Murim Login - Chapter 445

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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 445
*Click.*
“Ah.”
Someone let out a small exclamation.
The moment the door opened, the magnificent grandeur of the vast Library that unfurled before my eyes was astonishing, but what truly captured my attention was that the door had opened without a single touch of human hands or the movement of inner force.
And for someone like me, who had lived as a modern person and passed through automatic doors tens of thousands of times, this was quite a refreshing experience.
‘A mechanical device?’
No, since this is Murim, should I call it a mechanism instead?
The newly opened door revealed intricate components made of iron and wood, woven together in a complex and precise structure.
That wasn’t all. As I slowly turned my head to survey the Library, the traces of similar mechanisms were evident throughout the space.
Of course, compared to modern civilization’s cutting-edge technology, it was rather primitive, but it was certainly a sight I had never witnessed in any of the prestigious major sects I had visited thus far.
‘That aside….’
Why was no one here?
Not a single attendant or guard in sight, and the family head himself was nowhere to be found either.
Jegal Gyun shouted loudly, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Family Head!”
His cry, infused with inner force, echoed through the Library like a reverberation.
A space better described as vast rather than merely spacious—larger than a modern soccer field.
Jegal Gyun’s shout pierced through the endless rows of bookshelves, but no answer came back.
“What? Could he not be here?”
“He seems to be inside, but… this is driving me crazy.”
Jegal Gyun sighed deeply as if he had expected this, then continued.
“Whenever he becomes absorbed in something, he often acts like this. I apologize, but if you could wait a moment, I will go find the Family Head….”
Jeok Cheon-gang, who had been surveying the Library, interrupted Jegal Gyun’s words.
“Never mind. There’s no need to go to such lengths.”
“Pardon? But regardless, since Jeok Dae-hyeop has come….”
“He’ll come out when the time is right. Everyone has their own circumstances, after all.”
For a moment, I doubted my ears. These words coming from Jeok Cheon-gang of all people—I never expected it.
Even Chung Poong dropped the candy he was bringing to his mouth in shock.
‘Is this a dream?’
Just as I was seriously pondering this, Jeok Cheon-gang continued with a warm smile.
“In any case, in all my years, I’ve never seen a Library this grand and magnificent. Would it be alright if I took a look around?”
Jegal Gyun answered with a bewildered expression.
“Of course.”
“Even if I burn it down?”
“…Pardon?”
“I’m joking, you rascal. Haha, even if that were the case, it wouldn’t be right for a guest to carelessly set everything ablaze.”
Jeok Cheon-gang continued, laughing heartily.
“Though I might accidentally topple some bookshelves.”
And in the next instant, Jeok Cheon-gang’s figure shot upward like a beam of light.
At the same time, a strike imbued with the full force of ten thousand jin of power slammed into the nearest bookshelf.
Crash!
There was no time to stop it. I stood frozen, my mouth agape, watching the scene unfold before my eyes.
Good grief.
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
A bookshelf easily three zhang tall was tilting. And there were hundreds of them.
In an instant, countless shelves packed tightly at regular intervals transformed into one colossal domino chain.
“Ah, ah, ahhhhh!”
Boom! Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The deafening roar swallowed Jegal Gyun’s screams.
As the bookshelves collapsed entirely, dust accumulated over countless years erupted into the air, engulfing the Library in a thick haze.
I wasn’t even sure if this could still be called a Library anymore. A tomb of books—that’s what it deserved to be called.
Perhaps it had become a tomb for a person as well.
“Father!!!”
Jeok Cheon-gang patted the shoulder of the wailing Jegal Gyun.
“You are now the new head of the Jegal Family.”
“No, that can’t be!”
Smack!
Jeok Cheon-gang, who had struck the back of Jegal Gyun’s head, opened his mouth with an exasperated expression.
“You can’t even take a joke. Don’t you see your father over there, perfectly alive?”
Jeok Cheon-gang’s words were true.
Through the dust clouds swirling in all directions came a couple of coughs, and a lean figure emerged, waving his hand as he walked forward.
“My, my, excuse me. I apologize for not coming to greet you sooner. Lately there have been so many pressing matters to attend to. Excuse me.”
“Enough of that. You’re a disrespectful one.”
Jeok Cheon-gang replied curtly and flicked his sleeve.
Whoosh!
With the sound of compressed air bursting forth, the dust clouds scattered, and finally a figure became completely visible.
“Well, seeing you like this reminds me how much time has passed. Do you remember me?”
A clear voice answered.
“Of course. That was the fifth Mid-Autumn Festival since my birth. You consumed two plates of roasted duck and five jars of fine wine, and toward the end of the gathering, you had a martial match with Paeng Dae-hyeop and bloodied your nose.”
“What? Was Byuk Ryuk Do-wang there too? And you actually fought?”
“Yes. Paeng Dae-hyeop laughed heartily and struck the table, spilling wine on your knee. It was a trivial matter.”
“It was a major incident where someone could easily have died.”
Jeok Cheon-gang chuckled and continued.
“Much time has passed, but that brilliant mind of yours remains unchanged. Enough of this nonsense—come here. There are guests waiting for you.”
“I was planning to greet them anyway.”
A middle-aged man with a refined bearing that could not be concealed even beneath the dust covering him.
Among all the sect leaders of great families I had met, he was remarkably young, regarding us with eyes that shone with unusual clarity and brilliance.
“I apologize for the delayed greeting to such honored guests. I am Je-gal Poong.”
A first greeting so understated it was hard to believe this was the head of the Jegal Family, the most renowned clan in Hubei Province and one of the pillars of the Orthodox Sects.
And the moment I heard Je-gal Poong’s follow-up words before anyone could respond, I suddenly understood why his epithet was the Reclining Dragon Guest.
“Time is as precious as gold, and I have no intention of stealing another’s treasure, so only those who wish to remain here should stay. And since it is my long-held principle that conversations should be conducted comfortably, I hope there are no misunderstandings.”
Before I could even process what he meant, Je-gal Poong sprawled flat on his side without a care for the dust accumulated on the floor, and I couldn’t help but let out a quiet laugh.
“Well, why not. It’s comfortable and nice.”
As I spoke and reclined with my chin propped at an angle, his eyes curved like a crescent moon.
* * *
Though bewildered, the people gradually sat down and lent their ears to Je-gal Poong’s words.
Moo-song had been about to leave, saying he needed to go to the Yangtze River Water Bandit Alliance in Hubei Province, but Je-gal Poong’s single remark made him stop in his tracks.
“I won’t stop you if you insist on leaving, but what I’m about to tell you has deep connections to you as well, Boat Fire Child Moo-song.”
“…!”
While Moo-song hesitated, Moon-kyung, who seemed most likely to leave first, unexpectedly remained seated quietly.
Indeed, if he had left alone while everyone else stayed, it would have drawn even more attention.
Je-gal Poong, who had already learned through the Jeongal Family’s information network that this young physician’s true identity was the Divine Physician’s disciple, merely glanced at Moon-kyung with an enigmatic expression before turning his gaze away and opening his mouth.
“It was exactly one month ago. I was reading the Records of the Grand Historian for the eighty-fifth time in the Library when I heard the news.”
The Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families are the alliance leaders representing each province.
With roots stretching back anywhere from a hundred to several hundred years, each possessed an intricate information network that allowed them to know their respective territories like the back of their hand.
And the Jeongal Family was no exception.
“The news was that the Hae-sa Bang had disappeared.”
“Hae-sa Bang? What is that, benefactor?”
“I don’t know either.”
Unlike the bewildered Chung Poong and myself, the others’ eyes widened.
Moo-song’s reaction in particular stood out more than anyone else’s in this place.
“The, the Hae-sa Bang you say?”
“It’s exactly the Hae-sa Bang you know. A faction organization formed by the countless fishermen and water workers gathered in this Hubei Province.”
Ah, now I understand.
Though I’d never heard the name Hae-sa Bang before, I grasped the nature of the organization.
Dispensing with tedious explanations, it was essentially a professional guild.
Just as each region has a Hunter Association, Hubei Province had—or rather, had had—an organization called the Hae-sa Bang, a fishermen’s guild.
And this news was undoubtedly good tidings, at least for Moo-song. The smile that flickered across his lips was proof of that.
“I cannot speak for the Jeongal Family’s position, but as someone devoted to our alliance, this is welcome news indeed. My master has been considerably troubled by the Hae-sa Bang all this time.”
“I thought as much. It was the only organization in Hubei Province capable of standing against the Yangtze River Water Bandit Alliance.”
Throughout Hubei Province, tributaries of the Yangtze branched out like a spider’s web.
No matter how formidable the Yangtze River Water Bandit Alliance’s power, the sheer number of those engaged in fishing would have been overwhelming.
Though the affairs of Sichuan were not his responsibility, Moo-song laughed heartily at the news of a powerful rival disappearing.
“But how did it come to be dissolved? Could it have been smuggling salt or something?”
Je-gal Poong shook his head.
“That couldn’t be. Even if it were, the Hae-sa Bang’s operations weren’t so sloppy, and if they’d been caught, the Emperor’s fleet would already be filling the Yangtze in Hubei.”
“Then, internal strife?”
“It seems you haven’t properly understood my words.”
A pair of clear, transparent eyes fixed upon Moo-song.
Je-gal Poong continued slowly, addressing the confusion written across his face.
“The Hae-sa Bang has vanished. Utterly crushed by someone’s hand.”
“…!”
“The night before I received that report, a grand celebration was held to honor the Hae-sa Bang Master’s eightieth birthday. Forty-five ship captains who had sworn loyalty to the Master, along with nearly a thousand Hae-sa Bang members, attended and raised their cups past midnight, launching dozens of pleasure boats upon the waters of Red Cliff. And that was the last of it.”
The next morning, an old boatman who rose at dawn witnessed countless corpses filling the waters of Red Cliff and the tragic wreckage of shattered vessels scattered across the surface.
The Master—the head and heart of the Hae-sa Bang—along with dozens of ship captains and core members, had all been buried in the waters of Red Cliff.
Nothing can move without its head and body.
The Hae-sa Bang, which for decades had stood shoulder to shoulder with the Yangtze River Water Bandit Alliance in Hubei Province, simply ceased to exist.
“How… how could such a thing occur….”
“Curious, isn’t it? That you, of all people, remained ignorant of this fact.”
Je-gal Poong gazed intently at Moo-song, who could not find his words.
“Do you know who moved first once word of what happened at Red Cliff spread? The authorities? The fortunate Hae-sa Bang members who survived? No. It was the Yangtze River Water Bandit Alliance. They moved with remarkable swiftness to seize the Hae-sa Bang’s territories and take control of the Yangtze.”
“…Je-gal Dae-hyup.”
Moo-song’s face hardened like stone.
Like me and the others, he now seemed to finally understand why he had been forced to remain in this place.
“Surely you don’t suspect me and the Alliance, do you?”
“Of course not. The Hwang Dae-hyup of the Dongjeong Channel that I know is not so foolish. He is a different sort of man than those other crude and violent channel masters.”
Je-gal Poong brushed the dust from his shoulders and smiled faintly at Moo-song as he continued.
“Indeed, I thought so. Until four days ago, when the Dongjeong Fisherman Elder—who had publicly denounced the Yangtze River Water Bandit Alliance—disappeared.”
“…!”
As a wave of unease rippled through the gathered crowd, a familiar notification pierced my ears.
Ding.

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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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