WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: Abstract
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Chapter 32: Dormitory Assignment (3)
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Dormitory Assignment (3)
'This actually worked?'
Jin-hyeok was inwardly startled too. He'd expected the whole thing to end as a squabble between Northern Heaven Residence and Western Wind Residence. But now Eastern River Residence and Southern Blade Residence had jumped in as well. The scene looked exactly like what happened when a rare gem drew a bit of attention from one or two people, and suddenly everyone wanted it. Mo Il-hwa's little scheme to drive up their value had worked. The only problem now was which dormitory to actually pick.
'What's she planning to do?'
Jin-hyeok personally wanted the Southern Blade Residence or Western Wind Residence. Going to Southern Blade Residence would let him grow closer to Hong Hye-ryeong, and going to Western Wind Residence would let him make contact with Gu Yang Seo-rin, successor of the Western Wind Lone Angel. Either way, it would help him fulfill his first master's wish that much faster. Jin-hyeok whispered to Mo Il-hwa.
"My lady, if we can choose, I'd like the Southern Blade Residence or Western Wind Residence."
At Jin-hyeok's words, Mo Il-hwa smiled and whispered back.
"Southern Blade Residence, rejected." "......"
He had no idea why she disliked Hong Hye-ryeong this much. Something about a woman's instinct, but what exactly was the problem?
"Then Western Wind Residence?" "Just wait. You're about to see something a lot more entertaining."
She didn't know the martial world in the kind of detail other martial clan children did, but she at least knew well enough what the Four Immortal Masters meant. And now the successors of those very Four Immortal Masters were personally competing to recruit them. Aside from Southern Blade Residence, she didn't care which dormitory they ended up in, so why waste a chance this good? Just then Gu Yang Seo-rin scoffed and spoke.
"Wow, even Eastern River Residence is jumping in now." "Lady Gu Yang. As dorm head, is there anything I wouldn't do to recruit talent?"
Mu Hoe-sung, dorm head of Eastern River Residence, spoke with a courteous clasped-hands salute.
"Ha. Sure. Weren't you the one saying Eastern River Residence only takes cadets from prestigious clans of the force of justice? Seems your mind changed pretty fast."
At her biting remark, a vein bulged on Mu Hoe-sung's forehead. Her way of needling an opponent had made him suffer plenty last year. He couldn't afford to back down easily here.
"Ahahahaha. Times change. We can't keep clinging only to prestige while overlooking fine talent forever, can we?"
Mu Hoe-sung forced a laugh, trying to sound unbothered. This year, with Young Chun, the Eastern River Sword Sage's third disciple, having joined, he meant to finally beat those two dormitories. Mu Hoe-sung turned his gaze toward Southern Blade Residence and said,
"More to the point, when did Southern Blade Residence get a new dorm head? Miss Hong just enrolled this year. How strange."
At his words, Wi Pyeong-ak, dorm head of Southern Blade Residence, raised his voice, laced with anger.
"How dare you. What kind of talk is that toward Hong Hye-ryeong?"
One of Gu Yang Seo-rin's eyebrows shot up.
"What kind of talk? Ha. What's this guy even saying?" "Miss Hong Hye-ryeong is someone we've waited a long time for. She's not someone you get to treat carelessly, Gu Yang Seo-rin."
At dorm head Wi Pyeong-ak's roar, the floor leaders of Southern Blade Residence chimed in.
"That's right! Miss Hong Hye-ryeong is the truth itself!" "Miss Hong Hye-ryeong is the true savior our Southern Blade Residence has waited for." "No. Miss Hong is a goddess." "Hey. Ease up. Don't cross the line." "Ahem."
"......"
The whole area fell silent for a moment. Everyone looked at them with distinctly uncomfortable eyes. Whatever anyone else thought, these two were thoroughly devoted worshippers of Hong Hye-ryeong.
'Ahh......'
Jin-hyeok finally understood why Mo Il-hwa had ruled out Southern Blade Residence from the start. Just then Gu Yang Seo-rin spoke with her trademark arrogant smile.
"See? One side's a bunch of meatheads who think anyone using weapons is basically a girl, and the other's obsessed with prestige and dignity and whatever. That side over there, well, no need to even look... pfft. Let's decide already. No point wasting more time."
She held her hand out toward Mo Il-hwa. Meaning, come to us.
"Hold on!"
At that, Do Yang-woon, dorm head of Northern Heaven Residence, cut in. Then he put his hand on Mumu's shoulder and declared, voice full of resolve,
"I called dibs on this one first."
At his words, some of the female cadets nearby flushed and squealed, thoroughly worked up.
'Oh my. So dashing.' 'Wow. I could die happy right now.' 'Aaah. So good.'
"Huh?"
Pshh!
Tang So-so, who had only just gotten her nosebleed under control, clutched her nose again at the sight and darted behind the floor leaders of Western Wind Residence. Regardless, Gu Yang Seo-rin clicked her tongue and said,
"What, are you going to break the rule you set?" "...This once, I'm making a special exception." "Wow. In front of all these cadets, you're carving out an exception just to land those four?" "That's exactly how special they are. Besides, we've occasionally taken in a few weapon-using cadets when we fell short on numbers. Taking these two won't be a problem."
Do Yang-woon convinced himself of this on the spot. And it wasn't entirely wrong, either. Filling every single slot in Northern Heaven Residence with purely bare-handed talent was genuinely difficult in practice. So it was common to round things out at the end with cadets skilled in fist and leg techniques, weapons or not.
'Better to properly win over one of them than try to convince all four.'
Do Yang-woon kept his hand on Mumu's shoulder and raised his fist as he spoke.
"Mumu, was it? A real man needs the spirit to break through anything with this one fist. I believe you've got that same fire and drive in you."
As he said this, Do Yang-woon flexed his chest muscles, showing them off. He figured any man who saw these muscles would feel the urge to train.
'Why doesn't he train his lower body?'
But Mumu kept getting distracted by how lopsided Do Yang-woon's muscle development was. Mumu let out a long sigh and said,
"I don't belong to anyone." "If you join Northern Heaven Residence, I'd be willing to personally train you myself, as your senior."
Do Yang-woon genuinely liked Mumu. But Mumu felt otherwise.
"I don't know about that."
With those words, Mumu grabbed Do Yang-woon's hand on his shoulder and tried to pull it off. Curious, Do Yang-woon wondered just how much strength this kid actually had. Third floor leader Go Du-ho, while admittedly the weakest among the floor leaders, would still have had the edge over any regular cadet, yet Mumu had beaten him using raw muscle strength alone.
'Let's see.'
Do Yang-woon himself had never neglected muscle training either, following his grandfather's teachings. He was confident he ranked at the top of the academy in pure strength. And yet,
Creak, creak, creak!
'This kid's strength is...'
Do Yang-woon couldn't hide his inner shock. He'd always been confident that his external energy training alone put him on par with most Advanced masters. And yet Mumu peeled his hand off without the slightest strain.
'Strength alone, close to Expert level?'
With this much power, there was no doubt about it. Without using internal energy, it seemed nearly impossible to overpower Mumu through raw strength. That muscle training alone could achieve this much was genuinely astonishing.
'...The best.'
Do Yang-woon's face flushed with excitement. This, without question, was the finest talent he'd ever wanted. He thought that even his grandfather would be thrilled to see this kid.
"Mumu. There's no doubt Northern Heaven Residence is the place for you. Along with your friends......"
Hong Hye-ryeong stepped forward and cut him off mid-sentence.
"We won't back down on this either."
She too had heard from her floor leaders just how important the inter-dormitory tournament was, so she stepped forward to state her position directly. Not to be outdone, Mu Hoe-sung, dorm head of Eastern River Residence, pushed just as hard.
"Eastern River Residence wants all four of you. Come to us, and I guarantee your standing will rise."
Gu Yang Seo-rin scoffed.
"Oh, standing, sure. Hey, juniors. Doesn't this all sound exhausting? Look. There's no place freer than Western Wind Residence." "What did you just say?" "Am I wrong, though?" "Eastern River Residence is the finest dormitory there is, matching prestige with prestige." "Finest dormitory? Our Southern Blade Residence, with Miss Hong Hye-ryeong in it, is the true finest dormitory." "Standing in front of Northern Heaven Residence and talking about being the finest, when neither of your dormitories won a single inter-dormitory tournament last year, that's laughable."
The light bickering was steadily curdling into something more heated. Their stances were tightening, as if any second now they'd actually come to blows right there. That was how fierce the rivalry among the Four Immortal Residences ran.
"Hold on a moment, seniors."
At that, Mo Il-hwa stepped forward. Every eye turned to her.
'Their value's driven up plenty by now.'
Judging the timing was finally right, she gave a polite clasped-hands salute to all four dorm heads and spoke.
"We're truly grateful that all of you seniors are so eager to take us in."
Gu Yang Seo-rin fanned herself and said,
"Skip the thanks and just tell us where you're going to enroll."
Whatever the four dormitories fought over, the decision still belonged to them in the end. The other dorm heads agreed with this too, and all eyes settled on her. Mo Il-hwa held back a laugh bubbling up inside.
'You're all itching for an answer, aren't you, seniors?'
She meant to make them keep bidding against each other. Whoever offered the best terms would obviously be the smartest choice. Mo Il-hwa kept her tone polite as she spoke.
"This really is a difficult position to be in. All we wanted was for the four of us to end up in the same dormitory, and yet all of you seniors want us so badly, so I suppose we have no choice but to......" "Il-hwa. Let's go with Northern Heaven Residence." "Right, Northern Heaven Res... wait, what?"
Mo Il-hwa froze and stared at Mumu, caught completely off guard. She'd been just about to pick the ripened fruit, and now this bolt out of nowhere. Mo Il-hwa whispered to Mumu.
"Just wait a little longer and the seniors will offer even better terms. Why all of a sudden?" "I just felt like going to Northern Heaven Residence."
At Mumu's words, Mo Il-hwa frowned. She couldn't understand why he'd suddenly want Northern Heaven Residence. Was it because Do Yang-woon, dorm head of Northern Heaven Residence, had shown such blatant interest in him? While she puzzled over it, Do Yang-woon let out a booming laugh, voice bright with joy.
"Hahahahahaha! I knew it. I knew you'd choose our Northern Heaven Residence. Yes, a real man should carry that kind of fire and spirit."
He spoke as if everything had already been settled. Of course, that was entirely intentional. It looked like even the four of them disagreed among themselves, so now was exactly the moment to push hard and pull Mumu into the Northern Heaven Residence for good.
'Ugh, my head.'
Mo Il-hwa pressed her forehead with her hand. She'd only just built the whole setup, and now it had all come undone. Just then Gu Yang Seo-rin, clearly unable to make sense of it, asked,
"Hey, junior. Why the sudden urge to go to Northern Heaven Residence, out of nowhere like this?"
At the question, everyone turned to look at Mumu. The other dorm heads and floor leaders were just as curious. Do Yang-woon, of Northern Heaven Residence, puffed up with pride, shrugged his shoulders, and flexed his upper body as he spoke.
"You really need to ask? Seniors who can satisfy this young man's hunger, myself included, are right here in Northern Heaven Residence......" "Ahh...... it's really bothering me." "What?"
At Mumu's words, Do Yang-woon frowned. Bothering him, out of nowhere? What was that supposed to mean? Just then Mumu walked up to Do Yang-woon and poked at his sculpted, well-developed upper body muscles, saying,
"You've trained way too lopsided." "Lopsided?" "You bulked up your upper body so much, but why haven't you trained your lower body at all? Your muscle balance is a mess." "......"
For a moment, Do Yang-woon was struck speechless. No one had ever criticized his muscles before, not once. And now here was Mumu, in front of this whole crowd, bluntly declaring his muscle balance a mess.
"You... seriously?" "And it's not just you. The people behind you are the Northern Heaven Residence's floor leaders, right?" "That's right, but?" "Did all of them learn their muscle training from you too?"
Most of the male floor leaders had well-developed upper bodies. Do Yang-woon was the one who'd trained them all through the past year. Mumu swept his gaze over their lower bodies, clicked his tongue, and said,
"Every single one of them looks just like you. A mess." "A mess? Ha...... you're saying the muscles I trained into these guys are a mess?" "Yes. Especially the legs." "I don't know what basis you have for saying that, but you'd better be ready to take responsibility for those words......"
With that, Mumu walked over to one of the floor leaders. Then, casually, he said,
"Put some strength into your legs." "What?" "I said, put strength into your legs."
Caught off guard, the floor leader tensed his legs. The instant he did, Mumu kicked his leg out from under him.
Thwack!
"Argh!"
The floor leader let out a sharp cry as his body spun through the air like a pinwheel, twice over, before crashing to the ground.
'!?'
Everyone froze, too stunned to speak. Not the least bit bothered, Mumu pointed at the fallen floor leader's legs and said,
"See that? That's how weak the lower body is."
With that, Mumu rolled up one of his pant legs. Beneath the loose fabric, densely carved and powerfully developed quadriceps and calves emerged into view.
'!!!'
Do Yang-woon's eyes went wide.
"Train even this much and you won't go flying just from a kick like that."
'This much?'
Footnotes:
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