Read Novel Full Chapter 1165: What Should We Do. (5)
Chapter 1165: What Should We Do. (5)
A white hand revealed beneath a white silk robe lightly grasped a red wine cup.
Jang Ilso tilted his head back, slowly blinking as he gazed at the moon hanging in the sky. After silently staring at the moon for a long while, he shifted his gaze to the wine cup in his hand.
The cup was filled to the brim, as if it might overflow at any moment. The moon reflected inside it shimmered and flickered.
“When I sing, the moon wanders...”
A whisper-like voice slowly flowed from his lips.
“When I dance, the shadows scatter wildly.”
Jang Ilso brought the cup to his lips and slowly tilted it.
“When awake, we enjoy together; when drunk, no trace remains...”
The empty cup held neither wine nor moonlight anymore. Yet Jang Ilso silently just stared at the empty cup.
“That’s Li Bai.”
Ho Ga-Myung approached and spoke softly.
“I didn’t know Alliance Lord favored the Poet Immortal.”
“...Li Bai.”
Jang Ilso murmured with a smile.
“I don’t like him. No... I rather dislike him.”
“You mean Li Bai?”
Jang Ilso’s gaze shifted to the river. The moon flickering on the water’s surface was visible.
“Li Bai... drowned trying to scoop the moon reflected in the river.”
“...”
“How foolish.”
Jang Ilso threw the cup he held into the river in one swift motion. The ripples disturbed the moon’s reflection on the water.
But the trembling moon soon regained its form, calmly.
“That’s just an illusion. No matter how much you try, you can never catch it. But still...”
A faint smile blossomed on Jang Ilso’s lips.
“It doesn’t disappear. So you can’t help but watch it, as if enchanted.”
“But there’s the real moon in the sky, isn’t there?”
“You can’t reach it.”
Jang Ilso tilted his head back as if letting it hang.
“The moon in the sky can’t be reached no matter how desperately you stretch your hand. But the moon on the river seems catchable if you just reach out...”
“...”
“So Li Bai must have drowned too. He wanted to have that moon no matter what.”
After staring at the moon on the water for a long time with half-closed eyes, Jang Ilso’s gaze turned to Ho Ga-Myung.
“What do you think, Ga-Myung? Do I look like I’m trying to catch the moon reflected in the water?”
Ho Ga-Myung gave a small smile at those words.
“I don’t know about that, but I do know how to get the unreachable moon in your hand.”
“...How?”
Ho Ga-Myung silently walked over, placed a new cup before Jang Ilso, and filled it with wine. The moon rose again over the full cup.
“Here it is.”
“...”
“It disappears when you drink it, but if you refill it, you have it again, don’t you? Don’t regret the lost moon; just pour more wine.”
Jang Ilso chuckled softly.
“The truly clever one is someone else.”
Jang Ilso reached out and slowly drank the wine Ho Ga-Myung poured.
Ho Ga-Myung, silently watching, spoke with a slightly heavier voice.
“I failed to persuade Deadly Lone Tiger.”
Jang Ilso did not answer and only stared at the river.
“He said he would rather die than follow Alliance lord.”
Ho Ga-Myung spoke softly, seeing Jang Ilso still silent.
“...There was no other way, so I executed him.”
“I see.”
Jang Ilso slowly opened his mouth.
“Did he have family?”
“I believe he has a wife and son in the Fukien region. Though he himself left home at least ten years ago...”
“A heartless man.”
“Isn’t that how such people usually are?”
“Send enough money to the remaining family to last a lifetime.”
Ho Ga-Myung looked at Jang Ilso without answering.
“Why?”
“It might be a bit presumptuous, but... he was someone who rebelled against the Alliance Lord. Foolish enough to serve the wrong lord and ultimately make the wrong choice. Why bother with his family...”
“Wrong...”
Jang Ilso turned his head back to look at the river.
“Yes... foolish enough to enter the service of the wealthy lord, foolish enough to remain loyal to the end. Humans are not dogs, yet he lives like a dog, a fool of the world.”
“Indeed.”
“But... well. Is that really wrong?”
“...Alliance Lord?”
Jang Ilso chuckled softly.
“If the world could be clearly divided into right and wrong, what would be difficult? You’d just have to decide who is right.”
“...”
“But Ga-Myung... everyone has their own ‘rightness.’”
Ho Ga-Myung slowly nodded.
“That’s why it’s hard. No one is wrong, but there’s only one path to choose.”
“Then what should we do?”
“Someone will persuade, someone will try to suppress with logic. Someone will wait, someone will plead, and someone will be moved. But I just...”
Clang!
The cup in Jang Ilso’s hand cracked sharply and then shattered into pieces.
“You just trample and take it. That’s the fastest way.”
Jang Ilso lifted a half-full bottle of wine and slowly poured it. The spilling wine slowly flowed into the river.
“I don’t feel sorry for those I’ve trampled, but can’t I at least offer a cup of wine? Isn’t that right?”
Ho Ga-Myung quietly nodded.
“I will follow your orders.”
“Good. Let’s do that.”
“Yes, then.”
Ho Ga-Myung bowed and quietly withdrew, and Jang Ilso’s gaze returned to the moon on the river.
‘Who is right...’
It was hopelessly meaningless.
Beop Jeong’s lips quietly closed.
Chung Myung’s clear gaze pressed coldly upon him. It was like a sharply frozen blade piercing deep into his lungs.
Darkness had fallen, and in the lamp-lit room, only those eyes shone brightly.
This was not the first time he saw those eyes. He had seen them many times before.
And each time, Beop Jeong had to struggle to hide his true intentions, trying to avoid the inexplicable discomfort felt from the eyes of a child who had barely lived half his life.
Yes, discomfort...
Though he says it now, that discomfort might have been another form of fear. Fear felt from someone who should never instill fear, so even he himself did not understand it.
Beop Jeong quietly closed his eyes.
After honestly admitting his inner feelings, his mind calmed. When he came here, Beop Jeong had already expected such a moment.
‘Mount Hua’s Sword Saint.’
Someone he could never understand no matter how hard he tried. Someone who always went opposite to his path and achieved unimaginable feats.
He himself was a threat to Beop Jeong and to Shaolin.
Therefore, Beop Jeong had tried to control Mount Hua’s Sword Saint by any means. But after deep suffering, he realized why he feared Chung Myung.
‘Because he was not mine to have, because I could not imprison him within me, I was afraid.’
If Shaolin had someone like Chung Myung, would Beop Jeong have feared him? Would he have regarded him as a threat and tried to suppress him?
No, absolutely not. He might have welcomed Chung Myung’s existence more than anyone else. Someone who could fill what Shaolin currently lacked.
What does this mean?
‘If you can’t understand him, keep him close.’
Because the moment the other is no longer an enemy, fear will also disappear.
Therefore, Beop Jeong’s conclusion was one: to somehow embrace Shaolin and Mount Hua’s Sword Saint, preparing an offer they could never refuse.
Beop Jeong slowly opened his eyes.
“Taoist.”
Chung Myung faced Beop Jeong without a word, his gaze unchanged.
“To be honest... I anticipated this moment even before coming here.”
“...What do you mean?”
Beop Jeong smiled faintly.
“I didn’t know what questions you’d ask, nor how you’d react. But I thought you’d definitely bring up something I didn’t expect.”
Beop Jeong smiled again.
“You’ve always been like that.”
Chung Myung’s lips twitched slightly. He sensed that Beop Jeong was different {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} from usual.
“So before coming here, I set one principle.”
“What is that?”
“No matter what questions I face.”
Beop Jeong stared at Chung Myung unwaveringly, not avoiding his gaze even an inch.
“I will never utter a lie.”
Chung Myung frowned.
“It’s natural for a Buddhist to do so, but it’s absurd for a Buddhist to say that. It means you’ve been lying as if eating rice until now.”
“Maybe so.”
“Shaolin seems finished too. The abbot calmly says such things.”
Chung Myung lightly reproached, and Beop Jeong shook his head.
“I never intended to lie. But sometimes even the truth becomes a lie.”
Chung Myung clicked his tongue shortly, understanding what Beop Jeong meant.
“Sounds like you won’t say obvious things like ‘I’ll try my best’ or ‘I’ll take responsibility.’”
“Amitabha.”
Beop Jeong softly chanted the Buddha’s name.
“That’s right. Sometimes in this position, you have to speak lies that aren’t lies. You don’t think they’re lies yourself because you try to keep your word. But... not telling everything is just another form of lying.”
Beop Jeong looked at Chung Myung and thought.
‘How ridiculous.’
How did it come to this?
Even to him, Chung Myung was a hero of the world. No one could deny that now.
If he truly made it his life’s goal as Shaolin’s abbot to protect the murim world and restore its spirit, he should have welcomed someone like Chung Myung gladly.
But... until recently, Chung Myung’s existence was nothing more than a confusion filling his heart.
“So I will speak honestly.”
He knows.
What he must say here is a well-packaged lie. It makes his position look better.
Saying he’ll do his best to save Southern Island isn’t hard. Asking Heavenly Friends Alliance for help isn’t difficult either.
But Beop Jeong knows it’s just another form of lie. Hasn’t he already decided not to utter even a little lie here?
“You asked if I truly will do my best to save even one more person.”
“...Yes.”
Beop Jeong nodded.
“Then I will speak honestly.”
Beop Jeong’s dimmed gaze met Chung Myung’s in the air.
“Shaolin... I have no intention to save the Southern Island Sect.”
His voice was so calm that it pierced deeply and clearly into the hearts of those seated there.