I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 66

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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 foolish to join the Murim Alliance for no reason — Episode 66
Lightning flickered in Jang Ryeo’s clear, piercing eyes. Her lids trembled with it, and the confusion rippled outward to everything around her.
If her son’s words were true — truly, genuinely true……
‘Then……’
What did that make Jang Ryeo herself, who had gone alone to find the Demonic Cult twenty years ago and raised such hell?
Nothing but a madwoman, wasn’t she?
Of course, because of that madness, she had reunited with Sa Cheol-gang, whom she loved, and lived happy days with him. And now she had a son — one so precious that even pressing him against her eyes wouldn’t hurt enough. Wasn’t that a blessing?
In a sense, it had turned out well.
But……, twenty years. An entire twenty years.
Why hadn’t Sa Cheol-gang told her this? Then again, Jang Ryeo had never asked him either. They were too drunk on the happiness of being together, too willing to throw aside such questions without a second thought.
And yet, this sense of injustice could not be shaken.
Sa Cheol-gang’s arm had been crippled not by the current Heavenly Demon, but by the Murim Alliance Lord — someone close enough to reach whenever one wished, if only one had the will.
Of course, even if she found the will, he was not an opponent she could simply deal with.
Still.
“……Is it true?”
“Yes.”
“My Alliance Lord, this bastard…….”
She couldn’t simply beat him to death. He was still the Lord of the Murim Alliance, after all. She might die before she even got near him.
“But that’s not all.”
“……What else is there?”
“Yes. The reason Father’s arm became that way is the same reason as mine.”
“The same reason as you……, what do you mean?”
There shouldn’t be any reason that connected them like that.
“Father also personally dealt with the Human Trafficking Ring at that time.”
“……Sa Cheol-gang did?”
Well.
That was just the sort of man he was.
But still, this made no sense.
“……But Sa Cheol-gang survived, didn’t he?”
“According to Chong Ta-ju, the Demon Slaying Brigade members intervened at the time, and it ended with the loss of an arm.”
“So in the end, it was still that bastard the Murim Alliance Lord who destroyed your father Sa Cheol-gang’s arm. I should just…….”
“No, Mother.”
“……No?”
“What I wished to tell you is that Father became that way because of those called the Invisible Hand, and I too have fallen into this situation for the same reason.”
“So what you’re saying is, rather than venting your anger on the Murim Alliance Lord, you should find this invisible hand and vent it on them instead?”
“No.”
“……Then what?”
“I must have Father’s revenge.”
“Revenge, you say?”
“Yes.”
Jang Ryeo found herself at a loss for words.
The fury that had been churning in her chest, the rage that seemed ready to explode — it cooled in an instant.
“Son.”
“Yes?”
“My son isn’t foolish enough to say something like that, is he?”
“……That’s right.”
Sa U-rin was intelligent — very intelligent. He had never kept company with foolishness. Or so he believed about himself.
“So why is our son saying such things?”
“……Why?”
“Have you never wondered why people speak of the Invisible Hand at all?”
“I have.”
“……Confident, aren’t you. Which is good, but…….”
It wasn’t confidence so much as shamelessness — he must have inherited it from someone. Even Jang Hye-in and the brigade members had figured that out by now.
That’s why they sometimes found Sa U-rin unbearable. Jang Hye-in, though, did not.
“Son.”
“Yes.”
“They are called the Invisible Hand precisely because they truly cannot be seen. Of course, they must exist somewhere. But they exist yet remain invisible. So they cannot be found. How, then, do you propose to have revenge on those who cannot be found?”
“As you say, Mother, they do exist somewhere. So they must be drawn out into the open where eyes can see them.”
“……By what means?”
“If I, the Brigade Lord, and my seniors all survive and do not die, perhaps one day they too will have no choice but to reveal themselves, won’t they?”
The Head of the Evil Sect let out an involuntary sigh, exasperated beyond measure. Then she turned her gaze toward Jang Hye-in and spoke again to her unyielding son.
“What crime did they commit?”
“……Crime?”
In that moment, her handsome, impressive son looked utterly foolish. And she felt as though her insides might burst.
Even Sa Cheol-gang, stubborn as he was, had never been blocked to this degree. No—this wasn’t a matter of being blocked or not. It was as though the boy possessed an entirely different set of principles altogether.
“……Who in heaven did he take after?”
Surely she’d carried him in her own womb, yet didn’t it seem as though a completely different person’s child had been born?
“Naturally, he must take after either Father or Mother.”
“Sigh. So you’re determined to have your revenge after all?”
“The situation has already unfolded this way, has it not?”
“It hasn’t unfolded—you’ve unfolded it.”
“……Either way.”
What could she do about it?
Her precious son insisted on it. And true, the game was already set in motion; they had to find some way out of this swamp of death.
And as her son said, if they simply remained here, there was no chance the Invisible Hand would simply let them be.
She couldn’t stay in this place forever, and she couldn’t spend the rest of her life trailing after a grown son.
And he didn’t seem like the type to accept that anyway.
“Fine. Then I myself shall——”
“That won’t do.”
Jang Ryeo’s anger, which had briefly subsided, erupted anew.
“……You! You absolute brat! This won’t work, that won’t work—then what exactly am I supposed to do?! What?! Just sit here and watch you die?! That’s what you’re telling me?! Is that what you think makes sense?! My god, this boy of mine!”
“……If Mother reveals herself, Mother will also be placed in danger.”
Sa U-rin was, in his own way, concerned for his mother.
“Danger? Danger?! Are you truly my son? Are you?! Why are you this stupid? Yeop! The sword!”
Chu Yeop stammered in sudden alarm.
“……The, the sword?”
“Yes, boy. Quickly!”
“No……, the sword is……why……?”
“Do you want to die? Shall we test it? My blood’s been itching for action anyway—shall I taste blood today?”
“N-no, of course not.”
Chu Yeop, the neighborhood simpleton, hastily thrust his lord’s blade into her hands.
“You fool! You hand me a sword like that?! Are you actually giving me a sword so I can kill my own son?! What?!”
“……No……, I meant to give you the……”
“The sheath, you idiot! The sheath! Think! Use your head!”
“Ah, yes, my lady.”
Chu Yeop drew the blade and handed her the sheath. Jang Ryeo, gripping the sheath in her hand, turned toward her son and spoke.
“Follow me.”
“……Mother?”
“What? You lack confidence?”
“No……, that’s not it……”
“That’s not what?! In Kangho, strength is everything! Understand me? Do you?”
“……Yes, Mother.”
How could he not understand?
“No, I don’t think my son understands at all. So I’ll show him myself.”
What strength truly means.
Where his current position stands in Kangho.
“……Mother, how could I ever fight against you……?”
“You couldn’t win, could you?”
“……No.”
Of course not.
Sa U-rin’s mother was the Head of the Evil Sect.
“You can’t even handle me, one person—yet you talk of standing against them?! Not even you alone, but all of you together?!”
“Yet if Mother reveals herself……, if something goes wrong because of me……, I could not bear the guilt even in the afterlife. So please……”
A sigh escaped Jang Ryeo’s lips, cooling the heat that had been roiling there.
“Sigh. My son.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“This is why you’re still so young.”
“Young, you say……”
Without listening further to her son, Jang Ryeo turned directly to Jang Hye-in and spoke.
“You. You’re a woman with considerable experience—so why didn’t you teach him any of this? What were you doing?”
Jang Hye-in swallowed hard, his throat suddenly dry.
“……No, what…….”
Jang Ryeo shook her head slowly.
“Well. When birds of a feather flock together, you get this kind of nonsense. Tch.”
What could he say to that? He simply held his tongue.
“…….”
“Son.”
“……Yes, Mother.”
“Do you think someone of my standing would leave a trail wherever I go? Hmm?”
“The Invisible Hand watches what it wishes to see…….”
“Son. No matter how many eyes they have, they cannot monitor all of Kangho every single day. And who am I, exactly? Hmm?”
“Of course that’s…….”
There was no need to belabor the point.
“Precisely. The fact that someone knows of my movements reflects my own intention. In other words—if I wish to remain hidden, I remain hidden. Don’t you see it in how our dealings have never spread through Kangho? Don’t you, my son?”
“……Ah!”
Now that he thought about it…….
He realized that the subordinates surrounding his mother emanated the Assassin’s Aura.
They were surely the ones who erased all trace of her movements as she traveled.
Jang Hye-in, listening all this while, suddenly understood. His men felt it too.
No—not understood. They had simply never known. How could those who had never glimpsed the world of Absolute Masters possibly understand?
“Now do you see, son?”
“Then Mother can aid us without revealing your existence. But that raises one question.”
“Speak.”
“If you appeared when we were in danger……wouldn’t they be able to detect you then?”
“Is our son being particularly slow-witted today?”
“……Mother?”
“Listen. That fool over there.”
Jang Ryeo gestured toward the village idiot.
“Ah. I see.”
“With him in Kangho, most problems solve themselves. And then there are these ones.”
She meant Chu Yeop and the assassins who radiated the Assassin’s Aura. They were all skilled practitioners, every one of them.
Their combined strength was sufficient to rival a small to mid-tier sect’s military force.
And since Chu Yeop’s martial prowess seemed to exceed even the Head of the Sacheon Dang Family, her words were far from wrong.
In short, there would be no occasion for Jang Ryeo to step in. And if such an occasion arose, that itself would be the real problem.
“I understand.”
“Satisfied now?”
“Yes, Mother. Thank you.”
“I should be thanking you, son.”
For finally breaking through that thick, stubborn will of yours.
A smile played at the corners of Jang Ryeo’s mouth. In response, Jang Hye-in and his men broke into broad grins.
‘We’re saved!’
‘This is incredible!’
‘We’re alive!’
‘As long as Sa U-rin is around, we won’t die!’
‘Right. Where was all this complaining about death before?’
‘Either way!’
It seemed they no longer needed to worry about dying. But then, suddenly, the gaze of the Evil Sect’s leader fixed upon Jang Hye-in and his men.
“……?”
The pressure of her stare never got easier to bear.
“What kind of nerve do you lot have?”
Here they were, men on death’s doorstep, sitting at ease as if they were throwing a feast of wine and meat.
“……What…….”
“Have you no concern?”
“Well, what concern would…….”
“Every one of you is an idiot. You were supposed to be dying soon, weren’t you?”
“Ah. That’s what happens when you spend time with Sa U-rin.”
“What happens? Even facing death?”
“……What can you do about it.”
In pursuit of advancement, this is what happens.
And honestly, it wasn’t so bad. He was already on the path to success, and one only dies once anyway—not twice.
On top of that, he was feeling a kind of pleasure, though he couldn’t quite name it—a thrill, almost. The fact that he could share a cup of wine with an Absolute Master.
When he thought about it, there wasn’t just one or two good things about this situation.
But then again…
Jang Hye-in himself wondered how on earth it had come to this.
Really.
“Mother.”
“Speak.”
“I’m grateful for your help, but I’d prefer you didn’t step in unless we’re truly in mortal danger.”
At Sa U-rin’s words, the brigade members clenched their teeth.
‘What? Again?’
‘If we’re going to help, wouldn’t it be better to help from the start?’
‘Why does he have to be like this?’
‘Please, just once.’
‘Let’s just make this easy.’
‘Good is good, isn’t it?’
The corner of Jang Ryeo’s mouth curved upward.
“I understand.”
Truth be told, that was her intention anyway.
Though her wish that her son not die was the same as theirs, experience in Kangho was equally important.
Yes.
The thought that she had nearly ended up cradling her fully grown son in her arms for life was horrifying.
Any other man would have been content to nestle in his mother’s protection and live safely, but couldn’t one say that Jang Ryeo’s son had truly grown into someone worthy of respect?
Though the scarred faces of the brigade members told a rather different story.
‘If only we could have seen her in that state of vulnerability,’ they thought.

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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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