Before long, someone came.
‘Ahh…’
Ha-ryun felt annoyed at this sight.
The Lower District Sect’s Hae-ryang was someone who aided his lord. It wasn’t like he was the one who killed him, but he did aid in the hunt.
‘What the hell?’
If Mumu knew about this, he would be very angry. He should have stopped the man who pursued Hae-ryang, but he had felt confused.
It was a continuing confusion.
[I had been told to be aware of Mumu.]
[That question itself is wrong. That is, the one who had dealt with the dead student is actually the man who will become the lord.]
Because of that, guessing the truth became difficult.
‘I should’ve just told him the identity of the person who will become the lord.’
Right? No.
If he had, he would have been killed.
In a situation where he wasn’t sure who the real lord was, he couldn’t freely release the information he already knew. He also had to find out another thing.
[Just in case… Did you meet someone with another plaque?]
What can be deduced from this was a fact that even the White Valley Elders didn’t know about. Ha-ryun then asked the man.
“There isn’t just one person with the jade plaque?”
At his words, the man glanced over and replied simply.
“For now, move.”
They had to quickly get out of this place as the situation was bad. There were people here who were actively tracking the man, but Hae-ryun shook his head and said,
“… I will not move until you answer.”
“You are being a bother. Move.”
Killing intent oozed out of the man’s voice. Ha-ryun was worried about being killed, but even if he was annoying, the man couldn’t just kill the successor of the White Valley.
‘Just because I am a bit useless right now doesn’t mean the clan is useless to him.’
Then the man said,
“You are correct.”
Ha-ryun’s eyes fluttered open. Until now, he had only considered the possibility of one potential lord candidate, but now he was being told there were two?
‘Ah!’
He then realized that there was one key difference. The man hadn’t referred to the man he served as the lord but as someone who would become the lord.
That meant that the person wasn’t the lord yet. So then Ha-ryun said,
“Why didn’t I know about this…”
“Shh.”
The man cut off his words before continuing to say,
“Be quiet. The matter is more complicated than you think.”
The Infinite Ten Gates was a technique that had been made to keep the prison safe.
Someone entered the space that was supposed to be guarded tightly.
Sa Muheo’s eyes, which had been closed shut, turned to the person entering the prison. The visitor wore an old-fashioned official’s attire and was none other than Oh Muyang.
Oh Muyang spoke to the guards guarding the prison.
“From now on, the criminal will be interrogated, so all the guards here except those outside can leave.”
The six officers who had followed him inside all looked suspicious to the guards, so they replied.
“We need to keep an eye here.”
At those words, Oh Muyang raised his eyebrow.
“Are you going to intervene with the official interrogation of a possible arsonist now?”
“Even if you are from the palace, this place…”
“Leave.”
At the sound of that voice, the guards all looked at the prison’s entrance. There stood Dan Pil-hoo.
“Deputy.”
“The headmaster gave him permission.”
“… I understand.”
If the headmaster had given permission, they could do nothing.
The guards left immediately, and once they exited, Dan Pil-hoo said,
“After confirming his confession with your interrogation, please report it to the palace as promised.”
“I understand. Now you should leave too.”
And so, Dan Pil-hoo, too, left the prison. As he went out, Oh Muyang looked at Sa Muheo, who was lying down.
He stood right in front of the man and looked down at Sa Muheo as he said.
“Well, this turned into a mess. Tch tch.”
Sa Muheo stared at Oh Muyang, who was clicking his tongue.
This was different from those who had visited and interrogated him up until now. Even Kang Mui hadn’t acted like this when he came here.
“Even after all this, you seem to have energy left in you.”
Oh Muyang sneered at the man as Sa Muheo said.
“I don’t feel like joking around.”
“So what do you expect me to do? Are you going to get up and punch me?”
Clench.
At the provocation, Sa Muheo grunted. He really wanted to, but he could not move as his body was paralyzed after Mumu’s beating.
Then Oh Muyang continued.
“Even if it didn’t look like it, I could imagine how furious the ‘boy’ must have been.”
At that, Sa Muheo snorted.
“… even if it wasn’t that, he would have come to take my life.”
“But he left without doing that? On what whim?”
Oh Muyang tilted his head. In such a situation, even he would kill Sa Muheo immediately. Then Sa Muheo said.
“I told him about the book.”
“What?”
Oh Muyang was momentarily confused before asking in an angry tone.
“Are you really doing this right now?”
“Correct. Before the old man Hang Yeon died, he spoke about it.”
“I had figured that out.”
Oh Muyang clicked his tongue and looked at the smiling Sa Muheo.
“Looks like I got it right. You had told the Mui boy that you would give him that information.”
“…”
Sa Muheo didn’t answer. But he knew that everything had become twisted because of just one person.
‘Mumu!’
Without that one variable, their grand scheme wouldn’t have failed, and the martial arts books inside the library would have been his.
Oh Muyang stroked his beard and said,
“If it falls into his hands, you would be close to getting a higher level of power. That guy in the Imperial Palace will be quite upset.”
“…that isn’t known yet.”
“What do you even mean? Neither you nor I will be given priority by them. I am telling you, it is better to throw out that greed right now.”
At his words, Sa Muheo frowned, and that made Oh Muyang click his tongue.
Seeing a man struggle when there was no way out was pathetic.
‘It is not my business. It is up to him to make a life on his own terms and face the situations that his greed brings him.’
Oh Muyang had a sly smile.
“So who do you want, of the brothers?”
‘It is so familiar.’
The impression Dan Baek-yeon had of the old research building was that.
It was a familiar place because her laboratory had been in the basement of this building before the accident. Yet now, the place looked like a ghost building as it hadn’t been maintained or handled at all.
‘Still, some students saw a ghost and fainted.’
It had almost been a riot. The fear led to superstitions that filled the air more than the poison in the building. Well, the students were young.
‘But not this child.’
Seeing Mumu walk forward without hesitation made it feel like he wasn’t bothered by the gloomy atmosphere. More than that, the little girl next to Mumu was also fine. Was her name So-so?
‘Why is she sticking so close to him?’
“Ah. Even though we came during the daytime, why is it so scary?”
She snuggled to Mumu by clinging to his arm. This felt offensive to look at. Was the girl interested in Mumu?
Dan Baek-yeon stared at her student and coughed.
“Hmm. Student Tang So-so.”
“Yes?”
“Why don’t you walk a little further away?”
Tang So-so chuckled at her words and said.
“Why? Is there any reason we shouldn’t stick together?”
“…”
There was a reason.
The reason was that she didn’t like another woman standing beside Mumu, but that’s not something she could reveal to an academy student.
“What are you afraid of in broad daylight? Move away.”
Hearing those words from Dan Baek-yeon, Tang So-so said in reply.
“Master. There are ghosts here. They are scary.”
“Phew. There is no such thing like that.”
“There are.”
“I said they don’t…”
Shhh.
Suddenly, something black caught Dan Baek-yeon’s eye. There was something with a single red eye on the ceiling that was definitely not human.
It was her first time seeing a ghost, so she went stiff.
‘What is that?’
She was too shocked to even think about what to do.
-!!!
The single red-eyed monster saw Mumu and then started disappearing into the ceiling. She didn’t know what was happening.
‘… have I been too tired lately?’
Maybe it was an illusion. Meanwhile, they suddenly stopped in front of the stairs leading to the basement. What was unusual was that there were holes in the ceiling near the stairs.
‘What is this?’
It felt like the holes were drilled in. As she looked closer at them, Mumu scratched his head.
And then they went down.
‘It has been a few days, so did it melt?’
What Mumu was trying to show was the ice around the flower he had taken out of here. It was supposed to be a flower that only bloomed in the North Sea but had been placed in an artificial environment in the basement.
He did bring the flowers out, and the ice didn’t seem like it would meet soon, but…
“Uh?”
Mumu, who came to the deepest part of the basement, frowned. Obviously, at that time, everything was frozen, but now, not even a drop of water was left there.
“Uh? This is strange.”
Tang So-so, who had seen the ice with Mumu, also found it strange. There was no trace as if nothing had ever existed.
Dan Baek-yeon looked around.
“Is this the place?”
“Yes. It is. I felt something resembling frozen ice energy in here.”
At those words, she looked puzzled.
“You felt ice energy?”
“Yes. It was similar to what Master showed me.”
“Are you sure?”
The reason she asked was simple.
It was because Mumu was someone who had just started learning martial arts, so logically distinguishing various martial arts would be difficult for him.
Besides, in order to recognize it, one had to learn it. Yet, Mumu remembered it after only seeing it once?
‘… is that possible?’
Normally she would deny it right away, but seeing how far Mumu grew in a short span of time, she knew that this child was unusually talented.
And if that was the truth…
At that moment…
Kwakwakwakwang! Grrrr!
“W-what? Kyaaak!”
“Ceiling!”
The ground shook, and the ceiling collapsed onto them.
Someone was staring at the old building.
The building collapsed fully to the bottom floor as if its pillars were taken out.
[He will probably go down to the basement. Knock down the building then.]
As expected, he did enter the building. He had even entered with a master and another student. While this was a variable, it wasn’t a big deal.
It was their fault for having entered that place in the first place.
“Tch.”
Even though he had prepared to knock down the building, that person was terrifying. The whole building had gone down, which meant the people inside would be crushed.
No matter how powerful he was, he surely could not withstand the weight of a five-story building collapsing down on him.
‘Even recognizing the body will be tough now.’
The situation was properly handled. Even if he was strong, no one, not even the best masters, could survive this situation.
Meanwhile, there was another person near the building.
It was Agent 2, the messenger.
“E-eik!”
As usual, his mission was to watch Mumu. However, as he did the last time, he had stayed outside for his observation, having judged that he might run into traps if he went in without knowing the circumstances.
But he didn’t expect the entire building to just come crashing down.
‘How can this happen?’
Could a building just collapse like that?
The agent looked at the building, which had collapsed. Mumu had said something about heading down to the basement. So he must have been crushed down there.
‘What did they do…’
If the building collapsed, the weight of the building must have fallen onto them. No matter how hard they try, they surely couldn’t get…
Rumble!
It was at that moment.
The collapsed building began to shake, and the warriors around it flocked near, unsure what to do.
“W-what?”
“Why is the collapsed building shaking?”
“Uh?”
In an instant, all of the guards felt a shock through their bodies. They could feel the vibration through their legs. The building which had collapsed began to rise.
And,
Kwaang!
For a moment, they all doubted their eyes.
The building was pushed up by almost five feet.
“Kuak!”
“T-the building!”
It was a shocking sight. But even more surprising was something else.
Beneath it was a grey-haired muscular man whose body was releasing steam as he pushed the collapsed building.
‘!!!!’
Even Agent 2 and the man who had tried to withdraw couldn’t shut their mouths due to the shock.