WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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Chapter 12: By Accident (2)

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By Accident (2)

"I am truly sorry. It would have been better if I had never brought Mumu along at all."

Some time after they left the Minister of Justice's manor, Deputy Commissioner Oh Ji-gang offered his apology. It felt to him as though all of this were his fault.

Yu Yeop-kyung shook his head.

"No. If you start tracing it back that way, then the real cause is my eldest son graduating from that place called Changcheon Martial Academy as the second-ranked student."

Yu Yeop-kyung had always believed the same thing: what was bound to happen would happen, one way or another. If regret over something already done could not undo it, then the wise course was to dwell on it no longer.

Oh Ji-gang fidgeted, awkward with guilt, then said carefully, "Still, His Excellency offered to cover the tuition for Scholar Yeo's second son and for Mumu, so it does not seem like a bad arrangement."

"That much is true, but I wonder whether Mumu will be all right."

He was worried. This was a child who had lived alone with him in the place of exile, just the two of them. What had happened at the Minister of Justice's manor was the doing of that reckless young master of theirs, but Mumu had never mixed with others, and Yu Yeop-kyung feared whether the boy could settle in there.

"Do not fret so much. Is Mumu not gentler and kinder than anyone?"

"Kind he is, but the boy has his stubborn streak too."

This affair had settled it in his mind. Mumu had to be training himself in secret, behind his back. There was no doubt about it. When he looked over at the boy, Mumu turned his head away and whistled.

'...This little rascal.'

He had grown a bit, and now he was even getting cheeky.

To Yu Yeop-kyung, whose irritation was just beginning to prickle, Oh Ji-gang said, "In truth, this befell Mumu against his own will, but I think it would not be a bad thing for the boy to enter Changcheon Martial Academy."

"Why do you say that?"

"Mumu is seventeen now, is he not? In no time he will reach manhood, and he cannot stay sheltered in Scholar Yeo's arms forever."

At those words, Mumu pushed out his lips and grumbled. "I would be fine living with Father my whole life."

"You and your nonsense."

The boy really did seem to adore his foster father far too much.

Oh Ji-gang stroked Mumu's head and said, "I believe Changcheon Martial Academy is a good chance for Mumu as well. He can make up for never having mingled with boys his own age, and he can learn how to get along with people."

"Hmm."

It was all true. To fill what was lacking, one had no choice but to step toward the lack itself. In that sense, an academy or a schoolhouse was a fine chance for Mumu to fill that gap.

Only,

"But that Changcheon Martial Academy is a school for martial artists, is it not?"

"What of it?"

"What of it, you ask? That boy has never once learned martial skills, no, those, what is it, martial arts, so how could he ever enter such a place?"

At this, Oh Ji-gang furrowed his brow, then looked over at Mumu and said, "Had this been a while ago, I too would have thought the same. But after watching Mumu face off against the Minister of Justice's escort warrior today, if that boy is not qualified to enter Changcheon Martial Academy, then who in the world is?"

"No, that is..."

"And His Excellency the Minister of Justice seemed to think highly of that very point in Mumu as well."

"Hah."

At that, Yu Yeop-kyung rubbed his forehead as if it had begun to throb. The boy wore on both arms and both ankles the artifacts the old immortal in his dream had given him so that he would not grow strong, so why did he keep getting stronger and stronger? Was his body truly born with a natural gift for martial talent? But the old immortal had told him to raise the child so that he could grow up ordinary.

'I cannot tell what is right anymore. If that is how it is, it might be better to send him to a common schoolhouse... ah.'

He had thought it would be better for the boy to attend a common schoolhouse, but on reflection, even though the pardon had come, that did not restore his right to sit the imperial examinations.

'A blunder.'

He should never have said the boy was his foster son. Had he not, he could have sent him to a common schoolhouse. Even as a foster son, once the boy was entered into the family register, the only path open to him for making a name in the world was Changcheon Martial Academy.

'Making a name in the world... no. I do not want to bind Mumu to such a yoke.'

Yu Yeop-kyung shook his head firmly. It was not because the boy was his foster son. It was because he had raised him close at his side for so long that, of all people, he wanted this one to break free of every yoke and live in freedom.

"Son."

"Yes."

"Live as you wish. If you do not want to go to that place called Changcheon Martial Academy, then you do not have to."

"I will go."

"If you are only saying that out of needless concern for your old man..."

"From what I heard earlier, they teach you how to train your body at that Changcheon Martial Academy, or whatever it is called. So I would like to give it a try."

"...Do you mean that, truly?"

"Yes. Like the gentleman said, I am curious about friends my own age too."

At this, Yu Yeop-kyung's face filled with a tender ache. Yes. If that was the reason, then he could send him. Someday, when he too grew old and returned to a handful of earth, the boy would need someone at his side. In the end, Yu Yeop-kyung accepted this reality as though he had lost.

Then Mumu said, "When I get to that house, what do I call Father's family?"

"Hm?"

The topic had shifted all at once. Yu Yeop-kyung, who had been frowning at Mumu's words, said, "What do you call them, you ask? Call Mother 'Mother,' and your older brother 'hyung.' Ah... Jin-hyeok is a little tricky. The two of you are the same age, so you can just get along like friends."

Yu Yeop-kyung reached his conclusion quickly.

At this, Mumu let out a faint sigh and said, "I read in a book that bastards and foster sons get hated by their stepmothers and are not treated as kin by their siblings, so I should not expect any family affection from them."

"..."

For a moment, Yu Yeop-kyung was lost for words. Where on earth was there a book that said such a thing? While he stood there dumbfounded, Oh Ji-gang was avoiding his gaze and busying himself with nothing in particular.

'...It was you.'

He caught the culprit in an instant.

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