Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1177. I have something to tell you (1)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
Several people were gathered in the room.
Hyun Jong, sect leader of Mount Hua, and the elders.
And Tang Gun-ak, who serves as the de facto deputy leader of Heavenly Comrade Alliance.
The four of them, with tense expressions, were staring at one person.
But the one who received that gaze, Chung Myung, just smiled brightly.
"Really…."
Hyu Jong, seeming at a loss for words, cleared his throat and asked again.
"Are you really sure about this?"
“Yes. Well.”
Chung Myung shrugged.
“Actually, wasn’t the answer already decided from the beginning?”
“Even so….”
"Do Sect Leader think differently?"
Hyun Jong lets out a deep sigh.
"…No, my thoughts aren’t all that different."
“Yes. If my thoughts and Sect Leader’s thoughts are the same, then there’s nothing more to worry about.”
Chung Myung's gaze turned to Tang Gun-ak.
"I feel a bit sorry towards you, though, Tang Gaju-nim."
"There's no need for you to be sorry."
Tang Gun-ak shook his head.
“Tang Family has not suffered any losses. Tang Family’s status is twice as high now that we are treated as the second-in-command of Heavenly Comrade Alliance than when we were in Five Great Family.”
Tang Gun-ak looked at Chung Myung with eyes full of warmth.
“And it’s not just about status. Sichuan Tang Family, who only thought about their own family’s interests, learned what it means to stand up for the right thing as Righteous Sects thanks to you and Mount Hua. This is a precious experience that cannot be exchanged for anything else.”
"Ahem, that's a bit embarrassing."
"No, you have every right to be proud…."
“Actually, to be honest, Sichuan Tang Family did have some of those aspects. They were selfish and ruthless. Ugh, just thinking about it.”
“….”
Tang Gun-ak's eyebrows twitched slightly.
"…Anyway."
"Yes."
A small sigh escaped his lips.
“The other sect leaders have also agreed that they will completely follow Mount Hua’s decision, so there will be no objection. However, there is one thing I would like to ask.”
"Yes."
“Are you really okay with this?”
“….”
Tang Gun-ak continued with a deeply serious expression.
"Even if this is the right path, it doesn't change the fact that you're giving up everything you've achieved so far. Even if Mount Hua regains its title among Ten Great Sects, even if it gains equal standing with Shaolin, does that truly satisfy you?"
Chung Myung closes his mouth.
"You weren’t working to just raise Mount Hua’s status, were you?"
"Well, that’s true, but... it’s fine."
No sooner had he finished speaking than Hyun Young, who had been sitting with a grumpy face, muttered under his breath, "What do you mean, fine? Damn it," before biting his lip at the harsh look from Hyun Sang.
"I understand too. Equal standing, Ten Great Sects—those are just words with little meaning. It’s like trading cash for a promissory note. No matter how large the amount written on the promissory note is, it can become nothing more than a piece of paper overnight, right?”
"You understand well. So why?"
“From the beginning, Heavenly Comrade Alliance was not a goal, but a means.”
Chung Myung shrugged.
“It’s not that I created Heavenly Comrade Alliance because I wanted to make Mount Hua great. I gathered us under the banner Heavenly Comrade Alliance because I wanted to protect at least one more person. But to be obsessed with the means and give up a safer path is putting the cart before the horse.”
“Do you trust Bop Jeong?”
“Of course, I don’t.”
Chung Myung said bluntly.
"I trust myself, Mount Hua, and the other sects that joined Heavenly Comrade Alliance. Do you think I’ll just meekly follow that great bald king’s orders? Not a chance. He’s got no brains!"
“….”
Chung Myung, panting slightly, chuckled and continued.
“That’s why we’ll go along for now. Better to take shelter under a roof we don’t like than to get soaked in the storm out in the field."
Tang Gun-ak shook his head.
“The more I listen, the less I understand.”
“…What do you mean?”
“Wasn’t Heavenly Comrade Alliance such eaves for us?”
“….”
Tang Gun-ak looked straight into Chung Myung's eyes.
“This is a contradiction. You can claim that Heavenly Comrade Alliance is willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of unity. You might even be praised for making a great decision for the future of Kangho. But aren't we losing the very eaves we mustn’t lose?”
Chung Myung closed his eyes without answering.
“I don’t believe what we shared within Heavenly Comrade Alliance was just strength. Didn't we see something beyond that? And now, choosing the path of simply becoming stronger and safer…”
Chung Myung slowly opened his eyes again.
His gaze was deeply somber.
“I’ve been feeling this way for some time now.”
“…What do you mean?”
“That maybe I’m rushing towards a predetermined outcome and just ignoring that outcome.”
Tang Gun-ak shut his mouth. The weight of Chung Myung's words was overwhelming.
“Parents want their children to grow up well. They want them to be people who don’t give in to injustice, follow the righteous path, and help those who are weaker.”
“That’s true.”
“But no parent ever wishes for their child to die in someone else’s place.”
“….”
“You can shed tears over what happened and praise them for a job well done. But no one would let their child jump into a pit of fire to save someone else.”
Tang Gun-ak closed his eyes.
He had a sense of what Chung Myung was trying to say.
“But at some point, I was pushing Mount Hua and its disciples into the fire pit. The louder Mount Hua’s voice became, the more extraordinary Mount Hua grew, the more dangerous they would become.”
Chung Myung shrugs.
“Of course, it’s not just Mount Hua. Heavenly Comrade Alliance is the same. It’s just an example.”
"…I know."
"At some point, I started dreaming of this. We would defeat Evil Tyrant Alliance, defeat Heavenly Demon, defeat all our enemies, and finally peace would come to Kangho. A moment when everyone could be happy.”
"Isn't that what we desire?"
"But in that dream, Mount Hua doesn’t exist."
“….”
“Mout Hua, Tang, Namgung…. not even Nokrim and the two sects of Outer Palaces. No one."
Chung Myung looks up at the ceiling with a blank expression.
“In the end, it worked out well. Everyone protected what they wanted to, and they achieved what they set out to do. But… I couldn’t smile when I saw it."
His voice was calm, yet strangely desperate.
"Because nothing changed. It was the same outcome."
It was difficult to fully grasp his words, but the emotions within them were clear. The deep bitterness and regret.
“I was just doing what I wanted to do, but at some point, Mount Hua became a sect that created great Chivalrousness. And before I knew it, everyone thought they had to risk their lives for this Chivalrousness."
"You…."
"And what lies at the end of that path?"
Tang Gun-ak couldn't bring himself to answer.
"In the future, more situations like Hangzhou will arise. And every time, because it's Heavenly Comrade Alliance, because it's Mount Hua, because it's Tang Family, we’ll be expected to be at the forefront, fighting the fiercest battles."
At those words, Tang Gun-ak had no choice but to nod his head.
Even if he wanted to deny it, he couldn't. After all, hasn't everything in Heavenly Comrade Alliance already started to lean that way?
"Then one day, we might find ourselves in a situation where others enjoy the results of everything we’ve protected with our sacrifices."
That's the path Mount Hua had walked in the past.
The path Chung Myung bitterly regretted and swore never to walk again.
But isn't it funny? Despite all the resentment and regret, before he even realized it, Chung Myung was walking that very same path.
The more he understood Cheon Mun and the past, the more his choices mirrored Mount Hua’s.
And the more he feared that the outcome would be the same.
"So what?"
Chung Myung shrugged again.
"If I were truly a great man of Chivalrousness, I might say that’s fine. Honestly, I’m a narrow-minded and selfish person, so I can’t stand seeing other people enjoying what we worked so hard to achieve. I just need to be a little more cowardly.”
"You…"
"That would be the right thing to do."
Chung Myung chuckled faintly.
“Those damn punks won't hold back just because I tell them to, and they won't fight as much as everyone else either. That's why I have to stop them. So that they don’t take unnecessary risks or suffer too much." (저 망할 것들은 이제 와 몸을 사리라고 한다 해서 몸을 사리지도 않을 거고, 남들만큼만 싸우라고 해서 그러지도 못할 거예요. 그러니 제가 막아야죠. 더 위험하지 않게, 더 힘들지 않게.”)
“But… didn’t you say over and over again that we couldn’t defeat Magyo that way?”
"We’ll find another way. The truth is, there never was a clear answer from the start."
“How irresponsible.”
"I know."
Chung Myung sighs.
"But that’s my limit. I can’t do anymore. I’ll have to discuss the rest with that great bald king. As unreliable as he is, there are aspects of the situation he sees better than I do."
Tang Gun-ak looked at Chung Myung with heavy, sunken eyes.
“…You've grown up too, it seems.”
“That sounds like you're saying I've become a coward.”
“If you want to take it as a compliment, it is. After all, no one can live on youthful zeal alone forever.”
A bitter smile appears on Chung Myung's lips.
The answer had come easily. He had merely reflected on what it was that he truly wanted to protect.
What he had always sought to protect was Mount Hua, its disciples, and the future of Mount Hua.
It was not Kangho, not Jungwon, not the world, it was Mount Hua.
Wasn’t it Chung Myung who had once fiercely opposed Cheong Mun’s belief that to protect Mount Hua’s future, the world had to be protected?
But at some point, he too was on the same path as Cheon Mun. Now, it was time to change that path.
“Is this the conclusion Maengju-nim has come to as well?”
“I too am just a small person.”
Hyun Jong shook his head.
“It is as Chung Myung said. I may not dare to call myself the parent of those children, but which parent in the world would want the world to become peaceful with the blood of their child?”
“….”
“I just wish that those children would shed less blood. Even if the price for that choice is that others shed more blood…. That’s a sin I must bear.”
“I understand. That’s enough.”
Tang Gun-ak nodded with his eyes closed.
They had to protect the people, protect the world. However, just as Tang Family is to Tang Gun-ak, the disciples of Mount Hua are also those they must protect.
Perhaps even more precious than the rest of the world.
To discuss Chivalrousness while putting such people at risk may be an unreasonable act of someone who has become too absorbed in ideals.
That's why Tang Gun-ak understood what they were saying. Both of them cared so deeply for Mount Hua that this was the only decision they could make.
“I understand your intentions.”
In the end, not much would change.
They were simply moving into a larger fence. There will be Mount Hua, which has now become part of Ten Great Sects, and there will also be Tang Family and Namgung Family who have joined Five Great Family, and the sects of the Outer Palaces and Nokrim will also be there.
Changing the name wouldn't erase the bonds they'd built.
So, in reality, only one thing was changing.
"Then."
Tang Gun-ak spoke with a touch of bitterness, finally saying what he had been holding back.
“This is the end of Heavenly Comrade Alliance.”
Everyone who heard those words just closed their eyes.
As if they couldn't bear to look at each other's faces.
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