A master capable of sniping and killing an opponent from a great distance.
As a result of this conclusion, Deputy Headmaster Dan Pil-hoo felt concerned.
‘…Mumu, even that child would find it tough.’
Mumu’s power was at a level where he could attempt to fight against the top ten masters. But if Dan Pil-hoo had to pick a master among the ten who would be capable of doing this, there was none other than the King of Sichuan.
Actually, he had some doubts that even that man was capable of doing something like this. At the moment when he thought that their potential enemy was simply too strong, someone appeared.
“Deputy?”
“Uh? Why are you here?”
It was none other than Agent No. 2, who had been tasked to look after Mumu. His presence here meant Mumu should be around, so the deputy asked.
“Mumu, where is that child?”
“… have you not seen it?”
“Seen what?”
Agent No. 2 was unsure what to say, which confused Dan Pil-hoo.
“No, did something actually happen to Mumu?”
Dan Pil-hoo looked at the building where the sniping attack had originated with worry. Was Mumu already fighting against the enemy?
But the answer he received was unexpected.
“He flew away.”
“… what?”
“Quite literally what I said, sir. Young master Mumu was in the building you are looking towards and suddenly flew out.”
“… flew?”
At those words from his agent, Dan Pil-hoo frowned. His agent could understand the cause of his confusion.
Even he didn’t think that Mumu was capable of crossing the sky by just jumping.
“Deputy… it is true that I know, but I need to be told again, is young master Mumu really a human?”
“What do you mean?”
“I couldn’t see him because he was too fast, but suddenly there was a sound at the top of the building breaking, and I looked up to see what I believed to be young master Mumu.”
“… Mumu, you think it was that child?”
“Yes. Among those who entered the building, only young master Mumu disappeared, so it has to be him.”
At those words, Dan Pil-hoo asked.
“Then this hole was made by that boy?”
The agent nodded as he pointed toward the hole. Only Mumu was capable of doing such a thing among those who had been inside the building.
‘… this too is done by Mumu?’
Dan Pil-hoo thought that this was absurd.
“Sigh…”
“What is it?”
To his agent, who was puzzled, Dan Pil-hoo said.
“… maybe he really isn’t a human.”
It was simply too far beyond the line of reason. From the moment he had first seen Mumu, he knew the child would become someone famous and important and known for his strength. However, that child’s body was now doing things beyond human imagination.
And this wasn’t growth that a single person could have.
‘He is already untouchable.’
The more he thought about how this ridiculous sniping attack had been made by Mumu, the more he wondered if the boy would ever reach a wall.
All of this was possible at the age of 17?
At this point, even Dan Pil-hoo began to doubt.
‘Is it possible he is an ancient master?’
Otherwise, there was no other way to explain Mumu’s strength. Could such power be achieved through muscle training alone?
Dan Pil-hoo gulped.
‘… maybe Mumu’s strength had already passed the level of the top ten masters in the world and reached the realm of the Four Great Warriors?’
The Four Great Warriors were known to have reached a level that no one else could.
Even those referred to as masters could not be compared to them.
Dan Pil-hoo shook his head as he thought of this.
From all that he knew, the child had grown too much.
And Dan Pil-hoo had witnessed the Southern Emperor in person once.
The sight of a man who cut down a mountain peak was something he could never forget.
‘… he was a monster.’
Thinking about that memory made him calmer. The strength of the Four Great Warriors was still something entirely different.
‘Right. He isn’t there yet.’
Mumu was just a 17-year-old child. Even now, his strength that could take down the academy’s masters was already shocking.
‘But maybe soon.’
The Four Great Warriors would gradually age, and, one day, these young people would reach their level.
Wasn’t it said the waves from the back would inevitably push out the waves at the front?
From Dan Pil-hoo’s point of view, there was a high chance that the next great warriors would be even better than the current generation.
‘Right, until then. I need to take care of that child. Hehehe.’
Wouldn’t he feel elated when he heard that boy’s name in later years?
At that moment, someone came running to him.
It was a warrior who served under him.
“D-deputy!”
Dan Pil-hoo asked the warrior, puzzled at this rushed arrival.
“What is it?”
The warrior looked at him and whispered something that shocked him into his ear.
‘That!’
Dan Pil-hoo looked at the fortress wall with a shocked face.
He knew they would arrive soon, but hearing this news now, they had arrived a fortnight earlier than he had expected.
“Deputy?”
Agent No. 2 asked him.
“I think I need to move from here first. We might have to delay all this for a while.”
“No… has he arrived?”
Dan Pil-hoo’s face was already dark.
The agent’s face also stiffened as he realized what was happening.
“He has already come, so why haven’t we heard from Hwang-suk yet?”
“That is what I want to know too.”
His one and only daughter had been placed in harm’s way, but the man was not here.
“If Mumu comes, tell him to get the confession from that guy at any cost. If not, we can teach him the dark way to get a confession out.”
“Yes.”
“This year has been so eventful.”
Dan Pil-hoo clicked his tongue at his agent’s words and headed out.
Not long after the deputy’s departure.
Kwang!
Mumu entered through the massive hole and landed on the ground.
Mo Il-hwa and Jin-hyuk, who had been waiting for a long time, stood up as Mumu arrived.
“How can you leave so suddenly?”
“Yah. Where did you go? Uh? And that guy?”
Mo Il-hwa was puzzled as she couldn’t see Ja Muk-hyun, who Mumu had taken. Mumu then said.
“I left him there.”
“There?”
“His hand is injured, so I thought something would happen if we left him in the academy, so I left him back in the Demon Blood Sect.”
‘!?’
Ha-ryun was shocked. It had only been an hour since Mumu left.
He had wondered what Mumu was doing, but he had gone to that sect and then came back?
‘He isn’t human!’
He didn’t know the sect’s hidden location, and it was impossible to locate it from the academy. Yet Mumu claimed that he had gone there in such a short time?
“What did you do by going there?”
Mumu answered Mo Il-hwa’s question.
“Loyalty.”
“What?”
“I received their loyalty.”
“How?”
Looking at Ja Muk-hyun’s reaction, it was clear that he had his own beliefs. But what did Mumu mean by taking the loyalty of an entire sect?
“They said they will take me as their lord just because I showed them some moderate strength.”
“Moderate?”
Mo Il-hwa frowned at Mumu’s words.
What was the standard of moderation for this guy who was aiming to conquer the world? She didn’t see it for herself, so she didn’t know what he had done.
As Mo Il-hwa struggled with her puzzlement.
“Ah… Ha-ryun, did you say yours was the White Valley?”
“Uh?”
“Since I was out once, I might as well go there too…”
Ha-ryun knelt down in a hurry in front of Mumu.
“L-Lord. Please keep me and my sect close to you. The White Valley and I would never do anything against your intentions. I swear on my life..”
‘Oh my,’
Mo Il-hwa clicked her tongue as she looked at this. It seemed like he was quite afraid of Mumu.
Actually, Mumu suddenly flew into the sky, disappeared somewhere, and returned after securing the Demon Blood Sect’s loyalty.
Mumu looked at Ha-ryun and asked.
“Will you do what I ask you to do?”
At this question, Ha-ryun nodded his head.
“W-why would I ever try to disobey the orders of my lord?”
“Right? Then from now on, stop talking about the Great Play or Great War.”
“Uh?”
“Do not try to do anything useless within the academy walls.”
Ha-ryun was a bit shocked at Mumu’s words.
Through their previous conversations, he was aware that Mumu cared for the people around him. However, saying that he would abstain from punishing those that had wronged them implied that he wouldn’t be seeking revenge.
“I don’t hear an answer.”
“N-no! I will follow the orders.”
Although he had answered out of fear, Ha-ryun was still shocked.
‘Stopping this means he wouldn’t do anything about it, right?’
But was that possible?
The Great War they aimed for wasn’t something Mumu had control of.
The master of the child killed in the academy must have already arrived to kill the Southern Blade Emperor’s daughter.
If that happened, the plan they had aimed for would be in motion.
‘It will happen eventually.’
People had tried to find the real culprit behind this and hadn’t found anyone.
Unlike Mumu, who had grown up innocent, Kang Mui had lived his whole life in anger and would never confess.
‘And without clear evidence, that man cannot be punished, what does he mean by stopping this?’
It was hard to understand, and even Jin-hyuk and Mo Il-hwa were puzzled.
‘Didn’t he make a choice?’
The fact that Mumu wanted to take a different path meant that he wanted to be with them. However, Mumu was also trying to stop them from going after revenge.
It was difficult to know what his intention was. At this, Jin-hyuk approached Mumu and whispered.
“Mumu. What are you thinking? In the end, making them your….”
Ssh!
Before Jin-hyuk could finish his words, someone slipped their face into the room.
It was Agent No. 2.
“Young master Mumu.”
The man cautiously addressed Mumu as if he had something to say. Everyone in the room looked at him in shock.
‘What is it?’
Mumu followed the man to the hidden prison in the academy to meet someone there.
The agent glanced over at Mumu. Unlike before, the child had returned to normal and didn’t give off an aura of intimidation.
‘That is a strange item he has on him.’
The agent glanced at the bands around Mumu’s hands and ankles. He asked Mumu if he could tell him about those items, but he hadn’t given him a clear answer.
He only said that they acted as seals for those who wore them.
[No, but why put it on?]
[I feel like I will break everything because I cannot control my strength yet.]
[Break everything?]
[Like if I sneeze in front of a person and he dies, that is trouble for me.]
[…]
It felt like that was a bit of an exaggeration.
[I understand.]
Well, he did feel that being cautious was the right way to act when one wasn’t sure of their strength. The unique sense of intimidation that Mumu would sometimes give out made it tough to breathe at times.
‘… without those things on him, I would have a hard life.’
Unlike energy, the strength of the body was an unconscious aspect of power. Mumu was fully aware of this.
After loosening the band a couple of times, he had felt intense energy that spread through his body and was beyond what he could control.
It would be fine if Mumu decided to learn how to control it. If not, he would have to wear his bands for the rest of his life.
“Here. Young master”
The agent stopped in front of an iron gate at the prison entrance. Inside was Kang Mui.
He then continued.
“Young master Mumu. You must either obtain a confession from him or bring us some clear evidence. The situation is quite on the verge of boiling over right now. We must hurry.”
“It seems a lot more than just urgent.”
“The deputy has gone out of his way to stop it, but we doubt he can hold on for long. The wrath of that man cannot be stopped with words.”
“Um. Is that so?”
Mumu nodded as if he understood and went to open the gate.
“If the young master is having a hard time, please call for me. I will help with the questions. And also take this toolbox of truth.”
“Toolbox of truth? Is this like a relic?”
“It is a relic that contains darkness but might be helpful.”
The agent handed over the toolbox and placed it in front of the prison for Mumu to take.
“Yes, yes. I get it.”
Mumu entered the cell with a smile.
Upon entering, the prison’s interior was covered with thick black iron walls. Kang Mui leaned back against them with his hands and legs restrained.
And Mumu waved his hand.
“Is your hand alright?”
At Mumu’s words, Kang Mui snorted at their absurdity.
Could his hand be alright?
Thanks to Mumu, the bones in his right hand were utterly crushed. Even if the best physicians tried to put them back together, they would no longer be the same.
Thanks to that, he couldn’t calm down even after seeing Mumu’s smiling face.
“You look quite angry?”
“Get lost. I have nothing to say to you.”
He didn’t mind telling the truth but never to Mumu. This guy was an owner of the jade plaque but didn’t even know its purpose.
“I have a lot to say.”
Mumu approached him as he put down the toolbox. He was told to use this, but he didn’t know how to.
As he opened the lock
Click!
Dozens of tools that could be used to brutally torture a human were inside.
All manner of tools, such as tongs that could rip out nails or cut off fingers, were inside. Just looking at them sent a chill down Kang Mui’s spine, but he tried not to show it.
“…”
Mumu scratched his head.
He didn’t think that he had been given such a thing, so he closed the box’s lid as he said.
“You say we are half brothers?”
Kang Mui frowned at those words.
He clearly had never said that, so why was Mumu speaking like this?
“… who did you hear this from?”
“… senior Ja Muk-hyun”
“Ja Muk-hyun? That guy told you?”
Kang Mui looked even angrier now.
That guy had sworn his allegiance to him but had blabbed out the truth to Mumu?
Kang Mui snorted in disbelief.
“Don’t try to throw lies at me. I don’t know who you heard this information….”
“Senior Ja Muk-hyun.”
“You keep saying that name. That guy will not speak even if he dies…”
“But he spoke.”
“What?”
“Ah… and after the friendly talk, we went to the Demon Blood Sect, and they all swore allegiance to me.”
“….”
Kang Mui thought of the absurdity that he was hearing.
Was this guy actually expecting him to believe this?