WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 41: Roll Call (3)

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Roll Call (3)

Do Yang-woon, the dorm head guarding the entrance of Northern Heaven Residence, couldn't shake his worry over whether Mumu would actually be fine.

That sixth floor had been a hotbed of trouble ever since it first got a floor leader. Cramming all the demerit cases onto one floor had only made them band together and act up even worse. Splitting them up across the building risked infecting the well-behaved cadets, so cramming them together had seemed to the safer bet, except it had turned that floor into an even bigger nest of troublemakers instead.

"Second floor roll call done."

The third-year floor leader in charge of the second floor, Oh In-haeng, came down to report after finishing his rounds.

"Total headcount fifty, one overnight leave, forty-nine present and accounted for."

The second floor housed the academy's third-year cadets. They knew the rules well enough that one of them had filed for overnight leave and was properly absent. Do Yang-woon nodded and said,

"Senior, why don't you go up to the sixth floor and help Master Mumu with roll call." "Me?" "You know how it is. Those kids on floor six definitely aren't answering the roll call properly."

Hearing this, Oh In-haeng clicked his tongue inwardly. Everyone had told him not to send Mumu up there, to ask one of the third-years to cover as floor leader instead, but no, Do Yang-woon had insisted on trusting him and sent him up anyway. Still, an order from the dorm head was an order.

"Understood."

So the second floor leader, Oh In-haeng, headed up to the sixth floor to help Mumu. He remembered filling in as a substitute floor leader up there once before, and it had been an absolute disaster. Those degenerates were probably rioting up there right now.

'Or, actually, maybe this works out.'

Thinking about it, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing. Rookie or not, that Mumu kid had been rubbing him the wrong way. Going on about some Muscle Training School while playing the wide-eyed innocent, and sending three seniors to the infirmary in the process. Having the dorm head coddle a kid like that didn’t sit right with him.

'Let's see just how much of a beating he's taking up there.'

He'd been told to help, sure, but there was no rule saying he had to do it the second he arrived. Getting knocked around once would teach the kid exactly how much responsibility and grit the job of floor leader demanded. And so Oh In-haeng climbed up to the sixth floor. But then,

'What is this?'

The sixth floor was oddly quiet. This was the floor that always erupted into chaos and complaints even after roll call ended. He checked the left corridor and found it silent as a grave. The quiet was strange enough to make him wonder if this was really the same sixth floor full of degenerates.

'Where's that kid?'

Just then he heard movement from the right corridor. Heading that way, he found Mumu standing in the doorway of the room at the far end, holding a headcount sheet and writing something with a portable writing set.

"Hey. Sixth floor leader."

Oh In-haeng called out to him. Mumu, in the middle of filling out the sheet, turned and raised a hand.

"Senior!"

Oh In-haeng walked up to him and said,

"Did you actually take roll call properly? Did the whole degen... I mean, did all the residents leave the floor or something?" "No. Everyone's sleeping soundly." "What?"

What was that supposed to mean? Night was playtime for the sixth floor crowd. There was no way those degenerates were already asleep.

"No way." "Go check."

Puzzled, Oh In-haeng carefully opened one of the doors.

'!?'

Sure enough, in the dark room, two cadets lay neatly stretched out. This couldn't be right. Those degenerates, sleeping this peacefully? Half in disbelief, Oh In-haeng opened one door after another.

'Wh... what is this?'

Every single cadet in every room was fast asleep. Oh In-haeng lost his words entirely. How could a miracle like this happen at the start of the new semester?

'Is this a sign the world's about to end?'

These were the same kids who couldn't be controlled even by Woo Hoo-chi, who ignored every surprise inspection the dorm head and dorm parent ever pulled, and now they were lying there in perfect formation like they'd all agreed to sleep in unison? Oh In-haeng's brow furrowed.

'Formation?'

Something was off. Now that he looked closer, every single one had both hands folded neatly over their stomach. Didn't most people have different sleeping habits? Why were they all lying in the exact same posture? Suspicious, Oh In-haeng stepped into a room where two second-years were sleeping and poked at them. They were martial artists too, so a touch like that should wake them right up...

'...Unconscious?'

Oh In-haeng was floored. Both cadets on the beds weren't asleep at all, they were unconscious. He checked a few more rooms. Every single one was the same.

"Ha..."

This was beyond ridiculous. He'd sent someone up to take roll call and the kid had knocked every single resident out cold instead? What kind of person did something like that? A memory surfaced in Oh In-haeng's mind, something Mumu had said.

[So wouldn't that just mean there wasn't enough force?]

'...'

A chill ran down his spine. Just like Mumu had said, he'd taken roll call by force. Oh In-haeng clicked his tongue and walked over to Mumu. Then he laid into him, aghast.

"Are you out of your mind? No matter how you look at it, knocking cadets unconscious isn't roll call!"

At that, Mumu tilted his head and answered,

"The dorm rules say that after roll call, everyone's supposed to spend the rest of the time quietly in their own rooms, either sleeping soundly or doing that ki circulation thing or whatever. Isn't being unconscious just a kind of sleep?"

'!?'

Oh In-haeng was speechless. Where did this kind of logic even come from? At this rate the kid was going to knock out the entire sixth floor every single time roll call started, all year long. He was about to tell him that this absolutely would not fly when,

"Senior, by the way, one guy's missing from his room. What do we do about that?" "What? Missing from his room?"

Oh In-haeng, mid-lecture, took the headcount sheet from Mumu instead. Looking it over, he scowled. The missing name was one he recognized.

"Ki Ma-jin... this guy again?" "You know him?" "Ugh, my head. Could he not, just once? What is he, some kind of stalker?" "You know where he'd be?"

At Mumu's question, Oh In-haeng nodded. He had a pretty good idea.

* * *

The training hall sat in the northeast corner of the dormitory grounds. It was divided into four grades: Upper, Middle, Lower, and Special. Access depended on academic rank, and using a Special-grade training hall required placing in the top ten of one's year. Inside one of the Special-grade halls, a beautiful girl with an air of refinement drew an old, elegantly patterned bow, aiming at a target.

"Hoo."

She carried about twenty arrows on her back. She steadied her breath, and once ready, activated the mechanism device. The target split into several pieces, moving fast and lifelike. But that wasn't all.

Pa-pa-pa-pak!

Wooden daggers flew out from wherever the targets moved. The girl wove through them with a fluid step, dodging the flying daggers while drawing her bowstring toward a target.

Shhk! Thunk!

Her arrow struck dead center.

Whirl!

Spinning her body like a windmill to dodge an incoming short sword, she loosed another arrow at a different target in midair. The arrow found the moving target's center without fail. Her archery skill was nothing short of astonishing. But sadly, near the end her rhythm broke and she missed two targets.

"Haa... haa..."

The girl bit down hard on her lower lip. Still not good enough. Despite all this training, she still hadn't cleared the fourth stage of the Flowing Fire Bow Art. Did she really have no talent for the bow? It was maddening. An eighteen-year-old boy with unkempt hair was outside, sneaking glances at her. He quickly ducked his head down.

'Phew.'

If nothing else, the boy prided himself on his stealth, at least matching hers. Watching the girl, he couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy. She was a descendant of the Sichuan Flowing Fire Bow Clan. Conscious of the reputation of her teacher, the Sichuan Bow Emperor, she'd even secured a leave permit to train like this every single night, yet the results never satisfied her. The truth was, she simply lacked talent for the bow.

[The most essential trait for mastering ranged weapons is spatial awareness. Unfortunately, women are rarely born with that kind of spatial sense.]

His teacher had said as much. That women were poorly suited to archery. Out of his feelings for her, the boy had refused to believe it, but she really did lack spatial awareness. That didn't mean her martial prowess was weak, though.

'Speed.'

Among the third-year cadets, she had the sharpest understanding of speed of anyone. Watching her in sword art class, she looked far happier and more skilled than she ever did handling a bow. The boy shut his eyes tight and murmured, like he was cherishing the thought.

"Cho Na-yeon, the sword suits you better than the bow."

He wanted so badly to tell her that, but he never had the courage. That was because his martial clan was practically a mortal enemy of the Flowing Fire Bow Clan. And she wanted nothing more than to master the bow.

"I really wish I could tell her that."

Right at that moment,

"Seniors belong in the dorm room more than out here." "What?"

Just as he opened his eyes, someone's knife-hand strike landed square on the crown of his head.

Thwack!

The boy's eyes rolled back and he dropped unconscious on the spot. Someone caught him as he collapsed. It was Oh In-haeng, the second floor leader of Northern Heaven Residence.

"Ki Ma-jin? Ki Ma-jin!"

He tried to wake him with a quiet call, but the boy was out cold and wouldn't stir. Mumu spoke up to him.

"Why are you whisper..." "Quiet, you lunatic. You could've just carried him off. Why knife-hand the kid's skull?" "For roll call."

'Ahh... this guy, seriously.'

Oh In-haeng felt like he might actually start crying from sheer disbelief. It seemed Mumu had already concluded, somewhere in that head of his, that the ideal form of roll call was unconsciousness. Sighing, Oh In-haeng handed the boy named Ki Ma-jin over to Mumu and said,

"Sling him over your shoulder. Let's just get back to Northern Heaven Residence for now. If she catches us, we're both dead." "Why?" "Do you ever just say yes without asking why?"

Oh In-haeng shook his head. He carefully peeked into the Special-grade training hall. Cho Na-yeon was wiping away sweat.

"She's touchy on a good day, but she gets way worse during archery training. If she catches someone watching, she'll try to kill them. So the answer is, don't touch this."

Cho Na-yeon ranked fifth in the official third-year standings at Changcheon Martial Academy. Even with unfinished archery skill, her raw talent had earned her fifth place. Oh In-haeng, by contrast, only ranked eighteenth. Given the sheer number of third-year cadets, that didn't sound like much of a gap, but once you broke into the top ten, the difference in ability grew massive.

'And this Ki Ma-jin guy, after getting wrecked like that before, and he's still at it.'

Oh In-haeng shook his head. Pining after her, the boy kept sneaking over to watch her in secret like this, and last time he'd come back with an arrow lodged in his left buttock. Yet here he was again. Almost impressive, in a way.

"Let's go."

Oh In-haeng crept along, waving Mumu forward. Puzzled, Mumu followed, tiptoeing after him. But there was a problem here. Mumu had never learned a proper step, so his footsteps sounded nothing like a normal person sneaking around. And on top of that, he was carrying Ki Ma-jin slung over his shoulder.

Passeuk!

"Who's there?"

Cho Na-yeon, mid-wipe of her sweat, drew an arrow in a flash and pulled the bowstring taut. She fired straight at the window, the source of the sound.

Shhk!

The arrow, charged with internal energy, pierced clean through the window and flew straight for the back of Mumu's head.

"Dodge!"

At Oh In-haeng's shout, Mumu, still carrying Ki Ma-jin, twisted his body aside in a panic.

Thunk!

The arrow buried itself in Ki Ma-jin's left buttock instead.

"Kack!"

Ki Ma-jin, still unconscious, arched his back in pain and woke up, muttered "Again!", trembled all over, then passed out cold once more.

"Ah!"

Mumu scratched his head. He'd completely forgotten he was carrying Ki Ma-jin over his shoulder. Oh In-haeng shot forward first, shouting in a panic,

"Run for your life!"

'Full force?'

Reflexively, Mumu poured strength into his calves. In that instant, his compressed calf muscles exploded with tension.

Boom!

'What?'

Startled by the thunderous noise, Oh In-haeng glanced back on reflex. The next moment, a cloud of dirt erupted and Mumu came charging in like a runaway bull, colliding right into him.

Thud!

'Huh?'

Slammed by the collision, Oh In-haeng went flying. Airborne, he thought to himself. Was this what it felt like to get hit by a runaway carriage out of nowhere?

Crash!

He tumbled across the ground and landed flat on his back, arms and legs sprawled out.

"Cough, cough."

Coughing from a pain that stabbed straight through his lungs, he saw someone step out of the settling dust, face murderous, arrow already aimed straight at him. It was Cho Na-yeon.

"You again?"

Her voice dripped with killing intent, and Oh In-haeng's lips trembled.

'Mumu, you son of a...'

Footnotes:

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