I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 30

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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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Pointlessly entering the Murim Alliance — Chapter 30
Sa Woo-rin swept his gaze across the unit members, their anxiety written plain on their faces.
Why were they all like this?
Didn’t they already know they were going to die?
Whether it went this way or that, they’d die either way — so shouldn’t they at least try something before the end?
Sa Woo-rin couldn’t understand his comrades trembling in fear and dread.
“It’s fine. Don’t mind these guys — just listen to what I have to say.”
So he spoke.
“I was thinking of going out and taking care of one of them myself.”
Jang Hye-in’s eyes widened. Of course, it wasn’t just Jang Hye-in — the unit members’ eyes grew as round as lanterns.
“Hey!”
“Are you insane?”
“Seriously, what are you spouting?”
“You trying to get us all killed right now?!”
“I knew this would happen! There’s nothing left to teach you, is there?! Squad leader.”
“What, you going out there to show off your strength or something? Huh?”
Jang Hye-in’s patience snapped at the clamoring unit members.
“Enough, you bastards!”
“But…….”
“Squad leader…….”
“Listen to the whole thing before you blow up, will you? The youngest is trying to tell us something. Don’t you get it?!”
“There has to be some limit to this, though.”
“You haven’t even heard the full explanation. Just listen. Understood?”
“……Yes, sir.”
Jang Hye-in gestured with his chin.
“Go on.”
“When Seo Woo-chan pursued that Demonic Sect member — what was the starting point?”
“……Me?”
“Yes.”
“Mm……, that time……, ah! I picked up the scent of blood. After that, I gave chase. And that’s how things went with the Demonic Sect member.”
“That’s exactly my point. If I go out and kill one of them, blood will spill. Martial artists are sensitive to the scent of blood, aren’t they?”
“……That’s true.”
“So that’s how it starts. Someone catches that blood scent and realizes something’s happening here — that we’re in some kind of situation. Of course, the odds of success are very low, but since we can’t reach our branch right now, I think this is still worth trying.”
Jang Hye-in’s eyes gleamed.
“……That’s it! Exactly! You see? You see that, you bastards? There’s really nothing left to teach the youngest anymore, is there? Right? Or not?”
The unit members avert their eyes from Jang Hye-in and Sa Woo-rin.
“……I suppose not.”
“……I’m sorry, youngest.”
“But wait — are you really sure you can do this? You could……, die. No, actually, I think I should be the one. Let me do it. I can’t just send you out there alone. You’ve already laid out the method, but I can’t leave all the danger on your shoulders.”
“Squad leader.”
“I said I’ll do it. Don’t worry. I even consumed Thousand-Year Ginseng.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“……Then what?”
“If something goes wrong — what happens then?”
“……What’s that supposed to mean? Do I look that weak to you?”
“No, that’s not it at all. If anything goes wrong, it should be me. But if something happens to you, squad leader, who’s going to lead all the seniors here?”
“……Ah.”
He was right. Absolutely right.
And it stung.
Because he’d just shown himself to be inferior to this young, untested youngest member. His thinking had been too shallow.
Weighed down by needless guilt.
Weighed down by the burden of feeling like he had to do something himself.
“You’re right, youngest. I was thinking too narrowly.”
Then he turned a sharp gaze toward the unit members.
“You see? Do you see? This is how the youngest thinks. Huh?! From now on, don’t contradict anything he says. Understood? Do you understand?!”
“……Yes, sir.”
“……We understand.”
Then Oh Hyung-jun stepped forward with a worried expression.
“But youngest — have you ever killed a person before?”
“No, sir. Not yet.”
“Unit leader. Isn’t this dangerous?”
Martial artists are people too.
Everyone experiences confusion on their first kill. That confusion may strike hard or light, but it’s something everyone goes through at least once.
In severe cases, some abandon the path of the martial artist altogether. And there are plenty of instances where that very confusion leaves them paralyzed in place, dying right there.
And isn’t there a swarm of assassins crawling around outside right now?
If that confusion takes him when another assassin strikes at the youngest, we could end up in serious trouble.
“You’re right. What’s wrong with me today? I’m not thinking straight. If the youngest experiences his first kill…….”
Sa Woo-rin cut off Jang Hye-in’s words.
“Don’t worry. I’m not sentimental.”
With that, he headed straight for the gate.
“Wait——”
Jang Hye-in couldn’t parse what the youngest had said.
“……Do you understand what he meant?”
Oh Hyung-jun was equally at a loss.
“……Not at all. How does being unsentimental have anything to do with the aftermath of a first kill……?”
“What about the rest of you?”
The unit members were just as confused.
“……No idea.”
“That one’s a disaster, I tell you.”
“At this rate, it’ll be another day.”
“Fair point.”
“Whatever it was, it sounded cool.”
“Agreed.”
“I’m with him on that.”
Smack!
Jang Hye-in rapped Ju Un across the head.
“Ow! Why’d you hit me?”
“Is now the time for jokes?”
“But you heard Seo Woo-chan laughing too!”
“You’re right here, you bastard.”
This is why people need to know their place in the hierarchy.
“Damn it.”
Oh Hyung-jun spoke again.
“But how exactly does the youngest plan to find and kill a hidden assassin?”
Oh Hyung-jun’s head tilted in doubt.
“Well, the youngest figured out where the assassins were hiding, so of course he’d know how…….”
Even as Jang Hye-in thought it through, something felt off.
“Reading someone’s presence and locating where a hidden assassin is taking cover are two different things.”
“True enough……. But he said he knew, so…….”
“Or maybe he just said he thought he knew.”
Knowing and thinking you know are worlds apart.
Simply put, it’s the difference between certainty and a guess.
“That’s a fair point……. Hey! Youngest!”
Seized by worry at Oh Hyung-jun’s words, Jang Hye-in raised his voice to call Sa Woo-rin back.
But Sa Woo-rin simply opened the gate and left.
“He blew us off.”
“……He didn’t hear us. That’s all.”
“Sure.”
After calling out that loudly.
“Our youngest is going out empty-handed.”
Smack!
“Ow!”
Ju Un took another blow to the back of the head from Jang Hye-in.
“Pray, damn it. Pray, boy. Tsk.”
Jang Hye-in found himself oddly anxious.
‘Even if he fails, just come back safe.’
Just come back safe.
* * *
“There. Someone’s coming out.”
The men stationed to watch the Soo Nyung County Branch looked every inch the assassin—dressed in black garments with masked faces. Since it was late night and there were no passersby on the streets, there was no one to disguise themselves as.
During the day, the others dressed in plain clothes and posed as commoners, watching the surroundings.
But not at night.
Common folk wandering about at such a late hour would draw unwanted attention.
Unless they were in a bustling marketplace or the main streets.
The surveillance teams operated in pairs, keeping their vigil.
“The youngest one’s on the move. Report it.”
One of the assassins nodded and vanished in an instant—to alert the others that the youngest was stirring. The remaining assassin continued to track Sa Woo-rin’s movements.
But then.
‘……What the…… this bastard…….’
He was approaching the assassin’s position—the spot where he was perfectly concealed, watching Sa Woo-rin?
‘……Surely not…….’
Did he know exactly where the assassin was hidden?
It made no sense.
Impossible.
The assassin laughed bitterly at himself. Even he found it absurd to entertain such a thought.
And yet.
‘……Really……?’
The boy was definitely heading toward him.
‘What do I do?’
There was a strict order: this one—and only this one—must not be killed. He had to be captured alive. And for now, the command was surveillance only.
In other words, there was nothing he could do against the boy approaching him.
‘……Damned!’
The moment the assassin was certain his concealment had been compromised, he would have to drop it and move.
But then…….
‘……Where……?’
The boy had disappeared. Or rather, the assassin had lost him. People don’t simply vanish into thin air.
He’d let his guard down. He’d never imagined the boy could move that fast.
The assassin was searching, glancing about for the youth…….
Swoosh.
Suddenly, he felt something drain from his entire body. The world tilted. Everything spun sideways.
In that spinning moment, only one thought flickered through his mind.
‘……Assassin…….’
That was all.
Thud.
The assassin’s head fell to the ground. Blood spurted like a fountain from the severed neck.
The red gore hidden in darkness looked like something from hell itself.
The concern Oh Hyung-jun of the 11th Unit had harbored did not come to pass. Sa Woo-rin, committing murder for the first time in his life, remained unmoved and serene.
By then, word had reached the execution team’s three assassins that Sa Woo-rin was on the move, and they came running along with one member of the surveillance team.
And they saw it. The severing of their comrade’s head.
That is to say.
Their concealment was revealed.
It was a fatal mistake for assassins. They wanted nothing more than to kill the boy right then, but that was not an option.
They could only stand in the darkness, watching silently.
“Should I kill them too?”
Sa Woo-rin deliberated. If he killed the remaining assassins before him, the smell of blood would grow stronger, and a stronger scent would carry much farther.
“No.”
He decided there was no need to spill more blood. If he killed again, it would only provoke the assassins further, and then Sa Woo-rin and the members of the 11th Unit might be the ones bleeding.
Sa Woo-rin walked calmly back to the Branch under the assassins’ watchful eyes.
Jang Hye-in and the other unit members, who had been waiting anxiously for Sa Woo-rin’s return, greeted him brightly as he pushed open the gate and stepped back inside.
“What happened?”
“Did you kill him?”
“You didn’t kill him, did you?”
It seemed strange that he’d handled it so quickly.
“It’s fine. Assassins in hiding are usually impossible to track.”
“Yeah, it’d be weird if you found one.”
“Right. So don’t feel embarrassed about it.”
“Don’t worry. I dealt with it.”
The other members’ eyes widened. Jang Hye-in, as if he’d expected nothing less, smiled brilliantly.
“……You really killed him?”
“……How?”
He can’t fathom how Sa Woo-rin found a hidden assassin.
“I cut off his head.”
“……His, his head?”
Killing for the first time is never easy…….
Moreover, even among those in the Martial World with seasoned bones, beheading is extraordinarily rare except in urgent circumstances.
“Yes. One stroke.”
“……Really?”
“If you don’t believe me, go out and check for yourself.”
“Check……, this bastard, haha. Getting good at jokes now, are we.”
Telling someone to go out and check is essentially the same as telling them to go out and die.
So there was no way the youngest member had meant those words in earnest.
“Right, haha.”
“I’m serious.”
If one is curious, isn’t it only natural to go out and verify it oneself?
That’s how Sa Woo-rin sees it.
“……W, what? Serious?”
“This little…….”
Jang Hye-in stepped in to smooth things over.
“Alright. Seems like it’s true. The smell of blood has even reached in here.”
At that, the unit members sniffed the air.
“……It’s real.”
“The bastard.”
“Dead serious.”
The youngest always exceeds expectations. He’s quite something, isn’t he.
The hearts of the 11th Unit members grew warm for no particular reason. After all, they now had someone to trust besides Jang Hye-in, even if it shouldn’t be the time for such feelings.
Of course, there was the hope that he wouldn’t complicate matters further with some reckless action.
But when does the world ever cooperate with one’s wishes?
Trust in Sa Woo-rin was taking root in the hearts of the unit members.
Jang Hye-in, whose mood had lifted considerably thanks to their reliable youngest, opened his mouth.
“From now on, let’s take turns sleeping.”
Jang Hye-in drew a line dividing the space in half.
“From here to here, we keep watch until sunrise. The rest of you go inside and get some rest.”
At that, the remaining unit members shook their heads.
“Unit leader, really. Can anyone sleep in a situation like this?”
“Even if we rest our eyes a bit, we’d be less tired.”
“We’d rather do some training.”
“Me too.”
Everyone refused to sleep.
As martial artists, missing a few nights of sleep isn’t catastrophic. For absolute masters, going months without sleep causes no real problem.
A single session of Qi Cycling Meditation restores the body to freshness.
But Sa Woo-rin seemed different.
“Then I’ll go to sleep.”
When it came to training, Sa Woo-rin gave the most effort. But he had learned from his father that sleep too is part of training, and he kept that principle well.
“Huh? Oh, yes. Go get some rest.”
Sa Woo-rin headed toward his quarters. The unit members watched his retreating figure as if entranced.
“……That bastard…….”
“Can he actually sleep?”
“In a situation like this?”
“Right after his first kill, no less?”
“Unbelievable.”
“He doesn’t seem human.”
“He’s mastered martial arts that humans can’t usually learn.”
“……That’s true.”
The unit members gazed at Sa Woo-rin’s receding form as if watching a monster.
If monsters looked like that, they mused, they’d want to become monsters too.

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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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