I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 3

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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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Foolishly Joining the Murim Alliance — Episode 3
Beads of sweat clung to Sa Urin’s face, catching the round moonlight and gleaming like burnished gold.
Sa Urin swung his sword tirelessly, oblivious to the golden sheen coating his skin.
It had always been this way.
So there was nothing strange about it.
Five unchanging years had passed. In that time, everything about Sa Urin had grown. He now stood six feet tall, his shoulders broadened into the powerful frame of a man.
Was that all?
His entire body rippled with steel-like muscle, as though sheathed in iron. And naturally, it wasn’t only his shell that had developed.
Yu Sim So Jo had reached the fourth tier, while Am Yeong Shin Gyul and Cheon Roe Shin Gyul had advanced to the third. His footwork technique, Seom Cheon Roe Bo, had reached the fourth tier, and his blade technique, Cheon Roe Bong Yeom, stood at the second.
Once Am Yeong Shin Gyul and Cheon Roe Shin Gyul reached the seventh tier, he could finally learn Myul Shin Gyul, the ultimate stage. He couldn’t say when that day would come, but Sa Urin would press forward relentlessly, without pause or rest.
Slow though his progress was, Sa Urin did not rush.
Through constant practice, he had come to feel and understand something: he now believed without doubt that the martial arts his father had left him were far superior to anything cultivated by the Demonic Cult members.
What’s more, when just Am Yeong Shin Gyul and Cheon Roe Shin Gyul alone gave him this sense of their power, he couldn’t even imagine how extraordinary Myul Shin Gyul would be.
But haste makes waste.
So naturally, one had to proceed slowly and carefully.
No—it didn’t matter if he moved even slower still. The tower he’d built with such effort and passion must not crumble easily.
And so, with each slow, tortoise-like step, each one invested with complete sincerity, he advanced through another day.
Then suddenly, Sa Urin’s blade—which looked as if it could cut down every star in the night sky—came to a halt.
“……Again with the racket…….”
The Compound and the Gambling House sat adjacent to each other.
So whenever the Gambling House grew rowdy, Sa Urin’s training would pause, and he’d lean over the wall to peek through and see what was happening. It had become a habit.
The incidents were always much the same.
Men driven mad by lost wages, those completely cleaned out and drunk on liquor, those who’d lost their wits and would wager their homes and daughters alike.
In any case, what happened in a gambling house was hardly surprising.
Before he died, Sa Urin’s father had mentioned that experiencing life at the lower levels of Jianghu might not be a bad thing. But living through it, he found nothing particularly remarkable.
The wealthy and powerful always received preferential treatment at the Gambling House. Those without means couldn’t even gain entry.
The Gambling House was no exception to the pattern.
There were always groups trying to seize control through the sword, and Jang Chun—whose Dantian had been shattered but who still knew how to handle a blade reasonably well—and his third-rate subordinates held them at bay.
Yet sometimes they struggled so hard that they had to borrow the strength of Sa Urin, whose hands had barely dried of blood from previous battles.
Each time, Jang Chun voiced his despair.
Had Sa Urin’s father still lived, he said, there would be no need to worry about how much longer they could defend the Gambling House.
In truth, once a stronger force appeared than Jang Chun and the others, the Gambling House would inevitably be seized.
This was what Sa Urin had scraped together as experience from the lower levels of Jianghu.
A place where those with money and might could do anything, while those without could do nothing.
Whatever trouble was unfolding now would be no different.
As always, curiosity drove Sa Urin to quickly lean his head over the wall.
“Again, is it?”
Many people were leaving the Gambling House. But unlike before, none looked startled. Rather, their faces were full of complaint, their mouths running ceaselessly as they disturbed the nearby streets.
“……Why is that?”
What could it be?
But there was no way to know unless he went inside the Gambling House himself.
“……Has something bigger happened?”
Otherwise, the behavior of those leaving the Gambling House would surely be no different from before.
Sa Urin couldn’t sit still.
As time passed, those who coveted the Gambling House grew stronger, so today seemed like it would be an even harder day.
“No…….”
Not just today.
As those who coveted the Gambling House grew stronger, the danger to Jang Chun and the others grew along with it.
“If things go on like this…….”
Eventually, a day would come when Sa Urin himself would face enemies he could not overcome. Of this much he was certain.
“I need to find a way out.”
The best option would be to close the Gambling House…….
“But I don’t know if that’s possible.”
Then, at that moment, the slow gait of Sang Chul entering the Compound through the back door of the Gambling House suggested something flowing in a different direction from Sa Urin’s thoughts.
“What’s going on, Sang Chul?”
Normally, he should have come bounding through the back door in a panic, gasping for breath as he spoke.
“Damn, what a mess.”
The same words came from Sang Chul’s mouth as always. But this time was decidedly different.
He wasn’t bounding through breathlessly, his gait instead carrying an ease as if he were simply stepping out for an evening stroll.
“What is it?”
How could he be so composed?
Yet Sang Chul’s face was creased with worry.
“Damn it, we’re all going to die.”
The same refrain, as always.
“You don’t look it at all.”
Sang Chul’s eyes widened as he turned his wrinkled face toward Sa Urin. “What do you mean?”
“What?”
“You. Didn’t something happen again?”
“It did.”
……?
Weren’t his words and his manner at odds?
“So shouldn’t we head to the Gambling House?”
Sang Chul shook his head vigorously, side to side.
“……No?”
“Yeah. No.”
“But you said something happened.”
“I told you. Everything’s gone to hell.”
Yes, he’d heard it. Just like every other time.
Sa Urin felt irritation beginning to kindle.
“Look, seriously. What is this about? If something had actually happened, you wouldn’t be standing around talking so casually about it, would you?”
“Well, that’s the thing……”
As Sang Chul was opening his mouth, the back door of the Gambling House opened again.
……?
Jang Chun and his men emerged wearing nearly identical expressions and moving with the same hurried gait, as if they’d coordinated with Sang Chul beforehand.
‘……What is this?’
This had never happened before.
What in the world was going on?
Sa Urin prided himself on knowing everything that could happen inside a Gambling House, but this time he couldn’t make sense of it.
“Sir, what exactly has happened?”
“We’ll explain later. First, we need to get away from here.”
“……What?”
It made no sense. None at all.
Wasn’t this the Gambling House they’d managed to keep alive by wagering their precious lives?
And Jang Chun, who’d seemed willing to do anything for money, was abandoning the Gambling House and leaving empty-handed?
If they were at least carrying bundles of cash in both hands, he might understand it, but everyone gathered here had only swords at their sides.
“……Get away? What do you mean by that?”
It wasn’t as though they were fleeing from an overwhelmingly powerful opponent. ……Or if they were, they wouldn’t be retreating so quietly, would they?
“Didn’t I say we’d talk once we’ve left this place? So let’s leave first.”
Sa Urin’s head swiveled left and right. He understood nothing. And he accepted it even less.
“What are you doing? Move, now.”
“I refuse.”
Jang Chun’s head fell heavily, as though his spirit had withered.
“Damn.”
It wasn’t just Jang Chun. Every single one of his men stared at Sa Urin’s face with an expression that said, ‘Why again?’
Jang Chun’s head rose once more.
“What reason this time?”
“I need to know what’s happened.”
“Didn’t I say I’d tell you once we’ve left?”
“I heard you. But I need to hear it first.”
“Damn it all.”
The sighs erupting from Jang Chun’s men beside him were so heavy they seemed to shake the earth itself.
“Ugh.”
“Here we go again. Again.”
“How many times is this?”
“Boss. When Urin gets like this, there’s no reasoning with him. You know that, don’t you? It’d be faster to just tell him here.”
“I think that would be better, Boss.”
How could he not know? Jang Chun understood Sa Urin’s stubbornness all too well.
Jang Chun, looking utterly resigned, opened his mouth again.
“A man came through the back door of the Gambling House just now, bleeding. He found me in a panic.”
Sa Urin’s curiosity stirred him to ask a question.
“Did you know him, sir?”
“Just listen to the end, without interrupting.”
Sa Urin kept throwing questions at every turn, and it could put everyone here in danger.
“Of course.”
“I didn’t know the man. He was a patrol officer of the Murim Alliance, or so he claimed.”
“And then?”
“Hmph.”
“Ah, yes.”
“I’m no fool, and I didn’t just believe him on his word about being a Murim Alliance officer. So I checked his credential — and sure enough, it was genuine. But this Murim Alliance officer told me to send everyone out. Well, I nearly choked on my own breath. He bursts in out of nowhere, telling me to shut down operations, but I’m not an idiot or a simpleton — I couldn’t just obey an order like that outright. But then he said something next that left me no choice but to clear the place.”
“What did he say?”
“Well, you see…”
“Don’t worry about it. Just go on. It’s hardly the first or second time.”
The words weren’t wrong, so Jang Chun clicked his tongue once and continued.
“Tsk. He said he was being hunted by a Demonic Cult member. I found it hard to believe at first, but there were wounds all over him and blood was flowing freely, so I knew he wasn’t lying. A man at death’s door has no reason to fabricate stories. And then he said the Demonic Cult member would come barging in any moment now, so we should clear out fast. And he made one request — when the Demonic Cult member killed him, if his comrades came looking for him here, I should tell them what happened. That’s it? Now let’s move. That Demonic Cult member could kill us all.”
Jang Chun finished speaking and immediately began to move. His men scrambled to follow.
But then.
“…What are you doing?”
Sa Urin hadn’t budged from where he stood.
“Didn’t you hear? The Demonic Cult member is coming.”
“Sir, you did say Demonic Cult, didn’t you?”
Weren’t they the ones who crippled his father’s arm? He couldn’t just walk away from this.
A strange anxiety began to creep over Jang Chun.
“…Yes.”
“And you said a Murim Alliance officer was in trouble.”
Wasn’t there a legend that a man who healed a swallow’s broken wing became immensely wealthy?
If that were true, then perhaps Sa Urin could save this dying Murim Alliance officer and seize the opportunity to join the Murim Alliance.
Without having to travel all the way to the distant Murim Alliance headquarters to take the initiation test.
“…He had wounds everywhere and was bleeding, so it must have been the Demonic Cult member who did it. Surely not us?”
“That makes no sense.”
“…True. But Sa Urin…”
“You want to just abandon a dying Murim Alliance officer?”
“…Didn’t you say a Demonic Person is coming?”
“Sir, and everyone else — you should leave this place now.”
“Then you… surely you’re not…?”
“Yes. I must save that officer.”
“You’re insane… Hey!”
Sa Urin’s feet were already heading toward the back door of the Gambling House.
Jang Chun’s face twisted in fury as he shouted at his men.
“What are you doing?! Grab Sa Urin!”
His men stood stunned and helpless.
“…Grab him? How?”
“Just do it, damn it!”
“How are we supposed to?”
Even if Jang Chun and all twenty of his men threw themselves at Sa Urin with death in their hearts, they couldn’t so much as brush the fabric of his clothes as he passed.
Jang Chun knew this well. His shouted command was nothing more than desperation speaking.
“Dammit! What are you standing around for?!”
Jang Chun’s men moved toward the Compound’s gate with grim faces.
“Where are you going?!”
“You told us to move?”
“Not that way, you fools! This way!”
Jang Chun’s finger pointed not toward the Compound’s main gate, but toward the back door of the Gambling House.
“…Sir?”
“If you go that way, it’s a hundred-percent dead end — the Path to the Yellow Springs.”
“Even if it is the Path to the Yellow Springs, that’s where we go. At least then we can face Sa Chul Gang with honor even after we’re dead. Am I wrong?!”
For fuck’s sake…
“Christ, that bastard…”
“I always knew Sa Urin would bring disaster down on us one day.”
“Damn it.”
Jang Chun’s men wanted to cry out that he was wrong, but they couldn’t.
Not when they thought of what Sa Chul Gang had done for them.
Besides, Sa Urin had long since become as family to them.

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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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