The person holding the unknown man was Mumu.
“Mumu?”
“Uhhhh!”
Wheik!
The man whose head was caught made strange sounds, seemingly wanting to be let go. Ma Yeon-hwa, who saw this, was shocked.
‘How can he handle this monster so easily?’
It was shocking.
She had learned about Mumu’s strength due to his victory over two of the Four Great Warriors, but the reality shocked her.
Mumu then asked,
“What is this?”
Hearing Mumu’s question, Ma Yeon-hwa shook her head.
“I don’t know. We suddenly met him…”
“Is that so? Then I will ask.”
Swish!
Mumu turned the man’s head toward him and raised his face to his eye level.
“Who are you?”
Roll
His bizarre eyes focused on Mumu in interest at that moment.
“Your eyes move strangely.”
As if answering that, the man responded,
“Mu… mu?”
“Do you know me?”
“Found… you!”
‘Found you?’
An unknown man was saying that he had found him at their first meeting. Mumu was puzzled at this as the strange man’s eyes trembled.
And…
“Con… firmed…”
“Confirmed? What are you talking about…”
Before Mumu could ask further, the shaking man suddenly kicked out.
Puak! Crack!
The kick had aimed for Mumu’s neck, but Mumu didn’t even budge.
Instead, it was the man’s feet that were trembling.
Ma Yeon-hwa, who was there, could tell that the man’s foot was cracked from the sound of it. Mumu then asked,
“What are you doing?”
“Inter… esting…”
“You are a strange one.”
Dudud!
At that moment, Mumu turned his gaze toward the origin of the sound. It was the man’s foot.
‘Uh?’
Chak!
The man’s calf muscles looked like they had torn but also looked stronger.
Kwaaak!
With his strength enhanced, he moved his leg to attempt to break Mumu’s neck again.
“You want to break my neck?”
Mumu’s neck didn’t even budge. Instead, he felt annoyed.
The man seemed to be fighting three of his seniors, so he asked who he was. However, he no longer felt curious about him.
“I think it will be better to put you to sleep.”
Sh!
Mumu rolled two of his fingers to flick the man’s forehead. Ma Yeon-hwa frowned at this.
‘Flick?’
As she thought this, Mumu flicked his fingers.
Taaak!
At that moment, the man’s forehead was hit, and his entire body was slammed back to the ground.
Kwaang!
The man, who had hit the ground, bounced back up and scared Ma Yeon-hwa.
Even if he hadn’t used his full strength, she couldn’t understand how a single flick could do this.
“Ah… uh…”
The man, now with a dark bruise in the middle of his forehead, was splayed out on the ground. This was unbelievable.
Ma Yeon-hwa bit her lip and shyly said to Mumu.
“Thank you for the hel…”
Flinch!
She immediately turned her head.
It was because of a sudden ominous feeling that she felt. She frowned as she saw the unknown man get up.
Crack!
‘!?’
He was getting up, and even the forehead that Mumu had flicked was recovering.
This was happening at such a frightening speed that even Guyang Seorin and Tang So-so looked shocked.
“What? Is he really a human?”
“How can a broken bone heal that fast?”
They were unable to comprehend this. However, that wasn’t all…
Jjjkkk!
The man’s upper body began to swell as his shirt was torn off. His muscles also began to swell abnormally, something that seemed eerily similar to…
‘This is?’
‘Oh?’
This was similar to Mumu.
If there was a difference, Mumu’s muscles would look dense when swollen, while this man’s muscles only swelled up in certain parts.
It seemed as if he was only growing the muscles that he needed.
Mumu frowned at this.
‘Is Mumu surprised at the resemblance?’
They took Mumu’s reaction as such.
The fact that Mumu could freely manipulate his muscles was common knowledge in the academy. They had also seen it happen a few times.
But the mysterious monster in front of him was doing the same thing.
‘Just what the hell is this?’
Was he related to Mumu?
Everyone was puzzled, as Mumu said,
“… I don’t like it.”
‘Uh?’
“You are too biased towards certain muscles.”
‘!?’
Ma Yeon-hwa frowned and looked at Mumu.
He didn’t feel doubts at the sight of this monster manipulating his muscles but was instead upset that he was doing it wrong?
The monster bent his knees.
Crack!
The lowered body generated enough strength that the ground below him cracked.
Then, like an exploding volcano, the monster jumped toward Mumu.
Bang!
In an instant, the monster reached Mumu.
‘This is bad…’
Puak! Kwang!
That was what the girls thought, but the monster had instead sunk into the ground. On top of that, Mumu’s pose indicated that he had hit the monster with his palm.
‘… Uh?’
When they looked at the monster’s back, it was twisted as if the bones there were broken. His muscles had swelled up, but he couldn’t reach Mumu at all.
At that moment, the twisted bones that had been crushed moved around with a cracking sound.
“Such an interesting body.”
Clench!
Mumu grabbed the head of the monster who was recovering and said,
“Can you recover even if your head is broken?”
The monster’s eyes, which had been concentrating on healing, rolled around and fell on Mumu.
“With… this… body… strength… it… can’t…”
At that, Mumu titled his head. What was that supposed to mean?
He was puzzled when the monster smiled.
“… I guess you are nothing.”
The monster’s voice, which had been stuttering, now came clearly.
At those words, Mumu asked him.
“What are you talking about?”
“I will see you again. My alter ego.”
“Uh?”
Pak!
As soon as he said those words, the monster’s head exploded. It didn’t end there.
Papak!
In a chain reaction, the body also began to explode. Everyone couldn’t hide their surprise.
“W-what?”
“The body suddenly?”
Who would have imagined that a normal person would have blown up their body and died? Fortunately, Mumu appeared unharmed, as the explosion didn’t seem to have been strong enough to harm him.
“…”
Mumu, who was covered in blood, had a strange look.
‘My… alter ego?’
The last words the monster said lingered in his head.
What did that mean?
Late at night.
Inside the dormitories for officials.
Yu Jin-sung, the royal inspector and older brother of Jin-hyuk and Mumu, was packing his things.
The remaining officials would withdraw from the academy early the following day.
The mastermind behind the arson incident had been captured. They had then concluded that no other potential culprits were left in the academy, and therefore Jin-sung announced their plans to return.
All that was left had been the order from the palace. He had also already conveyed that order.
But—
[… Is that really the order of my father?]
[What do you mean by that?]
Jin-sung had naturally assumed that the lady would follow her father’s orders, but instead, she seemed suspicious of it.
When he had asked for the reason, she had replied,
[No. If it is my father’s order, then I indeed should go back. However, I must prepare to return, so give me enough time to do that.]
Because of this, he had given her three days.
It was the amount of time that she had requested. They were to leave tomorrow morning, but he had yet to see her again.
Instead of the princess, Mumu had come instead.
‘My head hurts.’
Mumu had appeared with the smell of blood clinging to his body even after a wash and had asked him,
[May I come to the Imperial Palace?]
Mumu had asked to be taken along to the palace. However, entry to the palace was not something that Yu Jin-sung could decide alone.
So he replied that even if Mumu was his family, he could not take just anyone into the palace without permission.
To which Mumu had given him unexpected information.
[In the Imperial Palace, there may be people who are on the side of the arsonists who set fire to the dorms.]
[What? Are you telling the truth?]
[Yes.]
Mumu told him that he had gotten this information from a spy called Kang Mui.
If that was true, then this was something that couldn’t be overlooked. Because of that, Jin-sung decided to take Mumu with him.
If he got permission to allow him entry under the pretext of being a witness under investigation, he would be able to bring him in.
‘I wonder if it will go well, though.’
Unlike the academy, the Imperial Palace wasn’t somewhere filled with many warriors, and he was taking Mumu to such a place.
If he had been an ordinary student, it wouldn’t be such a big deal, but the situation had changed drastically just a couple of days ago.
‘This naive looking kid defeated two of the Four Great Warriors.’
It was hard to believe.
Even Yu Jin-sung was shocked at this.
He knew that the Four Great Warriors were people at the pinnacle of the martial world, the best of the best.
It was extremely surprising that Mumu, who didn’t even learn martial arts properly, had defeated them.
‘… It will become quite noisy.’
Perhaps there would be those who show interest in Mumu, while others would think that the child would need to be controlled.
And that would make things annoying.
‘Would it be better to hide Mumu’s identity?’
He wasn’t sure which was the better way.
Instead of revealing it now, he would simply push it back to a later time.
What bothered him was that the Imperial Palace wouldn’t let someone like Mumu keep his identity hidden.
And this was what he was concerned about.
Knock
And someone knocked at his door.
“Who is it?”
“Royal inspector.”
Jin-sung hurriedly opened the door upon hearing that familiar voice. In front of him stood a beautiful woman.
It was Cho Na-yeon, no, Hong Na-yeon.
“I greet the lady…”
As Jin-sung was trying to bow, she waved her hand to indicate that it was fine.
In response, Jin-sung took her inside the room and asked,
“Princess, are you all ready?”
At this question, she hesitated as she said,
“Inspector.”
“Yes, princess.”
“I am sorry, but I don’t think I can make it to the Imperial Palace.”
“Uh?”
Jin-sung was visibly shocked.
The lady had asked for three days, and he had waited for her. Now she was saying that she could not go?
As he looked puzzled, she said,
“I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but if I head to the palace now, I might put my father in danger.”
Hearing her words, he frowned.
He couldn’t understand the meaning behind her words, so he asked,
“Princess, I don’t understand why you would say that. I am sorry if this comes out as rude, but may I ask why?”
“I cannot tell you that.”
“Why…”
“I cannot give the details, but I will tell you one thing. If you did receive a secret order from my father, then it can be that even you, inspector, are in danger as well.”
“I may also be in danger?”
In response to Jin-sung’s question, she said,
“It means that something will threaten your life when you return to the palace.”
This was what she was concerned about.
If she was with him, he could be in danger. Jin-sung groaned.
“Hmm…”
There seemed to be something she couldn’t openly speak about, so there was a strong probability that something was happening within the palace.
Seeing her this anxious, Jin-sung couldn’t help it.
“If you are worried about an attack in the middle of our journey back, you don’t have to worry too much. I will protect you at the cost of my life.”
“Sir… I am also a disciple here. I know better than anyone how strong you are. But you don’t know them. If they put their minds to it…”
“Well, nothing can be done then.”
“Uh?”
“Just know this one thing, princess.”
“What do you mean?”
Jin-sung then told her in a low voice.
“You don’t have to worry about an ambush.”
“Uh?”
“My younger brother Mumu is coming to the palace.”
“!!!!”