Murim Login - Chapter 487

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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 487
After confirming the Gate’s existence, my mind had been turbulent with conflicting thoughts, but with Jeok Cheon-gang’s assistance, I managed to clear them away cleanly.
“….”
Well, “assistance” might be generous—considering how thoroughly he’d beaten me, my joints were aching something fierce.
When Hyuk Moo-jin arrived later, he saw me groaning and thrust his thumb up triumphantly.
“Wow, truly worthy of our squad leader! To get beaten like that and still stand!”
“Moo-jin.”
“Yes?”
“Put that thumb away while I’m being nice. Before I drive my fist down on your crown and turn you into Thumb Princess.”
With my strength, compression was entirely possible.
Though I wasn’t certain what exactly Thumb Princess meant, the ominous atmosphere came through loud and clear.
Hyuk Moo-jin quickly retracted his raised thumb and muttered softly.
“Always picking on me. I wish I’d just stayed injured and bedridden….”
“Moo-jin, what was that?”
“I was saying that our squad leader has risen meteorically as a sacred figure of the Martial World!”
“….”
A lie spoken with soul, I see.
At this point, it was fair to say he’d elevated improvisation to an art form. Suddenly feeling sympathetic, I patted Hyuk Moo-jin’s shoulder.
“Right. You hang in there too. You’ve had quite the meteoric rise yourself from all this.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. I heard about it on Market Street on the way here.”
That Hyuk Moo-jin might be underappreciated here, but he’s a martial artist who earned the impressive epithet “Swift Wind Sword” through the Taewon Jin Family’s pacification of the Northern Plateau.
Moreover, always sticking with a blue-chip investment like me, his stock could only rise naturally.
“From what the common folk were saying, he’s practically a hero of reversal.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
“Yeah. At minimum, he’s an absolute master. That’s definitely a meteoric rise.”
Hyuk Moo-jin’s lips twitched with delight as he scrutinized me with suspicious eyes.
“What’s with that disrespectful look?”
“You said you had a meteoric rise, then beat me, then had a sudden injury. I thought that might be your style.”
“…You crazy bastard.”
It’s actually a decent scenario. But was my image really this bad?
‘Come to think of it, I have beaten him quite a lot.’
I suddenly felt sympathetic. How much must he have taken to be trapped in this level of victim mentality?
Looking at Hyuk Moo-jin with pitying eyes, I let out a deep sigh and spoke.
“No. I heard it directly on Market Street.”
“Really? You stake everything on it?”
“I stake both your balls on it.”
“Oh. Then it must be true. Finally, the reputation of Hyuk Moo-jin, the Swift Wind Sword and prodigy born of the Taewon Jin Family, echoes across the Martial World….”
Hyuk Moo-jin, who had been chuckling, suddenly stopped.
“Wait, something’s off.”
“What?”
“Exactly. Why would you be concerned about my balls, Captain?”
I answered with perfect composure.
“Well, naturally they’re yours.”
“Pardon? Why would that be natural?”
“Because you’re Hyuk Moo-jin.”
“What in the world are you talking about….”
His expression was worth seeing.
If I lost every single wager I’d made against Hyuk Moo-jin up to this point, thirty balls wouldn’t even be enough—though I suppose there’s no need to belabor the point.
“Why don’t you try planting one? Maybe a tree will grow.”
“What are you saying?”
“What else would I be saying?”
Following my gaze, Hyuk Moo-jin replied with a look as if he were staring at a madman.
“I’ve never heard of such a tree before.”
“Then you’d be the first to try.”
“I’ll defer to you, Captain.”
“Enough of that. What have you been doing? I haven’t seen you since earlier.”
Right after the Water Dragon collapsed, we split into two groups. In that process, Chung Poong and Hyuk Moo-jin followed Je-gal Poong, so I was seeing his face for the first time in exactly two days.
In response to my question, Hyuk Moo-jin shook the net he was holding.
“What’s that?”
“Fish, sir. I’ve been catching them continuously.”
“Fish?”
“Yes. I’ve been at it since yesterday, but it’s not easy.”
Ah, right. Of course it wouldn’t be easy. How difficult could catching fish possibly be?
I alternated my gaze between the thrashing fish in the net and Hyuk Moo-jin, nodding slightly.
“I see. Our Moo-jin has been busy fishing.”
“I’m serious! These creatures are so violent and strong—I’m losing my mind….”
Smack!
“Ugh!”
“Losing your mind? You abandoned your direct superior, whom you should serve with utmost loyalty, and came here to enjoy fishing? Looking at you is making me lose my mind!”
Hyuk Moo-jin, clutching his head and stumbling backward, cried out indignantly.
“Ah, it’s not what you’re thinking, sir!”
“How dare you raise your voice at me? You said you were catching fish, didn’t you, you bastard!”
“It’s not fishing—it’s capturing! Capturing!”
“Capturing? Chung Poong, capture this bastard!”
“Yes, sir! Right away!”
Chung Poong, who had been hovering nearby, quickly rushed over and seized Hyuk Moo-jin.
There was no way he could resist the Qinna techniques of Huashan Sect’s prodigy, the successor to the Sword Saint’s legacy and supreme master.
I looked down at Hyuk Moo-jin, now helplessly subdued, and declared solemnly.
“Even if the Murim crumbles tomorrow, I shall plant one tree of balls.”
“Wait. Wait!”
“Answer me this. Is your left one yours, or is your right one yours?”
“They’re both mine, you lunatics!”
“Honest fellow. I’ll take both as a reward.”
“Let go! Release me! You madmen!”
It was precisely when Hyuk Moo-jin’s scream pierced the air.
Whoosh!
“If you bury it in a sunny spot, it’ll grow beautifully… Oh, what a—”
Everything unfolded in an instant.
The moment something pale and elongated shot from Chung Poong’s embrace like a beam of light, Chung Poong, who had been pinning Hyuk Moo-jin down, immediately scrambled to his feet.
“Where are you going! Mi-mi!”
“Huff!”
Hyuk Moo-jin, barely freed from Chung Poong’s hold, shouted while thrusting the net he’d dropped to the ground with a pole.
“Capture! It’s not fishing—it’s capture! See for yourself!”
In the end, Hyuk Moo-jin’s cry proved meaningless.
From the moment Mi-mi burst from Chung Poong’s embrace and lunged toward the net, my gaze had already locked onto that direction.
And the instant I took in the sight before my eyes, a single thought struck me.
‘One mountain after another.’
Snap! Crunch!
Mi-mi, tongue flicking, burrowed through the net’s gaps and tore at the fish’s gills.
Though I questioned whether ‘that’ could even be called a fish.
Thud! Splatter!
Eyes stained crimson with blood. Teeth sharp as a saw’s blade. A body larger than an adult man’s forearm.
And on its tail—damn it. What is that?
I muttered in disbelief.
“…Spines?”
Hyuk Moo-jin, breathing heavily as he rose, replied curtly.
“Seems your eyes work fine, even if your ears don’t listen.”
“Insane. What kind of fish has spines on its tail?”
“Looks like a poisoned weapon.”
“…Are you spouting nonsense?”
“Didn’t I tell you? Fishing is worthless. It’s capture, capture. How would you even fish for something like that?”
“Hmph.”
Capture. Hearing it again, no word fit better for catching such a creature.
Hyuk Moo-jin, muttering complaints as he walked, picked up the net he’d dropped. Only now did I realize—the net wasn’t just any net, but an iron mesh reinforced with steel.
“What exactly is that?”
“As you can see, these creatures have incredibly sharp teeth. Ordinary nets get severed with a single bite, so…”
“No, not the iron mesh. What are those things inside it?”
“Ah.”
Clang!
Hyuk Moo-jin’s brow furrowed as he observed the creatures thrashing violently against the iron mesh as if intent on tearing through it.
“For now, everyone calls them Blood Fish.”
“Blood Fish?”
“Yes. Because their eyes are the color of blood.”
Blood Fish—a name befitting their unsettling appearance. Yet I wanted to know the precise designation of these abominations.
‘Activate Qi Sense.’
Whoooosh. Ding.
As the ripples of [Qi Sense] emanating from me made contact with the creatures, a system notification accompanied a level window materializing above their massive forms.
[Lv.5 Mutated Killifish]
– A new fish species has been discovered!
–
Information regarding [Mutated Killifish]
has been updated!
Item Window
[Mutated Killifish]
Type
: Fish
Grade
: None
Restriction
: None
Description :
A mutant born from exposure to faint magical energy. Incomparably stronger than before and possessing considerable toxicity, yet when actually prepared and eaten, it might taste quite delicious.
“….”
This is a killifish?
I stared at the creature, which was larger than the forearm of an average grown man, and pondered.
Where was the killifish I knew?
‘I’d sooner believe this place was the Amazon instead of Dongting Lake.’
First, I was astounded that a mere fish possessed a level of 5, and second, I was doubly shocked by the system window’s absurd claim that despite being incredibly powerful and toxic, it would taste delicious.
Taste delicious when eaten? It’s poisonous, you lunatics.
‘Regardless, there can only be one cause.’
This was undoubtedly a transformation caused by magical energy leaking from the Gate.
Though the Water Dragon sacrificed itself to absorb most of the Gate’s magical energy, it could not account for every residual trace.
And according to my direct observation merely an hour or two ago, the Gate, despite losing its function, continued to emit faint magical energy.
‘If creatures like this spread throughout the realm, what happens then? What if infection occurs?’
In truth, I already knew the answer to that question.
Everything goes to hell.
The tributaries of Dongting Lake connect to the Yangtze River, and the Yangtze is both a vast natural ecosystem and a major maritime trade route teeming with travelers.
I’m not affiliated with any environmental organization, so ecological destruction is secondary—but if there’s an infectious component and mutated organisms overflow onto the mainland, then it’s truly finished.
“…Ah, I’m going to lose my mind.”
“Why are you like that?”
“Benefactor, are you alright?”
“No, I’m not alright at all.”
I answered firmly and turned my head toward Chung Poong.
“Chung Poong. How many of these creatures are there?”
“I wasn’t deployed to this area, so I don’t know exactly. But Mi-mi seems to love them. They must taste good!”
Chung Poong gazed at Mi-mi—who had just swallowed a blood fish several times larger than her own body—with eyes overflowing with affection.
“Eat plenty, Mi-mi!”
“…Right. I’m an idiot for asking you. Then, Moo-jin.”
“Yes. We’ve captured roughly a hundred blood fish so far, but we haven’t yet determined how many more exist.”
I hadn’t realized how reassuring it would be to encounter someone with common sense.
I gazed at Hyuk Moo-jin with eyes full of emotion and asked again.
“Je-gal Poong knows about this as well?”
“Of course. The moment we confirmed the existence of the blood fish, Je-gal Poong ordered the waterway at the entrance to be completely sealed.”
“What about the blood fish that have already escaped?”
“Well, it seems there are almost none.”
“What?”
According to the past I glimpsed through [Fragments of Memory], the Gate opened at least a month ago.
Given that the Gate is still leaking faint magical energy, a considerable number of fish must have mutated….
“Are you certain?”
“It’s just a guess, but those creatures were fighting each other.”
“Fighting?”
“They’ve become so ferocious that the concept of allies seems to have vanished. They’re probably still killing each other as we speak.”
“….”
Should I be pleased about this or not?
Ferocity meant danger, but since they were waging war among themselves and reducing their numbers, it was certainly something to be grateful for.
‘At least this is fortunate.’
Just as I was exhaling a sigh of relief.
“Here you are, Young Master Jin.”
A clear, irritating voice reached me from behind.
When I turned, Moon-kyung had already approached and was looking at me.
“You’re being summoned.”
“I’m busy. Wait while the adults work.”
“…He specifically said to bring you. He has something to tell you.”
“Who?”
A murderous transmission pierced my ears.
– Me.
“…Ah.”
Then I have to go.

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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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