I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 28

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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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It was foolish to enter the Murim Alliance like this. Chapter 028
The Tang Clan was publicly announcing that ‘the warriors of the Su Nyeong County branch belong to the Tang Clan.’
Of course it was a welcome development. The Tang Clan was openly backing Squad 11.
But he never imagined good fortune would arrive in such a manner.
If things unfolded this smoothly, wouldn’t the Tang Clan’s backing feel like being pushed off a cliff?
Even Jang Hye-in, the squad leader, had said so.
He’d said it was certainly a good thing, absolutely necessary for advancement. But because of it, countless arrows of envy and jealousy from those around them flew through the air and struck home.
Only by enduring all of it, by overcoming it, could one truly advance and achieve success.
And it was also how one survived long in the Gangho.
He’d underestimated the Murim Alliance.
He’d thought that strength alone was enough.
Why hadn’t his father told him about this?
Ah.
He had.
Hadn’t he cursed the Murim Alliance endlessly?
Yes, that’s right. How could it have been otherwise?
Jang Hye-in accepted Baek Li-hyeon’s words with a lighthearted quip.
“To be honest, we were surprised too. All we did was report that a Demonic Sect member had appeared and fled.”
Baek Li-hyeon’s eyebrows twitched.
“Is that so? Truly nothing more?”
Jang Hye-in nodded with visible effort as he spoke.
“Yes, sir. As you say, we’re merely warriors of the Murim Alliance—how much credit could we possibly have earned? Is that not so?”
Damn this so-called house master.
Baek Li-hyeon’s eyebrows twitched again.
“True enough. But that’s precisely what puzzles me. Still, thanks to you all, the Sichuan Tang Clan wiped out an entire Demonic Sect branch. That’s no small feat.”
“We’re grateful you see it that way, sir.”
“But then again.”
“If you have more questions, please ask.”
“Much obliged. About that Demonic Sect scoundrel….”
Just then, Sa U-rin suddenly reached out and grabbed the wine bottle in front of Baek Li-hyeon.
In that instant, Baek Li-hyeon’s eyebrows curved like a snake’s, his glare fixing on Sa U-rin’s face.
‘How dare you interrupt while I, the house master, am speaking!’ his eyes seemed to say.
But Sa U-rin, unbothered, thrust the bottle toward Jang Hye-in.
“Squad leader.”
It was an offer to drink.
“…Uh, yes. Thank you….”
After pouring for Jang Hye-in, Sa U-rin waved the bottle toward the other squad members.
“What about you seniors?”
It was an invitation—hold out your cups and drink.
“Uh…, yes.”
Without exception, they extended their cups.
From the moment he’d arrived, the atmosphere had suggested it, but now Sa U-rin was clearly no longer the youngest—he wielded power that matched Jang Hye-in’s own.
There was nothing the youngest member of Squad 11 couldn’t accomplish in the Su Nyeong County branch.
And the members of Squad 11 followed his lead flawlessly.
‘But why is this bastard suddenly doing this?’
Normally he drank alone, kept to himself.
Well, in any case, it felt good to see him land a blow against the house master. It felt refreshing.
Refreshing, but…
He was uneasy—had they just tweaked a tiger’s whiskers without meaning to?
So Jang Hye-in bowed toward Baek Li-hyeon.
“Apologies. Please, continue with what you were saying.”
He wanted nothing more than to scold the young fool on the spot, but in hopes of extracting even one piece of information, Baek Li-hyeon swallowed his irritation and pressed on.
“Indeed. Since we’re on the subject of that Demonic Sect wretch, I hear he came as part of the Heavenly Demon’s son’s entourage. Now, it’s highly unlikely a mediocre fellow traveled with the Heavenly Demon’s son. There must have been a master among them. So I’m relieved to hear no one died at the Su Nyeong County branch? I was told that a mere warrior fought against the Demonic Sect member.”
It was slightly puzzling and vexing, but the female branch commander was certainly skilled enough to fight a Demonic Sect member.
Even matched against Baek Li-hyeon himself.
But from what he’d heard, it was not a branch commander’s caliber who fought the Demonic Sect member—merely an ordinary warrior. Yet the subordinates sitting beside the branch commander looked as though they would have all perished had they fought such an opponent.
Even after expanding their Internal Energy by ten years through the Lesser Blue Pellet.
Then Jang Hye-in pointed toward Seo U-chan.
“This one went all the way to death’s threshold and came back.”
Baek Li-hyeon examined Seo U-chan closely. A thin smile played at the corner of his mouth.
‘The threshold of the afterlife?’
No, that wasn’t it.
If he’d truly fought a Demonic Sect member, the one who should be in the afterlife wasn’t Sa U-rin — it was the Demonic Sect bastard.
“I could have sworn the Demonic Sect dog fled during the battle, but it seems that’s not the case? However I look at it, I can’t see how he’d have earned a Lesser Blue Pellet from that.”
Jang Hye-in pointed to Sa U-rin this time.
“The one who fought the Demonic Sect member was him.”
Baek Li-hyeon’s lips curled upward. A laugh burst out of him unbidden.
“Haha!”
Baek Li-ga-jin couldn’t help but laugh as well.
“Pffaha!”
Baek Li-hyang struggled to laugh, but the sound leaked through her lips anyway. Yet it wasn’t the same sort of laugh as her two brothers’.
“Pfft.”
The absurd claim that he’d fought a Demonic Sect member simply sounded endearing to her.
As Baek Li-hyeon’s great laughter subsided, his expression abruptly shifted, and he hurled words at Jang Hye-in.
“My, so you lot set about making a small gesture to Baek Do Murim out of basic courtesy, and now what are you doing? Are you trying to make a fool of me?”
The squad leader was pointing at someone impossibly young. And the aura he gave off outwardly could fairly be called a worthless third-rate nobody, the sort you’d find lounging about the streets.
How in the world could such a person fight a Demonic Sect member? So Baek Li-hyeon concluded that Jang Hye-in was pulling his leg right now.
Even under Baek Li-hyeon’s pressure, Jang Hye-in did not yield.
“I can imagine how it might sound, but I’ve only stated the facts as they are.”
“Facts as they are?”
“Yes, Lord Baek Li-hyeon.”
“Fine.”
Flabbergasted, Baek Li-hyeon turned his gaze toward Sa U-rin.
“How old are you, boy?”
My mood had soured.
First Tang Yi-ryeong, and now these people — why did they all treat Murim Alliance members as if we were beneath them? I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
Still, since he asked, I answered.
“Eighteen.”
Baek Li-hyeon’s eyes widened.
The members of Squad 11 either closed their eyes or bowed their heads, unable to bear the sight of what was happening.
‘Please……the youngest!’
‘Please, just a little!’
‘Let us live! Please, let us live!’
‘What good is the Lesser Blue Pellet!’
‘He’s constantly dancing on the edge of the afterlife!’
Baek Li-hyeon’s eyebrows shot up as well.
“Eigh—what——, eighteen?”
“Yeah.”
“Really?”
Then Baek Li-ga-jin shoved his chair back and stood up.
“Where does this brat get off speaking so carelessly!”
“What did I do?”
So what was I supposed to do?
They switched to casual speech first without warning.
Baek Li-hyeon gestured with his hand for Baek Li-ga-jin to sit. Then he turned his gaze back to Jang Hye-in.
“Squad leader.”
“Yes, Lord Baek Li-hyeon.”
“Would you stake one of your fingers on the truth of what you’ve said?”
‘Damn bastard, where do you get off!’
Yeah.
What choice did I have? After all, he held the rank of heir to the Baek Li Clan.
I’d been putting up with this for days now, and there was no point making a fresh scene over it.
With people like this, you just had to play along. Of course, the youngest had escalated things, but I couldn’t deny a certain cathartic pleasure in it.
“I’ll stake one of my fingers.”
Baek Li-hyeon’s brow furrowed.
It seemed he refused to back down, unwilling to bow his head to him.
“Really?”
“That’s so.”
“Ha. How amusing. In that case.”
I’d have to show him.
Baek Li-hyeon picked up a single chopstick from the neat arrangement on the table and hurled it straight at Sa U-rin.
It was an instant.
The time it took for the chopstick to reach Sa U-rin was also an instant.
In that fraction of a second, Sa U-rin’s mind churned through possibilities—how to deal with the cursed stick hurtling toward him.
At least it wasn’t aimed at his life. And it wasn’t fatal, either.
It was heading for his ear, after all.
Still, even so.
A warrior of the Murim Alliance was acting as if they were playthings, as if drawing blood meant nothing, as if there were no consequences?
No punishment at all?
Come to think of it.
Tang Yi-ryeong had been like that too.
Yet for some reason, Tang Yi-ryeong hadn’t put him in a foul mood—but this bastard right in front of him was doing worse than putting him in one; he was revolting.
What should he do?
About the chopstick?
About this bastard?
But it seemed Sa U-rin’s martial skills had grown in the past month.
The chopstick still hadn’t reached him.
Forget it.
What should he really do?
Right. He’d decided.
He’d return exactly what he’d received.
Sa U-rin swept his hand toward the incoming chopstick, and it reversed course, flying back toward Baek Li-hyeon.
The chopstick hurtled back at Baek Li-hyeon, just barely missing his face before embedding itself in the wall behind him.
Thunk.
‘Insane!’
For a moment, Jang Hye-in closed his eyes without thinking, his head spinning. The members of Squad 11 were no exception.
And.
Because the chopstick had passed so close to him, Baek Li-hyeon flinched without meaning to.
Baek Li-ga-jin, standing beside him, froze entirely.
‘How…….’
Silence descended.
Baek Li-hyang too was startled, but it was a different kind of astonishment.
‘He sent my brother’s chopstick back at him?’
Simply dodging so quickly would have been remarkable enough, but he’d sent it back—hadn’t he?
Beyond merely catching it with his bare hands.
Magnificent!
It was something only a master who could wield internal energy with perfect freedom could do.
Not only beyond Baek Li-hyang’s own abilities, but also beyond those of Baek Li-ga-jin beside her.
She’d been distracted by his face for a moment, but only that. He was just one warrior of the Murim Alliance, after all.
Not something she could live off for the rest of her life.
But to possess this level of martial prowess at such a young age?
That changed things entirely, didn’t it?
She wanted him. No—she needed to have him. She’d heard he was only eighteen. With martial prowess comparable to her eldest brother at that age, what kind of future lay ahead?
She couldn’t even imagine it.
So if she made this man her own, the Baek Li Clan would gain an enormous source of strength—that much was obvious.
Jang Hye-in composed himself and opened his mouth.
“Is this proof enough?”
Baek Li-ga-jin, pulled from the silence, slammed his seat again.
“These bastards must have a death wish—they’re all out of their minds!”
“Ga-jin.”
“Brother! Did you not see it! If we let these dogs go on like this, they’ll think they can do whatever they want!”
“Let it be. I started this contest. So cease. If you press further, only I will look the fool. Do you understand?”
There were too many eyes here to kill them. Still, they were officially warriors of the Murim Alliance. Moreover, the Tang Clan was openly backing these bastards, wasn’t it?
So not here.
Unless there were no witnesses, or it was somewhere dark.
Baek Li-hyeon regarded Jang Hye-in with a cold gaze, then swept his eyes across the faces of Squad 11’s members, and finally fixed them on Sa U-rin.
“Very well. It’s proven. I acknowledge it. But you must also acknowledge this: today you have greatly offended me. Which means you have offended the Baek Li Clan. Remember that. Do you understand?”
Jang Hye-in answered on behalf of the group.
“We will remember.”
“And another thing. You may rely on the Tang Clan backing you, but know that you must answer for your own actions. Don’t forget that either.”
Jang Hye-in understood as much. He didn’t sit in the position of Squad Leader for nothing.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Good. Now get out.”
If he’d had his way, he would have drawn his blade that very instant.
Jang Hye-in rose from his seat without hesitation.
“Then.”
He bowed briefly and left. The members of Squad 11 followed suit, bowing stiffly before departing.
Sa U-rin, however, simply walked out.
Without so much as a courtesy bow, he didn’t even glance back.

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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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