him over and over.
Not here, right?
He had been on edge the whole time, worried Yu I-seol might latch onto him again, and finally let out a long, relieved sigh.
"Haa... What the hell am I even doing?"
There was nothing in the world Chung Myung feared. Back when he was called the Plum Blossom Sword Saint, there had been plenty of people who feared him, but no one he feared in return.
Even the Shaolin abbot had been reluctant to meet him, hadn’t he?
And now here he was, avoiding a little girl because she was getting on his nerves.
"Nothing gets through to her. How am I supposed to deal with that?"
If he were thinking selfishly, he’d want to smash her head open, tie it up with rope, and throw it off a cliff, but she was still his sago. He couldn’t exactly beat her senseless.
Hm?
Why was he talking about Baek Cheon?
"That bastard came at me first."
How could a martial uncle who picked a fight and a sago who was merely annoying be the same thing?
In any case, thanks to all this, it was the first time in his life—no, the first time even after dying once—that Chung Myung had ever gone out of his way to avoid a person.
"Sneaking around to avoid people at this hour... How did my life turn into this?"
He was sighing again when he was just about to bolt up the mountain.
Hm?
He sensed someone nearby.
"Hey! Hey! I knew it! You can fool ghosts, but you can’t fool me—huh?"
Chung Myung tilted his head.
The presence he felt was different from Yu I-seol’s. Yu I-seol possessed an absurdly miraculous absence of presence; even the mighty Chung Myung could raise his senses and still barely detect her, as if she were nothing more than a faint illusion.
That was why he had lost track of her so many times before.
But this feeling was far too strong and clear to be Yu I-seol. And...
"Two people?"
There wasn’t just one.
Furrowing his brow slightly, Chung Myung cautiously began moving toward the source of the presence.
At this hour, two people meeting alone in the depths of Mount Hua? That reeked of conspiracy.
I need to see what kind of trick this is.
His eyes began to gleam.
Whoosh.
His feet sliced through the air as he moved with force. Once he was nearly there, Chung Myung suppressed his presence and blended himself quietly into the surroundings.
Then, inch by inch, he crept forward and stuck his head out.
Huh?
Chung Myung blinked.
But no matter how many times he looked, the people before him didn’t change.
One of them was someone Chung Myung knew very well.
Baek Cheon.
There was nothing strange about Baek Cheon being here. After all, this was Mount Hua territory.
But the person standing opposite Baek Cheon was absurdly, wildly out of place here.
Why the hell are you there?
Jin Geum-ryong.
Jin Geum-ryong, the great sahyung among the Southern Edge Sect’s second-generation disciples, stood there facing Baek Cheon with a strange look in his eyes.
Why are those two meeting alone at this hour?
It smelled like a scheme from a mile away.
Chung Myung crept a little closer and strained his ears.
"You seem to be doing well."
Jin Geum-ryong spoke to Baek Cheon with a gentle smile. But Baek Cheon’s face twisted with obvious displeasure at the words.
"You look pretty relaxed."
"And why shouldn’t I be? Dong-ryong."
"Pfft!"
Both Jin Geum-ryong and Baek Cheon turned at the sound.
Damn it.
Chung Myung desperately held his breath.
The way he said Dong-ryong had been too much. It was impossible not to laugh.
The two men tilted their heads, then faced each other again. They must have thought it was some kind of animal noise.
Baek Cheon’s face hardened.
"Don’t call me by that name. I am Baek Cheon."
"You don’t casually throw away the name your parents gave you. No matter what anyone says, you are Jin Dong-ryong."
Ughhhhhh.
Chung Myung clawed at the ground.
Oh, I’m dying. Dong-ryong, he said. So Baek Cheon’s original name is Dong-ryong. My stomach is going to split open.
His body shook with suppressed convulsions.
Baek Cheon’s face turned red as if it might burst at any second.
"I said Baek Cheon!"
"I know, Dong-ryong."
Wow, that bastard was really going for the throat.
Baek Cheon was practically purple with rage, and he still kept calling him Dong-ryong right to his face. Damn, that was a nasty personality.
Whether or not he knew Chung Myung was judging him, Jin Geum-ryong continued the conversation with a faint smile.
"It seems life in Mount Hua isn’t too bad? You look rather decent."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Nothing more than that I wanted to see."
Jin Geum-ryong’s smile deepened.
"How your worthless little brother, who ran off to Mount Hua just to prove he could beat his older brother, is living."
"Didn’t you already confirm that two years ago?"
"I’m a man who never gets tired of kicking a defeated dog, you see."
Baek Cheon’s expression twisted.
That was Jin Geum-ryong’s nature. He was merciless to anyone he considered weaker than himself. He disguised himself with gentleness in ordinary moments, but beneath that lay a rotten, decayed core.
How much had he suffered under Jin Geum-ryong in the past?
"How about it? If you beg me now, I might still take you back into the Southern Edge Sect."
"Don’t talk nonsense."
Baek Cheon looked straight at Jin Geum-ryong and said, "I am the second-generation disciple of Mount Hua, Baek Cheon, and its great sahyung. My dream now is to make Mount Hua a sect greater than the Southern Edge Sect. So never say that sort of thing in front of me again."
Oh?
Chung Myung looked at the two men with sparkling eyes.
So that was it.
To sum up, those two were brothers? One named Geum-ryong, the other Dong-ryong.
I really want to meet their father.
I’ll definitely avenge this split stomach muscle massacre. What kind of idiot names his kids like that? No wonder the kid ran away from home!
Baek Cheon growled, "And even if I did beg, you’d just laugh and pretend I never said it. That’s the kind of bastard you are."
"Haha. Brothers are strange, aren’t they? We’ve been apart for so long, and yet you know me so well."
After laughing for a while, Jin Geum-ryong suddenly went serious and looked at Baek Cheon with eyes colder than ice.
"You made the wrong choice."
"... "
"If you wanted to defeat me, you should have entered the Southern Edge Sect. Then there might have been even a sliver of possibility. But Mount Hua? You joined that tottering, half-dead sect just to beat me? Hahaha. Even a dog would laugh at that!"
Baek Cheon bit his lip hard.
"Don’t insult Mount Hua."
"Oh?"
"Yes. You’re right. I may have entered Mount Hua at first out of youthful arrogance. I thought I would lead the sect that looked down on me, the sect my brother despised most, and defeat him with it."
"Too stupid to even call youthful arrogance. I suppose that’s just like you."
Ignoring the relentless sneering, Baek Cheon said firmly, "At first, yes, it was childish arrogance. But now I truly like Mount Hua. There is nothing more rewarding than living as Baek Cheon, the second-generation disciple and great sahyung of Mount Hua."
Hooh?
Chung Myung stared at Baek Cheon as though he was ready to cry from pride.
So that’s how it was.
He’d kept insisting he had to grow stronger, and it seemed he’d had his own reasons after all. More than that, Chung Myung felt oddly moved by Baek Cheon’s words.
Ah, that tottering...
"You find reward in living as a second-generation disciple of that tottering sect? In that ruined sect? Are you out of your mind?"
That bastard?
Well, that was originally what Chung Myung had meant to say, but hearing someone else say it made him furious all over again.
I ought to rip that mouth right off!
"Yes."
Baek Cheon answered firmly.
"It may sound strange to you. But after coming here, I learned something too. Happiness isn’t about living it up in a good sect, eating good food, and wearing fine clothes. At least here, I’m needed. And I can set my own goal—to make this place something no one can look down on. Mount Hua is the place that gave me a goal, and beyond that, it’s the place that embraced me with affection."
"Affection?"
Jin Geum-ryong said it as though he’d swallowed something bitter.
"You spout such soft nonsense, which means you’ve still seen too little of reality. Let me tell you. You’re already finished. Because of this foolish choice, you’ll spend the rest of your life as a third-rate martial artist, humiliated at every turn. And from here, you’ll watch me become the sect leader of the Southern Edge Sect."
"So what? I’m just living my own life."
"You’ll be living a trash life. Though I suppose watching that would have its own amusement."
Jin Geum-ryong smiled thinly.
"But lingering over it doesn’t suit my temperament. No need to wait. Tomorrow, I’ll tell you myself how foolish it was to choose Mount Hua over the Southern Edge Sect."
Then he tilted his head as if considering something, and a sneer tugged at his lips.
"No, perhaps it was a good choice after all. A ruined sect and an idiot? Is there a better match than that?"
"I don’t care if you insult me. But don’t you dare speak of Mount Hua with that mouth. I’ll tear it apart."
"... You think you can?"
Jin Geum-ryong glared at Baek Cheon. The rising killing intent made Baek Cheon flinch.
After staring him down for a while, Jin Geum-ryong suddenly withdrew the killing intent and gave a soft snort of laughter.
"No need to rush. By the time dawn breaks, you’ll understand. You and Mount Hua will no longer be able to show your faces in the jianghu after tomorrow. I’ll make sure of that myself."
Jin Geum-ryong gave Baek Cheon one last sidelong glance, then turned around. Without looking back, he headed down the mountain.
Watching Jin Geum-ryong’s retreating figure, Baek Cheon let out a deep sigh.
Can I really do it?
Jin Geum-ryong was the kind of man who did what he said he would. Setting aside his personality, his skill was beyond anything Baek Cheon could hope to match.
Baek Cheon clenched his lips hard.
Don’t waver.
I am Baek Cheon of Mount Hua. And someday, I will become Mount Hua’s sect leader and bring its glory back into full bloom.
He was muttering it like a vow to himself when he turned sharply to leave.
"Heh, look at you, being all admirable and shit."
"Wah! Dammit! You scared the hell out of me!"
Baek Cheon, startled half to death, blurted out curses and sat down on the ground before he even knew what he was doing. His heart felt like it was about to leap straight out of his throat.
When he finally gathered himself and looked up, Chung Myung was nodding in satisfaction.
"Y-You... Why are you here?"
"Comrade... Khk. D-D-Dong-ryong."
Chung Myung forced back a burst of laughter as he spoke, and Baek Cheon’s face twisted even further.
"...You heard all that?"
"Heh, Dong-ryong. This sago is impressed. What a noble heart you have, thinking of Mount Hua like that."
As Chung Myung kept nodding, Baek Cheon let out a long sigh.
"You’re like a ghost. I didn’t sense a thing."
"Well, of course."
"...I haven’t done anything wrong, but please don’t tell anyone else. Some people might not take it well."
"Don’t worry, sahyung. I, Chung Myung, am the kind of man whose mouth is so tight that heaven itself pities me if I’m the last one left."
"... "
That meant his mouth was insanely loose, didn’t it?
Baek Cheon clutched his head, regretting that of all people, it had to be this guy who caught him.
Other than the sect leader and a few elders, no one knew about this. And yet, of all people...
"Hmm. So sahyung is Jin Geum-ryong’s younger brother?"
"Even if we’re brothers, we aren’t especially close. We have different mothers, and..."
Baek Cheon sighed and seemed about to continue.
"I’ve been... since I was little..."
"Ah, forget it."
"Huh?"
"You don’t need to tell me that boring crap. It’s probably obvious anyway. Born a concubine’s son or the youngest, shoved aside by some gifted older brother, treated like garbage, then you ran away and came to Mount Hua. Right?"
"... Don’t reduce someone’s life to that in one breath."
But it was true.
"Good job."
"Right. So... huh?"
Baek Cheon jerked his head up.
"I said you did well. For coming to Mount Hua."
Chung Myung wore a different expression than before. It wasn’t his usual grin, the one that always seemed to provoke people. This one looked genuinely gentle.
And a heavy voice slipped from his mouth.
"Whatever your background, whatever your story, once you came to Mount Hua of your own accord, sahyung, you became a disciple of Mount Hua. And I’ll prove that choosing Mount Hua over the Southern Edge Sect was never the wrong choice."
Baek Cheon couldn’t say a word.
This wasn’t something that brat should be saying. And yet, strangely enough, the moment he heard it, his heart settled into a quiet calm.
"Prove it, huh. When?"
"When do you think?"
Chung Myung grinned.
"Today."
He turned his head.
In just a little while, the sun would rise to announce the Hwajong Jihoe.
"Let’s go wild, sahyung."
A savage glint entered Chung Myung’s eyes.
It was time to smash the noses of those Southern Edge bastards flat.