Murim Login - Chapter 502
“Here you are.”
At the sudden voice from behind, the elderly man sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed twitched his brow.
“I don’t recall inviting anyone.”
“Not my concern. But this place is far smaller than I expected—absurdly so.”
“It had to be. I didn’t prepare a spot for uninvited guests.”
“Was it seven days ago? I believe I said something similar to someone back then…”
For some reason, as soon as those words reached his ears, the elderly man’s small back shuddered slightly.
Before the uninvited guest could dwell on the reason, a sharp, cutting voice struck the air.
“Leave. You’re interrupting my training.”
“Continue your training. I will personally stand guard for you.”
The elderly man, Fire King Jeok Cheon-Gang, opened his eyes.
The darkness receded, revealing the damp, moss-covered cave walls filling his vision.
A dry voice slipped between his tightly shut lips.
“To entrust a guardian’s role to none other than the Killing Star. What a ridiculous joke.”
“In comparison to your cherished disciple, I believe I can at least be entrusted with an old man’s life. Or am I mistaken?”
At those words, Jeok Cheon-Gang’s eyelids quivered. And in the next moment—
The small figure, seated in a cross-legged posture, floated into the air, slowly turning midair before landing lightly on the ground.
Jeok Cheon-Gang, staring silently at the man blocking the narrow cave entrance, suddenly spoke.
“How did you know I was here?”
Moon Kyung responded in a dry tone.
“When I came up, a large tiger approached and rubbed its head against me. It wasn’t its first time doing so.”
“I left no traces.”
“That’s my line of work.”
“No matter how much you mimic a physician, in the end, you’re just an assassin.”
“There are things that won’t fade, no matter how much one tries to forget them. That’s all. With countless eyes around and nothing but water in every direction, there were only so many places you could go.”
A masterfully forged sword does not dull even with the passage of time.
Even after forty years, the sharpness of the famed blade known as the Killing Star had not waned.
If anything, his instincts as an assassin might have dulled, but his martial prowess had only grown sharper.
“…I should have found a more secluded place.”
“If you had, it would have just taken me a little longer.”
Assassins are experts in both assassination and pursuit.
Jeok Cheon-Gang, reading the confidence in Moon Kyung’s calm expression, muttered under his breath.
“Damn it. What a wretched assassin.”
“I can hear you.”
“I said it for you to hear.”
“Cursing me outright—what a foul-tempered old man you are.”
“No worse than the fool who interrupted my meditation training unannounced.”
“The Fire King of the world, meditating in seclusion?”
Moon Kyung’s voice echoed through the cave.
His gaze slowly swept around the space.
It was too small and damp to even be called a cave. Apart from the elderly man sitting in meditation, there was nothing else.
Yet, because there was only one figure present, certain things became even more apparent.
‘Jeok Cheon-Gang… this man…’
His cracked lips and the bones jutting sharply beneath his skin.
Moon Kyung’s gaze darkened as he took in Jeok Cheon-Gang’s frail state.
Judging by his emaciated appearance, it was clear that he had not eaten a single meal or even had a sip of water in the past seven days.
No matter how great a martial artist he was, such a toll on the body was undeniable.
“A foolish thing to do.”
Jeok Cheon-Gang was not ignorant of the meaning behind Moon Kyung’s words. His sunken eyes gleamed fiercely.
“I’ll return your words right back to you. Not my concern.”
“What about [Fasting Pills]?”
“I don’t take them. They taste terrible.”
“…Even that is the same, huh.”
“What?”
“Nothing. Forget it.”
It was a useless remark.
Just as useless as Jeok Cheon-Gang’s poor excuse that he avoided fasting pills merely because they tasted bad.
Shaking his head, Moon Kyung continued.
“As a physician, I’ll warn you—this is not a wise decision.”
“As an old man, I’ll tell you—mind your own business.”
“You’re more stubborn than I expected.”
“And you’re more meddlesome than I thought. Since when did you start caring so much about others?”
“That…”
Moon Kyung abruptly shut his mouth.
He wanted to argue back, but no words came to him.
Which, in itself, was as good as admitting Jeok Cheon-Gang was right.
‘Perhaps he’s not entirely wrong.’
When he first left Sichuan, he was not like this.
But at some point, he had begun to change.
While disguising himself as a naive young physician to avoid attention, he would laugh and chatter, but when alone with Jeok Cheon-Gang or Jin Taekyung, he had no need to maintain any act.
So why?
Why did it feel like he had been talking more than usual today?
No—perhaps this was not just a one-time occurrence.
‘Why…’
Moon Kyung recalled the moment, seven days ago, when he accepted Jeok Cheon-Gang’s absurd proposal.
He also remembered the elder’s expression as he spoke, carrying a bitterness too deep to describe.
It was then that Moon Kyung’s tightly shut lips finally parted.
“Why don’t you ask?”
“Ask what?”
“About Jin Taekyung.”
This time, Jeok Cheon-Gang was the one left speechless.
The name he had been trying to avoid.
The one name he had hoped Moon Kyung would ignore.
Hearing it forced down, his heart rippled with unease.
“…Is he doing well?”
“He’s keeping up. Not bad.”
Jeok Cheon-Gang couldn’t hold back a scoff.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because it’s nonsense. ‘Not bad,’ you say. That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in a while.”
“You don’t have to concern yourself. Just be honest.”
Moon Kyung, looking at Jeok Cheon-Gang in silence, finally spoke.
“His progress is astonishingly fast. Even I am surprised.”
“I told you to be honest.”
“That is my honest opinion.”
“It’s only half the truth. You left out the part where you find him fascinating.”
“Yes… I suppose I always have.”
Jeok Cheon-Gang’s lips curled into a faint smile.
From the day he first met Jin Taekyung until now, every single day had been a series of surprises.
A physique blessed by the heavens and exceptional martial talent—if an absolute master had already established their own martial arts, how could they not desire such a disciple?
And Jeok Cheon-Gang was no exception.
“When I first got to know that brat Taekyung, I had a thought. If the martial arts of Yeolhwa Sect were to be passed down to this child, wouldn’t he be able to glimpse the very end of martial arts itself?”
To continue the legacy of Yeolhwa Sect, which had endured for hundreds of years, a worthy successor was needed. Jin Taekyung was the only one who fit that criteria better than anyone else.
At least, in the beginning, that was how it started.
“At first, I was simply amazed. Then, I felt regret. The time left to me was not so abundant.”
He was the man who, single-handedly, felled a thousand demonic cultists and forced countless demon warriors to their knees.
With his overwhelming strength, he turned the tides of battle and led the righteous faction to victory in the Great War.
But the true enemy of the Fire King, the revered absolute master of the Murim, had always been something else entirely.
“It was a long time ago… when my [Heart Demon] first came to visit.”
The wound left behind by his first disciple was deep.
And in time, as he was left alone, the pain slowly but steadily gnawed away at both his body and spirit.
“Strange, isn’t it? While everything else kept moving forward, I alone found myself stepping backward.”
Time had flown like an arrow.
By the time he reached his target, thirty years had already passed.
Jeok Cheon-Gang had spent all that time adrift, gaining no enlightenment, allowing the days to slip away like water.
Then, one day, he was confronted with a reality that was difficult to accept.
“It was a blue-skied day. I was enjoying the cool breeze when I suddenly found myself surrounded by people. Before I even realized it, an entire half-day had passed without me noticing. Haha.”
That was also how it had been on the day his [Senility] first struck.
It wasn’t because he was happy. Nor was it because he was despairing.
He simply didn’t know how else to react—so he laughed.
Jeok Cheon-Gang only realized what he had to do when that half-day became two full days.
“I left Mount Jiuhua to kill a man.”
And yet, I returned with one instead.
“He was my first disciple. I had to deal with him myself before it was too late.”
But after meeting Jin Taekyung, he realized that wasn’t the only thing he had been too late for.
“Killing Star… may I ask something of you once more?”
Jeok Cheon-Gang’s gaze and voice, turned toward Moon Kyung, were softer than ever before.
“If I am no longer here, could you be the shade that shelters that child? Could you become his new master?”
A deep furrow formed in Moon Kyung’s smooth forehead. He narrowed his eyes and stared at Jeok Cheon-Gang.
“Are you serious about what you just said?”
“More than anything else.”
“Why?”
“I meant what I said. I no longer have time.”
“What nonsense… Asking me to suddenly take on the role of his master. Saying you don’t have time—”
Moon Kyung, knowing Jeok Cheon-Gang’s condition, could not understand.
His innate life force, the very foundation of his strength, had become unstable. In time, he would inevitably grow weaker, but that was something expected to occur over the course of several years.
This was too soon.
“I make this request of you.”
And now, he even lowered his head.
The Fire King, Jeok Cheon-Gang himself.
The sight was something that no one in the Murim had ever witnessed, leaving Moon Kyung completely at a loss.
“What’s the reason? Seven days ago, you—”
Moon Kyung’s voice suddenly cut off.
He swallowed his words and instead found himself staring into Jeok Cheon-Gang’s wavering eyes.
And in the suffocating silence that followed, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
‘So that’s what it is. That’s what happened.’
If his assumption was correct, then everything finally made sense.
Why Jeok Cheon-Gang was worrying so much.
Why he had hidden himself from Jin Taekyung and others.
And why he had acted so strangely during their conversation.
Moon Kyung let out a sigh.
“So it wasn’t seven days ago…”
“No, it was definitely seven days.”
Jeok Cheon-Gang let out a bitter laugh.
“Those seven days… were only five to me.”
Time flows equally for everyone, but not everyone experiences it the same way.
The first uninvited guest—[Senility]—had stolen two days from Jeok Cheon-Gang before Moon Kyung had even arrived.
“…When did it start?”
“Sichuan.”
“Sichuan? But when I examined your pulse, it was—”
“The symptoms began right after I left Sichuan. After that, I went to great lengths to avoid you.”
Why had he hidden it?
Why?
Moon Kyung wanted to ask, but the question faded before it could leave his lips.
Because he already knew the answer.
Realizing that one has grown old—how utterly humbling it is.
The terror of recognizing that one’s mind is slipping away, losing track of time itself.
As Moon Kyung fell silent, Jeok Cheon-Gang let out a self-deprecating chuckle.
“Even if I had come to you, nothing would have changed. I know my own body best. No matter how great your medical skills are, even if you have reached the realm of the divine, you cannot hold back an innate life force that has already begun to slip away.”
“It started with memories fading. Then, one day, I noticed pieces of my day were simply missing. I had experienced this before, so I knew exactly what was happening.”
And so, moments turned into minutes, minutes into hours.
And now, days were disappearing.
Feeling a sense of urgency, Jeok Cheon-Gang had done everything he could to find a solution, but it was futile.
“The life force I gained through medicine could not restore the balance once it was lost. There was only one path left.”
“…Enlightenment.”
“Yes, enlightenment.”
“So that’s why you suddenly went into seclusion.”
“I wanted to continue living as Jeok Cheon-Gang, the Fire King. Not as an old man who can’t even remember his own name. Not as a fading husk, but as the Head of Yeolhwa Sect… and as someone’s master.”
His voice echoed through the cave, dry and worn.
The droplets of water falling from the damp ceiling mirrored the tears of an old man.
(T/N: Shit. I don’t want to believe that he will go away like this after all the saving Taekyung did for him. I refuse to believe this.)