Then there is only one way. (2)
“Don’t, don’t come any closer!”
Chung Myung plastered himself against the wall, wearing the expression of someone who had seen hundreds of bugs crawling around. At the sight of Chung Myung’s utterly horrified face, something not so easily seen, the disciples of Hwasan smiled warmly.
“Now. Chung Myung, behave. Just shut your eyes tight and do it once.”
“I-I don’t want to.”
“Someone go buy some sweets.”
“I’m not eating sweets!”
“Come now, I told you. It’s for the greater cause, isn’t it?”
Watching the disciples smile contentedly… yet more wickedly than anything, Chung Myung shuddered.
“No! What greater cause! Don’t make me laugh! Why should I bow my head to that bald bastard! I’d rather bite down on a sword and throw myself to the ground!”
“Come on, what an obvious thing to say. We’re doing this because even if you bite down on a sword and throw yourself on the ground, it won’t solve anything.”
“Noooooooooooo!”
“Bring him here.”
“Yes! Sasuk!”
The disciples of Hwasan, already sick and tired of situations like this, swiftly surrounded Chung Myung as he turned deathly pale and tried to bolt outside. Then, in no time at all, they wrapped him up tight and tossed him into a corner.
“Mmph! Mmph mmph!”
Baek Cheon watched Chung Myung, tied up and flopping about like a fish, with a faint smile, then turned his head to Im Sobyeong.
“What do you think, Nokrim King?”
“You look extremely refreshed.”
“That is a misunderstanding.”
“Hmmmmmm.”
Im Sobyeong lightly fanned his face, then nodded firmly.
“It is only my opinion, but the possibility is quite high.”
“Are you certain?”
“Nothing is certain. But it would be hard to deny that it is the most likely method. After all, there are not many martial artists with enough standing to raise their voice to the authorities, are there?”
Martial artists of Gangho did not interact with the government. This was an unspoken rule meant to preserve each other’s domains. The principle people spoke of as ‘the mutual noninterference of the government and Gangho’ was not an actual law, but in any case, it meant that it was true they kept one another at a distance.
But there were exactly two people who stood outside this principle…
“As you know, the Abbot of Shaolin and the Sect Leader of Wudang are granted the status of Imperial Tutors. Officially, they are treated as the Emperor’s preceptors.”
“Yes.”
That was because Shaolin and Wudang possessed another standing besides their position as the two pillars of Gangho*. Namely, their standing as the greatest Buddhist and the greatest Taoist temples under heaven.
To be precise, they had received the status of Imperial Tutors not as people of Gangho, but as representatives of the two religions, Buddhism and Taoism.
“And among them, Shaolin is a place with particularly deep roots and history, so the Abbot’s influence over the authorities may be even greater than you imagine.”
“Hmm.”
“So… as long as that ‘gentleman’ steps forward, wouldn’t it be possible for one child to take the examination?”
The disciples of Hwasan all nodded at the same time.
“If even Nokrim King says so, then there can be no doubt.”
“He is a Geoin, so he would know better than we do.”
“This is definitely the best option.”
Those who had exchanged opinions all turned their gazes to one place at once.
“You heard that, right?”
“Mmph! Mmph, mmph!”
“Now. Let’s not make this needlessly complicated, Chung Myung-ah.”
Baek Cheon spoke with a smile so dazzling it seemed it could light up the entire room.
“All you have to do is go and say one thing. I. Would. Like. To. Ask. For. A. Favor. Just say those few words, and we’ll take care of the rest.”
“Mmmmmph! Mmmmmmmmmph!”
“Now, now. Don’t resist, and let’s go quietly. First, to Mount Song…”
“Aaaaaaah!”
At that moment, Chung Myung tore apart the rope binding him in one go and kicked Jo Geol, who had been approaching him. In the uproar, the desolate house shook as if it might collapse.
“I won’t! I’m not going! Why should I!”
“My, my, tsk tsk. Such meaningless resistance.”
“Is this the only way? Is this really the only way?”
“Yes. This is the only way.”
Shuddering, Chung Myung stared blankly into empty space with tear-filled eyes, as though hallucinating, and muttered,
“Wouldn’t it be better if I just sneaked into the Imperial Palace? If I grabbed the Emperor by the throat and shook him, wouldn’t that solve it?”
“Would it? Hanbin would be split into two pieces.”
“…We would be lucky if it ended with two.”
Chung Myung’s body trembled.
He hated it. He truly, genuinely hated it enough to die.
But no matter how he thought about it, there was no other way than this. He desperately tried to set his barely functioning brain turning, but his poor brain merely creaked and groaned, unable to give him an answer that satisfied him.
“Chung Myung-ah.”
Baek Cheon smiled faintly and draped his arm around Chung Myung’s shoulders.
“You started this.”
“…”
“So you have to take responsibility. Surely you’re not thinking of backing out now, after coming this far, saying you suddenly can’t do it?”
Chung Myung turned his head blankly and looked at Yu Hanbin.
Over his slightly dejected face (That bastard, dejected? That has to be an act.), Chung Mun’s face briefly overlapped.
“Ugggghhhhhh…..”
Chung Myung curled himself up like a pill bug and tugged at his own hair.
“It’s easier if you give up, Chung Myung-ah.”
In the end, before long, Chung Myung collapsed limply, like an octopus thrown onto dry land.
Baek Cheon nodded with a satisfied expression, stepped closer, and grabbed Chung Myung by the scruff of the neck.
“So then, when shall we depart?”
For some reason, Baek Cheon looked remarkably refreshed.
⠀
Clatter. Clatter. Clatter.
A cart in no particularly good condition crossed the mountain path. And in the cargo bed of that cart lay a Taoist in even worse condition than the cart.
“Uhuuuk…….”
Holding a liquor bottle in his hand, Chung Myung stared up at the endlessly blue sky as clear tears streamed down his face.
“What sin did I commit in my past life to deserve this…”
– I’ve said it several times, but honestly, you did commit quite a lot…
“Ah, I told you to be quiet! That damned mouth of yours!”
Chung Myung sprang up in the cart and jabbed his finger up at the sky.
“Who do you think caused all this in the first place! Huh? Who do you think I’m suffering like this because oooooffffffff!”
Yu Hanbin, who had been sitting perched at the front of the cart, looked at Chung Myung with an uneasy expression, then asked Baek Cheon cautiously.
“Um, will he be all right…… The Taoist Master looks to be in very poor condition.”
“…I don’t know what you’ll think if I say this.”
Baek Cheon, wearing an awkward expression, spoke in a low voice.
“He is always like that.”
“…”
“Every now and then, his madness flares up. When a madman does crazy things, what can anyone do about it?”
“Ah….”
Yu Hanbin nodded with an even more awkward expression. Right, giving up on trying to understand was faster.
“You little bastard, even at a time like this!”
Kiiiiii!
At the sight of Baek Ah getting kicked away while trying to steal Chung Myung’s liquor in the middle of all this, Yu Hanbin tightly shut his eyes.
“By the way, Taoist Master.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“It is a little strange to say this only now, but… is it really alright for us to go like this?”
Baek Cheon tilted his head, as if he did not understand.
“Is there supposed to be some kind of problem?”
“That is not what I mean… If he is someone on the level of Shaolin’s Abbot, then he is truly a very high-ranking person. If we just go there without even an appointment, surely he won’t agree to meet us.”
“Eh?”
Baek Cheon tilted his head to the side again, as if he really did not understand.
“He would not meet us?”
“…Pardon?”
With blank expression, Yu Hanbin turned to look at Baek Cheon. But instead, Baek Cheon looked completely bewildered, as though wondering what kind of strange nonsense he was hearing.
“If we say we want to meet him, why would he not meet us? He did not seem all that busy.”
“…”
“Isn’t that right?”
When Baek Cheon turned back and asked, the other disciples nodded.
“He did look like he was rather idling around and eating for free.”
“Once you are the Abbot, all the work would be done by the people below you, wouldn’t it? Surely the Abbot himself would not handle practical affairs too.”
“Our Sect Leader is busy, though?”
“Come on, our Sect Leader is different. Hwasan only has two elders, doesn’t it? Shaolin must have dozens of elders alone.”
“True enough.”
Yu Hanbin, who had been watching Hwasan’s disciples talk so calmly, smiled like someone who had attained enlightenment.
‘I don’t know anymore. I just don’t.’
When he was with these people, it felt as though the common sense he knew became meaningless.
‘No. Actually, could these people be far more remarkable than I think?’
He already considered them extraordinary, but beyond even that… perhaps they were the sort of people who received the utmost respect in Gangho…
“No, but this weasel bastard!”
“Ah, you’re so loud! Shut up!”
“Someone gag that bastard!”
“What? You want to have a go right now? All of you, come at me!”
Amid the uproar loud enough to burst one’s eardrums, Yu Hanbin quietly closed his eyes again.
‘There is no way.’
No, that must not be the case. A world where people like this were respected – what sort of dreadful place would that be?
“Khuh……”
Regardless of what Yu Hanbin thought, Chung Myung, who had been shouting at the top of his lungs, flopped down in the cart. Then, with his eyes faintly brimming with tears, he muttered.
“Wouldn’t it be better to just beat up the Great Baldy and threaten him instead?”
But he knew. There was no way that would be possible.
Even Chung Myung could not subdue Beop Jong in the middle of Shaolin. And even supposing he did subdue Beop Jong, hundreds of those octopus-headed bastards, their eyes turned wild, would come rushing at him. How could he possibly deal with that?
“Khup.”
Chung Myung wiped the corners of his eyes and grabbed the liquor bottle.
“Huh?”
Before he knew it, the liquor bottle was completely empty.
“Is there any more liquor?”
“Why are you asking us for liquor, you bastard? You’re the one who brought it.”
“…I drank it all.”
“Then stop guzzling it! What kind of lunatic drinks that much?”
“I have to drink at least this much to endure it. How am I supposed to endure this sober?”
“…In any case, there’s no more. Once we reach the next village, we can stop by an inn or something.”
“And when are we reaching the next village?”
“Do you think there’d be a village while we’re crossing a mountain? It’ll only appear once we get near Mount Song.”
“So when is that?”
“Well…. two days later?”
Despair settled in Chung Myung’s eyes.
“I-I have to survive two whole days sober?”
“Chung Myung… most people live their lives sober.”
“How can a person do that!”
“I’m telling you, that’s what people normally do?”
“Ah, no……”
At last, Chung Myung’s hands began to tremble.
Tang Soso, who had been watching the spectacle silently, shrugged and said.
“If it is that hard for you, shall I stick a needle in you? You would be able to sleep soundly for two days.”
“That is all right. Thank you for worrying about me, Samae.”
“He suddenly turned sane.”
“….People usually do when they see that needle.”
Chung Myung quickly shook his head, then plopped down where he was.
“Nothing ever goes my way…. Hm?”
“What?”
Baek Cheon turned his head with a puzzled face. What entered his vision was Chung Myung flaring his nostrils.
“What are you doing?”
“I smell it.”
“Hm?”
“I smell liquor.”
At the completely random statement, Baek Cheon frowned deeply in disbelief.
“…What kind of nonsense is that? We’re in the middle of the mountains right now, you know?”
“I’m telling you, I smell it?”
Chung Myung sprang to his feet.
“And… sniff, sniff. This is the smell of some pretty good liquor, too?!”
“You’re driving me crazy. Calm down for now. We’ll get to a village as quickly as… Hey! Hey, you punk! What are you doing?”
“You smell it, right? You smelled it too, didn’t you?”
Kiiiiii!
Chung Myung grabbed Baek Ah and shook it. At that, Baek Ah struggled and paddled its feet helplessly in the air. As if it were about to dash off at any moment.
“Go!”
Kiiiiiiiiiii!
The moment Chung Myung practically threw Baek Ah onto the ground, Baek Ah kicked its short legs furiously and shot forward at terrifying speed.
“Eurachaa!”
Then Chung Myung leapt out of the cart with great vigor and, before anyone could stop him, stuck close behind Baek Ah.
“Ch-Chase him!”
“He deserves a beating.”
“Geol-ah! Carry Hanbin and come!”
“No, why is it me again!”
The disciples of Hwasan groaned as they chased after Chung Myung.
Kiiiiii!
Baek Ah cut through the dense forest like a flash of lightning. After climbing the mountain and piercing through the woods behind it for quite some time, an unexpected sight appeared before them.
“Huff! Haaah! Hey, you lunatic…”
“Sasuk, look at that.”
“Huh?”
Baek Cheon narrowed his eyes and looked at the small building before them.
“…A shrine? Here in the mountains?”
His voice was filled with confusion.
________
*태산북두(泰山北斗) – Mount Tai and the Big Dipper; symbol of greatness and authority, symbol of guidance.
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