Murim Login - Chapter 92
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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 92
[Target Report]
Name: Jin Tae-kyung
Age: 27
Residence: Address xxx-xxx Hope Gosiwon. Currently separated from family.
Family Relations: Eldest of one son and one daughter. Father deceased in accident 11 years ago. Information regarding Mother and Younger Sister attached separately.
The report arrived four days after the investigation was ordered. Im Chun-su, who had finished reading the densely packed information spanning five pages, opened his mouth.
“Hey, Team Leader 1.”
“Yes, Guild Master.”
Team Leader 1, seated across from him, responded. Aside from Guild Master Im Chun-su, he was the sole S-rank hunter of Sangdong Guild and Im Chun-su’s loyal right hand.
“Have you read this report?”
“Not yet, sir.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s your order, Guild Master. You instructed me not to filter any incoming information and to report it as is.”
“Then read it now.”
Team Leader 1 accepted the report Im Chun-su extended with courtesy, his eyes moving rapidly across the pages. After about ten minutes, he lifted his head and murmured.
“This is… problematic.”
“What do you think of that report?”
“I defer to your judgment, Guild Master.”
“No, speak frankly.”
Team Leader 1, who had hesitated briefly, responded.
“The information appears to be incorrect.”
“Which part exactly?”
“The subject of this report, Jin Tae-kyung, was an F-rank hunter until merely two weeks ago. Yet he successfully re-awakened as a C-rank hunter. While rare, this isn’t impossible.”
“Continue.”
“However, according to testimony from Im Chang-su and the other members who participated in that raid, Jin Tae-kyung single-handedly defeated a pack of Minotaurs, which are B-rank monsters.”
“Minimum five, maximum ten, I’d wager?”
“Yes. And he reportedly felled the boss monster with a single strike.”
“Right. A mere C-rank hunter taking down the Minotaur general in one blow. Does that make sense?”
“I don’t believe it does.”
“Then what is it?”
He wasn’t asking out of ignorance. This was merely a process of confirming once more that Team Leader 1 shared his own suspicions.
“There are three suspicious possibilities.”
“List them.”
“First, the report could be incorrect.”
“Who wrote this report anyway? Hong… Hong something. Definitely not Hong Gildong.”
“Hong Woo-jin. He’s still young with limited experience, but his competence is well-established.”
“Right, whether it’s Hong Woo-jin or Hong Gildong, have that bastard verify it once more. Apply some pressure too. Anyway, what’s the second possibility?”
“Second, Im Chang-su and the other members could be lying in collusion.”
“Chang-su’s head isn’t screwed on straight most of the time, but in all my years, he’s never lied to me. Continue.”
“The last possibility is that Jin Tae-kyung is an unconfirmed A-rank Hunter, or perhaps….”
A troubled light flickered across Team Leader 1’s normally composed face. After a moment, he hesitantly opened his mouth.
“Could he be a Third Awakening?”
“Third Awakening?”
“…Yes.”
“Team Leader 1. Even you find it absurd after saying it, don’t you? A Third Awakening doesn’t make sense, does it?”
Team Leader 1 answered by lowering his head.
At that sight, Im Chun-su clicked his tongue and picked up the report. Extreme cold radiated from his fingertips.
Whoosh. Crack!
“Rewrite the report. Finish it by this week and have it on my desk when you come in Monday. Neat and clean.”
“Understood.”
“And you there—who are those people? Are they from the Peace Guild or the Love Guild? What about information on the others there?”
“…Well, I was just about to report on that matter.”
“What? You haven’t figured anything out?”
“We’ve completed our investigation on everyone except three.”
Im Chun-su furrowed his brow.
“Three? One of them must be Jin Tae-kyung. What about the other two?”
“The Guild Master and Team Leader of the Peace Guild.”
I’d heard about them from my son. That young Team Leader had no manners, and that middle-aged Guild Master just laughed vacuously throughout the entire raid.
“Why those two?”
“They’re locked.”
“What?”
“Exactly as I said. Not only their personal information but even their financial records are all under security protocols, so the Inspection Team is bewildered as well.”
“Did you save money?”
Running a Guild requires institutional support. Corrupt officials working at various agencies don’t hesitate to accept bribes and hand over information.
“We already gave them plenty….”
“And then?”
“They seem reluctant on their end. According to them, the higher-ups have placed security protocols, making it difficult to access.”
Im Chun-su was flabbergasted.
A Guild less than a month old. A small-scale operation that doesn’t even have enough members to form a single Raid Team. In fact, it wouldn’t be strange to call it a social club rather than a Guild.
Yet those insignificant people have locks placed on them?
“Hah, look at these bastards.”
“What should we do?”
“For now, don’t dig deeper into that aspect and leave it alone. Make sure those we paid off keep their mouths shut.”
Im Chun-su, famous for his fiery temperament during the Great Cataclysm, had learned one crucial lesson while running his Guild.
To achieve his goals and gain results beyond them, he needed to remain calm and deliberate.
“So you’ve completed your investigation on everyone except those three?”
“Yes, perfectly.”
Those were the words of Team Leader 1, who had earned trust through his meticulous nature. Im Chun-su nodded.
“Handle those two with the locks as I just said. For now, focus intensively on Jin Tae-kyung. Mobilize a few members from the Guild Inspection Team and increase surveillance personnel separately.”
“A separate… matter?”
“Yeah, looking at the report status, it’s not great. When I think about it, our Guild’s audit team doesn’t exactly have a shortage of work either, right?”
“That’s true, but…”
Team Leader 1 hesitated for a moment. He remembered what Hong Woo-jin had emphasized when he went to request the job.
‘Once I take this request, it becomes my responsibility. You understand? I’ll figure out even the color of the underwear that bastard was wearing on that day within a week, so trust me with this. If you guys stir up trouble over there and the surveillance target gets suspicious, you’ll ruin my work.’
Hong Woo-jin had a reputation for doing good work despite his short career. His tone was cocky, but his professional demeanor inspired confidence, and he’d made a direct promise.
‘I think I should mention it.’
But the objection Team Leader 1 was about to voice was swallowed back down his throat by a single word from Im Chun-su.
“What? You have more to say?”
“No, no. I’ll relay the message as is.”
“Good, go ahead.”
Im Chun-su’s mood hadn’t been good lately. His job was to appease him as much as possible and guide things in a favorable direction.
‘It’ll be fine, right? It has to be fine.’
Team Leader 1 couldn’t hide his unease as he left the Guild Master’s office.
* * *
Home. Vacation.
Just thinking about these two words brought happiness. And it was true in reality too. But…
Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzzzz.
“Ugh, this is driving me crazy.”
I swatted the fly with lightning-fast speed. Not an ordinary palm strike, but one infused with qi. The fly died instantly, and I tossed it into the trash before returning to the sofa.
“What’s with all these damn flies?”
Ha-yeon, who had come to the living room for a moment to get water, let out a deep sigh.
“It’s summer, you idiot. What did you expect?”
“It’s worse than that, right now.”
“How many could there possibly be? There was only one just now.”
“That’s the problem—they keep coming in one at a time. As soon as I catch one, another shows up.”
“How many have you caught?”
“I swear to the heavens, I’ve caught at least a hundred since this morning.”
“Look at you exaggerating. This is why men are like this…”
“I’m serious!”
“Okay, okay.”
This is maddening. I tore at my hair and swatted another fly. A hundred? It’s no exaggeration. How had this neighborhood become like this? How could so many flies infest a single house?
‘Did someone smear honey on the windows or something?’
At first, it was just annoying. Like Ha-yeon had said, I thought it was natural for summer.
But as time went on, I realized something was wrong.
‘It was after I’d caught about thirty of them.’
These cursed things never stopped coming! Catch one, and another takes its place. Catch that one, and a different one comes in to claim the spot.
Even after closing every window in the house and conducting a thorough search with my qi perception, the fly nightmare continued.
Bzzzzzzzz.
“Look, another one just came in without hesitation. Where the hell are these things getting in from?”
I meticulously examined every conceivable gap and crevice, but I couldn’t discern anything definitive. It seemed as though they were slipping through spaces no larger than an ant could traverse.
“Don’t swat them. Just leave them alone. Then they’ll quiet down.”
“What kind of creative nonsense is that? Do you think they’ll stay quiet just because you leave them alone? With that incessant buzzing, there’s no way we’ll get any sleep.”
“The flies in my room stay quiet.”
“What?”
“I’ve got about three of them in there. At first I was bothered and thought about swatting them, but when I left them alone, they didn’t fly around—they just sat still on my desk.”
“That’s only temporary. They’re probably flying all over the place when you’re not looking.”
“They seemed like lazy flies to me. They haven’t moved once.”
“Say something that makes sense.”
“I’m serious. Want to bet 100,000 won on it?”
“Do you even have 100,000 won? You’re supposed to be studying for exams.”
“Of course I do. I got it from my brother last time.”
“You’re going to bet against me using the allowance I gave you?”
“If you’re scared, back out.”
“…I’m in.”
Damn, money really does go in circles. We headed straight to Younger Sister’s room. She pointed at a fly sitting docilely and grinned triumphantly.
“See? I was right, wasn’t I? Hand over the 100,000 won.”
“Hand it over? Not until we run an experiment.”
I brought my palm down over the fly—at a perfectly normal speed that any ordinary person could manage, slow enough for the fly to easily escape. But then…
A flinch. A frantic scramble.
The fly suddenly startled and scurried away, its legs moving frantically.
I couldn’t hide my bewilderment at the sight. Younger Sister’s expression mirrored my confusion.
“Younger Sister.”
“Y-yeah?”
“Are all the flies these days like that?”
“W-well, maybe they could be? Anyway, give me the 100,000 won.”
“I’ll give it to you. I will, but… don’t you think that fly is a bit strange?”
“A fly’s a fly. It just seems like an odd one.”
“Where do flies like that exist? I’ve seen goblins and minotaurs in my lifetime, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen a fly that doesn’t fly around like that.”
The moment those words left my mouth.
Bzzzzzzzzzz—
“…”
“…”
Suspicious. Far too suspicious. The timing was too coincidental, and those wing beats—as if trying hard to appear normal—were even more suspicious. The way it flew was awkward and wobbly.
‘Setting that aside, something feels off. This sensation is oddly familiar.’
Where had I felt something similar before?
Ah, that’s right. Two days ago when I was returning from viewing that house in the Alley.
That uncanny feeling of being watched by someone.
‘Am I really just being overly sensitive?’
I, who had been glaring at the fly, drew upon my [Aura Sense]. Now my perceptive range, extending to a radius of 70 meters, spread throughout every corner of the house.
And then something no one had anticipated occurred.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
[Lv.1 House Fly – Familiar]
[Lv.1 Black Fly – Familiar]
[Lv.1 Gold Fly – Familiar]
“…?”
What in the world is this?
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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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