Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1280

Im So-byeong’s words could have sounded like praise to someone else. But Im So-byeong didn’t easily show his true feelings, and Chung Myung never took words simply as they sounded.

Chung Myung frowned. “Are you trying to hurt me with your words?”

Im So-byeong chuckled. “Ha, you noticed! Of course!”

Chung Myung turned his head slowly, his gaze fixed on the white-foamed sea.

“What are you looking at?”

“Just wondering how deep you’d sink if I tied your arms and legs and tossed you in.”

“…….”

“Someone who talks too much from Sa-pah doesn’t deserve such an easy death.”

Im So-byeong slowly backed away. Chung Myung glared at him before continuing.

“So, you mean even if you are right, people ignore you. But if I say silly things, people listen. Is that why you need me?”

“Oh, that’s a very blunt way of putting it.”

Im So-byeong chuckled and opened his mouth.

“Well, to be honest, that’s one of the reasons. Living has taught me one of the truths of the world.”

Im So-byeong shrugged.

“Who speaks the right words.”

“…….”

“I used to think ‘right words’ were important in that sentence. But living has shown me that people focus more on ‘who’ is speaking, not ‘right words’.”

“Isn’t that just because you’re a dirty Sa-pah bastard?”

“…….”

“It’d be weirder if people listened to a Sa-pah bastard speaking the truth. Isn’t it normal to think you’re trying to trick them?”

“Hey, you…”

“What?”

“Ahem. Anyway!”

Im So-byeong cleared his throat loudly and continued.

“So, for someone like me to speak the truth, I need someone to make people listen. That’s why warlords like Won Sul or Dong Tak had strategists. It’s easier to convince one stubborn person than to make everyone in the world listen to me.”

“Oh, really?”

Chung Myung smirked.

“Sounds a bit odd when you put it like that.”

“What do you mean?”

“If what you say is true, you should be trying to convince me, right?”

“That’s right.”

“But you know I won’t listen anyway?”

“That’s also true.”

“Then it doesn’t add up.”

“Indeed, it doesn’t.”

Im So-byeong nodded, as if agreeing that Chung Myung’s point was valid. A flicker of doubt crossed Chung Myung’s eyes, as if he were thinking, ‘Is this guy crazy?’

“……Don’t look at me like that. There’s a reason for that too.”

“Huh?”

“It’s quite common in history. Brilliant strategists following the absurd choices of their rulers at crucial moments.”

“That happens?”

“Quite often.”

Im So-byeong shrugged and added.

“So usually, historians interpret it as the higher-ups suppressing the strategists with their power. I used to think that was the case too, of course.”

“But? You think differently now?”

“Yes. After growing older and doing some research on my own, I realized it’s not always like that. Even strategists who were famous throughout the world sometimes acted according to their ruler’s judgment, not their own, at the most crucial moments. Even if it was against what they believed was right.”

“Why?”

Im So-byeong, who had been rambling as if excited, suddenly stopped and stared intently at Chung Myung. His gaze was so heavy that Chung Myung fell silent without realizing it.

“Why do you think?”

“I don’t know…”

“I didn’t understand it well before either, to be honest. But at some point, I came to understand.”

“Understand what?”

“That strategists are also human.”

“……Huh?”

Im So-byeong said with a stern face.

“Strategists must be the most calm and sensible, and they must be able to view their surroundings objectively in any situation. They must not be swayed by emotions, and they must not have any hopes. Yes, that’s what makes a great strategist. But you see, even such strategists are ultimately human.”

“…….”

“They have emotions, they waver, and they have hopes. In other words…”

Im So-byeong’s gaze turned to Chung Myung.

“Even strategists want to be fooled by that conman.”

Im So-byeong chuckled and asked.

“Do you know what moment strategists feel is the most hellish?”

“……I don’t know?”

“It’s when all their plans fail. Then, do you know when strategists are the happiest?”

“……I don’t know that either.”

“It’s when all their plans fail.”

Chung Myung, who had been listening quietly, contorted his face. What kind of nonsense was this again?

Seeing that expression, Im So-byeong nodded as if he understood.

“Of course, it’s hard to understand.”

“You call that a statement?”

“But it’s true. Strategists feel an unspeakable pleasure when their plans fall into place, but on the other hand, they are people who endlessly want to see something beyond the realm of calculation happen in reality.”

“……I don’t understand at all?”

“That’s because you’ve never seen it.”

A strange light flickered in Im So-byeong’s eyes.

“Strategists don’t feel that way from the beginning. But when someone pushes forward with a plan that I opposed, and it creates something that goes beyond what can be predicted with the mind, I feel an indescribable emotion.”

“…….”

“So sometimes, I come to expect it. Even though it’s utter nonsense, I wonder if that nonsense might actually turn the situation around.”

Chung Myung faced Im So-byeong. Im So-byeong shrugged.

“Of course, in most situations, it just ends in a dog’s death.”

“…….”

“So I don’t stop it. Maybe this choice will drive me to a dog’s death… but if we avoid a dog’s death in the current situation, all that awaits us is a death that is logical.”

Chung Myung nodded as if he understood.

The term ‘rational death’ wasn’t far off. With the current power of the Cheonwoo Alliance, they couldn’t handle the Sa-pah Alliance and the Demonic Sect.

If they thought and acted rationally, all that awaited them was a justified and deserved death.

“You’ve made it sound plausible, but it’s just a gamble. That’s what you’re saying.”

“I won’t deny it.”

Im So-byeong nodded.

“Strategists think within the bounds of reason. Conversely, that means it’s hard to calculate situations that go beyond the realm of reason. Frankly, I don’t know how to make the Cheonwoo Alliance capable of facing the Sa-pah Alliance, the Nine Great Sects, and the Demonic Sect simultaneously in this situation. I don’t even think it’s possible.”

It was a cold statement. But as a strategist who needed to accurately recognize the power dynamics between forces, it was also a very reasonable statement.

“There will be someone else who can make it possible.”

“…….”

“Even if they advocate a completely irrational and incomprehensible method.”

Im So-byeong was silent for a moment, then smiled.

“What can we do? If that’s the only way, we have no choice but to do our best within it.”

Chung Myung, who had been listening quietly, smirked. It seemed the strategist before him didn’t understand how contradictory his words were. Or perhaps he knew but was simply ignoring it.

“You seem to be misunderstanding…”

“Yes?”

“I’m not that kind of person.”

Chung Myung said, gazing at the distant sea.

“I know what expectations you have of me, but I’m not someone who can live up to them. I’m not someone who receives expectations, but rather someone who has expectations. That’s why I have no choice but to be a sword.”

Chung Myung’s gaze flickered towards the deck. Not towards the Hainan disciples sitting around, but towards the Hwasan disciples who were just emerging onto the deck.

“There are others who need to be led.”

“Hmm.”

Im So-byeong tilted his head with an amused expression.

“I wonder how long that will last?”

“Huh?”

“People who mistake their roles are quite interesting. People who define and limit their own roles when no one else thinks that way.”

Chung Myung expressionlessly turned his gaze back to the sea.

“You wouldn’t understand even if I explained it.”

“No, I understand.”

“……What?”

Im So-byeong replied casually.

“How harsh you are on yourself.”

Chung Myung’s eyes darkened slightly.

“Frankly, I don’t know what’s in your past. I only know that you’ve experienced something I can’t imagine. And that’s probably what all the Hwasan disciples over there are guessing too. They just don’t bring it up.”

“……What exactly are you trying to say?”

“It’s contradictory.”

“Contradictory?”

“Yes.”

Im So-byeong smiled gently.

“Isn’t your certainty that you can’t be a leader based on experience? An experience that I can’t guess, but you know.”

“Yes.”

“And isn’t your belief that they can be led because you believe they can grow, even if not right now?”

“That’s right.”

Chung Myung readily nodded. Im So-byeong stared intently at Chung Myung with meaningful eyes.

“That’s the contradiction.”

“What is?”

“Of course, I don’t deny it. They are growing at a tremendous rate. Someday, they will become the ones who lead the Kangho.”

“…….”

“But wouldn’t it be faster for you to become that way rather than waiting for them to grow up enough to lead the Kangho?”

“……What?”

For a moment, Chung Myung stared blankly at Im So-byeong as if he had been struck.

“Wouldn’t it be much more reasonable for you, who are already ahead, to become capable of leading people, rather than waiting for those youngsters who have barely shed their childishness to grow up enough to lead the Kangho?”

“That’s…”

“That’s why it’s interesting.”

Im So-byeong’s eyes darkened.

“You see all the good things others can do, but you are incredibly harsh on yourself. Like you are judging someone dead, like you think you are already dead inside.”

“…….”

“Of course, how you judge yourself is up to you, but there’s no reason why we should accept your judgment as it is.”

Im So-byeong’s voice pierced Chung Myung’s ears.

“However, think carefully about one thing. Is that low opinion of yourself hurting the future of Hwasan and the Cheonwoo Alliance? And what do others want from you?”

Chung Myung tightly shut his mouth.

Seeing that expression, Im So-byeong didn’t continue the story. He wasn’t a man who wasted words, but he was someone who could tell when to stop talking.

He knew that this area was like a forbidden zone for Chung Myung.

“There’s still a lot I want to say…”

Im So-byeong turned his head and looked at someone approaching them.

“A professional nag has appeared, so I’ll take my leave.”

At those words, Chung Myung also glanced slightly. Baek Cheon was approaching.

Im So-byeong smiled and stepped back, and Baek Cheon stood silently in the spot where Im So-byeong had been. And he quietly looked at the sea.

Both Chung Myung and Baek Cheon stared blankly at the sea for a while without saying a word.