Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1279. I wasn’t wrong (4)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
Depending on how you hear it, it might sound like a compliment.
However, Im Sobyeong wasn't someone who laid bare his true thoughts, and Chung Myung wasn't one to take things at face value.
“Feels like you’re speaking in riddles?”
“Oh? You noticed? Keueu, as expected!”
Chung Myung silently leaned his head forward and stared blankly at the white foaming sea.
“What are you looking at?”
“Just wondering how deep you would sink if I tied up your arms and legs and tossed you in there.”
“....”
“For a mouthy Evil Sects bastard, that might be too luxurious a death though….”
Im Sobyeong slowly stepped back. Chung Myung shot him a glare before continuing.
“So you’re saying that people won’t listen no matter how sensibly you talk, but when I spout nonsense, people find it plausible, so you have no choice but to stick with me?”
“Oh. Quite a blunt way of putting it.”
Im Sobyeong chuckled softly and began to speak again.
"Well, to be honest, that's one of the reasons. As I lived, I came to understand one truth of this world.”
Im Sobyeong shrugged his shoulders and went on.
"Who speaks the truths."
“....”
“In the past, I thought ‘the truth’ was the important part of that sentence. But as I lived, I realized people care more about the ‘who’ than the ‘truth’.”
"Isn't that just because you're a filthy Evil Sects bastard?"
“....”
“Isn’t it stranger for people to believe that an Evil Sects bastard is telling the truth? Isn't it normal to think you're trying to scam them?"
“Y- You damned....”
"What?"
“Ahem. Anyway!”
Im Sobyeong cleared his throat loudly and continued.
“That’s why, in order for someone like me to say the right thing, I need someone to make my words heard. That’s why even idiots like Yuan Shu or Dong Zhuo had advisors by their side.. It’s far more practical to convince one stubborn fool than to persuade every single person in the world who won’t listen in the first place.” (Yuan Shu and Dong Zhuo from Romance of the Three Kingdoms.)
“Oh, really?”
Chung Myung sneered and said.
“Now that I hear about it, it sounds a bit off.”
“What does?”
“If it’s as you say, shouldn’t you be trying to convince me right now?"
"That's right."
“But you also said you know I won’t listen?”
“That’s also right.”
“Then it doesn’t make sense.”
“It certainly is.”
Im Sobyeong nodded as if he admitted Chung Myung’s point. A flash of doubt crossed Chung Myung's eyes, wondering 'Has this bastard lost his mind?'
“...Don’t look at me like that. There are reasons for all of this."
"Hm?"
“It’s quite common in history. Some of the brightest strategists making baffling decisions, following the idiotic whims of their lords at critical moments.”
“That happens?”
“Surprisingly frequent.”
Im Sobyeong shrugged and added.
“Historians often interpret such moments as the rulers suppressing their advisors with power. I used to think the same.”
"And? You're saying it's different now?"
“Yes. Once I grew a bit older and started digging into it myself, I realized it wasn’t always that simple. Even renowned strategists who shook the world with their fame sometimes follow their lord’s decision at the critical juncture, even if it goes against their own principles.”
"Why?"
Im Sobyeong, who had been rambling as if intoxicated, suddenly closed his mouth and stared intently at Chung Myung. The weight of that gaze made Chung Myung fall silent without realizing it.
“Why do you think?”
“Well....”
“Honestly, I didn’t understand it before either. But at some point, I came to understand.”
“What?”
“That strategists are still human.”
“...Huh?”
Im Sobyeong said with hardened face.
"A strategist must be utterly cold-hearted and able to view their surroundings objectively in any situation. They must be unmoved by emotion and harbor no false hopes. Right, that’s what makes a great strategist. But in the end, a strategist is still human.”
“....”
"They harbor emotions, they waver, they hold onto hope. In other words..."
Im Sobyeong's gaze turned to Chung Myung.
“Even strategists can find themselves wanting to believe in a conman’s words.”
Im Sobyeong chuckled and asked.
"Do you know when a strategist feels most like they're in hell?"
“...No idea?”
"When all the plans they've made go completely wrong. Then do you know when a strategist feels the greatest joy?”
“...Haven’t a clue.”
"It's also when all the plans they've made go completely wrong."
Chung Myung, who had been listening quietly, distorted his face. What nonsense was this now?
Im Sobyeong nodded as if he understood his expression.
“Of course, it will be difficult to understand.”
“Is that even something that makes sense?”
“But it’s really true. Strategists feel indescribable pleasure when their plans fall perfectly into place, but at the same time, they're people who endlessly want to witness something that transcends the realm of such calculations in reality."
“...I don’t understand at all?”
“Of course, you don’t. You’ve never seen it.”
A strange light flickered in Im Sobyeong's eyes.
"Strategists don't feel this way from the start. But when someone pushes forward with a plan the strategist opposed, and that leads to an outcome beyond what one’s intellect could predict, it evokes an indescribable feeling.”
“....”
“That’s why sometimes they start to hope. That perhaps, against all odds, this absurdity might actually flip the table.”
Chung Myung looked at Im Sobyeong. Then Im Sobyeong just shrugged.
“Of course, in most cases it would just end with dog’s death.”
“....”
“That’s why I’m not stopping you. Perhaps this choice might lead me to a worthless dog’s death, but… if we avoid a dog's death in the current situation, what awaits us is only a rational death."
Chung Myung nodded as if he understood.
The words 'rational death' weren't entirely wrong. With the power Heavenly Comrade Alliance had now, there was no way they could handle both Evil Tyrant Alliance and Magyo.
If one thinks logically and acts rationally, the only thing awaiting them is a rightful and inevitable death.
“You make it sound plausible, but in the end, it’s just a gamble, right?”
"I won't deny that."
Im Sobyeong nodded.
“A strategist thinks within the bounds of reason. In other words, it’s hard to calculate situations that lie outside the realm of reason. Honestly, I don't know how to make it possible for Heavenly Comrade Alliance to simultaneously face Evil Tyrant Alliance, Ten Great Sects, and Magyo. I don’t think that’s even possible.”
It was a cold-hearted statement. But for a strategist who must accurately perceive the power dynamics between sects, it was an entirely reasonable perspective.
“Someone else will have to make it possible.”
“....”
"Even if they propose thoroughly irrational and utterly incomprehensible methods."
After a brief silence, Im Sobyeong chuckled.
“What can we do? If that’s the only path, we can only do our best within it.”
Chung Myung, who had been quietly listening, let out a faint laugh. It seemed the strategist before him didn’t realize how contradictory his own words were. No, perhaps he was aware and simply chose to ignore it.
“Looks like you’re misunderstanding something…”
"Yes?"
“I’m not that kind of person.”
Chung Myung said while gazing far out to sea.
“I know what kind of expectations you have for me, but I’m not the kind of person who can fulfill them. I'm not someone who receives expectations, rather, I'm someone who holds expectations. That’s why I can only be a sword.”
Chung Myung's gaze briefly shifted toward the deck. Not toward Hainan Sect disciples sitting here and there, but toward Mount Hua disciples who were just coming out onto the deck.
“The person who should lead is someone else.”
“Hmm.”
Im Sobyeong tilted his head with an amused expression.
“I wonder. How long that will last?"
"Hm?"
“It’s always fascinating to see people who misunderstand their own roles. They define and confine their role all on their own, even though no one else sees them that way.”
Chung Myung turned his gaze back to the sea with a blank expression.
“You won’t understand even if I explain it to you.”
"No. I do.”
“...What?”
Im Sobyeong answered as if it were nothing.
“Just how harsh you are on yourself.”
Chung Myung's eyes darkened slightly.
"Honestly, I don't know what's in your past. I only know you’ve experienced something beyond my imagination. And I’m sure Mount Hua disciples over there have all guessed as much too. They just don't speak of it."
“…What exactly are you trying to say?”
"That it’s contradictory?"
"Contradictory?"
"Yes."
Im Sobyeong smiled brightly.
"Isn't your certainty that you can't be a leader born from experience? Experiences I can’t begin to guess but that you know well."
"Right."
"And yet you say others can lead, not because they’re capable now but because you believe they’ll grow into that role someday, yes?"
"That's right."
Chung Myung nodded readily. Im Sobyeong looked at Chung Myung with meaningful eyes.
“That’s the contradiction.”
"What?"
“Of course, I’m not denying it. They’re growing at an impressive pace. One day, they’ll be the ones leading Kangho."
“....”
"But wouldn't it be faster for you to become the leader rather than waiting for them?"
“...What?”
For a moment, Chung Myung stared blankly at Im Sobyeong as if he had been struck.
"Rather than waiting for those who have barely dry their wet ears to grow until they can lead Kangho, wouldn't it be far more rational for you who's already ahead to become capable of leading people?"
"That's..."
“That’s why it’s interesting.”
Im Sobyeong's eyes grew subdued.
"You’re willing to recognize and draw out the potential in others, yet you’re brutally harsh on yourself—as if you’re already a lifeless corpse, incapable of growth or improvement."
“....”
“Of course, how you judge yourself is your own freedom, but there's no reason we must accept your self-evaluation as is."
Im Sobyeong's voice pierced Chung Myung's ears.
“But think carefully about this. Whether that self-evaluation isn't eating away at Mount Hua and Heavenly Comrade Alliance's future. And what others expect from you."
Chung Myung kept his mouth shut.
Im Sobyeong did not continue at his expression. He wasn’t someone who usually held back his words, but he was someone who could distinguish between what should and shouldn't be said.
He was not unaware that this subject was like a forbidden territory to Chung Myung.
“I have plenty more to say, but…”
Im Sobyeong turned his head and looked at a person approaching him.
"The professional nagger has appeared, so I'll take my leave."
At those words, Chung Myung also turned his gaze slightly. Baek Cheon was coming closer.
As Im Sobyeong withdrew with a slight smile, Baek Cheon silently stood in the spot where Im Sobyeong had been. He stood there quietly, gazing out at the sea.
Chung Myung and Baek Cheon simply stared at the endless expanse of water in silence for a long time.
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