I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 55

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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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Joining the Murim Alliance for no good reason — Episode 55
“……Unit Commander……there’s, well…….”
“What? Why?”
“It’s just…….”
“What is it?”
“I mean…….”
When the Unit Members couldn’t get the words out properly, an impatient Hyeong-jun stepped forward.
“You really think the Beauty Seduction Tactic is going to work? Seriously?”
“Would I be doing this just to make you all laugh? Huh? Besides, with my face, it’ll work and then some. Won’t it? Of course it will.”
Jang Hye-in’s confidence was every bit as absolute as when he’d rescued Jong-cheol’s woman, Yang Seo-hee.
“Yeah, we know you’re pretty. We know. But…….”
“But what? If I’m pretty, the tactic works. So we’re done, right?”
“That’s the thing…….”
Even Hyeong-jun found it hard to say out loud.
That the Unit Commander’s personality was too damn erratic, nowhere near suited to something like the Beauty Seduction Tactic.
Wasn’t that obvious?
The Beauty Seduction Tactic was, ultimately, a matter of military strategy. Especially since it required infiltrating the enemy’s core to extract information or strike at their heart…….
And that took a temperament that remained calm and collected in every moment — something the Unit Commander, Jang Hye-in, decidedly did not possess.
The slightest thing displeased him and he’d curse, smash things to pieces, hurl them aside, treat men’s bodies like toys — such was Jang Hye-in’s nature. Could someone with that temperament truly pull off something as difficult, demanding, and requiring such forbearance as the Beauty Seduction Tactic?
“Don’t worry. I can do it.”
Did Jang Hye-in, who’d risen to the rank of Unit Commander, not know this?
“It’s the worry that gets to you. If this goes wrong…….”
“You damned fools!”
“Look, look. How can I not worry when you’re like this?”
“You’re only acting this way because I’m here with you. So what, you’ve got a better idea?”
“Well, not really.”
“Exactly. We still need to confirm that there really is a woman named Seo Hee at the Mountain Stronghold.”
“But what if she isn’t there?”
“……That’s……, I haven’t thought about that.”
Right.
No one had entertained the assumption that she wouldn’t be. Hadn’t the Gaebang’s leader handed over the information directly?
“If she really isn’t there, that’s going to be a real problem.”
That was when Sa U-rin spoke up.
“Even if she isn’t, we still have to rescue the women being held there.”
Jang Hye-in let out a response tinged with doubt.
“……Even if she isn’t? We have to?”
Everyone was putting their lives on the line for this. Because family was at stake, how could they not step forward?
But Jang Hye-in didn’t think there was any need to rescue them if it wasn’t for family.
The Unit Members shared his view.
Sa U-rin continued.
“And come to think of it, I don’t think the Unit Commander should attempt the Beauty Seduction Tactic.”
“……What?”
Wasn’t this going too far?
However much things revolved around the youngest, Jang Hye-in was still the Unit Commander leading them, wasn’t he? He had legitimate command authority.
So he felt a little displeased. It seemed like the youngest, perhaps because he was young, kept crossing lines without thinking.
“Don’t misunderstand. It’s because I’m worried about your safety, Unit Commander.”
“……What are you talking about?”
It just seemed like a convenient excuse to him.
“We’ll all be going in with our faces covered, but if only the Unit Commander goes in with your face exposed, it’s far too dangerous. I can’t just let you bear all that risk alone.”
Jang Hye-in’s beautiful eyes began to tremble.
“Ah……. U-rin…….”
This was a complete turnaround.
“So……, my youngest is worrying about me…….”
He was going crazy.
Emotion shook through his entire body so intensely he could barely hold back tears.
How could he not fall for someone like this? With a face so handsome, saying such beautiful words — his mind was spinning.
“……Thank you.”
Jang Hye-in pulled Sa U-rin into an embrace. Sa U-rin didn’t resist. It wasn’t often, but it happened occasionally, so he let it be.
Once before he’d brought his lips to Jang Hye-in’s, and the Unit Commander had pulled away, saying it wasn’t like that. But he figured physical expressions of gratitude didn’t need to be avoided.
It was an action that came from genuine appreciation.
And Sa U-rin didn’t dislike Jang Hye-in’s behavior. Having grown up without a mother’s love, the warmth of a woman’s heart felt to him like the maternal affection he’d never known—and that made it all the better.
But the Unit Members seemed to feel otherwise.
“Wow.”
“What’s gotten into him?”
“Yeah, seriously.”
“And he’s just… letting it happen?”
The youngest, too.
“That’s strange.”
“If Yi Ryeong saw this, all hell would break loose.”
“No doubt about it.”
“I think the Unit Commander’s about to get poison painted on his face instead of makeup.”
Jang Hye-in had ears, perfectly good ones—there was no way he hadn’t heard what the members were saying.
“You lot! Hey! If you breathe a word of this to Yi Ryeong, you’re dead. Understood?”
“Seems like we’re going to die anyway soon enough.”
Once they rescued the woman kidnapped at the Mountain Stronghold, they’d be dead meat.
“Right?”
“Still! Don’t you dare say anything. Besides. We’re not dying. With someone as handsome as Sa U-rin here, why would we die?”
“That’s… not how…”
So they’d stay alive because of the youngest—fine, he got that—but what did a pretty face have to do with it?
Leaving the bewildered Unit Members in his wake, Jang Hye-in picked up the Black Garment and Face Mask, identical to what the others wore.
“Well then, shall we go?”
Jang Hye-in, in an exceptionally good mood, linked his arm through Sa U-rin’s and led the way forward.
The members watched their Unit Commander with heads shaking back and forth.
“At this rate…”
“Before we even die…”
“Something’s going to go very wrong…”
So Hyeong-jun stepped in.
“That’s why everyone needs to watch their tongues.”
“Shouldn’t the Unit Commander be the one watching his, sir?”
“He’s been doing fine until now.”
“Until now?”
“Yeah. It happens pretty often. I’m not sure why the youngest puts up with it.”
“Huh.”
“So the youngest was the problem.”
“The youngest…”
He hadn’t known.
Despite spending considerable time together, it had never occurred to him that Sa U-rin might be missing something.
* * *
The moon hung bright, and the stars sparkled.
But the forest was so dense that neither moonlight nor starlight could find their way through the canopy.
The Mountain Stronghold was built in a place so obscured that you wouldn’t believe it existed even in broad daylight.
“Wow. Unit Commander, look at this.”
“It’s unbelievable.”
The trees stretched so high toward the sky that the Mountain Stronghold was completely hidden from view.
“Look over there too.”
The jutting cliff face suggested the stronghold wouldn’t be visible even from the mountain’s peak.
“…How is a place like this even possible?”
He’d never been to a bandits’ den before, and he found the whole thing thoroughly absurd.
“But wouldn’t that mean those inside can’t see out either?”
“Overconfidence.”
The confidence that no one would ever find them.
“Fair point.”
“Still, we approach carefully just in case.”
Everyone nodded as though it were obvious. Anyone watching would’ve mistaken them for assassins.
They were dressed in Black Garments with Face Masks pressed down over their features.
Once they’d passed through the dense forest, the Mountain Stronghold finally came into view. It was constructed of thick logs planted upright in the ground, giving it the appearance of a fortress wall.
“…It’s quite tall, isn’t it?”
It didn’t look like something you could clear in a single leap.
“I can make it.”
It was Sa U-rin, the youngest.
“……Yes, I suppose so.”
How could it be otherwise?
“I can manage it.”
It was Unit Commander Jang Hye-in.
“……Indeed, sir.”
You’re remarkably capable.
“Then Sa U-rin and I will dispatch those two. After that, I’ll open the gate.”
Sa U-rin nodded.
Two bandits stood guard at what looked like a fortress wall, built from thick logs lashed together.
Sa U-rin and Jang Hye-in waited for the moment—when the sentries’ eyes turned away from the front.
Jang Hye-in caught the moment he’d been waiting for and signaled Sa U-rin through Sound Transmission.
‘Now!’
Jang Hye-in and Sa U-rin burst from the dense forest at lightning speed.
The moment they emerged into the open, bright moonlight and glittering starlight laid bare their figures completely.
Yet the sentries standing guard still hadn’t noticed.
Reaching the fortress-like gate of the Mountain Stronghold, Jang Hye-in and Sa U-rin leaped high into the air in perfect unison.
Whoosh!
They flew upward like a pair of birds taking wing.
The Black Garment, drenched in moonlight, gleamed gold, and the blades held in their hands—kissed by that same golden light—cast a brilliant flash that struck the sentries’ eyes.
The two guards’ eyes went wide as lanterns.
Suddenly, an object blazing with golden light erupted from the ground—capturing their gaze with perfect precision.
Their vision was stolen. It was beauty itself. Even the bandits had once dreamed of that day when they might execute such beautiful Martial Technique before their own eyes.
And so it felt like a dream.
Yet in that instant, one thought rose clear.
‘……Enemies?’
But how could they be this beautiful…….
Then something flashed.
‘……Moonlight?’
There was no reason for moonlight to flash.
‘Then……starlight?’
Twinkling and sparkling—it could flash, couldn’t it?
Well……it could be that.
But that flashing starlight passed through the sentries’ bodies.
No.
Through their necks.
‘……?’
‘……?’
Sadly, that flashing starlight passing through the sentries’ throats was Sword Energy pouring from the blades of Jang Hye-in and Sa U-rin, drenched in gold.
Thunk, thunk.
Roll, roll, roll.
The sentries’ heads rolled across the ground.
Thud, thud.
Two corpses, spilling golden-red blood, collapsed to the earth.
Tap, tap.
Jang Hye-in and Sa U-rin landed lightly on the stronghold wall, then immediately turned their gaze deeper into the compound.
Jang Hye-in spoke first.
“……Looks like they’re having a celebration?”
Four stronghold buildings stood beneath the towering cliff. Two were brightly lit, one flickered with dim light, and the last lay submerged in cold darkness.
From the two brightly lit strongholds came the raucous sound of merrymaking.
“Surely they haven’t already passed the women along?”
Work always follows a certain order.
Once a job is finished, a celebration always comes next. That order of things is unchanging, wherever you go.
“No. It won’t be that.”
“But the atmosphere suggests……?”
“Seo Hee was kidnapped yesterday. It’s too soon.”
“Right?”
“Yes. Don’t worry too much. Let’s open the gate first.”
Sa U-rin nodded, and he and Jang Hye-in descended quietly below and eased the gate open.
As the solid door swung wide, the Unit Members slipped silently inside.
“……They really are having a feast?”
“That’s what you mean, right? They’re coming.”
“Ah… here we go again.”
It was Hyeong-jun again.
Jang Hye-in spoke without paying any mind to Hyeong-jun’s absurd jest.
“Sa U-rin, you take that location.”
It was one of the brighter areas. And before opening the door, they had already reached an agreement with their youngest member, Sa U-rin.
According to Sa U-rin’s assessment, a relatively strong aura was emanating from the place Jang Hye-in was indicating, so he entrusted it to their youngest member.
“Understood.”
“And the rest of you—that location.”
It was another of the brighter areas. Sa U-rin had said there were about thirty people there, but none possessed any martial skill worth mentioning, so Jang Hye-in was sending subordinates instead.
“What about you, Unit Commander?”
“I’m going there.”
It was a dimly lit area. If Sa U-rin was right, that’s where the abducted women would be held.
So, to be prepared for any contingency, Jang Hye-in—someone who could confidently claim to be a master—would go there himself.
It struck him anew: their youngest member, Sa U-rin, possessed a truly remarkable ability. With Energy Sensing alone, he could discern so much—how convenient that must be.
“All right then, let’s move quickly. Everyone, be careful.”
They all nodded meaningfully.
Then they scattered at once.
Whisper-whisper.
To rescue the woman that their kinsman Jong-cheol held dear.

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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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