From Orphan to Martial Alliance Leader
The grand inauguration ceremony for the new leader of the Martial Alliance unfolded in a meticulously manicured garden surrounded by ancient, stately buildings. Arrayed before me stood the highest echelons of the orthodox martial world, every last one of them offering a respectful fist salute in my direction.
“This former commander of the Black Dragon Unit offers his most sincere congratulations on the ascension of Jin Muhyeok, the new Martial Alliance Leader!”
Would the orphan boy I once was ever have imagined the heads of the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Clans bowing to him? I had thought, at best, I might become some aloof wandering hero.
‘Who could’ve guessed the kid scraping by in back alleys would one day stand at the very peak of the righteous martial world?’
A faint mist of tears rose at the sudden rush of old memories, but I pushed it down and raised both hands in a formal salute of my own.
“I will repay your support with everything I have.”
“From this day forward, Jin Muhyeok is the Martial Alliance Leader! Let this truth spread throughout the world!”
The head of the Jegal Clan, who had presided over the ceremony, met my eyes with tears streaming down his face. He was the only true comrade I could trust here. ‘Time to start paying back all those favors.’
The once-declining Jegal Clan had been ousted from the Five Great Clans, but now they could proudly call themselves a prestigious house again. After all, they stood as the closest aides to the Martial Alliance Leader.
‘Whether it’s through a little corruption or whatever it takes, I’ll turn them into the greatest clan in the righteous martial world!’
We exchanged a look heavy with the deep bond only men who had bled together could share, then each turned toward where we needed to go.
“Huu…”
From now on, it was the era of Jin Muhyeok, Martial Alliance Leader!
…Or so I had thought at one point in my life.
“Fuck! When the hell am I supposed to finish all this?!”
I let out a roar of pure frustration at the mountain of paperwork piled in front of me. I’d become Martial Alliance Leader expecting to roam the world as I pleased, but reality was a filthy gutter.
“Stop complaining and just stamp the damn things.”
“…Dammit!”
In a corner of the Martial Alliance Leader’s office, at a desk set aside just for him, sat Jegal Hyeon—head of the Jegal Clan, my sworn brother, and the Martial Alliance’s chief military strategist. He was currently showering me with nagging while his eyes never left his own documents.
“No wonder those old farts didn’t put up a fight. They just dumped all the shit they didn’t want to do on me!”
“Obviously. Who’d want to sit at a desk wrestling with papers at their age?”
“Fuck!”
A whole month had passed since I took the position, yet not a single thing I’d dreamed about had come true. No harem of beauties surrounding me, no chances to hunt down demonic overlords and raise my fame to the heavens.
“You wiped out pretty much everything worth fighting during your time commanding the Black Dragon Unit. These days you’d have to scrub your eyes raw just to find a decent opponent.”
People called me a great hero now, but back then I’d been little more than a blood-crazed battle demon. An orphan raised in the slums had only one talent—fighting. After spending my entire life on the battlefield, being stuck in an office staring at paper made my skin crawl.
“Isn’t there anything? I’ll even take bandits at this point!”
“You beat the Green Forest King half to death. There aren’t any bandits left.”
“…Then pirates! I’ll take pirates!”
At my desperate cry, Jegal Hyeon finally lifted his head with a sigh. His eyes were just as exhausted as mine. Ah, how I missed the days when we used to roam the martial world together. He used to be just as crazy as I was.
“The pirates are off-limits now. The Emei disciples need them for training.”
“…So am I really supposed to live like this for the rest of my life?”
Jegal Hyeon quietly lowered his head at my question. He was clearly pretending to work to avoid answering. And seriously, why was the top of his head so damn shiny? I should probably brew him some tonic.
“Fuck. Fuuuuuck!!!”
My daily outbursts had gotten so routine that even the guards no longer reacted. In the beginning they used to come running in panic—it had been kind of fun.
“…Muhyeok. Just endure it a little longer. There’s a righteous-demonic conference next month. The younger generation will be having sparring matches, so we can at least go watch that.”
“Is the Heavenly Demon coming too?”
“Yeah.”
The leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult and the monster said to be closest to being the strongest under the heavens. The Heavenly Demon. I’d spent over ten years in the martial world but had never met him in person.
“I wonder how strong he is.”
“…Probably on par with the previous leader, or maybe even stronger.”
At Jegal Hyeon’s murmur, I recalled the former Martial Alliance Leader. Hanjinja, the previous sect leader of Wudang and the man known as Hyeongeom. His sword strikes, delivered with that gentle smile of his, had carried an indescribable momentum that swept across entire battlefields. He had been killed by the Blood Demon.
“I kind of miss the Blood Demon.”
The worst demonic practitioner of his era, the one who had led the Blood Sect in an invasion of the Central Plains. The desperate struggle against the Blood Sect was one of the most memorable chapters of my life.
“You’re the one who killed him.”
Jegal Hyeon gave me a cold, withering stare, but I ignored it. The bastard had started pretending to be a normal person at some point. As if marriage made someone an adult all of a sudden.
“If it were now, I think I could face him head-on.”
When the former Martial Alliance Leader and the Blood Demon had been fighting, I had been leading the Black Dragon Unit and tearing through the battlefield. I happened to spot an opening in the Blood Demon, and my body moved before my mind could think. Just as the Blood Demon’s sword pierced the previous leader’s throat, my own blade split the bastard’s dantian wide open.
“If I’d let someone else take that credit, I wouldn’t be stuck here doing this.”
“Just do the paperwork already.”
“Ugh.”
For the achievement of slaying the Blood Demon, I had been made Martial Alliance Leader—and sentenced to wrestle with documents in this office for the rest of my days.
“Can’t I at least spar with the Black Dragon Unit guys?”
“Most of them have returned to their families to recuperate. You’d kill them just by breathing on them too hard.”
“Ah…”
No matter how I looked at it, reality was brutally cold. What was the point of suffering from the bottom all the way to the peak of the righteous martial world if this was the result?
That was when it happened.
“Alliance Leader!”
Gwak Mugeuk, who had served as an elder of both the Kunlun Sect and the Martial Alliance, burst into the office. His face was filled with urgency. I brightened immediately.
“Has a demonic overlord appeared?”
“No, sir! The elders of the Namgung and Paeng Clans are fighting! It seems the Alliance Leader must intervene!”
“They’re fighting?”
It was disappointing that no demonic overlord had shown up, but in the middle of this boredom, it was sweet news. I glanced sideways at Jegal Hyeon. The guy was wearing an expression of pure interest. Look at him, pretending to be all mature.
“Let’s go!”
“I’m coming too.”
“You have work to do! I can handle this alone!”
Leaving the grumbling Jegal Hyeon behind, I strode out with a spring in my step. Not taking him along was payback for all the nagging he’d given me so far.
“Hehehe.”
The thought of watching something entertaining for the first time in ages already had laughter leaking out of me.
-Swish.
Normally, using light footwork inside the Martial Alliance headquarters was forbidden except in emergencies. But what were they going to do about it? I was the Martial Alliance Leader.
“Oh!”
By the time I arrived, two middle-aged men were already standing with weapons drawn, staring each other down.
“Alliance Leader!”
A warrior from the Heavenly Martial Unit, my personal guard, hurried over.
“Why are they fighting?”
“It seems the dispute started over which clan’s young lady would be more suitable as the Alliance Leader’s betrothed!”
“Huh?”
I had zero plans to get engaged. Why were they beating drums and gongs over it by themselves? I narrowed my eyes and glared at the elders from the Namgung and Paeng Clans.
“The guy who’s supposed to give out the rice cakes isn’t even thinking about it, so why are they causing such a ruckus?”
“Their auras are incredibly sharp. If this continues, there may be casualties…”
At the guard’s urgent tone, the corner of my mouth curled up. Who exactly did this kid think he was talking to?
“Casualties? With me here? Just stay quiet and enjoy the show.”
The elders of prestigious clans, who had absorbed profound martial arts and rare spiritual medicines their entire lives, were undoubtedly among the strongest in the martial world. But I was the man who had defeated such experts to stand at the pinnacle of the righteous path. People called me the Heavenly Guardian Sword Sovereign.
Heh. The supreme sword that protects the people from above the heavens. The righteous folks really knew how to come up with cool titles.
And right on cue, the verbal battle between the two elders began.
“You bastard, Namgung! I understand you’re bitter about not becoming the Alliance Leader, but I never thought you’d resort to such a despicable beauty trap!”
A man with a massive eight-cheok frame and an equally absurdly large blade. With his short-cropped hair, he looked exactly like a tiger. Paeng Mugeon, the Heaven-Shattering Blade Ghost, had veins bulging on his forehead as he roared.
He was known as the strongest in the Paeng Clan after the clan head himself. I had crossed paths with him a few times on the battlefield, and his strikes were indeed as powerful as his reputation suggested.
“Shut your mouth! You muscle-brained idiot who only knows how to charge forward!”
The middle-aged man with numerous scars on his face was Namgung Jinhyuk, known in the martial world as the Iron-Blooded Divine Spear. He was a rare spear user from the Namgung Clan—a demon of the battlefield. We had fought together a few times back in my Black Dragon Unit days. Surprisingly, despite his appearance, he had been fairly easy to talk to.
“And it’s not a beauty trap! Unlike the Paeng Clan, the women of the Namgung Clan are actually beautiful! Hahaha!”
If he didn’t say such tactless things sometimes, we might have actually gotten along.
“Alliance Leader…”
Gwak Mugeuk of Kunlun, who had brought me here, approached with a worried look. By now, warriors from both the Namgung and Paeng Clans were gathering after hearing the news. If things went wrong, this could escalate into a full clan war.
“This bastard!”
Unable to hold back his anger, the Heaven-Shattering Blade Ghost Paeng Mugeon swung the blade in his hand. The power he had built over decades was no joke—the strike carried enough force to shake heaven and earth.
“Ha!”
In response, the Iron-Blooded Divine Spear Namgung Jinhyuk swiftly brought his spear into play, unleashing a true secret technique.
And then—
The two terrifying auras were gently redirected skyward, dissipating harmlessly into the clouds.
“That’s enough.”
I stepped between the violent clash and spoke quietly. It looked like watching any longer would only give me a headache.
“Alliance Leader…”
No matter how prestigious the elders were, when the Martial Alliance Leader himself intervened, they had no choice but to yield.
“Understood.”
Paeng Mugeon and Namgung Jinhyuk exchanged fist salutes, bowed their heads to each other, then turned and walked off in opposite directions. I stayed behind, waving and smiling at the gathered members of the Martial Alliance to reassure them.
“As expected of the Heavenly Guardian Sword Sovereign!”
“Wasn’t that the Alliance Leader’s secret technique just now? Heavenly Flow Return?!”
“To witness the legendary divine art we’ve only heard about in rumors… what a stroke of fortune!”
I remained firmly in place until every last one of them had left. Just in case a second round broke out.
“Huu… Thanks to you, Alliance Leader, it didn’t escalate into a major incident. Shall we return now?”
Gwak Mugeuk of Kunlun wiped the sweat from his brow as he spoke, but I deliberately turned my head away.
“…Alliance Leader?”
If I went back now, I’d have to do paperwork again. I absolutely did not want to return there.
“You really should go back…”
Unlike the Five Great Clans, the Nine Sects and One Gang were old men who had devoted their entire lives to cultivation. In situations like this, they tended to show their weaker side. After all, I was the Martial Alliance Leader, and they had probably never seen a superior act this way before.
That was when it happened.
“I knew it.”
The wild Jegal Hyeon had appeared. Dammit.
“Elder Gwak. I’ll take the Alliance Leader from here.”
Jegal Hyeon offered a fist salute to Gwak Mugeuk, then grabbed my arm and started dragging me back toward the office. I could have shaken him off with force, but how could I do that to him?
‘He’s gotten a lot weaker.’
During the war with the Blood Sect, Jegal Hyeon had been vice-commander of the Black Dragon Unit. He had suffered severe injuries and lost most of his martial arts. Thankfully, his brilliant mind had allowed him to become the Martial Alliance’s chief strategist.
“I’ll tell the medicine hall to prepare some tonics for you. Make sure you take them.”
“If you just did your job properly, my health would recover in no time.”
“Look at that mouth on you.”
On the way back to the office with my longtime friend to finish our work, laughter somehow slipped out of me.
“Haha.”
The orphan boy who once had nothing now had trustworthy friends and a position where he could oversee the entire world. This is where my story ends. After all, I had risen from a mere orphan to the pinnacle of the righteous martial world.
I decided to think of the rest of my life as compensation for all the suffering I had endured until now. The paperwork was tough, but it wasn’t life-threatening, and every once in a while something entertaining like this happened.
‘I worked hard enough. Now I just want to take it easy.’
That was what I truly believed—right up until the righteous-demonic conference began.