“So, how is his condition?”
Jin-hyuk, who brought Hae-ryang to the infirmary, asked of his condition to one of the staff inside.
The staff member wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel and replied.
“The most dangerous hurdle has passed. He bled too much, so it is difficult to say when he will wake up.”
Mo Il-hwa, who was behind Jin-hyuk, bit down on her lips, regret weighing heavily in her heart.
Had she known this would happen, she would have never asked Hae-ryang to follow Ha-ryun. Hae-ryang’s life wouldn’t have been in danger if she hadn’t.
The two of them left the infirmary and sat down on a chair in the hallway. Jin-hyuk then turned to the slightly shocked Mo Il-hwa and said.
“He will be fine.”
“I shouldn’t have asked him to go. At least, I should have asked Mumu to go with him.”
“… then he would have found out too much.”
Mo Il-hwa raised an eyebrow at those bitter words.
What a cold guy to speak that way in this kind of situation.
“Will he wake up safely?”
“He will wake up. Didn’t he wear an iron suit on his back so he could survive?”
Jin-hyuk had seen the protective suit when he took off Hae-ryang’s clothes to treat him. Things he had never seen before were also there, showing him enough to trust in his friend’s will to live through these kinds of situations.
“But what did Hae-ryang mean?”
Before losing consciousness, Hae-ryang had managed to write something on the ground. They assumed that the message was something he wanted to tell them.
[Jade Plaque, …… Assassin …… ↑一 Ilhyun]1
“What was the jade plaque? Then there were arrows followed by the word Ilhyun. I still have no idea what he was trying to say.”
As Mo Il-hwa said, it was difficult to understand the meaning of the message Hae-ryang had left behind. What was certain was that he had left it for them.
“What did he see?”
Someone walked up to them as the two of them were putting their heads together to figure out their friend’s message.
“I don’t know the meaning of jade plaque, but I think I know what he was trying to convey with the second character.”
“Hyung?”
“Sir Jin-sung!”
The man walking down the hallway in front of them was Jin-hyuk’s brother. Jin-hyuk then asked him.
“How did it go? Did you catch the culprit?”
“No. They escaped me.”
Jin-sung shook his head with a sad face. Jin-sung had searched the entire area to try and capture the person who had attacked Hae-ryang but could not find a single trace.
“Things have become difficult.”
Jin-sung clicked his tongue.
It was vague, but it was unfortunate that such an incident happened. He had thought that the case would be quickly concluded, but now another incident that resulted in a student becoming seriously injured happened.
As it was something which involved a life, Oh Muyang would definitely use this incident as an excuse to resume the investigation again.
He looked at his brother and Mo Il-hwa.
“I couldn’t ask before as the timing didn’t seem right, but can you tell me why the child was attacked?”
He was curious about the whole thing, and Jin-hyuk briefly told him what had happened.
Jin-hyuk had no reason to hide such things from his older brother as he was the person he trusted the most in the world, right behind their mother.
Yu Jin-sung, who listened to the story, clicked his tongue.
“You did something dangerous.”
“…”
“No matter how suspicious you are of a student, you also said that the boy was related to the group who used a drug that we could not identify to drug the students before trying to burn them to death.”
“…”
“It is dangerous to step on the enemy’s foot without preparation.”
“It is my fault. It’s all my responsibility since I…”
Mo Il-hwa bowed her head.
She had been too cautious about what Ha-ryun might have made Mumu do. She wanted to be sure and let Hae-ryang go.
“It isn’t your fault.”
Jin-hyuk comforted her. Jin-sung then told him.
“Well, the student called Ha-ryun is the most suspicious person of that unknown group?”
“Right.”
“Then what Hae-ryang left behind has to be something he heard from them.”
Jin-hyuk nodded his head.
He then recalled what Jin-sung said and asked.
“What did you mean when you said you knew what the second character meant?”
“It’s simple.”
“Simple?”
“From my experience investigating many incidents, people on the verge of death and suffering would feel a sense of unfairness and injustice. They would then try to leave behind any information on those who tried to kill them.”
“This means…”
“Your friend did the same.”
“But why write like that? If only he wrote the name normally…”
“Now, that would make things easier, but you could see his hand losing strength after he wrote out ‘jade plaque.’”
As Jin-sung said, the writing became messy after those words.
The strength of Hae-ryang’s finger must have weakened. Jin-sung then continued.
“Usually, what the victims leave behind is concise and as informative as possible.”
“Then the x after?”
“Live.”
“Kill.”
“Perhaps he wanted to write down the characters of ‘to kill’ but then lost strength. Then he decided to write down the killer’s name instead.”
“Ah!”
It made sense.
The second letter could be read as ‘assassin’ or ‘to kill.’ Then the person who had tried to kill Hae-ryun was…
“… idiot. He could have just written the name.”
Mo Il-hwa mumbled with red eyes. The secret of the second character was now unlocked.
Now all that was left was the third one with the arrow.
Why was the arrow pointing up?
“Was he trying to point somewhere? The direction Hae-ryang pointed at is…”
“The North Heavenly Dorm.”
Mo Il-hwa gritted her teeth and asked.
“Our dorm?”
“It has to be the dorm building. There is no way he was referring to the sky. I think he was saying that the person was in the dorm.”
“I think the same as Miss Mo.”
Jin-sung agreed with her.
“Right?”
“Is it true?”
Jin-sung explained to Jin-hyuk, who couldn’t believe it.
“So initially, the suspicious student, Ha-ryun, came to the dorm to get information, and they headed towards the forest behind the dorm. If they went there, the chances of the attacker being part of the dorm increase. In the meantime, he also drew an upward-facing arrow from behind the forest.”
“That arrow meant North, so it probably also meant the dorm…”
“Right. The problem comes after.”
[Ilhyun]
It was difficult to understand the meaning, then Mo Il-hwa asked,
“Wouldn’t that mean the culprit was named Ilhyun and lives in the dorm?”
Jin-hyuk nodded and agreed, but there were 100 students in the dorm.
He wouldn’t be able to know all of them, but Hae-ryang would.
‘Hmm.’
Jin-sung had a question in his mind.
There was no need to draw the arrow for that kind of message. The arrow and the name together made no sense, so it would have been better to just write the name.
But since he didn’t know the situation, he decided to check for the name first.
“Look it up once, and if such a name doesn’t…”
Kuuung! Drrrng!
Before he could finish his sentence, a loud roar filled the air and vibrations were felt all throughout the hallway.
The three of them jumped up.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. We need to go…”
“You two need to guard the infirmary.”
“Infirmary?”
“If the person knows Hae-ryang is alive, another attempt might be made. So wait here until I send the guards to come here. Miss Mo, please stay here till then.”
With that, Jin-sung hurriedly ran down the hallway.
He just wanted to know what this vibration was. Since the person after Hae-ryang could come back to finish the job, he would just take a quick look and return immediately.
“Cough! Hhaa… haa…”
Mumu’s hand continued holding the man’s head as the man continued to cough. His pale face clearly showed how much pain he must be in.
Agent 2 stuck out his tongue at this and called over to Mumu.
“Young master Mumu. I will talk to him and find out who is behind him.”
He was sure that if this continued, the man would just die in Mumu’s hands. Before that happened, he had to make sure to get the man to confess everything he knew.
At that moment, the man who was coughing opened his mouth.
“Die… die…”
“Funny. Until you spit out who gave you your orders, you will not…”
Before he could finish, the man in the guard’s uniform was about to bite his tongue. However, Mumu’s hand was faster.
“Kuak!”
He grabbed the man’s chin.
“No. Now.”
“Uhh.”
The man could not close his mouth while his chin remained open at a funny angle, thanks to Mumu’s intervention.
Agent 2 shook his head. It seemed like the interrogation would be quite difficult.
‘You bastard.’
Those who attempted suicide after failure tended to have a vial in their mouth for a quick death. But those trained to put their lives on the line would do all sorts of things when necessary.
Sa Muheo, who was detained in the prison, was on the verge of losing his ability to breathe, which made physical interrogation nearly impossible. However, the man wouldn’t speak even when asked. Still, acting like this was different.
“I am going to hold his mouth tight.”
Mumu said this as he turned to the man he was holding.
At this, Agent 8 approached and sealed his blood points.
Tatatata!
“If we do this. He won’t be able to do much.”
The unknown person opened his mouth.
Agent 8 finished the sealing as Mumu said.
“I have two things to ask.”
“Leave it to me.”
“Catch senior Kang Mui.”
Kang Mui?
If it was the Kang Mui he knew, then he was the academy student who was pretty high-ranked in the 3rd year? Why did Mumu suddenly want them to take him in?
He was puzzled but then noticed the suspicious man’s eyes shaking.
‘What?’
He hadn’t panicked when he was first caught, but now he was? And then everything clicked.
For a moment, he thought this was a good thing. Mumu then spoke to the suspicious one.
“Are you stupid?”
“…”
“It doesn’t matter whether you speak or not. I came to check the traces that Kang Mui left in there, but they were all gone. I, So-so and Master Dang came to investigate them and were almost killed by a collapsing building. So who would I suspect?”
‘…this.’
The eyes of the man trembled at Mumu’s words. This caught Agent 2’s eyes. If Mumu was correct, then the student called Kang Mui was also suspicious.
It was shocking that the simple-minded Mumu had such sharp insight.
“If what young master Mumu said is right. Then we need to catch the student called Kang Mui and interrogate him.’
Agent 2 concluded that Mumu was correct and said.
“Right now, mobilize the guards under the deputy, and we will arrest the student Kang…”
“No. I will do it.”
“Uh?”
“The faster, the better.”
As soon as he said that, Mumu bent his knees. Then the muscles and thighs began to steam again.
“What will you do, young master…”
Kwaang!
Before the words could even finish, two pieces of the floor collapsed, and in an instant, Mumu soared into the air.
Seeing that, Agent 8 was shocked.
“Is it true that he hasn’t mastered martial arts?”
It was absurd that he could jump to that height without running, using only the strength in his legs.
If he jumped that high, then he would see the entire academy, but he couldn’t figure out why he would do that.
‘No!?’
Mumu, who jumped, was staring at a particular spot, and then…
“Found him.”
Saying that, Mumu kicked his legs to the ground again.
Paaang!
And with the sound of the air being torn, the air moved like waves, and Mumu flew towards the northwest. At this sight, Agent 8 asked.
“J-just now, did young master Mumu just jump into the air?”
“… Your eyes aren’t wrong.”
With regards to martial arts, the highest level one could achieve was moving in the air. This was called Movement in the Air, or Air Steps.
‘But to just use a kick to do that…’
Was that possible?