WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 78: The Hidden Card (2)
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-Murmur!
The area erupted into an uproar.
It shocked everyone as much as the dormitory arson had.
Even Do Yang-woon, who had been struggling to understand what was going on, stiffened for a moment.
"What?"
Hong Hye-ryeong looked at Master Yeon Cheong-ha, one of the Six Stars of Heaven, with trembling eyes.
What was this supposed to mean?
She was suspected of murdering Young Chun?
"......What do you mean? Are you saying Young Chun is dead?"
"You heard correctly. Submit to custody without resistance."
"That makes no sense. Young Chun was perfectly fine until our sparring match. How could he..."
She could not accept it.
Young Chun, the third disciple of the Eastern River Sword Sage, one of the Four Immortal Masters, had been alive and well just moments ago.
He had suffered an internal injury during their sparring match, but it had only been minor. A little ki circulation would have been enough to heal it.
Yet he had suddenly died. She could not make sense of it.
"I did not kill Young Chun."
Master Yeon Cheong-ha replied in an icy voice.
"The fatal blade wound on the body, one that looked as though it had been seared by flames, could only have been left by the Flame Shadow Great Rift Blade. Furthermore, the floor leaders of both Southern Blade Residence and Eastern River Residence know that you two planned to spar in the Special Training Hall after roll call. Can you deny it?"
Hong Hye-ryeong furrowed her brow.
"The latter is true, but the former cannot be. I would never inflict a fatal..."
"At this point, the masters who examined the body and the scene agree that you appear to have driven your sparring opponent to death. Rather than denying it like this, it would be better for you to come to the Discipline Bureau and explain what happened."
"......"
Hong Hye-ryeong fell silent.
The matter had already grown far too large.
The cadets gathered around them murmured as they watched her with suspicious eyes.
Some already looked at her as though she were a murderer.
'......I could do without this kind of attention.'
She liked being noticed, but she did not want looks like these.
Blood trickled from the lower lip she was biting.
She glanced at Mumu.
She had been planning to thank him, even if she had to swallow her embarrassment, yet now he was seeing her like this.
It bothered her for no reason.
"......If nothing has been decided for certain yet, I'll go on my own."
"Very well."
Hong Hye-ryeong was eventually led away, surrounded by Discipline Bureau warriors.
The cadets watching her continued to murmur.
They were less interested in the accusation that she had killed her sparring opponent than in something else.
"Hey. Isn't this getting seriously bad?"
"Young Chun was that third disciple of the Eastern River Sword Sage, right?"
"One wrong move and this could turn the entire academy upside down."
Mumu tilted his head at their chatter.
Someone had died, but why was everyone making such a fuss over it?
Was it really that serious?
Ki Ma-jin muttered just like the others.
"This is a huge problem."
"Why? Sparring is a contest between two people. If someone's unlucky, couldn't something like that happen?"
Mumu could understand it well enough.
After all, he often failed to control his strength and sent seniors and fellow cadets to the infirmary.
Ki Ma-jin shook his head.
"......If Young Chun really died at the hands of that junior, Hong Hye-ryeong, this may not end simply."
"Why not?"
Ki Ma-jin looked at Mumu as though he could not believe Mumu had to ask.
Something had happened during a sparring match between cadets, so Mumu could not understand why it was such a major issue.
Ki Ma-jin spoke in frustration.
"Hey, are you seriously asking because you don't know? He's the Eastern River Sword Sage's disciple. The Eastern River Sword Sage."
"So what?"
"Wow... How did you even end up getting into this academy?"
"It just happened."
"Yeah. That sounds about right."
Clicking his tongue, Ki Ma-jin lowered his voice.
"No matter that this is an academy and everyone here is a cadet, we're all martial artists with affiliations of our own."
"Affiliations?"
"Take the Nine Sects and One Clan or the Six Great Families, for example. You're part of the Yu Clan too."
"Oh... right."
"No one is likely to mess with a monster like you, but let's say it happened. If you were unlucky and died at someone else's hands during a sparring match, would your Clan just let it go?"
"They wouldn't."
"Exactly. Whether it was an accident or not, someone affiliated with a martial clan has now died at another person's hands."
Mumu finally seemed to understand and nodded.
Looking beyond the incident itself and considering the connections involved, it really could become a serious matter.
Ki Ma-jin clicked his tongue.
"Regardless of justice or evil, no one cares more about debts and grudges than martial artists."
"Is that so?"
"Even if it happened within the academy during a fair sparring match, people's feelings do not work that way. It does not matter whether they were former comrades or simply people who knew each other."
Do Yang-woon, who had been wearing a grave expression throughout the conversation, had a flicker in his eyes.
The dormitory arson had distracted him from it, but something about this was far too coincidental.
'......Strange. Why did the successors of two Four Immortal Masters happen to fight at similar times on the same day?'
After Hong Hye-ryeong was taken to the Discipline Bureau, Do Yang-woon's thoughts became tangled.
He had also fought Gu Yang Seo-han, the grandson of the Western Wind Lone Angle.
During that fight, Gu Yang Seo-han had suddenly tried to kill him. Mumu and Ki Ma-jin had helped him escape the danger.
'I was already worried that reporting Gu Yang Seo-han's suicide with Bone-Dissolving Powder to the main building would make things worse, and now Junior Sister Hong has been caught up in this too.'
Do Yang-woon was concerned.
If he reported what happened to the main building or his assigned master, the situation seemed likely to grow even bigger.
Unlike Hong Hye-ryeong, Mumu and Ki Ma-jin could testify for him, so there would be no problem under academy regulations.
Still, as Ki Ma-jin had said, the problem was that people's feelings did not follow regulations.
Mumu casually said to Ki Ma-jin, "So you're saying that the Eastern River Sword Sage might get angry at Hong Hye-ryeong for possibly killing his disciple and try to take revenge."
"Shh! Don't say that so openly!"
Ki Ma-jin hurriedly tried to stop him.
"Why?"
"What do you mean, why? Do you have any idea how serious this is? It could lead to a massive conflict between the Four Immortal Masters."
Everyone was murmuring, but nobody was speaking openly because this could easily lead to hostility between the Four Immortal Masters, the pinnacle of the current martial world.
An incident like this between ordinary martial clans would already cause an uproar. A conflict between the Four Immortal Masters would be on another level entirely.
"Is it such a big deal if those people fight each other?"
"Wow... You really don't know anything."
Ki Ma-jin found Mumu incredible.
He had never seen anyone who knew so little about the martial world while attending an academy that trained rising talents of the martial world.
"Do you have any idea how much influence the Four Immortal Masters have over the martial world? If even two of them came into conflict, it might not stop at the academy. The whole martial world could be thrown into chaos."
Do Yang-woon's eyes widened at Ki Ma-jin's words.
'How could this be?'
Do Yang-woon could no longer believe this was a simple matter.
In a single night, the successors of two Four Immortal Masters had faced death.
In the worst case, as Ki Ma-jin said, it could lead to a confrontation between the Four Immortal Masters.
'It was strange that Seo-han tried to kill me. Could it be...'
Mumu pointed somewhere.
"Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
Ki Ma-jin looked where Mumu was pointing.
The moment Ki Ma-jin saw it, his eyes widened too.
Their reactions made Do Yang-woon unconsciously turn to look in the same direction.
Then,
'!?'
For a moment, Do Yang-woon could not believe his eyes.
'Gu Yang Seo-han?'
Gu Yang Seo-han was there.
Hadn't his body melted away from Bone-Dissolving Powder right in front of them?
Yet Gu Yang Seo-han was not only alive and well, he was arguing with his twin younger sister, Gu Yang Seo-rin.
'What in the world?'
* * *
In the basement of a building to the right of the academy's main building, Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu let out a frustrated sigh inside a holding cell.
"Whew."
There was only one reason he was so frustrated.
He had fallen into a trap, been framed, and locked up here.
He was not simply imprisoned, either. The Golden Gate Locks had sealed his seven great gates, leaving him unable to use even his internal energy.
'Ha... To think this Vice-Master would be caught like this.'
It was absurd.
He had never imagined that Sa Mu-heo would kill Elder Hang Yeon, the head manager of the Changcheon Martial Archive, by imitating Dan Pil-hu's blade art.
Sa Mu-heo was a crafty bastard.
Back when Dan Pil-hu worked in the Martial World Association's Audit Department, he had handled similar cases. Still, he had not expected Sa Mu-heo to use the stratagem of Raise a Clamor in the East, Strike in the West, then lay another trap on top of it.
'......I thought he was only shameless, but he's skilled at schemes too?'
Sa Mu-heo had anticipated even how Dan Pil-hu would react and arranged the board accordingly.
He was a more troublesome opponent than expected.
No, this might be an extremely serious matter.
From what Dan Pil-hu had heard, Sa Mu-heo had set fire to the dormitories and tried to kill every cadet in the academy.
It went beyond the level of a simple diversionary strategy.
'I cannot stay locked up here.'
He needed to catch that bastard Sa Mu-heo and beat the truth out of him at once.
Sa Mu-heo was the true mastermind behind this incident.
The more time passed, the more anxious Dan Pil-hu became.
"Master Baek."
Dan Pil-hu spoke to Baek Woo-gi, one of the Six Stars of Heaven, who sat across the table wearing a pure white mask.
"Will you reveal the truth now?"
"As I kept saying, all of this is a trap laid by that bastard Sa Mu-heo," Dan Pil-hu said.
Baek Woo-gi sighed at Dan Pil-hu's words.
Throughout the interrogation, Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu had given the same statement.
He claimed that Sa Mu-heo, one of the Six Stars of Heaven, was behind everything, and that even the dormitory arson was part of the same connected incident.
"Vice-Master. A victim giving a consistent statement would be one thing, but do you believe a prime suspect repeating the same story without evidence can clear their own name?"
"That nonsense about consistent statements only being allowed for victims!"
Dan Pil-hu could not hide his frustration at Baek Woo-gi's words.
If he could gather evidence himself, that would be one thing, but clearing suspicion through testimony alone was not easy.
What made it even harder to prove his innocence was that this concerned the lives of Elder Hang Yeon, the Changcheon Martial Archive's manager, and all the academy cadets.
"Then let me confront that bastard Sa Mu-heo, or at least allow me to meet with the assistants who were in my office."
"I'm sorry, but I cannot do that. The investigation into your office, residence, and associates has not been completed yet."
"Are you worried that this Vice-Master might try to destroy evidence?"
"......I cannot deny it."
"This is driving me mad. Master Baek, I've said it repeatedly, but why would someone who has served as Vice-Master for so long sacrifice academy cadets to covet the treasures of the underground archive?"
"Vice-Master, by that same logic, Sa Mu-heo, who has served as a Special Master Grade instructor for eight years, cannot be the one behind all this as you claim."
Dan Pil-hu felt irritation rise within him.
He wanted to overturn the table, but with his seven great gates sealed, he could not.
And at a time like this, he needed to remain calm.
"......This Vice-Master's statement remains unchanged."
'I need to buy as much time as possible.'
If all the charges were finalized, he would become a villain who had sought treasure badly enough to kill every academy cadet and Elder Hang Yeon.
At this point, all he could trust were his secret operatives.
"......"
Baek Woo-gi silently watched him, then rose from their seat.
"We'll end the afternoon interrogation here. I'll see you again for the evening interrogation."
The long afternoon interrogation had ended.
Once Baek Woo-gi left, Dan Pil-hu remained alone in the holding cell. Leaning back in his chair, he muttered bitterly.
"Damn, this is lonely."
* * *
Due to the many incidents that had occurred the night before, Changcheon Martial Academy was in complete disarray.
The atmosphere was far from normal.
Warriors from the Discipline Bureau and Audit Department were moving about everywhere, causing no small commotion.
As a result, most elective classes other than the academy's required courses had been temporarily canceled.
The academy was busy conducting its own internal investigation, leaving most cadets with open schedules and free afternoons.
Mumu had nothing scheduled that afternoon, so he was passing the time with his friends, eating snacks in the rear garden of one of the academy buildings.
Mo Il-hwa grumbled.
"We can't even enter the dormitory grounds. The Changcheon Martial Archive is off-limits too, and so are the personal training halls. There's nowhere to go."
"This will probably continue for a few days. Munch."
Hae Ryang answered her complaint while stuffing a rice cake dusted in soybean powder into his mouth.
In truth, no one knew how long the current situation would last.
The incident within the academy had been that serious.
"If they're unlucky, they might temporarily close the entire academy, not just cancel classes."
"What? Close it?"
"Yes. It's entirely possible."
"Why?"
"All the academy cadets nearly died. If this had been a simple accident or an outside intrusion, that would be one thing, but it was caused by infiltrators within the academy. That makes the situation serious."
Jin-hyeok nodded, apparently agreeing.
Four of the culprits had been academy masters.
One had even been a dorm parent.
It did not seem to have been publicly proclaimed yet, but once word spread, protests against Changcheon Martial Academy could pour in.
"And since the true mastermind has not been identified yet, isn't that even more likely?"
"Close the academy? That would be troublesome."
Mumu said this as he held a rice cake.
If the academy closed, he would not be able to achieve his goal of placing among the top three at graduation, building his reputation, and finding his parents.
Mo Il-hwa waved a hand at him.
"Come on. It would be hard for it to go that far."
"Why would it be hard?"
"Like Hae Ryang said, if this was caused by infiltrators within the academy and the mastermind is still inside, they cannot close the academy. They would never catch the culprit that way."
"Ah... That makes sense too."
Hae Ryang nodded, agreeing with Mo Il-hwa.
If the academy simply closed because of this incident, it could become even harder to uncover the mastermind.
Mo Il-hwa stared at Mumu.
"Ugh. Couldn't you have left one or two of those arsonists alive?"
"Ah... right."
Mumu scratched his head.
At the time, all he had thought about was dealing with them quickly to keep everyone safe.
He had not expected it to lead to something this serious.
"Miss Mo, Mumu may have made the right decision yesterday."
Jin-hyeok spoke in Mumu's defense.
"Why?"
"The arsonists used a strange method. Their Force of ki suddenly surged. If anyone had let their guard down, it would not have been strange for someone to die."
"Young Master Jin-hyeok is right."
Hae Ryang agreed as well.
If not for Mumu, someone might have been hurt instead.
That someone might even have been Hae Ryang.
They continued discussing what had happened the previous night for some time.
-Tap!
Then someone lightly bumped Mumu's back as they passed.
They were not the only people in the rear garden, and there were many cadets around, so he did not think much of it. Then he noticed something had fallen behind him.
It was a folded piece of paper.
Mumu picked it up and unfolded it.
'Huh?'
* * *
In a deserted alley between academy buildings, not far from the rear garden, Mumu stepped inside.
A man stood in a spot hidden among the shadows.
Mumu held up the note and said, "I don't know who you are, but you don't look like the Vice-Master."
The note had listed this location and the name Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu.
Yet this man was not the Vice-Master.
The man suddenly dropped to both knees before Mumu.
"......What are you doing?"
The man answered in a determined voice.
"Young Master Mumu. Please help the Vice-Master."
Footnotes:
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