Then There Is Only One Way. (3)

A small shrine stood in a space barely a few meters across, and inside it was enshrined a half-body statue of someone unknown.

“…That’s strange.”

The eyes of those looking at the shrine grew wary.

The size of the shrine was not the issue. Nor did it matter much who was enshrined there. The problem was that this shrine was deep in the mountains, in a place most people couldn’t even easily reach.

A shrine exists so people can make offerings, so wasn’t it strange to build one in a place so difficult for anyone to visit?

But right now, there were people here to whom such things meant nothing at all.

“Found it!”

Keeeeee!

To be exact, there was one person and one beast.

Chung Myung chuckled and picked up the bottle of liquor placed beneath the altar.

“Oh? The food looks to be in decent shape too.”

He swiftly grabbed the chicken offered on the altar and tore off a leg.

“Hey, you punk! How can you just eat what was offered to the shrine on your own?”

“What are you talking about? Food offered in a rite is supposed to be eaten afterward.”

“That may be so. But even then, you need the owner’s permission.”

“Oh, I discussed it properly with the party involved.”

“The party involved?”

“Here.”

Chung Myung pointed at the half-body statue before the altar.

“If it’s food offered in the ritual, this gentleman is the owner. He said it was fine, so eat comfortably.”

“…I don’t even have the strength to argue with you anymore. You crazy bastard.”

Yoon Jong covered his face and huddled down in despair. Baek Cheon shook his head and patted him on the back.

“Why are you acting so surprised? It’s not like this is anything new.”

“It’s not that it happens once or twice, but you say it every day, sasuk.”

“Well, that’s true.”

Leaving the listless Yoon Jong behind, Baek Cheon narrowed his eyes and looked at the shrine.

“But this shrine is a little suspicious, isn’t it? And the fact that it’s in these mountains… Could it be a shrine for some heretical cult?”

“Pardon?”

“Exactly. Just look at it. No matter how you look at it, it doesn’t seem to be on our side.”

As Baek Cheon pointed at the shrine with obvious unease, Jo Gul shouted in alarm.

“No, what on earth are you talking about?”

“Huh?”

“It’s a Confucius shrine! A Confucius shrine! Confucius’s face is right there!”

“I-Is that so?”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t know what Confucius looked like?”

“….”

“Oh, my head…”

As if tears were blinding him, Jo Gul crouched beside Yoon Jong and clutched his head.

“Ahem, ahem. Are shrines also used to enshrine Confucius?”

“Have you never even heard the term Temple of Confucius?”

“Temple of Confucius?”

“…Forget it.”

Jo Gul let out a long sigh.

“It’s a Confucius shrine. More precisely, it would be right to call it a Temple of Confucius Literature. A small shrine enshrining Confucius is called a Temple of Confucius Literature.”

Yoon Jong frowned and looked at Jo Gul.

“Why are you looking at me like that? I’m serious.”

“That’s not it.”

“Huh?”

Yoon Jong muttered in a slightly sardonic voice.

“You’re supposedly a Taoist, yet you can’t even remember what gods the Taoist faith has, and somehow you still know Confucianism so well.”

“…I learned it when I was young. Hehe. As sahyung knows, things you learn when you’re young don’t easily go away.”

“Well, aren’t you proud. Before you sleep tonight, copy the Tao Te Ching ten times.”

“Please spare me, sahyung. I was really wrong…”

“Nope. Can’t spare you. Write it and then sleep.”

“Ugh.”

While Yoon Jong was mercilessly scolding Jo Gul, Baek Cheon quietly approached the shrine.

“A Confucius shrine, huh….”

It might not be a shrine for a cult, but it was still strange to find a Confucius shrine in these mountains.

“Gul.”

“Yes, sasuk.”

“Do Confucians also have a tradition of practicing in remote mountain valleys?”

“Hm. No? You’d have to say almost none. Studying can be done anywhere, but Confucian scholars enjoy comparing their styles of learning and debating one another.”

“I suppose so?”

“Yes. Now that I hear it, it is strange. Shrines to Confucius are usually built inside temples called Confucius shrines, and… even if built small, they wouldn’t be placed in such a desolate spot.”

“Right?”

Baek Cheon thought for a moment, then moved a little closer to the shrine.

At that moment, Yu Yiseol stepped forward, studied the altar closely, and gestured to Baek Cheon.

“Sahyung.”

“Hm? What’s wrong, junior sister?”

“This.”

Yu Yiseol pointed at the wine cup placed on the altar. Baek Cheon looked at the cup, half-filled with liquor, then quickly understood and nodded.

“There’s no dust.”

“Yes.”

They were in the mountains, where leaves rustled every time the wind blew and bits of dry grass drifted through the air. Yet the liquor placed there was remarkably clean.

“That means it hasn’t been long since an offering was made.”

“Probably.”

Baek Cheon nodded quietly.

‘But still…’

A Confucius shrine in the mountains was unusual, but not enough to make a fuss over. He didn’t know what circumstances lay behind it, but it wasn’t their place to interfere anyway.

“It would be better to just leave.”

“Yes.”

The others seemed to think the same and nodded readily.

“Kyaa!”

Regardless of what the others thought, Chung Myung was already gulping down liquor and tearing off another chicken leg.

“Hey! I told you, you can’t just eat what was offered to the shrine like that!”

“Hoho. It’s fine.”

“Hm?”

At the sudden voice, Baek Cheon and the others all turned their heads at once.

‘Who?’

They sensed someone’s presence deep in the woods.

‘One person?’

The disciples of Mount Hua, who had quickly raised their guard, soon realized there was only one presence and relaxed a little.

“My apologies. Your voices were so loud that I spoke as if to someone I knew without realizing it.”

Soon, a person emerged from between the dense trees.

The group looked at the newcomer with slightly flustered expressions.

A modest cap rested atop snow-white hair combed neatly back without a single strand out of place. A neatly grown white beard hung down to his chest, and he wore an old robe of pure white to match it.

There stood an old scholar who looked as if he had been painted there, utterly out of place in these deep mountains.

“Do not mind it and eat. They have already fulfilled their purpose.”

“Even so, how could we…?”

“It’s fine. Food offered in a rite is meant to be shared, is it not?”

The old man smiled and pointed at the statue of Confucius on the altar.

“And that gentleman is famous for being quite merciful, so he would not be displeased by something like this.”

A few of them let out small laughs at those words.

Perhaps it was because calling the statue of Confucius “that gentleman” and the old scholar’s overly pristine appearance created a strange sense of incongruity.

Baek Cheon carefully offered a respectful salute.

“I apologize. I am Baek Cheon, a disciple of the Mount Hua Sect from Shaanxi.”

“Hm.”

The old man smiled faintly.

“My apologies. I am poorly traveled, so I do not know that name well. But judging by you, you seem like accomplished Taoist priests.”

“…We are not especially accomplished, but we are indeed Taoists.”

A faint hesitation appeared on Baek Cheon’s face. Among Confucian scholars, there were not a few who looked down on Taoists as sinister occultists.

But the old man nodded happily.

“The paths may differ, but the fact that you cultivate yourselves is no different. Scholars are not so stingy as to blame travelers who stop to rest for a while, so do not worry.”

“I am deeply grateful for your words… Stop stuffing your face and greet him, you punk!”

Glug-glug-glug.

Seeing Chung Myung guzzle liquor without a care in the world, Baek Cheon struck his chest in frustration.

But the old man, seeing Chung Myung like that, laughed merrily instead.

“Hoho. It seems I have met a Little Alcohol Immortal today. Well then, would you like to try this as well?”

The old man said that and took a pure white flask from his sleeve.

“Hm?”

Chung Myung reacted at once, his eyes flashing.

“What is it, old man? There was more ritual liquor?”

The old man calmly shook his head.

“How could there be?”

“Huh? What, it’s not liquor?”

As Chung Myung tried to hide his disappointment, the old scholar laughed heartily.

“That’s not what I mean. What you’re drinking is the liquor offered in the rite. There’s no need for it to be expensive.”

“Huh?”

Chung Myung opened his eyes wide.

“But this is the liquor I’m going to drink, so it should be a bit finer.”

“Ooooooh!”

“Now, where is a cup….”

“Wait!”

Chung Myung shot forward like the wind, grabbed the two cups placed on the altar, and poured the liquor inside straight into his mouth.

Then he darted back and held out a cup to the old man.

“Here you go.”

“You certainly know the way of drink. Have a cup.”

The old man smiled and poured liquor into Chung Myung’s cup. As the cup filled, an astonishingly strong aroma of alcohol spread in all directions.

“Wow. That’s incredibly strong.”

“Haha. Would you call that proper liquor?”

“Of course, of course. This is real liquor. Here.”

Chung Myung lifted the full cup and drank it in one go. A scorching heat, as if his throat were burning, spread through him, while a rich alcohol fragrance burst in his mouth. Chung Myung stared at the empty cup with his eyes opened as wide as they could go.

“W-What is this?!”

“What do you think? Do you like it?”

Chung Myung couldn’t even speak and just kept nodding.

“I’m glad you like it. Then shall I have a cup as well?”

Chung Myung quickly took the old man’s flask and poured liquor into his cup. Unlike Chung Myung, the old man first slowly savored the aroma rising from the cup, then leisurely emptied it.

“It’s good.”

“You really know your stuff, old man.”

“Haha. If you live this long, you naturally come to know many things.”

“Exactly. That’s why a person has to live a long life.”

“Wise words. Hohoho.”

Chung Myung and the old man burst into hearty laughter together as if they had agreed beforehand. The Mount Hua disciples, listening to their cheerful conversation, whispered among themselves.

“It feels like they’re really in sync.”

“Hm. Maybe they just get along well?”

“Isn’t it just because they’re both drunks?”

“Hey now. Don’t call an elder a drunk. Let’s say he’s a lover of liquor.”

Baek Cheon could no longer bear Chung Myung’s rudeness to the old man, so he quietly stepped between them.

“We have been discourteous in many ways, sir.”

“What discourtesy is there?”

“I deeply appreciate that you did not blame us for our rudeness and took it in good grace. But we can no longer be impolite, so we intend to take our leave now.”

“Hm? Will you? But there is plenty of food here for you to eat. If you do not enjoy liquor, how about tea?”

“It’s fine. We must go quickly because we still have a long way to travel; please understand our circumstances.”

“Hm, is that so. Then it can’t be helped….”

Thud.

“Hm?”

Sensing something ominous at the sudden dull sound, Baek Cheon turned his head.

“Mmm, mmm… damn bald guy….”

At some point, Chung Myung had collapsed onto the ground clutching the liquor bottle and was sleeping with a face of utter bliss. Beside him was also a weasel with a reddened belly.

“S-She passed out here?”

Baek Cheon’s face twisted in bewilderment. To get drunk and roll around in someone else’s shrine…

But the other Mount Hua disciples nodded as if it were only natural.

“He did drink a lot.”

“He must have drunk at least a mal; if he can still stand after that, he’s not a person but a bear.”

“He never burns off liquor with inner power in the first place. Says it’s a waste of alcohol.”

Baek Cheon clutched his forehead. Even though he hadn’t drunk anything, his head throbbed as if it would split open. Why did that damned man always act up only at times like this?

The old man chuckled and offered again.

“One does not wake a drunkard. Though you say your path is long, it seems you have already come quite a way. It would not be bad to rest for a while, I think.”

Baek Cheon could hardly answer and looked at the old scholar with an apologetic expression; the old man smiled as if to tell him not to mind it.

“Do not look at it so seriously. I am simply glad to see outsiders after a long time. If you have the time, tell me stories of what is going on in the world.”

“I do not know much about what’s going on in the world, but….”

Baek Cheon let out a sigh so deep it seemed the ground would cave in.

Carrying that brat Chung Myung on his back would not be a big problem, but it was getting close to dark. In any case, they should rest a little now too.

“If it’s our story you want, I think we can tell you some. We will have to commit the discourtesy, unfortunately.”

Baek Cheon turned his head, looked at the group, and said,

“Get ready. We’ll rest here tonight.”

“Yes, sasuk.”

The Mount Hua disciples, who had already experienced many things while accompanying Chung Myung, quickly accepted the situation.

“Mmm… bald guy.”

Chung Myung, sunk into sleep, merely mumbled happily under his breath.