I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 77

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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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Needlessly Entering the Martial Alliance — Episode 77
Knock, knock, knock.
Jang Hye-in, having arrived safely at the Martial Alliance, rapped on the door of the Patrol Squad Commander’s office to make his report.
“Come in.”
So Jang Hye-in pushed open the door with a light smile and stepped into the commander’s office.
In that instant, the eyes of Patrol Squad Commander Gwak Chun went wide as saucers. Then he pointed a trembling finger at Jang Hye-in.
“……, you……, what, what…….”
Crash!
The commander was so startled that he toppled backward in his chair and hit the floor hard.
A suppressed laugh escaped.
Jang Hye-in barely managed to contain his laughter, though a few bursts of it leaked through despite his best effort.
Gwak Chun, undignified sprawled on the floor, sprang to his feet in a single motion.
His eyes were still wide as saucers.
“……you, how did you…….”
Jang Hye-in spoke without erasing the smile from his lips.
“Did it look as though you’d seen a ghost, sir?”
For a moment, Gwak Chun had genuinely believed that what appeared before his eyes was a specter.
Patrol Squad Commander Gwak Chun.
He’d thought Jang Hye-in was dead.
Hadn’t he been sent off toward death?
Once you set foot on the Path to the Underworld, the afterlife awaited you inevitably.
So of course…….
“……yes, yes. You’re not a, a ghost……right?”
“Do I appear to be a ghost, sir?”
“……I, I’m not sure.”
Whether what stood before him was truly a man or a phantom.
So Jang Hye-in spoke.
“I am Vice-Commander Jang Hye-in of the Biryong Squad, Martial Alliance Patrol Division. Is that satisfactory?”
“……really, truly?”
“How else could I be?”
A long breath escaped him.
Damn, that really frightened him.
He was a man, so it couldn’t be, but if he’d been with child, the shock would surely have caused a miscarriage.
Patrol Squad Commander Gwak Chun finally steadied himself, righted his chair, and settled back into his seat.
Even then, still unnerved, he examined Jang Hye-in’s face once more in detail.
“……how did you come back alive?”
“My returning alive hasn’t caused you any displeasure, I trust, sir?”
He was asking, in effect, whether Jang Hye-in had somehow made a pact with the Invisible Hand.
“No, no, don’t say such frightening things. In any case, congratulations. I mean that sincerely.”
Jang Hye-in bowed his head in acknowledgment.
“Thank you, sir.”
“But truly, how did you manage to come back alive?”
Even seeing him with his own eyes, he couldn’t believe it. Everyone had thought they would never return.
“There were difficulties, but fortunately I’ve returned alive.”
“Yes, but how did you overcome those difficulties? Or rather, how severe were they?”
“Truthfully, there was little to speak of. Apart from eliminating the Blood Friendship Sect—a mid-level organization—there were no significant hardships worth mentioning.”
Since he couldn’t reveal everything, Jang Hye-in reported exactly as he and Sa U-rin and the others had agreed to say.
Yet still.
“……Is that truly so? Is that the truth?”
Patrol Squad Commander Gwak Chun couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing from Jang Hye-in’s own mouth.
With merely ten men, he’d destroyed an entire mid-level sect and returned?
And yet, oddly, Jang Hye-in’s words rang true.
Strangely enough.
Because the Invisible Hand had made its move, anyone could imagine that some threat of that magnitude had existed.
Truly, the simple fact that they’d returned alive was an extraordinary feat. From Patrol Squad Commander Gwak Chun’s perspective.
“That is correct, sir.”
“You’ve worked hard. Go rest now. Take several days to recover fully.”
“Thank you, sir.”
With that, Jang Hye-in finished his carefully edited report and returned to his quarters. But Gwak Chun, remaining alone in the commander’s office, still couldn’t quite believe that they’d come back alive, his expression dazed and vacant.
“……how…….”
didn’t you hear?
They came back after destroying an entire Mid-Level Sect.
And yet Patrol Squad Leader Gwak Chun shook his head.
“……This isn’t the end of it.”
He didn’t want to think that way, but he couldn’t help himself.
The Invisible Hand wouldn’t simply leave them alone.
“Tsk, tsk. What a waste of talented people.”
* * *
Military Strategist Jegal Su-yeon met with Jang Hye-in and the rest of the team upon their return, then withdrew to the war room with Bi-ryeong.
The strategist’s nephew Jegal I-su, who had followed behind, caught sight of Sa U-rin attached to Dok-hwa’s side and, his mood souring instantly, made straight for his quarters.
Strategist Su-yeon turned to Bi-ryeong and opened her mouth.
“Doesn’t something feel off to you?”
Jang Hye-in, Sa U-rin, and all the team members seemed to be hiding something from her. So she was asking Bi-ryeong to confirm her suspicion.
“You think they’re concealing something?”
“Yeah. You didn’t sense it?”
“Actually, I did feel something…….”
“Felt what?”
“Their account seemed airtight. And those people all appear to have reached Peak Mastery. Well, all except one.”
“……What? They’ve all reached Peak Mastery? Really?”
In truth, Bi-ryeong had been shocked at first. She’d had to doubt her own eyes.
Jang Hye-in was naturally a Master of that caliber. He held a position befitting such rank, after all.
But his subordinates were another matter entirely.
All of the subordinates under a Squad Leader were Peak Mastery practitioners?
This was no trivial thing.
It meant his subordinates alone could substitute for a hundred soldiers under a Squad Leader’s command.
Looking at all the Murim Alliance Squad Leaders, there wasn’t a single one who commanded subordinates of this caliber.
Strategist Su-yeon, having not sensed such qualities in Jang Hye-in’s subordinates, found his account all the more suspicious.
“Yes, I’m certain. That’s how they made it out alive. With that much martial power, crushing a single Mid-Level Sect hardly posed a real challenge.”
Though it wasn’t exactly easy either.
“Ah……I see. But who’s the one you mentioned?”
“The youngest of the group.”
“Oh? You haven’t heard the rumors?”
“What rumors?”
“That child’s nickname is the Jade-Faced Dragon. Dragon, you hear? Dragon.”
Bi-ryeong let out a hollow laugh.
“Hah. Dragon my foot. Everyone and their grandmother gets a fancy epithet these days.”
“Now, now, that’s problematic. The Chief of our Information Squad, who deals in intelligence, shouldn’t be letting such things slip past.”
To be frank, the Information Squad didn’t so much deal in intelligence as use it to carry out missions.
The Information Hall was where intelligence was handled.
“……What on earth are you talking about?”
“That child killed the Squad 47 leader.”
Hadn’t the Military Strategist guided it to happen exactly that way?
“……What? That was him?”
“Ah, I suppose I never mentioned it. Even so, how could you not know something like that?”
“It wasn’t a public duel……. I see.”
“You see what?”
“When I looked into that boy’s eyes……, even thinking back on it now, my skin crawls.”
For a moment, it felt as though she were being sucked into some vast darkness.
“You felt that? To that degree?”
“I don’t know. Why I felt that from that child. On the surface he looks like just a third-rate martial artist. But then again, if he were truly third-rate, he wouldn’t be able to stand at that person’s side. The more I think about it, the stranger it all seems.”
“Su-yeon. Can you trust them?”
“It’s not a matter of trust.”
“Then what?”
“It’s a matter of what I hope for.”
She hoped that Jang Hye-in and his team would become the catalyst to awaken the warriors of the Murim Alliance.
More than that, she harbored the wish that they would become the spark to ignite a fresh wind across the Gangho.
“Ah. I see. Then you’re already halfway to success?”
“They say the beginning is half the battle. Perhaps it will be.”
“But why does your face look so dark?”
The Military Strategist’s expression was anything but bright.
“Something keeps nagging at me. It’s there, but I can’t put my finger on what it is. That’s what frustrates me.”
Bi-ryeong had no idea what to say to Su-yeon at moments like this.
“……What can I do for you?”
She wanted to do anything for her. If she could, she’d have laid the entire Gangho at her feet.
Though of course, that was impossible.
“That boy, Sa U-rin—there’s definitely something about him.”
She could see plainly how Jang Hye-in and all the squad members placed absolute trust in their youngest, Sa U-rin.
To her own eyes, it wasn’t so obvious. But Bi-ryeong trusted Jegal Su-yeon’s instincts implicitly.
“So? What should I do?”
“I need to assign someone to watch over that boy.”
“……Someone?”
“Yes. You can manage that, can’t you?”
“That much? If you want it.”
She could have thrown away her own life.
A thing like this was nothing.
So Bi-ryeong assigned someone to Sa U-rin as Su-yeon wished.
* * *
Jang Hye-in and his squad were drawing far more attention within the Martial Alliance than they had before leaving it.
Rather—
Whereas before their interest had been purely focused on Sa U-rin’s appearance, now they were also drawing attention from countless others for the simple fact that they had returned alive from Gui Province Fortress.
“It’s distracting. I can’t train properly.”
“Why not? I’m pleased.”
“So am I.”
“When else will we ever get this kind of attention?”
“Right?”
So Jang Hye-in spoke up.
“Enjoy it while it lasts. How long do you think this will hold?”
“True. It won’t be long.”
“Right.”
“But for Sa U-rin, it seems like it’ll go on for quite a while?”
“……Well, that won’t change, will it?”
Unless Sa U-rin’s face became disfigured or scarred beyond repair.
Sa U-rin himself spoke up then.
“But it feels like someone’s been watching us constantly.”
Jang Hye-in and the others were at a loss for words.
“……Can’t you see? Even though everyone’s looking?”
Weren’t all these people staring at them right now?
“No, not them. Among them, there’s one person watching us carefully in secret.”
“……Really?”
“Yes.”
“As expected.”
“Right?”
He had anticipated that Jegal would suspect them and make his move.
“I’m not sure. Or perhaps the Invisible Hand again.”
“Well, that could be it too.”
“Don’t worry about it. Just accept it now. It just means we’ve become that famous.”
So Sa U-rin let the matter go for the moment.
Seven days passed, and Sa U-rin set out alone on the road. He was heading to his mother, who was staying at a manor near the Iron River Inn.
But……
Throughout those seven days, the person who had been watching Jang Hye-in and the squad members carefully had actually been tailing Sa U-rin.
“Me?”
It occurred to him that they weren’t watching all of Jang Hye-in and the squad—they were watching him alone.
There was no other way they could have kept following just him.
Still, Sa U-rin didn’t slow his pace. If he decided to lose them, he could do so whenever he wished, so he meant only to observe the situation for now.
After half an hour had passed.
Sa U-rin burst into maximum speed to shake off the shadow-like presence behind him—or rather, the woman.
And then—
“……What……?”
No……, so sudden……?
“Damn. I’ve been caught.”
It was exactly as she’d thought.
Jeong Hye, who had been tracking Sa U-rin, realized her pursuit had been discovered.
But then…….
“……How is he this fast?”
A dragon, they’d said……, truly extraordinary……no, more than that.
He surpassed her expectations.
And then.
Without warning, something appeared before her eyes.
“……?”
Sa U-rin, who had vanished in an instant, now stood before her.
Sa U-rin, materializing directly in front of her, opened his mouth just inches from her face.
Her heart hammered involuntarily.
“Why are you following me?”
“……No……, it’s…….”
In that moment, Jeong Hye saw nothing but his face.
“Don’t tell me you’re doing this because you want to get to know me better?”
“……?”
‘……What is this guy?’
Was he a pathological flirt?
True, she supposed it made sense enough—plenty of women seemed to fancy him, so he might assume the same of all of them.
Though…….
‘……He really is beautiful…….’
Even so, there were limits.
It seemed presumptuous to assume every woman who crossed his path would fall for him.
“I see it’s not the case.”
‘……If I said yes, would he actually agree to meet with me?’
The likelihood was nearly impossible.
A thin smile curved his lips.
“Then someone put you up to this?”
“……If I tell you that, my position becomes difficult.”
“Isn’t it already difficult enough now that I’ve caught you?”
“……Well, there are circumstances beyond anyone’s control, after all.”
The world rarely bent to one’s will.
“That’s true enough. Would you relay something to your commander?”
“……No…….”
She should have denied it strongly—not a commander, absolutely not—but…….
Sa U-rin continued speaking without waiting for her response.
“Tell him not to harbor doubts about me. Tell him that if he continues like this, someone will get hurt.”
“…….”
‘……Hurt? Who? The commander?’
……This was insane.
“I understand. Be careful on your way back tonight.”
“……Yes.”
And so Sa U-rin vanished at extraordinary speed……no, ghost-like speed.
“Wow. He really is like a ghost.”
Not just because of his speed, though.
No, he was certainly fast as a ghost.
Perhaps even faster than one…….
Or maybe not.
In any case.
Throughout the Martial Alliance, everyone spoke of Jang Hye-in and his men as ghosts who had returned alive from the Path to the Underworld.
And indeed, he seemed truly spectral.
But still.
“How did he……possibly know the commander sent me?”
The question lingered with Jeong Hye.
And.
Most importantly.
“……He really……is beautiful.”
No, “beautiful” hardly seemed adequate.
Seeing him this close made the truth of it all the more undeniable.
Enough to want to rebel against it all.
Enough to want to abandon everything and spend a lifetime together.

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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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