Murim Login - Chapter 715

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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 715
A room thick with the scent of medicinal herbs. A middle-aged man trembling with a large needle clutched in his hand, and Jeok Cheon-gang gripping him by the collar.
‘He’s waking up. He’s waking up.’
Even though I had only just opened my eyes, grasping the situation was simple enough, and the middle-aged man—evidently the Physician—spotted me blinking over Jeok Cheon-gang’s shoulder and cried out.
“Ah! Ah! He’s awake! He’s awake!”
“….”
Even my own mother wouldn’t have been half as delighted in this moment.
I’d stake my life on it—that wasn’t the joy of a patient awakening, but the exultant cry of a victim spotting police before a serial killer.
And Jeok Cheon-gang, having released the Physician’s collar without resistance, turned his gaze toward me.
In silence, even long after the Physician had scrambled away.
Then he suddenly opened his mouth.
“You slept quite late.”
At his blunt tone, I gave a slight shrug.
I certainly couldn’t tell him I’d had some wretched nightmare where Old Master Noya was gnawing at my throat.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Well enough, I suppose.”
“How’s your body?”
“Light as a feather. My mind is clear too.”
Not an ounce of exaggeration in that statement. My body felt weightless as down, and my mind, purged of fatigue by the long sleep, was sharper than ever.
‘They said I’d been unconscious for seven days.’
The exhaustion I’d accumulated must have been considerable.
Not to boast, but for someone of my caliber—a supreme master who’d reached such heights—to lose consciousness for an entire week was exceedingly rare.
Then, quite unexpectedly, words tumbled from my lips unbidden.
“I’m grateful.”
“For what?”
“That this isn’t a dream.”
“….”
“Truly grateful.”
I gazed around with eyes brimming with emotion.
Sunlight filtered through the half-open window, and the chirping of birds tickled my ears. I could sense the presence of people passing by in the distance, their voices murmuring in conversation.
‘I’m alive.’
It was ironic.
That despite breathing through mouth and nose, despite perceiving reality through sensation, I found it difficult to believe I was truly alive.
Simultaneously, a hollow emptiness seized me.
For a moment, over the sunlight pooled by the window, the dense darkness that had shrouded the Inner Palace seemed to flicker past, along with the images of countless corpses collapsed with their heads buried in pools of blood.
‘It really… wasn’t all a dream.’
The joy and relief of survival scattered, replaced by guilt and bitterness filling the void.
I simply stared blankly out the window, until a low voice pierced my ears.
“In the end, someone survives, and someone dies.”
Thud.
I felt warmth emanating from the hand resting on my shoulder. Jeok Cheon-gang continued speaking while gazing into the distance.
“That is the natural order which cannot be defied, the way of the Murim.”
“….”
“Be grateful that you survived, and honor those who have fallen. For now, that alone is sufficient.”
Jeok Cheon-gang moved toward the window and threw it open. I watched silently as he stood bathed in the cascading sunlight pouring through the panes.
My lips parted as countless thoughts flickered through my mind.
“Old Master Noya.”
At my call, Jeok Cheon-gang shook his head with a warm smile.
“That’s enough. Say nothing for now.”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Ahem. I said that’s enough. I have many questions for you, but first you must settle your mind….”
“No, it’s just. It’s too bright.”
“Hmm?”
I carefully pointed toward Jeok Cheon-gang’s head. His gleaming bald scalp, reflecting the sunlight brilliantly, was functioning as a passive skill—the Solar Palm.
“Either close the window or do something about your head.”
“…!”
“By the way, did you use your inner strength on it? Your head is absolutely spotless. Disguise is fine, but you should have left some hair. What will you do if it doesn’t grow back later?”
In that moment, the warm smile that had graced Jeok Cheon-gang’s lips vanished.
In an instant, the kindly old neighbor transformed into the Blood Monk, his eyes turning cold and sharp as he fixed his gaze upon me.
“You impudent brat….”
“No, I was just making a request. Why are you cursing at a patient who just woke up?”
“Would you like to go back to sleep? Shall I let you rest soundly for the next three and a half months?”
A low growl.
The sound of bones cracking came from his tightly clenched fist. Sensing something had gone terribly wrong, I quickly opened my mouth.
“I’ve already slept enough.”
“According to this old man’s assessment, you seem to want to sleep more.”
“Really, I’m fine. Since things here are nearly finished, I need to hurry back to the Central Plains….”
“It’s fine. When you wake up next time, it will be at least Hanan.”
I swallowed hard.
“That’s, well. That doesn’t sound very good.”
“Why not? The journey would be tedious anyway, wouldn’t it?”
“Not tedious at all. I enjoy appreciating the natural scenery.”
“What about returning to nature altogether?”
“…You’re joking, right?”
“Does it sound like a joke?”
“No.”
“What I just said was a joke. Waking up in Hanan is the truth.”
A crackling sound.
I spotted flames wreathing Jeok Cheon-gang’s fist and instinctively looked around, but naturally, there was no fire extinguisher in sight.
Damn it. Shit.
Having resigned myself to my fate, I made a polite request.
“Please be gentle about it.”
“If you accept it obediently, it’s not a difficult request. Which will it be—Flame Divine Palm or Extinguishing Flame Divine Fist?”
“…Won’t it still hurt even if you do it gently?”
“Then forcefully?”
“…Is there no other option besides Flame Divine Palm or Extinguishing Flame Divine Fist?”
“There is.”
“Oh, what is it?”
“Divine Flame Ghost Technique.”
I asked with genuine sincerity.
“Have you truly lost your mind?”
Crack!
My vision flashed white.
Just as I gasped and writhed from the sharp pain transmitted across my forehead, Jeok Cheon-gang’s gruff voice pierced through my ears.
“I thought it was time you woke up, so I stopped by for the first time in a while, and here you are, perfectly fine. Stop spouting nonsense and get yourself together. I’m leaving now.”
Thud.
The door slammed shut the moment I opened my eyes. With tears streaming down my face as I rubbed my forehead, I murmured toward the empty space where Jeok Cheon-gang had been.
“Stay a bit longer….”
Before that faint voice could even dissipate into the air, I felt a tremor sweep through the Pavilion.
Boom. Boom. Crash!
Surprisingly, it was someone’s footsteps, and beyond that vibration—like an elephant charging forward—multiple presences were drawing closer as well, moving with an unmistakable momentum.
Toward the firmly closed door through which Jeok Cheon-gang had just departed.
“Hey, wait a momen——!”
But my urgent cry couldn’t reach its end.
Boom!
The wooden door exploded outward, and a cloud of dust rose up in its wake.
Standing dumbfounded in what had become ruins of my quarters, I spotted familiar faces beyond the dust cloud and burst out laughing.
Yeah. Well, this isn’t so bad either.
“How have you all been?”
With those words as a signal, several figures descended upon me simultaneously.
No—a massive shadow, towering high enough to touch the ceiling, engulfed everyone including me.
Whoooosh!
“Tae-san! I missed you so much!”
“…Ah.”
You weren’t part of my calculations.
* * *
Bang!
Hearing the thunderous sound that erupted from behind, Jeok Cheon-gang let out a soft chuckle.
“Quite the commotion, I see.”
It was clearly the work of that massive fellow, whether his name was Tae-san or something else.
The Physician who had left the Quarters first must have already spread the word, for the Fire Dragon Pavilion members came rushing faster than anyone else, barely sparing a glance at Jeok Cheon-gang before heading toward the Pavilion—all within mere moments.
‘Young ones suit this task better, so this old man should step aside.’
Though one old man had indeed inserted himself among them, from Jeok Cheon-gang’s perspective—having long since passed the age of ninety—they were all in the prime of youth.
His philosophy was that anyone under eighty could still chew through ten thousand winters.
‘…But that’s not quite right, is it.’
Jeok Cheon-gang, muttering softly to himself, began walking slowly.
He gazed up at the sky, which had cleared as if it had never been troubled, and observed the Southern Barbarians gathering in small groups upon hearing news of Jin Tae-kyung.
And as the cool breeze touched his face, he reflected.
No—he posed a question that could not reach the one absent from this place.
‘Do you truly believe that?’
Jin Tae-kyung, who had regained consciousness after seven days and nights, had said it was fortunate that this was all real and not a dream. Truly fortunate.
Yet the voice and eyes of Jin Tae-kyung as he spoke those words, the figure reflected in Jeok Cheon-gang’s gaze, told a different story.
‘He blames himself. For surviving, for failing to save them.’
No one knew what had become of the dead.
But Jeok Cheon-gang had observed countless survivors from Hell, and he knew they carried the weight of regret and guilt throughout their lives.
The Great War Between Righteousness and Demonism.
In that aeon-spanning time marked by blood and death, Jeok Cheon-gang too had been present.
‘Yet when one overcomes it, one becomes stronger still.’
So he had chosen his words carefully. Even as Jin Tae-kyung moaned in pain and thrashed about while unconscious, Jeok Cheon-gang had deliberately pretended not to notice, and asked only this.
‘Did you sleep well?’
‘Well enough, I suppose.’
Surely it had been a terrible nightmare. Yet Jin Tae-kyung, without even moistening his lips, brazenly lied.
‘Stubborn brat.’
He felt no anger.
He was proud of the way the boy tried to endure, yet at the same time, it left a bitter taste.
That was all.
Yet why did his chest still ache? Why did the boy’s image linger before his eyes even as he observed the world around him?
‘Damn it. Even this old man has grown old, it seems.’
And yet, strangely, he did not dislike himself for it.
That miraculous recovery he had witnessed with his own eyes, and nothing else—only Jin Tae-kyung filled his heart.
‘Well, this is not so bad either.’
Jeok Cheon-gang smiled faintly and moved his steps toward a place with fewer people. Sunlight filtering through the leaves illuminated his bare, empty head.
* * *
“Captain.”
“What.”
“Captain!”
“What.”
“Captaaaaain!”
“Stop calling me, you bastard. I’m not dead yet.”
Despite my rebuke, Hyuk Moo-jin did not stop his whimpering.
Instead, she gripped my sleeve tightly with both hands, her eyes glistening with moisture as she asked me this.
“Then when are you leaving?”
“…Are you insane? At this point, it’s like you’re chanting prayers for me to die.”
“You were unconscious for a full seven days. I really thought you weren’t going to wake up.”
At my command, Tae-san, who had been diligently scrubbing the floor on his hands and knees, quickly nodded his head.
“That’s right. Tae-san also hoped that the Elder Brother would never get up again.”
Just as I was about to be moved by this, I noticed something odd and blinked.
“Hoped? Why would you hope for that?”
Nam Ho, who had claimed the only chair by virtue of his age, muttered under his breath.
“What are you asking for? He was hoping for a funeral feast, the damn bastard.”
“No, no! I was just worried about the Elder Brother and drooled!”
“….”
“….”
That bastard really did hope for it quite a bit, it seems.
When our eyes met, Tae-san’s heart, Sa Ma-pyo, let his head drop helplessly.
“Pretend you didn’t hear that. Even with ten mouths, I’d have nothing to say.”
“Ten mouths? If Tae-san had ten mouths…!”
“He’d eat ten times more. Please, I’m begging you—can’t someone just gag that bastard’s mouth?”
Just as Nam Ho, the Physician of the Namman Faction, formally proposed legislation for Tae-san’s muzzle, a sharp cutting sound echoed from somewhere.
Whoosh, crash!
The table that had barely maintained its form in the chaotic Quarters was instantly shattered to pieces.
At the same moment, a cold voice flowed from between someone’s lips.
“What on earth are you all doing in front of a patient?”
At Ju Hwa-ran’s single remark about destroying furniture in front of a patient, everyone clamped their mouths shut.

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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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