Murim Login - Chapter 604

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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 604
Ding.
–
[Intermediate Battle Front]
You have gained enlightenment regarding!
–
[Intermediate Battle Front]
A portion has been activated!
–
[Intermediate Battle Front]
Activation: 10%
– The efficiency of all martial arts and power increases slightly, and depending on circumstances, you can exert strength beyond your limits!
– You have achieved the rare Achievement,
[Baby’s First Intermediate Battle Front]
!
– You have acquired a massive amount of experience as a reward for achieving the Achievement!
– Level Up!
‘Activation?’
I didn’t anticipate this.
It’s been more than a month since I opened the Intermediate Battle Front, but I had no idea it possessed such utility.
Following the system notification announcing this unexpected reward, the news I had been waiting for finally arrived.
Ding.
–
[Ki Perception]
range has expanded!
– Unable to precisely identify the target!
– An enigmatic force of unknown nature is sensed!
Though I failed to identify the target, this was not failure but success.
Certain that something existed beyond this wall, I unleashed a punch toward it without hesitation.
Boom!
As the solid wall shattered, empty void revealed itself.
Area A, hidden on the highest floor of the Ares Guild Headquarters, was maintained by various barriers, transparency magic, and gravitational magic.
Naturally, the investigation team dispatched by the government would have known this fact as well.
The problem was that they had overlooked one crucial detail.
‘No, they couldn’t have helped but overlook it.’
I extended my hand beyond the collapsed wall, caressing the empty void. Nothing could be felt—truly empty space. The mana detector in Choi Team Leader’s hand remained silent.
Yet I possessed certainty. Absolute certainty that something existed beyond this point.
Whoosh.
The flames of thirty years of accumulated heat transform into fire. Gazing silently at my two hands engulfed in cyan-white flames, I extended them forward with my eyes gently closed.
‘What is visible is not everything.’
This is a matter of perception. Not with the eyes, but with instinct and sensation—I must see and feel with my heart.
Pouring my full concentration and channeling my energy without reservation, the faintly opened dantian responded in kind.
The flickering flames gradually subsided, enveloping my entire hand completely.
Compression. Refinement.
And then….
Crack.
At last, I seized the flow of qi within my grasp and tore it apart with all my strength.
Screeeech!
The void split open alongside a pale blue flame.
Countless spells unknown to me were dispelled by the force of my energy, and the fissure of a new space revealed itself.
The Skeleton King and Choi Team Leader, who had been staring blankly at the spectacle unfolding before them, murmured in unison.
“He… he tore it open.”
“No, how on earth did he…?”
“When the body is weak, the mind must work harder. Let’s go.”
“…Isn’t it usually the opposite?”
“Yes. Usually.”
But I’m not usual, am I?
At my casual response, Choi Team Leader hurled the mana detector in his hand behind his back.
Well. A strong body really is the best.
* * *
It was fortunate that we had cleared the top floor just in case.
Otherwise, we would have nearly live-streamed our entry into this mysterious subspace for all to see.
Whoosh.
The moment I stepped through the vertically split fissure, an entirely different world unfolded before me.
‘What is this?’
It was vast and towering. And mingled within it was an elegance and splendor unfamiliar to me.
Choi Team Leader and the Skeleton King, who followed me through, were equally speechless, their eyes darting about the surroundings.
“That is…?”
Choi Team Leader’s eyes trembled faintly as he walked across the soft carpet laid upon the floor.
He scanned the paintings hanging in the vast corridor and murmured softly.
“Salvator Mundi.”
I asked in an irritated voice.
“Did you just call me Mundi?”
“No, that’s the title of the painting. Salvator Mundi. It’s a masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci. Haven’t you ever heard of it?”
“My mother mentioned it sometimes. Her hometown is in Gyeongsang Province.”
“…?”
“What’s with that expression? Are you looking down on Gyeongsang Province? Do you have regional prejudices, Choi Team Leader?”
“What? Regional prejudices?”
Those weren’t Choi Team Leader’s words. The Skeleton King, who had been observing the surroundings, suddenly interjected with a displeased expression.
“Regional prejudices must certainly be eliminated. In that sense, this one, hailing from the Demon Realm, also concurs with the opinion of such cunning humans.”
“Look at that undead bastard sneaking in a bone raise. You’re out.”
“No, this is infuriating. Why does helping still get me this grief?”
“In the Demon Realm, it’s not regional sentiment—it’s dimensional sentiment, you son of a bitch. Listening to you talk, anyone would think the Demon Realm was sitting right next to Jirisan.”
“The Gate I operated from was in Bucheon. Though I myself am originally from Atlanta, Georgia in the United States.”
“Are you insane, seriously?”
While I was bickering with the Skeleton King—a creature that traversed dimensions and borders—Choi Team Leader, who had long since abandoned conversation and was methodically opening closed doors throughout the corridor, suddenly spoke up.
“Both of you, stop that and come over here.”
The Skeleton King responded with the rigid posture of a scholar.
“This body is the lord of the undead. I do not heed the words of humans tainted by regional sentiment.”
“Come along unless you want your head blown off.”
I grabbed the collar of the babbling creature and moved forward.
The moment I followed Choi Team Leader’s gesture and peered into the wide-open door, I understood why he had called me.
“This is….”
Despite not a single light being on, the interior blazed as bright as daylight. It was because of the Demon Stones arranged neatly on display stands.
The baseline was Grade A Demon Stones, and by rough estimation, there were roughly five hundred of them.
‘How much would this convert to in money?’
A value so astronomical it defied imagination.
Moreover, the five Grade S Demon Stones on the topmost row, radiating the brightest light, were treasures difficult to obtain even with unlimited funds.
“So this is everything…?”
Choi Team Leader gave a small nod toward me as I trailed off.
“It’s certain that Lee Jung-yong embezzled this. Based on what we’ve confirmed so far, the other rooms are the same.”
“This is insane….”
“Not just Demon Stones, but gold bars, diamonds, bonds, and physical assets. Plus all manner of artworks that were said to have disappeared after the Great Upheaval.”
Choi Team Leader’s words were true. Each time we opened the doors lining both sides of the long corridor, treasures of immense value—or value too difficult to calculate—revealed themselves.
My mental calculator had been obliterated long ago by the scale that exceeded imagination.
‘I had some suspicion, but… he really did accumulate quite a lot.’
After the Great Upheaval, Gates and Demon Stones became a second Oil Money—no, something far greater. Massive Guilds acquired wealth and status capable of crushing even enormous corporations.
In such circumstances, everyone including myself had suspected Lee Jung-yong’s wealth would be substantial, yet no one could have imagined that hidden assets beyond what had been revealed would amount to this much.
‘A vault.’
The word flashed through my mind in an instant.
That’s right. This was a personal vault created by Lee Jung-yong and passed down to Seok Go-jun—their private sanctuary.
But what must not be forgotten is that this space was simultaneously a vault concealing immense wealth and a prison.
‘A prison designed to hide one person’s existence from the world.’
Yet the sole jailer had already met death, and now beside me, the new master of this space walked toward the final door.
Thud. Thud.
In Choi Team Leader’s footsteps as he advanced toward the firmly closed door at the corridor’s end, I sensed an unmistakable tremor he could not conceal.
“Hah.”
In place of him taking a shallow breath to calm his agitation, I stepped forward without hesitation.
Toward the door where I could feel an immense flow of mana, I brought down my hand-blade without restraint, and a streak of flame cut through the empty air.
Screech! Boom!
Various spells dissolved, and the alloy door split open to either side.
Simultaneously, the darkness and biting cold that had lurked beyond engulfed us.
A chilling rush of air swept past.
An inexplicable chill seized my entire body.
Even I, who had already reached the realm of immunity to heat and cold, and even the Skeleton King—a being whose very essence stemmed from death and frigidity—trembled.
Yet one person remained an exception.
A heavy footfall echoed.
In the darkness, the sound of footsteps rang out with unusual clarity.
In Choi Team Leader’s silhouette as he walked in silence, there was no further trembling or hesitation to be found.
Twenty years.
The child had become a boy, and the boy had become a young man.
The child who had lost his parents early had parted from his maternal grandfather without understanding why, and at last had returned to his rightful place, standing here.
To face his only blood relative, to confirm the truth.
“I have longed for this moment, always longed for it.”
Another footfall.
The endless forward march of his steps suddenly came to a halt.
Before him now lay a massive elliptical mechanical capsule festooned with countless cables and wires.
The device, as if plucked from a science fiction film, resembled an apparatus designed for hibernation—a coffin prepared for the living.
A soft exhale.
In the frigid air, Choi Team Leader’s breath escaped between his lips, fogging the dust-covered glass.
Long, trembling fingers swept across the glass.
“I wished to see you.”
As the dust cleared away, a face finally emerged—weathered and weary, unlike the photographs circulating online.
Yet toward the old man who bore such a striking resemblance, proof of their shared bloodline, Choi Team Leader spoke in a hushed voice.
“Maternal Grandfather.”
* * *
Choi Team Leader kept everything in absolute secrecy.
At least for now, no one save myself and the Skeleton King could know of this secret, and I had given my full consent to his wishes.
Though there was a minor complication.
“Keeping a secret isn’t difficult. But I have two conditions.”
The Skeleton King recited his demands with the resolute expression of a freedom fighter.
“First. You will take me to the Club. Second. You will give me that S-rank Demon Stone inside there.”
Choi Team Leader readily accepted the first proposal, but the second was another matter.
And as he deliberated deeply, I presented him with a clear alternative.
“There’s a better way, actually.”
“What would that be?”
“How many S-rank Demon Stones do you have right now?”
“Five remain.”
“Then let’s take care of this bastard and make it six. We keep the secret and secure an additional S-rank Demon Stone.”
“…!”
“…!”
The Skeleton King, who had demanded my proposal with the heart of an independence fighter, became a collaborator and found a dramatic compromise by bringing me to the club.
However, regarding the most crucial matter—what to do with Cheon Tae-min—I inevitably had to seek someone’s help.
“We cannot continue to keep my Maternal Grandfather here. We need to move him elsewhere.”
“The problem is that we need to move him without drawing anyone’s attention….”
That was something I couldn’t accomplish even with a pocket enchanted with spatial expansion magic or my own inventory.
The Immortal Hero, Cheon Tae-min, was very much a living, breathing person.
In the end, after much deliberation, there was only one answer.
“We need to move him using spatial teleportation magic.”
The crucial factor was the person.
The most trustworthy person. Someone who wouldn’t reveal this secret even if they learned of it.
And someone who would be favorably disposed toward us and the unconscious Cheon Tae-min, and could continue to help us….
“Only one person comes to mind.”
“I’m sure you’re thinking of the same person as Jin Tae-kyung.”
For that reason, I called someone.
“Can you come to Korea for a bit?”
– Hey, Jin. I’m busy too. Right now Byeon Yi’s gate….
“Choi Team Leader wants to see you. Kisses totally possible.”
– I’m heading there now.

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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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