Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1537. It'll be okay (2)
Editor: Hoamz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
Early dawn, at the inn Mount Hua had taken over entirely to use as a dining hall.
At a time when people should be pouring in and the place should be lively and bustling, a thick silence blanketed the hall.
Clink. Clink.
Even though it was natural for it to be difficult to stay quiet when dozens of people gathered to eat, only the intermittent sound of spoons touching porridge bowls echoed. Even that felt so loud that it made one flinch in surprise.
In the suffocating silence, the faces of the second-class disciples gradually turned pale blue.
'This is driving me crazy.'
This would cause indigestion. Definite indigestion.
No matter that they were disciples of Mount Hua who could chew stones and digest even steel, there was no way the food pushed down their throats in this atmosphere would be properly digested.
'Sahyung.'
'What?'
'What about that thing?'
'Are you crazy? How can you say anything in this atmosphere?’
The second-class disciples exchanged desperate glances, barely even moving their lips.
They had originally planned to use this morning as a chance to bring up how the current training was too much.
It wasn’t just whining. With war approaching and their training regimen so grueling, comments like ‘we'll collapse before even making it to battle’ had become frequent lately.
Jo-Gol, who often listened to and relayed such words, had become somewhat difficult to approach lately due to his soaring reputation. He was, after all, One Sword Splits Light.
So today, they had planned to skip Jo-Gol and casually bring it up with Yoon Jong, who still had a gentler personality…
Clink. Clink.
The atmosphere at the table where that very Yoon Jong was sitting was far from normal.
Five Swords including Yoon Jong. More precisely, at the table where the Chung generation disciples (third-class disciples) were seated, not even a single word of conversation was exchanged besides the occasional sound of spoons scraping porridge bowls.
Strictly speaking, this wasn't unusual.
It wasn’t rare for disciples to clash or even fight. With so many hot-blooded youths crammed into one place and pushed to their limits, it would’ve been stranger if no friction occurred.
Even Jin Tae, who was currently watching cautiously, had fought with his sahyung and saje countless times.
Some fights had escalated into fistfights, and a few had even nearly led to drawn swords.
So this phenomenon itself wasn't surprising… this is the first time that Five Swords and Chung Myung were at the center of this coldly intense conflict.
‘Has there ever been a time like this?’
No matter how much he racked his memory, there hadn't been.
Of course, Five Swords fought a lot. No, in fact, they fought so fiercely that no one else dared even bring up their names lightly.
There was even a running joke among second-class disciples that Mount Hua's progress was built on Five Swords' long history of conflict.
But there were never any lingering grudges. If they had a complaint, they would immediately curse and throw punches; they were not the type of people to be coldly silent like this.
‘I can’t breathe. Seriously.’
Still, Jin Tae and the others around were better off.
The poor souls who sat along Five Swords without reading the room looked like they might faint any second, scraping at the bottoms of their bowls like madmen.
Jin Tae thanked the heavens that he wasn't there. Had he eaten there, he would surely have collapsed with his eyes rolled back.
Thud.
Just then, Chung Myung put down his spoon.
"I'm done eating."
Yoon Jong glanced at him and spoke calmly.
"Why don't you eat a bit more? You have training to do."
"It's fine. Not really feeling it this morning."
"Sure."
With that, Chung Myung rose and left the dining hall.
It was an utterly ordinary exchange. If a stranger had heard it, they might have thought it was a warm conversation between a sahyung worrying about his saje who had no appetite in the morning.
However, not a single person there took it that way.
Tak.
Then Yoon Jong also put down his spoon.
“I’ll go first.”
A moment later, the sound of the door closing was heard. Then, sighs of relief leaked out from all corners of the dining hall.
It was clear proof that the source of the suffocating tension just now had been none other than Chung Myung and Yoon Jong.
"...Hey, your face has turned completely pale."
"Sahyung's face has turned deathly black."
"Eeally?"
“Can’t be helped if you’re not breathing.”
Everyone exhaled deeply with faces like they were about to die.
Amid that atmosphere, Tang Soso nudged Jo-Gol in the side and gave him a look.
“What are you doing?”
"...hat?"
“Hurry up and go.”
Jo-Gol made a dumbfounded expression.
“No, they’ll figure it out. Why are you asking me to…?”
"Go."
“Ugh....”
Jo-Gol stood up hesitantly, his face twisted like a man walking to his execution.
Actually, it wasn't just because Tang Soso told him to. He had also been thinking that he should try to have some kind of conversation.
"Sahyung. What's going on?"
“What is?”
Jo-Gol quickly caught up with Yoon Jong and asked, clasping his hand on the back of his head, but the response was feigned ignorance. Jo-Gol frowned.
"You're not children, so why are you acting like this?"
"So what do you mean?"
"Don’t play dumb and dodge. If you fought, you just have to make up. It’s not like it’s the first or second time that Chung Myung bastard has done something absurd.”
“....”
“He’s on edge too, with everything going on. There’s too much happening. Sahyung could just understand him a bit, so why go this far?"
At those words, Yoon Jong's steps stopped.
Yoon Jong opened his mouth while gazing ahead without looking back at Jo-Gol.
“Fought, you say…”
“No, I mean, not that you two actually wrestled or anything. Obviously, the guy was just being unreasonable…”
“I wish it were.”
“…Sorry?”
“Don’t worry about it. Neither he nor I are upset with each other."
Jo-Gol's face hardened further. So they had grown distant without even fighting?
"Just what..."
When Jo-Gol hesitated, Yoon Jong spoke calmly with a face that seemed like not even a needle could penetrate.
“We just realized that we think differently. Nothing is wrong.”
"Sahyung."
“I’ll go first.”
With those words, only Jo-Gol was left dumbfounded.
He didn’t move as if frozen until Yoon Jong had become a distant speck. Seeing his Sahyung's tightly pressed lips, he could tell. This matter wasn't just some minor quarrel. It was serious.
“What’s this....”
Of all times, for Yoon Jong and Chung Myung to be at odds on the eve of war. This was serious.
“This is driving me crazy.”
Jo-Gol scratched his head roughly.
“What should I do....”
Mediation wasn't a role Jo-Gol had ever taken on. That was always Yoon Jong’s role. But now that the very person who had always taken on the mediation was on edge like this, the solution became unclear.
Having spent so long with them, Jo-Gol knew. Though Yoon Jong was known for being good-natured, he actually knew just how stubborn he could be.
If asked to name Mount Hua's two most stubborn people, Jo-Gol would pick Chung Myung and Yoon Jong without hesitation.
But now, those two were treating each other like strangers, so the situation was serious. He couldn't even guess how long it would last.
"Haaah...."
Jo-Gol let out a sigh deep enough to cave in the ground and turned around.
He was planning to see Baek Cheon. In this situation, only Baek Cheon could do anything.
"So?"
"Yes?"
But Baek Cheon's reaction to hearing the situation was a little… No, very different from what Jo-Gol had expected.
“So, you’re telling me to chase those two and mediate?”
Baek Cheon stared at Jo-Gol with indifferent eyes. Jo-Gol was speechless.
“No, that’s what I meant….”
When he thought about it, how absurd was this?
It was just two third-class disciples fighting with each other. The only word that could really be attached to it was ‘just.’
And yet he was asking someone who was not only the acting sect leader of Mount Hua but also his sasuk to step in and mediate?
Jo-Gol scratched the back of his head.
"I know too. That... this might sound absurd. Especially at a time like this."
Baek Cheon looks at Jo-Gol silently, as if telling him to continue.
“But, Sasuk. This is….”
Jo-Gol sighed, ruffling his already messy hair.
“It doesn’t seem like a simple emotional fight. I don’t know about Chung Myung, but Yoon Jong Sahyung isn’t the type of person to do this, is he?”
Yoon Jong was someone even all of Mount Hua acknowledged as a good person. He wouldn’t start a cold war with Chung Myung just because he was in a bad mood.
“So… if this drags on, it could cause problems when dealing with what’s coming next. So Sasuk, if you could somehow…”
“Let me correct you.”
"Yes?"
“First.”
Baek Cheon looked at Jo-Gol with a stern face and asked.
“Why do you think Chung Myung must be in the wrong?"
“Huh? I didn’t say that…”
“You said it yourself. That Yoon Jong is not one to get into an emotional fight over a trivial matter. Are you saying Chung Myung would?”
Jo-Gol shut his mouth.
No. Of course, he couldn't be called broad-minded, but at least he wasn't someone who would blow up something trivial.
If one were to discuss broad-minded, he was a person who could be broader than anyone else in Mount Hua.
“…I was being short-sighted.”
“Neither of them is the type. But for them to act that way means there is something they cannot compromise on. That wouldn’t be a problem that can be solved with simple mediation.”
Jo-Gol lowered his head.
That's why he had come to find Baek Cheon. But the answer Baek Cheon gave wasn't much different.
"And second."
“Yes, Sasuk.”
“Is this something I should be doing?”
"Huh?"
Jo-Gol, somewhat flustered, quickly raised his head which was lowered. The unexpected words were surprising, but Baek Cheon’s cold, hardened expression was even more startling.
“Tell me. Is this something I should be doing?"
“...Sasuk?”
“It is something that happened between two third-class disciples. Do I have to step in and personally reconcile them every time something like this happens?”
"N- No. It's not that. It's just that this can't simply be viewed as just a third-class disciple matter. First of all, it also involves Chung Myung."
Isn’t this, maybe, the most important matter in Mount Hua? A conflict between none other than Five Swords.
But Jo-Gol, who was about to say that, flinched for a moment and closed his mouth.
He realized something.
The moment he said that, Mount Hua would become a place that claimed only those who had entered under the name of Five Swords were the most important, regardless of rank generation or anything else.
That was something that should never be said as a disciple of Mount Hua.
Even if it were true.
Jo-Gol, perhaps flustered at having his innermost thoughts exposed, looked unsure of what to do. Baek Cheon observed him silently before continuing.
"What would you do if I couldn't?"
“Huh? What do you mean …?”
“Would you go to Sect Leader, then?”
Jo-Gol flinched. Flustered, he kept opening and closing his mouth.
"And if that doesn't work? Would you go to Grand Sect Leader and ask him to scold the two?"
He understood it meant not to tattle like a child.
But… why did Baek Cheon sound so cold saying it?
He didn’t seem like the Baek Cheon Jo-Gol knew.
"Why are you speaking... I don't quite understand your intention. Sasuk, is this really..."
“Jo-Gol.”
"Yes?"
Baek Cheon looked at Jo-Gol with a cold... No, it was a heavy expression rather than cold, and said.
"If I weren't here."
"...What?"
An equally heavy air pressed down between the two.
“What will you do if I weren't here?”
Those not-so-long words mercilessly pierced Jo-Gol's heart in an instant.
It felt as if something he had been forcefully suppressing was spilling out through the cracks.
|Note
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