WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 71: The Great Scheme (4)
──────
-Crash!
Gu Yang Seo-han lay sprawled across the ground, his limbs spread wide. A wheezing sound escaped his lungs.
Pain ripped through his entire body, enough to leave his mind hazy. Even though he had protected himself with internal energy, there was no enduring Mumu's wild, repeated slams.
"Haa... haa..."
Gu Yang Seo-han could hardly believe this.
Mumu's monstrous strength was certainly incredible, but if not for the impact from before, he would never have been forced so completely onto the defensive. Mumu had yanked him by the ankle, dragged him through a Gyeseseok stone wall, and Gu Yang Seo-han had taken that impact head-on.
The pain in that particularly important area for a man was beyond words.
'...Did he aim for it?'
If he had, then Mumu was far more cunning than Gu Yang Seo-han had heard.
Mumu looked down at him and spoke.
"Shall we talk now?"
Gu Yang Seo-han's eyes narrowed.
This was an unforeseen variable. He should have killed Do Yang-woon and escaped by now, yet he was trapped here instead.
That left only one option.
Having made up his mind, Gu Yang Seo-han swallowed dryly, his eyes tense. Mumu asked him,
"Why were you trying to kill Senior Do Yang-woon earlier?"
"..."
"You were trying to kill him."
It had crossed far too many lines to call it a spar.
Mumu was certain that if Ki Ma-jin had not fired an arrow midway through, Do Yang-woon's face would have been crushed beneath Gu Yang Seo-han's foot.
"..."
Yet Gu Yang Seo-han said nothing.
Even while Mumu had been slamming him around, he had endured the pain without screaming to the end. It was impossible to tell whether his patience was simply strong or whether he was doing this on purpose.
"It seems you have no intention of speaking."
Mumu scratched his head and stared at him.
He was curious why Gu Yang Seo-han had done it, but that was all. Do Yang-woon had survived, so Mumu did not think there was much point in involving himself any further.
"Even if I keep asking, you won't speak..."
Mumu frowned.
Gu Yang Seo-han's eyes were trembling wildly. His complexion and expression had not changed much, so Mumu had no idea why he was acting this way.
"Cough, cough. Master Mumu."
Do Yang-woon approached, supported by Ki Ma-jin.
Do Yang-woon stared at Gu Yang Seo-han lying on the ground, clearly astonished. He had not expected Mumu to defeat him so easily.
'...To think pure physical strength can accomplish this much.'
Although Do Yang-woon had entered the Muscle Training School, he had still believed he held the advantage in martial prowess.
Seeing Mumu defeat Gu Yang Seo-han changed his mind. Mumu's abilities seemed to surpass his expectations.
"Huff. Huff. Huff..."
"What's wrong with him?"
Ki Ma-jin asked as he looked at Gu Yang Seo-han, whose breathing had grown harsh.
Something seemed wrong. The strange part was that despite his trembling eyes and ragged breathing, his complexion had barely changed.
Do Yang-woon found it strange as well and spoke to Gu Yang Seo-han.
"Seo-han. What's wrong with..."
At that very moment.
-Pop! Crunch!
Gu Yang Seo-han's head suddenly exploded.
'!!!!'
Mumu, Do Yang-woon, and Ki Ma-jin were left speechless by the sight.
It had happened so suddenly that they could only stand there, stunned.
"Wh... what is this...?"
There was no way to know why the head of someone perfectly fine had suddenly burst apart.
Yet that was not the end.
-Hissssss! Sizzle!
Smoke poured from Gu Yang Seo-han's abdomen, carrying a pungent stench. Then, from that spot outward, his body began to melt as though it had been touched by a vicious acid.
Ki Ma-jin cried out in shock.
"I-Isn't that Bone-Dissolving Powder?"
Bone-Dissolving Powder.
It was an extremely potent poison used to dissolve corpses. Its toxicity was so powerful that it melted away flesh, muscles, and internal organs, leaving behind only some bones.
"How could this..."
Do Yang-woon could not understand what was happening.
Bone-Dissolving Powder existed to ensure no evidence was left behind through a corpse. Gu Yang Seo-han was the grandson of Western Wind Lone Angle, one of the Four Immortal Masters and a figure famed for poison, but Do Yang-woon could not understand why he would have such poison inside his body.
More importantly, the Gu Yang Seo-han Do Yang-woon knew had reached the realm of Poison Form. There was no need for him to use Bone-Dissolving Powder.
-Sizzleee!
Before long, Gu Yang Seo-han's headless corpse had completely melted away.
Only a few fragments of bone from his torso remained.
Ki Ma-jin spoke in disbelief.
"Did he kill himself because he lost to this guy or something?"
"Impossible. He is not weak enough to kill himself simply because he lost a spar."
Do Yang-woon firmly denied it.
Still, he could not understand why this had happened. Gu Yang Seo-han's Martial Arts had improved drastically, he had tried to kill Do Yang-woon, and now he had taken his own life with a poison meant to erase all traces of a corpse.
'Why would he do that?'
Only doubts remained.
Ki Ma-jin, unlike him, was deeply troubled.
'This is insane. Isn't this getting way too big?'
No one knew whether Gu Yang Seo-han had killed himself or died by accident.
The problem was that the dead person was Gu Yang Seo-han.
His grandfather was Western Wind Lone Angle, one of the Four Immortal Masters, the greatest figures in the martial world of this generation.
'What if they misunderstand... huh?'
Ki Ma-jin suddenly pointed somewhere, his face turning pale.
"Hey... isn't that toward the dormitories?"
"What?"
Mumu and Do Yang-woon looked in that direction.
Pale smoke was rising into the dark night sky, lit only by moonlight.
It was coming from the direction of the dormitories.
* * *
Around the same time.
At Northern Heaven Residence, one of the four great dormitories, two masked figures stood atop the roof tiles, smashing wooden barrels and pouring a black liquid over the building.
The black liquid was oil.
The oil they poured quickly soaked into the building's outer walls.
"Hurry. We do not have much time."
At one masked figure's words, the other nodded, picked up a wooden barrel, and walked toward an area that had not yet been soaked in oil.
Only about three more barrels remained.
That was when it happened.
-Papapapak!
Sensing someone's presence, they stopped and looked over.
Two figures had arrived atop the roof tiles.
They were Jin-hyeok and Hae Ryang.
'What? Were there people still awake?'
The masked figures exchanged looks, unable to hide their confusion.
Everyone should have been asleep.
Jin-hyeok shouted at them.
"Who are you? Why are you pouring oil all over the building?"
"Hmph."
The masked figures casually ignored him. They smashed the barrels they held and poured the oil over the spots they had missed.
"We have to stop them!"
Jin-hyeok and Hae Ryang each shot toward a masked figure.
If they did not stop them, something terrible might happen.
Hae Ryang threw a Dagger at one of the masked figures.
-Swish!
The masked figure lightly dodged the Dagger and pulled something from their waist.
It was a firelighter.
The masked figure before Hae Ryang was not the only one to take one out. The one Jin-hyeok faced also pulled out a firelighter, and when they removed its bamboo cap, a flame sparked to life on its own.
-Whoosh!
The flame of the firelighter and the oil poured over the building.
Their intentions were obvious.
"Stop! Why are you trying to do this?"
At Jin-hyeok's shout, a masked figure snickered.
"I do not know how you stayed awake, but it is already too late."
"Too late?"
The masked figure pointed east.
Eastern River Residence stood in that direction, and flames suddenly shot up from its building.
The same was happening at Southern Blade Residence.
Only Western Wind Residence and Northern Heaven Residence had not yet erupted in flames.
'This can't be...'
Was this happening across all the dormitories?
If the cadets in the other dormitories were also unable to wake because of Sleep Fragrance, an unimaginable disaster would unfold.
"No!"
Jin-hyeok lunged at the masked figure.
"I told you it was too late."
The masked figure sneered and tried to throw the firelighter onto the oil-soaked wall.
Jin-hyeok hurriedly tried to snatch the firelighter away.
'This brat.'
The masked figure's eyes flickered at Jin-hyeok's faster-than-expected movements. Using a Body-Lightening Technique, they widened the distance and evaded Jin-hyeok.
Jin-hyeok stubbornly pursued them, trying to catch them.
"Annoying brat!"
The masked figure leaped away and threw the firelighter beneath the roof tiles.
Jin-hyeok did not hesitate. He threw himself after it.
He might have fallen, but he paid it no mind. Grabbing the edge of the roof tiles with one hand, Jin-hyeok kicked away the firelighter.
-Pak!
The firelighter, struck by his toes, flew far from the building.
'He stopped it?'
The masked figure's expression twisted.
They had never expected this green brat to truly stop the firelighter.
Jin-hyeok was not the only one to succeed.
"Yah-ho!"
Hae Ryang threw every Dagger he had, knocking away the firelighter just before it could touch the oil and preventing the fire from taking hold.
"Hae Ryang!"
Jin-hyeok called out happily.
Hae Ryang looked back at him with a bright expression, clearly pleased to have stopped it as well.
A masked figure snickered at them.
"Not bad, but did you think we would not prepare for something like this?"
"What?"
"The foundation of arson is to burn from the bottom up."
-Pak!
The moment those words ended, the masked figure grabbed a rope that had been tied to the roof tiles in advance and jumped down.
The masked figure Hae Ryang faced did the same.
After landing below, they each pulled another firelighter from their waists, lit them, and threw them toward the second and third floors of the building.
-Whoooosh!
The oil-soaked outer walls instantly caught fire.
The flames spread at a terrifying speed, racing up the walls.
Jin-hyeok clung to the roof tiles, his eyes filling with despair as flames surged upward.
In the end, he had failed to stop the arson.
"...W-We are finished."
Hae Ryang stared down in shock as well.
With oil soaked into it, the fire would consume the dormitory building in moments.
It was a true Fire Demon.
"Heh heh heh."
The masked figure who had faced Jin-hyeok sneered at them.
The young brats had put up a decent fight to stop them, but now they would understand the cruel reality that they could not stop this.
'More than ten years. Do you have any idea how much we prepared for this day?'
This great scheme could not be stopped by one or two green brats stepping forward.
This was only the beginning.
No matter how many survived today's Fire Demon, all of them would eventually die.
They should be grateful to die now...
-Kwaaaaaang!
At that very moment, a tremendous boom rang out.
A faint tremor ran through the ground, followed by the sound of something tearing through the air.
-Papapapapang!
The masked figure instinctively turned toward it.
Something was slicing through the night sky at an incredible speed, flying toward the roof of Northern Heaven Residence.
'W-What is that?'
It was so fast that it tore through layers of air and reached the roof of Northern Heaven Residence in an instant.
The masked figures were not the only ones to see it.
Jin-hyeok, hanging from the roof tiles, and Hae Ryang, standing there in despair, saw it too.
"Mu... Mumu?"
"Young Master Mumu?"
The one who had flown in from somewhere at incredible speed was none other than Mumu.
His muscles had swelled across his entire body, and pale steam poured from him. High above Northern Heaven Residence, Mumu clenched his fist tightly.
Then he struck downward toward Northern Heaven Residence with all his strength.
-Paaaaaaaaang!
The instant he threw his punch, something unbelievable happened.
A tremendous pressure from the wind crashed down over the entire Northern Heaven Residence from above.
The flames that had surged upward and wrapped around the building were crushed by the overwhelming wind pressure and forced downward. Sparks scattered in every direction before the flames vanished.
-Swaaaaa!
The Fire Demon had been extinguished in an instant.
The masked figures were left speechless.
They could not believe it even as they watched it happen with their own eyes.
'...What in the world was that?'
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
