That’s Not How You Use Martial Arts

Chapter 12
Entering the Jianghu (1)

『 Translator – Divinity 』

A week had passed since the attack.

The funerals of the four deceased had long been completed, and it was time to think about what to do next.

So, I headed to Cheonpung Martial Arts School early in the morning.

Fortunately, I heard that no one was hurt after I rushed back home; Master and Merchant Leader Bang had taken care of the remaining assassins.

“So the assassin lady is alright too?”

“……”

I greeted the female assassin, who was sitting on the roof even though it was early morning, and she bowed her head silently.

She was much more professional than those Dark Heaven Squad guys.

I nodded and waved my hand dismissively before heading inside.

To my surprise, everyone was already sitting at the same table as before, as if they had been waiting for me.

“Am I too late?”

“No, you’re right on time.”

Everyone stood up as soon as they noticed my arrival.

Following Hwa-ryeon’s guidance, I sat down in the empty seat, and then they all sat down again.

They were acting as if they were welcoming someone important, but I, the person in question, felt awkward.

What was this sudden change in attitude?

“Young Master, first of all, we would like to express our gratitude and apologies. Thank you for saving us from danger a week ago, and we apologize for inadvertently putting your family in harm’s way.”

Jang, no, Ju Hwa-ryeon bowed her head politely.

Feeling a sudden chill, I immediately waved my hands dismissively.

“It’s fine. We were both attacked. I don’t blame you or anything, so don’t worry about it.”

It was sad that Nanny, Uncle Kang, Brother Jin-il, and Granny Dal had died, but I wasn’t childish enough to take it out on someone unrelated to the incident.

Master and Merchant Leader Bang looked surprised at my response.

Their surprised expressions were a bit offensive, actually.

Did they think I would throw a fit or something?

Grumbling inwardly, I reminded myself of the purpose of my visit.

“I came here this morning because I wanted to hear the rest of your story, which I couldn’t because of the sudden attack. After all, it’s not someone else’s problem anymore.”

“…Yes.”

Hwa-ryeon nodded heavily and continued the story she couldn’t finish before.

“I already told you that there are many members of the Imperial Family in the leadership of Paecheon Fortress, right?”

“Yes, that’s where we left off.”

“My father was a respected figure among the Imperial Family branches. At least most of the Ju clan members in Paecheon Fortress followed my father.”

Hmm, so it wasn’t “all” but “most”?

It seemed there was an exception.

“However, there was one person who, instead of respecting my father, envied and was jealous of him.”

“Then that person is…?”

“Yes. That person is the current Paecheon Fortress Lord, Ju Do-han.”

The moment Hwa-ryeon uttered the name Ju Do-han, her qi wavered, and a glint of murderous intent flashed in her eyes.

As Hwa-ryeon closed her eyes tightly, unable to control her emotions for a moment, Master spoke up instead.

“That man, in a cowardly act, took advantage of the Fortress Lord’s unguarded moment and killed him with a surprise attack and a pincer movement, seizing control of Paecheon Fortress. It happened so suddenly that the best we could do was escape with Seol-i and the Young Mistress.”

Following Master, Merchant Leader Bang added,

“I later escaped the fortress with my subordinates, leaving only a few behind. The remaining subordinates have been keeping us informed about the situation within the fortress.”

To summarize the story so far:

Ju Do-han, the current Fortress Lord of Paecheon Fortress, staged a rebellion, killed the previous Fortress Lord, and usurped his position.

Master escaped with Hwa-ryeon, the Young Mistress, and his disciple, Seol-i, and had been hiding here in Gun-gang County for ten years.

That seemed to be the gist of it.

“But why did they suddenly attack now, after ten years?”

“It wasn’t sudden. They simply didn’t have the opportunity before.”

I tilted my head at the Merchant Leader’s words.

“Didn’t have the… opportunity?”

“Yes. The six vassal families were suspicious of the sudden death of the previous Fortress Lord and refused to follow that bastard Ju Do-han.”

The vassal families raised doubts about the previous Fortress Lord’s death and rebelled against the new Fortress Lord, who had no intention of letting them be.

The clash between the two factions was inevitable, and a civil war spanning over a decade began.

And in this long war, the tide had recently turned completely in favor of Paecheon Fortress.

“It was a losing battle from the start. Most of the experts from the vassal families were in Paecheon Fortress and were purged by the Fortress Lord, and the only ones left in the families were old masters who had long retired.”

“They managed to hold on for ten years, which is impressive in itself,” the Merchant Leader concluded.

By then, Hwa-ryeon seemed to have regained her composure and spoke up again.

“Originally, we weren’t supposed to stay in Gun-gang County for ten years. We were planning to report Ju Do-han’s rebellion to the Imperial Family and seek help from the Embroidered Uniform Guard.”

“Wow, the Embroidered Uniform Guard.”

There was something that needed to be addressed here.

Wasn’t there a saying in most martial arts novels, “The court and the murim do not interfere with each other”?

It meant that the government and the martial arts world didn’t meddle in each other’s affairs.

Yeah, that was nonsense.

In the countless martial arts novels I had read, the separation of court and murim was a given, but in this world, it was a laughable notion.

The current Imperial Family absolutely did not tolerate martial artists oppressing or killing the people of the nation.

I had heard that in the early days of the dynasty, there were indeed martial artist groups who acted like the evil sects in novels, sucking the blood of the people and committing various crimes.

But those guys were nowhere to be found now.

Why?

Because whenever such people appeared, the Embroidered Uniform Guard would kill and burn them all.

The Imperial Family abhorred martial artists abusing their power, or in simpler terms, acting up. Whenever someone did such a thing, they immediately dispatched the Embroidered Uniform Guard to exterminate their entire clan.

This was possible because the Emperor himself, along with the true-blooded members of the Imperial Family and the hundred thousand members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, all practiced martial arts.

An army composed of a hundred thousand martial artists.

Who in this land could dare oppose them?

Due to these circumstances, the evil sects had long been wiped out.

The orthodox sects barely survived under the pretense of helping maintain order.

And perhaps they established Paecheon Fortress to monitor and control even those orthodox sects, which had started to become a nuisance.

Ironically, Paecheon Fortress itself had been preoccupied with internal strife for over a decade.

“But why couldn’t you ask for help all this time?”

“…While it was a sudden rebellion from Paecheon Fortress’s perspective, it was a scheme that Ju Do-han had been preparing for a long time.”

“Ah, so they already blocked all means of contacting the Imperial Family.”

Hwa-ryeon bit her lip and nodded at my words.

Hmm, so all ways to contact the Imperial Family were blocked, they couldn’t do anything for ten years, the vassal families that could have helped were destroyed, and the Imperial Family had officially recognized Ju Do-han as the Fortress Lord…

In conclusion,

“It’s over, isn’t it? There’s no solution.”

“……”

“……”

The atmosphere became incredibly heavy as I bluntly declared their situation hopeless.

It felt like their spirits had plummeted through the ground.

But I wasn’t finished yet.

“I want to ask, what happens to my family now… to the Gun family? Surely the imperial army won’t really invade Gun-gang County, will they?”

“No. I don’t think that will happen.”

Hwa-ryeon, pulling herself together, shook her head with a determined look.

It meant she was quite confident in her judgment.

“Why do you think so?”

The answer to my question came not from Hwa-ryeon, but from someone else.

It was Merchant Leader Bang.

“Ju Do-han sending the Dark Heaven Squad to kill the Young Mistress was likely his own personal decision. The Imperial Family believes that the Young Mistress is dead.”

“So, the Imperial Family doesn’t know that Hwa-ryeon is alive, or that she’s hiding in Gun-gang County?”

“Yes. I’m certain.”

Merchant Leader Bang nodded confidently and added,

“Moreover, it seems they didn’t even bother with proper interim reports, as if they were certain of the assassination’s success.”

“Is that information from Mr. Neung?”

The Merchant Leader responded with a cold smile.

Hmm, that guy had even harassed Hwa-ryeon, thinking he had won.

He was either already dead from torture or barely alive.

Erasing Neung something from my mind, I fell into thought.

If what the Merchant Leader said was true, the imperial army wouldn’t come to Gun-gang County.

But since they had come this far, that bastard Ju Do-han now knew that Hwa-ryeon and her companions were in Gun-gang County.

In other words, whether Hwa-ryeon left or not, he was likely to send people again.

These were people who tried to wipe out the Gun family from the start just because I attended the school.

It was unlikely that I could peacefully send away the next group that came.

So, what should I do?

Could I protect the Gun family and my family on my own?

I immediately shook my head.

I could probably handle the first couple of times. But what if they sent a number I couldn’t handle later?

No matter how much of a bunch of idiots the martial artists in this world were, there was no fighting against overwhelming numbers.

There was a limit to how many people I could handle with my meager internal energy.

Then, was there any faction I could turn to for help?

I shook my head again.

The Gun family was just a rural landlord family that had lived a life completely unrelated to the murim.

Their connections were limited to other landlord families in neighboring counties.

The Jungcheon Merchant Group, where my second older sister was married, briefly came to mind.

But even though Jungcheon was a fairly large merchant group, Paecheon Fortress was the largest martial arts faction in the murim.

Asking them for help would likely only drag my poor second older sister into this mess.