Murim Login - Chapter 71

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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 71
The Jin Family Spear Technique consists of seven forms in total. The final form, Heavenly Pierce, struck the steel dummy with devastating force.
Crash!
With a thunderous boom, the steel dummy’s chest caved inward as it slammed against the wall. As I withdrew my spear, Jin Moo-kyung’s voice pierced through to me.
“The Jin Family Spear Technique—it’s passable, I suppose.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“The Jin Family Footwork is similar enough.”
Wait. Had I ever told him which martial arts I’d learned?
Watching me search my memory, Jin Moo-kyung chuckled softly.
“Do you know why I entered Cheon-mu Academy?”
“Um… because you couldn’t stand the sight of me?”
“…That’s not entirely wrong.”
He nodded quietly to himself, then suddenly snapped back to attention.
“Ahem. But there was a more important reason than that.”
“What was it?”
“The Main Residence had no more martial arts to teach me.”
“What?”
“I needed something new. Cheon-mu Academy extended an invitation at just the right time, and there was no reason to refuse.”
“Then the Jin Family Spear Technique too?”
“I just said it—there were no more martial arts to learn.”
“But you’re a swordsman.”
“So?”
“What?”
“Don’t you eat side dishes when you have a meal?”
“That’s different.”
“It’s the same. To me.”
Different. To me, it is different.
‘I’ve learned various weapons too, but…’
It was a completely different story from Jin Moo-kyung. It wasn’t martial arts at all—it was mere struggle to survive in combat against monsters.
After becoming proficient with the spear, I had no time to look elsewhere.
Mastering a single weapon was already overwhelming.
“You look like you don’t understand. It’ll be faster if I show you.”
Shring.
Jin Moo-kyung drew his sword and stood before the steel dummy.
He loosened his body with subtle hand movements, and a quiet murmur escaped his lips.
“Let me try it this way.”
Two legs crossed in rapid succession. Then a flash of light shot forth, embedding itself in the steel dummy’s chest.
Screech! Boom!
I was left speechless. Though the form was slightly different, the movements were unmistakably familiar. There was no way I could fail to recognize them.
“This is…”
“Heaven’s Observation Strike. The final technique of the Jin Family Spear Method. Or should I say the Jin Family Sword Method in this case?”
For a moment, words failed me. And I recalled a fact I’d momentarily forgotten.
Jin Moo-kyung is a genius. An ordinary person would struggle to digest even a single bowl of plain rice, but Jin Moo-kyung could consume an entire eight-course spread and process it all.
‘A genius, a genius. I’d only heard about it in stories.’
By simply inserting a few basic movements and stripping away others, he’d transformed the Jin Family Spear Method into a sword technique.
A martial genius. The rumors were no exaggeration whatsoever.
‘This bastard… he’s the real deal.’
The system aids rapid growth, but it doesn’t make the user a genius. Yet Jin Moo-kyung was truly born with it.
When I realized that what he’d just demonstrated was merely the tip of the iceberg, a chill ran down my spine.
“Are you listening to me?”
His cold voice snapped me back to attention.
“Ah, yes.”
“I went through the trouble of overcoming my annoyance just to demonstrate, and you dare to look away?”
Smack!
“Ugh.”
My vision flashed white. Jin Moo-kyung watched my suffering with satisfaction before speaking again.
“I’ll explain it one more time, so pay attention. Understood?”
“Ugh… yes, sir.”
“Anyway, so… martial arts are…”
“…?”
“Uh, martial arts are. Damn it.”
Jin Moo-kyung cried out, his face flushed red.
“You made me forget!”
Whack!
This damn bastard…
* * *
In the end, the method Jin Moo-kyung chose was conversation.
Conversation through the body.
“You won’t understand it well through words anyway. Direct physical experience is faster.”
“Wait, just a moment.”
“There’s no ‘just a moment’ in real combat. Would you say that to someone coming to kill you? ‘I’m nervous, so let me go use the restroom first, and you can go take a dump too’?”
“This is a sparring match!”
“Huh? Using informal speech again. You’re dead now.”
Jin Moo-kyung gripped the wooden sword firmly and charged like a tiger.
I threw myself out of the way without hesitation.
Boom!
Leaving behind a bone-chilling thunderous crash, I snatched a training wooden spear from the rack. An ominous voice followed.
“Now I shall impart my teachings.”
Whoooosh!
An ominous sound of air being split. I spun my body and swung the spear, but it was already too late. Jin Moo-kyung’s lips were already curling upward before my eyes.
“First.”
Thwack!
A fist rocketed upward from below, slamming into my lower jaw. Against my will, both feet lifted off the ground.
Beyond my spinning vision, Jin Moo-kyung’s voice continued.
“When facing someone stronger than yourself, exercise caution.”
The next instant, Jin Moo-kyung’s palm struck my chest. With a sharp pop, I was sent flying backward, sliding down the wall with a grinding screech.
“Cough.”
Blood and organ fragments didn’t spill out. When I lifted my head, I saw Jin Moo-kyung walking toward me slowly.
“You fool, getting scared. Surely you don’t think your older brother would use his full power against his younger brother.”
I replied curtly.
“Then why don’t you drop the wooden sword?”
“Can’t do that. This feels better in my hand.”
The confidence of a superior. Yet despite that, he wasn’t careless enough to abandon his weapon.
‘This is going to be troublesome.’
The fortunate thing was that Jin Moo-kyung was the type who fell for provocation easily.
Especially from me.
“Getting scared?”
“What?”
The smile vanished from Jin Moo-kyung’s face. I feared the consequences later, but that was a problem for another time. Right now, I wanted nothing more than to defeat this bastard in front of me.
“I said, are you getting scared?”
“I’m not sure what that means exactly… but my mood just got a lot worse.”
Before his words even finished, Jin Moo-kyung’s figure surged forward. His movements were noticeably rougher than before. I deflected the wooden sword as it came down toward my shoulder with my spear shaft.
Clang, clang, clang.
Was there glue on the wooden sword? I needed to create distance… but the blade wouldn’t separate. It coiled around my spear shaft like a serpent, thrusting inward.
“What is this!”
“What else—the Jin Family Spear Technique. Or rather, the Jin Family Sword Technique.”
The Jin Family Sword Technique? This?
“This is completely different from what I saw before!”
“Ah. I mixed in a few other sword techniques as well.”
“This is cheating!”
“Second. Don’t forget that while you were hanging around with women and drinking, I was training, bleeding and sweating.”
At the same time, the wooden sword lashed across my ribs.
Thwack!
Beyond the pain, deep frustration surged through me.
‘What? Hanging around with women and drinking?’
While everyone else was holding their girlfriends’ hands on dates at Christmas, I was having group meetups with monsters at the Gate, you bastard!
Thud, thud, thud.
The wooden sword hammered relentlessly at my thighs and forearms, but I felt nothing. Rage conquered pain.
I gritted my teeth and unleashed my spear in a flurry.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Clang!
Under the sharp offensive, Jin Moo-kyung began to give ground steadily. Combat is about flow. My instincts, honed through countless real battles, whispered to me.
‘Now!’
I brought the spear down with all my might toward his crown.
Boom!
A deafening crash that made my ears ring. But the attack hadn’t landed cleanly.
Jin Moo-kyung raised his sword and easily deflected the spear, letting out a scoff.
“Too predictable.”
“Yeah, too predictable gets boring.”
I threw a punch at his abdomen with a triumphant laugh.
‘It’s a feint, you bastard!’
The provocation and attack from before were all for this moment.
When we’re this close, martial arts mean nothing. One blow to the solar plexus, and even a peak master wouldn’t survive—let alone an old peak master.
‘It’s over.’
My fist, packed with all the frustration I’d been holding back, drove into Jin Moo-kyung’s solar plexus.
Clang!
…Clang?
‘What the hell is this.’
My confusion lasted only a moment before a scream tore from my lips.
From my own mouth.
“Argh! My hand!”
It hurt! Damn it, it hurt!
As I writhed in agony, I saw Jin Moo-kyung shyly lifting his upper garment. A bulky leather vest beneath his martial robes came into view.
‘What is that.’
A bulletproof vest? No. But it looked like it could stop bullets. The pockets of the leather vest were crammed full of iron ingots.
“The third rule….”
Jin Moo-kyung pulled out a dented iron ingot from a pocket near his solar plexus. The impression of my fist was unmistakable.
“Understand your opponent’s intentions before fighting.”
“Why the hell are you wearing that!”
“Fourth. Never neglect physical conditioning, even in daily life.”
Damn it!
Martial arts? Techniques? None of that mattered anymore. I shed my awkward Murim novice skin and reverted to my true self—a seventh-year Hunter.
My hand was injured anyway, so properly executing the Jin Family Spear Technique was impossible. Besides, Jin Moo-kyung knew every martial art I’d learned.
‘Let me show you real combat.’
I kicked at Jin Moo-kyung’s shin as he stood there grinning smugly. A soccer kick—or what some call a joint strike—my technique of last resort.
I’d never seen anyone walk away from this unscathed.
Crack!
Well, here’s one now.
“You damn bastard…”
“Idiot.”
His expression as he looked down at me, clutching my foot and collapsed on the ground, seemed to say it all—pathetic.
“Fifth… that’s enough. Even talking is exhausting.”
Jin Moo-kyung pulled a flat iron plate from the hem of his pants and strode forward. I tried to push myself up with a limp, but he kicked my ankle and I collapsed back down.
‘Damn it.’
It was over.
If I used my inventory, there might be a chance to turn this around, but I didn’t want to do something so obviously suspicious. I sighed and lowered my head.
“Let’s stop.”
“Stop?”
At his cold voice, I lifted my head. Jin Moo-kyung’s face had turned icy.
“Just like that?”
The gleeful expression he’d worn moments ago while pummeling me was gone without a trace.
His vacant gaze made my skin prickle, and my throat convulsed sharply.
Gulp.
Almost simultaneously with the sound of me swallowing, the wooden sword lashed across my right shoulder.
With a dull thud, my bent arm lost its balance.
“Ugh. What are you—!”
Jin Moo-kyung paid no attention and continued swinging the wooden sword. The voice of a loser seemed to reach no ears of his.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Only after striking my left arm and both legs did his hand finally stop.
“Just now, your limbs were severed. By a supreme master of the Black Path—several times stronger and more cruel than you.”
“…!”
“A more vicious one would have other methods too.”
Tap-tap-tap.
The moment Jin Moo-kyung’s hand blurred, my entire body stiffened and my tongue curled inward. The system alert immediately signaled an abnormality.
Beep!
–
[Dumb Gate]
has been suppressed. You will be paralyzed for one hour!
–
[Voice Gate]
has been suppressed. You cannot make a sound for one hour!
I couldn’t move a single hair, couldn’t even produce a sound.
A breathing corpse. Right now, even a child could kill me.
‘Jin Moo-kyung. You crazy bastard!’
The curses only circled in my mind, unable to escape my lips. All I could do was glare. Jin Moo-kyung met my furious gaze with composure.
“Tendon Severance and Bone Displacement is a cruel technique. Even within half an hour, your qi becomes twisted and every bone in your body shatters. Even if you miraculously survive, you’ll either go mad or live as a cripple for life.”
“….”
“Could you endure that pain? Probably within a quarter hour, you’d forget who you even are.”
My stomach churned. Not from the explanation of Tendon Severance and Bone Displacement.
Jin Moo-kyung’s eyes devoid of all emotion. Those black pupils felt unfamiliar and terrifying.
‘Could Jin Moo-kyung actually…?’
No. That couldn’t be. I am Jin Tae-kyung. A direct descendant of the Taewon Jin Family and the sole younger brother of Jin Moo-kyung.
Yet his subsequent actions shattered my expectations entirely.
“Be at ease. I’ll send you off without pain.”
Along with his hushed voice, something cold pressed against my throat. The iron plate Jin Moo-kyung had drawn earlier. The thin, razor-sharp edge of the metal plate slowly pierced into my flesh.
‘Die? Like this?’
I had faced death more than a dozen times before. In Gates, in Murim. I had always struggled to survive somehow—yet now I couldn’t even blink before death claimed me.
And at the hands of my own blood brother, no less!
‘What a damnable situation.’
As I lay rigid, staring only at the ceiling, the voice of the Grim Reaper reached my ears.
“Die.”
Scrape.
Strength drained from my entire body. I felt warm blood trickling down my neck.
Jin Tae-kyung. Age twenty-seven. Fallen asleep in Murim.
I slowly closed my eyes.
“….”
Wait. Something’s wrong.
‘I was struck at a vital point, yet I closed my eyes?’
That was the moment.
Ding.
–
[Vital Point Suppression]
is released. Paralysis has been lifted!
–
[Speech Vital Point Suppression]
is released. You can speak freely!
“Get up.”
“….”
At Jin Moo-kyung’s voice, I slowly opened my eyes. My keen senses confirmed the fact that I was alive.
‘How?’
I frantically felt my neck. The cut area stung, and blood came away on my fingers, but the bleeding was merely a few drops. It had all been an illusion born from fear of death and tension.
“Remember this.”
His cold voice continued—the same voice that had pronounced my death mere seconds ago.
“You died once today.”

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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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