Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 717. Here you are (1)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
"Why!"
A voice filled with anger rang out.
No, maybe it's sadness or resentment.
"Why! Why won't you let me go, why!"
Even at that shout, the middle-aged man who had been staring at the distant moon quietly turned his head.
The weight in his gaze pressed down on his whole body, but Chung Myung did not back down. The eyes as still as a lake and the eyes like a blazing volcano fiercely collided without an inch of compromise.
"Are you really asking because you don’t know?"
"Jangmun Sahyung!"
"If you leave here, we cannot guarantee victory. No, it will become a definite defeat (필패(必敗))."
Eudeuduk.
Chung Myung gritted his teeth at Cheong Mun's words.
"He's... he's missing."
“…….”
"Do you not know what that means? Yes? Cheong Jin! That damn kid is missing, in the Hundred Thousand Great Mountain!"
"I know."
"Cheong Mun Sahyung!"
Cheong Mun slowly closed his eyes.
His expression was calm, but the slightly trembling eyelids showed that his current feelings were indescribable.
"We’re not……. We're not the only ones who have lost someone."
“…….”
"Everyone has lost someone. But how can we be the only ones who have a tantrum?"
"Tantrum?”
Chung Myung's face was distorted.
"Is it a tantrum to try looking for one’s Saje?”
"Chung Myung-ah…….”
"I don't know what in the bloody hell that great cause is, but are you telling me to let my Saje die for that damn thing! He might even still be alive!"
With anger overflowing Chung Myung's voice, even Cheong Mun temporarily closed his mouth as if he was speechless.
"What is that! Damn it! Just what the hell is that!”
A voice full of remorse leaked from Cheong Mun's mouth, who were looking at Chung Myung's face that seemed like it was about to explode.
"...That thing called the greater cause..."
Soon after, Cheong Mun smiled faintly.
A smile so faint it seemed like a hollow laugh, or maybe a sneer. But no matter which one, it was a smile so pitiful that people wouldn't bear to see calmly.
"Do you think there is still such a thing left? In me?"
“…….”
"At first, there might have been such a thing. But now it's all worn out that there's only one thing left. Do you know what that is?"
"…What?"
"Future."
The resolute word came out of Cheong Mun's mouth.
"If we don't defeat them, nothing will be left for us. And to defeat them, we absolutely need you. You! Plum Blossom Sword Sovereign Chung Myung."
“…….”
"Nevertheless, are you still going? Are you still leaving here alone to save Jin? What would he say when Cheong Jin, who you saved, comes back and sees all of us dead? Would he say thank you for saving him? You foolish guy!"
At the end, a vivid streak of blood flowed from Chung Myung's tightly clenched mouth. The blood from the teeth stained his lips as if he had applied red rouge.
Cheong Mun shook his head slowly.
"He wouldn't want it. What he values most isn't you or himself, but the children left behind."
“…….”
There was a stinging smell of iron.
It was felt in his mouth. The scent that came from the end of his words.
It was just so bitter and nauseating.
"If you really want to go find him, go after the war is over."
"Sahyung!"
"I told you we’re not the only ones who lost someone!"
Cheong Mun shouted angrily. Rage and frustration that could not be seen from him burst forth like a dam.
"Do you think there's only one or two people who want to find him right away! I want it more than you! Me! This damn...."
In the end, with a string of curses, he trailed off and bit his lips.
"Damn......"
His voice was trembling helplessly.
Cheong Mun is the Sect Leader of Mount Hua and is leading Jungwon’s force to fight Magyo.
How much burden must be pressing down on those shoulders?
"......I sent him."
“…….”
"It was none other than me who entrusted him with a dangerous mission. If you want to blame someone, blame me."
The emotion had disappeared from Cheong Mun's face as if it had been washed away.
"As the Sect Leader of Mount Hua, I can't allow you to go looking for Cheong Jin. Go back to your post and stand by."
“…….”
Chung Myung also stared at Cheong Mun with an emotionless face.
The smiles that used to be there whenever they looked at each other were gone. The two stared at each other coldly with ironclad faces.
Chung Myung's mouth opened emotionlessly.
"If it's the order of Sect Leader."
“…….”
"I shall follow."
Cheong Mun's eyes shook at the emotionless voice.
"However...... Sahyung."
A hint of sneer appeared at the corner of Chung Myung's mouth.
"Can you fill the void of what you've lost with what you've gained that way?"
Cheong Mun eventually closed his eyes tightly. Chung Myung's cold voice pierced his chest like a blade.
"Is there any meaning in the things we gain at the cost of losing what we shouldn't have lost, I don't know about that."
"……Chung Myung-ah."
"I……."
Blood trickled down Chung Myung's mouth and fell to the ground.
"I won't accept this decision until the moment I die."
At the end of the sentence, Chung Myung turned his body without waiting for a response. He put distance between himself and Cheong Mun without an inch of hesitation.
He clenched his fist to the point of bursting.
Eudeuduk.
Grinding his teeth and pounding his chest wouldn't change anything.
He looked back with hatred-filled eyes as he stepped away silently. But the sight that he saw made Chung Myung’s eyes lose all his anger and strength.
Cheong Mun's broad shoulders that always embraced all of Mount Hua's disciples and gave them support were trembling weakly.
His body half-crouched in helplessness and his back while sobbing in silent, Chung Myung couldn't bear to look any longer and turned his head away.
'Cheong Jin-ah…….’
- Sahyung.
Recalling Cheong Jin's taintless smiling face, Chung Myung closed his trembling eyes.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
…I'm sorry. (*note)
* * *
Chung Myung took a step forward as if he was possessed.
One step, and another step.
He staggered as if he would fall at any moment, but he kept moving forward.
And Yoo Iseol followed him silently. Her eyes caught the back of Chung Myung.
That back seemed like a mountain at times. Sometimes, it embraced them like the ocean, and some other times, it became a cliff that pierced the sky and became their goal.
But now Chung Myung's back looked just pitiful.
Just like....
'Father.’
It was as if she was looking at her father's back once again, which was vaguely left in her memory.
The back of someone who couldn't accomplish what must be done.
The back of someone who holds onto something they could never achieve.
Why does that thin back overlap with the current Chung Myung?
Chung Myung, who had been staggering, walked faster and faster. In line with that, Yoo Iseol also increased her walking speed to match him.
Mount Hua's disciples, who happened to find the two, rushed to Yoo Iseol as if they had sensed a strange atmosphere.
"Samae?"
Yoo Iseol put her index finger on her lips.
"Do not disturb."
Baek Cheon alternately looked at her and Chung Myung's back and nodded soon after. And together they began to follow Chung Myung in silence.
One step.
One step.
The ancestor walks ahead, and those who inherit his will follow behind. However, the steps of the ancestor who’s walking ahead were filled with confidence yet trembles pitifully.
Chung Myung's gaze at the mountain ahead was the same as what he had in the past.
‘Cheong Jin he... is not that kind of person. He is not the kind of person to give up like that.’
Even though the body that shed too much blood is slowly stopping, even though the impulse to just put everything down and rest at ease eats away at his soul.
He's not... the kind of person to give up everything and let go.
Step.
Chung Myung started climbing the mountain.
'Think.'
What if I were Cheong Jin?
What would I do if I were him?
With no longer any way to go back. While almost reaching my last breath, and no possible means to go back to my Sahyungje, to Mount Hua, through the Demonic disciples who have filled all my surroundings.
Then what would I have done?
If a hundred years ago he was standing where Chung Myung is now, what would Cheong Jin have done when he saw that mountain while desperately trying to grasp his fading vision?
Chung Myung's feet, which climbed the mountain as if possessed, became faster.
I know. I know.
'You would have done this.’
Even if it was Chung Myung, it would have been the same.
The mountain is not very high and therefore cannot be Mount Hua.
But... in this faraway land, it's a small mountain where you can at least reminisce about Mount Hua's atmosphere.
'I have to go back.'
Yes, he has to go back.
Even if his body is here, he has to go back to Mount Hua. Even if his physique were to rot here, he has to go back to Mount Hua.
‘The place we left. The place where we lived.’
Just like how Chung Myung could not forget even in death, and eventually returned.
It must have been the same for Cheong Jin.
Chung Myung's steps climbing the mountain grew more and more certain.
Upward, and upward again, without resting for a single moment. Hesitation disappeared with every step.
Chung Myung didn’t stop walking until he almost reached the peak.
Chung Myung stared blankly ahead.
And the disciples of Mount Hua watched his back in silence.
They didn't know what the hell made them feel this way. But they didn't dare to talk to Chung Myung.
'Here…..''
Yoon Jong, who had been quietly looking around, narrowed his eyes.
"Sasuk."
"…What?"
"Here... Doesn't it feel like Mount Hua?"
"...The mountain is a bit steeper than other places."
"N- No. It's not like that...….”
Yoon-Jong looked around a few times and made eye contact with Baek Cheon.
"It's where Mount Hua Sect is... Yes, isn't it similar to that place? If this mountain were Mount Hua, then this place would be..."
“…….”
Only then did Baek Cheon look around with a stiff face again. A sigh burst from his neat lips.
"Ah…."
He thought he knew what Yoon Jong was talking about.
If this mountain were Mount Hua, then the place where they stood would be the location of Mount Hua Sect. It doesn't match perfectly, but for those who considered Mount Hua their home and lived there, it was a place they would undoubtedly think of as similar.
Baek Cheon's gaze turned to Chung Myung.
'Then you....’
At that moment, Chung Myung knelt down haphazardly on the spot. He crawled on the ground with his knees, tearing the growing bushes with trembling hands, and stretching his bare hands.
Mount Hua's disciples just watched the scene without saying a word.
They couldn't bring themselves to help.
No.
It occurred to them that they should not help.
This wasn't something they could carelessly intervene in. They don’t have a clear reason for it, but all of the Mount Hua disciples present shared the same thought.
"…What is he looking for?"
When asked by Tang Soso, close to whispering, Yoo Iseol answered without turning her head.
"Fox hole."
“…….”
"It would have dug a hole. To come out with the secret technique manual."
"Ah…."
Tang Soso nodded and looked at Chung Myung.
At that time, Chung Myung's hand, which was searching the ground, suddenly stopped. Chung Myung's fingertips slightly trembled.
Brushing aside the long, overgrown bushes, a small hole was revealed.
There was nothing unusual about such a hole in the mountain. It seemed to have been dug by a wild animal and then abandoned, crumbling over time, a very small hole.
But at that moment, Chung Myung's hands were shaking pitifully.
At first, his hand was groping slowly to dig out the hole, but it gradually sped up, and soon he began to dig the ground like a madman.
"Haaa…… Ugh……!”
The suppressed agony burst from his mouth as an intangible sound. Scattered dirt fell on his head and back. While looking at the scene, Baek Cheon unwittingly took a step closer to him.
"Chung Myung-ah….”
At that moment, Yoo Iseol's hand grabbed his shoulder.
Baek Cheon looked back and saw Yoo Iseol shaking her head.
“…….”
Baik Cheon bit his lips before nodding eventually. All they could do now was watch Chung Myung.
Digging out soil, removing roots, and smashing rocks with his bare fist, Chung Myung dug deeper and deeper into the ground.
His rough breathing strangely sounded like sobbing.
Chung Myung, who had dug and dug the ground, was covered in dirt. Gritting his teeth, he acted as if digging was his only mission, and his hand suddenly stiffened as he dug.
A different sensation caught on his fingertips, buried in the dirt.
Nothing was caught on the tips of his fingers that had penetrated the soil. It meant that the space behind it was empty.
Chung Myung's breathing became faster.
“…….”
Now, he began to carefully remove the soil. It was a completely different, delicate touch than before.
The eyes of Mount Hua’s disciples who were watching him grew bigger.
'A cave?'
They weren't exactly sure.
But one thing was certain: there was a space large enough for a person to enter in the area Chung Myung was clearing.
Soon Chung Myung staggered inside.
"…Sasuk."
Baek Cheon nodded at Yoon Jong's words.
"…Let's go and see."
Baek Cheon bent over and led the way into the cave that Chung Myung had entered.
It was a narrow passage, but inside, there was a larger space than expected. Baek Cheon, who jumped down lightly, raised his head and took in the sight with his eyes.
'Chung Myung-ah…….’
Baek Cheon was perhaps a little shocked at that moment.
Chung Myung's small shoulders, too small, as if they would collapse at any moment, were trembling uncontrollably.
What was visible beyond those shoulders…
A person? No. What was lying down was not a person, but a skeleton.
Even though only bones remained due to decay, the skeleton maintained its position from when it was alive. The fabric draped over the skeleton was so tattered and worn that it was difficult to guess its original shape.
But they had no choice but to know.
This is because the stone wall, which is as smooth as if it had been carved with white bones, was engraved with magnificent words as if it had been dug with fingers.
A sigh escaped from Baek Cheon's mouth.
‘Though my body sleeps here,
My heart is with the distant Mount Hua.
13th generation disciple of Mount Hua Sect, Cheong Jin.’
"Ah…"
With trembling hands, he cautiously touched the engraved characters. His shoulders began to shake uncontrollably.
"Aaah…… Ah..…"
At last, the suppressed sobbing burst from Chung Myung's mouth, which had collapsed on the spot. Baek Cheon, hurt by his crying, slowly closed his eyes.
I feel like I can see Cheong Jin in his last breath. I cannot fathom what Chung Myung must be feeling.
imagine how he felt when he saw his sahyung die during the war...
oh... my heart hurts...😭😭