WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 95: Jade Token (1)
──────
"What do you think of someone older than you?"
At times, a person's mind became overloaded regardless of their will.
That was exactly Dan Baek-yeon's state right now.
Her thoughts were popping and exploding like fireworks.
‘What did I just say?’
She had meant to thank him.
Yet the instant she saw Mumu's face, words completely unlike herself had slipped out.
It was enough to crack the image she had always maintained, the cold and composed Dan Baek-yeon known as the Northern Seas Ice Palace.
Still clutching Mumu's sleeve, Dan Baek-yeon lowered her head, her face red enough to burst.
‘...Aah.’
She had done something insane.
Mumu was her disciple, while she was a master at the academy.
Yet she had failed to control her mouth because of these feelings that made her heart pound without warning.
‘My training was lacking.’
She had no idea what to do now.
Nine-tenths of her wanted to escape this place immediately.
Still, that remaining tenth lingered.
The words may have slipped out against her will, but she was curious about what Mumu would say.
Very curious.
"Someone older?"
Mumu finally spoke.
-Thump!
Her heart raced.
The situation was awkward enough to feel strange, yet a woman's feelings stirred a small hope and expectation within her.
"What do you mean by, 'What do you think of someone older than you?'"
Mumu tilted his head.
For a moment, Dan Baek-yeon frowned and raised her head at his question.
Mumu wore an innocent, guileless expression.
The sight left her feeling oddly deflated.
He had not even understood what she meant.
‘...Right. It was far too sudden.’
She had said it without any connection to what they had been talking about, so perhaps it was only natural that he did not understand.
Still, she felt strangely annoyed.
It was as if she had gotten herself worked up all by herself.
"Phew. It was nothing..."
"Did you mean someone older in age?"
"..."
What?
He did understand what she had said?
Then why had he reacted as if he did not?
‘Wait.’
Could this child be trying to make her explain what she had meant by saying that with her own mouth?
If that was it, he was far more formidable than he looked.
Unlike Dan Baek-yeon, whose mind had become hopelessly complicated, Mumu had taken her question in a very straightforward way.
‘Is she asking what I think of older people?’
Aside from his friends, everyone around him was older than he was.
Vice-Master, Father Yu Yeop-kyung, and even his older brother Yu Jin-sung, whom he had just met.
They were all good people.
Dan Baek-yeon looked at him with an expectant gaze, and Mumu gave her a bright smile.
"I like them."
‘!!!!!!’
The instant he finished speaking, her face turned scarlet as if it would burst.
Dan Baek-yeon looked as though her soul might leave her body at any moment, and Mumu thought,
‘She looks feverish.’
"Master, are you all right?"
He reached toward her forehead.
Startled, Dan Baek-yeon hurriedly let go of his sleeve and stepped half a pace back.
‘...This is frightening. Is this the boldness of youth?’
Now that she had heard him say he liked older people, every little action of his made her more conscious of him.
What was she supposed to do with this child?
Dan Baek-yeon touched her flushed cheeks with both hands.
The sight of her looking so bashful was rather adorable. Anyone at the academy who knew her would have been stunned to see it.
‘It's hot.’
Overheated from blushing, she used the Icy Heart Sutra to summon an icy chill.
Mumu watched ice crystals form around Dan Baek-yeon's hands, then suddenly remembered something.
‘Ah!’
He grabbed her right wrist as she summoned the chill.
"Master!"
He had gripped her wrist with unintentional force, leaving Dan Baek-yeon at a complete loss.
Mumu said to her, "There's something I want to ask."
‘W-what?’
He had said he liked older people, so was he about to press her to meet with him?
He had far more drive than she had expected.
Flustered, Dan Baek-yeon waved her left hand and spoke in a shy voice.
"Y-you're moving too fast. We still..."
"I found traces that looked like the Icy Heart Sutra. Could you confirm whether I was right?"
"...Pardon?"
Had she gotten excited and run too far ahead again?
Dan Baek-yeon's face flushed red for an entirely different reason.
* * *
Hae Ryang carefully used the Hao clan's stealth movement skill, Dark Veil Steps, as he secretly tailed someone.
That person was Ha Ryun.
Having caught up to Ha Ryun as he headed for the dormitory, Hae Ryang followed with caution.
Who else among the academy cadets could be involved?
‘Heh. If I find out, that would be high-rank intelligence.’
To the Hao clan, high-rank intelligence was no different from treasure.
Even a single piece of high-rank intelligence could shake up the entire balance of power.
‘It is regrettable, but this is an investment.’
Mo Il-hwa, the daughter of the Minister of Justice. Mumu, who possessed monstrous strength no one could measure. Yu Jin-hyeok, who was as full of chivalry as his older brother, Inspector Censor Yu Jin-sung.
The three of them would one day make great names for themselves in the martial world.
‘I'll at least recover my investment, right?’
He certainly hoped so.
Still, this path...
‘Northern Heaven Residence?’
This was unexpected.
Northern Heaven Residence was the dormitory where they stayed.
They said the darkest place was beneath the lamp. It seemed an enemy had been hiding close by.
Once Ha Ryun entered the dormitory, the narrow corridors would make following him difficult. Hae Ryang wondered what to do.
‘Hm?’
Ha Ryun, who had been about to enter the dormitory, spotted someone and raised a hand in greeting.
That person was...
‘That person?’
Hae Ryang could not hide his shock when he saw them.
Could that person really be on the same side as Ha Ryun?
* * *
There was a forested hill north of Northern Heaven Residence, a short distance from the building.
Once they reached a place thick with brush and free of watching eyes, the shadowy figure stopped.
The figure leisurely turned a page in their book and spoke to Ha Ryun, who had followed behind.
"What did you want to say?"
Ha Ryun asked bluntly, "Who was the one who dealt with Young Chun, the third disciple of the Eastern River Sword Sage, in the scheme to sow discord?"
He intended to find out who it was, as ordered by the future Master.
At Ha Ryun's question, the figure leaning against the tree and turning pages answered in an indifferent voice.
"That is information you have no need to know."
It was an outright refusal.
Ha Ryun's brow twisted at those words.
Though they belonged to the same House of the Eight Villains, the Paralysis Blade Estate and Heavenly Kill Valley always acted as though they were above them.
No, they had considered themselves superior from the beginning.
"Did you call me here just because you wanted to know that? You have wasted my time."
The figure shook their head and made to leave.
Ha Ryun hurriedly spoke up.
"It is the future Master's order."
"The future Master?"
The figure stopped walking.
Without turning around, they said to Ha Ryun, "You cannot be referring to Master Heo. Are you saying you mean the future Master?"
Ha Ryun smiled.
"Who else could I mean by that in the current situation?"
‘You thought only you lot could contact the future Master? Sorry, but that is no longer the case.’
No matter if this person was a successor of the Paralysis Blade Estate, they could not refuse the future Master's order.
The figure closed the book they had been reading.
"You... do you know who the future Master is?"
"Is that not obvious? I have already met the future Master several times. Did you think I would still not know even that..."
-Swish!
Before Ha Ryun could finish speaking, the figure appeared behind him and grabbed the back of his neck.
Their grip made it clear that a slight movement would be enough to snap it.
"W-what are you doing?"
Ha Ryun protested in alarm.
The figure answered in a voice filled with killing intent.
"Who are you trying to deceive?"
"Deceive? What are you talking about?"
"The future Master told you to find out who dealt with Young Chun? Even your little scheme has gone wrong."
-Grab!
Pain shot through the back of Ha Ryun's neck as if it might break at any moment.
Unable to endure it any longer, Ha Ryun summoned protective rebounding ki and twisted his body in an instant, kicking at the figure's face.
But...
-Boom!
In the blink of an eye, Ha Ryun was slammed onto the ground.
The figure used a grappling hold to seize the leg he had thrown out and drove him into the ground.
His groin felt as if it might split apart.
"Ggh..."
"You must have recognized the gap between us. How foolish."
Unable to contain his rage at the figure's mocking voice, Ha Ryun shouted, "Damn it! The future Master gave the order, and you still doubt..."
-Smack!
The figure stomped on Ha Ryun's shoulder, cutting him off.
"Your question is wrong for one fundamental reason. The one who personally dealt with Young Chun, the Eastern River Sword Sage's third disciple, was the future Master."
‘!?’
Ha Ryun's eyes shook.
What was that supposed to mean?
The future Master had personally dealt with Young Chun, the Eastern River Sword Sage's third disciple?
Ha Ryun's mind became tangled.
‘What?’
This made no sense.
Another contradiction had appeared.
The last time, he had found it strange when the future Master identified Mumu as an enemy and said he was the person they needed to watch most closely.
Now it was happening again.
‘The future Master told me to find out who killed Young Chun, but the future Master killed him?’
Had the future Master not told him to investigate something they had done personally?
Ha Ryun was completely confused.
Mumu was clearly the future Master.
"That cannot be. The future Master definitely has the Jade Medallion..."
Before he could finish, the figure seized Ha Ryun by the collar and lifted him up.
Then, with a strange gleam in their eyes, they said, "I thought so. Have you met the owner of another Jade Medallion?"
"Pardon?"
What did that mean now?
Before Ha Ryun could understand the words...
"I should deal with the rat first."
"The rat?"
"Why do you think I led you here instead of meeting in the dormitory room?"
-Swish!
The figure holding Ha Ryun by the collar vanished, leaving behind a faint afterimage.
It was Extreme Swiftness.
In an instant, the figure crossed more than ten jang and swung their sword at someone hiding in the brush high in a tree.
-Slash!
The sword split the brush like lightning, and blood sprayed from the spot.
A figure flew backward from there.
It was none other than Hae Ryang.
He had failed to avoid the strike completely in that brief instant. A long gash ran from his chest to his abdomen, and blood scattered everywhere.
"Hae Ryang... so it was a Hao clan brat."
"Y-you were using Ha Ryun as bait after all."
The figure sneered at Hae Ryang, whose face had gone pale from blood loss.
"If you knew that, you should have run."
"Cough, cough."
"Every last one of you Hao clan vermin is the same."
They were fools who threw away their lives for even the smallest piece of information.
Killing this Hao clan brat would at least let the figure vent some of their anger toward those who had obstructed the Grand Plan.
The figure raised their sword.
"A rat like you has served your purpose. Die..."
"Ah, Young Master Mumu!"
At that moment, Hae Ryang looked behind the figure's left side and shouted with a bright expression.
-Flinch!
The figure hurriedly spun around and swung their sword behind them.
But...
‘!?’
There was no one there.
Not even the slightest presence.
‘You bastard!’
Realizing they had been fooled, the figure swung their sword in fury.
-Slash!
"Have some of this!"
Hae Ryang flew backward, barely avoiding the blade as he threw something at the figure's face.
‘Hmph!’
The figure, possessing astonishing reflexes, snorted and tilted their head back to easily avoid it.
Then...
-Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Bang!
"Ghk!"
What Hae Ryang had thrown exploded repeatedly before the figure's eyes.
At the same time, Hae Ryang used his movement skill and fled like his life depended on it.
‘Why would I die? I am going to live a long life.’
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
