Murim Login - Chapter 558

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

Chapter 558
Flash.
The man’s eyes snapped open abruptly. His hazy gaze fixed upon the void for a moment before he began slowly retracing his fragmented memories.
‘F-Rank Gate, goblins, an earthquake, and….’
Jin Tae-kyung.
At that final keyword which unlocked everything, the man who had recovered all his memories suddenly sprang up from where he lay, coiling like a compressed spring.
“Uuuaaagh!”
One problem: a man with the broad frame of a tank required considerably more space than what this cramped interior offered.
Crash. Thud!
“Ow! Huh?”
The man who had driven his head into the ceiling cried out, then his eyes widened in shock.
It hurt. It really hurt. But the fact that I could feel pain meant….
‘I, I’m alive!’
I never thought I’d be entertaining the kind of thoughts typical of web novel protagonists.
Only then, as the tension finally drained from my body, did I realize I was lying inside a vehicle. More precisely—an ambulance.
‘An ambulance, of all things.’
While I was grateful to have escaped death’s grip, it was hardly an auspicious sign. If I had survived only to become crippled, that would be its own tragedy.
It was at that moment when I, suddenly alert, began frantically inspecting my entire body.
Creak. Click.
As the door swung wide open and light poured in, I shielded my face with both arms.
Or perhaps it was the dazzling beauty of the woman who had opened the door.
“Ah, you’re awake. I heard some commotion as I was passing by.”
I fumbled to open my mouth toward this stunningly beautiful woman who had appeared so suddenly.
“W-who are you?”
“Lee Seung-yeop, Team Leader, correct? You’re currently freelance with no guild affiliation, and you’re thirty-three years old.”
“H-how do you know about me?”
“Ah, questions can wait. First, are you alright physically?”
Her manner of cutting off my words—gentle yet resolute—caused me to nod reflexively.
“Well, I should be fine. All I have are some scrapes that barely qualify as injuries. The others too….”
The others?
At that word, carelessly mentioned in passing, my eyes flew wide open.
“R-right! My team members! Are they safe? Is anyone dead or injured?”
“Well, your team members are all fine, but if you keep shouting like that, my ears won’t be safe, will they?”
“Really? Is that truly the case?”
“I know someone who always swears by something filthy in situations like this. Since I don’t have testicles, I’ll swear by my ovaries instead. Fair?”
Her answer, radiating cool composure, continued.
“And to answer your earlier question—I checked your belongings. That’s why your identification was processed the fastest.”
Tap.
What she set down was a small spatial pocket and a briefing board.
On the pristine white surface was a brief signature written in clumsy handwriting.
Lee Seung-yeop, fighting spirit!
-Jin Tae-kyung-
The beautiful woman let out a soft chuckle.
“Actually, it had fallen off, but someone handed it directly to me. They said it was a family heirloom and that I mustn’t lose it.”
The man, Lee Seung-yeop, widened his eyes.
“What? Then the person who gave this to you is perhaps…”
“If a name just came to mind, you’ve got it right.”
Her eyebrows, perfectly groomed without a single stray hair, twitched slightly. A crisp, refreshing voice followed, matching her refined features.
“Ah, I realize I’m late with introductions. I’m Song Song-i.”
“What? Song what?”
“…I suppose it’s faster to just hand you my business card from the start. Here.”
A swift motion.
The Team Leader accepted the card held between her long, pale fingers and his eyes widened.
“Pyeonghwa Guild?”
“My official title is Healer Team Leader. I’m also temporarily overseeing the Emergency Rescue Team.”
“…Huh.”
The Team Leader swallowed hard. No matter how busy one was with making a living, he knew well enough what Pyeonghwa Guild represented.
‘If you don’t know, you’re a monster.’
Wasn’t it the very guild that Jin Tae-kyung belonged to?
With tremendous capital and sensational appeal that captured public attention, Pyeonghwa Guild had achieved explosive growth in mere months and was no longer a modest mid-tier guild.
‘These days, they say Pyeonghwa Guild is harder to join than Ares Guild.’
Hunter compensation was among the industry’s finest, and with limitless growth potential ahead, it was only natural that talent gravitated toward them.
After Lee Jung-yong’s state funeral a week ago, even Hunters from Ares Guild itself had transferred to Pyeonghwa Guild instead of renewing their contracts.
Yet this beautiful woman before him was a team leader-level executive at that very Pyeonghwa Guild. For someone who appeared to be in her twenties at most, she was quite the heavyweight.
Now that he thought about it, her celebrity-like face seemed familiar from television.
“But…what exactly is the Emergency Rescue Team? I’ve never heard of it before.”
“It’s exactly what it sounds like. The Emergency Rescue Team. A newly established division solely dedicated to rescuing people.”
“I understand that guilds of a certain caliber maintain rescue teams. But my team members and I don’t belong to Pyeonghwa Guild.”
It was common knowledge that freelance Hunters and small guilds received assistance from government agencies, while mid-tier guilds operated their own rescue teams. The sudden appearance of Pyeonghwa Guild in this capacity seemed puzzling.
“Does that bother you?”
“Oh, no. How could I possibly think such a thing? Of course I’m incredibly grateful. You saved me from nearly dying when I got caught up in that Gate mutation.”
Song Song-i chuckled softly.
“Then it’s all settled. That’s why we came here.”
“Pardon?”
“Our Pyeonghwa Guild Emergency Rescue Team is currently operating on a trial basis, primarily focusing on mid and low-rank Gates in the Seoul Metropolitan Area. We’re in a cooperative relationship with government agencies and operate for all Hunters. If I had to describe it, I’d call it volunteer work for public safety.”
“Volunteer…work?”
“Of course, the rest of us and I receive salaries for this.”
With eyes wide open, he gazed past Song Song-i’s shoulder.
Many Hunters moving busily about in all directions. Each one bore the emblem of Pyeonghwa Guild on their chest.
‘Volunteer work? Mobilizing this many personnel?’
No matter how much of a golden goose the modern Hunter Guilds were, the vast majority of their revenue ultimately stemmed from Gates.
That’s why Guilds employed Hunters with astronomical salaries, then generated even greater profits from the Gates themselves.
Yet the Peace Guild had dispatched these Hunters not for Raids, but for rescue operations—and they were even providing appropriate compensation for it.
‘They all look like at least mid-rank Hunters.’
There were dozens of Hunters alone, each outfitted in gear that looked expensive at first glance.
As a low-rank Hunter, I found it difficult to fathom just how much the Peace Guild had spent on these people in a single day.
“Um, excuse me. You’re Team Leader Song Song-i, correct?”
“Yes. What is it?”
“Well… it’s just that I was wondering if there might be treatment fees or rescue fees, that sort of thing?”
“There aren’t any. Have you ever seen a firefighter bill a citizen for saving their life?”
“Then…?”
“Of course everything is free—from transport to treatment. Oh, and if anyone has suffered psychological trauma, we also provide counseling services. That sort of thing.”
“…?”
Wait. What treatment? Did I mishear that?
I stared blankly at Song Song-i and asked earnestly.
“No, seriously—does the Peace Guild mine for gold or something?”
Song Song-i’s eyes twinkled with amusement.
“Not quite. It’s just that our backer has quite a lot of money.”
“A backer?”
“You’d know him. You’ve already gotten his signature directly.”
“…!”
“Anyway, there’s someone like that. He’s always complaining that it feels like his blood is draining away by the day, but he’s smiling the whole time.”
A smile bloomed at the corners of Song Song-i’s lips as she thought of that one person.
Truth be told, when I first met him, I thought, ‘What kind of madman is this?’ But watching him from the sidelines, I came to understand.
What it truly meant to be a Hunter. What it meant to have the scent of humanity.
‘Hey, want to do something with me?’
‘…That sounds like a line I’ve heard before. Just so you know, I’m not a Chinese merchant.’
That was what Jin Tae-kyung had said when he suddenly came to find me a week ago.
I briefly wondered if he was asking me to infiltrate Goldmoon—or rather, the Ares Guild—as a spy, but what followed completely shattered my expectations.
‘That’s more impressive than I thought, Taurus.’
To be more honest, this time it was actually cool.
It was the same when he established a charitable foundation with the money from selling the Black Wyvern’s corpse. He occasionally showed these unexpected sides of himself.
Pfft.
I let out a soft chuckle and suddenly turned my head to gaze up at the sky.
January, when the cold hadn’t yet fully lifted. Yet the sunlight streaming down from above was warm.
* * *
Kiiiiing.
– Jin Tae-kyung. Iris recognition complete.
A mechanical voice flowed forth alongside the red light sweeping across the Underground Cavern.
As I stepped through the automatically opening door into the Guild House, the people who had been moving about their tasks stopped in their tracks as if by prior agreement.
“Oh, you’ve arrived.”
“Welcome!”
“Thank you for your hard work!”
“Ah, yes. Hello, everyone.”
I’d told them to stop doing this. It’s not like we’re running some mob office.
Skeleton King whispered to me as I laughed awkwardly at the sight I could never quite get used to.
“Wicked human. This doesn’t seem right.”
“What’s gotten into you? I didn’t think you’d even consider——”
Before I could finish, Skeleton King strode forward and pointed at what appeared to be a Rookie hunter.
“You there, your bow angle is only eighty degrees. Lower it to ninety. Alternatively, attempting a grand jeté would also be an excellent method.”
“Y-yes! Understood!”
“….”
Don’t adjust the angles on your own. And what do you even understand?
It was exasperating just watching.
I stopped the guild member from attempting a grand jeté and offered the kind advice that they should ignore this fool’s words before finally heading toward my destination.
And there, familiar faces awaited me.
“Tae-kyung!”
“Welcome.”
Lim Hyuk-jun greeted me with both arms spread wide, while Choi Team Leader was busy handling something urgent.
“Calm down, calm down. What if your wounds reopen?”
“I’m just happy to see you.”
“We see each other every day, though.”
The moment I seated Lim Hyuk-jun, who was still undergoing rehabilitation, Choi Team Leader suddenly spoke up.
“We received a report via hotline. A Named Monster appeared, you said?”
“It was a Cyclops. Three hundred Ents were just a bonus.”
“A Cyclops in an F-Rank Gate… It was truly fortunate that Jin Tae-kyung happened to be nearby.”
Skeleton King spoke with a self-satisfied tone.
“All knelt before the majesty of this body.”
“Say one more word, and I’ll make sure you hear it while still on your knees.”
“…I apologize.”
With just one phrase, I silenced him, and Choi Team Leader handed me a folder.
“What’s this?”
“The materials you requested last time. We’ve compiled statistics on mutated Gates that have occurred across Asia, including domestically, recently.”
It didn’t take long to review the folder.
After a moment, having confirmed everything I needed, I murmured like a groan.
“Five times in just the past month, domestically alone….”
“The probability of mutated Gate occurrences is showing an explosive upward trend. The incident in Sichuan Province is a prime example.”
Mutated Gates occur with extremely low probability.
Even in South Korea, where over hundreds of Gates exist, we see only one or two per year, rarely exceeding three, yet last month alone we’ve already surpassed five.
‘And this month, including the one I just dealt with, it’s already two.’
An utterly inexplicable phenomenon.
Yet in this moment, the fact that memories of events in Murim surfaced in my mind was surely no coincidence.
‘Something is happening.’
Tap. Tap tap.
I asked, my fingers drumming silently against the table.
“What is the situation in North America and Europe?”
“Based on my assessment, it should be similar. However, to obtain more reliable information, I’ve requested materials from someone trustworthy.”
“Someone trustworthy?”
The moment I questioned Choi Team Leader, I felt all my senses awaken.
Whoooosh.
A sudden tempest of mana.
Vast reserves of mana—far exceeding even that of an A-Rank Hunter—were concentrating somewhere within the Guild House.
‘This is.’
Familiar. The flow of mana. And the distinctive signature emanating from it.
“Choi Team Leader, could it be?”
“Yes, the person you’re thinking of. I didn’t expect him to come in person, though.”
At Choi Team Leader’s calm reply, Skeleton King turned to me with a bewildered expression.
“Cunning human. Who do you speak of?”
“Your old man.”
“…?”
Before confusion could settle, a message spell burrowed into everyone’s minds, and a smile bloomed across Skeleton King’s face.
– How has everyone been?
A voice tinged with hip-hop soul and groove. I chuckled and recalled one person.
‘Magic Johnson.’
The Grand Sorcerer of the United States had come to visit the Peace Guild.

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