Murim Login - Chapter 591

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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 591
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The dial tone that had stretched on endlessly through the smartphone suddenly cut off.
In its place, instead of the voice I had been waiting for, a woman’s voice—familiar yet still foreign—pierced my ear.
– The call cannot be connected. After the beep, please leave your message at the tone.
Under normal circumstances, I would have hung up. Or rather, I wouldn’t have called at all.
But the Middle-aged Guard sensed it dimly. The voice of mine being recorded now might very well become my final words to my family.
Beep.
The signal began, but my lips refused to part.
What should I say? To my wife, carrying our second child in her womb, and to my son who had only just turned four.
And it was at that very moment when Go Se-won, the Middle-aged Guard, finally gathered the resolve to open his mouth.
Rumble.
A faint tremor resonated through the entire building, and the voice of the Security Team member waiting outside seeped through the gap in the door.
“Team Leader, I think you need to come out.”
“….”
“Team Leader?”
“Wait. I’m coming.”
With a brief reply, Go Se-won ended the call.
Yes, perhaps this was a sign from someone. A sign telling me not to die, but to survive and meet my family.
If it were anything else….
‘Then I wouldn’t even deserve to leave final words.’
Go Se-won muttered bitterly to himself and opened the door. A stiff, expressionless Security Team member with a familiar face awaited him.
“My apologies. It’s just that outside….”
“I understand. Let’s go.”
Go Se-won cut him off calmly and moved forward. Crossing the darkened corridor, I could soon see it.
A massive circular hall befitting the top floor, and roughly a hundred elite Guild members in full combat gear.
And… the holographic image flooding the hall and pouring forth from within it.
– Boom!
A flash erupted with a thunderous roar.
– Whoooosh!
Beams of light shot forth from both sides, aimed at each other.
– Aaaahhh!
– Tank! Major repair needed!
Screams and shouts erupted from all directions. Within that vivid spectacle unfolding as if before my very eyes, hundreds of Hunters clashed, entangled with one another.
Just minutes ago, they had all belonged to the same Guild. Now they fought as enemies.
‘This is….’
Go Se-won gazed at the fierce battle unfolding within the hologram, his eyes sunken deep.
The familiar faces leading the charge at the forefront were the Guild’s executives from the faction led by Song Cheon-woo.
‘Anti-Ares… So it’s come to this after all.’
A body without a head will soon fall.
But this time was different. Though the head called Song Cheon-woo had been severed, something far more formidable had grown in its place.
This was how a body sentenced to death could rise again.
In the holographic image, the young man emerging drenched in the blood of humans and monsters alike was their new center of gravity.
“A monster…”
The moment someone watching the hologram murmured those words like a prayer, a pale blue calamity fire blazed to life around Jin Tae-kyung.
– Whoosh. Roooaaaar!
A single streak of flame tore across the space, incinerating everything in its path.
Massive tower shields shattered into fragments, and dozens of Tanks who had held their ground like iron walls were simultaneously hurled backward, causing the precariously maintained balance to collapse in an instant.
– Gaaaah!
– Now! Strike!
Between the gushing blood and falling bodies, the flame that had neutralized an entire Raid Team in a single breath continued its relentless assault.
– Screeeeeech!
It was an unquenchable flame, an unstoppable meteor.
The ceiling that could withstand bombardment crumbled like dominoes, and the soldiers stationed layer upon layer fell like straw.
The holographic image flickered, unable to keep pace with the flame’s movement, but he was already on a new floor, striking down fresh enemies.
– St, stop…!
– Booooom!
An overwhelming force that nothing could contain. Jin Tae-kyung became a single streak of flame, shooting forward without obstruction.
As the soldiers stationed on each floor crumbled helplessly, the executives of Song Cheon-woo’s faction, who had wavered in doubt until now, finally reversed their weapons.
– Th, this is the 85th floor! Executive Director Kim Jong-pil and Team 13 are defecting. Ugh!
– Headquarters, respond! Rebellion on the 97th floor…!
– Whoooosh, Boom!
When currents strengthen, they become waves; when snowballs roll, they grow larger.
Such was the current situation. The fierce flames broke free from a single direction and spread in all directions.
And Go Se-won knew this truth: until his rage subsided, until he finally consumed one person, the flame called Jin Tae-kyung would never be extinguished.
“T, the target has breached the 100th floor!”
“Combat is erupting simultaneously across twelve floors. Dangerous elements are joining the target and engaging our forces!”
“The target is moving alone! The 103rd floor! No, he’s entered the 104th floor!”
Urgent shouts erupted from all directions. The executives’ faces, which had been composed when first summoned to the top floor, were now tinged with anxiety.
“H, hey. Team Leader Go. May I ask just one thing?”
Go Se-won answered without taking his eyes from the holographic image.
“Please, Executive Director Choi.”
“I’ve been curious about this since earlier…”
Gulp.
His throat bobbed. The gray-haired Executive Director Choi swallowed hard and spoke on behalf of everyone’s unspoken question.
“Where exactly is the Sub-Guild Master?”
Go Se-won suddenly turned his head and looked around. Among nearly a hundred people, the face of the one who should have fought first was nowhere to be seen.
Yet contrary to the grim reality, his heart felt strangely lighter.
‘Yes. It’s done now.’
He had asked for water, and water had flowed. He had asked for barking, and the beast had barked.
I had risen to this position precisely because I had lived as a faithful hound—one of countless war orphans born from the great upheaval.
Ironically, that very fact made me despise myself.
‘With this, all my debts are paid. Whether I live or die now, I have no further obligation to you.’
Go Se-won, cursing silently toward someone who never appeared, drew his blade with force.
Shing.
A calm voice threaded through the sharp metallic sound.
“The Sub-Guild Master… he will not come.”
“What? What did you say?”
“So if you wish to live, then fight. The scraps you have consumed all this time are far too much to regurgitate now.”
Everyone in this hall was a hound. Those who had lived in abundance on the morsels their master provided had no further choice.
‘That’s right. I’m no different.’
Just as the executives’ eyes widened at the faint laugh escaping Go Se-won’s lips, a scream-like cry shattered through the vast hall.
“The 119th floor! The target has breached the 119th floor!”
“…!”
“…!”
No one here failed to grasp the meaning of those words.
After all, everyone knew that this High-Rise Building they commuted to daily consisted of exactly 120 floors.
‘He comes. He is coming.’
An inescapable battle.
Clad in full armor, a sword in one hand and a spear in the other, Go Se-won opened his mouth with a heavy heart.
“Formation. Battle stations.”
The quiet command pierced the ears of a hundred men in that instant.
Boom boom boom! Crash!
The world-renowned Skyscraper District trembled with a tremendous roar accompanied by violent vibrations.
An uninvited guest had set foot upon the highest level of the iron fortress—a place no one had ever challenged, nor dared to challenge.
Thud.
Through the rising dust cloud, the silhouette of a single figure emerged.
Go Se-won, feeling every hair on his body stand on end, hurled the spear he gripped with all his might.
Whoosh, screeeech!
* * *
Crack!
The spear that had rushed toward me splits apart along with the dust cloud.
Beyond the cleared vision traced by the white flame’s arc, a vaguely familiar middle-aged face came into view.
‘Where have I seen him?’
With the question came a memory, not so distant, flickering through my mind.
The new security team captain who had shadowed Seok Go-jun’s side during Lee Jung-yong’s state funeral. That was the middle-aged man’s true identity.
The name I had heard in passing back then was probably…
“Go Se-won.”
At my quiet call, the middle-aged man—Go Se-won’s—pupils trembled faintly.
Whether that was because I knew his name, or because I had so easily neutralized his previous attack, I could not say.
What I knew for certain was that I had finally found someone capable of giving me a proper answer to my question.
I voiced that question once more—the same one I’d hurled dozens of times since the Lobby.
“Seok Go-jun. Where is he?”
Before the words even left my mouth, a flash erupted from Go Se-won’s hand.
Screeeech, crash!
A throwing spear, narrowly missing by the slimmest margin, embedded itself with a small crater. And that was the signal.
Whoooosh!
Waiting for me on the highest floor was not Go Se-won alone.
Two hundred Ares Guild members filled the vast hall. Each one of them was more than worthy of the title “high-rank Hunter,” and they unleashed their assault in unison.
Roaaaaar!
Tremendous energy surged. The hall flooded with blue, red, and brilliant light.
Before an onslaught of power incomparable to anything before and a dense web of flame, I stepped forward alone.
Thud. The moment my foot, charged with inner force, struck the ground, flames burst forth and scorched the air.
‘Flame Path in One.’
Whoosh, screeeech!
A single step was enough. Erasing the distance of over ten meters, I lashed out toward the empty air.
Arrows melted before the cyan-white calamity flame, and every spell that had been hurled through the air was completely dispelled.
Boom!
Water, earth, wind, flame.
The ultra-high temperature heat brought forth by the Dual Yang technique ignored even elemental compatibility.
As the attack magic composed of the four elements exploded outward in all directions, the Tanks at the front swiftly raised their Tower Shields.
Crash!
Despite the considerable impact, not a single tremor. The Tower Shield, which had blocked the magical shockwave without any damage, tilted at an angle.
Simultaneously, twenty or so Divine Physiques vaulted upward, using the steel wall as a bridge.
Whoosh!
I understood instinctively.
Everyone gathered here was classified as elite within the Ares Guild, but these ones charging at me now… they were on a different level.
‘Killing intent.’
Concise, swift movements. From their coldly composed, emotionless gaze emanated the scent of seasoned assassins.
Twenty-odd weapons, thrust and swung like rays of light, flashed brilliantly.
Whiiiiish!
And before the fierce wind aimed at my entire body, I couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter.
“Pathetic bastards.”
“…!”
In the slowed world, I saw shock bloom across their emotionless faces. But it was already too late to turn back. For them and for me.
Rip!
The moment cyan-white inner force extended along the blade of White Flame, the incoming weapons lost their momentum and severed bodies split left and right.
With a single strike that turned five bodies into ten pieces, I thrust my fist toward the empty air.
Boom!
What erupted was not merely compressed air.
As the Assassin who had been approaching covertly became a headless corpse and toppled over, the chain sickle in his grip was already moving according to my will.
Screeeech, thud thud!
The chain sickle, swung by the void’s grip, embedded itself in someone’s neck.
The moment the eyes that had remained composed before sudden death widened in shock, my palm pressed against his falling chest.
Boom!
The Flame Divine’s spear wasn’t aimed at a finishing blow. It was meant to pierce through another enemy who had been trying to thrust his weapon using his already-dead comrade as a shield.
“Kraaagh!”
Blood erupting from the Seven Apertures along with the scream.
Before the one whose meridians had been severed throughout his entire body could even drop his head, my body was already moving toward the next enemy.
Crack!
My extended fist shattered his skull.
Whoosh, spurt spurt spurt!
The wind blade I unleashed with explosive speed pierced through his neck and chest. He tried to block the gushing blood with his hand that had dropped the weapon, but it was futile.
“Gack. Kek.”
The light rapidly fading from his eyes. I watched the last enemy crumble helplessly with a cold gaze.
‘You brought this upon yourselves.’
Had I been my usual self, I might have spared them. But today, now, was different.
Just as Kkokjeong had suffered at the hands of the Black Hunters in the past. I had no intention of stopping. I could not stop.
‘I must show them here. So that such things never happen again.’
I was a Hunter long before I became a martial artist of the Murim.
Born in the 21st century, a modern person who had lived in a civilized society governed by reason and law. That is why I could not eliminate Seok Go-jun in Sichuan.
Unlike Lee Jung-yong, whom I could eliminate amid chaos and destruction, Seok Go-jun at that time was enclosed within a fence made of the words “rule of law.”
But now… all of that has become meaningless.
Seok Go-jun, whose life I saved by my own choice, has crossed a river from which there is no return, and I. No, we have lost Kim Hwa-jong.
I can no longer see the gray-haired old butler Noh Ji-sa, who always spoke with a courteous yet gentle smile.
That is why I came here.
To tear down the fence called the rule of law, and to become an outlaw myself.
Squelch.
The sound of blood-soaked footsteps echoed unusually loud.
The vast hall interior had fallen into a suffocating silence. People frozen by the slaughter unfolding before their eyes.
Yet among them, the face I sought was nowhere to be seen. Neither was the only person who could give me the most certain answer to my question.
‘Go Se-won.’
The moment I turned my head to find Seok Go-jun’s right arm. An extremely subtle and covert sound of air being pierced reached my senses.
Whiiing!
I spun around and brought both hands together as if in prayer, clashing them.
With a thunderous bang, the sharp blade I caught in my hands stopped just above my forehead.
Go Se-won, the owner of the sword, spoke in a calm voice.
“Did you find me?”
“Yes.”
With my answer, I applied force to both hands. Simultaneously, the sword aura—no, the aura formed from mighty mana—yielded before the pale blue strong force.
Unable to withstand the tremendous force, the Sword Saint glowed crimson and melted away.
Crackle. Sizzle!
The moment the molten metal that had once been called a blade fell to the ground, I thrust forward my hand brimming with scorching heat.
Boom!
A single palm strike was sufficient. The layered defensive magic shattered, and the armor crumbled.
Yet despite the impact that shook his insides, Go Se-won did not fall. He swallowed the surging blood and seized my shoulder with his gauntlet.
Or rather, he attempted to.
Tap-tap-tap, Boom!
The Forbidden Grapple flowed like water, and as heat erupted once more, Go Se-won staggered backward and reached out his hand.
Whoosh! A blade shot up between the gauntlet’s fingers, grazing his jaw perilously close. I felt the sharp sting and twisted his wrist.
Crack! Snap!
The gauntlet shattered under a grip that far exceeded human limits, flesh tore, and pristine white bone jutted out.
It must have been agony beyond what I had anticipated, yet Go Se-won neither screamed nor cried out—his face pale, he simply spoke one sentence flatly.
“Is it over?”
“No. Not yet.”
Without hesitation, I answered and seized his other arm.
Crunch!
A sharp intake of breath escaped him.
Unable to endure the pain any longer, Go Se-won’s lips parted, and a trembling voice flowed out between them, mingled with blood.
“Take it easy… and finish it.”
“That’s the plan. Once you tell me where that bastard Seok Go-jun is.”
“If I cannot disclose it due to the confidentiality clause specified in my employment contract?”
I answered while gripping Go Se-won’s collarbone.
“Then it won’t end easily.”
Go Se-won laughed weakly at my words.
“So you couldn’t find him no matter how hard you searched. That figures.”
Unfortunately, that was the truth.
Despite relentlessly crushing the endless waves of hounds and laying waste to the interior of the building, he had not appeared.
The only valuable information I had obtained so far was the identity of the secret area where he resided.
“Area A. I suspect you know where it is.”
Cough.
Go Se-won muttered as he spat blood.
“Bad luck. I was planning to resign soon anyway.”
“Your tongue’s too loose. Shut up and spill it.”
“It’s not difficult. But there is a condition.”
“G-go Team Leader. Surely that madman isn’t—!”
There’s always one tactless fool in any crowd. But the nameless executive who had stepped forward soon fell silent.
Separate from being tactless, few people could continue speaking after taking a wind blade to the throat.
“A condition?”
“Yes.”
And what Go Se-won said was something I hadn’t anticipated.
“…Kill me?”
Go Se-won gave a small nod. My reflection flickered in his pupils, still calm despite the convulsions of pain wracking his body.
“It’s too late to go back to how things were. Clean and simple, right here. That’s enough.”
“….”
“You understand, don’t you.”
Go Se-won, breathing roughly, raised a trembling finger and pointed at something.
And finally understanding the true nature of Area A, I couldn’t help but falter.
‘Empty space?’
It was difficult to comprehend at first glance, but the world called such things magic.
I was someone who had experienced things far more dangerous and mysterious than magic itself.
‘Where is it.’
After staring intently at the empty void for a moment, I felt a strange sensation approaching from my exhausted body.
‘This is.’
Invisible. Yet I could feel it.
Another space, shrouded in an extremely subtle yet enormous aura.
It was a space hidden so perfectly that one could only perceive it by being aware of its existence, and Go Se-won, having kept his promise, moved his lips that were turning pale blue.
“Now I’ll die….”
Uuuuuung.
Before the words could finish, a vibration sound rang out from somewhere.
And in the next moment, as the full-body armor shattered, a smartphone slipped from the pocket of Go Se-won’s dress pants and rolled across the ground.
Thud. Zzzzzing.
Along with the sender’s name marked [Wife], a photo of a family appeared on the cracked screen.
A young child smiling brightly, his wife. And Go Se-won with an expressionless face.
“….”
Silence fell for a moment. I gazed wordlessly at Go Se-won’s cracked expression, like the photo on the smartphone screen.
Recalling his plea to kill him, the calm voice that said there was no turning back, I parted my lips.
“Let me ask you one thing.”
“…?”
“Why is today your last day at work?”
Go Se-won, who had been hesitating, answered like a sigh.
“Working here, I realized it wasn’t suited for me. Especially… my boss is a piece of shit.”
“I see. Understood.”
Did Go Se-won know? That his answer just now had sealed his fate.
I quietly drew up my power.
Not toward my fist, but toward my legs.
“You….”
Boom!
The following voice was buried beneath the thunderous sound.
I was already surging toward the vast empty space.
I felt the fierce wind, a floating sensation as if seized by an invisible hand, and the presence of an unknown space that refused entry to those without permission.
But… I am an outlaw. I need no permission.
‘That place.’
Everything has a flow.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. At the same moment, a cyan-white aura erupted from the spear blade in my hand, tearing through the empty air.
Shwaaaack!

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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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