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Chapter 90 - Growth (3)
“Right. I am your lord.”
The moment Ha-ryun heard this, he felt relieved. This felt like the best end result to him.
If he had said this and Mumu didn’t know what he was talking about, he might have faced the worst possible situation.
‘As expected… my judgment was right.’
Last night, the man in his room didn’t seem to realize who the real lord was. So he must have had the wrong information.
This meant that the jade plaque he saw wasn’t a fake one. Ha-ryun, thrilled, said.
“I believe you. Lord.”
Mumu was actually puzzled at this. Like last time and this time, Ha-ryun kept calling him lord.
Was it an attempt to get out of the situation? Or was he saying this for some reason?
Or,
‘Does he really want me to be his lord?’
Mumu couldn’t understand why Ha-ryun was acting like this. But it didn’t matter.
What Mumu wanted was the information.
He had to secure the evidence from Ha-ryun, who had used something similar to the powder used on the academy students and had also been indirectly used in framing Hong Hye-ryeong.
‘Hmm.’
Mumu pondered on how to get the information. He had done what Mo Il-hwa said, but this was his first time doing this.
As he was thinking, Ha-ryun lowered his head and said,
“Lord. How heartbroken must you be since this plan for the grand war had failed? It is a pity that this subordinate couldn’t help you because I was placed inside a disciplinary cell for failing to recognize my lord.”
Ha-ryun’s eyes were tense as he bowed down. The person who was the lord had revealed his identity.
And he wanted to be the most favored by this man. If he didn’t do this, he would never get a chance.
‘Grand war?’
What was this? Was it about the arson attempt?
Hearing Ha-ryun’s words confused him. Mumu wondered if this was a good thing, so he didn’t say anything and just stared at him.
Ha-ryun shook his head.
‘Ugh.’
He then bowed his head right away.
If Mumu said nothing despite revealing his identity, Ha-ryun thought he had earned some trust.
“This lowly subordinate spoke ahead of himself. Forgive me.”
Ha-ryun fell flat on the ground and hit his head a few times.
Seeing that, Mumu didn’t want the annoying event to repeat itself.
“I am not angry.”
“I-Is that true?”
Ha-ryun raised his head and asked Mumu, who nodded.
Mumu didn’t know why Ha-ryun was calling him lord, nor did he understand why he was looking at him in this manner.
‘Can I just ask?’
He wanted to ask why Ha-ryun called him ‘Lord,’ but he then recalled that Mo Il-hwa said to deceive him.
It was then.
Tatatat!
Ha-ryun turned his head at the sound and looked at Hae-ryang, Mo Il-hwa, and Jin-hyuk, who had appeared.
They were slower than Mumu, but they soon followed as a train. Jin-hyuk looked at Ha-ryun, who still had his face down.
“Caught him?”
At that, ha-ryun frowned and asked.
“Caught who?”
“Ha-ryun. Who will we talk about if not…”
Cutting Jin-hyuk’s words, Mumu smiled and said,
“I revealed my identity to Ha-ryun.”
“What?”
Jin-hyuk frowned. Mumu revealed his identity?
“I revealed that I am the Lord.”
Hearing Mumu’s words, Mo Il-hwa noticed what was happening and said.
“Ah. You revealed your identity?”
‘Revealed his identity?’
What was Mo Il-hwa talking about?
Then Ha-ryun snorted and said,
“Were they people who served you? So you deliberately pretended to not know. Well, I already identified the lord. I didn’t want the lord to be in a difficult position due to his identity being revealed.”
‘!?’
Jin-hyuk’s eyes widened. He was a bit dull but not an ignorant person, so he realized that Mumu and Mo Il-hwa were acting.
‘Are they deceiving him?’
Jin-hyuk was surprised at Mumu. He had just been told by Mo Il-hwa to deceive Ha-ryun, but he was already successfully doing it.
He had been worried that Mumu would simply beat Ha-ryun to a pulp, but this result was more shocking.
Then Mo Il-hwa said,
“You are good. How can you be a good subordinate if you embarrass your own Lord?”
Ha-ryun bit his lips at her words.
At these words, Hae-ryang felt admiration for Mo Il-hwa. He knew she was witty, but she could quickly adapt to this situation.
‘As expected of her!’
But the problem was here. How would they act as a team to ensure that this guy spat out useful information?
Mo Il-hwa too was a bit troubled and couldn’t immediately join the flow, but she was still able to salvage the situation.
‘If you say something related, the guy should naturally speak…’
“Who killed Young Chun?”
‘!?’
For a moment, everyone, including Mo Il-hwa, Jin-hyuk, and Hae-ryang, couldn’t hide their shock. The culprit’s identity was already being asked so openly and by Mumu as well!
They were all thinking about naturally asking without raising suspicion, so they didn’t expect this kind of straightforward question.
‘You idiot!’
If you made a mistake, everything they tried to create here would be a mess. Then Ha-ryun’s expression hardened.
‘Ah!’
Mumu too noticed that. As he wondered for a moment about what to do, Ha-ryun bowed further.
“I apologize. I have just been released from the disciplinary cell, so I do not know what is happening inside the ‘Other World.’”
‘What?’
Contrary to their concerns, the response came.
They were worried that he would notice the ruse, but Ha-ryun was only watching Mumu and kept speaking sincerely.
‘Why is he doing this for Mumu?’
They couldn’t figure out why he was acting like this. It was like a servant serving the master.
Everyone wondered about it, but it didn’t matter now. Thanks to this, they learned one thing.
‘At least one guess is correct.’
The arsonists and the person who framed Hong Hye-ryeong were of the same group. However, seeing Ha-ryun talking like this, it felt like he didn’t know everything.
‘Then, if we catch him and take him to the deputy, would he be able to interrogate him and find out more information?’
Jin-hyuk thought carefully about this. Now that their suspicion was changing to a certainty, he wanted to get more information by capturing him.
Then Ha-ryun said,
“B-But why do you ask?”
“I was curious as to who it was. So you don’t know?”
Mo Il-hwa felt frustrated at Mumu’s naïve questions.
She didn’t know why the other boy kept calling Mumu lord, but she wanted him to ask, ‘You don’t know it? You pathetic guy.’ or ‘Find out!’ and act like a lord.
“Give me just one day. I will find it out.”
Ha-ryun showed his intent to find out the information.
‘Uh…’
Was this actually happening?
Mo Il-hwa looked at Ha-ryun with blank eyes. No, why was this brat so loyal to Mumu?
She felt skeptical, but she looked at Mumu, who was looking at her.
‘What do we do? Send him?’
It looked like Mo Il-hwa, too, was thinking about the proposal and then nodded with her eyes so that Ha-ryun wouldn’t notice.
---
After sending Ha-ryun away, Jin-hyuk said,
“Why did you just let him go? Since we know that Ha-ryun was one of them, we should have taken him to the deputy or tried to interrogate him.”
“Then what if he killed himself?”
“That…”
“You said that fake Guyang Seohan too had committed suicide after being caught by Mumu, right?”
Jin-hyuk nodded as he felt there was truth to Mo Il-hwa’s words.
As for the arsonist, if one listened carefully to what Mumu said, they too seemed to make drastic decisions. There was no guarantee that Ha-ryun wouldn’t do it as well.
And then Hae-ryang said,
“Don’t worry. Since we never know what will happen, I will keep a closer look.”
“You?”
Hae-ryang shrugged at Mo Il-hwa’s words and said.
“I might not be as great as you in martial arts, but I am still from the Lower District Sect. I am confident in my stealth and tracking.”
“Ah… that’s right, huh?”
“Yes. And Ha-ryun said he would get the information, so obviously, there is another member of that group he knows. So following him would be good.”
“Right! Let’s do it together!”
Mumu said, acting as if it would be for fun, but Hae-ryang shook his head, surprised.
“No, you should leave this matter into my hands. He might think that we don’t trust him if we are found out.”
Mo Il-hwa nodded and agreed.
“True, be careful, though. If you get caught, it will be a disaster.”
“Yes. The moment it turns dangerous, I will get out. Okay!”
Pat!
With those words, Hae-ryang quickly went after Ha-ryun. And soon Mo Il-hwa asked Mumu.
“Mumu.”
“Uh?”
“Why is that Ha-ryun treating you like his master?”
She had been curious about this ever since she saw the situation. But there was no way he could know.
“I don’t know.”
“You really don’t know?”
“Yes.”
He was being honest. Then Jin-hyuk said,
“Then is that guy…”
He stopped asking as if he had realized something.
Come to think of it, his father had been raising Mumu since he was a child, so it was strange for Ha-ryun to even know about Mumu.
It felt wiser to investigate Ha-ryun further when they had the time.
“What is with him?”
“… I still think it would be better to inform the deputy about him.”
“Deputy?”
“Yes. Even if it turns into a problem later, he needs to know so that he can solve this smoothly.”
“Ah, right, okay, then I will speak to the deputy.”
Mumu then headed to the office of the deputy. Mo Il-hwa said to Jin-hyuk in a low voice as she watched Mumu leave.
“Why? Do you think Mumu has something to do with Ha-ryun?”
“No, it’s not that. Just…”
Ha-ryun clearly knew something about Mumu that he didn’t know. Jin-hyuk privately wondered what it was.