Chapter Text
Chapter 1
The sound of heavy breathing and synchronized sword swings echoed through the training grounds as another regular, long day of training goes by. After hours of rigorous exercises and spars, it’s already afternoon when the asura himself seems to be in a rather good mood and says,
“You know what? Since you brats haven’t been slacking off, I’ll let you off for the rest of the day.”
The disciples started muttering and murmuring amongst themselves as they stared at him in disbelief.
“Huh?”
“That guy is really letting us go? Yeah right.”
“It’s probably just a trick and then he’ll beat us the moment we leave.”
The asura, I mean Chung Myung, was dumbfounded by their blatant disrespect directed at him and started complaining.
“No, I try to do something nice for once and everyone comes at me. Unbelievable, you reaallly wanna train more? Hahhhhh?”
The disciples quickly changed their tune in an instant to not let his good mood sour any more.
“No, of course not! Thank you very much, good sir!”
They whispered amongst themselves, “Hurry, before that crazy man changes his mind.” Not even a minute passed before all the disciples vanished from the training grounds besides the Five Swords and Hye Yeon.
Seeing Chung Myung grinning mischievously and the sudden call off training left them suspicious and feeling threatened at what he was about to do. They sneakily stayed off to the side to see where Chung Myung was going to run off to, when he ran straight through the sect’s gates towards Hwaeum.
❀ ❀ ❀
A young man sauntered through Hwaeum village leisurely with a light, rhythmic stride. A long green ribbon tied his hair into a high ponytail that swayed and bounced with every step the man took as if it was a skipping child. The colder winds beginning to form made it swing all the more, blending into his black Hwasan robes. And not far behind six individuals stared with anxious eyes and clattering teeth as they took in every detail as not to miss what chaos may ensue the moment, they took their eyes off him.
“I bet Sahyung just stopped training early so he could go drink and fool around.” Soso said.
Jo Geol agreed and added, “That’s probably true, I mean, isn’t that what he usually does? Maybe he was just hungry and went to go eat.”
Baek Cheon wasn’t letting it slide that easily though.
“That guy always causes trouble the moment he goes off somewhere on his own. We’re stopping it before he even thinks about doing it.”
“Amitabha…if we can that is.” Hye Yeon added.
At his ominous remark everyone strengthened their resolve and continued keeping a close eye on Mount Hua’s Mad Dog.
Unbeknownst to him, Chung Myung hummed and glanced around with excited eyes as he passed through the various street vendors. When suddenly one stand in particular captivated all his attention instantly.
“Mooncakes! Mooncakes! Selling the freshest, softest, and tender mooncakes you have ever seen in your life! I even have a special once-in-a-lifetime batch that is soon to run out that will leave you feeling several years younger!”
Chung Myung’s eyes widened and mouth watered at the delectable words and fragrance flooding his senses. His feet moved voluntarily, picking up the pace to not leave his mooncakes alone for a second longer.
“Where is that guy running off to now?!” Baek Cheon shouted as he ran after Chung Myung. The rest following close behind, terrified of the havoc that was about to ensue.
“CHUNG MYUNG!!! STOP RIGHT THERE!!”
“Huh?” Just as Chung Myung reached the stand, he was abruptly interrupted by the Five Swords and Hye Yeon, making his expression distort from delight to great annoyance.
“No, what are you guys doing here? If there’s no training, you should be away from me not bothering me.”
Baek Cheon scoffed and replied, “So you could get away with making a mess, I don’t think so.” The others nodded vigorously to express their absolute undivided agreement with him.
“Tsk.” Chung Myung soon lost interest and turned away to what he had been focused on in the first place.
“But what made you practically run over here anyways?” Yoon Jong asked.
Just as Chung Myung was about to reply, the street vendor took over. “I’m sure Hwasan Geomhyeop was just interested in the most tender, softest mooncakes in the world I’m selling.”
He then leaned in shielding his mouth with his palm to say, “And between you and me, I also have one last special mooncake that makes you look even twenty years younger.”
“Really?” Chung Myung asked skeptically.
“Of course! How could I ever lie to our Hwasan Geomhyeop? My wife’s sister ate one the other day and looked so young I could hardly recognize her. You know, I’ll even offer it to you for free as a thank you for all your hard work.”
“Wow!! Thank you so much kind sir!” Chung Myung said with his eyes glistening and his tongue licking his lips.
“Sir, you don’t have to do this. Even though we are Hwasan’s disciples we should pay for your goods.” Baek Cheon quickly added.
The street vendor laughed with glee, “It’s the least I could do for all Hwasan has done for us. I’ll even throw in some more mooncakes for the rest of you.” The disciples thanked him with pleasant smiles, “Thank you!”
Since it was getting quite late, Chung Myung and the rest of them started heading back up to Hwasan for the evening, with someone guarding the mooncakes as if it was a divine relic.
“Chung Myung-ah, those mooncakes were given for all of us.” Yoon Jong said as if reasoning with a child.
“Yeah Sahyung, he wanted to thank Hwasan for its efforts” Tang Soso added.
Chung Myung pouted with a sullen expression as he handed each of them a mooncake, although there was clearly enough for each of them to have at least two, but no one pointed that out. There was also the special mooncake that was placed within a beautiful, sleek black box that had a drawing of a sun and moon in stunning red ink.
Back at Mount Hua, after everyone had dinner together in the dining hall as usual, Chung Myung headed back to his room.
After washing up and changing into his night gowns, he hurried and jumped onto his bed with a mischievous grin. Pulling out the long green ribbon made his hair fall bountifully over his shoulders and back in waves. He then pulled out the mooncakes as well as a drink to accompany him alongside the moon outside his window.