Can we retreat? (5)

Baek Sang was struck with terror.

It wasn’t just anyone, but Baek Cheon and Yoon Jong.

Financial Pavilion was where Hwasan’s funds were managed, but no matter what anyone said, it was people who moved that money. Since the amount of money allowed was limited, it ultimately had to be people who decided where to spend it.

Therefore, Baek Sang knew.

He knew who had the greatest presence in Hwasan, which seemed to be under the influence of the elders and Chung Myung. He knew who the core figures of Hwasan were.

‘Why…?’

Baek Sang sometimes felt fortunate, and at other times relieved, that the two people with the most influence in Hwasan didn’t have a particularly bad relationship.

In fact, they sometimes seemed like each other’s only islands of understanding.

But now, right in front of his eyes, the two were clashing without hiding their hostility toward each other.

“W-Wait a moment. Yoon Jong, you….”

“Stay out of it, Baek Sang.”

Before Baek Sang could say anything to intervene, Baek Cheon cut him off coldly. Turning to look at his Sahyeong with astonished eyes, Baek Sang had no choice but to hold his breath at the coldness in his tone.

Baek Cheon glared at Yoon Jong again.

“Go on. What are you going to do?”

“Sasuk.”

“Are you planning to stop me by force?”

Yoon Jong sighed, looking somewhat weary.

“You must know yourself that what you’re doing right now is not right, Sasuk.”

“You think your actions are right, do you?”

“…That’s not what I mean.”

“Is it really not?”

Baek Sang saw it. Yoon Jong’s face, who had seemed relatively calm, subtly cracked as if the expression he wore was breaking.

“Why am I….”

“Don’t be presumptuous, Yoon Jong.”

At Baek Cheon’s words, Yoon Jong’s shoulders flinched for a moment.

“I understand why you’re doing this. But that doesn’t make it right. Don’t impose your thoughts on me.”

“Sasuk!”

“Step aside.”

“…”

“Move.”

Baek Cheon’s presence was infinitely cold, and Yoon Jong unconsciously bit his lip tightly.

“Isn’t this for the sake of Hwasan?”

Baek Cheon, who had been about to step forward, paused.

“…What do you mean?”

“I’m asking if the reason you’re pushing yourself is not for the sake of Hwasan. Isn’t it to fulfill your duty as the Vice Sect Leader?”

Baek Cheon chose to remain silent.

“Didn’t you clearly tell me that, Sasuk?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“I’m asking if what you’re about to do is really for the sake of the disciples of Hwasan.”

“Yoon Jong.”

“Namgung is not Hwasan!”

Silence flowed. Baek Cheon stared blankly at Yoon Jong as if he’d been hit hard by something.

“It’s not that risking your life for Namgung is wrong. If you told me to do it, I would do it. A hundred times! A thousand times! But you, Sasuk… You don’t have to do that, do you? Don’t you really know what you mean to Hwasan?”

Baek Sang alternated glances between the two, unable to understand.

Their conversation was oddly disjointed. There were subtle implications embedded in their words.

“Are you saying I’m that important to Hwasan?”

“Of course…”

Baek Cheon cut off Yoon Jong’s words.

“Or are you saying I’m no longer capable of handling all this?”

“Sasuk!”

Unable to bear it, Yoon Jong shouted. His voice cracked with pent-up resentment, conveying that his intentions were never like that, though there was clearly a strange tinge of blame as well.

However, Baek Cheon’s eyes remained endlessly calm.

“If it’s not that, then step aside. I am your Sasuk and the Vice Sect Leader of Hwasan.”

“It’s the order of the Sect Leader and the retired Sect Leader!”

“So what?”

So what? Yoon Jong’s face visibly twisted.

This wasn’t the Baek Cheon he knew. The Baek Cheon he knew, even if he disagreed, wouldn’t react like this in the name of the Sect Leader and the retired Sect Leader.

What on earth had made this person so stubborn and narrow-minded? Sharp words slipped out of Yoon Jong’s mouth.

“Are you looking for a place to die?”

“Hey!”

Baek Sang couldn’t hold back and shouted.

But Yoon Jong didn’t even glance at Baek Sang, glaring only at Baek Cheon.

“Why are you acting so urgently? If you don’t go, will someone die? Even if you do go, what exactly…”

Yoon Jong, realizing he had said too much, clamped his mouth shut.

Baek Cheon could easily guess the words Yoon Jong couldn’t bring himself to say.

“You mean, what can I do?”

“…No. I…”

Yoon Jong couldn’t finish his sentence. He couldn’t deny that he had thought that, even for a moment.

Yoon Jong thought. No matter how many times he reconsidered, he wasn’t wrong.

He could not allow Baek Cheon, whose body wasn’t in good condition, to jump into a dangerous battlefield and die a meaningless death.

Baek Cheon wasn’t Baek Cheon because he was strong.

Even if he lost all his martial arts skills and couldn’t kill even an ant with his own hands, he would still be Baek Cheon, Yoon Jong’s Sasuk, and the next Sect Leader of Hwasan.

He couldn’t lose someone like Baek Cheon over something like this. Absolutely not.

Seeing Yoon Jong, who exuded not just determination but also venom, Baek Cheon spoke bitterly.

“I can’t back down just because I lack the ability. That’s just an excuse.”

“…”

“It’s what you often say, isn’t it?”

Yoon Jong bit his lip.

This situation is different. He wanted to say that, even if it meant contradicting himself.

But…

“This is my final warning. Step aside. If you still think of me as your Sasuk and the Vice Sect Leader of Hwasan.”

A long, despondent sigh escaped Yoon Jong’s lips.

Of all things, he wished he wouldn’t say that…

“Understood.”

In the end, Yoon Jong took a step back.

“Instead, I’ll follow you. You won’t stop me from that, will you?”

Baek Cheon silently glanced at Yoon Jong, who had stepped aside, and slowly nodded. He couldn’t prevent that. Yoon Jong hadn’t blocked him out of malice, after all.

But… a seed of resentment sprouted in one corner of his heart.

Why couldn’t he understand that everything Yoon Jong was doing only made Baek Cheon feel more miserable?

‘It’s difficult.’

Baek Cheon closed his eyes tightly.

But when he opened them again, any hesitation had long since disappeared.

“Move out. Right now!”

“Yes!”

Baek Cheon led the Baek disciples and ran ahead.

Baek Sang didn’t follow immediately but stared intently at Yoon Jong. Unlike before, his gaze carried a hint of discomfort.

“There must have been a reason, since it’s you, Yoon Jong.”

“…”

“But he’s your Sasuk. I wonder if it was right for you to show such an attitude. You can’t always justify the means with the end.”

At those words, Yoon Jong hung his head low.

“I’m sorry.”

Baek Sang glared at Yoon Jong silently for a moment before turning away with a chilly air to follow Baek Cheon.

Watching his seniors move away with a complicated expression, Yoon Jong let out a long sigh and then spoke.

“Let’s go.”

“…Yes, Sahyeong.”

Among the responding disciples, some looked like they understood something, while others seemed uncomfortable, finding Yoon Jong’s actions hard to comprehend.

Something surged within him, but Yoon Jong, who had opened his mouth as if to spill it out, suppressed it and just shook his head.

‘It’s not about being understood, is it?’

“…Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Kicking off the ground, Yoon Jong bit his lip tightly.

‘I’m not wrong.’

Absolutely not.

Two people descended to the place where they had left.

“…Why did you stop me, Sago?”

Jo Geol asked Yu Iseol, seemingly unable to understand.

Yu Iseol responded in a voice devoid of emotion.

“To do what?”

“They were fighting unnecessarily. We should have intervened…”

“How?”

“Excuse me?”

“How?”

Jo Geol was momentarily at a loss for words.

Yu Iseol wasn’t asking just to argue, and Jo Geol knew that.

“Well… both of them have their own thoughts, but Yoon Jong Sahyeong was too excessive. Still, he’s his Sasuk.”

“And you?”

“What?”

Yu Iseol stared intently at Jo Geol. Her gaze was clear and penetrating.

“Do you want to send Sahyeong to the battlefield?”

He couldn’t answer hastily.

To be honest… Jo Geol leaned more towards Baek Cheon’s stance.

If he were in the same situation as Baek Cheon, Jo Geol couldn’t possibly bear it either. He couldn’t negate everything he’d done while living with the sword and back down.

Even if the outcome wasn’t favorable, shouldn’t he at least struggle as much as he could?

“I think that…”

“Then you’ll see his corpse. Will you say it was the right thing to do then?”

“No, Sago.”

“If one dies, it’s all over.”

Jo Geol flinched. Yu Iseol’s voice was calm and low, making it eerily more chilling.

“Even if you have good intentions, even if there’s a reason you can’t give up… it’s all over if you die. The burden just increases for those left behind.”

“Sago.”

“Was Yoon Jong wrong?”

“That is…”

Jo Geol tried to agree and step back as usual.

But something was stuck in his heart like a thorn.

Normally, he wouldn’t build a wall by expressing everything in his heart to Yu Iseol…

“The fact that everything is meaningless if you die doesn’t mean everything is okay as long as you live, does it?”

“…What?”

Jo Geol spoke hesitantly.

“Isn’t that right? You can’t just tell Sasuk to step back and watch. That’s not kindness. Isn’t that killing a person while they’re still alive?”

Yu Iseol looked at Jo Geol with a blank expression.

Silence descended.

Before the silence became too oppressive, Yu Iseol turned sharply and started walking away.

“You can say that because you haven’t lost anything.”

“Sago.”

“I’m leaving first. I left my group behind.”

Tap.

Yu Iseol disappeared quickly like the wind. Left alone, Jo Geol rubbed his face roughly with his coarse hands.

“Damn it!”

Why did she ask if she wasn’t going to listen anyway?

In the end, they decide everything on their own, treating his thoughts as worthless.

“Damn it.”

Cursing once more, Jo Geol scratched his head roughly and sighed.

When he looked up, the sky was clear and blue.

His chest felt even more tight. It was as if the world was telling him that everything was the same, but only they were being shaken.

“…Why is everything so complicated?”

It didn’t seem like it used to be this way.

No matter how hard things were, their world was simple, and thus, it was enough to stick to their way.

But since when did their methods start to clash and twist?

“Sahyeong.”

“I know.”

Jo Geol glanced back at the disciples approaching from behind and nodded heavily.

“Let’s follow them for now. We’ll figure something out.”

“Can we really do that? The orders we received…”

“I’ll take responsibility…”

Jo Geol couldn’t finish his sentence and fell silent.

The word “responsibility” suddenly felt too heavy. It was something he couldn’t easily utter.

“Let’s do that for now. Please.”

“…Alright, for now, Sahyeong.”

Jo Geol, stepping forward weakly, forced strength into his feet.

‘What would he have done?’

For some reason, he missed that damned bastard’s face.

The one who would have, without a second thought, kicked both of their butts.