Chapter 1217: Who Will Help? (2)

“Enough.”

“No, is what I’m saying so wrong?”

The elder who spoke snapped out in an agitated voice, as if he no longer cared to choose his words.

“Frankly, if it had been the Heavenly Friends Alliance, it wouldn’t have come to this. Even if they couldn’t reach us here, they wouldn’t have ignored us for over a year as if we didn’t exist!”

“Watch your words. Are there no things holding them back? Southern Land Non Aggression...”

“Even if your mouth is crooked, shouldn’t your words be straight! Who forced that Southern Land Non-Aggression Pact on us? If they had even a shred of consideration for Southern Island, could they have signed such a pact? What else is this but proof that Shaolin doesn’t care for us at all!”

“I told you to stop.”

“Honestly, isn’t that what you all think!”

Those words dropped into the hall like a bomb.

“Even if you won’t say it aloud, isn’t that what everyone thinks inside their mind? Shaolin abandoned us. No, perhaps they abandoned us years ago!”

“...... “

“In the meantime, what good is it for us to keep crying out for Shaolin, who will never come!”

Sighs of frustration leaked out here and there.

No one spoke openly, but who could have different thoughts? They had simply kept them pressed down, fearing the spoken words might return with unbearable weight.

The elder who had spoken bit his lip hard and spat out his words.

“If it were like this, I wish we had thrown ourselves at the Heavenly Friends Alliance before becoming a cut kite...”

“Didn’t I tell you to shut up!”

At that moment, someone’s shout boomed loudly. What followed was an even louder roar of anger.

“Who would be silent because they didn’t know of that? You have to be saying something reasonable from the start if you wanted to talk! Do you really not know who holds the real power in the Heavenly Friends Alliance?”

“But...”

“Mount Hua! Yes, Mount Hua! They are the rightful owners of the positions we took!”

“....... “

“When Mount Hua fell, what did the Southern Island do? Did we help them? Did we fight for them? No! Didn’t we instead rejoice that an opportunity had finally come for us!”

Everyone’s faces reddened.

It was already a thing of the past.

But they knew. Only those who had not feasted on the spoils of the past could draw a line and call it past. For those who enjoyed the prestige of the Nine Great Sects, there was no way to escape responsibility for past choices.

If they had at least said that what they enjoyed was unfair, things might be different. Those who remained silent when they should not have lost the right to speak even when they later claimed remorse.

“That Mount Hua!”

The elder, spewing intense emotion, ground his teeth.

“Instead of helping their fallen kin, we simply took those positions of Mount Hua—what goodwill would they have to accept us into the Heavenly Friends Alliance and come across this far as comrades to rescue us!”

“...... “

“Put yourselves in their shoes: if you were Mount Hua’s disciples now, would you mourn our fall? No! If it were us, we’d seize the chance to take the place the Southern Island vacated—just as we once did to them!”

Several elders bowed their heads deeply.

They suddenly felt anew what they had done. What feelings must Mount Hua have had when looking at them?

While Mount Hua bled and fell, what kind of bitter tears must they have swallowed watching the Southern Island stride in and take their places, triumphant?

“If a person had any shame...”

The elder who reached that point clamped his mouth shut—he knew such words could not properly be spoken as an elder of the Southern Island.

A low sigh escaped from Geum Yang-Baek, crushed by the chill that had fallen over the hall.

“The past... regretting it now is useless.”

Complex thoughts lingered in his mind.

“Ja Yang’s words are not without credit. If we had bowed first to the Heavenly Friends Alliance before things came to this, it might have turned out differently.”

“...... “

“While we still had things in hand to hold and give up—if then we had apologized and truly repented, the situation might have changed. But... haven’t we already lost that opportunity?”

In Geum Yang-Baek’s mind, the image of Mount Hua he had seen on the duel stage still remained vivid.

The young disciples, ignorant, showed resentment toward Mount Hua, but the older sect leaders and elders were busy avoiding Mount Hua’s gaze.

Because that look was unbearably awkward.

‘If only then...’

Saying they begged forgiveness might be too much, but at least they could have bowed. They might even have offered empty words of apology for how things turned out.

But Geum Yang-Baek could not do that. So he could not simply insist this was the sin of the previous generation.

Tacit supporters may be worse than active participants. Those who avoid guilt yet take advantage become the silent accomplices.

“Yes. In the end, it’s just karma.”

They were only now paying the price for that. Even though the Justice faction revered accord, they failed to right others’ grievances and instead took advantage of the opportunity...

Perhaps the annihilation of their sect was the only thing that made sense.

He could not bring himself to say it aloud simply because he was the Southern Island’s sect leader.

Geum Yang-Baek closed his eyes for a long moment, then opened his mouth with difficulty.

“How are the disciples?”

“...They don’t speak, but none of them hide their anxiety.”

“I imagine so...”

The enemy is too strong, and this island is too isolated.

“Ja Yang.”

“...Yes, Sect leader.”

“Talking about the past is pointless. It’s better to focus on what we can do now.”

“...... “

“If the Nine Great Sects won’t help... if they have no intention of aiding us, then we must seek aid elsewhere. Try to contact the sects that might lend a hand to the Southern Island.”

Ja Yang let out a bitter laugh at those words.

“Who would come?”

“...... “

Even Geum Yang-Baek didn’t expect anything to happen. But Ja Yang couldn’t even accept that pretense of hope.

“Asking someone to fight alongside the Southern Island now is no different from asking them to die with the Southern Island—who in the world would breach those southern lands and come this far?”

“Ja Yang...”

“If there were so many people who valued principles in this world... Southern Island wouldn’t be in this state to begin with.”

Geum Yang-Baek sighed briefly and spoke with a hollow voice.

“Still, shouldn’t we try to grab even a straw?”

“Sect leader... there’s not even a straw in the water we’ve fallen into. Even if we want to send a message, there’s no way to send one.”

In the end, Geum Yang-Baek squeezed his eyes shut again.

He wanted to scold him for always sounding so defeatist, but he had no strength to say it. Just keeping his body together felt like carrying waterlogged cotton, heavy and exhausting.

“Sect leader. It might be better to abandon the island and escape...”

But Geum Yang-Baek shook his head before the sentence was finished.

“Don’t you see? The ones who’d be waiting most for us to leave this island are precisely the Four Sects Alliance. Southern Lands Non-Aggression Pact. Yes, that pact that binds us applies to us too.”

“...... “

“The moment we leave the island, they gain a justification to strike us. And... on the island we are Southern Island, but on a ship we are just ordinary people. No matter how skilled, what can we do on the open sea? What can we accomplish on the boundless ocean?”

“Sect leader...”

“Whether we head to the south or take to the sea, neither choice promises a good outcome...”

“But that doesn’t mean we can just sit here and wait to die, does it?”

Geum Yang-Baek was silent. He was just as frustrated. But what could he do? Drinking saltwater because you’re thirsty only hastens death.

“Has the pact’s term already expired?”

“...By the calendar, yes. But neither the Four Sects Alliance nor the Nine Great Sects have spoken that fact aloud.”

“I see... that makes sense.”

There is no need to state openly that they are now in a relationship that could erupt into war at any moment.

The Nine Great Sects find it shameful even to mention the Southern Lands Non-Aggression Pact, and Four Sects Alliance does not want to mention it and provoke trouble right away.

The day that pact officially ends will likely be the day Four Sects Alliance’s blade invades the Southern Island.

‘Not much time left, I suppose.’

He could feel it even if he tried to avoid it. That day was right on the doorstep.

“Im Geom.”

“Yes, Sect leader.”

“...Send the still-young disciples beyond the sect gates to return to their families.”

“...Sect leader?”

“You cannot stop those who wish to bury their bones with Southern Island, but you must stop the children who don’t yet know what they are doing. There’s no guarantee their claws won’t reach the families, but it will be better than them being in here.”

Im Geom bit his lip at those words.

Those words were tantamount to admitting that Southern Island no longer had any way to stand against the Four Sects Alliance.

“...I will carry out the order.”

“And... if any disciples wish to be left out from the sect, grant their request.”

“No, Sect leader! That’s...!”

“Those who can live should live, shouldn’t they?”

Geum Yang-Baek shook his head.

“I alone am enough to clutch Southern Island’s roots and die. There’s no need to drag others into it.”

There was no need to explain how resolute that determination was. Ja Yang could only let out a frustrated sigh.

“What good will any of that do...”

“...... “

“Four Sects Alliance are not people who keep to the straight path. They won’t leave any aftereffects. After cleaning up Southern Island Sect, they’ll comb through the entire island and root out anyone connected to the sect.”

That’s Four Sects Alliance’s way, and also the Ten Thousand People Clan’s way, isn’t it?

Ja Yang’s voice, tinged with a sigh, fell heavily.

“Where would a wingless person go? If they go anywhere, it’s Southern Island. They remain just in Southern Island...”

“...... “

The tip of Geum Yang-Baek’s finger trembled slightly.

Annihilation.

Those two characters—things he had thought he would never again face—suddenly came and dug into him.

The Southern Island had been the warmest of places, yet now he felt so cold and [N O V E L I G H T] alone.

‘Why did I not know sooner that the murim world could be so heartless?’

Why did he not realize that even the pacts they cried out for were merely the amusements of those in power?

“Heh heh heh...”

A hollow laugh slipped from his lips.

“Heh heh heh heh...”

That laugh, sadder than any cry, haunted the great hall like a specter for a long while.