Chapter 1490: I Didn’t Come Looking For You? (Part 5)

"Is there someone behind the Sect Leader?"

Baek Cheon murmured. Suspicion filled the gazes of everyone looking at Master Lu at that moment.

"Is there someone working in the shadows? Could it be the Evil Sect? Jang Ilso?"

"Did this guy get a head injury in Gangnam? Does the Beggar's Union look so weak to be taken over by Jang Ilso? The Demonic Cult couldn't take over it, so how could Jang Ilso?"

"...Sorry. Lately, whenever something comes up, I can't help but think of Jang Ilso for no reason."

"If it's someone working in the shadows, things would be easier. Just capture and behead him, and it'll be over."

"Really?"

"This isn't someone in the shadows. That Sect Leader is probably real, but not a genuine Sect Leader. He's neither fake nor real. He's just here." [bro literally having this convo right in front of the aforesaid fake sect leader is crazy]

Baek Cheon, who had been listening intently to Chung Myung's words, looked back at his martial siblings. And he let out a satisfied smile. Sure enough, Yoon Jong and Jo Gol also looked at him with the same expression.

'Don't worry, Sasuk. We don't know what to make of it either.'

'Thank you for being here.'

Having exchanged warm sentiments with their eyes, Baek Cheon sighed in self-reproach. Then Chung Myung spoke.

"Do you know the best way to hide the truth?"

"That seventy percent... that thing about truth and something, right?"

"Hiding it between truths."

"Huh?"

"Those who handle information usually do that. They don't hide the truth among lies. Instead, they hide the real truth among the visible truths. That way, people usually try to confirm only the truth that they can see."

"I think I understand. If someone met the Beggar's Union Sect Leader here and heard what he said, they wouldn't think that there was something else hidden behind?"

"Exactly. At best, they would have tried to confirm if that person is the real Sect Leader."

Baek Cheon quietly closed his mouth. He had thought the same. Glancing around, he noticed that the expressions of others were similar.

'This is not our fault.'

'No, honestly, it's a bit suspicious.'

'You have to believe in something to believe!'

Chung Myung, as if understanding their minds, chuckled.

"That guy would fall into a trap the moment he tries to confirm whether that guy is the real Sect Leader and investigate the situation inside the Beggar's Union. That's not important at all."

"...The important thing is what comes after that."

"Exactly."

Chung Myung looked straight at Master Lu.

"What do you think? Is it the right answer?"

Chung Myung laughed, but Master Lu did not. After fixing his complexion, he remained calm and neat as if nothing had happened.

"What are you talking about? I don't understand at all."

"Hmm?"

"I am the Sect Leader, and I decide the affairs of the Beggar's Union. Fantasies should be limited to that extent. It's a story without any basis...."

"The basis is overflowing. That's the evidence you provided."

Master Lu closed his mouth. The look in Chung Myung's eyes was sharp, as if probing. After a while, he asked incomprehensibly.

"I provided evidence?"

"Yes."

"...What evidence did I provide?"

"Your words are all plausible. But one thing is missing. All that logic requires one certainty."

"What is that?"

"The certainty that the world will inevitably be turned into hell. The certainty that a war will inevitably break out where all the beggars will die."

Master Lu's eyes wavered for a moment.

"If the beggars suddenly became incompetent after the Yangtze River Disaster, your words would make sense. But that's not it. This has not happened in the last few years. It started even earlier. The Beggar's Union deteriorated so slowly that the beggars couldn't feel anything strange."

"That's... "

"Understand?"

Chung Myung said with a pointed tone.

"If what you say is true, then you are just a mess making yourself incompetent by being afraid of something that hasn't happened yet."

Master Lu stared at Chung Myung without a reply. Chung Myung shrugged.

"Well, okay. I can admit that a hundred times. You don't always have to be competent just because you're the Sect Leader of the Beggar's Union."

"Be careful with your words...."

"But what's suspicious is not that. The real thing is what you said about me."

"...What?"

"It was quite interesting to hear you talk about me. It's a typical reaction to someone you've only met through information."

"What's strange about that? It's true."

"That's right. It's true, so there's nothing strange about it. Until you blabbered on about Lee Songbaek."

Master Lu's face stiffened. Chung Myung started to laugh mockingly.

"You probably know more about the person named Chung Myung than the person named Lee Songbaek. However, when it comes to Lee Songbaek, you don't hesitate to use the phrase 'I know,' but when it comes to me, you use the phrase 'as heard.' That means one thing. You are not the one who evaluated me. You simply accepted the evaluations of others."

"..."

"Isn't that right?"

Master Lu didn't show much reaction. But Baek Cheon saw it—the faint trembling of his hand placed on the desk. He must have been so inwardly shaken that he didn't think to hide his hand under the desk.

"That's too forced, is it?"

"Wait. The most important part is still ahead."

Chung Myung shot a gaze at Master Lu.

"The reason I said you weren't a puppet even while thinking there was someone behind you was one. Your anger was genuine. But when I saw it, I thought it was really funny."

"Why is that?"

"Why are you angry? You, who haven't experienced it firsthand, who haven't been forced to sacrifice. Why harbor such resentment?"

"..."

"Resisting something unjust and harboring hatred are different. But you spoke as if you were a victim who had experienced everything firsthand. You, who bought a peaceful period unprecedented in history."

Master Lu tilted his head as if he did not understand at all.

"Is my anger wrong?"

"No. It's justified. Of course, it would be justified. But... being justified doesn't necessarily mean it's natural."

"I don't know."

"You wouldn't know. You can't know, absolutely. People who understand and accept anger with their minds are unknowable."

But even if the whole world couldn't understand, Chung Myung could.

The anger emitted by Master Lu was the same as the hatred he held for this world.

That's why it was strange. Master Lu hadn't experienced what he went through. How could he empathize with those emotions?

Because he had a lot of information? Because, as the Sect Leader of the Beggar's Union, he knew all the history? It didn't make sense. Just by looking at how the sect leaders of other sects behaved during different times in history, you could tell.

"So the conclusion is obvious. Whether you are the Sect Leader or not is none of my business. What's important is that there is someone else who played a significant role in making the Beggar's Union like this."

Master Lu nodded slightly.

"It's an absurd delusion."

"..."

"I know another answer. I am not as clever as you, so I couldn't make a good response. Also, I am a person emotional enough to be angry about past events."

"..."

"I can't listen to that nonsense anymore. Just go back. I'm really pissed off now."

"Is that so? I don't have a hobby of grabbing scarecrows and forcing them to talk."

Chung Myung turned away without any lingering attachments, as if to prove that the words were not a lie.

"Just deliver a message properly to your boss."

"What should I say? Your nonsense?"

"No."

With a sharp gaze directed at the back, Chung Myung gave a cold admonition.

"Nothing will change if you run away."

"..."

"Just one word is enough. They'll figure it out."

Chung Myung gestured towards the group.

"Let's go. We've wasted enough time."

"...Are you really going?"

"That bluff was just the last resort. I've said what I had to say, so it will be conveyed."

"What if it doesn't get conveyed?"

"What do you know?"

With a disdainful remark, Chung Myung turned towards the door.

"In that case!"

Master Lu's voice seized Chung Myung's back. It was distinctly different from before, a boiling voice.

"What will you say to those who will die for so little?"

"I can't say anything."

Chung Myung stood still and said.

"I couldn't say anything. That's why I'm like this."

"...Like this?"

"I'm struggling to find the words. That their deaths weren't worthless. Desperately."

Chung Myung, who seemed to be staring into the empty space for a moment, laughed quietly.

"Don't worry about it. It's just nonsense. I'm old too."

Waving his hand, he turned and walked away.

"Let's go."

"...Yeah."

Although the last conversation was incomprehensible, it was evident that there was nothing more to do here. The group nodded and followed behind Chung Myung.

"...Wait."

However, Master Lu grabbed Chung Myung once again.

Chung Myung glanced back at Master Lu. He bit his lip tightly and glared at Chung Myung as he muttered.

"…Why…"

"Hmm?"

Chung Myung's gaze momentarily left Master Lu and focused upwards.

Thump. Thump.

A faint but distinct sound reached them. It was the sound of something tapping on the ceiling above where they stood.

"The darkest place is beneath the lamp. And beneath the lamp, there was another lamp."

"Huh."

Master Lu let out a long sigh and lowered his head. Which part of their conversation had reached up there in this place?

"If they desire, there's no choice. I'll let you meet them."

"...Ho?"

"But you should be careful."

"Now you're resorting to threats?"

"...You'll understand when you meet them."

Master Lu, still in his seated position, touched something under the desk.

"Oh?"

"Wow..."

"There was a mechanism here?"

As everyone marveled, a crack appeared on one side of the ceiling. Soon, a long staircase began descending.

"...Wasn't this entire building just seven floors?"

"From the outside, it certainly seemed that way."

"There seems to be more space beneath the roof. I didn't notice it either."

Tang Soso couldn't hide her frustration at not noticing such a thing.

"Just go up."

Once the staircase fully descended, Master Lu gestured in that direction. The Five Swords, with a somewhat awkward feeling, looked at the stairs and the space above them.

"...It's not a trap, right?"

"If it's a trap, what can we do? Let's just go and see."

"Hmm. It's unsettling, though."

Everyone watched Chung Myung's reaction. However, Chung Myung, seemingly unfazed, had already stepped onto the stairs.

"...Is that bastard's liver made of iron?"

The Five Swords grumbled as they quickly followed behind.

Upon going up, it immediately became clear why this space hadn't been noticeable. Even Chung Myung, who was on the shorter side, found it difficult to stand upright. That's how low the ceiling was. 

Moreover, unlike the luxurious floors below, this secret room was so dilapidated to the point it was doubtful whether a person could live in it.

"Here..."

Chung Myung's gaze was drawn somewhere.

In one corner of the secret room, there was a bed placed. A frail old man, so emaciated that it wouldn't be a surprise if his breath stopped at any moment.

"...This person is?"

Chung Myung couldn't grasp how to handle the elderly man, who looked so aged and twisted that he didn't know what to do.

At that moment, the old man's feeble hand moved slowly. The weak, trembling motion seemed like an invitation to come closer.

Chung Myung silently approached the old man.

The old man's wrinkled face had age spots growing, and his skin was as wrinkled as a desert. And his entire body, thin as twisted tree branches, lay motionless. It was evident that there wasn't much life left in him at a glance.

Is he the former sect leader? Or the one before that? How should he even start a conversation with such a person?

While Chung Myung was contemplating, the old man's eyes slowly opened. Clouded pupils met Chung Myung's gaze.

Chung Myung opened his mouth first.

"I am..."

But he couldn't continue. Would he understand? Even though he was looking into the eyes of a living person, it didn't feel like they were alive. Chung Myung didn't even expect a conversation to happen. The person seemed to be just barely clinging to life.

What was the use of finding the head of the Beggar's Union if it was like this? There was nothing he could do. Just as Chung Myung was about to let out a sigh against the overwhelming feeling of futility—

"...Sword (劍)..."

The hoarse voice came out of the old man's mouth. Chung Myung's face flashed confusion.

Sword? What did he mean by that?

"...Saint (尊)."

Chung Myung widened his eyes.

Crack!

His hand that was lightly touching the old man's bed made a sudden grab, and a cracking sound rang out.

Confusion, doubt, and faint fear swirled through Chung Myung's mind like a storm.