Episode 1173 A man who can’t even answer. (3)
Everyone’s expressions were different.
Jo-geol’s face was distorted, and Hye-yeon’s face turned slightly white and she quietly expressed her displeasure.
Tang Xiaoxiao looked like she was going to cry if she was hit, and Yu Yi-Seol, who was standing next to her, was still expressionless, but her eyes were darker than usual.
And Yoonjong, with an expression that made it difficult to guess his true intentions, sighed softly.
‘This always holds me back.’
Whenever this happens, I realize that the world does not work the way I learned.
I was taught to respect consultation. Everyone who is part of a political faction will learn that. Keeping the agreement even at the cost of one’s life is the path that one who holds a sword must follow.
And learn again. We should cherish the death penalty more than our lives.
There is nothing wrong with those words.
But… if the agreement they so desperately want to keep drives even the death penalty victims, who they should care more about than themselves, down an irreversible path, then for what purpose do they have to keep the agreement?
“…Your words are too extreme.”
When Jo Geol blurted out, Baek Cheon shook his head.
“You were feeling it too, right?”
“….”
“Honestly, there is probably no one here who hasn’t thought about this. “Isn’t that right?”
Baekcheon raised his head. At this moment, no one could bear to look at Baekcheon. Even though he had not committed any crime, he just quietly avoided eye contact as if something made him feel uncomfortable.
“I thought that too sometimes. “Perhaps the reason we have been able to discuss negotiations without hesitation so far is because we have not lost anything.”
“No… Sasuk. “Is there a place as lost as a volcano?”
“Have you lost it?”
“yes?”
“Are the things you lost in the volcano the things you had?”
Jo Geol closed her mouth at those words. Baekcheon looked at him intently and sighed.
“We are the disciples of volcanoes. That’s why I think of what happened to the volcano as if I had experienced it myself. But… to put it bluntly, it was the volcano that was lost, not us. Think objectively. Did we lose anything when we entered the volcano?”
Jo Geol bowed his head.
Lost something? There’s no way something like that exists. From the time they first joined, Hwasan had been ruined to the point where it could not be further ruined, and since Cheongmyeong came in, it has developed at an unbelievable rate.
Paradoxically, they were the ones who gained the most because they entered the sect that lost the most.
“He who has not been hit does not know the pain of being hit. Anyone who has never been cut by a knife has no idea how scary that light blade can be. So… there is no way for those of us who have never lost to fully know the pain of those who have lost.
“Baekcheon chuckled. “
Isn’t that funny? “What would you think if someone who has never been cut by a knife says that he is not afraid of a flying knife and that he can cut himself ten or a hundred times?”
Jo Geol bit her lip slightly. What can I say? Someone who doesn’t even know the pain of being cut by a knife would have laughed at me for bluffing.”
That’s what I think. Maybe what we have been proudly shouting until now may be nothing more than the bravado of those who have not been cut by the sword. “I may have been able to shout that I would accept losing because I had never lost.”
Baekcheon quietly closed his eyes. They always risked their lives. I have always fought for what I believe in. But…
“Looking back, I guess I was a pretty cowardly person.”
“Sasuk… What do you mean by that all of a sudden?”
“When I went to Hangzhou, there was not a single hesitation in my heart. I was full of confidence. “I thought that was the natural thing to do as a disciple of Hwasan.”
“Isn’t that natural? How does that become cowardice?”
“But that’s what I think. Indeed, if Cheongmyeong hadn’t been in front of me at that time….” “
….” “If we had had to head to Hangzhou without him, would I really have been able to take a step without hesitation? Do you think you could have done that?”
Yoonjong shook his head.
“Sasook. That’s a meaningless assumption. “Consultation doesn’t mean you have to challenge and throw yourself into something impossible, right?”
“okay?”
The corner of Baekcheon’s mouth twitched slightly.
“It is said that agreement is to fight without considering gain or loss when you can win, but agreement is not to fight recklessly when you cannot win.”
“….”
“Ask again. Could you really go to Hangzhou without him? Since you believe it is right, do you think you could have gone to carry out the agreement without caring for your life and the life of the executioner next to you?”
No one could answer. A rather long and excruciating silence continued. Baekcheon, who had been waiting silently for an answer, opened his mouth heavily.
“Otherwise, the agreement we have been calling for will ultimately be nothing more than the bravery of someone who has not lost anything… no, the cowardice of someone who has no way of losing anything. “It is no different from a three-year-old child standing behind his father and shouting that he is a proud boy who will not tolerate injustice from his ten-year-old brother.”
“Amitabha Buddha….”
Hyeyeon said briefly and looked at Baekcheon with solemn eyes.
“Baekcheon Dongju. “What do you want to say?”
“I’m saying let’s admit it. And let’s think about it.”
“….”
“Looking back now, we have never once escaped from Cheongmyeong’s shadow. Cheongmyeong doesn’t even have the experience of fighting in a place without him.
“Hye-yeon’s expression hardened.
After hearing that, I learned something new. How unnatural the battles they had been fighting so far were.
“Over the past few years, Huashan has fought many fierce battles and rose from a small sect in Shaanxi to the position of leader of the Tianwu Meng.”
“….”
“But after going through so much, the volcano has never once divided its power in two. I have never even operated a small detachment, nor have I ever divided the battle into two halves within a battlefield. Do you understand what this means?”
Yu Iseol bites her lip. Baekcheon saw that expression and nodded.
“okay. He never lets us fight outside of his control. “No matter the battlefield, he tried to keep everyone in the volcano within the area he could protect.”
“….”
“But that won’t be possible anymore. No, it shouldn’t be like that.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. Baekcheon let out a long sigh.
“I said it in a boastful way, but just because I am me doesn’t mean I have a clear answer. This is something we all need to think about. And doesn’t it all start with figuring out where you stand?”
“…That’s right, Sasuk.”
“Is it right to keep the agreement? Is it right to save more people even if it means abandoning Haenam? Is it right to send people I care about and love to death in order to save strangers? “Am I really not afraid of my life to keep the agreement?”
Baekcheon listed the thoughts that came to his mind without any hesitation. There is no need to organize it. Because it is not a problem that needs to be summarized into one answer.
“Everyone has different things they think are important and priorities. But… yeah. “It seems there is only one way to find this answer.”
Baekcheon’s voice was infinitely quiet.
“Someday, when we stand in the middle of the battlefield, someone will inevitably end up in the crossfire. certainly.”
“….”
“The important thing then is not whether you can walk out on a limb. “If you can let the colleague next to you go without catching him even though you know he is walking into danger, then the agreement you have made so far will be true.”
Yunjong’s shoulders were shaking. Those are extremely harsh words.
“If Hwasan is truly a place that pursues the value of consultation, we must be willing to give up not only our own lives but even the lives of Hwasan disciples for the sake of consultation. I can go. Saying that I can die before others is nothing more than an escape from choice.”
“…Sasuk.”
“Can you really do that?”
There was no answer this time either.
“Let’s think about it. What were we really trying to do? Is this really the only way? “Otherwise, should I choose a different path now?”
Jo Geul bit her lips tighter. There was a little blood seeping out. Even the fingertips of Yu Iseol, who was always calm, were trembling slightly.
Everyone is agitated.
“If you can’t do that, it might be better to follow the room manager’s words. Then at least Hwasan will be able to shed as much blood as others and face the same consequences as others. We will not have to accept harsher results in the name of consultation. Because I will make it happen.
“Baekcheon got up from his seat.
His face was calm. But those who knew Baekcheon could tell. Underneath that calm expression, there is a coldness that has never been seen in him before.
“Think about it. “I will convey to you the conclusions you have reached.”
When Baekcheon turned and tried to walk away, Yoonjong called out to Baekcheon and caught him.
“Sasuk.”
Baekcheon’s feet suddenly stopped. Yoonjong asked.
“Have you decided on an answer?”
“Does that have any meaning?”
“….”
“What is right and wrong is up to you to decide. Don’t ask others. There is nothing to discuss with each other. At least ask yourself how you will use your life.
“Yoonjong’s head fell down.
Baekcheon, who was looking back at Yunjong in silence, walked away from them without any regrets. They were left standing there like stone statues for a while, looked at each other briefly, then turned in silence and headed to their respective quarters.
The heavy moonlight was falling on their shoulders.
Baekcheon’s slow footsteps echoed in the darkness.
‘It’s difficult.’
Even though I tried not to, I kept sighing.
“It’s difficult…”
If it were a few years ago, I wouldn’t have had to worry about something like this. All I had to do was become stronger and focus on reviving the volcano.
All I had to do was make an effort and talk nonsense with those poor bastards.
But… now the world forces them to make a choice. It calls out to us to carry a weight commensurate with that strength. I haven’t carried much burden yet, but my shoulders are already very heavy. To the point where I felt like I was going to be crushed and disappear.
‘It was like this.’
Fight against powerful enemies. Until now, I never understood how much meaning is contained in such simple words.
That means everything they have kept until now. So, it meant fighting with life, relationships, values, and all that.
‘What kind of fight was it?’
What did our ancestors see and feel a hundred years ago, when they fought a harsher fight than they do today? If they were by Baekcheon’s side now, what would they have tried to convey to him?
Baekcheon turned his gaze towards the moon.
Time has passed so much and the world has changed just as much. There is no way to hear voices from a hundred years ago. But the moon was floating there just as it was a hundred years ago and now…
Suddenly, Baekcheon’s face as he looked at the moon became blank. No, in fact, his gaze was directed to under the moon.
Above the eaves that half embrace the moon.
The back of a person was visible. The slightly sad-looking shoulders that overlap halfway with the moon.
