Admission Ceremony (1)
Early the next morning.
The admission ceremony, which was delayed due to the late admissions and Mumu’s actions, finally began to proceed normally.
All the successful candidates, which included those who were placed in temporary dorms as well as the students who were admitted after Mumu destroyed the trials, gathered in the auditorium of the building.
The auditorium was so huge that it could accommodate two thousand people.
The number of students that were admitted after the tests which happened this year was 435.
Originally there were 440 students, but due to the previous night’s incident, 5 people were expelled.
20 students less than the previous years, but there were so many outstanding students this year.
One interesting fact about this year’s test was that only 43 people passed after the trials were delayed by Mumu.
Of course, Mumu, Mo Il-hwa and Jin-hyuk were among the students entering the auditorium.
“Woah! So huge.”
Mumu burst into admiration as he looked at the old-fashioned hall.
Mo Il-hwa smiled and said.
“You, don’t exaggerate.”
“It’s the first time I have seen anything like this in my life.”
Everything was strange for Mumu as he lived with his father in the mountains till now.
Jin-hyuk looked at him without uttering a single word.
He remembered the last night’s incident.
He wondered where Mumu had disappeared to, and before long, Mumu came back to the temporary dorms with the deputy.
And the deputy had brought in guards of the academy and took the five test takers who attacked Mumu in his room and interrogated them and had them expelled too.
‘When did he even meet that man?’
Jin-hyuk was worried that something wrong would happen to Mumu.
However, as Mumu brought the man with him, the incident was cleared easily.
The outcome wasn’t bad, but he didn’t know what had happened while Mumu was gone or what Mumu had said to the deputy.
‘How did it end so cleanly…’
However, not everything finished cleanly.
During the interrogation, Jin-hyuk said that he was poisoned or something similar to that, but there was no trace of it left.
They even searched the clothes and other belongings in the room to get some evidence, but nothing solid came up.
He complained about the way things were done for the situation to reach there.
But no proper evidence was found, so they closed the matter.
‘Bu who was it?’
Obviously, someone definitely used something on him.
And after taking it, his body was temporarily unable to utilize his internal energy.
‘… someone not among those five bastards.’
The five who attacked him, they knew nothing about what had happened to his body.
They couldn’t even differentiate between him and Mumu.
But the one who immobilized him seemed different.
It seemed like that hidden guy was definitely aiming for Mumu.
‘I don't know who, but I’ll catch that person for sure.’
He wasn’t sure if what was used was poison or not, but he now knew that a person who was daring enough to use such things was actually inside the academy.
And there was a high chance of him doing it again.
And as the situation escalated, the hidden guy must have noticed that the one suffering wasn’t Mumu, but his other brother.
“You... Why are you so serious?”
Mo Il-hwa asked Jin-hyuk.
At that, Jin-hyuk shook his head.
“It’s nothing.”
“By the way, you have gotten very popular.”
“Huh?”
“The kids are all staring at you so much their stares could maybe pierce your head.”
At those words, he looked around.
He was looking for an empty seat to sit, but many students were indeed looking at Jin-hyuk with strange eyes.
In particular, it was the female students who looked at him with dreamy eyes.
‘Ah…’
Jin-hyuk didn’t like this.
A significant number of people had seen what happened last night.
At first, he tried to clear up the misunderstanding, but thanks to the successor of the Southern Sword of Emperor, Hong Hye-ryung, the students didn’t listen to him anymore.
Actually, he could have cleared up the misunderstanding right away.
But he didn’t.
‘Why did I do that?’
After seeing the mysterious beauty with crimson hair, the words that it was all a misunderstanding, he didn’t want to say it anymore.
It was because it seemed like her interest in him would disappear if she knew that.
‘I have gone insane.’
Jin-hyuk reflected on that all night long.
There were some students who passed after Mumu delayed the test, so he knew the misunderstanding would resolve itself over time, but he felt like he had to solve this himself, before word passed through the others.
But now, it seemed like a tough thing to do.
And at some point, the women in the hall who were looking at him, shifted their attention.
“Isn’t he too handsome?”
“Such a feminine boy.”
“I think he might even be mistaken for a woman if he is dressed up right.”
“Doesn’t his face look more handsome than Yu Jin-sung’s brother?”
“Right? I think so too, even you too?”
Mumu stole the spotlight.
Jin-hyuk wasn’t really worried about it, but the voices he heard were all comparing Mumu to him, and no matter how much he didn’t want to care, he couldn’t help but feel nervous.
'Strangely, I feel angry.'
He had never thought of reaching his goal with his looks.
But he didn’t know why people were using him as a comparison object with Mumu.
And it was the moment when he was feeling bad.
“Idiots! I will protect you two.”
Pak!
“Uh?”
At that time, Mo Il-hwa wrapped her arms with Jin-hyuk and Mumu standing at her sides at the same time.
Seeing that, the female students who were watching felt angry, and they began to bad mouth her.
‘What protectio…’
She wanted more attention.
“Be jealous.”
Mo Il-hwa was secretly enjoying this.
As if she was monopolizing Mumu and Jin-hyuk that the other female students were interested in.
There was someone who was looking at the three with more intense eyes.
It was Dan Pil-hoo, the deputy who was on the podium.
‘… not a single person knows the truth about him.’
He had seen the true face of Mumu.
A sight which destroyed all the common sense he had.
‘Such a scary boy.’
He wasn’t the kind of person who would pursue the kid again.
And wondered how many more teachers in the academy would soon get the chance to see what he saw last night.
It would be strange to not call such a kid a monster.
He still couldn’t understand how it made sense for a person to become so strong with just muscle training.
‘Sigh…’
In his heart, he wanted to go and tell this to someone.
However, he was overwhelmed by last night’s intimidation and backed off.
To keep it a secret until the kid successfully completed his time in the academy.
Of course, it wasn’t without benefits.
He, too, received something from Mumu.
[Hmm. In the middle of the year, when given a chance to select a teacher, take me, the deputy.]
Mumu, who didn’t want to, but he ended up agreeing right away.
And the reason was simple.
[If I choose the deputy, then no one will bother asking me to become their disciple, right?]
For some reason, it felt weird but also a bit good too.
He would surely make a name for himself with the help of Mumu, so nothing felt wrong.
Until then, his only goal was to make sure that Mumu wasn’t noticed by anyone else.
And he gave a new order to Mumu.
[If you reveal your strength, then everyone will come and annoy you, you wouldn't like that, right? So don't reveal it unless you really need to.]
It was what he asked, but in reality, he was worried.
So, he thought of having someone be with Mumu at all times.
In case Mumu ended up in another accident, the other person could fix it.
“Deputy.”
At that moment, someone approached him and handed him a piece of paper with the order of the ceremony on it.
Looking at the order, the deputy had to explain the origin and the history of the academy first, and the second would be the director who would come and talk about the admission tests, then would be the congratulatory message from the headmaster, and the last would be the assigning of official dormitories.
‘… I have the most boring lines.’
Who wouldn’t know about the history of the academy?
It has always been like this.
Which was why he wanted to be the headmaster.
Well, he had his job to do, and after the students were all seated, Dan Pil-hoo went to the podium.
“Deputy. This too.”
An assistant came over and handed him a peculiar thing that looked like a funnel.
Curious, he asked.
“What is this?”
“This is an energy speaker; the headmaster had asked for this to be given to all the speakers today. It was said that if you use a small amount of internal energy and speak into it, the voice coming out would be loud and widely heard.”
“Oh, really?”
To make something convenient like this, he was amazed.
Still, he felt exhausted as he had to speak for a long time about the history, origin and the plans of the academy, all of which he had prepared in advance, but he thought that the speaker was a new addition.
It wasn’t easy to speak loudly in a hall which could accommodate 2000 people.
“Hmm.”
He tested the speaker.
And the sound of him coughing could be heard.
It felt like a wonderful thing to use.
“Good. I will begin now.”
When the signal was sent, Dan Pil-hoo began to speak.
“Dear…”
Dear~ Dear~ Dear~
As soon as he spoke, his voice spread all over the place.
Everyone’s attention focused on the man as the voice echoed.
The item seemed to work pretty well.
“…students, congratulations on making it to the Heavenly Martial Academy…”
making it to the Heavenly Martial Academy~ making it to the heavenly Martial Academy~
“Admission ceremony….”
Admission ceremony~ admission ceremony~
“Your…”
Your~ Your~
“Presence is…”
Presence ~ Presence ~
“Welcome here!”
Welcome~ welcome~ welcome~
“Going forward…”
Forward~ forward~ forward
Dan Pil-hoo, who liked it first, was now getting pissed at the constant echoing of the speaker and whispered to his assistant.
“Why is it like this?”
Why is it like this~ why is it like this~
As soon as that was heard, laughter erupted from the kids.
And the laughter which started, didn’t die down that easily.
Whisper!
Dan Pil-hoo, who didn’t expect that small sound to echo, also turned red and glared at the students.
And the students who were laughing became conscious of that glare and had gone silent.
Dan Pil-hoo sighed and talked again.
“Like this…”
This~ this~ this~
“…the Heavenly Martial Arts Academy…”
Martial arts academy~ academy~
Constant echoing.
It was a battle against the patience of the students who were forced to endure this scene.
Meanwhile, someone in the auditorium burst into laughter.
“Puahahah!”
And that sound echoed all through the wide auditorium.
Unable to bear it, Dan Pil-hoo pointed to the man.
“You!”
You~ You~ You~
“Come here!”
Come here~ come here~ come here~
At that time, the people covered their mouths and laughed.
Dan Pil-hoo, who was raging, made a decision.
He was going to have the person disciplined in front of everyone.
‘I don’t know who he is, but how dare he laugh so loudly when I speak? Today will be a day to build your memorial in the academy!’
He was uncomfortable after last night’s event.
And as the anger rose, he even rolled up his sleeves and saw someone walking from the middle.
‘!?’
Looking at the person, Dan Pil-hoo went shocked.
The person was none other than Mumu
‘… Damn it.’