Murim Login - Chapter 726

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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 726
Ding.
–
[Synchronization]
beginning.
– 10, 9, 8, 7, 6….
–
[Logout]
completed.
I opened my eyes to the familiar chime. The impossibly high ceiling came into view first.
Not the weathered wooden ceiling that reeked of dry grass, but a pristine white ceiling of solid alloy.
Within that disorienting disconnect, I recalled my final memory from the Modern World.
‘The Training Room.’
Right. This was the Training Room of the Peace Guild—a place only a select few, myself included, could access.
From this location, fortified with superior security and surveillance systems, I had departed for Murim.
It was right after finally concluding an important matter I had postponed through deliberation.
‘Yes, that’s how it was.’
I gazed silently at the ceiling.
The memories and sensations of days past had already returned. Yet I lacked even the slightest motivation to rise from this bed.
Murim and the Modern World. The Modern World and Murim.
Each time I crossed between these two realms, I fell into a brief lethargy—nothing uncommon for me—but this time felt different.
‘…I actually went through with it.’
I had imagined countless times what would happen if I revealed my secret to someone.
Of course, I had never acted on that imagination, nor should I have.
‘It carried far too great a risk.’
Yet, on the other hand, I had vaguely sensed that such a day would come.
I simply never expected that distant future to arrive today.
‘What?’
Jeok Cheon-gang’s reaction when he first heard my confession still played vividly before my eyes.
He showed no shock or bewilderment. Rather, he could not comprehend it at all.
‘What did you just say?’
‘Exactly as I stated. I come from much farther than Old Master Noya imagines.’
‘Shanxi Province is somewhat distant from the Central Plains, true. But what does that have to do with your secret….’
‘It’s farther. Even farther than the Southern Wilderness.’
‘Farther than the Southern Wilderness?’
‘Yes. So far that one could never reach it in a lifetime of walking.’
‘You mean one would need to sail by ship?’
‘No. It’s not a matter of that sort of travel. What I mean is… it would be more accurate to call it an entirely different world.’
An entirely different world.
Upon hearing what followed, Jeok Cheon-gang fell silent for a long while, attempting to comprehend my words in his own way.
‘In other words, you’re saying that fellow came from the Immortal Realm.’
‘…Well. I suppose that’s one way to put it.’
‘Are you a Lesser Immortal?’
‘I’m an ordinary citizen.’
Had Jeok Cheon-gang been a modern person, we might have found some common ground.
After all, in a world where monsters and magic already existed, one martial artist slipping into the mix wasn’t incomprehensible.
Of course, the question of whether he’d end up in a psychiatric hospital or dragged into a laboratory was a separate matter entirely.
But to the ears of Jeok Cheon-gang, who had lived in the Martial World for over a century without the internet, everything I said could only sound bewildering.
‘So if I fall asleep here, I go to the Immortal Realm?’
‘Not every time, but except for special circumstances, yes.’
‘Then when you try to return from the Immortal Realm.’
‘It’s the same. And time flows very slowly in the other world during those moments.’
‘…Damn it.’
And after a desperate struggle to maintain reason and common sense with both hands, Jeok Cheon-gang finally reached one conclusion.
‘Blast it. I don’t understand.’
‘Pardon?’
‘No matter how much I hear, I don’t understand.’
In this world, there exist truths that cannot be comprehended even with two eyes to see and two ears to hear.
For Jeok Cheon-gang, everything I told him was like that, and yet amid this confusion, one unchanging fact remained.
‘But the name of the foolish fellow this old man is looking at right now is Jin Tae-kyung. Not some Lesser Immortal from the Immortal Realm, but Yeolhwa Shinryong Jin Tae-kyung.’
‘…!’
‘That alone is enough.’
I didn’t understand it then.
The moment I heard those words. Why my voice suddenly caught. Why I had to clench my teeth to hold back the hot surge rising from my chest.
But… yes, like Jeok Cheon-gang said, that alone was enough for me too.
And now I was beginning to understand dimly.
I had been afraid. Afraid that my existence in another world that had already become part of my life would be denied.
‘This is ridiculous, like some child.’
A hollow laugh escaped me. At the same time, the boulder that had been pressing down on my heart vanished, and everything felt refreshingly light.
‘Yes, that’s enough. At least for now.’
When did I start living while looking down at the future? Day by day, moment by moment, I chose the path I had to walk and arrived here.
And the path I chose today was as wide and warm as a summer beach.
* * *
I saw it on TV once. Athletes each have their own routines.
One soccer player steps onto the field with his left foot first, and a Major League slugger spits out sunflower seeds every time he swings the bat.
To the eyes of ordinary people, such rituals might seem like unnecessary fuss, but the truth is, everyone harbors superstitions about peace of mind and good fortune.
And the profession most meticulous about such routines and superstitions is none other than Hunters.
Losing a soccer match doesn’t make the sky fall. Striking out on a bases-loaded chance doesn’t make the earth crack.
But for Hunters, a lack of luck means immediate death.
They have no next game, no next at-bat. They simply recall their entire lives and the faces of their families before their last breath, and suddenly they understand.
‘Damn it, I should have worn blue underwear today.’
It sounds like a joke, but it’s true. It was also the final testament of a certain A-rank Hunter who had been popular years ago before dying in a Gate.
‘Wait, was it red underwear?’
Those were the days when I was too busy working to remember clearly, but anyway.
The important thing in this story is that I too have my own routine that I’ve maintained meticulously all this time, and that routine has just been shattered.
Crash!
The door bursts open as if exploding.
The lock I’d installed as a precaution was smashed to pieces, but fortunately, having already made all my preparations a step ahead, I greeted the uninvited guest with deliberate composure.
“Well, well, no knocking anymore and just barging in?”
Huff. Puff.
Watching the uninvited guest with ragged breathing and sweat beading on his forehead, his disheveled suit wrinkled, I continued speaking.
“Choi Team Leader.”
Under normal circumstances, I would have greeted him warmly, but right now I felt an urge to punch that handsome face.
However, Choi Team Leader, who should now properly be called Guild Master, didn’t notice my displeasure.
Or rather, he didn’t even have time to.
“Huff. Puff.”
Had he been chased by the Demon King or something?
Choi Team Leader, who now rivaled any peak master of the Central Plains, finally steadied his breathing and thrust something in his hand toward me, shouting.
“What on earth is this! What is this!”
“If you have no business, come back later… Ah. That thing?”
“That thing? That thing?! How can you speak of it so casually! This is a serious matter!”
Meltdown button: ON.
Seeing Choi Team Leader nearly hysterical at my nonchalant response, I realized I had no choice but to break the essential routine I hadn’t missed a single day since completing the Hunter Training Institute.
And I also realized I couldn’t avoid explaining that ‘object’ right now.
“Calm down, calm down. I’ll explain everything, so first put that down. What would you like to drink?”
“Jin Tae-kyung. This isn’t about what to drink right now…”
“Just have some coffee. That, what was it. That tiger dung coffee you gifted me last time when the office opened.”
“Huh.”
“Is that alright?”
Choi Team Leader, who had been staring at me with a mixture of shock and bewilderment, collapsed onto the sofa.
In his trembling hands was a bundle of papers with handwriting I had written myself.
[Grinning Mana Cultivation Method]
Looking at it again, it really was fine calligraphy.
* * *
Choi Team Leader was definitely a young master from a wealthy family.
Just moments ago he’d been snorting like a minotaur with its horns plucked, but the moment he caught the rich aroma of coffee, he regained his composure, and I found myself sniffing the air as well.
“Does tiger dung coffee have some effect on mental stability or something? Or is it just some routine of yours, Choi Team Leader?”
Choi Team Leader resolved my curiosity with a cold voice.
“It’s not tiger. It’s civet coffee.”
“Tiger or cat, either way.”
“And let’s use ‘bowel movements’ instead of that crude term. There’s also the word ‘secretion.'”
“Poop.”
“Bowel movements. Or secretion.”
“Yes. So, poop.”
“You seem to have forgotten—it’s almost dinner time. If you keep saying that word so openly in front of people….”
“Poop.”
“….”
As the atmosphere grew increasingly awkward, it was Choi Team Leader who retreated first.
“Fine. That’s not what matters right now anyway.”
“Mm.”
Now that I thought about it, I was being ridiculous.
Having reflected deeply on my foolishness, I calmed the sharp edge of my irritation.
Choi Team Leader had disrupted an essential routine I needed to maintain, but truthfully, I was the one who’d created the circumstances in the first place.
[Smiling Mana Cultivation Method]
Once anyone saw something like this, they would have rushed over immediately—not just Choi Team Leader. Even if that person were the President of the United States, that fact wouldn’t change.
“Given the gravity of the situation, I’ll ask directly.”
His voice trembled slightly. Choi Team Leader stared at me and continued slowly.
“This… no, this Mana Cultivation Method. Where did it come from?”
I answered without hesitation.
“Who else? The person standing right in front of you.”
“…!”
“I created it myself. From beginning to end.”
A suffocating silence descended in an instant. Choi Team Leader, who had been staring at me wordlessly with wavering eyes, finally exhaled the breath he’d been holding.
“Phew.”
“Why are you so surprised? Didn’t my messenger explain it to you?”
Of course, he wasn’t just a simple messenger.
Though he had a few screws loose, Skeleton King was a powerful named monster and simultaneously an S-rank Hunter of the Peace Guild working covertly in the shadows.
‘And I trust him more than anyone else, that’s for certain.’
Choi Team Leader, who knew this fact better than anyone, let out a soft chuckle.
“That’s quite the role for a mere messenger.”
“That’s why I entrusted it to him. I was originally going to give it to you directly, but you happened to be away at the time.”
“…I had somewhere to be for a moment.”
Choi Team Leader said no more, and I didn’t press him about where he’d been.
Two months ago, someone left us suddenly, and the warmth of their absence still lingered by everyone’s side. Like that coffee cup Choi Team Leader hadn’t even taken a sip from.
“I heard the story you told Skeleton King—or rather, Mr. King. However, I’m afraid….”
“From your position, you had to verify it at least once.”
“Yes. But the moment I saw the contents, I was certain even before hearing the explanation. In the entire world, Jin Tae-kyung is the only person capable of creating a Mana Cultivation Method like this.”
At Choi Team Leader’s praise, I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.
“Come on, don’t overdo it. It’s true I put considerable thought and effort into making it accessible to beginners, but….”
“There’s absolutely no other S-rank Hunter with handwriting this poor, nor anyone with such a distinctive naming sense.”
“Huh?”
“But what if there’s someone who can do both of these things simultaneously? There’s nothing more to consider.”
“….”
“Thanks to that, I was able to realize something. This Mana Cultivation Method was born through the hands of only one person! Jin Tae-kyung.”
“….”
I stared silently back and forth between Choi Team Leader’s confident face and the [Grinning Mana Cultivation Method] resting on the table. And I thought to myself.
‘What a load of crap.’
Whether it was the Mana Cultivation Method or anything else, I felt like just tearing the whole thing to shreds.

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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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