Chapter 85 – Doubt (2)

Guyang Seohan was nothing short of confused.

That twin of his was actually a bit more skillful than Do Yang-woon.

‘What? Unless I risk my life and all the poison I use hits its mark, it won’t work?’

Was this an insult over an insult?

He was recognized to possess a talent for using poison, and his grandfather personally taught them. So how could she say such a thing to her brother?

‘Ha!’

He was so shocked that he couldn’t say a thing. If he hadn’t cared about face, he would have beaten the boy immediately.

But he was someone who had a name. He wasn’t confident enough to let his emotions define him and fall for an opponent who wasn’t of his level.

Not to mention…

‘Both their attitudes are…’

Neither was speaking in a manner where they were making fun of him. To ignore it really bothered him.

[The world of competition is something which can be changed by the most minor thing. If you can’t annihilate the enemy, you should always be alert.]

That was what his grandfather always told him.

If there was time, even someone without martial arts could do something. That must be what Seorin was saying.

‘I need to judge him by fighting him directly, then?’

Guyang Seorin was with Mumu the night they fought the arsonist. She must have watched him fight.

That was why she was confident enough, even when he mentioned their grandfather, that he wouldn’t be a match for Mumu.

‘I need to be careful now.’

Guyang Seorin smiled at her twin. She knew him better than anyone, after all.

She knew that despite her words coming out like a provocation, there was a sense of caution she was instilling in him.

‘But I am curious.’

The true strength of the Guyang family comes from poison. Even the strongest masters cannot beat their poison.

Will muscle strength work against poison? Then Guyang Seohan said,

“Fine. Let’s assume that everything you said is correct. Does that mean that someone deceived you by impersonating me?”

“Right. I think so.”

“That means he stole my martial arts…”

“It wasn’t a complicated martial art, but he seemed to at least know the basic movements of your family.”

Do Yang-woon hadn’t competed with Guyang Seohan just once or twice. So even he knew how the basic Guyang family martial arts looked.

The fake had used the basic martial arts of the family a lot more effectively than the real one.

“Anyone who attends the academy as long as we have could know it…”

Guyang Seohan frowned. This meant that someone who had been beside him was involved in this.

“You… you couldn’t tell that the fake guy wasn’t me?”

“As soon as you arrived, you began the fight right away. I couldn’t hear his voice, but when I did, I couldn’t tell it apart from yours either.”

At those words, Guyang Seorin mumbled as she fiddled with her fan.

“Human Skin Mask…”

“What?”

“Isn’t that the Human Skin Mask?”

Mumu, who was listening to her, asked.

“What is a Human Skin Mask?”

“It is a mask but looks like a real face and can be made of either pig skin or human skin.”

Human Skin Mask.

As she said, it was a mask made of real skin, so it would be hard to tell if a face was fake or not.

However, it wasn’t without its drawbacks. Guyang Seorin asked.

“This fake who died. Did his face change at all, or did he ever sweat?”

At that, Do yang-woon’s eyes widened.

“Right. Come to think of it, even though he was breathing roughly, the colour of his face didn’t change.”

“Right. Then it has to be the Human Skin Mask. I don’t know what it is for, but it must have been made to look like this brat.”

At her words, Guyang Seohan grunted.

“What bastard dares to make my face into a mask and do such a thing!”

It wasn’t something he could just ignore.

If, as Do Yang-woon had said, the fake one had tried to kill him during the duel, all the accusations would naturally fall to Guyang Seohan.

Guyang Seorin looked at her twin and said.

“I don’t think the purpose was to put the blame on you.”

“What?”

“It would have been a huge problem if Do Yang-woon died at your hands.”

Do Yang-woon nodded at her words.

“I thought the same.”

“Then you mean…”

“Right. If I did die, there is a good chance that your grandfather and mine would have walked their separate ways..”

“…”

Guyang Seohan’s expression went stiff. As he said, if such a thing happened, both their grandfathers would decide to break their relationship.

“Ha… maybe I should be happy?”

Results aside, they did say that Mumu managed to stop it. It was fortunate that something which would have brought disaster was stopped.

Guyang Seorin clicked her tongue and said.

“While we managed to get away, they still succeeded.”

“Succeeded? No…”

“Young Chun, the disciple of East River Blade Star.”

“Wait… that…”

“Guyang Seorin is right. Isn’t it strange that something similar to what we experienced happened on the same day and time?”

At Do Yang-woon’s words, Guyang Seohan gulped.

Even so, this was a topic that they eventually would have talked about.

It was said that the Eastern River Blade Star might come and attack the academy or even have a fight with the Southern Sword Emperor.

Guyang Seohan asked with a trembling voice.

“Does that mean that Hong Hye-ryeong’s case and everything that almost killed you was for the same purpose?”

“That seems to be the aim. If that is the case, there would be a division between the Four Great Warriors.”

“Ha…”

That was the worst. A war could have broken out because of that.

The peace which lasted for 17 years would be broken.

“Do Yang-woon. Are you saying that Hong Hye-ryeong was involved in this?”

“Looking at the current situation, I am most certain. Of course, we can only come to a conclusion by talking to her.”

“… right.”

Strange things were happening.

The arson incident which took place caused an escalation of fear. The staff forcefully closed the academy, and students were made to stay in the dorms. Add to that, there was the death of a student. The whole thing was an event which could shake the murim world.

“Think it’s the same ones behind it?”

“Isn’t that obvious? It’d be funny if two different groups aimed for the same thing.”

Guyang Seorin snorted. Unless one was an idiot, they would realize that what happened that night was no coincidence.

Someone was trying to mess up the murim world using the Heavenly Martial Arts academy. Guyang Seohan then looked at Do Yang-woon.

“So what do we do now? This is not something we can just talk about among ourselves and leave alone.”

“We need to speak out.”

Even if they were descendants of the Four Great Warriors, they were still just students. And this wasn’t something they could solve.

Do Yang-woon turned around.

“Are you going to the main office?”

“No. I’m going to the disciplinary office.”

“Why there?”

“Now that we know the truth, I need to hear what happened to Hong-samae. I need to know for sure.”

He believed that the Hong Hye-ryeong he knew wasn’t the kind of person to kill someone and wanted the disciplinary office to know that this was a mistake.

So Do yang-woon was trying to listen to her side.

“You are still the same.”

Seeing him like that, Guyang Seorin clicked her tongue. Mumu then said to Do Yang-woon.

“Hey. It sounds fun. Can I come with you now that I have become a witness?”

“Oh my. Our junior will?”

“Yes. Since we are taking the same classes, I have to help her if she is in trouble. My father told me to always help the people around me.”

“Uh. Is that so?”

Guyang Seorin, pretending to be troubled, locked her arms with Mumu’s.

“Well, then I could come too.”

Guyang Seohan frowned at the sight of his twin rubbing her chest against Mumu’s arm.

—

At the same time, in a room in the basement of the academy’s main office.

The room, surrounded by ice walls, was built with a lower temperature than the outside to store a body for a long time.

At the room’s entrance, four guards were looking at someone with a bizarre expression and blinking their eyes at the sight.

“Ha…”

Someone sighed as they covered the face. A tear trickled down their reddened cheeks.

“Young Chun… Young Chun… haa….”

Someone was stroking the pale corpse lying naked in front of him. The swordsmanship marks that had left burns all across the body had cooled down.

The hand that had trailed the marks softly then became stronger.

Clench!

Sadness turned to anger.

That anger turned into killing intent as their eyes began to glow from behind the hand which covered their face.

“I will make sure the price is paid.”

—

Hong Hye-ryeong stared at the men and women who visited her late at night.

It was an unexpected bunch of people.

Mumu, Do Yang-woon and Guyang Seorin.

Still, her charges weren’t cleared yet. She was already exhausted from the questioning, which had lasted all day.

And,

‘… it is annoying.’

Guyang Seorin was doing all sorts of things while her hands were crossed with Mumu’s.

From a woman’s point of view, it was literally her trying to seduce him. Of course, she had no contact with Mumu but seeing this annoyed her.

‘Is it because I am physically and mentally tired?’

She shook her head and spoke to the three.

“Why did you come to visit?”

To that, Do yang-woon replied.

“Hong-samae. I have come to ask something.”

“Haa…”

At his words, she sighed. She had been up all day after being questioned from the night before.

“I am tired.”

At her words, Do yang-woon looked sad. Just looking at her face, he could tell she had been through a lot, but he had to know this.

“Sorry. Hong-samae. I know you are going through a lot, but I must tell you this, so I know it wasn’t a coincidence.”

“Coincidence?”

At those words, she frowned. What are they trying to make her say?

“What do you mean?”

At her question, Do Yang-woon whispered to ensure the two guards didn’t hear.

“Last night, did you also…”

And before he could fully complete the question

-With what right are you…

A rumbling sound could be heard from outside the room. It didn’t last long, however, as things became silent.

‘!?’

As a result, everyone looked at the door. The two guards also thought it was strange and touched the sword on their waist.

-Kiiiik!

The door opened, and someone appeared.

It was a man in his mid-to-late 30s wearing a blue uniform and a large wooden box on his back. Behind the man with cold eyes were the guards who had become stiff despite holding weapons.

“Who…”

The two guards inside pulled out their weapons.

Pakpak!

In an instant, the two men began to leak blood as the man’s hand moved like lightning. Bewildered by this, the four students got up.

“Who are you?”

“I guess this is an emergency situation.”

Guyang Seorin pulled out her fan. On the other hand, Hong Hye-ryeong could not even use her energy because her blood points had been sealed due to being suspected of killing her classmate.

And Mumu stood in front of her.

“…”

The man looked at them with cold eyes. And,

Phat!

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

Pak!

“Huh!”

Bang!

Do Yang-woon, who was hit in the chest with a long weapon, crashed into the wall while Guyang Seorin tried to attack the cold-eyed man with her fan.

Clang!

But her fan was stopped by the weapon’s sheath as she received a kick in return.

She crossed her arms to minimize the force but was pushed back into the wall.

Thud!

“Kuak!”

Her eyes went wide. This man was stronger than the male teachers in the academy.

He dealt with the two students easily, despite them being the successors of the Four Great Warriors. The man then said to them,

“Kids. If you interfere, you die.”

“Cough… who are you?”

Do Yang-woon asked despite the pain which was eating through him. The man snorted as he looked at Hong Hye-ryeong standing behind Mumu and said,

“You will have to pay the price for killing my sajae (younger disciple), Southern Blade Emperor’s daughter.”

‘!!!’

Hong Hye-ryeong’s eyes went wide at this. Surprisingly, everyone was shocked.

He said it with his mouth, his sajae, then this man…

“… Young Gadong.”

Hong Hye-ryeong mumbled.

Martial Attack Sword, Young Gadong.

The first disciple of the Eastern River Blade Star and sahyung of the deceased Young Chun.

Step!

Young Gadong walked to her and said.

“My job is to deal with the girl behind you. If you don’t back off, you’ll get hurt.”

A warning.

If you do not back down, be ready to get hurt.

And the energy from him was weighing everyone down. Overwhelmed by it, Hong Hye-ryeong grabbed Mumu’s sleeve and said.

“Thank you, but you need to move. This is a problem he and I have to solve.”

And the man was too strong for Mumu to handle.

Only the headmaster of the academy can take on this man. Mumu then scratched his head and said to Young Gadong.

“If you need to do something, do it by talking.”

At Mumu’s words, Young Gadong sighed. His form blurred as he appeared in front of Mumu.

“I only give one warning.”

Young Gadong grabbed Mumu by the neck and tried to push him to the wall.

Kukuku!

The muscles on the boy’s neck were withstanding his strength.

‘What muscles are these?’

He couldn’t feel any internal energy, and this was unexpected. Mumu looked at him and said,

“What is the warning?”