Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1238

“Dry clothes!”

“No, I need to wash first!”

“Forget washing! Just get out of this rain! Any roof will do!”

“Food.”

“Didn’t you just eat, you clumsy fool?”

“Food!”

Gwak Hwan-so blinked, rain streaming down his face. The icy wind howled, pushing at his wet clothes, but he barely noticed. He just stared, dazed, at the noisy group in front of him.

‘What on earth are these people… What are they thinking, coming all the way here?’

No, that wasn’t the right way to think. He should be grateful that they had come all this way, enough to bring tears to his eyes.

They had braved the raging typhoon to find Hainan, teetering on the brink…

“Hey, stop standing there gawking!”

“Honestly, you’d think he was a warm-blooded Southerner! So slow!”

“Look, the guests are getting wet!”

“At Mount Hua, we would have punched someone for being so slow!”

Why were these people acting like this?

If they just kept their mouths shut, they’d seem solemn or grand, but why did they have to shout and ruin it all?

“Hey! Are we going to keep waiting forever!”

But the most confusing thing for Gwak Hwan-so was the man shouting and pulling his wet hair. He was not from Mount Hua.

‘That’s… Namgung Dowi, isn’t it?’

Even though he lived in Hainan, he recognized Namgung Dowi. His proud figure, from the martial arts competition, had stirred a strong sense of rivalry in Gwak Hwan-so.

‘That is, until he got a kick to the groin from the Mount Hua Sword Saint.’

Namgung Dowi, from the competition, looked like a perfect noble son.

“Do you only get a guest once every ten years here? Don’t you know how to show them in? Huh?”

“Dowi, calm down a bit.”

“No, 형님! These people are….”

Fortunately, Gwak Hwan-so didn’t have to do anything. Soon, the head of Hainan, Geum Yang-baek, came running through the storm, his eyebrows practically flying off his face.

Gwak Hwan-so had never seen the sect leader run so fast.

“You, you said you came from Mount Hua?”

Geum Yang-baek, who stopped abruptly (almost slipping on the rainwater), stared wide-eyed at the people at the gate.

‘The sect leader⋯⋯.’

Gwak Hwan-so glanced at Geum Yang-baek, who would soon be as confused as he was. But then…

“May I ask if you are the head of Hainan?”

Baek Cheon, who had tidied himself up with lightning speed, politely clasped his hands towards Geum Yang-baek, looking neat and tidy. Geum Yang-baek returned the gesture.

“Oh, my, look at my manners. I am Geum Yang-baek, the head of Hainan!”

“I am Baek Cheon from Mount Hua. I am the acting sect leader, representing the will of the current sect leader of Mount Hua.”

It was a perfect hand clasp. The ones who had been complaining behind him had already changed into neat clothes and were standing straight.

“Th, that⋯⋯.”

Gwak Hwan-so, stunned, pointed his finger. Seeing their expressions as if to say, ‘Outrage? What are you talking about? We’ve been like this from the start!’, anger suddenly filled him.

“Th, those swindlers⋯⋯.”

Geum Yang-baek turned sharply to Gwak Hwan-so and sternly rebuked him.

“You rascal! How dare you utter such nonsense in front of guests who have visited Hainan! Has the wind blown your senses away?”

“Se, sect leader, that’s not it⋯⋯.”

“If that’s not it, then what is it!”

“Those people were clearly just a moment ago⋯⋯.”

“Those people? Has this rascal really lost his mind? Can’t you shut your mouth right now?”

“Wow⋯⋯.”

Feeling a sense of injustice, Gwak Hwan-so turned sharply, convulsing. There were definitely more witnesses who had seen that scene just now.

‘There aren’t.’

The people next to him were avoiding Gwak Hwan-so’s gaze, pretending not to notice. They didn’t want to get caught in the sect leader’s crossfire.

‘You nasty bastards⋯⋯.’

Tears welled up in Gwak Hwan-so’s eyes. There wasn’t a single person in the world to trust. They abandoned their senior brother, with whom they had shared joys and sorrows, just because they didn’t want to be scolded.

Geum Yang-baek, who had been glaring at Gwak Hwan-so, turned his head sharply and looked at Baek Cheon.

“I apologize for the rudeness. The children were flustered⋯⋯.”

“Please don’t worry about it.”

Baek Cheon smiled brightly. Even in the pouring rain, his face was warm.

“Since we are going through such a great ordeal, it is understandable that you are on edge. We should have contacted you before visiting, but please forgive our rudeness in coming here without knowing the situation in Hainan.”

Geum Yang-baek was impressed by Baek Cheon’s thoughtfulness.

“How could you even think of such things? The fact that you knocked on our gates in this typhoon is enough to make us grateful.”

“Sect leader. You’re being deceived⋯⋯.”

Geum Yang-baek crushed Gwak Hwan-so with just his eyes, then relaxed his expression and cautiously asked Baek Cheon.

“More than that⋯⋯.”

Even after speaking, he hesitated. Baek Cheon seemed young, but one of the words he had heard caught him off guard. In the end, Geum Yang-baek subtly changed his tone and asked.

“Did you say⋯⋯ acting sect leader?”

“Yes.”

Baek Cheon smiled and nodded.

“I am sorry to be presumptuous, but that is the case. Therefore, I have come to request a meeting with the sect leader as the acting sect leader who has been fully authorized by the sect leader of Mount Hua, and as a special envoy of the Cheonwoo Alliance.”

Perhaps it was because of the cold rain, but Geum Yang-baek felt goosebumps.

‘Acting sect leader, you say.’

It was a term that one would rarely hear.

Usually, the position of acting sect leader is for someone who will become the next sect leader, temporarily performing the role before the sect leader officially steps down.

It was common in the imperial palace or private residences, but rare in the martial world. Unlike private residences or the imperial palace, the temporary power vacuum caused by the old age or illness of the powerful did not occur in the martial world.

People in the martial world become stronger as they get older. So, having an ‘acting’ leader is unusual.

Nevertheless, the fact that they created and appointed an acting sect leader and sent him to Hainan meant…

‘That means they think we’re that important!’

His fingertips trembled. The people behind Baek Cheon all looked extraordinary.

“Then the others are also⋯⋯.”

He meant whether they were all people from Mount Hua.

As Baek Cheon subtly signaled, the people who had been waiting clasped their hands together and bowed.

“I am Namgung Dowi, the young head of the Namgung family. I am currently serving as the temporary head of the Namgung family, replacing my late father.”

“I am Dang Pae, the young head of the Sichuan Tang family. I have come in place of the head of the family.”

“I am Seol So-baek, the palace lord of the Bukhae Ice Palace!”

Geum Yang-baek’s eyes widened in shock.

‘Mount Hua, Namgung, the Sichuan Tang family, and even the Bukhae Ice Palace?’

Each name was as prestigious as Hainan. Even if one of them had visited alone, he would have been careful in his hospitality.

And yet, people with such great fame and positions had visited Hainan all at once, even through this raging typhoon.

Geum Yang-baek’s lips trembled. It wasn’t because of the cold. No matter how cold the rain was, this chill could not have invaded his body, which had been trained in martial arts.

“To Hainan⋯⋯.”

Geum Yang-baek twisted his trembling lips open with difficulty. He didn’t know what to say, so he started with the most appropriate words.

“Thank you for visiting Hainan⋯⋯.”

Baek Cheon was about to respond with a smile when a dying voice was heard from behind them.

“Well⋯⋯ setting the mood is good and all⋯⋯. Cough! Before we have a funeral here, can we get out of the rain⋯⋯.”

“Shut your mouth, you evil sect member.”

“I really feel like I’m going to die. Really⋯⋯. Cough! Cough!”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Nothing will change even if one evil sect member dies.”

“Are you even human?”

Im So-byeong glared with a corpse-like pale face and spat out blood. Baek Cheon, who looked at him with a hopeless expression, cleared his throat and opened his mouth.

“I apologize, but if it’s not too much trouble, may we ask for a place to escape the rain first? Everyone’s stamina is greatly depleted from swimming across the sea⋯⋯.”

Geum Yang-baek snapped back to his senses.

“I am being so rude! What are you all doing! Quickly, escort the guests who have visited Hainan to the guest quarters! Quickly!”

“Yes!”

Geum Yang-baek clasped his hands deeply.

“Let’s talk in detail later. It would be best to rest first.”

“Thank you for your consideration. Then, I will dare to be rude.”

“This way, please!”

Lee Ja-yang, with his quick wit, jumped forward and guided the visitors.

The disciples of Hainan, who had been blankly watching the situation, also came to their senses and followed them as if they were escorting them.

The last two remaining, Geum Yang-baek and Gwak Hwan-so, stared at the people heading to the guest quarters with bewildered faces.

‘This isn’t a dream, is it?’

Gwak Hwan-so tapped his cheek. But there was no need to confirm it by hitting himself. The rainwater and the chill he felt were enough to know that this was reality.

‘So, the special envoys of the Cheonwoo Alliance have really visited this Hainan?’

And such prominent figures?

To Hainan. To this Hainan where a typhoon is raging. Huh?

“Sect leader.”

“Hmm?”

Gwak Hwan-so mumbled with a blank face.

“That a little while ago.”

“Speak.”

“A little while ago, that Baek Cheon, the acting leader, said that he swam across the sea, didn’t he?”

“I think he did.”

“Right now?”

Rumble!

Gwak Hwan-so and Geum Yang-baek looked up at the distant sky. They could see the strong typhoon and the pouring lightning.

A deep silence fell.

They knew the sea well. They knew what the sea was like when a typhoon was raging.

The two, who recalled the sea that must have been raging with waves the size of houses, looked at each other and smiled awkwardly.

“I think we misheard.”

“Yes, right? Haha. Unless we’ve lost our minds.”

“Haha⋯⋯.”

A saying came to mind.

Mount Hua is a sect with no regard for consequences.

The two of them finally understood what that meant.