Admission Ceremony (2)
‘I’ve gone and done it.’
Mumu bowed his head as if he was sorry.
Dan Pil-hoo couldn’t help but be upset at the appearance of Mumu.
To others, it looked like Dan Pil-hoo was the most respectable person, but that wasn’t what it was in reality.
And he had wondered who laughed at him, only to find out it was this kid, so now he couldn’t even say anything.
‘Is this kid really not smart?’
As Mumu put on a gloomy, sad expression on his face, and the female students in the front row were covering their mouths with their hands and made sad faces.
And if he said anything more, wouldn’t it look like a deputy was harassing an innocent child?
It felt absurd.
‘I can’t even yell at him.’
Gan Pil-hoo was the only one who knew the true face of Mumu.
And he didn’t want to do anything wrong by the kid and make their relationship take a wrong turn.
In the end, the choice he had to make was simple.
He calmed his stiff face and spoke with a compassionate face.
“Hm hm. No matter what the situation was, it is never okay to laugh when a school faculty is giving a speech. Do you get it?”
He spoke, trying very hard to not frown.
And this was, Mumu would end up thinking of him as a generous teacher.
“If you get it, go back to your seat.”
“Yes.”
And Dan Pil-hoo didn’t think that anything could go wrong with Mumu and him.
Mumu, who was unaware of the inner feelings of the man, said sorry and bowed his head.
‘This kid… is he doing this on purpose?’
The kid looked simple, but he definitely had a knack for making people surprised or uncomfortable.
He was raging inside, but Dan Pil-hoo couldn't do anything right now, so he sent Mumu back to his seat and forced a smile.
And there was someone in the auditorium who was watching Mumu carefully.
‘Is that him?’
Last night, the admission and entrance reports were checked by someone.
While looking at the descendants of the two of the Four Great Warriors and others, he found some shocking results.
A kid who passed spectacularly without any backing.
Even when he tried to feel the internal energy within Mumu, nothing could be felt.
But seeing the results, it was definite that Mumu wasn’t normal.
‘Hmm.’
The person felt that without knowing the entire story, he shouldn’t judge Mumu.
But for the sake of the future, there should be no variables, so those who might seem like they would interfere even in the slightest, needed to be excluded.
‘Should I test him?’
The person who was watching Mumu held out his finger.
And on the tip of his finger, he began to condense energy.
‘Flexible Finger Flicking Technique.’
A technique where the opponent wouldn’t even know from where the attack came from.
And he aimed for Mumu’s head.
But then the person lowered the finger and dissipated the energy.
It wasn’t time to reveal himself yet.
There was no need to make a hasty decision and test a kid who had just entered the Academy.
‘… I will just ask the kids to do it.’
The person thought that it would be most effective to use people who were closer to the kid’s age.
On the other hand, just like him, there was another person looking at Mumu.
It was Do Jeong-myung, the headmaster of the Academy.
'Is this kid the one?'
He was surprised when he saw the report he was given.
The kid who was strong enough to pass all the entrance tests with strength alone, and that too with overwhelming results.
An unprecedented achievement in the Academy since its establishment.
‘He is different from what I thought.’
From his expressions and movement, he looked very innocent.
However, this one was supposed to be the one who passed all the tests with strength alone…
‘Is it really him?’
Even if it wasn’t, Mumu was a candidate that ‘he’ noticed.
At that time, he let it go, but now he was concerned and nervous for the kids in the Academy.
And especially the kids who were now among the top five of the Academy.
There was no way ‘he’ would have left it like this.
‘I’ll know when I see.’
He wasn’t sure if this kid was the right one.
Although he was unusual, it wasn't easy for a regular person to follow the courses in the Academy without any martial arts.
Even though he was admitted into the Academy, he might not be able to withstand the process.
‘Let’s wait and see if he can follow the teachings of martial arts.’
“Hey. Is this some kind of punishment?”
Mo Il-hwa whispered to Mumu.
She was whispering as she was in the middle of the ceremony; if not, she would have yelled on the top of her voice.
The reason she reacted like that was because of the announcement of the list of top-ranking students.
After the history and origin of the Academy, as well as the training schedule was given, Baek Woo-gi, the supervisor for admissions, came out and announced it.
A total of 12 people were awarded certificates.
However, Mumu wasn’t included in it.
“Aren't you mad? If you tear open the gates and cause a riot, shouldn’t you be one of the awardees?”
Mo Il-hwa assumed that Mumu too would be called.
But it didn’t happen.
As punishment for delaying the tests, Mumu wasn't given the privilege to receive the awards or be called a high achieving student.
Director Baek Woo-gi told Mumu that, last night itself.
[The final decision of accepting you into the Academy can be decided by me, but disciplinary actions are unavoidable.]
And the decision was made as too many people had protested against Mumu, and that made it impossible to award the kid anything after that.
“Ugh, I hate seeing that.”
And because of that, Hong Hye-ryung got first place.
“But I am fine.”
Mumu said that with a normal bright face.
And that sight made her explode.
“I am not fine! I don’t want to see you be pushed down!”
In fact, this was the real reason.
When Hong Hye-ryung went up to the podium and received the certificate and was applauded, it felt completely twisted to Mo Il-hwa.
In her eyes, no matter how she looked at the girl on the podium, she looked like someone who had to be brought down.
Clicking her tongue, she spoke to Mumu.
“Being too kind will also sometimes come to bite you back in the ass. Remember what this Noona is saying."
“Huh. Fine.”
“By the way, he is included in the 12.”
Yu Jin-hyuk was in the top 12 people.
Except for the top one, the others weren’t called based on rank or scores, so the ranks weren't known, but being there itself was a great thing.
However, Jin-hyuk couldn’t enjoy that moment.
It was because of the piercing gaze Hong Hye-ryung was giving him.
After receiving the certificate, she didn’t enjoy the attention as usual.
According to the rumors, if it wasn’t for her, the brother of Yu Jin-sung would have taken the top seat.
Perhaps it was because of the disciplinary action that he wasn’t given the top seat.
‘… next time, I will get this rightfully.’
Her determination could be seen in her eyes.
But for Jin-hyuk, it was embarrassing to be there.
And the eyes of many male students were on him.
‘Why?’
Their eyes were close to envy.
And this was because of what they saw; they saw the beauty Hong Hye-ryun looking at Jin-hyuk, and they didn't like it.
They seemed to think that he was taking all her attention.
‘… I don’t get it.’
It seemed like Jin-hyuk had a thing for getting into situations where people misunderstood him.
Actually, there were other things that mattered to him.
Like the 11 people who were with him on the podium.
‘These people are strong.’
Looking at them one by one, he could feel that their auras were stronger than him.
Seeing that he knew one thing.
‘This won’t be easy.’
He would have to compete with each of them.
The eyes of each person on the podium was filled with determination and confidence.
But they weren’t the biggest enemies.
Jin-hyuk's eyes caught the bright-faced Mumu who was waving his hand at him.
The ceremony was done after Do Jeong-myung gave a speech to the students.
And the next step was to allocate formal dorms to all the students.
And for the assignment of the dorms, the admitted students moved from the auditorium to the dormitory site.
Unlike the temporary dorms, these dorms were in a separate site in the Academy.
Before entering the dorms, there was large square land on the path they walked through.
And there were four forked paths to the north, south, east and west and just behind the start of the path was a large pavilion and four stone statues.
"Woah! Are these the famous stone statues?"
“So cool!”
The students exclaimed as they saw the statues in admiration.
Mo Il-hwa was puzzled by that and asked Jin-hyuk.
“Fawning over a stone statue when going to the dorms? What is this?”
“I don’t know either.”
As sad as it was, Jin-hyuk's older brother didn't tell him much about the Academy.
However, it was possible to guess who the large statues in each direction belonged to.
“The Great warriors?”
The stone statue at the south had the Southern Sword of the Emperor.
And the statue at the north had to be the Fist of the Northern Star, and the one with eyes closed and a sword pulled out had to be the Eastern River Blade and finally the one to the west with an eye patch on the left eye and a leg lifted up was the Poison Air of West.
“Isn’t this just the stone statues of the Four Great Warriors? Why are they in the dormitory area?”
Mo Il-hwa was puzzled, but someone approached her and said.
“The Four of them are here because of the dorms which the Academy is proud of. To commemorate the four of them, the dorms have been named after them too. The reason why this dorm area is famous is…”
“Uh? Hae-ryang!”
A small-eyed boy appeared in front of them.
The kid they hadn’t seen since the temporary dorms.
Hae-ryang greeted Mo Il-hwa, Mumu and Jin-hyuk.
“It is nice to see you three again.”
“Nice to see you too.”
Hae-ryang’s expressions were more friendly than before, and when he saw Mumu, he expressed joy.
“Mumu. I didn’t know it before, but it seems like you did an amazing job.”
Hae-ryang changed his mind about Mumu after seeing him tear open the gates.
He thought that one day, Mumu might be his best customer.
So, he wanted to be close to them from now on and was ready to invest in Mumu, so in future, he would be able to get something from him.
“Hey. Hae-ryang. You need to explain that.”
Mo Il-hwa pointed to the statues and said.
“Ahh. Lady Mo. What is it that you are curious about?”
“Why are they famous?”
“It is because of the competition between the dorms.”
“Competition between dorms?”
“Yes. It was said that the reason why the four dorms were created like this was to guide the seniors and juniors through a sense of cooperation through group competitions.”
“Did they really have to make it like this?”
“Well, there are a lot of benefits.”
“Benefits?”
“Yes. They said that if a group wins the quarterly dorm competition, they will receive many benefits from the Academy, and it will reflect on the personal grades."
“Grades! Really?!”
At Hae-ryang’s words, Mo Il-hwa’s eyes lit up.
Seeing that, Hae-ryang smiled.
“Which is why choosing a dormitory is a huge task.”
Jin-hyuk nodded his head.
If a particular dorm a student joined, competed against other dorms and won, it was said that it would help a student's personal grades go up and then there is a chance for a student to rise individually.
Mo Il-hwa pulled out a silver coin and spoke to Hae-ryang in a hushed voice.
“Do you know which dorm has the advantage?”
At those words, Hae-ryang waved his hand.
“I can’t. I don’t have that much information.”
“Is that so? Then tell me what you know.”
“Well, the Northern dorms and Western dorms are famous now.”
“Why?”
“It is because of the descendants of the two guardians who entered there before. Because of that, it was said that the battle between the two dorms was pretty good last year."
But many students were aware of this.
So, this didn’t exactly count as information.
“Then, it would be advantageous to enter one of the two?”
“It could be that, but it doesn’t always have to work out that way. This year, we have the descendants of the Southern Swords and the East River coming in, so the situation might change.”
“Ah… right!”
The descendants of the two will surely enter their own clan’s dorms.
If so, then as Hae-ryang said, the fight would be pretty tight between the four dorms.
Mo Il-hwa, who was immersed in thought, licked her lips and then spoke to Hae-ryang.
“Then the place I go will do better.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Well. Because these two will follow me. Right?”
“That…”
Jin-hyuk didn’t deny it.
"Right, Mumu?"
“Yes. I will live in the same dorms as Il-hwa.”
“See?”
Because of her father’s request, the two will follow her to the same dorms.
‘Ho-oh.’
At her words, Hae-ryang shook his head.
Jin-hyuk was in the top 12 of the strongest kids, and he had an incredible strength that could become a variable in the current status-quo of the dorms.
Looking at the girl with twinkling eyes, he thought.
'This woman is the real powerhouse.'
At that, Hae-ryang held Mo Il-hwa’s hands and said.
“Hehe, my lady. Can I also step into the same place as you? I will provide you with the best and useful information.”