Seven Hundred Applications
I was initially stunned when I first saw the number. But after checking again, I realized not all the emails were from people genuinely wanting to join Mount Hua. Some were just pranks, while others came from places like the Apis Pro League team with absurdly high recruitment offers attached. There were even messages from people who weren't even affiliated with the sect yet begged to receive my teachings.
After sorting those aside one by one, I could finally focus on the emails from those who truly wished to come to Mount Hua.
“Still, seven hundred of them...”
What was this? Where on earth had this ridiculous number come from? I had expected at most a few dozen. Why so many? Did they not understand how serious it was for a sect to have collaborated with the Blood Cult? Did they not realize how strange it was for the leader of a sect to primarily use martial arts other than those of Mount Hua? The reconstruction itself was still uncertain, yet what exactly about the Mount Hua I wanted to create made them apply? Even if room and board weren't their concern, there were many other things a proper sect should provide that we simply couldn't.
Was the Plum Blossom Swordplay so captivating that it could make up for all those shortcomings? I couldn't understand it at all.
This couldn't be real. Maybe someone had pranked my email account. The situation felt so unnatural that such suspicions seemed reasonable.
I needed an explanation from someone who understood Hwaryong Muin well. So, as always, I called Harin. Despite the early hour, she answered immediately, as if she'd been waiting.
“What is it?”
“There's something I want to confirm. You know how I asked for application documents yesterday, right?”
“Yes. I was watching the stream. Why? Did something happen?”
“Well... the emails. There are too many.”
I told Harin about the seven hundred applications, but she didn't seem surprised. Instead, she asked if that was all.
“Did you mishear? Not seventy. Seven hundred.”
“Yes, and I asked if only seven hundred came in.”
How did someone's thought process lead to attaching “only” to the number seven hundred?
“Is the Plum Blossom Swordplay really that appealing?”
“The swordplay is attractive, but I think more people want to learn from you, Hwaryeong-nim.”
What I hadn't considered was how fundamentally different the mindsets of modern people and those from the Murim world were. They didn't care about the fact that the sect had colluded with the Blood Cult. Sect honor meant nothing to them. They also didn't mind that I didn't primarily use Mount Hua's martial arts. If it was strong, why would it matter what they used? They weren't interested in the various functions a sect should provide either. As long as it fell under the righteous or demonic category, they figured they could handle the rest themselves.
The only thing they truly cared about was my teachings.
“It's already been proven that getting taught by you, Hwaryeong-nim, makes people stronger. So the minor details don't matter.”
My head was spinning. To them, was a sect nothing more than a manual that taught martial arts? I was grateful they valued my personal instruction, but what was I supposed to call this?
Sigh. Whatever. Fine. I roughly understood how the thought processes of people living in the modern era worked.
That aside...
“Why are there so many people who were originally part of the Mount Hua Sect?”
When I had visited the place before its destruction, I'd seen the number of disciples training there. At most, there had been around a hundred. Of course, that wasn't everyone. There would have been those who weren't logged in or were away on external missions. But wasn't this gap too large? Just the number of people applying to join the new Mount Hua was already in the hundreds. The actual number of people who had belonged to it must be far greater. Did that even make sense?
“Hmm. That's because the Mount Hua Sect was a bit of a special case.”
Most sects in the Murim provided their warriors with many benefits in exchange for requiring them to work for the sect. Warriors often called it their quota. Unless they wanted to be expelled, they had to show they were contributing to the sect. This applied to players as well. Regardless of whether they were righteous or demonic, Murim sects wanted their affiliated players to contribute.
For example, the Namgung family required players to pay a certain amount of tribute every month and complete a set number of missions. Shaolin expected players to participate in their training for at least an hour every day. Some demonic groups even demanded a certain number of thefts, robberies, or murders per month.
“These are commonly called sect quests, and except for a few people, most found them annoying. The rewards are usually pretty stingy.”
People already lacked time to play the game, yet instead of doing what they wanted, they had to do annoying, low-reward tasks assigned by the sect. Many players were quite dissatisfied with this, but there was nothing they could do. It was a system every sect, righteous or demonic, enforced, so there were no alternatives. Playing without affiliation caused too many losses, so even while grumbling about it, people continued doing sect quests.
Until Mount Hua made a different offer.
'Just pay a certain amount of tribute. Then I won't demand anything else. I won't care what martial arts you use or what you do anywhere.'
“Players who hated wasting time on sect quests decided it was better to just pay money and flocked to Mount Hua.”
That was how the number of players affiliated with Mount Hua skyrocketed. However, most of those who joined the Mount Hua Sect only carried the name and didn't actually act as members of the sect.
“Probably more than half the people who emailed you have never visited Mount Hua except when they first joined.”
As I quietly listened to Harin's explanation, I stepped out onto the veranda and put my pipe in my mouth.
No matter how much I told myself they weren't originally from the Murim and were merely outsiders, this was...
Calm down. Hadn't I already known from the beginning that I shouldn't judge things based on my own common sense? So why was I about to make the same mistake again? Getting angry here would only hurt me. Understanding... but still, this couldn't be right! What exactly did they think a sect was? If you joined a sect, wasn't it natural to work for it? I didn't think one had to risk their life for the sect, but this was excessive.
In the first place, those Mount Hua bastards were the problem. Giving away the name just for money? Was that something a righteous sect should do? Even if they had been consumed by revenge, shouldn't they have at least preserved the pride of a righteous sect? Or had they anticipated that I would later rebuild Mount Hua and set a trap? Those guys. To succeed in their revenge like this. I have no idea how many moves ahead they were thinking.
My thoughts grew complicated. If those who had joined Mount Hua with light hearts learned anything from me, they would clearly take only what benefited them and disappear. No matter how skilled they were, I couldn't accept such scoundrels.
“We'll have to filter them more thoroughly.”
“Ask Murim Choegang. He would know who is truly sincere about Mount Hua.”
“I suppose I should.”
In a way, it was fortunate. The selection process I had envisioned was picking talented individuals from dozens, not unearthing raw gems from hundreds. Once I filtered out those who needed to be removed, the number of people taking the test would decrease significantly. Then I might be able to proceed as I had originally planned.
By the way...
“Why do you call Han Min-jun 'Murim Choegang'?”
I thought the man himself disliked being called the strongest in Murim.
“Because he always calls me 'ajusshi.' So I'm getting revenge.”
“...Excuse me?”
What was that supposed to mean? Why would you be called ajusshi? I asked her to explain, but Harin wouldn't give me the details.
Two days after deciding to accept applications, I was inside one of the Mount Hua buildings restored by Baru, sorting through people together with Han Min-jun.
“This person is essentially from the demonic path.”
“Then we discard him. What about this one?”
“It's a bit ambiguous, but I think it's okay to pick him. He's a ranker so his skills are solid, and as the Ghost of Hwaryong Muin, he's contributed a lot to Mount Hua.”
“What does 'ghost' mean here?”
“It means someone who works extremely hard.”
A word with a much better meaning than its connotation. Then we'll put this guy on the list for now. Next is...
Sigh. Damn it. There was still so much left.
I had been surprised by the flood of emails yesterday morning, but those were only the ones that arrived from the previous night until morning. After that, the emails kept pouring in without stop, and the number of applicants had already reached over a thousand. If I had ignored Han Min-jun's advice, what would have happened? Just imagining the Mount Hua grounds and even the stairs packed with people on the day of the test made my head throb. It was horrifying even to think about. If something like that had really happened, both the test and crowd control would have been impossible.
Looking back, the very idea of rebuilding Mount Hua had been the problem. What I had started lightly thinking it would be fun had grown far too large. Thanks to that, I was once again doing paperwork—the very thing I thought I'd never have to do again after leaving the Heavenly Demon Cult. If anything, there seemed to be even more work now. Back then, I could just skim and sign, but now I had to review everything one by one.
As I exhaled pipe smoke and continued reading the documents, a commotion arose outside.
“Is something going on?”
“He's finally here.”
“Pardon?”
“The person you were looking for. He'll come here, so there's no need to go out.”
“...Yes?”
It was good timing. I was already sick of looking at documents. Since he was here, I might as well take a short break. I set the papers down, and soon the presence from outside entered the building and stopped in front of the room we were in.
“Come in.”
“You knew?”
“You weren't even trying to hide it, were you?”
Si Tam-gyeon had arrived at Mount Hua exactly two days after his promise, as expected.
“You've come at the right time. There was something I wanted to ask you.”
“Ask me anything. Are you curious about how I organized my forces before coming? Or how I plan to teach Mount Hua's martial arts?”
“No. Not those trivial things. Something else.”
When I waved my hand dismissively, Si Tam-gyeon's face hardened. Why would I care how you handled your affairs or what you planned to do next? There was only one thing that mattered to me right now.
“The Mount Hua of your time was not a place that accepted just any warrior indiscriminately. Correct?”
“That's right.”
“Then I ask you this. What method did Mount Hua use when selecting people?”
Since the plan I originally had in mind had already been shattered, give me some opinions that will help me make a new one.