I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 65

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Foolishly Entering the Murim Alliance – Episode 065
Partway up the mountain stood a small, elegant estate that Sa U-rin had never expected to find.
Upon entering, he discovered a pavilion overlooking a modest lake with a lavish spread of dishes laid out. At the table sat the First Daughter of the Evil Sect, greeting Sa U-rin with a bright smile.
“So the Okmianhwalyong has arrived.”
The fact that she knew his epithet meant she’d been keeping close watch on him all this time.
Sa U-rin stepped up onto the pavilion and offered a bow.
“……Mother, I trust you’ve been well?”
But then—
“Do you want to die, son?”
No preamble?
“……Mother?”
“You want to die, don’t you? That’s what it looks like to me.”
She was clearly referring to the Human Trafficking Organization incident.
“I had no choice. My mentor’s beloved was kidnapped. I couldn’t do anything else.”
“And what about me?”
“I don’t understand—”
“Am I not your family?”
She was saying he’d recklessly thrown himself into danger despite knowing it could cost him his life.
“You are my mother. Of course you’re family.”
“Then why are you asking? Fine. Let me put it differently. Your mentor and I both fell into water. Whom would you save first?”
“That’s not a fair—”
“Answer me.”
“……Well, you’re the First Daughter of the Evil Sect, and he can’t even swim, so……”
The First Daughter’s brow creased with genuine displeasure.
“Do you want to die?”
“Mother, that’s not what I meant—”
“One son, and this is what he’s come to. What a burden. Sachilgang, how did you ever raise this child? I have half a mind to drag you back from the underworld and beat him myself.”
“Mother, please calm—”
“Do I look calm to you?!”
Her son was going to die.
Then suddenly her piercing gaze shifted to Jang Hye-in and the others who had come with her son.
Every hair on Jang Hye-in’s body and those of his companions stood on end. Their legs trembled unbidden.
‘……Damn it……’
‘……She looks ready to ask if we want to die……’
‘……Let’s just be grateful she’s only asking……’
‘……What if she actually does it……?’
‘……No way……’
‘……But the mood really feels like she might……’
‘……Yeah……’
And then—
The First Daughter’s fierce gaze suddenly softened.
‘……What’s this?’
The First Daughter’s lips parted.
“You’ve all suffered plenty because of my son, haven’t you?”
‘……What……?’
……This was not what they expected.
“Why don’t you answer?”
The First Daughter’s eyebrow twitched. Jang Hye-in quickly opened his mouth.
“N-no, ma’am. It’s nothing to speak of.”
“Nothing? You’re all about to die because of my son, aren’t you?”
No one could figure out what the right answer was. But what choice did they have?
They had to try something.
“……No, ma’am. We followed Sa U-rin of our own will.”
If they said they’d been dragged along against their wishes, she would definitely punish them.
“That doesn’t look true to me.”
“……It truly is, ma’am.”
“You’re telling me the truth?”
“……Yes.”
“I don’t think so. Chu Yeop.”
The First Daughter gestured with a nod toward Chu Yeop. And then Chu Yeop suddenly drew his sword.
Jang Hye-in leapt to his feet.
“I—I’m serious. Without Sa U-rin, we’re just empty shells, so of course it makes sense for us to stay with him.”
The corners of the First Daughter’s mouth lifted.
“Truly?”
“Yes. Absolutely true.”
The rest of the group nodded in unison, without hesitation.
“Hehehehe. A jest, only a jest. What are you all doing? Sit, sit—eat well.”
The killing intent had seemed to hang thick in the air just moments before, yet she called it mere jesting?
Still, they all shuffled awkwardly into their seats before the lavishly laden table.
Then, out of nowhere, Chu Yeop reached over and tapped Hyeong-jun on the shoulder—the one sitting beside Jang Hye-in. Hyeong-jun looked up, his eyes rising.
“What?”
Hyeong-jun realized, without quite knowing it, that he’d been dismissing Chu Yeop entirely.
“What? Why did you drop your voice like that?”
Chu Yeop’s gaze shifted suddenly, and in that instant Hyeong-jun felt it—a sensation as though something were crushing down upon him.
The feeling that he might die.
So Sa U-rin had spoken true: this man was a truly formidable master.
Both the First Daughter of the Evil Sect herself and her subordinates proved difficult to read, impossible to fully gauge.
When dealing with such people, one had to exercise caution upon caution.
“……Ah. My apologies.”
“Well then, that settles it. But if you don’t mind, could you shift over a bit? Hehehehe. I’d like to sit here, you see. Hehehehe.”
“Ah……why……ah.”
It dawned on him.
Chu Yeop had his eye on the deputy leader, Jang Hye-in.
His taste in women was……well.
Still, Hyeong-jun had never experienced such a thing himself, so it was plausible enough. He lifted his hips and slid over to the next seat, vacating the space. Chu Yeop promptly settled in beside Jang Hye-in.
He sat tight against Jang Hye-in’s side, grinning.
“Hehehehe.”
“…….”
Jang Hye-in was at a loss.
‘What is this bastard doing?’
Jang Hye-in too could see it plainly now: this fool had designs on him.
‘As if he’d have any eye for beauty.’
But now was not the time for such distractions. He elected to ignore the idiot grinning beside him and be done with it.
And so Jang Hye-in and the rest savored what felt like a final meal before death.
Yet the First Daughter spoke up at once.
“So then—who sent you here?”
Jang Hye-in was about to answer,
“That is……”
“Would you rather die? You finish eating.”
“……Yes.”
“My son—you answer.”
The First Daughter wished to speak with her son, whom she had not seen in so long.
So Sa U-rin set down the chicken leg he’d been eating, wiped his mouth, and spoke.
“The sect leader gave the order, but whether it came from the Martial Alliance Leader himself, we don’t know.”
“These damned fools.”
So they knew they’d die, yet sent them anyway?
Or was the order itself to die?
She wanted nothing more than to leap immediately toward the Murim Alliance headquarters and topple it, yet she could not.
Surely it would spiral into a great war between the Orthodox Faction and the Evil Sect, and countless lives would be lost.
Even the First Daughter of the Evil Sect did not wish for such an outcome.
“Then—what was your purpose?”
“We were told that one of the Murim Alliance branch offices was recently wiped out. We were dispatched to investigate the matter.”
“Damn those fools. Never mind. You stay here with Sa U-rin for a while. I’ll look into it myself.”
Jang Hye-in and the group brightened at her words.
She was offering to stave off the death that had been drawing near—and from the First Daughter of the Evil Sect herself, no less.
At her words, Sa U-rin opened his mouth.
“Mother.”
The First Daughter’s smile soared to the heavens. As a mother, she could do something for her son, and that filled her with joy.
And she could boast too—that her strength was at least this much.
“Don’t mention it. There’s no need for thanks……”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“……Then what?”
“Please don’t do this.”
“No? Why not?”
It wasn’t just Jang Hye-in who wanted to press further—it was the attendants too.
No!
He wanted to hurl the chicken leg in his hand, the wine cup, the bottle on the table—all of it at Sa U-rin’s head!
She was offering to save him!
To save her precious son’s life!
Why was he refusing? Why was he acting like this?
“Mother, you know as well as I do that some things cannot be avoided, no matter how hard we try.”
The First Daughter of the Evil Sect’s eyebrows twitched violently, the corners of her eyes blazing toward the heavens, her skin flushing red and purple as if an earthquake were trembling across her face.
If it were anyone but the child she had carried in her womb for ten long months, she could tear them limb from limb until they obeyed—but she could not, and so her insides only roiled and churned.
For this reason, Chu Yeop, the fool who served her as lord, quietly slipped away from Jang Hye-in’s side, gauging the situation.
One never knew where the sparks would fly.
Even a fool like Chu Yeop understood that his lord’s temperament was volatile.
And were these ordinary sparks?
These were sparks flung by none other than the First Daughter of the Evil Sect herself—sparks with enough force to kill an ordinary martial artist who happened to catch them.
Just as expected.
Thrumm-thrumm-thrumm-thrumm.
The surrounding qi churned violently, and even the lavishly prepared feast could not withstand the roiling energy emanating from the First Daughter, bouncing and jumping on the table.
“Mother.”
It was a plea to calm herself.
“My son!”
Why would he not speak sweetly to her?
“Mother.”
His eyes showed perfect understanding of her heart. But time that flows, rivers, clouds—none of these can be stopped.
“You are my son!”
Though I could not raise you with all the care I wished, though I could not always hold you close, I am still the mother who gave you life.
And Sachilgang, whom I loved, has he not already died? Now my own son is walking toward death, and I am losing my mind over it.
“Mother, do you know something?”
Certainly, if he spoke what was on his mind now, it would only pour fuel on her anger—yet because she was his mother, because she had been his father’s wife, he believed she needed to know.
“Whatever it is, my resolve does not change! No matter what you say to me, I will do what I have decided to do!”
The First Daughter had lived her life that way—acting on her desires. There were countless times she had failed to achieve her goals, and she had lost much because of it. Yet she had also gained.
And was this not why she stood here now?
All of it had accumulated, layer upon layer.
To reach the position of First Daughter of the Evil Sect.
With that, the First Daughter pushed back from her seat.
At that, Chu Yeop, who had been watching and retreated to safety, moved toward Sa U-rin. And dozens of skilled practitioners who had been hiding somewhere emerged.
She intended to bind him to this estate by force if necessary. Or rather, the plan was already set, and she would execute it as she had done before.
It was not a matter of right or wrong.
It was a matter of whether her only son lived or died—there was no reason to hesitate.
“Even so, please hear me out.”
“I’ll listen later. What are you doing?! Yeop!”
Chu Yeop nodded. Then he began to move. But at that moment.
Shing.
Sa U-rin drew his blade. It was not the Hwalyong Sword. It was the Inherited Sword from Father that he drew.
Once Sa U-rin had drawn his blade, Chu Yeop could not move further. It was an action no one had anticipated.
Neither had the First Daughter.
“……Do you have a death wish?”
The quality of those words was different from how she usually spoke them.
“Please hear what I have to say first.”
“What are you doing before your mother?!”
“If you truly think of me as your son, then hear my thoughts as well.”
“It is precisely because I think of you as my son that I do this!”
“If you hear me out, your mind may change. So please, listen. If your thoughts do not change even after you hear me, then I will……obey.”
He could never truly cross blades with his mother. And besides, the answer was already decided.
“……Very well.”
And so Sa U-rin spoke.
“Do you know Jang Gae, the regional commander of Gaebang in Hunan Province?”
The First Daughter of the Evil Sect was sulking at her son, her speech turned sharp and clipped as a result.
“I have no connection with beggars and their ilk.”
“That man had deep ties with Father, from what I gather.”
“……And what of it?”
“I’m not certain, but he told me—Father’s condition, the way his arm became what it is now, it wasn’t the work of the current Heavenly Demon. It was the current Martial Alliance Leader.”
At her son’s words, which she found hard to believe, the First Daughter’s brow furrowed sharply.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————