Chapter Text
The disciples of Mount Hua and the Alliance of Heavenly Comrades rushed with all the speed they could muster in their wounded state toward the place where their commander was.
But he didn't need reinforcements.
Breaking through the enemy lines, all the cultists suddenly stopped dead in their tracks. Shoving aside the stunned opponents, our fighters burst onto the battlefield– and froze themselves. The scene that unfolded before them was horrifying. Blood and bones covered the entire field. And in the very center...
"Cheong Myeong!"
The Five Swords were the first to rush to the swordsman swaying from side to side. Cheong Myeong tried to turn toward them but instead began to fall face forward. At the last moment, Yu Iseol managed to catch him.
His body resembled a sieve more than anything, it had so many holes that it was a wonder it was still breathing and moving.
"Cheng Myeong! Sahyung, don't you dare close your eyes, hear me?! Sahyung! You damn bastard!" Tang Soso was by his side in an instant, trying to provide first aid.
But the problem was there were too many wounds, and all of them were so severe it was unclear where to start. Maybe with the gaping hole in his left side? Or his right arm, completely stripped of skin? It seemed Cheong Myeong continued to breathe only through sheer stubbornness.
"Tang Gunak! Where is Gunak now?!" Baek Cheon shouted, or rather, wailed. It was disrespectful to address the acting family patriarch like that, but no one pointed it out. Who cared about that now?
Cheng Myeong tried to focus his gaze, but everything around him turned into large, blurry spots. He also couldn't feel anything below his shoulders. But that wasn't needed now. Not anymore.
"...Soso. Stop."
" 'Stop'?! Did the Heavenly Demon knock the last bit of sense out of you?! Don't you understand the state you're in..." But before Tang Soso could finish, Cheong Myeong said the words everyone was thinking but no one wanted to acknowledge.
"...Precisely because I understand my condition. This... None of this will help anyway. Stop wasting your strength, you still have the remaining bastards to finish off." Cheong Myeong spoke in such a quiet voice it was surprising anyone heard him. But they did. And, unfortunately, they understood. That understanding plunged them into a terror even the Heavenly Demon hadn't managed to evoke.
Cheong Myeong had just outright admitted he wouldn't make it. The bodies of the already trembling people shook even more. Jo Geol wanted to say something, but Yun Jong stopped him.
Everyone already understood perfectly well that with such injuries, he wouldn't live to see dawn. What dawn? It was a miracle he had waited for their arrival.
With an unfocused gaze, Cheong Myeong looked over everyone present. The Five Swords, Tang Soso, and Hye Yeon. Behind them, the rest of the Mount Hua Sect and the Alliance of Heavenly Comrades, fighting off the desperate Magyo. They were all relatively unharmed.
Good. All the children survived.
"...You did excellently... I'm... proud of you."
Everyone flinched violently. Cheong Myeong had never praised anyone so sincerely, so openly. That praise only added the final drop to their despair. True panic and chaos set in. But Cheong Myeong could no longer hear them.
A pretty good death, right, Cheong Meon?
"...Sahyung... Are you proud of me?.."
As if right above his ear, he heard a gentle voice. A voice he hadn't heard in many years. So many that he'd begun to forget its sound.
«More than anyone in the world, Myeong-a.»
For the first time in this life, Cheong Myeong felt relief.
Yun Jong intuitively understood Cheong Myeong wasn't addressing any of them. He tried to follow Cheong Myeong's gaze but found only a strangely empty patch of ground. At some point, Cheong Myeong whispered words impossible to make out. And finally, his eyes began to close gradually.
"Sahyung!!"
"Cheong Myeoong!!"
"SAJIN! "
"DAMN IT!! SOMEBODY!.. "
Cries of despair, mixed with inconsolable sobs, echoed across the battlefield.
Cheong Myeong, the 23rd disciple of the Mount Hua Sect, the Divine Dragon of Mount Hua, the Knightly Sword... and in the end, simply their youngest, died with a peaceful smile on his face.
The Heavenly Demon was dead. For the second time, he had been defeated by a man from Mount Hua. For the second time, his head had been severed by the sword of the Mount Hua Sect.
Within hours, this news would spread across the world, reaching every corner of the land. Everyone would know who exactly had defeated the god-like being.
He would be called a hero. A dead hero.
Just as expected of their Cheong Myeong.
* * *
The room smelled of nothing but plum blossoms, yet everyone felt a strong scent of blood mixed with the smell of seared flesh lingered.
"Baek A, let go. Let go, will you?!" But the marten kept clinging to the only person it obeyed. To its master.
It was a pitiful sight, but everyone maintained their silence. They were all dressed in completely black garments, starkly different from the usual Mount Hua disciples' uniforms. Their eyes were red and swollen.
The white marten clung to Cheong Myeong's funeral robes, holding on as if its life depended on it.
Many looked away it was too unfamiliar to see their youngest son's face so relaxed and peaceful. His long hair was loose, with his favorite green ribbon in it. His sword was in his hands. No one objected to the sword accompanying Cheong Myeong into the afterlife.
The thought surfaced that it was now the demons' turn to suffer from Cheong Myeong's wrath. Before, it had seemed funny. Now, that thought brought nothing but grief.
Tang Soso, with Hye Yeon's help, finally managed to detach Baek A. It seemed the creature would burst into tears right there and then, like a human, but it just curled up in Soso's clothes.
Cheong Myeong was buried next to their ancestor, just as he had requested in the will they found in his room. (He had left detailed instructions on where to find all his hidden stashes. There were also training plans for the entire alliance for years to come. That bastard knew he would die.)
At the funeral of the great hero, only the Alliance of Heavenly Comrades was present on Mount Hua. They had all gathered here to see their commander off on his final journey.
His name became forever taboo on Mount Hua.
* * *
"So... it turns out they all fled to an unknown location?" Hyun Jong surveyed everyone present with a troubled gaze.
"That's right. After the defeat of the Bishop, about two hundred cultists fled to an unknown location. We tried to pursue them, but they scattered in all directions. I assume they will later regroup at a predetermined location."
As soon as Im Sobyeong finished speaking, Hyun Jong sighed deeply once again. He looked unusually exhausted: dark bruises reaching his chin and an unnaturally pale complexion made him look like a ghost. It was a frightening sight. But everyone else in the room couldn't look much better.
"Haa... Alright. Any suggestions on where this hideout might be?" The remnants of the Magyo were scattered across the world– their task was to finally finish them off for good. After the fall of the Heavenly Demon, they had become even more insane. Though, could it get worse... Apparently, it could.
When silence fell in the room, Hyun Jong closed his eyes.
"So...What do you think...?"
Hyun Jong asked and looked at the small sofa to his right. Next to the armchair, on a small side table, stood a bowl filled to the brim with sweets and a vase with a dried plum branch. But the armchair itself was empty.
...
"...I think we should wait for information from the Beggars' Union for now. We also need to provide aid to the wounded," Tang Gunak snapped him out of his thoughts. Hyun Jong nodded. Everyone stood up too quickly and hastily left the room.
As if they were uncomfortable being there.
Cowards. We have to live here, where everything reminds us of him every damn day.
Once everyone had left, only the elders and the Five Swords remained – naturally, along with Tang Soso and Hye Yeon. They didn't move from their spots until Elder Hyeon Yeong stood up. All eyes instantly followed him. The elder did this every day, each time adding more and more candy to the already overflowing bowl. But no one said anything.
Hyeon Yeong approached the armchair, took candy from his pocket, and poured it into the already full bowl. He looked at the dried plum branch for a long time.
The plum branch remained untouched.
* * *
It had long been dark outside a cold wind blew through the open window, but Baek Cheon didn't bother to get up and close it. Stacks of papers lay around him, so many that the seated Baek Cheon was invisible behind them.
Dealing with the remnants of the Magyo shouldn't have been so difficult compared to all the battles before. But they were all exhausted, while the enemy grew more desperate and dangerous. Many disciples had sustained serious injuries requiring long treatment. Soon, they would also need to think about recruiting a new generation of disciples.
Baek Cheon, as the future Sect Leader and concurrently the Myeongju of the Alliance of Heavenly Comrades, was trying his best to help Hyun Jong, whose health had been failing lately.
But Baek Cheon was getting absolutely nothing done. He knew the others had just as many concerns, but he simply wasn't used to being everywhere at once. He was a person who also needed to eat and sleep. When was the last time he could even take a nap? Baek Cheon couldn't remember.
They told him to rest, but he just couldn't.
Or didn't want to?
It was easier to be loaded with work because then there was no time for thoughts. If he didn't do it, it would add to others' burdens.
Baek Cheon covered his eyes with his palms and hunched over the desk.
How did you manage all this?
Baek Cheon knew. He knew that if he opened his eyes, he would see him. He shouldn't open them. It would make his already miserable state even worse... He knew...
But.
Baek Cheon opened his eyes and raised his head toward the window.
The silhouette of a too-familiar man sat on the windowsill. Next to him was a bottle of liquor, but he hadn't touched it. His long hair fluttered in the wind. Baek Cheon looked at the slightly blurred face. He was smiling. He rarely smiled like that.
To be precise, only once had Baek Cheon seen that smile.
It was in the last moments of his life.
There was so much he wanted to say. So much left unsaid. He wanted to ask for advice, to scold him for sitting on a cold windowsill in such light clothes, to burst into tears and ask for forgiveness... He wanted to lunge at him in a rage and ask why he had left them... No. It wasn't his fault. Baek Cheon was too weak. If he had been just a bit stronger...
He opened his eyes to look at him.
But as soon as he blinked, the silhouette vanished as if it had never been there.
Well, since he appeared again, it really was time for a break.
The untouched bottle remained standing on the windowsill.
* * *
Yun Jong loved patrolling at night. This peaceful atmosphere and the scent of plum blossoms always took him back to his first night on Mount Hua.
This time was no exception. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, making it easy to see the stars. The sound of rustling plum leaves reached his ears somewhere nearby, a dog – or perhaps a disciple – was snoring softly.
Yun Jong was about to move on when suddenly, a quiet noise came from a rooftop to the left..Just like back then...
In an instant, Yun Jong leaped onto that roof and drew his sword.
Jo Geol looked up at him with a slightly unfocused gaze.
Numerous bottles were scattered across the roof. At least ten of them. Memories of this place flooded Yun Jong's mind again, but he pushed them aside. Not now.
"Join me if you want. There's enough for both of us." Yun Jong sheathed his sword and sat down. Jo Geol handed him a bottle of liquor, and he took it, having a sip.
The silence stretched, but it didn't feel tense. Yun Jong wouldn't pressure him to talk. But he didn't have to.
"I don't know how to explain this... I don't regret his death, I... Ah, damn it. No, I mean..!–" Yun Jong put a hand on his shoulder. Jo Geol sighed and continued:
"I don't want to stop feeling the pain of his death."
Jo Geol continued, gazing at the small stars in the sky.
"I'm actually afraid of the opposite. I'm afraid that someday I... just won't remember him. His death will become so mundane and familiar that everyone will get used to his absence." He spoke in a quiet, slightly slurred voice. Yun Jong shifted his gaze downward. To where the new dormitory was. Recently built.
"...The new generation, Myung. They don't understand who we're talking about. They don't understand when we say, 'Oh, just like he said.' I... I... kgh..I thought he would never die. Or if he did, I'd have time to prepare..."
"But I didn't have time."
Jo Geol lowered his head his hair hid his face, but Yun Jong still knew his expression. He felt the same. Everyone felt the same. Yun Jong moved closer and put an arm around his shoulders.
Now we're second-generation disciples, and he forever remained the youngest.
Remained a third- generation disciple forever.
* * *
Hye Yeon left Mount Hua, saying he wanted to go on a journey to help ordinary people.
Hyun Jong provided him with a substantial allowance and said the Mount Hua Sect would always be open to him.
Four years later, Beop Jeong passed away, and Hye Yeon smoothly assumed the role of abbot. Baek Cheon, as the new Sect Leader, came with the entire Mount Hua Sect for the ceremony and personally congratulated him.
* * *
Yu Iseol gazed at the flowers before her for a long time. She had finally completed her Plum Blossoms. Her own technique. They were exactly as she had imagined them while listening to her father's stories. Exactly as she had imagined her blossoms while watching her Sajae's technique.
She had finally succeeded.
But for some reason, it didn't bring the satisfaction she had expected. When a familiar presence appeared behind her, Yu Iseol turned around. Soso was walking toward her, all disheveled. She, too, seemed to have just finished training. But she was walking toward her with a happy smile on her face.
That smile... reminds her of something.
They had inherited too much from him.
It seemed Yu Iseol realized her next goal.
Yu Iseol and Tang Soso set off on a year-long journey to gain more experience. Soso agreed almost without thinking.
(Cheng Myeng, you really raised insatiable children.)
* * *
They gathered every year on a certain day. While the whole world celebrated the victory, they mourned the dead. Or rather, one single person.
Time does not stand still. It mercilessly moves forward, heedless of anyone's feelings.
* * *
Baek Cheon sent out invitations to the entire alliance. Another year had passed, meaning that day would soon come again.
It was the thirteenth time everyone in the Alliance of Heavenly Comrades received their invitation.
Thirteen years.
Such a short time.
* * *
Cheng Myeng opened his eyes.
"WHY AGAIN?! WHAT FOR??"
No one heard his screams.