WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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Chapter 29: The Entrance Ceremony (2)

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The Entrance Ceremony (2)

This was driving him mad.

Mumu stood beneath the platform, head lowered as though deeply sorry. Dan Pil-hu found the whole scene maddening. To anyone else watching, it looked as if he had just given the boy a thorough scolding, but the truth was nothing of the sort. He had wondered who dared laugh during his speech, and the moment he realized it was this kid, every word had died in his throat.

'Is this brat actually sly on purpose?'

Mumu wore a crestfallen expression, and the female cadets in the front row let out little gasps of sympathy, covering their mouths with their hands, looking utterly pained on his behalf. At this rate it looked like he was bullying some innocent child. Absolutely absurd.

'... I can't exactly punish him for real, either.'

Dan Pil-hu was the only one here who knew Mumu's true nature. He had no desire to provoke the boy needlessly and sour their relationship. In the end his choice was simple. He let the stern expression he had been holding melt away, replaced it with a merciful look, and said,

"Ahem. Whatever the circumstances, it isn't proper to laugh while an elder of the academy is delivering an address. Understood?"

He kept his tone gentle enough not to bruise his own dignity. This way it would look somewhat magnanimous, and it wouldn't rile up the boy either.

"Now then, go on back." "Yes, sir."

That ought to look enough like he'd handled it without seeming cowed by the kid. Unaware of Dan Pil-hu's true feelings, Mumu bowed his head politely and said he was sorry for laughing.

'This little... is he doing this on purpose?'

He looked innocent enough, yet somehow had a knack for putting people in awkward spots. Dan Pil-hu was seething inside, but there was nothing to be done, so he forced a smile, waved the boy off kindly, and sent Mumu back to his place. Someone was watching Mumu closely.

'Is that the one?'

That night, the figure had gone over the reports on the cadets' examination results. While checking mainly on the successors of the two Immortal Masters and a few well-known martial families, one report had struck like a shock. A boy who had passed without any martial arts training whatsoever. Even reading with Ki sense, no notable energy could be detected from him. Wondering if he might be some hidden master, the figure checked whether his temple veins bulged, but they looked utterly ordinary.

'Hm.'

A boy impossible to judge properly. For the great plan ahead, there could be no variables left unaccounted for, so anyone who might become even a minor obstacle had to be thoroughly weeded out.

'Shall I test him?'

The figure watching Mumu clasped hands behind their back and quietly extended a finger. Deep, refined life energy began gathering at the fingertip.

'Soft Thread Finger Flick Art.'

With this signature finger-flicking technique, a strike could come from a position no one could ever trace. Piercing straight through Mumu's skull would have been nothing at all. But the finger, poised to flick, slowly lowered. It wasn't the time yet. There was no need to take such a risk just to test some cadet who had barely entered the academy.

'... I'll have those children test him instead.'

It seemed more effective to set other students in his position in motion. Meanwhile, someone else watched Mumu with genuine interest, quite unlike that figure. It was Do Jeong-myeong, the Heavy Sword Great Hero, the Academy Director of Changcheon Martial Academy.

'Is that the child?'

He had been rather startled reading the Examiner-in-Chief's report. Not only had this boy passed the entrance examination on raw physical strength alone, he had done so with results that were nearly overwhelming. Nothing like it had ever happened since the founding of Changcheon Martial Academy.

'Quite different from how he looks.'

Every gesture, every expression, made him look utterly innocent. And yet he had cleared the notoriously difficult entrance examination on pure physical ability alone...

'Could this be the one?'

There had been a candidate 'that person' had taken special notice of. At the time Do Jeong-myeong had let it pass, but the remark that even his own grandchildren ought to brace themselves had stuck with him more than he cared to admit. Those grandchildren ranked among the top five geniuses currently at Changcheon Martial Academy. 'That person' would never say such a thing without cause.

'I'll know when I see it.'

He still couldn't be certain this boy was the one. The case was unusual, but keeping pace with Changcheon's regular curriculum without any foundation in martial arts at all would be no easy thing. He had gotten in, yes, but he might well wash out before long, unable to endure the process.

'Let's see whether he can keep up without even a basic grounding in martial arts.'

* * *

"Hey. What kind of punishment is that supposed to be?"

Mo Il-hwa whispered to Mumu, sounding utterly incredulous. Had the entrance ceremony not still been underway, she would have raised her voice. Her reaction came from the proclamation of the top-scoring cadets' commendations. After Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu's long-winded history, background, and address finally ended, Baek Woo-gi, the Examiner-in-Chief for this year's entrance examination, stepped forward to announce the results. Twelve cadets in total were to receive commendations. Mumu's name was not among them.

"Doesn't that make you mad? If tearing a fortress gate off its hinges wasn't enough to make you top scorer, what would be?"

Mo Il-hwa had naturally assumed Mumu would take first place. Barring some upset, anyway. But Mumu had been penalized for delaying the entrance examination, and as part of that disciplinary decision, he was to be denied the commendation and benefits normally given to top scorers. Baek Woo-gi, the Examiner-in-Chief, had explained this to Mumu the night before.

[Whether to grant final passage or expulsion falls within my authority as Examiner-in-Chief, but the disciplinary penalty itself is unavoidable, I'm afraid.]

Complaints had already poured into the academy, and they could not afford to give the impression that any special favor had been shown to a single candidate. That was the reasoning behind the decision.

"Ugh, I can't even stand to look."

Thanks to that, the top spot went to Hong Hye-ryeong, daughter of Southern Blade Imperial Uncle, one of the Four Immortal Masters.

"I'm fine with it, though?"

Mumu said this with a bright, untroubled face. That only made her chest tighten further.

"Well I'm not fine with it. I can't stand watching that girl look so smug about it!"

That was really the true reason. Watching Hong Hye-ryeong ascend the platform to claim her certificate of first place amid the cadets' applause twisted something in her gut. To her sharp eyes, the girl looked exactly like an attention seeker. Mo Il-hwa clicked her tongue for a long while before turning to Mumu.

"Being too nice for your own good is a real problem, you know. Remember what your big sister's telling you." "Yeah. Got it." "Anyway, how did that guy manage to make the top twelve?"

Standing among the top twelve on the platform was Yeo Jin-hyeok. Since no exact rankings had been announced beyond the top spot, no one knew precisely where each of them stood among themselves, but simply being included was impressive enough. Yet Jin-hyeok, up there on the platform, could hardly enjoy the honor. Hong Hye-ryeong's piercing gaze was the reason. Having claimed the top certificate, she was not enjoying this moment the way she usually would have. If the rumors were true, the top spot should have gone not to her but to that boy, "Yeo Jin-sung's younger brother," and instead she had taken it for herself. It seemed the result had come down to the penalty for delaying the entrance ceremony itself.

'... Next time, I'll beat him fair and square.'

Her burning resolve came through clearly in her eyes. Jin-hyeok found the whole thing deeply uncomfortable. Worse, the male cadets standing before the platform were all glaring at him with eyes practically on fire.

'What is this?'

Their looks were closer to pure jealousy. Suspicious, he glanced over and found them shifting their eyes back and forth between Hong Hye-ryeong and himself. Apparently they had decided he was receiving her special attention.

'... I give up trying to understand this.'

With so many people jumping to their own wild conclusions, he was slowly growing used to it. In truth, other matters weighed on his mind far more. The eleven other top scorers standing on the platform with him.

'Strong.'

The energy he sensed faintly from each of them surpassed his own, every single one. Judging by that, he was probably the weakest among them.

'This won't be easy.'

He would have to compete against them and win. Every gaze exchanged among them was thick with fighting spirit. But perhaps his greatest rival wasn't standing among them at all. Jin-hyeok's eyes landed on Mumu, waving cheerfully at him with a bright, untroubled face.

* * *

The entrance ceremony wrapped up with Academy Director Do Jeong-myeong's closing address. Next came the official dormitory assignments. For that, the cadets moved from the great hall to the dormitory grounds. Unlike the temporary buildings they had been housed in until now, Changcheon Martial Academy's sprawling campus had a dedicated dormitory district set apart. Before the entrance to the dormitory grounds lay a great plaza. From the plaza, four paths branched off toward north, south, east, and west, and at the head of each stood a massive pavilion alongside a stone statue as tall as a two-story building.

"Whoa! Are those the famous statues of the Four Immortal Residences?" "Guess so. They're incredible!"

The cadets gazed up at the statues in open admiration. Puzzled by the sight, Mo Il-hwa turned to Jin-hyeok.

"Statues of the Four Immortal Residences? What's that about?" "I have no idea either."

Unfortunately, Jin-hyeok's older brother Yu Jin-sung had told him nothing worthwhile about Changcheon Martial Academy. Still, he could guess who the four massive statues facing each other in the four cardinal directions were meant to represent.

"The Four Immortal Masters, I'd guess?"

The statue to the south, gripping a massive blade, was unmistakably Southern Blade Imperial Uncle. To the north stood a statue with a sturdy build in a boxer's opening stance, that was Northern Heaven Fist Hero. To the east, a statue with eyes closed and sword half drawn was Eastern River Sword Sage. And to the west, a statue with an eyepatch over the left eye and one leg raised at an angle was unmistakably Western Wind Lone Angel.

"Can't we just call them the Four Immortal Masters' statues? What's this Four Immortal Residences thing?"

While Mo Il-hwa puzzled over it, someone approached and spoke up.

"The Four Immortal Residences refers to the four dormitories that Changcheon Martial Academy takes great pride in. To honor the Four Immortal Masters, each dormitory took its name from the first two characters of its patron's title, giving us the Southern Blade Residence, the Northern Heaven Residence, the Eastern River Residence, and the Western Wind Residence. The reason these four residences became so famous is..." "Huh? Hae Ryang!"

The narrow-eyed boy who had appeared before them was Hae Ryang of the Hao clan. They hadn't seen him since being assigned to the temporary lodgings. Hae Ryang offered a clasped-hands salute to Mumu, Mo Il-hwa, and Jin-hyeok in greeting.

"It's a pleasure to see the three of you again, now as fellow cadets." "Great to see you!"

At Mumu's warm welcome, Hae Ryang showed a friendliness he hadn't before and said,

"Young Master Mumu. I failed to appreciate you properly before, but your martial prowess really is something else."

Watching the boy tear the city gate clean off its hinges had changed Hae Ryang's mind entirely. Mumu might just turn out to be his finest customer someday. Better to get close to him now and invest generously, he figured, so that later he could reap twice as much in return.

"Hey, Hae Ryang. Finish the explanation you were giving."

Mo Il-hwa gestured at the statues as she spoke to him.

"Ah, yes, Miss Mo. What would you like to know?" "Why did it get so famous?" "Because of the inter-residence tournament, of course. A sort of rivalry." "The residences compete against each other?" "Yes. It's a tradition going back more than ten years now. The four residences were founded partly so seniors could guide juniors, and partly to build cooperation through group competition, or so I've heard." "Do they really need to go that far?" "From what I hear, the rewards are quite substantial too." "Rewards?" "Yes. Winning the quarterly inter-residence tournament earns benefits from the academy, elixirs and the like, and it even factors into individual grades, apparently." "Grades! Really?"

At those words, Mo Il-hwa's eyes lit up. Seeing that, Hae Ryang smiled and continued,

"So choosing your residence wisely is quite an important task, or so they say."

Jin-hyeok nodded, evidently convinced. It made sense that if the residences competed against each other, getting into a stronger one would only help one's individual standing. Mo Il-hwa pulled a silver coin from inside her robe and spoke to Hae Ryang in a hushed, conspiratorial voice.

"You know which residence has the advantage, don't you?"

Hae Ryang waved his hands at her words.

"Ah, put that away. This isn't exactly privileged information." "Oh yeah? Then tell me." "The two residences with the strongest reputation right now are naturally the Northern Heaven Residence and the Western Wind Residence." "Why's that?" "Because the successors of Northern Heaven Fist Hero and Western Wind Lone Angel both entered those residences. Because of that, the Northern Heaven and Western Wind Residences apparently swept everything last year."

This much was common knowledge among most of the passing cadets. Which was exactly why Hae Ryang called it nothing worth paying for.

"So getting into one of those two would be the smart move, then?" "That could well be true, but it isn't necessarily so simple this year, since the successors of Southern Blade Imperial Uncle and Eastern River Sword Sage have both enrolled too. I expect things to shift quite a bit." "Ah... I see."

The successors of those two Immortal Masters would surely aim to enter the Southern Blade Residence and Eastern River Residence. If that happened, exactly as Hae Ryang said, the balance among the four residences would tighten considerably. Mo Il-hwa twisted a lock of hair in thought for a while, lips pursed, before speaking to Hae Ryang with sudden confidence.

"Then whichever one I go to will end up being the strongest, huh." "Sorry? How do you figure that?" "Isn't it obvious? These two are going to follow me no matter which residence I pick. Right?" "Well..."

Jin-hyeok made no move to deny it.

"Mumu, right?" "Yep. I'll go wherever Il-hwa goes." "See?"

Since Mo Il-hwa's father, Minister of Justice Mo Yun, had asked them to look after her, the two of them were determined to end up in the same residence as her if at all possible.

'Ho.'

At Mo Il-hwa's words, Hae Ryang's mind began turning. With Jin-hyeok and Mumu both among the top twelve scorers of the entrance examination, and Mumu's absurd, monstrous strength on top of that, they could prove a massive variable in the inter-residence tournament. Hae Ryang's narrow eyes gleamed as he studied Mo Il-hwa.

'The real power behind the throne.'

Rubbing his hands together eagerly, Hae Ryang said to her,

"Heh heh. Miss Mo, might I hop aboard that carriage of yours, just a little? I promise to provide plenty of useful information in return."

Footnotes:

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