“Son.”
“Mom.”
“My son.”
“Hehe.”
Mumu smiled brightly at the hand of his mother stroking his hair. He grew up receiving love from his adoptive father, Yu Yeop-kyung, so Mumu thought it was alright even without the presence of his true parents, but no.
The touch on his head made his heart warm and cozy at once. Was this true happiness?
‘My son. I will do everything I couldn’t do before.’
Hae Ha-rang too was very happy with this. She would love him and make up for all the lost time. While doing so, someone called for Mumu.
“That… hyung?”
“Uh?”
It was Muah.
Even though he was confused after learning the truth, he accepted everything rather quickly because he was kind and upright by nature.
And he was grateful to his aunt who raised him through it all. Hae Ha-rang kept asking Muah to become her son, so he accepted it.
“Oh my. Muah. Are you okay?”
Hae Ha-rang frowned as she looked at Muah in sweat. Muah didn’t care about it and asked Mumu,
“I am fine. Mother. Rather, hyung. As hyung told me, I sat and stood up 300 times and did 300 push-ups.”
“Uh? Already?”
At Mumu’s question, Muah showed his biceps confidently.
“That’s about it, since you received the basic training of Mister Hwa-ryun, I can do it lightly. What to do this time? I want to quickly become strong like my hyung.”
Muah still couldn’t forget that memory of Mumu’s actions.
The wind created which pierced through the clouds, parting it in layers, the moment he saw it, Muah was shocked.
Hong Hwa-ryun, who was one of the Four Great Warriors and at the peak of Murim seemed insignificant in front of Mumu.
No, he was an invincible existence.
As a result, Muah asked Mumu to make him his disciple, and for Muah, it turned out Mumu was now his next goal.
“What next?”
Mumu told Muah,
“Uh… I don’t think it is done yet.”
“Uh?”
“You need to sit down and stand up slowly with the tree there three hundred times for five sets and push-ups three hundred times, five sets.”
Mumu spread his fingers out, seeing Muah’s expression harden.
“Ah, did you mean that when you opened up your fingers earlier?”
“Uh.”
“…”
He thought he could do that much without touching his internal energy, but if he was asking for another five times of the same number then it was different.
Even now, he could feel his body hurting.
“Exhausting?”
“N-no, if I can become strong like hyung, then of course I should.”
He lost motivation for a moment, but Muah brought up his lost spirit. If he could be strong like Mumu, what wouldn’t he do?
Looking at Muah running back to training, Hae Ha-rang shook her head.
“Wouldn’t this make him sick?”
“That alone?”
“…”
Hae Ha-rang frowned at the standards of Mumu.
Then within a short time she convinced himself, saying, ‘No matter what this is like Mumu bullying the younger one’. What was more was that Muah wasn’t being forced into it.
Hae Ha-rang changed the topic,
“I will set the date and go see your adoptive parents.”
“Adoptive parents?”
“Yes. The ones who raised you. I need to thank them.”
She was the one who heard about Yu Yeop-kyung and his adoptive family from Mumu, so she wanted to express her gratitude to them.
Mumu said,
“Then would you like to go now?”
“Uh?”
“Yes. We can go now.”
At Mumu’s words, Hae Ha-rang said it like she was in trouble,
“There is a saying that there is time for everything, it is a bit difficult right now. To have time, we have at least a 15-day-journey to…”
“We will be there right away.”
“Right away?”
“Yes. Would you like to go?”
Hae Ha-rang stared at Mumu.
She loved him, but she didn’t understand what he was talking about, and just then, Mumu lifted her up in his arms.
“Hold tight.”
“To what?”
Kwaang! Paaaang!
“KWAAK!”
And then they soared through the sky at such a speed that it felt like everything was turning upside down.
It was a very difficult experience. If she had been a little younger, she would have enjoyed it.
“Euk!”
Hae Ha-rang, who came out of Mumu’s arm, puked with pale face due to motion sickness.
Who would have thought about flying through the sky?
At that time, Yu Yeop-kyung and his wife were startled at the roaring sound and ran to them, looking dazed.
“M-Mumu?”
“Father!”
“Where were you?”
That was also the case with those standing in front of the gate. It didn’t look like they crossed the fence, and the bottom had been hollowed out with Mumu at the center of the crater, making it look like he crashed down from the sky.
The lady too was puzzled.
“Mumu. Who is that?”
Hae Ha-rang, who was puking, wiped her mouth and straightened her hair and clothes.
Mumu smiled brightly.
“My mother. My birth mother.”
“What?”
Yu Yeop-kyung was surprised at the words and looked at her.
The real mother?
He was at a loss for words at the sight of a woman with white hair and traces full of struggles.
Hae Ha-rang ran to him and bowed her head.
“Thank you. You have raised Mumu until…”
“No. I…”
“If it hadn’t been for what you did, I would have never been able to meet my son again. Thank you very much.”
Yu Yeop-kyung shut his mouth at the sight of tears in her eyes. It was because he could feel how grateful she truly was.
On the other hand, Yu Yeop-kyung felt odd.
‘… He met his real mother.’
The adoptive son, Mumu, was raised as an orphan and went through a lot of hardships.
The relationship between them like father and son wasn’t a normal one. In exile, they lived, relying on each other.
He was happy that Mumu met his real mother, but if this happened, then what would happen to their relationship?
Would it cease to exist?
It made him feel odd right away. Did his intentions get read?
Mumu smiled as he said,
“Are you disappointed that I came with my mother? Still, you are forever my father.”
‘You…’
At those words, his eyes softened.
Right, they had been together for 17 years, so they should already know, and seeing this, Mumu made fun of him.
“Father, you are not crying, right? Didn’t you say that a gentleman should never shed tears?”
“S-shut it. W-when would I cry?”
Seeing him like that, both his wife and Hae Ha-rang smiled brightly. Their relationship was so strong that it wouldn’t be broken even if they didn’t share blood.
Because this was a relationship connected at the heart.
Heavenly Martial Academy’s dorm site—
There were three people walking around the back garden of the North side dorms.
It was Yu Jin-hyuk, Mo Il-hwa, and Hae-ryang.
The mess had subsided, and they were going about with their daily lives, but they felt this unknown emptiness within.
Mo Il-hwa told Hae-ryang,
“You can walk a little now?”
“Yes. Thanks to your concerns I managed to recover a lot.”
It was Hae-ryang who had taken a whole 15 days to regain consciousness.
Fortunately, he did wake up, but he had difficulty walking due to the severity of his injuries which made him bedridden in the first place, so he had to undergo everyday rehabilitation.
“Thank god. If he had seen this, he would like it.”
“Ah…”
At Mo Il-hwa’s words, Hae-ryang sighed.
From the moment he woke up, he had heard about all the things which happened in the meantime, thanks to Mumu.
A lot seemed to have happened. But now, the academy was so quiet like it was hard to tell if that mess had ever happened in the first place.
Hae-ryang smiled as he said,
“So surprising though. When young lord Mumu was here, I was so anxious about what would happen day to day, but it is true that he is not here…”
He couldn’t follow what happened, but he still sympathized with it.
Everything felt so empty without Mumu around. The quiet life repeated itself too much these days.
Mo Il-hwa suddenly yelled out.
“No. Where did he disappear to after saying he will be back soon? He said he would come back here, but now that he is outside he does not want to come back!”
Jin-hyuk was a bit taken aback at her words and comforted her.
“Miss, although he did create his fair share of trouble he never broke the promises he made. He will definitely come back.”
“… come back?”
“I don’t know about anything else, but he is someone who puts his family and friends first.”
“But.”
Mo Il-hwa laughed at Jin-hyuk’s words. If nothing else, they all immensely loved Mumu.
“I hope he comes back soon.”
With those words, Mo Il-hwa put her hand on the back of Jin-hyuk’s hand.
And then, as if used to it, Jin-hyuk placed his other hand and clenched it. The two had the most affectionate sight.
‘Excuse me… a sick person here?’
Now, there are two people here showing their affection to one another, this openly.
No, were they being too open?
They were denying it, but it was clear that they were close now.
‘So lonely.’
Hae-ryang narrowed his eyes at them. If he did this, wouldn’t they cut down on the love they were showering for another?
It was when he was doing it.
Thud!
There was the sound of something falling.
‘!?’
At that, all three of them turned with trembling eyes, and they shouted at the same time,
“Mumu!”
On that day, everyone gathered again—
The sun looked exceptionally warm.