Murim Login - Chapter 31

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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 31
“Tsk. This guy’s got all the luck in the world.”
As I cracked open my eyes, a familiar face came into view.
“What, did you come here for a picnic? Sleeping at the Gate?”
Apparently I’d dozed off without realizing it. I answered with an unbothered expression.
“I wasn’t sleeping. Who said I was sleeping?”
“Wipe the drool off your mouth before you start lying.”
“Tch.”
“Ah, come on now.”
He waved his fist at me, but there was a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. I rubbed my stiff neck.
“Man, I’m exhausted.”
“Did you meet some girl yesterday? Why are you nodding off like a sick chicken in the middle of a raid?”
“When would I have time to meet a girl? You know my situation well enough.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
From our first battle until now, we’d been through thick and thin together for five years. He knew me as well as I knew him.
“So what’s really going on?”
“What else? Money, of course.”
“Money? Don’t tell me you’re working two jobs?”
His voice dropped considerably. I glanced past his shoulder at the team members resting and nodded.
“Wow, look at you. Getting some experience under your belt and now you’re lining your pockets. And you’re supposed to be a sub-leader too.”
“Raids have been fewer lately, and I’m in a tight spot. You’ve done it all before, so you know how it is.”
Hunters with professional licenses are legally prohibited from working multiple jobs. If we were even D-rank, we wouldn’t live like this, but us F-rankers have no choice. The Guild turns a blind eye to it because they understand the circumstances.
“I get it, but… be careful. If a complaint reaches the Administrative Bureau, things could get messy.”
“It’s a trustworthy place. I get paid in cash the same day, so there’s no problem. I wouldn’t do it otherwise.”
“Is that so?”
Looking at his expression, he seemed interested.
“Do you need money too, hyung?”
“I’ve got three kids. I’d need an oil well to strike in my backyard.”
He poured out his words with sad eyes. It was a routine I’d heard dozens of times before—complaints about the hardships of childcare, rising formula prices, and the shamelessness of merchants. After venting his frustrations, he patted my shoulder.
“Don’t get married.”
“I won’t.”
Though truthfully, I couldn’t even if I wanted to.
No girlfriend, no money. With my life goal being to buy a house in the Safety Sector within five years, I secretly envied him.
A loving spouse and children. A happy family. I had no idea when I’d ever have something like that.
“Marriage is a swamp.”
Despite what he said, he was a notorious wife-lover and a good father. I’d seen him pull out family photos and smile contentedly more than once.
“Life gets sucked in. Before you know it, you’re buried up to your chest, barely breathing.”
“…”
Maybe I’d been misunderstanding him all along.
“So don’t just work all the time—take breaks while you’re at it. Dating, hobbies, stuff like that is good, you know?”
“Well, I need the money right now.”
I scratched my head as I answered. He looked at me with concerned eyes.
“I saw you earlier—you were sweating cold while you slept. At this rate, you’ll collapse from overwork.”
“Me?”
Now that he mentioned it, my lower back was damp with cold sweat. I must have had some unpleasant dream, though…
‘I can’t remember it.’
It was probably just nonsense anyway.
* * *
The Gate.
These days it served as a livelihood for hunters like me, but its true nature was an invasion route for the demon army.
When Demon King Asmodeus fell, his mighty forces retreated as well, but even now, decades later, the Gates remained.
“Defensive formation!”
At his command, three hunters bearing massive tower shields moved forward to block the passage. In this narrow cavern, that alone was enough to neutralize most attacks.
Clang. Clang-clang!
“Kiiieeeek!”
About twenty goblins hurled poisoned spikes, axes, and spears, but they all bounced off the large, magnificent tower shields.
“Archers!”
The tanks held the line while archers from the rear unleashed a barrage of arrows. As we pressed forward and felled roughly half their numbers, the goblins let out panicked shrieks.
“Gaaaaah!”
“Kiiik!”
At the right moment, he issued his command.
“Attack formation!”
The tanks dropped their tower shields and charged forward. But I was faster.
“Hah!”
I swung my iron spear in a wide arc, and green blood erupted as the front line scattered. Leaping through the gap, I thrust and slashed indiscriminately, and their formation crumbled.
“Charge!”
As the dealers and tanks joined in, the goblin horde became corpses in an instant.
“That was easy today?”
“Honestly, the sub-leader did half the work. He was flying around out there—when did he get this strong… Shh. The Team Leader’s pissed.”
The people chatting fell silent the moment he appeared.
“Hey, Jin Tae-kyung!”
I jumped.
Lost in thought, I startled and replied reflexively.
“What?”
“You idiot—who told you to act alone? Are you the tank? Did you forget the attack order? And you’re still the sub-leader?”
“That’s not what I—”
“If you’re going to fight like that, switch teams. You’re putting the other members in danger.”
I sighed as I looked at his angry face.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I did that. It just… suddenly seemed trivial. I think I went a bit crazy for a moment.”
The feeling was strange. The moment I saw the goblin horde, I was certain I could sweep them all away alone. No—it wasn’t just certainty. It was absolute conviction.
“You….”
He swallowed his words. For the five years we’d fought back-to-back, trusting each other completely, this reckless move was a first.
“Don’t do that again next time. If something’s troubling you, tell me.”
I watched his retreating figure as he patted my shoulder and left. For some reason, a dull ache throbbed in my chest.
‘Maybe I should visit a hospital.’
But the pain soon faded from my mind entirely.
* * *
“Magic stones have appeared!”
“They’re here!”
“Again!”
“There they are. There they are. There they are!”
“Mom! Ha-yeon!”
Ah, that last shout came from me. He muttered the same thing, his face flushed with excitement.
“What in the world is all this….”
Twenty magic stones, large and small, lay arranged neatly on the ground.
Magic stones. They appeared as crimson pebbles, but they were called the flower of the Gate. This mass of mana possessed by monsters was high-dimensional energy and the most valuable byproduct monsters could yield.
“At this rate, each one should fetch over a million won.”
Those were the words of the Team Leader, an F-rank Hunter who’d survived in this field for ten years. At that dazzling sight, everyone’s eyes widened with wonder.
“Is it always like this?”
At the Rookie’s question, everyone shook their heads vigorously.
“Absolutely not.”
In F-rank Gates, the average was one or two stones, and even with exceptional luck, you couldn’t reach five. I was busy calculating the money.
‘Magic stones alone should net at least two million, and with byproducts and equipment, another five hundred thousand. Add in various bonuses….’
Damn. How much is all this? Since I became a Hunter, this is the biggest jackpot.
And the raid still wasn’t over.
“How far have we come?”
“Almost there. If we turn right down this path, we’ll reach the Boss Zone.”
Boss Zone. Everyone’s eyes snapped open at those words.
Of course, the Boss Zone contained a boss. The boss monster was the strongest monster in that Gate. And it possessed the most expensive byproducts, equipment, and magic stones.
‘If we defeat the boss monster?’
It would be a literal jackpot. As an F-rank Hunter, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. That was when everyone was smiling brightly with such thoughts.
“Wait. Let me think about this.”
What was this guy saying now?
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it. We’ve only encountered ordinary goblins, yet we’ve found this many magic stones? Something feels off.”
He exhaled heavily. Conflict flickered across his flushed face as the excitement hadn’t fully subsided.
“I understand how you all feel. I do… but we’ve already secured an enormous haul. Let’s be satisfied with this and head back.”
Satisfied? Here? After coming this far, he wanted to leave?
I looked at the other team members. Some had coordinated with me for two or three years, and there was the Rookie. But they all wore the same expression I did.
“I disagree….”
My breath caught in my throat. Damn it. The chest pain again.
I tried to force words out, but my voice wouldn’t come. Now a ringing sound was beginning to fill my ears.
‘What is this.’
The pain and ringing grew worse by the second. I fell to my knees, gasping for breath.
‘Someone. Please help me.’
I grabbed onto someone’s pant leg and clung to it. Him. The one who had cared for me like a brother, like a father, for the past five years.
‘Elder Brother. Please save me.’
He looked down at me with an expressionless gaze.
“Me? Save you, who abandoned everyone and fled?”
What?
“I wanted to live too.”
I stared at him blankly, the pain forgotten. His clothes and skin were melting away, bone exposed beneath. Everyone except me had become skeletons scattered across the ground.
‘Ah. That’s right.’
They were all dead. That day two years ago. Everyone died in the Boss Zone I had insisted on entering.
‘I was the only one who survived.’
I floundered in the depths of memory. The ominous darkness that descended upon the Boss Zone. The foul stench and damp ground came back to me, and I remembered the creature’s massive wings.
Corpses being torn to shreds in mid-air. Screams of terror and people fleeing in panic.
‘That damned bastard!’
But even with every skill I poured everything into, I couldn’t kill it. He pulled me to my feet as I waited for death.
‘Tae-kyung!’
‘Elder Brother, I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.’
If it weren’t for me. If I hadn’t been greedy, everyone could have lived. We could have returned to our family.
He forced a smile at me as I wept like a child.
‘Why is that your responsibility? You’re even imitating the Team Leader now.’
A massive body hovered through the cavern. Stalactites rained down and the last team member let out their final scream. In the darkness, its crimson eyes turned toward us.
‘That arrogant bastard. Tae-kyung. Go first.’
‘Elder Brother. Cheon-su!’
My chest ached. A pain so intense the world blurred before my eyes came crashing down. As if I’d swallowed lava, everything inside me seemed to burn away. The occasional ringing transformed into the creature’s roar.
Kyaaaaaaah!
* * *
“Elder Brother-!”
I opened my eyes with a scream. But this wasn’t the Gate, and there were no monsters or team members. A figure rose from the window where sunlight poured in.
“Were you dreaming of your lord? He would be pleased to hear about it.”
A face dripping with coldness. Wi Paeng, Jin Wi-kyung’s right arm. Seeing him made it sink in that I was still in this game.
“Are you alright?”
“No. It was a nightmare.”
“Then I’ll leave that part out when I report.”
“Do as you wish.”
My entire body was drenched in sweat. Through gaps in the bandages wrapped tightly around me, I could see scabs forming on raw skin.
“How long have I been lying here?”
“You’ve been unconscious for five days. The Medicine King Master concluded your condition was so critical that you wouldn’t last more than a day.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. When the Lord heard that, he flew into a rage. If I hadn’t stopped him, he would have beaten the Medicine King Master to death.”
“Ah.”
I recalled that elderly man from the meeting days ago, the one who’d threatened to drive a long needle through the White Tiger Master’s rectum. He’d practically chanted prayers for his death.
“Were there any other matters?”
“Many things occurred. Among them, there’s good news and even better news… which would you prefer to hear first?”
“The good news first.”
“First, the survivors from the Scout Unit and the Sak-ju Branch have returned safely. Two of them sustained considerable injuries, but their lives are not in danger.”
Survivors. Those three syllables made my heart sink.
‘Chil Ho.’
The image of his face flashed before me—his last breath escaping with daggers embedded in his throat and between his brows. He couldn’t have been more than twenty. Too young to lose his life.
“Are you thinking of the dead?”
“The body… was it recovered?”
“It was properly recovered and given a burial. Since he was an orphan without family, there were no relatives to notify.”
“….”
“May I speak freely?”
Wi Paeng didn’t wait for my answer. He stepped closer and opened his mouth.
“Third Young Master, do not reduce your subordinate’s death to a meaningless one.”
“What do you mean…”
“Warriors are not beings meant to be protected—they are those who prove themselves by fighting their enemies. Though he fell to an opponent overwhelmingly strong, it was not mere death but a warrior’s end.”
That dying on the battlefield was an honorable death was utter nonsense. There was no honorable death. Even now, the screams of colleagues who died two years ago and Chil Ho’s wide-open eyes as his breath ceased were vivid in my mind.
“The fact that he died doesn’t change.”
“Some people cling to unchangeable facts. I won’t name names.”
“….”
“Do you regret it?”
“Of course.”
“Then live for his share as well.”
Wi Paeng continued in a gentleness I’d never heard from him before.
“I’m not saying to forget the dead. Bury them in your heart and engrave them in your mind. Using that regret as a stepping stone to soar toward the place they dreamed of—that is the path you must walk.”
The path I must walk…
I pondered those words, which stirred something deep within my chest just hearing them, and then burst out laughing.
“Damn it. I’ll break my legs on the way.”
“It will take a lifetime.”
“If I dedicate a lifetime, will I ever arrive?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know where my own path ends, so how could I know where yours leads?”
“What awaits at the end of the path Wi Dae-hyup walks?”
“The greatest master under heaven.”
A joke? No. Wi Paeng at this moment was more sincere and resolute than ever before.
“That’s difficult.”
“Because it was a dream.”
That’s right. Dreams are always difficult to achieve. Even more so when you carry the dreams of those you’ve let go.
“Wi Paeng. May I ask you one thing?”
“Of course.”
“What was that fellow’s name?”
“His name was….”
The moment Wi Paeng’s lips parted, a cold winter wind rattled the window.
Whiiing. Beyond the crisp sound of the wind, I heard the name Chil Ho.
“That’s a magnificent name.”
“I heard he chose it himself. His dreams were just as grand.”
“What was it?”
“The Greatest of All Ages.”
“….”
“You’re going to have quite the burden.”
“Indeed. It’s almost absurd.”
A laugh escaped me. Only then did I feel the heaviness lift from my heart. It was all thanks to Wi Paeng.
“I feel like myself again now.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Wi Paeng nodded and opened his mouth.
“Now comes the even better news.”
Ah, that’s right. Good news and even better news.
I waited eagerly for what he would say next, my anticipation mounting.

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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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