Chapter 2
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: To the Murim Alliance
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Time passed, but sleep did not come. In fact, my consciousness grew even sharper.
This led me to a single conclusion.
The situation I was experiencing was stark reality.
“Have I truly become young again?”
If not that, then…
“Could it be the legendary Rebirth I’ve only heard about in tales? Me, of all people, a third-rate martial artist?”
In my thirty years in the martial world, I had never heard of such an absurd case.
“I did feel like I touched the heavens yesterday. But come on! If that was all it took, wouldn't everyone in the world have undergone Rebirth?”
To achieve Rebirth through a mere spiritual epiphany?
Having never heard of nor seen anyone achieve Rebirth in all my long years, comprehending this situation was nigh impossible.
So, Ha Yuseong chose a different path. Instead of getting lost in abstract thoughts with no answers, he would use a more direct method of investigation.
The person Ha Yuseong went to see was the physician from yesterday.
Just in case this phenomenon was some kind of illness.
***
The physician stared at Ha Yuseong with astonished eyes.
“Incredible!”
“Is… is it some kind of disease?”
Like a rare illness that makes you suddenly younger.
Or something like the legendary severed meridians.
Ha Yuseong thought, *I knew it*.
Rebirth was nonsensical from the start.
“In all my life, I’ve never felt a pulse this strong!”
“Pardon?”
“It feels like a freshly caught eel is slapping me across the face with its tail!”
“…”
Faced with the physician’s vastly different reaction from yesterday, Ha Yuseong was at a loss.
The physician ran his hands over Ha Yuseong’s body.
Ha Yuseong instinctively took a step back.
“Take it off!”
“Excuse me?”
Had he walked into the wrong kind of establishment?
He couldn't place his hand on his heart and claim to have lived a life without a single ounce of shame, but even in his ronin days, Ha Yuseong had never set foot in a place like the red-light district.
“I said, take it off! To check your body’s balance and muscle quality, seeing it with my own eyes is the most accurate way.”
“Ah, so that’s why.”
Ha Yuseong stripped down to his undergarments.
“Oh!”
The physician’s jaw dropped as he looked at Ha Yuseong’s body. Drip, drip! Saliva trickled from his mouth.
Ha Yuseong once again wondered if he had come to the wrong place.
Yesterday, the man had been more diligent and caring than any physician he had ever met, a true healer among healers.
The physician’s eyes and hands scanned Ha Yuseong’s body.
“Magnificent! The external frame and the bone density within! Most people think it’s enough to build external muscles, but the human body is perfected from the inside out.”
The physician began to speak animatedly, spittle flying from his lips.
“Your tendons are like those of an ox, the quality of your muscles is soft yet like a horse’s, and your physique is perfectly balanced. This is truly a body bestowed by the heavens!”
“It… is?”
“If you were to learn martial arts, you could surely become a great general. Even if you live an ordinary life, you will enjoy long life free of illness.”
“So it’s a good thing?”
“Of course it is!”
The physician, who had been chattering excitedly, suddenly looked somber.
“Is there a problem?”
“No, it’s just that you’re such a stark contrast to an old man who visited yesterday. If only I could give him even a fraction of your health, he might have been able to live his remaining years in some peace… Ahem, I’ve spoken out of turn. Forget I said that. In any case, your body is in perfect condition!”
“I see. Yes. Thank you.”
And so, the direct examination came to an end.
Ha Yuseong decided to accept this reality.
After all, a good thing was a good thing.
Besides, he had already prepared thoroughly for his retirement.
All that was left was to live a life of leisure in his newly youthful body.
***
That… was what I had thought seven days and nights ago.
At first, I lost track of time in my rejuvenated body.
The aches in my back and legs that had pestered me even at rest were gone, and the sense of powerlessness that weighed me down from the moment I opened my eyes had vanished. Walking felt like flying through the sky, and lying down felt like floating on water.
Simply breathing was enough to make me feel like I owned the world.
“Heh heh.”
Was it because my body had grown younger?
My heart, which I thought had achieved all its desires and wished for nothing more, began to feel restless.
“Truly, the human heart is a fickle thing.”
Just yesterday, living like this was my dream.
I had toiled for thirty long years to achieve it.
But now that my dream was realized, I found myself desiring something new.
My gaze kept wandering outside.
In the end, Ha Yuseong decided to go for a short walk.
It was then that a poster plastered in the middle of the village caught his eye.
[Murim Alliance Martial Artist Recruitment]
-Rank: 3rd class or below
-Eligibility: Open to anyone registered with the Orthodox Faction
-Monthly Salary: 3 nyang of silver
“The Murim Alliance, huh.”
In the past, Ha Yuseong too had a dream.
To get a respectable job and live an ordinary life like everyone else.
For Ha Yuseong, an orphan, ‘ordinary’ was a challenge more difficult to achieve than anything else.
Among his aspirations, the Murim Alliance had always been his most coveted dream job.
For anyone registered with the Orthodox Faction, the Murim Alliance was the best possible career.
The greatest martial families, known as the Five Great Families.
The greatest sects, known as the Nine Sects One Union.
The Murim Alliance, formed by their union, was indisputably the largest organization, save for the Demonic Cult in Xinjiang and the Heretic Federation in Guangxi.
The dream job for anyone registered with the Orthodox martial world.
That was the Murim Alliance!
In the past, he couldn't have even dared to think the word ‘apply’.
It was obvious he would be rejected even if he tried.
That remained one of his few regrets.
Even after returning home, he couldn’t forget the contents of the poster.
“Me? Daring to join the Murim Alliance?”
He was Ha Yuseong, a third-rate martial artist. He knew nothing about martial arts. All he knew were the Three Talents Sword Art and the Three Talents Fist Art, techniques even beggars could acquire.
He threw a punch into the air.
It looked unimpressive at a glance.
*Pow! Pow!*
The resulting sound was also insignificant.
But Ha Yuseong was completely unaware that his simple movements were causing the air to burst.
Just gazing at the idea was overwhelming, and the thought nestled deep in his heart made him thrill.
To Ha Yuseong, being a warrior of the Murim Alliance was a dream, an ideal.
“Do I dare apply?”
Ha Yuseong picked up the paper he had left on the floor and looked at it once more.
-Eligibility: Open to anyone registered with the Orthodox Faction.
Ha Yuseong’s eyes were fixed on that single line.
And the next day.
“Getting old, I’ve learned one thing for sure. It’s always too late for regrets.”
And now, he also knew how to avoid them.
***
Henan.
In the past, it was famous as the location of the Shaolin Temple, but now it was better known as the home of the Murim Alliance, the leader and center of the Orthodox Faction.
Perhaps for that reason, Henan Province was more developed compared to other places.
The streets were wide enough for ten people to walk side-by-side.
Though usually spacious, the streets were now bustling with people.
Anyone living in Henan Province knew the reason why.
It was because around this time of year, those registered in the martial world flocked to Henan to join the Murim Alliance.
Hesitantly.
Among them was Ha Yuseong.
“Is this right?”
Ha Yuseong was still doubting himself, wondering if he was just being reckless thanks to his newly young body.
It was then.
“Hey! A thief!”
As the shout rang out, Ha Yuseong’s ears twitched slightly, and his eyes moved precisely toward the source of the sound.
On one side of the street, where the many applicants for the Murim Alliance were lined up.
An old woman had collapsed on the ground, screaming at the top of her lungs.
“What do I do! That was my son’s medicine money! He’ll be in big trouble without it! That bastard, who deserves to be torn to shreds, is killing my son!”
Where the old woman was pointing, a man was running away at full speed.
Ha Yuseong glanced ahead for a moment.
Today was the last day to apply for the Murim Alliance entrance exam.
He could see the long lines. Moreover, people were still lining up behind him. If he were to leave the line now, he might not even be able to apply at all.
Perhaps that was why no one in the line even glanced at the old woman.
The other martial artists nearby were the same.
And Ha Yuseong was used to such situations.
Life is a series of choices.
And those choices almost always demand a degree of injustice.
In such a situation.
Ha Yuseong always made the same choice.
Even if his body had become young.
The person that was Ha Yuseong had not changed.
*Rustle.*
Instantly turning away from the Murim Alliance application line, Ha Yuseong kicked off the ground.
***
On the main street of the capital.
“Unit Leader. Why are you so late again?”
“Late? What do you mean late? I’m right on time.”
“You finished your mission and went to hole up somewhere for a drink again, didn’t you?”
“Huh? How’d you know that? Don’t tell me you’re having me followed now that you’re a higher rank than me!”
“Let go of my collar! Why would I have you followed, sir! Besides, anyone would know when you reek of alcohol like that!”
“Ah, would you look at my mind. I meant to sober up before coming, but I completely forgot. Haha.”
“You seem to forget a lot of things.”
It was then.
“A thief!”
An old woman had collapsed on the ground, screaming at the top of her lungs.
“It’s always like this during the recruitment period when people gather. Same thing this year.”
The man called Unit Leader spoke as he looked at the young people lined up to apply for the Murim Alliance.
“Tsk, tsk. This martial world, it never changes, does it.”
Everyone ignored the old woman.
“Contact the Strategist and tell him I’ll be late.”
“What? You’re already late! Sir, if I don’t bring you back, I might really get fired today!”
“That’s your problem.”
The Unit Leader bent his knees, preparing to kick off the ground.
He could see the thief running in the distance.
In that moment.
The eyes of the Unit Leader of the Crouching Dragon Unit, one of the ten military groups representing the external forces of the Murim Alliance, fixed on one spot.
“Oh?”
Ahead of him.
A man had already broken from the line and was dashing forward.
“You damn, sworn-enemy-of-a-thief! You’re dead when I catch you!”