Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1343. I’ll go save you (3)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
Chung Myung opened his eyes and glanced down at his chest.
Snow-white bandages were wrapped tightly around his chest. Silently looking down at his wound, Chung Myung slowly raised himself up.
Throb.
His face contorted involuntarily at the excruciating pain shot through his chest. As if the barely healed wound had reopened with his movement, red blood began seeping through the white bandages in spots.
Barely catching his labored breath, a loud bang was heard as someone kicked the door open and stormed into the room.
“No, for heaven's sake! How many times is this now, you crazy bastard?”
“....”
"How many times should I tell you to stay properly still when you wake up feeling unwell, how many times! Are you a damn goldfish? Taken too many sword wounds and now your memory’s starting to leave you?”
Chung Myung turned his head to look at the person who had entered the room. The man’s otherwise neat visage was twisted in exasperation. Chung Myung silently stared at him before finally opening his mouth to speak.
“…How long was I unconscious?”
“Three days! Three! I thought you really kicked the bucket for good this time, but that damn lifeline of yours is absurdly tough."
“Three days....”
Chung Myung was so dumbfounded that he just chuckled. (청명은 어이가 없어 그만 피식 웃었다.)
Normally, he would have woken up within a day, but three days? He must have truly had one foot halfway through death's door.
Then again, it was no surprise when he thought about it.
Fighting alone was one thing, but protecting others while going toe-to-toe with a bishop of Magyo was no easy feat, even for him. Simply surviving and returning was something to be grateful for.
“Alcohol.”
“…You’ve really lost it, haven’t you? Do you even know what ‘patient’ means? Three-year-olds in my neighborhood know, or does Shanxi not teach that sort of thing?”
"Stop the yap and bring alcohol."
"You don't need to drink yourself to death." (“먹고 죽을 것도 없소.”)
“Bring it.”
"Aish, damn it!"
The man in the green robes of Sichuan Tang Family stormed out with curses under his breath. Moments later, he returned holding a pure white bottle. Tossing it toward Chung Myung, he spat out angrily,
“Drink yourself to death for all I care!”
Tuk.
Chung Myung snatched the bottle of alcohol, removed its cork, and drank straight from it. As the strong alcohol poured into his mouth, he felt the nauseating smell of blood rising from his stomach subsiding slightly.
Of course, he knew. No matter how much alcohol he poured down, the stench wasn’t going anywhere.
Because this stench wasn’t coming from his wounds to begin with.
The alcohol could only make him forget temporarily. This blood smell had not just seeped into but grotesquely congealed and clung to his very being.
Chung Myung lowered the bottle from his lips and stared blankly at the ceiling. After a moment of silence, he spoke.
“How many made it back?”
“...About forty.”
“And how many died?”
“....”
“How many died?”
“About twenty.”
Chung Myung nodded silently.
It was laughable. Those who had fought desperately against their enemies often collapsed and died the moment they reached safety. If they had the strength to wield a sword, they should have had the strength to survive.
Learning that twenty out of the forty he had managed to save had died, hefelt so devastated that he almost laughed.
“What about the ones left?”
“Why are you worrying about them now? You saved their lives, so they’ll take care of themselves. So what if their arms are gone or their tendons are cut? They’re alive. What’s the problem?”
“....”
“Worry about yourself, yourself! No, possessed by the ghost of some martial artists who regrets not fighting enough in their past life? How many times do I have to tell you not to risk your life for those bastards?”
“...Nagging.”
“Or at least fight after I’m around! How many times have you come back with stabbed back because the ones fighting beside you couldn’t cover you? Taoist Hyung-nim’s life is worth tens or even hundreds....”
“Shut it. You're noisy."
Tang Bo's face contorted.
Chung Myung took another swig from the bottle. He frowned at the burning sensation in his throat and soon let out a bitter laugh.
“I’ve never risked my life.”
“....”
"It just turned out that way while fighting."
Tang Bo stared at Chung Myung with a stern face before letting out a sigh.
“You’re going to die if you keep this up.”
“What’s the big deal?”
Chung Myung's gaze shifted to the window by the bedside. The world visible through the window was impossibly green and yet also impossibly desolate.
“Hundreds, thousands die every day, so what difference does it make if my life gets added to the count?”
"So you're trying to die as quickly as possible?"
Chung Myung stared blankly at Tang Bo. However, Tang Bo did not flinch in the slightest but instead raised his voice angrily.
"Why risk your life for people you don't even get along with! You’re always complaining that those damned punks made your stomach churn! What, do you have some kind of split personality?"
Chung Myung chuckled softly at the words. There was nothing he could say to refute that.
"The blood rushed to my head."
“....”
“Won’t happen again.”
"Sure it won't, sure."
Tang Bo let out a sigh deep enough to shake the earth beneath him.
Even after knowing him for so long, sometimes he couldn't understand this Taoist.
He wasn’t someone overflowing with Chivalrousness. He wasn’t someone in pursuit of some great Tao.
In fact, objectively speaking, he was just a jerk who makes you wonder how he ever entered the Taoist Sect.
So why did he always make such choices at crucial moments?
“Taoist Hyung-nim.”
"What?"
"I'm not joking... you'll really die at this rate."
“....”
“Surely Taoist Hyung-nim knows this war can’t be won if Hyung-nim goes down. Whether others die or not, Hyung-nim has to survive somehow."
"I know."
"Hyung-nim."
“I said, I know.”
Tang Bo, who had been hesitating with quivering lips, looked into Chung Myung's eyes and spoke.
“Not all Magyo cultists are the same.”
“What’s your point?”
“The ones Hyung-nim cut down aren’t all cultists who killed the Taoists of Mount Hua. And killing them won’t bring back the dead....”
“Shut your damn mouth.”
Chung Myung’s gaze instantly changed completely. Faced with his suddenly ice-cold gaze, even Tang Bo could no longer press him further.
Tang Bo let out another long sigh and lamented.
"I should have kept my mouth shut."
From within his robes, Tang Bo pulled out a gold-colored ointment and tossed it. Chung Myung caught it reflexively.
“Apply that to your wound. I’ve patched you up roughly, so as long as you use the medicine properly, it shouldn’t fester. Just stay still and behave yourself for today."
Tang Bo turned sharply. Just as he was about to leave the room, he suddenly stopped and spoke without turning back.
“Those… people Hyung-nim saved.”
“...What about them?”
“They said to tell you ‘Thank you.’”
“....”
Tak.
Tang Bo closed the door and left.
Chung Myung sank back into the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling. As sensation slowly returned to his battered body, the pain from the numerous cuts and bruises began to throb anew. But such pain was familiar now.
'Lost my mind, huh?'
Chung Myung laughed out loud.
Isn't that stating the obvious?
In this mad world, not a single person could possibly have their sanity intact. Everyone's just desperately clinging to their half-lost minds.
- And killing them won’t bring back the dead...
I know. I know that. That's exactly why I'm doing this. Because the dead don't come back.
No matter how much one regrets, no matter how much one struggles, those who died will never return.
And he knew all too well just how utterly miserable that truth was.
❀ ❀ ❀
It felt as if he were sinking deeper and deeper into some unfathomable abyss. Chung Myung opened his eyes at the unfamiliar yet familiar sensation.
An unfamiliar ceiling, the stench of blood, and the throbbing pain coursing through his body. A terrible sense of déjà vu washed over him.
Forcing open his eyelids that felt as heavy as a hundred kilos, Chung Myung raised his head to look at his body.
His chest was tightly wrapped in bandages.
It was a familiar yet uncomfortable sight. The body wrapped in bandages felt smaller and weaker than the body he knew as his own.
Chung Myung's gaze slowly shifted to the side.
Someone was leaning against the wall of an unfamiliar cave, asleep.
The sleeping person's face gradually transformed from the face he knew into an unfamiliar one.
His gaze lingered on the face of Baek Cheon, who slept with his head resting perfectly upright, before he turned his eyes back upward.
'...That's right.'
He was no longer Plum Blossom Sword Sovereign.
The Mount Hua he once knew no longer existed.
He had won the war but lost everything else.
Everything he sought to protect was gone, and everything he wished to leave behind had vanished.
What remained here was merely...
Ssaek. Ssaek.
As Chung Myung’s thoughts sank deeper into the unconsciousness, a faint sound of breathing reached his ears. He turned his head to see Yoo Iseol lying beside him, and on the other side, Tang Soso was asleep as well.
They seemed to have fallen asleep from exhaustion while watching over his condition.
Chung Myung silently stared at Tang Soso’s face for a long time, as though trying to uncover traces of the past etched upon it.
But it didn’t work.
The face of Tang Bo from his dream seemed so distant now. Sometimes lately, he found it hard to recall that guy's face clearly.
It would be crystal clear one moment, then blur the next. As if gradually becoming dulled.
“You awake?”
The question didn’t really require an answer. It wasn’t asked out of genuine curiosity.
And what needed to be said hadn’t changed from the past.
“...How long has it been?”
“I’m not sure exactly, but probably about two days.”
“Two days....”
Better than three days, maybe?
Chung Myung smiled faintly and tried to sit up. But Baek Cheon pressed firmly on his forehead.
“Don’t go tearing open wounds that have only just begun to close. Just lie still and behave yourself."
“I’m all fine.”
Seureung.
Baek Cheon silently unsheathed his sword. Chung Myung finally relaxed his neck. Of course, this guy may not be stronger than Tang Bo, but it was already proven fact that he was more unpredictable than Tang Bo.
Cheongmyeong settled his head back onto the ground but rolled his eyes as he spoke.
“What about the others?”
“Gol and Iseol were hurt badly, but… they’re still better off than you. Stop worrying about others and focus on yourself.”
“Hainan Sect?”
“...You don’t seem to understand what I’m saying.”
“How’s Hainan Sect?”
Baek Cheon finally let out a deep sigh at the stubborn question.
“About half.”
“...The elders?”
“Same.”
Half died. That included those who never made it here and those who died after arriving.
Judging from Baek Cheon’s expression, the actual death toll was likely well over half. But it made little difference.
As the price for breaking through Guangdong, which was practically Myriad Man Manor's headquarters, that level of sacrifice wasn't too bad a deal. No, one could argue it was commendable.
Of course, no one would see it that way.
Chung Myung rose to sit again.
“I told you to lie down.”
“It’s really fine now.”
Chung Myung pushed away Baek Cheon's hand pressing on his head and sat up. Baek Cheon, who tried to dissuade him somehow, eventually shook his head in exasperation.
“I was the one who left the rear in your hands.”
Chung Myung stared at Baek Cheon at the unexpected remark.
“So I know I don’t have the right to say this.”
“...What’s this all of a sudden?”
“But I have to ask. Why did you push yourself so far?”
“....”
“You could’ve pulled back at any point. Even if someone else had died because of that decision, no one would have blamed you. You know that. So why? Why did you push yourself so hard? Just why?”
Baek Cheon's lips trembled faintly. He looked composed, but it seemed he wasn't after all.
Chung Mung, gazing at such Baek Cheon, suddenly turned his head to Yoo Iseol who had not regained consciousness.
"I didn't push myself."
“...What?”
“I just believed.”
- At least fight when I’m around!
“I believed that when I collapsed after pushing through my limits, there would be someone behind me to catch me… that’s all.”
Only now, finally, had he found people he could trust with his back.
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