Chapter 28
Entrance Ceremony (2)
‘I’m going crazy.’
Below the podium, Mumu bowed his head, looking apologetic.
Seeing Mumu like this, Dan Pil-hu was at a complete loss.
To any other observer, it would have looked like he was scolding the boy, but the reality was completely different.
He had wondered who laughed, but after realizing it was this guy, he couldn’t say a single word.
‘Is this guy actually cunning?’
When Mumu put on a sullen expression, the female new students in the front row started whispering, “Oh my, oh my,” covering their mouths with their hands, their faces filled with pity.
This made it look like he was bullying an innocent child.
It was utterly absurd.
‘…….I can’t even really scold him for this.’
Dan Pil-hu was the only one who knew Mumu’s true nature.
He didn’t want to rashly provoke the boy and sour their relationship for no reason.
In the end, Dan Pil-hu’s choice was simple.
He relaxed his face, which he had hardened as if to get angry, and spoke with a benevolent expression.
“Ahem. No matter the situation, it is not right to laugh while an esteemed elder of the academy is giving an instructive speech. Do you understand?”
He said it in a chiding tone, careful not to lose face.
This way, he could paint a somewhat generous picture and avoid getting on that guy Mumu’s bad side.
“Now, you may return to your seat.”
“Yes.”
At this rate, it wouldn’t seem like he was completely flustered by the guy.
Unaware of Dan Pil-hu’s inner thoughts, Mumu said, “I’m sorry for laughing,” and bowed his head politely.
‘This bastard… is he messing with me on purpose?’
He looked simple-minded, but he had a knack for putting people in awkward situations.
Though burning rage seethed inside him, there was nothing he could do, so Dan Pil-hu forced a smile and gestured for Mumu to kindly return to his seat.
There was someone watching Mumu intently.
‘Is that the one?’
Last night, he had reviewed the new students’ entrance exam reports.
While mainly looking over the successors of the two Great Grandmasters and some guys from famous martial families, he saw a shocking result.
It was a report stating that someone had passed without any martial arts.
Indeed, even when he tried to sense with his Ki Sense, he felt no particular aura.
Thinking he might be a hidden master, he checked to see if his temples were bulging, but they were perfectly ordinary.
‘Hmm.’
He was a guy he didn’t know how to judge.
For the sake of the grand plan in the future, there could be no variables, so anyone who could be even a slight hindrance had to be thoroughly eliminated.
‘Should I test him?’
The being watching Mumu quietly extended a finger while clasping his hands behind his back.
Profound True Ki began to gather at the tip of his finger.
‘Soft Line Finger Flicking Art (柔線彈指功).’
With his Unique Finger Flicking Divine Art, he could snipe a target from a position they wouldn’t even know it came from.
Penetrating Mumu’s head would be a simple matter.
However, he soon lowered the finger he was about to flick.
It was not yet time.
There was no need to overreach by testing a mere academy student who had just enrolled.
‘…….I should have those kids test him.’
He judged it would be more effective to move those guys who were in the same position as academy students.
Meanwhile, unlike him, there was another gaze watching Mumu with interest.
He was the Head of the Changcheon Martial Arts Academy, the Heavy Sword Great Hero Do Jeong-myeong.
‘Is that child the one?’
He had been quite surprised after seeing the Head Supervisor’s report.
Not only did he pass all the entrance exams with mere muscle strength, but he also achieved almost overwhelming results.
It was an unprecedented event since the founding of the Changcheon Martial Arts Academy.
‘He’s so different from how he looks.’
Looking at his every action and expression, he seemed very simple-minded.
And yet, to pass the notoriously difficult entrance exam with pure physical ability alone…
‘Could that child be him?’
As it happened, there was an applicant that ‘That Person’ had taken note of.
He had brushed it off at the time, but the remark that even his own grandchildren should be nervous had been weighing on his mind.
Those grandchildren were prodigies within the top five at the current Changcheon Martial Arts Academy.
There was no way ‘That Person’ would have said such a thing in vain.
‘I’ll know once I see.’
For now, he couldn’t be sure if that child was the one.
He was a peculiar type, but it would not be an easy task to follow the Changcheon Martial Arts Academy’s regular curriculum with absolutely no martial arts.
He may have managed to enroll, but he could fail to endure the process and be weeded out.
‘I will watch to see if you can truly keep up without even a foundation in martial arts.’
“Hey. What kind of disciplinary action is this?”
Mo Il-hwa whispered to Mumu, looking utterly dumbfounded.
It was a good thing the entrance ceremony was still in progress; otherwise, she would have raised her voice.
The reason for her reaction was the announcement of the entrance exam’s top-ranking successful entrants and their certificates.
After the long-winded history, origin, and instructive speech from Vice-Chief Dan Pil-hu, Baek U-gi, the Head Supervisor of this year’s entrance exam, came out and made the announcement.
There were a total of twelve people receiving certificates.
But Mumu was not on that list.
“Aren’t you furious? After you tore off the castle gate and caused all that chaos, shouldn’t you be the top student?”
Mo Il-hwa had naturally assumed Mumu would be the top student.
If there were no anomalies.
However, as a penalty for delaying the entrance exam, Mumu’s disciplinary action was decided: he would not receive the certificate of merit and benefits given to the top-ranking students.
Regarding this, Head Supervisor Baek U-gi had spoken to Mumu last night.
[The final acceptance or expulsion is something I can decide as the Head Supervisor, but the disciplinary action itself is unavoidable.]
Many complaints had already been filed with the academy, and the decision was made to avoid giving the impression of showing favoritism to one applicant.
“Ugh, I can’t stand the sight of her.”
Thanks to this, the top student spot was taken by Hong Hye-ryeong, the daughter of one of the Four Great Grandmasters, the Southern Blade Imperial Uncle.
“I’m fine with it.”
Mumu said with a bright face, as if it were nothing.
His expression made her feel utter frustration.
“Well, I’m not fine with it. I hate seeing that girl’s smug and triumphant look!”
In fact, this was the real reason.
Seeing Hong Hye-ryeong on the podium, holding the Top Student Certificate and receiving the applause of the new students, made her stomach twist.
To her sharp eyes, she looked like nothing more than an attention seeker.
Mo Il-hwa clicked her tongue for a while before saying to Mumu.
“You can’t get by being too nice. Remember what this noona is telling you.”
“Okay. I will.”
“By the way, how did he manage to be included in the twelve?”
Yu Jin-hyeok was among the top 12 on the podium.
Except for the top student, the exact rank of the others wasn’t announced, so their precise standing among themselves was unknown, but just being included was a great achievement.
However, Jin-hyeok, standing on the podium, couldn’t easily enjoy this glory.
It was because of Hong Hye-ryeong’s piercing gaze.
Despite having received the Top Student Certificate, she wasn’t enjoying the moment as she usually would.
If the rumors were true, the top student should have been that guy, ‘Yu Jin-seong’s younger brother’, not her. She had taken his spot.
It was probably the result of the disciplinary action for delaying the entrance ceremony.
‘…….Next time, I’ll definitely beat you.’
Her burning determination was clearly conveyed through her gaze.
For Jin-hyeok, it was an extremely awkward situation.
But the gazes of the male new students in front of the podium were all burning with intensity.
‘What is this?’
Their gazes were close to jealousy.
When he looked, thinking ‘surely not,’ he saw them glancing back and forth between Hong Hye-ryeong and himself.
It seemed they thought he was receiving her attention.
‘……I don’t even know anymore.’
They were so quick to misunderstand things that he felt like he was gradually getting used to this kind of situation.
Actually, other things were on his mind.
The eleven other top successful candidates on the podium with him.
‘They’re strong.’
The auras he could faintly sense all surpassed his own.
Looking at them, it seemed he was at the lowest seat among them.
‘This won’t be easy.’
He had to compete against them and win.
The looks they exchanged with each other were filled with fighting spirit.
But perhaps his greatest opponent wasn’t any of them.
Jin-hyeok’s eyes fell on Mumu, who was waving at him with a bright, innocent face.
With Head of the Academy Do Jeong-myeong’s Entrance Ceremony Congratulatory Address, the entrance ceremony event came to a close.
The next event was the official dormitory assignment.
For the dormitory assignment, the new students moved from the Grand Auditorium to the dormitory site.
Unlike the buildings used for temporary lodging, a separate dormitory site was prepared within the vast grounds of the Changcheon Martial Arts Academy.
Before entering the dormitory site, there was a large plaza.
From the center of the plaza, paths branched out in four directions—north, south, east, and west. At the front of each path stood a large pavilion and stone statues as large as two-story houses.
“Wow! Are those the famous statues of the Four Dormitories?”
“I guess so. They’re amazing!”
The new students let out cries of admiration as they looked at the stone statues.
At this sight, Mo Il-hwa asked Jin-hyeok, puzzled.
“Statues of the Four Dormitories? What’s that?”
“I don’t know either.”
Unfortunately, Jin-hyeok’s hyung, Yu Jin-seong, had really told him nothing about the Changcheon Martial Arts Academy.
However, he could guess who the large stone statues, standing facing each other from the north, south, east, and west, were modeled after.
“The Four Great Grandmasters?”
The stone statue in the south, holding a large saber, was surely the Southern Blade Imperial Uncle.
The one in the north, with a determined expression in a Fist Master’s opening stance, was the Northern Heaven Fist Hero. The statue in the east with its eyes closed, its sword half-drawn, was the Eastern River Sword Saint, and finally, the one with a blindfold over its left eye, one leg lifted diagonally, was definitely the West Wind Poison Kick.
“Can’t they just be called the statues of the Four Great Grandmasters? What’s with the ‘Four Great Dormitories’?”
As Mo Il-hwa wondered about this, someone approached and said.
“The Four Great Dormitories refers to the four dormitories that the Changcheon Martial Arts Academy prides itself on. To honor the Four Great Grandmasters, the dormitories were named using the first two characters of their martial titles. Those are the Southern Blade Hall, the North Heaven Hall, the East River Hall, and the West Wind Hall. The reason these Four Great Dormitories became famous is…”
“Oh? Haeryang!”
The slit-eyed boy who appeared before them was Haeryang of the Haomun Information Sect.
They hadn’t seen him since being assigned to their temporary lodging.
Haeryang greeted Mumu, Mo Il-hwa, and Jin-hyeok with a fist and palm salute.
“It is a pleasure to see the three of you again as new students.”
“Good to see you!”
At Mumu’s friendly greeting, Haeryang showed a familiarity he hadn’t before and said.
“Young Master Mumu. I did not recognize you before, but your martial prowess seems truly incredible.”
After witnessing him tear off the gate of the fortress, Haeryang’s opinion had changed.
He thought that Mumu might one day become his best customer.
So he figured that if he got close to him now and invested generously, he could reap a double reward in the future.
“Hey. Haeryang. You should finish your explanation.”
Mo Il-hwa pointed at the stone statues and said to Haeryang.
“Ah. Miss Mo. What are you curious about?”
“What’s the reason they became famous?”
“It’s because of the tournament between the four dormitories. It’s a type of competition.”
“They hold a competition between the dorms?”
“Yes. It’s a tradition that has been passed down for over a decade. The reason these four dormitories were founded was to foster mentorship between seniors and juniors, and also to promote teamwork through group competition.”
“Do they really need to do all that?”
“I hear the benefits are quite substantial.”
“Benefits?”
“Yes. If a dorm wins the quarterly dormitory tournament, the Changcheon Martial Arts Academy provides benefits like elixirs, and it’s also reflected in personal grades.”
“Grades! Really?”
At Haeryang’s words, Mo Il-hwa’s eyes lit up.
Seeing this, Haeryang smiled and said.
“So they say that choosing the right dormitory is a big task in itself.”
Understanding this point, Jin-hyeok also nodded.
Certainly, if the dormitories competed against each other, entering a superior one would be advantageous for one’s personal grades.
Mo Il-hwa pulled a silver coin from her bosom and whispered to Haeryang in a secretive voice.
“You know which dormitory is most advantageous, don’t you?”
At her words, Haeryang waved his hands in denial.
“Oh, please put that away. This isn’t exactly a valuable piece of information.”
“Really? Then tell me.”
“Currently, the most famous dormitories are, of course, North Heaven Hall and West Wind Hall.”
“Why?”
“Because the successors of the Northern Heaven Fist Hero and the West Wind Poison Kick have entered them. Because of that, I hear that last year was a monopoly by North Heaven Hall and West Wind Hall.”
A considerable number of the successful new students already knew this fact.
That’s why he said it wasn’t a valuable piece of information.
“Then it would be advantageous to enter one of those two?”
“That may be true, but it’s not necessarily the case, as this year, the successors of the Southern Blade Imperial Uncle and the Eastern River Sword Saint have also entered, so I predict the situation will be a little different.”
“Ah… that’s right.”
The successors of those two Great Grandmasters would surely try to enter the Southern Blade Hall and the East River Hall.
If that happened, as Haeryang said, the balance between the four places would become tense.
Mo Il-hwa, twisting her hair in thought, pursed her lips and then said to Haeryang with a triumphant air.
“Then the side I go to will be the advantageous one.”
“Pardon? Why is that?”
“It’s true. These guys will definitely follow me to whichever dormitory I choose. Right?”
“Well…”
Jin-hyeok did not deny her words.
“Right, Mumu?”
“Yeah. I’ll go to the same dormitory as Il-hwa.”
“See?”
Because Mo Il-hwa’s father, Minister of Punishments Mo Yun, had asked them to look after her, the two of them intended to enter the same dormitory if possible.
‘Hoh.’
At Mo Il-hwa’s words, Haeryang’s mind started turning.
With Jin-hyeok, who was among the top twelve in the entrance exam, and Mumu’s ridiculous monstrous strength, they would likely act as a significant variable in the dormitory tournament.
Haeryang’s slit eyes glittered as he looked at Mo Il-hwa.
‘She’s the real power here.’
At that, Haeryang rubbed his hands together and said to Mo Il-hwa.
“Hehe. Young Lady. Might I place a foot on that carriage as well? This Haeryang will provide you with useful information.”
