59: Strength Limiting Bands (3)
Mumu scratched his head with his left hand as he looked at the ceiling of the pierced building. He had lightly pushed his right hand up, but this unexpected thing happened.
Looking at the clouds through the holes, he realized it was more serious.
‘… so this is the power.’
This power of his which was suppressed by the bands till now, he didn’t think that it would be destructive to this extent.
However, it should be noted that this was the power that came from only releasing one hand. Besides, this wasn’t Mumu’s best attempt!
‘Then if done with full effort?’
Mumu himself had such a thought. Now, the situation occurred where the elephant would have to move their feet carefully so as not to kill the ants.
He felt so powerful that he wondered if he could control his strength.
‘Is this what this is?’ Mumu thought.
At first, he had wondered why such bands and dials were attached to his body. However, he felt that he wouldn’t be able to control it if he took them both off.
Yang Baek-jeon looked at Mumu and said.
“You… how could you… do that after this being taken off?”
His voice trembled.
For Yan Baek-jeon, this was an instant that made his heart shudder. And Mumu said,
“I can do it because the bands were taken off.”
“Because it was taken off?”
“Ahh. You see they are heavy.”
“heavy?”
“I don’t know who put it on me, but they were so heavy that I couldn’t do my best. Thanks to that, I had to do a lot of strength training to feel strong.”
This was why Mumu would always train his body.
Yang Baek-jeon looked at the band he had removed. He believed that this was the reason why Mumu had the power. But now, it was the complete opposite.
‘This isn’t to increase the power, but for the power to be sealed?’
Something like a fantasy story plot? He was speechless as to how absurd it sounded.
“Um… was it too shocking?”
‘!?’
No, was the kid really asking that? Mumu had raised his arm lightly, and then a hole was blown through the center of the ceiling and even piercing through the clouds above.
He saw it in front of his eyes, and it was strange that Mumu didn’t seem shocked.
‘… I heard that the Southern Blade of Emperor1 cut down a mountain peak but can this be possible?’
That being said, the child in front of him, not the man in front of him, was strong. And when Yang Baek-jeon realized that, he thought,
‘N-No…’
He gulped and said.
“…by any chance were you under metamorphisis?”
He heard a story in the past.
It was said that a master would have the form of a child after going through multiple metamorphoses.
And maybe this man was under half of it?
‘Right. That makes sense.’
It was absurd for a student at just 17 to have such ridiculous strength. Yang Baek-jeon, who thought that Mumu was someone aged master in the school, asked Mumu if this was true. But Mumu answered, looking confused.
“What do you mean?”
“Master, if you are testing your junior for some kind of fun please stop it.”
“I don’t understand what you are talking about.”
“This power that you have….”
“Um. I feel like you have misunderstood something, but I am not hiding my form. And if Master you wear these and train your muscles, you will also get this strong.”
“…”
Did it make sense to train muscles? Or was Mumu teasing him to get away from the situation? Yang Baek-jeon was confused when Mumu continued.
“They are really heavy. If you don’t believe me, then why don’t you try them?”
“This… on me?”
Yang Baek-jeon looked at the band in his hand. He didn’t feel that it was heavy. No, instead, it felt light in his hand.
And Mumu says he couldn’t use his strength because he had them on?
‘… what should I believe?’
One of the two was certain. It was either that Mumu was an experienced martial artist suppressing his strength to join the academy or that the seal controlling a child was released.
Whatever it was, he knew that there was nothing he could do to change things back.
“Alright.”
Yang Baek-jeon put the band on his left wrist. He groaned as he tightened the band around the wrist.
‘It is fine….’
Kik!
At that moment, the number of the dial changed from ‘opened’ to 1, and then came the shock.
“Uh?”
His wrist felt incredibly heavy, giving the feeling of his left arm falling to the ground. Flustered, he tried to increase his internal energy.
“Um!”
Raising that, he barely managed to withstand it. It was a tremendous weight that he could only control by raising his internal energy to a three-star level.
The band's weight wasn’t something he could endure with pure strength.
‘What the hell is this? Is this really a special item?’
It did look very much like that. But the item turned heavy from light in an instant, and Mumu said,
“1 level is something I used when I was one or two years old, so it won't be too high, try increasing it more.”
“… one two years?”
He withstood this when he was one or two years old? Was he kidding him? How can an infant do that?
“Still, Master is an adult and you learned martial arts too, you will be able to hold one right?”
“Wait, why are you suddenly….”
“Ehh. It will be fine.”
Mumu didn’t even hear the response and turned the dial on Yang Baek-jeon's band. When it was shifted from 1 to 2 and 2 to 3, it felt heavy, but it still felt like it could be handled—until it touched 4.
‘!?’
Bang!
The instant Mumu turned the band to four, the left hand pulled the master to the ground, and the wooden floor was broken.
‘W-what weight is….’
Yang Baek-jeon tried to stand up, but nothing happened despite raising the 3-star level to a 10-star level of internal energy.
“Euuuuuuu!”
Internal energy seemed of no use anymore. He couldn’t lift that fallen arm. Yang Baek-jeon, who could not withstand it, turned it back from 4 to 1.
Kikik!
And in an instant, the weight pulling him down disappeared, and his body felt light.
This made him look at the band in hand in a new light.
‘I don’t know if he was wearing this from the time he was child but, but if he was then doesn’t that mean that he had this since a young time and learned to cope?’
He couldn’t believe it.
He had strengthened his internal energy as much as possible, but he still couldn’t bring up his hand under the pressure of the level four band. Yet Mumu could move his hand freely under the pressure of the band even when set to level eight. Mumu could even act like he wasn’t any different from ordinary people.
‘Is it because of this?’
Yang Baek-jeon was able to understand the muscles on Mumu’s body. He didn’t know how he trained, but he must have been desperate to move freely with these bands on the body. And this band was taken off the body unleashing Mumu’s true strength.
“….have you been wearing this on your hands?”
“No.”
“NO? you said….”
“I have them on my ankles.”
Mumu gently pulled the pants to show it. Yang Baek-jeon was at a loss of words. Mumu was wearing four when this man, a master, an expert, couldn't handle one.
‘… this fucking monster.’
He thought Mumu was not human.
How did he continue living every day with the band set to four? He was getting mad with just one.
Kirik!
‘Uh?’
At that time, the dial turned to 4.
Bang!
“Uh!”
And Yang Baek-jeon was back to the floor again. It was so embarrassing because he didn’t even touch the band, yet it had changed. Mumu, who saw that, seemed to understand why.
‘Maybe things need to be put back where they are taken from?’
Mumu had always wondered about this fact. Like clockwork, the dial always turned back to the original number after the weight was reduced for a period.
“Ack!”
Yang Baek-jeon hurriedly tried to turn it to 1. And he tried to push it to ‘Open’ to take it off, but something strange happened.
“W-what is this?”
The dial wouldn’t turn as if something was caught inside; no matter how much he tried, as he had done with Mumu, it wouldn’t turn.
“What?”
“The dial isn’t turning!”
“You said it worked fine before?”
“Ugh! It isn’t working now!”
At that, Mumu leaned over and grabbed the dial, and turned. A little force was applied, and came a squeaking sound.
Krik!
The dial turned from one to open. And the band was removed.
‘Ah!’
Seeing that, Mumu understood why he couldn’t remove this on his own body. This band was something that others could remove but not the one wearing it.
Mumu, who now knew that nodded to himself.
“Haa… Ha…”
Yang Baek-jeon took in ragged breaths and looked at the band with a tired look. Mumu, who was living all this while with this, looked like a deity. At that time, Mumu took the band and put it on his right wrist.
“Uh?”
Yang Baek-jeon was curious; how could this young man put back something like that after he had the chance to live without it?
“No, why put it on again? If you wear….”
“I think it will be difficult to get used to not having it.”
“What?”
Mumu turned the dial to 8 as soon as he put it on and pointed to the ceiling.
“I cannot control my strength, so I will end up causing damage to those around me.”
At those words, Yang Baek-jeon looked blankly at Mumu. Was that the reason he was putting that band back on his body?
Wasn’t he the one who was ready to cut down the band until a moment back?
‘Being afraid of not being able to control his own power.’
A young man with the strength of a monster but with a good heart that is who Mumu is. At best, they knew how to free it but had no idea how strong it was.
Yang Baek-jeon stared intently at Mumu and said,
“… I am sorry for misunderstanding.”
“What?”
“I thought that you passed the entrance tests by using that item and increased your strength, so I brought you here to discipline you. Although it could be due to the wrong information I received, it is my fault for not checking it through.”
Yang Baek-jeon bowed a little to Mumu, who smiled and said.
“Ehh. It is fine. I am glad that master’s misunderstanding has been resolved.”
‘This child…’
Yang Baek-jeon’s eyes lit up at the bright and kind appearance of Mumu. If it were him, he would have been enraged at his treatment.
He did think it before, but Mumu looked like a friendly child and thought it was nice that such power was in the hands of this child.
But at the same time, he felt concerned.
‘What should I do about this?’
He wasn’t sure if it was OK to let Mumu stay in the academy with this strength. He did clear up the doubts, but the child's power was something the teachers and masters here couldn’t handle.
“Even if we turn a blind eye, it is only a matter of time before people know….”
Kwang!
At that moment, someone kicked open the office door, and it was Dan Pil-hoo, the Deputy Head.
“Deputy Head?”
“Deputy Head?”
“Master Yang! I don’t know why you brought him but Mumu is…!?”
He couldn’t continue speaking because as he looked at the gaping hole in the ceiling above their heads. From the outside, the building looked intact, but once coming in, he saw what had happened.
“You! You again!”
Dan Pil-hoo grabbed his head.
‘Oh my.’
Just last night, he was scolding Mumu not to use his strength like that and on the very next day, this! Seeing a familiar reaction, Yang Baek-jeon asked.
“… did deputy head know about this?”
“Um… you see.”
At the question, Dan Pil-hoo fiddled with his beard. He wasn’t sure how to rectify this situation.