WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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Chapter 55: Martial Arts (1)

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Martial Arts (1)

"What?"

Cho Na-yeon couldn't hide her bewilderment. Her face flushed hot, then hotter, until it burned red. For a moment she doubted her own ears.

"S-show her my body?" "She said she'd give me a star mark if I let her look at me for a while."

'!!!'

Cho Na-yeon's eyes went wide. Not even once, but for a while, she had to show her body? Was this actually true? No matter how she looked at it, she felt certain Mumu was just messing with her.

"That's ridiculous." "What is?" "You're feeding me false information on purpose, aren't you?" "Why would I do that?"

Mumu asked back, brow furrowed. His tone was too serious for someone pulling a prank, which only made the whole thing more absurd. Every star mark she'd handed out until now had gone to cadets who'd cleared some brutally difficult task or placed well in an in-house tournament. And now showing a body was supposed to earn one? No matter how she thought it over, that couldn't be right.

'No, that couldn't be...'

Then, all at once, a rumor she'd heard about the special master Dan Baek-yeon floated back into her mind.

[You know why Master Dan Baek-yeon, gorgeous as she is, never married, and why she looks like she's about to gag every time love comes up during lecture?] [Why? Isn't it just that she's not interested in romance or marriage?] [If she wasn't interested, she wouldn't even bring it up. I heard from the upperclassmen that her tastes run pretty unusual.] [Unusual how?] [One theory is she's stayed single all this time, buried in research and her duties as a master, because she prefers women over men.] [Nah, that's not it.] [The other theory is she has a thing for the younger cadets.] [...Seriously?]

All sorts of rumors had swirled around her. Dan Baek-yeon's beauty rivaled the Four Blossoms of Heaven without falling short at all, and yet she remained unmarried well into her mid-thirties and turned prickly the instant the topic came up, which made her a favorite subject for the cadets to chew over and pick apart. Cho Na-yeon had always dismissed it as nothing but idle gossip. But now...

'...Is it actually true?'

Was this the real reason no one had ever managed to earn a single star mark from her until now?

* * *

That night, after roll call and muscle training had ended.

"You picked out a weapon, and this is the best you could bring back?"

Jin-hyeok stared at Mumu, dumbfounded. He'd expected something impressive from the hidden underground archive, and instead the guy had lugged back this absurdly heavy black iron staff. It was almost too ridiculous to process.

"It's good for training." "You are seriously... ugh."

Jin-hyeok clicked his tongue openly at that. Was this guy's brain actually made of muscle? The way he obsessed over muscle training bordered on insanity.

'And what's this now.'

[On Muscle Contraction and Release]

The martial arts book Mumu had brought back. Jin-hyeok couldn't fathom why a useless book like this would even be sitting in the underground archive. He flipped through it on the off chance there was something worthwhile, but the contents were exactly what the title promised, page after page explaining how muscles contracted and released. Honestly, if Mumu had just grabbed anything at random, it probably would have been more useful than this.

'If Miss Mo had heard about this, she'd have clicked her tongue even harder.'

The only thing worth anything out of everything Mumu had brought back was the Little Return Pill from Shaolin.

'How did he even manage to grab that in the middle of all this?'

Shaolin's Little Return Pill was known as the most stable elixir produced by any martial clan or sect. The more stable an elixir was, the higher its absorption rate in the body. An ordinary elixir, when taken in through ki circulation, might reach an efficiency of forty to sixty percent but the Little Return Pill managed sixty to ninety percent. The difference in class was staggering.

'Shaolin is called the founding elder of Central Plains martial arts for a reason.'

The gap was bound to be this stark. Still, Jin-hyeok couldn't help wondering.

"A guy with zero interest in martial arts, and you still managed to grab this one." "The manager said it was the most expensive thing there." "...Wait, you brought it to sell it?"

Of course. There was no way this guy had grabbed it with any normal reasoning. But then something unexpected came out of Mumu's mouth.

"If I eat this, can I pick up that internal energy thing faster?" "...What? Don't tell me you're suddenly interested in martial arts?"

Wasn't this the guy who thought everything besides muscle training was pointless? Had something actually sparked his interest in martial arts? Puzzled, Jin-hyeok waited, and Mumu answered.

"No, not really. But I went through the jokbo a senior gave me, and it said you can't get anywhere without learning martial arts." "Jokbo?"

What was he talking about now? Mumu pulled out a bundle of papers and held it up for him. Curious, Jin-hyeok took it and flipped through the pages. Then his eyes went wide.

"What is this? Where'd you even get this?" "A senior I know gave it to me." "A senior you know? Who would hand over something like this?"

Astonishingly, the bundle Mumu called a jokbo contained detailed information about the very classes they were taking and the exams they were about to sit. A few of the basic courses differed, but this was still an incredible amount of information to have in hand. Mumu smiled and said,

"You don't need to know." "...What?"

Jin-hyeok's brow creased. Had this guy really just told him he didn't need to know? Normally, if you asked this guy anything, he'd answer without a second thought. He hadn't expected a response like that.

Shhk!

Just then, Mumu took the jokbo back from Jin-hyeok's hands and said,

"I'll share this with you, so teach me the basics of martial arts." "...Are you seriously negotiating with me right now?" "I heard you're not supposed to just casually teach martial arts, even to family."

What was going on here? Jin-hyeok was at a loss for words. Since when did this guy start thinking like this? Jin-hyeok stared at him, unblinking. It felt like watching a simple-minded monkey who only understood bananas slowly start turning gears in his head.

'Should I take this as a good sign?'

It probably wasn't a bad thing. Better than blundering through everything without a single thought, at least. Jin-hyeok shook his head lightly and said,

"Forget it. I don't need that. I'll just teach you the basics for free." "Really?" "I don't think I should be relying on something like that."

Something flickered in Mumu's eyes at those words. He'd always understood that Jin-hyeok wanted to graduate from Changcheon Martial Academy with high marks, just like his older brother, Yu Jin-sung. He hadn't expected Jin-hyeok to give up the jokbo without a shred of regret. Of course, even Jin-hyeok had been tempted for a moment, but the second he leaned on something like this, coming all the way to Changcheon Martial Academy to actually learn something would lose its meaning.

[I won't teach you anything. Figure it out by running into walls yourself.]

That was what Yu Jin-sung had told him. Jin-sung had graduated as Second Graduate, and Jin-hyeok figured there had to be a reason he never handed down anything like a jokbo. So Jin-hyeok had decided to walk the proper path rather than take a shortcut. Mumu, watching him with a look of surprise, stared down at the jokbo in his own hands. Then, without hesitation, he tore it apart.

Rrrip! Rrrip!

"Y-you, what are you doing?"

Jin-hyeok asked, startled. Mumu just smiled and said,

"Since you're doing that, Jin-hyeok, I figured I should too." "What? Ugh..."

This blockhead just tore it apart without a second thought, just because he did? Who knew what might happen down the road? It was honestly absurd. Jin-hyeok stared at Mumu in disbelief for a moment, then broke into a snort of laughter.

"The more I look at you, the weirder you get." "Heh, you think so?" "Whatever, forget it. So you want to learn martial arts to pass the exam, is that it?" "Yeah." "Then I'll teach you. Can't have someone from the Yu Clan failing out because they missed the exam requirement." "See, this is why I like you, Jin-hyeok. You're a good guy." "Wh-what kind of nonsense is that?"

Jin-hyeok told him to shut up, said it gave him goosebumps. Mumu had a habit of calling him a good guy at the drop of a hat, and every time he heard it, a shiver ran through him.

"Ahem. Anyway, I'll teach you the basics. If you'd joined our sect, I could probably teach you more, but that's probably too much to ask..." "Can you teach me stuff that's not from your sect?"

At Mumu's question, Jin-hyeok sighed and said,

"If you'd brought back some martial arts book from the underground archive that was actually useful, I could explain it to you as far as I understand it. But I don't know anything about this."

On Muscle Contraction and Release was completely worthless for that purpose. Mumu tilted his head at Jin-hyeok's response, then got up and walked over to the desk.

"What are you doing? Weren't you going to teach me the basics?" "Hang on a second."

The desk already had the Four Treasures of the Study laid out, standard issue for every cadet. Mumu poured a little ink, picked up the brush, and started writing something across the paper without pause. Jin-hyeok stood up and watched.

Ssk-ssk-ssk-ssk!

He wrote like something possessed, and it was strange to watch. His handwriting was a mess, all chicken scratch since he clearly never practiced, but the sheer speed and lack of hesitation was almost eerie. Then Jin-hyeok's eyes went wide as he stared at the page.

'Wh... what?'

What in the world was he even writing? What Mumu was writing turned out to be nothing less than the verses of a martial art. And not just any ordinary one.

'...Advanced martial arts!'

Jin-hyeok stared at the verses, unable to hide his shock. What Mumu was writing down were verses from a high-level martial art. Calling it a cut above what his own masters, the Kangxi Three Heroes, had taught him would be an understatement. Several cuts above, more like, refined to a staggering degree.

'How the hell does this guy know this?'

Jin-hyeok couldn't make sense of the situation at all. He had no idea how Mumu could possibly have memorized verses from such an advanced martial art. Mumu kept writing for a good while longer, until the verses were finally complete.

Tak!

Setting the brush down on the inkstone, Mumu asked,

"Something like this work?" "...What is this?" "Isn't this a martial arts verse? You said you could teach me if you knew this kind of thing." "That's not the problem here, how do you even know this?" "This?" "Yeah." "Saw it in the martial arts book archive down in the underground vault."

'!?'

At those words, Jin-hyeok asked back in shock.

"You saw it in the archive down in the underground vault?" "Yeah." "...But didn't you say you brought back that thing?"

Jin-hyeok pointed at [On Muscle Contraction and Release] sitting on the table as he said it. If that was all he'd brought back, then how in the world had he memorized this advanced martial art?

"I just remembered it." "You just remembered it?" "I figured I'd check if there was anything useful for muscle training or just something interesting, so I skimmed through a bunch." "You skimmed through it?" "Yeah." "And you remember all of that?" "Yeah. That's right."

Jin-hyeok clicked his tongue watching Mumu say it so casually. If this was actually true, it meant the guy had just memorized the verses he'd skimmed through, just like that. Even Jin-hyeok, praised as a prodigy by his masters in the Kangxi Three Heroes, figured he'd need to pore over verses that difficult for at least two to four hours before he could commit them to memory.

'This guy's not just a muscle-brained idiot.'

If what he'd said was true, he possessed a truly absurd memory. Did father even know about this? Struck speechless with shock, Jin-hyeok listened as Mumu spoke.

"Why? Not good enough? Should I write something else?" "...What?" "I remember other stuff too."

At those words, Jin-hyeok's face hardened, and he asked,

"You remember other stuff too? Were you in that archive all day?" "No. They said I only had about an hour, so I just grabbed whatever I could and skimmed through it. Maybe about forty books?" "Forty books?"

Jin-hyeok swallowed hard and asked, half hoping he was wrong.

"...Don't tell me you remember all of them?"

At his question, Mumu answered without a hint of hesitation.

"Yeah."

'!!!!!'

Jin-hyeok was left utterly speechless. Right now, inside this guy's head, sat forty entire martial arts books, the kind of advanced techniques only Master-level masters ever managed to learn.

Footnotes:

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