Episode 319: It’s Always Because of the Little Leader.
That night, the leader of the Pungcheon sect was walking around the yard, unable to sleep.
The words of the swordsmanship drama, “Look at your opponent properly without preconceptions,” kept ringing in my ears.
I couldn’t look at my disciple, Sobakta, without prejudice.
I just focused on the differences. Was he like this? I don’t think he used to be like this.
I was just swayed by my emotions without looking at him properly.
‘You changed the teachings of the sect like that? If you had any respect for me, you wouldn’t have done that.’
But if you think about it objectively, changing your respect for yourself and the cult leader are two separate things. You could have changed it without thinking much about it, or there could be other reasons.
Yes, what Geommu-geuk said is right. The answer is not in my heart, but in Sobakta. Instead of looking at the changed Kyojujeon, I should have looked into Sobakta’s eyes.
As I was wandering around the front yard with all sorts of thoughts in my mind, a golden light illuminated the darkness as it walked out.
“Which of the three cult leaders is keeping you up at night?”
“Three leaders?”
“Is this our cult leader? Is this the current leader of the Pungcheon Church?”
“What about the remaining leader?”
Mabul stared at the leader of the Fengchun sect. Only then did the leader of the Fengchun sect realize that the last leader that Mabul had spoken of was himself, the previous leader.
The leader of the Pungcheon Church said with a self-deprecating smile.
“The problem is always because of the last leader.”
Then Mabul came up with a different answer.
“No. The reason we can’t sleep is because of the cult leader.”
How can you not know?
If it weren’t for the leader, I wouldn’t be here today. I, So Baek-ta, would still be looking at the leader’s story, wondering, ‘When will I become the leader?’
It was creepy to think that way.
Go-wol would still be bound to the shackles. No, he had the key to the chains, so he might have left by now.
He would be jumping around and giving orders to kill Gowol without knowing what kind of person he was. It was creepy to think of himself living that kind of life.
The leader of the Pungcheon sect sat down on a rock to meet Ma-bul’s gaze.
If it weren’t for the cult leader, I would have been living a different life.
If it had been a different minor cult leader than the current one, would the Grand Duke have become the successor?
At that moment, Mabul said something unexpected.
“Honestly, I’m having fun these days.”
The leader of the Pungcheon Church was shocked. The words, “You’re crazy,” came out of his mouth without him realizing it.
I never thought I would hear the word “happy” coming out of Mabul’s mouth. Yes, he is human too, so he can be happy. But I didn’t know he would express that feeling to me.
“I enjoy the feeling of living a life other than my own. Have I been living such a boring life up until now?”
Whether it was a life where he put down the struggle for power, a life where he came all the way here to help the leader of the Pungcheon cult, or a life where he received a lot of papers with poison drawn on them, he was definitely living a different life than before.
“I never once thought, ‘What if I lived a different life?’”
The leader of the Pungcheon Church, who was listening to Ma-Bul, suddenly spoke.
“Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever looked at you straight in the eye.”
Even when we were friends, and then when we fought and swore at each other over the succession dispute, and even up until this moment, it seemed like I had never seen him properly.
Mabul was not upset at all. He also sympathized with the meaning behind the words of the leader of the Fengchun sect. That was why Mabul easily came to a conclusion.
“So all of this responsibility is the fault of the young cult leader.”
The leader of the Pungcheon sect nodded with a smile.
“Yes, it’s always because of the cult leader. It’s because of our arrogant and smart cult leader who keeps the adults from sleeping.”
These days, he’s the most fun to watch when he’s fighting with Ma-bul and Geommu-geuk. He’s always the most excited when he’s cursing Geommu-geuk.
The leader of the Fengchun Church looked up at the night sky. The moon outside looked even more miserable and lonely. Then, for a moment, he realized, “Oh no.”
‘Here it is again. Again, I look for the answer in my heart first.’
I looked up at the moon again. When I looked again, the moon in Saewoo and the moon in Jungwon were the same. Yes, I practice while looking at the moon. The answer is in that moon.
* * *
There was a strategy meeting before going to the welcome hall the next day.
“By now, the people behind this place have probably lost contact with the woman in the flower garden. Naturally, they will think we have taken advantage of them. There are two ways to react. Either hide, or retaliate.”
The leader of the Fengchun sect and Mabul did not show any sign of fear. That was because they did not think that whoever that bastard was, he would dare to take revenge on the younger leader of the Cheonmasin sect, Mabul, and the previous leader of the Fengchun sect.
But the sword dance drama knows. The opponent is King Huan who lost Huan Yu. No one knows how he will react. That is why it has awakened the two people’s alertness.
“As you can see from the flower garden lady, they are the ones using the actual blood cult’s magic. You must not let your guard down, because you never know what might come out.”
Blood sect is definitely effective against the leader of the Fengchun sect. The moment he heard that word, his eyes became intense. The leader of the Fengchun sect also believed in a conspiracy theory that there were people trying to revive the fallen Blood sect.
“Your Majesty, please carefully look at those attending today’s banquet to see if there is anyone who has been subjected to the magic of seduction.”
He gave another request to Mabul.
“They might try to approach Ma-Bul-Nim by attacking him instead of me or the leader. Please be aware of this and watch out for suspicious individuals approaching you.”
Geommugeuk stood up from his seat and spoke forcefully.
“Okay, let’s go. The war starts now.”
I left the guest room with two people.
On either side of the sword dance, the leader of the Pungcheon sect and the demon sect walked side by side. In this new world, they were the wings.
* * *
All the five elders of the Pungcheon Church as well as the major masters gathered at the welcoming banquet hall.
The Fengchun Sect was not made up entirely of masters of illusion. There were also purely martial artists who did not use illusion. Elder Houyang, who was now greeting the Fengchun Sect leader, was one of them. He was a master of swordsmanship who belonged to the New Three Great Swordsmen.
“It’s been a while.”
Now that he could no longer use the title of leader, Houyang felt awkward about what to call the leader of Pungcheon.
“How have you been?”
“Thanks to you, I’ve been doing well. It looks like you’ve lost a lot of weight.”
At those words, the leader of the Pungcheon Church smiled happily. These are the words I like to hear the most these days.
“Your face looks relaxed too.”
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“Thank you. You look very nice too.”
In the past, I would have thought this way, of course.
Since we had a good relationship before, of course he’s still friendly towards me now.
The leader of the Fengchun sect looked at him calmly.
Is that really true?
Now this question weighs heavily on us.
This is what the sword dance is saying.
Don’t judge yourself by bringing up past relationships, personality, reputation, pleasant words, or slips of the tongue. Instead, look at and listen to the eyes, expressions, and words that are looking at you now.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t honor you more highly.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I respected you for being a pure-blooded person. I was grateful that you dedicated yourself to our school. That’s why I thought I should treat you better, but I kept putting it off and missed the opportunity. I’m sorry.”
I apologized to him. Apologizing like this was also a change after meeting Geommu-geuk. Apologizing to Go-wol, apologizing to Ma-bul, apologizing to Hou-yang. Yes, apologizing to everything.
I could sense Houyang’s confusion. I couldn’t hide my feelings of wondering what on earth he was up to.
Yes, my relationship with the person named Houyang is just like this.
The distance that makes you feel embarrassed and ask, ‘Why is this person suddenly being so kind?’ This is the distance between him and yourself. The vague sense of familiarity you felt earlier was an emotion that only existed in your mind.
When I try to look closely, I see things I hadn’t seen before.
“I just told you because I wouldn’t have another chance to do it today.”
“Thank you for thinking so.”
Starting with Houyang, other elders also came to greet the leader of the Fengtian sect.
After greeting them one by one, the leader of the Pungcheon Church asked.
“But I don’t see Elder Sung.”
Then Houyang spoke cautiously.
“Elder Seong has voluntarily resigned from his position as an elder.”
The leader of the Fengtian sect was shocked. The elder was Seong-ye, the head of the five elders. He was also the person he cherished the most.
“What was the reason for your withdrawal?”
“You said you wanted to rest now.”
The leader of the Pungcheon sect recalled what Elder Seong had said when he stepped down from his position as leader and left.
-I will serve the new leader until the end of my life.
-I’m going to trust you.
He was that kind of person, so he stepped down because he wanted to rest? That can’t be. If he stepped down, there must have been a reason.
Meanwhile, people came to Geommugeuk and greeted him.
It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet the leader of the Cheonmasingyo sect in person. So everyone introduced themselves and tried to at least get a glimpse of him.
Then a woman came and greeted me boldly.
“If I had known that the leader of the sect was this handsome, I would have already escaped from Saewoo.”
She was a middle-aged woman with a sad expression. Unlike the rough and sly aura of the Pungcheon Church, she had kind eyes.
“It’s Gu-suk.”
“It’s a sword dance.”
Geommu-geuk knew who she was. She was one of the five elders and a woman who followed the leader of the Pungcheon sect a lot.
At that time, the leader of the Pungcheon Church walked towards the place and said.
“If you fall for the cult leader, you will really end up trying to escape from the outside world.”
Gusuk smiled brightly and greeted the leader of Pungcheon Church.
“Like our brother?”
“Brother?”
At the word “older brother,” not only the leader of the Pungcheon Church but also everyone around him was shocked.
“Now that the leader has stepped down, I should call you ‘brother.’ Don’t you remember? I told you that I would call you ‘brother’ if you stepped down from your position as leader.”
Honestly, I couldn’t remember. I couldn’t have made up something like that, so I realized anew how much I hadn’t been listening to what other people had said.
“I thought you were joking.”
“I never joked even once.”
The leader of the Fengchun cult was just blinking and listening, but Geommu-geuk could feel that she respected the leader.
“Your Majesty, I hope I can have the chance to treat you to a drink before you leave.”
“I’m happy to go anytime. How could I miss the opportunity to learn about alcohol and life from a beautiful older sister who has been through all sorts of hardships?”
At the sword dance, Gu-suk laughed heartily and scolded the leader of the Pungcheon cult, telling him to be at least half as good as the leader of the So-gyo cult.
While there were elders with such cool personalities, there were also elders like Wang Hyo who would just greet others and then quietly explore.
There was laughter next to me.
When Geommu-geuk looked back, Ma-bul was sitting at the table talking to people. He had met many people, so he was good at leading conversations.
At that time, the leader, So Baek-ta, entered the banquet hall.
As he entered, the warriors of Pungcheon-gyo all saluted him and greeted him. The marks from yesterday were completely erased from Sobaek-ta’s face.
Was that why the atmosphere that had been suspicious felt pure today?
Sobakta took care of the sword dance from the beginning.
“Today is the day for the little sect leader, so eat as much as you want.”
“Today was the first time I realized that foreign liquor is this delicious.”
“This is a special drink prepared for a special person.”
Next, I greeted Mabul and finally took care of the leader of the Pungcheon sect.
“Master, did you sleep well?”
“I slept well thanks to our leader’s care.”
I intentionally said that he was our leader so that everyone could hear. Even though I don’t know where or how the mastermind infiltrated, the leader of Pungcheon felt a sense of responsibility to protect Sobaekta and the Pungcheon Church.
“Cult leader.”
“Yes, Master.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve been back to school, so I suddenly miss the sound bell. Can I see it?”
“Of course. I will take care of it.”
It was something I said because I wanted to be alone with Sobakta, and I also wanted to see the sound of the thunder bell.
After leaving the banquet hall, So Baek-ta took the leader of the Pungcheon sect to the leader’s shrine.
‘There wasn’t a thunder bell at the place I went to yesterday?’
Although he was puzzled, the leader of the Pungcheon sect followed So Baek-ta silently.
So Baek-ta, who entered the temple, climbed up to the throne and sat down, then placed his hand on the spot where he had placed his inner strength.
Then the walls on all sides began to rise.
Wooooow.
There was a display case behind the wall, where the sacred items of Pungcheon Bridge were stored.
“Since we’re changing the interior, we’ve also changed the storage of the new items.”
“What a sophisticated machine. How cool.”
Of course, it did not suit the leader of the Pungcheon Church, who lived for the fun of looking at new things.
The leader of the Pungcheon Church walked slowly and looked at the new water. It was a new feeling to see it after such a long time. He had taken all of these and gone to the new church.
The lightning bell was placed in the center behind the Taesa.
“It’s been a really long time.”
The gaze of the leader of the Pungcheon sect looking at the thunder bell deepened. It had been a long time since he had seen the evil spirit carved into the thunder bell.
‘Gowol said he’d like to say hello.’
Sobakta, who was standing next to me, spoke softly.
“Do you remember what you said to me when you left the church?”
For a moment, the leader of the Pungcheon Church flinched.
‘What did I say before I left?’
At that time, I was really out of my mind. All I could think about was finishing up my work and going back to Gowol.
But even so, you don’t remember what he said?
I also forgot what I heard from Gusuk earlier.
This is not a matter of having a good or bad memory. This is a matter of attitude toward life. It is a matter of attitude where you are only caught up in your own emotions and do not look at the other person well or listen to what the other person says. That is why you forget everything.
To him, reality was… a world worse than the world in the illusion.
The leader of the Pungcheon Church, who was looking at the sound bell, turned his head and looked at So Baek-ta.
So Baek-ta calmly said exactly what the leader of the Pungcheon Church had said that day.
“I couldn’t achieve my dream, but you must achieve it.”
When I heard that, I remembered. Yes, I told him that. What else could a person who is leaving say? I told him to stay for a long time and die as a leader.
So Baek-ta also turned his head and looked at the leader of the Pungcheon sect. The two people’s gazes met with the evil spirit of the Yin-Rao sect between them.
“I want to make that dream come true.”
“What is your dream, cult leader?”
I had a feeling that something I shouldn’t have said would come out. And that feeling was correct.
“It’s the unification of the martial arts world.”
“!”
Yes, that was okay. It was a dream that the leader of the great power of Pungcheon Church could have had at least once.
The problem was what came next.
“Now I think it’s time to take that first step.”
