Jong Ligok stared silently at Chung Myung. Without avoiding it, Chung Myung accepted the gaze. Jong Ligok spoke.
"I'm not sure what you're trying to say."
Chung Myung leaned back in his chair, as if expecting those words.
"Exactly. You can't be neutral, can you? You couldn't have been."
Jong Ligok frowned, but Chung Myung was quick to continue.
"After all, none of that was your choice. You didn't even exist back then. Isn't that right?"
Jong Ligok's face darkened. There was no hesitation. Only silence filled the room.
Chung Myung didn't need to interpret the meaning of that lengthy silence.
"Isn't that true?"
Jong Ligok stared at the ceiling blankly.
It wasn't his choice. Therefore, the responsibility was not his to bear.
To others, it might seem like an easy task. But it wasn't as simple and easy as one might think. It meant denying centuries of history, spitting on everyone in that history, shaking the foundation of the sect, and enduring all kinds of reproach.
And the price would come back to Jong Ligok. The things he had tried to protect would turn into accusations against him.
Could Jong Ligok really walk that path? All because of something he didn't even choose himself?
Without looking at Chung Myung, Jong Ligok spoke.
"What are you trying to say?"
Chung Myung spoke with a smirk.
"I've already said what I wanted to say. This is just me venting."
"Venting?"
"Yes."
After a brief silence, Chung Myung spoke with a bitter smile.
"I tried to understand. But in the end, I couldn't. No matter how many reasons I tried to attach to it, it doesn't change the fact that they're all just cowards who don't even have the courage to reflect."
"..."
"So, I ignored it."
Chung Myung chuckled unwittingly.
"If you don't think about it, it's fine. If you just let it go, you don't have to discuss it or show enmity. But then I found out."
"What did you find out?"
"That it's just avoidance."
There was a fleeting tremor in Jong Ligok's eye.
"It's an unsolvable knot, so I had no choice but to leave it alone. As long as I think it's okay, even if the knot eventually stops the flow of blood and creates even bigger wounds, as long as I think it's okay..."
Chung Myung laughed softly, but to Jong Ligok, it felt unbearably heavy. For reasons unknown, his fingertips felt numb. Perhaps it was an emotion he could never understand.
Jong Ligok looked at Chung Myung coldly, hiding his wavering emotions. There was no turning back from this momentum.
"Doesn't this mean you're a coward too?"
It was a bold statement, but surprisingly, Chung Myung simply nodded in acknowledgment.
"Yes. I'm a coward, just like you said. Without the resolve to condemn or the courage to forgive. Maybe... I'll never be able to accept the two letters 'Southern Edge' in my lifetime."
Chung Myung paused for a moment, biting his lip as he looked at Jong Ligok.
"But at least I'm not as much of a coward as you."
"Mount Hua's sword..."
"Even though I know it's wrong, I don't have the courage to face it, pushing the burden I should have carried onto future generations. I'm not that despicable."
Jong Ligok's face grew cold. But his gaze wasn't as composed as his expression. In those eyes, there was suddenly boiling anger, resentment, and injustice.
"Did I say I was cowardly?"
"Didn't you?"
"You're quite chatty. Aren't you just in need of Southern Edge's power yourself?"
Jong Ligok's eyes, as well as his words, became noticeably sharper as emotions seemed to overtake him.
"If you had even a shred of sincerity, you wouldn't bring up such words in a situation like this. Can you guarantee that bringing up this matter now isn't just a subtle provocation, not merely an attempt to exploit and manipulate the resources of Southern Edge for your own benefit?"
Usually, Chung Myung would have maintained some killing intent even after such words. Even if it wasn't his choice, it made sense for the guilty party to react like this. But he didn't.
"I went to Anhui."
Chung Myung's calm voice resonated.
"With the members of Southern Edge."
To Jong Ligok's surprise, he was referring to the disciples of Southern Edge who had been prepared for Jin Geumryong and Li Songbaek.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"We fought together. The members of Southern Edge and the members of Mount Hua."
Jong Ligok remained silent for a moment. Chung Myung glanced down at the tea cup before asking.
"Do you know how that was possible?"
"....I'm not sure."
"Because you weren't there."
Chung Myung's words were heavy and filled with bitterness.
"And because you weren't there."
There was an equal measure of bitterness in Jong Ligok's eyes. He understood Chung Myung's meaning.
"They threw themselves into battle together, despite being enemies."
"...."
"I didn't plan to intervene. I wanted to watch and only step in if things got truly dangerous. But... I couldn't. I couldn't take a single step forward. Do you know why?"
He probably couldn't. He probably couldn't go. Maybe because he felt like an impurity, inserting himself into the situation. Perhaps he feared that everything would become murky the moment he interfered.
Chung Myung asked bitterly, "What if you and I had been there?"
There was only the question; there was no answer. But they both knew.
They would have been divided again, under the names of Southern Edge and Mount Hua. They could never have stood side by side. They would have been trapped by insurmountable boundaries.
"Do you understand what I mean? You and I. Our kind are the ones preventing things from moving forward. Knowing that the noose will tighten around their necks."
Jong Ligok simply stared at Chung Myung, expressionless. But inside his tightly sealed lips, he chewed nervously on the inside of his cheek. After a moment, he forced his unyielding mouth open.
"If that's the case, shouldn't we just leave it be? If, as you say, those who were trapped in the past will die and disappear eventually, isn't it better for us to just let things flow... as long as the results are good?"
"Are you willing to just let it go like that?"
"....What do you mean?"
"Are you going to pass on the burden to them again, as if you weren't the one who committed the sin? Are you going to pile up their burdens on top of the ones you created?"
Jong Ligok's eyes trembled faintly.
"Are you going to pass on all the emotions you feel now and all of that to the disciples, and even to the next disciples, just to evade responsibility? Are you going to impose it on them again? Is that the teaching of Southern Edge?"
Jong Ligok pondered. He didn't accept Chung Myung's words, nor did he succumb to his provocation. He simply had one thought.
'Since when did I begin to resent Mount Hua?'
Why was he so frustrated with a fallen sect hidden away in rugged mountains? Before Mount Hua's Chivalrous Knight appeared, Mount Hua hadn't even rebelled against him once.
Was that hatred... truly Jong Ligok's?
At that moment, Chung Myung chuckled wryly.
"It's ironic. A sect that should be teaching the right path... is compelling each other to hate. Forcing those who should have no resentment towards each other to hate each other and teaching that it's right. Isn't that a dirty business?"
Jong Ligok closed his eyes. Chung Myung twisted his lips.
"But... I'm not so different."
Of course, Chung Myung's hatred wouldn't disappear even in death. But there was no need to pass it on to them so fully.
"I just realized. If I can't cut it off, then someone else will suffer the same pain next time. When I look beyond the facade of Mount Hua and Southern Edge, there's nothing there. I'm now trying to shed that husk."
Jong Ligok, with his mouth tightly shut, spoke.
"Didn't I say it before? That human nature ultimately divides and breeds hatred between oneself and others. Even if we try such things, eventually we'll find ourselves facing each other under the names of Mount Hua and Southern Edge again. You know that too, don't you?"
"That's at least their hatred."
"..."
"It's self-generated hatred, self-drawn conclusions. Anyway, since we'll end up hating each other, there's no reason to keep spouting nonsense about maintaining hatred even in this crisis."
Chung Myung's face looked somewhat complex. But once he had made up his mind and come here, his voice was as composed as ever.
"I don't know either. What they're going to create. What they're going to build up. Perhaps the result will be even more dreadful than now. But at least... they can choose that result for themselves. Beyond the broken relationships of generations that were too cowardly to resolve and just passed them on, we have something unknown."
Chung Myung turned away.
"I've said all I have to say."
"Mount Hua's Chivalrous Knight."
"Now it's your turn to choose. Not Southern Edge's. I've made my move, so now it's your turn."
Jong Ligok, with a somewhat angry expression, slammed the tea table. His voice poured out harshly.
"What! What are you asking me to choose? What am I supposed to do?"
"..."
"Are you asking me to kneel before Mount Hua and admit we were wrong? Are you asking me to shout out how much we've failed throughout under heaven?"
Red veins appeared in Jong Ligok's eyes.
"What exactly are you asking me to do?"
"That's for you to think about."
Chung Myung replied without turning back. His coolness contrasted sharply with Jong Ligok's passionate voice.
"I've already stated my intentions. The rest is up to you. It's no longer my concern. Just giving you this chance was not easy for me."
He walked away without hesitation and grabbed the door handle. At that moment, Jong Ligok's question caught him off guard.
"Why me?"
Chung Myung turned around. Jong Ligok stood there with an expressionless face. He seemed devoid of any wavering, as if everything he had shouted a moment ago was a lie.
"Did I appear to you as someone who would feel guilty for such words? Did I seem like someone who could easily be swayed?"
"..."
"If I were to choose all that, I would gain nothing and end up throwing myself into a pit. Did it seem like I couldn't even calculate that degree?"
Chung Myung said briefly without any expression.
"Of course not."
"Then why me?"
None of his predecessors took responsibility. Yet Jong Ligok, just because he was born in this era and became the sect leader of Southern Edge, had to bear all that responsibility? Just for such a reason?
He didn't expect an answer. It might just be a lament.
But Chung Myung responded to that lament.
"Even if you were an irredeemable villain comparable to the evil sects, you are still the sect leader of Southern Edge."
He laughed unexpectedly after saying that.
"And, an elder, right?"
"..."
"That's all there is."
Thud.
Chung Myung left, and the door closed.
In the room left behind, only Jong Ligok remained, and silence descended. His gaze, which had been fixed on the closed door, slowly turned to the tea table.
A single tea table. Two teacups placed on it.
The teacup on Chung Myung's side was full, but Jong Ligok's teacup was dry and tilted as if it were a withered field.
'An elder...'
That brat.
Jong Ligok couldn't bear to look at the tea table any longer and tightly closed his eyes.