I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 19

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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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Entering the Murim Alliance for no good reason — Episode 19
“……What are you doing?”
“……Huh?”
“We’re already here.”
They’d arrived directly in front of the placard that clearly read “Gaju-jeon.”
Moreover, the guard warriors stationed outside Gaju-jeon were watching Sa Ou-rin — with Dang Yi-ryeong on his back — as if he were some sort of lunatic.
“……Oh.”
Her mind had gone blank. It was as though her very soul had slipped away.
Even though the loneliness had been purged, her thoughts should have been clearer, her mind more liberated — but it wasn’t. Not even close.
Instead, she felt dazed, unable to string a coherent thought together.
She couldn’t even remember pointing the way here with her finger.
“What are you doing? Come on, get down. Are you falling asleep on my back because it’s warm?”
She knew she wasn’t sleeping. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to point the direction with her finger all the way here.
“……You have to put me down.”
“……Oh. Sorry.”
……This was the first time he’d ever carried anyone on his back.
Dang Yi-ryeong descended from Sa Ou-rin’s back. But her gaze remained fixed on his face.
“Why?”
“……Nothing…….”
What on earth was his true identity?
He was incredibly fast. So fast that even keeping up with the directions she was giving was almost overwhelming.
‘……To be this fast…….’
Wouldn’t his martial arts be equally formidable?
Of course, just because the Divine Movement Technique is fast doesn’t necessarily mean martial arts are strong. But the likelihood is high.
Then again, there are plenty of thieves whose only skill is a swift Divine Movement Technique, aren’t there?
So there’s no way to be certain.
“Is time not of the essence right now?”
“……I understand.”
Didn’t Dang Yi-ryeong know that better than anyone?
One of the guard warriors, unable to bear it any longer, approached Dang Yi-ryeong.
“Miss Yi-ryeong, you shouldn’t be doing this at this hour.”
Dang Yi-ryeong fixed the guard warrior with a cold, piercing stare.
“Move aside.”
“That’s impossible, as you well know. Please, return to your quarters.”
“I’ve come here because of an urgent matter concerning the very future of our Sacheon Dang Clan, so you’d best move out of my way immediately.”
The guard warrior’s brow furrowed deeply.
He knew that once the Poison Flower dug in her heels, there was no reasoning with her. But if he simply let her pass without resistance, he had no idea what kind of trouble the captain of the guard would make for him.
The guard warrior found himself in an impossible situation.
“I’ve told you plainly — this is an urgent matter that cannot wait. If something else happens while you’re blocking my path, then I cannot guarantee your life. Are you still not going to move?”
‘Damn it…….’
He had no idea what on earth could drive her to threaten him with death at this hour of the morning.
Even a madwoman should be asleep at this time of night…….
What could he do?
Surely it was better to take a scolding from the captain than to lose his life.
Besides, there was still the Family Head’s bodyguard warrior stationed inside Gaju-jeon, wasn’t there?
Though he’d be no different, for all that.
“……Please, go ahead.”
The guard warrior stepped aside.
Sa Ou-rin fell into step behind Dang Yi-ryeong as she led the way. But the guard warrior stopped him.
“You cannot enter.”
“……?”
Sa Ou-rin looked toward Dang Yi-ryeong.
“You wait here for now.”
Even this, Dang Yi-ryeong could not override.
This was Gaju-jeon of the Sacheon Dang Clan — in other words, the heart and pillar of the Sacheon Dang Clan itself.
No matter that Sa Ou-rin was the one who’d saved her life, he was still an outsider, and the clan had its laws.
“……Understood.”
There was nothing for it if he wasn’t permitted. Still, it was disappointing. Of course, he would see her soon enough, but he wanted to feel it right now, with his own eyes.
He could already sense it from here — how extraordinary would it be to face it directly?
That’s why Sa Ou-rin had moved so quickly. To directly feel the majesty of the Sacheon Dang Clan, one of the pillars that upheld Baekdo Murim.
And the authority of the Sacheon Dang Clan’s great leader—the Family Head himself.
She could feel it even from this distance. It was a childhood memory, but unmistakably, he was stronger than her father. And this was the first time she’d ever faced a martial master more powerful than him.
She’d been looking forward to it so much, yet he’d told her to wait in silence.
Sa Ou-rin watched only the retreating figure of Dang Yi-ryeong as she disappeared into the Gaju-jeon, swallowing his disappointment.
* * *
The moment Dang Yi-ryeong stepped inside the Gaju-jeon, she came face to face with the Bodyguard Warrior who attended the Family Head.
“Wake my father, please.”
“Miss.”
“Should I call out instead?”
Then, from the chamber where the Family Head lay, came the quiet voice of Dang Won-hu.
“Let her through.”
The Bodyguard Warrior bowed his head in answer.
“Yes, Family Head.”
The Bodyguard Warrior carefully opened the door to the Family Head’s chamber.
“Please go in.”
“Thank you.”
“……?”
The Bodyguard Warrior was startled for a moment. He couldn’t quite believe that words of thanks had actually come from the lips of Dang Yi-ryeong.
‘She must have misspoken.’
This wasn’t a young lady who would say something like thank you.
Still, the Bodyguard Warrior smiled—whether he approved of her slip or not remained unclear—as he carefully closed the door behind her.
Dang Yi-ryeong entered the chamber, and there sat the Family Head on his bed, regarding her with eyes full of bewilderment.
This wasn’t the sort of thing she would do, not to this extent…….
Of course, there had been moments when she’d caused trouble, created problems, and made situations worse, but she was not a child who would act without propriety in his presence.
“Yi-ryeong…….”
In Dang Won-hu’s voice lay a note of regret—why had she fallen apart so completely?
“I’m sorry, Father. But please, just for a moment, just for a very brief moment, let me speak without interruption. Will you hear me out?”
The eyes of his cherished youngest daughter trembled. They held a look both urgent and sincere. Desperate, even.
It was a look he had never seen in his youngest before.
No.
When she was small, her eyes had always been bright with intelligence. She’d shown her brilliance without measure, those keen eyes full of understanding.
But somewhere along the way, she had begun to break.
There seemed to be no catalyst, no reason. When he asked, he received only strange answers.
“No…… yes, I understand.”
He had never seen her look so desperate, so he decided it was right to listen.
Even if it turned out to be nonsense.
“The story is too long to tell in full. So I’ll just give you the essential points.”
“Do so.”
“You may not believe what I’m about to say, and you may have doubts, but please understand that everything I’m telling you is the truth.”
Though much had grown confused, Dang Won-hu’s faith in his youngest had never wavered.
“Very well.”
“You remember, Father, don’t you? Until I was fifteen, I was nothing like I am now.”
That was true.
“…… Yes, I remember.”
“There was a reason I had to be that way.”
This was the part he’d truly wondered about. He still couldn’t make sense of it.
“Until just a few hours ago, I had a Yin-Yang Curse in my mind.”
Dang Won-hu jerked upright from his bed as though struck.
“What did you say?! A Yin-Yang Curse?!”
The Yin-Yang Curse was recognized throughout the Gangho as Evil Magic.
Those vile enough to use Evil Magic to manipulate others were considered such a threat to the martial world that they were hunted as public enemies.
And now, at last, he understood.
He understood why his beloved, brilliant youngest daughter had suddenly changed.
“Yes.”
“But you said until a few hours ago. Is that truly the case?”
The Yin-Yang Curse could not be removed by just anyone.
Even Dang Won-hu himself could not be certain he could do it. Perhaps only Dang Mo-jun, his father and the Former Family Head of the Dang Clan, might manage such a thing.
And the Former Family Head, Dang Mo-jun, was not currently within the Dang Clan.
The one who had planted the Yin-Yang Curse would hardly have removed it themselves.
“Are you…… asking me to believe that word right now?”
He should believe, wanted to believe, but the details didn’t add up. And besides, the youngest daughter had a habit of causing trouble and spinning elaborate lies that defied all reason.
“You have to believe me.”
“Then prove it to me. Otherwise…….”
He had no choice now but to abandon what little trust remained in his youngest daughter.
“It’s the Second Son, Father.”
“……The Second Son……?”
Impossible.
The Second Son had been a clever child too. He’d grown strange around the same time as the youngest, but his strangeness took a different form—he’d become withdrawn, retreating into silence.
For reasons unclear, he’d shut himself away in his quarters.
It was truly a tragedy.
It was something that should never have happened—not for the sake of the Dang family, and not for the boy himself.
That child placed a Yin-Yang Curse on the youngest?
“Surely you don’t mean…….”
You’re taking even my last shred of trust…….
“No, Father. What I’m saying is that the Second Son also has a Yin-Yang Curse planted in his mind.”
“What! Then…….”
……It makes sense.
The thoughts that had surfaced just moments ago—they were caused by the Yin-Yang Curse?
Yes!
It all fits. The Second Son, the Third Son—that was the reason for both.
Then the one who planted the Yin-Yang Curse…….
“Could it be the First Son…….”
If both the Second and Third sons were incapacitated, it was clear who stood to gain the most: the one about to assume the position of Deputy Family Head.
The First Son, who as a child was always compared unfavorably to the Second and Third, had grown sullen with envy and jealousy.
Though his behavior had been distasteful, with the Second and Third in their current state, there was no choice but to acknowledge him as Deputy Family Head.
So it was him…….
“Yes, Father. Regrettably, it appears so.”
Power struggles like this were common in any household, any sect. But to resort to a Yin-Yang Curse crossed a line.
True, rivalry between brothers could wound the heart and even draw blood, yet such competition was what forged truly exceptional talent to lead a family and sect, strengthening both.
Moreover, families and sects that had solidified their foundations through such trials then competed with countless other houses and schools throughout the Gangho.
In this way, over long centuries, the Nine Sects and One Hall of Baekdo Murim, the Seven Great Sects of the heterodox path, and the five great families of the Demonic Cult had maintained and refined their positions through unbroken tradition.
“But who in heaven’s name removed the Yin-Yang Curse from your mind?”
That was the part he couldn’t understand.
“It’s outside.”
“Outside? Explain yourself.”
“Father, we should go see the Second Son right away before anything else. My Yin-Yang Curse is dead, so he might already know.”
The Yin-Yang Curse existed in two forms.
The master of the Yin-Yang Curse consuming Mogo themselves, or the form where the master merely managed it without consuming Mogo.
When the master consumed Mogo, they could completely control the mind of one who had consumed Jago. However, if the Jago went wrong, the one who consumed Mogo could also suffer—a dangerous gamble.
By contrast, a master who did not consume Mogo had limited control but faced no danger. They would simply lose their hold over the Jago.
“Then the First Son never consumed the Mogo?”
“No. He spit it out himself.”
“He certainly knew how to save his own skin.”
The First Son had always been that way.
“Father, we must hurry.”
“Yes, lead the way.”
Dang Yi-ryeong opened the door and stepped ahead. Family Head Dang Won-hu draped his robe over his shoulders and followed his youngest daughter.
Outside the Gaju-jeon, Sa Ou-rin waited.
“They’re coming…….”
An aura vast and towering as Mount Tai pressed forward like a wave.
Moments later, Sa Ou-rin faced that aura head-on. And in that instant, something surfaced suddenly in his mind.
A conversation with Dang Yi-ryeong inside the carriage. Her words: if there was anything he wanted, he should just say it.
‘This is it…….’
What he wanted had come into focus.

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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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