Murim Login - Chapter 70

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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 70
Outside, the dawn was dim and hazy. The winter air bit with the sharpness of ice, and with each step, the frost clinging to the Training Ground’s floor shattered beneath my feet.
Jin Moo-kyung, who had been warming up beforehand, caught sight of me and let out a smirk.
“So, have you steeled yourself mentally?”
Of course not. But I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat and nodded.
Someone once said: if you cannot escape, then embrace it. Thinking of this as merely one step in the path to strength brought a measure of peace to my mind….
Whoosh.
“Let me see this great skill of yours then.”
Is this bastard Korean or something? Why is his personality so damn impatient?
There was no time to evade. I hastily swung my spear toward Jin Moo-kyung, who had closed the distance in a heartbeat.
Clang! Clang-clang-clang!
Beyond our locked weapons, Jin Moo-kyung’s breath flowed out in visible wisps.
“Your stance is quite refined.”
It had to be. I had survived seven years in the Gate—where life hung by a thread—with nothing but a spear. My accumulated experience was on an entirely different level from his martial training.
I met his gaze directly as I answered.
“This time will not be so easy.”
Each word deliberate. Measured and precise.
“You….”
Had he sensed the unusual momentum radiating from me? Jin Moo-kyung’s pupils trembled slightly.
“Eyes forward. Keep them open.”
“Understood.”
* * *
Whoosh. Thud!
Jin Tae-kyung collapsed. It was hardly surprising—this was already his fifth loss of consciousness. What truly astonished me was something else entirely.
‘That he could withstand two hundred exchanges against me.’
Five bouts spanning two hours of continuous combat.
Any ordinary person would have succumbed to exhaustion. But Jin Tae-kyung was different. Like a roly-poly toy, he rose again and again, growing stronger with each fall. By the final exchange, even I had to engage him with genuine intent.
‘What is this man’s true identity?’
When unarmed, my younger brother had moved like an eighty-year-old geezer, all stiff and awkward. But the moment he grasped the spear, everything transformed.
The coward who had been placating me to avoid taking hits had vanished. In his place stood a seasoned spearmaster.
‘He was like a rogue. One who had crossed the threshold of death countless times.’
Movements so economical they bordered on crude, unconventional attacks and evasions born from pure instinct alone. In a rogue’s fight, nothing is predetermined. That was precisely what Jin Tae-kyung had become in my eyes.
And that very fact deepened my bewilderment.
‘How in the world?’
There were countless scions of prestigious families who grasped the sword from their first steps, yet barely scraped the fringes of mastery. Yet this man had reached the precipice of transcendence in merely three years.
And he reeked not of the perfume of courtesans, but of a seasoned rogue’s grit. The more I pondered it, the more absurd it seemed.
‘Is such a thing even possible?’
It was possible. With a supreme master’s secret technique, body refinement through elixirs, followed by relentless spear training—shedding blood daily for three years without a single day’s respite!
“…That’s absurd.”
Jin Moo-kyung muttered in a hollow voice, scratching his head vigorously.
Then there’s only one answer left.
‘A genius.’
This single word resolves every mystery with crystalline clarity.
Why? Because he’s a genius. Literally a gift from heaven. Someone born with talent. In every aspect, a genius surpasses others. The starting point itself is different.
“Drrrng. Phuuu.”
“….”
But of all people, this fool is a genius?
That can’t be right. It shouldn’t be that way! Suddenly overwhelmed by fury, Jin Moo-kyung kicked his younger brother’s rear end.
“Puruuuuurup.”
Jin Tae-kyung tumbled across the ground, his body trembling.
“Whoa, Wol-hwa unni. Not there, please.”
“…!”
“Suddenly doing this. Ow. Ahhh!”
Snap.
The last thread of patience snapped.
* * *
Beep beep!
– Sleep Mode forcibly terminated!
So it could be force-terminated too.
The joy of discovering a new function was short-lived. Why would sleep mode be forcibly terminated? Because someone woke me up, that’s why.
“Sacred, Training Ground, what? Not there? Not there?”
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Curled up like a shrimp, I spoke in a dying voice.
“Please… save me….”
“Not there!”
Pummelpummelpummel!
I lost count of how many times I was hit. My consciousness cut out twice in the middle.
My last memory was squeezing out my final strength to leave a dying message in the Training Ground before collapsing, and when I opened my eyes, it was already night.
‘What did I do to make it night already?’
I felt like a time traveler. Ever since meeting Jin Moo-kyung, days just whoosh by. I muttered while sensing pain engulfing my entire body.
“Jin Moo-kyung sure counts his blows.”
Excluding Jin Moo-kyung, I’ve faced two peak masters so far. The Grand Elder and Jo Pil.
‘The Grand Elder is excluded from that.’
The Grand Elder’s case should be attributed to fortune. Without the sacrifices of the Taewon Jin Family warriors and Lee Cheon-baek’s surprise attack, he was a master I could never defeat even if I died and came back.
‘Then comparing Jo Pil and Jin Moo-kyung?’
The deliberation wasn’t long.
Having faced both, the choice was easy.
‘Jin Moo-kyung is stronger.’
Jo Pil is certainly a monster. Just recalling the tremendous heat radiating from the Flame Divine Form gives me chills even now.
But somehow, despite being strong as befits a peak master and wielding the deadly martial art of the Flame Divine Form, that was all there was to it.
‘To be precise, it’s a difference in how martial arts are applied.’
Jin Moo-kyung is different from Jo Pil. Even during our non-lethal sparring, he wielded at least a dozen martial techniques, thoroughly blocking my every attack.
For those in Murim, martial arts are another weapon. Jin Moo-kyung is the type who knows how to draw the right tool for the right moment.
‘What about me?’
Excluding the Jin Family’s core technique I’ve possessed since the beginning, the martial arts I’ve learned in Murim amount to only two: the Jin Family Spear Technique and the Jin Family Footwork.
Of course, both are undoubtedly first-class martial arts, but… put another way, they’re techniques only useful at that first-class level.
The limitations of martial arts. There’s no way Jin Wi-kyung doesn’t understand what I’ve felt.
‘That’s the reason he paired me with Jin Moo-kyung. Ugh.’
Pain makes me instinctively furrow my brow. I’ve only raised my upper body slightly, yet every joint in my body throbs and my skin burns.
Even rest through sleep mode has its limits, it seems.
‘Well, I did take that much of a beating.’
To earn Jin Moo-kyung’s recognition and complete the Quest, I’ll need to endure days like today—or worse.
Perhaps I’ll only get thoroughly beaten and fail the Quest anyway.
‘It’s mountain after mountain.’
And that’s what makes me happy.
As an F-rank Hunter, I wasn’t even given the right to climb mountains. But everything has changed now.
There are mountains to climb, and I’ve been given the qualification to scale them. Faster than anyone else, too!
‘This isn’t the time for that.’
I rose from my spot, pain forgotten. Every passing second felt precious and not to be wasted.
* * *
Jin Moo-kyung was in the Underground Training Ground. I descended the stairs as quietly as possible, and his figure came into view.
“Hah!”
With a sharp shout, his sword moved.
Whoosh! Whish-whish-whoosh!
Wind splits in the wake of the blade. Jin Moo-kyung’s movements—piercing and slashing through empty air at lightning speed—were flawless.
About a quarter hour passed like that. Jin Moo-kyung lowered his sword and released a long breath.
“Phew.”
He wiped sweat from his sleeve and turned his head toward me.
It seemed he’d already sensed my presence for some time.
“Tell me.”
An abrupt command.
Caught off guard, I reflexively asked back.
“Tell you what?”
“About the martial arts I just displayed.”
“Oh, well, first of all it was incredibly fast——”
“By the way, if you spout nonsense like ‘fast’ or ‘strong,’ you die.”
He’s uncanny. I racked my brain for survival’s sake.
What was Jin Moo-kyung’s martial art like? Thinking back, a faint impression surfaced.
“Rough?”
Jin Moo-kyung’s eyebrows twitched. Was that the right answer?
“Are you seriously speaking informally to me right now?”
“…I suppose my explanation was rough.”
“Even a child could say something like that. Be more specific.”
The image in my mind grew increasingly vivid. I recalled the blade strikes and movements pouring toward the phantom opponent. Swift, unrelenting motions. And the overwhelming pressure that dominated all directions.
It was as if…
“A waterfall?”
“…”
“Huh?”
Wait, was that correct?
Jin Moo-kyung, who had been silent for a moment, suddenly swung his scabbard.
Smack!
“Ow! Why did you hit me!”
“Just because.”
He stared at me with an enigmatic gaze.
“How did someone like you even come to exist?”
Was that an insult or a compliment?
I didn’t know what he meant, but I needed to hear the answer to my question regardless of the unfairness. I rubbed my throbbing forehead and asked.
“So, is that the correct answer?”
“The Cheon-mu Academy contains thousands of martial arts manuals. They were arranged by our predecessors who have passed, with the future disciples of the Orthodox Martial Arts World in mind.”
“And?”
“The Falling Stream Sword technique you just witnessed is one of them. I discovered it buried deep within the Archive.”
Falling Stream—literally the flow of descending water. In other words, a waterfall.
I had just said whatever came to mind, but I never expected it to be correct.
“Oh, oh wow.”
Could I actually be a genius? Two months into martial arts training and already at this level—even I find myself terrified thinking about how strong I might become.
“Surely you’re not harboring that embarrassing thought that you’re a genius or something just because of this?”
“…”
He’s practically a mind reader. Though I do seem to have some talent.
Unable to let go of my hopes, I asked cautiously.
“Is this really something everyone can do?”
At my question, Jin Moo-kyung flinched for a moment.
“W-well, yes. Anyone with eyes should be able to figure this out.”
“Come on.”
“Come on? Want me to pluck out one of your eyes?”
“…That’s a bit much.”
He was being unusually stern today. Perhaps something had put him in a bad mood. Even after I stepped back, Jin Moo-kyung continued to grumble irritably.
“It’s the basics, the basics. Everyone can do this.”
“I understand already. Why do you keep getting angry like that? You’re scaring me.”
“Are you talking back to me now? Want to taste the Gale Twelve Palms since you’re in your rebellious phase?”
I had no idea what the Gale Twelve Palms were, but it sounded like it would hurt if I got hit.
I shook my head vigorously, but Jin Moo-kyung’s anger showed no signs of subsiding.
“Do you understand martial arts? Huh?”
“N-no, I don’t.”
“How long have you been training in martial arts?”
The answer tumbled out reflexively.
“Two months, sir. Two months.”
“Right, so you’ve only been at it for two months… What? Two months?”
Jin Moo-kyung glared at me with bloodshot eyes.
“Not three years, but two months?”
A critical moment. This was when the instincts I’d honed through seven years of social life shone brightest. I quickly opened my mouth, making sure to emphasize a particular part.
“Three years and two months, sir!”
Jin Moo-kyung’s trembling fists, which had been quivering like leaves in the wind, steadied themselves. For some reason, even his voice seemed to soften slightly.
“You gave me quite a fright, kid.”
I was the one who was more frightened. This bastard…
‘Does he have anger management issues?’
If I asked Jin Wi-kyung about it, the truth would come out immediately, but at least I wouldn’t experience the misfortune of being subjected to the Gale Palm Strike right now.
In any case, Jin Moo-kyung’s anger had subsided in the meantime.
“I’m only saying this once. Listen carefully.”
“I will engrave it upon my heart.”
As I bowed my head respectfully, he declared in an authoritative manner.
“I teach, and you obey.”
“…”
What is this, a dog training facility?
“There are no objections. Why? Because I’m stronger than you.”
It was such an undeniable truth that I couldn’t even think of refuting it.
Money, power, martial strength—regardless of form, the world has always revolved around the strong. And I wanted to stand at that center.
“What choice do I have?”
My answer had been decided long ago.

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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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