Murim Login - Chapter 137

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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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Chapter 137
“Did you cough?”
A familiar face burst through the door of the Separate Annex.
Having just finished my morning cultivation, I unfolded my legs and spoke.
“I didn’t even answer, and you just walk in?”
“Come on, the distance between you and me isn’t that great, is it?”
“What kind of relationship do we have?”
“We haven’t shed blood together, but we’re comrades who can trust each other with our backs? A bond of affection and loyalty between lord and subject?”
“Affection? Right. So you’ve decided you want to get beaten senseless this morning.”
“A hit or two—what’s the harm? It’s not like I’ll die from it.”
His shamelessness only grows more refined by the day. I simply chuckled and shook my head.
“Never mind. What brings you here at dawn?”
“Well, naturally… wait, who is that man? Did he sleep here?”
Hyuk Moo-jin stared at Chung Poong sprawled in the corner with a bewildered expression.
“What do you mean? There are several rooms in the Separate Annex. Why would he sleep here?”
“Leave him be. It happens. He fell asleep when I returned from the privy.”
To be frank, my attempt to discover Chung Poong’s true identity had failed cleanly.
He’d drifted off the moment we left the hot spring, and I hadn’t the heart to wake him, so I simply slept as well.
“Regardless, how could you let a strange man you just met yesterday sleep in your room?”
“…Your phrasing is rather odd.”
“That’s not what I mean. I’m simply suggesting you be more cautious.”
“Cautious about what? Anyone listening would think this man was an assassin.”
“What makes you so certain he isn’t?”
“What?”
“You have many merits, but you view the Murim far too naively. Do you understand how tangled the web of grudges and debts runs through the Murim? One moment of carelessness, and you could be finished.”
“Don’t jinx me. You trying to get me killed?”
“No, really! I’m not joking.”
Hyuk Moo-jin thumped his chest in frustration, his eyes narrowing with suspicion as he watched the peacefully sleeping Chung Poong.
“Doesn’t something strike you as odd? His martial prowess seems considerable for someone so young, yet he wanders about dressed like a beggar. And he’s not even a disciple of the Beggar Clan.”
“Maybe that’s just his nature.”
“What if it’s all an act to lower your guard? A trained assassin could easily manage such a deception.”
“An assassin? Who would possibly target me?”
“Why wouldn’t anyone?”
“You know as well as I do—I’m not the type to make enemies through my own misdeeds.”
“…Just yesterday alone, I’d say you’ve made at least five people who’d gladly hold a grudge against you.”
Now that I thought about it, he had a point.
But suspecting Chung Poong of being an assassin seemed like an overreaction.
I spoke to Hyuk Moo-jin, whose eyes still darted suspiciously toward the sleeping man.
“Not this one. If he were an assassin, would I still be alive?”
“Well, that’s true enough.”
“And what assassin would that be? Besides those called the Sanseo Five Gates, who else would have reason to hold a grudge against me?”
“Grand Elder, did you have some personal vendetta against the Clan Leader that drove you to kill him? What of the martial artists from the Main Residence who died in that past war?”
“That is… well, true.”
Hyuk Moo-jin shook his head slowly.
“I was merely offering caution, sir. The grudges of Murim are exceedingly secretive and tenacious—no one can predict when or where trouble might strike.”
“Hmm.”
“Appetizing food attracts all manner of insects. The more widely the name Shanxi Sleeping Dragon spreads, the more troublesome matters will arise. There are those who seek you out demanding life-or-death duels without warning.”
The world is vast, and madmen are plentiful. I marveled at Hyuk Moo-jin even as I was startled by this unfamiliar account.
This fellow—for once he was offering genuinely useful counsel.
“You know quite a bit, don’t you? Impressive.”
“Ah, well. It’s nothing to praise. I’ve simply seen many things.”
A true local, indeed. In Murim, by the time one reaches my age, one has witnessed assassins killing men and such occurrences, it seems.
“Is that sort of thing truly commonplace in Murim? When you venture to Market Street, martial artists are quarreling and fighting with each other? That sort of thing?”
“Pardon?”
Hyuk Moo-jin blinked.
“What are you saying, sir? This is Taewon. The security here is excellent.”
“Ah, so not often, but occasionally?”
“Occasionally? I lived in Taewon for nearly twenty years before joining the Taewon Jin Family, and I never once witnessed martial artists fighting each other.”
“…What?”
“To the west, half a double-hour’s journey away, lies the Shanxi Provincial Government where the City Lord resides, and to the east, one double-hour brings you to the Taewon Jin Family. Why invite trouble with drawn blades? Even the lowest bandits here play at being righteous heroes. You didn’t know?”
What in the world is this bastard saying?
After a moment of silence, I spoke.
“You said you’d seen many things, didn’t you?”
“Seen? Oh, that?”
“Yes, that.”
“That was naturally from reading books.”
“…Books?”
“Yes. There was a bookshop run by an elderly man in front of my house. For one iron coin, you could read for half a double-hour. That’s where I nurtured my dreams.”
Hyuk Moo-jin gazed out the window with eyes lost in nostalgia.
“Jeom So-i Becomes a Sword Saint, Pain Makes a Martial Artist, Son of Murim Walks Three and a Half Circuits of the Nine Provinces and Eight Emperors—such wonderful stories they were.”
“Ah, so reading those books inspired you to become a martial artist.”
“Of course. I even purchased several volumes when the bookshop closed and keep them in my collection. Would you like to borrow them?”
“No, never mind. Anyway, Moo-jin.”
“Yes?”
“Do you really want to get beaten to death?”
I was a fool for admiring him.
This wuxia novel fanatic was confusing fiction with reality. I grabbed Hyuk Moo-jin by the collar.
“Are novels and reality the same? Huh? In those novels you read, didn’t you see any fools who got killed for wagging their tongues carelessly?”
“W-wait! Just a moment! I haven’t personally witnessed such things, but Murim is certainly….”
“Yeah, next, you delusional fanboy.”
Crack!
* * *
The Honghua Inn stood in the heart of Taewon. Even within Taewon, known as the jewel of Shanxi Province, it was famous for its prime location.
It was natural for crowds to gather outside the Honghua Inn, but today the throng was unusually dense.
“Good heavens, what on earth is all this?”
“Carriages and soldiers… Say, Yang, haven’t you heard anything? Is there a war breaking out?”
“I have no idea either.”
Through the murmur of voices, a magnificent and enormous carriage drawn by six thoroughbred horses came to an abrupt halt.
Immediately after, nearly a hundred soldiers lined up in perfect formation at the entrance of the Honghua Inn, and a Royal Official dressed in official robes bellowed with authority.
“Hear the royal decree of the Sangshan King!”
“Hear the royal decree!”
The immense weight carried by those few words—royal decree—combined with the thunderous cry that erupted from the mouths of a hundred elite soldiers, caused hushed voices to spill out from every corner.
“Did you just hear that?”
“Are my ears just for decoration? I heard it clearly—a royal decree.”
“Can you make any sense of what this is about?”
“I heard that the Shanxi Sleeping Dragon is staying at the Honghua Inn. That’s probably why. It’s well known that the young lord is fond of martial prowess.”
“I know that much myself, but he’s never made such a grand show of it before.”
“Well, the Shanxi Sleeping Dragon has become quite famous lately. Not long ago, he even swept away those Red Wind Gang members in place of the royal army and earned great merit.”
“Could he be about to receive an official position? Wait, they’re coming out. They’re coming!”
At someone’s cry, countless eyes turned toward the entrance of the inn.
Before the wide-open doors, beneath the blazing sunlight, those summoned by the king appeared, and a wave of fervent excitement rippled through the crowd.
“Oh, is that the Shanxi Sleeping Dragon?”
“There’s more than one person?”
“Looking at those swords, they must be other late-stage masters, I suppose.”
“So which one is the Shanxi Sleeping Dragon?”
“Can’t you tell at a glance? The tallest and most handsome one in the middle. That’s none other than Jin Tae-kyung, the Shanxi Sleeping Dragon.”
“My, they’re all beautiful people, aren’t they?”
The five who had emerged were each as striking as dragons and phoenixes.
Among them, Jin Tae-kyung’s presence was unquestionably supreme. As admiring gazes poured down upon him standing tall in the center, it happened.
“Ugh.”
Thud!
“…?”
“…?”
Without warning, one of the late-stage masters suddenly collapsed.
The spectators and even the soldiers standing at attention stared at the fallen master with bewildered expressions.
“Ahem, ahem-hem!”
At the Royal Official’s deliberate cough, the face of the fallen one flushed crimson red.
As the late-stage master who had been sprawled on the ground rose on trembling legs like a newborn calf, the Royal Official unfurled a bolt of crimson silk.
“Ahem. Late-stage masters of the Murim, hear the royal decree! This comes from I, the noble brother of the Son of Heaven…”
“Eek!”
Thud!
This time, it was a woman who collapsed.
The Royal Official’s breathing grew ragged at the unexpected turn of events. Yet he was a messenger bearing the king’s decree—he could not afford to lose composure over such a matter.
The Royal Official steadied his breath once more.
“I, I am….”
“Gack!”
Thud!
“To you all, I decree….”
“Eeek!”
Thud!
This time, even the Royal Official could not escape. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth with a wet sound, as though he had bitten his own tongue.
The assembly fell silent—but this silence carried a different weight than before.
A single figure approached the despairing Royal Official with confident strides and whispered.
“Say, is there really a need to do this outside? Why not inside?”
At Jin Tae-kyung’s words, the Royal Official, who had been deliberating briefly, responded.
“Y-yes, my lord.”
“…Just nod your head. You’re getting blood on your clothes.”
* * *
The Royal Official opened his mouth with a gloomy expression.
“What in heaven’s name is the meaning of this?”
Everyone was watching my reaction. In the end, I had no choice but to explain the situation plainly.
“The youngsters are a bit under the weather.”
“Under the weather? What do you mean by that?”
“These promising talents of the Murim, you see. They threw themselves so intensely into their training to grow stronger that their bodies gave out, and they’ve been collapsing one after another.”
“Is that truly so?”
“….”
“….”
The silence was deafening. I turned slightly and asked.
“You asked if it was true, but did you perhaps not hear me?”
The four junior representatives of the Sanseo Five Gates flinched as though they had seen a ghost.
“Ah, no. We heard. We were just thinking of how to respond….”
“R-right. I thought someone else would answer….”
“What’s there to think about? Just tell the truth. Isn’t that right? Hehehehe.”
Of course, if they told the truth, they would find themselves in a one-on-one conversation with me. The law is distant, but the fist is near.
The four men, who had no choice but to watch the Taewon Jin Family’s mood if they wished to live peacefully in Shanxi’s Murim going forward, forced their lips upward.
“Well, that’s how things have come to pass.”
The Royal Official asked again, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.
“But why is one person missing? If I recall correctly, including Jeom So-i, there should be six people.”
“Ah, you speak of the Young Master of the Seongyun Escort Agency.”
“That would be it. The name is probably….”
“Jin Tae-kyung. Woo Jin-tae.”
“That’s right. So why didn’t he show up?”
Well, that one person was simply in no condition to be seen.
Had I known from the start that the late-stage experts of the Sanseo Five Gates were the ones invited alongside me to this luncheon, I wouldn’t have beaten him quite so badly.
‘Well, spilled water can’t be gathered back up. What’s done is done.’
All I could do was manage the situation as best I could.
I shook my head with the most regretful expression I could muster.
“Last night, a minor altercation broke out, and he sustained injuries. He’s been unable to regain consciousness since then.”
“An altercation? You mean a brawl?”
“Something similar. In any case, given the state of his face and all, it’s simply impossible for him to appear before people.”
“Tsk, to leave His Majesty’s invited guest in such a condition. What a villain deserving of universal condemnation.”
“….”
This was oddly amusing. The Royal Official who had been muttering about treason while standing right in front of the culprit now lamented the situation.
“This is grave. Regardless of the reason, the fact remains that he cannot fulfill the invitation. If His Majesty learns of this, his anger will be immeasurable.”
“C-couldn’t I perhaps explain the situation to him?”
“You don’t understand, young lord. Once His Majesty’s feelings are wounded, no one can stop him. The entire region will be turned upside down for a time.”
“Turned upside down? What do you mean by that?”
“What else? First, they’ll arrest whoever injured the young lord of the Seongyun Escort Agency and interrogate him severely. Then, citing poor security, dozens of officials will be removed from their posts. I’ll be among them.”
“….”
No, why go to such lengths?
The Royal Official, now facing forced retirement in his prime years, delivered the final blow with a sorrowful expression.
“I have more than ten family members to feed…. Sigh, I resent heaven itself.”
And a large family at that.
It was precisely when I, now restless and anxious, was desperately racking my brain for a solution.
“Yaaaaaawn.”
An oddly carefree yawn that didn’t match the mood. As I watched a figure stretch languidly and descend, my eyes snapped wide open.
“What if we did this instead?”
“Hmm? What are you saying?”
“If we brought an even more impressive late-stage expert, there wouldn’t be any problem at all. Right?”
“I can’t say for certain, but probably. If you’ve found a more outstanding individual, His Majesty won’t say anything about it.”
Perfect. I waved my hand toward Chung Poong with a triumphant smile.
A late-stage expert of the very pinnacle realm, no less.
“Have you ever seen royalty before?”

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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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