I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 79

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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 Murim Alliance — Episode 079
……Mother?
Mother, that word…….
Wasn’t it the term one used for the person who had given birth to them?
If there had been no such thing as a mother, then the word “I” could not exist either——that kind of being was precisely…….
A mother.
Which meant…….
‘……That guy……, the son of the Witch Jang Ryeo?’
The Witch was someone’s mother?
Bi-ryeong had no such information in his mind.
Difficult.
He’d never imagined the word “mother” could feel so overwhelming…….
Bi-ryeong had not prepared himself for this.
Sa U-rin approached.
“Mother, you cannot kill him.”
“Why not?”
“He belongs to the Strategist.”
“So because he belongs to the Strategist, I cannot kill him? Rather, I should kill him? Son, your words sound like sophistry to me. Am I the only one who hears it that way?”
Had not the Strategist sent someone to shadow her own son? So from Jang Ryeo’s perspective, naturally he should have been eliminated.
“The Strategist is merely curious about me, that is all.”
Even though the situation made no sense to him, Bi-ryeong nodded at Sa U-rin’s words like a madman.
He had to survive first.
Besides, what Sa U-rin said was true.
So Jang Ryeo opened her mouth to him.
“You little bastard. You twitch that head of yours once more and I’ll sever it from your neck.”
…….
Was she not truly capable of such a thing?
No, she was more than capable.
That was why she was called the Witch.
And so Bi-ryeong’s body had frozen solid as ice.
Jang Ryeo turned back to her son.
“If you’re curious, you ask. Why send someone to shadow a person? I don’t like that sort of thing, son.”
“Not everyone in Kangho can conform to your wishes.”
“Of course not. So as long as they stay out of my sight, it’s fine. But he’s caught my eye now, hasn’t he? And the one who shadowed my own son at that. Then naturally he must die. Later I’ll have to kill that Strategist woman too.”
Bi-ryeong’s eyes widened. He wanted to shake his head desperately, pleading that at least Su-yeon not be killed.
But…….
He recalled Jang Ryeo’s words from moments before and couldn’t bring himself to shake his head. Perhaps U-rin might persuade her and save his own life.
Sa U-rin sensed that his mother would not bend her will. So he resolved to deploy his ultimate trump card——one he could use as a son.
His killing move as a son.
Sa U-rin approached Jang Ryeo tenderly. Then he stretched out his arms and gently wrapped them around her shoulders in a warm embrace.
“Mother.”
Sa U-rin looked down into Jang Ryeo’s eyes with gentle persistence.
“……My son?”
“Just this once, could you not honor my wish?”
“No…….”
She didn’t know whom he resembled, but every time the boy insisted on having his way, what was the point of…….
“Mother?”
“……What?”
Why was he being so irritating about it.
Irritating, yet something warm was drawing near.
Similar to but different from the fierce love of Sa Cheol-gang from long ago.
It was her son’s warm affection.
It was love, it was coquetry.
Though he was a grown man, to Jang Ryeo’s eyes he would always feel like a child——her son.
Then Sa U-rin gently led his mother back toward the Jang Estate.
Jang Ryeo, pulled along by a force she could not resist, followed him.
……Phew.
Bi-ryeong exhaled a great sigh of relief at having weathered the storm.
Moments later, Sa U-rin emerged outside again.
“Yeop, you should come in as well.”
“Yes, sir.”
A bow.
“……?”
A man whom Bi-ryeong sensed to be a master superior to himself was bowing in respect to this friend called Sa U-rin?
Ah.
That man was the witch’s subordinate, and so……, it made sense now…….
As Bi-ryeong’s composure returned, his mind finally began to function again.
‘And so……, the Jang Family……?’
Was this Sa U-rin’s backing?
It seemed likely enough. The Jang Family might as well belong to Jang Ryeo—though the Head of the Jang Family officially existed, but what use was a head who held no real power?
A figurehead, nothing more.
And further still.
‘……Could it be…….’
The entire Evil Sect……?
If that were true……?
He knew, of course, that the witch Jang Ryeo involved herself not at all in the Sect’s affairs. But if the Evil Sect’s supreme master decided she wanted something, what would stand in her way?
The thought seemed excessive, yet it didn’t appear impossible at all.
“My lord?”
Sa U-rin called out to Bi-ryeong.
“……Ah. Yes, yes. Thank you for sparing me.”
Gratitude was gratitude, after all.
“I’m certain my subordinates already warned you of this beforehand?”
“……Yes, they did. But consider this from another angle. From the Commander’s perspective, he had no choice but to act as he did. You were merely a foot soldier of the Murim Alliance, were you not? Would it not be stranger for a commander to sit idle after hearing a warning from some common soldier?”
“That’s true enough. Still, it’s unfortunate. It was something that could have been resolved with simple trust.”
“……It could have been.”
But was such a thing truly so simple?
For those who lived in Gangho.
Especially for someone like Su-yeon, who sat in a commander’s seat where suspicion had to be piled upon suspicion, and verification upon verification.
“My lord. Please listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”
“……Very well. Speak.”
The situation stung Bi-ryeong’s pride a little, but the circumstance was what it was.
“I intend to transform the Invisible Hand from something unseen into something visible.”
“What do you……no, how…….”
In truth, he’d never considered such a thing, and it seemed to him nearly impossible.
“It will certainly be difficult. But I will endeavor to do so. Of course, I don’t yet know how to make them reveal themselves. But I will try. So please convey this resolve to the Commander Je-gal. And should my mother’s existence ever be denied, should someone be told that my mother is here……. Can you imagine what would happen?”
She would kill them.
She would certainly do so.
The Evil Sect’s supreme master, the witch Jang Ryeo.
“……Yes. I understand.”
“Then, do take your leave. And one more thing. You’re now certain this will never happen again, aren’t you?”
More than certain.
“……You may trust in it.”
“Then I shall go.”
Sa U-rin bowed in parting and turned toward the Jang Estate, where his mother dwelt.
“Phew.”
Bi-ryeong exhaled a long, shaky breath of relief.
“How could……this be…….”
He’d seen it with his own eyes and verified it himself.
Yet it still felt like a dream.
“The lady being……that man’s mother…….”
What an absurd thing this was.
“Ah!”
Now that he thought about it, the resemblance was unmistakable.
“Ha ha.”
Laughter escaped unbidden.
And his head shook back and forth of its own accord.
As for the other matter.
“Su-yeon…….”
He wondered whether Su-yeon would believe this. Even Bi-ryeong himself, who had witnessed it directly, was still reeling.
A moment ago he’d been looking right at it and still couldn’t believe it. It had seemed like a performance, like complete madness.
Still.
“I need to tell him, don’t I?”
Yes. I have to.
To keep from watching Jang Ryeo transform into a witch.
* * *
Bi-ryeong entered the Military Command Room where Su-yeon was stationed.
Su-yeon’s eyes widened in bewilderment. Something about Bi-ryeong’s bearing looked wrong.
He was always bright, had never failed to smile in Su-yeon’s presence—but now he looked nothing like his usual self.
His shoulders sagged.
Shadow draped across his face.
In short, he wore the expression of someone crushed beneath worry and dread.
“…Bi-ryeong… you didn’t? Tell me you didn’t?”
He was asking whether Sa U-rin had failed to follow that boy.
Impossible as it seemed, Su-yeon had to ask—Bi-ryeong’s expression said otherwise.
“Fail at what?”
“…You didn’t lose the boy?”
“…No.”
They’d been discovered, but he hadn’t lost the trail—so he said no.
Though in truth, he’d begun to think losing the boy might’ve been a hundred times better.
“Right? Then why do you look like that? Unless… don’t tell me…”
“Don’t tell you what?”
A sudden fear struck him—what if he’d been forced to fight the boy and dealt him a serious wound?
“You fought him? Is he badly hurt?”
“…No. You’re imagining the strangest things.”
“Thank heavens. Then what is it? What’s going on?”
“…It’s just… well, you see…”
“Bi-ryeong!”
Su-yeon fixed him with a fox-like stare.
“Why are you being like this today? Come on—just spit it out, whatever it is.”
“…I will.”
“For real?”
“Yes. But.”
“But what?”
“You have to trust me absolutely. Understand?”
“When have I ever not trusted you? Never.”
“…That’s true.”
Still, this story exceeded imagination entirely.
“The truth is, I found out later that I was spotted while following him.”
Su-yeon’s eyes went wide.
“…What? You were spotted? That doesn’t make sense.”
It doesn’t.
And yet such a thing had come to pass.
And.
Already Su-yeon was looking at him with such disbelief; what reaction would greet the rest of what he had to tell?
“…It happened.”
“But… it happened?”
“It happened, so let’s just move past it.”
No matter how he thought about it, his pride stung.
“Fine. So you failed, then?”
“…I failed, but I obtained extraordinary information.”
“You failed but obtained extraordinary information?”
Was such a thing possible?
“Yes.”
“How?”
“It just happened.”
“…Bi-ryeong?”
“Listen to what I have to say, and you’ll understand why I’m like this.”
“…All right. Go on.”
“There… I saw the witch. Jang Ryeo.”
Su-yeon’s eyes grew wide as saucers.
“……Wait? Really? You’re serious?”
“Yes.”
“Yes. Well, that explains a bit why a witch would appear in Sacheon Province. But…….”
Su-yeon suddenly looked Bi-ryeong up and down, his eyes sweeping across him thoroughly.
“……Why are you looking at me like that?”
Oddly.
“I just mean—you met the witch Jang Ryeo, but you look perfectly fine.”
It made no sense that a witch would simply let a Murim Alliance member walk away unscathed.
“You’re certain you actually met the witch?”
“Yes.”
“……Then that means the witch and Sa U-rin—that child—are connected somehow?”
This still didn’t sit right with him.
There was no logical connection whatsoever.
“Can you explain this more clearly?”
“The witch and Sa U-rin are that child’s mother and father.”
“……What?”
For a moment, Su-yeon thought he’d misheard.
“……Mother and father? The witch and Sa U-rin are that child’s……?”
“Yes.”
Su-yeon’s mind went blank for an instant. But who was Su-yeon, anyway?
He was the military strategist of the Murim Alliance, the one who took pride in being its brain.
Sure enough, the shock lasted only a moment.
Then Su-yeon let out a soft chuckle.
“Bi-ryeong.”
“……Yes?”
“Even you make mistakes sometimes. I understand. You were caught off guard by the witch, naturally. Yes, I understand perfectly. Still, now that we’ve confirmed Sa U-rin and that child are connected to the witch, we’ve gained something substantial. But this only raises bigger questions. How did those two even become connected in the first place? And what doesn’t make sense is that a witch would meet with a mere soldier of the Murim Alliance like that…….”
Su-yeon tilted his head, lost in questions.
At that, a sigh escaped from Bi-ryeong’s lips.
“Sigh.”
He’d known this would happen.
No—it was turning out worse than he’d anticipated.
Su-yeon wasn’t just refusing to believe; he was already concluding that Bi-ryeong had been deceived entirely.
Bi-ryeong’s head was beginning to throb at the thought of how to make him believe any of this.

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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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