BXBX NOVEL Chapter 45 – Returnee II
Chapter 45 – Returnee II
Chapter 45 – Returnee II
4
The marquis may have been crazy, but his ability was great.
To truly grasp how great it was, some additional explanation is needed.
This world hates humanity.
Even kids in their adolescence, caught up in their teenage angst, mutter, “It feels like the world hates me.” And as you grow older, you gradually (actually, not so gradually) learn that the world doesn’t really care about your existence.
Honestly, from the world’s perspective, there are quite a few things to care about besides you. Like turtles swallowing plastic or quantum entanglement.
But not anymore. Since the Gate Incident, something decisively changed. It changed completely.
From that day on, the world decided to dislike humanity a bit.
The Void.
Alternatively called the abyss or hell. While the term “gate” was used before, gradually people started using the word “void.”
– Hey, what’s that?
– Huh? What?
– That flower. Why does it have teeth?
In the Void, shark teeth grow on the petals of the Rafflesia flower. Spiders sprout legs, numbering thirteen. Dragonflies develop six compound eyes. Headless elephants roam.
Without exterminating monsters and aberrations, extensive genetic mutations occur in the affected areas. The number of malformed creatures increases drastically.
It’s called the Void Toxin.
The culprit that swiftly dismantles the civilizations and knowledge painstakingly built by humanity.
Have you ever seen a paddy field dyed crimson like blood? Rice grains resembling the shapes of all the insects, from beetles to flies? Instead of rice grains, water lilies bloom. There’s even a reported sighting of rice fields where all the planted rice seems to have roots connected underground like a bamboo forest.
Despite the same field, same crop, same water, and same sunlight, the rice on the left side of the field looked different from the right side.
Human civilization was built on the foundation of ‘repeatability’. Even as everything in the world changes, when you realize that spring comes again after a year and winter repeats itself, humanity erected a tower of gold. At the sharp top of that tower, time finally turned into history.
The tower has now collapsed.
Time flows. It flows uncontrollably. Like a desert storm covering the once glorious surface of the tower with sand.
What is humanity? What are ‘we’? Are we the beings where flowers grow from our heads and fish gills sprout from our tongues?
From those gills, the cries of a newborn baby can be heard. Eventually, they only communicate and convey messages through the baby’s cries, but we cannot understand the meaning of that resonance.
Sometimes time flows rapidly near Incheon, while it flows slowly near Seoul. Nothing repeats. Nothing is reproduced. It just flows.
“We connect each city……”
Therefore, I, the Saintess, the Warlord, and the Triumvirate declared war against the void that devours our world.
“Humanity needs to return to the era when it was overwhelmed by nature.”
To the question of whether this is regression, the Warlord shook his head.
“Just as evolution and regression are only distinctions made by humans, this is merely adaptation to the environment, not the decline of civilization…… From domination in terms of surface (area) to domination in terms of lines (linear).”
From surface to line.
From line to surface.
That was the motto of the Highway Management Bureau.
“So, we can escape from being isolated by the void and maintain our community as ‘us’……”
Like providing a wheelchair to a disabled person, the Highway Management Bureau paved the way for humanity.
They laid the ‘rails’ in the world.
Finally, the isolated points, cities, and people became rest stops where people could take a break.
“I’m fixing the railways that have been destroyed in this world, one by one, and continuing to move forward.”
I was able to fulfill the command of the fallen leader.
It took many years.
And it will take even more years in the future.
“From history to history, forever.”
The Highway Management Bureau did not represent Busan. It could not symbolize Seoul. The Highway Management Bureau was simply the cradle of humanity’s last stand, the final unit, and the frontline.
“We can do it. No, we must do it……”
Every time they left the road, the patrols of the Highway Management Bureau could not guarantee their survival.
The patrol that left for Gangneung never returned. The patrol sent to explore the North Korean area returned after two years, with all 13 patrol members transformed into sunflowers walking with their heads bowed towards the flag they were carrying when they left, rather than the sun.
Yet, we did not hesitate to stand on the frontline.
“Well, this season is also a bumper crop!”
The marquis could be considered the support unit of this frontline.
“With this much food, we can feed and save the Three Han countries and still have leftovers! Truly, it must be the care of the heavens!”
No matter how much we clear the way, people still need to eat. It’s my urgent fate to ensure that they have three meals a day, two meals, or even just one.
I did not accept this hunger as a burden or sadness.
If one were infected with the virus of New Buddha, they could escape from the fate of hunger at any time. This meant transcending from being human to becoming a void existence. Hunger was dismal, but it was the misery of humanity, still the misery of beings born and raised on this land.
However, I did not live to consider the horrors of humanity as its beauty. Food had to be eaten.
The head chef responsible for the rice essence of the Korean Peninsula was none other than the marquis.
“Honey, would it be alright for me to enjoy a little excursion this summer?”
And, as emphasized several times, our head chef was also a lunatic.
“Ah, Marquis. An excursion?”
“Exactly, it’s just a leisurely stroll. Young Murim novices. Don’t ever mention this anywhere else. I’ve kept it a secret all along, but the fact is…”
The marquis looked around cautiously. Even the gaze of the Highway Management Bureau, checking for monsters nearby, wouldn’t be as sharp as his.
After confirming that there was no one else around except me, the marquis whispered in my ear.
“I am the successor to the 260th grand master of the Mount Hua Sect.”
“……”
“The martial art secrets of the Mount Hua Sect, which contain the essence of its 3,000-year history, are in my hands.”
So, he was claiming to be not only the marquis of the Youl Nation and the marquis of Murim, but also the next grand master of the Mount Hua Sect.
In addition, he had an aluminum sword at his waist.
By this point, my head was spinning.
“Um… I’m not sure if I can ask this, but why is a venerable elder of the Mount Hua Sect in the Korean Peninsula?”
“Of course, to hide from the despicable cultists’ eyes. As the rightful heir of the 24-Style Plum Flower Sword Technique, it’s inevitable that malicious individuals would try to spy on me. Look. Even now, the demons summoned by the Heavenly Demon are shaking the world, aren’t they?”
“Oh, my god.”
“That’s right. I literally want to find God! Originally, I was a grandmaster at the peak, but I suffered serious injuries during a chase by the cultists. But now that I’ve recovered mentally and physically on this Eastern land, I must return to my mountain and fulfill my duties as a disciple, don’t I?”
“…Are you saying you’re going to Mount Hua in China right now?”
“Exactly.”
I sighed deeply as I looked up at the sky.
“Marquis, are you insane?”
Although I briefly hinted at the story of Kim Joocheol and Kim Sieun, ‘overseas travel’ in this era was nothing more than a more sophisticated term for ‘suicide.’
The marquis simply tilted his head at my straightforward speech.
“I am perfectly sane.”
Asking a madman if they’re also mad would likely yield no meaningful answer. It’s like asking a dolphin if it’s a dolphin. Unless one’s eyes are crossed, the truth is obvious.
I adjusted my strategy.
“If it’s the Plum Flower Sword Technique, perhaps? When mastered to the extreme, blossoms emanate from the sword, reaching a thousand li.”
“Oh, you’ve also heard of it from the Murim novices. Precisely.”
“Do you happen to know if there are abundant plum blossoms on the volcano?”
“Of course.”
“…That’s a setting created in Korea.”
At that time, my knowledge of martial arts novels was limited to a few I had read as a child. But even I knew.
Mount Huashan wasn’t particularly famous for its plum blossoms.
You could tell just by looking at pictures. Huashan was a mountain where rocks were as abundant as leaves, making it difficult for plum blossoms to bloom profusely.
The scent, too, was the same. It was biologically impossible for the scent of plum blossoms to emanate from the Mount Hua Sect’s sword without developing olfactory organs that could perceive the scent of stones as plum blossoms.
What’s the point?
The story goes that a self-proclaimed grandmaster of the Mount Hua Sect, the 261st (scheduled), bearer of the sword, a native Korean from Ulleungdo, who lacks proficiency in Mandarin, is spouting nonsense. This old man was lying through his teeth from head to toe.
“Gaaaaaal!”
The marquis burst out with a lion’s roar.
“How dare you mock your senior, disciple! The scent of plum blossoms I learned from my master in my youth still lingers in my nostrils! If you dare insult my master and the Plum Flower Sword Technique, I won’t let it slide!”
“Then, as an ignorant novice, let’s see a demonstration from the successor of the Plum Flower Sword Technique, the esteemed marquis.”
“If I hadn’t suffered injuries from the evil cultists and were in perfect condition, I would have shown you right away.”
“He’s losing it.”
Yeah, he’s younger than me, but more immature. And back in the civilized days, being 60 wasn’t even considered old.
How old am I this year? …No, let’s stop this strategy.
Winning in this battle felt like inevitable defeat in war.
Anyway, the marquis was a type of person I couldn’t handle.
Fortunately, we had the “Ultimate Weapon for Facing Elders” at our disposal.
“Noh Doha, help.”
“A 60-year-old grandpa? Hmm. Tough one…”
The most beloved man among the elderly in the Korean Peninsula, the greatest guarantor knight and commander of the Highway Management Bureau in history, Noh Doha, smirked ominously.
“Elder… Are you feeling good…?”
“Oh my, oh my. My joints are all loosening up.”
The marquis began to melt under the shoulder massage Noh Doha provided. Even if they said his previous occupation wasn’t as a government official but as a masseuse, his skillful hands were believable enough.
“Whether plum blossoms bloom at the top of a mountain or on the streets, they’re still plum blossoms. So, if they bloom in people’s hearts, wouldn’t they still be plum blossoms? Now that the mantle of the Mount Hua Sect has been passed down to you, it doesn’t matter whether it’s Haidong or Jiang’an, does it?”
“Well, but the disciples…”
“No, no… Your master has already passed away, hasn’t he? Then, since you’re the most senior member of the Mount Hua Sect, although it’s common for juniors to visit their seniors, I’ve never heard of seniors visiting their juniors. They should come to you, so why are you moving around?”
“Oh? That’s indeed a valid point.”
“If you write a letter, I’ll take responsibility and send it to China. If they understand the relationship between superiors and inferiors, they’ll surely come to see you…”
“Oh ho! Your advice on diplomacy is truly correct!”
“Then, I’ll look forward to the harvest of autumn strolls…”
“Hmm! Leave it to me!”
The Highway Management Bureau is a sovereign state, and its leader is a sovereign. That’s what it means.
After finishing the inspired hand movements and tongue movements, Noh Doha turned back to me and chuckled.
“That’s why I prefer adults over young people… Communication works, you know?”
I won’t argue against that claim.
But no matter how much effort Noh Doha put in, there were limitations. The marquis was a lunatic, and lunacy was an incurable disease.
“I have to visit the Huashan at least once before I die.”
Every time the seasons changed and the rice was harvested, the marquis murmured incessantly, like someone afflicted with nostalgia.
“I have to go before I die…”
Since the establishment of the Highway Management Bureau, in the 54th run, 55th, 56th, and 57th, the marquis murmured like this every season.
Time passed.
Finally, in the 108th run.
During the vacation season, I visited the marquis. It was still very early on, before the first year had passed. The marquis was still living in his hometown, Ulleungdo (yes, this person had no reason to be afflicted with nostalgia).
“Marquis.”
“Hmm?”
The old man, watering the flowers in the front yard of his shabby house, turned towards me. Water dribbled from the watering can.
“Who are you, young man?”
“I am someone bestowed with the knighthood of Yuldo Country.”
“What?”
If an ordinary person had an unfamiliar stranger walk into their front yard and suddenly claim a micronation’s title, they would probably either call the police or at least swing a broom at them.
“Oh, this is one of my countrymen! Come in quickly!”
But indeed, the marquis was extraordinary. I secretly wondered if this old man had been cosplaying as a nobleman ever since he came to Ulleungdo, but it seemed he had already discarded that act since his time in his hometown.
“But your title sounds strange. I’m not the Marquis, but the South Marquis. Why have you come to find me?”
I put on the saddest expression I could muster. Method acting wasn’t particularly difficult. Just recalling the scene when the leader died made it simple.
“Unfortunately, Yuldo Country has been destroyed.”
“What?”
“The sinister influence of the demon cult has reached even to the distant seas. Not only Yuldo Country, but also the eastern part of Yeonggilli has been devastated, and even His Majesty the Duke couldn’t escape.”
“No…! How could such a thing…!”
“Marquis.”
Thud!
I knelt in the yard. And with an unprecedented solemnity, I shouted.
“Although the government of Yuldo Country has failed, can we consider it right for the people to accept the nation’s downfall? Isn’t it true loyalty to establish a country with the remaining people alone?”
“……!”
“Now that there are no nobles left in Yuldo Country except you, it is only proper for you to establish a new government here. However, as a person of reason, we cannot forget His Majesty the Duke’s grace. Therefore, please ascend to the marquisate and revive the Yuldo nation!”
For the record, the marquis’s house was shabby.
And the shabby house was located in a shabby neighborhood.
Furthermore, a characteristic of the shabby neighborhood was that when something unusual happened next door, you could easily peek over the fence to see what was going on. The people in the neighborhood all looked this way.
To express their gaze, it was like, “Oh, just casually looking.”
“Ah, heaven has not yet abandoned me!”
The marquis paid no attention to the neighborhood’s people.
“Get up quickly! How could you understand my intentions so well!”
“I apologize.”
“You truly are the marquis’s right-hand man!”
It was basically saying “best friend”.
108th run.
That day, I had lunch with the future head of the Mount Hua Sect.