119 Chapter 1007: Becoming an Adult (Part 1)

Gul, gurgle.

"Keuhhhh!"

Chung Myung, with his face wrinkled from the strong taste of the alcohol, wiped his mouth carelessly with his sleeve.

"Sticks to your lips, huh? Well, I heard that drinking while looking at the river has a certain charm."

Then, he glanced at Namgung Dowi, who was sitting next to him.

"Why aren't you drinking? Don't you like alcohol?"

"Oh, no. I don't particularly dislike it."

"But?"

"It feels a bit awkward..."

Namgung Dowi looked at the liquor bottle in his hand. Having grown up under the strict discipline of the renowned Namgung family, he wasn't used to drinking straight from the bottle. Besides, they were sitting in a field, so what could he do about the awkwardness?

"Having a hard time drinking without the formalities?"

"It's not that, but..."

Chung Myung chuckled and took another swig from the bottle.

Gulp, gulp.

After wiping his mouth again, he muttered discontentedly.

"Kids like you become alcoholics in the end."

"Uh...?"

"We have one among us, too. A Shaolin brat. At first, he used to lecture me about how monks don't drink, but now he's gone mad, stealing my liquor."

"Shaolin brat? Oh, are you talking about Monk Hye Yeon?"

"Yeah, that guy!"

"Monk Hye Yeon drinks... and he even steals the temple's alcohol?"

"That's right. Can you believe it?"

Chung Myung sharpened his teeth.

"I raised a tiger cub."

Namgung Dowi, who had been staring blankly at Chung Myung, burst into laughter.

"Are you making fun of me?"

Chung Myung glared at him, and Namgung Dowi quickly stifled his laughter, extending his hand toward him.

"Dojang is not ridiculous; the situation is so ridiculous."

"What do you know?"

Chung Myung sighed deeply. Namgung Dowi silently gazed at the liquor bottle he was holding before gradually bringing it to his lips. Then, like Chung Myung, he took a big gulp.

Cough! Cough, cough, cough!

"What's, what's in this bottle! Cough, cough!"

His face turned pale as he coughed violently. It was truly a strong, fiery drink that could burn your throat.

Chung Myung chuckled.

"That's how real alcohol tastes."

"What... What kind of drink is this? It's poison!"

"Tsk, tsk. That's why the kids from noble families..."

Chung Myung clicked his tongue as if it was pitiful.

"So, can't you handle it?"

"I..."

Namgung Dowi mumbled briefly, his voice trailing off as he lost himself in thought. Eventually, he glanced between Chung Myung and the liquor bottle.

A while later, he bit his lips slightly and started chugging the liquor. Chung Myung applauded.

"Oh, you're drinking well."

Gulp, gulp, gulp.

"Kiyaaa! You know how to drink."

Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp.

"Huh?"

Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp

"Stop, stop drinking! You crazy man!"

Horrified, Chung Myung forcibly pulled the liquor bottle from Namgung Dowi's lips.

"Kkhaaaah!"

As if he had swallowed poison, Namgung Dowi clutched his reddened throat with both hands.

"Are all Namgung kids this excessive? But weren't they this uncultured in the past..."

Even as Chung Myung was muttering, Namgung Dowi couldn't come to his senses and coughed.

After a while, he finally stopped coughing and spoke.

"Kuh... That's... nice."

"It doesn't look nice at all."

At Chung Myung's question, Namgung Dowi lowered his head and looked at the liquor bottle he held in his hand.

"If it were in the past, I might have said this isn't really alcohol... But now, I feel like I understand why people drink this."

"I think you know anything at all?"

"Huhu... I feel... good, Dojang."

"You're talking nonsense."

Namgung Dowi seemed to be gathering his thoughts, shaking his head a few times.

It had only been a short while since he drank, but he felt his body warming up. Normally, he would have used his inner energy to suppress and remove this heat, but right now, he didn't feel like doing it.

"Dojang."

"Why?"

"Do you have another bottle?"

Chung Myung didn't reply and instead gazed at the distant sky.

"Why do these things keep happening to me?"

Is the world messed up, or is it him?

- Are you asking because you don't know?

"Kaaaah!"

"Why did you suddenly... why are you screaming?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Chung Myung, after glancing at the sky once, lay down on the spot.

"Uh, I'm drunk."

Namgung Dowi, after staring at him for a while, called him casually.

"Dojang."

"Why?"

"Do you... have something to say to me?"

"Hmm?"

Namgung Dowi let out a sigh.

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

"I just called you."

"Really?"

"Let's drink."

"...?"

"Drink up. What's life for? It's all about drinking."

Anyone who had expectations of Chung Myung would inevitably be more disappointed than they expected. It was a common occurrence at Mount Hua, but unfortunately, Namgung Dowi didn't realize this fact.

"Ha...."

Laughter and a sigh mixed together. Namgung Dowi, turning his head, looked at the dark appearance of the Yangtze River below and muttered softly.

"Truth is... the truth is, Dojang."

"Hmm?"

"I still... don't want to leave this place yet."

"...?"

Chung Myung didn't give a direct answer, but Namgung Dowi continued as if it didn't matter now.

"In reality... I didn't want to leave this place... I was actually... a bit scared. If I leave this place and return to Anhwi... I was afraid that I would have to go back... to lead the Namgung Clan."

Becoming the head of the Namgung Clan was still too heavy a burden for Namgung Dowi. The sudden responsibility, which he thought would come at least twenty years later, had come to him overnight. And it wasn't just a regular Namgung Clan; it was the immense duty of becoming the head of the Namgung Clan who had lost more than half of their power.

Namgung Dowi said with a hint of self-depreciation.

"I got angry a little while ago."

"..."

"I got angry because it wasn't the way I wanted it to be. I pretended to be disappointed, wondering why they didn't trust and follow me."

Namgung Dowi slowly shook his head.

"But… … Maybe I wasn't really angry towards them. No, it wasn't. What I was really angry about was... … I was thinking the same thing as them, maybe even more scared than they were."

"Hmm."

He covered his face with both hands and sobbed.

"It's difficult, Dojang. Too difficult. The burden is still too heavy for me. I don't know what to do... At least if I had twenty more years... No, even if I had just ten more years... then maybe I could have been a little stronger, maybe I wouldn't have wavered."

"Hmm."

Chung Myung, who had been silent, suddenly jumped to his feet and turned his intense gaze toward Namgung Dowi.

"Hmm!"

When their eyes met, a strange sense of expectation blossomed in Namgung Dowi's heart.

Maybe he would scold him for being inadequate.

Perhaps he would praise him for stopping.

Either way was fine. What Namgung Dowi needed right now was someone who could evaluate and lead him. Someone who could tell him whether his choice was right or wrong.

Maybe... if it was Mount Hua's Chivalrous Sword, they might be able to lead him. But...

"There."

"Yes."

Chung Myung pointed to a bottle of liquor beyond Namgung Dowi with his chin.

"Fetch that bottle next to it. It should still be there."

"..."

"What are you doing?"

"Alcohol...?"

"That's right, that one."

"..."

"Hurry."

"Yes..."

Namgung Dowi, his tension relieved, smiled uselessly and handed the bottle of liquor to Chung Myung.

'What am I talking about?'

He knew. No could can help him, and no one could give him advice. In this situation, all people could offer are common words of comfort. In the end, he had to endure and resolve everything.

He knew that... he knew it all along.

Chung Myung's throat moved vigorously as he put the liquor bottle to his lips.

*Glug! Glug! Glug!*

"Kkuuuhhh!"

Chung Myung withdrew the bottle from his lips, letting out a satisfied cheer and placing the bottle down.

"Hmm, I'm listening to something amusing."

He looked at Namgung Dowi and wagged his tongue.

"What if you had experienced it ten years later? Do you think it would have been easier?"

"…Yes?"

"What if you had experienced it twenty years later, would it have been a bit easier?"

"Well, that's…"

"Oh, come on, kid."

Chung Myung said with a wave of his hand, as if sighing.

"Thinking that life becomes easier as you get older is a misconception. At least, it didn't feel that way for me when I grew older. In fact, my head became more complicated than when I was young."

"Do-Dojang?"

Did he say 'when he grew older'?

"Ha. When I was young. It feels so long ago."

"…."

Is he making fun of me right now?

Namgung Dowi stared at him with a bewildered expression. Then, Chung Myung asked soberly.

"Do you think everything was easy for Namgung Hwang?"

That question froze Namgung Dowi's body.

"… My father…"

He tried to say something automatically, but Chung Myung's following words silenced him.

"Did your father really live so easily as you think?"

"…."

"No. Of course not. Saying that a great man like him lived easily is an insult to him."

Yeah, that's right. It couldn't be true.

Namgung Hwang always did his best in any situation. He may have made mistakes and failures from time to time, but he was always someone who did everything he could.

"So, would things have been significantly different if Namgung Hwang were here now?"

"…."

"It wouldn't be."

Chung Myung shook his head.

"The situation may have improved a bit, but your father's concerns, compared to yours, were never smaller. He had to carry more expectations and more responsibilities than you did."

"…."

"People are just people. There's no one who won't feel pain when stabbed with a knife, and no one made of iron for a heart. Even those who appear the strongest feel pain and get hurt just the same."

Namgung Dowi bit his lip.

"But, kid, becoming an adult is like this."

"Yes."

"You learn to pretend like you're not hurt even when you are."

Namgung Dowi closed his eyes.

He remembered the sight of Namgung Hwang leading the way.

Yeah. It must have hurt. It must have been agonizing. Physically and mentally.

But he couldn't be in pain; he couldn't be in agony. Because Namgung Dowi was behind him. Because there were people he had to protect on Plum Blossom Island. Because there were people who looked up to him.

"Carrying something means… that."

"…."

"Pain is natural, and it's supposed to be hard. You have to hurt, and it's supposed to be difficult. There'll never be a time of comfort for someone who carries more and tries to lead one step further."

Chung Myung took a sip of his liquor.

His gaze, which had lingered on the Yangtze River, had, by now, turned toward a distant memory from the past. But it didn't last long; his gaze soon shifted to the distant battlefield where the war was still ongoing.

The place where all the people of Mount Hua resided.

"I don't know for sure…."

Chung Myung looked straight at Namgung Dowi.

"It will be there for you, for sure. Something your father desperately passed down to the next generation."

Namgung Dowi unconsciously clenched his fist.

It's there. Yes, it's definitely there.

Namgung Hwang clearly passed it on to him. What Namgung's sword truly meant.

That being an Emperor's Sword didn't mean ruling and dominating, but protecting from the very front.

How could someone tasked with defending against enemies and breaking through adversity not feel strained or worried?

"Just that will do."

"...."

"What you need has already been passed on. That's what it means to continue."

"Dojang."

"Still, think about it if you don't know."

"What are you talking about...?"

Chung Myung chuckled.

"What you want to pass on to the next generation."

"...."

"That will be your path."

Namgung Dowi silently watched Chung Myung for a long time. Then he cast his gaze toward the Yangtze River.

Over there, on that river, Namgung's spirit flows.

What kind of life did Namgung Dowi wish for?

"Dojang."

"Yes?"

After a long silence, Namgung Dowi slowly spoke.

"Can... can I do well?"

"Well, I can't know that much, but you seem like you'd make a good head."

"....Yes?"

Chung Myung chuckled as he looked back.

"Complaining means they believe in you. Someone who is trusted by everyone can't help but become a good head."

Namgung Dowi turned his head to follow Chung Myung.

"Sogaju!"

"Sogaju, where are you?"

Namgung's swordsmen who had gone out to look for him were all outside.

"I...,"

Namgung Dowi, who was about to say something, bit his lip. His head slowly drooped down. Then, his shoulders began to tremble slightly.

Chung Myung smiled as he looked at him. It was a smile as faint and warm as moonlight.

"So let's have a drink today, kid."

"....Yes, Dojang."

The night on the Yangtze River grew deeper.

With a faint scent of alcohol, the strong smell of grass, and the blowing river breeze.