Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1369. Do you know what shame is? (4)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
The red soil was piled high. Elder Hyeong, after covering the burial mound with a final handful of soil, wiped the tears from his eyes with his dirt-covered hands.
“How could a child go before his father…? You heartless rascal.”
Elder Hyeong knows too. It wasn’t Hyeong Wook’s fault. But he couldn’t bear it without saying these words.
His child had died right before his eyes after enduring unspeakable torture.
It wasn't that he turned away to save his own life. How could his remaining days be worth more than his child in their prime?
If he had lost himself to rage and charged at Evil Sects, he wouldn’t have been the only one to meet a grim fate. The villagers, his daughter-in-law, and his young grandchildren would have met the same fate as Hyeong Wook.
In this way, the powerless have no choice but to turn away. Commoners must have eyes yet not see, have mouths yet not speak.
"That's why... that's why, I..."
Elder Hyeong couldn’t continue and simply wept in despair. The villagers approached him and offered words of comfort.
“Village Chief… Hyeong Wook died like a true man."
"He won't have any regrets."
But those words brought no comfort. Rather, they seemed to draw out more of the elder's anguish.
He spat as he shouted in a fit of rage.
“What’s the point, what! Death is the end! It’s because he clung to those empty ideals of loyalty and gratitude that he ended up like this!”
He struck his own thigh repeatedly. His eyes were bloodshot, and words of resentment poured endlessly from his mouth.
“Live virtuously? Who doesn't know that's the right way? But we turn a blind eye because we know what happens to those who live virtuously! You think people like us have no conscience, no shame! You wicked fool! You wretched fool!”
The sounds of weeping from the wife who lost her husband and the children left behind kept echoing.
“Heroes or whatever hell! How many of those heroes have come by, claiming they’ll help, only to make a scene? And then what? What changed? Where were they when we were suffering like this!”
Everyone fell silent.
"This is why we should have turned away... We shouldn't have overstepped our bounds, I told him so many times..."
The old man collapsed and sobbed uncontrollably. Everyone watching couldn't handle their complicated emotions.
It was undeniable that the people of Mount Hua had saved them from the brink of death. But the one who tried to repay that kindness ended up suffering a fate worse than death and now lies buried under this soil.
What was the right thing to do?
"...Still, isn't it true that we're at least alive thanks to them?"
“How would you know? Things might have worked out on their own even without their help!”
"How can you say such things? To those who helped us with good intentions..."
"Good intentions? Is that why we met this fate? Village Chief's words are completely right. What were they doing while we were trembling, surrounded by those evil bastards? They ran away to save themselves, didn’t they!”
Voices rose around the grave mound.
Though it wasn't proper behavior before the deceased, they too were overwhelmed with emotions after what had happened the day before.
“If they weren’t going to see it through to the end, they shouldn’t have helped in the first place!”
"Isn't even a little help better than nothing? How many others wouldn't even do that much?"
“And look where that got us! We got our hopes up for nothing, and now this! If only Hyeong Wook hadn't known where those people went, he wouldn't have met such a cruel end!"
At that, the old man, who had been in a daze, suddenly turned to the villagers with bloodshot eyes.
"...That’s... whose fault was that?"
“…Village Chief?”
“If everyone had just kept their mouths shut, this wouldn’t have happened! If everyone had just kept their mouths shut! But who was it that sold out Hyeong Wook in the midst of all this?"
The elder's contorted face had now become horrific to behold.
He had seen it clearly. He had heard it clearly. The very villagers he had thought of as family had given up his son.
If only these people had kept their mouths shut, Hyeong Wook might not have died. No, at least he wouldn’t have died so miserably after such suffering.
Rage suddenly welled up as he watched these people, who had pushed his precious son toward suffering, brazenly acting as if nothing had happened.
"How could you do such a thing, how! How much good did my son do for you all, how much did he care for you! Wasn’t he the one who begged to save you all, even if it meant his father was cut! And yet how...! How!"
Elder Hyeong screamed as if tearing his throat.
“If you have mouths, speak up! Huh?”
Some hung their heads low heads. Others quickly shook their heads as if to say they had done no such thing. Elder Hyeong ground his teeth.
"You people deserving of heaven's punishment..."
“Why is it our fault?”
But it seemed someone couldn't just listen to those words.
“…What?”
Elder Hyeong glared. But the man who had spoken, his face full of resentment, shot back without hesitation.
"I said, why is it our fault?"
"...You... You have no conscience...!"
"Yes! I'm a man without conscience or shame. But didn’t Village Chief tell me to do so?”
Elder Hyeong's eyes widened as if shocked.
"I did?"
"Didn't you? You told us ignorant folks that to survive, we shouldn’t think about favor or anything else, just focus on how to save our own lives? Just two days ago, didn't you tell everyone that things like gratitude, chivalry, and loyalty are only for those who can afford such luxuries?"
The elder stared blankly at the man as if suddenly struck.
It wasn't wrong. Those were definitely his words. But he hadn't meant them for something like this. The elder spoke with wide eyes.
"Was, was Hyeong Wook some outsider? Was he someone with power? People like us are supposed to help each other…”
“Shouldn’t we survive first!”
The man shouted as if he were spitting venom. As voices kept rising, others tried to restrain him while watching the elder's reaction.
“Hey! Watch your tone with Village Chief!”
“Can’t you stop?”
“No! Did I say anything wrong?”
But the man wouldn't hold back.
"I turned my back even on the heroes who saved our lives just to survive, what great thing have Hyeong Wook ever done for me that I should risk my life protecting him! I have to survive! Me!”
“….”
“Weren’t you all thinking the same thing? Was I the only one who gave out where those heroes went to when Hyeong Wook brought it up back then? You guys thought the same too!"
"Hey, man! Whatever happened, we just buried Hyeong Wook! How can you before him..."
"Damn it, don’t act all nice now! Does Hyung-nim think I didn't hear you selling out Hyeong Wook?"
“W- When did I…?”
Blue veins stood out on the man's neck.
“If we had all kept our mouths shut, we’d all be dead! So what, were we supposed to let ourselves die just to save him!”
The man glared fiercely at Elder Hyeong.
"What's different! I did exactly what you said, Village Chief! You said not to think about morality or anything else! What did I do wrong? Tell me!”
The man, having wrung out the last of his strength, finally collapsed onto the ground with his legs seemingly giving out.
"What were we supposed to do, what!"
He pounded the ground with his fists and howled like a beast.
Hearing this, strength drained from the elder's body.
Who was there to blame? There wasn’t a single falsehood in the man’s words. It was the old man himself who had preached to them again and again that they had to live this way.
Those words had killed his precious son and reduced the village to this state.
'Right. We must live.'
Isn’t it enough just to survive?
Even if it means betraying benefactors who showed kindness, even if it means pushing someone you've lived with for decades under the villains' blades, isn't it living if you keep your own life?
Wasn’t that the right thing to do?
“Haha…”
A laugh, almost like madness, escaped the elder’s lips.
“Hahahaha…”
But everyone knew it wasn't laughter. That sound was the lament and cry of someone who had lost their way.
The villagers couldn't bear to face the elder and averted their eyes.
After making that indefinable sound between crying and laughing for a while, a slightly firmer voice escaped from the elder's lips.
“…Prepare to leave.”
"Huh?"
Everyone turned to him in confusion at the abrupt statement.
"Village Chief, what do you..."
"I'm not telling you to leave the village. What power do I have to tell you all to go or stay?"
At those words, some of the villagers bit their lips.
“It’s just that we can’t stay here anymore, so I’m saying we should leave.”
"W- What do you mean we can't live here anymore?"
"Would they simply leave us be?"
“…W- Well? Didn’t they just leave?”
It was a naive remark. The elder let out a bitter laugh and spoke weakly.
“If the world worked that easily, we wouldn’t be suffering like this. Even though Hyeong Wook is buried in the ground, the fact that we defied them hasn’t changed. Even if it’s not now, disaster will come to this village sooner or later.”
The villagers, who hadn’t dared to think that far, looked at each other in confusion.
Thinking about it, it made sense. This village has already caught the attention of Evil Tyrant Alliance. Even if they managed to get through this ordeal unscathed, the moment they made even the smallest mistake, they would face persecution far worse than anything they had seen so far.
"We must leave... We cannot keep our feet planted in soil that promises death."
“W- Wait, Village Chief. We’ve lived here our whole lives. Where are we supposed to go?”
"How should I know?"
"...But, but all our houses and fields are here..."
The old man laughed bitterly at the naive remark.
“Then you stay.”
No one responded. Though his words were practical, the old man’s eyes were hollow.
"We must live... After clinging so desperately to life, we must somehow survive. Even if it means clearing mountain fields in some unknown place, we must live..."
Everyone's faces grew increasingly gloomy as they realized the bleakness of the life ahead.
The old man stared blankly at the dirt-covered grave mound. His chest felt utterly empty.
What had he lived for? In the end, this is what it came to… What exactly had they survived so tenaciously for?
Why had he acted so clever alone, even knowing that others could abandon him if he abandoned others?
In the end, he had known nothing.
"Prepare to leave immediately."
“Huh? R- Right now?”
"Can you guarantee those who retreated for face's sake won't send men behind our backs?"
“….”
“If it were me, I’d wipe out the village and then report to the higher-ups that the village suffered a tragedy without my knowledge. We have to survive, folks. We have to keep this wretched life going somehow. So get ready…”
The villagers hung their heads low.
Where had it gone wrong? Where exactly had things become twisted? They hadn’t done anything, so why did they have to suffer like this?
"Don't dawdle, move. Let’s leave before they make their move.”
"Um... Vi- Village Chief?"?”
"What are you standing around..."
"Th- That's not it, th- there! Over there!"
At the village entrance, a group of men was approaching. The old man moved his weak body and turned at the pointed place.
“Haha…”
At the entrance of the village, a group of men were approaching. Their cold expressions and the large swords at their waists. The old man laughed in despair.
“It seems we’re late….”
Perhaps this was the ending most fitting for their village. Elder Hyeong thought this as he quietly closed his eyes.
|Note
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