Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1617

Jongli Gok stared at Chung Myung, silent and still. Chung Myung looked back, meeting his gaze directly, without blinking. The air in the room felt heavy as they stared at each other. Finally, Jongli Gok spoke.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” Jongli Gok said slowly, his voice careful.

Chung Myung leaned back in his chair, a small smile playing on his lips, as if he had been waiting for this exact response.

“It’s simple. You can’t admit it, and you can’t fix it. You never could, could you?”

Jongli Gok frowned, his eyebrows drawing together. He opened his mouth to speak, but Chung Myung cut him off, his voice sharp.

“From the beginning, it wasn’t your decision. You weren’t even alive then. Am I wrong?”

Jongli Gok’s face became serious, like a shadow had passed over it. He didn’t seem angry, just very quiet.

Chung Myung understood the silence. It spoke volumes.

“Am I wrong?” Chung Myung repeated, pressing him.

Jongli Gok looked up at the ceiling, his eyes empty.

*It wasn’t my choice.* The thought echoed in his mind. *So, fixing it isn’t my job either.*

Others might think it was easy to just admit the past. But it wasn’t. It meant saying a hundred years of their sect’s history was wrong. It meant disrespecting everyone who came before. It meant shaking the very base of Jongnam, and taking all the blame.

And Jongli Gok would pay the price. The sect he was trying to protect would turn against him.

Could he really do that? For something he didn’t even decide?

Jongli Gok spoke, still not looking at Chung Myung.

“What are you trying to say to me?”

Chung Myung chuckled, but it was a cold, unhappy sound.

“I already said what I wanted to say. This is just me… getting it off my chest.”

“Getting it off your chest?” Jongli Gok repeated, confused.

“Yes.”

After a short silence, Chung Myung looked down, his voice turning sharp and sad.

“I tried to understand you. But I can’t. No matter how I try to make excuses for you, the truth is you are all just cowards. You don’t even have the guts to say sorry for what happened.”

“So, I tried to ignore it.”

Chung Myung smiled, but it was a sad, twisted smile, almost without him noticing.

“If I don’t think about it, if I just hide it away, then I don’t have to talk about it and show how much I hate you. But I realized something.”

“What?” Jongli Gok asked, his voice low.

“It’s just running away.”

Jongli Gok’s eyes moved slightly, a quick flicker.

“It felt like a problem with no answer, so I just left it alone. Even if that problem got worse and hurt us more later, it was okay, as long as I didn’t think about it now.”

Chung Myung chuckled quietly, but the sound felt very heavy to Jongli Gok. He couldn’t explain why, but his fingers felt strangely numb. Maybe it was a feeling he couldn’t understand.

Jongli Gok tried to hide his worry and glared at Chung Myung, his eyes cold. He couldn’t let Chung Myung win this argument.

“Doesn’t that mean you are a coward too?”

It was a very direct and harsh comment. But surprisingly, Chung Myung just nodded, agreeing with Jongli Gok.

“Yes, you’re right, I’m a coward too. I don’t have the strength to hate you completely, and I don’t have the courage to forgive you. Maybe… maybe I will never accept the name Jongnam in my life.”

Chung Myung stopped, biting his lip, his eyes fixed on Jongli Gok.

“But I am still braver than you.”

“Hwasan Sword Saint…” Jongli Gok began, his voice tight.

“You know it’s wrong, but you just look away. You don’t have the courage to face it. You pass the problem to the next generation. That’s what I call truly awful.”

Jongli Gok’s face became hard, like ice. But his eyes were burning with emotion. Rage, anger, hurt, and many other feelings were mixed up inside him.

“Did you just call me a coward?”

“Aren’t you?” Chung Myung replied simply.

“How dare you say such stupid things! Aren’t you just here because you need Jongnam’s help?” Jongli Gok’s voice rose, his eyes flashing.

“If you were even a little bit honest, you wouldn’t talk about this now. How do I know you’re not just trying to make me angry so you can use Jongnam’s power?”

Usually, Chung Myung would have reacted to these words with killing anger. It would be understandable, since the people who did wrong were acting like this. But this time, he didn’t.

“I went to Anhui,” Chung Myung said, his voice calm and steady.

“With the Jongnam students.”

Jongli Gok’s eyes narrowed, surprised. He knew Chung Myung meant the Jongnam students led by Jin Geum-ryong and Lee Song-baek.

“So what?” Jongli Gok asked, trying to sound uninterested.

“They fought together. The Jongnam guys and the Hwasan people, I mean.”

Jongli Gok paused, thinking. Chung Myung looked down at his tea and asked quietly.

“Do you know why they could do that?”

“…I wonder,” Jongli Gok said slowly.

“Because I wasn’t there,” Chung Myung said, his voice heavy with sadness.

“And because you weren’t there either.”

Jongli Gok felt the same sadness in his own heart. He understood what Chung Myung meant.

“They fought side by side, risking their lives to save each other.”

“……” Jongli Gok remained silent.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to help. I was going to watch and jump in if they were really in danger. But… I couldn’t. I couldn’t even move. Do you know why?”

Jongli Gok thought he did. He couldn’t go there. He would feel like something dirty ruining something pure. Like if he stepped in, everything good would become bad.

Chung Myung asked, his voice full of pain.

“What would have happened if you and I had been there?”

There was no answer, just the question hanging in the air. But both of them knew the truth.

They would have become divided again, Jongnam against Hwasan. They could never have stood together, trapped by a wall they couldn’t climb over.

“Do you understand what I’m saying? You and I, people like us, are in the way. Even though we know it’s hurting them.”

Jongli Gok just stared at Chung Myung, his face blank. But inside, he was biting his lip hard, worried. After a moment, he made himself speak, even though he didn’t want to.

“If you’re right, shouldn’t we just ignore it? If the old people who are stuck in the past die out, won’t things get better on their own? If it ends well, what’s wrong with us just waiting for a while…?”

“Are you going to keep passing it down like that?” Chung Myung interrupted, his voice sharp.

“…What do you mean?” Jongli Gok asked, confused.

“Just like you’re carrying the blame for things you didn’t do, are you going to give that same weight to them? Add to the problem you’re making now?”

Jongli Gok’s eyes moved quickly, showing his unease.

“Are you going to give your students, and then their students after them, all the anger and sadness you feel now? Are you going to make them hate each other too?”

“……” Jongli Gok was silent.

“Is that what Jongnam teaches?” Chung Myung asked, his voice cold.

Jongli Gok was quiet, thinking deeply. He hadn’t agreed with Chung Myung, and he wasn’t falling for Chung Myung’s anger. But a question came into his mind.

*‘When did I start hating Hwasan?’*

Why was he so desperate to destroy a weak sect stuck on a poor mountain? Before Chung Myung came back, Hwasan was so weak they couldn’t even fight back.

Was this hatred… really his own?

Just then, Chung Myung chuckled softly.

“It’s strange, isn’t it? A sect that should be teaching students the right way… is making them hate each other. Making people who didn’t hate each other before, hate each other now, and saying it’s the right thing to do. It’s a bad thing to do, isn’t it?”

Jongli Gok closed his eyes tightly. Chung Myung’s mouth twisted into a bitter line.

“But… I’m not much better either.”

Chung Myung knew his own hatred would never go away, even when he died. But he didn’t need to give it to the others.

“I just realized, if I don’t stop this now, someone else will feel this pain later. When I looked at them without thinking about Hwasan and Jongnam, they were just people. I’m trying to take away the lies now.”

Jongli Gok, who had been listening without saying anything, finally spoke.

“Didn’t I tell you? People will always fight and hate each other. No matter what you do, they will fight again as Hwasan and Jongnam. You know that too, right?”

“Then at least it will be their own hate.”

“……” Jongli Gok was silent again.

“It’s hate they made themselves, a decision they came to themselves. There’s no reason to talk nonsense about keeping hate going even now, when they will hate each other anyway.”

Chung Myung’s face looked a little troubled. But he had decided what to do and come here, so his voice was calm.

“I don’t know either. What they will make, what they will build. Maybe it will be even worse than now. But at least… they can choose for themselves. Maybe we can find something new, beyond this old, bad feeling that the people who died couldn’t fix because they were too scared, and just passed it on.”

Chung Myung turned to leave.

“I’ve said everything.”

“…Hwasan Sword Saint,” Jongli Gok said, his voice softer now.

“Now it’s your choice. Not Jongnam’s choice, but yours. I’ve done my part, now it’s your turn.”

Jongli Gok slammed his hand on the tea table, looking angry again. His voice was rough as he burst out.

“What! What am I supposed to choose? What do you want me to do?”

“……” Chung Myung didn’t answer right away.

“Are you telling me to bow down to Hwasan and say sorry for our mistakes? To shout to everyone that we are worse than animals?”

Jongli Gok’s eyes were red.

“What exactly do you want me to do?!”

“That’s for you to figure out,” Chung Myung said, still not turning around. His voice was cold, very different from Jongli Gok’s angry tone.

“I’ve told you what I think. The rest is up to you. It’s not my problem anymore. Giving you this chance is hard for me.”

He walked away, not looking back, and reached for the door handle. Just then, Jongli Gok’s question stopped him.

“Why me?”

Chung Myung turned back. Jongli Gok was standing there, his face blank again. He looked like he hadn’t been angry at all, like his shouting from a moment ago was a lie.

“Do I look like someone who would be moved by your words and give in? Do I seem like someone who can be changed so easily?”

“…Then why me?” Jongli Gok repeated, his voice almost a whisper.

None of the leaders before him had taken responsibility. Why should Jongli Gok be responsible just because he was leader now? Just because he was born at this time?

He didn’t expect an answer. Maybe it was just a sad question.

But Chung Myung answered him.

“Even if you are a really bad person, like a demon, you are still the leader of Jongnam.”

Chung Myung smiled a little, as if he was surprised by his own words.

“And you are an adult, aren’t you?”

“……” Jongli Gok didn’t say anything.

“That’s all,” Chung Myung finished simply.

*Thud.*

Chung Myung left, and the door closed behind him.

In the quiet room, Jongli Gok was alone. His eyes, which had been on the door, slowly moved to the tea table.

One tea table. Two teacups on it.

Chung Myung’s teacup was still full. Jongli Gok’s teacup was empty, like dry earth in a desert.

*‘An adult, huh….’* Jongli Gok thought to himself.

*That little kid.*

Jongli Gok couldn’t look at the tea table anymore. He closed his eyes tightly, feeling lost and heavy inside.

Chung Myung left, and the door clicked shut, the sound echoing in the sudden silence. Jongli Gok was alone. He stayed standing, staring at the closed door as if it held the answer to everything. *Why me?* The question echoed in his mind, a hollow sound. He looked down at the tea table. The steam from Chung Myung’s untouched tea curled upwards, a faint, jasmine scent filling the air. His own teacup was cold and empty. He felt empty too. *An adult, huh?* He squeezed his eyes shut, a wave of weariness washing over him. This little… this powerful warrior, had just thrown a mountain of responsibility onto his shoulders. And now, Jongli Gok had to decide what to do with it.