Return of the Mount Hua Sect Chapter 1369: Do You Know What Shame Is? (4)

A mound of red earth was piled high. The older brother wiped the tears from his eyes with his dirt-covered hand after covering the grave with the last handful of soil.

“When does a child go before his father, so heartless.”

The elder knew it wasn’t Hyung Euk’s fault. Still, he couldn’t bear it without saying as much.

His child had been subjected to cruel torture before his very eyes and had finally died.

It wasn’t that he had turned away to cling to his own days. What life could be more precious than a child’s in their prime?

If the old man, unable to contain his rage, had attacked the villains, it wouldn’t have been only him who suffered. The villagers, his daughter-in-law, and young grandchildren could have been made to suffer like Hyung Euk.

Thus the powerless can only look away. Ordinary people have eyes and yet cannot see; they have mouths and yet cannot speak.

“That’s right... that’s right, I...”

He could not continue and sobbed blankly. Villagers approached the slumped man to offer words of comfort.

“Village chief... Hyung Euk died like a man.”

“He won’t have regrets.”

But those words brought no comfort; they seemed only to draw out the old man’s fury.

He spat and shouted as if having a fit.

“What good does that do? When you die, it’s over! It’s because you worship empty things like loyalty and favors that this happened!”

He kept slapping his own thigh. His eyes were bloodshot, and words of blame poured from his mouth without pause.

“‘Live righteously’? Who doesn’t know that’s right? We turned away because we knew living righteously would get us treated like this! Do you think people like us have no conscience or shame? You wicked ones! Wretched scoundrels!”

The wails of a widow and the bereaved children could be heard constantly.

“So-called heroes and the like! How many have strutted in saying they’ll help if they just happen to see it? So? What changed? Where were they when we were suffering like this?!”

Everyone fell silent.

“We should’ve looked away... We shouldn’t have stuck our necks out, I told him so many times...”

The old man collapsed and wailed. Everyone watched, their feelings tangled and helpless.

It was true they had been saved from imminent death thanks to the people of Mount Hua. Yet the one who tried to repay that favor suffered a fate even worse than dying at first and lay buried in that earth.

What would have been the right thing to do?

“...Still, isn’t it true that we’re clinging to life because of them?”

“How do you know? Even if they hadn’t helped, things might have turned out well by luck!”

“How can you say that? To those who helped with good intentions...”

“Good intentions? Is that why we were treated like this? The village chief was right. While we were trembling under those wicked men’s grasp, what were they doing? Didn’t they run off to save themselves?!”

They raised their voices one after another around the grave.

It wasn’t a sight to show before the dead, but their emotions were inflamed by what they had suffered the day before.

“If they’re not going to take responsibility to the end, they shouldn’t have helped at all!”

“Is helping a little something? There are many who wouldn’t even do that!”

“Isn’t this all because of them? Foolish hopes led to this! If only Hyung Euk had told where those men went, he wouldn’t have ended up like that!”

At that, the dazed elder suddenly turned on them with bloodshot eyes.

“...Whose fault was that...?”

“...Village chief?”

“If everyone had kept their mouths shut, it would’ve passed without this incident, if only you all had kept quiet! Yet among you, who was it that sold Hyung Euk out?”

The old man’s distorted face had become truly dreadful.

He had seen and heard it clearly: villagers he believed family to have sold his son out.

If only these people had kept quiet, Hyung Euk might not have died. At the very least, he wouldn’t have died so miserably after such torment.

Seeing those who had pushed his precious son into suffering brazenly act as if nothing had happened filled him with sudden rage.

“How could you do this? How! My son treated you so well, thought of you so much! Didn’t he plead he’d save you even if his father took the blade? How could you... how?!”

He screamed as if tearing his throat.

“If you have a mouth, say something! Huh?”

Some bowed their heads low. Others quickly shook their heads as if they’d never done such a thing. The old man gritted his teeth.

“You damned lot...”

“How is that our fault?”

But someone couldn’t just leave that remark unanswered.

“...What?”

The elder narrowed his eyes. One disgruntled man brusquely asked again.

“I said, how is that our fault?”

“...You, you shameless...!”

“Yes! I’m a man without conscience or shame. But didn’t you, village chief, tell us to do that?”

The elder’s eyes went wide as if struck.

“Me?”

“Isn’t that right? You told us fools that to survive we shouldn’t think of favors or loyalties but only how to save our lives right now. You said gratitude, chivalry, and affection are things only those with means can afford—didn’t you tell everyone that two days ago?”

The elder looked at the man dazed, as if he’d been struck.

It wasn’t wrong. He had indeed said it. But he hadn’t meant it in this sense. The elder opened his eyes wide and said,

“Hey, is Hyung Euk an outsider? Is he a martial arts man? People like us must help each other...”

“We have to survive first!”

The man shouted rabidly. As his voice rose, others tried to restrain him, glancing at the elder.

“Hey! What are you doing to the village chief!”

“Can’t you stop?”

“No! Did I say something wrong?”

But the man wouldn’t be silenced.

“Turning our backs on the very heroes who saved lives and scheming how to save ourselves—what great thing did Hyung Euk do that I should risk my life to protect him? I have to live! I do!”

“....”

“Weren’t you all thinking the same? Was I the only one who confessed that Hyung Euk knew where those warriors went? You were all thinking the same!”

“Hey, you! No matter what, we’ve just buried Hyung Euk! This is not the place to be—”

“Damn it, don’t pretend to be righteous now! Do you think I didn’t hear the elder say Hyung Euk was sold out?”

“I, when did I...”

Blue veins stood out on the man’s neck.

“If we’d kept quiet then we’d all have been dead! So should we have all died to save that one bastard?”

The man glared fiercely at the elder.

“What’s the difference! We did as the village chief told us! You said don’t think about honor or anything! What did I do wrong? Tell me!”

The man, screaming until his last strength, finally collapsed to the ground as if his legs had given out.

“What do you want us to do, what!”

He slammed his fist into the ground and howled like a beast.

Hearing that, the old man’s strength drained away.

Who could he blame? There was no part of that speech that was wrong. It was the elder who had repeatedly stressed they had to live that way.

Those words had led to the death of his beloved son and brought the village to this state.

‘Right. Survive.’

Isn’t being alive enough?

Even if it means selling out the benefactor who showed mercy or pushing someone you’ve lived with for decades under the villains’ blades, as long as I keep my life, isn’t that survival?

Isn’t that the right thing to do?

“Heh heh...”

For a moment a laugh, like madness, escaped the old man’s lips.

“Heh heh heh heh...”

But everyone knew it wasn’t laughter. It was the lament and cry of someone who had lost his way.

The villagers couldn’t bear to look at him and averted their eyes.

After long moans that were neither sobs nor laughter, a firmer voice came from the old man.

“...Prepare to leave.”

“What?”

Startled by the abrupt order, everyone looked at him.

“Village chief, what do you mean...”

“I’m not telling you to leave the village. What power have I to order you to go or not?”

At that, some people pursed their lips.

“I only mean that we cannot live here anymore, so we must leave.”

“W-we can’t live here anymore?”

“Do you think they’ll leave us be?”

“...B-but they left, didn’t they?”

It was a naive remark. The old man snorted and said weakly.

“If things went so smoothly in life, we wouldn’t be suffering like this. Even with Hyung Euk in the ground, the fact remains that we defied them. If not now, trouble will come to the village sooner or later.”

The villagers, who had not dared think that far, looked at one another in dismay.

It was true when you thought about it. The village had already drawn the attention of the Four Sects Alliance. Even if they survived this incident, any small pretext would bring fierce persecution incomparable to other places.

“We must leave... We can’t put roots down on land that will kill us.”

“W-wait, village chief. We’ve lived here our whole lives. Where are we supposed to go?”

“How would I know?”

“...Our homes, our fields, everything is here...”

The old man laughed at the talk of fortune.

“Then you stay.”

No one answered. Though he spoke practically, the old man’s eyes were hollow.

“We must live... That life has clung on so cruelly, we must somehow survive. Even if it means going somewhere no one knows and carving out fields, we must live...”

Everyone’s face darkened as they realized how bleak the life ahead would be.

The old man stared blankly at the earthen mound. His chest felt empty.

What had he lived for? In the end, this is what he had to see... why had he clung to life so stubbornly?

He had known that if he abandoned others, they could abandon him too, so why had he acted so clever alone?

In the end, he knew nothing.

“Prepare at once.”

“What? Right now?”

“Can you be sure those who left for appearances won’t send people back later?”

“....”

“If I were them, I’d wipe out the village and then report above that the village suffered tragedy regardless of who they were. Survive, you people. Somehow keep those miserable lives going. So prepare...”

The villagers bowed their heads.

Where had it gone wrong? At what point had it all become so twisted? They had done nothing—why must they suffer like this?

“Don’t dawdle, move. Leave before they act.”

“Um... vi-village chief?”

“What are you all standing for...”

“N-no, there, over there!”

A man turned ashen and pointed somewhere. The old man strained his weak body to look.

“Heh heh...”

At the village entrance, a group of men were approaching—cold faces and large swords at their waists. The old man laughed helplessly.

“It seems we’re too late...”

Perhaps this was the fitting end for this village. The elder thought so and quietly closed his eyes.