Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 718

“Why!”

A voice filled with fury echoed.

But underneath the anger, there was also sadness and hurt in the voice.

“Why! Why won’t you let me go, why!”

Despite the outcry, the middle-aged man, who had been gazing at the distant moon, slowly turned his head.

Chung Moon’s eyes were serious and heavy, but Chung Myung did not look away. Chung Myung’s calm eyes met Chung Moon’s fiery gaze. Neither man looked away.

“Do you truly ask because you do not know?”

“Sect Leader!”

“If you leave here, we cannot guarantee victory. No, we will certainly be defeated.”

Grrrr.

At Chung Moon’s words, Chung Myung gritted his teeth.

“That bastard… that bastard has gone missing.”

“…”

“Don’t you understand what that means? Huh? Chung Jin, that cursed Chung Jin! He’s gone missing, in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains!”

“I know.”

“Sect Leader!”

Chung Moon slowly closed his eyes.

His expression was calm, but his slightly trembling eyelids showed that his heart was far from at peace.

“We are not the only ones who have lost… who have lost someone.”

“…”

“Everyone has lost. So how can we be the only ones to throw a childish outburst?”

“Childish outburst?”

Chung Myung’s face twisted in anger.

“Is going to find my fellow disciple a childish outburst?”

“Chung Myung…”

“I don’t know what that greater good is, but are you saying I should leave my fellow disciple to die because of that awful situation! He might still be alive!”

The fury surging in Chung Myung’s voice seemed to momentarily silence Chung Moon, who closed his mouth for a moment.

“What is it! What is it!”

Chung Moon, who had been silently watching Chung Myung’s face, which looked as if it would explode at any moment, let out a voice full of regret.

“…The greater good…(Greater good? What does he even mean by that?)”

Soon, Chung Moon smiled slightly.

It was a weak smile, almost like a sad laugh or a bitter sneer. It was so sad to see that Chung Myung couldn’t watch calmly.

“Do you think there’s still such a thing left? In me?”

“…”

“Perhaps there was such a thing at first. But now it’s worn down, and there’s only one thing left. Do you know what that is?”

“…What is it?”

“The future.”

That resolute word came from Chung Moon’s mouth.

“If we cannot defeat them, nothing will be left for us. And to defeat them, we absolutely need you. You! Plum Blossom Sword Saint Chung Myung, that is.”

“…”

“Even so, will you go? Even so, will you leave this place alone and go save Chung Jin? If the Chung Jin you saved comes back and sees us all dead, what will he say? Do you think he’ll even say thank you for saving him? You foolish bastard!”

A clear stream of blood finally flowed from Chung Myung’s tightly clenched mouth. The blood pooled between his teeth dyed his lips as if he had applied red rouge.

Chung Moon slowly shook his head.

“He wouldn’t want that. The most important thing to that fellow isn’t you or himself, but the children left behind.”

“…”

There was a faint metallic smell.

What he felt in his mouth. The scent wafting from the end of his words.

It was just faint and dizzying.

“If you really want to go find that fellow, go after this war is over.”

“Sect Leader!”

“It’s not just us who have lost someone, is it!”

Chung Moon shouted. The anger and resentment that had been hidden within him burst forth like a dam breaking.

“Do you think you’re the only one who wants to go find him right now! I want to more than you! I! This cursed…”

In the end, he trailed off with curses and bit his lip.

“Cursed…(My fault. All my fault.)”

His voice was shaking terribly.

Chung Moon was the Sect Leader of Hwasan and was leading the Central Plains against the Demonic Sect.

How much burden was weighing down on those shoulders?

“…I sent him.”

“…”

“It was none other than me who entrusted him with a dangerous mission. If you want to resent someone, resent me.”

The emotions had already been washed away from Chung Moon’s face.

“As the Sect Leader of Hwasan, I cannot allow you to go find Chung Jin. Return to your position and stand by.”

“…”

Chung Myung also looked at Chung Moon with an emotionless face.

The friendly smiles they usually shared were gone. The two men stared coldly at each other with faces as hard as armor.

Chung Myung’s mouth opened impassively.

“If it is the Sect Leader’s command.”

“…”

“I must obey.”

At the emotionless tone, Chung Moon’s eyes fluttered.

“However… Sect Leader.”

A sneer appeared on Chung Myung’s lips.

“Can what you win make up for what you’ve lost?”

Chung Moon finally closed his eyes tightly. Chung Myung’s cold voice pierced his heart like a blade.

“I don’t know what meaning there is in gaining something while losing what should not be lost.”

“…Chung Myung.”

“I…”

The blood flowing down Chung Myung’s lips dripped down in drops.

“I will never accept this decision until the moment I die.”

With those words, Chung Myung turned his body without even hearing a response. He widened the distance between himself and Chung Moon without a moment’s hesitation.

He clenched his fist as if it would burst.

Grrrr.

Gritting his teeth and pounding his chest wouldn’t change anything.

As he took a step forward in silence, he looked back with eyes full of resentment. But at the sight that soon appeared, Chung Myung’s eyes lost all that anger and strength.

Chung Moon’s shoulders, which were always so broad that they embraced all the Hwasan disciples and made them rely on him, were shaking helplessly.

He hunched over as if he didn’t know what to do, and Chung Myung couldn’t bear to watch his back as he sobbed silently, so he turned his head away.

‘Chung Jin….”

– Sect Leader.

Chung Myung, recalling Chung Jin’s face smiling without a trace of worry, closed his trembling eyes.

I’m sorry.

I’m sorry.

…I’m sorry.

Time seemed to slow down. Chung Myung took a step as if possessed. One step, then another. He staggered as if he would fall at any moment, but he went on and on. And Yoo Iseol followed him silently. Chung Myung’s back came into her eyes.

That back was mostly like Mount Tai. Sometimes it embraced them like the sea, and sometimes it became a cliff soaring into the sky, becoming their goal.

But now, Chung Myung’s back was just pitiful.

Like….

‘Father. My father, who was always sad and lost.’

It was as if she was seeing the back of her father, which remained vaguely in her memory, once again.

The back of someone who had not achieved what he had to do.

The back of someone who was holding on to something that could never be achieved.

Why did that gaunt back overlap with Chung Myung’s now?

Chung Myung’s staggering steps gradually quickened. In response, Yoo Iseol also increased her walking speed.

Just as the disciples of Hwasan, who had discovered the two, sensed the strange atmosphere and ran towards Yoo Iseol.

“Senior Sister?”

Yoo Iseol put her index finger to her lips.

“Don’t disturb me.”

Baek Cheon glanced back and forth between her and Chung Myung, then nodded. Together, they silently began to follow Chung Myung.

One step.

One step.

A leader goes first. Those who follow keep their leader’s dream alive. But Chung Myung’s steps, even though he was so determined, were weak and shaky.

Chung Myung’s eyes, fixed on the mountain, held that same distant, burning look they had seen before.

Cheongjin… he wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t just let go like that.

His body was weak, blood lost making him slow. He felt so tired, wanting to just stop and rest. The wish to give up and find peace was strong in his heart.

That bastard… he wasn’t the type to let go and give up on everything.

Thud.

Chung Myung started his climb.

Think.

If I were Cheongjin?

If I were that bastard, what would I have done?

There’s no going back now. His breath is about to cease, and there’s no way to return to his fellow disciples, to Hwasan, through the hordes of Demonic Cult bastards all around.

Then what would he have done?

If he, a hundred years ago, had stood where Chung Myung stood now, at the moment he saw this mountain while desperately trying to hold onto his fading vision, what would Cheongjin have done?

Chung Myung’s feet, climbing the mountain as if possessed, moved even faster.

Of course. Of course.

You would have done this.

Because even Chung Myung would probably have done the same.

A mountain not so high, and therefore not Hwasan.

But… in this distant land, it was the only small mountain that could remind them of Hwasan.

I must return.

Yes, I must return.

Even if his body remained here, he had to return to Hwasan. Even if his body rotted away, he had to return to Hwasan.

The place he had left. The place where they had lived.

Just as Chung Myung could not forget even in death, and eventually returned.

Cheongjin would have been the same.

With each step Chung Myung took up the mountain, his determination grew stronger.

Upward, ever upward, without rest for even a moment. Hesitation vanished with each step he took.

Finally, as he neared the summit, Chung Myung’s steps came to a halt.

Chung Myung stared blankly ahead.

And the disciples of Hwasan watched his back in hushed silence.

They did not know why they felt this way. But they couldn’t bring themselves to speak to Chung Myung.

Here….

Yoon Jong, looking around, narrowed his eyes.

“Sasuk.”

“…Why?”

“Doesn’t it feel like… Hwasan here?”

“…The mountain is a bit steeper than other places.”

“Ah, no. Not that….”

Yoon Jong looked around a few times and met Baek Cheon’s gaze.

“The place where the Hwasan Sect is… yes, isn’t it similar to that place? If this mountain *was* Hwasan, they were standing right where their school, the Hwasan Sect, should be.”

“…”

Only then did Baek Cheon look around again with a hardened expression. A sigh escaped his neatly closed lips.

“Ah….”

He seemed to understand what Yoon Jong was saying.

If this mountain *was* Hwasan, they were standing right where their school, the Hwasan Sect, should be. It wasn’t exactly the same, but anyone who loved Hwasan like home would feel it.

Baek Cheon’s gaze turned to Chung Myung.

Then you….

At that moment, Chung Myung knelt down roughly on the spot. Crawling on his knees, he tore at the overgrown bushes with trembling hands and felt around on the ground with his bare hands.

The disciples of Hwasan silently watched the scene.

They couldn’t dare to help.

No.

They felt that they shouldn’t interfere without care. They couldn’t know the exact reason, but all the disciples of Hwasan who were here now had the same thought.

“…What is he looking for?”

To Tang Soso’s question, which was close to a whisper, Yoo Iseol answered without turning her head.

“A fox den.”

“…”

“He must have dug a hole. To bring out the secret manual.”

“Ah….”

Tang Soso nodded and looked at Chung Myung.

At that moment, Chung Myung’s hand, which had been feeling around on the ground, suddenly stopped. The tip of Chung Myung’s stopped hand trembled slightly.

When he cleared away the long, overgrown bushes, a small, dark pit opened up in the earth.

There was nothing particularly strange about such a pit in the mountain. It was a very small pit, as if a burrow dug by a wild animal had been abandoned and collapsed over time.

But at that moment, Chung Myung’s hand was trembling so much that it was almost pitiful.

The hand that had been feeling around and digging at the pit at first gradually sped up, and soon he began to dig into the ground like a madman.

“Haa… Ugh…!”

The anguish he couldn’t fully express burst from his mouth as an unspoken pain. Scattered dirt poured over his head and back. Baek Cheon, watching the scene, took a step toward him without realizing it.

“Chung Myung-ah….”

But at that moment, Yoo Iseol’s hand grabbed his shoulder.

When Baek Cheon turned around, Yoo Iseol quietly shook her head.

“…”

Baek Cheon bit his lip and eventually nodded. All he could do now was watch over Chung Myung.

Chung Myung dug up dirt, pulled out pebbles, and smashed rocks with his bare fists, gradually digging into the ground.

His rough breathing sounded strangely like sobbing.

Chung Myung, digging and digging at the ground, was covered in dirt. His hand, which had been digging at the ground as if possessed, as if this was his only mission, suddenly froze.

At the tip of his hand, which had dug into the dirt, he felt a different sensation.

There was nothing to grab at the end of his finger that had pierced through the dirt. That meant that the space behind it was empty.

Chung Myung’s breathing grew increasingly rapid.

….

He now began to carefully remove the dirt. It was a completely different, delicate touch than before.

The eyes of the Hwasan disciples widened as they watched the amount of dirt being removed.

A cave?

It wasn’t clear exactly what it was.

But what was certain was that there was a space where a person could enter in the place where Chung Myung was now clearing away.

Soon, Chung Myung staggered and stepped inside.

“…Sasuk.”

At Yoon Jong’s words, Baek Cheon nodded.

“…Let’s go.”

Baek Cheon bent over and led the way towards the cave that Chung Myung had entered.

It was a narrow passage, but inside, there was a wider space than expected. Baek Cheon, who had jumped down lightly, raised his head and took in the scene before him.

Chung Myung-ah….

Baek Cheon was perhaps a little shocked at that moment.

Chung Myung’s small shoulders, shoulders that were so small they seemed as if they would collapse at any moment, were trembling uncontrollably as he struggled to contain his emotions.

What could be seen beyond those shoulders was….

A person? No. That thing sitting cross-legged was not a person, but a skeleton.

It was a skeleton, sitting up straight as if still alive, even though only bones were left. The clothes on it were so old and torn, you couldn’t tell what they once were.

But he couldn’t help but know.

Because on the smooth stone wall behind the skeleton, which seemed to have been hardened with internal energy, there was great writing carved as if with a finger.

A sigh escaped Baek Cheon’s lips.

“Though my body sleeps here,
My heart remains with distant Hwasan.

Dae Hwasan Sect Thirteenth Disciple Cheongjin.”

“Ah….”

A trembling, outstretched hand carefully stroked the inscription. His shoulders began to shake terribly.

“Ah… Ah….”

A suppressed sob finally burst from Chung Myung’s mouth as he collapsed to the ground. Baek Cheon slowly closed his eyes, the cry too painful to bear.