Urban Vagabond: Reload

Sssssss......

The rain that had been pouring down as if a hole had opened in the sky slowly began to weaken.

When Choi Geon’s appearance, soaked in something that could have been rainwater or blood, was revealed, the Nine Dragons Society’s society leader let out a low sound of admiration.

“Old devil.”

The Nine Dragons Society’s society leader had an abnormally massive frame. He looked more like a bear than a human, and because of that, the Black Night Gang boss sitting beside him looked like a child.

“If you went into seclusion, you should have lived quietly until you died of old age. Did life get boring, so you crawled back out?”

His sneering tone carried a sense of personal malice toward Choi Geon.

But Choi Geon looked at the Nine Dragons Society’s society leader as if he found him laughable.

When he dealt with corrupt-path filth, the Sword Demon’s tongue was as rough as the sword he wielded.

“Heh-heh. When I last saw you, you were barely in your thirties, but you have grown quite a bit. You became society leader thanks to me cutting off your senior brother’s life, so why did you never send this elder a gift every holiday?”

Instead of getting angry at Choi Geon’s provocation, the Nine Dragons Society’s society leader burst into a ringing laugh.

“Hahahaha—!”

The building shook from the Nine Dragons Society’s society leader’s voice filled with internal energy.

Technically, the Sword Demon was right. He had killed the man’s senior brother decades ago, and thanks to that, this man had been able to become society leader.

But the killing intent gathered in the Nine Dragons Society’s society leader’s smile was far too thick for someone looking at a benefactor.

“Do you know this place is a trap dug to lure you in?”

“Heh-heh. Of course I do. Killing intent is vibrating all around me. How could I not know?”

Choi Geon had realized midway that he had not been tracking the culprit, but had instead been lured into a trap his enemies had dug.

Even so, he had not turned back because he intended to settle things with them properly.

“But what you dug as a trap is pathetic. Did you think this much would be enough to frighten this old man?”

“That tongue of yours doesn’t seem to age either.”

The Nine Dragons Society’s society leader rose from his chair and walked out with a grin. His ironclad muscles twitched, shedding the rainwater.

“Don’t worry, old man. The main event hasn’t even begun.”

The Nine Dragons Society’s society leader snapped his fingers.

Snap!

Then martial artists emerged quietly from the darkness without even the sound of footsteps, approaching as they surrounded Choi Geon from both sides.

The ones who had worn Choi Geon’s stamina down earlier had also been fairly skilled, but those stepping forward now were the true elites of the Five Great Unorthodox Sects.

“Hm. Not too bad, I suppose.”

Even so, Choi Geon remained calm. With his hands clasped behind his back, he leisurely watched as his enemies surrounded him.

“Call out everyone hiding in the rear as well. It is bothersome to move my hands multiple times.”

Choi Geon’s eyes gleamed with madness as he slowly raised the sword he had let hang low.

“I will tear you all to death at once.”

FWOOOOSH—!

At that moment, a horrifyingly dense killing intent erupted from Choi Geon’s entire body.

The killing intent carried on the qi wave that whipped around like a whirlwind spread in every direction like hidden weapons.

Gulp......

Along with the sound of someone swallowing, the martial artists surrounding Choi Geon unconsciously took a step back.

“Huh, that killing intent is......”

“Is that thing really human?”

The martial artists gathered here were all elites of the Five Great Unorthodox Sects.

They were seasoned killers, martial artists with the nerve not to be afraid even of someone stronger than themselves.

But before a kind of enemy they had never once experienced, even their bodies could not help trembling on their own.

“That chilling killing intent is still the same.”

Even the Nine Dragons Society’s society leader muttered as he stared at Choi Geon with a tense expression.

In his entire life, he had never seen a being closer to a demon than the old man before him.

Sssssss......

Just then, the rain stopped completely, and dawn slowly began to brighten.

The path made of blood behind Choi Geon was revealed.

With a hellscape stained in blood as his backdrop, Choi Geon smiled eerily and muttered,

“A fine dawn for a sword dance. I will wash away the filth with my sword, so when morning breaks, the world will be a little cleaner.”

“......Mad old bastard. Today, I’m finally smashing that skull of yours.”

The Nine Dragons Society’s society leader clenched his fists tightly and prepared to fight.

It was a hair-trigger moment where it would not have been strange for either side to attack first.

“What is the rush?”

The Black Night Gang boss, who had only watched Choi Geon silently until then, opened her mouth for the first time.

“Even if this is an ill-fated bond, it has been decades. It would be nice to chat for a moment.”

The Black Night Gang boss spoke with a gentle smile and gave a look to the Nine Dragons Society’s society leader, who was far younger than her.

“Nine Dragons Society leader. Would you preserve my face a little?”

“Are you saying we should spare that old man?”

“What is so difficult about killing or sparing him? If we make up our minds, either is simple.”

The Nine Dragons Society’s society leader clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction, but soon stepped back with a nod.

The Black Night Gang boss had naturally created a justification for him to retreat, an act the two of them had arranged in advance in order to pressure the Sword Demon.

No matter how exhausted he was, clashing with a supreme master like the Sword Demon was a burden even for the Nine Dragons Society’s society leader.

“Heh-heh. You still fail to live up to that size of yours. You are far inferior to the senior brother whose life ended by my hand.”

“You doglike old bastard......!”

“Endure it for my sake.”

The Nine Dragons Society’s society leader flared up at Choi Geon’s provocation, but the Black Night Gang boss restrained him.

“Sword Demon. Enough.”

Choi Geon looked at the Black Night Gang boss, who called to him in a dignified tone.

In truth, she was far more difficult to deal with than the Nine Dragons Society’s society leader.

But there was no hesitation in Choi Geon’s words or actions.

“Heh-heh. Old fiend. I remember killing your lover long ago. He wore the mask of an orthodox martial artist and acted as a spy inside the Martial Alliance until he got caught by me. Have you been holding proper memorial rites for your husband?”

Even at the poison-tongued remark that made the Nine Dragons Society’s society leader’s mouth fall open, the Black Night Gang boss looked indifferent.

“So many husbands went to the afterlife before me that I do not know which one you mean.”

The Black Night Gang boss was an old master who had survived in the unorthodox martial world for a long time. That meant her schemes ran deep, and she had a vicious side.

“Sword Demon. Do not scratch at scabs for no reason. Tell me what you have been up to instead. Did you truly return to the Martial Alliance after twenty years? What exactly is the Alliance Leader’s objective?”

“Are you trying to pry information about the Alliance out of me right now?”

When Choi Geon answered with a scoff, as if he found it absurd, the Black Night Gang boss gave a fishy smile.

“It seems you still do not understand the situation.”

The Black Night Gang boss slipped a hand into her robes.

When her hand came out again, a single photograph was caught between her fingers.

It was the very photograph stolen from Choi Geon’s house.

“You seemed rather attached to the people in this photo, you see.”

The Black Night Gang boss’s eyes flashed craftily. She waved the photograph and studied Choi Geon’s expression closely.

“......”

For the first time, Choi Geon, who had seemed unstoppable, was left speechless.

Kim Muhyuk, Kim Chanho, and Park Jiyeon.

It was the photo Choi Geon had taken with the three of them against the backdrop of the Jeju Island sea.

The Black Night Gang boss’s smile deepened as she studied Choi Geon’s stiffened expression.

“Shall I go to them and ask instead?”

A threat using family or acquaintances as hostages.

It was one of the most common and effective methods used in the unorthodox faction.

Choi Geon had seen countless heroic swordsmen with upright temperaments and unyielding mental strength eventually kneel when their families were threatened as hostages.

“......Yes. They are precious to me.”

That was why Choi Geon did not deny it and nodded. He obediently acknowledged the weakness his enemies held in their hands.

“They are among the few precious bonds this old man has. I came charging all the way here with my eyes red just to get that photo back.”

When Choi Geon, whom they had expected to fly into a fiery rage, immediately accepted the truth, the Black Night Gang boss and the Nine Dragons Society’s society leader instead looked puzzled.

He admits it that easily?

What is that old man thinking?

“If they died or were injured because of me, I would not be able to endure it. I would receive a great shock, as if the world had collapsed.”

Choi Geon gazed silently at the photograph in the Black Night Gang boss’s hand and smiled.

“And I would become very angry. Heh-heh. Just imagining it for a moment makes my head burn. To the point that I would see nothing else......”

Choi Geon lifted his gaze from the photograph and stared straight through the Black Night Gang boss. At some point, killing intent had begun boiling inside his smile.

“Can you bear that anger?”

“......Hah. Are you threatening me right now?”

The positions of the person making the threat had reversed.

As the Black Night Gang boss asked back as if she found it absurd, Choi Geon nodded.

“I did come here to threaten you. If you harm the people in that photograph, I will obliterate everything you have.”

The wealth, subordinates, reputation, and human connections the Black Night Gang boss and the Nine Dragons Society’s society leader possessed.

Everything.

Without caring about the means or methods, he intended to gather only the essence of the most horrific villains he had ever experienced and show it to them.

“I will make you dream the same nightmare whether you are asleep or awake.”

His eyes, stained with madness, seemed as if they would swallow the two giants of the Five Great Unorthodox Sects whole.

Against Choi Geon’s vicious killing intent, so foul it made one shudder involuntarily, the two giants of the Five Great Unorthodox Sects raised their own force without backing down.

FWOOOOSH!

“Mad old bastard!”

“Do you think we cannot kill you here?”

At the sight of the two reacting roughly, Choi Geon shook his shoulders and chuckled.

“Did you think I would compromise with evil? There are only two choices left to you. Either you must kill me here, or you give me that photograph.”

Choi Geon put his own life on the line.

If a fight broke out, he was resolved to take at least one of the Nine Dragons Society’s society leader or the Black Night Gang boss with him on the road to the afterlife.

That resolve was so vividly felt that neither of them could rashly order an attack.

“......”

“......”

Facing Choi Geon, the Black Night Gang boss and the Nine Dragons Society’s society leader ran the calculations in their heads.

Even if we kill the Sword Demon here, the damage will be too great. How many more would die......? And he is not someone threats will work on.

For whose benefit......? If we fight here, only those Eight Great Sects bastards profit.

The unorthodox faction never did anything that caused them a loss.

Especially the more someone had, the less recklessly they gambled, and the Nine Dragons Society’s society leader and the Black Night Gang boss had far too much to lose.

And Choi Geon knew that better than anyone.

After exchanging glances for a moment, the two eventually decided to give up on the threat.

“Tsk. Take it. You dreadful old man.”

The Black Night Gang boss tossed the photograph to Choi Geon as if throwing away some cursed ghost object.

“But do not relax. We will hardly be the only ones targeting you.”

Choi Geon lightly caught the photograph that flew at him like a hidden weapon and put it inside his clothes.

“Heh-heh. Consider your lifespans extended a little because this old man’s mood has improved.”

Choi Geon smiled faintly, then turned around without lingering attachment and left the trap he had walked into with his own two feet.

His back was plainly exposed before his enemies, but no one attacked the Sword Demon.

******

The moment he completely left the Nine Dragons Society’s territory, Choi Geon could no longer hold out and staggered.

“......Tsk. Now that I am old, my body is not what it used to be.”

He had lost more blood than expected. He had already been exhausted from the long pursuit, and fighting in the rain had caused several times more fatigue than usual. Confronting two supreme masters had also drained an enormous amount of mental strength.

If the Black Night Gang boss and the Nine Dragons Society’s society leader had noticed Choi Geon’s physical condition, they never would have missed such a perfect opportunity.

“Next time we meet, I will cut off both your lives.”

Choi Geon chuckled and walked toward home, swaying like a drunk.

But when he was almost there and looked up, it was not his house.

Without realizing it, he had come near Kim Muhyuk’s house.

“......Damn.”

Just as Choi Geon turned around with a look of dismay, Kim Muhyuk sensed his master’s presence and came out of the house.

“Master? Master!”

Kim Muhyuk realized Choi Geon was injured and ran over in shock using his lightness technique.

Supported by his disciple, Choi Geon smiled awkwardly.

“......Did I wake you because of me?”

“Were you attacked? Who did this to you!”

A savage killing intent burst from Kim Muhyuk as he ground his teeth together.

Choi Geon patted his disciple’s shoulder as if telling him to calm down.

“It is nothing. I am sorry for coming by so late. But...... I am so tired that...... could you let me sleep here for just one day?”

With those words, the tension completely left Choi Geon, and he lost consciousness.