I wish it would last. (3)
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
“…”
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
“…”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Aaaaargh!”
Chung Myung sprang to his feet. Without a moment’s hesitation, he ran to the window and flung it open.
“Why the hell is it so noisy at dawn?! What’s all this racket!”
“What are you talking about, dawn? The sun is already high in the sky.”
Chung Myung blinked and lifted his gaze.
“Huh? It’s true.”
The sun was hanging right in the middle of the blue sky.
‘Have I been asleep this whole time?’
Chung Myung was flustered. How long had it been since he’d slept in like this?
“So, what exactly are you doing up there?”
“Ah, this?”
Gwak Hoe, who was hanging from the roof, grinned.
“Looks like the roof was leaking, so it needs repairs.”
“…Really?”
“I learned how to fix it from the Sichuan Tang Clan folks before. Don’t worry. I’ll have it neat and tidy by today.”
“Uh…”
“Ah. You don’t need to worry about me. Something like this is nothing.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Huh?”
“How could that take an entire day?”
“…”
“Don’t try to weasel out of afternoon training with those tricks, do it after training is over.”
“…That devilish bastard.”
Clack.
After closing the window and turning back, Chung Myung stared blankly around the room.
The afternoon sunlight spilling inside felt oddly unfamiliar and strange. As he allowed that feeling to wash over him, he found himself smiling faintly without realizing it.
“Well, isn’t this something.”
His outstretched hand found the familiar Hwasan’s robes.
❀ ❀ ❀
“Move it, move it. Quickly! Quickly!”
At a glance, a stubborn-looking old man shouted in a sharp, ringing voice.
“And you lot call yourselves martial artists, groaning while holding just a few sacks of grain! What’s so heavy about them! Can’t you hurry! Haaaaah! Back when I was young, I carried five sacks of grain at a time!”
He wasn’t exactly wrong.
Of course, the trembling disciples of Diancang had just climbed Hwasan’s cliffs, each with a sack as large as their own body strapped to their backs. Still, taken at face value, Hyun Yeong’s words weren’t particularly wrong.
“Grrrrrk.”
When a man wobbling like a reed in a typhoon collapsed in front of the granary, Hyun Yeong clicked his tongue in displeasure.
“Even after feeding you enough, your constitutions are this weak! Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
Baek Sang, who had been assisting Hyun Yeong with the ledger, spoke softly.
“Everyone is working diligently.”
“Diligently? Is that a word you use at a time like this? If you’re young, you should be up and bustling at the Hour of the Tiger [3-5am]. How can you call them diligent when they don’t crawl out until the sun’s already halfway up the mountain ridge! If they had started earlier, they could’ve made another trip by now.”
“…”
“Eeeeeeh. Tsk. They say youth should buy effort even if it’s sold. In my day, it was common to descend the mountain at the Hour of the Ox [1-3 am] just to feed the disciples one more spoonful of rice, but these days everyone is lazy to the bone.”
Thinking that if he kept listening to this nagging he’d succumb to inner demons, Baek Sang hurriedly changed the subject.
“It looks about half full now. At this pace, three or four more days should fill it completely – couldn’t we take it a bit easier?”
“What? It’ll take three or four more days?!”
“…”
“What on earth are you wasting time on! If you just send each disciple once more, the whole thing would be done in half a day!”
Watching Hyun Yeong fly into a rage, Baek Sang let out a deep sigh. Then he asked.
“By the way, Elder, is there a reason the granary must be kept full at all times? With what we’ve stored now, we could live for three months. When the bottom starts to show in three months time, we could just fill it again then…”
“What was that?”
From his wrinkled old face, a terrifying killing intent poured out. His eyes flashed white.
Baek Sang, who had stood his ground even against the blades of Sapaeryeon flying to his very nose, suddenly drew his neck in like a turtle.
“Ah, no, that’s not what I meant…”
“Empty it? Leave it empty? What? The granary?”
“Elder. What I mean is, I’m not saying we should leave it empty…”
“Empty the graaaaaanaaaaaaaary?!”
Baek Sang squeezed his eyes shut tight.
‘I made a grave mistake.’
Every person has a sore spot. For some, it’s well hidden where others can’t find it, and for others, it’s in a place you can notice with just a little attention.
The head of the Financial Pavilion – in other words, Hyun Yeong – is the kind of a man who walks around with his sore spot plastered to his forehead for all the world to see.
So who could he blame in a situation like this? He was the bastard who thoughtlessly touched what was laid bare.
Hyun Yeong swung his staff furiously through the air.
“You eat hot rice and good meat and now you think making a living is a game? And not just anyone either, but a man of the Financial Pavilion?”
“…Y-Yes, this was my mistake.”
“Do you know what this granary used to be? Even the rats that sneaked in to lick a few scattered grains spat on the floor and left in disgust! Even after keeping it filled these past few years, I still can’t believe there’s grain in here! And what do you suggest for a place like this? Leave it empty because it’s bothersome? You’re spoiled rotten! Absolutely bloated with comfort Eeeeeeeeeeek!”
“…”
“So, now that Hwasan has a bit of money going around, does grain look like nothing to you? Just because we can get by, you disdain the grain that goes into your mouth? Fine. Today I’ll make you understand clearly how precious grain is. Open your ears!”
At this rate, Baek Sang sensed the scolding wouldn’t end even after two hours, and just as he was about to hurl himself into the pit of despair…
When, from afar, Chung Myung came walking up.
“Th-There!”
“Where are you looking at! Open your ears and listen properly…!”
“Chung Myung-aaaaaah!”
“Huh?”
Hyun Yeong stopped mid-sentence and whipped his head around.
And Baek Sang saw it: the sight of Hyun Yeong’s face – so savage it would make even an evil demon shudder – melting away like snow under spring sunlight.
“Ah, you’re here?”
“Why are you so angry, Elder? Did Sasuk do something wrong again?”
With the languid face of a cat basking in the sun, Chung Myung yawned, cast a sidelong glance at the granary, and asked. Hyun Yeong waved his hand, as though it were nothing important.
“More than that, why do you look so drained?”
“Ah, it’s not that I’m tired. I’ve just woken up.”
“What? You’ve woken up now when the sun is high overhead?”
Baek Sang’s eyes brightened with anticipation.
Just a moment ago Hyun Yeong had been spitting blood as he denounced the weak will and laziness of today’s youth. No matter how favored Chung Myung was, surely today even he wouldn’t escape a scolding…
“Are you feeling unwell or something?”
“No, nothing like that.”
“Hey! Just because you’re young doesn’t mean you can run your body ragged. Let’s see. I should still have some tonic herbs left from before. Right, I’ll make you a dose of restorative medicine right away.”
“I don’t like medicine. It’s bitter.”
“Put in plenty of licorice. Have some candied fruit to cleanse your mouth. So don’t refuse – make sure you take it.”
“Uugh. All right.”
Baek Sang’s mouth slowly fell open in shock.
“And if you’re not feeling well, you should sleep more. What’s so urgent that you’re out and about already? Go back to your quarters! Go!”
“Aw, it’s not that bad.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. If your body breaks down, nothing else matters. Why do you treat your own body so carelessly.”
“I really am fine. I’ll sleep a lot tonight.”
“You must do that. You must! Understood?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Chung Myung yawned and nodded. To anyone, it looked rude, but Hyun Yeong didn’t seem to mind. No – ‘didn’t mind’ didn’t even begin to cover it. If Chung Myung’s complexion worsened even a little more, he looked ready to hoist him onto his back and sprint down the mountain to the physician.
Baek Sang slowly turned his head. He saw the disciples of Diancang, slumped where they sat, staring blankly at the scene.
‘I’m sorry.’
Thinking how this must look to those who had been dragged out at dawn, nagged at in every way, and worked like slaves, Baek Sang felt an urge to smash his own head to the floor and apologize in their stead.
‘Right, this can be fixed.’
Having steeled his resolve, Baek Sang quickly opened his mouth.
“Chung Myung-ah!”
“Huh?”
“Th-That granary. Do we really need to go out of our way to fill all of that?”
“Mmm?”
Chung Myung stared blankly at the granary as if to ask what he meant.
“Hmm. It’s definitely quite full.”
“Right?”
“Then that won’t do.”
“Huh?”
“Elder, since more disciples will be joining later, and we’ll have more mouths to feed, why don’t we take this opportunity to build another granary?”
“Hmm, shall we?”
“Yes. The bigger the granary, the better, right?”
“Right, right! As expected, Chung Myung knows a thing or two! How did I not think of that? Since we’re on the subject, we should put up a new granary right away and pack that one full to the brim with grain too!”
“That’s right, that’s right. That’s the way. It’ll help with the kids’ training too.”
“If this isn’t killing two birds with one stone, what is? We start at once. At once.”
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s do that.”
“Hahahahaha!”
“Heheheheheheh!”
“Hahahahahahahah!”
The dazed disciples of Diancang turned their hollow gazes to Baek Sang.
‘…..I’m sorry.’
Baek Sang couldn’t bear to meet their eyes and averted his gaze.
❀ ❀ ❀
Hyun Yeong’s obsession with grain was clearly not normal.
But watching Hwasan’s dining hall for even a moment lets you see there is some cause for that obsession.
“More rice!”
“Make more, more!”
“…You gluttonous beasts.”
Baek Dan, who was temporarily in charge of the kitchen, shuddered.
In the past, the disciples took turns cooking in the kitchen, and after Hwasan’s circumstances improved, they had handled meals by hiring cooks and kitchen maids from Hwaeum.
But now, it had been just a few days since their return to Hwasan, so the cooks and kitchen maids hadn’t yet come up the mountain. Which meant he had to make all the food himself to feed these gluttons.
“Enough already, you ravenous bastards! Even if I brought in Beggars Sect’s beggars who hadn’t eaten for three days, they wouldn’t shovel it in like this.”
“Less talking, more cooking!”
“Give us rice, Sasuk! Rice!”
“…But seriously, this tastes disgustingly bad.”
“When is the head cook coming? If we keep eating stuff like this, we’ll lose weight.”
“Once they come up, they don’t go down for a month, so there must be a lot to prepare.”
“Ugh. And we can’t even go help.”
Baek Dan’s face twisted in despair.
His wrist – fine even during training – throbbed painfully from cooking nonstop for these brats, and now they were complaining about the taste. It felt like someone had shoved the kitchen fire straight into his mouth.
“Give it back! Don’t eat! None of you eat!”
“Oh dear. Sasuk is angry.”
“Well, the food will probably get a nice charred flavor now. Maybe it’ll finally taste good.”
“But, Sasuk. Why is there nothing but greens on the table? We might be Taoists, but…”
“What do you want me to do about what we don’t have? The ingredients from Hwaeum haven’t all come up yet. Shut up and eat what you’re given! Since when do you get picky about side dishes!”
“Eh……”
Bang.
Just then, the door flew wide open and one guy trudged in. And he shouted.
“Give me rice!”
“…Somebody hurry and fix him a bowl.”
“But is this right, Sahyeong? Chung Myung is the youngest.”
“Because he’s the youngest, we should take care of him.”
“…Is that really how it works?”
Though a few disciples hesitated, uneasy for some reason, several finally stood up and scooped rice into a bowl, setting it before Chung Myung.
As he calmly picked up his chopsticks, Chung Myung suddenly frowned deeply.
“Meat?”
“…Huh?”
A dangerous glint flashed in Chung Myung’s eyes.
“There’s no meat on the table…!”
“Here! It’s right hereee! Oh my, here it is!”
Baek Dan came running frantically and slammed a steaming plate of stir-fried meat down in front of Chung Myung’s bowl.
“Here! Eat. Quickly.”
“Heh-heh.”
As if he’d never scowled, Chung Myung beamed and began shoveling in the stir-fried meat.
One disciple, staring blankly at the scene, compared his own table piled only with greens to Chung Myung’s with the stir-fried meat, then spoke up.
“But why does he get meat all to himself?”
“…Keep quiet.”
“No, it’s unfair…”
“Fairness isn’t always a good thing. If that bastard turns savage, we’re the ones who’ll pay for it.”
“Ah…….”
“Just feed him and keep him quiet. Please.”
“……Yes.”
The disciples quietly picked up their chopsticks again.
“Is everyone eating?”
“We greet the Sect Leader!”
Un Am entered the dining hall with his characteristic, generous smile.
“Smells good. Go on and eat. Don’t mind me.”
“Yes.”
As he took a seat and looked over the disciples’ tables, Un Am’s gaze came to rest in one spot.
“Hmm. That stir-fried meat looks tasty. Well then, shall I try a bite too?”
“Um…… Sect Leader.”
“Hm?”
“…I’m sorry. There’s no meat left.”
Un Am’s gaze shifted to Baek Dan. The man was drenched in cold sweat, bowing his head over and over, because there was no other choice left for him.
“…..Then……”
Swish!
Like a bolt of light, Chung Myung yanked the plate with stir-fried meat towards himself, growling with the ferocity of a cornered wildcat.
Watching the spectacle in silence, Un Am’s smile faded, as though its light had been drained.
“Vegetables are good for you.”
“…”
“Let’s eat.”
And in that moment, every disciple of Hwasan was reminded – though not in the way they’d hoped – what true equality felt like.
________
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