Chapter Text
Six months had passed since Chung Myung last opened his eyes.
Beside his bed, Baek Cheon held the young disciple's warm hand, touching the energy pulse with his icy hands to begin guiding his spiritual energy through the meridians until it reached the point on his forehead. Holding Chung Myung's other hand, Tang Soso went through the same procedure.
From Baek Cheon to Tang Soso, three other young disciples crowded around him, transmitting their spiritual energy at once. Yu Iseol, Yoon Jong, and Jo Gul were those three, while Baek Sang and Hye Yeon stood on the sidelines with the elders; some too weak to participate, others lacked the deep emotional connection that would allow them to enter Chung Myung's divine consciousness. No one dared to speak for fear of disrupting the concentration of any of the disciples, so they left the heavy silence growing over them.
It took them a long time, but finally they will be able to do something to help Chung Myung. Only the disciples of Mount Hua know how hard their Sahyung worked to learn the specific medical arts so as not to end up harming the one they try to help. Knowing that all this time Chung Myung was trapped within his own memories added a weight to his consciousness.
Chung Myung's clear energy was very different from the way that hooligan acted, as soon as the calm flow of spiritual energy met them, it just broke through like a river encircles a rock, gently enveloping their minds with warm waves of early summer.
Just as Chung Myung himself was immersed in memories of him, the disciples were drawn into the dreamscape with the goal of bringing him back. The first sign of their success was when the darkness was replaced with the peaceful image of the Mount Hua Sect's training ground. Baek Cheon looked around, noting with relief how Tang Soso and Yu Iseol gradually materialized, followed a few moments later by their Sajil.
The branches of the plum trees were found covered in snow, frozen under the gentle breeze that cut through their bodies like blades of ice. In the distance, snatches of casual conversations between unknown people wearing the sect's uniform were heard, and even a boy ran out in front of them, accidentally dropping a bottle of alcohol when he narrowly avoided Jo Gul, but still without stopping his step nor erase his mischievous smile.
"Sahyung, doesn't the Sect seem a little different to you?" Tang Soso pointed out, looking around curiously, looking for the petite figure of the Sahyung tyrant of her.
"There are other people," Jo Gul confirmed. "It also looks... New."
“The slabs are different,” Yu Iseol noted.
The disciples were forced to move to the side as another disciple ran past them, stopping to pick up the jar dropped by the boy before continuing to pursue him. "Chung Myung, stop there!"
-Ha ha ha!
The disciples' necks twisted in the same direction, rotating so fast that the vertebrae snapped.
Baek Cheon glared at the boy who ran over without any concern, looking at the very familiar smile before muttering suspiciously. "They're supposed to be memories, but maybe it's been so long that they've gotten mixed up?"
“It looks a little different,” Yoon Jong confirmed. 'I didn't see it properly, but it seems smaller and more robust."
A dark figure passed Jo Gul's side, so fast that the edges of the silhouette seemed blurred. It was Yu Iseol, who went after the boy as soon as it became clear that he was the prime suspect of being the lost Sajil of their.
"What are you waiting for? Follow him!" Baek Cheon exclaimed, beginning to jog after them even before he finished giving the order.
Thus it was that five swordsman rushed after little Chung Myung, who very well evaded his attempts to be caught by the disciple who was waving his broom, but as a result fell directly into Jo Gul's arms. A small shriek escaped from Chung Myung at the unexpected contact. His arms were as solid as the metal from which his plum swords were forged, and though he struck with moderate force, his grip did not loosen.
"Got it, Sasuk!"
Yu Iseol stopped next to Jo Gul, narrowing his eyes at the wildly flailing boy with a look of panic on his face. "Oh no! Sahyung, let me go!"
Baek Cheon came a step behind Yu Iseol along with the disciple who was waving his broom. The disciple put his hands on his hips, scowling at the boy.
"What were you thinking!?" — The outburst seemed more to be the result of the young disciple's exasperation than a real question. Calmer, he straightened up to properly greet Jo Gul and the other young men who helped him. "Thank you very much for his help, sometimes Chung Myung can be a little naughty. By the way, I don't think I recognize you...?"
Leaving Baek Cheon to answer first, the disciples awkwardly introduced one after another.
Chung Myung let out an indignant snort instead of him, relaxing the muscles in his body as if he had given Jo Gul no more than five bruises. "There's still a lot more to go, though! The other Sahyung can drink without being scolded, aren't we of the same rank?"
The now introduced Chung Mun shook his head gently. "Your Sasuks do it to receive their guests. You are still too young to start drinking, nor should you drink without permission."
"That's not true, I saw them drinking at night among themselves, there wasn't even a guest! And they still threw me out when I asked for a little, just a little!"
He gestured with his fingers, separating thumb and forefinger by the margin of a cun. Chung Mun softened at his behavior helplessly.
Jo Gul gently dropped the boy, his feet touched the ground when it became clear that he would not attempt to run any further. Chung Myung swept the unfamiliar faces suspiciously, stopping at Baek Cheon with a soft gasp, then staring at the two women with stars in his eyes.
"You..." Chung Myung was silent, his cheeks a little red. "It doesn't matter."
Chung Myung took the hem of Chung Mun's robe, who placed a hand on his shoulder in response. Chung Mun thanked the disciples again before bidding farewell.
"Sahyung, do you think that was...?"
Baek Cheon responded to Yoon Jong's question, “Maybe a beggar friend. They couldn't be brothers; back then his name wasn't Chung Myung."
Jo Gul was the first to notice the coincidence between his surnames, having thought about it for a while, he concluded: "So the shared surname may be because they could have been disciples of the same generation..."
"Does he even exist?" Tang Soso muttered.
Baek Cheon shook his head. "But then, why would he dream of something like that if it never happened?"
Chung Mun turned to face them again as Chung Myung tugged desperately on his waist.
"Excuse me, this boy is very shy, so he won't say it out loud, but—"
"Sahyuuuuunggggg, nooooo!"
“He thinks disciple Baek Cheon looks like a hero."
Baek Cheon looked at the whining and flushed boy in surprise, then smirked.
"Oh yeah? Tell me then, am I handsome?"
Chung Mun laughed, looking at little Chung Myung's red face before nodding to Baek Cheon. "Yes, and Yu Iseol Sago is the prettiest on Mount Hua, he said."
Chung Myung crossed his arms, shaking the bottle of alcohol in the process, as he grudgingly muttered, “Come on, Sahyung, I have a punishment to take."
Chung Mun seemed pleased with this development, for he leniently complied with the desperate request, only nodding again before withdrawing.
Baek Cheon smirked, Yu Iseol next to him equally pleased with it.
Jo Gul frowned. "Sasuk, is it okay to just let him go?"
"Oh..."
The smile faded.
Maybe not.
Before they could take a step to follow the receding little backs, they began to turn translucent, disappearing like the rising vapor of plum tea, leaving the fleeting traces of a sweet fragrance. Nor could the snow be seen any more; only the place in which they were and they themselves remained the same.
“Since they are his memories, he himself cannot hide,” Tang Soso reasoned, looking around.
Yoon Jong was the first to approach the group of disciples practicing the basic postures. "Shouldn't he be around here?"
Jo Gul even walked between the rows, staring into the faces of the children in an attempt to recognize any of them. Some disciples were startled, others looked at him suspiciously, and many others simply ignored him.
"They don't feel real..." Jo Gul said aloud to his companions.
“Because they aren't…” Baek Cheon replied. "We are in Chung Myung's dreamscape."
"But Sasuk, the person we talked to earlier was different."
Those were Chung Myung and Chung Mun. As the owner of his mind, Chung Myung himself appearing real was not a cause for suspicion, the stranger the opposite would be! But Chung Mun didn't necessarily have to be.
Baek Cheon had no experience in this than the previous interaction, so he couldn't jump to conclusions either. Instead, he just nodded with a contemplative countenance as he thought to himself that this person must have been someone Chung Myung knew. “Maybe it's because Chung Myung was there. In any case, let's go find him first."
"Here."
Yu Iseol's voice was very soft, barely audible over the enthusiastic exclamations of the disciple leading his companions in his training. Still, Baek Cheon, Yoon Jong, Jo Gul, and Tang Soso were already heading towards the tree Yu Iseol was standing next to.
She touched the wood with the palm of her hand, then looked up. There, the same boy from before, a little bigger but still with plump cheeks, lay reclining with a deep even breath.
Yoon Jong narrowed his eyes. "I think I can hear him snoring..."
Baek Cheon was somehow not surprised. "I'm going up."
The boy blinked several times, waking up, before Baek Cheon could get close. "Hey, is practice over yet? Hmmm, my Sahyungs are still at it..."
"Chung Myung-ah, shouldn't you be practicing with them?" Yoon Jong asked kindly, getting his attention.
"Only if Chung Mun Sahyung catches me! Anyway, there's no point in practicing, the other kids are too slow..."
"Hearing him talk like that bothers me a bit," Jo Gul admitted through gritted teeth. Yoon Jong did not deny it.
Baek Cheon tried to continue searching for information. “Chung Myung-ah, who are all these people?"
The boy now looked at Baek Cheon with suspicious eyes. "They are all my Sahyungs, from the Chung generation, Sasuk."
It seemed that the boy still recognized Baek Cheon's position in the Sect from his clothing and age. Even if he didn't seem entirely convinced by the influx of questions from the children chasing him... However, something inside him felt inclined to answer their questions, as if telling him that he should pay attention to these children just the same way in which he listen to his Sahyung.
Wait, kids? They were much older than him...
Chung Myung frowned.
"Do you recognize us?" Yu Iseol asked calmly, looking into Chung Myung's eyes as if she were trying to see through his soul.
"You..."
A headache began to slowly grow from the front to the back. A pained moan escaped his lips, followed by several muttered complaints as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"... You are my Sahyung, Sasuk and Sago."
The answer was more of a deduction than a certainty. The disciples were troubled by the apparent lack of memory as well as the distorted landscape in which they found themselves. How could they take this into terrain that Chung Myung was more familiar with?
Tang Soso approached the tree trunk, placing a hand on the wood just like Yu Iseol. "Okay, you don't have to think about it. Could you come down with us?"
Chung Myung found no problem in the request, jumping down with a vaguely irritated look.
"Are they going to try to scold me?"
Try your grandmother.
Despite the annoyed retort that instinctively surfaced in his thoughts, Baek Cheon's heart was overflowing with joy at meeting Chung Myung now that he could actually recognize him.
"Chung Myung-ah, is there something bothering you in this place?"
It was best to get information from the source, as the boy didn't seem quite capable of showing them what they wanted: the core of these dreams and their weakness. Some field research would be necessary.
“Something bothering me…” Chung Myung muttered, looking suspicious, shooting glances back and forth between the enthusiastic disciples. "It is very boring."
Chung Myung attended the training, but repeating the same thing until others mastered it was tedious. Perhaps if he could advance in other techniques, or if there was someone who could challenge his abilities, he wouldn't feel the need to hang out sleeping until the morning training session came to an end.
…Besides, all this time he must have been sharing the attention of his Sahyung! His Sahyung would spend time correcting the younger ones' form, then he would goad the older ones and only cast sidelong glances at Chung Myung.
That's it, he was just left to fend for hours with nothing to do, it was the worst!
Tang Soso nodded indulgently towards the little boy. "Then how about we keep you company?" There must be things you want to do with others,” she said, and then exclusively for her companions, she added quietly, “Sahyung must have been alone for a long time when he was young."
Chung Myung was not aware of such exchanges. He looked to the sides, to the sky, and finally to his feet, shyly kicking a pebble with the toe of his boot.
"Maybe there are one or two things," he muttered reluctantly. "Well! You are the ones who insist, so now you must help me sneak into the city!"
The request seemed strangely out of place. Thinking that this was the swordsman obsessed with martial arts, the first guess that came to mind about his wishes would be some kind of training. But isn't this actually a normal desire for an average child?
Jo Gul was the first to come forward, hooking his arm around the younger man's shoulders with a confident smile. "Of course! We go all the time, leave it to your Sahyungs."
Yoon Jong quickly approached, walking next to Jo Gul while the disciples began to walk much calmer now that they had a clue about the way to achieve their goal.
"You can buy whatever you want, we'll pay," Yoon Jong offered kindly, with the smile of a Buddha, enjoying the joy with which his Sajae glowed.
What a nice event it was to take as much as you wanted without having to worry about money costing real effort, it was all a dream!
Sigh.
That's right, it was all a dream. The disciples calmed down as soon as they met Chung Myung, gravitating towards him as if everything was back to normal.
The reality differed from this idyllic dream in which they found themselves: in the room where their elders were waiting for them, they looked worriedly at the unconscious bodies of the young people who held their hands tightly clasped.
"What would you like to do?"
Even Yu Iseol had stepped forward to inquire into the younger man's motives, approaching him with an intent gaze and taciturn steps.
"I want to buy a lot of things. Delicious food, some sweets, a pendant for my sword, ribbons, maybe even a souvenir for my Sahyung..."
Chung Myung's voice trailed off little by little, rambling on all the things he had seen other disciples sneak into the Sect after going out on official business.
“Sometimes third-class disciples who go out to visit their families bring some sweets. I'd like to try a little more, and also..."
Baek Cheon had started writing down all the details he said one by one with his brows knitted in deep concentration.
Jo Gul only helped stimulate the imagination of his ambitious younger martial brother: "How about we also go buy an extra pair of outer robes? The cold is coming, you could freeze in just that uniform!"
Yu Iseol—: "In the colors of the Sect."
"Sago is right, so you can wear it over your uniform without the elders saying anything about it."
The words traveled back and forth feeding back into Chung Myung's spiral of emotion, who let his eyes wander from one stall to another, tentatively picking up a few things, and later, piling up all the objects that caught his eye as his Sahyung followed. nodding encouragingly in his direction.
As he considered the choice of a cloak lined with fox fur around the edges, Chung Myung paused, tugging at the laces from the decorative knots. With his heightened senses, he clearly heard the conversations taking place at various stalls to the sides of the one they were at.
The crying of a child continued in interrupted sobs while he tried to make his complaints heard: "But I want a woody horse! Please, dad, I really want it!"
The father hummed something similar to agreement with reluctance. "Only because it's your birthday soon, but you'll have to wait until that day, what's up?"
"Alright! Thank you so much, you are the best, I love you!"
The father laughed, in a much better mood. "I love you too."
Chung Myung slowly turned his head, managing to capture the silhouette of an adult man holding the hand of a small child, no older than six years.
"Chung Myung-ah?"
Baek Cheon walked up to his side carefully, holding his shoulder firmly.
"Do you want something from there?"
Chung Myung blinked several times at these strange Sahyung of his, and in an impulsive act, he blurted out, “I want a woody horse!"
Baek Cheon seemed confused but no less determinated. As soon as they paid, he dragged his Sajil over to the craft stall, carefully comparing the quality of the toys on offer. He turned the woody horse several times in his hands, tracing the uneven surface for splinters twice before he was satisfied, delivering the product directly into Chung Myung's hands.
"I also bought you a dragon," he admitted, shyly avoiding the gazes of his companions. "A Dongryong."
Baek Cheon waited for the guffaws that would surely topple the boy in a fit of laughter, and destroy the elder's pride in the process, who has accepted his fate for a greater purpose. However, the long-awaited reaction never came. Chung Myung carefully held the wooden dragon next to the little horse, his hands full of trinkets and his face buried in the fur of his coat. He looked like some pampered young master, he seemed... He seemed to be loved, beyond the material possessions.
“Dongryong is a bit of a name…” little Chung Myung murmured, his throat tightening. "Ridiculous."
He blinked furiously, holding back tears. Chung Myung didn't cry, he had never cried despite all the nice things that others brought. Despite all the good family memories that they boasted along with the others in front him.
Yu Iseol's small but firm hand settled on his head, patting it. Tang Soso stepped forward then, wrapping her arms around Chung Myung's shoulders as she tried to hold back tears herself.
As if the answer were there, Jo Gul lunged into Chung Myung's arms, heedless of the pieces of wood that protruded awkwardly from their ribs.
Baek Cheon looked at Yoon Jong in a daze, but his partner was busy wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.
How weird it was.
They didn't even know why, but when this person's eyes started to redden, so obviously moved by their actions… They wanted to hug him and never let him go.
The sky began to darken in the distance, reminding the disciples that they were away from home. Baek Cheon patted Chung Myung's shoulder, leaving his hand on Chung Myung's back to guide him back as he hurried his martial brothers with much less care, “Hurry up, it's not like you guys have to pull a carriage or anything!"
Complaints immediately rained down, booing the tyrannical leader who had left his conscience on Mount Hua. Who do you think you are, our 'Sajae'?
Chung Myung got caught up in the strangely familiar discussions. He was looking forward to getting back to Mount Hua with his Sahyung, but he didn't want to end his trip so soon either.
If only he could stick with them for a little while longer...
When they returned, Chung Mun was already waiting for they at the front door with the elders, who were milling around like headless chickens.
"My baby Chung Myung!" Elder Hyun Young exclaimed, running towards Yu Iseol to examine the package she was carrying on her back.
Chung Myung's eyes widened sleepily, blinking at the elder in surprise.
"Sect Leader, Elder Hyun Young," he greeted, trying his best to join his hands but being stopped by Hyun Young himself. His body leaned forward slightly as Yu Iseol also bowed.
"Welcome back," Hyun Jong greeted them with a warm, relieved smile.
"Nothing of that. If you're tired, then get some more sleep."
Chung Mun let out a resigned sigh. With a senior spoiling the disciple so blatantly, how could he teach him restraint? Not to mention the gang of brats they had managed to get into more trouble than his Sajae would normally cause.
"Where were you all this afternoon?" he asked, scanning the group with the gentle but strict look expected of the daesahyung.
The cheeky daesahyung who had learned all of Chung Myung's bad habits, Baek Cheon, replied, “We went to the nearby town, taking our Sajae along. Isn't it good for children to get used to going out soon...?"
Chung Mun was about to scold his own Sasuk when the elder Hyun Young intervened.
"Of course it's good! If my Chung Myung wants to go see the city, then he will see the city, that's all!" He waved his hands as if shooing away any complaints. "It's already getting dark, take Chung Myung to sleep, you can't let him twist his neck in such an awkward position. Have he - cough-, have you had dinner yet?"
Jo Gul nodded quickly. "We made sure he had a full meal, sir."
Hyun Young applauded the young disciple, satisfied.
'In that case, go to sleep... Ah! And tomorrow morning go see the Sect Leader, it seems that he has something to discuss with you."
The Sect Leader, who was ready to speak right then and there, closed his mouth with a sigh, smiling down at the children who looked like they had the best day of their lives with arms full of sweets and trinkets. Hyun Jong patted Baek Cheon, who carried most of those toys.
"Rest first, we'll talk tomorrow."
Baek Cheon nodded with a smile, feeling warm inside. Perhaps the elders are troubled out of this mindscape feeling helpless, but unknowingly here they were helping them once again. If this was the world Chung Myung dreamed of, where everyone could be happy together, he could only wonder who Chung Mun was and why they didn't meet him earlier in the real world. Perhaps it was not due to lack of time or an accident, but because Chung Mun was no longer with them.
Chung Mun pretended to be angry and strict with the children, but he secretly hid a pleased smile. His Sajae, who has some socialization problems, ran away to the nearest city to do innocent activities with a group of friends who pampered him with sweets and toys. It was a million times better than spending the day training with his sword and trying to steal the alcohol from the Sect Leader's stash, if anyone asked him.
The disciples obediently walked back to their dormitories like birds returning to their nests about to rest its wings. However, before they arrived, the world around them began to fade into mist once more, taking everything they knew with it. Even the Chung Myung that Yu Iseol held in a tight grip went with the breeze like the flower in the mirror or the moon reflected in the water; it was all an illusion.