Return of the Mount Hua Sect (HTL 1634+)

Yoon Jong froze in place.

He heard it but couldn't understand. His head was blank, as if he had become an idiot.

A new situation began to unfold before his eyes.

As soon as Hyun Jong finished speaking, the elders stood up and approached Baek Cheon. Each grabbed one of his arms and pulled him to the sides.

"Huh..."

What am I seeing right now?

Jo Geol looked like he couldn't stand it any longer. Tang Soso grabbed his shoulder tightly.

Yoon Jong felt like all this was a farce. It didn't seem real at all.

'What are they doing...?'

What on earth is going on?

Riiip!

Baek Cheon's martial arts robe was torn.

The martial arts robe of Mount Hua. The garment that only a disciple of Mount Hua could wear was ruthlessly damaged.

Yoon Jong's eyes caught sight of the red plum blossom embroidered on the torn martial arts robe. His hazy vision, as if drunk, was filled with the falling plum blossoms.

"Sasuk..."

The elders' faces, biting their lips in pain. Baek Cheon, hanging limply as if he had lost the will to resist...

It's all ridiculous.

Hyun Sang grabbed Baek Cheon's Plum Blossom Sword with a grim face.

According to the rules, he should cut Baek Cheon's tendons with that sword. It's a symbolic act of taking back everything given by Mount Hua.

But Hyun Sang just held the Plum Blossom Sword and turned around.

Hyun Young couldn't hide his regret and restlessness, but soon he too turned his head away.

What was left in that place was Baek Cheon with his back exposed and long hair disheveled, that was all.

'Is this a lie?'

"Do something...!"

A voice, as if heard underwater, barely reached his ears.

Slowly turning around, he saw Jo Geol grabbing Cheong Myeong by the collar. Jo Geol's face was heavily contorted, not so much out of anger but more like he was scared and didn't know what to do. He looked like a child.

"Do something!"

Jo Geol desperately looked at Cheong Myeong and pointed to main hall with his hand.

But Cheong Myeong didn't say anything with his hardened face. The contrast between Cheong Myeong's emotionless eyes and Jo Geol's desperate eyes was striking.

Yoon jong let out an odd laugh.

Because it didn't feel real. Because it was absurd. Because he didn't even shed a tear. Any reason given would sound awkward, but regardless, he couldn't stop laughing.

"Do something!"

The shout fades away. The world becomes muffled, and the buzzing noise endlessly spreads around.

Everything felt just like a dream.

* * *

Hyun Yeong and Hyun Sang, having escaped from main hall, headed somewhere other than their own quarters. In this unfamiliar place, there was nowhere to avoid the gazes of people.

"Sahyung."

In front of the door to the quarters assigned to Hyun Jong, Hyun Yeong quietly spoke.

"Sahyung... please open the door."

No answer came.

He sighed and tried to call Hyun Jong once more, but Hyun Sang shook his head and stopped him. Then he cautiously pushed the door.

Creak.

The unlatched door made a feeble sound as it opened. Through the half-opened door, Hyun Jong's seated back was visible.

Today, that figure felt somehow smaller and lonelier.

"Sahyung..."

Hyun Yeong's voice, filled with sorrow, slipped out.

Honestly, it was a familiar sight. Hadn't they overcome so many hardships in Mount Hua? Sadness and despair were not unfamiliar emotions to them.

But today... today, Hyun Jong's back was different from what Hyun Yeong had seen before.

It seemed blurred and distorted. No, maybe it had even faded away.

After staring at Hyun Jong's back for a long time, Hyun Yeong finally took a difficult step forward. And even then, he couldn't bring himself to touch him, letting out a long sigh instead.

"Sahyung, you did the right thing."

"..."

"It may be hard now... but someday that child will understand. Your heart."

Hyun Jong fixed his gaze out the window instead of answering. The sunlight pouring outside was dazzling. Almost to the point of pain.

Perhaps that's why. It was hard to bear looking.

"It must be different. The one looking at the path ahead and the one looking back at the path they walked must be different."

"Sahyung..."

A hollow voice escaped Hyun Jong's mouth.

"Just... Hyun Yeong-ah. I'm scared."

"..."

"I drove that child away from this path, not really for the child's sake... but because I was afraid to see someone walk the difficult path I had walked again."

"Sahyung..."

"I'm afraid of that."

Hyun Yeong sighed deeply once more and spoke. Hyun Jong asked.

"Was it the right decision?"

Hyun Yeong slowly shook his head.

"I don't think so."

"..."

"It wasn't a decision that the leader of Hwasan would make. This matter will deeply scar the remaining disciples. Maybe you have blocked the path they could walk."

"...That might be true."

"Among the decisions made as the head... it's not an exaggeration to say this was the worst."

Hyun Jong nodded calmly as if he had expected it. His thoughts were not much different. Baek Cheon was that much needed for Mount hua.

"Did you feel disappointed then?"

"No."

Hyun Yeong answered plainly without hesitation.

"Rather, if you hadn't made such a decision, I would have been disappointed. What can we do? You are that kind of person, and that's how we've lived."

Hyun Jong was silent for a moment. Soon, his shoulders, which had seemed the heaviest in the world, began to tremble greatly.

"Sahyung..."

Hyun Yeong was about to speak again when Hyun Sang grabbed his shoulder. When he turned around, he saw Hyun Sang silently shaking his head.

Eventually, Hyun Yeong nodded as if he understood.

"Don't blame yourself too much, sahyung."

"..."

"I will come again tomorrow."

The two people left the room quietly without saying another word.

Click.

As the door closed, Hyun Jong was left alone in the room again. He then looked at the sunlight pouring through the window.

'Oh, Heavenly Sovereign...'

It was only a handful, but that made it all the more dazzling.

***

His memory was blurry. He couldn't tell how much time had passed.

When he came to his senses, a long time had already passed, and Yoon Jong was back in his room. Uninvited guests were there with him too.

"...."

A thick silence filled the room. No one dared to break it.

Was it because the emotions were too intense to be conveyed through mere words, or was it because the burden was too heavy to bear?

"...This doesn't make sense."

Even Jo Geol's voice, which barely broke the silence, was faint.

"Is this... Is this right, sahyung?"

"...."

"This?"

Yoon Jong could not answer at all.

They all thought that they had to send Baek Cheon to Zhongnan somehow. But this is different. No one had ever thought of such an extreme measure as expulsion.

Isn't there a clear difference between squeezing out the pus from a wound and cutting out the entire affected area?

"Expulsion... This isn't right, this... this really isn't right."

Muttering with a gloomy face, Jo Geol hung his head low. He seemed unable even to get angry.

Yoon Jong hesitated for a long time before finally speaking.

"...And Sasuk?"

"He's still there."

Tang Soso answered in a weak voice.

"Since then... continuously."

Yoon Jong tightly closed his eyes. He understood enough. It would be impossible to accept. He wouldn't be able to take it in.

"Damn it..."

Jo Geol, who was roughly rubbing his face, buried his face in his hands.

He also knows this because of his hot temper. This matter cannot simply be solved by getting angry and acting impulsively. Hyun Jong's attitude was that resolute. They can't stand up to such Hyun Jong.

So in these moments, they have no choice but to think of one person as the only solution.

"... Cheong Myeong? What did he say?"

Everyone who was lost in their own thoughts focused on Yoon Jong. Jo Geol grimaced.

"He said he can't do anything about what the Great Sect Leader decided. It's the minimum line he has to uphold as a disciple of Mount Hua…." (taesang jangmun-in)

Yoon Jong unconsciously bit his lip.

It's undeniable. Everyone knows that fact, so they couldn't do anything and just turned away.

But still....

"Maybe it turned out for the better?"

"... Yes?"

The disciples of Mount Hua turned to Baek Sang.

Sharp gazes poured onto him, making him flinch for a moment, but Baek Sang soon steadied himself and spoke.

"For sahyung."

"What do you mean?"

"You know it too. That man... if we don't do this, he will never leave Mount Hua."

"..."

"It's a sad thing for us, but for sahyung..."

"Are you saying that even after hearing all that?"

Yoon Jong asked sharply. Baek Sang slightly bit his lip.

"Then? Are you saying you want Sahyung to wither away at Mount Hua?"

"That's not what I meant..."

"To you, Mount Hua might be more important than Sahyung, but I! I..."

Baek Sang trailed off. He couldn't bring himself to say the rest.

"I don't know, damn it."

Cursing, he roughly ran his hand over his face.

It's not that they had different stances. They probably didn't even know what they were thinking. It was that confusing and sudden.

Silence fell again. It was confusing, but they also didn't know exactly what this confusion was.

The light of the setting sun seeped in through a small window.

The light gradually reddened and dimmed, and until the room was engulfed in darkness, the silence dragged on.

Jin Geumryong, looking at the main hall, seemed like a person who had turned to stone.

At the end of his gaze was always one person. A person who couldn't even think of fixing his torn clothes, standing still.

Perhaps, from the moment his clothes were torn and his plum blossom sword was taken, from the moment he was expelled from Mount Hua, Baek Cheon's time had stopped.

And as much as Baek Cheon was frozen, so was Jin Geumryong.

"Sahyung."

Even when the worried voice of Lee Song-baek brushed his ear, Jin Geumryong did not turn his gaze.

An unknown anger rose from deep within his gut.

Maybe it was because of the miserable figure in front of him, or maybe it was because of the wretched situation.

It's truly paradoxical. Even though he knew clearly that it was he himself who put Baek Cheon in such a state, an inexplicable rage engulfed him.

'Dear...'

Zhong Ligok's words were right.

It was not Baek Cheon who couldn't bear his situation. It was the one watching over him.

He had to abandon him because he cherished him too much. He had to push him away because he cared too much. He had to block him because he cherished him too much.

Just like Jin Geumryong did back then.

"...Let's go."

"Sahyung."

"We have to see the sect leader."

Jin Geumryong, who had bitten his lip once, finally turned his body.

"Baek Cheon-dojang..."

"Now he is Jin Dongryong."

"..."

"In the end, he will come. To Zhongnan. And then..."

Complicated emotions were entwined in Jin Geumryong's voice.

"We have to make him regain all the things he had to lose. Until then, it's just temporary. Just very temporary."

With those words, Jin Geumryong strode forward. Lee Song-baek, who was following behind, hesitated and turned his head. Baek Cheon, sitting alone in the darkened hall, looked so lonely and desolate that it was hard to leave him there.

Lee Song-baek thought that his back sometimes resembled that of Jin Geumryong whom he had seen.

If, as Jin Geumryong said, he could come to Zhongnan, it might turn out to be a blessing in disguise. At least he wouldn't look as lonely as he did now. Neither Baek Cheon nor Jin Geumryong.

But...

'Sahyung. In this world... there are people who unbreakable.'

A deep sigh finally escaped from Lee Song-baek's lips.

Lee Song-baek, who had been trying to take an unwavering step, suddenly paused, sensing something, and turned his head.

There was a person approaching Baek Cheon.

'Cheong Myeong dojang.'

Lee Song-baek silently watched Cheong Myeong walking towards the motionless Baek Cheon. But he soon turned his head.

It was not a conversation he dared to intervene in.

Thud. Thud.

Cheong Myeong stands before Baek Cheon.

The faint moonlight was half cast over his face. There was no clear emotion in the eyes looking down at Baek Cheon.

He looked like a statue that originally had no emotions.