Murim Login - Chapter 322

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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 322
Wol-hwa, whom I hadn’t seen in a year, seemed even more beautiful than before.
Dressed in vibrant silks and wearing a captivating smile, she approached me with the grace of a peacock and placed her hand upon my shoulder.
“Our young master Jin. You’ve grown even more impressive in my absence, haven’t you?”
At least this part of her hadn’t changed.
I chuckled softly and brushed her hand away.
“You remain as you always were.”
“How disappointing. After a year apart, is that all you have to say?”
“Well, you do seem to have grown lovelier.”
“I feel like I’m receiving a bow of worship, but… I’ll accept that. It was worth abandoning my duties to rush here.”
A shabby young beggar approached Wol-hwa’s side with a reluctant expression, his eyes crinkling with her characteristic smile.
Three knots symbolizing the Beggar Clan were tied at his waist.
In other words, he was a third-rank disciple of the Beggar Clan.
“I am Heuk Geol-gae, responsible for the Beggar Clan’s operations in Xi’an.”
“Yes, I am from the Taewon Jin Family…”
“I already know. You live up to your reputation, I see. With that face, you could beg for dozens of silver taels a day. Have you any interest in joining the Beggar Clan?”
“…”
“Well, no matter if you refuse. But it seems someone who should be here is nowhere to be found.”
Huff, huff.
Heuk Geol-gae snorted heavily as he scanned the surroundings, then spotted his target and shouted.
“Gung Ki-bang! You bastard, I’ll beat you to death!”
When did that fool slip over there?
Gung Ki-bang, who had been crouching beneath a distant table, offered an awkward smile.
“Ah, my twenty-year sworn brother Big Nose has arrived. But what brings you here?”
“I told you not to call me that! And what do you mean ‘what brings me’? You cursed wretch. I gave you explicit instructions to prevent this very situation, yet you went ahead and…”
Heuk Geol-gae waved the wooden slip in his hand furiously.
Beneath the message instructing Gung Ki-bang to gather necessary information and come to Deng Wang Tower Tea House were eight yellowish hairs plucked from a stray dog that had wandered past.
Others might wonder what it was, but according to Gung Ki-bang, it was the mark of the eighth-rank disciples of the Beggar Clan—specifically, Hu Gae’s seal.
“Sigh, I had no choice in the matter, you see.”
“Damn it all. When the Law Beggar comes looking because of this, know that it’s all your fault.”
“Tsk, for a third-rank disciple, you talk too much. You’re not even properly serving Hu Gae.”
“This isn’t Hu Gae—this is Hu the Bastard.”
Despite his words, he reached out and pulled the chair back to make it easier for Gung Ki-bang to escape.
From their conversation, it seemed they were childhood friends who had known each other since their beggar days.
‘This works out better. Things will proceed more smoothly.’
Yet for someone, this would be decidedly unwelcome news.
When I turned my head, Hwang Bo-eom’s contorted face came into view. My lips curved upward of their own accord.
“Since you’re meeting for the first time, shouldn’t you exchange greetings? You’re both people of considerable influence in Shaanxi Province, after all.”
Though not comparable to the Huashan Sect, the Zhongnan Sect’s position in Shaanxi Province was far from negligible.
Hwang Bo-eom would certainly know of the branch leaders of the Beggar Clan and Haowen Sect. I simply added that remark to spoil his mood.
“…You.”
Hwang Bo-eom, who had already discerned the identities of the two as I expected, bit his lip. His fingers twitched with barely restrained fury, as though he desperately wished to draw the sword leaning against the table and strike it down.
‘Yes, go ahead and draw it.’
But Hwang Bo-eom was far more composed than the Angry Sword Immortal.
The cunning old man’s eyes grew cold and sharp.
“What in blazes are you scheming?”
The answer came from behind my back.
“Indeed. I’m quite thrilled to see what our young master Jin will do next—my heart is racing with anticipation.”
Hwang Bo-eom’s eyes narrowed at Wol-hwa as she spoke up suddenly.
“The Haowen Sect has no place in this matter. I know not why you’ve come, but it would be wise for you to withdraw now.”
“Hwang Bo-eom, I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”
Wol-hwa continued with a radiant smile.
“I’ve already accepted a commission. Of course, the client is young master Jin Tae-kyung here. Isn’t that right?”
“Ah yes, indeed. Did you receive the advance payment I sent through Jeom So-i?”
“Of course I did. Though I must say, one silver tael is rather meager. I’ll be collecting a much more substantial sum later, so prepare yourself.”
I had no idea how substantial she intended to be, but that was a problem for another time.
Hwang Bo-eom, who had been silently glaring at Wol-hwa and me as we exchanged pleasantries, turned his gaze to Heuk Geol-gae.
“What of the Beggar Clan?”
“Hwang Bo-eom, the situation is rather…”
Heuk Geol-gae, scratching his head with visible discomfort, bowed deeply.
“My apologies. This is a matter beyond my control.”
“Is this the will of the Beggar Clan?”
Heuk Geol-gae, startled, bent and scraped obsequiously.
“What? No, no, no! How could a mere third-rate disciple like myself presume to speak for the Beggar Clan?”
“Then withdraw. Unless you wish to make an enemy of the Main Sect.”
“But you see, we have something called the Clan Rules, and that makes this quite difficult.”
“You call that an excuse?”
“It’s not an excuse—it’s fact. Isn’t it? Or rather, isn’t it, Hu Gae?”
Gung Ki-bang nodded while avoiding Hwang Bo-eom’s gaze.
“Well, yes, that’s right.”
“I showed mercy as the elder of the Beggar Clan, yet here you stand before me with such…”
Hwang Bo-eom, alternating his gaze between the two, suddenly thundered.
“Enough excuses! The Beggar Clan will withdraw at once!”
Boom!
Hwang Bo-eom and Noh Ho-sung struck the center of the table with their palms simultaneously.
The table, unable to withstand the resonant impact and overwhelming force, burst open with a palm-shaped hole through its center.
And then…
“Hmm.”
“Well, well.”
In that instant, the demeanor of the cowering Gung Ki-bang and Heuk Geol-gae transformed entirely.
The two of them faced each other, their faces smeared with broth, and let out soft chuckles.
“Hey, Ki-bang. It seems we really are beggars after all. Look at how we’re being treated even here.”
“Tell me about it. I’m in such a foul mood today, why don’t we just round up all the beggars in Shaanxi Province?”
“That’s my job as the Shaanxi leader. Just gathering the ones in Xi’an alone would give us close to a thousand, wouldn’t it?”
“You dare speak with only eight ranks? I am Hu Gae with eight ranks—the only one of my kind in the Beggar Clan! When I call, they come running from neighboring provinces.”
“Shaanxi would become a proper beggar’s den then. At that point, wouldn’t it be plunder rather than begging?”
“Plunder? Nonsense. I hear Jongnam Mountain is so abundant with food… why don’t we just strip bare every last edible thing there?”
Not Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, but Gung Ki-bang and ten thousand beggars.
I was well aware that the Beggar Clan possessed one hundred thousand members across its branches, but hearing them speak like this made me shudder.
‘At minimum, a locust swarm.’
If ten thousand beggars swept through Jongnam Mountain, within a month it wouldn’t be a mountain anymore—it would be a desert. The extinction of all wildlife was inevitable, and they’d strip bare every edible plant and tree bark.
“Now, you two—what nonsense are you spouting….”
Hwang Bo-eom’s weathered hand trembled violently.
“Does this old man look like he’ll tolerate such behavior! I shall demand your punishment directly from the Bang-ju!”
“As you wish. I’ll be beaten to death by my master, but surely he won’t kill his only disciple. However….”
This was not the same man who had been quietly backing away. Gung Ki-bang’s voice had suddenly sunk deeper than a swamp.
“As Hu Gae of the Beggar Clan, I have issued orders to Bun-ta in Xi’an. And there are only two people in all heaven and earth who can countermand a Hu Gae’s orders—the Yongdu Bang-ju who leads the hundred thousand members, and the Law Keeper who enforces clan rules.”
“…!”
“My master, the Yongdu Bang-ju, has told me repeatedly—we may have no home, but we have our pride. You, Hwang Bo-eom, have trampled upon a beggar’s dignity.”
A true veteran beggar indeed.
It’s not easy to be both so impressive and so pitiful at once, yet he pulled it off effortlessly.
‘This man knows how to beg.’
Gung Ki-bang, who had dominated the assembly with his grave voice and humble words, turned toward Heuk Geol-gae and asked.
“You brought everything I mentioned in the letter, yes?”
“It is the Hu Gae’s command—how could I not?”
At Heuk Geol-gae’s gesture, the Beggar Clan members from Xi’an who had been waiting in the back began stacking bamboo tablets one upon another.
There were a hundred of them. But this was not the end.
“What are you all doing? It’s time to get to work.”
As Wol-hwa’s enchanting voice rang out, the Haowen Sect members who had been standing quietly began laying down bundles of paper beside the bamboo tablets.
The number was roughly equal to what the Beggar Clan had brought. At the sight before him, Hwang Bo-eom’s complexion turned rigid.
“What, what is all this?”
I gazed at the bamboo tablets and papers with affectionate eyes and spoke.
“Nothing strikes a chord? For instance… the misfortunes that have plagued the Yongbong Escort Agency without cease these past two years.”
“…!”
“Like salmon swimming upstream against the current, let us trace back through the past. And moreover, how the thousand-year snow ginseng that was thriving so well vanished without a trace.”
The auras of the two surged forth powerfully, like salmon leaping upstream.
Hwang Bo-eom was seized with panic. And the other person was Ju Hwa-ran.
Her crystalline eyes, frozen without any anger or excitement, turned toward Hwang Bo-eom.
“So… that’s what happened.”
“You knew?”
“I couldn’t have known. Even suspecting it in my heart, I had no choice but to endure it.”
Because they are the Nine Major Sects and One Alliance.
The voice that followed dissipated weakly into the void.
Over the past two years, the Zhongnan Sect had orchestrated the Yongbong Escort Agency’s failures from the shadows. Someone ignorant of the circumstances might claim she had destroyed the agency in merely two years, but that would be wrong.
The Yongbong Escort Agency was already a ship listing toward ruin, and Ju Hwa-ran had become its captain before even reaching adulthood.
That she had steadfastly endured against the threats of the colossal monster that was the Zhongnan Sect was a testament to her own capability.
But now… everything would change.
“You’ve endured much hardship.”
At my words, Ju Hwa-ran bit her lip firmly.
And what she chose was not tears, but laughter.
“Thank you, Jin So-hyup. But I’ll hear those words after this escort mission is complete.”
That’s right. Just as Ju Hwa-ran said, the Yongbong Escort Agency’s mission was not yet finished.
I gave a small nod toward Heuk Geol-gae and Wol-hwa, then spoke.
“Let us begin.”
* * *
Hwang Bo-eom suddenly found himself wondering.
‘How did it come to this?’
Everything was unraveling. Over the past two years, he had advanced step by careful step, and all that remained was the final punctuation mark.
There had been a time when he thought precisely that.
“Last summer, the Yongbong Escort Agency suffered losses of a thousand silver taels when their transaction with the Geum-o Trading Company failed. In this process, a man named Hwang Cheol-shim intervened in secret, and according to what the Main Sect has ascertained, he is a lay disciple of Zhongnan…”
The voices reaching Hwang Bo-eom’s ears felt unfamiliar and distant.
Most of the information gathered by the Haowen Sect and the Beggar Clan was accurate.
By cross-referencing each other’s intelligence, they had uncovered more certainties and new truths, and the information continued endlessly like the stem of a plant.
‘This makes no sense.’
As Hwang Bo-eom stood rigid as a statue, repeating the same thought, one person entered his field of vision.
An upturned corner of the mouth. Transparent eyes that seemed to peer into the depths of a person’s heart.
Jin Tae-kyung was mocking him.
‘It’s all because of that bastard. If only he didn’t exist, if only…’
People said that the Tae-eul Mujeong Sword Hwang Bo-eom was different from his two elder brothers.
But they were wrong. In this very moment, Hwang Bo-eom’s mind was dyed pure white with rage.
Where the cold, poisonous heart had vanished, an even greater murderous intent now filled the void.
“Noogh—!”
Shing!
Void Seizing Technique.
A silver line erupted from the scabbard sucked into Hwang Bo-eom’s grasp.

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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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