Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1739 – Can You Endure? (3)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
Yoon Jong froze in place.
Though he heard it with his ears, he couldn't understand. His head was blank, as if he had become a complete idiot.
Right before his eyes, a new situation began to unfold.
No sooner had Hyun Jong's words fallen than the elders rose and approached Baek Cheon. The two each grasped Baek Cheon's arms and pulled left and right.
"Uh..."
What am I seeing right now?
Jo-Gol trembled as if he couldn't stand it any longer. Tang Soso tightly gripped his shoulder and held him down.
To Yoon Jong, all of this felt like a farce. None of it felt real.
‘What are they doing…?’
What on earth…?
Riiipp!
Baek Cheon's uniform was torn apart.
Mount Hua's uniform. The clothing that proved one was a Mount Hua disciple, which only Mount Hua disciples could wear, was mercilessly destroyed.
The red plum blossom embroidered on a piece of the torn uniform caught Yoon Jong's eyes. His vision, dazed as if drunk, was filled entirely with that fallen plum blossom.
“Sasuk….”
The faces of the elders biting their lips in anguish. Baek Cheon's back, slumped as if he had lost even the will to resist...
Everything was absurd.
Hyun Sang grasped Baek Cheon's plum blossom sword with a hardened face.
According to the rules, that sword should now sever Baek Cheon's limb tendons. It symbolized that everything gained from Mount Hua would be taken back by Mount Hua.
But Hyun Sang simply held the plum blossom sword and turned around.
Hyun Young couldn’t even hide his regretful expression and fidgeted, but soon he too turned his head away.
All that remained was Baek Cheon, his back exposed and long hair hanging down in a disheveled manner.
'This is a lie, right?'
"Do something....!"
Voice that sounded like it was heard underwater barely entered his ears.
He slowly turned around and saw Jo-Gol clutching Chung Myung by the collar. Jo-Gol's face was completely contorted, but rather than angry, he looked frightened and at a loss. Like a young child.
“Do something about it!”
Jo-Gol looked at Chung Myung desperately and pointed at the great hall.
But Chung Myung remained silent with a stiff face. Chung Myung's eyes, seemingly devoid of emotion, and Jo-Gol's desperately earnest eyes formed a stark contrast.
Strangely, Yoon Jong found himself letting out a hollow laugh.
Because it didn't feel real. Because it was absurd. Because even tears wouldn't come. Whatever reason he tried to attach would only feel awkward, but regardless, the laughter wouldn't stop.
“Do something!”
The screams grew distant. The world became muffled and a humming noise spread endlessly around.
Everything felt just like a dream.
* * *
Hyun Young and Hyun Sang, who had left the great hall, headed not to their own quarters but to another place. In this unfamiliar place, there was nowhere else to escape the gaze of others.
"Sahyung."
In front of the door to the quarters assigned to Hyun Jong, Hyun Young quietly called out.
“Sahyung… Please open the door.”
No answer came.
Just as he was about to sigh and call out to Hyun Jong again, Hyun Sang shook his head and stopped him. Then, he carefully pushed the door.
Creak.
The unlocked door opened with a feeble sound. Through the half-open door, they could see Hyun Jong's back as he sat upright.
That sight somehow felt particularly small and lonely today.
"Sahyung…."
A voice laden with regret leaked from Hyun Young's mouth.
Honestly, it was a familiar sight. Hadn't they navigated through such a treacherous path for Mount Hua? To them, sadness and despair weren’t such unfamiliar emotions.
But today... the sight of Hyun Jong's back today was different from what Hyun Young had seen up until now.
It seemed blurred and faded. No, perhaps it had simply worn away.
After staring at Hyun Jong’s back for a long while, Hyun Young forced himself to step forward. Even then, he couldn’t bring himself to touch him and only let out a long sigh.
“Sahyung. You did well.”
“….”
“It may be difficult now… but someday, that child will also understand. Sahyung’s heart."
Instead of answering, Hyun Jong fixed his gaze outside the window. The sunlight pouring outside was dazzling. To the point of stinging.
Was that why? It was hard to bear looking at it.
“It must be different. The one who looks at the path ahead and the one who looks back at the path walked cannot be the same.”
"Sahyung…."
A hollow voice leaked from Hyun Jong's lips.
“But… Hyun Young. I’m afraid.”
“…”
"That driving that child from this path wasn't truly for that child's sake... but merely because of my fear, because I could not bear to watch someone walk again the arduous path I once walked.”
"Sahyung…."
"I'm afraid of that."
Hyun Young let out yet another deep sigh. Hyun Jong asked.
“Was it the right decision?”
Hyun Young slowly shook his head.
"It probably wasn't."
“….”
"It wasn't a decision that one leading Mount Hua should make. This incident will leave a deep scar on the remaining disciples. Perhaps, Sahyung may have blocked the path they could have walked."
"...I suppose so."
"Among decisions made as sect leader... it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it the worst."
Hyun Jong nodded calmly as if he had expected it. His thoughts weren't much different. Baek Cheon was that much necessary for Mount Hua.
"Are you disappointed, then?"
"No."
Hyun Young answered honestly and without hesitation.
"I would be disappointed if Sahyung hadn't made this decision. What can we do? That's the kind of person Sahyung is, and that's how we've lived."
Hyun Jong remained silent for a moment. Eventually, the shoulders that looked the heaviest in the world began to tremble slightly.
"Sahyung…."
Just as Hyun Young was about to open his mouth again, Hyun Sang grabbed his shoulder. Looking back, Hyun Sang was quietly shaking his head.
In the end, Hyun Young nodded as if understanding.
“Don’t blame yourself too much, Sahyung.”
“…”
"I’ll pay my respects again tomorrow."
The two said no more and quietly left the room.
Tak.
With the sound of the door closing, Hyun Jong was left alone in the room once more. Then he looked again at the sunlight pouring through the window.
'Oh, Wonsi Cheonjun...'
Though only a handful, for that very reason it was dazzling.
* * *
The memory was hazy. He couldn't tell how much time had passed.
When he came to his senses, quite some time had already passed, and Yoon Jong had returned to his room. Along with uninvited guests.
“….”
A heavy silence hung thick in the room. No one dared to break it.
Perhaps because the emotions were too intense to be contained by the trivial means of words, or because what they had to bear was too great.
“…This makes no sense."
Even the voice of JoGol, who barely broke the silence and opened his mouth, was faint.
"Is this... is this right, Sahyung?"
“….”
"This?"
Yoon Jong couldn't answer.
They, too, had thought that somehow Baek Cheon should be sent to Southern Edge Sect. But this was a different case. No one had ever thought of the extreme method of excommunication.
Squeezing out pus from a wound and completely cutting off the wounded area were clearly different, weren't they?
"Excommunication... This isn't right, this... This really isn't right."
Jo-Gol, muttering with a bleak face, bowed his head deeply. He seemed unable to even get angry.
After hesitating for a long while, Yoon Jong barely opened his mouth.
“…What about Sasuk?"
"He's still there."
Tang Soso answered powerlessly.
"Since then... continuously."
Yoon Jong squeezed his eyes shut. He fully understood. He wouldn't be able to acknowledge it. He probably couldn't accept it either.
“Damn it…”
Jo-Gol, who was roughly wiping his dry face, buried his face in his hands.
Even the hot-tempered Jo-Gol knew. That this matter wouldn't be resolved simply by getting angry and throwing a tantrum. Hyun Jong’s attitude had been that firm.
They couldn't oppose such a Hyun Jong.
So at moments like this, they couldn't help but think of one person as the only solution.
“…Chung Myung? What did that punk say?"
Those who had been lost in their own thoughts all stared at Yoon Jong at once. Jo-Gol's face twisted.
"He says there's nothing he can do about what Grand Sect Leader has decided. That it's the bare minimum a disciple of Mount Hua must uphold..."
Yoon Jong bit his lip nervously without realizing it.
It was undeniable. Wasn't it precisely because they all knew this fact that they could do nothing and simply turn away?
But still….
"Maybe it's for the best?"
"…Yes?"
Mount Hua disciples turned to Baek Sang.
He flinched momentarily under the sharp gazes pouring down on him, but Baek Sang soon seemed to gather his resolve and spoke up.
"For Sahyung, I mean."
"How can you say such a thing?"
"You all know it too. That person... unless it's done this way, he would absolutely never leave Hua Mountain."
“….”
"It's sad for us, but for Sahyung..."
"You say that even after hearing everything Sasuk said?"
Yoon Jong asked sharply. Baek Sang bit his lip slightly.
"Then what? Are you saying you want Sahyung to just wither away in Mount Hua like that?"
"How can you say..."
"To you, Mount Hua might be more important than Sahyung, but I! I..."
Baek Sang trailed off. As if he couldn't dare say the rest.
“I don’t know, damn it.”
He spat out a curse and wiped his face.
It wasn't even that they each had different stances. They probably didn't even know what they themselves were thinking. That's how confusing and sudden this event was.
Silence descended once again. Though confused, they themselves couldn't precisely identify the nature of this confusion.
The light of sunset seeped through the small window.
The light gradually reddened and dimmed until the room was finally swallowed by darkness. The silence continued long.
* * *
Jin Geumryong, looking at the great hall, was like a person frozen in place.
His gaze had remained fixed on the figure of one person the entire time. A person who, unable even to gather his torn upper garment, didn't move an inch.
Perhaps from the moment his clothes were torn and his plum blossom sword taken, from the moment he was excommunicated from Mount Hua, Baek Cheon's time had simply stopped.
And as Baek Cheon was frozen, so too was Jin Geumryong.
"Sahyung."
Even when Isong Baek's worried voice passed by his ear, Jin Geumryong didn't turn his gaze once.
Inexplicable rage surged up from deep in his belly.
Perhaps because of the miserable body visible before his eyes, or perhaps because of that miserable state.
It was truly contradictory. Though he clearly knew that he himself had made Baek Cheon's situation what it now was, an indescribable resentment enveloped him.
'Jin Dong...'
Jong Nigok's words were right.
The one who couldn't endure Baek Cheon's situation wasn't Baek Cheon. It was those watching him.
Because they cherish too much, they can only abandon. Because they cherish too much, they can only push away. Because they cherish too much, they can only block.
Just like Jin Geumryong back then.
"...Let's go."
"Sahyung."
"I must see Sect Leader."
Jin Geumryong bit his lips tightly and finally turned around.
"Baek Cheon Dojang..."
“Now it’s Jin Dongryong.”
“….”
"He'll come eventually, to Southern Edge Sect. And then..."
Jin Geumryong's voice was filled with complex emotions.
"We'll have to make him regain everything he's had to lose until now. It's only for a short while until then. A very short while."
With those words, Jin Geumryong strode away. Isong Baek, about to follow, hesitated and turned his head. Baek Cheon sitting alone blankly in the hall where darkness had descended looked too lonely and solitary to easily leave behind.
Isong Baek thought that back sometimes resembled the Jin Geumryong he used to see.
If he could come to Southern Edge Sect as Jin Geumryong said, perhaps it would turn misfortune into fortune. At least he wouldn't look as lonely as now. Neither Baek Cheon nor Jin Geumryong.
However….
'Sahyung. In this world... there are people who do not break.'
A deep sigh finally escaped Isong Baek’s lips.
Just as Isong Baek was about to take reluctant steps, he suddenly hesitated and turned his head as if sensing something.
Someone was approaching Baek Cheon.
'Chung Myung Dojang.'
Isong Baek silently watched Chung Myung walking toward the motionless Baek Cheon. But he soon turned his head.
It wouldn't be a conversation he could dare intrude upon.
Step. Step.
Chung Myung stood before Baek Cheon.
The dim moonlight was half-cast over his face. In his two eyes looking down at Baek Cheon, no emotion was distinctly visible.
Almost like a stone statue inherently devoid of emotion.
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