I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 39

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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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Episode 039 — Needlessly Heading Into the Murim Alliance
Dang Won-hu, the family head and I-ryeong’s father, spoke to her as though coaxing a child.
“I-ryeong.”
Dang I-ryeong’s face was flushed with agitation.
“No matter what you say, I won’t back down.”
“First, listen. You must know that several months ago, your grandfather met Jang Ryeo of the Jang Family.”
“And?”
“Father, let me speak from here on. I think it’s better that someone who heard it directly from the source tell the story.”
Dang Mo-jun thought this would be more convincing.
“Very well.”
Dang Mo-jun took up where the family head had left off.
“That day, I also learned something: U Rin was Jang Ryeo’s son.”
In that instant, Dang I-ryeong felt as though all the blood in her body had stopped flowing.
“…Really? You’re certain?”
Surely this couldn’t be true.
Your grandfather had distinctly said that the witch Jang Ryeo could even kill U Rin, hadn’t he?
“Yes. If you don’t believe me, think back to what happened. That woman Jang Ryeo had no reason to kill the children of the Baekri Family without cause. She stepped in because they laid hands on the Sunyeong Branch where U Rin was staying. She did it because they touched her own son. You should understand well enough.”
The message was clear: act accordingly.
……
She understood. Perfectly.
But……
……she found herself at a loss for words.
Dang I-ryeong’s mind went white-hot. She pushed herself to her feet and bolted from the room.
……
……
Silence settled between Dang Mo-jun and the family head. It stretched on.
Dang Mo-jun broke the silence.
“Father… surely I-ryeong won’t……”
“What are you suggesting?”
“……She won’t go straight to him, will she?”
Men who had wandered Kangho for long years knew well that suspicious hesitation often killed. Neither Dang Mo-jun nor the family head was ignorant of this truth.
Their eyes widened in an instant, and both men thrust themselves up from their seats. They rushed at once toward I-ryeong’s quarters.
“Damn……”
“……She’s not here.”
“Shouldn’t we dispatch people immediately to find and bring her back?”
Family head Dang Won-hu shook his head.
“Let I-ryeong do as she wishes.”
“But what if, what if……”
“Father. As we came here just now, I gave this some thought.”
“What is it?”
“If we abandon even the absolute principle we ourselves have upheld, how would we be any different from the Baekri Family?”
The Dang Family’s long-held absolute principle: repay kindness twofold, and enmity tenfold.
In other words, whatever promise was made to U Rin must be kept, no matter what circumstances arise.
“……True. Still……”
“Father. It is because we have kept it, because we have always kept it, that the Dang Family stands where it does today.”
“……Yes.”
Dang Mo-jun exhaled a deep sigh.
* * *
The eleven members of the Sunyeong Branch completed the transfer of authority without delay, and now they were ready to depart for the Murim Alliance.
It would take more than a month to reach the Murim Alliance. One might call it a journey, or one might call it an ordeal, but for U Rin, it was nothing but a pleasant journey.
Just as the eleven were about to open the front gate of the branch……
Bang.
The door swung violently open without a hand ever touching it.
“Huff, huff, huff. Thank goodness. You haven’t left yet.”
Dang I-ryeong came bursting into the Sunyeong Branch, having rushed out from the Sacheon Dang Family estate.
She had not stopped to rest. Racing against the fear that she might miss him, countless thoughts had flashed through her mind during the run, yet she had reached no conclusion.
Or rather, her conclusion was already made.
Jang Hye-in’s face took on a bewildered expression.
Her appearance was a sight — covered from head to toe in dust, as one would be after such relentless running.
It was proof of how urgent her business was.
“…Miss I-ryeong. Has something happened?”
“No.”
“Then, what on earth is…”
Dang I-ryeong cut short Jang Hye-in’s words and walked straight toward U Rin.
‘…No, that’s really her!’
The way she dismisses people—shameless!
Still, the annoyance was tempered by something else: she’d said “No,” not “No.” with that cold formality. There was a difference there.
‘…Why is she acting differently?’
Something about her seemed changed. She wasn’t the kind of woman to show courtesy to every sword-wielder in the Murim Alliance.
That aside.
‘…Why is she alone?’
Where had she left her guards?
A lady of the Sacheon Dang Family’s standing would never move without an escort.
Dang I-ryeong, having rushed here like a woman possessed, reached U Rin and seized his arm, dragging him toward the wall.
The wall—where no one lingered. There was no reason for anyone to stand pressed against bare stone.
So U Rin asked her.
“What’s this about?”
Dang I-ryeong stared directly into his eyes and spoke with deliberate clarity.
“Is it true your mother is from the Jang Family?”
“Yeah. And?”
“So what are you going to do?”
“Do about what? Speak plainly.”
“I mean…that is…what I’m asking is—aren’t you going to follow your mother?”
“No, I’m not.”
Color flooded into Dang I-ryeong’s face.
“…You’re not? You really won’t?”
“Can’t you see? I’m heading to the Murim Alliance.”
One could see that much.
But whether he was truly bound for the Murim Alliance or the Jang Family—there was no way to tell without being told outright.
Words mattered.
“But why did you come? Alone, without any guards?”
Dang I-ryeong’s gaze flickered over him with irritation.
‘This bastard…’
Was he feigning ignorance while knowing the truth, or genuinely oblivious? His expression gave nothing away.
And it had been nearly a year since they’d last seen each other—yet she detected not a shred of warmth in his manner.
One certainty crystallized: U Rin held no particular interest in her. Today made that final.
A true man would not avert his gaze from her face so completely. Yet U Rin stood unmoved, not the slightest tremor in his composure.
Meanwhile, Dang I-ryeong wanted nothing more than to rush into his arms and shower him with affection. But she saw not the faintest glimmer of reciprocal desire in him, and pride forbade her to move.
Her self-respect stood in the way.
And yet she could not let him go.
“Me? I’m heading to the Murim Alliance too.”
“Is that so? Then we might as well go together.”
What was this now?
‘…Is he saying he’s happy to go with me…or just that we should travel together since we’re both going anyway…’
“…That’s why I came all this way.”
“All right, let’s go then.”
“…Yes.”
U Rin turned toward Jang Hye-in, who had been staring at both of them intently.
“Captain. I-ryeong will be joining us on our way to the Murim Alliance.”
“…I see.”
So she’d rushed all the way here in such a state just to travel together?
It made sense. It was understandable.
‘She’s probably working up the nerve to make her move on the youngest.’
That’s how women blinded by love behaved.
Though, if she was honest with herself…
Jang Hye-in had more than once let her feminine fragrance drift toward U Rin, though she was embarrassed to admit it.
A casual approach—no harm if it succeeded, no loss if it didn’t.
She’d even exposed the full curve of her breasts on occasion, bared the length of her thighs—
Always when they were alone together.
Yet the youngest had not so much as blinked. Enough to make one suspect the boy was incapable of desire.
An age when blood runs hot enough to burst into a frenzy—and yet.
Even if Dang I-ryeong clung to him like this, he would offer nothing in return, and she wanted to tell him so now; but the look in her eyes suggested she wouldn’t hear a word of it.
Pity it was, but what could be done?
This too was Dang I-ryeong’s own choice.
Still, he meant to stop her by whatever means necessary.
“Miss, we’ll mostly be sleeping under the open sky. Will that be acceptable?”
Had the young master of the great Sacheon Dang Family ever spent a night in the wilderness? Of course she must have, at least once or twice. Then surely she understood the hardships of roughing it all too well.
“That sounds exciting.”
‘……Exciting?’
This wasn’t the reaction he’d expected.
True, there could be a certain romance to sleeping rough, now and then.
But……
‘Ah.’
Traveling with the youngest—everything became interesting, didn’t it?
‘…… Really, such a naive young lady.’
“You won’t be able to wash properly, and the food will be meager……”
“Don’t worry.”
I’ve come prepared to endure whatever hardship awaits.
Haven’t I already defied my grandfather and father to run away?
And I never expected U Rin to accept my feelings at once. That’s why I haven’t laid my heart bare before him yet.
Not knowing when U Rin will understand my feelings, whether he’ll accept them once he does, or when that day might come—that long wait is what will be hard, but nothing else will shake me, of this I’m certain.
“……If that’s the case, then do as you wish.”
“Thank you, Branch Director.”
‘……Thank me?’
She had definitely changed.
And come to think of it, the atmosphere had shifted quite a bit, hadn’t it?
A maturity clung to her now.
However much the Yin-Yang Seal had been removed from her mind, it wasn’t easy for a person to transform so suddenly.
Because of that, something felt slightly off. And strangely unsettling.
‘In any case, these Dang Family people are thorny. Truly thorny.’
“……Ah, no—don’t mention it.”
“Well then, shall we depart?”
“……Yes. Everyone, let’s move out.”
Thus the eleven members of the Sunyeong Branch turned their steps toward the Murim Alliance.
Even as they traveled toward the Murim Alliance, Jang Hye-in could not tear her attention from Dang I-ryeong.
Dang I-ryeong was pressed close to U Rin’s side as they moved, and had they been speaking to each other and traveling in good spirits, it wouldn’t have been so troubling.
To cling to each other in such awkward silence, as though they were strangers, gave her no reason to force herself to travel with them at all.
‘Ah, really, why is she doing that?’
It was pitiful to watch.
Not that it was jealousy. It was concern, genuine concern that made her feel this way.
Time slipped away, and before long the sun had set. Naturally, their first night on the road was spent sleeping rough.
They kindled a fire, hunted briefly, and were roasting meat when Jang Hye-in called Dang I-ryeong over—still hovering near U Rin’s side.
“Miss.”
“Yes?”
“Come, let’s have a word together.”
“Of course.”
“……Actually, shall we step over there instead?”
She meant somewhere away from U Rin.
“……Very well.”
Though she couldn’t fathom why.
Jang Hye-in moved to a spot some distance from U Rin, mindful that he might overhear.
So Dang I-ryeong spoke.
“Was there a need to walk so far?”
“Our youngest, U Rin—he can hear things.”
“……Is that so? How do you know him so well?”
An inexplicable irritation rose in her.
“As Branch Director, I must naturally know my members’ abilities.”
It was a fair point.
“……I see. Though it seems we’ve walked rather far.”
“I think we’re still close enough.”
“…….”
Just how far did U Rin’s abilities extend?
Still, for him to have sensed the Yin-Yang Seal hidden within her own mind — what else could one expect?
“All right. Let’s go wherever you wish to take me.”
They moved a bit further in silence.
“This should do.”
“We’ve come quite far, haven’t we. I’m not sure what this is about, but go ahead — speak.”
“To be honest, it’s difficult to broach this subject. I ask your patience, even if what I’m about to say troubles you.”
“……Very well. Out with it.”
“You’re quite fond of U Rin, aren’t you?”
Dang I-ryeong’s brow furrowed slightly. Yet there was no desire to hide the truth. Her displeasure lay only in having her own feelings made the subject of discussion.
“Yes. Why do you ask? Surely you don’t harbor feelings for him yourself?”
There had been hints of such a thing back at the Dang Family compound.
“Let me be frank. I’m a woman too, and a man as handsome as that — why should my heart not have been moved, regardless of the age difference? But not now. Should U Rin return my affection, of course things would change. But I doubt that will happen.”
A reasonable answer.
“Then we needn’t become enemies over this. That’s a relief.”
What else would one expect from the Sacheon Dang Family?
Was it not true that for every martial artist in Kangho, the people of the Dang Family were divided into only two categories — enemies or benefactors?
It seemed to be the case.
“Which is why I’m telling you: U Rin has no interest in women. Not in me, nor in the young lady.”
“……Well, I knew that much already.”
‘She already knew?’
This was absurd.
“……Then why go to such lengths?”
Curiosity only deepened.
Why do this knowing what she already knows?
Is there perhaps another reason altogether?

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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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