Murim Login - Chapter 1

“It’s trash.”

Jinho hyung1 said, like a judge making a sentence.

Jinho hyung was the manager of the goshiwon 2 and an examination student who was 30 years old. Not only were we only three years apart, but he was also a close friend of mine. I only showed him the capsule because I remembered the way he spouted IT terms.

“It’s really that lame?”

“No. I told you, it’s trash.”

Wow, Jinho hyung didn’t even hesitate. I felt like my pride was hurt without even realizing it.

“You didn’t even look at it properly.”

He didn’t even look inside. All he did was glance at it from top to bottom and abruptly say that it was trash. All I wanted was a reasonable price for the capsule and instead I received a huge shock.

“Taekyung. Taekyung. Jin Taekyung. You’re misunderstanding me.”

“…?”

“Shit is shit. Even if you dig through your shit, you don’t need to make sure the soybean sprouts you ate yesterday are there. Because even if you look at it, it’s shit.”

“Ah.”

“Ssh. Don’t say anything weird. It’s not like I said that to hear some flattery.”

“Hyung…”

I wanted to kill him. Impulsively, I made a fist and as it shook, Jinho hyung looked at it, taken aback. Unlike someone who just sits at a desk all the time, my body was a lot bigger than his.3

“Taekyung. Let’s think about the Awakened Beings Law. Specifically Article 1-12. Violence from an Awakened Being to a civilian…”

“I thought you said a F rank hunter wasn’t even Awakened?”

“I did? When? Wasn’t I crazy?”

I sighed, seeing him act like a fool.

My fist dropped.

“Right, you made the right decision. The world is small, if rumors went out that you were violent against a civilian, you could be expelled from the guild…”

“I was fired.”

“What?”

“As soon as I went to work, my team leader said this to me. You’ve worked hard.”

I started working when I was 20. I had to look after myself after my father passed away and that was why I chose to be a hunter.

F rank. Even though I was the worst possible hunter, I was proud of the work I did because I worked so hard. And with the money I earned, I fixed my mom’s illness and took care of my only younger sister.

But now… it feels like my past 7 years have been taken away. My heart felt heavy as I thought about how calm my team leader’s face looked a few hours ago.

“Uh, mmmh.”

I could see Jinho hyung’s flustered smile.

“You feel sorry right?”

“Honestly, a little.”

This bastard. Looking so serious, unlike himself.

“Then buy me alcohol. On a day like this, I need it. You need to act like a hyung.”

“Look at the way you’re talking. You only tell me to treat you like a hyung when you talk like this.”4

Even though he was talking like that, he came out when I asked. Today, I was going to drink until I collapsed.5

Gates were the world’s boundary. Outside the gate, it was the modern society that we knew but if you went inside, monsters you haven’t even heard of are everywhere.

And the most ordinary type of monster that even an F rank hunter like me could catch, was the goblin.

Why am I saying something like this?

”Keck. Wrrecck.”6

“How can a person be like that?”

Was that a human or a monster? Jinho hyung leaning against the telephone pole and throwing up looked just like a goblin who was hit in the stomach.

“Look here. Jinho hyung. Mr. Sung Jinho. Come to your senses.”

“Kkkuweeh?”

… Just do what you were doing.

‘I told you to drink slowly.’

In the first round, he was drinking crazily by himself and ended up like this. Setting aside I paid—my whole body was covered in sweat from having to carry a drunk person on my back all the way to the goshiwon.

Sweating was the basics, throw up was optional. And from whose mouth it came from was obvious.

I looked out at the sun, as I heard the background sound of vomiting intermittently.

“Fuck, even though it feels like shit to get fired.”

Like a panorama, today’s events passed by through my head.

Geez, today was just amazing.

“Kkkuuk. Kkkhh. Where is this, Mr. Driver? Hello?”

And the highlight of today, was you.

“It’s your house, where else would it be. We’re already here, so get your head together.”

“My house? But my house is in Gangwon. Ah, mom. Mom! I want to eat my mom’s soybean paste stew.”

“Ah, please. Hyung, I said it’s your goshiwon.”

“Goshiwon? My goshiwon of hope?”

“Yes. So get it together.”

“Hope… Okay, you can buy hope with money. My mom said it’s inside everyone. She makes the best soybean paste stew.”

Here I was, being as patient as I could possibly be but when Jinho hyung talked about his mom’s soybean paste stew, I hit him in the stomach.

And even though he was still throwing up, he proved he was an examination student by reciting Article 1-12 of the Law of Awakened Beings.

“It feels unpleasant.”

Even though I showered for 30 minutes, I could still smell the throw up.

And my source of anxiety was waiting for me inside the room. And not just one, but two.

“Kkuuweeh.”7

One was the drunk Jinho hyung, and the other—

“Ah, I forgot about this.”

Capsule. The room felt especially small in a 3 pyeong8 room because the capsule was about the size of a refrigerator.

I laid down and began to think about what I should do.

“Should I throw it away?”

Or I could give it away at an used goods store. What was the price of scrapped metal again? It has to be about 50 kilos, so it should at least be the price of a snack.

“And I thought it was a good item.”

It’s shit. If it’s at this level, it’s junk?

Now that I’m thinking about it, I haven’t even opened it. Out of curiosity, I started to look more closely at the capsule again.

“First, the appearance… is lame.”

The capsule was a yellow color and it looked like it was rusting. Looking at it this closely, I could understand what Jinho hyung was trying to say to me earlier.

”Is this how you open it?”

After I pressed a button, the interior of the capsule was revealed. I thought something amazing would happen after I pressed it but in reality, it fell short of my expectations.

Inside the capsule, was an ergonomically designed chair and a VR helmet was everything… What?

“What is this? An instruction manual?”

Specifically, it was written as ‘Product User Manual’.

Was there a situation where someone would leave an instruction manual for an item they were throwing away? For this kind of junk?

Curious, I opened to the first page.

[Product User Manual]

Product Name: Virtual Reality Connector

Model Name: Ark – 2020

Manufacturer: H Soft

Production Date: 1-1-2020

Without a thought, my eyes stopped at the production date.

January 1, 2020. It has to be a printing error. Anyways.

‘What kind of crazy bastard, on that kind of day, would even think about making a game capsule?’

In the past, there was a great ‘catastrophe’. January 1, 2015. It wasn’t the New Year’s sunrise that humanity had waited for.

Gates, or dungeons appeared all over the world and as a result, monsters you couldn’t even believe came out of the gate.

Monsters and Awakened Beings. War and destruction.

A nightmare became reality and a major war ended when the demon, Prince of Darkness, Asmodeus died.

That day was January 1, 2020 and was called “Victory Day”.

‘So that doesn’t even make any sense.’

Tut tut9. I turned the page.

[Warning]

– Player cannot randomly logout.

– Player cannot resurrect in the middle of death.

Ah ha. I see. I nodded my head and laid down on my small mattress. Even though there were a few pages left, I didn’t care anymore.

“I should just sleep.”

It would be better to just sleep, rather than reading a stupid manual. I pushed Jinho hyung off the mattress into the corner, and closed my eyes.

Kkuuweeh. Kkuuweeh.

“…”

Kkkuuweeh. Kkuuweeh.

But that capsule, was it working?

The chair was hard. Since it was made in the year 2020, it was the same age as me.

On the comforting thought that it didn’t smell, I pulled my blanket all the way up to my neck.

Kkuuweeh. Kkuuweeh.

… I wore the VR helmet.

‘If I sleep like this, my neck will hurt.’

My small complaints disappeared, once I wore the helmet. A totally silent world. Even the smallest sounds disappeared.

But in return, I got sleepy.

‘What should I do starting from tomorrow?’

Although hunters earned a lot, it depended on your rank.

It was hard for hunters without a guild. The government policy wasn’t reasonable for guileless hunters and hunters were imposed a ridiculous tax that made your breath short.

‘Now I’ve become that hunter.’

Unlike me, my mother and younger sister were in an apartment in the Safety Sector. Even though to me, a hunter’s salary was a luxury, my family came first. Up until now, I was able to pay the rent. But now, who knows.

“Fuck, I don’t know.”

Suddenly, I thought of my dead father.

My father who was devoted to his family and someone who was acknowledged by society, passed away when I was only seven years old.

Once the gate cracks appeared, monsters attacked.

My father, who was just an ordinary company worker, wouldn’t have been able to avoid it.

If my father was still here, would he have told me what direction to go towards?

‘But until now, I’ve done my best. Believe me.’

Maybe it was the alcohol affecting me or maybe it was because I was thinking about the past but I felt my eyes close.

‘I hope things are better when I open my eyes.’

I thought I heard someone’s voice in my ears but I felt myself fall asleep.