I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 8

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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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Rather foolishly entering the Murim Alliance — Episode 8
Thud-thud-thud!
It wasn’t just one person. The frantic sound of multiple footsteps rushing in created such a clamor that it shook the entire Gambling House.
“Woo-chan!”
It was the sharp, ringing voice of a woman.
“Seo Woo-chan!”
The call belonged to Seo Woo-chan, a Murim Alliance Patrol Division warrior, who stood with his back against the wall, nursing a deep wound, watching Sa-urin and Ma-in’s battle with something like wonder.
Seo Woo-chan’s eyes widened.
“Ah? This is— Captain! Captain, I’m here!”
The newcomers, having quite literally smashed through the Gambling House door, revealed themselves.
One woman and seven men.
All belonged to Squad Eleven of the Murim Alliance Patrol Division — Biryongdae.
Jang Hye-in, the thirty-three-year-old captain of Squad Eleven, swept her gaze across the Gambling House.
First, her eyes caught on a man covered head to toe in blood, and a boy.
It was clear at a glance that a fight for their very lives was underway.
“…Ma-in?”
At first, she thought it might be a mistake. It was rare to encounter Ma-in in Zhongyuan under any circumstance.
O Hyung-jun, who had been following Captain Jang Hye-in, spoke up. He was five years older than the captain.
“It’s definitely Ma-in. That aura — it’s unmistakably Demonic Art.”
“You’re certain?”
Jang Hye-in, encountering the aura of Demonic Art for the first time, couldn’t be sure.
“Yes, I’m certain.”
Ma-in was a master — and one on par with Jang Hye-in herself.
Ma-in was currently wielding such tremendous force, apparently intent on Mutual Destruction, that it was easy enough to recognize.
Jang Hye-in turned her gaze toward where she’d heard Woo-chan’s voice just moments before.
Seo Woo-chan waved eagerly.
“Captain.”
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m a bit injured, but nothing fatal.”
Jang Hye-in exhaled a silent breath of relief. A month ago, they had already lost one squad member.
They still hadn’t found his body. A month of silence meant he was as good as dead.
“You’d better be prepared.”
She had been explicit — don’t act alone. Yet Seo Woo-chan had disobeyed, moving on his own, and worse, pursuing a master of the Demonic Sect.
The fact that he was alive was a blessing in itself.
Seo Woo-chan’s shoulders sagged as the moment of relief passed.
“Yes…”
Jang Hye-in fixed her gaze back on Ma-in. Then she drew her sword, and the seven squad members behind her did likewise.
“We take him alive.”
Capturing Ma-in would bring a decent Reward to Squad Eleven. Moreover, he didn’t seem like some small-time operator.
One could never be sure, though.
If this one held an important position in the Demonic Sect, he might possess considerable intelligence. If that were the case, it wouldn’t be merely a decent Reward — it could be an enormous one.
Then again, he could just as easily be some rogue who’d gotten in trouble with the Demonic Sect and fled.
“Understood.”
“I’ll handle the opponent. You keep him from escaping — surround him.”
It was an order to threaten from behind while looking for openings.
“Yes!”
Everyone obeyed their captain without hesitation.
They could all see that Ma-in was a master.
Ma-in, who had been observing the situation for a moment, finally spoke.
“This is absurd.”
Ma-in, who had drawn upon all his strength, prepared to achieve Mutual Destruction with Sa-urin, found himself drained by this sudden turn of events.
“You intend to take me alive? Do you truly believe you can?”
As captain, Jang Hye-in stepped forward to answer.
“You’re human too. You must want to live.”
For it was rare indeed to find a martial artist who would take his own life without cause.
“Hahahaha!”
Ma-in burst into loud laughter. Jang Hye-in frowned at his sudden outburst.
‘How irritating.’
It wasn’t the laughter of someone about to be captured and dragged away.
‘Maybe I should just kill him.’
No, that’s not it.
Just because the reward isn’t substantial doesn’t mean I can refuse it, can I?
It’s still a reward, after all.
“Why are you laughing? Is now the time to laugh? Or has something gone wrong with your head in this impossible situation?”
“You’re saying too many sensible things, girl.”
“Well, I always do talk sense. Still, that laugh a moment ago put me in a foul mood. I actually wanted to kill you for a second there. So be careful. If you want to live.”
“Ha ha ha!”
Ma-in burst into laughter again.
Jang Hye-in cracked her neck from side to side.
Pop-pop-pop.
“This bastard really lives up to his name—Ma-in. He’s got a gift for getting under people’s skin. Should I just kill him?”
O Hyung-jun, five years Jang Hye-in’s senior, stepped forward to stop her.
“Captain, I’d advise against that. We could have taken him alive, but if you kill him, you won’t just miss the reward—you could face censure or a formal inquiry.”
“If you just kept your mouth shut, there’d be no inquiry to worry about, would there?”
“……Are you serious?”
“I’m joking, joking. And I know, I know. It’s just that this bastard’s so good at pissing me off, I had to say it.”
“Then I’m relieved.”
Jang Hye-in turned back to Ma-in.
“You heard that? So don’t worry. You won’t die.”
“But how do we handle this?”
“Handle what?”
“I may look alive right now, but I’m as good as dead. So I can’t let you drag me off.”
Ma-in had already made peace with death. He would die—and there was no reason to let himself be hauled before the Murim Alliance just to be tortured.
“……What nonsense is this?”
“I’m telling you to drop any idea of taking me alive.”
Ma-in turned away from Jang Hye-in and slowly surveyed the Murim Alliance warriors encircling him.
“I’ve already resolved to die. That’s why I’m saying this—the moment that woman moves, I’ll throw my life at one of you.”
Ma-in continued, radiating killing intent toward the warriors surrounding him.
“Actually, two of you should be more than enough for me to take down at once. So what I’m saying is: these two here will definitely die with me. Do you understand?”
“What the……”
Jang Hye-in’s face contorted without mercy.
And.
The eyes of the warriors surrounding Ma-in went wide.
“……Damn.”
“……Shit.”
“Bastard……”
“Why did Woo-chan have to chase after this one, of all people—Ma-in.”
And they could feel it—the killing intent Ma-in was directing at them, the promise that his words were truth.
So the members of Team Eleven stepped back, one by one.
“Hey, hey! He’s just trying to scare you. Come on, it doesn’t make sense for him to commit mutual destruction with you unless he’s crazy. Does it? Huh? It’s Ma-in, Ma-in. Think about it. Think. Are you all just carrying your heads around for show? Huh!”
The team members nodded at their captain Jang Hye-in’s words.
“……That’s right.”
“Yeah. He’d have to be insane.”
“Damn, I got spooked for nothing.”
“Right?”
Ma-in laughed again—a laugh that displeased Jang Hye-in and inspired dread in her team members.
“Pu ha ha ha ha!”
Jang Hye-in cracked her neck side to side again.
Pop-pop-pop.
“This won’t do. Let’s just kill him. He’s nothing but a fool spouting nonsense. Hyung-jun, you think the same, right?”
“……Yes.”
Because if they didn’t, O Hyung-jun’s own head might end up on the ground.
“It seems my words aren’t landing. Fine then. Try if you dare. From now on, if anyone moves, one of these bastards dies.”
Truth was, Ma-in didn’t want to die like this.
Even if he had to die, it shouldn’t be together with the young one……
It was a lamentable situation, but what choice did he have?
Rather than be dragged before the Murim Alliance and tortured in countless ways, it was far more honorable to kill at least one of them here and die with dignity.
“……Damn.”
Judging by Ma-in’s momentum, it didn’t look like a bluff.
“This is infuriating, really.”
One wrong move and the team members could be seriously hurt. Or worse—killed.
Jang Hye-in tore at her own hair.
“Damn it all!”
Unable to kill Ma-in or capture him alive, Jang Hye-in felt as though she were losing her mind.
Yet she couldn’t simply let him go after finally cornering him, could she?
Of course, she hadn’t caught him herself, but still….
‘An opportunity like this won’t come around again.’
Ma-in didn’t appear in Zhongyuan every day, and even if he did, a chance to capture him without any casualties was the kind of once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that might never come at all.
“Damn it.”
Yet despite everything, she couldn’t allow another team member to suffer serious injury or death in the attempt to capture him.
“All of you—fall back behind me. I’ll handle this alone.”
“Captain?”
“Will you be alright?”
“But if something goes wrong—”
“I’m fine, you lot. Can’t you see for yourselves?”
It was obvious enough. She was covered head to toe in blood.
With no choice in the matter, the members of Team Eleven released their encirclement and withdrew behind Jang Hye-in.
Jang Hye-in spoke with bitter sarcasm.
“Well? I suppose you’ll have to face me alone now, won’t you?”
Ma-in was exasperated.
“Everything I said, did it go in one ear and out the other? I made it perfectly clear we die together.”
“But—”
He had said that.
If Ma-in truly meant to throw away his own life and die alongside her, then Jang Hye-in couldn’t guarantee her own survival either.
Yet that wasn’t what frightened Jang Hye-in.
“…Damn it.”
With things this way, a live capture was impossible. In an instant, the grand reward she’d been imagining vanished like foam.
And with it, her promotion.
Accomplishments accumulated and built upon each other, providing the stepping stone for advancement.
Wasn’t that how it worked for everyone?
Who wanted to stay in one place? Everyone clawed their way upward.
“No help for it then. So we die here.”
That was when.
“That won’t do.”
It was Sa-urin.
Jang Hye-in’s gaze shifted.
“Who—”
‘Ah.’
She’d forgotten completely.
Right. There was a young lad who looked similar to Ma-in, but her eyes had been fixed on the reward hanging over Ma-in’s head and she’d slipped her mind.
Now that she thought about it, something seemed odd.
No matter how she looked at him, wasn’t he far too young?
‘…Is he one of those baby-faced types?’
Even accounting for that, he seemed impossibly young.
“And who are you?”
Every instinct screamed at her to berate this youngster for butting in, but the situation didn’t permit it.
For a child to have reduced Ma-in to this state meant he possessed martial skill nearly on par with Jang Hye-in herself.
And more than that—
‘If he possesses that level of skill at such a young age…?’
He was certainly no ordinary boy.
He had to be a prized heir from some great family. There was no other way someone so young could reach such heights.
Only a sect with the resources to feed rare Spirit Pills to their children like daily rice, and with the Superior Ascending Technique capable of producing such strength at such a young age, could exist in Gangho. Few such sects existed.
The odds were very high that he was a direct-line descendant of one such paramount sect.
No—she was certain of it.
At the very least, he couldn’t be younger than mid-twenties. Even if he ate Spirit Pills like rice and learned the finest Superior Ascending Technique, even as a prodigy, martial arts required accumulation—it had to be built gradually.
‘But who is he? Is he from the Dang family?’
No.
‘The Dang family doesn’t have anyone of such exceptional caliber.’
Despite his ragged appearance, didn’t his presence shine through?
In any case, she had to observe minimum courtesy. The Murim Alliance’s strength derived from the famous great sects after all.
No.
It would be no exaggeration to call it theirs. Since the Murim Alliance is swayed by their power, it’s fair to say it belongs to them.
Yes, it’s an ugly reality, but that’s how things stand, and Jang Hye-in can’t change it.
The conclusion is simple: to advance, one must win their favor. So this boy before her eyes is practically equivalent to having connections to her superiors, is he not?
‘This could be…’
A chance had emerged to receive a reward greater than capturing Ma-in.
Rescuing a direct descendant of a renowned major sect from danger at Ma-in’s hands?
What more need be said?
It was no different from discovering hidden treasure buried in an underground cave.
‘What a windfall.’
Light kindled in Jang Hye-in’s eyes.

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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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