Hyun Jong looked at the person sitting before him with pity in his eyes.
Unlike the worried man, the expression of the one sitting opposite him was utterly calm, and that made his heart ache even more.
‘I am truly an inadequate person.’
In hindsight, Baek Cheon’s criticism had been ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) accurate. Hyun Jong had clearly been tornted by excessive responsibility towards the Baek disciples and Chung disciples, and so he wanted to protect them at all costs.
Until the day they could enjoy what they were rightfully owed.
But when he thought about it, weren’t the ones he truly should have cherished and protected not Baek disciples and Chung disciples, but Un disciples?
Of course Baek disciples and Chung disciples were pitiable and unfortunate for having entered a fallen Mount Hua, but Un disciples had borne the full brunt of that downfall. He had to watch a previously capable clan crumble all at once and, in the end, shoulder the despair of failing to save Mount Hua.
And yet Hyun Jong had failed to cherish Un disciples as he had done with Baek disciples or Chung disciples.
‘How utterly shaful.’
Though he intellectually knew that in a declining household the eldest son suffered most, he felt like a head of the family who couldn’t take his eyes off the youngest. Worse, by the ti he realized it, he had already beco the useless head who had nothing left to give the eldest.
“Really...”
Hyun Jong hesitated slightly, as if his words were stuck or his throat tight, and asked.
“Are you truly all right with this?”
At the voice thick with inescapable affection, Un Am scratched his head awkwardly.
“It’s unnecessary to bring it up anew, Sect leader. Isn’t this a story that’s already over?”
“It may be for you, but not for .”
Hyun Jong let out a deep sigh.
“Hey, you fool. Where is it acceptable to decide such a thing on a whim without so much as a word of consultation with , the Sect leader of the Sect?”
“I’m sorry. But it was not a situation in which I could possibly consult...”
“You should have done it anyway, still.”
Un Am scratched the back of his head in embarrassnt. Hyun Jong sighed once more.
It wasn’t that Un Am frustrated him. It was that what he was saying to Un Am felt no different from the complaints of an old man left only with stubbornness.
“You brat... Was the position of Sect leader ever that easy?”
“No, of course not.”
Un Am smiled calmly.
“The position of Sect leader of Mount Hua requires imnse responsibility and ability. Only the most outstanding in the sect are qualified to assu it.”
“....”
“Therefore it is not my place, Sect leader.”
“Not your place!”
Unable to hold back any longer, Hyun Jong snapped angrily.
“What are you lacking! What could you possibly lack that makes you say it’s not your place? It was naturally the position you should have taken!”
“Sect leader.”
Un Am gave a small, embarrassed sigh.
He was not a weak man by nature, but Hyun Jong’s gaze kept making him feel at a loss.
“Do not consider so great.”
“...What do you an by that?”
“If this were an ordinary age—if not a golden age, then at least a reasonably peaceful ti—I too would have desired the position of Sect leader, naturally.”
“....”
“But this is not such a ti, is it?”
His voice was simply calm. Given Hyun Jong’s outburst, one might expect so lingering attachnt, but there was none to be seen in Un Am.
A transcendent sage? No, not that. If he were such a sage, he would also find the Sect leader’s seat aningless.
Right now Un Am fully understood the value of the Mount Hua Sect leader’s seat, yet he chose not to cling to it.
Hyun Jong found that fact admirable and yet unbearably painful.
“The one who must lead Mount Hua in the coming age must be more dependable than anyone and quicker in judgnt than anyone.”
Un Am shook his head with a faint smile.
“But Sect leader, I am not such a person. I have confidence in enduring, waiting, and making well-considered decisions, but that role is difficult for .”
“Hey, you brat... Why think in such a manner? Can’t those kids, your sahyung sajaes, help you? Am I so great man who holds Mount Hua’s Sect leader post either?”
“Perhaps. But Sect leader, is it really necessary?”
Un Am smiled slightly.
“They are good children.”
“....”
“What troubles is not that I did not beco Sect leader. It’s not that my expected path diverged and left confused about the future. What truly bothers are the sect children’s eyes, looking at not knowing what to do.”
“....”
“They need not be like that; they’re far too kind towards ...”
Hyun Jong snapped his eyes shut. He knew from the start that persuasion was impossible.
In so respects Un Am was Mount Hua’s greatest stubborn man. Without that trait, he would never have resolved to stay and carry on the sect’s line when his attachnt was not yet strong. Thus once he made up his mind, nothing would turn him.
“Un Am.”
“You need not look at with such eyes, Sect leader.”
“....”
“Please do not dwell only on what you couldn’t do for . A teacher’s or a parent’s gaze on their pupil or child is bound to be that way, but my position is different, is it not?”
Un Am said with a gentle smile.
“I’m not unhappy because I did not beco Sect leader. I’m exceedingly happy to be a disciple of Mount Hua.”
“....”
“And not becoming Sect leader doesn’t an my duties in Mount Hua vanish. Perhaps I must beco busier than the Sect leader. It won’t be easy for Baek Sang to run the sect alone. As you know, Baek Cheon has the backbone but is really untalented in those matters.”
“Un Am...”
“Sect leader.”
Un Am looked Hyun Jong straight in the eye and spoke.
“In my youth I wanted to be the Plum Blossom.”
“....”
“I wanted to inherit the years of endurance you upheld, Sect leader, and beco the plum blossom that blooms brilliantly. I wanted to be the one to end the Sect leader’s winter.”
Un Am quietly shook his head.
“But I eventually realized that role was not mine, and I was not the kind of person who could fulfill it.”
Hyun Jong emitted a low, pained sound. Un Am’s face, however, remained serene.
“So I resolved to beco the root. I realized that for a flower to bloom splendidly, the root must be strong in the ground. If the children who follow produce the most beautiful blossoms, what matters if I remain buried in the soil?”
“The position of Sect leader is like that root, Un Am.”
“Yes, that’s true. But... as ti passed I ca to know another truth. Even that root was not my role.”
Pain flickered in Hyun Jong’s eyes. He could be neither flower nor root—what, then, was Un Am ant to be?
Sensing the emotion in the Sect leader’s gaze, Un Am smiled faintly.
“Sect leader.”
“Yes.”
“So do you know now what I intend to beco?”
“...What do you intend to beco?”
Un Am nodded calmly and said.
“In my youth I did not know it. When my heart was full of ambition and I strove not to lose my vigor, I could not see it clearly. All I saw then was the great plum tree.”
“....”
“But now I know. Mount Hua is the plum blossom. Yet no plum blossom can bloom without soil in which to take root.”
Those words weighed heavily on Hyun Jong’s chest.
“Therefore I will beco the soil. I will be the ground where those children can take root and produce the most beautiful flowers. Soil is not the plum blossom, but how can the blossom bloom without soil? That is also an important role.”
Hyun Jong closed his eyes.
Tao Inheritance.
He had that thought. Perhaps Hyun Jong, too obsessed with the sect’s fortunes, had failed to recognize the one who could truly cultivate Mount Hua’s Way.
If this had been a peaceful age... Un Am would certainly have beco the Sect leader to promulgate Mount Hua’s Way across the land. He would have been a Sect leader acknowledged by predecessors and successors alike. Like a flower that blooms more beautifully on barren ground, Mount Hua’s harsh years had led Un Am to blossom his Tao.
“So there is nothing to regret. If Baek Cheon becos Sect leader and spreads Mount Hua’s fa, that will also be my rit; if Yoon Jong becos Sect leader and spreads Mount Hua’s Way, will that not also be my rit?”
“...And Chung Myung?”
“What a thing to say in this instance...”
“....”
“....”
“Ahem, yes.”
Hyun Jong cleared his throat softly, composed his expression, and looked at Un Am straight on again.
“Will you be all right with that?”
“The matter was sudden, but as you know it has been thought over for a long ti. People have their own roles. There must have been a flow of providence we did not understand that led Chung Myung to co into Mount Hua.”
“....”
“It’s sothing that should be allowed to proceed naturally, Sect leader. To regard what is natural as unnatural is rely human greed, isn’t it?”
Hyun Jong squeezed his eyes shut.
“You are...”
“....”
“You are a seeker of the Tao. You are a Taoist. And I am simply ashad.”
Un Am smiled faintly.
“If you think so, do not be ashad—be proud. Sect leader, you made what I am and made Mount Hua what it is. The predecessors would surely think so as well.”
“All right... I will.”
A rueful sigh escaped Hyun Jong’s lips.
He understood Un Am’s position, that his thinking was not wrong, and that this too was natural course.
But still, the lingering attachnt in his heart remained because he was human.
‘Letting go of affection and attachnt is such a hard thing. That’s why the path to transcendence is arduous.’
Hyun Jong called Un Am gently.
“Un Am.”
“Yes, Sect leader.”
Then he bowed deeply to him. Startled, Un Am grabbed Hyun Jong’s shoulder to steady him.
“Why, why are you doing this, Sect leader! You mustn’t do this.”
“...Thank you.”
“....”
“As Mount Hua’s Sect leader, as a seeker of the Tao before that, and as a man—I’ll say it plainly. I’m simply grateful.”
Un Am could not reply and pressed his lips shut. Even he, usually so calm, felt sothing well up in his chest at that mont.
“All of Mount Hua, and Mount Hua of the future, will rember you as you are now. You will show future generations what it truly ans to pursue the Tao.”
Un Am paused briefly and bowed his head.
“Thank you, Sect leader.”
His shoulders trembled slightly. Hyun Jong silently patted them.
Teacher and disciple, who had shared most of their lives, comforted each other in silence. For quite a long ti...
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