WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 28: ──────

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The Entrance Ceremony (1)

Early the next morning.

The entrance ceremony, delayed by the drawn-out entrance examination, finally got underway as scheduled. Every successful candidate housed in the temporary quarters, no, every new academy student now, gathered in the grand auditorium of the secondary building.

The grand auditorium boasted a scale massive enough to hold up to two thousand people.

The number of students entering the academy this term stood at four hundred and thirty-five. Originally it had been four hundred and forty, but five had been expelled over last night's unfortunate incident. Twenty fewer than the usual year, but since the entrance examination had culled them from tens of thousands of applicants, they were still an exceptional group. One interesting fact: of the candidates who'd taken the delayed test because of Mumu, only forty-three had passed.

Naturally, Mumu, Jin-hyeok, and Mo Il-hwa stood in the line filing into the grand auditorium.

"Wow. It's huge."

Mumu let out a gasp of admiration at the sight of the vast, stately hall. Mo Il-hwa snickered at him.

"Hey. Don't be such a country bumpkin about it." "I've never seen a place like this before."

To Mumu, who had spent his whole life in the mountains with his adoptive father Yu Yeop-kyung, everything here was a marvel. Jin-hyeok watched him without a word. Last night's incident came back to him. He'd wondered where Mumu had vanished to, and not long after, Mumu reappeared with the Vice-Master of the academy in tow. The Vice-Master had brought academy security warriors along, hauled off the five candidates who'd attacked Mumu's room for questioning, and they'd been expelled soon after.

'When did he even meet the Vice-Master?'

Jin-hyeok had spent the whole time worrying things would go wrong. Instead Mumu had brought the Vice-Master along like some kind of backer and closed the whole case without a hitch. Not a bad thing for him personally, but he had no idea what had happened while Mumu was gone, or what he'd said to make the Vice-Master fall over himself like that.

'Well, it's wrapped up cleanly enough, I suppose.'

Not everything had been settled cleanly, though. During questioning, Jin-hyeok had claimed he'd been hit with some kind of poison or drug, but the physician said no trace of anything like that remained on him. They'd searched the attackers' clothes and belongings in case there was evidence, but found nothing. The five even insisted, with real indignation, that they were innocent of that particular charge. Since no proper evidence turned up, the matter got quietly dropped.

'Who was it, though?'

Someone had definitely punched through the window paper and scattered some kind of powder. After getting hit with it, his body had gone limp, if only for a moment.

'It wasn't those five. It was someone else.'

The five who'd been expelled hadn't even known who was who when they attacked. They couldn't tell Mumu and Jin-hyeok apart. But the one who'd used the powder was different. That one had clearly meant to target Mumu specifically.

'Whoever it is, I'll catch them.'

Whether it was poison or not, someone had pulled off a stunt that bold inside Changcheon Martial Academy itself. The odds were high they'd try something like it again. Especially once they realized that the plan had gone sideways and it was Jin-hyeok, not the intended target Mumu, who'd gotten hit.

"Hey. Why so serious all by yourself?"

Mo Il-hwa teased, needling Jin-hyeok. He wiped the frown off his face and shook his head.

"It's nothing, miss." "You know, you're weirdly popular." "What?" "The kids can't stop staring at you. Your face is going to burn a hole through."

At that, Jin-hyeok glanced around. They were on their way to the empty seats in the grand auditorium, and a good number of the students already seated were sneaking odd looks his way. Especially the girls, whose eyes carried something warmer than curiosity.

'Ah...'

Jin-hyeok's head throbbed. Plenty of the students had come to believe he was the one behind last night's incident. At first he'd tried to clear up the misunderstanding, but thanks to Hong Hye-ryeong, the successor of the Southern Blade Imperial Uncle, it had gotten set in stone completely. He'd actually had the chance to correct her, right there on the spot. But he hadn't.

'Why didn't I say anything?'

The moment he saw her, that strange, mysterious beauty with hair tinged crimson, the words "this is a misunderstanding" simply wouldn't come out. He'd been afraid that the second he said it, her interest in him would vanish in an instant.

'I must have lost my mind.'

Because of that, Jin-hyeok had spent the whole night beating himself up over it. Some of the other candidates who'd passed after Mumu's delay incident would eventually hear the truth and the misunderstanding would clear itself up in time, but he'd decided that once he'd built up some rapport with the other students, he'd set the record straight somehow. Even so, that road looked like it would be rough going. Then, at some point, he noticed the attention from the interested girls drifting elsewhere.

"Isn't he insanely good looking?" "He's basically a pretty boy." "If you dressed him up he'd probably pass for a girl." "Doesn't he look way better than Yu Jin-sung's little brother?" "Right? I thought so too. You as well?"

Mumu's looks were stealing the spotlight. Jin-hyeok didn't want to care, but with people around him tossing out comparisons every which way, he couldn't help it, no matter how much he tried not to let it bother him.

'Why am I so oddly annoyed by this.'

He'd never once thought his own looks fell short anywhere. So he had no idea why everyone kept using Mumu as the yardstick. Just as his mood was about to sour completely,

"You two! Noona's got your backs."

Whap!

"Huh?"

Mo Il-hwa hooked both arms through Mumu's and Jin-hyeok's at once. At the sight, sparks flew in the eyes of some of the girl candidates, and jeers broke out from all over.

'Some protection this is...'

It only drew more attention.

"Aw, jealous, are we? Ha ha ha ha."

But Mo Il-hwa was quietly enjoying every bit of it. As if flaunting that she'd claimed sole ownership of the two boys everyone else was so interested in. Someone was watching them draw all that attention from the crowd. Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu, seated up on the dais of the grand auditorium.

'... No one knows the truth about that kid.'

He had seen Mumu's true nature. It was the moment that had shattered every scrap of common sense he'd built up in his life.

'Terrifying kid.'

That kid had no business sitting there as a mere student. He wondered how many of the masters here could have even taken that single punch Mumu had thrown last night. He was a monster, plain and simple, and calling him one wouldn't be an exaggeration. Was it even reasonable, by any normal logic, for a person to grow that strong through muscle training alone?

'Hah...'

Part of him wanted to announce this fact to everyone else. But he'd lost his nerve under the sheer pressure the boy gave off, and ended up making a promise on the spot. To keep this enormous secret until the boy safely graduated from Changcheon Martial Academy. Of course, it hadn't come without a price. He, too, had gotten a promise out of Mumu in return.

[Ahem. Then, once you're partway through your second year and it's time to choose your assigned master, name this Vice-Master.]

Mumu had thought it over and agreed readily. The reason was simple.

[If I pick the Vice-Master, no one will bother me about becoming their disciple, right?]

A rather deflating reason to hear, but it was fine either way. That kid was bound to make an absolutely legendary name for himself one day, so there was nothing wrong with getting a spoonful in early. Until then, Dan Pil-hu intended to keep Mumu from catching anyone else's eye. He'd given the boy a stern warning on that front too.

[If you show off the full extent of that strength of yours, everyone's going to come pestering you. You don't want that, do you? So don't reveal it unless it's truly necessary.]

He'd given that warning, sure, but in practice he still felt uneasy. So he planned to keep one of his own people close by. So that if Mumu caused even the smallest trouble, it could be handled immediately.

"Vice-Master."

Just then, someone approached him and handed over a paper fixed to a clipboard listing the order of the entrance ceremony. Looking over the order, he saw that he, the Vice-Master, would go first with remarks and an explanation of the academy's history and origins, second would be the Examiner-in-Chief coming out to speak about yesterday's entrance examination and announce the top scorer, then the Academy Director's welcome address, and last, the official dormitory assignments.

'... I've been handed the most boring part.'

Who among the students didn't already know the academy's history and origins? Same as always, honestly. Which was exactly why he wanted the Director's seat for himself. Regardless, duty was duty, so once all the students had taken their seats, Dan Pil-hu stepped up to the front of the dais first.

"Vice-Master. Just use this."

An assistant handling the preparations handed him a strange funnel-shaped object. Dan Pil-hu asked, puzzled.

"What's this?" "It's an Internal Energy Amplifier sent by the Master of Ten Thousand Wisdoms. He said if you channel just a little internal energy into your voice while speaking, it carries much further." "Oh, is that so?"

Leave it to the Master of Ten Thousand Wisdoms to invent something this useful. He'd already been dreading the long remarks, the history, the origins, the résumé and all of it prepared ahead of time, exhausting just to think about, so if it meant burning less internal energy, that was nothing but good news. Speaking in a hall that could seat two thousand people was no small task.

"Ahem."

As a test, Dan Pil-hu cleared his throat into the amplifier. The cough carried out, loud and clear. Even with barely a trace of internal energy mixed in, the reach was impressive. Quite the device.

"Good. Let's begin then."

At the assistant's signal that all was ready, Dan Pil-hu channeled a proper amount of internal energy into his voice and began his remarks.

"Dear..." -Dear~ Dear~ Dear~

The instant he opened his mouth, Dan Pil-hu's voice spread out in every direction. His voice echoed through the entire grand auditorium, and every eye turned toward Dan Pil-hu up on the dais. The effect seemed to be working quite well.

"Changcheon Martial Academy's..." -Changcheon Martial Academy's~ Changcheon Martial Academy's~ Changcheon Martial Academy's~

"New students..." -New students~ New students~ New students~

"All of you..." -All of you~ All of you~ All of you~

"Entrance..." -Entrance~ Entrance~ Entrance~

"With all my heart..." -With all my heart~ With all my heart~ With all my heart~

"I welcome you!" -I welcome you~ I welcome you~ I welcome you~

"From now on, all of you..." -From now on~ From now on~ From now on~

The echo kept rolling on and on, and Dan Pil-hu, who'd been thinking oh, this is handy at first, turned to the assistant with an irritated look and said,

"Why's it echoing like this?" -Why's it echoing like this~ Why's it echoing like this~ Why's it echoing like this~

The words had barely left his mouth before laughter erupted from the students. Once it started, the laughter showed no sign of stopping.

Grrk!

Dan Pil-hu, who hadn't expected his own echoing voice to become such a joke, turned bright red and glared out at the students. Sensing that glare, the students who'd been laughing their heads off finally clamped their mouths shut. Behind him, Academy Director Do Jeong-myeong, who'd been sitting solemnly, quietly covered his mouth with a hand and turned his head away. Unaware of this, Dan Pil-hu sighed and started his remarks again.

"And so..." -And so~ And so~ And so~

"At Changcheon Martial Academy..." -At Changcheon Martial Academy~ At Changcheon Martial Academy~ At Changcheon Martial Academy~

The echo rolled on and on. The students were locked in a battle with their own patience, forcing themselves not to laugh. Then, somewhere in the middle of it, someone burst out laughing loudly.

"Pwahahahahahaha!"

The sound was so loud it shook the entire hall. Unable to stand it any longer, Dan Pil-hu jabbed a finger toward the source and shouted.

"You there!" -You there~ You there~ You there~

"Get up here!" -Get up here~ Get up here~ Get up here~

Even in this moment, the rolling echo had the students clamping their hands over their mouths, laughing helplessly. Dan Pil-hu, his temper flaring past its limit, made up his mind. He would properly wreck one of them in front of everyone.

'Whoever this brat is, laughing while this Vice-Master is giving remarks? Today's your death anniversary.'

He'd already been in a foul mood over last night's business, on top of everything else. He rolled up his sleeves, making it obvious he was thoroughly furious, when he spotted someone strolling forward, unhurried, through the seated students.

!?

Dan Pil-hu's eyes went wide at the sight. It was none other than Mumu.

'... Damn it.'

Mo Il-hwa (illustration)

Footnotes:

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