WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 25: Interest (1)

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Interest (1)

A room dazzling with fine wine and a lavish feast. There, a middle-aged man with graying hair slicked stiffly back passed his cup around and boasted in a gravelly voice.

"The post of inspector at the martial artists' alliance is a lonely one if you want to see justice done right. I know because I lived it." "Ha! Vice-Master, your stories from your days as alliance inspector never get old." "Ha ha. Is that so. Anyway, I locked every last one of them up. Those leftover scum from the force of evil, those filthy bastards who took bribes from that lot... and you know, among those bastards, there was even our own alliance's chief auditor." "Goodness." "Ah ha ha. How could such a thing happen."

Everyone let out a sigh at that. The middle-aged man swept his eyes over them, then lifted his cup and spoke with a voice brimming with resolve.

"Alliance chief auditor or not, this lonely last man standing, Dan Pil-hu, hauled the lot of them in." "Ohh." "As expected! Vice-Master Dan, through and through." "With someone of such righteous spirit serving as Vice-Master of Changcheon Martial Academy, we can entrust our children to this place with full confidence." "Indeed. Well said."

The banquet hall was the very picture of warmth and good cheer. Just then a warrior opened the door, came in, and whispered something into the ear of the graying middle-aged man, Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu. Dan Pil-hu's face creased for a moment, then he smiled at the representatives from the various martial clans and said,

"Forgive me, something urgent has come up. Plenty of wine remains for a night of drinking, and these fine fellows here will look after you."

Leaving the disappointed guests behind, Dan Pil-hu stepped outside. Waiting for him there stood a hulking middle-aged man with his arm in a splint, apparently broken. It was Byeok I-mun, one of the instructors of Changcheon Martial Academy. Seeing the state Byeok I-mun was in, Dan Pil-hu raised an eyebrow, unable to believe it, and said,

"Is it true?" "Can't you see for yourself, Vice-Master?"

Even seeing it, it was hard to believe. Was this really the work of some brat who hadn't trained in martial arts at all? Whatever excuse there was about being caught off guard, all the boy had done was ram into him with his body, and it had cracked the wrist bone of a master standing at the threshold of Master rank. Truly astonishing. Clicking his tongue at the fact, Dan Pil-hu asked,

"So you want me to lean on the Examiner-in-Chief for this applicant named Mumu?" "Not lean on him. Just ask that he be lenient in his judgment."

At this, Dan Pil-hu stroked his short beard and let out a short laugh. Then he said to Byeok I-mun,

"To come all the way to a valuable social gathering and ask me this over some applicant you only just laid eyes on, you really took quite a shine to him, didn't you?"

At this Byeok I-mun grinned and answered,

"If the Vice-Master were to see that child yourself, your heart would move the same way. Who knows? That child might become a great asset to you one day."

Byeok I-mun believed the boy was worth every bit of that faith. At his words, Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu clicked his tongue.

'Interesting. Very interesting. That much, is it.'

He found himself wanting to see for himself.

* * *

Snore! Snore!

Ha Ryun clicked his tongue looking at the boy sharing his temporary quarters. Some kid from the Hao clan, Hae Ryang or whatever his name was.

'Annoying brat.'

The boy was so weak it was a wonder he'd even passed the entrance examination. Ha Ryun would have let it go at that, but the kid kept pestering him about digging up some information or other, so he'd knocked him out with a sleeping incense. Anyone who fell for such a shallow poison trick belonged in the useless pile anyway.

Thud.

Ha Ryun sat down in the desk chair. Now that he'd put the annoying kid to sleep, he figured he should treat his hand. Looking at his palm, swollen and purpled, Ha Ryun ground his teeth.

'That damn bastard.'

The kid had monstrous, absurd strength. Sure, it wasn't like he'd unleashed some False Overlord Style technique, but just from a simple palm clash, his bone had cracked. Given time it would heal on its own, but this wasn't poison. Ha Ryun pulled out an antidote from inside his robe and dripped a drop of the medicine onto the spot.

'Good thing it was only a trace dose.'

This particular poison worked its way in over the long term, so a single prick wasn't going to be fatal. It only turned dangerous if it kept building up. He was in the middle of dripping the antidote onto the wound bit by bit when,

"Who did that to you?"

A voice from behind startled Ha Ryun badly.

'When did...'

He hadn't heard the door open, hadn't sensed a presence at all. And yet somehow, someone had already taken up a position behind him. Cold sweat ran down Ha Ryun's forehead, his nerves stretched taut. A master of this caliber would be no exaggeration to call the equal of his own masters back at the Valley of White Death. No, probably above even the third master.

"W-who are..." "House of the Eight Villains."

'!!!'

The instant he heard those words, Ha Ryun's eyes went wide. Words the first master had once said flashed through his mind.

[He will be waiting there before the rest of you arrive.]

There was no doubt. This had to be "him." Ha Ryun dropped to the floor without hesitation, pressing his forehead flat against it. Then he spoke toward the presence.

"Ha Ryun of the Valley of White Death. I pay my respects, Master Heo."

The presence looked down at him with indifferent eyes, then spoke.

"Disappointing. I had expectations, hearing you were the talent from the Valley of White Death who cleared the Weha trial in under half a two-hour period." "What do you..." "You took an injury in something as trivial as the entrance examination?"

Ha Ryun bit down hard on his lip at those words. This had been a completely unforeseen accident. There was no way he should have been injured in an exam of that low a caliber.

"There's been a misunder..." "Do not raise your head." "Y-yes, sir."

Ha Ryun, who had almost lifted his head without thinking to explain himself, quickly pressed his forehead back to the floor. The first master had warned him never to try to learn Master Heo's true identity. He'd nearly made a fatal mistake. The voice of the one he believed to be Master Heo reached his ears.

"You would do well not to disappoint me again. Seventeen long years, that is what this has taken. If your carelessness hinders the great cause even slightly, you had better be prepared for what follows." "I, I will keep that in mind." "Wait until you receive instructions."

Shff.

With that, the shadow vanished. Ha Ryun, who had kept his head bowed and been watching for any sign, lifted his head slightly. But the one called Master Heo was already gone. A master skilled enough in stealth that not even the sound of the door opening had reached him.

'Damn it!'

Ha Ryun ground his teeth hard. Because of that damned brat Mumu, everything had gotten off on the wrong foot. He had thoroughly disgraced the honor of the Valley of White Death.

'Mumu.'

Whatever happened with the others, he would never forgive that one. Choked with fury, Ha Ryun decided he needed some air and stepped out of the room. Out in the corridor of the dormitory, he found five boys, apparently freshly admitted students around seventeen or eighteen, coming down the hall in a pack.

'What's this? Who are these guys?'

"Where'd you say that bastard's room was?" "Heard it's on the top floor of this building. Somebody from the academy told me, so it should be right." "So because of that guy, we couldn't even hold the admission ceremony and got stuck cooped up in our rooms for hours." "You sure this is a good idea, though? Sounds like he's supposed to be that Yeo Jin-sung's little brother..." "Ha! So what? I'm Kang Seo-ryong of the Nam Yang Strong Blade Clan. My own brother outranks that Yeo Jin-sung guy anyway. There won't be any consequences." "True enough. With Kang Seo-ryong stepping up, who's gonna stop us?" "Don't worry about it. Some nobody with no clan background made all of us suffer for it, and we're just supposed to let that slide? A guy like that needs to be taught a lesson to knock some sense into him."

Listening to their conversation, Ha Ryun's lips curled into a thin smirk.

'This is getting interesting.'

They must be the ones who passed earlier and had been stuck waiting in their temporary quarters. Judging by them charging off in a group like that, they'd gathered to vent their frustration. There were always brats like this wherever you went. That Kang Seo-ryong one looked like he might actually be worth something, but the rest were barely at the level needed to scrape through the exam. At that level, they wouldn't stand much of a chance against that Mumu kid. But if he lent a little help, the story could change. Ha Ryun slipped his hand inside his robe.

'Top floor, was it?'

* * *

"Tch."

Jin-hyeok, who had gone back to his own room after feeling foolish for reading too much into things, headed back toward Mumu's room. This wasn't because he'd taken any liking to the guy, not at all. It was only because his father and mother had asked him to look out for the boy. It absolutely wasn't out of concern.

Thud.

Jin-hyeok opened the door to the room and frowned. Inside, only a bundle that looked like Mumu's belongings sat on the table, the room otherwise empty. Mo Il-hwa was gone too, apparently already returned to her own place.

'Where'd he go?'

They'd been told to wait here, so there was no reason for him to have wandered off elsewhere. Jin-hyeok glanced around the room, then closed the door, stepped inside, and sat down on the edge of the bed.

'Probably went to the outhouse.'

That was the only place worth going. When the guy got back, he figured they should head to the main building together to greet the examiners.

'Hmph.'

The guy would probably just grin brightly again, thanking him and acting all sheepish. His father seemed to have raised a good-natured fool much like himself. No matter how monstrous his strength was, being that naive and unable to even get properly angry meant he was bound to get tricked or stabbed in the back by somebody sooner or later.

'Why's this guy taking so long, anyway...'

Knock knock.

'Hm?'

Someone knocked on the door. There was no reason Mumu would knock on his own room's door before entering. Without thinking much of it, Jin-hyeok walked toward the door.

"Who's..."

Crack!

At that instant a hand burst through the paper screen of the door, and a cloud of powder hit his face. Caught off guard with no time to dodge, Jin-hyeok breathed it straight in.

"Cough, cough!"

Coughing hard, Jin-hyeok yanked the door open in a hurry. But whoever had done it was already gone. He had no idea who had done such a thing, but it was a nasty trick.

'Poison, maybe?'

Startled, Jin-hyeok rushed back into the room, sat cross-legged, and began ki circulation right away. If it was poisonous energy, it would show up in the circulation. But even after cycling for a good while, there was no rejection reaction, so it wasn't poison after all. His internal energy flowed normally.

'What was that?'

Was it just some prank, then? If so, that was truly ridiculous.

'Someone holding a grudge against Mumu?'

Because of Mumu, the entrance exam had been delayed and the admission ceremony pushed to the next day, so it seemed plenty of people had worked up some resentment over the whole mess.

'Damn it.'

He'd come here meaning well, and now he was stuck dealing with this ordeal. Getting pranked like this was almost too absurd. Just as his irritation was about to boil over, Jin-hyeok's brow furrowed. He felt a group of people approaching noisily from the corridor. Roughly five of them, it seemed, and it didn't feel like Mumu or that mystery person who'd thrown the powder earlier. While he was puzzling over it, the door burst open violently.

Bang!

Jin-hyeok rose from his cross-legged seat and stood up.

"What is this? Who barges into someone else's room like that?"

At Jin-hyeok's question, a boy of about eighteen leading the pack spoke up.

"You're that guy, Yeo Jin-sung's little brother or whatever?" "......"

At those words Jin-hyeok let out a faint sigh. Wherever he went, his brother's name always came up before his own. He respected his brother, but sometimes it felt like a cage around him.

"That's right. So why are you all here, storming into someone else's room looking for me? Doesn't look like you came with anything good in mind..."

Whoosh!

Before he could finish speaking, the boy lunged a fist straight at him. Jin-hyeok stepped back half a pace and crossed both arms to block it.

"What do you think you're doing?" "You have to ask? Some nothing from a nobody clan gets a swelled head just because of his brother's name. Time somebody taught you some manners today." "What?"

Whap!

The boy's knee shot up in a surprise attack aimed at Jin-hyeok's jaw. Jin-hyeok blocked it lightly with a hand, then in one motion swept a kick straight into the boy's head.

Thud! Crash!

Caught off guard by the blow to his head, the boy staggered sideways three steps. The other boys cried out in alarm.

"Seo-ryong!" "You okay?"

Waving off their concern, Kang Seo-ryong wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and muttered,

"Not bad."

His head was spinning, but as a son of the Nam Yang Strong Blade Clan, he couldn't afford to show he'd been shaken here.

'This little punk's got teeth.'

He was stronger than expected, and it caught Kang Seo-ryong off guard. Steadying himself to fight properly, he settled into the opening stance of the clan's true fist art, the Strong Blade Fist. Watching him, Jin-hyeok's eyes sharpened.

'He took my seven star ki technique.'

That had been the Five Star Kick, backed by seven star ki technique, landed square on the head. For the boy to have endured it meant this Seo-ryong's true skill was close to Jin-hyeok's own, right at the edge of Advanced rank. He couldn't afford to let his guard down. Even as he thought that, a flicker of fighting spirit crept into Jin-hyeok's eyes.

'First real match.'

This was his first time facing an opponent his own age. Maybe that was why his heart had started to pound a little. Mak Il-woong, the first master of the Kangxi Three Heroes, always said one of the fastest ways to grow stronger was to fight as many rivals as possible. He didn't fully understand why, but this could be one such chance. Jin-hyeok settled into his stance, gathering his force of ki, when...

'Huh?'

Strength drained out of his body, and dizziness swept over him. Even the fist he'd clenched wouldn't tighten properly, his whole body going slack.

'Don't tell me, that thing from before?'

The instant he sensed something was wrong, Kang Seo-ryong lunged forward.

Whoosh!

A punch flew at him, one he should have easily blocked, but his legs gave out and he couldn't dodge it.

Thud!

"Ugh!"

Struck in the chest, Jin-hyeok toppled over.

"Ohh!" "Told you, that's Seo-ryong for you."

At the sight, the boys who'd come with Kang Seo-ryong let out a cheer. They'd worried for a moment that Kang Seo-ryong, standing on the edge of Expert rank, might actually be losing, but he hadn't let them down after all. Kang Seo-ryong himself, seeing Jin-hyeok down, called out triumphantly.

"Get up. This is just the start."

At Kang Seo-ryong's taunt, Jin-hyeok clenched his teeth. He wanted to get up, but his whole body refused to obey, and there was nothing he could do. Kang Seo-ryong sneered down at him.

"Can't even take one exchange, and here you are, supposedly the one who wrecked the exam hall and delayed the whole entrance exam. Doesn't add up."

'!?'

At those words Jin-hyeok was momentarily dumbfounded. Did these guys actually think he was the one who'd caused all that trouble, mixing him up with Mumu? No wonder it had felt strange, all of them charging in like this.

'That bastard Mumu...'

Whatever scrap of goodwill he'd built up for the guy was evaporating fast. As Jin-hyeok sat there stunned, Kang Seo-ryong beckoned at him and said,

"We're not done yet, so get up fast. Otherwise..." "You people have the wrong idea. That wasn't me."

At Jin-hyeok's words, Kang Seo-ryong snorted.

"You crazy? You said yourself you're Yeo Jin-sung's little brother, and now that things aren't going your way, you're gonna lie about it?"

At that, Jin-hyeok looked toward somewhere behind them, his face flushing red, drew in a deep breath, let it out, and said with a jerk of his chin,

"The guy you're looking for is right behind you." "What?"

Kang Seo-ryong and the others turned their heads. There stood Mumu, having opened the door and now tilting his head in confusion. Despite his handsome face, something about Mumu's air seemed almost too simple and innocent, and one of the boys let out a snort and stepped toward the door.

"Kid can't handle the fallout so now you're pinning it on somebody else?"

Then he poked Mumu's shoulder a couple of times and said,

"Hey. You know this guy? Not sure what's going on, but if you get mixed up in this, you're getting the same treatment as..." "Were you guys bothering Jin-hyeok just now?" "Bothering? We were just giving him a fair, honest les..."

Thud! Bang!

At that instant the boy's head burst through the ceiling and lodged there.

'!!!'

The boys who witnessed it up close felt their eyes shaking uncontrollably.

'W-what is this...'

He'd only tapped the boy's chin upward with the flat of his palm, and it had ended like this. The boy whose head was buried in the ceiling had apparently blacked out, his body hanging limp, dangling in place. Kang Seo-ryong, stunned, shouted,

"Y-you, what are you?" "Me? Mumu."

With those words, Mumu's face had gone expressionless, and he walked toward them. Even Jin-hyeok, who had only ever seen his usual lazy eyes and easy, sunny smile, found himself swallowing hard at the sight of him now, so different from before.

Footnotes:

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