WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Invincible Mumu

Chapter 37

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Ha Ryun (2)

'Young master Mumu is sometimes hard to read, can't tell if he's innocent or not.'

Hae Ryang clicked his tongue inwardly at the sight of Mumu grinning brightly while still gripping the hand tight.
Ha Ryun's body was twisted up like a fried dough stick.
Mo Il-hwa clapped a hand over his mouth in a rush to stop him screaming again.

"Shh. Quiet now."
"Mmmph!"
"Wow. I thought big brother here was just faking it, but this actually looks really painful."

Mo Il-hwa giggled, watching Ha Ryun writhe in pain.
Jin-hyeok found the whole scene strange.
The one who had pulled some scheme behind their backs was clearly this Ha Ryun fellow, yet somehow they were the ones who felt like the villains of the underworld right now.
Mo Il-hwa turned to Jin-hyeok.

"Jin-hyeok. Have you learned point-pressing technique?"

Point-pressing technique.
A method of striking the acupoints along the major meridians where ki flowed through the body, used to subdue an opponent or provoke a reaction in them.
The basic kind, the kind that locked up a person's body or sealed their mouth shut, was widely known. Masters skilled in the art could press specific points to make laughter burst out uncontrollably, or force tears to flow.

"I know how to press the paralysis point."

The paralysis point.
A point that numbed the body.
Mo Il-hwa gestured at Ha Ryun with her eyes.

"Perfect. Try it on him."
"Understood."

Jin-hyeok gathered ki into his fingers and pressed against Ha Ryun's pressure points.
His body, still twisted like a pretzel, froze solid on the spot.

"Pfffahahahahaha."

Mo Il-hwa clutched her stomach and howled with laughter at the ridiculous sight.
Mumu let go of the hand he'd been holding, marveling at it.

"Whoa, his body actually locked up? How'd you do that?"

Jin-hyeok answered with a note of pride at the reaction.

"You could do it too, if you learned Martial Arts."
"Couldn't you just knock him out instead?"
"How are you supposed to interrogate someone who's unconscious? Think before you speak."
"Ah... good point."

Ha Ryun ground his teeth as he listened to the two of them talk.

Grrk!

'You... you bastards!'

It was a relief when Mumu let go of his hand and the pain finally stopped, but the humiliation was unbearable.
He never imagined the paralysis point would be pressed on him while he was twisted into such a ridiculous shape.
But that relief didn't last long.
This was truly an awkward situation.
He'd tried to hold out by pretending to be unconscious, and the pain had been so intense he'd tried to endure it through breath control, but it was simply too much to bear.

'No choice, is there?'

Jo Mae-hui still hadn't arrived.
Since things had come to this, all he could do was act like an idiot, playing off the aftereffects of a Sichuan Tang Clan needle lodged in his forehead.

'Damn it!'

Even if it cost him his pride, that was the only way to survive this situation.
At least there was one small mercy. Before that Jin-hyeok fellow had pressed the point, he'd managed to shift his pressure points just enough to avoid the paralysis point taking full effect.

'I'll strike the moment they let their guard down.'

Just then, Jin-hyeok crouched in front of him and spoke.

"You're the one who broke through the window paper last night and scattered this powder on me, aren't you?"

At the question, Ha Ryun deliberately rolled his eyes back and stammered.

"S-so... hot... it's too... h-hot."

Mo Il-hwa frowned at him.

"What? Why's he talking like that?"
"H-hungry... give me... something... to eat..."

Ha Ryun spouted off disconnected nonsense.
Among those who had failed the Weha trial, the final gate of the Valley of White Death, there had always been a few who lost their minds.
Ha Ryun copied their behavior exactly.

"Frog... it's a frog... hoooooh."

He even let drool run down his chin as he threw himself into the performance.
It would have been strange if this hadn't fooled anyone.
Hae Ryang looked at him and spoke.

"Seems like the needle really did pierce his brain and mess up his head, miss."
"You think?"
"How else would he act like this? This is quite the predicament."

Jin-hyeok seemed to agree, narrowing his eyes at Ha Ryun.
He'd wanted to find out why Ha Ryun had done such a thing and what he'd been doing here with Mumu, but at this rate there was no way to find out.

"The dorm assignment ceremony is almost over, so maybe we should take him to the infirmary first..."

Mo Il-hwa cut Jin-hyeok off.

"Wait, let's check one thing first."
"Huh?"
"Mumu. Grab his hand tight again, like before."

'!?'

Ha Ryun, in the middle of his performance with his eyes rolled back, felt a jolt of panic.
He understood well enough why they'd want to test it, given their suspicion.
But enduring Mumu's grip barehanded, with no ki circulation to brace against it, was insane.

"Just squeeze hard?"
"Yeah."
"If I squeeze harder than before, it might break."
"If his brain really is messed up, he won't even remember it. Just squeeze."

At Mo Il-hwa's words, Ha Ryun cursed her silently.

'This wench doesn't even have some grudge against me from before.'

Swish!

Right then, Mumu reached to grab his hand.
In that instant Ha Ryun's mind raced through a hundred thoughts.
Recalling the pain from before, he couldn't summon the nerve to endure it again.
So Ha Ryun said,

"Stop it!"

And just like that, the performance ended.
Mo Il-hwa smirked at him.

"Oh wow. Looks like he snapped right back to his senses."

Right then he wanted nothing more than to kill this woman as painfully as possible.
Ha Ryun swallowed his rage as best he could and spoke.

"Why are you people doing this to me? What crime have I committed, that you've pinned my pressure points and surrounded me like this?"

Ha Ryun changed tactics.
Since things had come to this, he'd deny everything, no matter what.
Jin-hyeok's voice rose with anger at his attitude.

"Playing dumb, are you? Didn't you scatter this on Mumu's room last night, Ha Ryun?"
"I don't know anything about it."
"It's your own belongings and you don't know anything?"
"That's right, I don't know."

Ha Ryun kept up the denial.
Jin-hyeok grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.

"Mumu got lucky and avoided it, but because of that powder you scattered, I nearly got beaten to death by cadets who'd been expelled. And you still claim you don't know anything?"
"I said I don't know."
"To the very end!"
"Ha? Going to hit me now? Aren't you cadets who entered Changcheon Martial Academy, a school that prides itself on the way of righteous chivalry? Is it really alright to pin someone down with point-pressing so they can't move, and then slap a false accusation on them like this?"

At Ha Ryun's provocation, Jin-hyeok clenched his jaw.
He was truly furious.
With the evidence sitting right there in plain sight, and this bastard still playing innocent, he wanted to teach him a lesson right then and there.
But like Ha Ryun said, inflicting more pain on someone already pinned by point-pressing would be excessive.
The spirit of righteous chivalry held his anger in check.
Then Mo Il-hwa spoke.

"Hey, why bother listening to what he's saying? If he really did pull something like this, it's grounds for forced expulsion anyway. Let's just hand him over to the academy's administration right now."

Ha Ryun's brow furrowed at that.
That would be a problem.
He could deny everything for now, but if he got handed over to the academy administration, things would change entirely.
As Mo Il-hwa said, in the worst case he'd be forcibly expelled.
And if that happened,

'Master Heo will definitely try to kill me.'

That much he had to prevent.
Somehow, he had to hold out until Jo Mae-hui arrived.
Ha Ryun spoke urgently.

"You people are framing an innocent man right now."
"Innocent?"
"The real culprit is someone else entirely. Why are you holding onto me and threatening me like this?"

At that, Jin-hyeok shook him by the collar, his voice rising.

"Don't try anything."
"Trying something, am I? Ha. Fine then, hand me over to the administration. Since there's a clear culprit and you've falsely accused me anyway, I'll have all of you expelled for false accusation."
"False accusation?"

Jin-hyeok's brow furrowed.
Something felt off about how brazen Ha Ryun was being despite the clear evidence.
Jin-hyeok loosened his grip on the collar and asked.

"Who exactly is this culprit you claim exists?"

At the question, Ha Ryun's mouth curled up slightly as he gestured with his eyes toward Hae Ryang.

"That one there is holding the physical evidence of the real culprit."
"Physical evidence?"

Everyone looked at Hae Ryang's hand.
In it was the needle-shaped hidden weapon from the Sichuan Tang Clan.

'A member of the Tang Clan is the culprit?'

Jin-hyeok's eyes narrowed.
He'd already had suspicions of his own about why a Sichuan Tang Clan weapon was here in the first place, so he wasn't ready to dismiss it just because Ha Ryun was the one saying it.
Hae Ryang leaned in and whispered to Mo Il-hwa.

"It's not an unreasonable claim. The Tang Clan does have real expertise in poison and medicine."
"You think?"
"Yes. And besides, young master Ha Ryun there was hit by a Tang Clan hidden weapon too, wasn't he?"
"Ah..."

Ha Ryun's eyes lit up at their reaction.
He'd brought up the Tang Clan out of pure desperation, grasping at straws while denying everything.
But now, thinking it over, it seemed like he could keep pushing this line further.

'I'll pin the whole thing on that Tang So-so wench.'

Mumu had been out of his mind the whole time anyway, and he'd passed out partway through, so he had no idea Tang So-so had even been there.
And soon enough, Jo Mae-hui would come back after killing Tang So-so.
Then it really could be framed as Tang So-so having done all of this and pinned it on him.

'I might not be able to kill this Mumu bastard right now, but at least I can dodge suspicion.'

That might actually work out better.
He could deal with the boy later.
Once the story had come together in his head, Ha Ryun spoke.

"Well, you're not entirely stupid, are you. Fine. It was that Tang Clan wench who did it."
"The Tang Clan girl?"
"Yes. Both myself and Jo Mae-hui were attacked by that Tang Clan wench."
"What are you talking about?"
"I happen to be personally acquainted with Jo Mae-hui. She was acting strange, different from usual, so I followed her, and there I saw her trying to seduce you, Mumu, with her body."

There was one crucial thing to a good lie.
It was to cunningly weave in truths the listener already knew.
Only when eighty percent of it was truth would the remaining twenty percent of falsehood be believed.
And the tactic worked.

'What? Could it be true?'

Jin-hyeok grew confused.
It was still hard to say for certain, but it sounded plausible enough.
It seemed he'd have to hear the whole story out to properly sort truth from lies.

"So then what happened?"
"Whether it was some spell or some poison, Mumu suddenly went berserk and attacked Jo Mae-hui. You can see the marks, can't you?"
"......"
"Thinking she might die, I tried to stop Mumu."
"You tried to stop Mumu?"
"Yes. Somehow Mumu wore himself out and passed out on his own, and just as I was trying to restrain Jo Mae-hui too, that Tang Clan wench, Tang So-so, suddenly showed up."

At this, Hae Ryang held up the Tang Clan needle.

"So she's the one who hit you?"
"Not entirely oblivious, are you. Yes. Partway through, Jo Mae-hui came back to her senses and the two of us fought her together, and I took the needle and ended up like this."

Ha Ryun felt a surge of triumph inside.
For something he'd made up on the spot, it was a nearly flawless case for his innocence.
He figured their heads must be spinning by now, thanks to the story he'd spun.
Mo Il-hwa pointed at his powder pouch.

"Then what's this? It came out of your own clothes."
"That's not mine. Can't you see it? That Tang Clan wench could easily have slipped it into my clothes to pin the blame on me."

Mo Il-hwa fell silent at that.
It was hard to dismiss the possibility outright as a lie.
And yet, even though he seemed to be telling the truth, something about it just didn't sit right.

'Why don't I believe him?'

Something felt suspicious about it.
Ha Ryun spoke to her.

"Ease up on cornering an innocent man and release the pressure points already. Otherwise I really will report to the academy administration that you people falsely accused an innocent man..."
"Liar."

Just then, Mumu spoke up.
Ha Ryun scoffed at Mumu's words.

"What exactly is a lie?"
"These pouches only smell like you."
"What?"
"When you carry something for a long time, your scent soaks into it. But this pouch doesn't smell like So-so at all."

Ha Ryun couldn't hide his shock at Mumu's words.
Just like before, was this bastard some kind of bloodhound, able to tell people apart by smell?

"H-how the hell would you know what Tang So-so smells like?"
"Because I talked with So-so."

Mumu had spoken with Tang So-so at the second gate of the entrance examination.
He remembered the scent from that time, and there wasn't a trace of it coming from the pouch found on Ha Ryun.
Ha Ryun spoke as if this were absurd.

"Don't tell me you actually believe this fool?"

At the question, Mo Il-hwa frowned for a moment before speaking.

"Hey. Aren't you forgetting something?"
"What?"
"How Mumu identified the scent of the powder in the pouch."

Jin-hyeok agreed with that.

"Your story sounded plausible enough, but I trust Mumu's word more."

'These bastards!'

Ha Ryun's stomach churned at their words.
After all the trouble he'd gone through weaving together a story to prove his innocence, this bloodhound-nosed brat had decided it was all a lie just because Tang So-so's scent wasn't on the pouch.
As Ha Ryun boiled with rage inside, Mo Il-hwa clicked her tongue.

"This bastard can't open his mouth without a lie falling out. Let's stop listening and just hand him and the pouch over to the administration."
"I fully agree with you, miss."

Hae Ryang said this with unwavering loyalty in his tone.
As the mood shifted decisively toward handing him over to the administration, Ha Ryun clenched his jaw.
There was truly no way out of this now.
Somehow, he had to...

Pat!

Just then, the sound of a presence reached his ears.
Judging by the direction it came from, it had to be Jo Mae-hui.

'Finally, she's here.'

There was no more need to waste time with useless talk.
Ha Ryun began releasing the pressure point he'd half-blocked with his point-shifting technique.
And the instant the presence drew close,

Thwack!

He fully released the pressure point and kicked Jin-hyeok, who still held his collar, sending him flying back.
As Jin-hyeok was knocked back, Ha Ryun took up a battle stance and spoke.

"You wretched bastards. Today's your death anniversary, mark my words."
"Death anniversary? Who is this now?"

'!?'

At the voice from behind him, Ha Ryun flinched in confusion and glanced over his shoulder.
But standing there wasn't Jo Mae-hui. It was Tang So-so.

"How did you...?"

Why was she the one who'd appeared?

"So-so!"

Mumu waved happily at her in greeting.
Tang So-so waved back with a smile.

"Mumu!"

'What?'

He couldn't understand why Tang So-so had shown up instead of Jo Mae-hui, who was supposed to come.
Even injured, Jo Mae-hui was the young palace mistress of the Demonic Joy Palace, one of the House of the Eight Villains. He'd assumed subduing someone like Tang So-so would be effortless for her.
But then his eyes caught something. A head of hair clutched in one of Tang So-so's hands.

'What?'

Mo Il-hwa gasped in surprise and asked.

"Senior So-so, what's that in your hand?"
"Ohh, this. This little vixen calling herself Jo Mae-hui, or whatever. She had it out for our Mu... ahem, I mean our precious junior's life, here in the sacred halls of Changcheon Martial Academy, so I was going to teach her a lesson, but she passed out on me."

Tang So-so spoke a bit sheepishly.
The one-armed girl whose hair she held in her fist was none other than Jo Mae-hui.
Jo Mae-hui's state was nearly too pitiful to describe.

'How could this happen?'

Ha Ryun was dumbfounded.
Beaten by someone like Tang So-so, of all people?
That meant Jo Mae-hui's injuries must have been far worse than he'd guessed.

'Tch.'

There was truly no other option now.
The only answer left was to flee with everything he had.
Ha Ryun drew up all the internal energy in his body and focused his life energy into the Yongquan point at the soles of his feet.
Then he launched himself toward the one direction left open.

Pat!

"Don't let him get away!"

Mo Il-hwa shouted urgently.
In that instant,

Boom!

The sand on the ground surged up like a wave as Mumu moved.
In an instant, Mumu blocked Ha Ryun's path.
But Ha Ryun, having half-expected this, called up the life energy of the False Overlord Style he'd already circulated beforehand.

'False Overlord Style. Seventh technique, Heaven-Piercing Punishment!'

His right hand cracked, but he gritted through the pain and unleashed the technique.
He swung both fists, and afterimages rose up, forming dozens of phantom fist shadows.

Pafafafafafafak!

At the unfamiliar shape of the fist technique, Mumu, startled, crossed both arms to block.
The phantom fists of Heaven-Piercing Punishment swallowed him whole.

'There's an opening.'

Just as he'd guessed.
He'd figured out Mumu's weakness watching him fight Jo Mae-hui.
For all his monstrous strength, Mumu hadn't trained in Martial Arts at all, and his movements were clumsy beyond belief.
That meant he couldn't respond properly against a real technique.

Pafafafafafak!

Ha Ryun sent fist strikes flying through the gap between the crossed arms.
Struck again and again, Mumu's clothes tore as his body kept getting pushed back.
Each blow was both a killing strike and an Ultimate Technique.
With internal force behind them, no matter how tough Mumu's body was, he couldn't avoid taking damage.

'I'll keep pushing until he goes down.'

Pafafafafafafak!

Dozens of phantom fists kept raining down in succession.
Mumu's body kept getting pushed back without end.

'This bastard can really take a hit. But that's about to end too.'

Once the internal force sank into his body, he'd surely collapse soon.

"Annoying, like flies."
"What?"

Did this brat just call his Ultimate Technique, made up entirely of phantom fists, flies?
Just then, with his arms still crossed, Mumu reached his left hand over and turned the adjustment screw on the Ki-Restraining Bracelet at his right wrist.

Click!

The number on the screw shifted from eight to five.
In that instant,

Krrk! Krrk!

The muscles of Mumu's right arm swelled rapidly.

'This is...'

The same change he'd seen while Mumu fought Jo Mae-hui.
Sensing danger sharply, Ha Ryun tried to put distance between them at once.
But Mumu's fist was far faster.
Mumu kicked off the ground and drove his swollen right fist toward Ha Ryun.

'H-have to deflect it.'

Judging it hopeless to block outright, Ha Ryun tried to block Mumu's fist while redirecting its force with the Flower Grafting Technique.
But,

Crack!

"Hgh!"

Flower Grafting Technique or not, both his palms were flung aside and the fist drove straight into his chest.
In that instant Ha Ryun gritted his teeth and dug his toes hard into the ground.

'I have to hold, no matter what.'

He drew the life energy of the False Overlord Style up to its absolute peak.
No matter how monstrous the strength, he figured he could withstand one or two blows.
But,

Thud! Crack!

"Gah!"

The destructive force tore through his defense effortlessly.
Even with his chest shielded by life energy at the moment of impact, his ribs shattered and Ha Ryun's body flew backward, tumbling without control.

Shhhhhhhhk!

Only after being pushed back a long way did he manage to stop.
Judging by the gouge left in the ground, it was clear just how monstrous the force had been.

"Ugh, blegh!"

Ha Ryun dropped to one knee and vomited black blood.

'Th... this can't be.'

Even with the life energy of the False Overlord Style at full power, he couldn't withstand that destructive force.
This power was completely beyond common sense.
Where in the world had a monster like this come from?

Step, step.

As he struggled through the pain, he heard Mumu approaching.
Ha Ryun slowly raised his head.
But the moment his eyes landed on Mumu, they froze on something.

'That... that's...'

Where the fist technique of Heaven-Piercing Punishment had torn his shirt open, the round, flat Jade Medallion hanging around Mumu's neck came into view.
His eyes fixed on the strange design engraved on it, a triangle crossed by two lines.
And with that, his mind flashed back a few months.
After clearing the Weha trial, the final gate, Ha Ryun had asked his first master, who was also the valley master.

[Now tell me as promised. If the great plan succeeds, who will lead the House of the Eight Villains? Will it be us, the Valley of White Death?]
[No.]
[Then the Heavenly Kill Valley, or the Paralysis Blade Estate?]
[No.]
[Then who exactly takes the role of leader?]

At the question, the valley master drew something on the ground with a cane.
Inside a circle, he showed a strange design of a triangle crossed by two lines and spoke.

[Remember this design in your mind.]
[What is it?]
[If you ever meet someone bearing a Jade Medallion with this design, you must, without fail...]

Ha Ryun, his eyes trembling as he stared at Mumu's Jade Medallion, dropped flat onto the ground.
Then he slammed his forehead against the ground three times, hard.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

A prostration so forceful it drew blood.
What it meant was absolute, unconditional loyalty.

[...Pledge your loyalty with your life.]
[Loyalty? You mean...?]
[Yes. That person is the true head of the House of the Eight Villains.]

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