Urban Vagabond: Reload

“So. Should we talk about the plan going forward?”

Once Hwang Suksu decided to join Blue Wolves, we could finally sit down and seriously discuss what came next.

“Hey, Crew Leader. Before that, there’s something I want to suggest.”

Hwang Suksu lifted his hand a little, then looked around at the three of us—excluding Choi Geon—and spoke.

“I think I’m, like, twice your age. Isn’t it a bit much to keep talking to me like this? Back when we were hiding identities, sure, but...”

He had that subtle look of someone who wanted to be treated like an elder.

Especially after watching the three of us treat Choi Geon—who wore a yaksha mask—with formal respect, it seemed he’d decided he deserved “adult treatment” too.

A faint crease formed between Hwang Suksu’s brows.

‘Even if he’s the Crew Leader, a punk talking down to an adult like it’s nothing is a bit much!’

If you asked whether it made him want to die to hear it, it wasn’t quite that level...

But still. He was middle-aged. He had pride.

I answered with a flat expression.

“In this line of work, the strong one’s the adult. What manners are you even talking about? You know how it is.”

In this life, I was aiming to be a proper orthodox martial artist, so I was usually respectful to older people.

But that didn’t apply to people from the underworld.

“And I only treat you like an adult if you’re an adult worth respecting.”

In that instant, Choi Geon’s shoulders lifted like he was pleased, and Hwang Suksu’s face crumpled.

Between trying to skim off the loot and the way he usually carried himself, Hwang Suksu was the kind of man who didn’t act his age, regardless of his competence.

“What’s wrong with me? If there’s anyone around here who does business more honestly than I do, let them come out and say it!”

Of course he snapped back—

But the moment I made my next suggestion, he immediately tucked his tail.

“Then let’s settle it with the kind of wager match you love. If you beat me, I’ll speak politely to you every single time.”

Shhiiing.

The blade slid halfway out of its scabbard, a sharp, icy edge radiating murderous intent.

Hwang Suksu still remembered how I’d killed that bald giant at The Dark Den, so he switched stances on the spot.

“Hahaha, what does age matter? In any organization, hierarchy has to come first. The new kid just cracked a joke to entertain the seniors!”

Of course, inside, he was dumping a bucket of curses on me.

‘That bastard’s background is suspicious. No matter how I look at it, he feels like he’s from our side...’

On both sides of him, Shin Kangheon and Kim Bokja patted his shoulder like they were consoling him.

“Suksu, sir. Even if you’re the youngest, we’ll still speak politely to you, so don’t worry.”

“Kim Muhyuk’s just insanely rude. I’m older than him too, and he talked down to me the first time we met.”

“...Thanks. But you two aren’t exactly...”

Sure, the words were polite, but the way they treated him was exactly how you treated someone below you.

After decades with one foot in the underworld, Hwang Suksu was starting over as the youngest again—back in an organization.

“Then anyone who joins after this is under me. That’s for sure, right? If some strong guy comes in and looks down on me, you seniors will chew him out, yeah?”

Blue Wolves aimed for a small elite, so we had no plans to take newcomers for a while, but—

“Of course.”

I gave him a vague nod to put him at ease, then turned to Choi Geon.

“So while the Martial Alliance is moving, what are we supposed to do?”

Choi Geon had been watching with satisfied eyes as his disciple properly “disciplined” the experienced new hire from the start. Now he spoke.

“If you want the rice to cook well, you have to let it steam. We’ve stirred things up enough, so for now, we watch the reaction.”

After Blue Wolves hit GREAT HEAVEN GATE’s businesses, both GREAT HEAVEN GATE—and even Sun and Moon Gate, which had been framed—were in chaos.

Choi Geon told us the Martial Alliance had already begun working under the surface.

“The Alliance Leader contacted the Glacier Priestess separately.”

“...Did you leak what we have?”

When I asked with a worried look, Choi Geon chuckled.

“That man looks like a bear, but he’s an old fox. He wouldn’t toss out the cards we’re holding so carelessly.”

The Glacier Priestess was desperate to find whoever was behind the attempt on her disciple.

At that timing, the Martial Alliance Leader went to see her and persuaded her: If we want to stop this from happening again, the orthodox martial world has to unite.

“Today, the Glacier Priestess sent an official notice to the Martial Alliance and all Eight Great Sects. She asked them to cooperate in finding whoever tried to kidnap her disciple. Isn’t it going in an interesting direction?”

Choi Geon said it with a deeply satisfied expression—because he’d heard it directly from the Alliance Leader.

A smile, just like my master’s, formed at the corner of my mouth.

“By now, the sect leader of Sun and Moon Gate must be sweating blood.”

Right now, only Blue Wolves, the Martial Alliance Leader, and No Gucheon knew that the true mastermind behind the license exam incident was Sun and Moon Gate—more precisely, the blazing-yang faction led by their sect leader.

The Glacier Priestess, who didn’t know that truth, had asked the Eight Great Sects to help catch the culprit, and the Eight Great Sects couldn’t pretend it wasn’t their problem.

‘If they ignore the request, they could be suspected as the ones behind it...’

Once the Eight Great Sects began a full joint investigation, how long could the sect leader of Sun and Moon Gate last, no matter how carefully he’d buried his tracks?

“In the past, the Eight Great Sects would’ve banded together and quietly covered it up. But this time, it’s spread through the media too far. That won’t be possible.”

“In the end, starting with Sun and Moon Gate, the Eight Great Sects will begin suspecting and checking each other. If cracks form between them... it’ll be a lot easier for the Martial Alliance to move.”

“Heh. That kind of calculation really is worthy of my disciple!”

“Heh-heh. It’s all because you taught me so well, Master.”

“I taught you? You were born like this from the start!”

Master and disciple faced each other and laughed like villains.

Shin Kangheon and Kim Bokja were used to it and didn’t even blink, but Hwang Suksu broke out in a cold sweat as he asked,

“So... you’re telling me you’re driving a wedge into the Eight Great Sects, the ones sitting at the top of the Korean martial world? Am I understanding this right?”

At this level, it wasn’t just guts swelling—

It was guts swelling until they popped out of your belly and begged to be cut off. Insane.

At the same time, Choi Geon and I turned to Hwang Suksu.

“So what?” I said. “Regret it?”

“Are you saying you want to back out now?” Choi Geon asked.

Even as dizziness hit him at the realization that he’d stepped somewhere he couldn’t escape, Hwang Suksu felt his heart pound.

“...Who says I do?”

After retiring from the vagabond world, he’d spent his days enjoying wager matches and gambling with the lives of bottom-feeders.

What I’d said was a massive stimulant.

‘This is a dangerous bet where the entire Korean martial world is the table.’

The moment he thought that, a gambler’s heart started pounding like it was going to explode.

The fear that he could die if this went wrong—

And at the same time, dopamine like a drug surged to the top of his skull, sending a thrill through him.

“Heh-heh-heh... Yeah. A real man plays on a big table. At this level, it’s worth putting my life on the line as the stake.”

That man’s not sane either.

I shook my head at Hwang Suksu, whose eyes had gone slightly unfocused.

For some reason, it felt like only abnormal people gathered into this crew, and it worried me.

“Anyway, if this plan succeeds...”

Choi Geon let out a low laugh as he looked over me and my companions.

“The ones who earn the greatest merit will be none other than you. No matter what form it takes, the Martial Alliance will never forget that repayment.”

The customer lists and information we’d pulled from GREAT HEAVEN GATE’s businesses were already helping immensely.

With it basically certain that Sun and Moon Gate had been supplying martial artists’ organs and collecting fees, digging through the customer list to find links between GREAT HEAVEN GATE and Sun and Moon Gate would be child’s play.

After that, it would be time to find undeniable proof that Sun and Moon Gate had been behind the license exam incident.

“Then until then, we just... wait?” Shin Kangheon asked, looking curious. The others looked the same.

“Wait?” Choi Geon looked at me and Shin Kangheon like we were ridiculous. “You two have something you need to prepare for immediately, don’t you?”

At the look in his eyes—Did you forget?—the two of us remembered at the same time.

“The license exam?”

“That’s right!”

“You brats...”

The license exam had been suspended because assassins stormed the test site.

That day, both Shin Kangheon and I earned our second-rate martial-artist licenses, but the exam itself wasn’t over.

Retests, the first-rate license exam, and the pinnacle-expert test had all been postponed.

“Well, first-rate’s basically guaranteed for me, but...”

“Whether your score beats mine, we’ll have to see, right?”

Watching Shin Kangheon and me glare at each other with competitive fire rising, Choi Geon burst out laughing.

“Prepare with everything you’ve got. Since Richard Han appeared twenty-some years ago, it’ll be the exam with the most eyes on it. And...”

The Martial Alliance planned to hold the postponed license exam in a grand, conspicuous fashion.

Even after being attacked by assassins, they wanted to show the pillar of the orthodox martial world still stood strong, and to widely proclaim the courage of the younger generation that had endured a harsh trial.

“That day, in front of countless reporters, politicians, and even martial artists from overseas, the Martial Alliance Leader will make a major announcement.”

“...Don’t tell me.”

I widened my eyes, and Choi Geon nodded, smiling like a schemer.

“You can look forward to it. That day, the world will be turned upside down.”

The day had been set—the day Sun and Moon Gate’s atrocities would be announced to the entire world.

*****

“Khk... k-heuuk...”

The man whose throat was being held couldn’t breathe properly, gagging and choking.

The cold, composed expression he usually wore was twisted into something ugly, and his face—blood flow to his brain cut off—was pale like a corpse.

“Spare... spare me, please...”

With tears smeared all over his face, he begged for his life.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t resisted.

But even when he swung fists that could break boulders, his opponent reacted like a mosquito had bitten him.

“Sect Leader. If only you’d stayed quiet like I told you.”

With those low words, the other man let out a deep sigh. His breath was so hot it felt like flesh would cook—like hellfire.

“I... I’ll do it. So please...”

The man whose throat was held managed to nod with a head that barely moved.

But only a mocking sneer curled at the other man’s lips.

“Now you will? Don’t you think you’re a little short on sincerity? You were threatening me just a moment ago, saying you wouldn’t die alone. And you want me to trust you?”

The voice was soft, but the man’s eyes were saturated with thick killing intent.

The hand gripping his throat tightened further, and the heat leaking from his breath reddened the skin.

“Gkheuuuk...!”

It was a meeting arranged with time and place kept secret—contact made as discreetly as possible, only between sect leaders.

In this deal, he’d intended to demand what he needed, and if the sect leader of Sun and Moon Gate met his demands, he’d even been planning to abandon his sect and disappear.

The other man—who had much more to lose—had looked fully willing to do it.

This meeting was only to hear the final confirmation, but...

“How stupid do you take me for? If you don’t want proof that our two sects are connected to be revealed to the world, I should hand over Sun and Moon Gate’s martial arts and secret manuals? Did you really think I’d accept a proposal that pathetic?”

But he’d never even imagined the other man would kill him to erase the evidence.

Because the other man was an old ally—

And the sect leader of one of the orthodox Eight Great Sects.

“Jang... Jin... myeong—!”

The sect leader of GREAT HEAVEN GATE glared with bloodshot eyes, chewing out the name one syllable at a time like a curse.

But there was no one here who could hear that voice.

Jang Jinmyeong grinned viciously.

“You know too much. If I’m going to live, I have no choice but to shut that mouth. So...”

Fwoooosh!

Flames surged from Jang Jinmyeong’s hand and, in an instant, transferred onto the sect leader of GREAT HEAVEN GATE’s entire body.

“AAAAAAAGH—!”

Yang Junpyo was burned alive, screaming as if he’d split apart. The wild flames Jang Jinmyeong raised swallowed Yang Junpyo in a heartbeat.

Soon, the screams died out.

Only black ash remained.

Jang Jinmyeong flicked his hands as if dusting them off, stared down at the heap, and murmured,

“Don’t resent me too much. Martial artists live, by nature, in a world of survival of the fittest.”

The next day, news spread that Yang Junpyo, the sect leader of GREAT HEAVEN GATE, had gone missing.