“…there is no answer to this, really!”

Jo Gul frowned and sat down on the spot. Yoon Jong, who was following behind, let out a sigh.

“How many days has it been?”

“…has it been 3 or 4 days?”

“Ugh.”

Jo Gul groaned and looked around the mountain.

They had searched the surroundings for over 3 days but couldn’t find any traces. Initially full of trust, they were now beginning to lose strength and hope.

“No, sahyung. I am not doing this because it’s hard and annoying….”

“Do you need to be hit?”

“…”

An expression of worldly injustice formed on Jo Gul’s face. Yoon Jong, who was about to cry, looked at him and cleared his throat.

“Ahem. Then?”

“…honestly, what is so difficult about wandering in the mountains? I also do the training that damn guy asks me to do for months!”

“Of course.”

Did this mountain have to be this rugged? For them, who trained on the rugged Mount Hua all day, a mountain this size was no different from a child’s playground.

“It’s just… I feel this is all in vain.”

“Are you saying it was a waste of time?”

When Baek Cheon, who was hitting the ground, frowned, Jo Gul took a quick look and said,

“It has been a hundred years. Honestly, I don’t think there is anything left.”

Baek Cheon looked at him with a slightly disgruntled face and said,

“Haven’t we found the book?”

“Just because there is a book doesn’t mean there are other traces left, right?”

“You!”

Yoon Jong wanted to shout and say something, but Baek Cheon stopped him.

“There is nothing to criticize. He isn’t wrong.”

“Still…”

Baek Cheon shook his head with a bitter look.

“Right, Gul. If there are no traces left in the first place, like you said, you won’t find anything even if you search for another 10 days.”

“Right.”

“But isn’t that something you won’t know unless you try?”

Baek Cheon looked at Jo Gul with a serious expression.

“We are now searching for traces of our ancestors. This includes finding the remains of those who risked their lives to protect future generations. Is it really alright to say the search is in vain after only three days?”

There was a coldness in Jo Gul’s eyes as he lowered his head.

“They all laid down their lives as if it were nothing in an event where victory wasn’t even certain. I understand your feelings, but it’s not something we can dismiss as recipients of their grace.”

“… I apologize.”

“And normally, you wouldn’t be the type of person to say something like that.”

Baek Cheon looked at Jo Gul and asked.

“Tell me then, why are you doing this?”

“That…”

Jo Gul, who seemed to be under scrutiny, scratched his head.

“It is a good thing if we find it. No matter how long it takes, it is good if we can just find it. But what if we waste time trying to find it and get nothing back?”

“…”

“I am saying this because I am afraid of my insides rotting…”

He wasn’t saying this for himself; perhaps he was saying it for the sake of Chung Myung and his feelings.

Baek Cheon slowly turned his head and looked at the mountain terrain he had become accustomed to. A weight continued to press on his heart.

‘Was it too much?’

No matter how much they searched, this was a mountain. Even if the entire mountain were dug up, there is no guarantee that traces from 100 years ago would be found.

“But where did Chung Myung go?”

“… He said he was going to look for it on his own.”

“Alone…”

Jo Gul mumbled for a moment, sighed, and jumped up from his spot.

“Kuak!”

And he began to stab the ground with his sword sheath again.

“Ugh, right. We just have to find it. Damn it, at any cost!”

Baek Cheon spoke calmly as he watched Jo Gul screaming for no reason and moving ahead.

“Let us try harder. It isn’t just because of Chung Myung. As disciples of Mount Hua, we should at least search enough to be able to say we did our best.”

“Yes, sasuk.”

“Yes, sasuk. We will do our best!”

The voices of Yoon Jong and Tang Soso strengthened her resolve.

Baek Cheon glanced in the direction Chung Myung was heading and then began to walk again.

Splash.

A clear stream flowed constantly through the valley.

Chung Myung was sitting on a large rock, staring at the flowing stream with a blank expression.

‘Was I being too greedy?’

The water continued to move without stopping.

Even if this place was a valley a hundred years ago, the flowing water would not be the same as it was a hundred years back. In fact, it might be impossible to find traces of something that has already passed so long ago.

‘Chung Jin…’

Chung Myung turned to the sky.

The sky was so clear that nothing could be seen.

He was sure he met them in a dream some time ago, but he couldn’t remember the face of Chung Jin. If he tried harder, he could remember it, but he couldn’t stop it from fading little by little.

Chung Myung was just looking at the flowing stream and mumbled quietly.

“Regret….”

Perhaps what he was doing right now was no different from trying to catch the stream with both hands.

What would Chung Jin say if he was watching this?

Wouldn’t he tell Chung Myung to stop doing unneeded things and just raise the disciples of Mount Hua?

Or would he nag that Chung Myung had to somehow find the traces and then return to Mount Hua?

Chung Myung thought about it and shook his head.

‘I don’t know.’

There was no way he could find the answer.

Even if he gave an answer, it wouldn’t be what Chung Jin said. Because the dead didn’t have the strength to speak.

They could not see with their eyes, hear with their ears, or touch. When they reached out their hand, it would be all empty space.

No matter how vividly alive they were within him, in the end, it was a face he wouldn’t be able to see again.

Chung Myung thought as he watched the flowing water.

Maybe he, too, was a person who should have flowed away long ago like the water. Just…

Step.

At that moment, Chung Myung slowly turned his head at the sound that came from behind him.

The person whose eyes met his stared at Chung Myung without saying a word. Looking at the unexpected guest, Chung Myung smiled without realizing it.

“What?”

“Just.”

As Chung Myung hesitated, momentarily at a loss for words, Yu Yiseol came over to the rock he was seated on and sat down.

She looked at the flowing stream in silence for a long time. Only after a moment of silence did she speak.

“… In the past.”

“Uh?”

Yu Yiseol said without turning her head.

“We all went together. Where my father is buried.”

Chung Myung nodded.

“I am glad I didn’t go alone. If I had gone alone, I wouldn’t know what kind of face I would have. But if my father sees people around me, he will feel more at ease.”

Chung Myung looked at her, impressed.

Yu Yiseol sighed slowly. It was very unfamiliar to hear her talk so much and so on point.

But what was even stranger than that was the fact that she was now trying to comfort Chung Myung.

“… Father.”

Yu Yiseol slightly closed her eyes. The tips of her long eyelashes trembled.

“He didn’t want to go back unless he had learned the full martial arts. He didn’t want to go back until the moment he died. But in the end, he ended up contacting Mount Hua.”

“I guess it was because he was worried about Sago. Because he is your father.”

“… I thought so too.”

But Yu Yiseol soon quietly shook her head.

“But I think I understand it now. I am sure he wanted to go back to Mount Hua more than he wanted to send me there. Because he missed it all his life.”

“…”

Yu Yiseol’s face looked emotionless as usual. However, Chung Myung noticed that her expression seemed slightly different.

“I thought about moving. Because it was Mount Hua that he wanted to return to so much. It was something I couldn’t even think about when I was young, but I get to do it now.”

“…”

“But I decided not to.”

“Why?”

Yu Yiseol slowly shook her head.

“Because it is meaningless.”

“…”

A soft voice came from her lips, which were stubbornly closed.

“Father has already returned to Mount Hua. If I am at Mount Hua, my father is at Mount Hua. And if I complete the sword that my father was trying to complete, his wish is fulfilled.”

Chung Myung’s lips were tightly closed.

“Continuing means… that.”

Hearing her words, Chung Myung looked at the distant sky.

‘Continuing…’

That was probably what he wanted to say.

Even if he could not find his remains, if Chung Myung continued his will, it was no different from him returning to Mount Hua.

‘What I have to say…’

Chung Myung quietly closed his eyes.

How many times had Yu Yiseol, who was silent, had to think before saying these words to Chung Myung?

“… Let’s continue.”

It wasn’t wrong. Chung Jin was a person who thought about the future of Mount Hua more than anyone else.

Right, so if Chung Myung could continue his will, then it should be fine.

Chung Myung finally got up and left.

There were no regrets. He couldn’t say that yet. However, it wasn’t possible to spend all the time here. Because he still had work to do.

“Let’s go back, sago.”

Yu Yiseol and Chung Myung’s gaze met. Chung Myung smiled slightly and looked up at the sky.

‘I will come back someday.’

After he finished everything he needed to, he would come back and find Chung Jin.

Chung Myung forced himself to shake off the lingering feeling of grief and held his back as he continued to walk.

‘At that time… right. Let us head back together.’

But the steps of Chung Myung, which had been moving ahead, stopped suddenly.

He, still as a stone, mumbled softly.

“…Mount Hua?”

-You probably wanted to go back to Mount Hua more than me.

His cold fingertips were shaking.

‘You moron…’

What were you thinking? What were you looking for?

What did he think Chung Jin was doing?

“… Jin.”

-Through the martial arts book I created, my disciples will learn martial arts and create a better Mount Hua.

-This is my way of repaying the kindness of Mount Hua.

Yu Yiseol’s father tried to somehow complete the martial arts with just half of a book. This was because he thought it was his atonement for running away from Mount Hua.

Then what about Chung Jin?

What was he going to do when he realized he would never return to Mount Hua?

-So, I take the most important things with me.

“Ah…”

Send it back.

Even if the body couldn’t return to Mount Hua, he would have tried to return the books he had with Chung Myung somehow.

But how? What could be done in the middle of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, which was no different from the Demonic Sect’s base and where the enemies were…

Chung Myung’s eyes moved around.

‘What if I were Chung Jin?’

A wounded body.

The pursuers had been shaken off to some extent, but there was no way to survive. However, if he died in a place like this, all of his things would fall into the hands of the Demonic Sect.

Then…

‘Hide.’

In a place where the Demonic Sect could not find him.

And… where the sahyungs who would come looking for him would someday find him.

It was a place where the demons of the Demonic Sect would surely breakthrough but not find, a place where his sahyungs who risked their lives to search for him would find.

-If sahyung is around, would I die?

Chung Myung’s hands began to tremble now.

The one who would never die. The one person who should never die.

A person who would never be defeated by the hands of those terrible Demonic Sect people will survive and come to find him.

“It was me…”

Chung Myung’s face fell.

“…it was… me. That was me.”

His gaze shifted to the side as if he were shocked.

A gently flowing mountain under the blue sky. There was a jagged peak in the middle of the series of ridges that was very different from Mount Hua.

Unlike the surrounding peaks, it was a rugged mountain made up of rocks and cliffs.

Right… it had to be…

“… Chung Jin.”

Chung Myung walked as if he were possessed.

There you are. You were there all along.

My sajae.