Return Of The Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 284

Glug glug glug glug.

“Kaaah!” Chung Myung sighed happily. He tilted his head back and let the liquor flow down his throat. His face showed pure joy, like he had found paradise.

“This is the taste! Yes, this is the taste!”

He hadn’t drunk in so long. The liquor felt wonderful, like it was sticking to every part of his mouth in a delightful way.

Because they were staying in a temple with the Shaolin monks, it was impossible to get any liquor there. Chung Myung had been really wanting a drink. Luckily, Wi Rip-san had been smart and brought ten bottles as a gift.

“Kheeuh. This is why it’s important to have good friends.”

Of course, it wasn’t as though Chung Myung couldn’t live without liquor.

But weren’t people all like that?

When one could get it at any time, they didn’t particularly seek out liquor.

‘You cannot drink liquor here.’

Hearing such words made one crave it all the more; that was only human nature.

Huh?

Just me?

Nah. Surely not.

Chung Myung chuckled and tore off a piece of jerky, tossing it into his mouth. However, there was one thing he found regrettable…

“The snacks are a bit lacking, though.”

He was at an age where he needed to eat well and grow well, yet he had to drink with thin, dry strips of jerky that looked like old leather.

If his senior brothers in heaven saw this, they would shed tears of sorrow.

Chung Myung thought without worry that his senior brothers in heaven would shout curses at him.

“Tsk. Nothing can be done. You have to make do with what you have… Huh?”

Chung Myung tilted his head and picked up the liquor bottle, turning it upside down.

“…Empty?”

He turned his head to look at the pile of liquor bottles stacked in one corner.

“One. Two. Three… Nine. Nine?”

Then that makes ten.

The liquor was gone.

The hand holding the bottle trembled slightly.

‘The liquor is gone?’

That wouldn’t do, would it?

He still needed more, didn’t he?

Chung Myung shook the empty bottle, then groaned.

“It would be nice to drink just one more bottle.”

What should he do?

Chung Myung glanced at the window. It was a narrow window, too small for a person to pass through, but it was nothing for him to go through it.

So, he could slip out and go to the village…

– Absolutely! You must not cause any trouble during these two days! Absolutely!

Hyun Jong’s earnest voice echoing in his head made him flinch.

“Kheeueung.”

Chung Myung, who had been agonizing, eventually shook his head.

‘I’ve become calmer.’

In the past, he would have ignored the sect leader’s request and immediately dashed out to have a drink at a tavern if he felt like it.

Ah, so that’s why the sect leader shivered whenever he heard about liquor?

Sorry about that, Sect Leader.

– You, you horse-like rascal! A Taoist!

Is that some wild beast howling? I must be hearing things?

“Ahem.”

Chung Myung cleared his throat and smacked his lips.

“It’s a shame, but…”

Since he already had a history of causing trouble, he felt a bit reluctant to ignore the sect leader’s words and go down the mountain again.

Chung Myung sighed, opened the door, and went outside.

“No one’s here?”

Before, Baek Cheon and his group had guarded Chung Myung’s door.

But perhaps because the arrival of the Hwayeong Sect disciples had made things chaotic, or perhaps because it was embarrassing to show the sight of them guarding Chung Myung in front of the lay disciples, no one was to be seen now.

‘There’s no place that could be called a kitchen here.’

Even if there were, it was a temple kitchen; would liquor come out even if he searched for days?

‘Hmm.’

He scratched his cheek, then suddenly his eyes lit up.

“No, no. There’s no guarantee that the Hwayeong Sect Leader only brought liquor for me. She might have brought liquor separately for the sect leader or the elders.”

Chung Myung grinned and moved his feet.

The Hwayeong Sect Leader’s residence was definitely over there…

“Huh?”

His steps came to a halt.

Through the window in the temple corridor, he saw someone wearing the black uniform of Mount Hua rapidly heading somewhere.

“Oho?”

Chung Myung’s eyes gleamed as he gripped the window frame.

“Tsk tsk. This is why I can’t take my eyes off them. The moment I do, they cause trouble, trouble.”

Chung Myung, uttering words that no one would heed, jumped out of the window. And with his hands behind his back, he slowly began to walk towards the place where someone had just run.

Whoosh!

The sword sliced through the air.

Even though the sweat streaming down his face completely soaked him, and his legs began to tremble, Baek Sang did not stop swinging his sword.

Even though his hands hurt badly and bled, his sword showed no signs of stopping.

‘It’s because of me.’

They were in a situation where they could achieve something great that the sect could boast to the world. But because of his defeat, he had missed the opportunity to make Mount Hua’s name known throughout the world.

What disheartened him even more was that no matter what achievements Mount Hua made from now on, he would not be able to contribute to those achievements.

Only him alone.

Crack.

The lower lip he bit tightly tore slightly, and blood trickled down.

‘Why am I always…’

Of course, he knew.

That he himself was also getting stronger.

He was defeating disciples from famous sects that he wouldn’t have dared to face in the past. It was unimaginable for the Baek Sang of the past, who would freeze at the sight of the Jongnam disciples.

Nevertheless, the reason why this worry did not disappear was probably because of the Cheong-named disciples who had quickly surpassed him.

Yoon Jong and Jo Gul.

Baek Sang knew. He was no longer the second-in-command of the Baek-named disciples. Yoo Iseol had already gone to a place he could not catch up to, and some of the Baek-named disciples who had received Chung Myung’s training had already surpassed him.

Even among the Cheong-named disciples other than Yoon Jong and Jo Gul, there were those who were starting to surpass him.

Strength is relative.

No matter how strong he became, how could he find comfort in the fact that he was getting stronger when those who surpassed him within the sect began to pour out?

The thing he had been ignoring and ignoring had now come out as a result. He could no longer ignore this situation.

Gggguuuuuek.

Strength entered the hand holding the sword. A stinging pain surged through his hand, but Baek Sang did not release the strength; rather, he pushed even more strength into it, as if his hand would break.

‘It’s because I’m weak and foolish.’

He didn’t have any grand dreams.

Even before Chung Myung appeared, he had Baek Cheon, a huge challenge.

His dream was simply to assist Baek Cheon in making Mount Hua a better sect.

Yes, just a humble…

Baek Sang’s sword stopped.

Soon, he slowly lowered his sword and looked up at the sky, panting.

The moon, a bright disc in the dark sky, watched him.

‘Am I someone who doesn’t fit in with Mount Hua?’

He wasn’t having these thoughts because he had been defeated.

In fact, he had been having these thoughts for quite some time.

The Mount Hua of the past was a sect led by him and Baek Cheon. But compared to the rapidly changing speed of Mount Hua after Chung Myung appeared, he was too slow.

So, at times, he felt that keeping up with this pace of growth was too much for him. Although he didn’t show it outwardly.

However…

Having come this far, he couldn’t help but think. What should I do now?

‘Am I holding others back?’ He wondered if someone like him, even though he was second in the Hundred Plums group, was stopping better students from improving.

Baek Sang looked up at the moon. It was bright. ‘Too bright,’ he thought. He didn’t want to be the sun, shining for everyone. That was for someone else, someone greater. He just wanted to be like the moon, quietly watching over the dark night after the sun had lit up the world and gone to sleep.

But now, even being the moon felt like too much. ‘What should I do?’

“Oof.”

Just then, a small voice came from behind him.

Baek Sang whirled around.

“Huh?”

An utterly unexpected face was there.

Baek Sang frowned slightly as he watched Chung Myung trudge towards him.

“…How did you know I was here?”

“It would be weirder if I *didn’t* see you leave. You weren’t exactly hiding it.”

“I’ve been out for quite a while.”

“It took a while. I went down to the village.”

Baek Sang frowned. “The village? Why?”

Chung Myung took something out of the bundle he was carrying and tossed it to Baek Sang.

Thwack.

Baek Sang instinctively caught what Chung Myung had thrown.

When he saw the white bottle in his hand, Baek Sang’s eyes widened.

“…Liquor?”

“How about a drink?”

Baek Sang sighed quietly as he looked at Chung Myung, who was grinning. Then, he scanned the surroundings.

‘Is this alright?’

This was Mount Song, a mountain known as a sacred place for martial artists.

Even though he was outside the famous Shaolin Temple, drinking alcohol on Mount Song was far beyond Baek Sang’s values.

But…

“Aren’t you going to drink?”

“I, I will drink!”

Sometimes, breaking the rules wasn’t so bad.

Baek Sang carefully opened the bottle and inhaled the aroma of the liquor.

“Ugh.”

The sharp, stinging scent indicated it was definitely strong liquor.

“I thought about getting something fancy, but this strong stuff seemed right for tonight.”

Baek Sang thought, ‘Too thoughtful, for no reason.’

Baek Sang wordlessly brought the bottle to his lips.

Gulp. Gulp.

“Kaaah!”

His throat felt like it was burning as the liquor went down. But he didn’t dislike the sensation right now.

“Hee hee hee hee!”

Chung Myung watched Baek Sang drink and chuckled, then began to drink straight from the bottle himself.

Glug glug glug glug glug.

“Ahhh! Perfect!”

He grinned and rummaged through his bundle again. Soon, a roasted duck was laid out in front of Baek Sang.

Baek Sang shook his head.

‘Liquor and meat on Mount Song.’

It was something he couldn’t have imagined.

The reason he didn’t get up and leave was probably because such things didn’t feel so strange to him anymore.

All because of this rascal.

Baek Sang narrowed his eyes and looked at Chung Myung.

The guy who had suddenly dropped into Mount Hua one day and completely turned the Mount Hua he knew upside down.

Baek Sang wordlessly took another swig of liquor.

For a while, there was no conversation between the two. Only the sound of drinking and the chirping of insects quietly spread through Mount Song.

Chung Myung was the first to speak.

“So.”

“Huh?”

“Feeling a bit better?”

Baek Sang silently stared blankly at the night sky.

“Everyone loses sometimes. Why are you so upset about it? He’s someone you can’t beat right now. No one could have won against him.”

“No, it’s not that.”

Baek Sang interrupted Chung Myung.

Chung Myung looked at him with uncharacteristically profound eyes.

Not urging, not questioning.

Just waiting for Baek Sang to unburden his heart.

“A martial arts contest is like that. If you meet someone stronger than you, your skills will inevitably fall short, no matter how good you are. I was prepared for that from the start.”

“Hmm.”

“What’s making me feel so suffocated isn’t that. It’s because I realized that at some point, the others in Mount Hua are running at a different pace than me.”

Chung Myung silently looked at Baek Sang.

“I knew it. My talent for swordsmanship isn’t that great. And now I’ve realized another thing. The reason I might have been stronger than the others was simply because I had trained longer than them.”

Baek Sang’s voice was utterly calm. Perhaps it was because he was voicing thoughts he had held for a long time.

“That’s why I’m scared. Scared that everyone will surpass me. No, it would be good if I could at least follow along in the last place… but eventually, I’m afraid I’ll lose sight of those who are ahead. That one day, those who have gone ahead will be so far away that I can’t even see them, and in the end, I’ll become a burden to Mount Hua.”

Baek Sang took a sip of liquor and spoke as if sighing, as if lamenting.

“Of course, it’s a story you wouldn’t understand.”

“Yeah, I don’t get any of that.”

“…I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Baek Sang sighed deeply.

It wouldn’t be easy for Chung Myung to understand his feelings. Chung Myung was from a different world than talented individuals like Baek Cheon or Jo Gol.

It’s like a rabbit and a phoenix. A rabbit can’t know what it’s like to fly high in the sky like a phoenix. And a phoenix can’t know what it’s like to run on the ground like a rabbit.

Baek Sang thought there was that great a gap between Chung Myung and himself.

“So, you’re worried because you think you’re not talented enough, Martial Uncle?”

“…It’s not exactly that…”

Baek Sang hesitated slightly and sighed repeatedly.

“I don’t know, Chung Myung. Mount Hua has found its path. You made them find that path. But I…”

“Ah, stop it.”

Chung Myung cut Baek Sang off sharply.

“You’re just feeling sorry for yourself, right? I hate when people do that.”

Baek Sang glared at Chung Myung.

Such a rude bastard.

And here his Martial Uncle was, speaking his mind.

“Instead.”