Murim Login - Chapter 21

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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 21
Ding.
–
[Jin Family Heart Method]
has been trained.
– As a result of repeated training, Bone Resilience and Meridian Strength each increase by 1.
“Phew.”
I opened my eyes with a deep breath. In the dim dawn, the room illuminated by candlelight rippled with amber light.
‘Failed again.’
My fists clenched tightly in the silence.
How many attempts had this been? Twenty? Thirty? What mattered was the result. Once again, I had failed to draw out the solid inner force.
‘Should I take comfort in the fact that I’m improving at least?’
I was growing increasingly accustomed to handling inner force. If I weren’t an F-rank hunter but a C-rank—or at least D-rank—I would have adapted far more quickly. But reality is merciless.
‘The steady improvement in Bone Resilience and Meridian Strength must be helping too.’
Inner force flows through the blood vessels of the human body. The more I trained the heart method, the more my Bone Resilience and Meridian Strength improved, the wider and stronger my blood vessels became. Compared to the beginning, I could now circulate far more inner force at significantly greater speed.
‘It’s thanks to the skill points.’
The skill points granted with each level-up—ten per level—were proving their worth. There was no better nourishment for improving Bone Resilience and Meridian Strength.
‘Open skill window.’
Skill Window
[LV.17 Jin Tae-kyung]
Heart Method
: Jin Family Heart Method (4-star)
Martial Arts
: Jin Family Spear Technique (5-star) / Jin Family Footwork (5-star)
Bone Resilience
: 105
Remaining Points
:
0
‘I can see the possibility.’
The impregnable fortress was becoming smaller and more fragile with each attempt. It felt as though continued effort would soon open the door.
Fortunately, even if I lacked talent, I possessed perseverance.
‘I’ll keep trying. Until it works.’
Just as I was about to sit cross-legged and begin breathing exercises again.
Between the heightened senses from my previous breathing exercises, an unusual sound reached my ears.
‘What is this…?’
Buzz, buzz, buzz. At first it sounded like a swarm of bees, but it was the murmur of people’s voices.
‘What’s happening?’
I channeled inner force toward my ears. The distance was too great to make out everything clearly, but it was enough.
I had caught a single word among the murmuring voices.
‘Combat!’
The Hangsan Inspection Bureau. The battle had finally begun.
I hastily unfolded my legs and rose to my feet. Then I leaped through the half-open window.
Landing with the grace of a cat, my vision filled with Pavilions lighting up one after another.
‘So it comes to this….’
It had begun.
* * *
Twenty-five. That was the number of corpses laid out in neat rows.
When I confirmed those lying there like withered trees, drained of all vitality, I found myself at a loss for words.
“This is….”
I am a Hunter. I have endured countless battles and witnessed death.
Poisoning, slashing, crushing, bursting….
The manner of death varied infinitely depending on the monster faced. Yet they all shared one thing in common.
They were all ‘adults’.
That was the fundamental condition for awakening. No one knew the criteria or the reason—it was a law as naturally established as the existence of Gates themselves.
And so among all the deaths I had witnessed, none had been that of a child.
‘This is a game. Merely a game.’
I continued muttering to myself. Yet the sight before my eyes was far too horrific to dismiss so simply.
Blood.
A character carved into their foreheads. Torchlight flickered across the dried blood. More than ten children lay there, cold and lifeless.
Middle schoolers at most. Some appeared even younger. Not a single one was spared. They all lay dead.
“Ugh!”
A warrior holding a torch with trembling hands bent at the waist, and retching sounds erupted from all around.
Then a hand reached down to pick up the torch the warrior had dropped.
“So-mi. That was certainly her name. On the day I became acting family head, the Eung-hyeon branch director boasted of her as his treasure, his words dripping with pride.”
It was Jin Wi-kyung. With eyes barely open, he held the torch aloft, illuminating the children’s faces. One by one. As each face was revealed, their names spilled forth without fail.
When Jin Wi-kyung spoke the name of the last child, he turned to look at me.
“Do you know who these children are?”
“…I do not.”
“They are the household members of the main family dispatched to the Eung-hyeon, San-eum, and Sak-ju branches.”
I did not know where those places were. But I could well imagine what fate had befallen these children’s parents.
And with that realization came revulsion at the Hangsan Inspection Bureau’s intent.
‘Insane psychopaths.’
Look—we can slaughter even innocent children so brutally. Soon you will meet the same fate.
I could almost hear the voice of the Hangsan Inspection Bureau Master, whose face I did not know.
“It is all my fault. Children who knew no martial arts, yet I allowed them to perish so horribly….”
It was then that Jin Wi-kyung spoke in a trembling voice, condemning himself.
“That is the very nature of war, Acting Family Head.”
The Grand Elder appeared, stroking his silver beard. His eyes, fixed upon the corpses, were calm and settled.
“Victory and defeat—death is absent from neither. The Hangsan Inspection Bureau Master, Lee Cheon-baek, they called him the Blood Wolf Swordsman? As befits a ronin, he understands war well. These children alone prove it.”
His casual tone sent a chill down my spine.
‘What kind of defective artificial intelligence is this?’
This NPC is missing something fundamental. That’s what makes him so dangerous.
I fell silent, and Jin Wi-kyung opened his mouth with a twisted expression.
“…Please refrain from such words. They are the household members of the main branch.”
“No, those children are the fallen. And countless more will die in the days to come. Perhaps even at this very moment.”
“Grand Elder. I told you to refrain.”
Jin Wi-kyung growled. Had there been no witnesses, he would have struck long ago. Yet the Grand Elder remained unmoved.
“Did you not anticipate this?”
His sudden shift to informal speech was jarring. Yet it felt so natural that neither I nor Jin Wi-kyung consciously registered it.
“San-eum, Eung-hyeon, Sak-ju. All of them lay within the reach of the Hengshan Sword Sect’s influence. When you sent messenger birds to each branch yesterday, did you truly not consider that such events might unfold?”
“That is….”
“You knew. You understood that their wrath would fall upon them. Sending those messenger birds was nothing more than a pang of conscience.”
“Enough. Please, enough.”
“A sound judgment, truly. Had you attempted to rescue the branches, you would have ridden without rest for seven days and nights, only to face your enemies in a state of utter exhaustion. Is that not so?”
Jin Wi-kyung stared at the Grand Elder with a ashen face. Blood dripped between his clenched fists.
“I, I….”
“All things demand sacrifice. Look toward the greater picture. You are the young master responsible for hundreds of household members of the Taewon Jin Family.”
Jin Wi-kyung’s body trembled. Where anger and sorrow had drained away, a strange hollowness filled his expression.
“Sacrifice….”
“This war has only just begun, has it not? Young Master.”
At the sight of the Grand Elder assuming a martial stance, I bit my lip hard.
‘An unfathomable old man.’
The Grand Elder is undoubtedly a dangerous figure. His position within the clan, his utterly inscrutable intentions, and that psychopathic composure—not even an eyebrow raised at the sight of dead children.
And yet….
‘His words ring true.’
In my assessment, Jin Wi-kyung is a capable young master. Brimming with humanity and sharp-minded.
But the moment he saw those corpses, he wavered more than anyone. Without the Grand Elder’s cold admonishment, it would have taken considerable time for him to regain his composure.
‘He helped him. Not anyone else, but that very Grand Elder….’
So enemies in peacetime become allies in war?
‘If that’s the case, then perhaps it’s fortunate.’
It was then, as I regarded the Grand Elder with a mixture of suspicion and relief, that he spoke.
“So the Third Young Master was here as well.”
My heart sank at the sight of those cunning, ash-gray eyes. For the first time, the Grand Elder had addressed me directly.
“I pay my respects to the Grand Elder.”
The Grand Elder regarded me with a subtle smile as I struggled to conceal my alarm.
“I’ve been hearing some rather amusing rumors about you within the clan lately. Something about the Shanxi Hidden Dragon, was it?”
I never expected to hear that ridiculous epithet from the Grand Elder’s lips.
“There are also tales that you share connections with the Yama Faction, and that together you brought down the Cheonryeok Bandits.”
“Cough. Cough.”
“Where does it hurt?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. I just feel a bit chilled.”
“Tsk. Someone about to accomplish great deeds shouldn’t be like this.”
My awkward smile gradually hardened.
“I’m not sure what you mean, sir.”
“A skilled warrior who contributed to eliminating the Cheonryeok Bandits—such a renowned force—would be a valuable asset. Surely those rumors aren’t false.”
“….”
“Therefore, as a direct descendant of the main family, it seems only natural that you should lead the charge in battle. What are your thoughts on this, Young Master?”
Jin Wi-kyung, who had been staring at the Grand Elder’s smile, turned to ask me.
“What do you think?”
A dead end. The moment that single word crossed my mind, a familiar notification chimed.
Ding.
* * *
Quest
[Mission Assignment]
You have been appointed as Scout Squad Leader of the White Tiger Unit.
From this moment forward, lead your subordinates and complete your duties to accumulate merit!
Rank
: Repeatable Quest
Restriction
: Jin Tae-kyung
Objective
: Achieve 100 merit points (0 / 100)
Reward
: Varies based on performance.
Penalty
: Varies based on failure severity.
I closed the quest window. I’d already seen it several times, and besides, a White Tiger Unit warrior who had stepped away briefly had just returned.
“These are the standard-issue items provided to squad leaders.”
A sword, a black martial robe crudely embroidered with a white tiger, and a smooth wooden badge reeking of fresh wood.
That was all.
“Your newly assigned subordinates are waiting at the Scout Squad Dormitory. The location is….”
Fortunately, it was a place I knew. The pavilion I’d passed by several times was the dormitory assigned to the scout squad.
After leaving the White Tiger Unit, I first hid in a deserted alley.
‘Open inventory.’
Ten seconds was enough to change into everything. I swapped clothes, stuffed them deep into my inventory, and pulled out the Sharp Spear.
Until now, I’d enjoyed the privileges of the Third Young Master in my lavish private pavilion, but things were different now.
‘Communal living, they said.’
Eating and sleeping together. I couldn’t exactly perform magic tricks pulling a 2-meter iron spear out of thin air whenever I needed it.
With the wooden badge engraved with “Squad Leader” fastened to my waist, I had become an ordinary warrior of the Taewon Jin Family.
‘I’m not just any soldier. I’m the Scout Squad Leader.’
Scout Squad Leader of the White Tiger Unit. A position I never expected to hold.
Of course, there had been fierce disagreement over it. The Grand Elder wanted to place me in a combat unit under the Elder Council’s faction, while Jin Wi-kyung vehemently opposed it.
‘In the end, we reached a compromise.’
The duties of a Scout Squad Leader weren’t particularly difficult. But I’d be serving under the White Tiger Master, who sided with the Elder Council faction. Before I knew it, I’d accepted the position.
‘I never thought I’d be drawn into war this way.’
I could have refused outright, but I held back. The first reason was the piercing gleam in the Grand Elder’s eyes whenever the Yanluo Tablet was mentioned. The second reason was… the children.
‘It’s a game. It’s all graphics and illusions.’
No matter how many times I repeated it to myself, those corpses, those characters carved into their foreheads, kept flickering before my eyes. That’s right. There was an emotional component to this decision.
This couldn’t continue.
‘Don’t get immersed. I can’t confuse reality with the game.’
For some time now, such moments had become increasingly frequent. What started as treating NPCs like people for amusement had evolved into genuinely believing they were real and forming genuine connections with them.
Each time it happened, I’d catch myself in shock. Perhaps this was a side effect of playing the game for so long.
“Is this it?”
I arrived at the Scout Squad Dormitory and my jaw dropped.
Cracked timber and a musty stench. And heaven help me, there was even a beehive under the eaves. I’d never seen one that large before.
‘Truly a family-like organization…’
Look at the welfare standards. Or perhaps this was the White Tiger Master’s petty malice—since he couldn’t openly torment me yet, maybe this was his way of making me eat dirt.
‘Alright, let’s give it a try.’
I took a deep breath and pushed open the door, stepping inside.
Creeeeeak. The agonized groan of ancient floorboards sounded ominously foreboding.

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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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