“Baek Mu-seong, a first-generation disciple of the Huashan Sect, greets his Martial Uncle.”
“Who are you?”
For a moment, it felt as though the world had frozen. Jin Wi-gyeong and Wol-hwa, who were walking behind Baek Mu-seong, and even the pretty girl who followed them, all stopped in their tracks. Of course, the best reaction belonged to Cheol Woo.
“Eldest Brother, what are you talking about? Why would a Martial Uncle be here?”
“Can you not see him, even when he’s right before you?”
“Which Martial Uncle?”
“Martial Uncle Cheong Pung. The one standing to your right.”
Slightly turning his head to look at Cheong Pung, Cheol Woo burst out laughing as if he had heard a great joke.
“Hahaha! Eldest Brother, you must be mistaken.”
“Second Brother.”
“Please stop. Ah, is this perhaps a prank you’ve planned to tease me?”
“It is the truth.”
“Eldest Brother, I’m not that gullible. Now that I see it, the people of the Taiyuan Jin Family are quite playful. To think you’d all conspire together just to fool me. Hahahaha!”
What is this, a Korean-Chinese joint drama production? There was no way the Huashan Sect and the Taiyuan Jin Family would team up to plan an elaborate hidden camera prank just to fool that one guy.
“Hahahaha.”
As I and everyone else remained silent, his laughter slowly dwindled and then stopped abruptly.
“…Is it for real?”
Baek Mu-seong rubbed his temples and replied.
“Yes.”
“Without a shred of falsehood?”
“I told you so.”
Cheol Woo whipped his head around towards Cheong Pung.
“Excuse me, young hero. Your name is?”
“It’s Cheong Pung.”
An earthquake erupted in Cheol Woo’s pupils. He had clearly just remembered what he had said to Cheong Pung only moments before.
“D-Dumpling.”
“Dumpling?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. Then is this person truly Martial Uncle Cheong Pung?”
“He is, without a doubt.”
It was a shame I didn’t have any popcorn.
Leaving Cheol Woo to slap his own cheeks as if trying to wake from a dream, Baek Mu-seong spoke.
“I apologize, Martial Uncle Cheong Pung.”
Cheong Pung replied with an innocent face.
“No. I’m fine.”
“It is only right that we apologize a hundred times for failing to recognize an elder of our sect and committing such a discourtesy. Is that not so?”
“Please forgive me, Martial Uncle.”
Cheol Woo bowed his head gloomily. It looked like it would take some time for him to accept this dumpling-loving ghost as his Martial Uncle. Of course, Cheong Pung didn’t care one bit. In fact, he showed more curiosity about his relationship with the new faces.
“By the way, who are all of you?”
“We are disciples of the Huashan Sect, just like you, Martial Uncle Cheong Pung.”
“Oh. I’m just my grandpa’s grandson.”
The Sword Saint had raised Cheong Pung not simply as a disciple to inherit his martial arts, but as a grandson. That was why the boy had only a faint concept of sects and the martial world. But even at this response from Cheong Pung, Baek Mu-seong did not lose his gentle smile.
“My master goes by the title of Heavenly Sword Sage. In terms of sect hierarchy, he would be your Eldest Senior Brother.”
“Eldest Senior Brother?”
“Yes. Your master, no, your grandfather, the Sword Saint, had three disciples before you. Have you perhaps not heard of this?”
Cheong Pung muttered with a voice utterly lacking in confidence.
“I don’t really know. I think I heard about it from my grandpa once…”
“Ten years ago, he even visited with the others.”
After thinking for a moment, Cheong Pung exclaimed.
“Ah! That scary-looking grandpa!”
Calling the Sect Leader of the Huashan Sect a “scary-looking grandpa.” Regardless of the shocked reactions of the people around them, Cheong Pung, his question answered, smiled brightly.
“He’s my Eldest Senior Brother?”
“Precisely.”
“Aah. I see. I thought he was a bad person. It seemed like he was trying to kick me and my grandpa out.”
“It is possible for you to be unfamiliar with the circumstances of our sect, Martial Uncle. These are things you can learn slowly over time.”
His patience was admirable. If he had slapped him across the ear midway through the story, he would have been acquitted in the first trial, yet Baek Mu-seong never lost his smile.
No wonder his title has ‘Crane’ in it.
Just as I was thinking that to myself, Cheong Pung smiled brightly and said to me.
“Benefactor, they say these people are my Martial Nephews!¹”
“Ah, yes. Congratulations.”
“Do you want to be my Martial Nephew too, benefactor?”
“…Me?”
“Why? If you don’t like being a Martial Nephew, I can make you a Martial Uncle.”
This crazy bastard is spouting crazy talk. Not only could Cheong Pung not decide that on his own, but being Cheong Pung’s Martial Uncle would make one the junior brother of the great Sword Saint Mae Jong-hak. I didn’t know for sure, but I could probably send the Huashan Sect Leader on a cigarette run.
That’s not a bad idea.
Just as I was about to nod my head, mesmerized, a voice cut in.
“Haha, Young Hero Cheong, you, certainly, know how to, tell, a joke.”
His mouth was smiling, but his eyes were the complete opposite. Wi Peng’s murderous glare snapped me back to my senses.
“No. I’m fine.”
“Really? That’s a shame.”
Unlike the other two members of the Three Absolutes of Plum Blossom, who stood with their mouths agape in bewilderment, Baek Mu-seong simply smiled.
“While making you a disciple of the sect would be impossible, it is possible to host you as an honored guest.”
I blinked my eyes.
“Was that, just now, a formal invitation?”
“Of course. An outstanding rising star such as yourself, Young Hero Jin, is always welcome. And…” the soft voice continued, “you could also be a good traveling companion for Martial Uncle Cheong Pung on his way back to the sect.”
Cheong Pung, who had been bouncing with excitement, froze mid-air.
“What? Returning?”
“Yes, Martial Uncle Cheong Pung.”
Baek Mu-seong offered a deep fist-clasp salute. A solemn voice, different from before, followed.
“It is the Sect Leader’s command. Please return to the Huashan Sect.”
As Cheong Pung disappeared into the Great Hall of the Jin Family estate, Cheol Woo clicked his tongue.
“What kind of old… I mean, Martial Uncle, is like that?”
Eun-hyang, who usually bickered with Cheol Woo over every little thing, nodded in agreement for once.
“I know, right? I never thought there would be someone who could refuse our master’s command.”
“Well, there is one person. The Grandmaster.”²
“Brother Cheol Woo, he should be excluded from the discussion.”
Cheol Woo scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish.
“Well, that’s true, but.”
The authority of the Sect Leader was absolute. Even if one’s rank in the hierarchy was higher than the Sect Leader’s, one could not openly refuse a command. To challenge the Sect Leader’s authority was to tarnish the name of the sect. This system was especially firm in major sects.
“But to refuse so flatly… Hah, I knew he was a unique person, but this is beyond my imagination.”
“What you’ve seen is just the tip of the iceberg.³ A while ago, he was talking about dumplings… no, never mind.”
Shaking his head, Cheol Woo asked cautiously.
“What is your plan now, Eldest Brother?”
“I wonder.”
Baek Mu-seong, who had been lost in thought, opened his mouth.
“I, too, did not expect Martial Uncle Cheong Pung to refuse so adamantly.”
“At this point, shouldn’t the Hall of Law Enforcement⁴ step in, rather than us?”
“Why do you think so?”
“Because he disobeyed our master’s command.”
If one broke even a minor rule of the Huashan Sect, they would be summoned by the Hall of Law Enforcement. If the Hall, which handled every minor infraction with razor-sharp precision, were to judge, Cheong Pung would be no different from a felon.
Baek Mu-seong chuckled at his junior brother’s huffing.
“Our Martial Uncle has not broken any sect rules.”
“Pardon?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The sect rules only apply to the disciples of our sect. Does a disciple of the Qingcheng Sect get punished for violating the rules of Shaolin?”
“Does that make sense?”
“Of course it does. But Martial Uncle Cheong Pung is… a Martial Uncle. He’s the Grandmaster’s disciple.”
“If only it were that simple.”
Baek Mu-seong added with a sigh.
“Strictly speaking, Martial Uncle Cheong Pung is no different from an outsider. This has all happened because he has not undergone the initiation ceremony.”
Every disciple, whether of the main sect or a lay disciple, undergoes an initiation ceremony. Only then do they become a disciple of the Huashan Sect and have their name recorded in the sect register. However, Cheong Pung was different.
“Who would have thought the Grandmaster would do such a thing?”
Baek Mu-seong remembered the events of ten years ago clearly. A long time had passed since the Sword Saint went into seclusion, so his own master, Heavenly Sword Sage, had taken a few people and begun to search Mount Hua himself. In the residence they finally discovered, a ten-year-old boy was brandishing a sword.
“It was a dumbfounding sight.”
The boy, whose origins and upbringing were a complete mystery, had already learned the ultimate arts of the Huashan Sect. And the shocking achievements of that boy, Cheong Pung, were buried by the subsequent remarks of the Sword Saint who then appeared.
‘You want me to let him enter the sect?’
‘Yes, Master. I plan to hold an initiation ceremony and accept him as a disciple of the main sect. The order of things may have been reversed, but we cannot turn a blind eye to such a once-in-a-millennium talent…’
‘Turn a blind eye.’
‘Pardon?’
‘I’m telling you to continue turning a blind eye. I will send him when the time is right.’
‘M-Master!’
‘And do not come looking for me again. Before I burn this whole place down.’
‘B-Burn down Mount Hua! Are you suggesting we all die together!’
‘Huh, come to think of it, you’re right. Anyway, just know that. Cheong Pung, this child, I will take responsibility for him.’
Cheol Woo and Eun-hyang, who had been listening, stood with their mouths agape.
“D-Did he really say that?”
“Aren’t you exaggerating a bit?”
“I wish it were an exaggeration… but you both know what happened afterwards, don’t you?”
Cheong Pung, who was supposed to be sent when the time was right, had emerged into the world without a trace, and the Sword Saint had vanished completely.
“In truth, what our master is worried about is not the Grandmaster, but Martial Uncle Cheong Pung.”
Cheong Pung had already shown incredible achievement ten years ago. However, the world, especially the martial world, was a place overflowing with all sorts of schemes. It was far too dangerous for someone who was not even a disciple of the Huashan Sect to wander around possessing its ultimate arts.
“We must bring Martial Uncle Cheong Pung back. For his sake, and for the sake of our sect. Do you understand?”
The two, who had been nodding at the voice filled with a sense of mission, suddenly spoke up.
“But, Eldest Brother.”
“How do we bring him back? By force?”
“That is…”
Baek Mu-seong, pausing, let out a deep sigh.
“First, we must win the Hidden Dragon of Shanxi over to our side.”
The three of them simultaneously recalled Cheong Pung’s last words.
‘I want to stay with my benefactor!’
The Hidden Dragon of Shanxi, Jin Tae-kyung. Baek Mu-seong’s head throbbed at this unexpected obstacle.
But what kind of help did he receive to be called a benefactor? Could it be that his life was saved?
***
The bond that had started with a few sticks of candied hawthorn was proving to be more tenacious than expected.
The moment he entered the Great Hall, Wi Peng immediately asked.
“What on earth did you do?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m talking about Young Hero Cheong.”
People’s gazes naturally turned to Cheong Pung. The boy was stuffing his cheeks with the refreshments that had been placed on the table until they were about to burst.
“I didn’t really do anything.”
“He defied the command of the Huashan Sect Leader. He said he would stay with you, Third Young Master.”
“So?”
“So? Do you not realize that if things go wrong, the relationship between our family and the Huashan Sect could become awkward?”
Is this like a mother hating her son’s friend because her model student’s grades dropped? I shrugged my shoulders.
“I’ll try to persuade him.”
“You must, you absolutely must persuade him.”
His voice was filled with firm resolve. Wi Peng whipped his head around towards Jin Wi-gyeong, who was seated at the head seat.
“My lord, please say something as well.”
“I understand.”
Jin Wi-gyeong parted his lips with a heavy expression.
“My youngest. Your face has grown so haggard in just a few days. Was the journey difficult? Do you know how worried I was…”
“Please stop. I was a madman to have trusted you, my lord.”
“Don’t be like that. Our youngest will handle it well on his own.”
“This is maddening. As of today, I am leaving the Taiyuan Jin Family.”
“Hahaha. This friend of mine certainly knows how to joke.”
“Did that sound like a joke to you?”
“Yes. It was very funny.”
“I am not amused. I haven’t been amused ever since the Third Young Master, who was supposed to arrive by noon yesterday, was late.”
Jin Wi-gyeong’s eyes widened.
“Ah, speaking of which, my youngest.”
“As you promised last time, you must scold him very harshly this time.”
“What is that sword tied to your back? It looks like you had it made on your trip, let me see it.”
Wi Peng, unable to contain his anger, shot up from his seat.
“I’m really leaving. It’s been dirty, and let’s never see each other again.”
“Hahaha. My friend, what’s with him today? Why is he trying so hard to make people laugh?”
“Damn it all. Draw your sword.”
“Tae-kyung. It seems our friend Wi Peng wants to see your new sword. Would you draw it for him?”
“Uwaaaaargh!”
With his eyes rolled back, Wi Peng let out a monstrous scream and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. But his body froze at my next words.
“It was a gift from the Fire King, so it’s probably best not to touch it if possible.”
“…?”
“…?”
Jin Wi-gyeong and Wi Peng, who had been blinking silently, barely managed to speak.
“The Fire what?”
“Third Young Master, what nonsense are you spouting now?”
“The Fire King. That old man entrusted me with a sword. Oh, and a martial arts manual too.”
Tuduk, teong.
In the suffocating silence, the sound of Wi Peng dropping his sword echoed like thunder.