WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 43: First Class (2)

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First Class (2)

The first class of this year's incoming cadets at Changcheon Martial Academy.

It was In-Depth Introduction to Internal Energy Studies.

There were 435 first-year cadets in all.

Not even the great auditorium could hold all of them in a single lecture hall, so they were split into eighths.

Fifty-four cadets gathered in Lecture Hall Byeong-Twenty-Four.

Mumu, Jin-hyeok, and Mo Il-hwa were among them.

"Ah! I can't wait."

"That's really one of them teaching, right?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"I wonder who it'll be."

The master in charge of the class hadn't arrived yet, but the cadets were already worked up.

The reason was simple enough.

The master teaching this class was someone special.

"One of the Six Stars of Heaven, I really am curious."

Even Mo Il-hwa, who knew little of the martial world, had heard that name plenty.

The six stars, or six pillars, that lit up Changcheon Martial Academy, these were the Six Stars of Heaven.

Their prowess was said to rival that of a ruler over an entire province.

They served on the examination board of Changcheon Martial Academy and took on the role of Special Master Grade instructors.

Those called Special Master Grade instructors normally taught only the top performers from the second year onward, but there was one exception, a single Special Master Grade instructor, one of the Six Stars of Heaven, who alone taught first-year classes.

While everyone else buzzed with anticipation over which of the Six Stars it might be, Mumu let out a huge yawn, drowsy as could be.

"Hoaaaam."

Kang Seo-ryang's nagging had kept him up late the night before, so Mumu was tired.

Mo Il-hwa clicked her tongue and said,

"You're gonna doze off in the middle of class at this rate."

"Hoaaaam."

"You definitely will. Jin-hyeok, wake him up if he starts nodding off next to you..."

Mo Il-hwa shook her head at the sight of Jin-hyeok, whose attention had drifted somewhere else entirely.

Jin-hyeok kept sneaking glances at someone seated in the middle of the room.

None other than Hong Hye-ryeong, successor of the Southern Blade Imperial Uncle.

'He's completely fallen for her.'

She'd more or less noticed it already, how Jin-hyeok lost all sense whenever Hong Hye-ryeong was in view.

By the looks of it, love at first sight.

But as far as Mo Il-hwa was concerned, that girl was no catch.

'She's an attention-seeker. Not the fantasy girl you think she is.'

Not that saying so would do any good.

Last time she'd said she didn't like her, Jin-hyeok had launched into a whole defense.

'Ugh. I don't like it.'

It felt like her mood was souring right from the first class for nothing.

She should just stop paying attention to it.

Who he liked was none of her business anyway.

'Because I have Young Master Yu Jin-sung.'

Mo Il-hwa's heart belonged to Yu Jin-sung alone.

Thinking of him after so long, the corners of her mouth crept upward on their own.

Just then,

Creeeak!

The door opened, and someone stepped through.

Along with it, a snow-white ceremonial skirt crossed the threshold.

A peerless beauty walked in, silver hair swaying and gleaming softly, like freshly fallen snow catching the winter sun.

If the legendary Snow Maiden truly existed, surely she would look like this.

Gasps of admiration slipped out from the cadets at the sight of her beauty.

"Wow."

She was one of the Six Stars of Heaven, the master in charge of In-Depth Introduction to Internal Energy Studies, Dan Baek-yeon.

With every step she took, a cold wind seemed to ripple around her.

It made her swaying hair look like white snow dust scattering like frost.

'Ah...'

Even Jin-hyeok, who'd had eyes only for Hong Hye-ryeong, found his gaze stolen for a moment.

She really was beautiful.

Going by looks alone, there seemed to be no age gap at all between her and the cadets.

'She looks so young.'

'Must be from deep internal energy, right?'

'No way. Master Dan Baek-yeon, the Northern Snow Beauty, is our teacher?'

Everyone loved her, man or woman alike.

Her fame had spread that far and wide.

Tak!

Standing before the podium, Dan Baek-yeon opened her mouth.

"My name is Dan Baek-yeon. From the Northern Seas Ice Palace, thirty-five years old, still unmarried."

She introduced herself briefly and directly.

The cadets couldn't hide their shock at hearing her age.

They'd assumed she had some years on her, but going by her face alone she looked no older than nineteen or barely past manhood. That was how youthful she seemed.

Not a single blemish marred her skin either.

'Unmarried...'

That, along with the shock over her age, was what caught the cadets' attention most.

Someone with looks like hers, still unmarried at thirty-five?

'...Hmm.'

At Dan Baek-yeon's words, Mo Il-hwa propped her chin up with a serious look.

She felt, once again, that if you missed your window to marry, beauty or not, it didn't matter much.

Hong Hye-ryeong was thinking something similar.

Enjoy your youth reasonably, then snap up a good man quickly, that seemed to be the truth of it.

Just then Dan Baek-yeon held up three fingers and said,

"Three warnings in advance. First, no chatting or messing around during class. Second, use the restroom before the break ends, not during. Third, I will not discuss marriage, romance... none of that, ever, during class."

'!?'

What did that third one have to do with the class at all?

Everyone thought so, but none of them let it show given the mood.

"Life is something you live alone. Now then, since this is the first class..."

Everyone focused at her words.

Surely, since it was the first class, she'd just cover a simple introduction and be done?

Their eyes gleamed with that hope.

But,

"I'll be covering an overview of this course, the direction of each session going forward, a definition of internal energy, and closing with a simple practical exercise."

'...'

Disappointment colored the cadets' faces.

This did not look like it would end quickly at all.

* * *

"...The origin of it is commonly known to come from breathing, that is, from Breathing Technique. In the air we breathe, there is naturally occurring energy dispersed throughout. Depending on how you refine and absorb that energy and how you circulate it..."

Half a two-hour period and a quarter hour into the class.

'Ugh.'

Mumu was forcing himself to hold on, but his eyes kept drifting shut.

The title of this class was In-Depth Introduction to Internal Energy Studies.

In other words, an advanced class meant for people who already had a foundation in internal energy.

Mumu, meanwhile, didn't know the first thing about internal energy.

As a result, it was like reading scripture to a cow.

Pak!

Jin-hyeok elbowed Mumu.

Mumu's eyes, halfway shut, snapped open.

'...Getting tired of this.'

Irritation surged through Jin-hyeok.

He'd lost count of how many times he'd had to wake him up.

'Thirty, maybe?'

This guy had started dozing off before even half a quarter hour into class, and he'd kept at it ever since.

Sure, the content was rough going for someone who didn't even know what internal energy was, but shouldn't there at least be some effort to listen?

Behaving like this from the very first class, Jin-hyeok could already picture how the first term's grades would turn out.

Actually, forget Mumu, he was worried about himself now.

Between waking Mumu up over and over, he felt like he'd missed a third of the lecture himself.

'This won't do.'

He figured he'd have to ask Mo Il-hwa to help wake Mumu up too.

Their seating was arranged Jin-hyeok, Mumu, Mo Il-hwa, in that order.

So Jin-hyeok turned to quietly ask Mo Il-hwa for help, only to find,

Nod!

Mo Il-hwa was dozing off too.

'...'

Wasn't she the one who'd just told him to wake Mumu up? And here she was nodding off herself?

Right as he sat there dumbfounded,

Tak!

"Ow!"

Mo Il-hwa, who'd been nodding off, got hit by something and her head snapped back.

What landed on the desk was a piece of white chalk.

"No dozing off."

The one who'd thrown it was none other than Special Master Dan Baek-yeon.

The cadets snickered.

'Aaagh!'

Mo Il-hwa covered her face, flushed red with embarrassment.

She gave her head a light shake and Dan Baek-yeon moved to continue the lecture.

That's when someone caught her eye.

Mumu.

She'd just thrown a piece of chalk at the kid sitting right next to him to stop the dozing, and he'd slept right through it.

Dan Baek-yeon flicked her finger, lightly unleashing finger-flicking mastery.

Pang! Puk!

"Kack, kack!"

"Huh? You okay?"

'Ah...'

She'd aimed it properly, but Mumu had nodded his head at just the wrong moment and it went straight up his nose.

"...No dozing off."

She felt a little bad about it, but at least he wouldn't be falling asleep again.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked him over.

Come to think of it, that kid looked like the one.

He had to be the Mumu that Baek Woo-gi, another of the Six Stars of Heaven who had served as Examiner-in-Chief for this year's entrance examination, had talked about.

'The first cadet in the history of Changcheon Martial Academy to pass the entrance examination without any training in Martial Arts at all, wasn't that what he'd said?'

She and the rest of the Six Stars of Heaven had all been quite taken aback.

There'd never been a case like it before.

But that was as far as it went.

Passing the entrance examination by whatever means was his own talent, but the real competition started now.

At Changcheon Martial Academy, if you didn't clear your grades properly, you didn't get promoted to the second year.

'Acting like this from day one.'

She could already see how this would go.

Unless he put in twice, no, three or four times the effort, there was no hope for him.

He was a kid who knew nothing about Martial Arts, after all.

* * *

Tatatatak!

Hong Hye-ryeong stepped up and struck the blood pressure points and chi on Special Master Dan Baek-yeon, who lay atop the podium.

The points she'd struck were called paralysis points, a technique that left the body unable to move.

There wasn't just one fixed spot for a paralysis point. Sealing the Gyeonjeong point at the shoulder blade or points along the spine down the back could paralyze the whole body.

Tutuk! Tutuk!

A sound of something releasing came from Dan Baek-yeon's body as she lay there.

More precisely, it came from the pressure points themselves.

The cadets watching counted silently to themselves.

'Eight, nine, ten.'

The instant they reached exactly ten,

Seuk!

Dan Baek-yeon, whose pressure points had been sealed, sat her upper body upright.

Everyone burst into applause and gasps of admiration at the sight.

Rather than shifting the pressure points beforehand, she'd demonstrated a secret technique of using inner reflection to circulate the small trace of energy still drifting within her body and release the sealed points that way.

It really was a groundbreaking method.

"Now then, did you see that? If you move your energy along the path I've just shown you, you can free yourself from a paralysis point with ease."

'Easily?'

She said it like that, but it was anything but easy.

The moment a paralysis point was struck, the body went numb, making it hard to even sense one's own energy.

Releasing it in the time it took to count to ten, as she had, was nothing short of bizarre.

"Now that you've seen the demonstration, pair up with the person next to you and try it yourselves. You need to be free by the time you count to at least a hundred."

Even she seemed to know how hard it was, since the standard had been set far more leniently, nearly ten times as generous.

The cadets paired off with whoever sat beside them.

Several male cadets waiting by the podium had hoped to pair with Hong Hye-ryeong somehow, but she turned them down without mercy.

Hong Hye-ryeong walked toward Jin-hyeok, who sat in the very back.

Then she said to him,

"Shall we see who can free themselves first?"

The only one in this room she considered a worthy rival.

That was how she saw Jin-hyeok.

So she was certain that competing against him was the only way to truly stand out.

Jin-hyeok, on the other hand, had no idea of her true intentions and thought,

'Me... she wants to do this with me?'

His heart raced at being singled out, of all people, to be her partner.

Maybe this was his chance to get closer to her.

"Since you're saying so..."

Kwak!

Just then, someone hooked their arm tightly through Jin-hyeok's.

Startled, Jin-hyeok turned his head.

Mo Il-hwa stood there, smiling awkwardly.

"Il-hwa?"

"Ho ho ho. Oh no, what a shame. Jin-hyeok's already agreed to pair up with me."

At her words, Jin-hyeok couldn't hide his confusion.

Hadn't she said, just a moment ago, that it'd be embarrassing to fail and that she was doing this with Mumu instead?

"Il-hwa..."

Kwak!

"Right, Jin-hyeok?"

The grip on his arm was no joke at all.

If he said otherwise here, he'd be nagged endlessly for who knew how long.

So Jin-hyeok had no choice but to agree, though it felt like swallowing something bitter.

"Th... that's right."

At Jin-hyeok's words, one of Hong Hye-ryeong's fine eyebrows arched upward.

Mo Il-hwa couldn't help but feel deeply satisfied at the sight.

She would never allow some attention-seeking act to happen to anyone within her own circle.

'Puhahahaha. Go on then, off you go.'

She gestured for Hong Hye-ryeong to leave, looking thoroughly pleased with herself.

Hong Hye-ryeong looked mildly offended and bit down lightly on her lower lip.

She'd already noticed Mo Il-hwa shooting her displeased looks every time their paths crossed, and it hadn't sat well with her at all.

Tak!

So Hong Hye-ryeong grabbed Mumu's wrist and said,

"You. Do it with me."

"Me?"

'Huh?'

Mo Il-hwa's expression stiffened the moment the target switched to Mumu.

She'd been about to send Hong Hye-ryeong off and pair up with Mumu herself.

But the die was already cast.

'So that's how you want to play it.'

'Not sure why, but you'll pay a price for getting in my way.'

Mo Il-hwa and Hong Hye-ryeong glared at each other as if sparks were flying between them.

That was how, one way or another, the practice pairs came together.

Feeling the prickling stares around him, Mumu scratched his head.

It hadn't been his intention at all, but pairing up with the most popular girl around seemed to be drawing furious looks from every male cadet in the room.

"Whew."

Hong Hye-ryeong, for her part, let out a sigh.

She'd picked Mumu out of spite, but this made for a rather flat matchup.

Competing against Jin-hyeok would have shown off her skill far better and given the exercise some real tension, she thought.

'He probably can't even handle internal energy.'

Rumors about Mumu had spread to some degree among the first-year cadets.

A cadet who'd passed the entrance examination on raw physical strength alone, without any internal energy at all.

That was impressive, sure.

But the problem was, in an exercise this precise, one dealing with internal energy and ki, brute strength was worth absolutely nothing.

"...Mumu, was it?"

"Yeah."

"You. Do you know any point-pressing technique?"

"Nope."

Nothing to be proud of there. Honestly...

Shaking her head, Hong Hye-ryeong raised her hand and asked Special Master Dan Baek-yeon for help.

Dan Baek-yeon, who had already marked Mumu as unsuited for this exercise, gladly obliged.

Tatatatak!

Dan Baek-yeon struck Hong Hye-ryeong's blood pressure points and chi.

With her paralysis points sealed, Hong Hye-ryeong closed her eyes and turned her focus inward.

She went searching for the energy inside her.

'Composed.'

Dan Baek-yeon praised her silently.

No matter how much the exercise was designed for it, having a paralysis point struck usually left the body stiff and tense.

One glance at the other cadets around them proved as much.

"Hey. Hey. Focus."

"Get it together."

Their senses had gone numb and they couldn't concentrate at all.

Hong Hye-ryeong, by contrast, calmly turned her focus inward without hesitation.

Truly worthy of being the successor of the Southern Blade Imperial Uncle.

'The key is how calmly you can look inward at yourself.'

This groundbreaking method of release had nothing to do with how much internal energy one had.

Dan Baek-yeon began counting silently in her head.

'Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen...'

Twitch!

Just then, Hong Hye-ryeong's fingers twitched slightly.

Then, right as the count reached twenty,

"Haa!"

She let out a breath and rose upright.

The cadets watching out of the corner of their eyes let out open gasps of admiration.

Not a single cadet among those practicing so far had managed to release a paralysis point through self-reflection alone.

Truly worthy of being the top scorer of the entrance examination.

"Impressive."

Praise slipped from Dan Baek-yeon's lips as well.

Even she had gone through plenty of trial and error when she first developed this groundbreaking method.

To release a paralysis point after hearing the explanation just once, in the time it took to count to twenty, that really was remarkable.

'Aaah. Good.'

Praise from Dan Baek-yeon, a Special Master Grade instructor and one of the Six Stars of Heaven.

And the admiring looks from everyone around her.

All of it together sent a thrill through her chest.

'Hmm. Seems she likes a bit of attention.'

Dan Baek-yeon read that hidden side of her at a glance.

But she figured it was natural enough at that age, so she didn't dwell on it and simply said,

"Since you were the fastest in the first exercise, I'll award you one bonus point."

At Dan Baek-yeon's words, everyone else couldn't help but feel envious.

Earning a bonus point from the very first class put her closest to the top of the class for now.

"Ah..."

Jin-hyeok released his paralysis point right around the count of thirty-four.

That was faster than most of the other cadets too.

But hearing that Hong Hye-ryeong had done it in a mere twenty made him reflect on himself.

The wall the descendants of the Four Immortal Masters stood behind really did seem thick.

Just then, Hong Hye-ryeong moved to strike Mumu's blood pressure points and chi.

'Will this even work on him?'

Mumu hadn't trained in internal energy at all.

No matter how strong his raw strength was, this was an entirely different matter.

Hong Hye-ryeong let out a soft breath and said,

"You don't have to force yourself to try."

"It's fine."

Mumu didn't quite understand how it worked, but it looked interesting enough that he wanted to give it a try.

At Mumu's carefree attitude, Hong Hye-ryeong scoffed inwardly.

Some things could be solved with strength, and some couldn't.

Tatatatatak!

But if he insisted on trying, what could she do?

Hong Hye-ryeong struck Mumu's blood pressure points and chi without hesitation.

Mumu's eyes went wide and his body twitched.

Sure enough, once the pressure points were struck, he couldn't move a muscle.

'Just as expected.'

Jin-hyeok, watching from a distance, and Dan Baek-yeon, observing up close, both quietly shook their heads.

Releasing a paralysis point without any internal energy at all was, by common sense, impossible...

Deudeudeudeuk!

That was exactly the moment.

The muscles on Mumu's face twitched and grew sharply defined, and his body trembled.

At the same time, the muscles across his upper body and his entire frame swelled.

'What?'

A bizarre sight.

Just as everyone puzzled over it, a sound of something breaking came from all across Mumu's body.

Udeuk! Udeuk!

It sounded exactly like bones cracking.

They wondered if something had gone terribly wrong, but a moment later Mumu shot upright, bolt straight.

"Hooah!"

'!?'

At the sight, Hong Hye-ryeong's eyes went round.

Not just her, every cadet nearby reacted the same way.

'...No way.'

'That guy doesn't even have internal energy?'

'Then how?'

Something everyone had assumed was impossible by common sense had just happened right in front of them.

Dan Baek-yeon herself seemed quite stunned too, her mouth falling slightly open, at a loss for words.

'Raw... strength? He broke free with raw strength?'

In all her years, she had never once seen a paralysis point released this way.

Just then, someone shouted.

"W-wait. That guy broke the paralysis point in eight counts."

'!!!!!!'

Shorter even than Special Master Dan Baek-yeon's own record.

Footnotes:

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