Murim Login - Chapter 496

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

Chapter 496
“Mm.”
Hyuk Moo-jin picked up his brush with deliberate care. The small notebook spread across the table was already filled with characters he had been writing for several days.
Month X, Day X. Weather was terrible, then cleared up.
I had a dream. A nightmare featuring a monster resembling a dragon. I was so frightened that I wet myself in my sleep.
The moment I woke, I snuck down to the stream to wash my undergarments and pants, only to find Gung Ki-bang already there washing his feces-stained trousers.
What a filthy wretch. Even beggars don’t carry on like this.
I have no idea why our captain insists on keeping someone around who soils his pants with excrement.
But why am I in the Medical Hall anyway?
Month X, Day X. Weather clear.
The nightmare was real.
According to Moon-kyung, that monster was an Imoogi, and with demonic energy permeating its very marrow, it had committed acts that heaven and earth alike condemned.
Fortunately, thanks to our captain’s intervention, I was scarcely affected by that demonic energy, but I was diagnosed to keep writing in this journal consistently for the time being and retrace my memories.
Still, all those absurd scenes were actually real.
A sudden question occurred to me mid-conversation, so I asked Moon-kyung: that dream—no, rather, I saw him fighting in that place. Was all of that real too?
Moon-kyung said no. Gung Ki-bang had also joined in asking the same thing, but for some reason, he just fell asleep right then and there. He must have been exhausted.
But why do I have bruising on my forehead?
I have no idea. I should just go back to sleep.
Month X, Day X.
We went to dispose of the corpse. I lost control once at the Imoogi’s sheer size, and again at our captain’s butchering skill.
I asked him to make me a bone sword, and he beat me so hard my ears rang.
I heard the Imoogi’s corpse, divided into bone, scales, and flesh, would be transported in secret.
And for some reason, a considerable portion of the sorted corpse material disappeared.
Xuangong Zhenren, furious, declared a search for the culprit, but that’s nonsense. It’s not like the pieces were marble-sized—who could possibly steal such a massive quantity?
After that minor commotion, as we boarded the boat to return, a strong stench of feces wafted from somewhere.
Unable to bear it any longer, I brought it up first, and before I could even finish speaking, our captain pointed directly at Gung Ki-bang.
He vehemently denied it, but having witnessed him soil himself days ago, I found his words unbelievable.
Moon-kyung, sitting beside me, maintained an enigmatic expression throughout.
I wanted to curse up a storm about the feces stench, but I held back out of consideration for Gung Ki-bang’s dignity.
What a good-hearted fellow. Every time I see him, he’s so innocent and endearing.
Month X, Day X.
Two days have passed since we disposed of the Imoogi’s corpse.
For reasons unknown, Jeok Cheon-gang hasn’t been seen at all, and our captain grows more gaunt with each passing day.
I joked that he looked like someone suffering from poison and assassination attempts day and night, and he glared at me with a murderous expression.
I thought, “He’s only making a fuss with me because I seem easy to push around.”
Just then, I saw Gung Ki-bang say the same thing and get hit for it. That made me feel better.
Month X, Day X.
This is my first entry in four days. The reason I’ve been absent is simply because there’s been nothing noteworthy to write about.
After Jeok Cheon-gang, our captain has also become difficult to see, and Moon-kyung keeps disappearing somewhere, so he’s been scarce too.
What’s a martial artist like me supposed to do with the spare time? Gung Ki-bang and I searched for decent locations and trained.
The only reason his breath smells like a sewer is because he keeps his mouth shut while training, and honestly, that’s not a bad approach.
Meanwhile, the advice Cheong So-hyup offered after somehow tracking me down proved utterly useless.
Whenever I asked about martial techniques, his responses fell into exactly two categories.
“That’s really easy. Why can’t you do it?”
This fool. If it were that simple, I wouldn’t still be struggling to reach the first rank.
Frustrated, he’d demonstrate, but I couldn’t grasp a thing from it.
During every training session, that water snake creature—Mi-mi, I think—sits beside me swallowing blood fish, and whether because of that or something else, the beast has grown considerably larger. Even its horns have expanded.
I’d thought the blood fish supply was running low, but it seems they’ve all gone straight into that creature’s mouth.
Month X, Day X.
I’ve built a decent rapport with several martial artists from the Je-gal Family Estate and the Wudang Sect, and through them, I’ve heard some interesting news.
Apparently, the Je-gal Family is testing a formation under the command of Je-gal Poong, the Hidden Dragon Guest, designed to completely seal that gap.
From what I hear, if they can’t stop it, more of those bizarre creatures like blood fish will keep appearing. I have no idea what grotesque methods Dark Heaven used to create such things.
Meanwhile, the Wudang Sect is still tracking that Sal-gwi.
Even with the government officials joining in and combing through Hubei Province like they’re searching for lice, they haven’t managed to flush it out—clearly, that creature is an expert at fleeing.
Month X, Day X.
It’s been seven weeks since I arrived here. When I saw the Clan Leader after so long, his complexion was serene.
Before, he seemed to be doing some solitary training—his body was covered in wounds, his complexion pale or tinged with a sickly blue—but now he appears to have recovered.
In exchange, his temperament has grown somewhat sharper, and his gait has become ghostlike.
He makes so little sound that I got caught cursing about Gung Ki-bang and the Clan Leader and received a thorough beating for it.
How in the world did he hear me cursing from that distance?
Anyway, while I was getting pummeled, Moon-kyung wore a satisfied expression… though that’s probably just my imagination.
“Hmm.”
My diary, which documented everything I’d witnessed and experienced over the past ten days, ended there.
And just as Hyuk Moo-jin, who had been gazing quietly at the paper while lost in thought, was about to make his first brushstroke, a commotion erupted from outside.
“It’s done! We’ve done it!”
“Clan Leader! We’ve succeeded!”
“You didn’t do it—I did! I truly am a genius! Je-gal Moo-hu, at your service!”
Screech! Splat!
My concentration shattered, my hand slipped, and the brush wavered.
Hyuk Moo-jin’s face, which had been composed with the mindset of a great literary master, contorted in an instant.
“Who in blazes is that!”
A familiar voice pierced through Hyuk Moo-jin’s ear as he raged.
“The person you’re talking about seems to be Je-gal Poong, the Grand Guest. Shall I relay your message?”
“Go ahead and try. When that happens, Gung Ki-bang dies and I die with him.”
Hyuk Moo-jin, who had curtly responded to Gung Ki-bang—who had entered the Military Camp without permission—set down his brush.
“But what exactly is happening outside?”
“It seems the Je-gal Family has succeeded in completely sealing that gap.”
“With a formation?”
“What else—with a boulder?”
“Unbelievable. What else could possibly go wrong?”
“That’s not a fundamental solution. And if we could handle it that way, we would’ve blocked it long ago. Think before you speak.”
“Oh, really? Do you shit yourself from thinking too much?”
“That’s like a dog that pissed itself scolding one that shat itself.”
“Piss is better than shit anyway. And Gung Ki-bang has done it twice. That time we went to dispose of the water demon’s corpse….”
“Damn it, I’m losing my mind. I told you it wasn’t me!”
Hyuk Moo-jin clicked his tongue as he watched Gung Ki-bang pound his chest.
“You should at least have some dignity in your denials.”
“I’m serious!”
“If not Gung Ki-bang, then who? Huh? Surely Xuangong Zhenren didn’t do it?”
“Jin Tae-kyung! I clearly smelled shit emanating from that bastard, wai—!”
Gung Ki-bang froze mid-sentence, startled, and quickly glanced around.
Just days ago, he’d been beaten senseless for saying something similar.
“He’s… not here, right?”
Hyuk Moo-jin swallowed hard as well.
The Jin Tae-kyung he knew was the type to beat someone down impartially, regardless of who started the insult.
“Maybe?”
“You sure?”
“How would I know? If I could sense the Commander’s presence, I’d already be a supreme master. Or a ghost.”
The two men, their senses heightened, swept their eyes around before exhaling deeply.
A hollow emptiness suddenly washed over them at the thought of their own pathetic situation—nervously watching their words over a few remarks.
“How much longer do we have to live like this?”
“Until the Commander passes away.”
“What if that bastard undergoes a reversal of aging later?”
“Then we bite our tongues and commit suicide. What else can we do?”
“Damn it. Jin Tae-kyung is a real monster. How is that even possible?”
Hyuk Moo-jin nodded vigorously in agreement. Having watched Jin Tae-kyung since his reckless days, he couldn’t help but empathize.
“That’s true. And not just one thing—two of them.”
“Cheong So-hyup? Don’t even mention that guy. I’ve only seen him a few times, but he’s already mimicking the Drunken Eight Immortals Fist almost perfectly. If the Sect Master found out, he’d kill him for leaking sect secrets.”
“Ooh.”
“…I can roughly guess what you’re thinking right now, so keep your mouth shut forever. I’m seriously dying here.”
“Ooooh.”
“What a damn dog of a man.”
Gung Ki-bang shook his head vigorously before suddenly speaking up.
“But what’s your lord up to? I haven’t seen him in ages.”
“I have no idea. Sometimes it seems like he’s training, sometimes it doesn’t. There are days he just stays in the Military Camp all day.”
“Jin is always busy with one thing or another anyway, but I haven’t seen Jeok Cheon-gang in quite a while.”
Since the day he first arrived here, Jeok Cheon-gang had completely vanished from sight.
Many wondered about his whereabouts, but no one worried for his safety.
Fire King. Those two words alone were proof of his identity.
“Who in the world would dare harm the Fire King?”
“True enough. Even Dark Heaven couldn’t manage it. If anyone tried to make a move against That Person, we’d lose several pillars of this place, and the surrounding area would be completely devastated.”
Gung Ki-bang nodded in agreement and continued.
“Wait. Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen Moon-kyung around lately at all.”
“That’s right. Every time I’ve spotted him, he’s been with the squad leader.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I suspect it might be because of an injury he sustained during training….”
“Hmm.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I smell something.”
“Are you being paranoid again?”
“Hyuk Moo-jin, you madman. That’s not it. There’s something between those two, is what I’m saying.”
Gung Ki-bang, lost in thought, suddenly narrowed his brow.
“Wait, could it be!”
“Could it be what.”
“You still don’t understand? Why have those two been spending time together so often lately?”
Hyuk Moo-jin’s expression became enigmatic.
As he listened to Gung Ki-bang’s words, something clicked into place.
“If that’s the case, then perhaps….”
“That’s exactly what you’re thinking.”
“Good heavens. How could this be.”
“When you think about it, it’s strange. He throws punches at us whenever he’s bored, yet he’s never laid a hand on Moon-kyung even once.”
“He’s barely cursed at all lately. And when we went to dispose of that water demon corpse last time, something felt off.”
“When Jin Tae-kyung disappeared, Moon-kyung was nowhere to be found either.”
“Exactly! Truly, the next leader of the Beggar Clan!”
“It’s certain. That Moon-kyung….”
Gung Ki-bang opened his mouth with a rigid expression.
“He’s definitely learning martial arts from that Jin Family brat.”
“Ah, Moon-kyung! How could you make such a terrible choice!”
Hyuk Moo-jin was genuinely distressed. The thought of Jin Tae-kyung, like dark ink, seeping into Moon-kyung’s pristine white paper tore at his heart.
“What sin has that child committed!”
“Alas, what a lamentable turn of events. I have no face to show the Divine Physician in Sichuan.”
“Moon-kyung, no! We cannot let him walk the same path as us!”
“The water has already been spilled. Jin Tae-kyung is an Evil Demon. Once he’s fallen into the grasp of such a wicked creature, there’s nothing we can do.”
“Then by now, Moon-kyung must be….”
“Sigh….”
“Ah….”
Both men exhaled sighs of lamentation simultaneously.
Thinking of Moon-kyung, who by now must be facing death under the demonic hands of Jin Tae-kyung, their hearts grew unbearably heavy.
‘Moon-kyung. Please, survive this.’
* * *
‘Please, someone save me.’
Crack!
A gust of wind slices across my neck.
Ice-cold at first, then searing pain floods through me. A bead of cold sweat trickles down my forehead and drops to the ground with a soft thud.
Whoosh, crackle!
I straighten my body in mid-air and fix my gaze directly ahead.
“That was a bit too dangerous.”
A voice answers—no, a transmission of inner voice reaches me.
– Dangerous is precisely what I intended.
“No, I’m serious. I almost died just now.”
– Glad tidings to hear.
Where exactly is he?
No matter how much I scan my surroundings, I see nothing. Only the transmission echoing from somewhere unknown.
“Damn it.”
– What’s this cursing about?
I take a deep breath and grip the shaft of the White Flame Spear tightly.
Toward whoever watches me from that invisible place, I mutter through gritted teeth.
“This is infuriating, truly.”
Whine!
Instead of a reply, a blinding sword strike hurtles toward me.

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