WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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Chapter 50: Change (1)

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Change (1)

A high mountain peak wrapped in mist. There, a thatched cottage stood, one that seemed to brim with vital energy. The cottage looked small from the outside, yet step inside and, strangely, a vast interior opened up.

"Ohh."

A middle-aged man in gray Taoist robes let out a sound of wonder as he took in the array of curious objects displayed inside. Every single one of them had an extraordinary presence. The middle-aged man pointed at the objects one by one, asking the white-browed, white-bearded Taoist who stood behind him with his hands clasped at his back.

"What is this, old master?" "That is called the Heat-Cold Protection Garment." "What is it used for?" "Wear it, and your body will be shielded from any heat or cold, however extreme." "Ohh, remarkable. Then what about this?"

The middle-aged man pointed at what looked like a handle carved from bamboo.

"That is the Life-Restoring Bamboo." "And what is that used for?" "The Life-Restoring Bamboo breathes life back into anything that has lost its vitality. It's perfect for when food has gone bad. Heh heh heh."

The White-Browed Taoist spoke of it lightly, as if joking. He said it that way, but in truth it was a mysterious artifact capable of purifying even rotten water. The middle-aged man in gray robes, still glancing around at the objects, pointed to something like a sharp needle sitting on a shelf.

"Old master, what in the world is this?"

It stood out more than the other items. At that, the white-browed, white-bearded Taoist took the needle down from the shelf and held it in his hand. It looked like an ordinary needle at first glance, but a closer look revealed tiny golden characters etched into its surface.

"This is called the Thought-Clarifying Needle." "May I ask what it's used for?" "It clears away idle thoughts, simplifies thinking, and strengthens compliance." "Ah, I see. Then using it would let someone grasp the workings of the world intuitively, like a child. It would be splendid for training in the Taoist arts." "That's right. It can be used that way too." "...Does that mean it has other uses as well?" "Other uses, hm..."

Of course it did. The White-Browed Taoist turned the needle over in his fingers, sinking into thought.

'Come to think of it, it's been seventeen years since I entrusted that child to my old friend Scholar Yeo. I wonder how the boy is doing.'

The mortal world had stayed quiet all this time, which suggested nothing untoward had happened. Perhaps that was only natural, given the restraints the artifacts placed on him, but recalling it now after so long, why did his chest tremble so strangely?

* * *

Sizzle!

'Hm? It's getting hotter.'

Mumu glanced down at the Ki-Restraining Bracelet on his wrist. The adjustment screw glowed a far deeper red than it had even at level five. He could even feel a burning pain, as if his flesh itself were scorching. He could have endured it a while longer through sheer patience, but there was no real reason to, so Mumu turned the dial from four back to eight. At once, his body, which had transformed, settled back to normal.

"Ah! Are you all right?"

Mumu rushed over to the fallen manager, Lim Jeong, and helped him up. Lim Jeong, suffering from an internal injury, forced his voice out weakly.

"You... you... just what... are you?" "What am I?" "Yes." "Mumu." "..."

Was the boy trying to joke around with him right now? Lim Jeong asked, at a loss for words.

"In all my years at the academy, I have never once seen a new cadet knock out one of the Six Stars of Heaven with a single punch." "I got hit a whole lot, though."

Lim Jeong found himself speechless. Sure, Mumu had taken plenty of hits, but he was perfectly fine, wasn't he?

"...No, that's just because Great Hero Hwang's movement skill is so fast. You're the one who put him in that state with a single punch, aren't you?"

Hwang Won lay sprawled out flat on the ground, and he clearly looked far from well. One punch had sent him crashing through the ceiling before he fell back down. Lim Jeong eyed Mumu with suspicion.

"You... you're not disguised as a cadet, are you?" "Why would I disguise myself?" "Why indeed. Thinking about it, the way you suddenly picked up that black iron staff was strange to begin with. Wasn't this all a scheme to get down here to the third floor of the underground archive?" "Eh? Wouldn't that be way too flashy a way to do it?"

At Mumu's words, Lim Jeong clicked his tongue. Fair point, actually. Coming in this way could trigger the Special Emergency Protocol, treated as an enemy incursion. And in fact, hadn't one of the Six Stars of Heaven already been dispatched because of it?

"Argh. My head. What do I do about this?"

Setting aside whether Mumu was suspicious or not, the situation itself was a problem. Of all people, he had knocked one of the Six Stars of Heaven, Hwang Won, into that condition, which only made him look more suspicious than ever. No excuse seemed like it would hold up now, whoever came to investigate.

"I have no idea what mess this has turned into because of you." "Won't it work itself out somehow?"

At Mumu's words, Lim Jeong clicked his tongue inwardly.

'Ugh.'

He couldn't tell if the boy was optimistic or just recklessly positive. Or maybe, was he simply overconfident in his own strength? But looking at those drowsy eyes and that innocent, guileless expression, that didn't seem quite right either.

'What in the world is this kid?'

The more he thought about it, the less sense it made. If Mumu really had been after the third floor of the underground archive, then now that things had come this far, he could simply kill Hwang Won and Lim Jeong and take the treasures displayed here for himself. And yet here he was, worrying about Lim Jeong's well-being instead.

'I just don't get it.'

Lim Jeong studied Mumu closely, then asked.

"Hey, let me just ask this one thing. With strength like that, you wouldn't even need to enroll as a cadet. So why did you come in?"

At the question, Mumu scratched his head. The more his strength came to light, the more suspicion it seemed to draw, strangely enough. He didn't understand why, but if clearing up the misunderstanding meant anything, there was no point hiding it now.

"Well, um. See, I thought that if I graduated from Changcheon Martial Academy and became famous, maybe I could find the parents who abandoned me." "What?" "My adoptive father took me in, you know."

At Mumu's calm, matter-of-fact tone, Lim Jeong's mouth worked soundlessly. He had expected some grand reason, or maybe a hidden secret, but the answer that came out was so unexpected it left him feeling almost guilty.

"Oh my... is that really true?" "It's really true." "You enrolled just to find your parents... goodness. You really are a good kid."

If that really was the reason he'd entered the academy, it was hard not to feel a pang in the heart. Lim Jeong pressed a hand to his aching chest and thought,

'Ah. So this is what motherly love feels like.'

...though that wasn't quite the right comparison, he gazed at Mumu with tenderness all the same. It was closer to pity, really. Just then, his stomach turned, and he retched up blood.

"Ugh." "Are you all right?" "Hah... hah... ah, I think I need to circulate my ki to treat this internal injury." "What's ki circulation?" "Huh?"

Lim Jeong's brow furrowed. Did this kid seriously not even know what ki circulation was? Something was off here. How could someone who didn't even know ki circulation have taken down Hwang Won, one of the Six Stars of Heaven?

"Ugh!"

His confusion lasted only a moment before more blood surged up his throat, and, growing desperate, Lim Jeong pointed toward the display cases and said to Mumu,

"F-first, let's move over there, in case a formation or mechanism triggers." "Ah! Then I should bring him along too." "Right."

Mumu hoisted the badly injured, unconscious Hwang Won over his shoulder and led Lim Jeong toward where the display cases stood in rows. As they drew closer to the cases, Lim Jeong deliberately shut his eyes and bowed his head.

"Did it get worse?" "No. You should lower your head too, or at least keep your eyes off the display cases." "Why?" "What if you see the treasures and it stirs up greed you can't help?" "Didn't you say I have no right to any of it unless I get every star mark anyway?" "..."

At Mumu's words, a flicker of surprise crossed Lim Jeong's eyes. He hadn't expected an answer like that.

'This kid... does he really have no greed at all?'

If Mumu knew about the star marks and the underground archive, he must have heard the rumors about what lay on the third floor too. And yet he spoke as if the rules made the whole matter simply not worth his interest.

'He might be an even better kid than I gave him credit for.'

His reason for enrolling had already tugged at Lim Jeong's heart, and now, seeing this apparent lack of greed, Lim Jeong's view of Mumu shifted even further. Confident that Mumu wasn't likely to covet the treasures, Lim Jeong settled in and began his ki circulation, feeling reassured. Mumu sat down beside him as he slipped into a meditative trance.

'Ah... I'm tired.'

He'd come down here out of curiosity, stirred up by all the other kids making a fuss, and now he just felt worn out for nothing. Growing drowsy, Mumu thought about closing his eyes for a bit, and his gaze drifted absently to the display cases. Scattered across the cases stood a handful of books and a few peculiar objects.

'That one's really fancy.'

A gold-plated gauntlet studded with jewels of five colors caught his eye first.

'Would that sell for a lot if I pawned it?'

Between the gold and the gems, which shimmered with a striking luster, the thing looked like it would fetch a hefty price. But without star marks, it might as well have been a picture of a rice cake, out of reach no matter how good it looked. Shaking his head, Mumu turned his attention to another case.

'Hm?'

Something else caught his eye after the gauntlet. A worn book, old bloodstains scattered across its cover here and there. The title on it read Tyrant Blood Demonic Art, an odd sort of name.

'Is that a martial arts manual too?'

Upstairs, the martial arts manuals had all carried grand-sounding titles ending in some kind of "Art." But unlike those, this one had the character for "Demonic" attached to it, which struck him as unusual. Mumu turned his head toward the next case. He looked through most of them that way, but one thing in particular seemed to be missing.

'That's not here?'

Hae Ryang of the Hao clan had claimed there was a copy of some supreme martial arts text, the True Heavenly Martial Scripture. But no manual bearing that title was anywhere to be seen. There were only four martial arts manuals in total, and the rest of the cases held nothing but expensive-looking weapons.

'Eh. Guess it was just a rumor.'

Mumu had secretly been looking forward to it, given how it was supposedly beyond price. Finding it absent left him disappointed. Which meant there wasn't much reason to bother collecting star marks after all.

'Ah! Good thing, then.'

Looking at it another way, this worked out fine. If that expensive manual wasn't even here, there was no need to go through the trouble of gathering star marks. He figured he should let the others know too. Having settled that in his mind, Mumu smiled brightly and lay back on the floor. He was tired and figured he should close his eyes for a bit. But then,

'!?'

Something on the ceiling caught his attention.

'What's that?'

Embedded in the ceiling of the chamber was something like a black stone, half broken apart. The ceiling stood so high, and unlike everywhere else here there were no Luminous Stones lighting it, so without a torch and a careful look, it would have been nearly impossible to spot. But Mumu's eyesight far surpassed that of ordinary people, and he saw well even in the dark.

'Why's there a rock stuck up there?'

Curious, he studied it closely, and then,

'Huh?'

Something like writing was carved into the surface of the stone.

'A poem?'

At a glance, the characters seemed to read that way. Mumu narrowed his eyes and stared harder at it. Before he knew it, he found himself reading the words silently in his mind.

'The abyss's fate is deep... the sea of spirit crosses over... the origin heart bears no fixed name... transformation without boundary... the heavens turn and the stars come...'

Reading the poem-like lines, Mumu felt something strange come over him. His whole body grew oddly warm. The feeling wasn't unpleasant, if anything it left him feeling refreshed, so Mumu paid it no mind and kept reading on.

'Flowing transformation without end... reversal brings clarity... the sun at the center of the heavens... great nature reveals itself... the sacred heavens return...'

Rumble!

Absorbed in the words, Mumu never noticed. From some point on, a faint haze had begun rising off his body, and a bright glow had started shining from his eyes.

'...the spirit manifests without form... within, six inches deep... this mysterious gate opens... beyond the mountain...'

Mumu stopped reading. The text ended precisely there. It looked like it should continue further, but the stone had broken in half, the rest of it lost.

'Doesn't feel like the end... hm?'

Just then, Mumu felt a prickling discomfort at the top of his head. Reaching up to touch it, he found something halfway embedded right at the crown of his skull. Curious, he quickly grabbed hold of it and yanked it out.

Fwoop!

Surprisingly, it turned out to be far longer than he'd expected.

'What is this?'

Startled, Mumu examined the thing he'd pulled from his own head. It was, of all things, a needle. Even longer than the Tang Clan's hidden weapons he'd seen before, and looking closely, he could see something like writing etched into its surface in gold.

'How did something like this end up stuck in my head?'

He was still puzzling over it when,

Fzzzzzt!

Just as he tried to make out what was written on the needle, it suddenly crumbled into ash. At that instant, a splitting headache seized Mumu, and he clutched his head.

"Aaargh!"

The pain was beyond anything he could have imagined. Countless things came surging into his mind like a tidal wave. At the scream, Lim Jeong, deep in his ki circulation, startled and broke off at once, rushing to Mumu's side.

"Hey! Hey!"

Mumu's eyes had rolled back, his body convulsing, and Lim Jeong had no idea why. Looking at him now, he seemed just like someone suffering a Ki Rampage.

'Why is he doing this? What's wrong with him?'

Lim Jeong had no way of knowing. Even while circulating his ki, he had kept his ears pricked, half worried Mumu might start eyeing the treasures. But Mumu hadn't moved from that spot at all. So why was this happening? He couldn't fathom it. And with his internal injury still untreated, unable to properly control his ki, a crisis like this happening now left him utterly at a loss.

'No choice, then.'

He was about to force his own life energy into Mumu despite the risk to himself, when,

Thump!

Mumu's convulsions stopped. Slowly, he opened his closed eyes. A clearer, brighter glow than usual shone from within them. Lim Jeong let out a breath of relief and asked,

"Oh my goodness. You really scared me there. What on earth was that just now?"

At the question, Mumu's mouth curved into a faint, bashful smile as he murmured.

"My head feels so clear."

Footnotes:

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