I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 31

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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 Joining the Martial Alliance — Episode 031
The assassins did not withdraw their surveillance even after it was exposed. Since they were going to kill these people anyway, it didn’t matter if they revealed themselves.
Of course, Jang Hye In and the members of Group 11 had anticipated this, but it was merely a prediction, nothing more than that.
The hope that it might not be so was stronger.
Sa Urin, unbothered, killed a passerby the next afternoon as well. Or rather, he killed an assassin disguised as a passerby.
During the day, a few members of Group 11 witnessed it. So they couldn’t close their mouths at Sa Urin’s bold—no, reckless—action.
What if it had been a real passerby?
But Sa Urin was certain, so he followed through.
Perhaps that was why.
“How is it now?”
“I don’t sense anything.”
The presence of the assassins simply could not be felt.
In any case, the freedom of movement for Group 11 had expanded. Thanks to the youngest member Sa Urin’s thinking and the boldness born of his recklessness.
Jang Hye In and the members of Group 11 had come out on patrol to the nearby area to assess the outside situation.
“How is it now?”
“Still nothing.”
“……Then, should we try it?”
They wanted to rush to the Sacheon Dang Clan and report this. That was how they could survive.
Hyung Jun spoke up.
“This seems far too dangerous.”
“That’s right, captain. This really looks no different from committing suicide.”
“If we stay like this, we’ll die anyway, won’t we?”
“Why are you like this, really……. We don’t know what will happen yet.”
“I know. What I’m saying is to steel yourself, and steel yourself again. The situation calls for it. Why do you all keep trying to avoid it?”
“No……, it’s not avoidance. It’s about holding onto hope.”
“Of course we need hope. But we have to acknowledge reality and move precisely. That’s how we increase the odds of our survival, even if only slightly.”
Most of the time he wasn’t even being logical, yet he spoke as if he were.
In a word, he was forcing his argument.
What could they do when the captain was forcing his argument? They had to follow.
“……Understood.”
That was when Sa Urin spoke.
“I’ll go.”
“Of course! Our youngest. Everyone watch and learn from this. Learn.”
Tsk.
The members of Group 11 really did want to learn.
That face, that skill, and that shamelessness too.
“If it gets too dangerous, come back. Understood?”
“Yes.”
So Sa Urin set his direction toward the Sacheon Dang Clan and set out.
Just as expected, two assassins caught up with him moments later. Sa Urin increased his speed in response.
“……Not bad.”
He thought they would fall back, but they didn’t.
Ah.
Hadn’t his father told him?
That assassins learn footwork first. That footwork was valued even more highly than the Concealment Technique.
That footwork had to be supreme for them to complete their missions and return safely.
That was why assassins’ footwork was always ranked at the highest tier in the martial world.
In that case.
Running at maximum speed seemed sufficient to shake them off.
‘No.’
Sa Urin wanted to confirm something.
So Sa Urin stopped. To kill the two assassins pursuing him. The thought followed that once he killed these two, other assassins would catch up again, but still, shouldn’t he at least try?
Sa Urin drew his sword, regarding the two assassins who had stopped to match his pace. Then the assassins took a step back.
‘As I thought.’
He was certain the assassins had no intention of killing the members of Group 11 yet. But he still had to kill them. To rush to the Sacheon Dang Clan and deliver this news.
That was when it happened.
Just as Sa Urin was about to kill the two assassins following him, twenty assassins appeared from the distance, blocking the path behind him.
Sa Urin turned to look.
Among the twenty were three assassins who could be called masters. An assassin who had reached the rank of master is ordinarily called a First-Class Assassin. Just below Special-Class. So how formidable must they be.
The fact that three such assassins were included meant they absolutely could not let him go.
“Put aside any thought of going to the Sacheon Dang Clan.”
He didn’t enjoy taking orders, but now it seemed he had no choice. If he tried to break through here, he’d be stepping one foot into the grave.
Still, curiosity got the better of him.
“Are you going to kill me?”
“No.”
No?
“Then why are you stopping me?”
Sa Urin already understood why he was being stopped. But he wanted to know what they intended to do if they weren’t going to kill him.
“You won’t be killed.”
“……Just me?”
“That’s right.”
Which meant they intended to kill everyone else in Group 11.
And there was something else.
Someone needed him alive.
“Why?”
“That much, I don’t know. But if you follow us quietly for now, you’ll live.”
“My comrades will all die, though?”
“Yes.”
“It feels like I could live even if I don’t go with you now?”
“……That’s true.”
The assassin’s answers were refreshingly candid. No pretense. The fate of Group 11 was already sealed.
Sa Urin turned away. If the path ahead couldn’t be breached and couldn’t be walked, then he had to go back.
He couldn’t abandon his comrades just to save himself. It wasn’t a lack of sentiment—it was a matter of loyalty.
“One more thing.”
Sa Urin turned back and spoke to the assassin who had answered him so plainly.
“Tell him to wake up.”
He didn’t understand why someone needed him alive, but he had not the slightest desire to live according to another’s designs.
Thump, thump.
And so Sa Urin walked back to the branch, heavy-footed and empty-handed.
Or rather.
The only thing he’d gained was……
The knowledge that for the Su Nyeong County branch—for Group 11—only death remained?
“……What do I even tell them when I get back?”
He couldn’t exactly tell them the truth, could he?
As oblivious as Sa Urin was, even he knew this much.
Without hope, determination and courage are worth nothing.
* * *
“……You couldn’t leave?”
If he’d made it to the Sacheon Dang Clan and brought this news, it would have been impossible to return in a single day.
Everyone’s eyes were filled with disappointment. They’d genuinely hoped that their youngest would reach the Sacheon Dang Clan and bring word of their situation.
“I couldn’t get out of Su Nyeong County. It felt like I’d die if I tried.”
Sa Urin didn’t mention that they wouldn’t kill him—he couldn’t bring himself to say that in front of his comrades.
“……I see.”
“So if we don’t leave Su Nyeong County, they don’t mean to kill us yet?”
“……Well, you could say it that way.”
For now, at least.
Sa Urin lied for the first time in his life. Whether this marked the beginning of something fortunate or the prelude to a villain’s descent, he couldn’t say—but the lie produced no pangs of conscience.
He had simply said what the moment required.
Jang Hye In smiled and opened his mouth.
“You’ve worked hard. Go get some rest.”
“I’ll train a bit more first.”
“All right. The others have been doing nothing but training anyway.”
It was true.
Desperate to grasp even a sliver of hope, Jang Hye In and the members of Group 11 threw themselves into training, again and again.
Their thrashing struggle to survive had become, somewhere along the way, the first step forward.
One day passed, then two.
The sun set, then rose.
The moon set, then rose.
Sweat poured, then dried.
Sweat-soaked clothes dried rough and stiff.
The training ground reeked of sweat, and they grew accustomed to the scent of one another’s exertion.
Four days passed. Then another four.
Lost in practice, drowning in it.
Layering depth upon depth, they pressed toward that distant realm of No-Self.
Ten days crossed the threshold, then broke through it entirely.
For Jang Hye In and the members of Group 11, this was unlike anything they had ever known. Had they ever devoted themselves so wholly to training? Had they ever poured every hour into such labor?
Never.
Perhaps a single day, once. But they were martial artists, after all.
Yes. A single day, perhaps.
But ten days was ten times one day. It meant ten times the intensity, ten times the sincerity.
Some might laugh and call it merely ten days. But for Group 11, it was a harbinger of what was to come.
A prelude to building something. To dreaming of something. To achieving something.
Perhaps that was why.
The faces of Jang Hye In and Group 11 bore the pallor of death so lightly it seemed almost insignificant.
It was not mere hope of survival.
They felt it.
Felt themselves growing stronger.
They understood.
Understood that this path led to strength.
Confidence bloomed on every face. And so Jang Hye In, as their commander, spoke.
“Tonight we celebrate!”
Perhaps it would be the last.
The shadow of death drew closer, and they felt it keenly.
“Wonderful!”
Yet it felt good.
“A fine establishment?”
When death could come at any moment, what use was pinching coin?
“Somewhere fine, then!”
“Let’s go!”
Fear had no grip on them now.
No matter where they went.
They would walk forward unafraid.
* * *
“……Is this place acceptable?”
It was a spot the members of Group 11 frequented.
“Kid. For us, this is the finest place there is.”
Hyung Jun cut in smoothly, backing Jang Hye In.
“Right, boy. Where else could match it for us?”
“……I suppose that’s true.”
So they all settled into their seats with bright faces.
Wine arrived, and with it appetizers. They filled their cups to the brim.
“A toast!”
The first cup emptied easily. They filled again.
“A toast!”
The cups were refilled. Three toasts drained in quick succession, and with them, their spirits lifted.
Their eyes grew bright from the drink.
That’s when it happened.
Patrons took seats at the empty table beside them and began talking loudly.
“You heard the news?”
“What news?”
“The Witch has come to the Capital City.”
At that instant, the ears of Group 11 sharpened.
‘……The Witch?’
‘If it’s the Witch……’
‘Could it be the Supreme Expert of the Evil Faction?’
‘……So suddenly?’
‘What does this……’
“Is it really true?”
“Why would the Witch come to the Capital City?”
“Who knows? Either way, that Witch has appeared in the Capital City.”
“What? You sure you heard that right?”
“Come now. When have I ever spouted nonsense?”
“Plenty of times.”
“You—listen here. Look over there, and there too—aren’t they saying the exact same thing I am?”
The attention of Group 11’s members snapped toward the spots their companion was indicating.
It was true.
Everywhere you looked, people were talking of nothing but the Witch.
“You see?”
“Seems it’s real, then.”
“I’m telling you, that’s how it is.”
The warmth that had filled the table moments ago drained away as if someone had poured ice water over it. In the sudden chill, every eye turned toward Sa Urin, the youngest among them.
“Why is everyone looking at me?”
“It’s not…”
“It’s just, the Witch…”
“…are you all right?”
“Dok Wang said it himself.”
The Witch must never learn that Sa Urin was Sa Cheol Gang’s son.
If she did, she would certainly kill the youngest of them.
“It doesn’t matter. The danger right in front of us is more pressing anyway.”
“That’s true.”
“We don’t have the luxury to worry about that now.”
“Commander, but why would she come here?”
Jang Hye In himself was taken aback. Why would the Evil Faction’s Supreme Expert, the Witch, suddenly appear in Sacheon Province?
“How would I know that?”
“Fair point.”
“Indeed.”
“But then, you’re a Jang too, aren’t you, Commander? Surely people sharing the same family name can work together?”
“Work together? What are you on about? You’re a funny one, aren’t you.”
“Of course I was joking. But seriously, why do you think she came?”
“I’m curious myself.”
“You must have some idea, Dok Wang?”
“I suppose I might…”
The Capital City of Sacheon Province was in uproar over this very matter.
The Evil Faction’s Supreme Expert, the Witch, had appeared in Sacheon’s capital—would Dok Wang finally face her?—the question had seized the attention of the entire province.

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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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