Urban Vagabond: Reload

Formally reinstate Sword Demon Choi Geon in the Martial Alliance.

The moment they heard Kim Muhyuk’s demand, the startled sect leaders of the Eight Great Sects reacted vehemently.

“What are you saying...?”

“This is not the place to make such a proposal!”

“What utter nonsense!”

Back when Choi Geon had commanded the Demon Extermination Unit, he had been feared by both the orthodox and unorthodox martial worlds.

He never hesitated to turn his sword against anyone, and he enforced justice without regard for means or methods.

There had been dozens of incidents in which martial artists from the Eight Great Sects had been humiliated by him.

He wants to return to those days?

Absolutely not!

We must stop that at all costs...

After they expelled the Sword Demon by holding him responsible for the failed operation, the Martial Alliance’s authority had steadily weakened, and the Korean martial world had become the domain of the Eight Great Sects.

Yet now they wanted to reinstate Choi Geon—and even put him back in command of the Demon Extermination Unit?

It was not difficult to imagine what the future held for the Eight Great Sects if that became reality.

“...Ha. So that was your goal from the very beginning.”

The Azure Sky Sword Elder sighed quietly as he looked at Kim Muhyuk.

The Azure Sky Sword Gate had suffered the least humiliation during the days when the Sword Demon ran rampant, yet even its sect leader reacted like this.

The concerns of the other sect leaders went without saying.

BOOM!

The Golden Glory Gate sect leader slammed the table hard enough to nearly break it and shouted.

“Investigator! That brat is speaking about something wholly unrelated to this public hearing!”

He still harbored a grudge against Kim Muhyuk from the previous confrontation interrogation and glared at him as though he wanted to devour him.

The Skybreaker Gate sect leader, who had been sitting down and struggling to calm himself, immediately raised an objection as well.

“The Martial Alliance is muddying the issue. This hearing is meant to determine whether illegal acts and abuses of authority occurred. Why are they telling heartwarming stories about Choi Geon?”

Kim Muhyuk answered with a scoff.

“Who muddied the issue first? The witnesses brought by the Eight Great Sects appealed only to emotion and blindly painted my master as a villain. I suggest you examine your own conduct first.”

The Skybreaker Gate sect leader barely managed to suppress his anger at Kim Muhyuk’s measured rebuttal.

He turned his head and looked over each of the witnesses Kim Muhyuk had brought.

Feeling the pressure of his gaze, some turned away while others trembled.

“These events occurred long ago. They may have mistaken him for someone else. Or perhaps someone threatened them and forced them to commit perjury. Such methods are commonly used by members of the unorthodox faction.”

It was a calculated insinuation that Kim Muhyuk might have threatened them into testifying.

Kim Muhyuk did not bother denying it.

Instead, he looked at the witnesses presented by the Skybreaker Gate sect leader and asked them a question.

“Have any of you recently received a large deposit into your bank account? Has your standard of living suddenly improved?”

He countered with a blatant accusation that the Skybreaker Gate sect leader had bribed his witnesses.

“Ha! You dare slander me?”

The Skybreaker Gate sect leader shook his head in disbelief.

He was no amateur.

When he bought someone with money, he did not clumsily leave behind evidence.

However... Kim Muhyuk struck an unexpectedly sensitive nerve.

“I heard you were wealthy. With money borrowed from the Black Night Gang, you could make even ghosts do your bidding. Surely bribing a few people would not be difficult.”

GRIND!

The Skybreaker Gate sect leader’s attempted counterattack had left him worse off, and a faint killing intent flickered in his eyes.

Had there not been so many people watching, it would not have been surprising if he had drawn his sword against Kim Muhyuk on the spot.

You are next. I will not give you an easy death.

Meanwhile, as the claims from both sides continued to collide and their voices rose, the gallery descended into confusion.

“...What is going on?”

“Which side is telling the truth...?”

“Even assuming everything they said is true, everyone that old man killed was still a martial artist, right?”

“That’s true. Then... why did he kill them?”

However, public opinion was no longer overwhelmingly against Choi Geon as it had been at the beginning.

If anything, the opposite was becoming true.

Public interest had shifted away from the fact that Choi Geon had killed ninety-eight martial artists.

Now people wanted to know why he had killed them.

“Investigator, I would like to submit additional materials. These are lists of crimes committed by the orthodox martial artists my master killed.”

“...What?”

Sensing that the atmosphere was finally ripe, Kim Muhyuk played the card he had saved until the very end for this exact moment.

They were valuable records he had uncovered with the help of the Black Night Gang boss.

“These materials contain evidence of the criminal activities committed by the people on the list submitted by Skybreaker Gate. And...”

Kim Muhyuk looked in turn at the Skybreaker Gate sect leader, who was glaring at him as though he wanted him dead; the visibly anxious Golden Glory Gate sect leader; the flustered Supreme Pole Sword Gate and Great Saber Gate sect leaders; and finally the Azure Sky Sword Elder, who closed his eyes in shame.

Then he drove the final nail in.

“We have also obtained evidence that the Skybreaker Gate sect leader himself was involved in crimes against children committed by his younger cousin. I will compile and submit it shortly.”

“Lies——!”

The Skybreaker Gate sect leader shot to his feet, his eyes bulging in horror.

He strode toward Kim Muhyuk, grinding his teeth.

“You seek to manipulate public opinion with preposterous lies. Do you truly believe you can bear the consequences of this?”

The moment a disgrace that could never be exposed was mentioned before so many people, the Skybreaker Gate sect leader nearly lost all reason.

Impossible. There cannot be any evidence!

Yet unease slowly crept up from a corner of his heart.

The words of the Black Night Gang boss kept echoing in his ears.

—Tsk, tsk. You truly are unfortunate. Of all people, you had to make an enemy of that brat.

...So this was the brat she meant.

The moment the Skybreaker Gate sect leader realized it, Kim Muhyuk gave him a meaningful smile.

“Why should I bear the consequences? You committed the crime. You should bear them.”

“You...!”

It would take more time to locate and verify conclusive evidence, but Kim Muhyuk was confident he could destroy the Skybreaker Gate sect leader.

Even if no evidence exists, I’ll create it and make you pay for your sins.

Ivan Volkov, who had silently watched their confrontation, instructed Kim Muhyuk to submit the materials.

“I will take these and verify them.”

The arguments had dragged on and the number of witnesses had grown, consuming far more time than expected.

Ivan Volkov checked the clock and gathered the documents.

“We will conclude here for today. The schedule for the next hearing will be announced within the next few days.”

He intended to verify and investigate everything thoroughly and conclusively.

This case involved countless people and events spanning many years.

It was an investigator’s duty to permit no gaps whatsoever when preparing the report.

“...We shall see.”

“Any time.”

At {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} the investigator’s announcement, the Skybreaker Gate sect leader turned away with a resentful expression.

Kim Muhyuk smiled coldly and returned to his seat.

“Hehehe...”

However, the man at the center of the entire case did not want this conflict to drag on any longer.

“Everyone appears to be growing bored, so I would like to settle matters here.”

Choi Geon rose and playfully ruffled the hair of Kim Muhyuk, who had come to stand beside him.

“You worked hard. And thank you.”

“Master?”

Choi Geon knew that even if he remained still, this battle would end in victory.

The stage had been designed by his clever disciple.

No one caught in it would be able to escape.

The villains would be punished, and he would be reinstated in the Martial Alliance.

“However, my disciple.”

That was not the ending Choi Geon desired.

“From this point onward, will you trust your master and leave matters to me?”

Kim Muhyuk looked momentarily bewildered, but soon seemed to realize something and nodded.

“...Yes.”

Choi Geon chuckled and walked to the center of the public hearing hall.

“Enough of this courtroom theater.”

The special audit would not end easily.

If it dragged on, there would be a third hearing, then a fourth, and public interest would eventually fade.

“Do martial artists not ultimately prove themselves through martial might? Therefore, I have a proposal.”

In the meantime, villains like the Skybreaker Gate sect leader might threaten or harm the innocent people who had testified for Choi Geon.

Some might sense the danger and flee.

Choi Geon did not intend to let a single fish escape from the enormous net into which they had wandered.

“Martial artists who came here bearing grudges against me, listen well. I hereby challenge all of you to a life-or-death spar.”

It was an option available only to martial artists.

The final resort by which those who placed their lives upon the edge of a blade could uphold their convictions.

“Those who wish to prove their own justice may do so by taking my life. Any number of you may come. I will fight alone.”

Startled by Choi Geon’s challenge, the martial artists soon began looking at him with various expressions.

“How could he...?”

“Has he lost his mind?”

“He has chosen the worst possible move in this situation...”

Some looked at Choi Geon in fear.

Some shook their heads as though he were a fool.

Others narrowed their eyes at the Sword Demon as though observing prey.

“Hehehe. Now that you have the opportunity to avenge yourselves, are you all frightened?”

No one was held responsible for the outcome of a life-or-death spar agreed upon by both sides.

It was an unwritten law that martial artists had observed for more than a thousand years.

For some of them, it was also the only way to reverse a situation that was steadily driving them into a corner.

“...As the sect leader of Skybreaker Gate, how could I ignore such an outrageous provocation?”

The Skybreaker Gate sect leader was the first to draw his sword.

Conscious of the eyes around him, he continued in a dignified voice.

“Sword Demon! However, I will not kill you. I shall subdue you and force you to confess your crimes!”

Despite his words, the Skybreaker Gate sect leader intended to kill Choi Geon, even if he had to disguise it as an accident.

I must kill him now!

Choi Geon looked haggard, and after suffering through his Inner Demon only a few days ago, he could not possibly be in his right mind.

He had only been discharged from the hospital that very morning, so there was no chance he was in normal condition.

Furthermore, he had declared that he would fight alone without anyone’s help.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

[You lot, step forward as well!]

The martial artists who received the Skybreaker Gate sect leader’s private transmission hesitantly raised their weapons and advanced.

They were the people he had personally bribed and presented as witnesses.

They surrounded Choi Geon and began closing in on him.

Choi Geon looked around at the people encircling him, then suddenly searched for someone.

“Seonu. Will you not step forward?”

When everyone’s attention turned toward him, Yang Seonu lowered his head from where he sat at one end of the witness seats.

“...Even if I have been expelled, how could a disciple ever point his sword at his master?”

“You will regret that. Someone far more frightening than I am will come looking for you.”

Choi Geon clicked his tongue lightly and paid Yang Seonu no further attention.

Along with his Inner Demon, he had cast off the existence of his former disciple.

Watching the martial artists gradually tighten the circle around him, Choi Geon murmured in the low voice of an eminent monk reciting scripture.

“A devil walks a road through the darkness.”

The enlightenment he had gained while pushing through the darkness within his Inner Demon.

Choi Geon smiled benevolently as he unleashed upon the world the devil he had dragged back from its depths.

“All evil that lived believing the darkness was its ally shall be torn to shreds.”

Sssss—

Like black ink spreading across water, dark energy burst outward from Choi Geon and swiftly consumed his surroundings.

The Devil’s Walk Through the Dark Night.

A devil walked through the darkness.

“W-What is this?”

“Where did everything suddenly...?”

“Damn it! I can’t see anything!”

The martial artists panicked and looked around as their surroundings abruptly turned pitch-black.

“Aaaaargh!”

Then a scream rang out from within the darkness.