Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1549. Nevertheless (4)
Editor: Hoamz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
"Stop spouting nonsense and get lost."
“Mind your manners, you ignorant brute.”
"Manners?"
Baek Cheon glared at Jin Geumryong fiercely.
“Manners are reserved for those who deserve them. Asking a disciple of Mount Hua to join a team formed by a Southern Edge Sect bastard? At least say something that makes sense if you want me to even pretend to listen.”
“Is there a reason you can’t?”
Baek Cheon's eyes grew even fiercer. But Jin Geumryong simply shrugged as if he couldn't understand the reaction at all.
“As far as I know, there weren’t any restrictions like that when forming units?”
“....”
"I don't know why I, not even an alliance member, have to explain this to you, but your precious Heavenly Comrade Alliance long ago rendered sect divisions meaningless. So then, wouldn’t it be nothing strange for a Mount Hua disciple to join a Southern Edge Sect unit?”
“Move.”
Baek Cheon tried to pass Jin Geumryong as if there was nothing more to hear. Jin Geumryong reached out his hand and gently but firmly grabbed his shoulder.
“Little brother.”
“I said, move....”
“This Hyung-nim is doing you a favor right now.”
Jin Geumryong’s calm gaze clashed with Baek Cheon's seething one in midair.
Baek Cheon fiercely shook off the hand that was grabbing his shoulder.
"What’s this favor nonsense you’re talking about?"
Jin Geumryong smiled brightly.
"Your slow understanding is the same as ever. I am saying that I will place you in a position that befits you.”
Baek Cheon's mouth clamped shut.
“You probably don’t have the capacity to be responsible for the lives of others right now, do you? Don’t you think you should at least consider those who would unwillingly end up in your unit? Isn't it too cruel for them to die because their leader is incompetent?"
"You...."
"A dull fool, you’re still my youngest brother, so I should at least look after you as an older brother. So stop this useless whining and do as I say.”
Baek Cheon glared at Jin Geumryong in silence.
Jin Geumryong still wore a smile as he met Baek Cheon's gaze. He looked like an adult looking down at a child throwing a fit.
That face grated on Baek Cheon's nerves.
But instead of continuing his confrontation, Baek Cheon silently passed Jin Geumryong. Jin Geumryong, wearing an inexplicable smile, spoke toward Baek Cheon's back.
“If you change your mind, let me know anytime.”
Baek Cheon walked away from Jin Geumryong without a single reply to the very end.
Jin Geumryong stared hard at that back until it disappeared, then soon clicked his tongue and turned his body. But at that moment, a most unwelcome voice brushed his ears.
"Don't Sahyung be too uprightly clumsy?"
Jin Geumryong's face stiffened instantly.
He turned with a razor-sharp glare.
“You sneak around eavesdropping, just like a rat.”
"I didn't eavesdrop. Sahyung was the careless one, talking like that right on the main street.”
The rat Isong Baek sighed deeply.
To be fair, anyone else wouldn’t even have dared approach the place where Jin Geumryong and Baek Cheon were practically growling like they would eat each other alive, so Jin Geumryong’s reaction was understandable.
But before blaming others, shouldn't he first reflect on his own temperament, like how half his rationality vanishes when it concerns his younger brother?
“Why would you act like that?”
"What?"
“Why don’t you just say you’re worried?”
“Me? That bastard? Ridiculous.”
"Is it so strange to want to keep your injured younger brother by your side on the battlefield to protect him, in case he gets hurt again?"
Of course, the fact that this injured dear younger brother was Mount Hua's acting sect leader, practically an enemy of Southern Edge Sect, was very strange, and the fact that someone who would become Southern Edge Sect's sect leader had casually tossed the important matter of inter-sect politics into a dung heap was even stranger... but anyway, such things weren't important right now.
"But did you really have to upset your younger brother like that? There must have been about a thousand ways to say it nicely..."
“Seems you’ve gotten the wrong idea completely.”
"Then why did you suddenly decide to form a unit? You weren't even thinking about it until just a moment ago."
Jin Geumryong narrowed his eyes and glanced at Isong Baek.
“If you’ve got time to yap useless nonsense, go swing your sword one more time. I’ve no intention of dancing along to that third-rate sword technique you scribbled with your dull head.”
Truly, Jin Geumryong's sword was even attached to his tongue. Isong Baek sighed deeply. What on earth was wrong with the people of Jin Family that they were so twisted?
"So were you just teasing him?"
"...I just wanted to stop him from causing trouble."
“Trouble?”
“I can’t say anything about him going off and dying on his own. He’s a grown man. But leading others out and suffering defeat is a problem. It's even more so if unnecessary victims are created because that bastard concealed his true condition."
Jin Geumryong stared piercingly in the direction Baek Cheon had left, as if the thought still displeased him.
“No matter that he was kicked out of Southern Edge Sect with his own feet, he’s still of Jin Family. His foolish acts will tarnish Jin Family’s name.”
"And you’re not worried about your brother being hurt by this?"
Jin Geumryong glared at Isong Baek with a distorted face.
“Mixing with those Mount Hua bastards, and now you’re starting to act like them too?”
Isong Baek took a step back and raised both hands slightly, clearly indicating that he had no intention of arguing with Jin Geumryong.
Anyway, speaking up about someone’s family affairs was indeed crossing a line.
"I simply wanted to point out that this approach won't work. If you want to persuade Baek Cheon Dojang, you'll need to change your methods."
Even as he spoke, Isong Baek couldn’t let go of the taut string of tension in his grip. He fully expected Jin Geumryong’s anger to come crashing down on him.
However, Jin Geumryong's subsequent reaction was different from his expectations.
Instead of getting angry, Jin Geumryong looked up at the distant sky.
“Persuade, huh....”
A soft voice came out of his mouth as he looked up at the sky for a long while.
“As if that would ever work.”
"...Huh?"
“Do you know what kind of person Jin Dongryong is?”
“....”
"He's a bastard who left home saying he was fed up, then relied on a ruined enemy house."
"...Ah."
“Yeah, that can happen. When you’re young, emotions can rule your head. But that bastard saw the wretched state of those ruined enemies with his own eyes, and instead of returning, he calmly coaxed his way into becoming their eldest disciple. And now he's even trying to become the head of that house. Does that seem like something an ordinary person could do?"
Isong Baek was momentarily taken aback.
He hadn't thought about it that seriously before, but looking at it from Jin Geumryong’s perspective, this was somehow… somehow…
"Persuade such a bastard?"
Jin Geumryong laughed.
"Do you think I just left that bastard alone from the start? I’ve tried coaxing him and reasoning with him. I’ve even begged him, saying I would grant him whatever he wanted, and I’ve literally beaten him to within an inch of his life. But even with his limbs broken, he told me to just kill him instead.”
Song Baek felt his vision grow distant.
If you think about it, isn't it amazing?
Jin Geumryong was the one who had manipulated all of Southern Edge Sect's disciples to suit his temperament. He was born to stand above others. Even those much older than Baek Cheon didn't dare to even think of opposing Jin Geumryong.
But even in those days when he was weak and powerless, Baek Cheon never succumbed to Jin Geumryong's pressure.
"That bastard won't meekly listen to my words now after all this time."
“No, then why....”
“I’ve wasted words.”
Jin Geumryong cut off Isong Baek's question and asked with his usual cold expression.
“How many are supposed to arrive here first?”
“From the main sect? The dozen or so that Sect Leader decided to send right away just in case should have almost arrived. But once the contents of the agreement with Heavenly Comrade Alliance are passed along, more will come. But why do you ask…”
Isong Baek flinched mid-sentence.
As expected, Jin Geumryong nodded.
"Good. Divide the arriving guys into two groups and give one to me. You lead the other."
“Sahyung, really...?”
Instead of answering the obvious question, Jin Geumryong left Isong Baek and walked away.
* * *
“That’s it.”
“Ga- Gaju-nim! Us too...!”
"Enough!"
Tang Gun-ak cut it off with a chilling momentum.
“I believe I said that securing people quickly is also an ability.”
"Ughh...."
It was a correct statement that left no room for excuses.
While gathering people involved countless variables, the battlefield presented new variables with every breath and moment. There was nothing more to say.
And....
"I- I'm alive."
Jo-Gol, who had barely survived just before the line of fate was drawn, was drenched in cold sweat. Had he been a little later, he would have been left behind to sweep courtyards while everyone else departed.
“Guh.”
“I should have come a little later.”
“Ah! See, you should have let me go when I said I needed to take a piss!”
But the reactions of the Mount Hua second-class disciples, who had been half-dragged along by Jo-Gol, were not good at all.
“Hey, you bastards! Am I really that unreliable?"
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Yes!"
“...Couldn’t you at least think a little before answering?”
The remaining Five Swords had been unable to handle the flood of applicants and had to select just a few...
“Why am I the only one being treated like this…?”
“Sahyung, do you really not know?”
“How would I know?”
“...This is a sickness too.”
All the second-class disciples shook their heads.
“Those selected, line up. Quickly!”
"Yes!"
Groups of three or five scattered across the training grounds swiftly formed ranks at Tang Gun-ak's command.
The numbers weren't large. Considering the status and scale of Heavenly Comrade Alliance, which used the entire city of Huayin as its headquarters, they were mere handfuls at best.
But the caliber of those individuals more than compensated for the insufficient numbers.
‘…Southern Edge Sect.’
Tang Gun-ak's gaze, sweeping across the assembled ranks, landed on Southern Edge Sect disciples standing in one corner of the training grounds.
'Surely not....'
He had not expected them to step forward so actively. Weren't they the ones who always acted strictly for their sect's benefit, despite their impeccable skills?
Tang Gun-ak glanced back, wondering if he might need to revise his personal assessment of Southern Edge Sect.
“Maengju-nim.”
"Yes."
Hyun Jong stepped forward in front of Tang Gun-ak.
He turned his gaze to everyone and opened his mouth in a soft but powerful voice.
“Time is of the essence, so I will not speak at length.”
The leader of Heavenly Comrade AllianceHyun Jong. One who creates authority precisely because he does not flaunt it. The eyes of everyone looking at him became endlessly serious.
"Remember only one thing. Right now, someone's son, someone's daughter. Someone's parents are waiting for your help."
Hyun Jong's voice resonated with everyone.
"However. You too are someone's sons and daughters, someone's siblings and parents."
Yoon Jong closed his eyes slightly. Those words had only one meaning.
"So!"
Hyun Jong's earnest voice spread far.
“You must come back alive. You must!”
Yoon Jong clasped his hands in salute and answered firmly.
"Yes!"
And then, Heavenly Comrade Alliance disciples, each carrying their own resolve in their hearts, ran out in all directions of the world with the rising sun at their backs.
|Note
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