Chapter Text
His phone won't stop fucking pinging.
He checked his messages, praying it won't be Tang Bo sending unfunny tiktoks again—but it was just his annoying brother.
Hey, Chung Myung
Are you free?
Chung Mun needs an extra hand at the cafe
Hey
Hey. Quit leaving me on read
Jo Geol says that he'll eat all of your mooncakes if you don't come soon
You brat, I know you're reading this. Respond already!
what do you want. Chung Myung typed out.
Soso had to leave the cafe early tonight, and now we're too understaffed with how busy it is right now. Can you please come over to help?
I know you wanted to drink with your Tang friend today. I would help at the cafe instead of you but my midterms start tomorrow, pleaaaase I promise I'll make it up with you
with?
Money. The reply came instantly.
Chung Myung's eyes narrowed. 'This brat?'
you're asking me to ditch drinking for a little bit of money?!
Why are you so greedy.
How about I give you extra allowance to spend on wine and whatever weird shit you do with your friend
I can also pay for your gym membership too...?
Chung Myung?
Hey! Stop leaving me on read!
Ughhh
Fine. I'll sneak you a bottle of Chung Mun's favorite wine. but don't tell him anything. I'll be blaming you if he notices.
HAHAHA i'll be there in twenty!!
Chuckling, Chung Myung puts his phone back into his pocket. Ping!
Waiting at the pedestrian signal, he watched the cars drive past him, zipping from one end of the street to the other. All of them are over the speed limit, and he sneers at the sports cars revving their loud ass engines on this cold rainy night. Chung Jin is probably insulting him right now. He smirked at the thought.
Honestly, he was kind of looking forward to drinking with that leech tonight. They haven't seen each other in two weeks because of uni life destroying the both of them in every way possible. He shudders at the thought of his exams soon approaching—He's already in his fourth year in university. He can't remember the last time he'd kicked back and relaxed: drinking till his mind goes blank, chatting with Tang Bo over the most useless things and poison whenever that leech gets too drunk and gets too stuck in his head (he has a weird fascination with it), and watching Yoon Jong and Jo Geol argue and bicker like idiots so he'd have to hit the both of them to shut up. Soso still messaged him daily, always about her new girlfriend or the shitty romance novels she likes to read.
Ping, Ping!
Maybe—a small part of him says—he missed those brats Chung Mun kept forcing into his life. He hasn't seen their faces in a while, Chung Myung was always holed up in his room forced to sit still and study for the sake of his future. The thought makes him groan in despair again.
Ping!
The pedestrian sign flipped green. Right, Jo geol was working at the cafe tonight. He should get back at him for threatening his mooncakes... Chung Myung snorted at the thought of Jo Geol's indignant reaction. Has that kid grown taller? He should kick his knees too.
Ping!
Hm, he should text Tang Bo that he can't make it tonight.
Ping!
"Argh, shut the fuck up!" He yelled into the cold night air. The old lady crossing the street gasped at his profanity.
'Who the fuck has been messaging me for the past 5 minutes?!'
Chung Myung angrily took out his phone, fingers poised on the keyboard ready to argue with the idiot wasting his time right now.
He scrolls past the DM filled with cat reels and those cringe 'how well do you know your partner?' videos. They weren't even dating. That brat just thinks it's funny.
what the fuck do you want, leech
Hyung-nim! Finally!!!
I've been trying to text you for like 10 minutes
I hope you're not at the bar already. I found a better place we could go to, it's a lot fancier and there's even a buffet—
Chung Myung accidentally bumped into a man cloaked in black in the middle of the crosswalk, interrupting his focus. "Sorry," he muttered. He raises his head to the look at the man—tall, with messy black hair and wrinkled face—although Chung Myung doesn't recognize him, the man's deep dark eyes widened in recognition; he stared intensely at Chung Myung, as if dissecting him from within. He looked like the kind of suspicious middle-aged man that you would find in a dark cold alleyway, with sunken eyes and a history of investing child fund money into gambling.
"No. No, it can't be! It's you—!" The man snarled, the last word veering into an animalistic growl. His crooked eyes shifted into pure, unbridled anger.
'Uh?'
Before Chung Myung could even blink, the man suddenly pushed him roughly into the side, away from the crosswalk—right in between two dimly lit, old office buildings. Normally, Chung Myung would never be so easily overpowered by somebody who looked as weak as this person, but the sudden attack threw him off completely. Despite looking thin and old, there was power behind those hands. Heavy, with an electric aftershock. An intense pressure-like feeling gripped Chung Myung, as if he was trapped in a vacuum and all of the oxygen was sucked out of his lungs.
The man's black, charred hands roughly gripped the lapels of Chung Myung's jacket—practically choking him—and dragged him upwards towards his ashy face.
"YOU INFIDEL! You filthy non-believer!" He spat, before muttering something under his breath and seemingly calming down. "Answer me! Are you that damned Plum Blossom Sword Saint?"
Chung Myung tried to tear the man's hands away, claw at them, crush them—anything, but nothing worked. The black crackling aura surrounding the furious man's hands prevented any form of harm from reaching him. If anything, his fingers were going numb from the ominous dark aura pressuring it. Fighting back only made it worse.
Chung Myung's mind belatedly processed the old man's words a minute too late. His head was smashed into the dusty building behind him, the sharp and sudden pain causing him to lose his senses for a moment.
"Tsk, to think I have to speak to a non-believer... TELL ME!" The man angrily asked again, as if he didn't just shove Chung Myung through the wall.
'Plum Blossom Sword Saint?' What even is that? Fucking hell, all Chung Myung wanted was to get black out drunk tonight! And then when he was bribed to head to the cafe, he suddenly got mugged by a psychotic man?! Fuck this. Really, did Chung Myung commit any sins in his past life? Is this karma?? With the way this old fossil keeps talking about him being a non-believer, that could be the case.
'Chung Mun... I'm sorry for lying about the money I owed you! I actually owe you double of the amount I promised to give you...'
– You little brat, I should shave that lying head of yours bald!
'Aish, with that reaction, I should keep this secret...'
Chung Myung was clearly spiraling in the wrong direction right now. He should be focusing on the fact that he is about to die instead of imagining hypothetical scenarios where his Hyung would yell at him. But he can't help it—his mind was a jumbled mess, probably from the weird fucking black hands choking him right now.
This was all so bullshit. Chung Myung had always been a hyperactive child when he was younger: beating idiotic brats up, bullying annoying snot-nosed brats, punching older brats, beating even more idiotic snotty brats—uh. You get the picture.
Anyways! Chung Myung is a naturally strong person. He goes to gym everyday, exercises regularly, and he likes to beat people up often. Well these days it's been mostly Tang Bo, but contrary to popular belief, Chung Myung does in fact see him as a human being. He's not beating him up for the love of the game! It's really just that freak who keeps asking him out on a fight! But no matter what he says, Chung Mun just looks at him in disappointment while Chung Jin laughs at their "situationship" or whatever that means.
'Fuck. This thing is messing with my head. Where was I again?'
"You lowly infidel, are you Chung Myung, that devilish SINNER!?" The man seethed.
Ah, right. Chung Myung was currently losing his grip on reality.
As if dealing with the usual brats he fights with, Chung Myung decided to use the good old strategy of rage-baiting.
"So what—" Chung Myung choked, grinning even as he barely gets his words out from the hand locked tightly on his neck. "—what will you do if I said I am Chung Myung?"
The man opened his mouth to speak, but Chung Myung steamrolled right over his words. "What, are you scared of little old me? Ha! Why don't you let go of me for a bit so I could fix that ugly mug of yours, hm?" He laughed.
As expected, the death grip on his neck loosened ever so slightly as the wrinkly old man's face dropped as fast as a pigeon shitting on a brand new car. The color of his eyes turned into an unfathomable dark void, just looking into it made Chung Myung shudder involuntarily. The man opened his mouth and closed it multiple times, gaping like a fish out of water. But then he suddenly snapped to attention, his gaze fierce yet empty.
"Is that so. Then you shall die." The man cloaked in black spoke, his tone final as he delivered his sentence.
'Wait, what—'
Within a fraction of a second, Chung Myung saw the hilt of a dagger shine brightly under the old street lamp, gleaming with a blackish luster similar to the man's blackened hands. It edged closer and closer—right before stopping an inch over his heart. Just one second, one second would be all it takes for Chung Myung to wriggle out of his now loosened hold. But his body still felt pinned to the wall, as if held tight by an invisible force. He couldn't even twitch a finger.
"...Second Coming of the Heavenly Demon." The man whispered, and then immediately plunged his blade right into Chung Myung's heart.
A slick line of crimson decorated Chung Myung's pale face, the warmth of it seeping into his rapidly cooling body.
Despite Chung Myung narrowly managing to push the trajectory of the dagger away from his heart, it still managed to dig deep into his chest. Letting go of the bloody blade, the man dropped his body onto the ground as if he couldn't stand holding it for a second longer. As if Chung Myung's death meant nothing to him.
Chung Myung fell to the ground like a broken doll with his strings cut, his vision distorted by crimson blood mixed with rain and mud.
It was raining. The sound of heavy footsteps splashed away from him.
Noise buzzed in Chung Myung's ears; his vision was swirling in the darkness, too bright and too dark and too much. He tries to take a heavy breath—in, and then out, like how Chung Mun had taught him—but he could only muster a shaky wheeze, his lungs refusing to cooperate. It felt like he suddenly sank deep underwater in the arctic: Ice-cold water numbed his senses and fogged his mind, and the world around him was rapidly darkening, vision fading in and out as he stared at the black hilt of the dagger poking out of his chest.
He muffled a groan of pain when he attempted to lift his head up, but he limply fell back into the wet ground. It's ridiculous, really. All Chung Myung did was bump into a guy on the street. Now he's bleeding out in the back of an old rusty building. Was his luck really that shitty? At this point, he's convinced he really did commit a sin in his past life. What, did he murder somebody important?
Thinking he could somehow salvage this situation, a flicker of hope gathered his scattered thoughts back together, mending them back into a semblance of control. If help won't come to him in this empty alleyway, he could bring them here instead.
Chung Myung slowly dragged his fingers into the muddy jacket's pockets. His favorite, it was the one Bo-ya bought him as a gift last year. It's ugly, but he treasured it anyway. The bloody gash on the front made it look even more hideous.
'I hope he won't be too sad that I ruined it. If he throws a fit, I'll punch him.'
His body feels heavy, leaden with the anticipation of death. Of unkept promises. Of the end.
Chung Myung sees colorful lights flashing in the corner of his vision, but his ears aren't picking up anything anymore. He has to call Chung Mun. He has to tell somebody—anybody—that he's bleeding out in the street.
Barely managing to flip his body to the side, pain lanced through his body like a lightning strike. Despite the blade digging deeper into him at each minute movement, pulling it out would be as good as suicide.
Realizing that his phone wasn't in his pockets, Chung Myung reached out to grab the cracked phone lying next to him, it had fallen to the ground during his struggle. Fumbling to type the password in, he choked out a sigh of relief when the bright light of Tang Bo's DM flashed and blinded his eyes.
'Bo-ya.'
Of course, who better to call than a doctor? 'A shady doctor like him,' His mind weakly quipped.
Chung Myung internally cursed his stupidly fast reading skills, his eyes have already skimmed through the wall of text against his will.
—The atmosphere of this place has a bit of a romantic vibe, don't you think, Hyung-nim?
It isn't that far from here! Let's go there please pleasepleasepleaseplease?? >3<
Hyung-nim?
Where'd you go?
Don't worry, drinks are on me!
Helloooo? Are you there? You'll break my heart, Hyung-nim!!
'Yah! This fucking brat!'
The stark difference between his current situation and the bullshit his friend was texting to him made Chung Myung involuntarily snort at the messages, which caused him to harshly cough up blood, his body shaking from the roughness of it. It felt like he was coughing his lungs out, and his vision blurred into crimson once more. Ugh, that idiot was going be to the death of him.
Feeling a bit idiotic after that coughing fit, Chung Myung's shaky finger struggled to tap the small 'call' icon, the screen not registering his bloody fingerprints.
CRACK!
A polished black boot entered his field of vision. Clean, pristine, and new—unlike the wrinkly old face of the man staring at the crushed fingers below him.
"A dirty infidel like you will never receive His mercy. Sit still and die." He sneered.
Then, like black lightning, a charcoal-colored fist surrounded by thick black aura charged right into his vision, its heavy weight crushing him completely.
'...Ah, I'm an idiot, aren't I.' Chung Myung thought belatedly.
Chung Myung was never the type of person to mull over regrets. His strong will and determination carried him through every choice in life, and when he did make mistakes, he always made sure to recognize the problem and solve it immediately and efficiently. He's not the type of person that thinks about all of the what-ifs, he always lived in the present.
But now, Chung Myung was filled with doubt. He can't help but wonder if he had fought back harder, or called for help sooner, maybe this could've all been avoided. Maybe, if he had paid enough attention to his surroundings, he would never have crossed paths with this murderer.
Maybe, if Chung Myung had been stronger, he wouldn't have been so helpless against those dark hands and even darker eyes.
Darkness blanketed the world. He could see nothing; feel nothing. It was as if Chung Myung was sucked into a dark abyss hellbent on draining all of the life out of him.
It was cold. Cold like ice, but the black nothingness warmed him from within. A contradiction, stemming from a power never meant to belong in this world.
..Chung Mun... Chung Jin..
I'm sorry.
I forgot to clean our living room. Don't curse me to hell, seriously.
Fuck. Now Bo-ya will think I'm ghosting him and he'll sulk over my "rejection" for weeks.
Reevaluating his life choices regarding his friendship, Chung Myung's eyes fluttered shut, exhaustion finally taking over his senses.
.
.
.
That night, Jo Geol's head was safe from any head-crushing. What a shame.
⁎⁺˳✧༚———࿔.°❀°.࿔———༚✧˳⁺⁎
"...Soso, what the hell is this bastard wearing?" Jo Geol asked with mild apprehension on his face.
Yoon Jong nodded. Baek Cheon sighed and looked away. Yu Iseol stayed silent as usual. Hae Yeon chanted worriedly. They're all ignoring the elephant in the room. Well by now they're used to the elephant's antics, but this is just... what is this, anyway?
Tang Soso shrugged, frowning. "I don't know, I found him in a pool of his own blood this morning in front of the sect's gate. He was already unconscious by the time I got to work taking care of his wounds."
Silence fell onto the group.
It was already odd enough of that of all people their demonic sajae, Chung Myung, was found injured and unconscious so early in the morning. He couldn't have been fighting someone—there were no marks on his body that indicated a fierce fight—but it doesn't make sense for him to have such injuries without getting into one.
Soso worried her bottom lip. Had he been training himself to the point of exhaustion again? No, that still doesn't make sense...
But what was weirder was disproportionate amount of blood around him in comparison to his wounds. At first glance, Soso thought he was dead on the cold hard training grounds of the sect. But despite the blood sticking to his skin, his wounds weren't as serious as she expected.
Or it was serious, but he had simply managed to close up his own wounds using his absurdly pure internal energy (which is currently um, gone). Of course that should be theoretically impossible, but this is Chung Myung. For him, where there's a will, there's a way.
While that is an important question to answer, arguably the most glaring problem here is... the odd clothing Chung Myung was wearing.
Personally, Soso has never seen Chung Myung wearing anything other than the sect's robes, the plum blossom crest on his chest was as consistent as his shitty personality.
He's wearing a green jacket, left sleeve completely ripped, and the entire front side was stained by dried blood. The green was almost reminiscent of the Tang family's signature dark green color, but the simple sleek design was unlike anything she had ever seen, and the fabric was soft to the touch too. 'But it isn't made of silk?'
She had found him lying on the ground gripping a small, thin, rectangular shaped object in his hand. She couldn't pry it out of his grip no matter how hard she tried.
Chung Myung's Dark Plum Fragrance sword was nowhere in sight, either.
Soso sighed, trying to make sense of the situation in her mind. She could never calm down properly when waiting for a patient to wake up...
As if she had read her mind, Yu Iseol moved to lay a hand on Soso's shoulder.
"..He will be fine." Yu Iseol spoke.
"That demon could never die so easily. I'm sure he'll wake up soon." Yoon Jong chuckled, clearing the somber air in the room.
"Have you told the sect leader yet, Soso?" Baek Cheon asked.
She nodded. "I have. He came to check on sahyung earlier, alongside elder Hyun Sang and elder Hyun Young. But then they both had to drag elder Hyun Young away because he was disrupting sahyung's rest."
"Oh. I'm glad to have missed that."
"Shut up, Gul."
"...ugh. Sorry."
Soso smiled at their usual bickering, the burden on her heart alleviating a little.
⁎⁺˳✧༚———࿔.°❀°.࿔———༚✧˳⁺⁎
Chung Myung jerks awake with a shock, as if reliving the moment of his death all over again. The feeling of his body getting crushed, burning and freezing and numb all at once—
He shook his thoughts away. He grabs that moment with his shaking, bloody hands and buries it into the deepest recesses of his mind.
He's alive. And that's what matters most, no?
Blearily blinking his eyes open, which feels like somebody glued a thousand anvils onto his eyes, he glanced up at the.. wooden ceiling?
"..Huh?" He croaks. The action sends him into a harsh coughing fit, his throat dry and rough.
'Ugh, I'm so tired of coughing all the damn time. Aigoo, give me a break!'
Suddenly, a young lady with brown twin buns on her head rushed to his side, immediately propping his body upwards into an upright sitting position, tucking a pillow behind his back for extra support. She handed him a glass of water once his coughing died down.
"Here, drink this. Slowly."
Chung Myung listened. His hands shake as he tries to hold onto the cup, but Soso kept it still. Although he hates being taken care of, he can't deny the surge of relief and gratefulness he feels at the sight of her familiar face.
'I thought I was going to die all alone.' Fully awake, he finally noticed the odd surroundings. 'Whose house is this? It can't be Soso.' Even she looked out of place, wearing a black martial arts robe. Did she have a school play or something?
"Soso," Chung Myung tried to speak, ignoring the glare she shot at him for straining his throat. "Where are we? What happened to me? Did Chung Mun confiscate the alcohol I hid under my desk? No, wait, where did that damn bastard who stabbed me go?! Uh?!" He tried to jump up from the bed, but Soso effortlessly pushed him back down, clearly used to his antics. But her face was scrunched up in confusion.
"What are you talking about! We're in Mount Hua, our sect! Did you forget how the Medicine Hall looks like?!" She paused. Her head tilted, scrutinizing Chung Myung. "Huh. Who's Chung Mun? Wait, somebody stabbed you?!" Soso yelled in shock. How could anyone successfully sneak up on Chung Myung?!
"Medicine hall? Why am I not at the hospital? Also, what mountain?! I got attacked in the street." He tried to get up again, but his back was aching hard enough for him to flop right back down on to the comfortable hospital(?) bed. "Yah, how did you forget who Chung Mun was?! He's my older brother, you little brat!"
Soso looked at him in confusion and disbelief, as if she was gauging whether Chung Myung had truly lost his sanity or not.
Although he felt like utter shit, his head was perfectly fine, honest!
Chung Myung paused. Looked at Yu Iseol frowning in the corner of the room. He didn't notice her at first, but now that his head was clearer, he recognized her.
"Yah! Your girlfriend is here too, Soso? Huh. Is this her house then? Why am I here?!" He frowned.
Soso's jaw dropped. Her face turned pink as she stared at him for a second, two seconds—before abruptly jumping away from him like a startled cat. She slammed the Medicine Hall's door open, took a deep breath and...
"EVERYONE, CHUNG MYUNG HAS GONE INSANE!!"
'...what is wrong with her?' Chung Myung thought, plugging his ears at the loud ass yelling coming from outside of the room.
'Tsk, whatever. It's in the Tang genes to be weird.'
⁎⁺˳✧༚———࿔.° ❀ °.࿔———༚✧˳⁺⁎
"I have... so many questions." Said the oddly familiar but beautiful man. His hair was ridiculously long. Why the fuck is it so long? Chung Myung himself has long hair, so it's not like he has something against men with long hair, but this guy... was his favorite childhood movie Rapunzel?
Chung Myung has never seen this man in his life. But a keen sense of familiarity was tugging at his mind like a taut rope. Was it his face? His eyes? The way he looked at Chung Myung in worry but snatches his eyes away whenever Chung Myung catches him staring?
Chung Myung narrowed his eyes at him, scrutinizing the thick furrowed brows like he's trying to figure out what's causing his stupid face to scrunch up like that. Clearly, this man knows him. He looked pretty punchable, so maybe he was one of the brats he'd beaten up before? In fact, his fists were really itching to get a hit in right now... for fun, of course.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Rapunzel asked.
"Do I know you?" Chung Myung responded.
Rapunzel jerked back, staring at him in pure terror. Huh, even that disgruntled look is familiar! Chung Myung is certain he's seen this guy before, but where...?
"Uh, as you can see, Chung Myung's memories are a little messed up..." Tang Soso said, scratching the back of her neck. "But he still remembers some of us, kinda? He keeps saying weird things, talking about people I don't recognize, and he doesn't know anything about Mount Hua!"
Jo Geol gasped. Could it be? Could he finally escape Chung Myung's targeted bullying?
"Chung Myung! Do you remember me?"
Chung Myung frowned. "I could never forget your annoying face."
Jo Geol's hopeful smile dropped, the light in his eyes fading away. He will never escape this vengeful demon...
Yoon Jong patted his shoulder in solidarity. He doesn't even have to ask if he remembered him. He knew it was over for him when he recognized the unmistakable glimmer in Chung Myung's eyes.
"How can you remember Jo Geol and the others but not me?" The pretty boy from before asked, frowning.
"Ehhh... why should I know?" Chung Myung picked his ear, ignoring him.
"Yah, this damned brat—!"
Immediately, both Jo Geol and Yoon Jong grab onto the man, who was already unsheathing his sword. Wait, is that a real fucking sword?
Damn, is everyone part of a school play today? Their cosplays look realistic. But something about it is odd, the way they were naturally moving in their martial arts robes as if it was something they've been used to for a long time. If it were Chung Myung, he would've ripped it apart within an hour of wearing it. Why, you may ask? Just because he can.
"Don't worry, pretty boy. I don't recognize that bald head over there either."
"Pretty boy?!" Rapunzel choked. His face turned a cherry red color. Presumably from blushing, but it's probably anger from the way Chung Myung could see a blood vessel pop on his head.
"Amitabha... you don't need to remember me, Taoist Chung Myung." He smiled.
"Oh, so you're a monk. That tracks."
'Did you think Hae Yeon was balding at a young age?'
'Were his yellow monk robes not enough to clue you in...?'
Obviously, nobody said that out loud. Chung Myung with missing memories was just as dangerous as Chung Myung on a good day.
Soso rubbed her temples. Already, they're all getting side-tracked from the real questions.
"Enough of this! Chung Myung, what's the last thing you remember?" She asked.
The disciples moved closer, surrounding Chung Myung lounging on the infirmary bed, eager to learn who had the balls to challenge their impossible sajae in a fight and win(?)...
"My memory is perfectly fine. Thank you very much for asking, Soso. Can I leave now?" He got up from the bed.
"No! Sit down! Sit back down, you damn bastard!"
"Jo Geol, grab him!"
"Hide the alcohol bottles, quickly!"
"Don't you dare run away!"
Chung Myung thrashed against Jo Geol's grip, annoyance twisting his features. Ah, he looks back to normal now.
"What is wrong with you all?! Let me go, I'm completely fine!"
"No! Never!"
"Just talk about what you remember! That's all we're asking! We'll let you go afterwards!"
"Ughhhh." Chung Myung groaned. Soso cracked her knuckles. "Ughhh... Yah! Fine! Tsk, damn brats these days.." he muttered.
He obediently sat back down. Finally.
Everyone relaxed their tense shoulders, heaving a sigh of relief. That's one bomb successfully defused...
"So..." Yoon Jong frowned. "Just what exactly happened to you?"
Chung Myung clicked his tongue again before speaking, giving them a short summary of the situation.
"Uh, it was around nine last night when Chung Jin suddenly texted me, asking me to come over to the cafe and help out at work. I didn't really want to go, I had already promised Bo-ya to go out for drinks—but because I'm such a kind and thoughtful person, I agreed after he promised to sneak some of Chung Mun's expensive alcohol for me!"
His mouth watered at the thought. Thank god he didn't die, now he can drink some when he gets home...!!
He continued, wiping the cheerful grin off his lips. "And then on my way there, I accidentally bumped into a guy in the middle of the street. He was pretty tall, and probably around in his forties. But for some reason, he knew me. Then that bastard started using some black magic shit on me and tried to kill me! Aigoo, I got fucking stabbed! By some hag whose breath stinks like a dead rat! Yah, I couldn't even call the ambulance because that little shit broke my phone when I tried to!"
Chung Myung paused, involuntarily shivering a little at the memory. It was cold. It was cold, but the sensation of numbed coldness was thawed by his anger.
Realizing he was quiet for a beat too long, he continued: "Anyways. That's all. I thought I was going to die, but I guess not. Are we done now?"
The disciples stared at Chung Myung in mixed reactions. An odd blend of disbelief, sadness, and confusion. Actually, mostly confusion. Yah, do these kids have no sense of empathy?
– Why are you such a hypocrite?
'Why don't you just get out of my head, Hyung.'
"Chung Myung sahyung..." Soso started, not sure what to say.
"It's fine," he shrugged. "What, did you brats really think you could get rid of me that easily? Tsk!"
"No, it's not that..." Yoon Jong trailed off.
Even Jo Geol was silent for once, staring at Chung Myung as if he had grown two heads and then punched his mother in the face.
"What. What the fuck are you talking about." Rapunzel said. That brat has no manners, seriously! Chung Myung still doesn't know his name!
"What? You were all begging me to tell you what happened, but now that I did you're all looking at me so weirdly?"
"...We don't know who Chung Jin is. Or Chung Mun. Or this 'Bo-ya'. " Yu Iseol said softly.
"..."
"And. What is a 'phone'?"
Not for the first time since he'd woken up, Chung Myung wished he could punch somebody. Preferably Jo Geol. Yes, he was still mad over the mooncakes.
This can't be a real situation. This can't be happening to him. Chung Myung doesn't care about how serious Yu Iseol looks saying that. He doesn't care that she isn't the type to lie or prank people. This was all one big joke. In hindsight, maybe he should've realized this sooner.
The martial arts robes, the real-looking swords these people have hanging at their waists, the old wooden room they're in, their inability to recognize his brothers' names and modern-day technology—this is all pointing to one possibility Chung Myung absolutely refuses to believe. Because it simply can't be true.
It wasn't just another school play, was it?
"Soso. What type of novels do you like to read?" He asked tentatively.
"What? As if I have the time for that." She answered. Unfortunately.
'Oh my fucking god.' Chung Myung thought in despair. 'The Soso I know would drop everything to read her stupid isekai novels.'
Chung Myung, in Tang Bo's words, is a chronically offline person. He doesn't really use his phone for anything other than texting, and even that is rare. Because of this, Soso loved to yap about the webnovels and manhwas and man-something she enjoys reading to Chung Myung. She had often told him: 'It's fun talking about stuff like this with you! Your confused reaction is too funny!'
And then Tang Bo would laugh, agreeing with her words. Then they'd go back and forth chatting about him like he was an interesting mythical creature until Chung Myung was finally fed up with their shit and slaps the both of them in the backs of their head.
In short, Chung Myung knows way too much about these clichéd tropes. The signs are aligning themselves like gleaming stars in the night sky, and he doesn't like where it's pointing towards.
'Does this mean I really did die? Will I be able to return to my world..?'
No. Chung Myung refuses to stay in a world he doesn't belong in. A world where the people he once knew were just a little bit different, a little bit /wrong. He will figure out a way back. If not for himself, then for Chung Mun's alcohol...!
'Just one sip... just one sip is all I ask for!'
Aigoo! Couldn't he have transmigrated a day later?!
⁎⁺˳✧༚———࿔.° ❀ °.࿔———༚✧˳⁺⁎
Yoon Jong was the first to speak after Chung Myung suddenly went quiet, where everyone watched his face change expressions rapidly from worry, to shock, to acceptance, and then finally to his usual indifferent bored look.
"You're not the Chung Myung we know, are you?" Yoon Jong asked.
Surprised, Chung Myung snapped his neck towards Yoon Jong in record speed.
"Oh? Was it obvious?"
"You sounded like a lunatic." Jo Geol said. Chung Myung angrily threw a pillow at his head, but he unfortunately dodged it.
"Of course it was obvious. Your pure qi completely disappeared, almost as if you never had it in the first place!" Tang Soso said.
"If you're not our Chung Myung, then who are you?" Baek Cheon asked.
"Uh, I guess you could say I'm from another world? That's a pretty common trope. Uh, then I should have a 'system'... No wait, since a version of 'me' already existed here, maybe I time traveled to my past life...? But, since I recognize you guys, what if I'm actually in an alternate universe—?!"
"Please speak normally. So we could understand what you're saying." He sighed.
"Eh... let's just say I'm from a different world. One where I've met a different version of you all." Chung Myung looked at Hae Yeon and Baek Cheon. "...Except that bald monk and that annoying pretty boy. Who are you two?"
"Amitabha. This disciple's name is Hae Yeon." He bowed.
Chung Myung bowed back, copying his movement.
"How am I annoying? We've barely talked!" Baek Cheon yelled indignantly.
"Tsk, your face is reminding me of somebody, but I can't remember who! My brain hurts from thinking about it!"
"I am Baek Cheon, the daesahyung of the second-grade disciples of the Mount Hua sect." He bowed gracefully.
'Wow, way too many words.'
"Maybe... maybe I remind you of my brothers? My eldest brother's name is Jin Geumryong—" Baek Cheon flinched at the delighted look in Chung Myung's eyes, the same devilish glint that appears whenever he wants to stir up a disaster.
"Yah! I remember you now! You're that bastard's little brother, Dongryong! Oh my, you've changed your name?—PFFT—sorry, my throat's still a bit dry, PUHAHA–... Uh, sorry. Were you disowned?"
Trying to hold back his laughter (keyword: trying), Chung Myung looked at Baek Cheon's reddening face, a thick angry vein lining his smooth jaw. Damn, he really was disowned?! That's fucking hilarious.
"I wasn't disowned, I left of my own volition! Hey, stop laughing! You damn brat—!"
Like clockwork, Jo Geol and Yoon Jong grabbed onto their infuriated sasuk, who was angrily shaking Chung Myung's shoulders.
"I can't believe there's a world where sasuk is still with his family!" Jo Geol laughed.
"Sasuk... just give up. Chung Myung will never stop laughing at your name."
"Amitabha. I feel sorry for the other world's version of disciple Baek Cheon."
"No! Must I always be made fun of?! I swear, one day I'll finally hit this devil—!"
"Are you threatening me?! Do you want me to go tell your dear papa?! Yah!! Come here, let me show you what a real punch looks like!"
Chung Myung slapped Baek Cheon's hands off of his shoulders, then immediately twisted his body and smashed his fist squarely into Baek Cheon's face.
As his body recoiled from the impact, Baek Cheon couldn't help but admire the beautifully smooth uppercut, because of course that little bastard would never half-ass anything. It doesn't matter that he isn't the same Chung Myung he knows. He would always be an unfairly powerful bastard.
Before his blood could even drip onto the floor, Baek Cheon's body was thrown at the wall. Cracks splintered across the wooden boards like spiderwebs, the flying debris making a mess in the Medicine Hall. Chung Myung laughed loudly at his crumpled body.
"I will go call the sect leader." Yu Iseol spoke, swiftly leaving the room and the idiots destroying it.
Tang Soso rubbed her temples, staring at the shaking ceiling in disappointment. 'At this rate, sahyung's wounds will reopen.' She vehemently ignores the loud cursing and screaming coming from these two grown adult men. See, this is why she likes Yu Iseol! She's so much more responsible and mature!
Hae Yeon quietly chanted again, paying them no mind.
"..."
"Uh. Should we stop them?" Jo Geol asked.
Yoon Jong smiled, shaking his head. "No matter how different Chung Myung is, once an asura will always stay an asura."
Ah, well.
The mystery of Chung Myung's transmigration will have to wait for now, I guess.