It’s nice that it’s simple, isn’t it? (5)
“….So that’s how it happened.”
“Oh my…..”
Yoon Jong was so taken aback he couldn’t close his mouth.
“That’s your answer?”
“Then what more do you want?”
“I mean, maybe he found some miraculous elixir somewhere, or a dragon descended from the heavens to help our Sasuk…….”
“Quit babbling about dragons, you lunatic. Why look for dragons in something a person did? Say something that makes sense. If the exhausted Retired Sect Leader and Jin Geumryong heard you, they’d kick your jaw off.”
At Baek Sang’s scolding, Yoon Jong nodded awkwardly.
Even as he said this nonsense, he knew it didn’t make sense. It was just that he was so bewildered, he ended up blurting out those words.
“I mean… i-is that how a complete transformation is supposed to work?”
“How should I know.”
“What?”
Baek Sang suddenly looked back at Baek Cheon. At the tip of Baek Cheon’s snow-white sword, a deep-crimson sword energy was surging.
“We sort of glossed it over, but honestly, how would we know if that’s really a complete transformation or whatever? Let’s be honest – does anyone here even know exactly what a complete transformation is?”
“….I suppose not.”
Not only among them. Across the whole Gangho, there would be almost no one who could explain it clearly. It was that rare.
“So what choice do we have? What’s done is done, and all we can do is watch what happens. Anyway, Sahyeong’s body has recovered, and riding that momentum he’s rampaging just like that. And that’s giving us an opening. Right?”
“…Yes.”
Baek Sang grinned.
“Isn’t that enough for now?”
Yoon Jong nodded.
Perhaps because he was from Financial Pavilion, Baek Sang was quite practical. Right now that practical view cleared Yoon Jong’s clouded mind.
“So in the end, what Sasuk is doing isn’t just a moment when the light shines before the sunset*.”
“Huh? The light before the sunset?”
“Understood.”
Baek Sang asked again, but without a reply Yoon Jong slammed his foot into the ground at once.
“Huh? Yoon Jong-ah?”
Watching Yoon Jong’s back as he leaped over the enemy and charged towards Baek Cheon, Baek Sang muttered blankly.
“No… Aren’t you supposed to be protecting me, you little punk?”
⠀⠀
Baek Cheon’s sword sliced through the air.
Fwaaahhh!
Sword energy scattered in all directions, like snowflakes falling from the sky.
‘Hyeong [older brother].’
Suddenly, Jin Geumryong’s face surfaced in his mind.
Whenever Baek Cheon remembered Jin Geumryong in the past, the emotions that flooded his heart were sense of rivalry and resentment.
But now he felt none of that.
It wasn’t because he thought he had surpassed Jin Geumryong.
‘I just wasn’t being honest with myself.’
He didn’t want to defeat Jin Geumryong. He had wanted to be acknowledged by him. Baek Cheon had never accepted that feeling as it was.
‘I’m always late.’
If only he could have been a little more honest with himself.
“Huaaahhh!”
Red Dog’s blade came flying towards the top of his head.
Hwasan’s sword focused on offense. From time to time Baek Cheon felt the limitations that arose from that. Someone like Chung Myung or Jo Geol could draw out that sword’s power to the utmost, but in his own judgment Baek Cheon did not possess that level of innate talent for swordsmanship [검재(劍才)]. He saw that clearly.
Then what should he do?
‘Just accept it, exactly as it is.’
Sssskk.
Baek Cheon’s sword traced a gentle circle and deflected the incoming blade.
The subtlety Heo Do Jinin had passed to him melted into his sword, giving it a softness unique to Baek Cheon alone.
There was no need to cling to what he could not do. Wasn’t there something only he could achieve?
Right now Baek Cheon was standing here. On the foundation created by Hwasan and Hyun Jong, with Chung Myung setting the pillar, and with the teachings of many others stretching out like branches.
There was not a single thing he had accomplished on his own.
However…..
Fwaaah!
At the tip of Baek Cheon’s sword, a flower bloomed in full.
The blossoming flower scattered, turning into countless petals. True to the sword of Hwasan, it was dazzling, yet within it was both strength and softness.
It was a sword completed by everyone’s touch. There was no need to struggle to create something uniquely his own. All he needed was to accept it. To acknowledge that all these things had made Baek Cheon who he was, that all of them were what made up this sword.
“Kraaaargh!”
Unable to withstand it, the enemies kept falling back.
At that moment, a familiar voice rang out behind Baek Cheon’s back.
“Sasuk!”
“Yoon Jong-ah!”
“Yes, Sasuk!”
Yoon Jong, who had flown over in a single breath, stood by Baek Cheon with his sword raised.
“Well…”
Baek Cheon opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. There was so much he wanted to say that he couldn’t decide where to begin.
Sensing this, Yoon Jong spoke first.
“We can talk about the past later.”
“…Right. Of course.”
Yoon Jong turned his head sharply to meet Baek Cheon’s gaze.
“More importantly, please give your orders, Vice Sect Leader.”
“…Orders?”
“Yes. If the Retired Sect Leader has restored you, surely your position has been restored as well, hasn’t it?”
“…”
“So, please, give the orders, Sasuk. It’s still too heavy for me.”
Baek Cheon’s lips twitched faintly. He stared silently at Yoon Jong, then shook his head firmly.
“No, there’s no need.”
“What?”
“You’re already as good as me. No, when it comes to leading, you’re better than I am, Yoon Jong.”
Yoon Jong’s eyes wavered slightly.
“That’s not true, Sasuk, I…”
“What is heavy for you is heavy for me as well. In fact, it would be heavy for anyone. That’s only natural. What matters is simply who can do it better.”
Baek Cheon gripped Yoon Jong’s sturdy shoulder tight.
“I believe you’re the right man for the job.”
To look at things as they are and acknowledge others just as they are – that was what Baek Cheon had most desired from others. And now it was also what he had to give them.
“You can do it, right, Yoon Jong?”
“…It’s always like this with you.”
Yoon Jong let out a deep sigh.
“Then what will you do, Sasuk?”
“I have something I must do.”
Baek Cheon answered without hesitation, turning his gaze in a certain direction.
“I’m going to go kick that brat’s ass.”
Yoon Jong followed that gaze. At the end of Baek Cheon’s line of sight stood a very familiar figure. Small but always reliable, that person’s back was now shaking with exhaustion.
“…That won’t be easy.”
“Still, it has to be done.”
At Baek Cheon’s words, Yoon Jong nodded. In that case, even Yoon Jong could not force another role onto him. After all, not just anyone could break through the Red Dogs and the black-clad men packed tight ahead, dripping murderous intent.
“So go. I’ll take care of things here.”
“Will you be all right alone?”
“Alone?”
“…”
“Everyone’s here, aren’t they?”
Baek Cheon tossed the words over his shoulder without even looking back. At those words, Yoon Jong unconsciously clenched his fist. Strangely, something in his chest trembled.
“I’ll trust you, Sasuk.”
“Good.”
The Baek Cheon of the past would have just nodded and left it at that. But the Baek Cheon of now deliberately added one more sentence.
“I believe in you, too.”
“…”
Yoon Jong looked at Baek Cheon in silence for a moment, then kicked off the ground and shot forward. Only then did Baek Cheon glance at his departing back and let a small smile appear.
He couldn’t know if his feelings had truly reached him. Yoon Jong was not Baek Cheon, and there was no telling whether what Baek Cheon longed for was something Yoon Jong wanted as well.
Baek Cheon simply believed this was the right thing to do.
He wanted to convey this – not just to Yoon Jong, but to everyone in Hwasan.
To show them how deeply he trusted them, how fully he acknowledged them – the feeling he had once craved desperately and had only obtained after reaching Hwasan – he wished to share that with them all.
Baek Cheon’s gaze fixed on a single spot.
Before all of that…
‘I should have told you.’
That lonely back was burned into his sight.
He hadn’t known. Or perhaps he had known and simply looked away. To be more honest… yes, he didn’t want to admit it.
That Chung Myung, too, could be lonely.
That perhaps, like Baek Cheon himself, Chung Myung was someone endlessly searching for a place where he belonged.
Right now Chung Myung was over there, facing Jang Ilso alone.
Now there was only one thing Baek Cheon had to do: deliver his message.
The Red Dogs who had been ready to dash to Jang Ilso’s side now changed their stance and blocked Baek Cheon’s path.
He could feel it clearly from the aura they radiated: they would never open the way for him easily. Determination and resolve to keep Baek Cheon from reaching Jang Ilso poured out of them.
Right or wrong aside, he had to acknowledge their loyalty to Jang Ilso.
This would not be easy. Regardless of rank or skill, fighting those who charged in risiking everything was always arduous.
“But for all that, I’m still the one who is Sasuk here…”
Baek Cheon’s gaze became utterly resolute.
“I can’t just leave it all to that Sajil and stand by watching.”
“You bastard….”
“So I’ll break through. Be warned – I am strong now.”
Crack.
Baek Cheon gripped his sword with all his strength and let out a rough breath. Then he shot forward like an arrow.
‘I’m coming. Wait for me.’
He had to tell him. To that guy.
“CHUNG MYUNG-AAAAAAAH!”
Baek Cheon’s roar shook the world.
⠀⠀
Kaang!
Fist and sword collided violently.
“Hahahahahaha!”
The raging blue energy devoured the blooming red petals, swallowing them whole. No matter how dazzling or splendid they were, it was as if everything became meaningless before the blazing hellfire.
Crackle.
The intensely condensed energy could no longer hold together and began to twist and distort. Its very form was like a flame – this martial art was called Steel Flames [염강(炎鋼)] for a reason.
Unyielding Blue Slaughtering Flames, striking Chung Myung directly in the chest, lived up to its name, crushing his bones.
Pft.
Dark-crimson blood spurted from Chung Myung’s mouth. Yet it could not even soak the ground before the heat radiating from the two turned it into red vapor.
Pressure heavy enough to crush steel bore down on his entire body.
The blood vessels in his eyes burst one after another, and the fingertips that had absorbed repeated shock had already long since lost their shape, mangled beyond recognition.
Chung Myung ground his teeth.
‘Paegun, huh. Damn, that’s a fitting name!’
Contrary to the public view of him as the foremost figure of the Evil Sects, Jang Ilso’s martial art adhered oddly well to the principles of orthodox martial arts. Even before the power-laden fist made contact, a mountain-like pressure could be felt first. This method of suppressing an opponent with overwhelming strength was in fact closer to Shaolin’s techniques.
Crunch! Crack! Crunch!
Every muscle in his body screamed. His whole frame twisted as though his bones might snap at any moment.
Boom!
Yet Chung Myung stepped in even further and swung his sword with all his might. He knew: if he retreated even a single step here, this pressure would crush him.
Kaaang!
At the very moment fist and sword collided head-on once more.
The blue Steel Flame that blossomed from Jang Ilso’s hand flared upward so far it seemed it might reach the sky itself.
Having halted Jang Ilso’s fist, Chung Myung twisted his sword and swung with a violent sweep.
‘Cut!’
As long as there was a sword in this hand, there was nothing in the world he couldn’t cut. Whether it was a super-human of the Evil Sects, a martial art that transcended the limits of mankind, or even an invisible pressure!
Slash!
The moment Chung Myung’s sword swept through the air, the crushing pressure on his entire body vanished in an instant. No – he had cut through it.
“Hhaaaap!”
With a roar, Chung Myung’s sword split the world itself. And then it came straight down towards Jang Ilso.
But what entered Chung Myung’s field of vision at that moment… was the mocking sneer at the corners of Jang Ilso’s lips.
“How pitiful.”
Swiiish.
Jang Ilso’s fist tore through the space and flew towards Chung Myung’s face.
‘Fast…..?’
For an instant, its speed was beyond comprehension.
Had Jang Ilso been hiding his real ability all this time?
‘No…’
Chung Myung realized it at once. It wasn’t that Jang Ilso had suddenly become faster. It was Chung Myung… it was him who had already become far too slow.
Kwaaaang!
Jang Ilso’s fist slammed into Chung Myung’s face.
“Chung Myung-aaaaaaah!”
Over the sight of Chung Myung flying helplessly like a kite whose string had snapped, someone’s desperate scream rang out.
________
*회광반조(迴光返照) – literally ‘(the sky) brightens again (right before sunset). (figurative) to experience terminal lucidity (before one’s death). (figurative) to experience a momentary spurt of activity or boom before its final demise.
________
Please, subscribe/donate on Patreon or Buymeacoffee – support my work and help me buy official cookies to purchase the chapters. My schedule is on the About page.
Return of the Mount Hua 
Leave a reply to ellie Cancel reply