“What?”
Cho Nayeon couldn’t hide her fluster, her face had already turned red and she was doubting her ears.
“S-show your body?”
“She said that if I let her see it for a while, she would give me a star.”
‘!!!’
Nayeon’s eyes widened, not once but to show the body for a while? Was this true?
She thought Mumu was playing a joke on her.
“Nonsense.”
“What?”
“Are you deliberately giving me false information?”
“Why would I?”
Asked Mumu with a frown. It was an absurd thing to ask because he was being genuine about it. The stars she had managed to receive so far were because she had accomplished quite difficult tasks or achieved good results during competitions.
But just show the body? It didn’t seem true.
‘No…’
In an instant, the rumor she heard about Baek-yeon popped into her mind.
[About master Dan Baek-yeon, do you know the reason why she hates the topic about dating or marriage even with her amazing appearance?]
[What? Isn’t that just because she isn’t interested in meeting people or getting married?]
[If she wasn’t interested she would be so vocal about it. I heard from a senior that she has a very weird taste.]
[Weird taste?]
[Until now, there is a story that she is one who focusses on her work and research and is a master who preffers same sex over the opposite sex, so no marriage.]
[Eh. No way.]
[And there is another one which says she likes young academy students.]
[… really?]
There were all kinds of rumors. It was a topic of discussion among the students as Dan Baek-yeon would turn sensitive when the topic of marriage comes up.
But,
‘Was it true?’
Was this the reason no one ever received a star from her?
After the roll call and the muscle training that night.
“You picked a weapon, this one?”
Jin-hyuk looked at Mumu with an absurd look. He thought it was going to be a plausible weapon because it was in a basement treasure trove but….
“It is good for training.”
“You really… ha.”
At Mumu’s words, Jin-hyuk clicked his tongue. This guy was so crazy about the muscle training that now he began to wonder if Mumu's head was filled with muscles itself.
‘What is this now?’
[Contraction and relaxation of muscles.]
It was a book brought by Mumu. He couldn’t understand why such a book was even there in the archives.
Just in case, he skimmed through it and as the title says, it explains step by step how to contract and relax the muscles!
Jin-hyuk thought it would have been more useful if Mumu just pulled out any book other than this.
‘He will hear a lot more from Miss Mo.’
Of all the things he bought, the Shaolin Pill was the most useful one.
‘How did he manage to get this?’
Shaolin Pills were famous for being the most stable among pills made by any other clan. The more stable a pill was, the higher amount of energy the body would be able to absorb.
For example, if a generic pill had an acceptable efficiency of forty to sixty percent, then the Shaolin Pills had an acceptable efficiency of sixty to ninety percent.
‘And Shaolin is known to be the originator for martial arts.’
There was bound to be a difference since they were a clan from the beginning. But he was curious.
“A guy who has no interest in martial arts brought this one?”
“The manager said that this was the most expensive.”
“… are you going to sell this?”
Then that made sense, there was no way Mumu would have brought such a thing by accident.
But, unexpected words came out of Mumu’s mouth.
“If I have this, can I quickly learn internal energy?”
“… What now? Are you interested in martial arts?”
Wasn’t Mumu the kind who thought everything was useless except for muscle training? But now he was interested in martial arts?
Mumu responded to Jin-hyuk who was puzzled,
“No. it is not like that. When I looked through the genealogy that the senior gave me, they said that internal energy has to be learnt.”
“Genealogy?”
What was this now?
That was when Mumu took out the paper book and showed it. Jin-hyuk who took it, turned it over and was shocked.
“What is this? Where did you get this?”
“A senior I know gave it.”
“Someone you know? Why would anyone give this?”
Surprisingly, the papers which Mumu called as genealogy contained detailed information about the lectures and the exams which were taken. Although some of the basic lessons were different, it still held great information.
Mumu smiled and said,
“You don’t need to know.”
“… What?”
Jin-hyuk frowned. Did Mumu just say that?
Normally, when he would ask a question, Mumu would answer without much thought. So he didn’t expect such an answer.
Shhh!
At that time, Mumu took the book away and said,
“I will share this with you, so please teach me the basics of martial arts.”
“… are you making a bargain with me?”
“They said that even families don’t teach martial arts to each other without conditions.”
What?
Jin-hyuk was stunned. Since when did this one be that aware of things?
Jin-hyuk stared at Mumu. It felt like a monkey which had no thoughts and only knew about bananas was finally using its head little by little.
‘Should this be considered as a good thing?’
It wasn’t a bad thing. And it would be better for Mumu if he could think before acting. So, Jin-hyuk shook his head and said,
“No need. I don’t need that thing. I’ll just teach you the basics.”
“Ah really?”
“I don’t think I should rely on that.”
Mumu’s eyes shone at Jin-hyuk’s words.
Mumu knew that Jin-hyuk wanted to be famous like his older brother and graduate from this place, but he didn’t expect him to give up on this precious book without results.
Of course, once a person gets dependent on such things, learning in the academy would turn meaningless.
[I won’t tell you anything. Realize it by bumping into it yourself.]
The words of his brother, Yu Jin-seong.
So there had to be a reason why his brother didn’t give him the book despite coming out on top. So, rather than taking the shortcut, he decided to go slow.
Mumu, who was surprised, looked at the book in his hands and ripped it.
Tear!
“W-what are you doing?”
Jin-hyuk was shocked at it to which Mumu smiled and said,
“If Jin-hyuk is like that, I should also be like you.”
“What? Sigh…”
How could a person tear down that precious book without any regrets? He knew that humans get swayed easily, but this one was really weird.
Jin-hyuk looked at Mumu who was looking at him and smiled.
“The more I see you, the more different you look.”
“Huh? Really?”
“Enough of that. So you are going to learn martial arts to pass the exams?”
“Yes.”
“Then I will teach you. You are of Yu family so there wouldn’t be a case of you failing or being disqualified.”
“I like Jin-hyuk because you are kind!”
“W-what nonsense is that!”
Jin-hyuk said that loudly to shut Mumu up. To call him kind when he was being normal, and each time he heard it, it made him shudder.
“Kum. Anyway, I'll teach you the basics of it. I could teach you what I was taught by my teachers, but that would be unreasonable now…”
“Would you be able to teach things other than what your teachers taught you?”
Jin-hyuk sighed at Mumu’s question.
“If there is a book from the archive which I can use then I can explain it to you in a way that you understand, but this book, I don’t know.”
Contraction and relaxation of muscles was of little use. Mumu tilted his head and then got up and went to his desk.
“What are you doing? Didn’t you ask me to teach you?”
“Wait.”
The desk was basically equipped with the Four Treasure of Study (Brush, ink, paper and inkstone). Basic items for all students. After pouring the ink in, Mumu used the brush to write line by line. Jin-hyuk who saw it got up.
Shhhh!
He was wondering what Mumu was writing like a possessed person. The writing was weird because Mumu never practiced writing till now, and it was surprising that he could write well without taking breaks.
But the contents made Jin-hyuk shocked.
‘W-what!’
He wondered what Mumu was writing.
But what Mumu was writing was none other than martial arts and not a common one either!
‘… Ascension martial arts!’
Jin-hyuk was shocked at what he saw.
What Mumu was writing was the content in Ascension martial arts. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this was at a level higher than what Jin-hyuk was taught.
‘How the hell did he know about this?’
Jin-hyuk couldn’t understand the situation. How could Mumu memorize the entire book? Mumu, who was writing for a long time, stopped.
Tak!
He left the brush in the inkstone and asked.
“Will this work?”
“…what is this?”
“Isn't this a martial arts book? You said you could teach if there was a book to refer to?”
“This?”
“Right.”
“Did you see it in the basement?”
‘!?’
Jin-hyuk yelled out shocked and then asked again.
“A book from the basement archive library, right?”
“Yes.”
“.... you, but you brought out that one?”
Jin-hyuk said pointing to the Contraction and Relaxation of muscles which was on the table. How could he memorize that one if the book he brought was this?
“I remember.”
“You remember?”
“I looked in to see if there was anything useful for muscle training.”
“You looked?”
“Yes.”
“And remember all of it?”
“Yes. Right.”
Seeing Mumu speak casually, Jin-hyuk clicked his tongue.
If what he said was true, then didn’t it mean that Mumu just memorized all the things in the books he just looked at?
Even he, who was regarded as gifted by his own teachers, had trouble memorizing difficult stuff and would read them again and again.
‘This guy is no muscle brained idiot!’
If what he said was true, then he had incredible memorization power. Did his father know of it?
Mumu asked Jin-hyuk who was surprised,
“What? This doesn’t work? Should I write another one?”
“…?”
“I remember other things too.”
At Mumu’s words, Jin-hyuk asked with a hardened face.
“You remember other things? Have you been in the library all day?”
“No. I was told that I would be given only half a day, so I just skimmed through as many as I could. Around 40 books?”
“40 books?”
Jin-hyuk gulped wondering if that was possible.
“… you remember all of them?”
Mumu answered it casually.
‘!!!!’
Jin-hyuk was at a loss for words. Mumu now had forty books of the archives along with the ascension martial arts in his mind!