WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Invincible Mumu

Chapter 15

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Entrance Examination (2)

Cho Il-ryang, second of the Kangxi Three Heroes, lay on the bed with both hands neatly folded over his chest.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the oil lamp flickering in the breeze that slipped through a slightly open window, and across from it, a bearded middle-aged man seated at the desk.

It was Mak Il-woong, the first of the Kangxi Three Heroes.

The night had grown dark enough to warrant lighting the lamp, and his elder brother was reading a book, as always.

"You're awake?"

"Elder Brother."

At the question, Cho Il-ryang let out a sigh of relief.

So it really had been a dream after all.

He spoke as though unburdening himself.

"...Elder Brother. I had a dream."

"A dream?"

"Yes. It was so absurd I'm embarrassed to even say what it was, but if it had actually happened, it would have been the most ridiculous thing in my twenty years as a martial artist."

At those words, Mak Il-woong lifted his eyes from the book and turned his head toward him. He fixed his gaze on Cho Il-ryang and said,

"You were out cold for half a day, and now your memory isn't even whole. I really should call for a physician."

"What?"

Half a day?

What was he talking about?

Startled, he tried to sit up, but a sharp ache shot through his chest.

"Ugh."

Mak Il-woong closed his book and came closer.

"Before I call the physician, let me ask you one thing. That mark on your chest, who left it there?"

"What? My chest?"

Cho Il-ryang threw off the blanket and looked down at himself. His upper garment had been removed, and there, in a vivid shape, was the bruised imprint of a palm. The instant he saw it, gooseflesh rose all over his body.

'It-it wasn't a dream.'

He had been so certain it was all a dream. It had been so utterly impossible that he had told himself it could only have been one, but it was a thing of the past now, something that had truly happened.

The memory grew steadily clearer in his mind. Against the monstrous strength of Mumu, the adopted son of the Jin household, the principle of his Four Ounces Deflecting a Thousand Pounds had shattered until it felt pathetically meaningless. His ki had run in reverse, and he had even taken an internal injury.

His face flushed red.

[M-Master!]

[Ji... Jin-hyeok... this... this matter... to no one... must you speak...]

He had fainted right after saying that. His greed to take the boy Mumu as his disciple, together with his bold promise to show off the principle of the Four Ounces Deflecting a Thousand Pounds, had led him to pull that stunt, and he had ended up disgraced. He had been so humiliated that, before passing out, he had all but begged his disciple Jin-hyeok to tell no one what had happened.

'Ahhh.'

Recalling it went past embarrassment straight back into shame. He had no idea how he had ever crossed paths with that monster of a child to bring this on himself. How could he possibly confess it to his elder brother, who was watching him with eyes full of suspicion? He could not even speak of it, terrified of how much face he would lose.

His elder brother made to ask him again.

"Just who did you spar with to end up like that..."

Cho Il-ryang hurriedly changed the subject.

"E-Elder Brother! Then what became of Jin-hyeok's Meridian Opening Technique? It was supposed to be me who did it..."

"Quick to ask about that, aren't you."

"Was it Go Ha who did it?"

Go Ha was the youngest of the Kangxi Three Heroes.

The original plan had been that once Go Ha brought back an Elixir to settle Jin-hyeok's ki, Cho Il-ryang would handle the Meridian Opening Technique. But if he had been lying unconscious like this, there was no way things had gone according to plan.

Mak Il-woong clicked his tongue.

"I did it."

"What?"

"I settled the ki, and I performed the Meridian Opening Technique."

"You did all of it, Elder Brother?"

"That's right."

"Why?"

"Why, you ask? Hah! Follow me."

Mak Il-woong strode over, flung the door open, and went out. Puzzled, Cho Il-ryang clutched his chest and followed him.

It was the room right next door.

There he saw Go Ha, the youngest, sitting on the bed and staring blankly at the wall as though he had taken some great shock. The boy's right hand looked broken, swollen and puffy.

Go Ha, still dazed, slowly turned his head and looked at the two of them as they opened the door and stepped in. Seeing him bite down hard on his lip in shame, Cho Il-ryang pointed a finger and muttered,

"Hey, you too?"

At that, Go Ha sent him a somewhat pitiful look. Cho Il-ryang could roughly guess what had happened, and a sense of shared misery settled over him. The boy was hailed as a hero of the Kangxi Three Heroes and a master of external energy, yet with his right hand swollen up like that, it took no second look to know.

'That monster of a brat...'

In all his life he had never seen muscle so absurd. He still could not understand it.

Then a single thought flashed through his mind.

'Wait. I told that boy Jin-hyeok not to say a word.'

Go Ha ending up in that state could only mean his disciple Jin-hyeok had spilled the truth to him. A headache crept on, and Cho Il-ryang gripped his head.

Seeing him like that, Mak Il-woong let out a sigh and asked the two of them,

"Hooo. Just what happened while I was away?"

"..."

"..."

At that question, Cho Il-ryang and Go Ha clamped their mouths shut, as though by some prior agreement.

* * *

At that same moment.

Yeo Jin-hyeok lay on the bed in a darkened room.

He had received the Meridian Opening Technique for over two hours and circulated his ki for nearly three more, working to make the Elixir's energy his own, until he was all but drained. Since he had been through such an ordeal, his first master Mak Il-woong had told him to rest early, so he had come to bed sooner than usual.

But sleep would not come.

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