Still, What Can We Do? (6)

Baek Cheon quietly approached the dense bushes and lowered his stance a little. The sound of metal weapons clashing was now clearer and closer.

“Two?”

It didn’t sound like a fight involving many people…

Reducing his presence as much as possible, he cautiously moved forward. He approached the source of the sound closely and gently parted the thick bushes to the side.

‘Huh?’

At that moment, Baek Cheon involuntarily opened his mouth at the unexpected sight before him, just as a sound was about to come out.

“Shh.”

A voice came from right beside him. Startled, Baek Cheon tried to shout, but a hand quickly covered his mouth.

“Shh.”

“…”

Normally, someone like Baek Cheon wouldn’t easily allow another to approach his face, but this was an exception. The one covering his mouth was none other than Yu Yiseol.

“Quiet.”

Baek Cheon silently nodded, and Yu Yiseol removed her hand from his mouth. Though there were many questions about her appearance, that was not important now. He turned his gaze to the scene before him.

Clang clang clang!

Swords clashed against each other.

A young man dressed in pure white martial clothes was flung backward, rolling mercilessly.

“Ugh!”

A suppressed groan escaped the young man’s lips, but there was no time to feign pain. He reflexively twisted his body to the side.

Whoooosh!

A foot landed where the young man’s face had just been, leaving a clear footprint on the ground. It was obvious what would have happened if he hadn’t twisted away.

But before he could even relax, the one who stepped on the ground kicked the young man’s back as he turned his body.

Bang!

The young man flew like a frog kicked by a child and crashed into a large tree trunk.

Whoosh!

His body slid down slowly from where he had crashed. Watching indifferently, Chung Myung spoke in a low voice.

“Get up.”

“…”

“Why? Have you done enough now?”

Hearing those words, the tip of Seol So-Baek’s fingers twitched.

“Cough!”

He coughed dryly, blood mixed in. Seol So-Baek staggered as he got up. His strength seemed completely drained as he wobbled several times, but using his sword as a cane, he somehow managed to stand.

“Your reactions are slow.”

Chung Myung said, looking at him with indifferent eyes.

“Lacking strength is inevitable because your internal qi is insufficient. Being slow is also inevitable because your muscle strength is lacking. But slow reactions themselves are entirely your problem.”

Seol So-Baek’s hand gripping the sword trembled. It wasn’t from shock at Chung Myung’s words, but purely from exhaustion as his stamina was completely drained.

His condition was already a mess.

The pure white martial clothes, like the snow of the Northern Sea, were covered in dust and stained muddy brown, with patches of dried black blood. His originally pale face had lost even the faintest color, looking almost corpse-like.

“What?”

Chung Myung looked at Seol So-Baek coldly and asked.

“Shall we stop here?”

“Ah, no, Taoist!”

Seol So-Baek gripped his sword tightly with trembling hands.

“If you want to stop, you can. You’ve done enough.”

“No!”

Seol So-Baek gritted his teeth and said.

“Taoist, you said it yourself. Whether you’ve done enough or not is for yourself to decide!”

“…”

“I am not enough with this! So I must do more!”

Chung Myung snorted with a smile.

“Like that?”

“…”

“Let’s be honest. You don’t have to do this. No one will look down on you just because you’re weak. At least while I’m alive, no one in the Northern Sea will touch you.”

Seol So-Baek gritted his teeth.

“And objectively speaking, you’ve tried hard enough. No one can say you lived comfortably till now. So before you hurt yourself…”

“No!”

Seol So-Baek shouted, cutting off Chung Myung’s words. His voice was almost a scream. His bloodshot eyes stared straight at Chung Myung.

“I’ve done enough, I’ve worked hard!”

The sound of grinding teeth was clearly heard.

“What meaning does that have? The only thing that matters is that I’ve become so weak I can’t even participate in Ice Palace’s training!”

“Isn’t that natural? You started learning martial arts late in life, and you weren’t strong to begin with when you became the Palace lord.”

“Why is that so natural!”

Seol So-Baek shouted angrily.

“Is there anyone who understands that? How can the Ice Palace Lord be weak? How can I protect the Palace! And the people of the Northern Sea?”

“…”

“Being young doesn’t absolve responsibility! Saying you’ll be stronger later is no comfort to me! It means that I am weak now and can’t do what I must now!”

Seol So-Baek adjusted his grip on the sword stuck in the ground and pulled it out.

“I will become stronger. As the Ice Palace’s Lord, I will earn the right to lead Ice Palace like the other sect leaders. As soon as possible!”

“You’re such a stubborn fool…”

“Thanks to someone I learned this from.”

At that moment, Chung Myung rushed at Seol So-Baek and swung his sword. Seol So-Baek quickly raised his sword to block, but his body was inevitably knocked back.

He reacted in time but couldn’t withstand the force behind Chung Myung’s sword.

“Ugh!”

Seol So-Baek rolled violently and finally spat out bright red blood. Seeing this, Chung Myung approached with a nonchalant expression.

“Unfair, isn’t it?”

“…”

“You reacted clearly, but you were overpowered. This isn’t something you can fix. Then how are you supposed to win? Are you just supposed to keep losing?”

Seol So-Baek’s eyes wavered slightly. Those words perfectly reflected his feelings.

“But you know, the murim world is always like that. Unfair and endlessly unjust. Effort? There’s no guarantee you’ll be rewarded just because you try. But…”

Chung Myung smiled faintly.

“Still, what can you do? If all you can do is try, then you have to do that. Right?”

Seol So-Baek forced his trembling body to stand up.

“Cough!”

He coughed painfully but stubbornly regained his stance. Chung Myung calmly asked while watching.

“You know, right? Before this war breaks out, there’s almost no chance you’ll grow enough to carry your own weight. Even less chance you’ll fulfill your role as the Palace Lord.”

Seol So-Baek nodded.

“Will you still do it?”

“Yes!”

“Even if it’s meaningless?”

“Yes!”

There was not a trace of hesitation in Seol So-Baek’s answer. Seeing that intense gaze, a satisfied smile appeared on Chung Myung’s lips.

“Looks like you haven’t been hit enough. Then shall I keep beating you until you say you can’t go on?”

Chung Myung charged straight at Seol So-Baek. At that moment, Seol So-Baek gritted his teeth and stomped the ground to meet him.

Baek Cheon, watching the sparring—or rather, the one-sided beating disguised as sparring—turned his head to look at Yu Yiseol.

“Samae.”

“Yes.”

“…Since when have they been like that?”

“Since when?”

Yu Yiseol tilted her head slightly, as if she found the question hard to understand. But before Baek Cheon could elaborate, she answered.

“The first day? No, from the next day.”

“The next day?”

“From the day after the Ice Palace arrived.”

Baek Cheon flinched for a moment and looked at Seol So-Baek again.

“So today isn’t the first time?”

Then that Chung Myung guy has been beating them during the day and dragging Seol So-Baek out at night to train all this time?

No, no. That can’t be it.

“When did the Ice Palace arrive?”

Then the Ice Palace Lord has been enduring one-on-one beatings like that every night?

“Crazy…”

It’s not exactly a strange sight. He too has always been pushed around by Chung Myung as much as Seol So-Baek… no, even more. But aren’t he and Seol So-Baek on different levels?

Baek Cheon thought that such grueling training would be too much even for him to endure, let alone that young Palace Lord.

“But he’s enduring it?”

Baek Cheon was inwardly confused about how to interpret this scene. Then Yu Yiseol whispered in an indifferent voice.

“He’s growing.”

“…Huh?”

“Day by day. Astonishingly fast.”

Yu Yiseol is not someone who easily praises others. For her to say this means Seol So-Baek is truly growing rapidly.

‘Is it talent?’

No. It probably isn’t.

Of course, he might have some talent, but Yu Yiseol saying this means there’s something else besides talent. And there was no need to ponder what that was.

“Aaaaaah!”

Seol So-Baek charged at Chung Myung. He was in such a state that it was doubtful he could even reach him properly without collapsing.

Seeing that, Baek Cheon unconsciously clenched his fist.

‘That much…’

He had worked excessively hard. No one could deny that Baek Cheon had done his best.

But at this moment, Baek Cheon realized something himself.

‘I knew that too.’

He had worked hard enough, tried as much as he could, and inwardly thought it would be difficult to do more.

Watching Seol So-Baek dragging his feet but desperately swinging his sword one more time, Baek Cheon felt it. Somehow, he too had become someone who looked down on others from above.

‘I…’

Baek Cheon bit his lip slightly and turned his head to look at Yu Yiseol.

“Samae, why are you here?”

“…At first, it was by chance.”

Probably so.

Yu Yiseol had always disliked showing her personal training to others. It must have been very awkward to train in the manor where not only Mount Hua but other sects were present.

“No, that means… Samae has been doing that much and still doing personal training?”

Even Baek Cheon hadn’t been doing that recently.

“After that…”

Yu Yiseol started to say something but closed her mouth. It probably meant it was hard to explain the exact reason.

But Baek Cheon seemed to understand why Yu Yiseol wanted to watch this scene.

Bang!

Chung Myung kicked Seol So-Baek’s side and sent him flying. Then he spoke loudly toward the fallen Seol So-Baek.

“Leading someone isn’t that easy.”

“…”

“Standing in front is not hard. But leading someone is a completely different matter. You have to work harder than anyone, never fall behind, and have the conviction that you are moving in the right direction.”

“…Yes.”

“Conviction comes from doubt. Doubt that what you thought might be wrong. Someday, you will also face the moment when you fall into the illusion that the conclusion you reached after much thought has led you here and that you are still right. The moment you mistakenly think you just have to keep doing what you’ve been doing.”

Hearing that, Baek Cheon clenched his fist.

“Remember this.”

Chung Myung said coldly.

“When your position changes, what was right becomes wrong, and what was wrong becomes right. And no one knows when that will happen. It could be a year from now, tomorrow, or maybe even yesterday.”

“…”

“So if you don’t want to be wrong, you have to constantly think and doubt.”

Seol So-Baek nodded with difficulty.

“Leading is hard. But if you can do it…”

Chung Myung spun around once holding his sword.

“The Ice Palace will truly get a proper Palace Lord.”

“…Of course I will.”

“Anyone can say that. Come on.”

“Yes!”

Seol So-Baek gritted his teeth and charged at Chung Myung again.

Chung Myung lowered his sword and watched Seol So-Baek, who advanced with all his strength. Above them, a bright moon hung in the sky.

Baek Cheon unconsciously closed his eyes.

“It wasn’t stagnation. I was just standing still.”

He gripped the sword that felt like part of his own body. The touch of the sword, so familiar it had become comfortable, he felt again from the beginning, delving deeper inside himself.