Return of the Mount Hua Sect

“Uh…”

“…”

“Chung Myung?”

“…”

“Haha. It feels awkward to go after others, right?”

But there was no answer. Cold sweat broke out on Hyun Jong’s back.

Chung Myung, who was sitting in the residence room, had turned his body halfway and was only looking at the Plum Blossom scroll hanging on the wall. Hyun Jong thought.

‘Why did I have to make him stay back?’

If it were just a wall, it would be awkward and boring to look at, but by hanging the scroll, there was not much change, though it gave Chung Myung enough reason to turn his head.

“That… haha. Isn’t the Plum Blossom so pretty?”

“Yes, it is pretty.”

Hyun Jong forced a smile as he saw Chung Myung answering without even turning his head.

“Right, right. That…”

Once he opened his mouth and looked around, he saw that both Hyun Sang and Hyun Young were just sitting there with sullen faces. In any case, it was Hyun Jong who forbade Chung Myung from going, so it seemed like he had to solve the problem himself.

‘Damned things.’

Hyun Jong took a deep breath, adjusted his expression, and looked at Chung Myung again. The appearance of the swollen cheeks didn’t seem like something that would be resolved easily.

“That… Chung Myung.”

“Uh?”

‘You have to turn your head here and speak. Okay?’

“As you know, things don’t always go the way we expect, but change from time to time… isn’t that right?”

“Right, sect leader.”

As moderate answers came back, Hyun Jong smiled brightly and nodded.

“Haha. So what can be done? We have a problem, and we need to solve it. Aren’t you the person I trust the most in Mount Hua?”

“It is sasuk, right?”

“… It is you.”

“Yes, it is sasuk.”

This bastard, he was so quick-witted…

Hyun Jong’s eyes trembled.

“Right, that is right. I also trust Baek Cheon. But I cannot leave everything to him and the kids. As you know, they are still learning and confused.”

“…”

“Don’t you think the same?”

When he turned around to ask for consent, the elders all had sullen looks and didn’t respond. But Hyun Jong widened his eyes as if glaring, and both of them said,

“R… right. It is too late to leave it to them…”

“Ehh. That’s the right thing to say. How can you trust them! Things will go properly only when Chung Myung steps in!”

Flinch.

At that moment, Hyun Jong looked like a ghost.

Chung Myung’s ears were fluttering subtly as he slightly turned to his original position.

‘Now is the time!’

“I see it too. I made a bold decision for the growth of the kids, but the task turned out to be a bit too much to leave alone to them. In times like this, you should step up and give help! I am the greatest Sword of Mount Hua!”

It was visible to the experienced eyes of Hyun Jong. The corners of Chung Myung’s lips were twitching.

‘Almost done.’

“Chung Myung. So won’t you go ahead and give them help?”

Chung Myung slowly brought his head down. Unlike before, there was a refreshing smile on his face.

‘W-we did it….’

“Sect leader.”

“R-right. Chung Myung!”

Chung Myung smiled at Hyun Jong, who responded happily.

“This disciple is fine!”

“… Uh?”

“Sasuk will handle it. What’s the use of going there? Sect leader trusted him so much and sent them; they will do a good job.”

With those words, Chung Myung slowly moved his butt.

“Then, I have to clean the dorms, so I will go.”

“W-wait!”

When he thought of it, he stood up like he was really leaving. Hyun Jong was frightened and held onto Chung Myung’s waist, hanging there.

“Why are you doing this, sect leader!”

“S-sit down first! Sit down! Uh? Chung Myung, let us sit down and talk!”

“I have nothing to say! Don’t do this to me! My pants will fall down.”

“Then shouldn’t you just sit down?”

“Ugh!”

In the end, Chung Myung pretended not to win and sat back down. Only then did Hyun Jong wipe the sweat off his forehead and let go of Chung Myung’s belt.

“No, I understand why you are doing this, but… hasn’t the situation changed?”

“No, sect leader!”

“Uh?”

As Chung Myung rolled his eyes, Hyun Jong flinched.

“In the first place! Uh? Sect leader said, ‘Disciples grow when they become independent in their actions and pass through tough times without me!’”

“Y-yes!”

“Isn’t this a tough time? Tough time! What better situation to develop than this?”

Hyun Jong, who had become silent, looked at Chung Myung blankly.

“If you are going to be like this, then you should have started this in the first place! You say that they can solve the problem among themselves without me. When a situation comes, you rush me over to solve it!”

“Right.”

“Yes.”

Hyun Sang and Hyun Young folded their arms and shook their heads. But after seeing the bloodshot eyes, they gave up.

Hyun Jong sighed as he spoke in a heavy voice.

“Chung Myung, it won’t work if we only think about the kids. As you said, I do hope they can overcome the risk and grow. But aren’t they saying that the civilians are also being held captive? They need to be saved.”

But Chung Myung didn’t back down. On the contrary, his eyes shone even brighter.

“Wouldn’t it be easy if not for that? That is an adverse situation, right? They need to figure it out! Isn’t that how they become self-reliant? Only by solving problems can one develop their independence.”

Hyun Jong was speechless.

Haha. Did today have to be the damn day when he said such things?

“Sect leader.”

“Uh?”

“I am not saying this out of anger or anything. I do understand the intentions of the sect leader.”

“…”

“You should also clearly understand that I am holding back the tears and making this decision for the sake of Mount Hua. All this is for Mount Hua.”

“… really?”

“Yes! If there was even a bit of selfish intention in it, I would get struck by lightning and die…”

Rumble.

Suddenly, everyone was wide-eyed as they looked out the window at the sound of thunder.

“… there are no clouds though?”

“For lightning to come in a dry sky…”

Only Chung Myung mumbled to himself.

‘Were you really going to act like this, sect leader sahyung?’

-Please have some conscience, you bastard! Conscience!

Chung Myung’s face changed, and he calmly said,

“… There is a little bit of selfishness. But! I am not doing this out of pure selfishness.”

“…”

“Anyway, I am not going, so you can put your trust in sasuk and the sahyungs who went to the Yangtze River.”

“C-Chung Myung!”

When Chung Myung finally got up and opened the door, Hyun Jong rushed out again.

“Ehh! Let go! Sect leaderrr, you need to hold your position!”

“Position my ass!”

“Ehhhh! Let go! My pants will stretch out!”

“I was wrong, Chung Myung! Isn’t it important to save people?”

As the shouting continued from Hyun Jong’s residence, Un Am, who was listening from the outside, smiled. He spoke to the disciples next to him.

“Kids.”

“Yes, sasuk.”

“Cover your ears.”

“… yes.”

Ttsk.“

The Hyun disciples all surrounded the three sides of Chung Myung, who was against the wall.

“Now, now. Chung Myung. Calm down.”

“How can you be like this?”

“Don’t you know that it will take a long time to drag down the other disciples from Mount Hua?”

“Right, that is right. It will take a while.”

“You know that you are the only one who can move fast and buy us time till the other disciples reach there.”

“Right, true. There is no other choice but you, Chung Myung.”

Hyun Sang and Hyun Young continued the persuasion, and Hyun Jong just glared at him by standing in the middle.

‘Don’t just argue and say something! He doesn’t seem to be willing,’ came the glares to Hyun Jong.

Hyun Jong eventually sighed and spoke in a serious voice.

“Chung Myung. Isn’t it true that sometimes people make wrong decisions in life and that they need to correct themselves when they make mistakes?”

“The one cleaning up is always someone else! Someone else!”

“Right. Right.”

Hyun Young’s face contorted.

“Why are you saying all this?”

“Uh….”

Hyun Jong wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled awkwardly.

“Anyway, the only person I can trust right now is you. What can we do when you are the best?”

Chung Myung’s cheeks twitched.

Building the reasoning, the elders did their best to praise him.

“Right, right. The only one I can trust is Chung Myung!”

“Yes, Chung Myung. The sect leader didn’t stop you because of bad intentions, right? Isn’t the reason why I made the decision because I needed you to step ahead in times of crisis?”

“Uh? What do you mean?”

“When times are dangerous, I believe that you can solve it all, so you can make bold decisions. In other words, all these decisions were possible because of how strong you are.”

Once Chung Myung’s face appeared to have calmed down, the two elders began to add more.

“Uhuh. What do we do? If Chung Myung doesn’t come, then no one else can solve this problem.”

“Mount Hua will fall; Mount Hua will be in ruin. If the sect leader makes a large decision, Mount Hua will be destroyed.”

“Y-You lost your guts, tsk tsk.”

Hyun Jong, who was cheering and applauding at the words of the two, looked at the sajaes with a bit of a strange gaze.

Now that he was listening to them…?

The two didn’t care one bit about what they were saying.

“Chung Myung. You need to think with an open mind.”

“Yes. Chung Myung has an amazingly big heart.”

Chung Myung’s face was changing. His ears continued to turn red, his eyes wide open as he tried to suppress a smile. His nose flared, and the corners of his lips twitched, threatening to rise. It seemed like he was trying hard not to smile.

“Ahem!”

Chung Myung cleared his throat and finally nodded.

“It cannot be helped then.”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“Well… the sect leader also tried to do well, and this is what happened. It wouldn’t be the duty of a disciple to question his actions.”

The words of what he had done so far rose to Hyun Jong’s lips, but he managed to stop them from coming out.

“Right, that is right. After all, our Chung Myung is a Taoist!”

“Hehe. Come to think of it, when I first came to Mount Hua, the sect leader said something like that.”

“I did?”

“Yes.”

“You are insane….”

“Ahahahaha! Oh my, the sect leader must have been so tired!”

Hyun Sang and Hyun Young covered Hyun Jong’s mouth and pulled him back.

“Hupp!”

Hyun Jong’s eyes were tearing up, and he failed to get even one word out.

Chung Myung, who was watching this, stood up and slowly pushed his stomach out. Baek Ah, who was in Chung Myung’s sleeve, stuck her head out and looked like she had won.

‘T-that too…’

Now, even that was the truth?

“I have a lot of things I want to say, but since we are in a tough spot, I will leave right away.”

“Y-yes, Chung Myung.”

“And from the next time… sigh… no. What can be said? One has to understand.”

“Eup! Euppp!”

“Please make wiser decisions, sect leader.”

Chung Myung bowed his head.

“Then, I will come back fast.”

“Right. Have a nice trip.”

“Haha. The sect leader also seems happy with this. Doesn’t this make you want to dance? Haha. Just wait. Hahaha!”

Chung Myung caught a glimpse of the scene, full of confusion and joy, and went out.

Tak.

Seeing him come out with an excited face, Un Am asked awkwardly.

“What happened?”

“Sasuk, this disciple is going to the Yangtze River.”

“…Right, go fast.”

“Yes. Hahaha!”

As he looked at Chung Myung, who was already far away, it seemed as if his steps were moving swiftly. At that moment, desperate screams came from behind.

“Hit him! I will kill you all, you bastards! Tell him not to go!”

“Ah, just stay still now!”

“As people get older, they become immature!”

Hearing the three people fighting, Un Am lowered his head.

“Kids.”

“Yes, sasuk.”

“Cover your ears…”

“…Yes.”

After many twists and turns, a set of grumpy cheeks of anger set off softly to the Yangtze River in the beam of light.