Murim Login - Chapter 620

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

Chapter 620
“Good to see you, Jin Tae-kyung of Yeolhwa Shinryong.”
“…!”
A low voice that burrowed into my ears sent ripples of disturbance through me. Yet instead of reacting with surprise, I simply stared intently at the Old Master.
During our conversation, I had already suspected to some degree that he might be an agent of the Shadow Pavilion.
‘There were certainly enough conditions for it.’
The Old Master before me was the proprietor of the rendezvous point that Messenger Hawk had informed us of, and unlike other foreigners, he had shown no particular hostility toward us.
But as the saying goes, one must tap even a stone bridge before crossing it to avoid missteps.
The system had even warned me through the [Southern Wilderness Expedition] Quest—to always remain vigilant and act with flexibility.
At least this time, I intended to follow that advice faithfully.
Swooosh.
An invisible, formless aura enveloped the interior of the Inn. In a space where all external sound was cut off, I quietly opened my mouth.
“Are you affiliated with the Shadow Pavilion?”
That was a question everyone wanted to ask, not just me.
Sensing the gazes converging upon him, the Old Master fiddled with a grimy wine cup before answering.
“It has become a distant past now. When I received my second name, Nam Ho.”
Nam Ho—literally translated, it meant amber stone of the south.
Since the Shadow Pavilion was an intelligence organization, they assigned code names to their agents to conceal their identities, and the name Nam Ho matched exactly with the information Messenger Hawk had provided beforehand.
“A certain fox once said that fierce winds blow through the Southern Wilderness.”
“Even if a typhoon were to rage, the Poison Flower rooted deep beneath the earth would not be shaken.”
Once I confirmed the secret signal transmitted through Messenger Hawk, certainty finally took hold.
I filled the wine cup placed before the Old Master—no, before Nam Ho—and spoke.
“Truth be told, I harbored doubts right until the end… but you are undoubtedly affiliated with the Shadow Pavilion.”
Nam Ho, who drained his cup without hesitation in one gulp, asked.
“Why? Did you not expect a Shadow Pavilion agent of the Martial Alliance to be a foreigner?”
Nam Ho was indeed a foreigner, as his words suggested.
His skin, darkened to a dusky hue by the scorching sun of the Southern Wilderness, and his distinctive features were so distant from those of the Han people that anyone with even a modicum of discernment would notice at once.
I nodded slightly and replied.
“I cannot honestly say otherwise. For someone to be considered part of the Shadow Pavilion of the Martial Alliance, the distance from the Central Plains is simply too great, and moreover, from what I sensed, you do not appear to have cultivated martial arts.”
“Everyone has their own circumstances. What matters is that most people think as you do.”
“Because everyone accepts it that way, you were able to escape suspicion instead?”
“Who would suspect a foreign old man who has not even learned the most basic martial technique? It is absurd.”
Nam Ho, having emptied the last remaining wine bottle, suddenly spoke as if remembering something.
“Ah. Did you perhaps block the sound with your aura?”
“Of course. We cannot let this conversation leak outside.”
“Then release it for a moment. There is something I must do.”
Something I must do? What could that be?
I wanted to ask for more details, but Nam Ho’s expression was utterly grave.
And the moment I withdrew the aura that had sealed off all directions while questioning, Nam Ho suddenly spoke toward Hyuk Moo-jin.
“You there—who is standing behind you?”
“Huh?”
Crash!
“Get out of here this instant, you disrespectful Han bastards!”
It all happened in a flash.
The wine bottle struck Hyuk Moo-jin squarely on the back of his head, shattering his bowl and exploding into countless fragments that scattered in all directions.
And Nam Ho, the culprit behind this entire incident, bellowed at the top of his lungs.
“I’d gladly tear you to shreds! How dare you cause trouble in these lands!”
“…!”
“…!”
In that instant, everyone—myself included—stood frozen with our mouths agape.
Of course, the most shocked was Hyuk Moo-jin. He stared blankly at Nam Ho while clutching the back of his head, then suddenly roared.
“Have you lost your mind, old man!”
“Yes, I have! You motherless Han dog!”
“What? You’re crossing the line? Really crossing it?”
“It’s you Han bastards who crossed the line! Not content with killing people in the Southern Wilderness, now you’re eating without paying!”
“Damn it! I paid with silver coins earlier!”
“Not a single coin did you leave! Yet out of pity, I gave you a meal after much deliberation—now get out of my sight!”
Whoosh, crash!
Wine bottles and dishes flew everywhere. The Inn’s interior transformed into chaos within mere seconds.
Nam Ho, hurling every curse imaginable while flinging whatever came to hand, moved his lips toward me.
‘Half an hour from now. Meet me at the Lake Shore ten li away.’
Now understanding the meaning of his actions, I signaled to the Fire Dragon Pavilion members.
Quick-witted Ju Hwa-ran, Song Il-seom, and Sa Ma-pyo leaped from their seats, overturned tables, and smashed objects.
Of course, each of them added their own remarks.
“Terrible food!”
“Disgusting!”
“Tastes like garbage!”
Crash and bang!
Crack! Rumble rumble!
One of the pillars we happened to hit collapsed, and the ceiling began to tilt.
The Dok Hwa Pavilion was already on the verge of collapse, and now it seemed the time had come to change its name to something more fitting for a ruin.
I grabbed the scruff of Hyuk Moo-jin, who was still shouting at Nam Ho, and Tae-san, who was shoveling the remaining food into his mouth, and ran.
“You crazy old bastard! Did you eat your manners with your ass—ugh!”
“No! That was the chicken leg Tae-san was saving!”
“Stop complaining and get out! Everyone out!”
Crack!
Screams and dust mingled together in the chaos.
Waiting for the Fire Dragon Pavilion members who had fled the Dok Hwa Pavilion behind me was a crowd that had swollen to nearly a hundred people.
“The Han dogs are coming out!”
“How dare you attack Elder Chao!”
“Kill them!”
“No. Throw them alive into the snake den!”
Of course, not a single person here possessed the insanity to willingly enter a snake den alive.
Whoosh, thud!
As I sidestepped a pickaxe with a sigh, a belated system notification pierced through my awareness.
Ding.
– Mission
[Contact Shadow Pavilion Agent]
has been completed!
– Quest
[Seeds Planted in the Southern Wilderness]
has been successfully completed!
– Quest completion rewards obtained!
– Small amount of experience gained!
– Small amount of fame gained!
– New linked Quest generated!
Wait, so where exactly is the lake shore?
* * *
Nam Ho appeared exactly half a shichen later, as he had promised. A bundle in one hand, bandages wrapped tightly around the other.
“The pillar. Who broke it.”
“….”
“….”
“An Inn I’ve operated for forty years has collapsed. I nearly died without even leaving a will.”
I carefully offered him consolation.
“We had no idea it would come to this. Everything will be fine.”
“Is that what you call words? Does everything become fine just because you say so?”
“I will compensate you generously later.”
“That’s somewhat better.”
Indeed, there was no cure in this world quite like financial treatment. Nam Ho’s condition improved instantly, and he opened his mouth to address us.
“What happened at the Inn—understand it was necessary. To avoid the villagers’ suspicion, it couldn’t be helped. These days, with such ominous atmosphere, if I had sheltered you, I would have drawn attention to myself as well.”
Hyuk Moo-jin responded bluntly.
“So you killed our parents, who are very much alive?”
“Saying you have no mother or father—that’s my apology. It couldn’t be helped.”
“How would you have felt if you’d heard the same thing?”
“I grew up alone from childhood. My parents passed away early, so I don’t even remember their faces.”
“Ah.”
Indeed, a Shadow Pavilion agent’s experience doesn’t go to waste.
Nam Ho, having silenced Hyuk Moo-jin with that brief exchange, retrieved something from the bundle in his hand and passed it over.
“What is this?”
“A wooden tablet. Over the past fifty years, whenever I had the chance, I traveled throughout the Southern Wilderness and recorded in detail the terrain and locations of the tribes.”
After the Great Martial Tournament concluded and countless years had passed, not everyone had succumbed to peace.
Nam Ho, too, continued his activities without forgetting his duty.
“The Southern Wilderness is a land filled with treacherous terrain, fierce beasts, and deadly poisons—it must have been incredibly difficult. You’ve endured so much.”
At Ju Hwa-ran’s exclamation, Nam Ho’s expression turned bitter.
“I merely did what needed to be done. Truth be told, while creating this map, I prayed it would never be put to use.”
But contrary to Nam Ho’s wishes, peace had ended.
Dark Heaven, having shed its guise as the Demon Cult, now ravaged the land, and the Central Plains ran crimson with blood. That dark shadow was already extending beyond the Central Plains into the Southern Wilderness itself.
“I’m already aware of the circumstances. The Provincial Lord expressed grave concerns. Do you share the same thoughts?”
“Yes.”
I nodded without hesitation.
Considering the series of events that had unfolded in Hubei centered around the Water Dragon, the Southern Wilderness was nothing short of a powder keg on the verge of ignition.
It was a place teeming with far more supernatural creatures, deadly toxins, and fierce beasts than anything in the Central Plains.
“I trust you’ve already heard news of the Rifts.”
“The Southern Wilderness is remote. Word of them hasn’t yet reached the people here, but I received notice through the Messenger Hawk. Had it not been the Provincial Lord who sent the message, I would never have believed such a tale.”
The same would have been true for anyone else.
Even those in the Central Plains who had heard of the Water Dragon dismissed it as mere rumor.
But these impossible events would soon become reality.
Just as those in the Modern World had called it the Great Upheaval.
“Dark Heaven is surely targeting the Southern Wilderness. Even if it hasn’t surfaced yet, it won’t be long before something erupts.”
Nam Ho gazed at me with solemn, penetrating eyes.
“Long ago, I entrusted myself to a merchant guild from the Central Plains and departed the Southern Wilderness of my own accord. And for the past fifty years, I have not once left this land. Yet except for that recent incident, nothing has occurred.”
“You mean the attack on the nearby villages by those people claiming to be from the Cheon-ma Escort Agency?”
“Yes. The ethnic minorities grew angry and the atmosphere turned ominous, but that was all. It’s not common, but it’s not unprecedented either.”
“I’m uncertain what connection that incident might have to Dark Heaven, but…”
I continued in a low voice.
“What comes next will be a catastrophe incomparably worse than that.”
“…!”
Nam Ho’s eyes trembled.
This was his homeland, the place where he had lived all these years. After a brief silence, his aged voice emerged from between his lips.
“Even as I packed my belongings and prepared to leave, I couldn’t bring myself to believe it. But now that it’s come to this, there’s no choice.”
Nam Ho shouldered the bundle in his hands and took a step forward, continuing.
“Let us go. Wherever your destination lies, I shall guide you.”

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