It was an out-of-nowhere remark. At least from Chung Myung’s perspective. So he could only tilt his head and look at Baek Cheon in puzzlement.

“What obvious nonsense are you spouting? Of course I’m human.”

“There are times when it doesn’t seem like it.”

“You’re insulting me right now, aren’t you?”

Baek Cheon snorted and laughed.

‘It must sound strange.’

Because they knew each other.

Chung Myung is not a perfect person. As a human, he is full of flaws.

His personality is sharp, stubborn, and his confidence in himself is excessive, so he sometimes makes mistakes. He knows what he knows for certain, but regarding areas he doesn’t understand, he can be embarrassingly ignorant. When he pushes someone, he doesn’t show mercy, and he doesn’t know how to admit something that contradicts his own thinking.

Because of that, Chung Myung would not be able to understand what Baek Cheon said. But Baek Cheon’s standpoint was completely different.

Does that problem mean Chung Myung is an imperfect person? Baek Cheon did not think so.

His personality is unpleasant, but it doesn’t make him create enemies. He lacks knowledge in many areas, but because of that he perfectly delegates what he cannot do to others and trusts them completely. He pushes people hard, but in the end no one gave up or turned away because of him.

He doesn’t admit things different from his thoughts, yet the results have proven his thoughts right. Not perfect at all, but perfect in outcome. So isn’t the person Chung Myung, who produces those outcomes, perfect as well? Even if his perfection differs from what the world calls perfection.

So sometimes it was overwhelming, chasing that perfection. But....

“I just had the thought: you’re human too.”

“How ridiculous.”

Chung Myung didn’t ask further. Baek Cheon grabbed the bottle Chung Myung had set down and drank again. Chung Myung, looking incredulous, watched and asked. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

“What’s brought you here? You usually don’t drink so much.”

“There are days like this.”

“They say if a person does something they never did, they’ll die...”

Chung Myung, joking light-heartedly, suddenly seemed bothered and stopped talking. Baek Cheon twitched the corner of his eye and answered as if it didn’t matter.

“Don’t worry. I’ll outlive you.”

“...Maybe.”

Baek Cheon glanced at Chung Myung’s complexion.

Maybe Chung Myung didn’t even know what he had just answered. He may have just flung out any words because he had nothing else to say.

But it’s precisely in such moments that a person’s true feelings show. A few years ago, Chung Myung would never have vaguely affirmed and let it pass with such a short phrase.

He had been forgetting. No, it might be more accurate to say he’d been ignoring it.

Chung Myung is by no means a perfect person. No, even if he were perfect, he would not be omnipotent. As a human, he has limits, and there are things he simply cannot handle alone.

‘He couldn’t help forgetting.’

Every time Baek Cheon thought this time the bastard truly couldn’t manage alone, that damn man repeatedly proved the expectation wrong.

But Baek Cheon had to remember.

That being able to bear much does not mean it’s not burdensome. Training doesn’t make hardship disappear, and being cut by a blade many times doesn’t make you stop feeling the pain of being cut.

No matter how much you heal, scars remain, and the memory of groaning in pain doesn’t vanish.

He had to remember. At the very least, Baek Cheon himself had to remember. Seeing Baek Cheon silent, Chung Myung asked.

“Aren’t you going to ask?”

“Ask what?” “Isn’t that why you came?”

“So what is it?”

Chung Myung looked at Baek Cheon with an expression of not understanding at all.

“Weren’t you going to ask what answer I would give to that damned bald-headed bastard?”

“Not curious.”

“...Huh?”

“I said I’m not curious.”

Baek Cheon answered indifferently and drank. Chung Myung frowned.

“Not curious?”

Baek Cheon spoke with a clearly annoyed expression.

“If you wait the answer will come on its own; what changes by hearing it first?”

“No, you might try to persuade me.”

“If I persuade, will you listen?”

“I won’t.”

“Then what persuasion?”

“I guess so?”

Chung Myung nodded as if realizing, then immediately tilted his head as if even less sure.

“Then why did you come?”

“...Isn’t it funny.”

“What’s funny?”

“I’m your sasuk, and you’re my sajil. We’ve been in the same sect for years, seeing each other’s faces every day.”

“...So what?”

“And yet, sitting beside each other for drinking, needing an agenda or reason is what gets me.”

Chung Myung stared at Baek Cheon with a suspicious look, as if trying to probe his intent. Inwardly, he seemed flustered because he’d never heard this kind of remark before.

But Baek Cheon was simply nonchalant.

“You just drink, no reason needed to do this.”

His index finger pointed at the moon half-hidden by clouds.

“Look there. The moon’s pretty too.”

“It’s awfully gloomy, though?”

“That’s what’s beautiful about it.”

“...sasuk. Did you eat something bad this evening?”

Baek Cheon let out a low laugh.

A gap he hadn’t noticed until now—perhaps one he didn’t need to notice—shook him.

He couldn’t even remember the last time he had chatted casually with this guy. In fact, he wasn’t sure such a time had ever existed.

“No, then why did you come?”

“Ha....”

Baek Cheon made a slight annoyed grimace.

“This young brat was sitting alone looking at the moon feeling sorry for himself, so I came out of pity. Besides, I’m his elder.”

“...Did you really eat something wrong? They say if you get hit with food like that it doesn’t hurt?”

“You beat us anyway, brat.”

“That’s true.”

Chung Myung looked at Baek Cheon in disbelief, then glanced toward the moon.

“Here.”

Baek Cheon extended the bottle he was holding.

Chung Myung stared at the suddenly offered bottle, took it slowly, and tilted it to his lips.

After a moment of watching the moon, Baek Cheon spoke.

“But....”

“You said you wouldn’t ask.”

“I’m not asking. Just curious.”

“Are you really out of your mind today? We call that ‘asking’!”

Baek Cheon waved his hand as if it didn’t matter and asked.

“Why go that far?”

“Huh?”

“I know the reason. I roughly know what you’re afraid of. But... that’s something the whole world must bear, not something you alone should struggle with.”

“....”

“Even if what you worry about actually happens, no one in the world would blame you. So why do you act as if it’s natural that you alone must bear it all?”

That question made Chung Myung snort with a laugh. But the smile gradually faded from his face.

“...I don’t know.”

He thought they were naturally things he had to do.

But is that really so?

In the past, Chung Myung also did his best. The way may not have been entirely right, but no one can deny that what he did ultimately saved the world.

So why, as Baek Cheon said, does he act like someone who’s committed a sin and must bear it all alone? If he lay down saying, ‘I’ve done my part, you lot handle the rest,’ no one would point a finger.

Even the Chung Mun watching wouldn’t be able to criticize him....

“I suppose....”

Muttering the words again, Chung Myung then picked up an awkward explanation.

“I don’t really know either. Why I’m like this.”

“...Is that so?”

“Just, um... I guess that’s how it is.”

Baek Cheon silently observed Chung Myung’s profile. He thought: that face again. Those eyes staring off somewhere distant.

“There’s no one to do it. If not me, then who.”

“....”

“Just... um.”

Chung Myung scratched his head vigorously.

“To be honest, I’m not some tremendously responsible person, nor someone who enjoys leading others. I’m the kind of person who does nothing and nitpicks what others do. Then I waste the leftover time drinking.”

“You’re trash.”

“....”

Chung Myung, momentarily at a loss for words, shook his head.

Actually, this wasn’t just talk. In the past, Chung Myung really was like that. In the peaceful days before the Demonic Cult surged, he was the laziest bon vivant at Mount Hua.

Those were the most comfortable and joyful days of his life.

But how did it end up like this?

“Anyway, it’s not like I want to be like this.”

“Then you don’t have to do it.”

“But it’s not that easy.”

“Why?”

“There’s no one.”

Chung Myung sighed with an indifferent face.

“If not me, there’s nobody to do it. If I abandon it, nobody will take my place, and no one can do it as well as I can.”

“....”

“If I let go saying I can’t do it, the ruin is obvious, and simply watching that happen isn’t easy either.”

“....”

“So bit by bit the tasks just piled up.”

If there had been a bit more time, perhaps he would still occasionally be enjoying himself at Mount Hua—laughing with the sahyung, teasing each other, filling up time with many things.

Who could he blame for having become like this due to the lack of that time?

“That doesn’t mean I want someone to do it for me. This is simply a burden I must bear.”

Those who should have shared it are no longer here.

Chung Myung thought so.

Perhaps because he couldn’t share what he should have shared in the past, he now had to shoulder everything completely alone.

So these things were naturally his to accept and endure.

“So don’t worry uselessly. If I try as much as I can and it still fails, I’ll throw it all away too. It’s just that I don’t yet feel like I’ve done enough.”

As he rambled, he felt he’d said something needless. Chung Myung awkwardly cleared his throat.

“Tch. I’ve lost my mind too, talking like this to Dong-Ryong.”

“I could die, really.”

Chung Myung snorted, drank again, gulping as usual, and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. His expression brightened slightly and his voice rose a bit.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine soon.”

“Huh?”

“People have moments like that in life. It’s just that there’s a lot on my mind.”

“....”

“Give it a day and something will become clear. Then things will go back to normal. It’s a hundred years too early for you to worry about me, Dong-Ryong.”

“What a load of shit.”

Baek Cheon snorted in laughter.

A short silence fell between them. Not overly heavy, just a quiet stillness.

Staring vacantly at something beyond the moon, sky, and clouds, Baek Cheon ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) slowly spoke.

“If I... no, if we had been a bit stronger. Would your worries have lessened a little then?”

That quiet voice lingered between the two, who did not meet each other’s gaze, for a long time.