WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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Chapter 22: The Second Gate (3)

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The Second Gate (3)

A tall tower stood at the very center of Changcheon Martial Academy.

This tower was called the Tower of Martial Arts.

An old man sat perched on the roof at its very top, sipping wine from a gourd flask.

He looked to be about seventy, and his gaze was fixed on the place where the second and third gates of the entrance examination were under way.

"Yes. That's it. Just like that."

The old man nodded.

It was a distance no ordinary person could ever have made out, yet to his eyes the faces of everyone gathered there were clear as day.

"This year's class has more interesting children than the last. Don't you think?"

A middle-aged man in violet ceremonial robes appeared behind him.

With his fine mustache and strong features, the man let out a long sigh.

"I've been searching all over for you, and here you are again?"

"How could I miss such a fine show?"

"Wouldn't it be simpler to attend the entrance examination in person?"

"I can see it well enough from here, so why bother? I'd only be a nuisance to the young folk."

'You're a nuisance right now,' the man thought.

After all the trouble he had gone through to find him. Still, he could not bring himself to say it aloud.

The middle-aged man bowed his head and spoke with courtesy.

"Before long there will be a banquet with the final successful candidates, so please join us then. Your grandchild is waiting, and if you keep sitting up here..."

Just then the old man frowned and held out a hand, as if to say be quiet.

As the middle-aged man puzzled over it, he saw that the old man's gaze had turned toward the second gate, where the movement skill test was being held.

'Can he really see that?'

The man had not yet entered the same realm as this old man, so it all looked hazy to him.

Moments like this made him feel just how deep the world of martial arts ran.

He asked carefully, "Is something the matter?"

"Hoo."

At the question the old man let out one gasp of wonder after another, then tipped back the gourd flask.

"Fascinating. Truly fascinating."

"Pardon?"

"Muha and the other children, they'll all have to brace themselves this year."

"What in the world do you mean by that?"

The old man shook his head, then put on a face brimming with mischief.

"Where would the fun be if you knew now? You'll understand when you see it later."

In his gleaming eyes, the image of a single boy stood out sharp and clear.

* * *

'Was that a bit much?'

Mumu scratched his head.

He had watched the five ahead of him, Ha Ryun among them, cross the wooden poles set in the artificial lake.

But he had no confidence he could do as they did, stepping carefully from one pole to the next while keeping his trousers and shoes dry.

So he had simply jumped the whole thing in one go.

This way was far simpler, and easier too.

'First time I undid the adjustment screw on my ankle, and it felt great.'

Mumu rolled his trousers back down and quickly turned the adjustment screw on the Ki-Restraining Bracelets at his ankles to eight.

With the loose trousers, you couldn't see his muscles settling back down.

Mumu pulled his planted foot free and asked, "Did I pass?"

The examiner Ga Yu-hang had been so astonished she lost her words, but at his question she barely gathered herself and spoke.

"What did you just do?"

"I jumped over it."

"Without even stepping on the poles?"

"Yes."

Mumu answered with an easy smile.

She had been certain he had not even properly learned martial arts. His footwork had not been graceful in the slightest, a complete mess, so she had naturally expected him to fall into the water, and all of that had been turned on its head.

No, she had not been able to predict this result at all.

At the sight of Mumu, Ga Yu-hang swallowed without realizing it, then asked, "Under what master are you studying?"

She had grown curious about the teacher who had trained him.

"A master?"

Mumu tilted his head.

There was no one in particular who could be called a master or a teacher.

"I don't have one."

"What?"

No master? What on earth was he talking about? It made no sense.

"Then you reached the level of Water-Treading Flight by your own strength alone?"

"W, Water-Treading Flight!"

Tang So-so could not hide her amazement at those words.

Water-Treading Flight, just as the name said, meant flying over water, a term born from how someone who had reached a high level of movement skill could run while treading on the water's surface.

There was a similar level called Drifting Leaf Crossing, which came from crossing while stepping on the duckweed floating atop the water.

Either way, this was not a movement skill that should appear in someone of Mumu's age.

"Master, is that really true?"

"Can't you see it?"

Ga Yu-hang pointed at the artificial lake.

The wind pressure stirred up when Mumu leaped over the lake had sent the water surging to either side like waves.

Thanks to that, the water level, which had originally been brimming and on the verge of spilling over, had somehow dropped to two thirds of the artificial lake.

'He really did split the surface of the lake.'

What she had seen earlier had been no illusion.

Tang So-so looked back and forth between Mumu and the lake, her face full of genuine admiration.

'What are they talking about?'

Mumu had only done a long jump.

Yet here they were saying things he could hardly follow, Water-Treading Flight and the like.

"Water-Treading Flight, what's that... huh? My nose is bleeding."

Footnotes:

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