Murim Login - Chapter 600

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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 600
The sorrow of losing something precious never truly fades. It merely wears away bit by bit with the passage of time, growing dimmer and more indistinct.
And in that sense, the week that had passed was precisely the time Choi Team Leader needed to compose himself.
“He will rest in peace now. Kim Butler, that is. But we… we will only grow busier from here on.”
From that softly spoken word, I sensed he had finished his preparations.
The readiness to stand again while holding the departed close to his heart. The readiness to walk forward once more.
So now I could speak of it.
“A week ago, I met with Go Se-won.”
Choi Team Leader reacted to my sudden revelation.
“Go Se-won… you mean the Security Team Leader of Ares Guild?”
“Yes. The very man who was Seok Go-jun’s closest confidant.”
Seok Go-jun. At those three syllables, Choi Team Leader’s stern brows twitched.
But it was only momentary—he quickly composed the expression threatening to crumble and answered in a measured voice.
“Please, continue.”
“He requested the meeting first. Said he had a debt to repay to me.”
“A debt to repay… judging by his actions, it seems it was more than mere gratitude.”
Though Choi Team Leader had never met Go Se-won directly, his intuition was sharp and precise.
I nodded in affirmation and slowly unfolded the memory of that day in meticulous detail.
The private meeting held within the Special Detention Center. And of the existence of another secret sector that only I had heard about.
“He said he didn’t know the exact location or what the space was for. Only the deceased Lee Jung-yong and Seok Go-jun could access it, he said.”
After hearing the entire account, Choi Team Leader murmured softly.
“I suspected as much… but it was all true.”
“Pardon?”
His reaction caught me off guard. Choi Team Leader asked, looking at my widened eyes.
“Is there anyone besides Jin Tae-kyung who knows of this?”
“Well, I’d say only Go Se-won and I. The sound was temporarily blocked, and he spoke with his mouth obscured.”
“I believe you mentioned the Blue House Security Service accompanied you?”
“They seemed suspicious, but there haven’t been any particular questions or reactions so far. They may have reported it to President Baek Han-sung, but I’m not certain.”
“I see.”
Having answered his questions faithfully, it was now my turn. I looked at Choi Team Leader with curiosity.
“Did you already know about this, Team Leader? Your reaction suggests you did.”
Choi Team Leader nodded readily without any particular denial.
“I too learned of it from someone else.”
“…So there are four people who know, not two. At this point, doesn’t President Baek Han-sung know as well?”
“I doubt it. Ares Guild’s security is thorough, and information regarding Area A is granted only to an extremely select few. And…”
Choi Team Leader added in a calm voice.
“There are three. Not four.”
“Pardon?”
“The person who informed me of that information passed away not long ago. Of course, he too was once, like Go Se-won, one of those closest to Ares Guild’s darkest secrets.”
To my knowledge, there were never many individuals of that caliber. In fact, since the founding of Ares Guild, they could be counted on one hand.
‘And if he died not long ago.’
A name flashed across my mind.
Finally grasping his identity, I spoke in a low voice.
“Song Cheon-woo.”
Choi Team Leader nodded and continued.
“Inside the Gate where we last met, he revealed several secrets he had kept hidden all this time. Whether it was a final pang of conscience or a desire to ease his own mind, I cannot say.”
The reason didn’t matter. The milk was already spilled and irreversible. But we had to search for traces in that spilled milk.
“Did Song Cheon-woo know the location or purpose of another secret facility? It seems like that old man would have known.”
“He didn’t know the location, but he did know the purpose.”
“What was it?”
The purpose of another secret facility. That was precisely what I had been most curious about. If Area A was the shell, then the secret facility within it was the core.
Lee Jung-yong and Seok Go-jun. What secret had only these two master and disciple shared?
Even now, as a thorough investigation of Area A was underway, what could be hidden in that place, still unknown to the world?
‘An astronomical sum of cash? Secretly embezzled S-rank mana stones? Or perhaps… a human experimentation facility?’
Keywords from various conspiracy theories and movies flashed through my mind.
But in the next moment, at Choi Team Leader’s single remark, my spinning thoughts went completely blank.
“My maternal grandfather.”
“Pardon?”
“Concealing my maternal grandfather’s existence from the world. That is the purpose of the other secret facility.”
“…!”
* * *
How much time had passed? Even as wind blew and clouds drifted slowly overhead, I remained motionless for a long while.
‘This is insane.’
I never could have imagined this.
Cheon Tae-min. That very Cheon Tae-min was in the secret facility.
It felt like the demon of Gyeongsang Province had struck the back of my head with a club. Rigid as a stone statue, I barely managed to force out my voice.
“Um, is it… is it possible there are two grandfathers?”
“….”
“No, this matter needs to be certain.”
Choi Team Leader looked at me with an expression that said I was an idiot, then answered.
“As far as I know, that is not the case.”
“…Huh.”
Damn, it seems to be true.
And as I stood there, momentarily speechless, Choi Team Leader delivered another bombshell.
“He lost consciousness over twenty years ago, I’m told. Lee Jung-yong and Song Cheon-woo covered it up and kept it hidden all this time.”
“…Lost consciousness? Cheon Tae-min. Or rather, that person?”
The immortal hero humanity ever produced. A Slayer.
Cheon Tae-min, who even defeated Demon King Asmodeus, is a vegetable.
This is harder to believe than Jin Ho passing the bar exam or Hyuk Moo-jin becoming the Martial Alliance Leader.
‘How is that even possible.’
Cheon Tae-min held a position in the Murim akin to that of a War God himself.
Though more than two decades had passed since he entered seclusion, not a soul had ever come close to matching his prowess.
A paragon of perfection, wielding absolute power.
The reason he had earned the title of an immortal hero and commanded such authority was precisely because he possessed strength befitting such reverence.
Yet here was that very Cheon Tae-min, a vegetative state for decades despite the existence of cutting-edge medicine and magical healing in the Modern World.
‘Something reeks about this.’
My suspicion apparently showed plainly on my face, for Choi Team Leader shook his head before I could even speak.
“It doesn’t seem like Lee Jung-yong or Song Cheon-woo had a hand in this.”
“What makes you think that?”
“People tend to be honest when facing death. Especially when their families are held hostage.”
“…Hmm. Fair point.”
“What matters is that my maternal grandfather is hidden in another secret section of Area A. And only three people know this fact. Not even the government conducting a thorough investigation of Area A.”
I recalled President Baek Han-sung, who had remained at my side throughout the state funeral, and asked.
If there existed a profession more skilled at concealing true intentions than any other, it would surely be politics.
“Are you really certain of that?”
“This isn’t mere speculation—it’s certainty born from intelligence. Several key insiders from the government investigation team already dispatched to the scene have already joined hands with us.”
“…!”
“So at least for now, you can rest assured.”
Watching Choi Team Leader explain in that composed tone, a thought suddenly struck me.
Perhaps that week had done more than help him rise from sorrow—it had made him leap forward.
‘This man… had already begun.’
Choi Team Leader, who had faced desperate crisis in Sichuan and indescribable grief in Pyeongchang, had grown considerably in the interim.
And I already sensed where his next stride would take him.
“The investigation alone is expected to take at minimum a month. What will you do, Jin Tae-kyung?”
“First, I’ll need to halt the government investigation. To secure that person’s safety while avoiding suspicion.”
“Then what’s the fastest way to stop the investigation?”
“Suppress this incident and become the legitimate owner of Area A as quickly as possible.”
And becoming the legitimate owner of Area A meant only one thing.
Choi Team Leader reached out and touched the memorial stone.
“I once made a promise to Kim Butler.”
The royal castle, surrounded by iron walls, had crumbled to ruin, and the prince stripped of succession rights and exiled had finally returned after the long passage of time.
To reclaim the crown that had been stolen long ago.
“I will make the Ares Guild… mine, without fail.”
His eyes, sunken deep, blazed with light.
The late Kim Hwa-jong—that name carved highest on the stone—and Choi Team Leader turned his gaze toward me.
“Will you help me?”
A question hardly needing to be asked.
From the day I signed that contract he first presented, my answer had already been decided.
“There’s still plenty of contract time left, so I’ll help. But I don’t have to kill anyone else, right?”
At my casual retort, Choi Team Leader let out a soft chuckle.
For the first time since awakening, he smiled as he pulled out his smartphone and answered.
“No. This time, playing the whip will suffice.”
“The whip?”
“Yes. A carrot and whip to offer those who hesitate.”
Beep. Beep. Beep. Click.
After three signal tones, someone answered the call. Choi Team Leader spoke in an even voice to the caller whose identity remained unknown.
“Hello. Vice President Park Dae-won. This is Choi Min-woo.”
Park Dae-won. The moment I heard that name, which had become increasingly familiar through recent news, I realized who Choi Team Leader was speaking with.
‘The most senior executive of the current Ares Guild.’
With Sub-Guild Master Seok Go-jun dead and most of the executives holding real power dragged away by Prosecution summons following Go Se-won’s revelations, he was the one who had unexpectedly become the interim representative of Ares Guild.
– Yes. I’m listening. Choi Min-woo, Team… no, Choi Min-woo.
To the dark voice coming through the receiver, Choi Team Leader replied in a gentle tone.
“It seems you still haven’t made up your mind. Considering you left without saying much to me even after the state funeral.”
– I, well. It’s just that…
“Six o’clock in the evening.”
– Pardon?
“I will visit the Headquarters myself. When I open the door to the Council Chamber, I hope all the executives, including the Vice President, will be there.”
– W-wait a moment, please. I still need time…
“Six o’clock in the evening. You have three hours left, so that should be plenty of time. Then I’ll be going.”
Click.
What on earth is this situation.
To me, staring at him in disbelief as he hung up without hesitation, Choi Team Leader opened his mouth with an unbothered expression.
“Since you’ve heard, I believe you understand the situation roughly. Shall we go then?”
“Right now? Setting that aside, you said there are three hours left.”
“I’ll be holding a press conference as well.”
“…What?”
“It will be a busy day. Having waited this long, once the blade is drawn, it must be wielded like lightning.”

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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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