Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1520

“So, is it pretty much over now?”

“I think… so?”

“…I feel drained.”

Now that Shaolin was gone, he felt even more tired. The situation wasn’t completely resolved yet, but now, at least, there would be no more life-or-death struggles.

Just then, Yoon Jong tilted his head, looking uneasy.

“But… don’t you feel like we’re forgetting something, Martial Uncle?”

“Forgetting? Forgetting what?”

“No, I mean… there’s nothing missing, but strangely, it feels like something is…”

Yoon Jong thought hard and mumbled to himself. Then, he suddenly raised his head. His usually narrow eyes widened to the size of saucers.

“Huh?”

Everyone asked as he turned around abruptly.

“What is it?”

“Little… Little Lord?”

“Huh?”

“Where is Little Lord Lee! Little Lord Lee Song-baek!”

“Huh?”

Baek Cheon’s eyes widened in an instant as well.

“Weren’t we… weren’t we fighting together?”

“We were! Until… until the main stronghold collapsed, we were fighting hard together!”

“Then when did he disappear?”

“Well, when the main stronghold collapsed…”

The Hwasan disciples were talking quickly and nervously. They all looked down at the ground.

The ruins of the collapsed main stronghold. It was more than just a devastated field, it was a mess of stones and dust. They stared blankly at it before they raised their heads to look at each other. Warm smiles appeared on everyone’s faces.

“Aigooo! Little Looord!”

“Dig! Dig! Dig quickly! A person is dying!”

“…Honestly, I think it’s safe to say he’s already dead…”

“Don’t say unlucky things and dig quickly, you bastard! Aigo, Little Lord!”

The disciples of Hwasan began to run wild, overturning the rubble.

A short while later.

Lee Song-baek was covered entirely in white dust. He stared blankly ahead with eyes that seemed to have lost something.

Everyone couldn’t bring themselves to meet his gaze and averted their eyes. Lee Song-baek’s mouth opened.

“…Still.”

“…”

“We fought together, risking our lives.”

“…”

“And you just… completely forget about me.”

“Th-that’s…”

Baek Cheon made excuses, sweating a lot.

“It’s strange… I definitely felt like we were together…”

“Perhaps we were together in spirit?”

“Y-yes, right? Our inner unity was so strong…”

Lee Song-baek watched the Hwasan disciples make weak excuses. He looked up at the clear blue sky.

‘I hope all those Hwasan bastards die…’

He felt like he understood where the deep-rooted hatred of Hwasan from Jongnam came from and how it started.

“Ahem. Anyway… are you alright…?”

“Yoon Jong disciple.”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

Lee Song-baek, looking like a white ghost covered in dust, still politely clasped his hands in front of him. Yoon Jong asked, slightly flustered.

“Yes? What’s that suddenly about…?”

“I should be thankful. If Yoon Jong disciple hadn’t been clever enough to remember me, I probably would have died helplessly under all that.”

“…”

“How should I repay the grace of saving my life?”

The Hwasan disciples lowered their heads solemnly, desperately glancing at each other.

‘Doesn’t he seem a bit different from when we first met?’

‘Well, that’s normal, isn’t it?’

‘He seems a bit twisted now, doesn’t he?’

‘Wouldn’t you be if you were him?’

But they couldn’t utter a peep.

As Lee Song-baek said, what would have happened if they had simply forgotten about him, buried under the heavy central pillar?

Lee Song-baek would probably have become a vengeful spirit here. And he would have cursed Hwasan until the day his life… no, his ghost-life ended.

“From the start…”

“Ah! Enough talk! You’re alive, that’s what matters!”

“…”

“In the end, you didn’t die, so it’s all good, right! Seriously, these days, kids just whine about everything that happens? Huh? Back in my day, even if we lost an arm or a leg fighting, we’d just dust ourselves off and go eat. Tsk, tsk.”

At that moment, something surged in Lee Song-baek’s eyes as he looked at Chung Myung.

“Woah, woah. Calm down, Little Lord. Put the sword down.”

“I told you not to expect too much from that guy, didn’t I?”

“Amitabha. Honestly, this is karma.”

A sigh escaped from Lee Song-baek’s lips.

Considering they were standing on the rubble that had buried him, staging a touching reunion, it wouldn’t be enough to just swing a sword at them.

But what could he do? They said they didn’t know.

As he sighed and calmed his mind, Baek Cheon spoke with a serious face.

“Anyway, Little Lord. Thank you very much.”

“Yes?”

His posture of clasping his hands was perfectly respectful.

“Thanks to Little Lord’s help, we were able to finish this without anyone dying or getting seriously injured. Hwasan will remember the chivalry Little Lord has shown this time.”

Lee Song-baek stared at Baek Cheon for a moment before opening his mouth.

“Don’t try to gloss over it like that.”

“Aha, caught me.”

“See? I told you it wouldn’t work.”

“That’s strange. It usually works.”

Lee Song-baek bit his lip tightly. He thought the Hwasan disciples were all insane. He realized it to the bone.

Just then, Jo Gul raised his hand.

“By the way, Little Lord!”

“Yes?”

“Is it true?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I heard that our Martial Uncle’s older brother is going to become the Sect Leader of Jongnam?”

“…Just call him Jin Geum-ryong, Geol.”

“Hey. But he’s the respected Martial Uncle’s older brother. I know a little bit about etiquette, you know?”

“Just call him Jin Geum-ryong. If you don’t want to die.”

“…Yes, sir.”

Lee Song-baek replied with a dumbfounded expression.

“The Senior Brother? There’s a rumor like that going around?”

“Yes! I definitely heard it.”

Lee Song-baek’s expression turned serious in an instant.

“That’s a ridiculous story. The Senior Brother is a Second-Class Disciple; how could a Second-Class Disciple become the Sect Leader? There are proper ranks and rules!”

Thud.

A dagger flew and pierced the hearts of the Hwasan disciples.

“Even if the Sect Leader steps down, the next Sect Leader will come from the First-Class Disciples. Isn’t that obvious for any respectable sect?”

Thud.

Once again, a dagger was plunged.

“…It seems we almost ended up without ranks, rules, or respectability.”

Looking around at the broken camp, Chung Myung sighed. “We lost a lot in that fight,” he said.

“That’s true,” someone agreed.

The Mount Hua disciples looked sad. It wasn’t that anyone was being mean, but what was said still made them feel down.

“Okay, well, that’s that. What are you planning to do now?”

“Pardon?”

“We still have things to wrap up, so we’re planning to leave tomorrow. What about you?”

When Chung Myung spoke, Lee Song-baek looked to the side. He saw Bangju and Ilhoshin working hard. It was clear they still had a lot to fix with the Beggars’ Sect.

However, he…

“I don’t think there’s anything for me to do.”

“Hmm?”

“Oof.”

Lee Song-baek rose unsteadily from his seat. He lightly brushed the dust from his robes and spoke calmly to the Mount Hua disciples.

“My brothers must be worried, so I’ll be going now.”

“Y-you’re leaving?”

“Yes. Or is there anything else I should be doing?”

“It’s not that, but…”

Lee Song-baek shrugged as if to say, ‘See?’ when Chung Myung suddenly spoke.

“Didn’t Jongnam come here to make friends with the Beggars’ Sect?”

Lee Song-baek turned his head towards Chung Myung.

“Of course, the purpose is the information that the Beggars’ Sect provides. You’re not a fool, so you know that if you stick around here, Bangju will have no choice but to pay for what you’ve done, right?”

At those words, Lee Song-baek scratched his head.

“I wonder.”

“Huh?”

“The order I received from the Sect Leader was to inform the Beggars’ Sect’s main headquarters that Jongnam had resumed its activities and to pay our respects.”

“⋯⋯”

“I don’t know what else my leader wanted. I’m just doing exactly what he told me to do.”

“⋯⋯After helping us?”

Lee Song-baek smiled faintly.

“Helping you was me as a swordsman. But as a disciple of Jongnam, what’s important to me is simply following the Sect Leader’s will and executing it accurately.”

“Ha⋯⋯.”

“So, I can just go back and wait for the Beggars’ Sect to sort things out, then pay my respects to the new Bangju. I could have returned without even meeting the Bangju, so I think this is a great achievement.”

“⋯⋯”

“However, because of that, there is one thing I must ask of you.”

“What?”

“Please keep the fact that I helped you a secret.”

“⋯⋯”

“Well, it’s not something that would be good to have revealed…”

Throughout his words, Lee Song-baek glanced at Baek Cheon. He was probably seeing someone else in Baek Cheon’s face.

Everyone nodded with sympathetic faces.

“W-we will do that.”

“Thank you. Then, I’ll be going now.”

Lee Song-baek turned his body as if relieved.

“Ah, right.”

But soon, as if something had come to mind, he turned back and said to everyone.

“My party is staying at the Jinyeong Inn. If there is anything else I can help you with, you can find me there. But!”

Lee Song-baek brought his index finger to his lips and smiled playfully.

“Please make sure my brothers don’t find out.”

“⋯⋯”

“Well then, Mount Hua Sword Saint.”

“Huh?”

“It was fun fighting together. I hope to see you again.”

Lee Song-baek smiled brightly and turned his body.

Watching his quickly receding back, the Mount Hua disciples sighed.

“So, in the end, he’s asking us to keep what he did here a secret.”

“⋯⋯If this were to spread outside, wouldn’t his reputation become enormous?”

“That’s right.”

“But to keep it a secret even so…”

“Isn’t the fear of being caught by a ghost greater than the expectation of the good things that would come from gaining fame?”

“⋯⋯Maybe so.”

They were saying this, but in truth, the Mount Hua disciples already knew well enough.

How difficult and amazing it is not to boast about what one has done.

And yet, Lee Song-baek left cleanly, without showing even a fleeting regret.

“Truly…”

It was the image of a chivalrous man they had always thought of. To discover it in the swordsman of Jongnam, of all people, made the hearts of the Mount Hua disciples feel complex and strange.

“It feels a bit ticklish, Senior Brother.”

“You too?”

“It would have been better if he weren’t from Jongnam.”

“Well, there’s no reason why it can’t be done.”

“Pardon?”

“Even Uncle was from Jongnam, but he eventually came over to Mount Hua, so if we can just coax that man over…”

“Deukchireuk…”

“Uncle, you’ll hurt yourself if you do that. You’ll break your molars.”

The strange emotion did not fade for a long time.

After a long silence, Baek Cheon let out a long breath and said.

“If chivalry overflowed in the world, there would be no need to emphasize it.”

“⋯⋯Yes.”

“The reason why chivalry continues on, no matter when or how… is because there are those who protect that path themselves, without wanting anything in return, in every corner of the world.”

A light of reflection was contained in Baek Cheon’s two eyes.

There was a moment when he was caught up in the arrogance that they alone were guarding the chivalry of the Central Plains.

But the sight shown by the monks of Shaolin and Lee Song-baek today made Baek Cheon feel all the more ashamed.

“Even in this world… there are still those who practice chivalry. We must not lose either.”

“Yes.”

“Yes! Uncle!”

The Mount Hua disciples nodded resolutely.

One side of the blue sky was slowly being dyed with the warm light of the sunset.

Two hours later, Cheonsang Inn.

Pungyeongsingae sat down with a face completely exhausted. The Mount Hua disciples were standing in front of him. They were already neatly washed.

Pungyeongsingae opened his mouth with a voice that was half-hoarse.

“The main headquarters… has collapsed.”

“⋯⋯”

“Among the Beggars’ Sect elders, there are too many injured…”

“⋯⋯”

“Ilhoshin, the best martial artist of the Beggars’ Sect, has been imprisoned with his martial arts suppressed. There will probably be no chance of reinstatement, so it should be seen as a permanent loss of power.”

“⋯⋯”

“The first-generation disciples are still demanding explanations. Countless documents and instruments were lost as the main headquarters collapsed. All the messenger pigeons were killed, so the system itself was paralyzed, and it’s a mess!”

As he spoke, Pungyeongsingae’s voice grew louder, as if he was bursting with frustration. Cold sweat flowed down the faces of the Mount Hua disciples.

“More than anything, the bills! The bills! The enormous bills piled up in the main headquarters were torn to shreds and scattered, so all the beggars of the Beggars’ Sect can’t sleep and are picking up every scrap of paper in Gaebong!”

In particular, Baek Cheon, as the person in charge, had his back soaked with sweat. If it was the bills piled up in the Beggars’ Sect’s main headquarters, how much would that amount to…

“Anyway…”

Flinch.

Towards the Mount Hua disciples who unknowingly flinched, Pungyeongsingae spat out words with a soulless expression and voice.

“Re.al.ly. Thank. You. Mount. Hua. Folks.”

…That guy, he’s got quite the… grudge.

Haha.