I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 114

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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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Chapter 114
But that was the moment.
‘An opening!’
An opening, but……
‘……why does it feel like a trap?’
If Cheong So-un sensed it that way, it was almost certainly a trap. Well, he couldn’t say for certain, but the odds were very high.
‘……yes, but……. even if it were…….’
Yet he was equally certain this would be his only chance.
Yes.
‘Even if this is a trap…….’
If he wanted to attempt anything at all, if he had to become a moth and dive into the flame before this opening vanished from his sight.
‘……yes!’
Try something—anything!
If the Martial Match were to end like this…….
How could he face the Sect Leader? How could he look his seniors and juniors in the eye?
That was why Cheong So-un refused to let this fleeting moment slip away. He could not afford to lose it. So he decided: even if the gap he saw in the witch’s son led straight to hell.
Or better yet—why not simply trade hell for paradise?
Any more hesitation and he’d lose even this instant of opportunity.
Cheong So-un’s Wooden Sword thrust boldly toward the opening in Sa U-rin’s defense.
Cheong So-un’s teeth clenched. As though he were staking everything on this final move.
Or rather, this was the moment when he had to stake everything.
Whistle!
Cheong So-un’s Wooden Sword tore through the air with such speed it seemed to split space itself.
In this instant, Cheong So-un harbored not a shred of doubt. To distrust oneself, to question one’s own strength—that was the surest way to fail.
Cheong So-un did not doubt himself, but neither could he be certain.
Would this single move actually land on the witch’s son?
And yet.
‘It worked!’
So it wasn’t a trap after all.
That’s right.
Cheong So-un’s intuition wasn’t always correct—if it were, he’d be a god, not a martial artist. If every instinct struck true, perfectly and completely.
But he was only human, so that was impossible.
Yes, perhaps this was another such case. That ominous intuition of a trap had nagged at him, but it wasn’t a trap after all—it was a genuine opening.
And then came the moment when Cheong So-un’s Wooden Sword finally lodged itself in the witch’s son’s abdomen.
Or so it seemed…….
‘No…….’
This fast?
In such an instant?
Had he become a ghost?
Cheong So-un was stronger than most, but even so—how could a man simply vanish like a spirit before his very eyes?
He wanted to ask, truly he did.
The Sect Leader watching from the platform of honor above.
Whether this was truly the movement of a human being.
‘……stay calm.’
Yes, he had to stay calm. He’d begun his assault; surely he could press forward with another quick strike.
Or so he thought.
Regrettably, that was all it was.
‘Damn it…….’
Just as Cheong So-un moved to follow up his attack, something caught his leg.
No…….
The cursed witch’s son had swept his leg out from under him.
‘This is impossible…….’
Truly impossible.
Even a third-rate rogue from Market Street wouldn’t suffer such an indignity.
And yet.
Cheong So-un, representing the Kunlun Sect itself, taken down by a leg sweep?
There was no greater shame than this.
If such a thing actually happened.
But fortunately, it seemed it would not come to pass. Was he not, after all, the representative of the Kunlun Sect?
Cheong So-un twisted his body, struggling to recover his balance, and then drove his feet hard against the ground to distance himself from the witch’s son.
One thing, though: his center of balance still tilted heavily backward.
And in that instant——
He locked eyes with that cursed witch’s son.
‘……?’
His expression was unreadable. All Cheong So-un could discern was that he stared back blankly, as if dazed.
Then the witch’s son extended the wooden sword in his hand toward Cheong So-un.
‘I knew it!’
He’d anticipated it, prepared for it. Cheong So-un kicked off the Arena floor once more, moving swiftly.
And so Cheong So-un slipped free of Sa U-rin’s wooden sword’s reach with ease.
But then——
He caught the witch’s son’s eye again. The cursed boy suddenly waved his hand.
‘Why……?’
For a moment, he couldn’t fathom the reason.
Why would that bastard wave his hand?
Don’t people normally wave when they meet and part ways, as a gesture of farewell?
Of course, it also carries the meaning of “See you next time.”
But that doesn’t fit this situation at all. What reason would there be to meet again?
None.
Even if there were, he didn’t want to.
Then the reason the witch’s son waved at Cheong So-un narrowed to one possibility.
‘Farewell……?’
What did that even——
‘……Ah!’
Something felt wrong.
Specifically, beneath his feet.
Only then did Cheong So-un’s gaze drop downward.
“……!”
His body was already falling away from the Arena, plummeting below its edge.
If Cheong So-un had been an Absolute Expert, he could have unleashed the Void Step and climbed back onto the platform——
But he was not.
And the Kunlun Sect currently had no Absolute Expert. So naturally, a mere second disciple like himself could hardly be one.
In the end.
Splash.
Cheong So-un fell ungracefully below the Arena.
And in that moment, instead of cheers erupting from the stands as they should, only silence hung over the crowd.
“……What?”
“……Surely not.”
“Kunlun…… how on earth……”
“……came to this.”
Such a match had never occurred even in the preliminaries.
Right.
Wasn’t it strange to have a match like this at all?
Cheong So-un had fallen off the platform of his own accord.
“Why did he do that?”
“Who knows?”
“He’s not an idiot.”
“An idiot wouldn’t have made it this far.”
“That’s true. But this……”
“It’s too much.”
It was true.
They hadn’t even exchanged proper attacks and defenses; he’d been purely on the defensive, pushed backward the entire time.
And ultimately, he’d fallen off the platform on his own.
And at that moment.
A woman’s laughter rang out through the Martial Arts Training Ground.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha!”
It was Sa U-rin’s mother—the witch, Jang Ryeo.
“Ha-ha-ha. He should have just forfeited and not fought at all. What is this?”
She was right.
What was this?
So pathetic.
The Kunlun Sect Leader’s face cycled between red and purple. His seat felt no different from a bed of thorns.
The witch Jang Ryeo hurled words at the Kunlun Sect Leader without hesitation.
“You say your tradition goes back so far? Well? So this is what happens when a tradition gets old, is it? My goodness, I’m terrified to think what the Jang Family Manor will look like in a few hundred years. Ha ha ha ha!”
“……….”
The Kunlun Sect Leader had lost the ability to speak.
To witness such a thing unfold before his eyes. And worse—Cheong So-un was not merely any disciple, but one he had painstakingly raised himself.
‘This is not the kind of man he is…’
Though he had taught and nurtured this disciple for more than a decade, this was not the sort of defeat he should have suffered.
‘How could this…’
The Kunlun Sect Leader himself was baffled as to how it had come to this. Certainly, his eyes had caught the moment when an opening appeared in the witch’s son—and the strike that followed was swift and precise, he had to admit.
Even if it had all been a trap.
But it had been a trap. A devilishly clever trap—the kind you charge into despite knowing full well what it is.
Yet what followed made no sense whatsoever.
Had he not witnessed it with his own eyes?
His own disciple Cheong So-un, pushing off the ground with his own feet, launching himself out of the arena.
And.
The others seated in the places of honor looked ready to burst with laughter, though they dared not laugh outright.
“Ahem.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Cough, cough.”
The Kunlun Sect Leader could not help but notice them.
“Damn it!”
In the end, the Kunlun Sect Leader could not remain in his seat any longer. He could not even lift his head—imagine his state of mind.
And so the Kunlun Sect Leader departed.
The unflinching witch Jang Ryeo opened her mouth once more.
“Whoever faces my son next, you’d best be careful. Ha ha ha ha!”
With that, the witch Jang Ryeo also rose and left.
There was no reason to remain now that her son Sa U-rin’s match had ended.
* * *
Those who won in the round of thirty-two were given two days of rest. Sa U-rin, naturally, was granted the same.
He used this time to deepen his mastery of the Wind Cloud Sword, the signature art of the Jang Family.
Then, Cheong So-un, the second disciple of Kunlun who had suffered such a shameful defeat at Sa U-rin’s hands the day before, appeared.
‘What’s he doing here?’
There seemed to be no good reason for his visit.
‘Could it be…?’
No, surely not.
A thought flashed through Sa U-rin’s mind—that perhaps Cheong So-un could not accept yesterday’s result and had come seeking a rematch.
But he immediately dismissed the idea.
Why?
Because Cheong So-un did not seem the type to be so foolish or stubborn.
He had seemed quite intelligent, in his own way. So he would not have sought Sa U-rin out again for such a reason.
Cheong So-un trudged forward with lifeless steps and came to stand before Sa U-rin.
His appearance was the same as yesterday, but his eyes held the look of one who had endured something devastating.
Utterly devastating.
It was plain to see.
If, by some twist of fate, Sa U-rin had lost to Cheong So-un in yesterday’s match…
Yes.
He would likely have been torn apart by his mother. Sa U-rin himself would probably look just as wretched.
Fortunate to still be alive, in fact.
In any case.
“What brings you here?”
Cheong So-un labored to move his lips.
“Yesterday…”
He spoke only that single word before his voice trailed off.
“What’s wrong? Do you want me to slap you back to your senses?”
A word to snap him out of it.
“No… there’s no need for that.”
“Then tell me.”
Why he had gone to the trouble of seeking Sa U-rin out here.
“That’s the thing… yesterday… how in the world did you manage that?”
“What are you talking about? You can’t be serious?”
Did the impact yesterday hit you hard enough to knock the memory clean away?
If you took a blow that severe…….
“……Don’t let your imagination run wild.”
“Then finish what you’re saying properly instead of encouraging wild thoughts. I was in the middle of training.”
Translation: speak quickly and get out.
“……Understood. I’ll make it fast. How exactly……no, did I really fall out of the Arena on my own?”
Sa U-rin stared at Cheong So-un without blinking. At that, Cheong So-un asked with a look of disgust spreading across his face.
“……Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You’re asking because you genuinely don’t know?”
“……If I knew, would I have come all the way here to ask you that?”
“Fair point.”
Sa U-rin thought that while Cheong So-un might not have understood what happened in that moment yesterday, upon reflection he should have been able to figure out why he lost.
But apparently that wasn’t the case.
“I seem to have overestimated you.”
Cheong So-un appeared to be growing more foolish in front of Sa U-rin, both yesterday and now. For no real reason, irritation began to well up inside him.
“……Enough. Just answer what I’m asking.”
“All right. It’s nothing complicated, really. Your five senses—they’re far sharper than most people’s, aren’t they?”
‘How could he possibly know that…….’
“That’s true. But how did you…….”
“I don’t have any reason to explain that far.”
“……Right. I didn’t come here trying to learn that much. Just answer what I asked.”
“That’s just it.”
“What do you mean, that’s just it?”
“You rely too heavily on your five senses alone when making your judgments.”
“……I depend too much on my senses? If that’s what you think…….”
In that moment yesterday, he had not relied on his senses at all—he had simply followed what he saw.
And that’s how he ended up like this.
“No. That’s not what I mean.”
“Then what?”
“The problem is that you make your five senses the standard for everything. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“……No.”
He didn’t understand.
And hadn’t the Kunlun Sect Leader himself told him that if his five senses were sharp, he should trust that feeling and follow it, and he would make great progress?
That’s why he’d grown faster than his peers.
Yet Sa U-rin, standing right before him, was saying his very senses were wrong?

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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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