I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Pointlessly Joining the Murim Alliance — Episode 011
“Is anyone here?”
At the sound of someone’s voice, Jang Chun clicks his tongue in annoyance.
“No… but we clearly posted that we’re closed. Tsk. Youngest, tell them we’re not open for business today and send them away.”
The youngest, Jong Chul, furrows his brow and springs from his seat.
“Understood.”
Jong Chul pulls the door open and pokes his face outside.
“…Oh?”
He could never forget her. That face—beautiful as a rose bristling with thorns.
The kind of woman any man would want to challenge just once.
Jang Hye In, whose furious face had seemed otherworldly even as she traded sharp barbs with Sa Urin, having let Ma In slip away.
That day, Jong Chul had filled his heart with her. Could he have been the only one?
Most of the brothers who had glimpsed Jang Hye In that day had done nothing but talk about her until their lips were sore.
“What’s wrong?”
“…The… the Black Rose…”
That was right.
Jong Chul’s brothers had given Jang Hye In the nickname Black Rose.
Every person in the room except Jang Chun and Sa Urin jolted as if struck by lightning, their backsides leaving their seats in an instant.
“What did you say?!”
“The… Black Rose?!”
Thump-thump-thump!
They all bolted from the room in a blur, their eyebrows raised, and stood before Jang Hye In as if gazing upon a celestial being.
‘What a nuisance.’
How many times had Jang Hye In experienced this?
Yet Jang Hye In, peculiarly, was unlike most women in this regard—she didn’t enjoy such attention. Rather, she found it tiresome and embarrassing.
But what could she do?
To tempt the young one into becoming one of her group members, she had to bear it. So Jang Hye In reluctantly forced her lips upward and showed them a fully bloomed rose.
Deok Su, in his early forties and second oldest among the brothers after Jang Chun, opened his mouth with a dazed expression.
“Why, how did you come to grace us, Miss?”
“I came looking for a friend named Sa Urin. I hope he’s available?”
“Hehe. That fellow is in perfect health. Surely you haven’t come looking for anyone else instead?”
‘In perfect health? That can’t be right…’
He’d clearly suffered extensive wounds, and bled enough to soak his clothes crimson. So Jang Hye In had assumed he would still be bedridden…
Moreover, wasn’t Woo Chan, who had sustained fewer injuries than the young one, still lying in bed and unable to move properly?
“…He’s truly in good health?”
“Hehe, yes. Though the boy does look as frail as a courtesan’s younger brother, he was born with a solid physique.”
If that was the case, she could understand it somewhat. With such natural talent, it made sense he possessed that level of martial strength despite his youth.
“Ah… yes. Then, would it be possible to see him?”
“Of course. Sa Urin, come out here for a moment.”
Sa Urin shows his face through the open doorway with evident reluctance.
“What is it?”
“A warrior is looking for you.”
Sa Urin speaks while looking at Jang Hye In.
“Looking for me? What, do you have more business?”
There was still bitterness lingering in Sa Urin from that day. He had even abandoned the idea of easily joining the Murim Alliance.
The debt had been paid.
“How is your body?”
“Why are you concerned about my health?”
“Because it seems I’ll need to keep being concerned about it going forward.”
Sa Urin tilts his head in confusion.
“Stop with the pointless talk and get to the matter at hand.”
He didn’t want to look at Jang Hye In’s face any longer. The face of a woman who had scattered ash over a nearly finished pot of rice.
“I came to take you with me.”
“Take me with you? What, because you lost Ma In, you’re going to drag me off? I clearly told you then—it wasn’t my fault. The complications happened because you got in the way.”
In his heart, he wanted nothing more than to tie her up and drag her away.
“That’s not it.”
“Then what exactly is it?”
“You already know. You possess martial arts far superior to what your age would suggest.”
An unexpected compliment?
“…I’m aware.”
But I don’t know where precisely she stands in the Gangho hierarchy as a whole.
“Don’t you think it’s such a waste for someone like you to squander your days here?”
At that moment, Jang Chun, who had been leaning close to Sa Urin and listening intently, burst forth.
“Now hold on! That’s going too far, I must say. Squandering days? Don’t speak carelessly when you haven’t even bothered to understand the situation properly. Urin has grown stronger here. He’s devoted himself entirely to training under our protection, and that’s precisely why he’s become this formidable. And what’s wrong with this place? We live like one family—with such warmth and care!”
The younger men nodded vigorously in complete agreement with what their leader had said.
‘Damn it.’
Now she had to bow her head even to these kinds of people.
Jang Hye In wanted to abandon the whole thing and walk away on the spot, yet the golden rope dangling before her eyes refused to be let go so easily.
“Ah, my apologies. I didn’t mean it that way at all. I simply meant to offer you a chance to traverse the Gangho in a better environment. I hope you won’t misunderstand me.”
Jang Chun’s mouth twisted slightly.
A warrior of the Murim Alliance and a squad leader no less—apologizing. He couldn’t muster another word of protest after that.
And on top of it all, there was no telling when this infuriating woman might lose her composure. Hadn’t he witnessed it that day?
“Well then. So what is this good opportunity you speak of?”
“If I keep going, it seems like I might create more misunderstandings, so let me get straight to the point. The thing is, I’d like to bring this friend here into our squad. The Murim Alliance, after all, offers the finest environment for traversing the Gangho. And if someone as young as this friend possesses such formidable martial strength, his prospects for advancement are all but guaranteed. When you look at it from every angle, there’s simply no question about it—this friend is a perfect fit for the Murim Alliance.”
As Jang Hye In finished speaking, Jang Chun’s mouth opened so wide it seemed it might unhinge from his face.
What manner of place was the Murim Alliance?
It was the pillar supporting all of Baekdo Murim.
Was that not enough?
Wasn’t the Murim Alliance the place where, if one rose through the ranks and secured a high position, one could gain wealth, power, and renown all at once?
Moreover, even the lowest-ranking warrior of the Murim Alliance would never feel insignificant anywhere, and instead strutted about with an air of consequence, did he not?
And so, according to Jang Hye In’s words, an extraordinary opportunity had come to Sa Urin—how could one not be overjoyed?
“Urin!”
Jang Chun’s younger brothers swarmed toward Sa Urin in a rush.
“Urin!”
“Congratulations!”
“Now our Urin will become a person of high standing.”
Everyone was in a congratulatory mood. And riding on this atmosphere, Jang Hye In herself wore a smile of triumph.
‘Perfect.’
Now she just needed to guide him well, cultivate him properly, and use him as a stepping stone for advancement.
If Jang Hye In rose in station, it wasn’t just she alone who benefited. Her squad mates who lived alongside her would likewise rise in status.
That was why her fellow squad members supported her from the sidelines.
But then…….
“Congratulations for what? I have no intention of accepting.”
Not that he had no intention—he simply didn’t want to serve under this woman. Hadn’t the very first meeting already left a bad taste?
She was the woman who had poured ash over his nearly finished meal.
With that single unexpected remark from Sa Urin, all the joy evaporated in an instant.
Jang Hye In, who had been standing with arms folded in smug satisfaction that everything was proceeding according to her will, felt her strength drain away—her arms going limp and listless. Jang Chun and his brothers, whose smiles had been radiant moments before, seemed to vanish like ghosts.
Jang Chun, doubting his own ears, opened his mouth.
“……Urin?”
“You’re really strange, mister.”
“Your mouth may be twisted, but your words should be straight. It’s not I who am strange—it’s you who are strange. Why do you reject a fortune that has rolled into your lap?”
“A fortune, you say?”
“Yes! Is joining the Murim Alliance not a blessing, if not that?”
“A blessing…….”
Once you take the entry exam and get in, that’s all there is to it.
“You foolish boy! If your brother were still alive, he would have welcomed this wholeheartedly.”
Would he have, truly?
Since he was no longer living, there was no way to know. Besides, hadn’t he already made up his mind to enter the Murim Alliance?
“Don’t bring up people who aren’t here. It only causes confusion.”
It only clouds things.
“Huh?”
“In any case, I don’t want to.”
Not under this woman standing before him.
“Damn brat.”
Sa Urin’s brothers shared Jang Chun’s sentiment.
Jang Hye In, who had been standing there with regret writ across her face, felt she had to do something, so she opened her mouth.
“May I ask why you dislike the idea?”
You, she said. You! How could you not know?
“There doesn’t need to be a reason to dislike something. I just don’t want to.”
“I…….”
There’s no way out of this.
You can’t exactly twist the arm of someone who’s flatly refused you.
He should back away now, but his feet won’t budge. The thought of that golden rope dangling before his eyes, just out of reach, makes his stomach twist so sharply he wants to curl up on the floor and retch.
And then, a group entered the Jang Estate.
There were quite a few of them—roughly thirty, by his count. When everyone’s attention snapped toward the arriving group, Sa Urin, who had been poking his head out from his room, quietly slipped back inside.
“……Damn it.”
Then he gripped his sword from where it leaned against the wall.
“How did they find out?”
Up until now, if they didn’t know, they shouldn’t have been able to find him. So how did they suddenly appear?
What could it be?
Like the bottom of a jar cracking open, spilling everything inside all at once.
No.
He’d always followed his father’s words—that death is like a cold. But in this moment, he couldn’t believe that anymore.
No, this is far worse than a cold.
A plague you die from if you catch it, or poison that kills you the moment you swallow it—that’s what’s unfolding before him now.
Sa Urin suddenly grips his sword and mutters to himself, and Jang Chun asks, as if wondering if the man’s gone mad.
“……Why the sword all of a sudden?”
“Well…….”
What should he say?
Tell him to run for his life right now? That doesn’t seem right.
‘So it’s me, then?’
It’s entirely possible.
But if that happens, they’ll definitely take Jang Chun and the others hostage. So…….
He can’t do either.
“Why aren’t you answering?”
“That’s…….”
The difference between now and when he faced Ma In feels like heaven and earth. Then it was “I might die,” but now it’s “I will die”……no, it’s “I’m already dead.”
Yes, he’s dead.
Beyond saving.
“Why is he acting like this…….”
It’s making him nervous.
Jang Chun thinks he’s beginning to understand Sa Urin’s strange behavior. It’s because of the group entering the estate now.
So Jang Chun studies the arriving group more carefully.
“……Damn it all.”
‘The Yunwol Gate Leader…….’
In an instant, Jang Chun’s limbs turn to stone where he stands. It’s a mercy he doesn’t collapse.
His vision darkens completely.
Beyond Jang Chun’s dimmed sight, Sa Urin steps out of the room. Then he moves straight toward Jang Hye In’s side.
Jang Hye In looks up at Sa Urin, who has approached beside her, with a puzzled expression.
‘What is this?’
She can’t make sense of the situation. Jang Hye In knows who the Yunwol Gate Leader is too. What matters is why the Yunwol Gate Leader has come here.
To take Sa Urin away, like she does?
No.
If that were it, they would have taken him long ago. And the expression on the Yunwol Gate Leader’s face as she enters is anything but ordinary.
‘What could it be?’
There’s clearly a story behind this.
Sa Urin steps closer to Jang Hye In and opens his mouth carefully.
“……Miss.”
‘……What is this?’
That uncertain voice.
Just moments ago, his arrogance seemed like it would pierce the heavens.
A woman’s instinct whispers in Jang Hye In’s ear.
The situation is reversing.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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