Ha-ryun (3)

[If you meet a person with this pattern on jade, unconditionally swear allegiance with your life …]

The name given, that name was the same as the sky.

Without even thinking further, Ha-ryun bowed.

“Huh?”

Ha-ryun suddenly fell to the ground and bowed his head.

Puzzled at his reactions, Mumu scratched his head.

Was he declaring his surrender?

‘What?’

Everyone around him was surprised.

Mo Il-hwa, clicked her tongue and said,

“Mumu! Don’t be fooled, he is acting again!”

If she had said something like this a while ago, he would have been pissed, but Ha-ryun didn’t care about that now.

All his interest was directed to Mumu.

‘Is he really the one?’

His mentor said that the one with the jade is the true head of the Eight Families, and all the families would swear allegiance.

Now he understood.

If this is right, then the power this person held is formidable.

If he had inherited that lineage, he would never even be thought of as a mere criminal.

‘Finally. Finally!’

He lived for this moment.

His heart was pounding loudly because of the excitement.

‘It was for this person that I endured the hellish training which had kept coming for me. I must be crazy to not have noticed him.’

He didn’t see the jade but still Ha-ryun resented himself for being hostile towards Mumu.

Mumu approached him and asked,

“Are you acting?”

‘!?’

At the question, Ha-ryun frowned.

To make sure his intentions were recognized, he even did the Absolute Allegiance by Three Bows.

If this person was the one, he should have recognized what Ha-ryun did.

“No…”

Ha-ryun, who was about to open his mouth, thought for a moment.

His heart was filled with conviction, so he bowed three times.

However, this was a place in the middle of the Heavenly Martial Arts Academy, one of the sacred places of the political factions and among them only he and Jo Mae-hee, who was unconscious, were the members of the Eight families.

‘He must be doing this on purpose!’

If that was the case, then this reaction was understandable.

For the sake of the Grand Dynasty, all the successors of the Eight families hid their identities, even the other flames didn’t know.

Even Master Heo hides his face despite being a member of the Eight families.

Which meant that Muma wouldn’t be an exception to this.

‘I need to take that as the answer.’

Ha-ryun, who thought that Mumu was hiding his identity, decided to match his rhythm.

At that, Ha-ryun crawled on the floor and grabbed Mumu’s leg as he spoke in a pleading voice.

“Young master Mumu. This lowly being didn’t recognize the true one. Please be merciful and forgive me.”

While he said that in a loud voice, he added something else in a whisper.

“I have been waiting for this day.”

“Huh?”

“You can keep pretending not to know. But I apologize for not recognizing you sooner.”

“…”

Mumu’s eyes narrowed.

It was hard to understand what Ha-ryun was trying to say

‘… What is he saying?’

Ha-ryun bit his lip in response to Mumu’s sullen reaction.

‘Ahh… he must be angry with me.’

He was worried about this.

How many times had he aimed for Mumu’s life?

Even if they were a member of the Eight families, he thought it was natural for them to feel uncomfortable after this.

No, he could even be doubting Ha-ryun’s loyalty.

“Please don’t doubt me. If you punish me, I will accept that too. Just please give me a chance to prove my loyalty.”

“Prove your loyalty?”

Mumu was seriously confused.

Ha-ryun, shocked, pounded his head onto the ground again.

“I made a mistake!”

“Hmm?”

Mumu was genuinely shocked at Ha-ryun’s attitude.

What the hell was he doing? Why was he even saying all that stuff?

That was when Jin-hyuk approached and asked in a suspicious tone.

“Look here, what new trick are you doing?”

“Trick?”

At those words, Ha-Ryun glared at Jin-hyuk.

Then he considered that he might have made a mistake.

‘Ah! This one is the step-brother of the Lord right?’

He wasn’t sure, but if so, then this man could be a follower of the Lord too.

And thinking about it more, it seemed likely.

Then he shouldn’t be hostile to Jin-hyuk.

Ha-ryun erased his glare and smiled,

“Look here. Was it Yu Jin-hyuk? I definitely did some wrong things to this young master, but I had no intention of doing those.”

“Funny! You sprayed that powder into Mumu’s room and lied about it. Senior Tang So-so briefly told me about what happened in here.”

“Hmm, right, I told you already. This one is really amazing.”

Tang So-so put her hands on her waist.

Seeing that, Ha-ryun’s stomach clenched.

It was annoying to listen to a woman who didn’t even know that she was being watched act all triumphantly.

‘Rather than that, this bastard really…’

Shouldn’t he be given a way out of this situation as he backed down?

‘No way… is he not going to?’

Seeing Jin-hyuk constantly corner him, it seemed like Jin-hyuk too didn’t understand his intentions.

If not that, then he wouldn’t be this hostile even after he bowed three times before the Lord.

‘Why is the Lord with such a man… ah!’

Ha-ryun who thought of something smiled.

Was he a genius?

A plan to deceive the world!

Who would think that a person who inherited that great man’s blood was in exile, when he was more known as the young brother of a person who graduated from the Heavenly Martial Arts academy?

This was a really nice plan.

As if he understood everything, Ha-ryun looked at Mumu with respect.

‘After all, I am quick-witted.’

That is how he can count on his insight.

He even considered himself to be the right hand of the Lord.

‘Even though we got off on the wrong foot, I am probably the first person to know the true identity of the Lord or come into direct contact with him.’

Because he and the Lord entered the Academy at the same time.

Even Master Heo didn’t know his identity; if not he wouldn’t ask Jo Mae-hee to test Mumu.

[If you meet him, be sure to earn his trust. Prove that our White Valley are his true men.]

His mentor asked him that.

And such a good turn of events.

Such an opportunity!

‘Only I know of the Lord.’

His lips turned into a slight smile.

All this time the Thousand Peak Valley or the Demon Blood troops were always at the center.

But now, White Valley would be the ones…

Puck!

At that moment, Mumu hit Ha-ryun on the crown of his head.

It was a light hit, but the bracelet was set to 5.

‘Pro… of…’

He should be showing that, but his head seemed to be split to two.

And his ear caught what Mumu spoke with a rather tired voice.

“What is with him, being so weird?”

‘!?’

Weird?!

It seemed like the Lord misunderstood something.

He wanted to explain but his consciousness was drifting away.

Jin-hyuk clicked his tongue.

“… you are right. I think he really hurt his head. It would be better to hand him over to management.”

‘Wai, Wait no! that…’

Thud!

Ha-ryun fainted

Ha-ryun opened his eyes and looked around.

‘Where is this?’

No matter how he looked, it was dark.

A dark room with humid air and iron bars.

Only one lamp lit to illuminate the surroundings and a half moon which could be seen through the window.

It seemed like quite some time had passed since he fainted.

Ha-ryun bit his lip.

‘Damn it.’

It seemed like the Lord hated him.

Well, after he continued to hound Mumu and hurt him, he couldn’t expect Mumu to accept him like nothing happened.

‘How did this happen?’

From the looks of it, this looked like a detention center inside the academy.

Could it be that he really gave up Jo Mae-hee and him to the academy people?

No matter how angry he was, he couldn’t just expose their true identity.

‘Why…’

It was troubling.

“I definitely told you to hold back.”

At the voice from behind, Ha-ryun’s eyes fluttered open.

‘Heo… Master Heo!’

Ha-ryun hurriedly tried to lie down.

“Don’t turn back.”

He couldn’t do anything because of the warning.

Instead of turning and bowing, he just bowed.

To him, Master Heo said,

“If I hadn’t taken action before the others came, this situation would have been a threat to us.”

“I… I apologize.”

Ha-ryun gulped at the energy Master Heo was releasing.

It was so great that his body was trembling.

“Why did you move without being given an order?”

“I apologize.”

“Answer me.”

“For the purpose to have the back of Jo Mae-hee if something went wro…”

“Nonsense. You wanted to aim for a name.”

“…”

That was clearly his intention.

There was no other excuse.

“I am disappointed. I thought that he was a useful one, but you create such a mess in such a short time, and you are a kid who is blinded by merit and can’t tell when to back out.”

Ha-ryun clenched his teeth.

Unintentionally, he had tarnished the honor of White Valley.

It would be no exaggeration to say that he currently represented the White Valley.

Thud!

Ha-ryun banged his head on the floor.

“I am sorry.”

“Originally, you should be punished severely or even beheaded for doing something like this, but we already lost one, so consider yourself lucky.”

“Lost one.”

“The dead one had a loud mouth,”

Ha-ryun trembled at those words.

Despite not mentioning the name, he knew whom Master Heo was referring to.

‘… Jo Mae-hee.’

And this man killed her to keep this issue silent.

A reasonable move, as people couldn’t be allowed to know that the technique of the Black Sword was used.

And the leak needed to be silenced before word spread.

“That person will learn what happened.”

At those words, Ha-ryun bit his tongue.

Still, Jo Mae-hee was the heir to the fragrance of Sweet Joy palace, and this man just sacrificed her.

So if Ha-ryun made any more mistakes, then he too would be disposed of.

‘I can’t let my guard down.’

His mind was complicated after what he had just heard.

“As for you, we have already taken action, you just…”

Pak!

When Master Heo snapped his finger, paper stuck to the floor in front of Ha-ryun.

“Tomorrow’s interrogation, read that and be prepared.”

Master Heo had already finished the measures which had to be taken.

Perhaps the evidence was also disposed of.

“Once this is over, don’t do anything until you are called for. If you ignore my orders again, I will dispose of you with my own hands.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

Swoosh!

And with that, the man disappeared.

Ha-ryun who sensed that, looked at the window.

Master Heo had left.

Seeing that, Ha-ryun fell to the floor and finally exhaled,

“Sigh…”

He thought he was dead; But fortunately, he had kept his life, but Master Heo had lost all trust in him with this.

Even if the plan succeeded, it wouldn’t be weird if Master Heo pushed Ha-ryun for chores duty.

‘Damn it1’

So now, there was only one way.

Master Heo was angry, so the only answer was to redeem himself in Master Heo’s eyes.

‘He doesn’t know yet, right?’

Master Heo didn’t seem to know who the Lord was.

Ha-ryun was debating whether to tell, but he couldn’t say anything at that moment because of the dangerous atmosphere.

But he didn’t mind it.

Because Ha-ryun was going to win the favor of his Lord, Mumu before his master was able to.

Later that night, in the office of North Heavenly Dorm, Do Yang-woon and twelve men were gathered on the grounds.

They were in the oval office for a meeting.

However, Mumu and Jin-hyuk were also there, and that was because Do Yang-woon offered them the position of floor leaders.

‘How did we end up here…’

Jin-hyuk couldn’t hide his shock.

Thanks to Mumu, apart from Do Yang-woon, all the other floor leaders didn’t exactly like them, so he had tried to avoid bumping into them.

But Mumu thought that this would be something fun to do, and at first he had decided to let Mumu do it and had politely declined, but…

[Ah, that is a pity, the floor leaders will be paid a monthly allowance and will also receive additional points in various…]

[I’ll do it.]

…the grades were something he couldn’t reject.

In that way, Jin-hyuk also became a floor leader.

‘Ahh!’

But now that he was here, it truly was a lot of pressure.

The eyes of the floor leaders looking at him weren’t friendly.

And that was because most of the floor leaders were second years, and it was understandable that the freshmen, the newbies who had just joined the academy, were looked down upon.

What’s more? Two of the floor leaders were injured by Mumu’s hand.

‘Ahh… grades my ass.’

He should have just refused.

Manager Do Yang-woon, who didn’t know Jin-hyuk's feelings, couldn’t help but feel satisfied.

“Kay then. Before today’s roll call, I’ll introduce a few people. The floor leaders who weren’t able to attend the dorm selection today might not know this, but these are Master Mumu and Yu Jin-hyuk, the new floor leaders.”

‘Master Mumu?’

Some floor leaders, the third years who couldn’t attend in the morning, were confused.

“Manager, He looks like a freshman, why are you calling him Master Mumu?”

The one openly asked was floor leader Baek Seoni.

To that, Do Yang-woon smiled brightly and said.

“Hahaha. Senior. From today on, all our floor leaders of North Heavenly dorm, including myself will be disciples of muscle training in order to be reborn!”

‘!?’