Don’t Bow Your Head. (6)
Kwaaaaaaaang!
Light flashed again and again. The once-quiet Yangtze River was now a din of thunderous blasts and shrieks.
With the boats shifting violently, there was no mistaking it—something was happening over there.
Clench.
The Shaolin disciples standing on the riverbank tightened their fists. Their bodies leaned forward so hard it looked as though they might kick off the ground and hurl themselves into the river at any moment.
But that was impossible.
Because the back of Beop Jeong, standing in front of them, had firmly bound their feet in place.
Gnash.
The Shaolin monks ground their teeth and stared at the scene with bloodshot eyes. No—glared would be more accurate.
In the middle of that river, in the place that had become demonic territory where they could not set foot, several people bearing the name Namgung were struggling as though being torn apart by a pack of wolves.
“Abbot!”
Someone shouted. But Beop Jeong did not even look back. He simply stared at the spectacle with cold eyes.
“Abbot! Shouldn’t we help them?”
“Wait.”
“Abbot!”
“Didn’t I say wait!”
Beop Jeong shouted his reply.
“Even Namgung has not committed all of its strength to this fight! Then why should we shed blood in Namgung’s place?”
“……”
“Can’t you see that the Myriad Man Sect isn’t moving? If Jang Il-so and the Black Dragon King had come forward personally, this would already have been settled! Why do you think they’re just watching?”
“Ugh……”
Beop Jeong bit his lip.
“If we’re lured in, it’s over. Not only them, but those left on Maehwado—and even we—could be dragged down with them.”
The sound of someone grinding their teeth rang out, sharp and chilling.
They could go. If they wanted, they could rush out there and help them at any moment.
And that was precisely why it was so agonizing. Because they had to stand by and ignore the people within reach of their hands.
Someone lowered their head, unable to bear watching any longer.
“Don’t lower your head!”
At that moment, Hye Bang’s rough shout exploded from his mouth.
“S-senior brother……”
“Look at it properly! Use those two eyes of yours! You don’t even have the courage to move, and now you want to look away too? Just how cowardly are you planning to be?”
“Hye Bang!”
Beopgye’s rebuking voice burst out, but Hye Bang did not budge. He merely stared at the river with wide-open eyes, as if he intended to burn that sight into his mind.
Beopgye shut his eyes tight.
How did it come to this?
Until they had arrived here, their resolve to save Namgung had burned bright. But now, even among them, a clear fracture could be felt. A gap had opened between those issuing the orders and those who had to obey them—a gap that could not be bridged.
Forcing his eyes open, Beopgye’s gaze returned to the river. The white sword aura pouring from Namgung Hwang felt so painfully cold it almost hurt to look at.
Swoooosh!
The edge of the sword had dulled. More accurately, the arm wielding it had dulled. Namgung Hwang’s blade was no longer sharp, no longer overwhelming.
And yet…
Slice!
“Urk……”
It was fine. His sword was where it needed to be, when it needed to be there.
The blood spilled by the water bandits stained even the darkened Yangtze a vivid red. Even the foam splashing up in bursts had turned from white to crimson.
Through that blood-dyed river, Namgung Hwang pressed on and on.
Faaaat!
And once again, over a dozen harpoons flew toward him.
Blocking them all? Impossible.
Namgung Hwang’s sword swept out without the slightest hesitation. What he cut down first was not the harpoon aimed at a vital point, but the ones that could reach Namgung Dowi if they got past him.
Kagagagang!
The harpoons were knocked aside by Namgung Hwang’s sword, but two that he could not fully deflect pierced his body mercilessly.
The harpoons punched through his skin, tore into muscle, and lodged themselves deep.
“Clan Head!”
At Namgung Dowi’s cry, Namgung Hwang’s sword swung and severed the necks of the water bandits still hurling their harpoons.
“I can block that much myself! Let me—”
“Dowi.”
“……”
Namgung Dowi fell silent.
There was no strength in the voice. It was not the booming voice that had always carried authority and naturally led those who heard it.
And yet… the resolve in that voice was beyond anything from the past.
“……Watch to the end.”
That was all. Keeping his gaze fixed ahead, Namgung Hwang moved forward again.
When blood from his head streamed into his eyes, the waves rushing over him washed it clean again.
He had no idea how much time had passed.
“Hraaaaaaaah!”
“Die! You monster!”
He simply kept stabbing and cutting, endlessly. Something struck his thigh, but that no longer mattered. From the waist down, his senses had long since gone numb.
What about the elders?
They were still here.
If not for them, he would already be dead. As he held on, they were holding on just as desperately.
Burning through every last drop of their lives.
The blood staining this river must include theirs as well. Watching the red foam splash across his face, Namgung Hwang let out a bitter laugh.
For what?
For what reason were they throwing away their lives?
To atone for dragging Namgung into this crisis?
Or to leave even a sliver of hope for the Namgung household still stranded on that island?
Who knew. It no longer mattered.
Thud! Thud!
Sensing that Namgung Hwang was visibly losing strength, the water bandits attacked with even greater ferocity. Their grinning faces, mingled with the red tide as they lunged, were no different from the gaping maws of hell.
At this moment, there was only one thing he had to do.
Dowi!
—Would that not be enough?
How could it not be enough?
A pure white smile bloomed at the corner of Namgung Hwang’s mouth.
Goooooo…
He drew force from his lower abdomen, which was spasming as though it might split open at any moment, and internal energy surged up in violent waves. He wrung out his already-empty dantian until the remaining force somehow climbed through his arm and flooded into his sword.
In that instant, Namgung Hwang felt Namgung Dowi’s hand gripping his shoulder. That hand, once so small, had become this large before he’d even realized it.
I’ll open the way!
There was only one thing he had to do.
Get Namgung Dowi out of here alive. Nothing else needed to be considered.
“WOOOOOOOOO!”
With a lion’s roar torn from the depths of his being, Namgung Hwang saw dozens of water bandits charging all at once.
He gripped his sword and released the taut muscles and gathered force in a single instant.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!
The white sword aura erupted like a gigantic dragon rising along the Yangtze.
It was a strike beyond words—terrifying, monstrous. The water bandits who had rushed in because he looked weak were shattered without even managing a scream, flung across the river in pieces.
But naturally, Namgung Hwang did not emerge unscathed.
Snap.
He broke off the harpoon embedded in his chest. There was no way to pull out the barbed shaft without tearing the flesh apart.
Snap. Snap. Snap.
He broke off the harpoons lodged in his chest, stomach, and shoulder one by one, then looked ahead with half-lidded eyes.
His vision had blurred. His consciousness was slipping farther and farther away.
Crack!
What pulled Namgung Hwang’s mind back was none other than the intense pain suddenly tearing at his waist. By reflex, he swung his sword and cut down the water bandit attacking from beneath the water. Then, for a moment, he plunged his head into the river.
“……”
Deep beneath the water, he could faintly see the elders slowly sinking. He could not make out their expressions.
Only…
Namgung Hwang bit down hard on his lip, lifted his head, and glared forward again.
“Clan Head!”
“Let’s go… Dowi.”
There was no need for sorrow. He would end up the same as them anyway.
He kicked against the water and surged forward.
He cut the throats of the water bandits charging at him and seized the harpoons stabbing toward him with his bare hand.
Cut, cut, cut, and cut again.
Before he knew it, his once-tidy hair had become a soaked, disheveled mess plastered to his face.
Thud! Thud!
Even as harpoons ripped into his sides and thighs, Namgung Hwang did not seem to feel pain at all. Like a man devoid of sensation, he simply split apart those who attacked him and kept moving forward.
With so much blood pouring out at once, it looked as though another river had been born atop the Yangtze.
Namgung Hwang raged like a shura risen from hell itself. Even the countless water bandits who had fought in endless battles were startled enough to hesitate.
“Haa……”
“Cough. Cough!”
Namgung Hwang coughed up blood, revealing teeth stained red. Rough breaths poured endlessly from his mouth and nose like air leaking through a crack.
And then, in that very instant—
Faaaat!
A powerful whistling blast, sharp enough to tear at the ears, stabbed into Namgung Hwang’s hearing. Before his mind could even process it, his instinct raised his sword first.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!
He collided head-on with a massive blade strike fired from the deck of a ship and was sent reeling back, coughing blood.
“You damn fools!”
The Black Dragon King, standing at the prow of the Black Dragon Ship, roared like a tiger.
“What are you afraid of with a dying man right in front of you! Rush him all at once and grind him to paste!”
“Yes!”
Crushed by the Black Dragon King’s presence, the water bandits clenched their teeth and charged Namgung Hwang again.
“Clan Head! Father! Damn it! Fatherrrr!”
Namgung Dowi desperately kicked off the water and rushed out, throwing himself in front of Namgung Hwang as he floated above the river.
In his bloodshot eyes burned a desperate will—one that would never, ever allow Namgung Hwang to be handed over to them.
But…
Tap.
A trembling hand settled on Namgung Dowi’s shoulder.
“F-Father……”
“……Move… aside……”
“Father!”
“……Quickly.”
His eyes were so swollen now they were nearly shut.
And yet the fierce light in those eyes was not something Namgung Dowi could dare defy.
“Behind me… behind my back……”
Tears of blood streamed from Namgung Dowi’s eyes.
I know. I know it.
It was Namgung Dowi who had asked for his life to be exchanged if it meant getting him off this island. So he must not lose sight of what mattered first.
But… but!
“You are… the next patriarch of Namgung.”
“……”
“My back… use my back……”
Namgung Dowi lowered his head. Then, without a word, he cut through the current and moved behind Namgung Hwang, gripping his back. Just like a child being carried on his father’s back.
“Hah……”
A faint smile appeared on Namgung Hwang’s twisted face.
Thud!
Again he felt something pierce his leg. His lower abdomen as well. Attacks from beneath the water could no longer be blocked.
But it was fine.
As long as he was carrying Namgung Dowi, those attacks would not reach his son.
“Dowi.”
Suddenly, a clear voice spilled out.
Namgung Dowi tightened his grip on that shoulder.
“F-Father……”
And then it happened.
Kwaaaaaaang!
Namgung Hwang’s body kicked off the surface and shot upward like a bolt of lightning. He drew out every last shred of his innate qi and, for a single instant, reclaimed his strength.
“Stop hiiiiim!”
“Aaaaaaah!”
The water bandits let out screams that seemed ready to tear their throats apart as they rose from the surface to block his path.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!
With a single sweep of his sword, Namgung Hwang shattered them to pieces and surged onward, kicking off the water again and again.
“Oooooooooh!”
White sword aura burst in all directions like fireworks. The water bandits shrieked and plunged back into the river. To challenge that aura head-on would have been insanity.
Bang!
Namgung Hwang kicked off the surface and tore straight through the space between the ships surrounding them.
One step! Just one more step…
And then it happened.
Faaaat!
A black blade aura, fired from atop the Black Dragon Ship, surged straight toward Namgung Hwang’s front. It sliced through the white sword aura Namgung Hwang had dragged up with all his remaining strength as though it were nothing at all, then buried itself into Namgung Hwang’s body.
Kwadeudeudeuk!
“You—”
As the Black Dragon King began to shout at the staggering Namgung Hwang,
Bang!
Namgung Hwang did not fall. He kicked off the water once more.
Through the hair plastered to his blood-soaked, shura-like face, Namgung Hwang’s eyes gleamed with terrifying light.
Blood sprayed from his body and scattered in all directions. In that instant, Namgung Hwang seized the arm of Namgung Dowi on his back with brutal force.
“UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
And with everything he had left, he hurled Namgung Dowi toward the riverbank.
“Fatherrrrrrrrrr!”
Namgung Dowi’s mouth erupted with a desperate scream.
In his flying vision, he saw Namgung Hwang, suddenly devoid of all strength, fluttering as he fell into the river.
Within the overturned world before him, Namgung Dowi could just barely make out Namgung Hwang’s face.
He was… definitely smiling.
Plunk.
After crashing into the river, Namgung Hwang slowly sank downward.
As he drowned in a world that had become nothing but darkness, he thought to himself,
Was this enough…?
He didn’t know.
But he had given everything he had.
He could not say that everything he had done was right, but at the very least, he had done his utmost until the end.
Now the only thing left was to trust the son who would carry on the name of Namgung and leave everything to him.
……Dowi……
A smile touched the corner of his mouth as he sank toward the pitch-black bottom of the Yangtze.
……Be a good father.
And with that faint smile as his last memory, Namgung Hwang’s eyes finally closed.
---