Urban Vagabond: Reload

Ten days was far too short to prepare perfectly for a Great Anomaly hunt.

Kim Muhyuk mobilized every Blue Wolves crew member and every connection he had, steadily gathering what they needed. Even then, it only felt like they were running out of time.

He met with Jung Minhyun constantly to add more information to the simulator and check variables, and he inspected the condition of the items Oho had procured from the overseas black market.

“I can’t even tell where the time went.......”

On top of that, they needed time to coordinate with the crew members.

And now, with only one day left before the Giant Tree Ghost hunt—

“One more time!”

The Blue Wolves crew members had gathered in an indoor training hall borrowed from the Martial Alliance and were going through their final training.

The problem was that the training was not going as smoothly as Kim Muhyuk had imagined.

“......What the hell are you two doing?”

Kim Muhyuk watched Shin Kangheon and Kim Bokja move with a frustrated look.

“Shin Kangheon the Flame-Explosion Saber!”

“Hey! Stop drawing aggro like an idiot and move faster!”

The saber art Shin Kangheon had only just started learning from the Transcendent Extremity Gate sect leader—Flame-Explosion Saber was a name he had come up with himself—and Kim Bokja’s still-immature Pilcheon Style kept interfering with each other’s movements. Between them, Apricot spewed flames with all its might.

Pyaaaaak—!

“Gaaah!”

The result was that the crooked shapes Kim Bokja had hastily made with Pilcheon Style slammed into Shin Kangheon’s back, and Apricot’s flames burst over them on top of that.

“Aaagh! You’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you!”

When Shin Kangheon whipped around, Kim Bokja snapped back at him instead.

“Why do you keep blocking the front? I told you to hold him there and move aside when I give the signal!”

“What are you talking about? You’re supposed to support me! I’m the one who’s going to wreck Kim Muhyuk!”

Pyaak! Pyaak-pyaak-pyaak!

Kim Muhyuk, who had been acting as the opponent for the three of them, lowered his sword and sighed.

Neither of them has fully digested their technique yet, but they’re already getting greedy.

Shin Kangheon and Kim Bokja were unquestionably geniuses in martial arts and spellcraft.

But no matter how much of a genius someone was, the saber art and spellcraft they had newly learned were not techniques they could handle perfectly in such a short time.

And for some reason, they’ve both suddenly become ridiculously motivated.......

Even if they unleashed nothing but powerful attacks, Kim Muhyuk could dodge them easily.

Shin Kangheon and Kim Bokja knew that perfectly well, but they were forcing themselves to coordinate somehow before the Giant Tree Ghost hunt began.

“Again! This time, we will definitely overthrow the Great Anomaly Kim Muhyuk!”

“I’ll land the finishing blow with Pilcheon Style, so Shin Kangheon, you just stall him properly from the front.”

“I’ll finish him off with my Flame-Explosion Saber Art, so you just support me properly!”

“I’d be better off learning puppet spellcraft and controlling that bastard instead.”

......How was a proper joint attack supposed to happen when both of them kept insisting on their own way?

The training began again.

WHIIISH!

Kim Muhyuk dodged Shin Kangheon’s attack, slipped past him, and charged straight at Kim Bokja.

“Idiot! I told you to hold him properly!”

Kim Bokja yelled, then transformed the incomplete Pilcheon Style spellcraft she had not yet finished into an umbrella and blocked the front.

Thung!

As if he had expected it, Kim Muhyuk kicked off the umbrella and leaped upward. A moment later, Shin Kangheon, who had hurriedly chased after him, struck the umbrella with his saber attack.

“Kyaaah! I told you, stop team-killing!”

“Why are you still standing there!”

During that brief moment when the two of them were arguing, Kim Muhyuk vaulted over Kim Bokja and changed targets, aiming for Apricot.

Pyaak—!

Just before flames poured out of Apricot’s open beak, Kim Muhyuk snatched it by the scruff of its neck and aimed it at Shin Kangheon and Kim Bokja.

FWOOOOSH!

“Are you insane—!”

The two shouted in one voice and simultaneously deployed spellcraft and a saber screen.

Fortunately, they succeeded in blocking the torrent of flames, but in that gap, Kim Muhyuk approached from behind them and placed his sword against their necks.

It was Kim Muhyuk’s victory yet again.

“That makes twenty wins and zero losses. Are you two going to keep doing it this way?”

If they had fought the way they normally did, even Kim Muhyuk would not have found it easy to deal with both of them at once.

But Shin Kangheon and Kim Bokja both shook their heads at the same time with stubborn looks on their faces.

“Let’s try exactly ten more times. If it still doesn’t work, I’ll seal away the Flame-Explosion Saber and fight the normal way.”

“We’re getting better, even if it’s only little by little. Anyway, you only improve if you practice, right?”

They were not simply being stubborn.

Both of them wanted to refine their strongest weapons until they could use them in real combat, and what they needed more than anything for that was training.

In the face of his friends’ serious attitudes, Kim Muhyuk eventually nodded as if he understood.

“......Then exactly ten more times. If it’s still a mess after that, we go back to the original method.”

“Good! I’ll definitely smash Kim Muhyuk within ten tries!”

“We’re going to have a quick strategy meeting among ourselves, so you go stand over there.”

“......?”

Pyaak!

It felt like they were holding a strategy meeting not to fight the Giant Tree Ghost, but to fight him, but Kim Muhyuk let it slide.

While Shin Kangheon, Kim Bokja, and Apricot put their heads together and began their strategy meeting, Kim Muhyuk rested briefly and checked on the other crew members.

“Aaaaaaagh!”

“Save me! Please save me!”

On one side, Hwang Suksu and Han Jaechun were running away from Choi Geon.

“Keulkeul! What mouthwatering humans you are. If I catch you, I’ll tear your flesh apart, pull out your entrails, and chew them up!”

Playing the role of an anomaly, Choi Geon used a lightness technique on only one foot as he chased them.

Hwang Suksu and Han Jaechun rolled across the floor, leaped, and twisted their entire bodies to barely dodge Choi Geon’s attacks.

The reason the two were so desperate was because every time Choi Geon caught them, something terrible happened to them.

“......Why is Master doing that again?”

When Kim Muhyuk heard that Choi Geon was going to teach the Blue Wolves’ wandering-martial-artist duo assassin techniques, he had thought it would be quite useful for them.

But he had never imagined it would be this serious.

I don’t think even a real assassin organization would train people that terrifyingly.

Choi Geon, who had been using a lightness technique on one foot, finally caught Hwang Suksu and hung him upside down from a pole. Han Jaechun, who had turned deathly pale and run off alone, was soon caught and ended up in the same state.

“Tsk, tsk. If you had properly used even part of the techniques I taught you, you could have escaped more than enough....... Since you learn so slowly, I suppose I’ll have to carve it directly into your bones.”

“Hiiiik!”

Should he stop this......?

Kim Muhyuk was considering that a little seriously as he watched his master pick up a saw in one hand.

Viiiiing—.

[Final meeting. If you’re ready, come to the Transcendent Extremity Gate.]

After checking the text Sunwoo Jeha had sent, Kim Muhyuk spoke to the crew members in training.

“The Transcendent Extremity Gate contacted us. Let’s wrap up training and head over.”

The crew members nodded with serious expressions.

*****

The moment they arrived at the Transcendent Extremity Gate, they could feel the heavy atmosphere.

From the main gate, warriors with stiff expressions stood guard, and their identities and purpose were checked several times before they were allowed inside.

“Seriously, isn’t it a bit much to tug on our faces just to check for disguise masks?”

Hwang Suksu grumbled for no reason, but tension was visible on his face.

He had lived as a wandering martial artist for more than twenty years, but this was his first time formally visiting the headquarters of one of the Eight Great Sects.

“The sect leader will call for you shortly.”

A short while later, Kim Muhyuk and the Blue Wolves crew members were guided to the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s large conference room.

Sunwoo Jeha, whom they were seeing again after nearly ten days, looked like a different person from the last time.

Her face was a little thinner, her eyes were blazing, and above all, her presence had been sharpened to a cutting edge. She looked as though she had just come out of a short seclusion.

It feels like I’d get cut just by getting close.

The Strongest in Korea had spent ten years sharpening her martial arts for the sake of avenging her master.

Kim Muhyuk’s heart thumped at the thought of seeing Sunwoo Jeha personally face the Giant Tree Ghost.

How strong is the Strongest in Korea when she goes all out?

Perhaps he had accepted this commission just to see that.

Besides Sunwoo Jeha, dozens of the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s elite warriors assigned to the Giant Tree Ghost hunt were gathered in the conference room.

Every one of them is at least a pinnacle expert...... and two of them are either supreme masters or experts close to that level.

Gulp.......

At the gazes of the Transcendent Extremity Gate warriors looking at them, someone among the Blue Wolves crew swallowed.

“Preparations?”

At Sunwoo Jeha’s question, which went straight to the point, Kim Muhyuk stepped forward as if he had been waiting and took out the materials he had brought.

“This is the operation plan established through the anomaly-hunting simulator I explained a few days ago. I would appreciate it if you would take a moment to read it.”

Kim Muhyuk had printed out and brought the operation he and Jung Minhyun had finalized after running the simulator several thousand times or more.

“A simulator? What is this, some children’s game......?”

The warriors read through the documents with doubtful expressions, but their eyes gradually widened.

“......This was made in only ten days?”

Astonishingly, the resulting values were almost identical to the plan the Transcendent Extremity Gate had researched and established over several years.

“Huh.......”

“......Remarkably similar.”

As expected of experts who had reached a high level, none of them made a fuss. Short exclamations and nods followed from the warriors reading the operation plan.

“Fortunately, it seems our concept and the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s operation are similar. I don’t think we’ll need to go through the trouble of persuading each other.”

Satisfied by the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s reaction, Kim Muhyuk continued quickly.

“The Transcendent Extremity Gate can move according to its original plan. Once you share each person’s assigned position, Blue Wolves will move separately and support you.”

Even if Blue Wolves had spent ten days trying to coordinate with the Transcendent Extremity Gate, there was no way it would work properly, and they would not be able to trust each other completely enough to leave their backs exposed.

That was why, from the beginning, Kim Muhyuk had thought the best method was for them to fight without interfering with each other.

“Good. Do that.”

Sunwoo Jeha, who had been listening silently, readily nodded. She had been thinking along similar lines.

“Share the operation with Blue Wolves, and if they need any additional supplies, support them. If it can reduce casualties, don’t spare anything.”

As the Transcendent Extremity Gate sect leader, the safety of the disciples participating in this operation was her priority.

Though she did not seem very interested in her own safety.

“Once the hunt begins, I’ll charge straight at the Giant Tree Ghost. Everyone else proceeds according to the plan. If a problem occurs in the middle or you need to discuss something.......”

Sunwoo Jeha looked beside her, at the middle-aged man Kim Muhyuk had guessed was a supreme master.

“Discuss it with the vice sect leader here.”

“I am Moon Seokju.”

The Transcendent Extremity Gate’s vice sect leader introduced himself with a blunt expression.

After questions and answers continued for a while, Sunwoo Jeha swiftly ended the meeting.

It meant everyone was to go back and rest as much as possible until tomorrow.

“Kim Muhyuk. Shin Kangheon. Only you two stay. Everyone else, leave.”

The puzzled Blue Wolves crew members all went outside, and only three people remained in the spacious conference room.

“Why us?”

At the two young rising stars staring blankly at her, Sunwoo Jeha suddenly drew a sword and saber and aimed them.

“......Has your madness flared up the wrong way?”

“Is this suddenly turning into murder-to-silence-witnesses?”

The two were not particularly frightened. As if they had been waiting for it, they drew their weapons.

Sunwoo Jeha gave a small laugh, then charged like a lightning bolt and swung her saber and sword.

“What I promised you last time. I’ll teach you now.”

SHHK-SHHK-SHHHK—!

A moment later, Sunwoo Jeha passed between the two and sheathed her sword and saber.

“The technique for cutting an anomaly perfectly.”

“.......”

“.......”

Kim Muhyuk and Shin Kangheon stood blankly in place for a while, as if they had been frozen solid.

“When you can move again, come to my personal training ground.”

THOOM!

A little while after the door closed, the two came to their senses almost simultaneously and ran outside after Sunwoo Jeha.