Murim Login - Chapter 55

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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 55
‘I’m going to lose my mind.’
Hyuk Moo-jin felt his vision blur red with rage.
Assassins masquerading as disciples of minor sects. And the Grand Elder’s betrayal. That alone was enough to make his head explode—but then….
‘Why the hell did this bastard collapse?!’
Out of nowhere, Jin Tae-kyung had lost consciousness. The Scout Unit members took turns slapping his face and shaking him by the collar, but he showed no signs of waking.
‘His breathing is still there, at least.’
It was enough to make even ghosts weep. With things spiraling like this, he—the deputy commander—had somehow become responsible for this catastrophic mess.
“You two.”
Hyuk Moo-jin pointed at two of the Scout Unit members still reeling from shock.
“Head back to the Main Residence immediately and report what’s happened.”
The Grand Elder.
He had no idea why the family’s elder—a hero of the legendary Great Hall Tournament—would orchestrate such a conspiracy, or for what purpose.
But he had to prevent the worst-case scenario.
“The rest of you, move back to base. Hurry!”
Hyuk Moo-jin hoisted the unconscious Jin Tae-kyung onto his back.
After running for about an hour, his vision blurred red again—but for a different reason.
‘I’m dying.’
It had only been days since Jo Pil’s devastating palm strike had inflicted internal injuries on him. He’d boasted to Jin Tae-kyung that he was nearly recovered, but the truth was he needed at least two weeks of complete rest.
“Gasp… gasp…”
His entire body was drenched in sweat, and his legs trembled uncontrollably.
He could barely keep pace on his own, and now carrying the muscular Jin Tae-kyung on his back—it was truly a death march.
‘Oh, Mother. Father.’
Now he could even see visions of his parents, alive and well, beckoning to him. The elderly woman standing beside them was someone he’d often seen at the temple.
‘The Goddess of Mercy?’
– Child, you have suffered enough. You may rest now.
At her compassionate smile, Hyuk Moo-jin’s heart began to unravel.
Yes, I’ve done enough. The commander collapsed when it mattered most. And these bastards in the unit won’t even offer to take a turn carrying him.
‘Screw it all.’
Just as Hyuk Moo-jin was about to lose consciousness—
“Huff, haaah.”
Warm breath tickled his ear. He didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. Tears welled up in Hyuk Moo-jin’s eyes.
“Commander!”
Jin Tae-kyung whispered with a smirk.
“Candy for your ears.”
* * *
Clang! Clang clang!
“Kill them! Kill them all!”
“Aaaahhh!”
Blood and screams erupted everywhere. A martial artist drenched in blood crawled through the corpses.
His youthful face was marred by agony and terror.
“Ugh, uhhhhh.”
Sobs burst forth despite his desperate attempts to suppress them. Ten years of disciplined cultivation had been rendered useless on a blood-soaked battlefield.
A trusted senior had fallen. A brother-in-arms had perished. Weapons descended from all directions, tearing through bellies and hacking limbs to shreds.
“Mother, Mother….”
His face, which had been calling out endlessly for his mother, suddenly hardened into stone.
Thunk—!
A spear point had materialized in his chest. In an instant, the light faded from his wide-open eyes. A bearded Bandit, his face weathered like a brigand’s, withdrew his rusted spear with a cruel laugh.
“Where do you think you’re going, brat?”
Yet even this Bandit, who had survived countless brushes with death, could not evade the blade that came hurtling toward him in the next moment.
Slice—
A silver arc, and the Bandit’s neck erupted skyward. A warrior slain by a Bandit. A Bandit slain by another warrior.
Nameless figures repeated the cycle of death and killing from all directions.
That was what a battlefield was.
‘Yes, that’s what it was.’
The Grand Elder gazed upon the battlefield with a distant, contemplative expression.
Pal Cheon Hyeop. A legendary battleground that had marked one chapter of the Great Righteous War decades past. How many had perished in that narrow Gorge?
‘I was young then.’
My body was robust and my heart burned with fire. It was an age when the character “Righteous” felt profoundly real.
But the Great Righteous War had changed me. I grew weary of endless conflict, and death became something I feared.
‘What use is righteous conviction? In death, one becomes nothing but a ghost.’
That was an epiphany. At last I survived and became a hero, and after long years of endurance, I reached this position.
Now was the time to reap the fruits. The Grand Elder fixed his weathered gaze upon the figure standing beside him.
‘What a waste. Such a waste.’
Jin Wi-kyung was an exceptional talent. Young, formidable in martial prowess, and above all, possessed of the authority and judgment necessary for leadership. Though he occasionally showed himself bound by sentiment, it was precisely this quality that had earned him deep respect within the family.
‘He has the makings to revitalize the Main Residence.’
If Jin Wi-kyung were to become the patriarch of the Taewon Jin Family. And if his two younger brothers, each showing their own brilliance, were to support him steadily….
The Grand Elder suddenly became aware of his own thoughts and let out a quiet laugh.
What absurdity was this, having come this far? Besides, Jin Tae-kyung was surely already dead, his spirit departed.
“I’ve grown old indeed.”
Jin Wi-kyung reacted to the soft murmur.
“What did you say, sir?”
“Nothing of importance. It’s natural for the elderly to talk to themselves. But tell me, how does the situation appear to you?”
“The battle is unfolding favorably, however….”
Jin Wi-kyung’s expression darkened slightly. Though they held superiority in troop quality and terrain, casualties continued to mount steadily.
His heart could not be at ease watching his family members fall.
“Young Master. I understand your feelings, but do not act rashly.”
The Grand Elder offered his counsel in a grave tone.
“A commander must know when to act. The longer the battle drags on, the more impatient they become—that is when you must strike.”
“Soon the Hangsan Inspection Bureau will commit their full strength against us.”
“They’ll send their elite masters to the front. The Sect Master, Lee Cheon-baek, might even come himself.”
“Then everything will be decided at that moment.”
The Grand Elder nodded.
“The Young Patriarch, myself, and Wi Paeng will hold back the enemy’s leadership, and when arrows rain down from the cliff above, their morale will shatter completely.”
“It’s a shame we can’t use fire tactics. The heavens are truly unkind.”
The narrow terrain of Pal Cheon Hyeop would have been perfect for fire tactics, but the heavy snowfall from days ago had blanketed everything in white.
However, even if the heavens had favored him, what Jin Wi-kyung hoped for would never have come to pass.
Those drawing bowstrings from the cliff above would follow the Grand Elder’s orders.
“I too find the heavens unkind.”
The Grand Elder’s words were sincere.
The years of waiting had been far too long. Now that his destiny had finally arrived, he resented it.
* * *
“Candy for your ears.”
“Squad Leader!”
“Was it sweet as a dream?”
“…Are you insane?”
Seeing Hyuk Moo-jin’s ugly face brought a surge of joy. The other members of my Scout Unit who had rushed over at news of my awakening felt the same.
“Squad Leader, you’re awake!”
“What happened? Are you alright?”
“We thought you were dead!”
I’ll have to deal with whoever just said that later. I committed their face and name to memory, then smiled broadly at everyone.
“It’s been a while. How have you all been?”
“Huh?”
“What kind of thing is that to say?”
“Did you hit your head or something?”
“Let’s check his head!”
It was a reaction I’d fully anticipated. But it was something I’d genuinely wanted to say at least once.
…Though I was treated like a madman for it.
“Anyway, let’s skip the pleasantries. How long have I been unconscious?”
Hyuk Moo-jin slumped down and answered.
“Definitely more than half a double hour, but probably less than a full double hour.”
Since I’d spent two weeks in reality, the timing roughly matched up. I nodded and moved on to my next question.
“Was I breathing?”
“Why are you suddenly asking that, seriously?”
“No time. Answer quickly.”
“You were breathing, so you woke up. Otherwise you’d be dead, right?”
That made sense.
It seemed that when logging in or out, the other body fell into a comatose state.
‘If I’d logged out before dealing with those assassins, there would’ve been no body to return to.’
I’d think about that later.
There’s a more pressing issue at hand.
“What about the main unit?”
“They were already moving in that direction. We separated two of them and sent them back to the Family.”
“Good work. How much distance is left?”
“At least another two hours, it seems.”
“Two hours, then.”
“Sir, Scout Leader. I apologize for bringing this up, but… we should consider the worst-case scenario.”
Hyuk Moo-jin and all the Scout Unit members fell silent. No one here was ignorant of what the worst case meant.
I’d thought about it too.
According to Gwak Jun’s final words, this betrayal had been meticulously planned long ago.
But there was one critical flaw in that plan.
Me.
The Grand Elder had gravely underestimated me. Or perhaps, in another sense, overestimated me. After all, he’d sent dozens of first-rate masters to kill me.
Yet even that wasn’t enough. I survived.
It was a mistake on his part.
Moreover, when Gwak Jun first revealed his true colors, he’d said something else. That they needed to move soon to stay on schedule.
Which meant…
“It’s not too late yet.”
I met each Scout Unit member’s gaze in turn and spoke with unwavering resolve.
“Don’t entertain worst-case scenarios. I’ll change that outcome by any means necessary.”
“Scout Leader…”
“So listen, Moo-jin.”
I flashed a warm smile at Hyuk Moo-jin, whose eyes had grown misty.
“Get up right now.”
“I’m dying from exhaustion.”
“You want to die beaten instead?”
…
“Every step we take in this hour matters. You know about marathon mentality?”
“I don’t.”
Right. This is the Murim.
“Anyway, get up quickly. Just one more hour and we’re there.”
Hyuk Moo-jin, gripping his trembling legs to stand, tilted his head in confusion.
“One hour?”
“Yeah, one hour.”
“But you just told us that even at maximum speed, it would take two hours.”
“Exactly. One hour.”
“What are you saying right now…?”
“Moo-jin.”
“Yes?”
To Hyuk Moo-jin, blinking with bovine innocence, I flashed an even brighter smile.
“Ever heard the word ‘grit’?”
Whether it takes one or two hours doesn’t matter.
We’re getting there in half an hour, no matter what.
“Just run like hell. That’s all there is to it.”
“Gasp.”
Every member of the Scout Unit’s face drained of color.
* * *
“We’re blocked, sir.”
“Casualties are mounting. Sect Master, please issue orders.”
Even as reports poured in, the Hangsan Inspection Bureau’s master, Blood Wolf Sword Lee Cheon-baek, kept his eyes closed.
‘I was reckless.’
The war had begun in haste, and preparations were equally inadequate. As supplies dwindled rapidly and morale crumbled, desertion became rampant.
‘They read every move.’
The rage of losing my son and the urgency of the situation clouded my judgment. I ignored my subordinates’ counsel and sought the fastest route.
And so I found myself facing the Taewon Jin Family in Pal Cheon Gorge—a narrow, unfamiliar place.
“Sect Master!”
At his subordinate’s cry, Lee Cheon-baek slowly opened his eyes. The terrifying gaze of a supreme master pierced through the battlefield.
“Screeeech!”
“Sweep them away! They’re nothing but rabble!”
Over a thousand of my forces were trapped at the narrow entrance, unable to advance. The bandits and brigands I’d placed at the front had numbers, but individually they were inferior even to the Taewon Jin Family’s ordinary warriors.
‘Barely worth using as sword fodder.’
Just as I was inwardly clicking my tongue, dozens of bandits suddenly broke formation. The middle-aged bandit leading them screamed with all his might.
“This is a death trap! All Blood Rain Group brothers, retreat!”
Those were the middle-aged bandit’s final words.
Whoosh—
A light breeze. The bandit felt nothing else.
He didn’t know that Blood Wolf Sword Lee Cheon-baek had already passed through him, nor that his subordinate bandits had all frozen in terror.
He only felt, suddenly, that his throat was burning.
“Ugh…”
His cleanly severed head tumbled down. The headless body staggered forward a few steps before collapsing like rotting wood.
“Blood Rain Group, you said?”
Lee Cheon-baek leveled his sword at the petrified bandits. Not a single drop of blood stained his blade.
“Leave.”
The killing intent of a supreme master shot forth like a blade. The bandits charged toward the front faster than they’d come.
They’d decided that fighting the supreme master before them was far worse than battling at the front lines.
“Pathetic vermin.”
Lee Cheon-baek pursued them. His blazing gaze was fixed on that distant place where the Taewon Jin Family’s leadership awaited.
“The Sect Master leads!”
“All units, charge! Annihilate the Taewon Jin Family!”
As Lee Cheon-baek advanced, the core forces of the Hangsan Inspection Bureau followed in his wake.
Three masters at the pinnacle of their craft and dozens of first-rate experts surged forward toward the vanguard.

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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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