ROTMHS Special Spin-off - Chapter 4

Chapter 4. Uh, There... (4)

“...How is he?”

“He’s been out of it the whole time.”

“.....”

Baek Cheon let out a low groan, his face darkening.

“Uh, how bad?”

“Seems pretty serious.”

“So what exactly is wrong?”

Jo Geol shrugged and continued.

“Well, it’s the kind of thing you have to see to get, but for example, yesterday he was drinking on the eaves.”

“That’s nothing new.”

“The liquor just kept spilling out of the bottle—dripping all over the floor.”

Baek Cheon’s face turned pale.

That lunatic obsessed with alcohol is spilling liquor on the floor? The same guy who, even while looting bandit storehouses and handing everything out to the commoners, would say, ‘Liquor did nothing wrong. What good does it do for commoners to drink?’ and stash all the alcohol separately?

“......What kind of situation am I supposed to compare this to?”

It was so absurd he couldn’t even think of a fitting comparison.

“To that extent?”

“That’s not even the serious part, sasuk.”

“Huh?”

“Yesterday, during sparring, that bastard Geol cracked Cheong Myeong’s head.”

Clatter.

Baek Cheon dropped the spoon he was holding.

“You shouldn’t be shocked yet. The important part isn’t that Jo Geol smashed Cheong Myeong’s head. It’s that Cheong Myeong just walked away after getting hit like that.”

“W-what…?”

“Looks like he didn’t even realize he got hit.”

That must be it. Otherwise, there’s no way Jo Geol would still be standing here on two feet. Back then, when Baek Cheon managed an astonishing thrust and barely grazed Cheong Myeong’s side, what happened?

‘Was it three days I was bedridden? Or four?’

Didn’t that petty bastard hold a grudge and beat him half to death over that?

And now what? Not somewhere else, but his head was smashed, and he just let it slide?

“Is he actually dying or something?”

If not, this made no sense at all…

“About half the disciples are stopping by Jade Spring Temple after training these days.”

“Why Jade Spring Temple?”

“They’re begging the ancestors to spare them. The atmosphere right now is downright ominous.”

“......”

Baek Cheon nodded blankly.

Did he feel like telling them to stop overreacting? Not a chance. As soon as this conversation ended, he planned to go to Jade Spring Temple and pray as well.

“What the hell is wrong with him?”

“Who knows.”

Yoon Jong let out a deep sigh.

 “No, there has to be a reason.”

“......Isn’t thinking there has to be a reason just our fixed notion of still considering Cheong Myeong as something like a human? The mountain is mountain, the water is water. Cheong Myeong is simply Cheong Myeong, wouldn’t that itself be the Tao?”

[tl note: “The mountain is mountain, the water is water” reflects a Zen/Buddhist-style expression about accepting things as they are, without imposing interpretation.]

“What kind of insane nonsense is that! Why are you bringing up the Tao here!”

“......It’s a Taoist temple. Where else would you look for the Tao?”

“Stop talking bullshit and move aside, sahyung.”

“......”

Baek Cheon and Jo Geol leaned their heads together and began to think. Of course, the reason they were this serious wasn’t simply because Cheong Myeong was acting strange.

It was because they were certain, whenever that bastard entered a state like this, something disastrous was bound to happen.

“What could it be?”

“......Did someone raid his liquor stash?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why not? It’s common knowledge that that bastard hides liquor all over the place. If one of those got raided, this kind of reaction wouldn’t be surprising.”

“Well… actually, I’ve raided a few of them myself with the others, but it didn’t seem like just one or two spots. That alone wouldn’t push him this far.”

“......”

Baek Cheon stared blankly at Jo Geol, then tilted his head.

“You’re saying you found and raided what Cheong Myeong hid? Are you sure it was just you guys?”

“Well… actually, a monk helped too…”

“......”

Baek Cheon squeezed his eyes shut.

‘Hye Yeon seunim… just how far are you going with this!’

A Shaolin monk stealing liquor, unbelievable.

If they were to inform Beop Jeong—who must be praying day and night in Shaolin for Hye Yeon to return—wouldn’t he clutch the back of his head and collapse on the spot? In that case, there’d be no need to go out of their way to torment him; one blow would be enough to send him off.

“The fact that I told you this is a secret. He’s a very sensitive man, you see.”

“A sensitive man who steals liquor?”

“If you loot a good person’s storehouse, it’s theft. If you loot a bad person’s storehouse, you become a righteous bandit. Seen that way, isn’t it a good deed?”

“Uh…?”

Now that he put it that way…

“No, that’s not the point. Anyway, you’re saying it’s not that?”

“Yes.”

“Then what the hell is it?”

“Exactly. Eugh.”

While Jo Geol and Baek Cheon sat clutching their heads in frustration, Yoo Iseol, who had been watching them silently, finally spoke.

“Why are you worrying?”

“Hm? Because we have to figure it out, obviously.”

“You know what kind of incident it’ll be. What that bastard does when he gets like that. We can’t just sit and wait for it.”

“That’s not it.”

“Huh?”

“You can just ask him. Go directly.”

“......”

“Idiots.”

“......”

✿ ✿ ✿

“Nothing. Nothing.”

“......”

“What worry? I’m a man who has no worries as long as it’s not because of you lot. Hngh?”

“......”

“So stop thinking useless thoughts. If you have time for this, go train. With that level of martial skill, do you even have room for stray thoughts? I wouldn’t even be able to sleep.”

It was the usual verbal abuse, the usual snapping tone. So there wasn’t anything particularly strange about it.

The location wasn’t strange either. Someone might find it odd that they were on the roof, but at least not them. This bastard treated rooftops like his own house.

So the drinking spread laid out on the roof, and the scene of him getting flushed while drinking heavily—none of that was strange.

Right. Except for one thing.

The one he was drinking with wasn’t human.

“Kyaaaaa!”

A weasel, gripping a cup twice the size of its front paw, downed the liquor in one go and then shook the cup dry before placing it on its head.

“What… am I even looking at?”

“Is the world actually ending?”

“......I lived long enough to see a weasel drink liquor and flick the cup dry.”

Maybe all of this was one massive nightmare.

But no matter how much they pinched their own cheeks, nothing changed. What could they do? If they were the ones who had gone mad, at least they could seek treatment. But if the world itself had gone mad, then all they could do was accept it and live on.

‘He’s definitely not in his right mind, right?’

‘Is that even a question?’

‘Honestly, isn’t it a bit ambiguous? Drinking with an animal isn’t exactly something a person does, but that bastard isn’t exactly someone you’d call normal either.’

‘The problem isn’t that he’s treating an animal like a person. The problem is that he’s sharing liquor with it.’

‘Ah.’

He was definitely insane.

If it were the usual Cheong Myeong, the moment Baek-ah dipped even a paw into the liquor cup, he would’ve gone into a rage about skinning it alive and turning it into a scarf.

‘Say something to him.’

‘What do you say to a madman?’

‘You always talk to him normally, don’t you?’

‘Ah.’

Baek Cheon, having attained enlightenment, nodded.

[tl note: “Attained enlightenment” is used humorously here, not literal Buddhist enlightenment but a sudden, trivial realization.]

“Uh… Cheong Myeong.”

“Hm?”

“Right. So you’re saying you don’t have any worries?”

“.....Do you want me to tell you what I’m actually worried about?”

“No. No. No need to hear it.”

It would just be insults anyway.

“Instead, let’s make one promise. You’re not going to suddenly flip Mount Hua upside down, or run out of the sect, or go somewhere and crack someone’s head open… nothing like that, right?”

“What exactly do you take people for, sasuk?”

“You.”

“......”

An awkward silence passed briefly between the two.

“Anyway, then it’s a promise.”

“I said I got it.”

“Then I’ll trust you and go. For real.”

“Go! Just go already!”

“......I’m really trusting you.”

Baek Cheon and the disciples, who had been clinging persistently, kept casting doubtful glances at Cheong Myeong before finally shuffling away.

“Tch. Seriously…”

Watching them disappear into the distance, Cheong Myeong clicked his tongue and drained his cup in one go.

‘Guess it showed a little.’

Those guys had gotten sharper lately. He’d only been just slightly more awkward than usual trying to hide what was on his mind, yet they still picked up on it.

“But that was just until a moment ago.”

Yes, he admitted it. He had been troubled. But now it was settled.

“Why the hell should I be the one cleaning up that mess?”

Let’s speak plainly. It wasn’t a sin Cheong Myeong committed, was it? And yet, just because he shared blood with Cheong Mun, he had to look into it?

What nonsense. It had already been four generations. By kinship terms, it was beyond sixth-degree relatives. At that distance, even if Cheong Mun himself were alive, he would’ve awkwardly backed off saying, ‘We’re not that close…’

[tl note: Refers to traditional Korean kinship calculation (chonsu, 촌수(寸數)), where relational distance is measured numerically. “Four generations” and “beyond sixth-degree relatives” indicate an extremely distant familial tie—distant enough that there is no real social obligation, and one would naturally keep their distance out of awkwardness.]

Even more so, Cheong Mun had left his family to become a monk. Unless that man changed his mind right before death and returned to lay life, they were practically strangers.

And yet, for something like that, he had to take uncertain information and go all the way to Shandong?

“Talk some sense.”

He took another long drink and let out a faint chuckle.

Was it cold-hearted? Not at all.

If Cheong Mun knew of this situation, what would he say? ‘It is unfortunate, but I have already severed ties with my family. Even if circumstances change, severed bonds do not reconnect. Do not trouble yourself.’ Yes. He would definitely say that.

Then what if that bastard Cheong Jin heard about this situation?

‘Heh, unbelievable, sticking his nose into everything. Can’t even handle his own faction, running here and there like some rabid dog in the height of summer, and now he thinks he can take care of that too? Seriously. If you’ve got nothing better to do, go teach the kids or something. Why do you keep making more work for yourself? Why?’ …Yeah. That actually pisses me off.

“I should’ve beaten that bastard a bit more.”

It was a lifelong regret that he never managed to fix that rotten attitude of his, even until the moment he died.

Anyway, putting that aside, weren’t the opinions of the two people he trusted most in his life… no, his previous life(?), in agreement?

Truth be told, he couldn’t say he had been completely free of hesitation. But after finishing the conversation with the “spirits” of those two that lingered within him, Cheong Myeong finally reached a conclusion.

“Yeah. I’m not going. Absolutely not.”

Having found inner peace, Cheong Myeong’s face was finally dyed in complete calm.

— No matter how much one turns their head and averts their eyes, how could there be no lingering attachment?”

✿ ✿ ✿

Bang!

“......”

“I’m going to Shandong for a bit.”

“.....”

“I’ll be back soon, real soon. It’s a simple matter.”

With a bundle bigger than his own body slung over his shoulder, Cheong Myeong declared boldly.

“Don’t tell the others. It’ll get annoying. Just you know, sasuk.”

A perfectly clear smile formed on Baek Cheon’s lips.

“You got it?”

Yes, it really had been a long time.

Since he last thought he wanted to kill someone.

Next Chapter

✿ ✿ ✿

If anyone wants to donate to motivate me (I'll use the money to buy the RAWs from Naver Series too). Thank you so much!

- Buy Me a Coffee

- Patreon

- Trakteer (this one for Indonesian)