WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 63: Flower That Blooms in Winter (3)
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Flower That Blooms in Winter (3)
'Pulled out just because I put strength into it?'
Dan Baek-yeon always wore an expressionless face, but in this one moment, her mouth fell open in unmistakable shock.
What kind of sword was the Jade White Treasure Sword?
It was one of the Three Great Sacred Treasures of the Northern Seas Ice Palace, a spiritual artifact with a will of its own. Only someone who reached the fifth stage or higher of the Icy White Divine Art, a technique that required fully digesting both yang and yin energy, earned the qualification to draw it. Qualification was exactly that, a qualification. That someone could pull it free through raw strength alone, without meeting any of those requirements, was hard to believe.
Skreeeeeeek!
'The Jade White Treasure Sword is screaming.'
That wasn't the reaction a sword gave when drawn properly. When the Jade White Treasure Sword genuinely accepted someone, it never resonated like this.
'Don't tell me it's suffering because it was forced out?'
Craaaaack!
Just then, an even sharper cold poured out of the Jade White Treasure Sword. The whole office began to freeze over, blanketed in white frost. Dan Baek-yeon shouted at Mumu in alarm.
"Sheathe the sword right now!"
Unlike her, who had trained in techniques of cold energy, Mumu was only just beginning to form his dantian. Even someone with internal energy might barely endure this cold. Enduring it bare-handed and bare-bodied was simply impossible. Dan Baek-yeon's shout came with her body already flying toward Mumu. At that instant,
Whooooosh!
An even fiercer cold surged out from the Jade White Treasure Sword. Mumu's hand, which had started moving to sheathe the sword at her cry, began freezing solid right where it was.
'No!'
However he'd managed to draw it, this phenomenon matched exactly what happened when the Jade White Treasure Sword ran wild. Forged from ten-thousand-year cold iron, the sword had soaked in the cold of the Northern Seas for centuries and carried a will of its own. That cold alone was enough to freeze everything in the vicinity solid.
Bang!
The instant Dan Baek-yeon, flying toward Mumu, reached for the sword, the wave of cold shoved her back. She'd known the Jade White Treasure Sword's power, but she hadn't expected it to be this severe.
'At this rate his hand will be lost to frostbite.'
Mumu's hand gripping the sword worried her more than anything. Right then.
"Ahh. Cold."
White steam rose from Mumu's freezing hand. Then the skin, which had gone pale white, flushed red again, and the frost melted away.
Shhhhhhh!
'What is this?'
What in the world was going on? This wasn't something caused by circulating internal energy. And yet heat was rising off Mumu's body, pushing back the cold of the Jade White Treasure Sword. As if annoyed by this, the Jade White Treasure Sword blasted out even fiercer cold, trying to freeze his hand solid again.
"Just like Master said, this thing's really got a temper."
Mumu clicked his tongue and slid the sword back into its sheath. The cold that had been about to bloom in every direction vanished as if it had never been there at all.
"Oh... it stopped?"
The surroundings were still frozen solid, of course. With the cold finally gone, Dan Baek-yeon let out a breath of relief and asked, unable to make sense of it.
"You shouldn't be able to control life energy yet. How did you just do that?" "Ah... this?"
Mumu showed her his warmed hand. She hadn't noticed while the ice crystals were melting, but his hand was trembling rapidly. Not just his hand, his arm too, shaking in the faintest tremor.
"What is that?" "I came up with it back when I trained alone in winter and got cold. If you shake all your muscles really fast, your whole body warms up."
'!?'
Mumu's answer left Dan Baek-yeon stunned. For anyone else, it might have meant nothing, but to her, someone whose main work was research, it was a fascinating approach.
'Rapid vibration generates heat. And he did that with muscle?'
It sounded simple, but ordinary people, even martial artists, couldn't do this. It required controlling muscles with the same fine precision as breathing, something only a rare few could manage. And an ordinary tremor wouldn't be enough to drive off cold like that.
'What in the world is this kid...'
His thinking and his physical ability were both beyond common sense. Dan Baek-yeon looked at Mumu. He hadn't perfectly drawn and controlled the Jade White Treasure Sword, but nothing like this had happened since the previous palace master.
'It might be possible.'
Thump!
Her heart trembled, just slightly. Could this boy actually learn the Icy Heart Sutra? If, unlike other cadets, he grew up balancing yang and yin energy from the very start, there might actually be a chance. If that happened, her long wait would finally come to an end.
[Find... the man... who can draw... the Jade White... Treasure Sword. That man...]
Dan Baek-yeon bit down lightly on her lower lip and turned toward the Golden Fragrance Snow Blossom. Maybe this flower too had been waiting for this moment. Along with the Jade White Treasure Sword, it was the only thing that let her feel the nostalgia of home...
Crack!
'!?'
The frozen bud of the Golden Fragrance Snow Blossom shattered. Even a flower that bloomed in winter couldn't withstand the tremendous cold the Jade White Treasure Sword had unleashed. Dan Baek-yeon went blank, like someone whose soul had left her body.
"Master?"
* * *
Noon, the next day. The dining hall of Changcheon Martial Academy. Mumu and his friends were having lunch. Normally Mumu wolfed down his food with excitement at every meal, but today he was picking at it listlessly, and Mo Il-hwa asked, puzzled.
"Is the sun about to rise in the west or something? What's with you?"
It wasn't like him at all. This was the same Mumu who always seemed to carry not a single worry. Seeing him eat with such a troubled look on his face was strange.
"Yeah, seriously, what's with you?"
Jin-hyeok was just as curious. Mumu had been like this ever since the night before.
"Mumu?" "......"
Even with their questions, Mumu said nothing, just staring blankly and picking at his rice grain by grain.
"...Hey."
Pinch!
"Ah?"
Mo Il-hwa pinched his cheek, and only then did Mumu snap back to attention. She asked him,
"What's actually wrong with you? You've been like this ever since you came back from Master Dan Baek-yeon's office yesterday. Did something..." "Il-hwa." "Yeah?" "When people cry, that's because they're sad, right?"
At Mumu's question, Mo Il-hwa tilted her head. Why was he suddenly asking this? Puzzled for a moment, she nodded and said,
"Well, yeah, usually it's because they're sad. You don't cry when you're happy. I guess you could cry from being too happy, but for the most part, yeah, it's because they're sad. Why do you ask?"
At her question, Mumu thought back to the day before. Master Dan Baek-yeon, staring blankly at the shattered Golden Fragrance Snow Blossom, had cradled the broken petals in her hands and wept without end. It was the first time Mumu had ever seen someone cry with such sorrow, and every time he remembered it, his heart grew heavy. Maybe it was better to call it guilt.
"Hey. Just tell me what happened."
At Mo Il-hwa's urging, Mumu finally gave a brief account of what happened the day before. How he'd touched the Jade White Treasure Sword, how its cold had run wild, and how one of the flowers Dan Baek-yeon treasured had died because of it. Hearing this, Mo Il-hwa clicked her tongue and said,
"You really messed up. How could you make a woman cry like that?" "Was it really that bad?" "Of course it was. You said it's a flower that reminds her of home. She lost that because of you, so yeah, you really messed up. Ugh, unbelievable." "...What do I do?" "What do you mean, what do you do? You said it's a flower you can only find in the Northern Seas, right? Then that's just it. How would you even manage seeds or a flower from way out here..." "Ah!"
Just then, Mumu clapped his hands together as if he'd remembered something. He recalled Dan Baek-yeon, sunk in sorrow the day before, murmuring something under her breath.
[I wonder if the seedling from the Old Teaching Hall is still alive? But that place is closed...]
Mumu had wanted to ask if there was anything he could do to help, but she'd just mumbled to herself, then written out the incantation of the Icy Heart Sutra for him, told him it was fine, and sent him on his way. Remembering this, Mumu said,
"She said there might be a seedling in the Old Teaching Hall." "Huh? Old Teaching Hall? What's that?"
As a new cadet, she had no way of knowing about the Old Teaching Hall. Just then, Hae Ryang of the Hao clan, who'd been quietly listening while eating, frowned slightly and asked back.
"Did you say the Old Teaching Hall?" "You know what that is?"
At Mo Il-hwa's question, Hae Ryang nodded and said,
"Of course I know it. The Old Teaching Hall is an academy building that combines a lab and a lecture hall, closed down at the end of last year." "An academy building?" "Yes. I actually heard about it from my second-year roommate."
Hae Ryang, true to his Hao clan blood, was constantly gathering information from every direction. He set his chopsticks down on his rice bowl and said, looking troubled.
"If it's inside the Old Teaching Hall, nobody's going to be able to get in there. From what my roommate told me, there was some kind of accident in that place." "What kind of accident closes down a whole building?" "Even my roommate didn't seem to know for sure. But apparently around the middle of last year, one instructor and three cadets died in an accident." "Seriously?"
Mo Il-hwa's eyes went wide. An accident bad enough to kill three cadets and even an instructor in charge was no small matter. But whether that alone would be enough to shut down an entire building, that still seemed like a stretch. Jin-hyeok, apparently wondering the same thing, asked,
"People dying is one thing, but is that really enough to close an entire building?" "I found that strange too, so I asked my roommate about it, but he told me something so far-fetched I just let it go." "What was it?"
At Mo Il-hwa's question, Hae Ryang lowered his voice to a whisper.
"Apparently the ghosts of the ones who died haunt the Old Teaching Hall building." "Wh-what?"
Mo Il-hwa flinched and stammered at that. Seeing her reaction, Hae Ryang's mouth curled into a sly grin.
"Miss Mo... do you believe in ghosts, by any chance?"
At this, Mo Il-hwa answered, flustered.
"Wh-what are you talking about? There's no such thing in this world. That's a completely ridiculous rumor." "Right? But apparently it's not just one or two cadets who've seen it. They say more than twenty cadets have fainted from it and ended up in the infirmary." "...Seriously?"
Mo Il-hwa swallowed hard and asked. Hae Ryang nodded gravely at that.
"Come on... no way."
Even her eyes were trembling at this point, and seeing that, Hae Ryang burst out laughing, clutching his stomach.
"Pfffahahahaha. Miss Mo, aren't you a little too much of a coward?" "Wh-what?" "You took it so seriously that I just..."
Grab!
Mo Il-hwa grabbed Hae Ryang by the collar.
"You want to end your life today?"
At the murderous edge in her voice, Hae Ryang shook his head frantically.
"Then quit joking around and just tell us." "I... I'm not joking. My roommate got so dead serious insisting it was true that I actually looked into it a bit myself." "You looked into it?" "Yes." "So it's just a baseless rumor, then?" "The rumor itself does seem to have spread that way, yes. But separate from the rumor, it looks like the building was closed to contain the aftermath of the accident." "Contain the aftermath?"
Everyone looked puzzled, and Hae Ryang glanced around before speaking in a whisper.
"The instructor who died was apparently someone who taught poison." "Poison?" "Yes. I couldn't find out much else, but my guess is that something leaked during a poison lecture or practical session and caused the accident." "Seriously?" "I can't say for sure. But I'd guess the poison that leaked either exceeded normal lethality or was highly contagious, which is why they closed it down."
That was Hae Ryang's best guess. Otherwise there was no reason to close down the Old Teaching Hall. Blaming it on ghosts was simply too absurd to take seriously. The most sensible explanation, to him, was that some powerful, hard-to-cure poison had leaked and contaminated the entire building, forcing a temporary closure.
"Anyway, if my guess is right, and there's a flower seedling in the Old Teaching Hall, you're probably better off just giving up on..." "Hae Ryang." "Yes?" "Can you lend me your antidote pearl?" "...My antidote pearl?" "Yeah. You said if you have an antidote pearl, it blocks poison, right?" "Well, that's true, but..."
Mumu's request left Hae Ryang at a loss. He hadn't expected Mumu to remember him mentioning offhand once that he owned an antidote pearl. An antidote pearl was rarer than it might seem. It would be fair to say you needed a small fortune to get your hands on one. Jin-hyeok asked, startled.
"Why do you need an antidote pearl? Don't tell me you're planning to go into the Old Teaching Hall after hearing all that?" "Yeah. I want to look for the flower seedling."
At Mumu's words, Jin-hyeok clicked his tongue inwardly. Even accounting for the fact that Mumu wanted to fix the mess he'd caused himself, it was still bold of him to insist on entering a building that had been closed off for being dangerous.
"Hae Ryang. Could you lend it to me?" "I... young master, an antidote pearl isn't something easily lent out..." "You really can't?"
At the earnest plea, Hae Ryang pressed a hand to his forehead. He was starting to regret ever bragging about it in the first place.
'...I already gave you most of my information practically for free, and now you want to borrow my precious antidote pearl too? That's a bit much.'
The words rose to his throat and stopped right there. He wanted to keep a good relationship with Mumu.
'Right. Think of it as an investment.'
After some agonizing, Hae Ryang finally opened his mouth.
"Fine." "Really?" "I'm only lending it because it's you, young master Mumu. It's genuinely precious, so don't forget I did this for you." "Yeah! Thank you!"
Mumu answered with a bright smile. At that, Jin-hyeok spoke up.
"Do you happen to have another antidote pearl? If this idiot goes into the Old Teaching Hall alone to search for it, it's going to take forever."
At Jin-hyeok's question, Mumu looked at him with eyes brimming with gratitude. Jin-hyeok looked away, clearly uncomfortable with it. Watching him, Hae Ryang shook his head.
"Sorry. I only have the one antidote pearl. Even this one was hard enough to get."
At that, Mo Il-hwa let out a sigh of relief. She'd already felt uneasy about the ghost story, and she'd been worried that if there'd been a spare antidote pearl, they might've asked her to come along too. She was glad that wasn't the case. Still, she didn't want to be called a coward, so,
"Ugh, what do I do, Mumu. I want to help too, but if there's only one antidote pearl..."
Just then, a voice cut in.
"I've got plenty of spare antidote pearls, if that's what you need."
Everyone turned toward the voice, and there stood Tang So-so, the second-year senior of the academy from the Sichuan Tang Clan, smiling brightly at Mumu.
Footnotes:
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