Ha-ryun (1)
The dorm assignments for all students were almost done.
So, Jin-hyuk, Mo Il-hwa and Hae-ryang went looking around for Mumu who was currently missing.
And as they were doing that, one of the floor leaders said that Mumu went to the men’s only washrooms.
“Mumu!”
“Young master Mumu!”
Jin-hyuk, who was looking for Mumu, sighed.
He didn’t know why he had to look after another man who was his age.
“Say it louder.”
At Mo Il-hwa’s words, Jin-hyuk stared at her.
He didn't understand why he and Hae-ryang were the only ones shouting.
“Miss…”
“This is the men's only bathroom area. How can I call him out? Mumu will be flustered if I call him out, so you have to raise your voices and shout louder.”
“Hmm.”
There was nothing they could say to rebuke her.
Jin-hyuk, who had a hard time finding something to say to her, looked at Hae-ryang, who had started pointing somewhere.
“Miss! Look over there!”
There, they saw that Mumu was holding someone.
The three of them ran for him.
“Wake up.”
Mumu was shaking Ha-ryun, whose entire body was convulsing.
"Mumu, what the hell… ugh?"
Jin-hyuk, who saw it, couldn't help but be puzzled.
There was a needle stuck at the center of Ha-ryun's forehead, and it seemed to have dug in quite deeply.
It couldn’t have touched his brain, right?
“What happened here?”
Mo Il-hwa looked around and frowned.
The dug-out traces near the washrooms, as well as the indentations on the ground in front of them indicated that there was a fight that had occurred here.
‘An accident?’
She was sure that Mumu was definitely in the center of whatever had happened here.
Holding Ha-ryun’s head, Jin-hyuk said.
“What happened? Did you do this?”
“No. I was asleep and woke up, and he was behind me like this.”
“You were asleep and then got up? What kind of nonsense is that?”
It felt like Mumu was speaking gibberish.
Who would sleep near the washrooms?
Jin-hyuk, who was puzzled, looked at Ha-ryun, who was now turned over and was trembling throughout his body.
“Wait, I remember seeing this face!”
“Uh? You know him!”
Mo Il-hwa asked with her eyes open wide.
“You know him?”
“Th… you know him too. He is the one who opened the gate after Hong Hye-ryung when we took the entrance test. He didn’t seem to like anyone.”
At that, Mo Il-hwa remembered a couple of things.
And as he heard that, Jin-hyuk too tried to remember more.
“Ah!”
Since his eyes were turned over, Jin-hyuk couldn’t see much.
So, he took a closer look at the man.
Despite not being a descendant of the Four Great Warriors, this man had even better insight.
“Oh, right. He seems to be young master Ha-ryun.”
Hae-ryang recognized him too.
In fact, he was the first to find out.
It was strange not to know him because they had temporarily shared dorms.
“I don’t think we are in a position where we can just leave things like this.”
The condition of Ha-ryun didn’t seem good.
His body was constantly twitching.
“First, I think we should talk to the teachers and the floor leaders of the academy and ask them for an infirmary. The needle stuck to the forehead…”
Drip!
Blood was coming from the center of Ha-ryun's forehead.
“Don’t pull it out….”
That was what he was going to say.
Since the bleeding would increase.
But Mumu had pulled it out.
“…”
Jin-hyuk looked at Mumu in shock.
Mumu scratched his head and muttered, realizing that he had made a mistake because of the blood coming out of his forehead.
“Shouldn’t I have done it?”
“… do you even have to say that now? Just stay out of this.”
Jin-hyuk tore the hem of his shirt and put it on Ha-ryun’s forehead.
Contrary to his fears, despite the hole being quite large, the blood wasn’t much, and it also showed signs of stopping.
“Uh? The tremors stopped.”
Ha-ryun, who was convulsing till then, stopped shaking after Mumu removed the needle and closed his eyes.
Jin-hyuk tapped Ha-ryun’s pulse to check, and luckily nothing seemed to be wrong; he was just sleeping. No, he had fainted.
He looked at Ha-ryun, who had passed out, and asked with a suspicious look.
"You really didn't do anything, right? What are those marks?"
Jin-hyuk asked, pointing to the dug-out scars on the ground.
He was sure that it was Mumu who did that.
“It wasn’t me.”
However, Mumu waved his hand, denying it.
Hae-ryung looked closer at the sight before him and said,
“It seems what young master Mumu has said is half right.”
“What do you mean?”
When Mo Il-hwa asked what he had meant, Hae-ryang pointed to the pit and pointed to fainted Ha-ryun.
“If you look at the marks, they look like the marks of a person thrown, and the shape near the neck is rather narrow. On the other hand, young master Ha-ryun has broad shoulders. And the most decisive thing is, young master Ha-ryun’s clothes are spotless.”
“Uh? That is right.”
As Hae-ryang said, there was no trace of dirt or dust on Ha-ryun’s clothes.
Then Jin-hyuk frowned and asked.
“Wait. Did you say it looked like the mark of throwing a person?”
“Yes. Looking at the shape, it doesn’t seem like this happened just once or twice… this looks like…”
Hae-ryang looked at Mumu.
Mumu frowned and said,
“It wasn’t me.”
“If it was not you, then who else did this? Are you deliberately pretending not to know?”
“I don’t lie about such things.”
“Hmm.”
Jin-hyuk couldn’t believe Mumu’s words.
But like Mumu said, he isn’t the kind of person to lie.
Because of the type of person he was, Mumu never came across a situation that required him to lie, and he would speak what he wanted to right away without thinking much about it.
Hae-ryang came closer and said,
“There is a needle here.”
“Uh? Wasn’t that the one stuck on Ha-ryun’s forehead?”
“Yes. It seems like the same one we saw but seeing it this close… I think I know where they are from.”
“Where?”
“That…”
As a response to Mo Il-hwa’s question, Hae-ryang rolled the needle between his fingers.
Normally, he would only give out such information for money.
However, he told the woman that he would support her physically and mentally, so it would be right to provide such information for free.
“Do you want money?”
“Ahahaha. Not that. No.”
“Hmm, then?”
“Didn’t I say that I would be loyal to the miss? So I don’t need any money. But this needle…hmm… this seems to be from the Tang family.”
“The Tang Family?”
Mo Il-hwa and Jin-hyuk were surprised at the word 'Tang.'
The Tang family was a prestigious family among the Murim families.
Wasn’t it one of the Six Great clans?
Hae-ryang looked at it and spoke, clearly puzzled.
“But it is strange. I don’t know why the needles of their clan are stuck on the ground like this and on his head, and I also don’t understand why the pits are so close like this.”
Three things, and not a single clue.
And finding the connection between the three was difficult.
No matter what others said, for them, the pits on the floor were something Mumu had done, yet Mumu said he didn’t do anything like that.
All three of them were suspicious about what had actually happened.
Jin-hyuk asked Mumu.
“Why were you sleeping here?”
Jin-hyuk believed that the memory that Mumu had lost might be the key to understanding the situation.
At that, Mumu held his head and spoke what he remembered.
As he was leaving, a girl called Jo Mae-hee took her clothes off and asked him to touch her.
“T-that woman called Jo Mae-hee asked you to touch her breast?”
Hae-ryang gulped at those words.
At such an academy, things like these were happening?
On the other hand, Mo Il-hwa’s face was bright red.
“M-Mumu! Was the woman, no, you didn’t fall for that bitch, right?”
“Fall?”
“Yeah! She was trying to lure an innocent guy like you with her body! It was completely planned!”
“Ah, really? She had a lot of fat in her chest, so I asked her if she wanted to join us for training her muscles in her chest.”
‘…’
Everyone went quiet at that.
Everyone had a different opinion.
‘He said the same when he looked at mine. Should I feel lucky that he stopped there since he doesn’t know much about women?’
Mo Il-hwa was like this.
‘Father… even if you raised this kid in the forest with a lot of freedom, you should at least give him some common sense in addition to his studies!’
Jin-hyuk thought that.
‘Would it work if I pretend to be naïve like him and touch breasts?’
And Hae-ryang was thinking nonsense.
Not minding the others’ reactions, Mumu said everything he remembered.
Mo Il-hwa heard all of it and asked.
“You smelled the incense and looked at the gestures she made, and then fell asleep? Is that even possible?”
At that, Hae-ryang stroked his chin.
“Hmm… it seems like you got caught in something troublesome.”
“What?”
"At first, I thought this wouldn't be a huge deal, but it seems like some kind of intimacy enchantment.”
“Enchantment?”
“Yes.”
“What is that?”
“It is a type of technique if I am correct, and I heard that there were people who used them to deceive cultivators and other innocents, among the Forces of Evil’s Black Blade, which had been already destroyed years ago.”
Although they were now an information clan, the Lower District clan had a lot of information about the Forces of Evil compared to others.
Jin-hyuk asked Hae-ryang.
“Then what you mean to say is that the one called Jo Mae-hee, who put Mumu to sleep, is from Black Blade?"
“… I am not sure about that. This could be because young master Mumu hadn’t mastered cultivation that this technique worked out, and there are many other clans, along with the lower clans of the Black Blade clan, which practice such things with incense. However…”
There was one particular place where women took the lead in seduction.
‘The Fragrance of Sweet Joy Palace.’
A clan below Black Blade that consisted of only women.
They were a group who were feared even when the Forces of Evil were ruling.
Because of their amazing skills, they would kidnap men and commit horrible acts, which resulted in men being the victims.
‘However, they had gone completely extinct over 17 years ago.'
They had been destroyed.
At that time, many of the Black Blade’s clans were wiped out.
And those who survived now were nothing compared to the past and couldn’t amount to much.
‘… it can’t be them. It was said that everyone was wiped out.’
Mo Il-hwa asked.
“But? Why aren’t you continuing?”
“Ah… if they learned such a thing, they must probably come from the Black Blade clan, but I don’t know how such a woman entered the academy.”
“Since you have the information, can’t you make a guess?”
“A guess? There are only a few places that use the same technique as Black Blade. But it is questionable whether such people could even enter the Heavenly Martial Arts Academy, which is known to be a sacred site.”
“So the bottom line is, you aren’t sure.”
“Right.”
"If you tried to sell this information for money, I would have thought you lacked a conscience."
“Hehe.”
Mo Il-hwa clicked her tongue and approached Ha-ryun.
And looked at the needle of the Tang clan in Hae-ryang’s hand.
One clue.
The girl named Jo Mae-hee, is from the Black Blade clan or one of its affiliates, and tried to persuade Mumu to do something.
‘And once Mumu passed out, Jo Mae-hee disappeared, and the needles with the memorization technique of the Tang family were left everywhere along with traces of Mumu’s strength as well as Ha-ryun in this state…’
Mo Il-hwa asked Mumu.
“Mumu. By the time you woke up, Ha-ryun was behind you?”
“Yes. He was.”
“Didn’t you say that the needles were from the Tang clan?”
“Right.”
“Hmm.”
Mo Il-hwa was trying to find a link, when Jin-hyuk said,
“Miss. As Hae-ryang said, if Black Blade is involved in this, this isn’t an issue for us to solve. We need to take this to the teachers of the academy.”
“It isn't something which can be solved right away. Look here.”
“Huh?”
“I mean, this guy is the one who I’m most suspicious of.”
Mo Il-hwa approached Ha-ryun.
And suddenly started to fidget with his body.
Jin-hyuk was shocked.
“W-what are you saying?”
“What do you mean? This guy was behind Mumu, who was sleeping. He was probably the one doing the memorization technique of the Tang clan on the needles, but now, he has a hole in his forehead…”
“Yes, but…”
“Let’s just check his belongings, since we can never know.”
At Mo Il-hwa’s words, Mumu groaned and clapped his hands.
“I think I saw it there. Something like…”
At that, Jin-hyuk looked shocked.
“The Murim Journal of the Lone Murim Warrior! Did you read that too?”
“Yes. It was among the books that Oh Ji-kang brought to me because I was bored.”
“You too?”
Jin-hyuk had also received the book.
The book contained several pieces of advice to keep in mind while living as a Murim warrior, and one of them was that adopted kids or illegitimate kids who were brought into a family were very greedy and that they should be strictly educated right from the beginning.
Excited, Mumu asked.
“Wasn’t that fun?”
“Hm, it wasn’t bad.”
“And then. At the end of the book, the main character is framed when he is alone in his room while drinking wine with just his bare body and his loneliness. Wasn’t that line good?”
"It is shocking for a guy who lacks common sense, to know the lines from a book like this.”
For the first time, the two found a common interest.
Looking at the two, Hae-ryang said.
“Ugh. Young masters. You read a great martial arts book which is hard to find.”
“Martial arts?”
“Ahh. It isn’t really martial arts. It’s just something like techniques and stuff.”
Mumu and Jin-hyuk were puzzled.
“There was a lot of exaggerated content and plagiarized stuff too, so it was discontinued in less than a year. Which is why it is called that and is also hard to find. Hahaha.”
“….”
Mumu and even Jin-hyuk were excited to know that they had shared something common.
The two of them wondered if such a book was enjoyed by others.
“I don’t know who the author is, but I am curious to know who he is since he seems so careless….”
“Yah.”
At that moment, Mo Il-hwa stopped Hae-ryang.
And she saw some things in ha-ryun’s sleeve.
“I found some suspicious things.”
“What is that?”
At that, she shook her hand and said,
“Looks like some kind of powder.”
“Powder?”
Jin-hyuk looked at it.
The pouch was light, and he could hear the sound of something moving inside it.
So, he opened it carefully.
“Wait.”
Hae-ryang stopped Jin-hyuk.
He pulled out a silver rod from his sleeve.
Mo Il-hwa, who looked at it, asked.
“What is that?”
“It is a stick made with melting silver.”
“What are you going to do with that?”
“I want to check if it is poison. Although it isn’t the case for all poisons, silver is sensitive to most poisons.”
He put the silver rod into the pouch.
He did that to all six pouches, but the silver didn’t respond.
“What now?”
Mo Il-hwa seemed disappointed in it.
“Ah… I thought we would find something, but nothing happened.”
‘Haha.’
Ha-ryun, who had his eyes closed, smiled inwardly.
He woke up the moment Mo Il-hwa began to check him.
He didn’t know everything that was happening around him, but he knew that the four people found him suspicious.
‘Did they think I would openly carry poison? Stupid jerks.’
All the powders that he held in the pouches were toxic, but they could only be fully prepared after combining them with something.
‘It is nothing.’
What the silver reacted to was acid. And that wasn't presently in the powder, making it harmless.
Since Hae-ryang was from the Lower District sect, Ha-ryun was a bit nervous, but it didn’t seem like he knew much about poison.
“Should we try looking for something else then?”
‘Even if you look for a hundred days, you won’t find any…’
“Uh? This smell, this is what came from Jin-hyuk last night.”
‘!?’
Ha-ryun's eyelids trembled.
What was that?
He was puzzled when Mumu continued.
“This blue pouch, doesn’t it smell like that?”
‘This is insane.’
For a moment, Ha-ryun went stiff.
The blue pouch was indeed what he had used last night in Mumu’s room.
A small amount was enough to make a person’s body weak, and it wasn’t as poisonous as other drugs.
‘He could guess it?’
But more important than that was that the smell of that powder was almost fragrance-free.
Even someone who dealt with poison for the longest time would have a hard time distinguishing it, but Mumu was able to smell it from a pouch without even taking it outside?
Is he some kind of wild dog?
“Really? You did say that it was hard to move after someone threw powder at you, right? Yah, why are you putting that on your tongue?"
“I am going to check. Ah, don’t worry. Luckily, I carry anti-poison with me at all times. Apart from that… this is really...”
“What?”
“I tasted a little, but the strength in my hands is already gone, the same things which young master Jin-hyuk spoke about are happening to my body.”
‘…’
Ha-ryun didn’t think it would turn out like this.
Now, he was completely at a loss and had no idea on how to get out of the situation.
“This jerk is the culprit.”
“I think we should wake him up and ask.”
“However, there was a needle stuck in him till a couple of minutes ago, and he hasn't woken up since then.”
“Once he wakes up, we’ll ask him, and if he doesn’t, we will take him to the infirmary.”
‘Ah!’
In their conversation, Ha-ryun came up with a good solution.
He had to kill some time.
Sooner or later, Jo Mae-hee will come after taking care of Tang So-so.
And she was also on the same side as him.
If they work together, even a monster like Mumu will be nothing.
‘Let’s pretend to stay fainted or as if something is wrong with my head until she comes.’
If he pretended to keep sleeping, and they decided to wake him up, he decided to act like something was wrong with his head.
‘Still, for these people to try and wake me…’
It was then.
Shh!
Someone took his hand.
Then,
Crack!
“Kwak!”
Ha-ryun screamed, and his body twisted in pain.
Seeing him in pain, Mumu smiled brightly and said.
“He is up.”