Murim Login - Chapter 480

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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 480
“Mmm.”
The Old Master’s wrinkled eyes twitched. After groaning and thrashing about for some time, he finally forced his eyes open with great effort.
‘Where am I…?’
Instead of damp, yellowed wallpaper, a pristine white ceiling stretched overhead—almost oppressively so.
While the Old Master lay there in a daze, unable to comprehend his situation, a calm voice reached his ears.
“Are you awake?”
“Uh, yes…?”
Finding the source of that voice proved simple enough.
Startled, the Old Master pushed himself upright and discovered a Young Man seated before a small brazier, regarding him with steady eyes.
“Who, who are you?”
“In a Medical Hall, there exist only two kinds of people: physicians and patients. Since you currently fall into the latter category, I suggest you return to bed.”
“Ah.”
Only then did the Old Master realize this unfamiliar space was a Medical Hall. And with that realization came understanding of the Young Man’s identity as well.
“So you’re a Physician. But how did I end up in a Medical Hall…? Oof.”
As the Old Master spoke in bewilderment, a sudden throbbing headache made him cry out.
Now that he thought about it, his aged body ached everywhere, and he was trembling while drenched in sweat.
‘Good heavens, what in the world happened to me?’
The young Physician, who had crossed the room at some point, came to the Old Master’s aid as he clutched his head and groaned.
“I’m going to administer acupuncture now. Please calm yourself and breathe slowly. Ready? One. Two….”
Tap.
“Huh?”
The Old Master’s eyes widened. Just as a slight sting bloomed across his crown—like an ant bite—the headache vanished as if washed away.
Seeing the Old Master’s astonished expression, the young Physician holding the fine needle smiled softly.
“Better?”
“Yes? Yes.”
“Then return to bed. From what I’ve observed over the past two days, fortunately there’s nothing serious, but… you’re still not ready to exert yourself.”
“Ah, understood.”
Such miraculous medical skill, combined with an atmosphere that somehow brought ease to both body and spirit.
Up close, the Young Man appeared far younger than expected, yet he carried himself with a composure that seemed even more seasoned than an elderly Physician.
“I’ll help you. Relax your body and lie down slowly.”
“Yes, yes.”
As if entranced, the Old Master settled back onto the bed. The young Physician extended his fingers.
“I need to perform a simple examination. Old Master, how many fingers am I holding up?”
“Three, it appears.”
“And now?”
“Two.”
“Correct. Now, where do you live, what is your name, and how old are you?”
“…Must I answer such things?”
“It’s to confirm your mind is fully intact.”
“Hmm. Let me think for a moment.”
Unlike before, this time I had to rack my brain considerably.
The Old Master had only just awakened, and his condition remained unstable. He felt a faint headache as he slowly opened his mouth.
“I’ve lived my entire life near Wuhan and Dongting Lake. Since I grew up without much formal education, I’m not certain of my exact age, but I suspect I haven’t yet reached seventy.”
“So you’re Old Master Gwak Bong-chul. You seem quite vigorous for your years. What line of work do you do?”
“Well, you see, that is to say… that.”
The Old Master furrowed his brow in hesitation before the memory of his profession returned to him.
“I row boats.”
“Ah, so you’re a boatman.”
“Yes. In my younger days, I served as a mate on merchant vessels, and after I acquired my own boat, I mostly ferried passengers on Dongting Lake and showed them the sights.”
The old man—or rather, the aged boatman—began retracing his memories and continued his tale, while the young physician nodded along with a gentle smile, encouraging him at every turn.
“I had a close friend I worked with, and he used to tell me that whenever a man acquires a boat, women naturally follow. So I gathered my courage and commissioned a sleek vessel—one built at Baekchu Shipyard.”
“Is that so.”
“I wonder if you know of Baekchu Shipyard, young physician. These days you can find their boats easily enough at the Wuhan docks, but back when I was young, a man who piloted a Baekchu vessel was considered the finest marriage prospect. Or perhaps you know them by their mark—four circles on the bow.”
“Ah, something like the Audi logo, I suppose.”
“Eh? What is an Audi logo?”
“Such things exist. Let us move past it.”
“In any case, that vessel I commissioned back then was truly sleek and beautiful. It attracted many women. Once, a widow from the neighboring village came by in the dead of night asking me to show her the Baekchu boat, and suddenly she began loosening her garments…!”
“…Perhaps we should skip ahead a bit further.”
The young physician listened with patience beyond his years, and as the tale continued, the firmly sealed dam of memory began to crumble.
And the boatman, who had been speaking animatedly despite his aching body, suddenly froze like a statue as a single memory surfaced.
“…!”
It was a bolt of lightning. A memory like a nightmare.
Rumble, crash!
‘Kraaaaaaagh!’
The thunder and lightning echoed vividly in his ears, accompanied by a roar filled with rage.
As he blinked slowly, the silhouette of an enormous being standing against the black sky flashed before his eyes.
“Ugh!”
The boatman jolted upright as if propelled by springs, staring blankly into empty space.
“W-w-wait.”
His voice trembled, his eyes wide open.
The sudden exertion brought renewed aching throughout his body, but such things were the last thing on the boatman’s mind now.
It was because of the memories that flooded back as the dam of recollection crumbled.
“P-physician! What did you tell me earlier?”
“Which part do you mean?”
“Two days! Didn’t you say two days have passed?”
Grip!
A grip so strong it seemed impossible from a man past seventy clamped around the physician’s slender wrist.
Yet the young physician didn’t so much as raise an eyebrow, responding calmly instead.
“That is correct.”
“Phew. Oh dear, oh dear!”
“Please calm yourself, Old Master.”
“N-now is not the time for this! We must inform the people at once and report this to the authorities…!”
The Old Boatman was barely conscious.
Without even realizing it, his entire body—drenched in sweat—trembled uncontrollably, and his unfocused eyes darted anxiously in all directions.
As if something were about to devour him at any moment.
“We must flee as quickly as possible. Hurry!”
That was when the young physician reached out toward the convulsing patient.
Whoosh.
When his pristine white hand—unmarred by calluses—pressed gently against the patient’s slightly hunched back, a warm current flowed forth, filling the old man’s interior with soothing energy.
The Old Boatman, finally regaining composure through this inexplicable phenomenon, gasped for breath.
“W-what is this?”
“Consider it a technique I’ve cultivated in my spare time. And Old Master.”
Hmm.
For some reason, as the Old Boatman met the young physician’s deep, crystalline gaze, he found his words catching in his throat.
The young physician, who had been studying him intently, continued slowly.
“The calamity you fear will never come to pass. Do you understand?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“It is simple. Erase from your mind everything you have seen, heard, and experienced. Two days ago, you were summoned to Dongting Lake with the imperial garrison, fell ill, and collapsed. You awoke only today.”
“P-please wait a moment.”
“Everything I speak now is truth. It must become truth. On that day, you transported no passengers, and you saw no spirit of Dongting Lake.”
“…!”
The Old Boatman trembled as though struck by lightning.
The words from the young physician before him carried such devastating weight.
“Y-you mean to say that you yourself saw the spirit, physician?”
“That may or may not be true. But there is one thing you must remember above all… you must forget everything you remember.”
At the soft yet blade-sharp tone of his voice, the Old Boatman swallowed hard.
In the next moment, it was the last shred of courage possessed by a man past seventy that shattered the suffocating silence filling the room.
“A-are you planning to kill this old fool?”
“Me? No.”
The young physician shook his head slowly and continued.
“But someone else might think differently. For instance… the Hubei Provincial Governor, who would prefer no unsettling rumors.”
“T-the Provincial Governor!”
The Hubei Provincial Governor.
A man who governed an entire city by the mandate of the Emperor—in Hubei Province, he was virtually a king.
The Old Boatman, reflexively crying out at the mention of such a lofty personage, immediately realized his blunder, and his vision darkened.
‘S-such a fool I am! What if someone heard that!’
Yet the young physician’s expression remained serene.
He possessed the composure of one who had sealed this room against the outside world, preventing their conversation from escaping.
Indeed, even if it did leak out, the young physician would not bat an eye.
Such measures were solely for the sake of preserving the Old Boatman’s life.
Unaware of this fact, the Old Boatman opened his mouth again, his voice trembling with barely suppressed breath.
“I, I wish to live, sir. Why does the City Lord seek to take the life of such a worthless boatman as myself?”
“When floods come and droughts strike, when plagues sweep through and people die in every direction, warfare erupts across the land. And those ambitious rebels who dream of crowns and thrones speak in unison—that Heaven’s mandate has abandoned the Emperor, that we must overthrow this rotting nation.”
The young physician clicked his tongue softly and rose to his feet, uttering a single statement.
“If calamities beyond human control wreak such havoc, what would become of Hubei Province if the spirit of Dongting Lake—vast as a mountain—were to descend into madness?”
“…!”
“Thousands have perished. The Yangtze River and Dongting Lake are filled with corpses and blood, and the streets of Bulya City have fallen into darkness. Now, while the anxious people fix their gaze upon Hubei Province, if all that you have witnessed and heard were to become known to everyone—”
The words trailed off, yet the Old Boatman found the answer in the suffocating silence that followed.
‘I would die. Without question.’
Born into a poor tenant farmer’s household and having lived his entire life illiterate, he had nonetheless not closed his eyes and ears for over seventy years.
Rather, by ferrying countless passengers and listening to their conversations, I had learned the ways of the world.
‘If I were to speak aloud the facts I know—’
It would be the end.
Neither the Emperor upon his throne nor the Hubei Provincial Governor would wish for it to become known that the maddened spirit of Dongting Lake had claimed thousands of lives.
No, they might very well eliminate everyone involved in this matter immediately.
A master of the Martial World from a prestigious clan could perhaps escape, but an old boatman past seventy could be disposed of without anyone knowing.
“Hah… hah…”
And toward the Old Boatman, who exhaled as though his very soul had departed, a lifeline of salvation was extended.
“Erase all of this from your memory. Sell your boat and spend your remaining years in silence. Then nothing will happen to you.”
“Is, is that truly so?”
“That is all I have to say.”
With those words, the young physician rose from his seat. The Old Boatman, watching his retreating figure toward the door with vacant eyes, cried out urgently.
“Are you truly a physician, sir?”
“Of course.”
Moon-kyung, the young physician who answered curtly, released the door handle he had been holding.
Then, gesturing toward the brazier still burning in one corner of the room and the kettle slowly simmering above it, he continued.
“It is a medicinal decoction I prepared myself. Three times daily, after meals. Without fail.”
To care for one’s patient until the very end is the physician’s duty.

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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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