Chapter 1495
There’s no need for that. (5)
Chung Myung, unable to suppress his intense emotions, stared at his trembling hands and slowly closed his eyes. It felt as though the words he had uttered were swirling around him.
“Huuuu…”
With a short breath, Chung Myung forced himself to push away the surging emotions and looked at Hyeon Pung Shin Gae with calm eyes once more.
“How did you know? It couldn’t have been easy.”
Hyeon Pung Shin Gae slowly raised his head, his eyes filled with tears.
“At first, I couldn’t even imagine it.”
There was a hint of complaint in his tone, but Chung Myung did not bother to point it out.
“I considered it an impossible matter. I thought it was nonsense. But the more I observed, the more I had no choice but to reach that conclusion. Even if the spirits of Hwasan in the celestial realm were watching over, it would be impossible. For such a young swordsman to accomplish so much…”
It was a natural statement, yet it wasn’t entirely natural.
Many had questioned Chung Myung’s true identity, but none had reached this conclusion.
“I tried to deny it. I tried to dismiss it as an absurd fantasy. But, Geomjon… there are indeed such beings in this world. Those who defy the finality of death and reverse the natural order. Have you not already encountered one yourself?”
“…The Dalai Lama?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
The Dalai Lama of the Western Regions. It is widely known in Gangho that he has led Potala Palace [포달랍궁(布達拉宮)] for hundreds of years, repeatedly experiencing death and rebirth. However, few believe such an outlandish story.
Chung Myung smiled bitterly.
– How can one walk the path of the three Asankhya Kalpas* of suffering, no different from the Avici Hell**?
A phrase he had heard in the past flashed through his mind. The memory was interrupted by Hyeon Pung Shin Gae’s dry cough.
“And… ahem, as you might suspect, Geomjon…”
“Yes.”
Chung Myung answered calmly.
“There is probably one more, isn’t there?”
“…I think so too.”
Neither of them voiced that name. For both of them… or rather, to them, it was the most ominous and terrifying name.
“Perhaps, Geomjon, you might be able to be reborn like them. Once I thought that, all my questions were answered. All the time I spent trying to understand the true identity of Hwasan Geomhyeop Chung Myung seemed foolishly clear…”
“Why did you think it was me? You could have just assumed I was one of the swordsmen of Hwasan from the past.”
“…How could I not know?”
Hyeon Pung Shin Gae’s eyes were once again filled with a misty layer of tears.
“It’s still… it’s still vivid in my eyes… the image of Geomjon, wearing the uniform of Hwasan, cutting down the evil followers of Demonic Cult with that sword is still so clear. How could I possibly think of anyone else?”
Hyeon Pung Shin Gae shook his head.
“The many things you showed through that child’s body convinced me. It was something only you, Geomjon, could do. It’s not because I’m the Sect Leader of the Beggars Sect that I could tell. Anyone who experienced that war would have reached the same conclusion.”
A short sigh escaped Chung Myung’s lips.
“So that’s how it was.”
With Chung Myung’s words, a moment of silence settled between them. An unexpected encounter in an unforeseen situation, neither was prepared, and words did not come easily.
“When exactly was it? When did you become certain that I was Geomjon?”
“I couldn’t be certain… Even though everything was clear, still…”
Hyeon Pung Shin Gae’s hands trembled violently.
“I had only a suspicion close to certainty, but I couldn’t be completely sure. Even after hearing about the events in the Northern Sea, the stories from Hangzhou, and observing the journey to Hainan… I couldn’t dare to be sure.”
“…”
“Perhaps I was just afraid. While I desperately wanted you to be Geomjon, I also fervently hoped you were not. I longed to see you again, yet wished this moment would never come.”
“…”
“Forgive me, Geomjon… Please forgive me… forgive…”
Tears of long-suppressed regret and repentance soaked Hyeon Pung Shin Gae’s wrinkled face.
“How can I atone for the sins I have committed against you, Geomjon? How can the Beggars Sect repay the sins we committed in that great war? How can I even dare to speak of the sins the world has committed against Hwasan…”
Chung Myung’s lips remained tightly sealed.
“Just… just…”
Although he did not wail, Hyeon Pung Shin Gae was clearly crying out. Chung Myung could understand.
The person lying here was neither the great hero who had revived the Beggars Sect when it was on the brink of annihilation nor the fearsome figure who had operated from the shadows of Gangho for many years.
He was merely a weak and pitiable human being, groaning under the weight of his own sins.
As he watched the struggling man, Chung Myung slowly spoke.
“It is all in the past.”
“Geomjon…”
“There was nothing you could do. It was simply a result of my own foolishness, so you need not feel any responsibility.”
Hyeon Pung Shin Gae’s shoulders shook.
The old man knew this was not forgiveness. It was merely Chung Myung’s effort to offer him a bit of comfort.
But even this small gesture was something Hyeon Pung Shin Gae was profoundly grateful for.
“Was that why…”
The bitter regret on Chung Myung’s face reflected the truth he had reached.
Had someone else committed such acts, Chung Myung would never have forgiven them. He might have sought to punish them with his sword.
But he couldn’t bring himself to do so to this withered old man.
“You didn’t want to experience it again, did you?”
Hyeon Pung Shin Gae trembled in silence.
Even after all these years, it was as vivid as if it happened yesterday. The memories had not faded – closing his eyes still brought back the air and smells of that time clearly.
The moment when everyone was dying like insignificant insects. The fragments of hell that had descended upon the mortal world.
“…I believed, Geomjon.”
Hyeon Pung Shin Gae’s eyes, swirling with countless emotions, followed Chung Myung.
“I believed that all these sacrifices would not be in vain. That the lives of all the beggars sacrificed would surely open the future.”
“…”
“But… in the end, it was all meaningless. The deaths of the beggars, the will of those who died at the great mountain, and even…”
“My sword.”
Chung Myung finished the words Hyeon Pung Shin Gae couldn’t bring himself to say. Hyeon Pung Shin Gae clenched his fist.
“Even my sword was meaningless. Yes, looking back.”
Brief regret flickered in Chung Myung’s eyes as well. Hyeon Pung Shin Gae spoke in a mournful voice.
“After you passed… no, after you left, Geomjon, the ones who took control of Gangho were those despicable bastards. They deliberately allowed the remnants of Demonic Cult to linger and thoroughly erased the traces of their own misdeeds.”
“And they would have needed the cooperation of the Beggars Sect for those actions.”
“…Yes. I…”
“You couldn’t do anything. You couldn’t let the Beggars Sect fade into history like Hwasan.”
Hyeon Pung Shin Gae bit his lips until they bled, unable to respond.
Sect Leader who revived the Beggars Sect – that was the superficial evaluation of those who saw only the surface.
Hyeon Pung Shin Gae had to live as their puppet until he finally stepped down from his position as Sect Leader.
“At least one question is answered now.”
Chung Myung muttered bitterly.
“I never understood it. If Gupailbang really wanted to erase Hwasan, they wouldn’t have been satisfied with just Demonic Cult’s attack. With their dirty hands, there were plenty of ways they could have quietly extinguished Hwasan’s breath.”
“…”
“Yet, Hwasan has never completely collapsed. It was bloody and in a pitiful state, but it was still alive. As if… someone had struggled to keep its lifeline intact.”
Chung Myung’s piercing gaze met Hyeon Pung Shin Gae’s.
“Was it you?”
Hyeon Pung Shin Gae bit his lips again.
“I can’t dare call it atonement. It wasn’t just my strength alone.”
“…I see. So that’s how it was.”
A short sigh escaped from Chung Myung’s lips. A faint sense of futility washed over his eyes.
It’s laughable. Even if he wanted to hold a grudge, there was no one left to blame.
Those who had orchestrated everything were already dead, having never paid for their sins.
What remains in this world now are those who don’t even know what they are standing on. What would change if they were held accountable for their sins?
Of course, this was something he had already considered and reached a conclusion on, so it wasn’t a new realization.
It was just that hearing it from someone else made his insides churn.
“So, did you prevent the Beggars Sect from cooperating with them?”
“…”
“To avoid becoming Gupailbang’s pawns again?”
Hyeon Pung Shin Gae’s pupils trembled faintly. He desperately shook his trembling head.
“No, Geomjon. That’s not… that’s not it.”
“…Not it?”
“Please… don’t look at me with such a lenient gaze, Geomjon. I am not worthy of receiving such a look from you.”
Hyeon Pung Shin Gae covered his face with his hands.
“If I were truly such a courageous man, would I have clung to this wretched life until now? I am not such a person. I am just a worthless… just a worthless beggar.”
“…”
“I am not Geomjon. I could never be like you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you see? Didn’t you experience it? And don’t you know?”
Hyeon Pung Shin Gae’s face turned deathly pale. The guilt that had consumed him was now pushed aside, replaced by a feeling Chung Myung also knew well.
“Him!”
A scream-like voice burst out suddenly.
The old man’s expression was both unfamiliar and familiar. It was the face of a person consumed by an unbearable terror. His entire body convulsed as if he were stricken with fever.
“Ah, I had no choice but to know. They ignored and dismissed it, but I had no choice. I deal with information. Everything pointed to one thing, so I knew…”
“…the Heavenly Demon?”
“Ugh…”
Hyeon Pung Shin Gae rolled his eyes back. Just hearing that name seemed to tear his soul apart. He stumbled over his words, speaking rapidly.
“That he.….. that he would return.….. that cursed demon would lead Demonic Cult back to this land!”
“…”
“And that we could never… face him again. It is the end. The end of Gangho and the end of the world itself. An unavoidable, predestined end is coming.”
Hyeon Pung Shin Gae gasped for breath. It was hard to believe they had been speaking calmly just moments ago – now he was back to being a pathetic old man, on the brink of collapse.
“It was just… just a sandcastle. No matter how much Gangho tries to regain its former glory, it is merely a loosely built sandcastle on a beach. The moment a giant wave crashes onto the shore, it will crumble and be washed away without resistance…”
“…”
“Knowing this, how could I… how could I tell everyone? How could I ask them to sacrifice themselves for that sandcastle? When it’s all ultimately meaningless… If that’s the case… isn’t it better for them to live a peaceful, insignificant life without knowing anything…”
Chung Myung sighed involuntarily.
In the end, Hyeon Pung Shin Gae was no different. He had lived all this time without escaping the horrors of that war and the existence of the Heavenly Demon.
A survivor, a remnant, and…
A sinner.
Yes, just like Chung Myung himself.
“So, I…”
“Enough. There’s no need for that.”
Chung Myung cut off Hyeon Pung Shin Gae’s words decisively.
“Geomjon…?”
“I’ve heard enough of your complaints.”
Chung Myung glared at Hyeon Pung Shin Gae.
“You may think the ending is predetermined, but I don’t. And even if I can’t change the ending, I won’t sit idly by and wait for it.”
“…”
“So tell me. What must be done first to restore the Beggars Sect to its original state?”
Hyeon Pung Shin Gae’s wide-open eyes trembled violently.
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