Return of the Mount Hua Sect Chapter 1277: I Was Not Wrong. (2)

Go Hong looked at Yu Gong with complicated eyes. Seeing the fierce resentment in that gaze, Yu Gong bit his lower lip.

“Sahyung...”

“Call me hyung.”

Yu Gong said curtly and coldly.

“We are no longer Southern Island sect’s disciples.”

“...Yes, hyung.”

Go Hong looked at the other Southern Island disciples standing beside him.

Their village, Cheong-hae Village, was the largest among the coastal villages. Because of that, several Southern Island sect disciples who had descended to the village were staying there. Yu Gong had summoned them all now.

“...As you know, we have to sail the boats.”

“Ah, no, hyung!”

Go Hong shouted in an aggrieved voice.

“We are from Southern Island. Do you really not know what will happen if we board those ships?”

The other Southern Island sect disciples, though silent, sent the same looks as Go Hong. Receiving those resentful gazes, Yu Gong answered coldly.

“And?”

“Yes?”

“Are you going to let everyone here die?”

Those words silenced them all. Yu Gong continued as if spitting it out.

“If it were only us dying and that would be the end, then maybe we’d have hesitation. But this isn’t that kind of situation. If we don’t step up, the villagers will all be killed; are you telling me to sit back and twiddle my thumbs?”

“Ha, but sahyung. No, hyung!”

Go Hong could not hide his anxiety as he spoke.

“It’s true we can sail, but we’re not exactly skilled, are we?”

“We can still sail.”

“No... if it’s like that...”

“Then?”

Yu Gong cut Go Hong off and glared at him.

“Are you saying we should put villagers who don’t even know how to swim on those ships?”

“Th-that...”

“If I don’t want to do something, neither will others. At least we could jump off the ship and try to flee if things get dangerous. Even if we set foot on Southern land, we could still run away if it’s truly bad.”

“...”

“But the others don’t have that strength, do they?”

Go Hong hung his head low.

It wasn’t entirely wrong. The men of Southern Island differed slightly in skill, but they all knew enough to sail. The Southern Island sect disciples were no different. So handling the boats themselves wasn’t a major issue.

The real problem was that the ships they had to sail were the ones the Four Sects Alliance was on, and the ones they would be chasing were the Southern Island school they had abandoned to gather here.

“No need for long words.”

Yu Gong said with a firm face.

“Wasn’t the reason we descended from Southern Island in the first place to be with the families left in the village? There’s no reason to hesitate now.”

“What you say is right, but...”

At that moment, Dam Hwan, who had been listening silently to Yu Gong, spoke in ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) a sarcastic voice.

“I don’t know why we have to do this all of a sudden.”

“What do you mean?”

“It sounds noble, but couldn’t others go instead of us? All you need are people who can sail, and there are people in this village besides us who can sail.”

“You call that an argument?”

When Yu Gong scolded, Dam Hwan openly sneered and said.

“Don’t act so high and mighty, sahyung.”

“What?”

The sudden remark sparked a flash of anger in Yu Gong’s eyes. But Dam Hwan was not intimidated; he grew even more defiant.

“Aren’t we the ones who abandoned our sect, our sahyung-sajaes, and ran away to save ourselves?”

Yu Gong was momentarily speechless. He wanted to deny it, but he knew better than anyone that the words weren’t false.

“And now, because you claim some great goodwill and unity, we must risk our lives? If that were the case, we wouldn’t have descended from Southern Island in the first place.”

“You bastard...”

“I won’t do it.”

“Dam Hwan!”

Dam Hwan gritted his teeth and said.

“It was none other than sahyung who told those of us hesitant to descend that if we died, our families would be left without care. After hearing that, I erased my name from Southern Island’s registry myself. I left Southern Island—the place I said I’d never leave—with my own feet!”

“...”

“And now you tell me to risk my life again? Now you tell me to do the right thing? Why should I? Wasn’t it sahyung who told me to look after my own life first?”

“Isn’t the situation different now?”

“Is it really different?”

“...”

“Really?”

Yu Gong fell silent. He certainly believed the situation was different, but this wasn’t a matter that could be resolved by argument. They thought differently and accepted different things.

Dam Hwan curled his lip and sneered.

“I wonder what conscience these great men who abandoned their sect and sahyung brothers to save their skins suddenly need to keep. We’re already too far gone to talk about conscience, aren’t we? Cowardly people should live as cowardly people. Whether you board those ships or not is your business. Someone will go even if I’m not there.”

“So you mean it doesn’t matter who goes? This is the village where we grew up.”

“Southern Island sect was where we grew up too! Damn it!”

When Dam Hwan shouted fiercely, Yu Gong flinched and trembled slightly. Dam Hwan, glaring at Yu Gong with a murderous look, ground his teeth.

“If you’re going to pretend to care for others, you should have wielded your sword back at Southern Island Sect—what are you doing here? If you’d at least fought there with them, then...”

Dam Hwan started to say something, then closed his mouth and shook his head. He felt it was pointless to say anything now.

He knew it too. No matter how much Yu Gong had prodded him, the final choice had been his own.

And that he alone would have to bear the consequences of that choice.

“...Anyway, I won’t. Do as you please. My sailing skills are mediocre, so I won’t be of help anyway.”

Dam Hwan turned away coldly. Then he stopped and said suddenly.

“Oh, and...”

“...”

“Guilt doesn’t go away just by doing that. If that were so, you shouldn’t have committed the sin in the first place.”

With that, Dam Hwan walked away in an agitated stride.

Yu Gong opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end only sighed deeply. In that gap another voice hurriedly interjected.

“I-I’ll have some difficulty too, sahyung.”

“Me too. As you know, my father is ill, and there’s no one to care for him if I leave.”

“I’m sorry. Then...”

Two other disciples looked around and quietly withdrew. They ran off quickly, not even glancing back, as if afraid Yu Gong would seize them.

Yu Gong clenched his fist tightly. The trembling fist revealed his tension.

After closing his eyes for a long time to calm himself, Yu Gong looked at Go Hong. Go Hong’s expression was full of displeasure.

“...Aren’t you going?”

“Me?”

“Don’t you also have an ailing mother?”

“Ailing mother?”

Go Hong asked sardonically, but his feet did not move from the spot.

After a brief silence, Go Hong gave a self-deprecating laugh.

“I expected this to happen from the moment sahyung called us.”

“...”

“So when I told my mother I had to step away for a while, do you know what that sick mother said?”

“...I don’t know.”

“She said if she was going to be a burden, she’d rather drown in the sea.”

Yu Gong bit his lip.

“Southern Island women are like that, she says. Wake up one day to find the husband who lived with you drowned in the sea, sleep and wake to find one of your children become fish food.”

“...”

“But instead of sitting and mourning, they go out to work to feed the remaining children and grit their teeth to survive—that’s a Southern Island woman. So she won’t stand for her son making excuses and refusing to go to sea because of her.”

Go Hong chuckled as if incredulous.

“Always coughing every time she speaks two words.”

“...”

“Her mind slips in and out. If you sail those ships out, the villagers might live, but it would be as if you’ve killed your sahyung by your own hand. You don’t seem to have thought that far.”

“Go Hong...”

“What else can we do? To deal with a crazy old woman, a sane person has to match her. At least I should make sure people don’t say her son was a coward who drove others to their deaths before she dies. Even if not everyone goes, it seems sahyung will.”

“That...”

“My father went out to sea bravely to feed me and died; she always said we should be proud of that. She boasted of raising me alone and making me a proud disciple of Southern Island Sect. My mother doesn’t even know I left Southern Island Sect now. So how could I tell her I can’t go when she looks at me like that?”

Yu Gong couldn’t bring himself to speak. Go Hong muttered self-deprecatingly.

“If I’d known it would be like this, I should have just stayed in Southern Island Sect. Why did I even leave Southern Island...”

Yu Gong involuntarily lowered his head slightly. A strange silence passed between them.

To shake off the awkwardness, Yu Gong turned his gaze to the remaining disciples.

“You?”

“Well, similar.”

“...I see.”

Yu Gong nodded and spoke.

Continuing the discussion wouldn’t help and there was no time for it. They had to do what needed to be done first.

“Since those guys won’t go, we’ll have to recruit more people than planned. Make sure at least two people can board each ship. The ships we board will have only one person.”

“Yes, sahyung.”

“...Understood, hyung.”

“Let’s move.”

Watching the disciples dash off, Yu Gong sighed deeply. The sea he looked at was indifferently blue.

“Preparations are complete.”

“Took a while.”

Ho Ga-Myung looked at Yu Gong with dark eyes.

“...It was finished quickly.”

“Hm.”

Ho Ga-Myung nodded as if somewhat satisfied.

“Consider it as having selected those who sail well. If we delay, there will be a price to pay.”

“...”

“Let’s depart.”

“...Yes.”

Yu Gong turned and headed for the ship. The others were already aboard. Once he boarded, they would set off.

Forcing his reluctant feet to move, Yu Gong glanced up absentmindedly. Villagers had gathered on the shore.

There were those who looked at him with gratitude, those watching with indifferent faces, and among them his disciples who stared with hostility.

Yu Gong’s gaze stopped at one spot among them.

His wife was looking at him with eyes wet through. Seeing even their young son in her arms so clearly, Yu Gong squeezed his eyes shut for a moment as if afraid the image would slip away.

‘I will return alive.’

I will return—definitely. I will come back alive.

By any means necessary.

Seeing Yu Gong board, Blood Sword Squad Captain Gwi Yang asked Ho Ga-Myung in a nonchalant voice.

“Is it necessary to take those kinds of people? Won’t they be more of a hindrance?”

“You don’t know it yet.”

“Hm?”

“The scariest thing in the world isn’t the enemy.”

“...”

“It’s the traitor.”

Hearing that, Gwi Yang looked toward Yu Gong’s back with some interest. Ho Ga-Myung’s voice came, tinged with amusement.

“There is no one more vicious than a traitor burdened with guilt. You’ll soon see for yourself.”

A smile spread across Ho Ga-Myung’s lips.