Murim Login - Chapter 387

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 387
By the time I emerged from the Underground Bunker, the night had grown deep.
I drew in a long breath, and the cold air seeped into my lungs. As I gazed up at the star-studded night sky, thinking of the Sichuan somewhere in the Murim, a small hand tapped my shoulder.
“Want to come along? I’m thinking of having a light drink.”
“Now?”
“Yeah. Just us.”
It was Faye Chen. Behind her stood two others who belonged to “us.”
One of them opened his mouth with an air of refined elegance.
“Oriental noblewoman, might you perchance have a Romanée-Conti among your collection of spirits?”
“I’m not a noblewoman, but of course we do. You like wine, Your Highness?”
Prince Felix Alexander Louis answered with a displeased expression.
“It’s not ‘Your Highness’—call me Prince Felix Alexander Louis. And I do enjoy wine in moderation. Particularly a 45-year vintage Romanée-Conti.”
“We don’t have a 45-year vintage.”
“Then I must decline. I shall take my leave.”
Is this guy actually insane?
As Prince Felix Alexander Louis disappeared with his entourage, Faye Chen turned to the remaining person.
“You’ll come, won’t you, Johnson?”
Magic Johnson broke into a smile, flashing his brilliant white teeth.
“My apologies. Unfortunately, I’ll have to postpone this for another time.”
“Why?”
“I might be deployed to the front lines as early as tomorrow, so I should at least Memorize some things to put my mind at ease.”
Truly a Grand Mage. The hero of the Great Cataclysm doesn’t become one by accident.
Impressed by Magic Johnson’s resolve, I opened my mouth.
“I’m afraid I can’t make it either right now.”
“You can’t.”
“Why not?”
“You’re neither a prince nor a Grand Mage.”
“…That doesn’t make any sense.”
This is ridiculous. Setting aside her absurd insistence, this woman is actually quite something—casually suggesting drinks in a situation like this.
“You just cursed me out in your head, didn’t you? Calling me a thoughtless ajumma who wants to drink at a time like this.”
“…How did you know?”
“My, look at how unnecessarily honest this one is.”
Faye Chen poked the tip of my nose with her long finger. To look at her, she appears to be a beautiful woman in her early twenties, but knowing she’s older than my own mother creates an odd feeling.
“Why don’t you find someone else? Lee Jung-yong, perhaps…?”
“Lee?”
Faye Chen’s head tilted slightly. Lee Jung-yong had long since disappeared with the Ares Guild members she had brought.
“Hmm. He’s a difficult person to read. Even during the Great Cataclysm, he wasn’t like this—now he’s become completely inscrutable. I can’t tell what he’s thinking anymore.”
Her eye for people is quite accurate.
Faye Chen glanced sideways at another candidate disappearing into the distance and continued.
“Wu Hei-xing. He’s far too impolite. Drinking with him would spoil the taste of the wine.”
I watched Wu Hei-xing’s retreating figure disappearing into the sparsely populated forest and answered.
“There’s nothing we can do about it. You’ll have to drink next time.”
“No. Alcohol is meant to be drunk on nights like this.”
“…?”
“It might be the last time, after all.”
“Ah.”
I began to understand why Faye Chen was seeking alcohol.
War exhausts people. And simultaneously, death brings unforeseen farewells in ways we cannot predict.
It was her own vigil—a farewell gathering before the storm—having lost so many comrades through the great upheaval.
When this crisis finally ended, one of us might have already crossed a river from which there was no return.
“Well, since things have come to this, I’ll have to change my target. Don’t you agree, handsome bachelor?”
“I already said I’m not going.”
Faye Chen looked at me with an absurd expression.
“Have you no conscience? I meant that young man, not you.”
The handsome bachelor Faye Chen had pointed to—Choi Team Leader—nodded readily, contrary to my expectations.
“If you’re inviting me, I’d be honored.”
“Wait, Team Leader. Are you really going?”
“Of course. When else would I get the chance to share drinks with Faye Chen? I’m curious about many things.”
Faye Chen laughed brightly.
“I thought you were just handsome, but you speak beautifully too. So, what are you so curious about?”
“Perhaps the equipment you’re currently wearing. Where did you purchase it?”
“…Is that your question?”
“Yes.”
“This one’s no pushover either.”
As Faye Chen let out a deep sigh, Magic Johnson burst into hearty laughter.
“Ha ha. Miss Chen, shall we all go have a drink together then?”
“All of us? Didn’t you say you weren’t going?”
“I did. I have no interest in drinking alone with a woman. But if an attractive man like Mr. Choi here joins us, that’s a different story.”
“…”
“I like men. Especially Asian men.”
“Y-yes. Let’s go.”
Truly worthy of being named Time magazine’s most influential LGBTQ+ figure in the world.
I sent a telepathic message to Choi Team Leader, who was being dragged along with a stiff expression.
– Contact me if anything happens.
Choi Team Leader, looking at me with sad eyes like a cow being led to slaughter, disappeared with the two S-rank Hunters, and I surveyed my surroundings before moving forward.
‘This was the direction.’
How long had I walked along the dark forest path, avoiding the eyes of people? I stopped in the dim darkness and opened my mouth.
“Come out.”
After a moment of silence, a voice flowed out.
“…Impressive.”
Rustle.
Wu Hei-xing appeared with the sound of footsteps, his eyes sweeping over me from head to toe.
“How did you figure it out?”
I replied with indifference to what barely qualified as a question.
“Why don’t you ask me what’s harder—doing more work or not doing it? That would be more challenging.”
“Hmm. You’re more skilled than I expected.”
“Don’t bother pretending to compliment me now. Your scheming is transparent.”
“…!”
Wu Hei-xing’s face flushed crimson as I struck a nerve.
In a way, he was remarkably easy to handle. I knew he was in his mid-thirties, yet it was rare to find someone so simple-minded.
“N-no, that’s not it. I was being sincere…”
“You were being sincere about thinking I’m trash. You got irritated because some Korean who isn’t even a formal S-rank Hunter was getting attention instead of you. So you started a confrontation with your typical one-dimensional approach, but the reaction wasn’t what you hoped for, and that trash turned out to be tougher than expected. That’s why you threw out some insincere compliments and made friendly gestures while plotting something—tell me, was there anything wrong with what I just said?”
I didn’t give him a chance to respond, my words flowing like machine-gun fire.
“So you’re trying to pull some scheme while acting friendly. Wait, did I get anything wrong in what I said so far?”
“…”
“Yeah, I’ve seen plenty of guys like you. After getting the back of your head smashed in so many times, even a brain that wouldn’t work starts spinning.”
As I looked at him with contempt, Wu Hei-xing, whose face had been flushed red, stammered as he opened his mouth.
“I wasn’t trying to pull any scheme.”
“Then what? If you’re thinking of getting friendly with me, forget it. Being next to trash makes the stench rub off on me too.”
“…!”
“So what are you doing right now?”
At my quiet words, his hand, which had been moving toward his sword, froze.
“Don’t draw it. You’ll get hurt.”
Wu Hei-xing, who had been staring at me with conflicted eyes, suddenly spoke.
“If you already knew everything… why did you follow me so obediently?”
“I had something to ask.”
“What?”
I stared directly into Wu Hei-xing’s eyes as I spoke.
“Transmission of Sound. Right?”
“…!”
His rigidly hardened face was answer enough. I had suspected as much, and I scratched the back of my head, muttering.
“Seems like it. Well, since this is the mainland, there could be various martial techniques still preserved. Inner energy cultivation methods and such.”
“W-what are you talking about! That’s message magic…”
“Ha.”
A chuckle escaped me at the sight of him hastily making excuses.
Others who hadn’t encountered martial arts wouldn’t be able to distinguish the difference, but I couldn’t be fooled.
‘Look at me for a moment.’
What reached my ears as the meeting was ending was unmistakably Transmission of Sound.
The reason I responded to an offer I could have ignored was that the person who sent the Transmission of Sound was Wu Hei-xing himself.
“Y-you… how did you…”
“Why? Was it really a secret no one knew about?”
I regarded the flustered Wu Hei-xing with an unwavering gaze and opened my mouth.
“I suspected there was some possibility, but I have to admit it’s surprising. With your Cultural Revolution and all that, didn’t you martial artists get completely wiped out? Yet somehow martial techniques survived.”
「Shut your mouth!」
“Ah, you did mention your family was well-connected. So the Communist Party’s top brass used their positions to quietly smuggle it out?”
「….」
Seeing his expression collapse in an instant, it seemed my guess was correct.
As a foreigner, I wasn’t entirely certain how serious this matter was, but I understood the value of inner cultivation techniques—what in modern times was called the Mana Cultivation Method.
‘If this were the Murim, a bloodbath would have erupted.’
Having exposed the golden calf he’d smuggled away in secret, his poor reaction was inevitable.
「It would be wise not to breathe a word of what you just said.」
“I wasn’t planning to anyway, but your tone is rather threatening.”
Wu Hei-xing glared at me with venomous eyes.
「Would you dare speak to me like this after learning who my father is?」
“I don’t know who your father is, but I’d guess he was a Red Guard.”
「…!」
“Back in the day, wasn’t it your father who smashed the Confucius Temple with a hammer?”
「You privileged bastard-!」
Whoosh!
With an enraged roar, his form shot forward.
A straight sword drawn from its scabbard in an instant, and from it erupted an aura blade—no, a sword aura that streaked toward my throat.
Whiiiing!
My hair scattered in the crisp wind. I arched my back until it nearly touched the ground, evading the sword aura, then sprang up and drove my knee toward his jaw.
Crack!
Teeth and blood sprayed into the air. In that instant, I seized both his arms and whispered near his ear.
“I told you not to draw that sword.”
Screech, crunch!
「Krraaaagh!」
Tremendous heat energy poured from both my hands, shattering his armor and scorching his flesh.
Wu Hei-xing’s screams that burst from between his lips were blocked by the energy barrier I had erected.
「No!」
Whoooosh!
This man had even mastered fist and foot techniques. Unlike his crude swordplay, this was quite sharp.
Of course….
‘Compared to the Murim, the quality of martial arts is far inferior.’
I felt a slight disappointment as I extended my hand.
Boom!
Energy collided against energy.
His leg, whipped toward my waist like a whip, could advance no further.
Wu Hei-xing’s pupils trembled with shock and horror.
“W-what? How…?”
“Well.”
I seized his ankle and hurled him toward the ground with all my strength.
Whoooosh, crash!
Once more.
Whoooosh, bang!
Again, again, again.
Crash! Crash! Boom!
The earth inverted, boulders and trees uprooted in my wake.
When my biological excavation finally ceased, Wu Hei-xing lay sprawled in the center of a massive crater, his spirit seemingly departed.
“Still, his body’s sturdy enough. Doesn’t look too damaged.”
“Ugh… ugh…”
“Hey, you alive?”
“Uuugh…”
He was completely out of it.
I clicked my tongue and bent down to rifle through his pockets.
After rummaging through the space-expanded pouch for what felt like an eternity, I finally found what I was looking for.
“Ah, here it is. A high-grade potion.”
Ding.
–
[Supreme-Grade Potion]
has been acquired!
“…No, wait. Supreme-grade? What the hell, you bastard.”
I stared down at the sprawled Wu Hei-xing with wide eyes. Even for an S-rank hunter, carrying something like this was absurd.
High-grade potions were already rare, but supreme-grade potions appeared maybe once or twice a year.
Setting aside the surreal pricing, the scarcity was so extreme that money alone couldn’t secure one.
‘Something I’d only ever seen online, and here it is.’
After a moment’s deliberation, I quietly slipped the supreme-grade potion into my inventory. Then I searched through his pockets again, found a high-grade potion, and poured it down his throat.
“I’ve taken my settlement, so I’ll let this slide. You’ve got plenty of secrets yourself, so if word of today gets out anywhere… you know what happens, right?”
“Ugh… uuugh…”
“Okay. We have an understanding.”
Just as I was wrapping things up cleanly, my phone in my pocket began to vibrate.
A brief text had arrived from Choi Team Leader.
〈 Choi Team Leader
Choi Team Leader
Tae-kyung please come quickly
“…”
No way, Magic Johnson.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————