How Far Can You Help Us? (2)

It’s noisy. No—it’s more like a commotion.

“It’s quite a commotion.”

“……Indeed.”

Mount Hua’s disciples held rice balls and stared at the pavilion over the lake. Those who had been listening to the bickering from afar began to comment with pleased looks on their faces.

“Just now that ink-splash Taoist came out.”

“I think I heard someone call him an ‘old inkpot.’ Is that okay? He really crossed the line.”

“When has he ever not crossed the line?”

“That’s true……”

The sun had long since set and the moon hung high, yet those left in the pavilion had lit a small fire and were still trading blows and words.

“Haaaah.”

Jo Gul, who had been watching from a distance, yawned and then looked at Baek Cheon with eyes rimmed by unshed tears.

“Let’s just leave them and go to sleep, sahyung. We can’t wait here forever, can we?”

“They should give us a proper room if we’re going to sleep. We can’t sleep out on the road.”

“It’s not like we haven’t done it before. We’re used to sleeping rough.”

“……Suggest sleeping rough when we’re guests in someone else’s house?”

“Isn’t that better than staying awake all night? It looks like this won’t end until morning, no matter what.”

“…….”

There was merit to the argument, which made it troublesome. Which was right—keep face to the end, or forget face and get some sleep? Just as Baek Cheon was torn between honor and practicality, the commotion in the pavilion suddenly stopped.

Soon three people emerged from the pavilion at the same time.

“Huh? There.”

“……Is it over?”

Elder Taoists walked across the bridge to the pavilion in the middle of the lake. Their faces were half-dark with anger; they shuffled out with tired steps and glared at Mount Hua’s disciples as if they wanted to kill.

“Why…”

“I can feel murderous intent.”

The elder Taoists strode up to them and ground their teeth.

“……They look like Taoist scum unworthy of our company.”

Before Mount Hua’s disciples could show their bewilderment, a shower of criticism poured down.

“That’s why I said you shouldn’t do business with the ignorant.”

“You have to be able to talk to them to talk to them! Communicate!”

“Let’s not curse all Taoists. It’s just that that guy is strange, isn’t he?”

“This is too much. I thought my Beijing merchants were the worst, but those guys would get stripped and chased out in their undergarments in Shaanxi.”

“Ugh.”

Mount Hua’s disciples, unexpectedly insulted, could only blink and stand at a loss.

“Hey, why are you picking on innocent kids?”

“Ahem.”

“Tsk.”

At Chung Myung’s voice from inside the pavilion, the elder Taoists scowled and spun around.

“Then I’ll assume the deal is concluded with mutual consent.”

“What?”

“Let’s go, go! Ugh, cagghk! Ptooey! Not even a dog would take them!”

“…….”

Mount Hua’s disciples stared as the three elder Taoists walked away. How to describe this absurd, subtle feeling?

“What are you doing?”

But the ridiculous situation was completely understood the moment Chung Myung’s face approached them.

“So shiny.”

“Grease is dripping off him. After all that fighting.”

“How much must one have eaten to have someone ooze oil like that? He looks like the epitome of a corrupt landlord. I’d like to paint that face.”

While others gaped and made comments, Baek Cheon couldn’t let it end there.

“Um… Chung Myung.”

“Yes?”

“What on earth did you extort?”

“Just, you know.”

“Just?”

Chung Myung gave a sly smile.

“We agreed to mutual assistance. Nothing particularly grand.”

Nothing particularly grand?

“But those highborn gentlemen spat and left like small-time scoundrels cheated out of money?”

“People’s hearts are all the same. They feel bad if they lose even a little, and then they might curse. Isn’t it just that?”

That didn’t seem like something to end the conversation with…

“So, what exactly did you agree to do?”

Chung Myung shrugged.

“To put it simply, we agreed to provide some cooperation for Mount Hua’s activities in Shaanxi going forward.”

“……Those gentlemen?”

“No? What cooperation would retired elders give. The officials agreed to help. Anyway, those elders’ disciples are already exploiting the country all over the place.”

“Ah, I see… Wait, cooperation? From the officials?”

“Yes.”

“So the officials will cooperate with Mount Hua? With a martial sect?”

“I told you it’s so. Why keep asking?”

Baek Cheon looked at the Mount Hua disciples with a face that said, Damn, am I losing my mind hearing nonsense? but their reactions weren’t much different.

“Is this that officials-business collusion?”

“Wouldn’t ‘officials-road collusion’ be more accurate? It’s collusion between the officials and the road officials. Or should I call it dual-officials collusion…”

“I don’t even know if that’s an actual term. I don’t know anything anymore, just…”

Yoon Jong grabbed his head and muttered.

“Is collusion with the officials bad or good? If the officials back you, that’s good, but isn’t that corruption? Then Mount Hua would be colluding with corrupt officials, evil…”

“Don’t think about it, sahyung. Thinking won’t give you an answer anyway.”

“Ugh……”

Yoon Jong fretted over Mount Hua’s future, but as always the others paid little heed to such concerns.

“So?”

“Hmm?”

“What are we supposed to do?”

At Yu Yiseol’s question, Chung Myung shrugged.

“First, we need to go to Beijing.”

“Beijing?”

“We need to do what we heard about earlier. I hear that county official is a bit shady. We just need to dig into his background a bit. It’s not particularly hard, right?”

“Hmm.”

Mount Hua’s disciples, who hesitated slightly, nodded in unison.

“If it’s just digging up someone’s background.”

“We’re not taking him down directly. That should be fine.”

“I wanted to try infiltration.”

“Can we leave right away?”

Tang Soso, who had been standing a step behind, tilted her head in confusion. Then she jabbed Jo Gul in the side.

“Sahyung. It’s weirdly like everyone’s reacting well — am I imagining it? Usually you would be furious that that damned man caused trouble without consulting you.”

“He probably would have, yes.”

“Then why is everyone’s reaction so positive now?”

“That’s obvious. It’s Beijing, Beijing.”

“Eh?”

“Beijing. Don’t you want to go and see it?”

“……”

Tang Soso looked at Jo Gul as if he’d said nonsense.

“You mean everyone’s happy for that ridiculous reason? You’re joking, right?”

But Jo Gul, without the slightest change in expression, asked Tang Soso seriously.

“Soso, have you been to Beijing?”

“……No, I haven’t.”

“Don’t you want to go? It’s the center of the vast Central Plains — how could you be born and die without ever seeing Beijing? This might even be your last chance.”

“……”

“Do you really not want to go see it?”

Tang Soso fell quiet.

It was a reason hard to accept logically, but somehow convincing. Of course, not everyone felt the same.

“Wait a moment.”

Unintentionally swept into joining them and thrust into the role of a ‘sensible person’ he had never occupied in his life was Yu Han-Bin.

“Y-you mean you’re going to Beijing for a reason like that? I know you’re doing it for me, but isn’t this going too far? We could end up at odds with high officials in Beijing. No matter what, risking this for me…”

But at that moment, Yoon Jong and Jo Gul put their arms around Yu Han-Bin’s shoulders from both sides.

“Han-Bin.”

“Yes?”

“You’re not the important one anymore.”

“And anyway, you can’t stop it now.”

“…….”

Lost for words, Yu Han-Bin stared at the sky and mumbled.

“Can a person really live like this? Can people really live so recklessly…”

Watching this, Tang Soso let out a faint sigh.

“It feels like, unintentionally, the kid is being reformed.”

“……Although the process is somewhat sad.”

When people see someone worse than themselves, they reflect. A lazy person, upon seeing a beggar, might vow never to live like that.

It’s a pity the ‘example’ is Mount Hua, but if the outcome is good, then all is well.

“Amitabha.”

Hae Yeon intoned a Buddhist chant to lighten the mood.

“Patron, so should we go to Beijing by ourselves?”

“No, one more person will go with us. Sigh… I don’t like it, but we had to admit we don’t know much about how officials behave.”

“One more person? Then who…”

“It’s me.”

Mount Hua’s disciples opened their eyes wide and looked at the person who stepped forward.

“I’ve heard the story. There’s no alternative. I will cooperate.”

“…….”

“……You look like you’ve eaten a rotten fish.”

Baek Cheon spun, grabbed Chung Myung by the collar, shook him, and pointed behind him as he shouted.

“Why him, why!”

“No, I couldn’t exactly choose, could I?”

“Ask to change him! Why that bastard of all people!”

“Well, I couldn’t change it, I tell you. And under these conditions, it’s only right they’d attach someone they can trust.”

“Then why is that man the trustworthy one!”

Baek Cheon’s finger nearly poked Jwa Go-Hak’s face. Jwa Go-Hak ground his teeth.

“Take your finger away, you ink-stained brat. Do you think I’m following because I want to?”

“Then don’t come along, you bookish fool!”

“I’d like that too. But leaving such an important matter to Taoists who don’t know the ways of the world — what disaster might happen then?”

“If you don’t trust them, then just do it yourselves. Why cling to us and make a fuss?”

“Because you can’t do it yourselves… Ah, no. It’s my fault for trying to make you understand. Just accept it.”

“You bastard!”

The two shouted, veins bulging, but surprisingly no one paid them any attention.

“So, when do we depart?”

“It seems the schedule is tight. There’s cargo arriving; we have to get there before it does. I don’t know what that means, but that’s the word.”

“So when are we leaving?”

“Uh, so…”

Chung Myung smiled wryly.

“Now?”

“…….”

“Come on, come on. Let’s leave quickly. Before sunset.”

The sun had already set, long ago. You madman.

Like on cue, Mount Hua’s disciples sighed deeply and hung their heads. Jo Gul muttered sadly.

“We should’ve just slept rough earlier.”

It summed up everyone’s feelings.

The fortunate thing for Mount Hua’s disciples was that from Great Mountain to Beijing they could travel via well-maintained official roads. As a city where everything in the land gathered, there was no need to climb treacherous mountains or swim across rivers.

But there was one downside….

“It’s rather far?”

“Oh, how far?”

“About the same distance from here to Mount Hua as to Beijing?”

“……”

“Well, a trivial matter.”

“……Fine.”

And to pick one more bad point….

“Oh, right. We have to arrive within five days.”

“Huh?”

“That’s the schedule.”

“What?”

“So we must go quickly. Now, run!”

“……I really wish we were all dead, honestly.”

A normal person, no matter how healthy, would find it hard to cover 300 km in a day. Even on an official road, 300 km is no short distance.

But that’s for ordinary people.

Mount Hua’s disciples proved that trained martial artists could easily cover two hundred ri in a day just by running along the road.

And they did so while carrying all manner of heavy luggage.

Thus they traveled from Great Mountain to Beijing, a journey of a thousand km.

A dusty band of travelers appeared before the great gates of Beijing.

“Th-this is…”

“Beijing.”

Mount Hua’s disciples—voices tinged more with melancholy than triumph—looked up at the imposing high city walls.

“Let’s go.”

“Ugh. Yes.”

Unaware of the great calamity that would unfold here.