As they entered this room, there was not a single person who did not expect Hyun Jong to bring up those words.

And yet, when the expected words actually slipped from Hyun Jong’s mouth, everyone alike fell into a stifling silence.

Isn’t it strange?

The Heavenly Friends Alliance was certainly a place of special meaning. To them, it had been a eave to shelter under and a wall to block the biting wind.

But objectively speaking, there was no reason the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families could not fulfill that role. In fact, the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families had carried that role for longer than the Heavenly Friends Alliance had.

So it’s not an exaggeration to say that nothing would fundamentally change. The important thing isn’t where one belongs, but what will and purpose the sect pursues, isn’t it?

Yet even knowing all that, it was puzzling why Hyun Jong’s words felt so painfully cold.

Beop Jeong’s face was hard to read; his expression seemed to hold both a heavy heart and a sense of relief.

“Alliance Leader...”

“However.”

Before Beop Jeong could continue, Hyun Jong quickly spoke first, as if determined not to let him finish everything. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

“Before that... there is something I must confirm.”

Meeting Hyun Jong’s heavy gaze, Beop Jeong slowly nodded.

“Very well.”

Hyun Jong steadied his slightly quickening breath and spoke calmly.

“You, abbot, said all this is not merely your or Shaolin’s greed, but for the greater cause.”

“Yes, that is so.”

“And you said your cause is to save as many people as possible. Has that purpose not changed?”

Beop Jeong nodded without hesitation.

“Of course, Alliance Leader.”

“Then can you promise that, moving forward in leading the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families, and even the Justice faction of the world, that intent will not change?”

“I promise.”

Perhaps because the answer came so swiftly, Hyun Jong’s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Beop Jeong.

“Abbot...”

“I am not answering lightly, Alliance Leader.”

Beop Jeong shook his head as if he already guessed Hyun Jong’s concern.

“This is not an unconsidered answer. There simply was no need to ponder. Had I not steeled myself already, how could I have come here?”

“...”

“Alliance Leader. If the Heavenly Friends Alliance points fingers at me, I can laugh it off. But the accusations from those within the same sect cut painfully and bitterly.”

A hint of melancholy slipped from Hyun Jong’s mouth, as if he understood that feeling.

“So... how could I utter a vile lie? How could there be hesitation?”

“...I understand what you mean.”

Hyun Jong exhaled deeply and then spoke again.

“And what you said—that sects that belonged to the Heavenly Friends Alliance will be treated without discrimination—must also be upheld.”

“Amitabha.”

Beop Jeong cut in, as if there was no need to think about this either.

“Becoming one is a good ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ thing. Remaining divided into two is not ideal. But worse than that is for those who were united to split apart again.”

“...That is true.”

“It will be my role to absolutely prevent that situation. We’ve managed to become one; how could we allow ourselves to be judged worse than before? I will ponder and ponder how to keep the sects from splitting again.”

Hyun Jong closed his eyes tightly. It was neither excessive nor insufficient—so flawless that there was nothing to fault. Yes, nothing to fault.

A small hollow laugh escaped Hyun Jong.

‘I was looking for a flaw.’

Though he’d already made up his mind inside, it seemed he was still searching for an excuse to rescind the decision.

‘It’s greed, greed.’

Hyun Jong unconsciously turned his gaze to the others. They all looked at him. Seeing those eyes stirred a sudden ache in a corner of his chest.

Perhaps the time had not been long. Compared to Hyun Jong’s thick and burdensome past, the time with these people could be said to have been exceedingly short.

But the brevity of that time did not make the weight in each of those gazes any lighter. What is right? What is wrong? Even now his mind scrambled in confusion.

Hyun Jong was a man who admitted he wasn’t so great. But he could not postpone this choice to others; whichever path he chose, someone would have to bear its cost.

‘I don’t know what is right...’

If this choice demanded a price, if someone must shoulder that disgrace, then of course it should be Hyun Jong. Even if the choice proved wrong, others could use him as fertilizer to move forward.

That was the burden that came with the position Hyun Jong had enjoyed as leader of the Heavenly Friends Alliance. It was the best he could show those who had believed in him.

“Alliance Leader.”

Perhaps sensing his inner thoughts, Beop Jeong spoke in a gentle voice.

“I fully understand your feeling that I may not be trustworthy.”

“No, abbot. It’s not that I distrust you...”

“Had I been in the same position, I too would have deliberated and hesitated like you, Leader. It’s not an easy answer to give.”

“...”

“But, Alliance Leader.”

Beop Jeong’s gaze was heavier and darker than ever.

“Isn’t a sect leader precisely someone who bears all of that?”

Hyun Jong closed his eyes and nodded. Their positions differed, but on that point he could not help but agree.

A sect leader is one who endures this weight, whether the sect is small or great, without exception.

After a moment, when he opened his eyes again, Hyun Jong’s expression was noticeably more at ease.

‘It’s simply a burden I must bear.’

What he needed to guard against most was not the Heavenly Friends Alliance losing its material advantage, nor its losing face or identity.

It was losing possibilities—losing the future. He must prevent the young warriors of the Heavenly Friends Alliance from having their chances to fully bloom stifled by such small things.

‘Was I not someone meant to endure winter?’

He had thought it was spring, but it seemed the spring had not yet come. Then he must wait—for the day those flowers bloom. Whether it’s in the Heavenly Friends Alliance or the Nine Great Sects, what does it matter?

He only needed to be the fertilizer for them and wait out the time.

Hyun Jong’s gaze turned to Chung Myung.

His face was as if washed clean of expression. He revealed nothing, not wanting to burden Hyun Jong.

Hyun Jong knew that beneath that expressionless exterior, countless emotions were swirling.

‘Chung Myung.’

Sometimes that expression pierced Hyun Jong.

The resolve in those tightly closed lips was singular: respect for the sect leader and commitment to Mount Hua’s future. Chung Myung lived almost obsessively for Mount Hua.

So Hyun Jong often wanted to ask.

‘Then what exactly do you hold in your hands?’

All Hyun Jong could do was share a portion of the heavy burden on those shoulders.

“Abbot.”

“Yes, Alliance Leader.”

“...I will believe in the abbot’s intention.”

For a moment emotion stormed across Beop Jeong’s face. The fingertips resting on his robe trembled slightly.

“I still do not know what is right or wrong. But... I believe this is the best I can do now.”

“Alliance Leader!”

Beop Jeong nodded strongly.

“So it shall be. No—I will make it so. I will prove that a united faction was right, so that all the world will praise elder Hyun Jong for having made a noble decision for the realm.”

“Please, keep just that one thing—that all of this is to protect as many people as possible. Just that one thing.”

“I will do exactly that.”

Hyun Jong nodded with a heavy heart. Such meetings only left wounds when prolonged. It would be better for him to decide unilaterally and take the blame.

Having steeled himself, Hyun Jong parted his closed lips.

“I, Hyun Jong, in my capacity as leader of the Heavenly Friends Alliance... hereby declare here...”

“W-wait a moment!”

At that moment, Jo Gul, who had been restless the whole time, cried out like a scream.

“S-sect leaders! No, Alliance Leader! At least consider the others...!”

“Shut your mouth.”

“Sasuk!”

Jo Gul turned to Baek Cheon with suddenly ignited eyes.

“I told you to shut your mouth.”

“You...!”

For a moment a flush of fury rose in Jo Gul’s eyes. Raw emotions surged in his gaze—emotions he should never show before his sahyung.

But Baek Cheon pressed down on Jo Gul with a cold stare. Jo Gul’s boiling gaze clashed fiercely with Baek Cheon’s ice-like eyes.

After a brief silence.

In the end, beaten down, Jo Gul bit his lip until it bled. His head fell weakly.

The atmosphere in the room grew even heavier.

Everyone averted their gaze, unable to bear the sight. It seemed to epitomize the current state of the Heavenly Friends Alliance.

His heart screamed otherwise, but reason suppressed that emotion. It was understandable: Jo Gul who couldn’t hold back, and Baek Cheon who subdued him—this sight stung everyone. Even Chung Myung sat leaning against the wall, only staring at the ceiling. He had turned his eyes away.

Amid that quiet passion that even Hyun Jong and the elders could not escape, the only calm one was Baek Cheon. Silently watching Jo Gul’s trembling shoulders, he turned his gaze to Beop Jeong and bowed his head.

“I’m sorry, abbot.”

“No, no. Do not worry. It’s only natural that it could happen.”

Beop Jeong shook his head gently with a kind face. He didn’t say it casually—he fully understood Jo Gul’s reaction. Had he been a young disciple of Mount Hua, he might have rebelled even more fiercely than Jo Gul.

What surprised him instead was not Jo Gul’s reaction, but Baek Cheon’s terrifying composure even in such a situation.

‘Mount Hua is truly Mount Hua.’

From the field Hyun Jong and Chung Myung had tilled grew such people. If someday, long in the future, such a one became a sect leader, Mount Hua would become a far more formidable sect than it is now.

Then Baek Cheon lifted his bowed head and looked at the abbot squarely in the eye.

“However.”

“Hmm?”

“I know this is not the place, but I must be a bit rude. Please understand.”

“...You say ‘rude’?”

Beop Jeong asked with a puzzled look. For a moment he could not understand Baek Cheon’s words; Baek Cheon’s expression and his words were so at odds that confusion was inevitable.

Without further elaboration, Baek Cheon turned his gaze to Hyun Jong.

“Sect leader.”

At the calm address, a sigh like a groan escaped Hyun Jong.

“Baek Cheon. Now is not the time for that...”

“I have something to tell you.”

In an instant Hyun Jong’s expression hardened. He recognized an unshakable firmness in Baek Cheon’s voice.

Baek Cheon—the great disciple of Mount Hua—looked at him without wavering, with a look he’d never shown before.