So even a day like this really comes after all.(2)
“W-Water….”
“Shall I brew you some tea?”
“To hell with tea, just water, please…”
Hyun Jong’s voice cracked dryly. Hearing this, Hyun Sang shook his head and called to someone outside.
“Bring a cup of cool water here.”
“Yes, Grand Elder.”
No sooner had he spoken than a disciple came in and set down a cup and a water bottle. Cup or no cup, Hyun Jong grabbed the neck of the bottle, still beaded with condensation, and gulped straight from it.
“Goodness. I am afraid someone might see you. Please maintain a little dignity.”
Without even answering, Hyun Jong drained nearly half of the water in one go and gasped for air.
“M-My lips are so dry I can hardly speak.”
“Why are you making such a fuss? In the end, how many people have you even received?”
“A fuss?”
Hyun Jong’s eyes filled with venom in an instant. He had been unable to so much as lift his backside for two days straight, doing nothing but receiving guests, and what? A fuss?
At the murderous look in his eyes, Hyun Sang quietly averted his gaze.
“Well… what can be done? We can’t exactly turn away everyone who comes to visit.”
“Is there not a Sect Leader for that! If they have come to Hwasan, then of course they ought to go find the Sect Leader. Does it make sense to do this to someone who has grown old and retired to the back room?”
“If it were an event for Hwasan, then of course that would be so. But they have come to congratulate you on your birthday, Sahyeong.”
“Even so, receiving visitors should be the Sect Leader’s duty….”
“Then both the Sect Leader and you would suffer, Sahyeong. Give up and simply accept it. It is not as though they have no thoughts of their own and are camping out here for no reason.”
“Ugh…….”
Unable to deny it, Hyun Jong merely clutched his head and trembled.
“Then let us stop here for today. We can provide them suitable guest quarters and tell them to come again tomorrow.”
“Would that really be all right?”
“They say that in Shaolin or Wudang, waiting seven days and nights just to see the Sect Leader once is nothing unusual. There is also the fact that you are receiving far too many people, Sahyeong.”
“Seven days and nights… Even so, how could a person do that? I cannot simply make people who have come all this long way to see me wait without end.”
“Then stop whining and receive them diligently. Don’t grumble that this won’t do and that won’t do either.”
“You call yourself my Saje…”
Just as Hyun Jong was about to make an even greater show of his suffering, the door flew open and Hyun Yeong entered the room, looking as if his very soul had been stolen away. Seeing that hollow, haggard face, Hyun Jong asked without thinking.
“Was it… that hard?”
“Do you know this, Sahyeong?”
“Hm? Know what?”
Hyun Yeong gazed somewhere far away and spoke as if in a dream.
“Long ago, my dream was to be crushed to death beneath the wealth piled up at Hwasan.”
“I do not know whether to think that it’s just like you, or to say you were not in your right mind.”
“Today, that dream has finally come true… So I ought to be happy… I should be.”
“It is all right. I understand completely.”
Was that not simply what living was?
“What sort of gifts are these, every last one of them only large for the sake of being large, stuffed full of nothing but useless things. When are we supposed to sort all of that out? This is a serious problem. Tsk.”
Hyun Yeong muttered, utterly dazed. But perhaps there was some exaggeration mixed into his words, for in truth, his expression did not look all that bad.
After catching his breath for a moment, Hyun Yeong spoke to Hyun Sang.
“Sahyeong. When you think about it, is it not truly funny?”
“What is?”
“This situation we are in right now. Was it not something we have longed for back then even in our dreams?”
Hyun Sang answered with a bitter smile.
“We should speak plainly. Would it not be more accurate to say it was something we did not even dare dream of?”
“That is true as well.”
How could they ever have dared dream of such a thing? Even dreams could only be dreams within the bounds of delusion.
Not even in their most trifling fantasies had they imagined that the day would come when Hwasan would rise to the position of the Northern Star beneath the heavens and take the place of Shaolin and Wudang. They simply could not.
For a moment, the three men fell silent, at a loss for words.
“So, even a day like this… really comes after all. And in our own lifetime, no less.”
“So it does.”
The emotion that swept through them was not heavy enough to be called regret, yet it was far from being light too.
Before long, as always, Hyun Yeong was the first to regain his usual expression.
“Hm. But as for this… I do wonder whether it is truly something we can welcome so recklessly.”
“Indeed…….”
“Rebuilding the places that suffered damage, restoring the order that has been shaken… There is a mountain of work to be done, and of all people, we are the ones who have to…”
The three men.
Though they now attracted the attention of the entire Gangho as the elders of Hwasan, in truth they were merely old country men whose only experience was managing a small sect for a few decades. They looked at one another with faintly overwhelmed expressions.
“Can we do it?”
“Would it be possible?”
“Ugh….. There is no way it would be.”
Whether fortunate or unfortunate, Hwasan’s Grand Elders had a very objective grasp of their own abilities.
They had somehow managed to deal with Hwasan as it grew in scale, and perhaps they might continue to guide it in the future, but taking on anything beyond that was absolutely impossible.
“I knew the Vice Alliance Leader’s absence would leave a great void, but….”
More than anything else, the absence of Tang Gunak, who had died during the war, cut deeply. Only after Tang Gunak was gone did they truly realize just how much work that man had been handling all this time.
“They say the financial problems are being handled by the head of the Eunha Merchant Guild, but it is becoming difficult to keep dragging the political issues along like this. We are already hearing that public order in Henan has been far from stable ever since Shaolin closed its gates.”
“Hoo. That is true.”
Hyun Jong let out a heavy sigh.
“Should we not do something?”
“That is true, but there is not all that much we can do right now.”
The world now regarded Hwasan as the center of the Gangho. But whether the other sects of Gangho felt the same was another matter entirely.
Simply put, even the smaller sects that would have leapt out of their skin to follow Shaolin’s words would first stop to calculate whether Hwasan’s words were worth listening to at all.
This was why a sect’s history and authority mattered.
“What would be best to do?”
At Hyun Sang’s question, Hyun Jong quietly stroked down his beard before speaking.
“For now, let us ask those who visited today to wait until tomorrow. It seems this is not the most urgent matter at hand.”
“That is a wise decision.”
“And as for the matter in Henan…….”
After letting out a long breath, Hyun Jong scratched his head and continued.
“No answer will appear just because we old men put our heads together. Let us call the children. If it is those children, they are bound to have some idea.”
“The children?”
“Chung Myung. Call Chung Myung first.”
“…”
“Go on.”
“Yes.”
⠀
“….So that’s why I called all of you here for now.”
Hyun Jong trailed off with a somewhat uneasy expression. Then he stared blankly at the person sitting across from him.
And soon, in a voice filled with trust, affection, and also infinite warmth, he asked.
“Chung Myung-ah.”
“Yes?”
“Everything else aside.”
“Yes, yes. Please speak, Retired Sect Leader.”
“That…… why are you dressed like that?”
“Huh? What is wrong with the way I am dressed?”
“Are you asking because you do not know? Truly?”
With a puzzled look, Chung Myung glanced down at what he was wearing.
A red silk robe so splendid it could hardly be more gaudy, ornaments dangling all over his arms and neck, an expensive perfume sachet, and even a precious hair ornament worn on his head.
To put it in a single phrase, it was exactly this.
“…Has Jang Ilso’s ghost possessed you?”
“…”
“Shall I hold a rite to send him off? Though he seems no ordinary vicious ghost, so I expect it will be quite a struggle.”
“Come on, even if you’re joking, that’s too much! Jang Ilso? Isn’t that going a little too far?!”
“But you really do look that way, so what am I supposed to…”
Still, at least he had not put on makeup. Should he praise him for that?
“…So, why on earth are you dressed like that?”
“Well, there is no particular reason. While sorting through the things that came in as gifts…”
“While sorting?”
“It was too late to return them, awkward for Hwasan to use them, and since we are going to sell them off anyway, I thought I might as well try them on once before that.”
“…”
“Ahem. Once I started putting them on, I suppose I ended up wearing rather a lot.”
An emotion difficult to put into words appeared on Hyun Jong’s face.
“You simply tried them on?”
“That… is right.”
“As a Taoist?”
“Exactly, you bastard! You went way too far!”
Hyun Jong weakly turned his gaze to Baek Cheon, who had cut in from the side and shouted.
“Baek Cheon-ah.”
“Yes?”
“….That is a robe I have not seen before.”
“…”
“It looks like very fine silk.”
“Th-There were plum blossoms embroidered on it, so.”
“…”
“I told you we were definitely going to be scolded, did I not, Sasuk?”
“Yoon Jong-ah. You, hand over that sword you are hiding behind your back. It’s sparkling so blindingly I can hardly see you.”
“…I-I was only going to take a quick look.”
Yoon Jong discreetly shifted the jewel-encrusted scabbard even farther behind his back.
Hyun Jong covered his face with both hands and let out a pained groan.
“The state of this sect…”
However, Hyun Yeong did not readily allow Hyun Jong to wallow in his misery.
“Come now, why make such a fuss over something like this? The children can try on some nice clothes! They only look good in them.”
“G-Good? This?”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Frugality and simplicity are virtues of Taoism!”
“Spare us that musty old-man nonsense, Sahyeong. Is that not something people only say because they have no money? Do those Wudang bastards live frugally? Sell just one of the robes they wear, and you could buy ten sets of clothes for our children.”
Hyun Jong, at a loss for words, merely opened and closed his mouth.
“So why did you call us?”
“Before we talk, could you not go change your clothes first?”
“Yes, Chung Myung-ah. I, too, keep being startled, and my hand keeps getting to the sword on its own.”
“It is fine, I can block it even if you swing. So, the reason you called us?”
“Ugh.”
After letting out a brief groan, Hyun Jong finally brought up the main subject.
⠀
“Hm.”
A short while later, after hearing the whole story, Chung Myung furrowed his brow and rubbed his chin.
“So, to sum it up, this is what it comes down to. There is a lot to do, but you lack the ability, and even if you painstakingly assign tasks with that limited skill of yours, those bastards from the other sects will not listen for the life of them. Right?”
“…Rather than a summary, that sounds as though there is some kind of grudge mixed into it.”
That was not quite how he had put it, hadn’t he?
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Sect Leader, why are you making things so difficult?”
“Hm?”
“What’s the use of having brains*?”
“B-Brains?”
“Ah. I said brains, did I. Right. The top dogs*. Yes, yes, I misspoke. What is the good thing about being one of the top dogs?”
Hyun Jong looked weakly at Baek Cheon. Baek Cheon smiled at him with satisfaction.
“Still, is he not making an effort to use decent words, in his own way? Please look kindly on that effort. At least he knows that saying ‘brains’ is inappropriate.”
“And ‘top dogs’ is a decent word?”
“When a cat swims, you should praise it. You must not scold it for not going fast enough. If it could do that, would it still be a cat?”
“…How wise you are.”
He was indeed a talent fit to lead Hwasan. Letting out a sigh tinged with resignation, Hyun Jong asked Chung Myung with eyes devoid of expectation.
“Very well. Go on. What… is good about being one of those top dogs?”
“It means you do not have to do anything.”
“Huh?”
Hyun Jong stared at Chung Myung with a rather dazed expression. Chung Myung shrugged as if he were saying something perfectly obvious.
“Think about that bald guy. He never did anything himself, yet every time he tried to work us to the bone. Go here, do something about that, and while you are at it, make some time and take care of that too.”
“…Did he?”
Now that he thought about it, it did seem that way…
“But you did not think that was particularly strange or bad, Retired Sect Leader. Why? Because that is what top dogs are originally like.”
Hyun Jong’s expression gradually relaxed, as if he were being convinced, and he nodded.
“But Retired Sect Leader’s… or more precisely, Hwasan’s problem right now is that you are now in a position where you no longer need to do that, yet you keep acting as you did in the old days. Like someone who lived in poverty and, even after making a lot of money, keeps secretly eating the cheap food they used to eat…”
Flinch.
“…..just like that.”
Chung Myung stopped speaking midway and looked back at the person whose shoulders had trembled. Under everyone’s gaze, Hyun Yeong’s face turned bright red as he waved his hands.
“I-It is not as though I do it often, only sometimes! Truly, only sometimes!”
Baek Cheon and Yoon Jong silently wiped away tears.
“You do not need to hide when you eat it, Grand Elder.”
“I-I said it is truly only sometimes. It is surprisingly tasty, though…”
Shaking his head, Chung Myung looked back at Hyun Jong.
“You understand what I am saying, right?”
“So…… rather than trying to handle every single thing ourselves, we should make others to do it?”
“Yes.”
“But….”
“Ahh. I know exactly what you’re about to say. Of course it won’t work yet. This approach has a condition attached to it.”
“A condition?”
Chung Myung grinned.
“Yes. Namely, that people must know we are the top dogs now.”
“…What is that supposed to mean?”
“Call them all.”
“…Huh?”
For the first time in a long while, Chung Myung’s eyes gleamed with an ominous light.
“If they do not know, then we can simply make them know. I will sort everything out neatly for you, so send out formal invitations. Tell them all to come to Hwasan within seven days and nights.”
“…”
“W-Would they come just because we do that? They barely listen as it is.”
“Of course there will be some who try not to come. That is why you only need to add one more thing to the invitation.”
“What would that be?”
“It is obvious.”
Chung Myung smiled more brightly than ever.
“Please write that I will personally visit any sect that does not come.”
“…”
“I was feeling restless anyway, so this worked out well. I can loosen up a bit while I am at it.”
“…”
“Hehe. I really hope there are some who do not come. If we make an example of them, things will be easier going forward.”
⠀
That day.
Hyun Jong composed invitations filled with every polite and courteous phrase he could think of, earnestly requesting that all the sects of the world honor Hwasan with their presence.
All the while hoping – truly hoping – that the sincerity of his invitation would reach them.
Special Spinoff Chapter 46 >>>
________
*Chung Myung is being very rude. The normal informal word for the head (literally and figuratively) would be 머리. For example: 머리가 좋다 – to be smart – to have a good head. Chung Myung is saying 대가리. For example: 대가리가 좋다 – to have brains; 대가리가 비다 – to have an empty skull.
Then Chung Myung corrects himself, saying 윗대가리 – upper-head – those high up/top dogs/higher ups(kinda disrespectful but not raging or angry). He did not in fact correct himself. He just made a mistake when he spoke first. First he said “대가리가 좋은 게 뭐예요?” so it would have been expected to say “머리가 좋은 게 뭐예요?” But he says “윗대가리가 좋은 게 뭐예요?” ㅠㅠ
That’s why everyone is just accepting him putting it this way.
________
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.
Leave a Reply