Murim Login - Chapter 289

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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 289
“Pardon?”
Choi Team Leader’s face displayed a magnitude of turbulent emotion I had never witnessed before.
Even Kim Butler, who appeared relatively composed, was scarcely different.
Lingering frustration and bewilderment. And doubt regarding my words.
‘So they could make such expressions.’
These two men who always stepped back two paces with composure to manage the situation whenever I charged forward recklessly.
Only now did they seem like people comparable to me.
I opened my mouth, feeling a peculiar surge of emotion.
“The answer is simple. If our enemies are strong, then we simply become stronger.”
“Jin Tae-kyung.”
Choi Team Leader’s voice was quiet and unwavering. Having regained control of his initial emotions, he had returned to his usual composed demeanor.
“This isn’t a math problem that gets solved just because you know the answer. Reaching the correct solution requires enduring a process so grueling it defies imagination.”
“Then that’s fine. If I attach myself as a tutor, even if it takes time, it seems we could solve it. Oh, but let’s change the subject. Math isn’t my forte.”
“Have you forgotten? The opponent is the Ares Guild. You may not know, Jin Tae-kyung, but I do. I know how formidable they are.”
“Unfortunately, the young master’s words are correct.”
Choi Team Leader and Kim Butler fell silent after that.
One was the grandson of Ares Guild Master Cheon Tae-min, the other a key figure who had served Cheon Tae-min for many years.
Given their positions, they would have witnessed and experienced much firsthand. Despite the burning in my chest, my cool intellect had already calculated the answer. But…
“Choi Team Leader.”
I gazed into his eyes, which already bore a period, and asked.
“Do you remember what you told me before we went to the Myeongdong Guild?”
“Of course.”
“What did you say?”
Choi Team Leader, who had hesitated briefly, parted his lips.
“Jin Tae-kyung may appear reckless at first glance, but…”
“You always anticipate the worst-case scenario and act accordingly. And?”
“You always deliver the best possible outcome.”
“You said you trust me more than yourself, didn’t you? Was that just something nice to say?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Even if I’m not educated, I’m not foolish enough to stake my life on a game with zero probability of success. This is doable.”
“Doable…”
“If you can’t trust yourself, Choi Team Leader, then trust me.”
Light filtered into Choi Team Leader’s eyes as he felt the sincerity behind my words. Though faint, that light was hope itself.
Hope is like an ember. It ignites and extinguishes in a single moment. The bellows must be worked before the spark dies.
“Since we’re on the subject, if I leave the guild here, will you give up too? Well, closing the guild and retiring to farm with Kim Butler doesn’t sound so bad. Lee Jung-yong would even supply fertilizer.”
“Jin Tae-kyung, Hunter!”
I continued, ignoring Kim Butler’s attempt to stop me.
“You wanted to build the world’s greatest guild. Send me away, send Lim Hyuk-jun and Song-i away too. If all the new recruits leave as well, do you two plan to fight the Ares Guild?”
“…”
“Choi Team Leader.”
Silence. No answer came.
Yet the spark smoldering in his eyes had not died.
Soon, a restrained voice flowed from between his lips.
“The Ares Guild is an empire. A power so formidable that even the top ten domestic guilds combined couldn’t withstand it.”
“Well, we’ll have to move diligently to catch up with those bastards.”
“I don’t know everything about the Ares Guild, but I know a considerable portion of it. That’s precisely why I think it’s more dangerous.”
“At the same time, the odds have improved. Because you understand your enemy well. ‘Know your enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated.’ Isn’t that right?”
“I’ve thought about it countless times, but my calculations always led to one answer: impossible.”
“Then recalculate.”
“Is it… truly possible?”
“Yes.”
“Where did my calculation go wrong? What exactly gives Jin Tae-kyung such certainty in your answer?”
Choi Team Leader wasn’t asking because he didn’t understand. He was asking because he desperately wanted his calculations to be wrong—he wanted that slender thread of possibility to stand against Lee Jung-yong.
I gladly answered his unspoken wish.
“The person you’re talking to right now.”
“…!”
“Your calculation process was accurate. Except for one thing.”
I slowly raised my finger and pointed to my chest.
“Me.”
In that moment, Choi Team Leader’s eyes wavered. I could feel the spark within them beginning to fade.
What filled the void was not hope, but disappointment.
“Jin Tae-kyung was already included in my calculations.”
“I’d expect nothing less from the Team Leader I know.”
Choi Team Leader is a brilliant man. He possesses natural leadership, keen judgment, and strong drive.
With a cold heart, he had weighed the Peace Guild and the Ares Guild on the same scale, and I was certainly part of the weight the Peace Guild carried.
“Everything Jin Tae-kyung has shown us so far has been remarkable. Truly, awe-inspiring.”
I already knew what words would follow behind his fading voice.
“But it’s not enough?”
Choi Team Leader nodded heavily.
“The Ares Guild has over a hundred A-rank hunters officially registered, not counting Lee Jung-yong, who is S-rank. And the mid and lower-rank hunters are countless.”
The way Choi Team Leader emphasized the word “officially” meant there was additional hidden strength beyond what was known.
‘And yet they have over a hundred A-rank hunters alone.’
Though I’d already heard rumors of this before, hearing it directly from Choi Team Leader made the Ares Guild’s true power feel real.
No matter how strong I am, I’m ultimately just one hand, so Choi Team Leader’s judgment was sound.
However…
“If that’s the case, you’ll need to recalculate?”
“What?”
“The formula is correct, but the numbers are wrong. I don’t know what value you’ve assigned to me, but you’d need to multiply it by at least several times.”
Not just Choi Team Leader, but Kim Butler, Lim Hyuk-jun, and Song Song-i all widened their eyes.
When I think about everything I’ve accomplished so far, it’s hardly surprising.
I’ve hunted Named Monsters single-handedly, eliminated roughly thirty Black Hunters, and faced off directly against the Myeongdong Guild, one of the largest guilds.
I turned away from the people who had frozen like statues and fixed my gaze on Choi Team Leader.
“I think I’ve mentioned this before. I’m someone with far more secrets than you imagine, Team Leader.”
The Martial World is the Martial World, and the modern world is the modern world.
In my mind, there was a clear boundary separating these two worlds. But Lee Jung-yong and the Ares Guild erased that line.
Perhaps if something like this hadn’t happened, I would have kept that secret to myself for the rest of my life.
‘Was wanting to live quietly such a grand ambition?’
Maybe this is the destiny that comes with the power I’ve been given. So now I have to accept it. I can’t keep running from it forever.
To protect what’s precious to me from my enemies, I need to grow stronger.
“So, what will you do now?”
Choi Team Leader was still looking at me with eyes that couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing.
“Jin Tae-kyung, you always manage to surprise me.”
“Save it. There’ll be plenty more of that ahead.”
“It will be a dangerous path.”
“I’m something of a specialist in thorny roads.”
“On a scale incomparable to what you’ve faced before.”
“Incomparable? You just don’t know—this side of things is already hell…”
He seemed to take my words as a joke.
I watched as Choi Team Leader finally let out a small laugh.
“Team Leader.”
“Yes?”
“It’s okay to be honest sometimes.”
The smile that had been playing at Choi Team Leader’s lips faded. His eyes grew distant, and he pressed his lips firmly together.
I waited for him to speak. What needed to be said from this point on had to come directly from his own mouth.
Fortunately, the wait wasn’t long.
“Though it may be presumptuous of me to ask, would you continue to stand with the Peace Guild?”
There it was.
I let out a quiet laugh and gave Choi Team Leader’s shoulder a light tap. He appeared sharp and composed on the surface, but his heart was still tender.
This was also why he had wanted to send me away, despite genuinely wanting to stay together—out of concern that we might get hurt.
“Let’s do our best together.”
“…Thank you.”
Choi Team Leader offered a faint smile and turned toward the others.
Kim Butler, who was both a loyal servant and practically family, was the first to speak.
“I trust you already know my answer.”
“Thank you, Kim Butler.”
Next was Song Song-i. After receiving the same question from Choi Team Leader, she let out a series of heavy sighs before speaking.
“The Ares Guild? Ah, this doesn’t add up financially.”
This was actually the most reasonable reaction. It would be strange if someone welcomed openly antagonizing the Ares Guild.
“Then make the math work—double my salary. And hazard pay too.”
“….”
Song Song-i wasn’t quite right in the head either, it seemed.
As I stared at her with an exasperated expression, she shrugged her shoulders.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, really. In a situation like this, wouldn’t most people just leave?”
“You’d prefer if I did?”
“No, absolutely not.”
“Do you know why I transferred from Ares Guild to Peace Guild? Following Choi Team Leader, no less, despite all the opposition he faces.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Because he doubled my salary.”
“….”
“My goal is to retire at thirty. If I work hard these next two years, I’ll have enough to live comfortably for the rest of my life.”
She spoke casually, but it was merely a roundabout way of saying she wanted to stay with us. Everyone knew that the frugal Song Song-i had already accumulated considerable wealth.
“Besides, you seem to have your own plans, so I figured I’d trust you for now. It’s not every day you find a capable, good-looking superior like Choi Team Leader.”
And so Song Song-i’s decision to remain was settled. The gazes of everyone, including myself, shifted toward the last person.
“Uncle Lim Hyuk-jun.”
Despite my call, he remained silent for a long while before finally parting his lips.
“Tae-kyung, will I be of any help?”
“More than enough.”
“Even though I’m just a D-rank hunter?”
“People connected to D are the real protagonists. Why not change your name while you’re at it? How about Lim D. Hyuk-jun?”
Lim Hyuk-jun, laughing aloud, looked directly at Choi Team Leader.
“My injury isn’t your fault. So don’t blame yourself.”
“That’s not true. It’s all my responsibility. Please focus on recovery and rehabilitation for now, and think things through slowly. You have a family, Hunter Lim.”
“Choi Team Leader.”
“Yes?”
“When my arm was first severed, do you know what I thought about first?”
“Your family?”
A husband to his wife, a father to two children.
But Lim Hyuk-jun calmly shook his head.
“I thought, ‘I won’t be able to hunt anymore.’ That’s what came to mind first.”
“….”
“I love this work. For twenty years, I’ve crossed Gates not for survival, but out of duty as a hunter. But….”
Lim Hyuk-jun bit his lip tightly. His gaze fixed on his own two arms, wrapped in bandages.
“Can I recover?”
“You can. Absolutely.”
A faint smile spread across Lim Hyuk-jun’s lips.
“Then I’m coming with you. I won’t abandon what a hunter must do over something like this.”
Something stirred deep in my chest.
While others dismissed him as a mere low-rank hunter, Lim Hyuk-jun was one of the few true hunters left in this age.
‘These are all too valuable people to stop here.’
Right, strike while the iron’s hot, as they say.
With my resolve set, I opened my skill window for the first time in ages.
And there, densely packed across the holographic display, I found exactly what I was looking for.
Skill:
[Secret Manual Crafting]
Yes. Now it begins.
With firm determination, I touched the holographic window.
Beep!
– A minimum of 300 sheets of A4 paper is required to craft a secret manual!
“….”
Are you serious?

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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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