Urban Vagabond: Reload

“How’s my hair? I dyed it gold with the mindset of breaking past my limits like a Super Saiyan.”

Shin Kangheon showed up in flashy gold hair and instantly sucked in everyone’s attention. I took one look and recoiled a step back in disgust.

“Please pretend you don’t know me and get the hell out of here...”

“Heh-heh. What, did this body’s aura scare you or something?”

Of course Shin Kangheon wasn’t the type to leave just because I told him to. He only grinned wider and strode even closer toward me.

“Shin Kangheon!”

Just then, a rough hand grabbed his shoulder, yanking him back after someone hurriedly climbed out of the car.

Shin whipped around and glared at the person who’d grabbed him, his face full of irritation.

“...What now?”

“I told you not to act rashly. Do you have any idea how important today is?”

Anyone could tell at a glance that the man looked like family. It was his uncle, Shin Junhyun.

The two of them stared at each other like mirror images, their expressions stiffening.

“What are you unhappy about this time, Uncle?”

“Why are you always like this? How many times have I told you that nothing good comes from clowning around in front of people like this?”

They started raising their voices, arguing without the slightest concern for the looks they were getting from people around them.

It was obvious, even at a glance, that things weren’t exactly rosy between them.

Only after he belatedly became aware of the eyes on them did Shin Junhyun lower his voice.

“Kangheon.”

He grabbed his nephew’s shoulders in both hands, forcing his anger down as he murmured quietly.

“I’m begging you. Don’t smear your late parents’ names. Okay?”

It backfired.

The moment his parents were brought up, Shin Kangheon’s expression twisted. He slapped his uncle’s hands off his shoulders hard.

“I told you not to talk about Mom and Dad! If you do that one more time, I don’t care if you’re my uncle or—!”

Right when Shin Kangheon was about to explode at him, veins bulging in his neck—

Smack!

A sharp impact to the back of his head made his body lurch forward. It was a sneak attack no one had seen coming.

When the hell did he walk up?

I didn’t even catch the movement...

While the late-bloom prospects from the Eight Great Sects, watching quietly, were all startled on the inside, the victim himself reached back to rub his stinging head and turned around.

“You crazy bastard?”

“What kind of idiot shows up to a license exam with yellow hair?”

It was me.

Just a moment ago I’d been backing away, muttering for him not to come near me—and before anyone realized it, I was standing right next to him.

I fixed my naturally cold gaze on Shin Junhyun and gave him a bow.

“Hello, Uncle Junhyun.”

“...Muhyuk. It’s been a while.”

We’d run into each other off and on over the past few months, enough to recognize each other.

At first, Shin Junhyun hadn’t been fond of his nephew hanging around me. But once Shin Kangheon’s martial arts had started skyrocketing after we trained together, he’d taken a keen interest—personally driving him over to train and back.

He’d been especially curious to know who was teaching us, but I’d blocked him firmly in the middle, so he’d never once managed to meet Choi Geon.

“Mr. Junhyun! Long time no see!”

“Have you been well?”

My dad, Kim Chanho, and my mom, Park Jiyeon, walked up with warm smiles and greeted him too.

“...Yes. Have you both been well?”

While the adults exchanged pleasantries—

Shin Kangheon, whose anger had fizzled out, jabbed me in the ribs and muttered under his breath.

“Fuck... if I get dumber because of this, are you gonna take responsibility?”

“How could it get any worse than it already is? I just toughened up your outer training, you should be thanking me.”

“You son of a bitch.”

He glared at me savagely for a second and then snorted.

The truth was, he was grateful I’d stepped in and kept him from crossing a line right before the license exam.

...Not that he was going to actually say thanks out loud.

Back to his usual face in no time, Shin Kangheon turned to his uncle and spoke as if nothing had happened.

“You always worry about pointless crap, Uncle. I’ll handle things so I don’t smear my parents’ names. So ease up a little, yeah?”

“...Fine. I’ll trust you.”

Shin Junhyun’s expression was sour, but he nodded, however reluctantly.

Now that I’d jumped in and drawn even more eyes to them, it seemed he didn’t want to keep arguing with his nephew in public.

He leaned in and whispered right next to Shin Kangheon’s ear, just loud enough for his nephew to hear.

“Don’t go doing things that lower your own value. After the license exam, we still have to wrap up those contract talks with the Eight Great Sects. Got it?”

“......”

Shin Kangheon didn’t answer. He just grinned.

Clicking his tongue quietly, Shin Junhyun got back into the car and drove off.

“I’ve got another appointment, so I’ll go ahead.”

“Right! Take care!”

I watched the car’s rear end getting smaller and smaller, my eyes cold.

Shin Junhyun. You’re still the most suspicious one.

I still remembered the future Shin Kangheon who’d become a member of the Heavenly Demon Cult.

Judging from his personality and behavior so far, the only factor that made any sense as a path into the Heavenly Demon Cult was his uncle.

Even if they fought and clashed a lot, he had a strong attachment to the only family he had left.

I can grit my teeth and put up with him trying to ride his talented nephew’s coattails. But...

As Shin Kangheon’s manager, Shin Junhyun had spent the past few months going around negotiating with various Eight Great Sects.

Even though he had to know that, from the Sects’ perspective, that kind of “just testing the waters” attitude wouldn’t look good, Shin Kangheon had still left everything related to contracts in his uncle’s hands.

Because—according to him—there was no way his own family would ever make a bad choice for his future.

If I see even a hint of a connection to the Heavenly Demon Cult, I’m not going to just sit back and watch.

If it turned out Shin Junhyun really was involved with the Heavenly Demon Cult...

I was turning over various options in my head when—

“The gate’s opening!”

With someone’s shout, the firmly closed main gate of the Martial Alliance began to swing open.

Inside, martial artists in full Alliance uniforms appeared and formed neat ranks.

“All license exam applicants, please enter in an orderly manner! Family and friends are not allowed to enter; please wait outside!”

Starting with the applicants who’d come early in the morning and waited, they began letting people in. The late-bloom prospects under contract with the Eight Great Sects, however, passed through a side entrance instead of the main gate.

Song Junho of Supreme Pole Sword Gate.

Yang Hayun of Sun and Moon Gate.

Pi Seunghwa of Golden Glory Gate.

And beyond them, all the martial artists belonging to the Eight Great Sects used the special passage reserved for important guests of the Martial Alliance, entering the grounds in comfort.

“The sense of deprivation is no joke...”

“Man, I’m jealous.”

“Tch. Screw it, maybe I should at least get in as a bottom-rung grunt at one of the Eight Great Sects or something.”

A few people raised their voices about how unfair it was, but they were in the minority. Most of the looks aimed that way were simply looks of envy.

There wasn’t a single martial artist here who didn’t know that the Martial Alliance was currently run almost entirely on the money the Eight Great Sects were funding it with.

There were even plenty of people who thought the special treatment was only fair.

Shin Kangheon and I waited near the back of the line.

“You two better not overdo it and get hurt, got it?”

“Show them what all that special training did for you! Knock ’em all flat!”

Right before we went into the exam grounds, my dad and mom hugged us both tight in turn and sent us off.

“Don’t worry and just wait at home. I’ll be coming back with a first-rate license.”

“Sir, ma’am. I can come over to eat after the exam, right?”

“Of course you can! We’ll have a ton of delicious food ready, so you better come with him, got it?”

“...Yes!”

Leaving my parents’ cheers behind us, the two of us walked side by side through the Martial Alliance’s main gate.

“But Kim Bokja didn’t come, huh? I figured she’d show up to cheer us on.”

“She passed out the moment she got home yesterday. I doubt she can even get out of bed.”

“She’s low-key a weakling, seriously...”

Speak of the devil and she appears—right then, our group chat pinged.

It was a message from Kim Bokja.

[rabbit : Just woke up now...... Let’s do a celebration party after. Full-on blackout party to celebrate your first-rate licenses☆]

Both of us snickered at the very Bokja-like encouragement.

Then, on impulse, I lifted my head and looked up at the tall buildings surrounding us.

Teacher. You’re watching, right? I’ll be back.

Choi Geon, who was lying low to avoid the gaze of the Martial Alliance and the Eight Great Sects, hadn’t come today.

But for some reason, I had this feeling he was watching over me from somewhere.

*****

The Martial Alliance Grand Training Ground.

This place, on the scale of a full-fledged sports complex, was divided into several sections for all kinds of training. Its facilities ranked among the best in the world.

And once a year, on the day of the license exam, every section was opened up for the thousands of applicants.

“We welcome the future of Korean martial arts!”

The murmuring of the applicants naturally faded as an old man stepped up onto the central stage of the Grand Training Ground.

His voice rang out across the entire ground without a microphone, clear and booming.

One of the five top masters whose names came up every time people debated Korea’s strongest.

A martial artist known in this era as the King of Fists had arrived.

Martial Alliance Leader Yeo Pilgeuk.

I looked up at the old man standing on the platform.

Even knowing that, a few years from now, he’d be pushed into stepping down under pressure from the Eight Great Sects, the figure I saw now didn’t feel like some toothless tiger—he felt like a massive mountain range.

I have to keep this in mind.

I recalled what my teacher had stressed to me.

Even for me, it’s not easy to meet the Alliance Leader without the Eight Great Sects catching wind. The most natural way is to create a justification for a one-on-one audience.

Mixed into the crowd on the training ground weren’t just young martial artists taking the license exam for the first time. There were also applicants who’d already taken it multiple times before.

In other words, regardless of age, gender, background, or current rank, everyone here was an equal competitor.

Among your peers, it’ll be hard to find someone who can match you. But you don’t just have to beat them—you have to surpass the seniors with experience and years under their belts as well.

Every year, at most maybe two or three people managed to earn a first-rate license on their very first exam the moment they became adults. The so-called geniuses.

But if you included those with prior experience, more than ten martial artists a year attained a first-rate or higher license.

Out of all of them, only the three with the very best overall results earned the special privilege of requesting private instruction from the Martial Alliance Leader.

The first-rate license itself isn’t what matters. I need to rank in the top three among every martial artist here.

The condition was as close to impossible as you could get, but the smile at the corner of my mouth was full of excitement, not worry.

“...If I’m doing this anyway, I should aim for first place.”

“You’re saying you’re going to beat Shin Kangheon the Gold? Somebody’s dreaming big.”

Caught up in my own anticipation, I barely registered Shin Kangheon’s nonsense next to me, and even the Alliance Leader’s speech wasn’t really sinking in.

Before long, the Alliance Leader’s remarks came to a close.

“I’ll keep the boring talk brief. It looks like everyone’s itching to move, so let’s start the exam right away. I’ll just give you one hint... this year, things will be a little different from the start.”

The moment the Alliance Leader finished, smiling faintly, mechanical devices all around the Grand Training Ground whirred to life.

Rrrrrumble—!

Ssssshhhh...

Fog began to billow out, thick and heavy.

It was so dense that it became hard to distinguish even a single step ahead. I could barely see the person standing right next to me.

“...This sudden?”

“Using spell-craft from the very start...”

Since everyone had already expected spell-craft to come into play during the exam, no one outright panicked.

The martial artists tensed up, ready to respond to sudden attacks or unexpected situations.

[From this moment on, walk wherever your feet take you. Once the fog lifts and you can clearly see your surroundings, that place will be where your exam begins.]

That was the Martial Alliance Leader’s final announcement.

“Hey! Kim Muhyuk! You still there?”

Shin Kangheon’s voice, who’d been right next to me, sounded like it was echoing in from far away.

I shouted back in his direction.

“The sound and direction won’t match up! From here on, we move separately.”

“Don’t you dare wash out before we meet again! I don’t want to sit through some awkward dinner because of you!”

“You idiot. Worry about yourself.”

I snorted and started walking, letting my feet carry me.

Maybe about ten minutes passed.

Gradually, the fog thinned, and people started coming into view.

Among them, I spotted one familiar face.

“Jungmin?”

It was Oh Jungmin, First Direct Disciple of Songwol Gate, whom I’d gotten to know at the sword dance competition.

“Kim Muhyuk? Long time no see. How’ve you been?”

“You’re here for the exam too, huh?”

“Yeah. I’m going to try for a first-rate license this year. You?”

“Me too.”

“Haha! Right, I remember you boasting you’d get a first-rate license back at the awards ceremony! You been training a lot?”

In a situation where you didn’t know what was going on, it was only natural to be glad to run into someone you knew.

Until we figured out what this was, Oh Jungmin and I decided to move together for the moment.

“Got any guesses about what they’re doing?”

“Hard to say. This is my third time, and I’ve never seen it like this before... maybe they’re skipping the basic tests?”

Even as we exchanged glances and chatted, more and more martial artists started gathering around us.

“What do you think they’re going to make us do here?”

“There’s gotta be some kind of criteria. It’s a little too creepy to think this is just a random grouping.”

By the time the number of martial artists had grown to about a hundred, a masked figure suddenly rose up in the middle of them, as if he’d just popped into existence.

[Greetings. I’m Black-White, and I’ll be assisting with your exam.]

True to his name, the left side of his mask was painted black and the right side white. Standing among the tense martial artists, he kept speaking in that off-putting voice.

[We’ll now begin the basic evaluation test for the martial-artist license. The first event is weapon disarming.]

At the words weapon disarming, the martial artists tightened their grips on their weapons, eyes locked on Black-White.

They were all thinking the same thing: that this mysterious guy who’d appeared out of nowhere would be the one attacking them and trying to take their weapons.

Up to now, it had been common in license exams for proctors to test applicants’ skills directly. The reaction was only natural.

But when Black-White swept his gaze slowly around the ring of martial artists, the words that left his mouth were completely unexpected.

[Right now, immediately, face off against the martial artist closest to you and take their weapon away.]

“What?”

“What the hell...?”

“This exam’s a damn battle royale now?”

[If you can’t decide a winner within five minutes, I’ll be imposing penalties.]

Right then, above Black-White’s head, a [05:00] display appeared like a hologram—and ticked down to [04:59].