Murim Login - Chapter 664

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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 664
The Underground Prison that exists in the Murim is far removed from modern penitentiaries dressed up in the language of prisoner rights—it fulfills its purpose with brutal efficiency.
Here, the very concept of human rights does not exist.
In fact, even the Sichuan Tang Family’s Underground Prison functioned more as a torture chamber than a place of confinement.
The elderly guard who died in Dark Heaven’s assault had been a torture technician with decades of experience, and he would often reminisce about his glory days with a contented smile.
“Those were truly the best days, right after the Demon War. We’d have three or four notorious Demon Masters dragged in every single day.”
“…Three or four? Not people, but…?”
“Yes, indeed. When I’d line up a dozen or so of them and begin my work, the response was extraordinary. They were so delighted they practically convulsed with joy.”
The very unit of measurement for counting was “creatures.”
I didn’t press him for details about those times, but I found it difficult to imagine prisoners rejoicing when he carved pretty tattoos with the small blade tucked carefully into his belt.
“Tattoos, my ass.”
Obviously.
The kind where bone separates from flesh and blood runs rampant.
My words got away from me, but in any case, Underground Prisons throughout the Murim were largely similar, differing only in minor details.
Cold, damp, and nine times out of ten buried deep beneath the earth.
Like the Underground Prison of the Southern Beast Palace where I’m now confined. And….
“Tae-san. I’m hungry. Got locked in the Underground Prison for eating too much rice.”
“Ah.”
The difference between that cursed beast and me was merely one floor.
Third and fourth basement levels, for example?
‘How did it come to this.’
In a sense, it was the convergence of the Underground Prison’s deterioration, shoddy construction, and considerable impact—pure coincidence.
Standing slack-jawed, staring up at the ceiling, I caught sight of Tae-san blinking his enormous eyes through the small hole, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Gak-ju, why are you smiling?”
“I’m glad to see you.”
“Glad? Is Gak-ju glad to see Tae-san?”
“Yeah, you bastard. I’m so damn glad I could go crazy.”
“Ooh. Then Tae-san is glad too.”
It was nonsensical conversation, but every time I saw those eyes peering through the gap, I couldn’t help but laugh.
Beyond the relief of seeing a familiar face, I realized I might escape this place faster than expected.
Of course, independent of my scheming, he was the only person who could answer the question that weighed most heavily on my mind.
“What about the others? Everyone’s doing well, right?”
At my question, those large calf-like eyes grew moist.
“You… are you crying right now?”
“Sniff. Gak-ju.”
Surely not?
A sudden chill of foreboding gripped me. I opened my mouth urgently.
“Stop sniffling and tell me properly. What happened?”
“Tae-san. Sniff. It couldn’t be helped. It’s so frustrating.”
“…!”
Damn it. My vision darkens. Already, the image of Fire Dragon Pavilion members lying as cold corpses fills my mind.
‘Or torture? But how could that be.’
It had been barely half a day since I’d secured guarantees for the safety of the Fire Dragon Pavilion members as a condition of my surrender.
It was a promise made directly by Beast King Miao Wang himself—no matter how much Baek Sang’s power had grown, something like this couldn’t happen.
‘If they’ve been harmed, what in the hell did I surrender for….’
And just as I was futilely cursing myself in my mind, Tae-san opened his mouth with a dampened voice.
“I still can’t believe it. By now, everyone’s eating without Tae-san, I bet.”
“…?”
“I hate the lord, and I hate Nam Ho. Tae-san is so wronged.”
“…!”
“Chief. In that sense, do you happen to have anything to eat?”
What in the world is this situation.
After a moment of silence, I answered with sincerity.
“No. You bastard.”
“Whimper. Tae-san is hungry.”
“…Get down here. Come down right now.”
This damn mutt. I’ll kill him.
Fury surges through my entire body alongside my rising blood pressure. Since being locked in the Underground Prison, I thrashed about with the most violent rage I could muster.
Clang, clank!
If only I didn’t have this cursed heavy iron ball, I’d smash that bastard’s skull in right now.
Tae-san, who had been observing my struggling form with interest, opened his mouth.
“Nam Ho and the lord are doing well. They’re being held in different places so I don’t know much, but Baek Ho’s owner told me.”
“Baek Ho’s owner? Ya-ryul Mok?”
“Oh, Tae-san remembers. Right. Ya-ryul Mok.”
So Beast King Miao Wang had intervened after all. I stopped my furious thrashing and released a sigh of relief.
“You should have said that first, you madman. You nearly stopped my heart.”
“Tae-san. Already starving for two hours, my mind is getting hazy.”
“…Normally people don’t complain about being hungry for just two hours. But how did you end up locked in here anyway? Ya-ryul Dae-hyeop would have stopped you at the gate. You couldn’t have been imprisoned just for eating too much rice.”
“Tae-san. It’s unfair. Some Southern Wilderness person tried to give me only a tiny bit of rice and leave, so I grabbed his wrist asking for more, and his bone broke.”
“….”
“Startled, I grabbed his other wrist, and that broke too. This must be a trap.”
Clang! Clank! Clank!
“Chief. Calm yourself. Tae-san is angry too, but I endured and surrendered just like you.”
“…You get down here. This time, really get down here.”
When I’m already struggling to preserve myself, and he breaks both arms of a Southern Wilderness person who came to bring food?
At this rate, I’ll die of rage before noon two days from now.
‘And I walked into the tiger’s mouth to save a bastard like that.’
Barely suppressing my deep frustration, I asked.
“Then aside from Nam Ho and Sa Ma-pyo. What about the others?”
“Hmm. Ah.”
Tae-san tilted his large eyes back and forth as he pondered before answering.
“I heard they were captured.”
“Captured?”
“Yes. But he said they won’t come here. Tae-san doesn’t know much about it, but Baek Ho’s master said that would be safer.”
Ju Hwa-ran, Song Il-seom, and Hyuk Moo-jin.
My heart grew heavy for a moment upon hearing that even these three members of the Scouting Party had been captured, but I found myself agreeing with Ya-ryul Mok’s assessment that this arrangement would be far safer.
‘For now, Baek Sang’s influence won’t reach that far.’
The two tribal chiefs leading the Scouting Party were men of the caliber of loyal retainers to Beast King Miao Wang.
Moreover, since their blood relatives were among the Southern Barbarians I had rescued from Poison Blood Land, they would not easily switch their allegiance like the other tribal chiefs who had turned to Baek Sang’s side.
‘The only time those three would face greater danger is if the Scouting Party encounters the Blood Monk.’
The Blood Monk was a mysterious old master who wielded transcendent martial prowess and had stained Gwiju City in blood single-handedly.
Little information was known about him, but if my suspicion was correct and the Blood Monk served under the Nantian Demon Empress, the situation would spiral into catastrophe.
Then he would surely move southward at the Nantian Demon Empress’s command, and if he encountered the Scouting Party, those three would inevitably fall into his grasp.
“…Damn it.”
But I had no time to dwell on such concerns now.
They were moving even as we spoke, while I remained trapped deep within the Underground Prison, unable to budge an inch.
‘I can only hope my suspicions about the Blood Monk are wrong.’
So there were only two things I could do now.
The first was prayer.
The second was….
‘Escape.’
Ding!
– A new Quest has been generated!
Linked Quest,
[Escape from Nantian]
Would you like to confirm it?
Y / N
I nodded and thought to myself.
I had no idea who the system developer was, but whoever it was had a terrible sense for quest titles.
“So, Gak-ju. Don’t you have anything to eat?”
…Correction. That bastard is the worst of all.
* * *
Water Thieves as a profession were, among the countless martial artists on the Continent, an especially rough and free-spirited lot.
They despised being oppressed by laws, hated being caught by officials, and had no interest in living righteously.
Su Dal, the leader of Water Dragon Stronghold, had become a Water Thief in just this way.
Unlike his father, who had ended his life as an honest fisherman, he harbored bold aspirations to live and die as a man of adventure.
It was only relatively recently that he, who had lived a fairly successful life as a Water Thief, began to feel doubts about what he was doing.
‘What am I even doing?’
There was nothing to it. Every day he sat at the bow staring at the calm river waters, and when the sun grew hot he would swim, but that was all.
His direct superior, who commanded the Yangtze River in Sichuan, had departed to answer the summons of the Alliance Leader, while he and his subordinates had drifted down the tributaries to the remote province of Yunnan, wasting away their days.
‘By now, merchant ships laden with all manner of goods must be flowing through Sichuan.’
The Yangtze River was a goldmine these days.
With the gathering storm clouds of war, all sorts of supplies moved back and forth.
Su Dal, who knew this fact well, burned with the desire to return immediately, yet each time that urge arose, the image of one person kept flickering before his eyes.
‘Whenever you call, I shall come running!’
The boastful words Jin Tae-kyung had uttered seven weeks ago. Naturally, they were empty promises devoid of even a shred of sincerity.
But the young man, so much greener than Su Dal, had smiled warmly and replied thus.
‘Well, well. That works out nicely then. Stay nearby, would you?’
‘Pardon?’
‘Heh heh. Did you stuff your ears with cotton? I said stay nearby. And help me when I need to leave.’
‘That is… Jin Dae-hyeop. Forgive us, but we too have our livelihoods to attend to…’
‘Livelihoods, you say? That’s fine. But that’s only possible if you’re alive, isn’t it?’
‘…!’
‘Now, I’m just asking nicely! Just asking!’
‘Ugh.’
‘Damn it. I’m half tempted to burn this whole ship down—masts, sails, everything. Want to swim to Sichuan instead?’
It was phrased as a request, but it was extortion pure and simple.
But what could he do? In the Murim, the strong ruled.
And that monstrous young man’s master was none other than a mad old demon actually called a king.
‘Jin Tae-kyung. You bastard…’
Su Dal swallowed his tears and nodded, and so for more than seven weeks he was forced to remain in a tributary at the edge of Yunnan Province where not even a single sampan appeared, catching fish to pass the time.
That is, until just a day ago when a certain thought occurred to him.
‘Wait. Do I really need to do this? Jin Tae-kyung won’t be back for quite some time anyway.’
Though Su Dal operated only on the Yangtze River, he knew well enough. Just how godforsaken a hellhole the Southern Wilderness was.
He didn’t know exactly what Jin Tae-kyung’s mission was, but given that he’d come this far, it was certainly no simple task.
So why should he languish here like a dog desperate to defecate, fretting over a man who wasn’t even present?
Su Dal seriously reflected on the adventurous life he’d lived, and soon issued orders to his subordinates.
‘Boys. Let’s go get some fresh air.’
‘Sir?’
‘Where to?’
‘Gwiju is right next door. It’s close, so let’s take a leisurely look around and see what we can find.’
And Su Dal’s ambitious plan was not particularly well-received by his men.
‘Bu-chae-ju. Have you lost your mind?’
‘Damn it. If you’re going to die, die alone. I’m not a captain, and I’ve no wish to be cremated.’
But Su Dal, already seized by grand ambitions, had a plan.
‘That bastard’s move. That Yangtze technique. The Yangtze…’
‘The Yangtze Dip, sir?’
‘Yes. That thing Jin Tae-kyung was always doing.’
After dunking two men in succession, the complaints fell silent, and under Su Dal’s spirited command, three fast ships cutting through the western tributaries toward Gwiju finally spotted a target they hadn’t seen in far too long.
Just like at this very moment.
“A ship spotted two hundred zhang ahead!”
“Capture it! We cannot let it escape!”
How long had it been since their last plunder? Su Dal stood at the stern like a great general, his face breaking into a satisfied smile as the approaching vessel drew nearer.
Yet before even a quarter of an hour had passed, he realized something was terribly wrong.
Crash!
The ship that had drawn so close bore no crew, no captain—only a single figure waiting for them.
“The Yangtze River Water Bandit Alliance’s fast ship, I see. How convenient.”
“…!”
A bald, middle-aged man wielding a blood-soaked staff turned toward the frozen Su Dal, his grin spreading wide.
“Does this vessel sail to the Southern Wilderness?”

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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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