Urban Vagabond: Reload

A few days after the Ghostshade House incident.

I was on my way to Martial Alliance main headquarters for the competition award ceremony.

“Seriously, who calls in the morning out of nowhere to say there’s an award ceremony today? I didn’t even have time to pick proper clothes.”

“Why are you stressing about clothes when it’s Muhyuk getting the award?”

“This is the first award our son is getting from the Martial Alliance. We’re going to be in the commemorative photos too, so his mom and dad need to look good as well!”

“Geez, stop making such a fuss.”

I was riding along with my father, already making a huge fuss, and my mother, pretending to be calm but with a face that was obviously tense.

Sitting in the backseat, I deliberately played it cool.

“Don’t get your hopes up too much. I got invited to the ceremony, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll actually win anything, you know?”

I already knew the results from the phone call, of course, but all I’d told them was that I’d been invited to the awards for the sword dance competition I entered a while back.

“...Really? So we might just be going to look around and then come home?”

“Mom even rushed to the salon early this morning...”

“Honey. Tell me again which one of us is ‘making a fuss’?”

“Just shut it and watch the road.”

Their excitement dropping off a cliff like that almost made me laugh, but for the sake of the dopamine they’d get later, I held it in and kept playing the indifferent son.

“Realistically, what are the odds of a high schooler getting an award in the General Division for under twenty-five? They probably just invited me to hang out.”

Even on the competition website, there was only a list of award candidates. Who was getting which award would only be revealed at the ceremony today.

“Honestly, I’m happy just going to look around.”

My father suddenly started humming, looking like he was in a great mood.

“A few weeks ago, my son was holed up in his room like a shut-in, and now we’re out on a family outing like this. Who cares about some award next to that?”

“Same here. So what if you don’t win? We’ll just take a good look around the Martial Alliance and then go eat something tasty.”

“...”

Just when I was about to get choked up again at my parents preemptively comforting their son so he wouldn’t be disappointed—

“But hey, son. About that accident you said happened during the High School Division competition. I looked it up, and it turns out it was a pretty big deal, wasn’t it? Your name came up a couple times too.”

“Ah, that...”

Before I could roll out the excuse I’d prepared, Mom shot Dad a look and scolded him.

“You were on martial-artist forums again, weren’t you? I told you to stop going on those.”

“Ahem. I just happen to check in once in a while and skim things.”

“Nothing good comes from reading posts there. You just end up in a bad mood.”

“Exactly, yesterday there were these punks going on and on about how our Muhyuk must have flunked his constitution test...!”

“Tell me you didn’t actually fight with kids in the comments.”

“...”

“What are you going to do if they find out you’re Muhyuk’s family?”

“They’ll never know. I was typing just like kids these days talk.”

“Isn’t this your comment, Dad? There’s one everyone piled on, saying it was peak old-man energy.”

“Kim Muhyuk! You traitor...!”

“You hopeless case.”

Watching my parents bicker like a disgustingly lovey-dovey couple from the back seat, we somehow arrived at Martial Alliance main headquarters.

A plot of land in the middle of Seoul the size of an Olympic Park, and in the center of it a tower so tall you had to crane your neck back to see the top.

Among the Martial Alliance branches worldwide, this was one of the largest: Korea Martial Alliance main headquarters.

So this is the Martial Alliance...

I’d been to competition award ceremonies plenty of times, but this was my first time visiting Martial Alliance main headquarters.

Awards for High School Division and below were usually held at the venue that hosted the competition that day.

But because the High School Division award ceremony had been canceled after the incident Kim Hyunseung caused, they’d announced that today, as an exception, the High School awards would also be held at Martial Alliance main headquarters.

“How can I help you?”

The martial artists doing security at the main gate all had sharp eyes, one and all.

I pulled up the entry pass they’d sent to my phone and held it out.

“I’m here to attend the award ceremony for the competition. Here’s my entry pass.”

“Please wait a moment while I confirm.”

The guard checking my pass quickly nodded and waved my parents and me through.

“You may proceed.”

Once we passed through the main gate and stepped inside the Martial Alliance grounds, my parents, who had been stiff with nerves, both let out a long-held breath.

“Whew, I’m nervous for no reason...”

“What do you have to be nervous about when you haven’t done anything wrong?”

We’d arrived a full two hours before the award ceremony schedule, so the plan was for our family to look around different parts of the Martial Alliance first.

After about an hour of touring the sprawling headquarters, on our way down the hall to the ceremony venue, we ran into a familiar face.

“Kim Muhyuk!”

It was Oh Jungmin, First Direct Disciple of Songwol Gate.

He walked over with the same gentle impression he’d given at the competition, and I greeted him back.

“You’re here too. I figured you’d probably be winning something.”

“Ha ha! Look who’s talking. I’ve actually been waiting to see when you’d show up.”

“...Me?”

“Of course.”

Nodding, Oh Jungmin turned and offered my parents a courteous martial-arts salute.

“I’m Oh Jungmin, First Direct Disciple of Songwol Gate. I met your son at the competition and got to know him there. I was curious what kind of parents had raised such an outstanding late-bloom prospect, and now I see his strong build clearly takes after you both.”

I’d noticed it last time too, but Oh Jungmin felt less like a martial artist and more like an office worker who was freakishly good at social life.

A martial artist who knew how to flatter people without making them feel pressured like that was rare.

“Oh my, thank you! You’re the First Direct Disciple of Songwol Gate?”

“Thank you for thinking so highly of our son. We’ve even heard of Songwol Gate, that’s how famous your sect is...”

Seeing my father’s and mother’s mouths stretch practically to their ears put me in a better mood too.

Right then, Dad quietly slipped back from the conversation with Mom and whispered into my ear.

“Muhyuk. But if he’s the First Direct Disciple, isn’t he supposed to be insanely stuck-up? I thought people like us, normal folks, wouldn’t even be on his radar...”

I had run into that kind of guy now and then in my vagabond days, but this was the middle of Martial Alliance headquarters, and Oh Jungmin was not that kind of arrogant person.

“He’s got a good personality. And the way you’re whispering? Any martial artist here can hear it just fine.”

“...Hrk!”

When Dad flinched in surprise, Oh Jungmin laughed.

“Our Songwol Gate has an internal rule that we must be even more courteous to civilians who haven’t learned martial arts. The kind of arrogant martial artists you’re thinking of, at the very least, you won’t find them within Songwol Gate!”

His face was soft but firm as he spoke, full of pride in his sect.

“...Which leads me to ask—would it be all right if I asked what thoughts you have regarding Muhyuk’s future path?”

Looks like he’s here to make a sales pitch.

He’d tried to scout me into Songwol Gate back at the competition too, and it seemed he’d been waiting for me today for the same purpose.

...Back then, I had no idea this was just the beginning.

People who overheard our conversation started glancing our way one by one, their interest piqued.

“Kim Muhyuk, you said?”

“The kid who entered the General Division?”

“I gave him my card last time...”

And it wasn’t just the guys in their twenties I’d bumped into at the competition.

Older martial artists with graying hair also started drifting over toward us.

“Kim Muhyuk. Could we speak for a moment?”

“I found the performance you showed at the competition very impressive. Your interpretation and expression of the sword dance track were extraordinary.”

“Do you happen to have a sect in mind already...?”

Some of them were faces I recognized from the competition, some I didn’t know, and mixed in among them were even some fairly famous figures.

“It’s been a while. Is your injury better?”

The youngest elder of Great Heaven Gate, Gu Jaseung.

When an elder from a pretty sizable mid-tier sect showed up, the people crowded around us murmured.

...The client was Great Heaven Gate.

Remembering what Ghostshade House Master told me, I started seeing things that hadn’t stood out before.

I cupped my fist to Elder Gu and expressed my thanks, without forgetting to study him at the same time.

“Thanks to the gold-grade wound salve you gave me, I recovered quickly.”

It was true that thanks to that, I’d been able to gloss things over with my parents, saying I’d just gotten hurt in an accident during the competition.

“I’m glad to hear it. If your training ever gets stuck or you need advice, feel free to visit Great Heaven Gate. Just give them my name.”

With a kindly expression, Gu Jaseung said that to me, then turned and spoke warmly to my parents as well.

“I don’t know the results yet myself, but based on the level of skill your son showed at the competition, I think it’s safe to expect something today.”

“Oh my goodness, thank you!”

“Our son owes you so much, Elder...”

“Not at all. If anything, we’re the ones indebted. I hope you get good news.”

Unlike the others, Gu Jaseung kept it short and left immediately after saying his piece.

I quietly watched his retreating back.

From that brief conversation alone, it was hard to get a read on what was going on in his head.

But I did catch the awkward smile on his face, like he was trying to hide his unease.

If word’s already reached him about what happened to Ghostshade House... he shouldn’t have the bandwidth right now to worry about a late-bloom prospect like me.

On the surface, he looked like a textbook example of an upright righteous-path elder. But after hearing Ghostshade House Master say the client was Great Heaven Gate, I couldn’t help but be suspicious.

I’ll have to dig deeper into him later.

Even after Elder Gu left, the crowd didn’t thin.

Apparently they’d all decided the best strategy was to go after my parents first, because before I knew it, the two of them were surrounded by even more people.

“Oh my, thank you! Our Muhyuk takes after me—he’s been good-looking and popular since he was little...”

“As for his future, we’re putting our son’s wishes above everything else. So it’s hard to say anything definite yet...”

Timing it just right, I slipped out of the ring of people and drifted over to where Oh Jungmin had somehow been pushed all the way to the back, and struck up a conversation.

“This is insane. Is the Martial Alliance always like this?”

“Of course not. Who do you think it’s all for?”

“...You’re saying it’s because of me?”

He gave me a look like, You seriously don’t know? then nodded and explained.

“Every martial sect is desperate about recruiting talent. The number of experts they have is their strength and influence. So, to put it a little crudely... you’re about to hit the market as a top-tier product.”

That much I obviously already knew.

What I didn’t get was why so many people would flock around just for me.

“My constitution test result’s Level 4. That’s not exactly a level worth putting this much effort into recruiting, is it?”

“That’s actually what makes you even better.”

“...What?”

“Most of the ones with Level 1, 2, or 3 constitution all try to apply only to the great sects. The Eight Great Sects everyone talks about. And it’s the same or worse for everyone below that.”

At that, I looked around the crowd again. Most of them were martial artists from mid-tier sects.

Not a single person from the so-called great sects was in sight.

So they really do think they’re on a different level.

Great sects didn’t need to advertise. Every year, applicants dreaming of entering them swarmed in like clouds.

Their support was different, their benefits were different, their pay was different.

There was even a saying that if your constitution test came out Level 1–3, you should apply to a great sect without asking or thinking twice.

And I finally understood why this whole spectacle was happening.

“...So among the candidates mid-tier sects can actually recruit, I’m top-tier stock. That’s about the size of my value.”

Once I knew the reason, a small laugh slipped out.

Seeing my reaction, Oh Jungmin asked carefully,

“Did what I say offend you?”

“Not at all. I’ve got no reason to be offended.”

If I’d planned from the start to set my sights on a great sect, I would have either revealed my real constitution honestly or at least lied and called it Level 3.

But joining a great sect wasn’t part of my future plans.

Great sects have strict rules and way too many restrictions.

For all the advantages of powerful arts and abundant support, there was a matching downside: it’d be hard to move according to my own plans no matter what I tried to do.

So I don’t really need attention from the great sects, but...

Humans are weird.

The fact that I was even thinking this way just because they weren’t paying attention to me said it all.

“I do kind of want to see it once, though.”

“...See what?”

I grinned and shrugged.

“The great sects begging me to join them. Asking me, please, please, come into our sect.”

“Ha ha ha ha!”

To Oh Jungmin, that must have sounded like one hell of a joke, because he laughed for a long time.