Urban Vagabond: Reload

A martial-world public enemy.

After the Korean Martial Alliance was founded, villains who committed heinous acts and the great fiends of the unorthodox faction had their names placed on that list.

But for an orthodox heavyweight on the level of an Eight Great Sects sect leader to become a martial-world public enemy was an incident with no precedent to be found.

Countless people watching through a screen fell into panic.

“What the hell is going on right now?”

“A martial-world public enemy? An Eight Great Sects sect leader?”

“This is insane! I own Sun and Moon Gate stock!”

Even when the Martial Alliance Leader started his bombshell remarks, it still felt like a thrilling spectacle.

The old conflict between the Eight Great Sects and the Martial Alliance.

Anyone who paid even a little attention to the Korean martial world knew that story.

It was surprising that the Martial Alliance Leader mentioned that conflict in such an official setting, but it wasn’t something that would flip the world upside down.

‘The Martial Alliance Leader overreached.’

‘Looks like he tried to ride public opinion, but it’ll get forgotten again soon.’

‘How’s he going to clean up the mess after saying that...?’

Even the people who secretly supported the Martial Alliance Leader honestly thought his proposal was unrealistic.

The Eight Great Sects had already been entwined with Korea’s political and corporate power for decades.

Their overwhelming power wasn’t completed by force alone, but by connections and capital that reached in every direction.

Even when reports about the Eight Great Sects’ abuses of power came out, they took a brief beating from public opinion and it passed.

‘Even if he tries to drag it into the open like that...’

‘In the end, the ones who have to introduce legislation are politicians—who’s going to pick a fight with the Eight Great Sects?’

Even if emotional appeals could create nationwide sympathy, everyone thought it was impossible to go further and actually make politicians introduce legislation.

Until that shocking statement came through the screen.

[Multiple murders and solicitation to murder! Illegal drug distribution and organ trafficking, and furthermore, suspected of having cultivated a forbidden Demonic Void Art!]

The moment Sun and Moon Gate sect leader Jang Jinmyeong was singled out as a suspect in horrific crimes too vile to even put into words, people wondered if they’d misheard and doubted their own ears.

[I declare Jang Jinmyeong a martial-world public enemy!]

That scene was being broadcast live through TV and YouTube.

The footage was being transmitted not only throughout Korea, but across the entire world.

Because so many talented young fighters had participated this year, martial-world reporters who had been watching with interest abruptly called the social affairs desks and political desks after the sudden incident.

“An exclusive! This is an exclusive big enough to shake the country!”

Reporters called the Eight Great Sects to ask for their positions, and they hurriedly phoned politicians one after another. The impatient ones ran straight to the Martial Alliance.

The situation was growing beyond control—to a level the Eight Great Sects could never cover up, even if they mobilized all their power.

“What? In Korea?”

“That’s the country where Richard Han grew up.”

“I heard it was a boring country...”

Some of the world-famous martial artists also began paying attention to what had happened in Korea.

And a man who had left that place long ago also heard about what was happening in his homeland through an acquaintance.

“Something interesting happened back in my hometown?”

The man wiped the blood on his hands against his pants and turned on his smartphone.

A hill made of corpses mixed together—humans and anomalies.

Sitting on that hill, he watched Yeo Pilgeuk on the screen and laughed.

“Martial Alliance Leader, it’s been a while.”

Leaving the blood-red scenery he’d created behind him, the man decided to leisurely watch what was happening back home.

*****

“Me—a martial-world public enemy....”

Sun and Moon Gate sect leader Jang Jinmyeong, the person in question, muttered as if to himself.

He did it while staring at the Martial Alliance fighters who were slowly closing in around him.

“Jang Jinmyeong! Don’t even think about resisting. Only if you cooperate peacefully will there be any room for leniency at all!”

At the front stood Martial Alliance elder No Gucheon.

The Martial Alliance Leader’s trusted man—someone the Eight Great Sects had long considered a thorn in their eye.

But Jang Jinmyeong didn’t even look at No Gucheon. He shifted his gaze to the Martial Alliance Leader.

“Martial Alliance Leader. Is this sincere, not just showmanship?”

Jang Jinmyeong spoke with a quiet snicker.

He looked like someone dumbfounded by an absurd false accusation, and at the same time like someone who had already put everything down.

[Are you saying...?]

[Is what the Martial Alliance Leader said true?]

[Speak clearly. Only then can we help you!]

The Eight Great Sects sect leaders urgently sent voice transmissions to Jang Jinmyeong.

They didn’t readily believe the Martial Alliance Leader’s words, but they also didn’t openly take Jang Jinmyeong’s side.

Because after decades together, they understood each other’s nature to a certain extent.

Sun and Moon Gate sect leader Jang Jinmyeong was, at times, dangerously radical and reckless in temperament.

But the crimes the Martial Alliance Leader had just listed...

They were simply too hard to believe.

“Are you denying the charges? As for evidence, there’s more than enough.”

“......”

Jang Jinmyeong didn’t answer. Instead, he slowly rose to his feet and stared the Martial Alliance Leader straight in the eye.

“So you’re saying you want war with the Eight Great Sects?”

While the Eight Great Sects sect leaders beside him narrowed their brows, the Martial Alliance Leader tilted his head and replied.

“Why are you dragging other sects into this? I’m trying to arrest you.... Unless you mean you conspired with someone from another sect?”

“Bullshit!”

“Martial Alliance Leader, stop making reckless assumptions!”

The sect leaders of Golden Glory Gate and Supreme Pole Sword Gate denied it immediately.

If they got tied into this on any level, their sects would take catastrophic damage.

“Is that so? Then sect leaders, please step back.”

“......!”

Only then did the two sect leaders realize the Martial Alliance Leader had played them.

If the Eight Great Sects sect leaders backed Jang Jinmyeong and put on a show of force, it would be impossible to suppress him.

But the Martial Alliance Leader drew a clear line, listing Jang Jinmyeong’s personal charges and saying he would arrest him.

If they helped Jang Jinmyeong now, public fury could spread all the way to their own sects.

‘Damn it....’

‘The Martial Alliance Leader wouldn’t come out like this without solid evidence.’

‘Just how much did he prepare?!’

As if everyone shared the same thought, the sect leaders exchanged brief looks, then stepped back and widened the distance between themselves and Jang Jinmyeong.

It was the moment a huge hole opened in the once-solid alliance of the Eight Great Sects.

“Haha.... So our relationship was this flimsy.”

Left alone, Jang Jinmyeong gave a bitter laugh and then let out a sigh.

Martial Alliance fighters closing in to arrest him, and behind them, Martial Alliance Leader Yeo Pilgeuk glaring with murderous eyes.

It was clearly a situation with no way forward and no way back.

“Let me ask just one thing. The rest—you could fabricate evidence for all of it if you wanted. But there’s one thing I can’t understand.”

Even so, Jang Jinmyeong smiled boldly.

He looked so relaxed it could confuse people watching with bated breath.

“The charge that I learned Demonic Void Art—what is that supposed to be? Do you have any solid evidence?”

But there was no wavering in the Martial Alliance Leader’s eyes.

“There was testimony from the Glacier Priestess. She said your recent words and actions, your unstable mental state, and the rapidly increasing level of your blazing-yang martial arts are suspicious. That part will be clearly investigated after your arrest—”

Before he could even finish.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—!

A thunderous laugh filled with immense internal energy rang out.

Dignitaries who had never trained martial arts clamped their hands over their ears in pain, and injured young fighters went pale.

“Enough! Seize him at once and suppress his internal energy!”

At the Martial Alliance Leader’s roar, No Gucheon and the Martial Alliance members rapidly tightened the encirclement. The Eight Great Sects sect leaders retreated even farther.

“That....”

Watching quietly from behind, I narrowed my eyes.

‘He definitely learned Demonic Void Art. The side effects have spread into a berserk madness—he’s in a deviated cultivation state.’

I was probably the person here who’d seen the most Demonic Void Art.

From the cheap trash vagrants learned to the truly dangerous ones—back in my past life, I’d done plenty of dirty work, which meant I’d been exposed to all kinds of Demonic Void Art.

Because of that, I’d also witnessed more than a few ends for martial artists who learned it.

‘No matter how thoroughly you prepare and fight, it often ends messy.’

I poked Shin Kangheon in the side and spoke.

“Be ready.”

“For what?”

“That trash. He doesn’t look like he’ll let himself get arrested quietly.”

“Do we really have to step in too?”

Hearing our conversation, Bu Yeonha turned back and asked. I gave a light shrug.

“You never know. He might have a hidden trump card.”

And then, like a lie, Jang Jinmyeong abruptly cut off his laughter and shouted like he was spitting blood.

And then, like a lie, Jang Jinmyeong abruptly cut off his laughter and shouted like he was spitting blood.

“Glacier Priestess Hyun Eunha! So you finally set all this up because you wanted to drive me out and sit in the sect leader’s seat!”

“Don’t slander me however you please. That won’t make your crimes—”

Yeo Pilgeuk stopped mid-sentence and stared at Jang Jinmyeong.

In an instant, Jang Jinmyeong’s pupils reddened and veins began bulging across his face. At the same time, his body started trembling as if he’d been seized by a chill.

And then—

“How did you know? Anyway, ever since we were kids you were always so quick to catch on, and from the time you were a young fighter you couldn’t stand it unless you kept picking at me over everything, I should’ve gotten rid of you back then, if I’d just been a little stronger I wouldn’t have been humiliated like this, no, it’s not too late, it’s not too late, even now, hihihihi.”

Hi—grin.

The moment Jang Jinmyeong muttered to himself with a grotesquely twisted smile—

“Martial Alliance members, fall back! Protect the guests and the young fighters first!”

Sensing danger, Yeo Pilgeuk stomped as if to smash the sparring platform floor and surged toward Jang Jinmyeong.

KABOOOM!

Even after fighting the young fighters for over a hundred exchanges, his movement hadn’t slowed from the beginning.

But Jang Jinmyeong watched that charge with a grin.

“Old man with good stamina—yeah, you’ll burn nice, you’ll burn hot. Perfect for testing the Golden Winged Bird’s flame. Let’s see how well you burn.”

As the Golden Winged Bird’s flame that had been burning slowly seeped in as if scorching his lungs and viscera, the blood vessels beneath Jang Jinmyeong’s skin began writhing in a dark red crawl.

Seeing it, the other Eight Great Sects sect leaders cried out in shock.

“Sun and Moon Gate sect leader, you...!”

“What in the world did you do to your body?!”

“Th-that presence is definitely an anomaly.”

In that instant, dozens of streams of flame erupted from Jang Jinmyeong’s entire body, spread in every direction, and exploded.

KABOOMKABOOMKABOOMKABOOMKABOOMKABOOMKABOOMKABOOOM!

Strange fire unlike martial arts ran wild with savage violence.

He had killed a weakened mother Golden Winged Bird—and taken that power into his body.

Trying to imprison and control a force a human couldn’t endure inside one’s body—that itself became Demonic Void Art.

“Hihihahahahahahaha! Burn it! Burn everything! Burn it all!”

KABOOMKABOOMKABOOMKABOOMKABOOMKABOOM!

A storm of flames swept through. Screams rang out from all sides.

Martial Alliance members suffered burns while protecting the guests and the young fighters, and the Eight Great Sects sect leaders retreated with faces frozen in horror.

KRAAAANG!

The Martial Alliance Leader’s fist hammered into Jang Jinmyeong, who was wrapped in flames.

But the fire that looked like it would go out gathered again into one mass, then flared up higher and higher, swelling into the shape of a giant more than several meters tall.

“Kahahahahahaha! Stubborn old man—later, I’ll burn you for sure!”

“You think you can escape?!”

Jang Jinmyeong poured out massive flames in every direction to scatter Yeo Pilgeuk’s attention. And in that opening, he slipped free and fled.

It looked like there was nothing here that could stop him.

SHRAAAAK!

But a savage sword wind and saber wind split the flames and blocked the flame giant.

“See? I told you this would happen.”

“Isn’t this because you kept running your mouth?”

“How did I end up in this too....”

On the path Jang Jinmyeong was fleeing toward, I stood with Shin Kangheon and Bu Yeonha, each of us holding our weapons.

Jang Jinmyeong’s burning eyes locked precisely onto me.

“Hihihihi. You’ve been annoying me from the start. I should’ve gotten rid of you back then, but I couldn’t—and that was my mistake. Before I kill Hyun Eunha, I’ll burn you first!”

I silently raised my middle finger to provoke him.

“Fuck off.”

It was one of the things I’d always wanted to do at least once to an Eight Great Sects sect leader.