Murim Login - Chapter 287

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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 287
Me, Lim Hyuk-jun, Song Song-i, and Kim Butler.
Yet the moment Lee Jung-yong stepped into the hospital room, his gaze fixed upon a single person.
It was Choi Team Leader.
“My, how you’ve grown.”
“…!”
The instant I heard Lee Jung-yong’s opening words, it felt as though I’d been struck on the back of the head with a sledgehammer.
This was it. What Choi Team Leader had been hiding.
It was clearly far more than a simple superior-subordinate relationship at work.
‘From what I know, Choi Team Leader spent only about three or four years with the Ares Guild.’
Even at the lowest estimate, he would have met Lee Jung-yong in his early twenties. Such a remark hardly suited someone of that age.
Those were words you heard from your parents’ friends or relatives on holidays.
“It’s been a long time, Vice Guild Master Lee Jung-yong.”
His tone was stiff and formal. Lee Jung-yong regarded Choi Team Leader with an intrigued expression.
“Vice Guild Master, is it? When you were young, you used to call me grandfather.”
Grandfather?
A second shock. For a moment, I wondered if perhaps—but I quickly dismissed the thought.
It was merely a matter of how he was addressed. He’d simply called him grandfather as a child; Lee Jung-yong couldn’t be Choi Team Leader’s actual grandfather.
‘Still, it’s clear they had a close relationship since Choi Team Leader was young.’
The mere fact that he shared such a connection with Lee Jung-yong made him anything but ordinary.
Among everyone’s shock, only Kim Butler and Choi Team Leader, who answered calmly, maintained their composure.
“That was twenty years ago.”
“Time is terrifying, isn’t it? To think that little charmer has changed so much.”
“As time passes, things that were once hidden gradually come into view.”
“I heard you submitted your resignation last year. Now that I think about it, I never saw your face once after you joined the guild. I must admit, I felt a certain regret.”
Despite his words, his expression showed no regret whatsoever. Choi Team Leader’s response was equally indifferent.
“I felt the same way. Had you not immediately assigned me overseas without even letting me set foot in headquarters, we could have met more often.”
“Why? Didn’t the overseas branch suit you?”
“I felt it wasn’t where I belonged. That’s all.”
“Not where you belonged….”
“Isn’t that the picture you wanted as well, Vice Guild Master?”
“Me, you say?”
Lee Jung-yong let out a soft chuckle.
“So you’ve built a new nest? Even borrowing someone else’s name to do it?”
“Forgive my interruption, but I must speak.”
Kim Butler, who had maintained his silence, suddenly opened his mouth. His voice was as serene as always.
“Young Master and I are not strangers, sir.”
“And who might this be?”
Lee Jung-yong deliberately widened his eyes.
It was an exaggerated gesture. If he knew Choi Team Leader, he couldn’t possibly be unfamiliar with Kim Butler, who was closest to him.
“Kim Hwa-jong? That’s definitely you, right?”
“It’s been a long time, Senior.”
Kim Butler didn’t refuse the hand Lee Jung-yong extended. The two men shook hands with faint smiles on their faces.
‘Informal speech? And calling him senior?’
Setting aside the exact nature of their relationship, they appeared to be far closer than I’d initially thought.
“You came in person—that was the right call. The last time we met was… what, about twenty years ago?”
“To be precise, it was eighteen years ago. Eighteen years.”
Was it my imagination, or did his tongue tense on that particular word?
I glanced sideways, and Song Song-i and Lim Hyuk-jun looked as if they’d seen a ghost.
‘Ah, so it wasn’t my imagination after all.’
Closer than I thought? My eyes must have been playing tricks on me.
Let me correct myself. Kim Butler didn’t just dislike Lee Jung-yong—he despised him.
Lee Jung-yong continued speaking with that smile plastered on his face.
“Hwa-jong, I thought you’d just grown more refined in the years we haven’t seen each other, but it seems your nerve has grown thick as well.”
It was a loaded comment. Yet despite the subtle pressure woven into his words, Kim Butler’s eyes remained unwavering.
“When a person finds peace of mind, their bearing naturally becomes refined.”
“Peace of mind?”
“I pulled my young master out of the tiger’s jaws, and my heart felt lighter for it. As for the nerve—I always had that.”
“Ha! That’s right. Once you set your mind to something, you never looked back. It was that fearless nature of yours that saved my life too.”
“I remember. The Han River.”
“Yes, the Han River. The day the Mapo Bridge collapsed. So you still remember that, Hwa-jong.”
“I recall it often and regret it. If I hadn’t saved you that day, none of this would be happening now.”
Let me correct myself again. Kim Butler didn’t merely dislike Lee Jung-yong.
He loathed him with every fiber of his being—wished he were dead.
Though he was a mage and carried no blade, his tongue was a weapon sharp as any sword.
At his venomous words, Seok Go-jun, who had been standing like an iron tower behind Lee Jung-yong, stepped forward.
“Watch your tongue.”
“Watch my tongue?”
“You’re not addressing someone you can speak to so casually.”
Kim Butler regarded Seok Go-jun with an enigmatic gaze.
“You seem quite formidable at first glance. What might your name be, Hunter?”
“I’m Seok Go-jun, responsible for the Vice Guild Master’s security.”
“I see. Team Leader Seok Go-jun.”
Kim Butler’s distinctive baritone continued smoothly.
“If you’ve said all you have to say, now shut your mouth and stay in the back where you belong. This isn’t a place for someone like you to meddle.”
“…!”
Seok Go-jun’s already expressionless face hardened like stone.
Just as veins began to bulge across his forehead, Lee Jung-yong burst into hearty laughter and pulled Seok Go-jun back.
“I thought age had made you docile, but that temperament of yours is unchanged. Yes, this is the real Kim Hwa-jong.”
“If we’re measuring temperament, I’d have to concede several moves to you, Senior. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Choi Team Leader added a word in a cold voice.
“Let’s skip the pointless pleasantries and get to the matter at hand.”
How many people in South Korea—no, in the entire world—could speak to Lee Jung-yong so brazenly?
Lim Hyuk-jun and Song Song-i stood with their mouths agape at the storm of this conversation.
Especially Kim Butler’s demeanor was so shocking that even I, who had witnessed him treat Sangdong Guild Master Im Chun-su like a dog just months ago, found myself genuinely startled.
‘What on earth happened?’
Both Choi Team Leader and Kim Butler—they were so different from their usual selves.
“One is young and has a hasty temperament, while the other is young at heart and hasn’t shed that youthful nature yet. Well, getting down to business isn’t such a bad thing. Though I must say, being invited does feel a bit disappointing.”
“Did you just say invited?”
“You’re mistaken. There’s no one among us who would invite the Vice Guild Master.”
“Think about it carefully. Isn’t there at least one person?”
Lee Jung-yong, who had been watching the two with amusement, suddenly turned his gaze toward me.
“That friend right there.”
A sudden silence fell over the room.
Under the weight of everyone’s stares, I, who had been lost in thought for a moment, carefully opened my mouth.
“What nonsense is that?”
Before my words even finished, Seok Go-jun let out a low growl. If Lee Jung-yong hadn’t shaken his head, he would have lunged at me like a hunting dog.
Lee Jung-yong, having restrained Seok Go-jun, spoke to me.
“Didn’t you say it yourself? That you’d come directly and apologize to the victims.”
“Ah.”
I had indeed said such a thing. To Park Ji-hoon and Park Tae-seop.
“You certainly look surprised that I actually came.”
“Honestly, I am. Coming all this way—what’s your game?”
“You have a tendency to speak without thinking things through. Since you’ve accepted the invitation, shouldn’t you at least offer your thanks?”
Thanks?
I let out a hollow laugh. The rest of his words weren’t even worth responding to—they were too absurd.
“Let’s speak plainly. It wasn’t an invitation—it was a demand. A demand for an apology.”
“No. If coming here wasn’t my will, could you or the Peace Guild make me move even a single step?”
“That’s…”
“Isn’t that what you thought? That you never expected me to actually come?”
It felt like ice water had been dumped over my head. My words caught in my throat.
Everything he said was true.
While my heart cried out for anger and revenge, I had never truly expected Lee Jung-yong to come. Meanwhile, my mind had coldly compromised with reality.
That I couldn’t yet bring Lee Jung-yong, the true master of the Ares Guild, to his knees with my own strength.
“Demands are the right of the strong. Words spoken by the weak to the strong can never be demands. They are all requests and invitations.”
“…!”
“That’s why I accepted the invitation. No matter what leverage you hold over me, that fact doesn’t change. I am Lee Jung-yong. I am the Ares Guild, and the Ares Guild is me.”
At his calm yet powerful words, the members of the Peace Guild, including myself, were left speechless.
At least one thing was clear: Lee Jung-yong hadn’t come here to apologize.
Having driven home the vast difference in power, he smiled with satisfaction and continued speaking.
“And you shouldn’t treat a guest who’s come to visit a patient like this. Especially not one who brought a gift for the patient. Wouldn’t you agree, Seok Team Leader?”
“You’re absolutely right, Vice Guild Master.”
Seok Go-jun, responding like a machine, knocked on the door. A Hunter from the security team who had been waiting outside entered and placed what he was carrying on the table.
A vase filled with hundreds of flowers. And a single envelope.
“Consider it a token of sympathy. If the amount seems insufficient, just let me know.”
My gaze fixed on the flowers. They were beautiful and white. I didn’t particularly care for flowers normally, but I didn’t dislike them either.
But this was the first time receiving flowers as a gift had left such a bitter taste in my mouth.
‘Lilies as a hospital visit gift.’
Forgotten anger began to creep back up through my chest.
I rubbed the back of my neck, which ached with a dull throb, and muttered under my breath.
“I’ve never seen such a damned old bastard.”
This time, even Seok Go-jun didn’t hold back. With a roar, he rushed forward, his fist moving at a dazzling speed toward my lower jaw.
Crack!
A sickening sound accompanied the spray of blood.
I furrowed my brow and slowly turned my tilted head. The thick, salty taste of blood filled my mouth.
“Damn. I bit my tongue.”
Seok Go-jun’s eyes widened. He alternated his gaze between his fist and me, as if unable to believe what had happened.
“How?”
“I’m just built tough. Drank plenty of milk as a kid.”
“I definitely channeled mana into that…”
If it had been a materialized fist aura, I wouldn’t have been standing here like this.
Of course, if it had been, I wouldn’t have deliberately taken the hit either.
I grinned at him.
“You should have gone all out. Could have ended it in one shot.”
Whoosh!
“Hah!”
Seok Go-jun drew in a sharp breath and extended his hand to knock my arm away. His speed was incomparable to that of an ordinary A-rank Hunter.
His hand curved like a hook, attempting to snare my wrist.
‘This is genuinely like fighting a golden monkey.’
Recalling the astonishment I’d felt when facing Park Ji-hoon, I gently twisted my wrist.
With a smooth motion, I wrapped his wrist upward while simultaneously applying a lock, then drove my heel down onto his instep with force.
Crunch!
“Ugh!”
A thousand pounds of weight pressed down on Seok Go-jun’s instep, driving it deep into the hard concrete. He let out a pained groan and raised his arm to shield his face.
But…
“Is that going to be enough?”
One thing was certain. I hadn’t dodged—but Seok Go-jun couldn’t.
Crack!
My fist, driven straight into the center of his face, shattered his nasal bone and crushed his philtrum in a single blow.
White teeth scattered like rain from his gaping mouth, mixed with blood.
Thud, thump.
“You bastard, where did that come from?”
“…!”
It happened in an instant. Everyone in the Hospital Room was startled, but one person’s reaction stood out in particular.
“You….”
The voice that had been composed throughout trembled finely. Ripples of shock spread across Lee Jung-yong’s pupils.
I struck first before things could escalate.
“I’m telling you, it was self-defense.”
But the words that came next were something I couldn’t have anticipated or even remotely guessed.
“What’s your relationship with my elder brother?”
“Pardon? Who?”
“The person who taught you that.”
“That would be….”
My eyes widened. Could this old man be talking about martial arts?
But Lee Jung-yong was no longer listening to me. He fixed Choi Team Leader with a gaze that had turned cold and sharp.
“Did So-young have another man?”
I didn’t know who the name So-young referred to.
But for someone, that name appeared to be a reverse scale—a forbidden subject.
Choi Team Leader clenched his fists, and a fierce blue flame ignited in Kim Butler’s eyes.
“Senior. Do you want to die?”
“Answer me.”
“You bastard! Lee Jung-yong!”
“Now.”
It was then that Choi Team Leader’s tightly sealed lips finally opened.
“You know better than I do what kind of relationship they had.”
“Then that man is….”
“You must have already investigated Jin Tae-kyung.”
“Is all of that the truth?”
“It is exactly as you know it. Not a single lie.”
Lee Jung-yong’s pupils trembled slightly.
He looked back and forth between me and Choi Team Leader, then slowly turned away. As if waiting for this moment, the door opened, and his footsteps came to an abrupt halt. A single remark was tossed out.
“I will send someone soon. Once negotiations are finished, hand over the ones you’re holding.”
Click. The door closed with Seok Go-jun on the escort team hunter’s back as the last to leave. It felt like a storm had just swept through.
I turned to Choi Team Leader, who was silently staring at the firmly shut door, and asked.
“Who is So-young?”
“My mother.”
“…What?”
“My mother who gave birth to me and raised me. She passed away long ago.”
My jaw dropped without thinking.
Lee Jung-yong. Did you see this crazy old man? He actually asked his own son if his dead mother had been unfaithful while she was alive.
“Insane. Why would you… No, never mind. You don’t have to answer.”
“It seems Lee Jung-yong’s shock as vice guild master was quite significant. I didn’t expect you to ask so directly.”
Shock or whatever. I waved my hand urgently.
“Hey, Team Leader. Really, it’s fine. You don’t have to tell me.”
“Sometimes I think about it. What if my mother had been born as someone other than Cheon Tae-min’s daughter.”
“I understand, so let’s stop now….”
In that instant, my body went rigid.
‘What did he just say?’
While my body remained frozen in place, my mind raced faster than ever, repeating those three syllables over and over.
Cheon Tae-min. Cheon Tae-min. Cheon Tae-min….
“Did you just say Cheon Tae-min?”
“If my pronunciation wasn’t off, then you heard correctly.”
“Could it be… the Cheon Tae-min I know?”
“Yes.”
Choi Team Leader nodded and continued.
“He’s my maternal grandfather.”
In that moment, the world tilted before my eyes and my legs nearly buckled.
‘Cheon Tae-min. He said Cheon Tae-min.’
There was a time when I harbored doubts about Choi Team Leader’s true identity.
Wealth that seemed to have no limit, an A-rank mage who was the hidden hero of the Great Cataclysm, a man in his twenties whom people called “young master.”
Now it all made sense. How such things were possible.
It was because his maternal grandfather was Cheon Tae-min.
‘Humanity’s greatest hero. The world’s strongest hunter….’
Among the titles that describe Cheon Tae-min, “Ares Guild Master” is merely one small fragment.
The name of the largest fragment is an immortal Achievement that no one else could ever attain.
‘The one who slew the Demon King. The Slayer.’
The grandson of that very Cheon Tae-min stood before me.

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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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