I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 29

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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 unnecessary to join the Murim Alliance — 029
Without even observing the basic courtesy, Sa Urin walked ahead with his chin held high, seemingly dismissing Baekri Sega entirely, and Baekri Gajin found himself pointing accusingly at the young man’s retreating back.
“That bastard!”
“Brother, leave it be.”
“Hey, you! Did you fall for him just because his face is somewhat decent? Huh?”
“Well, I won’t say otherwise. But you saw it yourself, didn’t you? Wasn’t it remarkable? He’s eighteen. At that age. Not everyone can do what he does. With that level of skill at his age, isn’t arrogance warranted? That’s why I actually found it impressive. What do you think, Brother Hyeon?”
His mood darkened, irritation gnawing at him — almost more than his patience could bear.
When had he ever received such treatment from insignificant creatures like these?
Never.
And yet.
“Honestly, it’s astonishing.”
Truly absurd as it was.
Hadn’t he witnessed it himself?
For a moment, he’d felt the vertiginous thrill of knowing that boy could have killed him.
“Right?”
“Yes. But here’s the question. How is someone like that serving as a mere officer in the Murim Alliance? Why? For what reason? No — more than that, he’s extremely dangerous.”
He’d never heard of, let alone seen, anyone wielding such Martial Prowess at that age.
Baekri Hyeon paused to recall what he himself had been like at that age.
Incomparable.
That boy must have been born a monster.
“Exactly. But imagine this — what if someone like that belonged to us?”
“Now that would be interesting.”
“Brother?”
“If Hyang gets her way, it wouldn’t be bad at all. In fact, it would be excellent for our house. Finding someone of his caliber is rare in the Jianghu.”
“……Understood.”
“More importantly, Hyang — what’s your take on it? Does the removal of the Yin-Yang Drum seem connected to the people at the Sunyeong County branch?”
That was what she was asking.
“It seems certain.”
“Why?”
“Their extreme caution was unmistakable.”
She hadn’t noticed such behavior in Jang Hyein or Sa Urin, but in the others, it was obvious from every movement they made — the way their lips stayed firmly sealed as though the moment they spoke, they’d slip up.
“And you saw it too, Brother — the way they carried themselves with confidence, as if the Dang Family stood behind them. To add further, there’s the Socheng Order, naturally. But what matters is how directly they were involved in this affair. And what matters even more is that they’re suspicious of us.”
“Suspicion…… If they’re suspicious, then they certainly know about this incident.”
“Exactly. That’s why I’m certain.”
“How laughable. Those pathetic wretches are suspicious of us?”
Baekri Hyeon called over to their escorts, who stood at a distance.
The escort approached and bowed respectfully before him.
“Assign the men you’ve prepared to tail them.”
“How much time should I allow?”
“One month.”
“Understood.”
“Oh, and one more thing.”
“Your command, sir.”
“Tell them that both the woman and the young man are masters. And if any of them make a move toward the Dang Family, deal with them.”
They couldn’t let word get back to them that Baekri Sega had made contact.
“Understood. But if the young man makes a move — what should we do?”
Baekri Hyang answered in his place.
“If he moves, seize him and bring him before me.”
“Yes, miss.”
Baekri Sega had been preparing a group of assassins to kill Lady Yeo Mihui and Dang Ihyeok.
They couldn’t move openly themselves.
And even now, they were concentrating that assassin force in the Sunyeong County branch.
* * *
The moment Ju Ru had completely disappeared from sight, the members of Unit 11, who had been holding their tongues until now, let their mockery fly in all directions.
“Damn! That guy’s a real bastard!”
“Yeah, the rumors said he was some great righteous swordsman or whatever, but he’s just the same as anyone else.”
“Seriously, fuck that!”
“A quiet cat climbs the stove first, they say — that’s exactly him!”
“Hey, you can even use such difficult words?”
“Is that difficult language?”
“…No, forget it.”
Oh Hyungjun, who had worn a grave expression until now, spoke to Jang Hyein.
“Squad Leader. Something about this feels really off.”
“Why? Because of Sa Urin?”
“That too, but the way Sa Urin put it, it seems like Baekri Sega really is connected to these things and the Yin-Yang Drum. So if they called us out because of that…”
“I think the same way.”
“…Really?”
He’d hoped he was just borrowing trouble on his own—that if this worry he was nursing right now became reality, then Unit 11 would be facing a mountain too vast to surmount.
Jang Hyein nods, his face grave.
“I’m certain.”
“…Certain?”
The other unit members look startled.
“…Squad Leader, are you serious?”
“…No way?”
“If that were really true, they wouldn’t expose themselves just to call us out. They’re not fools, after all.”
Jang Hyein nods again.
“Right.”
“But…you just said you were certain a moment ago?”
“That part bothered me too, actually.”
“And?”
“So I thought about it from Baekri Sega’s position.”
Of course, that didn’t mean he could think exactly as they did, but if he could grasp the rough outline, it seemed better to try than to do nothing at all.
“That’s why I said I was certain.”
“No, explain it simply. I’m not smart enough to follow complicated logic.”
The Unit 11 members beside him nod in agreement.
“Right.”
“Me too.”
“Think about it. Say Baekri Sega really is involved in this Yin-Yang Drum incident. Or rather, they’re the ones behind it. But the drum was exposed, and Dang Ihyeok and Yeo Mihui—who know that Baekri Sega is behind it—have run. What do you think should happen?”
“Obviously, they should be killed and eliminated.”
“Did we really need to state something so obvious in such a roundabout way?”
“No. Look at what comes after.”
“What do you mean, someone else is behind them?”
“No. Right now we’re working with the assumption that Baekri Sega could do this, remember?”
“…Right.”
“But what if the Dang Family finds those two, and Baekri Sega gets exposed? Then what?”
“Then…”
“Everything falls apart.”
That’s when Hyungjun cut in, as if it clicked for him.
“So Baekri Sega right now has no way out?”
“Exactly. No wonder they say there’s no brother like the older one.”
“So we…”
“We’ll have to wait and see, but I’d say we’re one step away from falling into a swamp.”
A swamp of death.
“So if things go wrong, we’re just…”
It was too frightening to even speak aloud.
“Yes. Of course, that’s assuming our theory is correct.”
“But the situation seems to be heading that way.”
That’s why Jang Hyein couldn’t hide his unease.
But then.
“Sa Urin, you’re unconcerned?”
As the shadow of death fell over them, while everyone else had grown tense and wore grave faces, he turned to Sa Urin with a bitter edge in his voice—the only one who seemed at peace.
“The Jianghu is always like this, isn’t it?”
“…What? No, this bastard…”
Sa Urin cut off what the older man was saying and finished his own thought.
“Die, or survive and grow stronger.”
Wasn’t that what his father had said?
The Jianghu that Sa Urin had come to know seemed to move just as his father had described.
“Hey!”
Just because the kid was strong and had solid backing, was he being too brazen?
How long had he even been in the Jianghu?
It wasn’t exactly something to say in front of the seniors—those who’d spent anywhere from a few years to over a decade living on the blade’s wage in the Jianghu.
But Jang Hyein thought differently.
“The youngest is right. You all know it. You know it all—so why the pretense now?”
Two months ago, hadn’t one of their colleagues vanished without a trace? He was certainly dead.
“So just carry on as always. Nothing changes. When things happen, we adapt to the situation and that’s that.”
If they died, it meant their skill wasn’t enough.
If they survived, it would be the crucible that made them stronger.
So the youngest hadn’t said a single thing wrong. Rather, it was something the older ones among them should have learned.
And so the members of Unit 11 returned to the Sunyeong County branch, maintaining their routine exactly as Jang Hyein had said.
But……
They went through the motions of their ordinary schedule, yet their hearts were far from ordinary. Their words had grown noticeably sparse.
No one spoke of it, but they all knew. Everyone was trembling with unease.
They could feel a crisis and danger approaching—one that differed in both scale and depth from anything they’d endured before.
It was the night of the next day.
From dawn until late at night when the sun had set, everyone threw themselves into training. It was unprecedented.
It was training born from the tension that death itself had summoned.
Following Sa Urin’s logic—either die or survive and grow stronger—they naturally chose the latter.
Jang Hyein, their captain, could not afford to be absent either. Even saving a single unit member mattered.
Sa Urin, who had been throwing himself into training every day unlike the others, suddenly stopped and approached Jang Hyein, who was deep in concentration.
“Captain.”
Jang Hyein turned his head to look at Sa Urin.
“What is it?”
“We’ve been under surveillance since this afternoon.”
The other unit members heard it too. Though they’d been focused on training, their minds hadn’t been fully settled, so they picked up on Sa Urin’s words with sudden intensity.
Curses erupted from here and there. What they’d dreaded was finally coming.
The unit members crowded around Jang Hyein and Sa Urin.
“……Really?”
Jang Hyein hadn’t sensed anything like that himself. But if the youngest said so, that was that.
By now, Jang Hyein trusted and believed in the youngest’s abilities.
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“Fifteen.”
More curses flew. They were already outnumbered from the start.
“Do you know what they are?”
“I think they’re assassins.”
Sa Urin had never faced an assassin before. But long ago, his father had taught him about them.
Most who carried a gloomy, dreary aura were assassins, he’d said.
They made concealment and hiding their daily bread, dwelling in darkness where sunlight couldn’t reach—that’s what made them that way.
More curses exploded. This time sighs and groans joined them. There seemed to be no way out.
“……So it won’t stop at fifteen.”
That was how assassin organizations worked.
If there was a surveillance team, there would be an execution team behind them, and then tracking and kill squads attached to that.
Oh Hyungjun, who’d been spitting curses, said one thing.
“Damn it. Must be at least fifty.”
To kill not just one person but all twelve of Unit 11, this many men would be needed.
And because failure for assassins meant death, they were thorough folk.
Jang Hyein’s thoughts aligned with this.
“About that much, yeah. But if the youngest is right that they’ve been watching us since afternoon, it at least means they’re not planning to strike us immediately. So what exactly are they waiting for, just sitting there watching?”
No one had an answer.
Sa Urin, who hadn’t set foot in the Jianghu long but was beginning to understand how it flowed, opened his mouth.
“They’re waiting.”
All eyes fixed on the youngest.
“……For what?”
“For us to make a move.”
“What move could we make?”
“If we connect the things we’ve already figured out, it works: Baekri Sega is behind the Yin-Yang Drum. So Dang Ihyeok and Yeo Mihui had to be killed. But Baekri Sega, like the Dang Family, couldn’t find those two either. So they’re watching us, who seem connected to this incident. They can’t watch the Dang Family.”
“Ah……!”
Everyone let out murmurs of realization. And sighs too.
Hearing it laid out like this, why hadn’t they all figured out something so obvious before?
“So what’s next?”
“I’ll wait for a while. Until we find out where those two are.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know myself.”
“And if we do find them? Then what?”
“We kill them both, and we die too.”
“If we don’t find them?”
“The Baekri Family finds them directly and kills them, and next is……, probably we die too?”
Jang Hyein smiled and cut in.
“That’s right. Our youngest here has nothing left for me to teach him.”
“Do you think the same way, Commander?”
“Yeah. And to add to it. If we rush to the Dang Family to report this?”
“Do we die then too?”
Jang Hyein nodded.
“What is this.”
“Damn.”
“So we’re damned either way.”
“Well, you could put it that way.”
Sa Urin spoke up.
“Commander. Should I probe a little?”
“……What?”
The unit members flinched.
“Absolutely not!”
“Don’t you dare!”
“If you move, you’ll cause a disaster. A disaster!”
Jang Hyein placated his members while turning to Sa Urin.
“You all stay quiet. Go on, youngest. What exactly are you thinking of probing?”
‘Damn it.’
‘This won’t work…….’
‘That bastard’s definitely about to cause trouble.’
The members of Unit 11 watched Sa Urin’s mouth with anxious, wavering eyes.

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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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