Chapter 77 - Hidden Card (2)

Published on

Jul 9, 2022

•12 min read•1609 views

Whisper!

The surroundings had turned noisy.

This news shocked everyone as much as the arson incident. Even Do Yang-woon who was struggling to understand became shocked.

“Uh?”

At the words of master Yeon Cheong-ha, Hong Hye-ryeong looked a bit taken aback.

What is this? Young Chung’s murder?

“… what is this? If it’s being called a murder then you are telling us that Young Chun died?”

“It is as you heard. Please come peacefully.”

“It makes no sense. Why is Young Chun, who was fine until practice…”

It was difficult for her to understand, that the third disciple of the East River Blade, one of the Four Great Warriors was dead.

Of course, he had suffered internal wounds with the spar from her but they were minor. It was possible to treat them with proper cultivation.

But he died?

“I didn’t kill him.”

At her words, Yeong Cheong-ha spoke in a cold tone.

“The child, who is now dead, has traces of something that only the fire energy cultivators can do. And all the floor leaders of your dorm knew that you were both sparring after the roll call, are you going to deny that?”

Hong Hye-ryeong frowned at this,

“The latter is true, but the former, I would not…”

“Miss, every single master in the academy has checked the body and has come to the same conclusion. Rather than denying it, it would be better for you to come and explain what happened.”

“…”

At her words, Hong Hye-ryeong went silent. Things were turning into a mess. The students who were gathering were looking at her and whispering things.

No, most of them decided that she was a murderer.

‘… these kinds of things tend to happen.’

No matter how much she liked the attention, she didn’t like these kinds of gazes. She bit her lip enough to bleed.

She glanced at Mumu. She was going to thank him, but now he was going to see this horrible sight. She was worried.

“… since nothing is certain, I will come.”

“Sure.”

In the end, Hong Hye-ryeong was escorted out as she was surrounded by the warriors and everyone was talking about it.

“Yah. Isn’t this a huge deal?”

“The third disciple of the East River Sword!”

“The academy will get destroyed if they do something wrong.”

Mumu titled his head wondering if he was hearing nonsense. They said someone was dead so why were people showing this much interest?

Was it a huge deal? At that time, Ki Majin mumbled,

“This is bad.”

“What? If it was a spar, they were fighting. What can they do if he wasn’t lucky?”

Mumu could understand this, sometimes he failed to control the power and often sent his seniors or others to the infirmary.

Ki Majin shook his head.

“… Young Chun died at the hands of someone younger, that too being Hong Hye-ryeong, this isn’t some simple thing.”

“Why?”

Ki Majin wasn’t sure how to react to Mumu. It seems like the incident with the students was something Mumu didn’t seem to understand which frustrated him, so he snapped back,

“Yah. You don’t know? He is the third disciple of East River Sword. East River Sword!”

“So what?”

“Uh… how did you even enter the academy?”

“Just normally.”

“Right. Right.”

Ki Majin calmed himself and said.

“Even though this is an academy where everyone is equally students, all the warriors have their own affiliations and backgrounds.”

“Affiliations?”

“Yeah, like the typical Nine Great Sects One union. And the family one belongs to.”

“Oh… right.”

“No one will ever harm a monster like you. If you are unlucky and something happens to someone else with a good family, do you think the family will let it pass?”

“They won’t.”

“Right. That is it. Whether it be a mistake or intentional. A member of a clan is dead at someone else’s hand.”

Mumu nodded like he understood these words. Obviously, if one looked at the situation from how Ki Majin spoke, then this was a huge thing.

Ki Majin clicked his tongue and said,

“There is no other place that values relationships between family members like murim.”

“Is that so?”

“Even if it happened within the academy and even if it was a fair situation, people will not just let it go. Let it be friends or acquaintances from the past.”

At those words, Do Yang-woon who had a serious expression shook his head. There was the arson incident and something else he had overlooked.

‘.. it is strange. I too was fighting with another of the Four Great Warriors at the same time?’

After Hong Hye-ryeong was taken, Do Yang-woon was confused.

He was sparring with Guyang Seohan. Along the way, the man had tried to kill Mumu and him. Ki Majin had ended up helping them out.

‘Anyway, I was worried things would get worse if I was reported on what happened with Guyang Seohan committing suicide.’

Do Yang-woon was concerned. It seemed that the situation would worsen if they reported him. and unlike Hong Hye-ryeong, he had to have Mumu and Ki Majin as witnesses.

In words that shouldn’t be a problem, but as Ki Majin had said, humans are difficult.

“So, what the senior is saying that the East River Sword might be angry with Hong Hye-ryeong who might have killed his disciple and seek revenge?”

“Shh! You’re speaking too loudly!”

Ki Majin was startled at how normally Mumu spoke.

“Why?”

“Why? Don’t you realize how huge this is? It is a situation where the Four Great Warriors might come to feud!”

Everyone was talking but no one was speaking out because if something wrong was said or done, the Four Great Warriors would have a feud.

Usually, even if this happens between the sects, it turns into a noisy event, but now this was happening with their direct disciples.

“Is it a huge deal if they fight?”

“Wow… you really know nothing.’

Ki Majin thought Mumu was great but now that he came to know him more clearly, he seemed like someone who didn’t know the workings of murim.

“Don’t you know how great the influence of those four is? If two of them are in fights then the whole murim could be turned over!”

At Ki Majin’s words, Do Yang-woon’s eyes widened.

‘No!’

Do Yang-woon knew this was no simple matter. One night, two disciples of the Four Great Warriors had died.

In the worst case, the confrontation which Ki Majin was speaking of could happen.

‘It is strange that Seohan was trying to kill me. No…’

And Mumu pointed somewhere.

“Uh?”

“What is it?’

Ki Majiin looked puzzled at where Mumu was pointing. But Ki Majin who saw it was also shocked. And Do Yang-woon too turned his head to see what was shocking the two so much.

But,

‘!?’

Do Yang-woon couldn’t believe it.

‘Guyang Seohan?’

This couldn’t be. They saw his body melt right in front of their eyes. However, as if that wasn’t enough, he was alive and well while arguing with his twin.

‘What is this?’

In the basement of the academic building.

Inside the underground prison, Dan Pil-hoo was frustrated.

“Phew.”

There was only one reason he was feeling like this. It was because he fell into a trap and ended up being imprisoned. And it wasn’t just that, he was inside the Seven Gates so he could do nothing.

‘Uh… I have been taken down.’

He couldn’t help but be shocked. He never imagined that Hang Yeon could be killed by mimicking the swordsmanship which he had once used.

Even during the Murim Association, he had been in charge of similar cases, so he didn’t think that there would be a trap inlay for him.

‘… I thought I was good, that I was good with tactics but…’

The opponent too seemed to be good and the opponent was a lot tougher than he expected.

When he heard about the situation, it was students being killed in the fire. But this was too much to turn on him.

‘I will not stay locked here.’

He had to go and catch the culprit out there as they might have more plans and as time marched on, he became more impatient.

“Look here. Master Baek.”

Da Pil-hoo spoke to Baek Woogi, a member of the education committee who was sitting there with a white mask.

“Will you tell me the truth then?”

“I won’t speak more. All these are his traps.”

Baek Woogi sighed. Throughout the question, Dan Pil-hoo had been repeating the same thing.

He said that this was all done by someone who was inside and that even the arson of dorms was all related to this.

“Deputy. How can we take your words into account when the victim’s statements are the same as yours? And the evidence keeps pointing to you.”

“Because the victims are of that man!”

Dan Pil-hoo couldn’t help but feel frustrated at this. It wasn’t easy to get rid of the charges they put on him.

Moreover, it was more difficult to prove his innocence as this was a matter not many knew. And that Hang Yeon had blade marks on him.

“Then let me talk to him, say Sa Muhoe, or let only the members of my office come here.”

“I am sorry but I cannot do that. The investigation of your residence, your subordinates, and office hasn’t been concluded yet.’

“You think that I will try to conceal any possible evidence?”

“… I will not deny it.”

“This is crazy. Look, Master Baek Woogi. I keep talking and talking that I have no reason for it, I have been the deputy for so long, why aim for the treasures at the cost of the children’s lives?”

“Then deputy under the same logic, why will Sa Muhoe who worked as a master for around 8 years have to put the claims on to deputy?”

Dan Pil-hoo was so angry that he wanted to turn this table over but he couldn’t as the gates were locked. He had to be cool.

“… my statements stay unchanged.”

‘I need to think carefully.’

If all the chargers are confirmed then he will be turned into a vicious man who seeks treasure by killing students. And he will have no one to trust.

“…”

Baek Woogi got up from the seat.

“The afternoon investigation will end here. See you later in the evening 1.”

The long afternoon was done. And as the man went out, he leaned back on the chair as he mumbled.

“I am so lonely.”

Due to various incidents which occurred the Heavenly Martial Academy was in a mess.

There was an unusual atmosphere everywhere. People were roaming here and there.

As a result, all the liberal arts courses were suspended temporarily.

Internally, they were all busy doing their own searches so most students in the academy had afternoon time to rest.

Mumu too was eating snacks to pass the time in the academy building in the afternoon and Mo Il-hwa mumbled.

“We have no access to dorms. Even training centers are saying no to training. We have too much time.”

“This will continue to happen for a few days.”

Hae-ryang said to her as he put a rick cake in his mouth. Actually, no one knew how long this would last.

Everyone knew that something horrible happened and recovering would take a good time.

“If we are lucky it ends with just the lectures, if not the academy could be closed temporarily.”

“What? Academy?”

“Yes. There are plenty of chances for that to happen!”

“But why?”

“It was an incident where most children could have died. We don’t know if it was an accident or an act of intruders but the situation is serious if outside people came in.”

Jin-hyuk nodded at it. Among them were the masters of the academy. One of them was a dorm superintendent. It wasn’t spoken out publicly since it might bring in more protests against the academy.

“Since the exact situation of why it happened wasn’t revealed, there is a high likely chance.”

“Closing it? For a bit?”

Mumu spoke, holding the rice cake in hand.

If the academy closes down then his chances of finding his birth parents would fail. Mo Il-hwa waved her hand in front of Mumu.

“Eh. That will be too hard.”

“Hard”

“As you said, if this is something of an inside job, then they shouldn’t close the academy. Cause if they do, then the culprit cannot be caught.”

“Ah… that makes sense.”

Hae-ryang nodded at it. Obviously, the academy was blind to what happened and they had to know what happened to stand on their legs again.

Mo Il-hwa looked at Mumu and said.

“Ehh. It is because you didn’t leave a couple of arsonists alive.”

“Ah… right.”

Mumu scratched his head. At that time he just wanted to end the fight and make sure his friends were safe. He didn’t think what he did would affect him like this.

“Miss. Mumu was right in what he did yesterday.”

Jin-hyuk supported him.

“Why?”

“The people were using bizarre techniques which increased their internal qi and their strength. It wouldn’t be strange for us to die if we were acting a bit careless.”

“True, young lord Jin-hyuk.”

Hae-ryang agreed.

If it wasn’t for Mumu who constantly stood as their shield. And the someone who died could have been Hae-ryang who was the weakest.

Tuk.

Then someone tapped Mumu on the back and left. They weren’t the only ones here so they assumed someone walking had mistakenly done it. But something had been left behind.

Mumu who picked up the paper frowned.

‘Uh?’

A small alley between the buildings that was not far away.

When Mumu was there, a man was standing in the shadows. Mumu who found him waved the paper and said,

“I don’t know who you are but you definitely are not the deputy.”

On the piece of paper, this location was mentioned along with deputy Dan Pil-hoo’s name on it.

But this man wasn’t him, and the man knelt down.

“… what are you doing?”

The man spoke with a determined voice at the question.

“Young lord Mumu. Please help our deputy.”