I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 56

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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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It was all because of joining the Murim Alliance — Episode 56
Ju-un, still unable to escape his role as the youngest because of Sa U-rin, lifted his foot to smash through the door of the Bandit Fortress where a raucous drinking party was underway.
Then Hyeong-jun stepped in to stop him.
“Don’t do that.”
Ju-un blinked, looking somewhat bewildered.
“……Why?”
“They’re in the middle of a celebration.”
“But that’s exactly why we should scatter some ash over them. We came all this way wearing face masks and tiptoeing because of those bastards.”
“Which is why — since we’ve gone to all this trouble — let’s slip in quietly the rest of the way. That’ll really throw them off.”
“Do we really have to……?”
“If we have to, we have to.”
“……What do you……?”
Seo U-chan beside them let out a heavy sigh. Then he simply yanked the door open.
As the door swung wide, the bandits in the middle of their drinking party naturally turned their gaze toward the entrance.
Black garments and face masks in the dead of night. What did that mean?
“……Look, enemies!”
Right. From the bandits’ perspective, they were enemies — members of the Flying Dragon Division from the Murim Alliance patrol unit.
Two bandits closest to the entrance hefted their axes and charged toward the masked operatives.
“As expected.”
“Bandits always favor the axe.”
“We’ll need to watch out for the axes.”
“They’ll dull the blades.”
It was bound to happen.
Swords are slender and nimble, but axes are hefty and heavy. When sword and axe collide, the thin, keen blade inevitably sustains damage.
Unless there’s a stark difference in Internal Energy, that is.
Seo U-chan and Ji Hyeong-u stepped forward and echoed Hyeong-jun’s words back to him.
“Of course, sir.”
“How could we not understand?”
Then Seo U-chan and Ji Hyeong-u easily sidestepped the axes being swung at them and deftly sliced through the two bandits with their keen blades.
Slice. Slice.
Thud.
Thud.
“That was far too easy.”
“It was, wasn’t it? Are the bandits weak, or have we grown stronger?”
Hyeong-jun, who had been watching at leisure with his arms folded, spoke again.
“The latter.”
“Ah, I see.”
“I had suspected as much.”
They’d been feeling it quite strongly these days — the fact that they were growing stronger.
Hyeong-jun called out to the startled bandits.
“Any of you who want to meet the same fate are welcome to come at us.”
The bandits flinched and fell into deep deliberation about what to do.
But something seemed off to Seo U-chan — or rather, everyone found it odd, though Seo U-chan was the one who spoke up.
“……Sir?”
“What?”
“Weren’t we supposed to kill them all anyway?”
“……Ah, right. My mistake. Then, let’s kill them all.”
The only ones leaving this fortress alive today should be the women who were abducted and themselves.
To prevent this incident from leaking to the outside world as much as possible.
So Hyeong-jun and the unit members charged toward nearly thirty bandits.
* * *
Jang Hye-in pushed open a locked door and stepped into the dimly lit interior of the fortress.
Inside were ten beautiful women, their hands and feet bound, and they all stared at Jang Hye-in with startled eyes.
Being kidnapped by bandits was unjust enough to drive them to despair, and now a killer was bursting in on top of it.
And just then, screams echoed from another part of the fortress.
So the eyes of the bound women began to swirl with panic.
They’d thought they were about to be sold off, but now it seemed like they might die instead.
So Jang Hye-in opened his mouth.
“Don’t be afraid, all of you. I’ve come to rescue you.”
Then peace settled into the eyes of the bound women. Now they understood the source of those screams echoing above.
Jang Hye-in continued, picking up the thread of conversation.
“Is there perhaps someone named Seo Hee here?”
A woman opened her mouth with difficulty. They’d come to rescue her, yes, but fear seized her anyway.
“I… that’s me. But why…?”
She wondered how they knew her name, and why they were looking for her in particular.
Jang Hye-in approached the woman who had identified herself as Seo Hee, his eyes crinkling with a warm smile. His first act was to untie her bound hands and feet.
“The reason we’ve come like this is entirely at the request of someone named Jong-chul. You do know Jong-chul, don’t you?”
The woman before him—Jong-chul’s beloved Seo Hee—looked bewildered.
“My brother? How did he…? Does that mean my brother came here too?”
“No, he didn’t. This place is far too dangerous for that.”
“I see. But truly, all of this because of my brother…”
“Yes. We came to rescue you precisely because of Jong-chul.”
He had risked his very life in coming here, after all.
“You’re fortunate to have someone so remarkable looking out for you.”
The woman named Seo Hee’s eyes glistened with grateful tears.
“My brother…”
The corners of Jang Hye-in’s mouth lifted slightly.
‘That should be enough, I’d think.’
Hadn’t he made a promise?
To unite Jong-chul with this woman. So he’d orchestrated the moment carefully. These were the scenes women dreamed of, weren’t they? Being rescued from danger by someone who cared.
In reality, Jong-chul himself should have come, but Jong-chul’s martial prowess was mediocre at best. He might have ended up with a bandit’s blade through his chest, and there was no reason to expose him to such needless peril.
At least she wouldn’t be sold elsewhere because of her brother, and could return home safely—that was something.
It should be enough. And seeing her tears, it appeared it already was.
“Right, but I shouldn’t waste time on this.”
There were other women still bound who needed freeing. As Jang Hye-in moved busily about, Seo Hee wiped away her tears and helped. And as she did, she murmured something to herself.
“I wish that other child was here too.”
Jang Hye-in didn’t miss Seo Hee’s murmur. Warriors possessed sharper ears and eyes than ordinary people. More than that, Jang Hye-in was a master.
“What did you mean by that? About wishing the child was here?”
“You heard me?”
“I did.”
“Well… there was a child here until yesterday.”
Jang Hye-in’s eyes widened in alarm.
“They kidnapped children too?”
“Yes. But that child wasn’t bound like the rest of us. The food was different too. How should I put it… they seemed to give that child special treatment. Even dressed in expensive silk.”
“Really? How old was the child?”
“Ten years old, the child told us. A remarkably intelligent one.”
“Only ten years old, and they kidnapped them? That’s strange.”
“I thought so too, but make no mistake—they were kidnapped.”
“Then they were sold elsewhere?”
“Hmm. Someone came yesterday and took the child away. Or rather… it felt like they were receiving the child, not taking them.”
“Receiving them?”
“Yes. I got a very strong sense of that. And I wasn’t the only one who felt it. We all did, didn’t we?”
The other women present nodded in agreement, confirming they had all sensed the same thing.
‘What is this? What could it mean?’
But thinking about it now wouldn’t yield answers.
* * *
Sa U-rin pushed the door wide open and strode into the noisy Bandit Fortress. Among those inside were six who looked like bandits, and four who did not.
The commotion inside fell silent at once.
Ban U-gyeom, the keeper of Hyeongsan Fortress, spoke with fury blazing across his face.
“Who are you?”
Sa U-rin said nothing.
‘Damn.’
The strength he felt from inside was beyond what he’d sensed from outside. If all ten people here rushed him at once…
He wouldn’t survive. Not a chance in ten of walking away alive.
That is, if they all came at him together.
At that moment, a dying scream erupted from the adjacent fortress. Everyone leaped to their feet—the ones who looked like bandits grabbed their axes, and the others drew their swords.
Son Geun, the keeper of Hyeongsan Fortress, spoke with deadly certainty.

“How many came?”
“……Ten.”
‘……What do I do?’
Two of the bandits were formidable masters. And among those who weren’t bandits, one was a master as well.
Sa U-rin hadn’t anticipated it at all. That the bandits would be this strong.
Or rather, he simply hadn’t bothered to think about them. Even though bandits themselves had an alliance called Nokrim.
It was an oversight born of Sa U-rin’s limited experience in the Gangho. In the end, an unforeseen mistake had drawn danger upon himself.
So Sa U-rin decided to buy time. Until the Deputy Leader Jang Hye-in arrived.
“Ten men like you? I won’t worry about that.”
They seemed insufficient for assassins. And the screams coming from the neighboring fortress—he assumed those were the voices of the assassins, not the fortress family.
One could tell just by looking at the man in front of him. Clearly, a horde of inept men at a similar level to this one must have come charging in.
And the fact that only one had entered this place where masters gathered was proof enough of how pathetic these assassins were.
He couldn’t say why such incompetent assassins had come, but there it was.
So.
“You’re mad with a death wish, aren’t you?”
Surely he knew that touching a human trafficking ring meant certain death.
“That’s my own concern.”
“If you tell me nicely who sent you, I’ll let you go in peace.”
Sa U-rin spoke words he didn’t mean.
“……Is that true?”
After he said it, it seemed tinged with a measure of sincerity. His heart truly wanted to run to Deputy Leader Jang Hye-in and beg for help.
Suddenly, the Fortress Master Son Geun of Hyeongsan Fortress burst out laughing.
“Khahahaha!”
Then the sub-master and the others joined in laughter as well.
Wasn’t this truly a laughable fellow?
He comes attacking and then says he’ll let them go—and they actually believed him.
Fortress Master Son Geun waved dismissively, ordering a subordinate with a gesture. One of his men then picked up an axe and sauntered slowly toward Sa U-rin.
The bandit found the masked figure before him to be utterly beneath notice. Especially since he hadn’t even drawn his sword yet.
The bandit raised his axe high to crush Sa U-rin.
“Go now.”
But Sa U-rin had no intention of leaving.
Whoosh.
“Kheugh.”
Sa U-rin’s blade—drawn at some unknowable moment—pierced straight through the bandit’s heart.
“Krrrrgh.”
Blood poured from between his lips, whether in shock or agony, none could tell. Yet he did not collapse.
Because of Sa U-rin’s blade still buried in him, he remained standing upright, simply bleeding endlessly.
The expressions of both the bandits and those who weren’t bandits darkened at the sight.
The Fortress Master opened his mouth.
“……So you were deceiving us.”
Sa U-rin tilted his head in confusion.
“Me? Was I?”
“This bastard——! Kill him at once!”
Fortress Master Son Geun barked the order like fire.
“You lot, come forward as well.”
The apparent leader among those who weren’t bandits commanded his subordinates.
It was fortunate, after all.
The two strongest had merely given orders and then fallen.
Just then, Deputy Leader Jang Hye-in—whom Sa U-rin had been waiting for but now no longer needed—appeared.
Jang Hye-in opened his mouth with a displeased expression.
“What were you doing?”
It was a question of why these creatures were still alive.
“……I was waiting.”
“For what?”
“The Deputy Leader.”
“For me?”
“Yes. Why?”
Then those who weren’t bandits entered Jang Hye-in’s field of vision.
“……Huh.”
“What is it?”
It was a story Jang Hye-in couldn’t bring himself to speak aloud, so he conveyed it to Sa U-rin through Sound Transmission.
‘Those ones on the right.’
‘Why them?’
‘They’re from the Murim Alliance. External Faction.’
‘……The Murim Alliance’s External Faction?’
‘Yes.’
So the Murim Alliance’s warriors were entangled with human traffickers.

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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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