Chapter 54

It felt like watching an old TV.

Scenes and voices stuttered across a faded screen, cutting in and out. Even so, the heat of the battlefield came through vividly.

“Kill them!”

“Destroy the Jin Family of Taiyuan!”

The people packed into the narrow gorge charged forward with a roar. Behind them, a flag marked Mount Heng whipped in the air.

Beyond the points of their blue-edged weapons stood another banner.

Jin (振).

And hundreds of martial artists sealing off the gorge.

“They’re bastards with neither martial honor nor chivalry. The Mount Heng Sword Sect disappears today!”

“Attack!”

Static crackled.

The view zoomed in through the noise, locking onto two people who stood out beneath the flag of the Jin Family of Taiyuan.

An old man with a long white beard spoke.

“This will be a long fight.”

A massive man answered.

“And our last.”

The old man broke into a broad smile.

“It will be. Without fail.”

Then—

People crashed into people, swords into spears. Countless martial artists collided, and a thick mist of blood settled over the gorge.

Somewhere, drums thundered to announce the start of the battle.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

“Hah.”

I sat up, drenched in sweat. Another dream about Murim.

Unlike at first, I could now remember the dream clearly even after waking.

The battle has begun.

Time continued to pass in Murim even after I returned to reality.

The scenes I had just witnessed might be happening there right now. A great battle with the fate of two immense powers hanging in the balance.

No. There’s one more.

A third force led by the Head Elder.

Once the battle reached its climax and both sides had suffered heavy losses, that was when they would finally move.

What about Hyuk Mujin? What happened to the reconnaissance squad?

If they arrived in time and exposed the betrayal, the worst could still be avoided. Or they might already be too late, and everything might be over.

The Head Elder…

An old man who had given me the creeps from the first impression. Who would have thought that so-called elder of the Jin Family of Taiyuan would be plotting something like this?

If the Head Elder emerged as the final victor, it would all be over.

A rebellion was always followed by a bloody purge.

Jin Wikyung, Wipeng, Hyuk Mujin, and the reconnaissance squad.

Then there was Han Yeop, too badly injured in his fight with Jopil to march out, as well as Gong Yacheong and the siblings Socheon and Soyul, who were still recovering.

Familiar faces appeared and vanished in my mind, over and over.

What were they to me?

One month in Murim.

To them, I had been a Benefactor, a trusted superior, and a comrade they could trust to watch their backs. And to someone…

“I’m proud of you.”

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Survive, my youngest.”

We were also brothers by blood.

But what had they been to me? NPCs loaded with advanced AI? Or people?

What were they?

Another dimension only I could come and go from, and the people left behind there. What was I supposed to do about that?

My eyes drifted to the capsule on their own.

What if I went back…?

The thought startled me.

I was out of my mind.

Go back and do what? This was a massive battle involving some two thousand martial artists. Among them were monsters as strong as Jopil, One Question, One Kill—or even stronger.

And I was thinking of going back there?

“You lunatic. You crazy bastard. You’ve completely lost it.”

I was muttering the words like a sigh when my phone buzzed.

Bzzz.

Designer-Brand Junkie.

It was Team Leader Choi.

A large café surrounded by downtown skyscrapers.

“Here are the materials you requested.”

Butler Kim held out a thick binder. Even at a glance, it looked like a massive file of more than a hundred pages.

“That’s a lot.”

“I investigated just as thoroughly.”

Choi Minwoo nodded and began flipping rapidly through the pages. What he was reading was one man’s life.

Jin Taekyung’s twenty-seven years were contained in those hundred-odd pages.

Birthplace, background, how he had grown up—even account inquiry records provided by the bank. Nothing was missing.

Anything unusual or suspicious had been marked in bold, allowing Choi Minwoo to finish the entire file in under thirty minutes.

“What do you think, Butler Kim?”

“He’s clean.”

Butler Kim’s answer was definitive.

“He isn’t an illegal Awakener, nor did he approach you as part of some scheme.”

Choi Minwoo nodded. If Butler Kim said so, then it was so.

Butler Kim had spent the past two weeks using every means available to investigate everything about Jin Taekyung. Every one of the hundred-odd pages on the table would have passed through his hands.

“So this was all a coincidence?”

“For now, yes.”

“Butler Kim.”

“Yes. Please go ahead.”

“Do you know the odds of reawakening?”

“I understand they’re around one percent.”

One in a hundred.

To an ordinary person, that might not sound impossibly rare. But those hundred people weren’t ordinary people. They were Hunters who had already beaten similar odds just to Awaken in the first place.

And even among them, only a chosen few were lucky enough to reawaken.

“Then what are the odds of an F-rank Hunter reawakening as a C-rank Hunter in one leap?”

Choi Minwoo didn’t wait for an answer.

“And what are the odds of a C-rank Hunter clearing a Gate of the same rank alone?”

“Alone, it would be impossible. He would have to be at least B-rank…”

“And yet there’s someone who can.”

“Could it be…?”

“Ten C-rank Gates and ten D-rank Gates. Across twenty raids, all I did was stand by with my arms crossed and watch. There was never any need for me to step in.”

His long fingers tapped the thick binder.

Everything about Jin Taekyung was written inside it, yet in another sense, it said nothing at all.

After a moment of silence, Butler Kim spoke.

“I’ll investigate him again.”

“No.”

Choi Minwoo shook his head.

“Keep poking at it and we’ll only make trouble for ourselves. I intend to keep him close and watch him.”

“Do you intend to recruit him into the Guild after all?”

“I should. If something smells fishy, I’ll dig into his background. If not…”

Choi Minwoo’s eyes gleamed.

“I’ll make him one of my people. Even if it takes Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage.¹”

And in the next moment—

Jingle.

The doorbell rang as someone entered the café, and Choi Minwoo gave a quiet laugh.

Zhuge Liang—or rather, Jin Taekyung.

A signing bonus of 500 million won.²

A fixed monthly salary of 50 million won³ and a seventy-percent settlement share.

An officetel of roughly 132 square meters⁴ and a sedan came as extras, while coverage under all four national insurance programs was a given. After reading through the contract, I had exactly one thought.

This is insane.

What kind of outrageous terms were these?

They were giving me a home, a car, and more money than I knew what to do with.

The average annual income of a C-rank Hunter was 200 million won,⁵ including fixed pay and raid earnings.

And me?

The signing bonus alone is 500 million.²

These terms were normally reserved for B-rank Hunters or higher.

That meant they valued my skills that highly. It was also proof that I had found an employer with enough insight not to judge a Hunter by rank alone.

And he has the money to back it up.

I stared across the table at Team Leader Choi. As always, his expression gave nothing away, and his eyes were deep.

Team Leader Choi suddenly spoke.

“This is the third time.”

He had made me two offers before, and I had turned them both down. This was his roundabout way of telling me not to refuse him again.

“I’m sorry about that. There was a minor issue.”

“Have you resolved it?”

“Yes. For now, I think so.”

“Then there shouldn’t be any problem now.”

“…Of course.”

Even as I answered, doubt gnawed at me.

Was there really no problem now? Was it okay to leave things like this?

What the hell am I thinking?

I needed to get this over with before my thoughts wandered again.

“I’ll sign.”

I began signing with the fountain pen Team Leader Choi had handed me.

One page, two pages, three…

The contract was five pages long. All I had to do was write the three characters of my name on the last page, and it would be done.

At that moment, the question returned.

Is this really okay?

The fountain pen that had moved without hesitation began to slow. One thought led to another.

What if it isn’t? But isn’t this exactly what I wanted?

It was.

This was what I had desperately dreamed of for seven years.

A massive salary and high social standing.

Becoming a son and older brother my family could be proud of, and giving them a comfortable life.

Becoming someone others envied and admired instead of ignored and looked down on.

I can have it all now.

I could spend the rest of my life enjoying all of it. Goodbye to my miserable old life. Goodbye to that shitty Murim.

Crack.

And goodbye to the fountain pen, too.

I relaxed my grip. Ink spilled from the shattered pen and soaked into the contract.

“Mr. Jin Taekyung. Let me ask you again.”

Team Leader Choi pulled out a white handkerchief and wiped the ink that had splashed onto his chin.

Despite the sudden mess, he looked perfectly calm.

“That problem from last time. Have you really resolved it?”

“No.”

The moment I answered, I felt a weight lift from my chest.

“If it’s something I can help you with…”

“I appreciate the offer, but I have to handle this myself.”

Team Leader Choi studied me with an odd look, then gave a quiet laugh.

“I didn’t know signing a contract could be this difficult. I never expected to be turned down three times, either.”

He sounded more amused by the situation than angry.

“When would be a good time for the fourth offer?”

He had probably meant it half as a joke, but my answer was serious.

“Tomorrow. Same time, same place.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yes. Tomorrow.”

Only one day.

But for me, it would be a month, or perhaps several.

Team Leader Choi had no way of knowing that, and he furrowed his brow.

“I don’t much like jokes like that.”

“Neither do I. Not jokes like this.”

He had no idea what my words meant.

“I’ll be sure to see you.”

It was a vow to myself.

A vow that I would return alive.

And…

“Tomorrow, you’ll have to raise the contract terms even further.”

I left the café, leaving Team Leader Choi behind with his eyes wide.

“Phew.”

I took a deep breath and opened the capsule.

The sight of the sagging seat and VR headset made my heart pound. Even after coming this far, temptation kept rearing its head and whispering to me.

Don’t go back.

Forget everything and be satisfied with your life here.

Everyone you met in Murim was an NPC, and Murim is nothing more than a game.

Right. There had been a time when I thought that way.

But after wrestling with it, I realized that one way or another, I was going back.

I’d already reached my conclusion a long time ago.

On the night of the blizzard, I had gone back for Gong Yacheong.

I had brought along two young siblings who were nothing but baggage, and instead of using the reconnaissance squad as shields, I had fought Jopil and nearly died.

It probably started then.

That was when the three letters NPC, lodged in my mind, began to fade.

That was when I saw the two-character word for family in Jin Wikyung’s back as he told me to survive and turned away.⁶

“Fuck. My life really is a variety show.”

With a hollow, complaining laugh, I climbed into the capsule. The moment I put on the VR headset, a single line of text appeared in front of me.

Ding.

System

Would you like to log in to Murim?

Accept / Decline

“Yes.”

My consciousness faded. My vision went dark.

I logged in.