Jo Il-ryang, the second of the three strong teachers, was on his bed with his hands folded.
When he opened his eyes, he saw a lantern flame fluttering because of the breeze coming in through the open window and a middle aged man with a beard sitting opposite of him.
He was Mak Il-wong, the first of the three strong teachers.
It was getting dark enough to light a lamp, and Mak Il-wong was reading a book as usual.
“Are you awake?”
“Elder brother...”
After responding, Jo Il-ryang sighed.
He thought that what happened with Mumu was a dream.
Jo Il-ryang opened his mouth.
“… brother. I had a dream.”
“Dream?”
“Yes. It was so absurd that I don’t even want to tell you about it, but if that really happened, it would be the most absurd thing that’s happened in my Murim life.”
At Jo Il-ryang’s words, Mak Il-wong took his eyes off his book and looked ahead.
And then he said,
“You passed out for half a day, and your memory doesn’t seem perfect, I’m going to get a doctor.”
“Huh?”
Half a day? How?
He was startled and tried to get up, but his heart was pounding.
“Euk!”
Then Mak Il-wong approached him and asked.
“I want to ask one thing before getting a doctor. Who left that mark on your chest?”
“Huh? My chest?”
Jo Il-ryang’s expression was blank as he looked at his chest.
His shirt was missing, and his chest was bruised in the shape of two hand prints.
The moment he saw that, goosebumps rose on Jo Il-ryang’s body.
‘Damn it, it wasn’t a dream.’
It was absurd, but it seemed to have happened.
And gradually his memory cleared up.
The great strength of Mumu, the adopted son in Yu Jin-hyuk’s family, has broken a myth about martial artists.
Thanks to that, his plans failed.
While he started to remember what happened his face turned red in embarrassment.
[T-Teacher!]
[Ji… Jin-hyuk… don’t… don’t tell… anyone… about this…]
He fainted after saying that.
In addition to his desire to take Mumu in as a disciple, he wanted to show Yu Jin-hyuk his greatness, but he was humiliated.
Before he fainted, he even asked his disciple to not tell anyone about this.
‘Ahhh.’
He was even more embarrassed after recalling everything.
He never thought that he would meet such a monstrous child.
How could he reveal this to his elder brother, who was looking down at him with skeptical eyes?
He couldn’t tell him as he would lose face.
But he tried to give him some form of an answer.
“I was competing with someone like…”
Despite trying, Jo Il-ryang decided against telling him and hastily changed the topic.
“El-Elder brother! What happened to Jin-hyuk's blood points release? I was supposed to do it…”
“You’re asking so soon.”
“Did Goha do it?”
Goha was the youngest of the teachers.
Originally, he decided to take charge of the blood points release and treatment based on a bet with Jin-hyuk.
But if he passed out like this, then things must have changed.
The elder one, Mak Il-wong, clicked his tongue.
“I did it.”
“Yes?”
“I gave him my energy and opened his blood points.”
“You did everything?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“What? Ah! Follow me.”
Mak Il-wong, opened the door and walked out.
Puzzled, Jo Il-ryang grabbed something to cover himself and rushed out.
Right next door.
There, he saw Goha, sitting on a bed staring blankly as if he was in shock.
And his right hand was swollen.
Goha, who was dazed, slowly turned his head and looked at them as they entered.
Jo Il-ryang mumbled and pointed his finger at the man.
“You too?”
At that, Goha looked sad.
Goha felt like Jo Il-kyung knew what happened.
When he saw the youngest of the three strong teachers, who was master at using his body, holding his swollen right hand, it was obvious.
‘That monstrous child…’
He never saw such ridiculous muscles in all his life.
He couldn’t understand it.
And then something flashed through his mind.
‘Wait. I told Jin-hyuk to not tell anyone.’
If Goha was like this, then Jin-hyuk must have told the truth.
Jo Il-ryang grabbed his head.
Seeing him like that, Mak Il-wong asked as he sighed.
“Sigh. What the hell happened while I was away?”
“…”
“…”
In response to such a question, Jo Il-ryang and Goha kept their mouths shut as if they made a silent promise.
At the same time.
Yu Jin-hyuk was lying on his bed with the lamps off.
He was exhausted from the treatment he received, and then energy cultivation.
He had an especially hard time because it was Mak Il-wong who did it, so he laid down earlier than normal.
Yet he was unable to sleep.
‘Damn it.’
Three, no two more days, and he will be admitted to the Heavenly Martial Arts Academy.
He waited so eagerly for that day to come, but now his heart wasn’t so eager.
If Mumu got accepted too, then he would be in the unfortunate situation of having to spend two or three years with that muscular idiot.
‘Ah, no!’
Just the thought was terrifying.
Even thinking about what happened during the day was making him want to vanish.
‘My teachers became like that…’
It was because of his negligence.
As his teacher said, he shouldn’t have told anyone.
Jo Il-ryang insisted on not telling anyone, but he did thinking that Goha might be able to subdue Mumu since he was much bigger than Jo Il-ryang.
However, the result was the same.
[You’re the type of person I like. Was it Mumu? Why don’t you learn martial arts?]
Goha, who was strong and acknowledged Mumu, asked.
After some basic introductions, he convinced Mumu to arm wrestle him, but while arm wrestling his hand broke.
[Never! Never tell elder brother!]
Like Yo Il-kyung, Goha said the same thing.
Looking at his red face, Jin-hyuk knew just how embarrassed he was.
They were broken by the strength of a man who only trained his muscles.
It was natural for their self-esteem to be damaged.
At that, they lost in front of their disciple.
‘Damn it. What the hell is he?’
He was someone who was hard to understand.
Two of his teachers who were famous in Murim, fell on their knees in front of Mumu’s mighty strength.
They didn’t fight, but even if they did, Jin-hyuk wasn’t sure about what the outcome would be, Mumu had enough strength to make his teachers shudder.
‘Is it possible to be that strong by only training muscles?’
All three teachers had said that there was a limit to how strong a physical body could be trained.
However, looking at Mumu, it didn’t seem like that.
The muscles which he trained seemed to exceed the strength of internal energy…
‘No.’
Jin-hyuk shook his head.
No matter how he thought about it, that didn’t make sense.
Isn’t this something which directly contradicts the history and knowledge that has been passed down in Murim for years?
‘Right.’
It was said that the Four Great Warriors can cut down a mountain peak.
And that would be impossible to do by only training the body.
‘But, what are they?’
He wondered what the bands around Mumu’s arms and ankles were.
When he turned down the number, his arms grew bigger, and Mumu asked for it to be kept a secret from his father.
He was tempted to use it against Mumu as it looked like a weakness, but Mumu’s words made it impossible to say anything.
[If you promise to not tell father, I won’t talk about your teachers being hurt by me anywhere.]
He thought Mumu was naïve, but he was wrong.
He knew that his teachers were ashamed of their losses and didn’t want anyone knowing about them.
In the end, he accepted it.
[Jin-hyuk, you’re a pretty good guy.]
‘I really hate him.’
Just the thought of Mumu’s smiling face annoyed him.
Jin-hyuk prayed to the Goddess of Heaven for the first time.
Begging for Mumu to fail the entrance test.
Two days later.
Mumu and Jin-hyuk got up early to take the entrance test, which was to be held at 4 o’clock, and were being sent off by their family.
After two hours of walking, they would arrive at the academy.
Lady Jang hugged her son and said,
“If you work hard, good results will come.”
“Mother…”
“I will pray earnestly for you to pass the test. And get along well with Mumu. If not your brother, who will you turn to?”
At those words, Yu Jin-hyuk tightly shut his eyes.
‘I wish he would fail mother.’
He hoped for that, but he never said it out loud.
His father and mother wanted them to get along.
However, Jin-hyuk prayed that Mumu would be eliminated.
That was when Yu Yeop-kyung approached him and said.
“Son. Stay healthy.”
“… I understand.”
“And make sure that the daughter of the criminal affairs’ head stays safe. I think you will do well. I wish you the best of luck and get along with Mumu.”
The same words as his mother.
Yu Jin-hyuk felt sad, but he nodded.
Once he was out of the house, he had no intention of sticking with Mumu.
Finally, Yu Yeop-kyung approached Mumu and hugged him.
“Son.”
“Yes.”
“Please don’t get in trouble.”
“… father. If I pass, you won’t get to see me for a while. Is that all you have to say?”
“No.”
“Then go ahead and say it.”
“You’re going to the academy, so I won’t tell you not to train anymore.”
“Really?”
Mumu's eyes twinkled at that.
Looking at that, Yu Yeop-kyung sighed.
The man in the dream told him to raise Mumu as a normal kid, but in the end he couldn’t.
Maybe this was Mumu’s birthright.
In any case, Yu Yeop-kyung, who thought that it was his duty as a parent to pray for the best, decided to let Mumu search for his own path.
“Then we will leave.”
Mumu and Jin-hyuk were sent off by their family.
Since Mumu woke up much earlier than normal, he was walking with his eyes half-closed, Jin-hyuk thought that it was pathetic.
And since this was their first journey together, they were awkward and didn’t talk to each other.
After walking down the road for about half an hour.
Clank!
“Huh?”
The sound of horses and wheels could be heard.
Jin-hyuk was puzzled since it was early in the morning, and he looked at where the sound was coming from.
What he saw was a luxurious carriage coming their way.
It came so quickly that it made dust rise up from the ground.
‘What?’
They were shocked when the carriage stopped right in front of them, and then its window rattled open, revealing a face.
It was none other than Mo Il-hwa.
Pointing her thumb towards the inside of the carriage, she shouted at them.
“Hey, get in!”