Chapter 609: Chapter 1497: How Dare I Not Follow? (Part 2)
Chung Myung silently stared at Hyun Pung Shin Gae, who was shedding tears.
Strangely, Hyun Pung Shin Gae's emotional face provided some strange comfort to Chung Myung.
It might've sounded strange, but it was a consolation that what he had done at that time was not in vain.
"Thank you."
Therefore, these words carried multiple meanings and emotions, to the extent that even Hyun Pung Shin Gae couldn't fully understand them.
"Don't say such things, Sword Saint."
Hyun Pung Shin Gae lifted his head with all his strength.
"Why do you say that? It's my unfulfilled duty to the Sword Saint. It's the courage I should have shown earlier. Now that it's too late... so that I can repay that terrible debt even a little..."
Unable to continue his words, Hyun Pung Shin Gae tightly sealed his lips. It was difficult to restrain the surging emotions.
After struggling to control his emotions for a while, he looked at Chung Myung and spoke. His face was full of remorse.
"However, because I neglected the Beggar's Union for too long, it won't be easy. Unfortunately, I will have to borrow the Sword Saint's help..."
Chung Myung cut him off firmly.
"It doesn't matter. Just tell me the direction to go. Opening the way is my responsibility."
A small smile appeared on Hyun Pung Shin Gae's lips.
"Yes, Sword Saint has always been like that."
As if recalling a distant memory, Hyun Pung Shin Gae's gaze slowly settled.
"...There are many things I want to ask and many things I want to say... cough!"
A dry cough burst from his small mouth.
"hoo..."
He laughed as he lightly grasped his own heart with his dry hands.
"As you can see... I don't have much time left."
"...Hyun Pung Shin Gae."
When Chung Myung tried to say something, Hyun Pung Shin Gae raised his head.
"Don't look at me with such pitiful eyes. The Sword Saint didn't take away my name. Instead, he gave me a last chance, didn't he?"
With a subtle smile, Hyun Pung Shin Gae turned his gaze. At the end of his gaze was a staircase leading downward.
"And... I also have a request for Sword Saint."
"A request?"
Chung Myung's eyebrows twitched slightly.
"Hmm?"
Master Lu, who had been concentrating on the upper floors, suddenly frowned. A faint but clear sound leaked from the perfectly blocked upper floor. This meant that the mysterious barrier between the lower and upper floors had been broken.
Sure enough, though faint, a distinct sound followed.
"...Come up."
"Yes!"
Master Lu immediately answered and said to Baek Cheon and his party.
"We need to go back upstairs."
"Yes."
Everyone who had heard the sound nodded. Led by Master Lu, they went upstairs, where they saw Hyun Pung Shin Gae lying on a dark bed in a dim room, and next to him was Chung Myung, who was standing.
Although it was no different from before leaving the seat, the atmosphere seemed strangely different.
"Cough. Cough, cough!"
"Shifu! Are you okay?"
As Hyun Pung Shin Gae coughed repeatedly, Master Lu rushed over. And then, in an instant, he froze his face. The situation was not good.
"You need to rest. You've been awake for too long."
"...I'm fine."
"No, let's talk in detail later, for now, the..."
"Guo'er (果兒)." ["Fruit"]
"..."
"It's time."
Master Lu bit his lips.
"I... I did something truly unforgivable to you."
"No, Shifu. Why do you say such things? It's natural for a disciple to follow the will of the master."
Facing Master Lu, who vehemently denied, Hyun Pung Shin Gae weakly lowered his head.
"I already knew. But I turned a blind eye. The fact is that everything I tried to do was ultimately made possible by your sacrifices."
"..."
"Listen to their wishes. After that, you can do as you please."
"Shifu..."
"Can you do it?"
Master Luu, who had been silently clenching his lips, nodded his head at last.
"I will follow the orders."
"It's not an order, it's a request. Can you consider it?"
Upon hearing this, Maste rLu firmly shut his mouth.
Hyun Pung Shin Gae waited silently without urging him. After a while, Master Lu, who had been gazing at Hyun Pung Shin Gae for a long time, finally spoke.
"...I will do it."
Hyun Pung Shin Gae reached out his faintly trembling hand, and Master Lu held it. They held each other's wrinkled hands silently.
Even with this small gesture, it was evident how much they cared for each other and understood each other.
While holding hands, Hyun Pung Shin Gae looked at Chung Myung and the Five Swords behind him.
"It won't be easy, but... with their help, it might be possible."
"Yes, Shifu."
"And... I believe. Even if it has cooled down so much, there is still warm blood flowing inside you."
At these words, Master Lu flinched slightly.
"Guo'er..."
"...Yes, Shifu."
"Now I understand. As long as I'm alive, there's a chance to undo anything."
"..."
"Maybe I didn't trust you. I was so foolish... now..."
"Please don't say that. Shifu did his best."
It was a firm voice. A faint smile appeared on Hyun Pung Shin Gae's lips.
Sometimes, conveying warmth through fingertips is more than a hundred words could express. As those who walked the same path of destiny, there was no need for lengthy words. They understood each other deeply.
"Chivalrous...Sword."
Hyun Pung Shin Gae spoke to Chung Myung.
"You are a capable person...it will be helpful."
Chung Myung nodded silently.
"But, Mount Hua's Chivalrous Sword. As you may know... the path Mount Hua's Chivalrous Swor has to walk is too burdensome and painful. It will be a thorny path that seems to have no end."
It was a warning mixed with concern. Chung Myung replied with a blunt tone.
"Well, what can I do? That's the only path. I can't just sit back and relax."
"..."
"And there's no eternal thorny path. Because every path eventually comes to an end. I'm just heading towards that end."
Hyun Pung Shin Gae's eyes softened.
Perhaps what he lacked was that courage. He was a person who feared the thorny path and sat down in front of it. If he had the courage to break through that path, Kangho and the Beggar's Union would be very different now.
"...That's right."
In the past and now, Chung Myung had been such a person. Despite knowing it was difficult and challenging, he didn't hesitate.
'No, it's not that he didn't hesitate.'
Even if he hesitated and hesitated again, he was still a person who would eventually walk that path. That was why many followed him in the past, and many still looked up to him now.
"I believe. Chivalrous...Sword."
Chung Myung nodded to him.
Then Hyun Pung Shin Gae turned towards the ceiling. It seemed as if he was looking at the sky beyond.
"It was long, too long... Now... finally, a small courage to ask for forgiveness has come."
"...Elder."
"Guo'er... Open the window, please."
"Yes, Shifu."
Master Lu rushed to the small window without hesitation. A harsh noise echoed as if it hadn't been opened for a very long time.
The night air rushed in through the wide-open window. To someone, it might feel cold, and to someone else, it might feel refreshing. The air circulated, pushing out the stuffy air inside the sealed room, conveying relief to the occupants.
"The air is a bit chilly, Shifu..."
Master Lu, who was turning his head, froze in place. The eyes of Hyun Pung Shin Gae, lying on the bed, were closed. It was a serene expression never seen before.
Master Lu clenched his teeth inside his mouth. Shedding tears was not right. Hyun Pung Shin Gae had finally freed himself from the pain that had bound him, so it was more appropriate to burst into laughter. But he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Carefully moving the feet that refused to let go, Master Lu approached the bed. He gently took the cold hand of Hyun Pung Shin Gae, who had almost cooled down, in his hands.
No one would know. No one would know how much this old man had carried and endured until now.
"The request Shifu made, I will definitely fulfill. So, please..."
Rest in peace.
Words that couldn't be said were buried in the heart. Master Lu tightly held Hyun Pung Shin Gae's cooling hand one last time. Then he spoke to Chung Myung and the others.
"For a moment... can you give us some time? To make preparations..."
"Leave him there."
"...Yes?"
When he turned around, Chung Myung was silently watching Hyun Pung Shin Gae, who had fallen into eternal sleep.
"Those who died in battle are buried there."
"..."
"That was the principle of those days."
Master Lu's shoulders shook briefly.
"The war may be over, but for him, it was still a battlefield. He has been fighting until now. He's not like the leftovers of the era. He's a warrior who continued the fight everyone had put down until the end."
"...Mount Hua's Chivalrous Sword."
"So leave him there. He would want that."
Master Lu bit his lips fiercely. Otherwise, tears would have flowed quickly.
No one in the world could say such words to Hyun Pung Shin Gae, nor could they. Only one person, excluding himself.
"...I will do it...that way."
Chung Myung nodded quietly at the difficult answer.
Through a window open in one corner, a new breeze continued to blow. It was too small and insignificant to communicate with the world, but the fact that the window, which had been closed for so long, was open at this moment was important.
It was solely due to the will of Hyun Pung Shin Gae.
"Amitabha."
Hye Yeon briefly chanted a memorial verse and started the funeral ceremony. The disciples of Mount Hua also performed their rituals, expressing their respect to Hyun Pung Shin Gae in their own ways.
No one knew what he had done. But there was no need to know. With only the will that had endured in this dark attic until now, he deserved respect.
"Let's go down."
"Yes."
Baek Cheon respectfully bowed and then turned away from Hyun Pung Shin Gae's body. One by one, Chung Myung, Master Lu, and the others separated from Hyun Pung Shin Gae and left the attic.
"I will close it."
Kiiing.
As Master Lu operated the mechanism, the stairs that had come down slowly rose, and the door leading to the ceiling closed tightly.
Koong.
Chung Myung silently stared at the closed door.
Now that door would never open again.
For someone who continued his fight alone in the years without Chung Myung, it might've seemed a somewhat small and pitiful tomb.
But Chung Myung thought that it was the most fitting tomb for Hyun Pung Shin Gae.
"Watch from there."
Everything may have been in vain, but Chung Myung would prove that it wasn't. And everything he did would be transmitted through the wind to the small and quiet attic.
A shelter with a drop of blood that would never cool, even if it was desolate and dried up.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Bagel_Seeds
Bagel_Seeds ...i thought this arc was going to be funny
....i thought this arc was going to be funny
...i thought
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