Episode 350

“Ugh…”

“Ahh….”

They weren’t some soldiers.

No, these were no defeated soldiers on a battlefield.

Hyun Tang, supported by the others, bit his lip and watched everyone walk down the mountain.

“Uh-Uhk!”

Hyun Beop, who was walking next to him, was walking with the help of a wooden stick, but then he lost his balance, making him fall to the ground.

“Ugh…”

And for a while, he laid there holding his back and groaning.

“Oh my… where in the world is this considered lawful?”

Seeing Hyun Beop screaming in frustration, Hyun Tang bit his lip.

“No matter how much the disciples of this sect were turned upside down… it cannot be like this. This is just…”

Hyun Beop looked like he couldn’t understand anything. He was just mumbling with helplessness in his eyes.

It would have been enough if that was it.

If they had been beaten and driven out by the Hyun disciples they wouldn’t have felt so miserable. But the one who had beaten them to a pulp was a child who hadn’t even been born when they were on Mount Hua.

Who could understand that they had just been beaten around by someone who was younger than their grandkids?

“Say something Sahyung! You said we just had to climb up Mount Hua!”

“Shut up!” yelled Hyun Tang. The qi he was radiating made Hyun Beop shudder.

“Damn it…”

Hyun Tang’s face was as bad as the devil’s.

“Those fucking dogs… are going to act like this?”

“Mount Hua is done for. There is no way and no reasoning in there. They are a group of newbies. The people of the world used to call Mount Hua a noble sect, is this even that anymore?”

Hyun Beop’s eyes were full of resentment. Hyun Tang’s eyes were shining with anger as he ground his teeth.

“If they treat us like this we have no choice but to treat them the same way.”

Hyun Beop gulped and asked,

“You have a way?”

“…”

Hyun Tang looked into the distance as he said,

“We go to Shaolin.”

“… S-Shaolin?”

Hyun Beop asked with surprise. But Hyun Tang seemed sincere.

Shaolin.

“Shaolin has been humiliated by Mount Hua. They must be holding a grudge against Mount Hua too. So we will take advantage of the situation they are in.”

“Ah…”

Hyun Beop nodded his head.

Clearly, their situation was akin to Shaolin’s.

After all, wasn’t it that they, the old ones, were beaten by a little kid and kicked out too?

“If the world comes to know how Mount Hua wields its strength, then Mount Hua will be criticized and someone will blame them for what they did. But to be honest, no one would seriously consider what happened in another sect. It is just a topic to discuss over food.”

“Right.”

“But it is different if Shaolin stands behind us. Shaolin has the power to make things happen, and they can pressure Mount Hua for us.”

Hyun Beop went silent as he knew that Shaolin had the power to do that, but there was one thing that bothered him.

“But… Sahyung. If we do that, it will appear as though we are hostile toward Mount Hua.”

Hyun Tang glared at him,

“So what about that?”

“…”

“They have abandoned us. Parents who abandon their children cannot wish for filial piety from them. Why do we have to think about Mount Hua when they abandoned us?”

“Sahyung is right.”

Hyun Beop nodded.

At this moment he wasn’t hesitating.

“I cannot wait to see those thugs behind the mask of Mount Hua be revealed. Even if the foundation of Mount Hua’s stone was pulled out by them, I will put everything back in its place.”

Both Hyun Tang and Hyun Beop knew the truth.

The fact that it was them and not Mount Hua who were hiding behind a disguise.

But as long as things were dragged this far, such things had no meaning. Already they arranged everything they could to climb to Mount Hua so they could not walk back without gaining anything.

“But will Shaolin agree to it?”

“This isn’t bad from Shaolin’s point of view. Destroying Mount Hua is good, and having us lead Mount Hua is even better. Above all, we have cause for it, don’t we?”

“With that reason…”

“It doesn’t matter if the reason is clumsy.”

Hyun Tang cut him off,

“A reason is just like that. Even a perfect reason cannot do much in the hands of the weak, and a weak reason is stronger in the hands of those who can do something with it. Shaolin has the power to turn our reason to their advantage.”

Hyun Beop nodded his head.

“We move to Mount Song right now.”

“Yes.”

Hyun Tang turned his head and looked at the peak of Mount Hua.

“Hyun Jong… and Chung Myung!”

Clench!

Hyun Tang clenched his hand and touched his face. The place where Chung Myung hit him continued to throb.

“For sure… I will definitely make sure you people fall to hell! For sure!”

A flare in his eyes.

Hyun Beop gulped at that momentum.

‘Stupid morons.’

They might be strong, but in reality, they were weak. If they were going to create a grudge against someone like this, they should have done it better.

It was for this reason that Hyun Tang and Hyun Beop walked up to Mount Hua, which began to regain its name in the world without another thought. Because they thought that there was no way they would lose their life climbing Mount Hua.

If they wanted to send these people away, they should have done it with a smile on their faces and if they wanted to use their hands, they should have done it where there was no way to fight back.

‘Now you will really regret it.’

It was the moment when Hyun Beop was about to smile,

“Oh my. The mountain is so steep.”

‘Um?’

Hyun Beop turned his head at the voice.

He saw a group of people coming up the mountain.

‘Beggars?’

Seeing their behavior, Hyun Beop tilted his head.

What kind of beggar would even climb a mountain? There was no other place for them to beg around here.

A beggar and a mountain.

Wasn’t this the weirdest combination?

‘Climbing Mount Hua?’

Ordinary beggars would never come up Mount Hua, so they were from the Beggars Union?

Before Hyun Beop could solve his own questions, the people from the Beggars Union began to get close.

Feeling a sudden eerie feeling, his entire body tensed up, making him feel wary of the beggars.

‘The direction…’

They weren’t going past them.

They were walking toward Hyung Tang and Hyun Beop before slightly veering to the left and right of the party.

They were surrounded by these beggars.

“Why…”

Shocked, Hyun Beop turned his head and looked around at the beggars.

‘They aren’t ordinary beggars.’

Solid bodies could be seen through their rags, and their sunken eyes were different from the normal beggars on the street.

Hyun Beop was about to speak, realizing something was wrong.

“It is quite a long way to Mount Song.”

“…”

Ahead.

On the path where the beggars climbed up, a man was walking up.

“Phew, can you go all the way to Shaolin with that body?”

‘Did they hear us?’

Hyun Beop’s eyes trembled.

The beggar who just spoke didn’t stand out too much. Unlike those who climbed ahead, this one would melt into the street in no time.

But there was one defining feature.

His eyes.

Those cold and sunken eyes made them feel like kids.

“W-Why are you doing this?”

Hyun Tang spoke a bit flustered.

“There seems to be some misunderstanding. We are simply walking down the mountain…”

“Hyun Tang.”

“….”

“Name Ha Uryang left Mount Hua thirty years ago and settled in Honam, and you made a mark for yourself working in the delivery service. In reality, you’re a salty man who worked with a nice face while you hated what you did.”

Hyun Tang’s eyes widened.

“Am I right?”

“…. Y-You….”

“I guess I am right.”

The man shrugged.

“There are many other things we managed to investigate, but I don’t feel it is necessary to talk about it here.”

He was smiling, yet his eyes looked cold.

“The important thing isn’t who we are. But you are trying to spit on Mount Hua, which we are with, and now you want to ruin it too?”

A cold sweat broke out on Hyun Tang’s back.

Anyone living in Kangho should know one thing.

You can have anyone be hostile to you, but never the Beggars Union.

Who are the scariest people in the world? The ones who have nothing to lose.

It was the Beggars Union who had nothing to lose, and they were right here.

People often only saw them discuss negotiations. But how could the gathering of so many beggars around them be considered a negotiation?

The Beggars Union was the most peaceful place in the world and the most dangerous one too.

“Even without a request, I was slowly trying to get to you…”

The man raised his hand and caressed his forehead.

“… I would be cursed at if I didn’t know the people who are climbing up Mount Hua. I am Hong Dae-Kwang.”

The beggars around them began to giggle.

“These days, people feed us with curses rather than fists.”

“I think I saw some kicks too.”

“Wang Cho, that isn’t something you get to say.”

“Shut it! So noisy!”

Hong Dae-Kwang shouted and looked at the ground.

“Anyway, well. If a person makes a mistake they could be good and rectify what they did. And I do not want to disappoint that devil anymore.”

Hong Dae-Kwang smiled broadly.

“If you head to Shaolin like this, only those who side with Shaolin will yield good results. But unfortunately, we have sided with Mount Hua.”

There was laughter in his voice.

But to Hyun Tang and Hyun Beop, it was terrifying.

“You know what beggars hate the most in the world?”

“…”

“The time when our food gets cut off. And you are trying to cut off the food which needs to come to me.”

Hyun Tang trembled as he looked at those who surrounded him.

Sharpened knives were being pulled out from the sleeves of the beggars.

Short daggers.

Sharp iron long needles.

Long sickles.

They were giggling as they began to close in!

Hyun Tang’s group trembled and began to move back. Fear was clear in their eyes.

“Tch tch. Well, you should have done your investigation before messing around with them. You touched the devil without a second thought. Of course, you will have to pay the price now.”

Hong Dae-Kwang shrugged, and the beggars ran to Hyun Tang and his party at once with eerie and scary eyes.

“They won’t die.”

Munch munch.

Chung Myung chewed on the moon cake and said,

“Still…”

“The beggars sometimes go overboard, but they are smart people. They won’t kill them. But they will surely give them a right scare.”

“Um.”

Hyun Young listened to Chung Myung with a serious face.

“And they are probably going to tie them up and throw them out at the outskirts of town. They will never be able to get close to Shaolin for the rest of their lives. And if they do want to try, they will have to go all the way to Shaolin, avoiding the eyes of the beggars in the world, and those people do not have that talent.”

It was true, so Hyun Young nodded.

“Instead, they surely will be a little angry, so the beggars might be beating the shit out of them.”

“…”

Seeing Chung Myung smiling, Hyun Young sighed and nodded his head.

“Well, you have been through a lot.”

“No. They were as weak as flies. Tch.”

“The Beggars Union matter stays secret from Sect Leader.”

“Eh. I am no kid.”

Chung Myung chuckled, and Hyun Young nodded as he fell into thought.

Those who led the sect shouldn’t always be fair. If someone shows fairness they would need to dirty their hands too.

In the past, Hyun Young took that role.

But now…

“Will it be fine?”

“What?”

“You are giving too much to Mount Hua. But then we…”

Chung Myung waved his hand and interrupted him.

“Elder is also very worried about small things. If I had wished for something like that, I would have never done this. Don’t you know me well?”

“… yes. Right.”

Hyun Young smiled brightly.

“Then, you must not have been able to have meat, right? I will bring some pork belly?”

“Alcohol?”

“Take out one of the things you brought.”

“Hehe. You know me well. I thought I hid it well.”

“Come on.”

“Yes.”

Seeing the back of Chung Myung walking away, Hyun Young smiled at the strange feelings.

Then he hurriedly stood next to Chung Myung and grabbed his shoulder.

“It hurts.”

“Yes, yes.”

The smile grew wider on the lips of Hyun Young.

The bright sunlight shone on the back of the two old souls and one young body heading to the dining hall.