Who I was in the past and who he will become in the future. (4)

Even though everything stood in perfect opposition to him, even though the very act of facing each other and breathing the same air made his body tremble with hatred… he had no choice but to acknowledge it.

There was no way to deny at least the resolve of that monster, as though it had been crafted out of pure malice.

Chung Myung let out a faint sigh and asked.

“Why do you hate the world so much?”

At Chung Myung’s question, which had slipped out before it could pass through his mind, Jang Ilso let out a hollow laugh, as though he couldn’t believe it.

“Do I need a reason?”

Jang Ilso’s face twisted grotesquely.

“There’s no reason needed to hate filth, nor is there one needed to avoid what is dreadful. Thus, isn’t it natural that despising what is vile requires no reason either?”

In a voice now noticeably darker, Chung Myung muttered.

“…In your eyes, then, this world is nothing but ugly. So much so that you cannot bear it.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

A smile flickered on Jang Ilso’s blood-drenched face. Chung Myung shook his head, his expression somewhat appalled.

“You’re mad – truly, completely insane.”

“How very obvious of you to say.”

Jang Ilso shrugged. For all his ruined appearance, he somehow looked strangely pleased.

“Then what about you? Does this world look nothing but beautiful to your eyes, surely not?”

Chung Myung did not answer. No, he could not.

Chung Myung knew best how ugly the world truly was. Perhaps it appeared especially hideous to him.

The world he saw was no different from flowers blooming atop the corpses of Hwasan. A world where the ones who drove blades into the backs of those he cherished most reveled in those blossoms and feasted on the fruit they bore. That was the world reflected in Chung Myung’s eyes.

Was there never a time he wanted to burn it all to ash?

Lost in thought for a moment, Chung Myung chuckled lightly. Seeing that, Jang Ilso tilted his head slightly.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Because it’s nothing new.”

Chung Myung let out a dry laugh.

If madness were the measure, would he really fall short of Jang Ilso.

To Chung Myung, Jang Ilso was like his own reflection in a warped mirror. Whenever he faced Jang Ilso, he kept finding himself all over again.

Past and present. And the future.

It might sound absurd, but perhaps this man was, in a way, completing Chung Myung.

As the silence grew long, Jang Ilso let out a faint laugh.

“You don’t particularly deny it.”

“…”

“Then why endure it?”

Chung Myung looked up at the sky for a moment without a word. Strangely enough, he kept feeling laughter bubbling up inside him. He had never dreamed he would say this.

“Because I’ve become an adult.”

When Chung Mun was around, Chung Myung could remain a child forever. Because of that, he had been able to be honest about his desires, much like Jang Ilso.

But not now. Chung Mun was no longer in this world.

So now Chung Myung had to do it.

“The world… it’s horrific. Sometimes its foulness twists my guts. No, to be honest, it’s so bad that it’s hard to hold back the retching every moment.”

“You know it well.”

“But that’s not all of it.”

Chung Myung’s gaze shifted past Jang Ilso, focusing somewhere in the distance. At the end of that gaze was someone risking his life to reach this place. Someone who, after finally getting another chance at life, was ready to throw away that precious opportunity without hesitation.

“They’re there, aren’t they?”

Not only Baek Cheon.

They’re here. Those who could prove that the world wasn’t merely disgusting.

Chung Myung’s senior brothers all died in the Hundred Thousand Mountains. They closed their eyes in vain without seeing the world they had longed for, perhaps without even knowing that what they wished for had come to pass.

But if what they gained in exchange for that death were the lives of these people shining that brightly…

“……It wasn’t entirely without worth. Right?”

Even Chung Myung did not know at whom that question ought to be directed. It was only that the one standing before him now happened to be Jang Ilso.

In response to Chung Myung’s question, Jang Ilso shook his head and grumbled.

“Anyway, we just don’t match.”

Though Chung Myung’s words likely sounded like incomprehensible nonsense to him, Jang Ilso neither harshly criticized nor rebuked him. Perhaps because Jang Ilso himself knew well that a person’s thoughts don’t simply change from just a few exchanges with another.

“And you?”

“…What?”

“Jang Ilso, to you, is this world truly nothing but dreadful?”

Jang Ilso fell silent for a moment.

Moments flashed through his mind – moments when he hadn’t thought this world was merely disgusting. A person who had already been lost.

“Ha…….”

But it was only fleeting. All of it dispersed into emptiness with Jang Ilso’s faint scoff.

“Always with the sermons. This is why Taoist monks are exhausting.”

Sneering, Jang Ilso glared at Chung Myung.

“The moment you feel even a slight advantage, you can’t resist lecturing others.”

“….An advantage, huh. It would be nice if that were true.”

Chung Myung let out a faint chuckle.

Then Jang Ilso saw it: black, dead blood flowing from Chung Myung’s mouth.

“Kuhk! Kuhk!”

Every time Chung Myung’s body shook with harsh coughing, black blood splattered onto the ground.

At the same moment, the strange, oppressive aura surrounding Chung Myung began to fade. Yes, it seemed as though his very vital energy [생기(生氣)] was seeping away. Confronted by this sudden and inexplicable change, Jang Ilso unconsciously furrowed his brow.

“Demonic possession [입마]… no, is it the other way around?”

“Kuhk!”

Chung Myung coughed violently again, carelessly wiping the blood around his mouth with his sleeve. A faint bitterness lingered around his lips as the blood was wiped away.

“As you can see.”

His mind had reached the state he desired, yet his body had not caught up to that realm. Originally, the body would naturally follow enlightenment, and eventually, it would reach the heights his spirit had attained… yet for now it was an arduous task.

It was as if he had forcibly called down a realm too great for his inadequate body to bear.

It was too harsh to bear in the current situation, but if one considered it the price of putting himself through it, it was a cheap price to pay.

“…Is this what you’d call a divine descent*?”

“Something like that.”

“You do some bizarre things.”

Jang Ilso nodded as if he finally understood. If what Chung Myung had done was a form of divine descent, his body would now suffer an equally fierce backlash.

Chung Myung was already half-dead. If he had to bear the recoil from a divine descent on top of that, the resulting shock would be beyond words.

Jang Ilso chuckled quietly to himself.

“Good grief… any internal energy left?”

“……Think there’s any?”

“My, my. That’s truly unfortunate. But there’s no need to worry.”

Jang Ilso said it with a thin, crooked grin tugging at his mouth.

“Because I’m no better off.”

“Is that something to boast about, you idiot?”

“Hahaha. Aren’t we both the same? You’re in tatters too.”

Chung Myung’s wretched state gave Jang Ilso no particular advantage. He was wrecked past mending himself now.

He hadn’t a fingernail’s worth of internal energy left. His body could barely remain standing. Even if he somehow emerged victorious, it was uncertain whether he’d survive afterward.

Even so…….

As if by prior agreement, the two briefly took their eyes off each other and glanced around. Everyone was fighting with their lives on the line. Whatever feelings they carried, the conclusion they’d reached at the end was the same.

“It was a long road.”

“Yeah. Hideously.”

Chung Myung urged forward his creaking body and took a step. Each step felt as if he were carrying a mountain on his shoulders, struggling through thousands li. Even so, Chung Myung did not stop.

Jang Ilso likewise walked towards him.

Having traversed an unbearably long road, they now approached one another. It felt as though their entire lives up to now were unfolding in that walk.

Step. Step.

Dragging their staggering bodies forward, they at last arrived. Stopping just a single step away from their nemesis.

Chung Myung lifted his head, and Jang Ilso did the same. Standing within arm’s reach, they looked silently at each other. 

They had not really spoken, and of course they had reached no agreement.

Yet they both already knew. How this duel had to end.

Srrng.

Chung Myung slid his sword back into its scabbard.

Jang Ilso let out a small laugh.

“Overconfident, aren’t you? No matter what, I’m still a fist fighter [권사(拳士)].”

“There’s no other way.”

Chung Myung bared his teeth.

“Cutting off your head with a sword won’t leave me feeling relieved.”

“Haha. This is why I like you.”

Suddenly Jang Ilso unfastened something from his waist and held it out to Chung Myung.

Chung Myung muttered as though he couldn’t believe it.

“…Liquor?”

“Looks like heaven lent me a hand for once. Seeing how it didn’t shatter in all this chaos.”

Chung Myung let out a hollow laugh.

Well. Chung Myung couldn’t be certain. He neither understood Jang Ilso’s intentions in offering him alcohol at such a time, nor could he agree it was heaven’s favor.

Rather, the fact the bottle hadn’t broken through such fierce fighting felt more like heaven’s cruel mockery.

“Really?”

“Well, our previous drinking session wasn’t exactly pleasant, was it? But right now… I think the alcohol would taste exceptionally good.”

Jang Ilso smiled softly.

“Don’t you think so?”

Fixing his gaze on him, Chung Myung silently accepted the bottle. Most of its contents had leaked out. Only a little remained – at most a few mouthfuls.

Chung Myung popped the cork, tilted his head back, and poured the liquor down.

Clink.

After drinking roughly half of what was left, he sharply turned the bottle around and passed it back to Jang Ilso.

Jang Ilso, likewise without a word, emptied the bottle in one go. 

“Phew.”

After cleanly swallowing what little liquor remained, Jang Ilso smiled and asked.

“So, how is it?”

At this brazenness, Chung Myung couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yeah. It’s the best.”

“See? I told you so.”

The two faced each other and smiled. Their smiles began small but slowly grew larger. For a moment, empty laughter spilled from them as if all tension had drained away. But then, suddenly, their eyes met again.

In that instant, their fists flew towards each other’s faces.

Thud!

For blows thrown by a swordsman who vied for the title of the world’s best and a fist fighter spoken of in the same breath, they were unbelievably weak – yet still strong enough to finish off opponents already battered beyond repair as the fists crashed into their faces.

Both heads snapped back at the same time. Their bodies bent so violently they nearly toppled backward.

Tok.

The two stepped back simultaneously. The instant their feet touched ground, they kicked off and hurled their fists at each other again.

Thud!

A fist smashed into a face once more. Even in the split second their heads snapped, their gazes met in midair.

They understood perfectly what their eyes conveyed.

Neither would retreat.

It had gone on long enough. From now on, neither would yield until one of them stopped breathing. Only one person would be left standing here.

A chilling thrill coursed through their bodies.

Crushed by the powerlessness of their dying flesh yet inflamed by the fierce, unknown emotion boiling in their chests, they thrust their fists at each other again.

Crash!

Blood splattered violently from their bodies, falling on the mournful earth like cold rain.