Half an hour before. In the hallway of the academy.
A man hidden in the shadows said,
[Master Yang, what do you think about the new student having items on him?]
[Item? Do you mean equipment with power?]
[It is what you said.]
[… who could even have such a thing?]
[Master Yang must have heard it too. A student who hasn’t learned martial arts passed all the tests, and then another incident happened.]
How could anyone not know? All the masters in the academy knew of it and were surprised too. The rumors say that the child passed with just muscle strength. In addition, the two people in charge of the admission couldn’t stop praising the child; just how great could he be?
But it wasn’t true?
[Does it mean that the student took the exam with the power of an item?]
[That is still unknown. However, if this child passed the entrance with that, and entered our Heavenly Martial Arts Academy, which is responsible for the future of the land, then it could cause problems for us.]
Yang Baek-jeon couldn’t overlook it. This wasn’t something that he could ignore.
[I will check it for myself right now.]
[How will you check?]
[If the item has power and was used, I will confiscate it or evict the student.]
The man in the shadows warned Master Yang.
[Then be careful, Master Yang.]
[Careful?]
[I heard from the office that the child's item is rather unusual. The child may be enraged and use it violently to resist it.]
And this made Master Yang narrow his eyes.
[If it turns like that, I won’t stay still.]
He was a strong-hearted man, yet this reaction was unexpected. And as warned, he thought the student would rebel or yell, but he was being nice and helping him?
“Are you going to take it off? Please take this off me.”
‘!?’
At Mumu’s reaction Master, Yang frowned.
‘What is with him?’
A reasonable thought. If this was an item, then it was like a treasure. Then based on the rules, confiscating them by force was alright, but this student willingly gave it up.
“What do you mean?”
“What? Rather, I request you to do it.”
“Request?”
It was a sincere request. From Mumu's point of view, these bands restricted him. As if it wasn’t enough to suppress his strength, these bands would even pain him as the number went down.
It was natural that he wanted this off.
“Master. Take this off.”
Master Yang thought this was suspicious.
“Why are you asking me to take off something you should take off?”
“It won’t come.”
“… do you expect me to believe that?”
Did it make sense that he couldn’t take it off? It sounded absurd.
“Don’t be silly and remove it.”
“It really won’t come off.”
“Show it to me.”
“Show it?”
“yes.”
He thought Mumu was up to something. Maybe he was trying to surprise attack him when he removed the bands.
So he said that, and Mumu took a light breath and tried to pull off the band on the left wrist.
Lench!
“Hmmm!”
Mumu gave strength into his hands but couldn’t pull it. Mumu’s muscles could be seen when the sleeves were rolled up, but now that he was pulling, the muscles were bulging along with the nerves.
‘… what muscles!’
If he hadn’t known that this item had power, he would have genuinely admired it, but something seemed strange.
‘What is he doing?’
The arms were swelling up, but the band couldn’t be pulled off. The veins in the face were also straining, so why wasn’t he able to pull the bands off?
“Are you messing with me?”
Mumu responded as if it felt unfair.
“No.”
“What, no? Are you acting now?”
“Act?”
“Then why isn’t that coming out?”
Master Yang thought Mumu was acting. He thought that Mumu was just pretending to remove it, and so Mumu sighed and said,
“I tried very hard to get this off me, but it wouldn’t come. If you don’t believe me, you can try it for yourself.”
“You want me to try?”
“Uh.”
Mumu held out both hands. Yang Baek-jeon.
‘This one keeps telling me to do it. Is this child up to something?’
It felt like he was planning something. But was he the kind to think so much? Master Yang said,
“Kneel and put your arms behind you.”
“Uh?”
“Didn't you hear? I told you to get down on your needs and put your hands behind your back.”
Mumu was shocked, but he did as told, and Master Yang brought out a black rope, intending to tie his hands. This rope was different since it was made of black iron.
“What are you doing?”
“Stay still.”
Master Yang prepared for any rebellion. And it wasn’t enough to tie the arms, so he sealed the blood points.
Taktatak!
Believing that Mumu would do something, he was cautious. According to ‘his’ words, Mumu was someone intelligent and sly, so he was on alert.
‘Now, let’s take it off.’
And he held the right-hand band. And tried to take it, but.
Clench!
‘!?’
Despite using his power, the band wouldn’t move. He looked at the rope tying Mumu's hand, and the kid wasn’t even doing anything.
No, even if he wanted to, he couldn’t even do anything with sealed blood points.
‘What is this?’
Knowing that it wouldn’t work, he began to raise the amount of power he used and began to really grasp onto it. If it couldn’t be done with strength, he was ready to use his internal energy to remove these bands. But then,
“Huh!”
Despite raising his power, the band on Mumu’s wrist didn’t move. It didn’t come off as if absorbed by the wrist. It was challenging to understand this.
‘Let’s do this.’
Clench!
Master Yang clenched his teeth and raised his power to the eighth level. As a Super Master level, his hair was fluttering back in force as he did.
Aaah!
Mumu asked him to take it off, and he thought things were up, but when he tried,
‘Take it off.’
‘No. was this why the guy who passed the tests couldn’t even take this off with his own will?’
This was something he couldn’t understand. However, looking at what happened, he couldn’t take it off. So he looked at Mumu,
“You have asked me to take it off, right?”
“Yes. Please take it off.”
At this, he picked the sword on the chair and pulled it.
Srng!
Mumu frowned at the sight and asked.
“What are you doing?”
“As you said, the bands are needed to be off, so I can cut them, right?”
Master Yang decided to try it. This student wouldn’t mind his method if he genuinely wanted the bands off–right? However, if he didn’t allow the cutting of them off, the real intention was something else. Mumu answered.
“Well, cut it, please.”
“What?”
Did he want to cut them off? Weren't these bands still a valuable item, right? So he couldn’t understand why Mumu would willingly agree to this. Mumu said.
“I want it to be in good condition, but cutting it is better than having it on my body for the rest of my life.”
For Mumu, these bands were a restriction. But these could have something to do with his birth parents, so he wanted to keep them. But the desire to see himself without these.
‘… he truly wants me to get this off?’
Master Yang, who was skeptical of the information, was puzzled. This was no exaggeration to say that the items which held power could be the most precious treasures, so he couldn’t understand why this child was acting as such.
‘Strange. Is the kid taking advantage of this?’
This whole situation was different from what ‘he’ said. If this guy was sly and clever, would he say all this? He showed no hesitation till now.
‘Am I missing something?’
It was confusing. However, the way to confirm this was to take the piece off Mumu. He could check the reaction and verify if it was removed, so he raised his sword.
“I can cut it down?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I asked, and you responded, so don’t blame this master for breaking it.”
“Yes. But you can’t cut my wrists.”
“How can someone in charge of the academy teaching make such a mistake?”
Woong!
A white light shone on the sword. This light was called Sword energy, the energy which condenses on the sword.
And if the thin sword had sword energy on it, it could even cut down the black iron items.
‘One Strike!’
Simple and the strongest sword. Yang Baek-jeon aimed accurately at the bands.
Chak!
The sword cut through the and fell, but.
Clang!
‘UH/’
As soon as the blade touched it, the sword bounced back.
‘Did it deflect the sword?’
No, how could such things happen? Master Yang clenched his teeth and swung the sword again.
Chachachach!
The blade kept falling, and sparks shone at the collision. It barely even touched Mumu’s wrist, and he stopped.
“haa… Ha…”
He looked down at the band. He tried to cut it, but there wasn’t even a scratch. What could this mean?
‘No, why isn’t it being cut? No matter how strong….’
Clench!
It felt absurd, so he put the sword down and looked at this unscratched band.
‘What the hell is it so made of that it doesn’t cut… this?’
He looked at something in the band—the word 8 engraved on it, like a dial to turn.
Come to think of it, ‘he’ did say that Mumu would change this band and handle things.
‘Then…’
Maybe this was the way to remove it. So he carefully turned the dial.
Kikiki!
“Uh, Master…”
“Stay there. wouldn’t it be possible to remove it like this?”
“It isn’t the dial to remove….”
“It could be, do you not know?”
Despite Mumu’s disapproval, Master Yang continued to turn.
8,
7,
6.
The dial was being turned.
And it reached 1. Mumu, tied up with the hands to the back, didn't even know how many numbers it turned.
Click!
And it reached one, stopped as if something was caught.
‘What? I think something was done.’
Master Yang tried to turn it forcefully, and it felt like it was coming loose.
“Hum!”
He used the best he could to take it off, and the squeaking sound came unlike before and soon.
Kiiik!
The character for ‘Open’ appeared there, and it was then.
Clack!
And it came off Mumu's wrist.
“Ha!”
Master Yang, who succeeded in removing it off Mumu, was filled with joy, and even Mumu asked in pleasure.
“Did it come off?”
“Look! Didn’t you say this wouldn’t come out! See the one-off your hands?”
Bulge!
Master Yang couldn’t keep talking. It was because changes came on Mumu's right arm. Something like vapor rose from the muscles and then turned red and black completely.
‘!?’
Master Yang, surprised by the strange change, moved back, holding the band.
Kwak!
At that moment, the rope around Mumu's body broke.
‘Oh?’
Master Yang couldn’t hide his shock. The rope he tied was exceptional, so why did it break now? Mumu stood up.
“You… what is that?”
Master Yang felt wary at the change as he pulled off the man. The right arm muscles were compressing, and it was strange to see it blacken; and Mumu looked at his hand.
‘Wow! You took it off!’
His hand felt light. No, the entire arm felt light as if he had finally attained freedom. As the immense weight which was holding him down till now disappeared, it felt like he could fly with his right arm.
Prrrr!
On the other hand, it wasn’t like that for Yang Baek-jeon. It was an arm liberation, but the pressure he felt from Mumu made his legs tremble.
The Master’s Instincts were stimulated.
It felt like he was prey for an apex predator.
‘Dangerous. This is bad. Bad!’
He thought that. Captivated by the fear which came from instincts, Master Yang said,
“W-what is with the arm…? The band is off, so why?”
“Ah, this hand?”
Mumu raised it lightly.
And then
Bang!
‘…’
Yang Baek-jeon stiffened. What happened?
What was that short roar which stuck to his ears? Gulping, he raised his hand,
‘!!!!’
An unbelievable sight unfolded, the ceiling of a three-story building had a hole in it, and a blue sky was revealed.
‘W-what the…’
There was a hole in the middle of the clouds up in the sky.