Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1227. I Don't Know (2)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
"That...."
He thought he should say something. But when he actually tried to open his mouth, the words wouldn’t come.
Right now, he wanted to take everyone here and lead them to Gangbuk.
But no matter how he thought about it, that wasn’t possible.
'This isn’t a mission I can just decide on my own.'
He was currently leading the members of Heavenly Comrade Alliance on a mission to save Hainan. But if he tossed aside the mission and returned to Gangbuk, that much time would inevitably be wasted.
Then everything would get tangled.
The reason they had chosen the most dangerous land route in the first place was to reach Hainan as quickly as possible, even by cutting down travel time by mere moments. He couldn’t waste time swayed by a fleeting sense of sympathy.
But still…
Baek Cheon, who saw Hyungwook's face filled with despair, unconsciously bit his lip.
He couldn’t just leave them like this, could he? If they did that, as Hyungwook said, it would be no different from proving that they only say with their mouths that commoners are most important, but in reality, they abandon the commoners under the pretext of serving a greater cause.
How would that choice be any different from Bop Jeong's?
'I....'
It was when Baek Cheon's face was distorted with agony As his expression changed, Hyungwook hurriedly prostrated himself flat on the spot.
“I- I’m sorry!”
His trembling voice spilled out in a stammer.
“A f- fool like me had no right to speak to Warrior-nim like that…”
"..."
“I’m so sorry. It wasn’t my place to speak that way to the savior of our lives... I- I was just overwhelmed with frustration and ended up saying things I shouldn’t have. P- Please forgive me…”
"Don't do this, ple..."
Baek Cheon squeezed his eyes shut, forcing himself to suppress the words, ‘Please’. When he grabbed Hyungwook’s shoulder and pulled him to his feet, Hyungwook looked at Baek Cheon with frightened eyes.
Baek Cheon said, holding back a sigh.
“I’m not angry, nor do I have any thought of harming you. I… we’re not those kinds of people. It's just that what you said really resonated deeply with me, and I was troubled about what to do. So you don't need to do this."
"...I'm sorry, Warrior-nim. I shouldn't have dared to say those who have bestowed life-saving grace upon us… For Warrior-nim, it would have been easier if Warrior-nim had just closed the eyes tight and passed by whatever happened to ones like us..."
Tears welled up in Hyungwook's eyes.
“They say that one who forgets gratitude is no better than a beast... It seems like I'm one of those animals."
"...."
“Just think of it as the ignorant ramblings of a clueless fool and don’t trouble yourself over it. How could I dare hold back the feet of warriors heading to do great things? Just wiping away the traces of those men is already more than enough for us.”
What pained Baek Cheon most was that there wasn’t a hint of pretense in Hyungwook’s words.
It wasn’t that he was suppressing his true feelings out of fear of Baek Cheon; he genuinely believed that someone like Baek Cheon shouldn’t waste any thought on people like him.
Baek Cheon, who was looking at Hyungwook without knowing what to do, unconsciously turned his head toward the window. He could see his comrades poking their heads in. But they too looked gloomy, as if they didn't have any answers either.
In fact, they seemed to look at Baek Cheon with a glimmer of hope that he, somehow, might have the solution to this unbearable situation.
Baek Cheon's shoulders trembled slightly.
Hyungwook, who looked pale as if he would faint at any moment if not given some kind of answer, and the gaze of the members of Heavenly Comrade Alliance at him.
It was at that very moment that Baek Cheon, unable to overcome all that pressure, opened his mouth to say even nonsense.
"What, why's the mood like this? Someone die or something?”
With a look of utter annoyance, Chung Myung barged in, dumping two boars he had been carrying on his back onto the ground with a loud thud.
"Augh, damn it! It’s so hard to even find a boar in these mountains! Sahyung, take this and feed the people!”
"It's meat! Let's grill it!"
"Boil it! What if you feed it to those yangban who have never seen meat and they get sick from it!"
"Ah, got it!"
“You never think things through, I swear!”
The stifling atmosphere immediately dissolved the moment Chung Myung entered. Baek Cheon unconsciously let out a sigh of relief. His shoulders that had been tensed up also loosened at once.
"But really, what’s this? That old man’s still alive, but why does it have this funeral atmosphere?"
"Ah... Well..."
Baek Cheon looked back and forth between Hyungwook and Chung Myung. He couldn't come up with an answer, but he thought that Chung Myung might be able to.
No, even if he didn’t have an answer, at least he wouldn’t stand around helplessly, unsure of what to do.
"The truth is...."
Baek Cheon started explaining the situation exactly as it was again.
“…."
After a while, Chung Myung, who had heard the whole story, looked at Hyungwook and Baek Cheon alternately.
Hyungwook wore an apologetic expression as if he wanted to bite his tongue off, and Baek Cheon turned his head slightly, as if burdened by Chung Myung's gaze.
"No..."
"...."
Faced with a situation that offered no easy solution, Chung Myung dropped a particularly blunt and difficult answer right into their midst.
“Sasuk, are you seriously an idiot?”
"Chung Myung-ah! It's acting sect leader for you!"
“Yeah, he’s Sasuk and an idiot, but also the acting sect leader!”
"Gol, you shouldn't call Sasuk an idiot."
"Ah, true."
Baek Cheon's face distorted horribly. Here he was, earnestly agonizing over this, and yet they…
He forced himself to look at Chung Myung and asked reluctantly.
"...You have an answer?"
"No... In the past, even if you were a bit unlucky, you still had a smart side. How is it that as people age, the worse they get? You’re really agonizing over this? This?”
"...."
"And all of you were just sucking your thumbs here? While Sasuk is like this?"
Chung Myung glared at the others with fierce eyes. Everyone flinched and quietly turned their gazes elsewhere.
"Aigoo, my fate. What was I thinking bringing these ones..."
Chung Myung heaved a deep sigh that could sink to the ground.
"You have a way?"
"To hell with a way!"
Chung Myung rolled his eyes and barked sharply toward Hyungwook.
"Hey, Mister!"
"Yes? Yes, yes! Warrior-nim!"
"A human shouldn't act like that. If someone helps you, you should feel grateful. No matter how frustrated you are, how can you ask innocent people to take care of everything else too!"
"...I'm sorry."
“People like you make it hard for others to want to help someone after they’ve been through this. Because of one thing you said, others who desperately need help might miss that chance, too. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
"...Yes."
"To be honest, if you have to take responsibility for someone's whole life just for helping them once, who would dare even give charity out of fear?"
"...."
"Honestly, the only reason beggars manage to scrape by is because they're thankful for whatever charity they receive and don’t demand more. If you give someone a penny out of goodwill and they ask you to provide them a house too, who would want to help beggars? Then Beggar Union as a whole would just starve! You get what I’m saying?"
Hyungwook lowered his head without even being able to make an excuse. Though it was his true feelings that came out after being pressed, even he thought it was shameless.
"And!"
Chung Myung's eyes sharply turned to Baek Cheon.
"If you're going to help, help! If you're going to refuse, refuse clearly! What’s the hesitate for! How are you, the acting sect leader, so indecisive? If an enemy attacks, will you just stand there, wondering whether to fight or make peace? Then everyone dies, you stupid!”
Baek Cheon kept his mouth shut tight and lowered his head. Chung Myung asked.
“And you know what the bigger problem is?”
“...No, I don’t.”
Chung Myung looked at Baek Cheon with pitying eyes.
"That Sasuk doesn't understand at all what position being Mount Hua's acting sect leader is."
Baek Cheon looked at Chung Myung as if asking what that meant. But instead of answering, Chung Myung kicked the ground and flew away.
"The worst bastard is you, you bastard!"
"Kyaak!"
Chung Myung's kick struck Im Sobyeong's jaw. Im Sobyeong crashed into the wall with a scream.
"Having fun? Hah? Is it fun? You sorry excuse of an Evil Sects, I treated you like a person because you looked like you were struggling with that cliff! Just because I stepped away for a moment, you couldn’t hold back from messing around with people? Fine! You’re dead meat today, you sneaky Evil Sects bastard!"
“Ouch! Ow! Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword, it’s not like that!”
"Die! Die, you shithead!"
Hyungwook's face turned pale as he watched Chung Myung kick Im Sobyeong to death.
"…This might be hard to understand, but the one getting hit is from Evil Sects, and the one doing the hitting is from Righteous Sects."
"...Huh?"
"It's true."
"...."
Of course... looking at appearances, the one beating looks like Evil Sects, and the one getting beaten looks like Righteous Sects. After all, Im Sobyeong looks more like a noble scholar from a noble household...
"Huff! Huff!"
Chung Myung, panting from thoroughly beating Im Sobyeong, dragged the bloodied man and threw him down in front of Baek Cheon.
"Ugh…."
"Won't you be quiet!"
"...."
"Sit!"
"Yes!"
Im Sobyeong rose like wind and sat straight. Chung Myung glared at him with annoyance.
"The bastards from Nokrim know the way here, right?"
“...Yes, they do.”
"Besides the cliff, using other paths to get thirty people across the Yangtze River isn't even work. Right?"
"Y- Yes, that’s correct."
"Thinking about it makes me angry again. But this bastard!"
As Chung Myung raised his hand, Im Sobyeong hurriedly covered his head and prostrated flat.
"Ouch! Don't hit me! I'm sick!"
"If you’re that sick, you should be dead already! Yet here you are, still alive, you punk!"
"...."
"Sheesh."
Chung Myung, who had been glaring at Im Sobyeong and Baek Cheon alternately, suddenly thrust his hand into his robes.
Keeeeee!
Baek-ah, who had been quiet as a dead mouse until caught, screamed as if foreseeing its fate.
"Oh, be quiet, will you?"
…
Chung Myung, looking grumpy, threw the drooping Baek-ah down in front of Im Sobyeong as if throwing it.
"Write a letter."
“...Excuse me?”
"Send Nokrim elites separately. The goal is to get everyone here across the Yangtze to Gangbuk. If you bring them to the estate, Sect Leader will handle the resettlement."
"...It's a difficult task."
"Can't do it?"
"It could be dangerous.... Even if it's a request from Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword..."
As Im Sobyeong slowly tried to wiggle his butt away, Chung Myung turned his gaze to Baek Cheon. It was as if he was criticizing him for what he was doing.
Only then did Baek Cheon understand what Chung Myung meant when he said he didn't know what the position of acting sect leader was. Nodding in agreement, he spoke up.
"What if it's not a request from Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword, but one made with the authority of Mount Hua's Acting Sect Leader?"
Upon hearing those words, Im Sobyeong immediately sat up politely. His playful expression until now changed completely, and he began showing dignity befitting Nokrim King.
"Is this a formal request?"
Baek Cheon nodded heavily to Im Sobyeong's serious question. Im Sobyeong answered right away.
"If it's a request from Mount Hua, then of course I must accept. It won't be easy, but if we mobilize the elite of Nokrim, it won't be too difficult. It will take a while to cross the Yangtze River, but the Eighteen Fortress of the Yangtze River is not as watchful as before, so if we move under cover of night, it should be feasible.”
“Then…”
"However!"
Im Sobyeong looked straight at Baek Cheon and said,.
"The elite of Nokrim are not originally ones to be mobilized for such tasks, so Acting Sect Leader must also take into account the fact that my honor in giving these orders will be diminished."
"...."
"Therefore."
A grin spread across his lips.
"I trust you will certainly pay the price for this request someday."
Baek Cheon nods with a hardened face.
“I’ll make sure of it.”
A satisfied smile appeared on Im Sobyeong's face. Then, an ominous voice brushed past his ear.
"Ah, yes. Of course, debts must be paid..."
"...."
"If that someone is still alive when we return to Gangbuk. There's no way to repay debts to a dead man, right? Right?"
"...."
"Honestly who would even care if one Evil Sect bastard dies in Gangnam..."
"I’ll do it free of charge!"
In that instant, everyone there felt the harsh truth.
The truth that eager chivalry cannot overcome scheming, and well-planned schemes are meaningless before a madman.
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